Two protest marches Sunday afternoon — one from City Hall Square in Lynn to Gov. Charlie Baker’s house on Monument Avenue in Swampscott, and another from Kings Beach to Red Rock Park in Lynn — called for an end to racial violence and police brutality.
Protesters at both held signs and specifically mentioned the recent police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky., and other killings of black people at the hands of those in law enforcement.
The march from City Hall Square was accompanied by Lynn Police driving cruisers and riding bicycles, and Swampscott Police and Massachusetts State Police were on scene for the peaceful protest outside Baker’s house when the demonstrators arrived.
The Rev. Andre Bennett, youth pastor at Zion Baptist Church in Lynn, suggested police departments receive less funding.
“Crime keeps going down in this commonwealth,” he said. “So why is there an increase in funding for police forces?”
Bennett called for Baker to “stand with us” and end the “slavery” people of color face in an unjust society. Others at the rally held signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and “White Silence = White Violence.”
The Rev. David Eadie Sr., pastor of Greater Bethlehem Temple 2 in Lynn, said religious people and leaders should take a stand against racism.
“There are people who believe that people of faith don’t feel emotion at times like this, that because we’re people of faith we don’t get angry,” he said. “We of faith realize that faith does not decrease emotion, it amplifies it.
“No justice, no peace. Jesus stood for justice,” Eadie said.
Dr. Alexandra Piñeros-Shields, executive director of Essex County Community Organization (ECCO), asked the crowd, “What killed George Floyd?” To which they answered, “racism.”
“In Massachusetts, our black brothers and sisters are incarcerated at eight times the rate of white people,” she said. “Hispanics are incarcerated at four times the rate of white people.”
Along Lynn Shore Drive, Jacob Bradley, a Lynn firefighter who is biracial, led a march of more than 100 people to Red Rock Park holding a sign that read, “I am a man.” On the back of the sign were the names of Floyd, Taylor, Eric Garner, Ahmaud Arbery, and other people of color who have died while in police custody.
Bradley said the protest march to Red Rock Park specifically avoided passing Gov. Baker’s house, and that the demonstration “had nothing to do with the governor,” but was about a larger societal problem.
“It’s time for change in this country. It’s been long overdue,” Bradley said. “I’m biracial myself. I come from a diverse family, and I serve a diverse city as a firefighter. I’m very passionate that something needs to change.”
Bradley said he had watched the video of Floyd’s death on May 25, which has been widely circulated online, and felt “disgusted” seeing the image of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, as well as the other police officers in the video who did not intervene.
“I was absolutely abhorred by the actions of Derek Chauvin,” Bradley said. “George Floyd deserves justice. They (the police officers) did a disservice to their duty.”
