Protesters ‘shut it down’ at Target, West 7th bars and restaurants in Fort Worth
Hundreds joined the 11th day of George Floyd-inspired protests in Fort Worth, even after the protests’ usual organizers announced they would not be attending Monday’s demonstration.
United My Justice has planned each protest in Fort Worth, but decided not to join Monday after a tense Sunday night. Some protesters were unhappy with the organizers’ decision to lead the group to the north side of Fort Worth and said they would march where they wanted on Monday.
On Sunday night after the march, one protester pepper-sprayed another after an argument.
On Monday evening, United My Justice had a meeting instead of attending the protest. They discussed ways to create more structure to the protests and keep people safe, organizer Carol Harrison-Lafayette said.
Harrison-Lafayette said the group that was still meeting to march Monday night was not affiliated with United My Justice. She said those leaders have been “taking our protesters” and keep leading people to 7th Street.
Harrison-Lafayette said United My Justice plans to travel to Austin to meet with other leaders in the state. They also will join groups in Washington, D.C., sometime before the 2020 election, she said.
Monday’s march on West 7th
During Monday’s march, protesters walked to West 7th Street, where they sat on the hot pavement for eight minutes, 46 seconds — the amount of time a police officer’s knee pressed into George Floyd’s neck as he gasped that he could not breathe.
The hundreds of people walked through Montgomery Plaza, chanting “Black lives matter!” A white man sitting at a restaurant patio started to yell to the crowd, “All lives matter!”
A protester confronted him, and the group quickly turned to crowd around the man, who was sitting behind a wooden fence at Boomer Jack’s Grill and Bar. They chanted, “Black lives matter!” and at least one person tried to talk to the man about what he meant by his statement.
An employee spoke to the man, who went to the bar, signed his check and left after a few minutes.
The group walked to Target at about 8 p.m., where they marched into the store. Through aisles of clothes, toys and laundry detergent, protesters shouted, “No justice, no peace!” Some customers recorded the demonstration on their phones and others held up their fists along with the protesters. A woman in a minivan in the parking lot gave the group a thumbs-up and shouted, “Thank you so much!”
At about 8:30 p.m., the group marched down Crockett Street. They gathered in the center of the business-laden road before splitting in half. Some of the group went into Concrete Cowboy, where employees rang cowbells and cheered for the protesters. Others walked into Social House, where patrons were eating inside and on the patio.
Inside Social House, dozens of protesters sat at tables and chanted, “Shut it down!”
Manager Stephon Davis talked to some of the protesters and said while they had a right to be there, the customers also had a right to eat in peace. Protester Patrice Jones told him to call Mayor Betsy Price and tell her to grant their demands “so we can stop interrupting your peace.”
“From the point of the view of the guests, I get it. As a black man in the world, I understand,” Davis told the Star-Telegram. “You gotta do what you gotta do to make a change. My thing is, just as I see it from a black man’s point of view, I see it from a businessman’s point of view.”
Davis said the restaurant’s owner has donated to the Black Lives Matter cause, and the place closed on Wednesday so staff could attend protests. He said he wished the protesters had checked “to see if the business you’re going to protest in even supports you, because we do.”
From Crockett Street, protesters marched to Your Mom’s House on Bledsoe Street. Someone had locked the door of the bar before protesters could go in, so the group stood on and near the porch and chanted, “No justice, no peace.” Some banged on the walls and windows.
The group also chanted for Corey Mobley to come out and apologize. Mobley used to work at Your Mom’s House bar and was criticized for wearing a Colin Kaepernick Halloween costume while working. He also hosted two 400-person parties at a Fort Worth warehouse despite COVID-19 restrictions.
After about 20 minutes, the group turned back to Crockett Street. A man who goes by the name “Black” explained to the crowd why they shut down businesses, even if only for a few minutes.
“We do this to remind this city, to remind this nation, that there are folks like us across the world, across this city, that are so committed to freedom in the same way that these business owners are committed to going on as business as usual,” he said.
When business owners see that protesters are not going away, “Black” said, they might pick up the phone and tell their local leaders, “The people are rising. Give them whatever the hell they want.”
As protesters walked back to the Tarrant County Courthouse, they marched across the West 7th Street bridge again. This time, the bridge was lit up in crimson and gold, and the buildings around downtown displayed the same vibrant colors. Fort Worth had joined other cities by displaying the colors of George Floyd’s alma mater, Jack Yates Senior High School in Houston.
This story was originally published June 8, 2020 at 7:11 PM.
