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Valley, nation rally for better race relations

Top 10 stories of 2020

WARREN — In the midst of an international pandemic, groups all over the country gathered to call for police accountability and an end to police brutality. In the Mahoning Valley, back-to-back rallies in Youngstown and Warren drew thousands.

Both rallies were predominantly peaceful, though they were passionate. Signs read, “No justice, no peace;” “Stop killing black people;” “We declare war on racism;” and “I can’t breathe!” — a reference to the May 25 death of George Floyd, 46, in custody of the Minneapolis police, the event that sparked international unrest.

YOUNGSTOWN

“I shouldn’t have to fear the people who should protect me. I won’t be satisfied until justice rolls,” Youngstown State University student and activist Kira Walker said during the May 31 rally.

A diverse crowd of elected officials, community leaders, students, activists marched from First Presbyterian Church on Wick Avenue to the Mahoning County Courthouse. Youngstown city police were present and kept streets blocked to traffic during the event.

Speakers at the 90-minute nonviolent rally focused on the issue of the problem of systemic racism and encouraged the city to work for racial justice and police accountability.

Later in the day Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown issued a citywide curfew for “mob action and other civil disobedience” after some protesters lingered into the evening. Sporadic reports indicated broken windows and police cruisers being surrounded.

Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene reported 12 arrests that night — 10 for violating curfew and two for assaulting a police officer.

Pastor Todd Johnson posted on his Facebook page that the evening events were not affiliated with the “beautiful, yet forceful collective call for justice that occurred earlier.”

SUBSEQUENT PROTESTS

The next day, a similar event in Warren kicked off at the amphitheater in Perkins Park. More than 1,000 people walked around Courthouse Square and to the Warren Police Department. Though participants in the “We Matter Rally” once or twice came face-to-face with rows of law enforcement officers stationed around the city, the event remained peaceful.

Protests continued locally and internationally throughout the month of June. Two subsequent events were held in Warren. During one event, protesters knelt outside the Trumbull County Courthouse for eight minutes and 46 seconds — the amount of time a police officer kneeled on a handcuffed Floyd’s neck.

The moment of silence was also for Matthew Burroughs, an unarmed Niles man who died after being shot by police outside his home in January 2019. Niles police said Burroughs appeared to be using his vehicle as a weapon; officers involved in the incident were not charged after an investigation.

In Liberty, protesters yelled, “Black Lives Matter, I won’t take it off,” at a rally outside Taco Bell on Belmont Avenue after an eight-year employee of the eatery was fired for refusing to take off a “Black Lives Matter” face mask.

A July event in Canfield pitted hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters against a group of pro-Trump counter-protesters across East Main Street (U.S. Route 422). The groups exchanged continual chants, but remained peaceful.

Though live protests died down locally and across the nation in the fall, many activists remained vocal on social media throughout the year, reminding the Valley that “black lives still matter.”

news@tribtoday.com

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