Crowd gathers to 'Walk for Justice'

More than 100 people showed up for a protest Sunday evening for what they called a "Walk for Justice, George Floyd and Equality."

Event organizer and Chippewa Cree Tribe member Melody Bernard said they were protesting the death of George Floyd and the racial bias that she said was part of it.

"Racism does exist," she said. "Profiling does exist, it is in our community and we need to bring awareness to that and we need to stop it."

The oppressed need to start speaking out, she said, if they don't do that more murders are going to happen.

"We are out here not only to homage to the individual George Floyd, who was blatantly murdered in front of America, but all those affected by trauma, racism and profiling," Bernard said.

She said she was a police officer for 12-and-a-half years, and more training needs to be done with mental health patients. 

She said she hopes law enforcement officers, local and otherwise, ask themselves what they can do to help the situation.

"No one should die on the side of the street screaming mama, that just breaks my heart, that just kills me," she said, choking back tears.

Bernard, who was also at protests in Minneapolis, added that she hopes, in the future, people won't have to resort to violence and anger to get a point across.

Pastor Sean Janssen of Havre's Messiah Lutheran Church said he felt he needed to stand in solidarity with those who are not treated equally under the law.

"I felt called to be here," Janssen said.

He said he thinks there is far more work to be done if black people are ever going to be treated equally under the law.

"Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream was not realized years ago when segregation ended," he said. "People of color are still not receiving equal treatment under the law in this country."

The protest drew people of many backgrounds and ages.

Havre Middle School student McKenna Caplette said she was protesting for people who are being ostracized by people who are of different color.

"My grandma told me if you cut someone who is white their blood is red and if you cut someone of color the blood is still red," she said. "We are all the same, just different backgrounds."

Havreite Jasmine Carbajal  said she was protesting because she wanted to join in solidarity with her black brothers and sisters who are mourning for George Floyd, and the many other black lives that have been taken away in the hands of police brutality and in the hands of "our broken justice system."

"The message that I want to send is to the black community which is that I see them, as a woman of color, I feel their struggle and that I am here to support them even if all I can do today is walk peacefully in remembrance of George," she said.

This is important, she said,  because a lot of the people have the privilege to choose to only see the chaos, they choose to focus on judging the destruction, when in reality, it is about the bigger picture.

"We recognize we have amazing law enforcement agents, but if our good police officers don't have the support or system to turn in bad cops, we are also failing our good police officers," Carbajal said. "The justice system will only change when we unite to change it."

The protesters, after gathering at Rod's Drive In, marched down the sidewalk of Fifth Avenue chanting George Floyd's name and shouting "Justice," "Black lives matter," and "I can't breathe." All the while, people driving down the street honked and yelled in support of the protesters.

After they arrived at the Havre Police Station the protesters took a knee at its front door for eight minutes in silence to honor Floyd's memory.

After that, they proceeded to march toward the Town Square where a series of people from the crowd, two of whom had family members die in acts of police brutality, spoke to the crowd. 

One was Montana State University-Northern student Dorian Miles who said for the last three months of living in Havre he woke up scared.

"I'm new here. I only came here to play football and go to school," he said. "That's all I'm here for and I was nervous about walking around because my hobby is walking. My hobby is walking the streets because I love it here and I was scared."

He said he wasn't scared because of his fellow residents, but because of what he saw every day - because he is a 21-year-old black man with tattoos and dreadlocks.

Two years ago, he said, he lost his uncle to police brutality in Atlanta, where he was shot and killed.

"The people who are supposed to protect and serve us failed us, but they won't admit it," Miles said. 

He said being at this protest made him feel completely safe for the first time since he's been here and he implored the crowd to continue to embrace non-violent methods of protest.

"Havre is a peaceful place right now with peaceful protest. Don't let anyone ruin that - young, old, black, white, native it doesn't matter don't let them ruin that. For the first time, in three months since I've been here I felt safe. I felt like the city I moved to gave me a hug."

Another speaker was Sharie Cogar, who lost her son to police brutality before moving to Havre.

"They butchered him, and they had 25 minutes to get bean bags," Cogar said in an interview after she spoke, "I talked to officers that were on the scene too that were friends of mine."

She also advocated for non-violence, saying that if violence had broken out as a result of her son's untimely death her heart would have broken twice-over.

"Violence solves nothing," she said.

The last speaker, local resident Martin Holt, said he's encouraged by those who showed up, but thinks there were still not enough participants.

"This was a lot more people than I was expecting to be here, but before you applaud I'm gonna say that this is a lot less people than should be here," Holt said.

He said he was on the fence about coming because he was pessimistic about the difference that it would make, but the response of the drivers during the march had changed his mind.

"What difference would it make?" he said, "A bunch of us walking down the street, no one's gonna care right? But as we were walking, how many people were honking?"

"What's happening here is a good start, but don't let it stop," he added.

He encouraged people to get on social media and continue spreading the message of the march even if it is to those who don't agree with it.

"Make people angry, because when they are angry they are not indifferent," Holt said.