Four hundred people turn out for Black Lives Matter protest in Fairfield

FAIRFIELD - About 400 people attended a Black Lives Matter protest Saturday evening in Fairfield's Central Park.

Fairfield became one of the latest cities to host a protest prompted by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. That day, onlookers recorded a video of Floyd being arrested by Minneapolis police officers, one of whom, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes. Floyd's death has set off a series of protests around the country and the world aimed at bringing attention to racism and police brutality.

Protesters in Fairfield held signs with the words 'Black Lives Matter,” 'No Justice, No Peace,” and 'I Can't Breathe,” the last of which was a phrase Floyd can be heard uttering on the video just before his death. Protesters marched throughout the downtown and listened to speakers, who addressed the crowd through a megaphone.

One of those speakers was Rafael Greene, a black man who grew up in Chicago and who now resides in Mt. Pleasant. Greene spoke about his own experience with racism, and related an incident in which an undercover police officer harassed him and a friend on their way to school when he was 12 years old. He said someone called police and reported a 'suspicious character” in the neighborhood.

'I'm very sure police targeted me because I'm black,” he told The Union. 'I don't think we were suspicious characters. There was no reason for them to detain us and interact with us the way they did.”

Greene said that the death of George Floyd was the 'straw that broke the camel's back” for him and many others, which is why thousands upon thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest. Some cities have seen arson and looting in the wake of protests, as well as acts of violence committed by police officers against peaceful protesters including journalists. There was nothing of that sort in Fairfield on Saturday night as the protests remained completely peaceful and police were not visible. Greene said he has friends who have protested in Iowa City, and they've been met by what he called 'aggressive force, tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bang grenades.”

'It's kind of scary to know that the police have been militarized to fight peaceful protesters and keep them from exercising their First Amendment rights,” Greene said.

Another of Saturday's speakers was Tahjia Brantley, a New Jersey native who is studying at Maharishi International University. She said that, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she felt an obligation to attend the rally. Brantley said nearly everyone at the rally was wearing a mask, and she wore one, too, except for the time she was speaking into the megaphone.

'I had to do my part,” she said. '[COVID-19] is kind of the least of my worries. I'm a black woman, so I feel like I lead a risky life just being black because someone could commit a hate crime against me. I felt I had a duty to speak out.”

Brantley brought a sign that read 'I am tired.” She said it referred to how it takes so much mental energy to go through life as a black person and having to deal with racism.

'I get tired of fighting. I just want to live my life,” she said.