SARASOTA – Hundreds of protestors took to the streets on the Suncoast over the death of George Floyd on Memorial Day weekend.
In the city of Bradenton protestors gathered near the village of the arts. Loren Hanson helped organize the peaceful march. She says after seeing other protests in the state she wanted Bradenton residents to have opportunity to let their voices be heard.
“We have a large, large community of people of color in this city, and I feel they are large underrepresented,” Hanson. “And they are overly impacted by policing in this city.”
For Betty Rhodes these marches are personal. She says she was brought to tears after she saw the video of Floyds arrest that have sparked marches and riots across the country.
Rhodes says Floyd could’ve easily been any of her family members to die due to excessive force by an officer. “I have a son. I have eight grandsons, and one son. I’d really be destroyed if something happened to my son,” said Rhodes.
The protestors in Bradenton marched peacefully to the Manatee County Clerk of Circuit Court where they held a moment of silence for nine minutes, the amount of time the Floyds was held on the ground with the former officer’s knee on his neck.
In Sarasota protesters met at Payne Park and made their way into downtown. City of Sarasota mayor Jen Ahearn-Koch joined the protestor show her support and listen to her constituents about what changes they want to see in her city.
“My job is to listen and to advocate, and in order to advocate you have to understand where people are coming from and what they want,” Ahearn-Koch.
Though the protestors marched the streets of Sarasota peacefully calling for justice, a bystander clashed with them. One even began to rush a member of the SNN News Team, but Sarasota Police were there to de-escalate the situation before it got out of control.
No arrests were made and the call to action continued down Main Street.
As the protests bring attention to the controversial issue of excessive force used by police on minority groups, both SPD and the Bradenton Police Department blocked off streets and accompanied the protestors ensuring the violence seen across the nation doesn’t happen here on the Suncoast.
A recent study published by the Prison Policy Initiative reports African American men are about 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police over the life course than are white men.
