The Black Lives Matter movement became an international phenomenon in 2020. Every handful of steps or so, a marcher nearby seemed to note that their social-media postings weren’t going through. Horseback protesters earlier this week led the line as 60,000 citizens demonstrated peacefully against the death of George Floyd in his hometown of Houston. Tomorrow we will be joining March for Our Lives Houston in rallying and protesting the injustices done to Breonna Taylor and the injustices being perpetrated in our courts. We passed a group of nine or ten cops on horses, each of them heavily armed. We passed one set of cops after another and then a set of city buses lounging under a bridge, with more police in riot gear bunched up beside them. “This is going to be more like a marathon,” a cousin noted. H-town rappers Bun B and Trae tha Truth joined throngs of people flooding Downtown Houston Tuesday for a march that ended at City Hall. All Rights Reserved. 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The White Lives Matter protest comes at a tense time for Houston and the country. We hadn’t walked five minutes from the edge of Houston’s East End neighborhood, heading downtown toward the march with George Floyd’s family on Tuesday afternoon, when my boyfriend, L., and I saw the first set of cops, staggered beside trucks, adjusting their gear. 166 talking about this. A group of motorcyclists made its way through the crowd blasting chopped-and-screwed rap, at one point pausing to stand on the bikes. Eventually, clusters of walkers began to merge—two became four, who became nine, who became fifteen, who became thirty. ... Texas, grew frustrated by a void of activism in their affluent Houston suburb. The young activists who formed Katy4Justice at a Black Lives Matter protest. That evening, we pulled into a Thai restaurant for takeout. Some walked in groups of twos and fours. One man’s sign said that he was there because he had five black children and a black grandchild. Even if it wasn’t stated explicitly in the march’s notice, it was understood that local officials had a lot riding on the appearance of peaceful proceedings. Simon Kent 26 Jul 2020. Dramatic footage uploaded to a Facebook Live feed showed the moment when shots split the night air in the Texas capital as some 100 protesters marched and … L. and I said that we’d actually just come from the march. As the march swelled far beyond the projected several thousand attendees—accumulating, as one friend put it to me in text, “A super big fucking amount of fucking people” (ultimately in the vicinity of sixty-thousand, according to the Houston Chronicle)—all eyes would be on the city of Houston. We passed several groups of Latinx teens passing out water bottles, shuffling through coolers. The city’s mayor, Sylvester Turner, was said to be making an appearance. Race, Policing, and Black Lives Matter Protests The death of George Floyd, in context. The woman asked why we’d gone, and we told her. Others began congregating at intersections leading out of the city, nearly a mile away from the Discovery Green park, where the march would officially begin, winding its way from there through the city until it reached City Hall. On July 9, Houston police fatally shot a black man who they said pointed a gun at officers. HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Black Lives Matter Houston held a second protest and march for George Floyd in Emancipation Park on Saturday. At the march on Tuesday, organized by George Floyd’s nephew, it was easy to see why Houston is routinely referred to as the most diverse city in the country. “It’s good to be out there. Protesters in at least four cities have ridden horses during protests to cheers from the crowd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Archbishop Welby's comments follow an eruption of Black Lives Matter protests across the world following the death of George Floyd, a black man from Minneapolis man who was killed by police. Ad Choices, Sign up for our daily newsletter and get the best of, George Floyd, Houston’s Protests, and Living Without the Benefit of the Doubt, The Tiny Media Collective That Is Delivering Some of the Most Vital Reporting from Minneapolis, George Floyd’s Death Sets Off a Wave of Protests. On social media, people inquired after marchers they hadn’t heard from in hours. I saw several “Black Trans Lives Matter” signs. In June, U.S. Park Police and National Guard troops, clad in riot gear, used pepper spray to clear the area outside the White House of protesters so Trump could walk to St. John's Church and pose for a photo holding up a … Activist gets on the ground in the very position Floyd lost his life as officer kneeled on his neck. 2 of 9 Mary Courtney takes a video during a protest about a Black Lives Matter billboard in parking lot at 11107 Bellaire Blvd. Protests continue after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed in police custody. The afternoon’s march had been coördinated by Floyd’s nephew Brandon Williams, alongside the local rappers Bun B and Trae tha Truth. The civil-rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson examines the frustration and despair behind the protests. Some clustered under the overpass by the convention center. We passed a number of folks brandishing signs, on cardboard cutouts and poster paper and computer sheets and Tupperware. Saturday, July 11, 2020, in Houston. But she only nodded. Our makeshift group increased our pace a half step quicker. L. and I slipped from near the center of the road to the edges, and after walking past the city-hall building we saw that speeches were being made in the adjacent park. The diversity of the marchers can’t be overstated: from the midst of the crowd, it was easy to see why Houston is routinely referred to as the most diverse city in the country. In the course of the evening, information making it out of the city’s downtown grid was scarce at best, but some details filtered through, in videos of marchers in the area: the police presence had fully solidified, and routes outside of the downtown had been blocked off. But Marlon A. Smith, CEO and founder of Black Greeks Speak Social Justice and Human Rights Council, felt it was important to watch again. Naturally, the public conversation has turned to the question of what this moment means, and where we will go from here. Credit... Katy4Justice. The mass protests occurred during the global COVID-19 pandemic and officials and experts warned they could facilitate an accelerated or rebounding spread of COVID-19. “The one downtown?” the woman asked. We watched several cruisers and trucks inch along. One Dead After Shooting at Black Lives Matter Protest in Texas 17,047 Screenshot. Several of Floyd’s family members spoke. But, whereas the officers we’d seen before had been languishing, these were adjusting their mikes and fastening their helmets. High school students in Katy hosting protest to stand with Black Lives Matter An event to stand with the Black Lives Matter movement was held at Katy Park at 24927 Morton Road on Thursday. Yes. On Wednesday morning, the Houston police department announced that it had arrested more than two hundred people the previous night. A few hours later, we’d learn that—literally moments after we’d left the march’s epicenter—the police had notified everyone remaining, on loudspeakers, that the event was over. ET, June 11, 2020 There were many “Asian Lives for Black Lives” signs. Live report at 6 #Abc13 pic.twitter.com/JgF8WwQIEN, Powerful moment during protest for #GeorgeFloyd in his 3rd Ward neighborhood. One person was killed after shots were fired Saturday night at a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, Texas, local police said. The activist Tamika Mallory spoke. © COPYRIGHT BLACK LIVES MATTER HOUSTON 2018 - 2020. Marchers were reportedly being led onto buses. The event, however it went, would have international visibility. The civil-rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson examines the frustration and despair behind the protests. To revisit this article, select My⁠ ⁠Account, then View saved stories. Protesters rallied in Houston for a prayer vigil and in Chicago Tuesday night. One white family’s signs read “We Repent.” (Noticing it, one of the teens walking beside me said, “That’s cute.”) A handful of signs said “Breonna Taylor.” At some point, it became clear that my phone wasn’t getting a signal. But, at the end of the day, a man is dead. © 2021 Condé Nast. On our way back toward East End, around five o’clock, we passed a handful of bars, where occupants were drinking and leaning on the patio gates, wearing jerseys and shades, and eyeing marchers (most of these folks were white), and also a group playing soccer on an indoor court, entirely removed from the proceedings—reminders of just what a massive city we live in. He repeated calls for a peaceful walk: “We ain’t gonna shed a drop of blood in Houston, Texas.” The march was already well on its way by the time L. and I slipped into the stream, pushing onto Walker Street, hooking just past Discovery Green and farther into the city. In Southwest Houston, a Vietnamese American businessman received death threats and a boycott when he put up a bilingual Black Lives Matter billboard. Black Lives Matter Houston is an organization that addresses the issues that affects Black folks and collaborates with partners to build a healthy, educated and financially stable Black community. Despite the police presence, people continued filing their way downtown. Once our segment of the crowd made it to City Hall, the pace stalled, and then stopped, and the marchers immediately took up chanting. A woman’s sign said that she’d attended because black women need to be protected. Race, Policing, and Black Lives Matter Protests The death of George Floyd , in context. HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Black Lives Matter Houston held a second protest and march for George Floyd in Emancipation Park on Saturday. The weather was hot and humid in the way that Houston gets this time of year, and the heat emanating from the crowd increased in tandem. L. and I made it out of downtown, sticking to side streets. His grieving family members would be participating in the march. It wasn’t long before most of the crowd began to disperse accordingly, but some folks, entirely peacefully, did not—and this was when the trouble began. In the midst of mass unrest all over the States, Houston’s protests thus far had seemed considerably calmer: no curfew had been enforced; no mass destruction or disruption had taken place downtown; arrests had been made, three hundred and fifty in total, but they had looked nothing like the violent scenes of police playing out in other cities. The difference in the way the pro-Trump rioters were treated in comparison to Black Lives Matter protests from over the summer. Our ultimate goal is to pave a path for Black power and liberation where it is understood that ALL BLACK LIVES MATTER. Protesters take a knee outside of a police building during a Black Lives Matter protest in Odessa on May 31, 2020. What they did to him was wrong. Really. Republican President Donald Trump criticized the protests and promised to restore law and order, although opinion polls showed Americans largely supportive of Black Lives Matter. Lil Nas X, of "Old Town Road" fame, retweeted a video of a group of people riding on horses to a Houston Black Lives Matter protest on Tuesday. All rights reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. News | Black Lives Matter A timeline of the George Floyd and anti-police brutality protests Protests over the US police killings of Black people have spread across the US, and worldwide. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci, and form… Police say waitress saved abused boy, Katy ISD football player hurt in crash will go home soon, Check out these FREE Houston-area events this weekend, ABC13's Art Rascon shares his COVID-19 experience, FBI Houston tracking down threats ahead of Inauguration Day, Novavax COVID-19 vaccine trial underway in Houston, Houston leaders call for peace as George Floyd protesters gather for 2nd day, Derek Chauvin, police officer accused in George Floyd's death, charged with murder, Mayor Turner asks residents to report anyone intending to do violence while protesting, Family members of George Floyd speaks out after protests in Houston. Copyright © 2021 KTRK-TV. She pursed her lips, frowning, and I braced myself for what she was going to say. Bun B spoke again, saying, “We appreciate the Houston Police Department for standing with us today, but make no mistakes about it: we will hold our police department accountable, if they commit acts against the people of this city.” The crowd grew loudest at this and other calls for accountability: since 2015, there have been fifty-six fatal police shootings in Houston. In April and May of this year, there were six in a span of less than six weeks. Photograph by David J Phillip / AP / Shutterstock, Who, David Remnick asks, is the true agitator behind the, The Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometi on what it would mean to. https://t.co/VxVBjbhxZv pic.twitter.com/WkDzsenJ7t, HPD Chief speaks after marching in Third Ward. We all kept walking regardless. Before the march started, Bun B had called for participants to kneel for thirty seconds of silence, in memory of Floyd. Inside, footage of protests in D.C. and L.A. played on a television mounted in the dining room. Something has to change.”. They had spray-painted a clenched black fist on it, with the words “Black Lives Matter.” A crowd of young protesters surrounding it whooped and cheered. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Your California Privacy Rights. Some marchers, many of them black, rode in on horseback, gently ambling along. L. noted that the police only seemed to be moving toward the march’s end point. The march swelled to nearly sixty thousand attendees, according to the Houston Chronicle—far more than the projected several thousand. One sign simply read “Black Mama.” Many signs listed only names: Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Tony McDade, Atatiana Jefferson. Bad faith comparisons between the attack on the Capitol and the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer ignore that only one of those has a legitimate complaint. One mounted officer in Houston trampled a … Everyone remaining in the area would be in violation of the law. Floyd grew up in this city. We passed several groups of black women handing out face masks to passersby. Like no other news outlet, Unicorn Riot brings an intimacy and intensity to its coverage of the protests against police brutality following the killing of George Floyd. "The time has arrived," the rapper wrote. There were many “Brown Lives for Black Lives” signs. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Police officers have also been riding horses as a form of crowd control. Trae tha Truth spoke. We passed a man in a Joker mask waving from a stop sign, imploring passersby to watch where the money was flowing. After taking our order, the woman behind the register noted, offhand, that the damage done to those cities was a shame. Ignited by the killing of Floyd by a law-enforcement officer, demonstrations targeting racial injustice and police brutality took place nationwide. The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. “People have had enough,” Salazar said. A number of current and former public health officials also expressed concerns that mass protests would lead to a spike in COVID-19 clusters, including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert R. Redfield, U.S. A handful walked alone, carrying signs and adjusting face masks and hopscotching across the toasting pavement. A street later, we crossed paths with a group of at least fifty college-aged folks, and, not even a block behind them, an even larger set of police. Despite the city’s lack of a curfew, it was, apparently, time to go home. 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