MUSKEGON, MI — George Floyd’s name echoed through downtown Muskegon Sunday.
The 47-year-old black man died after being restrained by police in Minneapolis last week, sparking protests against racism and police brutality nationwide.
In Muskegon on Sunday, May 31, hundreds of people marched outside the county building, 990 Terrace St.. They chanted Floyd’s name among other cries of “Black lives matter," “No justice, no peace,” and — echoing Floyd’s final words — “I can’t breathe.”
“We are tired,” said Leonna Watson, a resident of Muskegon Heights and organizer of the rally, as the event began shortly before 2 p.m. “We don’t want to be killed. We are tired of being stopped. We are tired of kneeling.
“We’ve got a voice today."
In some cities, protesters have been met with a heavy police presence. In others, including Grand Rapids, demonstrators shouted down the words of law enforcement leaders.
In Muskegon, county Sheriff Michael Poulin told the assembled crowd that he supported them.
Joining Watson in front of the “The Protectors" monument, which memorializes local police officers who have died, Poulin told the protesters that his agency was there to serve them.
“Do not let one criminal act define all of us,” he said, to cheers. “We are better than this as a law enforcement family, and we’re better than this as a community.”
The police officer accused of killing Floyd after kneeling on the man’s neck has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. He and three other officers were fired.
In Muskegon, Poulin and his deputies applauded as demonstrators chanted “Black lives matter,” and shook hands as people began to march in a wide, crowded circle in front of the county building.
A nearly endless clamor of car horns signified support from passing drivers on Apple Avenue, some of whom raised fists of solidarity out their windows. The protesters held up colorful signs and recited the names of black Americans killed recently by police, including Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.
“We’re here for them,” Poulin told MLive amid the din of the crowd. The sheriff added that he knows of no one in his field who “thinks what happened in Minnesota is okay.
“The fact that they’re being here means there’s a point,” he said. “To see this type of support for something that’s so important in our community...these people here are exercising their rights, as they should.”
Lataja and Terrio Cosse, of Muskegon, came out with several family members to be part of what they described as a movement for justice and peace. Lataja’s mother was an officer in the local NAACP chapter, and the Cosses want to pass that spirit of activism to their five children.
There’s no strength in silence, Lataja Cosse said.
Brianna Jackson also took her daughter, Ainsley, to the protest, to teach her child about her white privilege, and in honor of her black friends, she said. She held a sign reading “Serve and protect, not murder unchecked,” while Ainsley’s sign read, simply, “Black lives matter.”
As protesters wove around the block, Kayshia Harris held out voter registration papers. It was her first time organizing people to vote, she said, but felt it important to do now because "so many people are hurt,” she told MLive.
“I knew that the people we wanted to target would be here," Harris said, and that "this would be the perfect time for them to grasp the importance” of voting — not just in presidential elections, but in state and local elections, too.
The crowd at Muskegon’s demonstration was a diverse one: black and white, young and old. There appeared to be no counterprotest.
Earlier in the day, Christian faith leaders led a prayer rally for racial harmony in Hackley Park. At least 100 people, black and white, sang and prayed for peace, and at least 25 local pastors were present.
The event was about “praying for unity, for our community,” said Kendria Armstrong, a pastor at Resurrection Life Church who also preached at the event.
It was organized after Jim Zatko, lead pastor at Jericho Road Church, who is white, reached out to Jonathan Jewett, of Elevation of Grace church, who is black. The two reached out to white and black church communities, which are sometimes separate from one another, they said.
“I worked my end, in an African-American church, and he worked his end, and we collaborated together,” Jewett said.
“We need racial reconciliation, and we need healing, and it starts with the church,” Zatko said of his motivation for organizing the prayer vigil. At the end of the prayers, some worshipers headed over to join the protest at the county building.
While secular, those protests ended on a spiritual note, too. Watson waved sage in the air, as hundreds of attendees knelt around her.
“We are powerful,” she said.
That protest officially wound down shortly after 3 p.m. Most people wandered back to their cars, continuing to wave at supportive passersby.
But some — mainly younger protesters — moved across the street, to the Robert C. Lighton Memorial Park, a small circle sandwiched by Sanford and Terrace Streets, north of Apple Avenue. There, people expressed personal grievances against local law enforcement and shared experiences with racism.
For the first time all day, some people expressed antipathy towards the protesters. Several drivers pulled over and let loose longer blasts on their horns, in what seemed less like an expression of solidarity and more like an attempt to drown out the voices. At least one held up an “All lives matter” sign, a phrase often evoked as a rebuttal to the Black Lives Matter movement.
As evening approached, at around 6 p.m., some local business owners expressed fear that destruction seen elsewhere in the state and nation might come to Muskegon, as it did in Grand Rapids Saturday night.
Tim Taylor, who owns popular local restaurant Hamburger Mikey, boarded up his windows to be “proactive,” he said. Destruction to his family-owned business due to a riot is not covered by standard insurance, Taylor said.
Next door, at game store The Griffin’s Rest, employees set out water, with plans to maintain a vigil through the evening. Kathy Dennison, of Lighthouse Property Management, which owns several buildings on the newly revamped Third Street corridor, said she was also keeping watch. Community members wouldn’t target the businesses, she said, but outside agitators might.
“Muskegon’s come too far” for it to be harmed by riots, Dennison said.
But as the evening wore on, as of 7 p.m., there was no sign of trouble — just the ongoing sound of horns blaring on Apple Avenue.
Read more on MLive:
Riot damage, COVID-19 exposure temporarily close two Kent County Secretary of State offices
Hundreds of people descend upon Grand Rapids to help clean up, spread positive messages
Damage from Grand Rapids rioting ‘a nightmare,’ business owners say
Police brutality protests in Michigan: What you need to know from this weekend’s rallies, riots
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