Pampa citizens meet peacefully to protest police brutality, show support for BLM movement

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Pampa locals met in Central Park on Sunday, June 1 at different times throughout the day to join the nationwide protest against police brutality following the the death of George Floyd while detained by former officer Derek Chauvin of Minneapolis Police Department. 

Cell phone video footage showing Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes as Floyd made statements such as “I can’t breathe,” and “you’re going to kill me,” surfaced on the internet last week- sparking outrage nationwide.

Chauvin was taken into police custody on Friday, May 29 and charged with third-degree manslaughter and murder following nearly four days of civil unrest in the city of Minneapolis with citizens demanding his arrest. His bail was set at $500,000.

The other three former officers involved in the incident have not been taken into custody or charged as authorities say they remain under investigation. Meanwhile, protesters continue to chant “No justice, no peace.”

Rioting and/or protests have been reported in almost every major city in the continental U.S. since the tragic incident, and it didn’t take long for smaller, more rural communities to join. 

Protests have taken place in almost every small town and city in the Panhandle so far, including Pampa, Borger, Lubbock, Amarillo and more. 

“I am a Black Queen raising a Black King- my son is raised to respect everyone,” said Pampa local Tiffany Williams. 

“It’s sad to think about my soon-to-be 16-year-old son having to go through this when he starts to drive and just walking down the street. 

“[I’m] not worried that he will get a ticket, but if he will come home. The thing I pray for is for him not running into an over-powering cop.

“Cops [aren’t supposed to] just take things into their own hands and get away with it. Our sons and brothers are dying.

“The penalty for [cops] acting like this should be to set higher standards [rather] than just a slap on the wrist, so that cops can see that this will not be tolerated,” she said. 

Williams commented on the rioting happening across the country.

“It’s like we knock on doors and they get slammed in our face. Now towns are burning up. It should have never come to this.

“The protest in Pampa was not about tearing things up or burning stuff up, it was more about understanding where we are coming from, sympathy for whats going on and the fact that this has been going on for years. We go to our social media and see back-to-back where different black people have been killed by a cop and it’s sad, we are hurt,” she said. 

That hurt echoes across the country in the hearts of Americans. It is often said that unruly and unstable behavior stems from trauma- and that trauma is reflected in the cities hardest-hit by rioting. While it is no excuse for intentionally hurting others or for those individuals who simply used the situation to bring home a new t.v., that trauma matters and should be addressed with change. 

It is important to not let the message be lost in the chaos. Racist police brutality should not be tolerated and should not be swept under the rug either. We Americans always rebuild and unite in the end. Right now, we need to take a hard look at our society and ask ourselves, “what can I do as an individual to inspire unity, love and respect?”