North Shore demonstrates it can happen anywhere

As demonstrators marched across Boston Saturday to protest police killings of unarmed black men, a group from Lynn headed to Salem to remind residents that such killings could happen anywhere.”As a mother to a young black man, I don’t want him to have to face the same kind of violence that past generations did,” Tina Budwah of Lynn United for Change wrote in an email message. “This is happening everywhere, it’s not just the South. There are issues with police and the criminal justice system right here in Boston and Lynn.”Hundreds marched in Boston Saturday in a national protest of police killings of unarmed black men. As the march began at the State House, protesters shouted “black lives matter” then walked toward Nashua Street. At one point, protesters sat in the street; others staged “die-ins.” They later moved to the Back Bay area before dispersing. Similar protests have occurred throughout the United States in the wake of grand juries that didn’t indict officers in the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York.Budwah was one of 12 members of Lynn United For Change who attended a smaller demonstration in Salem Friday night.”There is a national movement that is growing, and we were standing up in solidarity,” explained Estrella Diaz, one of the organizers of Friday’s demonstration.Diaz, who said she just finished her final exam from Salem State University, said that members of a group called Millennials for Justice planned the demonstration because they want the city to acknowledge that there is a racial issue between police and communities of color.”When the (dispute) with Gordon College happened, the mayor spoke up about it and said Salem is a no-hate community,” Diaz said. (Salem canceled a contract with Gordon College, a private Christian university, after the school requested it be exempt from an executive order preventing people from being fired or not being hired based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity.) “We wanted the city to say, we acknowledge the racial issue, there is an issue, it can happen here, it can happen in the North Shore, and we are going to do something to prevent it.”Diaz said she identifies as an Afro-Latina and has not had any problems with racial profiling by police in Salem. However, she has had problems in Lawrence and Haverhill, and said that as a woman of color who grew up in the Dominican Republic, she has combated stereotypes her entire life.”I am a woman and in biology, and there are certain barriers with that, and then to be a woman of color adds to that,” Diaz said.Budwah specifically said she was protesting police brutality.”The system that is put in place to protect people seems to be failing them,” Budwah said. “People of color are scared of the system and we need serious changes … It’s scary and heartbreaking to think of families losing a child to someone that’s supposed to be out there protecting them. It’s sad that black parents have to worry about whether they can tell their kids to trust the police.”Both Budwah and Diaz said they felt community support during the march Friday evening as about 100 people progressed from Salem State downtown and then to the Old City Hall for a vigil.”It included young and old people, students, and people from many backgrounds,” Budwah said. “People were coming out of their homes to join the march and drivers were honking in support, which shows this issue is touching all communities.”Massachusetts State Police arrested 23 people, primarily for disorderly conduct, at the Boston protests; Salem Police logs did not include any arrests from the demonstration.In reference to the Boston protests, Gov. Deval Patrick told CNN Sunday that he hopes the national focus on police killings of unarmed black men leads to “a broader and deeper understanding.”Patrick said beyond disruption, people need to try to bridge a “huge chasm of misunderstanding” that exists around the fears of unarmed black men and police officers.D