Black Lives Matter Protest June 6. Photo Credit: Liam Verster

By Shane Clausing

Black lives matter protest

Protesters say work needs to be done to help end racism

Jun 7, 2020 | 10:28 PM

Approximately a thousand people gathered in downtown Grande Prairie on Saturday for the Black Lives Matter protest.

The movement was sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis a couple of weeks ago, who was killed by a police officer who kneeled on Floyd’s neck for over eight minutes.

Protests initially started in the United States and they have now spread, having taken place in cities around the world.

Many of those that are protesting say they are fed up with the inequalities the black people have had to endure for decades.

The protest on Saturday lasted just over 90 minutes, and protesters did several loops around downtown Grande Prairie.

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Yuma, one of the protesters that was in attendance, spoke about why it was important to march.

“As a young black man this world is always weird to live (in). It seems that the world has a funny way at looking at us. Knowing that people are actually standing up, it’s really important.”

Yuma explained that the inequality’s that black people have faced around the world has gone on for too long.

“I was not supposed to know this, I was born in 1992. When you look at history, this thing happened a long time ago in the 50s and 60s. One should wonder, ‘why is it that until this day, we are still experiencing the same issues? What are people teaching their children?’ We are a new generation and we are not supposed to know this, ‘Why is racism still around? Why is this system trying to protect it?’ As another human I’m just trying to fight this so my children can have a better life than I.”

Vivika, a woman who was also protesting in the streets, says she was outraged by the death of George Floyd. She adds the inequalities around the world about how people look at those with black skin cannot continue, and the social structure of how things operate needs to change.

“The police take order from the above. Those structures guide us the way we should behave. When an individual tells a cop, ‘I can’t breathe’ it is (the police officers job) to relax and not continue. This is something serious because every life matters. We are asking everybody to know that black people, as well, deserve equality. When your brother cries you should be able to say, ‘hey, what is happening?’ And we walk out from there. And from that, until then, we are going to have conflict because we have to put and end to inequality.”

Vivika noted that she moved to Grande Prairie five years ago from Maryland in the United States. She says that she is a dual citizen and that moving to GP is more welcoming to her than it when she was living in the states.

“I have lived in America, I have seen this happening. I used to walk on the street and can’t look behind me because I don’t know who is behind me. Grande Prairie is a very beautiful place and people are very nice, I can’t believe my kids play could ever play with their next-door neighbor.”

Yuma says that the biggest challenge to end the stigma of racism is by educating people about what has happened to blacks in the past.

“We need to admit history and what (events) took place, and people admitting that something wrong was done. I think that’s something that people avoid every single time because they’re uncomfortable about talking about the past.

“It’s happened. People were tortured, people were oppressed for years and until today, people are still oppressed and that’s why we’re here (protesting). People need to understand that there are people who are oppressed who are not privileged and are discriminated against. So, people literally need to confront the issues instead of running away from it.”

One thing that stood out about Saturday’s protest was the amount of people that showed up and how young many of them were. Yuma said that it was humbling to see people so many young people fighting for equality.

“I am actually very impressed. I thought there would be a few people coming and when it started raining, I thought the number would be lower. Seeing this many people showing up, it really means a lot and I can see that some people are really willing to change their mindset and to take the step forward to get rid of the stigma of racism.”

Some positive steps were taken with the Grande Prairie RCMP as a result of the protest.

Earlier in the week while organizing the protest, Issac Bryant and Shelby Bartsch sat down with the police chief for the Grande Prairie RCMP and there will be a future meeting to be discussed about what can be done to help combat racism and how people can be educated moving forward.

Another Black Lives Matter protest organized by a different group is scheduled to take place on June 20. The actual protest is still being planned, and more details are expected to be announced through their Instagram page at a later date.