In a week that saw five police officers killed in Dallas, and black men killed by police in Minnesota and Louisiana, approximately 300 people showed up for what turned out to be a peaceful rally in downtown Birmingham.
On a very warm Friday night at Kelly Ingram Park, people of different races, ethnicities and faiths called for justice, peace and unity. Some people came with signs to raise awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement. Others carried signs calling for an end to gun violence.
“This moment is not about anger, but it is about frustration,” said Birmingham City Council president Johnathan Austin. “It’s about frustration with a system that has continued to discriminate and allow black men and women in America to be discriminated against.”
Austin made note that he was speaking at the same park where large-scale demonstrations were held during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s — protests that changed America more than 50 years ago.
Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper spoke, and then the group marched about three blocks from the park to Birmingham Police Headquarters.
Black Lives Matter – Birmingham and the National Action Network organized the event.