Kalamazoo's newly formed chapter of Black Lives Matter (BLM) had its first rally and shut-down action last Friday, amid tension that included social media threats in the week leading up to the event. The rally at Bronson Park and the shut-down staged on the Kalamazoo Mall was one of a string of events that have taken place across the country, especially since the recent deaths of
Alton Sterling and
Philando Castile.
Shutting down roadways and interstates has become a widely used tactic of the movement. An article in the
Washington Post explains the significance of the maneuver this way:
"Block a highway, and you upend the economic life of a city, as well as the spatial logic that has long allowed people to pass through them without encountering their poverty or problems. Block a highway, and you command a lot more attention than would a rally outside a church or city hall — from traffic helicopters, immobile commuters, alarmed officials."
BLM Kalamazoo didn't shut down a highway. Unlike a lot of other metropolises, the heart of downtown Kalamazoo sits miles away from the nearest Interstate. So instead of blocking the Interstate, the group of hundreds, marched from Bonson Park to the Kalamazoo Mall, where they occupied the street for the remainder of the rally.
And while shutting down Mall traffic doesn't disrupt the economic life of a city the way blocking highway traffic does, it does command attention to a movement from people who may have otherwise had the luxury of not having to pay attention at all.
Black Lives Matter has taken criticism from (mostly white) people who challenge everything from the way the movement centers on the needs and voices of Black people to denouncing specific protest tactics. But the Black Lives Matters movement is built around peaceful tactics and resistance to violence.
After a Dallas shooter killed four police officers in the wake of the murders of Sterling and Castile, the
BLM website released the following statement:
"Black activists have raised the call for an end to violence, not an escalation of it. Yesterday’s attack was the result of the actions of a lone gunman. To assign the actions of one person to an entire movement is dangerous and irresponsible. We continue our efforts to bring about a better world for all of us."
Local Leadership
The BLM event, on Friday, July 22, was headlined by a number of prominent leaders including Joanne Mundy of ERACCE, Kalamazoo City Commissioner Shannon Sykes, and Jacob Pinney-Johnson from SHARE: Society for History and Racial Equity, to name just a few.
The social media threats and controversy did not deter Commissioner Sykes, who, following a song by Mundy, opened the rally through tears, with, "It is so touching to see so many people advocating for Black lives."
Sykes used her time to address misconceptions about BLM, saying, "Let me be clear: If you thought this group was radical and angry, look around." Here she scanned the diverse crowd of hundreds. "This," she went on, "is a representation of who we are, collectively."
After the rally, Sykes told me that as an elected official, she has a heightened awareness that her actions and words will be scrutinized. "It's certainly in the back of my mind," she says, "the question of, 'how does this sound as an elected official?' But, in situations like these, I don't give much thought to it...the purpose of me running was to work toward social justice and so you can't not show up for this just because you're an elected official, especially not when that's the reason you ran in the first place."
Threats
Ironically, while the challenges lobbed at the BLM movement hinge on the supposed "violence" in the BLM movement, the only threats of violence leading up to and during last Friday's Kalamazoo event came from opposition to the movement.
The Kalamazoo event was described on its Facebook event page as "a space for healing in action," where slain Black people would be honored, and where the stories, emotions and truth of the Black community would be heard and embraced. White and other non-Black allies were encouraged to attend in solidarity, ready to listen.
Organizers went on to note, "the goal of this demonstration is not to get arrested or to drum up media hype. This demonstration is for visibility of Black bodies in action, to uplift Black voices, to have a space to mourn, to celebrate and to impact change."
The need for the message that this movement brings--that Black Lives Matter--was never more evident than in witnessing the push back via social media and during the event. Here are a handful of examples:
• One man
lost his job after his employer received numerous complaints about a Facebook post that said he would "play bowling" with his truck and BLM activists.
• St. Joseph County Commissioner, Allen Balog, got media attention after he
posted a video on Facebook, showing an angry motorist who drove through the protestors blocking a packed roadway. Balog's accompanying commentary said, "I have said all along that is what I would do. It is an interstate for motor vehicles not for pedestrian protestors. All of the cars should have started moving." Balog is up for re-election in the fall.
• One event organizer said he received more than a dozen death threats leading up to the event.
• (Expletive) N-word!"--yelled by a White man out the passenger door of an SUV at the crowd, who were walking on the sidewalk between Bronson Park and the Kalamazoo Mall.
•Armed Open Carry proponents circled the park in their vehicles.
'White people, make a protective barrier'
After more than an hour and a half of stories, poems, and sharing experiences at the rally, the location of the shut-down action--the Kalamazoo Mall--was disclosed. An organizer informed the crowd--many of whom had not noticed the circling vehicles--that open carry proponents were surrounding the park and that they were armed. He went on to tell attendees that this was a time of "calculated risk," and that there was no shame in leaving for folks who couldn't afford to take the risks involved in moving forward to the Mall.
People exchanged nervous glances. It was tense. Some families and people with small children dispersed. But not many. Mostly, people were not deterred. Older people, younger people, people of every shade of skin color stood close together. There was a lot of hand-holding, a lot of hugging as the crowd waited for instructions on how they would move forward. In a strange way, it seemed as though the crowd grew--though this was likely the mere perception of moving a large crowd from a large park into a seemingly endless line onto narrow sidewalks.
"White folks, form a protective barrier around your Black brothers and sisters," came the announcement from the stage as the march prepared to get underway. In the middle of downtown Kalamazoo, with the backdrop of the Bronson Park statue--the locally erected symbol of racism that depicts a Native American bowing down in front of a White man with a rifle--White people held hands in an emotional barricade around their Black friends, strangers, and community members.
The crowd moved, five to six deep on the sidewalk, as a handful of laid-back police officers on either end of the park and what appeared to be several federal agents in suits stood by. Chants of, "Black Lives Matter!" and "No Justice, No Peace!" reverberated for blocks as the activists wound their way across Rose street, down Michigan Avenue, and onto the Mall.
'For Black Kalamazoo, we shut it down!'
Stopping just before South Street, organizers rallied the crowd once more, listing the reasons--in call and response form--for the shut-down. "For Black Kalamazoo," the organizer prompted, and the crowd responded, "WE SHUT IT DOWN!" The chants echoed off of the brick buildings.
At this point BLM Kalamazoo unveiled its demands. Jacquis Robertson, a board member of the local BLM chapter, says that although they had open communication with KDPS about rally, they did not offer the demands to KDPS prior to the event.
"We wanted the first time they heard them to be the day of the event," says Robertson. "We wanted the shock value, (and) we didn’t want them to be able to manifest a response prior to us releasing the demands to the public."
On Monday, BLM Kalamazoo sent the demands to KDPS. (See the video
here.)
The demands include:
1. Disciplinary action be taken against KDPS officers Derek Nugent and Eric Shaffer for their actions during the arrest and subsequent death of
James Dunigan while in police custody. (Dunigan had gone to Bronson Hospital to be treated for chest pain and was released. He refused to leave because he was still unwell. Police were called to remove him and dashcam video shows police telling him he was faking his illness. He died shortly after arriving at the police station.)
2. That KDPS eliminate the
Broken Windows approach to policing and enforcement that has led to continued racial profiling, discriminatory enforcement and disproportionate policing of the North, East, and South sides of Kalamazoo. (Broken Windows policing is based on the discredited theory that policing low-level offenses prevents more serious crimes.)
3. That Chief Jeffrey Hadley, Deputy Chief Karianne Thomas, Deputy Chief Donald Webster, Assistant Chief Ryan Tibbets agree to attend a community led forum addressing racial profiling, discriminatory enforcement, and police brutality, and submit a report on the immediate action they will be committing to eradicate racial profiling.
4. That City commissioners, Mayor Hopewell, and Vice Mayor Don Cooney agree to attend a community led forum addressing racial inequity and discrimination within the city and develop a plan of action.
The Response
Chief Hadley says that the internal investigation on the death of James Dunigan is complete and that action regarding the two officers can be expected in two weeks. He adds, "I'm the public safety chief, the discipline of my officers is under my purview and we'll handle it in a responsible and reasonable way, and we'll communicate as such once we're done."
On Broken Windows policing and a heightened presence in certain neighborhoods, Hadley says that KDPS does not advocate a heightened police presence in specific parts of the city, but he adds, "there are people in those neighborhoods (North, East, and South sides) who need us--there are victims in those neighborhoods that need us, there are people that ask for us to be there to address problems and to address their quality of life issues, and I'm very emphatic about that."
Chief Hadley says he is willing to meet and discuss any issue at any time and points to the work KDPS has done, already. He's talking about the racial
profiling study and action steps that the department has worked on since. "I think there's a lot we are doing and continue to do every single day in this community that centers around building trust and building relationships with the community that they may or may not truly know or understand or appreciate," he says.
More work to be done
Commissioner Sykes says that "KDPS has certainly worked to make improvements--and I think we all appreciate that. But I also know that myself, and fellow-commissioners, and definitely community members know that there's more work to be done."
Sykes agrees that Broken Windows policing needs to go. She explains Broken Windows policing like this: "if we keep an eye out for any little thing... any little public nuisance, it will lead to catching people in bigger crimes. Problem with that is that it tends to contribute to more racial profiling."
She says these tactics are used predominately in lower income communities and communities of color. And, she adds, "the research is out on this--there's no question it's a broken policy--it doesn't work, it leads to more profiling and more problems. It's time for us to update our policies."
Sykes says that she is committed to action--and as importantly, to listening. "It doesn't make sense for us to drag our feet on issues as important as these. I'm looking forward to having some good conversations. I think it's incredibly important that this conversation be community led...people who are actually living in these realities need to be heard first."
All lives will matter when Black Lives Matter
Robertson says, "It was so moving to see so many people standing for and with Black Lives in the midst of threats, in the midst of harassment, in the midst of intimidation. When it was all said and done I was simply left speechless by the beauty of it all."
She says the fact that it's still common to hear the response "All Lives Matter" simply means there is a lot of work to do as a city, as a state and as a nation. "It’s because of these retorts along with the intimidation tactics of White supremacists that we exist. We’re here and we’re not going anywhere till we get justice for Black, Brown, Native, Cis, Trans and, LGBTQ lives!"
Anyone can be involved with the Kalamazoo chapter of Black Lives Matter. The best way to keep in contact with them is to join its
Facebook page. Robertson says, "Given the emergence of groups that are centered around White supremacy we are not in a position to discuss meeting locations and things of that sort at this time. But, there will be more events to come in the near future."
Kathi Valeii is a freelance writer, living in Kalamazoo. You can find her at her website, kathivaleii.com.