Hundreds gathered in front of the Tennessee State Capitol to celebrate Juneteenth, honoring the holiday with music, food and a protest.
An estimated 450 people gathered in the Legislative Plaza — renamed by protesters as the Ida B. Wells Plaza — for hours Friday night as part of the Juneteenth Defend Black Lives event. They joined the group of demonstrators who have camped out for a week protesting police violence and demanding that law enforcement be defunded.
After mingling for close to an hour at the start of the event, the crowd marched from the Capitol to Broadway, filling the street hundreds deep and stopping traffic. Many people gathered at Broadway bars and restaurants packed the sidewalks to cheer or raise a fist in solidarity as the group passed.
After a march through downtown Nashville, the crowd reconvened at the plaza where they called for celebrating Juneteenth. The holiday honors June 19, 1865, the day the news of President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 reached enslaved people in Texas. Friday night in Nashville, people danced, shared snacks and played music.
Eventually, part of the group peeled off to confront Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers staged in front of the Capitol, eventually garnering the attention of most of the group who kneeled, chanted and demanded access to the Capitol.
They kneeled for eight minutes and 46 seconds to honor George Floyd, a Black man killed by a Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes on May 25. During the emotional memorial, the crowd chanted that they couldn't breathe, and like Floyd, called "Mama!" Some sobbed during the time of kneeling.
After gaining access to the Capitol Hill by using back steps, a crowd of about 100 protesters faced off against a line of troopers, eventually replaced by members of the Tennessee National Guard dressed in riot gear.
A shoving match between protesters and law enforcement broke out, but after several tense minutes, the confrontation ceased and protesters continued their march around the Capitol after being denied access.
Activist Justin Jones, one of the protesters camping out at the plaza and involved in rallies for weeks, said that one day his children would walk freely across the plaza.
The night ended with an open mic where those gathered sang, read poetry and spoke about their religious faith.
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June 20, 2020 at 11:05AM
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Hundreds gather on Juneteenth for Nashville 'Defend Black Lives' protest - Tennessean
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