Peaceful protesters gathered Saturday in Hartford and Manchester to decry racism and police brutality, adding their voices to the continued outpouring of national anger over the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
State Treasurer Shawn T. Wooden, who grew up in Hartford’s North End but attended Manchester public schools, spoke at a demonstration of hundreds near the Manchester Police Department. He wore a shirt commemorating Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black youth lynched in Mississippi in 1955.
“As a black man in America, I’ve been fighting for a long time,” Wooden said, his voice breaking. “We cannot let this just be a moment, but a movement. This cannot just be something we do hashtags about, that we put press releases out about, that politicians like me stand up on stage and express our outrage and pain about. We have to turn this pain and outrage into purpose and opportunity.”
He urged the crowd to commit to ending police brutality, dismantling systematic racism and spreading equal economic and educational opportunities.
“My heart aches, but I also see hope,” he said.
In Hartford, a crowd of at least 1,000 demonstrators marched from Pope Park to the Capitol, chanting support for Black Lives Matter, the international movement against racism and violence toward people of color.
Across the state, protesters who called out Floyd’s name also chanted the name of Breonna Taylor, a black medical worker killed by police in her apartment in Louisville, Ky., and displayed photos of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was fatally shot in February while jogging in Brunswick, Ga. Two white men, a father and son, have been charged with murdering Arbery.
Unlike protests in other parts of the country, gatherings in Connecticut have been peaceful, though dozens were arrested in Waterbury last weekend after they congregated in city streets, blocking traffic, and refused to disperse. Marchers in recent protests have also blocked highways, including I-84 and I-95.
Marcus Gillespie, a Hartford resident, said he joined the city protest to show his support for the national effort that organized marches, rallies and other protests following Floyd’s death May 25. Gillespie, 25, recently graduated from Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville, Ga., with a degree in criminal justice.
“It needs to be done,” he said. “This has been going on a very, very long time.”
Protesters have called on state officials to establish a civilian oversight system that authorizes discipline and includes a police commission and civilian complaints office. Other demands include banning high-speed police chases and holding police departments liable for all traffic-related police killings, requiring the immediate release of body camera video to families affected by police use of deadly force, and repealing qualified immunity for police and prison officers that shields officials from personal liability unless they violated clear constitutional rights.
Above the blocks-long crowd of Hartford marchers was a sea of placards bearing messages denouncing racism, apathy, white supremacy and President Donald Trump.
The protest was watched by city police, State Police and Capitol Police. Park Terrace and Capitol Avenue were blocked to traffic as a slow-moving Hartford police car led the way for marchers to follow along the more than one-mile-long route from Pope Park to the Capitol.
In Manchester, hundreds of demonstrators rallied at the town hall and marched a mile in the heat to the Manchester Police Department, chanting “No justice, no peace.”
“We are tired. We are outraged. We are grieving. We’re grieving the loss of loved ones due to COVID-19 more than any other group in this country. We are grieving the loss of those who look like us because of police violence,” Manchester resident Rhonda Philbert said from the steps of the town hall.
Clynet Collins, 16, who attends Manchester High School, told the crowd that young people were joining the Black Lives Matter movement in full force.
“We’re done being told young people should stay out of politics. This is not a political issue; this is a human rights issue,” she said. “Saying ‘Black Lives Matter’ should not be controversial. … When I say ‘Black Lives Matter,’ the first word out of your mouth should not be ‘but …'”
A number of speakers made reference to Jose Soto, a 27-year-old who was shot and killed in the town on April 2 by a SWAT team made up of officers from Manchester and neighboring communities. They were attempting to take him into custody on a warrant for parole violation. Soto did not have a weapon, sources have told The Courant.
Anthony Vazquez, Soto’s stepfather, gave an emotional testimony outside of the police department, describing the anguish his family bears in the wake of Soto’s killing.
“When the pandemic starts, I remember they said, ‘Stay home, stay safe.’ We just got our son out of the streets, fed him, gave him some clothes because he just got out of the prison system. … He had no place to go, so we brought him home. And guess what? Not even home is safe,” he said. “They kill my stepson on my porch.”
Vazquez said that bullet holes remaining in his sofa and stairwell are constant reminders of the family’s grief and trauma.
In Hartford, the rally was marred briefly by an accidental meeting of Black Lives Matters protesters at the Bushnell Park side of the Capitol with a small crowd of demonstrators demanding an end to pandemic-induced business shutdowns ordered by Gov. Ned Lamont. A speaker behind a sign for CT Freedom Alliance made a passing reference to successful efforts earlier this year blocking Lamont’s proposals for highway tolls, a message that was not the focus of Black Lives Matters protesters who greeted the speaker with boos and name-calling.
The speaker’s comment that “all human lives matter,” a slogan seen as minimizing the dangers faced by black Americans, drew jeers. Black Lives Matter demonstrators then walked around the Capitol to the Capitol Avenue side where a similar rally had already begun on the steps of the state Supreme Court across the street.
Protesters vow that their efforts will continue long after the rallies are over.
“This cannot be a one-week thing,” Travis Terry, a Hartford resident and Clark Atlanta University student, told the crowd at the Capitol.
The numerous recent protests in Connecticut have caught the attention of local and state officials, some of whom have already promised specific reforms.
In New Britain, Mayor Erin Stewart has taken the first steps toward creating a civilian review board for its police force. Hartford’s city council is likewise considering creating an independent police review board. And state lawmakers have pledged to address police accountability in a special session of the legislature this summer. Proposals so far have included mandating the use of body cameras, stiffening penalties for officers found guilty of excessive use of force or changing state statute to further restrict when police officers can use deadly force.
Stephen Singer can be reached at ssinger@courant.com.
Eliza Fawcett can be reached at elfawcett@courant.com.
