Peaceful protesters gather

A number of people in the community gathered last Tuesday in solidarity to protest racism and police abuses in front of Walmart. The goal of a core group of people led by Shelby Kennedy was to have a peaceful protest.

“I thought it went wonderfully. Truly a peaceful protest and I’m so proud of everyone who showed up,” said Kennedy. Kennedy said before the event she received a lot of support, but that changed said Kennedy when, “a lot of people with a few choice words for us, a man across the street was waving an American flag and making obscene gestures towards us.”

That day there were honks for support and some in opposition. Jerry Barnes stopped in front of the demonstrators with his SUV for some time and came out and talked to some of the protesters and yelled “all lives matter.”

Barnes made a statement to the Journal-Sun.

“I disagree with what the few police officers did, but there are thousands of police officers that do their job well that shouldn’t be punished for what the others did wrong,” said Barnes.

Diana Casteel, a Douglassville resident who came out in support of the event said she was happy to see so many people involved.

“It’s time for a change,” Casteel said.

The goal of the protest according to Kennedy was for “people and citizens who all have chosen to come and let their voice be heard. This is our protest, to raise awareness of police brutality and the black lives matter movement, bring more awareness to the citizens of Atlanta and Cass County, put more laws in place to help protect against police brutality, and more police training.”

In order to try to provide a peaceful protest, Kennedy said she “posted on social media to make sure that people knew to keep it peaceful. We did contact the local police department to let them know this event is going on after we heard rumors of people coming to make this protest turn violent. I have faith in our attendees that we can keep this peaceful.”

Even with the hope of peace from the organizers, some area businesses including Walmart and Chicken Express decided to close their doors for the rest of the day in case there were any problems.

When asked her thoughts about the closures, Kennedy said,“I understand why they did it. They just wanted to stay safe also. I’m sure all the rumors shook them up a little bit.”

Atlanta Police Chief Robin Betts said he supports the right for people to protest peacefully and was pleased with how Kennedy communicated with local law enforcement.

Betts also said that they welcome the communication in the community and believes that is how many problems are resolved.

While on a ride-along with the Journal-Sun late last year, Betts drove through various neighborhoods explaining that he encourages the police officers to have relationships with everyone in the community, not just when there is trouble, but also through everyday life, so if there are altercations there is already relationships and trust built.

When Betts was asked to comment about what they are doing to avoid the problems currently facing police departments, nationally, he said that if and when there is an infraction, an “after-action review” is conducted by supervisors and their peers to the betterment of the entire department.

Betts said he welcomes input from the community as well.

The event started small but grew to about 50 people who lined up in the grass outside the Walmart parking lot along Highway 59.

Building on what she views as a successful demonstration, Kennedy plans on additional events down the road, “We do! We’ll be working on it soon and will be posting on social media once we have it worked out. We plan on talking to the mayor and city officials before we plan another protest.”