Protesters march through downtown Fort Worth for a seventh day
About 1,000 people gathered Thursday in downtown Fort Worth for a seventh day of protests, marching between the county courthouse and City Hall and passing through Sundance Square chanting “no justice, no peace” and “black lives matter.”
The group marched for about three hours, until around 9 p.m., stopping at either end of its route to hear from speakers using a megaphone.
Some called for increasing voter turnout, while others offered new ideas for protests or solutions to problems.
Amber O’Dell, a criminology grad student who declined to name her school, said she believes removing responsibilities such as checking on citizens’ welfare and dealing with cases of mental illness or drug abuse from police would help prevent deaths.
“Most people I know don’t want police to have that burden of dealing with law enforcement and social services duties,” O’Dell said. “Most cops I know don’t want to deal with these things either. For most of them, this isn’t what they signed up for.”
Malikk Austin, a member of the Brotherhood Movement, noted that protests don’t have to be limited to marches and rallies but can include tactics such as boycotts of businesses.
He suggested that future marches and rallies could take place outside downtown, perhaps in locations such as the Fort Worth Stockyards.
The protests began last week across the country in response to the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer held a knee on his neck for almost nine minutes.
This story was originally published June 4, 2020 at 5:15 PM.