Powerful messages at Birmingham Floyd rally: ‘It happens here. We don’t feel little anymore’

For eight minutes, they jogged.

For eight minutes, they chanted.

For eight minutes, they battled searing June temperatures in a

Birmingham park to remember what happened on a Minneapolis street.

A diverse crowd of a few hundred gathered in the shadow of Birmingham’s Legion Field for a Saturday rally that culminated in a powerful act of sacrifice. With sporadic clouds providing little cover, the peaceful crowd jogged in place.

“I can’t breathe,” they chanted to remember the final words of George Floyd.

They went for eight minutes since that’s how long Floyd spent on the Minneapolis pavement under the boot of then-police officer Derek Chauvin. He died. Chauvin now sits in jail, charged with second-degree murder and Saturday’s rally on the west side of Birmingham was the latest in the worldwide movement demanding justice for the systemic ills that led up to Floyd’s murder.

Before the stationary jog, the mic was open to anyone after organizers from a group of young Birmingham residents. A corporate lawyer and a surgeon at UAB were among those who stepped up to spread the message.

A real estate agent who grew up in Walker County drew one of the strongest reactions. Luciana Guin wasn’t even planning on attending the protest and she certainly didn’t envision addressing the crowd when her niece Briana Guin convinced her to come along.

“I don’t have a problem talking,” Luciana Guin said in a brief interview following the rally. “What I have a problem with is sharing those intimate things that I was talking about. If this never happened and I didn’t see so many of my friends say ‘This doesn’t really happen here.’ No, it happens here. And it could very easily be one of your black friends that experiences this. You have to know how real it is and how close it is to everybody.”

Guin is tired of being told to keep quiet on these matters at the risk of losing business.

“Now, I’m like, if you don’t, you don’t,” she said. “If you do, you do. God is going to take care of me.”

At the podium, she told the story of her upbringing as the only black student in her Walker County class. She spoke about the pain and embarrassment of being racially profiled.

“The whole point in treating us this way is to belittle us,” she said in conclusion. “And we don’t feel little anymore.”

Other speakers touched on the value of supporting black-owned businesses, voting and contacting lawmakers who have the power to fix broken systems. Police kept their distance with marked cars on the perimeter of the protest while keeping uniformed officers away from the event.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.