A crowd estimated at over 200 people gathered in Barrington Saturday to join other area and nationwide protests against police brutality – including unarmed African American people – in the wake of the death earlier this month of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Floyd, who is African American, was killed on Memorial Day in Minneapolis while in police custody. He was apprehended for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill at a local store, according to published reports about the incident.
A video recorded by a bystander that has gone viral globally, appears to show now-former police officer Derick Chauvin, who is white, pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck for what officials said was 8 minutes and 46 seconds – all while other officers pinned Floyd down and applied pressure to his back. Another officer is seen in the video appearing to stand watch.
The incident eventually caused Floyd to die of asphyxiation, according to one autopsy report. Floyd’s last words were, “I can’t breathe,” which has become a rallying cry all around the world for social justice advocates.
“I’m furious, because it took a video for the nation to believe that the problem my community has seen forever is real,” Pastor Zina Jacque, of Community Church of Barrington, said while addressing the crowd of demonstrators.
The response to Floyd’s death has rocked the nation, with demonstrations and riots touched off in major cities, including the Chicago area. Saturday’s gathering in Citizens Park remained peaceful, but with a police presence over increased security concerns.
Demonstrations the weekend before had ended with mass rioting and looting erupting where, in some places, businesses were set on fire. Those scenes replayed in cities and suburbs across the country, including in Chicago and Aurora.
The event in Barrington Saturday was organized by three young women from the area who wanted to draw attention to the issue and stand in solidarity with the national Black Lives Matter movement, despite living in a predominantly white suburb.
Organizer Zoe Zakson, a recent graduate of Barrington High School, and one of the few Jewish students at the school, said she understands the feeling of being in the minority.
“I don’t know the plight of a lot of black students at our school, but I know that it’s kind of hard to be a lone minority in a place, and so [I’m] just making sure that I stand up for my friends and peers that are struggling and fighting suppression. … I’m just doing the best I can to help them out because they deserve it.”
Fellow organizer Anya Sastry, who is of Indian descent, agrees that all minorities need to come together and stand with the black community at this crucial time.
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“I think the Indian community here in America owes a lot of their rights that they have today to the Civil Rights Movement that happened in the ’60s and ’50s. And so if we are not standing up for a fellow minority, then what are we doing in this country?” Sastry said.
In addition to Jacque, several other African American community members spoke at the event, including Detective Hakeem Smith. He said he was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago and has been working for the Barrington Police Department for five years.
He read a statement on behalf of the police department condemning “the heinous actions that led to George Floyd’s death” and said that officers who serve on the force in Barrington have zero tolerance for biased-based policing.
“As an African American man, it was honestly a very difficult video to watch because that could have been myself or someone close to my heart on the ground screaming I cannot breathe,” he said.
Student Emily Nakiganda read an emotional speech recalling the first time she learned of Trayvon Martin’s death as a child. The 17-year-old African American boy was shot dead in 2012 in Sanford, Fla. by George Zimmerman, who perceived Martin as a threat.
“Once we all decide to open our eyes and see the racism embedded in every system of our government, we can hold this country accountable,” she said. “By petitioning, protesting and voting, we speak for every single victim of lynching, everyone whose right to vote was stripped from them and every single person who felt victimized.”
Event organizers encouraged demonstrators to advocate for policy changes to combat the issue of police brutality, such as decreasing funding for big city police departments that engage in racial profiling and contacting the offices of U.S. senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth. The call to the two senators, both Democrats who represent Illinois, would be to tell them to support a resolution spearheaded by Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., that would “condemn all acts of police brutality, racial profiling, and the use of excessive and militarized force throughout the country.”
An 8-minute moment of silence was held during the demonstration Saturday to remember the amount of time that Chauvin pinned his knee to Floyd’s neck, which eventually led to his death. Most of the demonstrators kneeled on one knee during the moment of silence.
The program concluded with many chants, including one of the most common heard across the country lately: “Say his name.” Demonstrators also shouted out the names of African Americans killed by police or other white citizens unlawfully including Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, James Byrd Jr. and Emmett Till.
Kulsoom Khan is a freelancer.