People of all colors, cops kneel in unity to decry racial injustice
By Mike Ramczyk
Correspondent
They promised peace.
And peace is what they delivered in the City of Burlington Tuesday afternoon at Wehmhoff Square.
A few hours after neighboring businesses Gabby’s Palace and Trend Setters salon boarded up windows in fear of a looting and rioting, the Kneel 4 Nine movement peacefully displayed a message that the death of George Floyd, who died as a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck May 25, wouldn’t be in vain.
“I can’t breathe,” said Burlington’s Darnisha Garbade in an impassioned six-minute speech at the end of the hour-long demonstration, which included speeches from local pastors and citizens, along with the some 250 to 300 participants taking a knee for nine minutes to honor the nearly nine minutes officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck.
Chauvin has since been charged with murder and manslaughter in the case.
The powerful poem read by Garbade brought tears to the eyes of many in the crowd, which was filled with mostly white Burlington residents, from young women and families to Police Chief Mark Anderson, who knelt with the protesters around 5:30 p.m. in an impactful show of solidarity.
“I can’t breathe: I hope my death will bring racial equity. I can’t breathe: for all to see. I can’t breathe: for all my people who look like me. I can’t breathe: may my death set you free. I’m done breathing,” Garbade’s speech concluded.
Local woman sees racism in Burlington
Garbade, a Chicago native who has an 11-year-old daughter in the Burlington Area School District whom she said is called the N-word on a regular basis by white students, was asked by protest organizers Jayden Welch and Preston Allred, both recent Burlington High School graduates, to speak on behalf of Burlington’s Journey Church.
“Last night, I prayed before I went to bed and this morning I saw the words in a dream,” Garbade said Tuesday after the protest. “What you heard was literally the first draft. The Holy Spirit gave me those words. We were planning a Kneel 4 Nine at Echo Park as well, but this morning we decided to merge the two protests for unity’s sake.”
“I feel like this is a true representation of what God is all about. I don’t believe one race should be superior to me. This was beautiful to me. This was just amazing.”
Garbade said Floyd was just another black male who was killed – something that has been going on since slavery.
“Some of those things are happening right here in Burlington,” she said. “My daughter has dealt with so much racism here in the schools. It started about three years ago. I’ve talked to almost all the children of color here, and they’re called the N-word on a daily basis. Students yell it out as they’re walking past.”
Currently, there is one black teacher in the district, out of hundreds, and she works at Burlington High School.
Police chief cares about community
Burlington Police Chief Mark Anderson and Sgt. Robert Jones knelt side-by-side, surrounded by Burlington residents of white, Latino and black descent, in honor of change and equal justice.
Anderson said his staff doesn’t represent the officers who killed Floyd.
“Speaking for the Burlington Police Department, we all condemn the action and the inaction of those officers involved in the killing of George Floyd,” Anderson said. “There’s a lack of humanity that was on display, unfortunately, in Minneapolis. This kind of event champions that humanity. It was a powerful event. The poem brought tears to my eyes.”
“There needs to be change. There needs to be equal justice in our system. I try to live my professional and personal life with humanity at the forefront. Kneeling for nine minutes is a small, small token of my way of trying to honor George Floyd. By joining everyone else in this park, we want to let them know we are committed to finding ways to bring justice on a person-to-person basis.”
Mission accomplished
Multiple speakers stood under the park’s gazebo, including recent high school graduates, white women, white men and black and white community pastors.
Organizers Jayden Welch and Preston Allred, along with Sarah Bielefeldt – all recent BHS grads – started things off by thanking everyone for attending.
“Us being here together, we are creating a space of love,” Bielefeldt said. “We feel their hurt, we want to understand. The most important thing is the unity I see out here.”
To read the entire story and view addition photos from the protest, see the June 4 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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