Mediaboss Marketing

Today is theanniversary of Ada's seminalBlack Lives Matter rally and march.

As I prepared to cover this event, I had some vague ideas about how our Black Lives Matter march would play out, and felt like I was ready. In addition to my wide angle and telephoto zooms and my phone, I mounted an extra phone on the hot shoe of my wide angle camera for video, which worked pretty well.

A lot of journalists had been caught up in violence connected to those events, and my wife and a couple of coworkers were nervous about my presence, but I could already feel in the air that it was going to be a positive, peaceful, and meaningful event.

Of course, we waded through some rumors. Busses of white supremacists were supposedly on their way. A pickup full of people with guns was supposedly seen driving up and down Main Street. A sniper was supposedly spotted on a rooftop above the march. I didn't see any evidence of any of these things.

The march started at Ada's famous whittling tree, but as I explained this to my coworkers, they all seemed dumbfounded. Am I the old man who remembers stuff from back in the day? You can see the whittling tree in the early parts of the video I shot that day.

It was very hot and humid out. I wore shorts and my The Ada News shirt with PRESS on the back. As I worked, I would stop and make photos and video, then, because the march was moving at a fair pace, I would run a block and a half to catch up and get in front of it, and do the whole thing all over again. Despite the heat and being loaded with gear, including wearing a Rona mask, I was very pleased with how easy it was, and how quickly my heart rate went back to normal. I was 56 that day, so this is significant.

How I felt once it got going really took me by surprise:at one point during the march, with hundreds of human voices, many my friends, crying out in unison for justice, I felt like I was going to break down and cry. I had to take several long, deep breaths just to keep myself in the game.

It was also a moment of self-doubt: am I getting too old, too emotional, too vulnerable to do the job of news photographer? As journalists, we strive to be both connected to the events we cover, yet remain able to step back and see the situation from as many points of view as we can.

In the end, I found the experience to be one of the most moving and significant I have ever covered.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

Excerpt from:
Picture This: Black Lives Matter anniversary | Local News | theadanews.com - Theadanews

A Black Lives Matter rally is coming to North Hudson for the second year in a row tomorrow afternoon, an event organizers have been promoting for weeks.

By John Heinis/Hudson County View

The event is scheduled to begin at 79th Street and Bergenline Avenue at 12:00 noon Demonstrators will march in unison down Bergenline Avenue to an area near Celia Cruz Park in Union City.

HudPost founder James de los Santos, began working to organize the protest in partnership with prominent community leaders in an effort to create a space for Hudson County residents to support the Black Lives Matter movement and other issues affecting the North Hudson Community.

I hope that this demonstration serves as a model that cities are able to come together to enact real change when utilizing activism and effective community organizing. Last year, this event set the precedence of fostering meaningful relationships between local authorities and the community at large, he said in a statement.

Open dialogues were initiated and must continue in order to address and improve the community and how it is governed and policed. The residents of the North Hudson County region want to continue to see tangible changes in local policies and politics. This is just the beginning.

Dozens of community leaders are expected to make participate, including state Senator (D-33)/Union City Mayor Brian Stack, Progressive Democrats of Hudson County member Hector Oseguera, Black Men United Founder Nevin Perkins, Black Lives Matter representatives Kason Little and Zellie Thomas, CAIR New Jersey Executive Director Selaedin Maksut, and Dennis Febo of Amend the 13th NJ.

Furthermore, the organizations that helped organize the rally are the Hudson Partnership CMO, Amend the 13th New Jersey, American Muslims for Palestine, NJ-08 for Progress, Hudson Pride Center, ICNA Council for Social Justice, Black Men United Jersey City, Black Lives Matter Paterson, Elizabeth.

Go here to see the original:
Black Lives Matter rally coming to North Hudson for second year in a row tomorrow - Hudson County View

Posted: Jun 5, 2021 / 04:57 PM EDT / Updated: Jun 6, 2021 / 10:13 AM EDT

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) Fort Waynes ChangeMakers hosted a Protest Reunion celebration at the Allen County Courthouse on Saturday. The event marked one year since the Black Lives Matter protests downtown that were held in response to the murder of George Floyd.

This event is kind of like peaceful environment, said Slayla Marie, one of the hosts. And its a fun environment and its an environment where we can be like okay, this happened a year ago and it wasnt all that great, you know, we were protesting and fighting but today we can celebrate.'

This event was originally scheduled for May 28th but was rescheduled due to inclement weather. The organizers re-scheduled for June 5th, which would have been Breonna Taylors birthday.

We just want the community to know that there can be peace in the middle of a storm, said Julius Pressey, one of the speakers. Were in the middle of a storm of fighting for voting rights in America. Were fighting for our policing legislation. Its a battle, but in the middle of it, we can come together as a family and enjoy one another.

The Protest Reunion will took place on Saturday from 4:00-7:00 p.m. The organizers listed this as a family-friendly event and was hosted by Six 8, Slayla Marie and Tricey Lafaye. Other speakers that were listed include:

They also hosted a clothing drive by AlienNature Supply and passing out 300 free meals in partnership with Big Mommas Kitchen & Human Agricultural Cooperative for the Community Curbside BBQ Giveaway.

Read the original here:
Groups gather downtown to mark anniversary of George Floyd protests - WANE

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY On June 2, 2020, eight days after the murder of George Floyd, protesters occupied two full blocks of East End Avenue outside Gracie Mansion and held a silent vigil in memory of people killed by police. The following night, they returned.

Improbably, the vigils never stopped. On Wednesday, a few dozen people met in Carl Schurz Park, as they have done almost every night over the past 12 months, marking the one-year anniversary of the gatherings that became known as Upper East Side For Black Lives Matter (UES4BLM).

"It was just good to see that it's still going," said Saundrea Coleman, who attended the first vigil last year and later became one of the group's main organizers.

Along the way, organizers say they have driven meaningful change in a neighborhood hardly known for its protest scene even as they received harsh, sometimes violent resistance from others on the Upper East Side.

The vigils began when Patrick Bobilin, a neighborhood activist and onetime candidate for State Assembly, attended a similar event in Brooklyn's McCarren Park in the wake of Floyd's death last spring.

"I realized something like that could be valuable in my neighborhood," he recalled. "So I sent a couple messages out to a few neighbors."

The hundreds of people who attended that first night's vigil sat silently for a full 30 minutes before leading a "Black Lives Matter" chant and then dispersing ahead of the 8 p.m. curfew that the city had ordered.

In the ensuing weeks, attendance remained in the low hundreds, shrinking to a few dozen by the fall. Guest speakers ranged from the writer Maeve Higgins to the great granddaughter of Eleanor Bumpurs, an elderly Black woman who was fatally shot by police in her Bronx home in 1984.

In the depths of winter, five or six people braved the elements and shivered together in the park each night, Coleman recalled.

Since the protests' early days, however, participants have felt pushback. Hecklers occasionally walk up or drive past and shout profanities, threats of violence against protesters have appeared on social media, and the "altar" to victims of police violence that demonstrators constructed in the park is vandalized constantly including a recent night when it was smeared with feces, Coleman said.

Other antagonizing moments have included a baffling "No Protesting Allowed" sign that appeared in the park in October, and an incident in August when Coleman's cousin, visiting from California, was tackled to the ground by a stranger as she marched on the East River Esplanade.

Still, Coleman said the group's achievements carry more weight than the occasional hostility. She pointed to the formation in December of Community Board 8's social justice committee, which she co-chairs and which has pushed the board to call for major police reforms and accountability for the Capitol rioters.

"I think things are changing," Coleman said. "As long as people continue to speak out, speak truth to power, we're starting to look at all of these systemic issues that have plagued Black people."

Bobilin said he hopes the current organizers find new ways to engage their neighbors, to ensure that the vigil does not become "something that people either just pass by on their morning run, or try to avoid from 7 to 8 p.m. if they don't agree with it."

"My worry is that it becomes routine, whether for the neighborhood or for the attendees," he said.

Coleman said the group is already planning one major change: once UES4BLM reaches 400 consecutive days in July, it will cease to be a nightly event and will pivot instead to a Friday-Sunday schedule.

That reduction will give organizers more time to step back and consider the best ways to approach their work, Coleman said. But the underlying issues show no sign of going away.

"At the end of the day, Black people are still dying," she said.

Related coverage:

More:
UES Black Lives Matter Group Marks 1 Year Of Nightly Vigils - Upper East Side, NY Patch

The statue of Bristol slave-trader Edward Colston - toppled during a Black Lives Matter protest a year ago - is to go on display to the public from tomorrow.

The temporary exhibition in the city sees the statue scratched and still covered in spray paint - just as it was recovered from the bottom of Bristol Harbour, where it was dumped by protestors back in June 2020.

Shawn Sobers from the Bristol History Commission has helped the M-Shed Museum organise the display: "What we don't want people to feel is that this display is in any way celebrating, commemorating, or commiserating Colston as an individual.

"But it is an important part of the history of the city to really get an understanding of his role in trans-Atlantic slave trade, and how we can move beyond this point," he added.

The statue of the 17th century slave trader was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest less than two weeks after the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis.

It led to a national debate on the future of statues and the changing of other buildings and institutions in Bristol named after Colston.

The exhibition coincides with a new survey which will seek opinions from the public as to what should happen long-term to the statue and the now empty plinth.

"This display is all about gathering people's opinions on what should happen to the statue next," said Mr Sobers. "We feel this is an important moment and opportunity to find out how Bristol people want to go forward from this point onwards."

The statue lies on its side, still covered in graffiti, and surrounded by placards used by protesters on 7 June last year.

Ray Barnett, head of collections and archives for Bristol City Council, told Sky News work has been carried out to keep the protestor's paint work in place: "Our view was that our role was to keep all options open. From a museum point of view that was about conservation rather than restoration."

"We're expecting a great variety of reactions from people to be honest. We want people to use it as a vehicle for people to express their views on how these problematic issues are faced up to as a city," he added.

The toppling of the statue on 7 June last year divided opinion in Bristol - and reaction to the new exhibition remains mixed.

"Now that they've put it on display it's not a bad thing as it's an opportunity for people to educate the other people who come to visit to tell them what kind of guy he was - he built a school, okay, but he also did lots and lots of bad things," said Bristol local Farhap Oshref.

But another lady - who did not want to be named - said she wants the statue to be put back.

"It's been there for years, just leave it, put it back - why not? It's just been there, do you know what I mean, and if that was ours, and it is history gone by, I believe things have moved on," she said.

There is no set time frame for how long the exhibition will last, or when the public survey will close.

Mr Sobers told Sky News this initial display is simply about starting a conversation about the issues raised by the protest, the city's slave-trade history and the statue's toppling.

He said: "This display is by no means suggested that those issues have gone away, actually what we want is this display to do is think about and address it what are those issues going on.

"These very strong feelings in the city are still present and how can we start to have a conversation and what actions can we put in place."

Follow the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

More here:
Edward Colston: Bristol statue vandalised and toppled during Black Lives Matter protest goes on display - Sky News