Fort Worth crowd marches in 3rd day of protests against police, says ‘We want change’
Protests continued Sunday in Fort Worth, and across the country, as demonstrators took to the streets to call attention to police brutality toward people of color.
A crowd gathered on the steps of the Tarrant County Courthouse at Main and Weatherford for a march that got underway at 6:15 p.m., with a line of protesters that stretched for two blocks chanting, “I can’t breathe.” Hundreds of people marched for over an hour, pausing at times to kneel. About 7:30, the protest began moving toward West 7th Street.
Shardai South said she attended the protest because her 10-year-old daughter is afraid of the police. South is a teacher and wants to teach her students that police are safe. “But I can’t preach that if police don’t,” she said.
Asked if protesting will make a difference, Ivan Traylor of Hurst said, “We want change. We don’t know if it will make a difference. I can tell you we are making a difference now.”
Sam Ndawula of Hurst said, “I can’t sit around the house, and just be watching. I have to be out here.”
Fort Worth police officers arrived about 5 p.m. and began speaking with the growing crowd. One man offered bottled water to the bicycle officers.
“I think we can get our message out without getting crazy,” organizer Donnell Ballard told the crowd as Sunday’s march got ready to begin.
On Friday and Saturday night, hundreds of people marched through downtown Fort Worth. Friday night’s and Saturday afternoon’s demonstrations were peaceful as Fort Worth officers on bikes blocked traffic for protesters.
On Saturday evening, something shifted and tensions rose. Protesters marched toward Interstate 35W, and officers blocked the intersection against them.
Behind a row of officers on bicycles, police officers in SWAT gear held batons and guns with rubber bullets.
“It was like intimidation, like (police) provoked the crowd to be more aggressive to them,” organizer Carol Harrison-Lafayette said. “We’re not being violent. There are no riots. Fort Worth should have been proud of these protesters.”
Using a megaphone, officers told the crowd Saturday night that they had assembled unlawfully and would be arrested if they did not leave, which could “involve the use of force.”
Two people were arrested Saturday night. A member of United Fort Worth was arrested at the intersection of West Belknap and North Grove Street near the Tarrant County District Clerk building.
United Fort Worth said in a prepared statement that the man, one of the group’s lead organizers, was released from jail on bond Sunday afternoon. He was arrested on charges of “interference with police duties,” a Class B misdemeanor, according to the press release.
“We believe that one of our organizers was intentionally singled out for our repeated criticism of the criminal justice system, the Fort Worth Police Department, and the Sheriff’s Office,” said Pamela Young, who leads the criminal justice organizing for United Fort Worth.
The second man was arrested as he skateboarded past a line of police officers on Main Street and East First Street. Other protesters said the skateboarder rounded a corner and skated beyond the barrier police made on their bicycles.
The man was released and ticketed, Harrison-Lafayette said.
Tracy Carter, a Fort Worth police spokesperson, said the two arrests Saturday came after one person tried to break through the police line and persisted after police ordered him to back away. The second person arrested interfered with the first arrest, Carter said.
Patrice Jones of Fort Worth said the police had nothing to fear from the protest.
“But our skin tone is the weapon,” she said Saturday night. “And that’s why they’re intimidated.”
The protests were spurred by the death last week in Minneapolis of George Floyd. A police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for about eight minutes. Officer Derek Chauvin was arrested Friday and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, The Associated Press reported. Chauvin was fired along with three other officers who were at the scene.
Beyond Floyd’s death, many protesters discussed the October death in Fort Worth of Atatiana Jefferson, a 28-year-old black woman. Jefferson was shot in her home by a white officer, Aaron Dean, who has resigned. Dean was indicted on a murder charge in December.
“It’s always slow to bring justice when the victim is black or brown,” Jones said.
This story was originally published May 31, 2020 at 6:22 PM.
