Thousands of people converged Monday on the streets of Baltimore, marching through downtown, shutting down Interstate 83, closing City Hall and echoing their rallying cry against police brutality from here to Minneapolis. “No justice, no peace!”
The demonstrators swelled throughout a fourth day of protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police. By evening, the size of the crowd recalled demonstrations that gripped Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray five years ago.
Marchers carried their message to the Baltimore City Correctional Center and shouted to the windows. Inmates could be heard taking up their cry of “No justice, no peace!” On the jail walls, some spray-painted “Abolish the police," “Freedom” and “[expletive] 12," slang against the police.
The crowd marched on. Their signs proclaimed “Black Lives Matter” and “Resist.”
“Shame on you!” they shouted to police officers who stood guard around department headquarters. The young crowd gave voice to the outrage and frustration they felt that, five years after Gray’s death from injuries suffered in Baltimore police custody, yet another black man has died in America at the hands of a police officer.
Still, they shared moments of brotherhood with police. Outside City Hall, they erupted in cheers when a black officer took a knee and raised his fist in solidarity.
“There is nothing that can stop us as long as we are disciplined, calm and keep this movement going," said Sharon Black, who helped organize the effort.
Demonstrators have gathered since Friday to express their anger over Floyd’s death last week in Minneapolis. A black man, Floyd died after a white police officer pinned him to the ground by his neck for nearly nine minutes. Cellphone videos captured Floyd’s pleas of “I can’t breathe.” The Minneapolis officer, Derek Chauvin, has been fired and charged with murder.
“This is ridiculous. When I saw that video of that man — that was the one to spark me to say, ‘You need to get out here,’" said Lynnette Haynes, of Catonsville, a first grade teacher in Baltimore County who joined the protest.
Sisters Miheret and Sophia Adams arrived with their mother and signs bearing the names of black men who died at the hands of police officers. Their mother, Brooke Johnson, said it’s no longer enough not to be racist; this moment requires anti-racism.
“Our young people, our children, we are not prey,” added Norita Phillips, who joined in with her teenage son.
In one particularly Baltimore moment, arabber James Chase wore a top hat and drove a horse and shiny black coffin though the crowd to demonstrate a last ride for Floyd.
Earlier, youth led a march through downtown and invoked the names of the latest black men and women to die: George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. They marched past Camden Yards with fists in the air and signs proclaiming “I can’t breathe."
With the coronavirus outbreak still a concern, the University of Maryland Medical System donated thousands of surgical masks to city health officials to be handed out to demonstrators outside the Convention Center.
Black mothers in the U.S. know to tell their children to fear and obey the police, but that hasn’t been enough to keep them safe, said Deashia Gibbs, 22, of Park Heights and Pikesville.
“I’m tired of seeing these mothers crying on the TV,” Gibbs said. “When they’re complying, but they’re still dying, where do we go from here? What do we teach them now? We can’t not exist. We can’t change the color of their skin."
To Gibbs, the sight of fellow marchers overtaking the highway took her breath away.
“To see all of these people from all different races and walks of life, to be here and shut down a highway for a cause like this, it’s beautiful," she said.