More than 100 people rallied Tuesday night in the City of Williamsburg with signs protesting the St. Louis County grand jury decision not to indict a white police officer involved in the shooting of an 18-year-old unarmed black man.
“This right here is a movement. This right here is a protest,” said College of William & Mary graduate student Travis Terrell Harris, who organized the peaceful protest. He began the rally with a four-and-a-half minute moment of silence for Michael Brown, the man who was shot by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo. on Aug. 9.
Harris told the crowd as the night fell they were all here not only to protest the grand jury’s decision but also to be seen and heard by those in Williamsburg who may be unaware of the racial profiling black Americans experience on a daily basis.
“I am encouraged today,” he said as he surveyed the crowd, which consisted of people of different races and ages.
Among those in the crowd Monday night were Marcy and Dan Williams, a white Hampton couple who adopted their black 5-year-old black son in 2009.
“One day, our son is going to be a black man on the streets,” Marcy Williams said, adding she wanted her son to know his parents were active participants in the push for racial equality. “We did more than retweet a couple things.”
Williams said she was “lucky” not to have experienced much racial profiling in Hampton, calling it a “very integrated city.”
The Williams family held signs that said “justice for all” and “no justice = no peace.” They shouted phrases with the rest of the crowd as they walked from the William & Mary bookstore in Merchants Square down Richmond Road to the Wren Building around 6 p.m. Monday.
William & Mary student Brittany Harrington led the crowd for much of the walk, holding a “rage on Ferguson” sign and shouting phrases like “black lives matter” and “I am Mike Brown.”
“We’re not asking anymore,” she told the crowd in front of the bookstore. “We are not asking for respect; we are not asking for safety.”
Both Harris and the Williamsburg Police Department agreed the protest was peaceful.
“I’m really proud of how everything went,” Williamsburg Police Chief David Sloggie said.
Sloggie met with Harris and William & Mary Police Chief Deborah Cheesebro last week after Harris obtained a permit to protest from the city and agreed to station officers along the protest route.
Sloggie was among several local citizens who agreed to participate in a conference on diversity Harris is planning in the spring. Harris’s goal for the conference is to have a “safe place to have candid conversations about race.”
Harris handed out fliers with information on the conference and said he has received positive feedback and inquiries from the community about speaking at the conference.
A Richmond native, Harris has not experienced any racial profiling by police since he moved to Williamsburg in August to pursue his Ph.D in American Studies.
“That doesn’t surprise me at all,” said Sloggie, citing a no-tolerance policy for racial profiling. “We protect everybody’s civil rights.”
Although Harris has not experienced any injustices with the police in Williamsburg, he said the issue in Ferguson remains a concern everywhere and the protest was a way to bring the issue home. He told the crowd he cried Monday night when the grand jury’s decision was announced.
Correction 12/04/2014: This story has been updated to correct the name of Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson. A previous version identified him by an incorrect name.
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