Three Friends Take To The Streets of Downtown Fargo Demanding Change

The friends say they left the march feeling good after having conversations with Police Officers and City Officials.

FARGO, N.D.- “Death is a part of life, but being taken in another man’s hands…When he told him I couldn’t breathe, it hurt different,” says Johnson John, a protester. 

Kiir Mabor, Papee Paye and Johnson John are among those in the crowd, fighting for a cause they say is bigger than themselves. 

“Many people don’t think we have a voice, but like everyone’s individual voice matters. It all matters, because one person speaking on an issue, it becomes a domino effect. And then the next person speaks about somebody, and the next person speaks it,” says Kiir Mabor, a protester. 

“It’s important to come up, step up and speak for ourselves. We don’t want to be part of the statistics. Part of the black man that has died in the hands of cops,” says John.

The friends say they couldn’t bring themselves to finish watching the footage of George Floyd’s death. 

It hits too close to home. 

“What if that was my cousin? What if that was my brother? So, I just feel like, I just connected with that and I was just thinking like, it’s crazy, it’s crazy,” says Mabor. 

“My heart dropped. This is like, very disappointing. Because this is not 1963, this is 2020 and to see stuff like that happening is very disappointing. It’s like we take one step forward and 50 steps back,” says Papee Paye, a protester. 

But, doing today’s march, being surrounded by people from all ethnicities and religions gave them hope for what could lie ahead. 

“That’s just true unity. That’s how we should be. Just one, one race. The human race. That’s how it should be. It shouldn’t be  skin color and all that stuff. That’s just an illusion. Cause we’re all human beings in this world right now, trying to enjoy life,” says Mabor.