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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Vestavia Rally Justice for George Floyd
Demonstrators take a knee on the lawn at Vestavia Hills City Hall during a peaceful protest organized by Alabama Rally Against Injustice, Faith in Action Alabama and Alabama Arise to speak out against police brutality, racism and inequalities Friday, June 5, 2020. George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed Monday, May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd’s death has ignited conversations around police brutality as peaceful protests have continued in greater Birmingham, the state of Alabama, the United States, and around the world. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Vestavia Rally Justice for George Floyd
A couple of hundred people gathered on the lawn at Vestavia Hills City Hall for a peaceful protest organized by Alabama Rally Against Injustice, Faith in Action Alabama and Alabama Arise to speak out against police brutality, racism and inequalities Friday, June 5, 2020. George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed Monday, May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd’s death has ignited conversations around police brutality as peaceful protests have continued in greater Birmingham, the state of Alabama, the United States, and around the world. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Vestavia Rally Justice for George Floyd
Demonstrators run in place for close to 9-minutes during a peaceful protest organized by Alabama Rally Against Injustice, Faith in Action Alabama and Alabama Arise to speak out against police brutality, racism and inequalities in front of Vestavia Hills City Hall Friday, June 5, 2020. George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed Monday, May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd’s death has ignited conversations around police brutality as peaceful protests have continued in greater Birmingham, the state of Alabama, the United States, and around the world. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Vestavia Rally Justice for George Floyd
A couple of hundred people gathered on the lawn at Vestavia Hills City Hall for a peaceful protest organized by Alabama Rally Against Injustice, Faith in Action Alabama and Alabama Arise to speak out against police brutality, racism and inequalities Friday, June 5, 2020. George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed Monday, May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd’s death has ignited conversations around police brutality as peaceful protests have continued in greater Birmingham, the state of Alabama, the United States, and around the world. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Vestavia Rally Justice for George Floyd
A couple of hundred people gathered on the lawn at Vestavia Hills City Hall for a peaceful protest organized by Alabama Rally Against Injustice, Faith in Action Alabama and Alabama Arise to speak out against police brutality, racism and inequalities Friday, June 5, 2020. George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed Monday, May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd’s death has ignited conversations around police brutality as peaceful protests have continued in greater Birmingham, the state of Alabama, the United States, and around the world. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Vestavia Rally Justice for George Floyd
Demonstrators take a knee on the lawn at Vestavia Hills City Hall during a peaceful protest organized by Alabama Rally Against Injustice, Faith in Action Alabama and Alabama Arise to speak out against police brutality, racism and inequalities Friday, June 5, 2020. George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed Monday, May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd’s death has ignited conversations around police brutality as peaceful protests have continued in greater Birmingham, the state of Alabama, the United States, and around the world. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Vestavia Rally Justice for George Floyd
A couple of hundred people gathered on the lawn at Vestavia Hills City Hall for a peaceful protest organized by Alabama Rally Against Injustice, Faith in Action Alabama and Alabama Arise to speak out against police brutality, racism and inequalities Friday, June 5, 2020. George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed Monday, May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd’s death has ignited conversations around police brutality as peaceful protests have continued in greater Birmingham, the state of Alabama, the United States, and around the world. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Vestavia Rally Justice for George Floyd
A couple of hundred people gathered on the lawn at Vestavia Hills City Hall for a peaceful protest organized by Alabama Rally Against Injustice, Faith in Action Alabama and Alabama Arise to speak out against police brutality, racism and inequalities Friday, June 5, 2020. George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed Monday, May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd’s death has ignited conversations around police brutality as peaceful protests have continued in greater Birmingham, the state of Alabama, the United States, and around the world. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Vestavia Rally Justice for George Floyd
A couple of hundred people gathered on the lawn at Vestavia Hills City Hall for a peaceful protest organized by Alabama Rally Against Injustice, Faith in Action Alabama and Alabama Arise to speak out against police brutality, racism and inequalities Friday, June 5, 2020. George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed Monday, May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd’s death has ignited conversations around police brutality as peaceful protests have continued in greater Birmingham, the state of Alabama, the United States, and around the world. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Vestavia Rally Justice for George Floyd
Demonstrators take a knee on the lawn at Vestavia Hills City Hall during a peaceful protest organized by Alabama Rally Against Injustice, Faith in Action Alabama and Alabama Arise to speak out against police brutality, racism and inequalities Friday, June 5, 2020. George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed Monday, May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd’s death has ignited conversations around police brutality as peaceful protests have continued in greater Birmingham, the state of Alabama, the United States, and around the world. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Photo by Erin Nelson. Starnes Media
Vestavia Rally Justice for George Floyd
A couple of hundred people gathered on the lawn at Vestavia Hills City Hall for a peaceful protest organized by Alabama Rally Against Injustice, Faith in Action Alabama and Alabama Arise to speak out against police brutality, racism and inequalities Friday, June 5, 2020. George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed Monday, May 25 while in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd’s death has ignited conversations around police brutality as peaceful protests have continued in greater Birmingham, the state of Alabama, the United States, and around the world. Photo by Erin Nelson.
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Neal Embry Starnes Media
Protestors raise a fist in solidarity at a protest at Vestavia Hills City Hall on June 5.
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Neal Embry Starnes Media
Oni Williams with Alabama Faith in Action led a protest on June 5 at Vestavia Hills City Hall.
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Neal Embry Starnes Media
Protestors kneel at the Solidarity Protest for George Floyd at Vestavia Hills City Hall on June 5.
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Neal Embry Starnes Media
A large group gathered at Vestavia Hills City Hall on June 5 in a protest showing solidarity with others around the world protesting the death of George Floyd.
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Neal Embry Starnes Media
Sarah Kate Roberts, a Vestavia Hills resident, spoke at the protest held June 5 at Vestavia Hills City Hall.
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Neal Embry Starnes Media
DJ Curry, a Vestavia Hills resident, spoke at the protest held June 5 at Vestavia Hills City Hall.
Bridget Harris said she has done “everything right” in her life.
She’s graduated from college and law school and has become an accomplished lawyer. She, by any measure, is successful. But because of the color of her skin, there are still times, she said, that she still feels unequal.
“When we will all be equal?” Harris asked the crowd gathered at Vestavia Hills City Hall on Friday. “Why can’t we all be equal? I literally have the same heart. I have the same eyes.”
Harris said she has been “screaming” black lives matter since 2013, the year George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin after claiming he looked “suspicious.” Zimmerman served no time in prison for the murder of the teenager. It has taken seven years, Harris said, for her to see her white coworkers, organizations and worldwide corporations stand in solidarity with the black community.
Those gathered at City Hall were there in memory of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis police custody last week when an officer held his knee on his neck for almost nine minutes. Similar protests have been held around the area and around the world in the aftermath of Floyd’s death.
Friday’s protest saw the lawn and surrounding areas in front of City Hall packed full, an increase from a protest on Wednesday that had about 20 people attend. The event was peaceful, and no arrests were made.
There was a powerful, emotional conversation held later in the rally as an area resident admitted that while she was an officer in Miami in the 1980s, she pulled black people over for what is commonly referred to as “driving while black.” She said she was repenting and apologized to the crowd, and said we are all a “work in progress.” She said it has been hard for her to reckon with her mistakes.
A woman in the crowd responded to the woman by saying that she took an oath, and said if she was truly repentant, to ask her former brothers and sisters in law enforcement, who were gathered around City Hall, to take a knee with them.
“There’s nothing hard about not killing somebody,” the woman said, with tears streaming down her face. “There is nothing hard about signing an oath and protecting black lives. So, don’t you stand there and say this is hard for you.”
She said she never intended to hurt anyone with her words.
Oni Williams, with Faith in Action Alabama and one of the leaders of the protest, said she appreciated her words, but is asking her to reflect “a little deeper.”
“It’s not hard to understand who we are and what we are,” Williams said. “We’re people. We are not superheroes. We are not aliens. We are not some subset of something that has been discovered beyond the sea. We are people who have been birthed from the womb of our mothers and the groins of our fathers.
“We love you enough to tell you: You need to think a little bit deeper. You need to think a little bit further. You’re on your way,” Williams said.
Earlier in the protest, Williams asked the crowd to say the names of black men and women killed by law enforcement over the years. The crowd asked, “Which one?”
“If you have to ask me which one, that means there’s too many,” Williams said.
DJ Curry, a Vestavia resident, said he is scared when he leaves his house. Curry, who lives with a white family, said he has experienced being pulled over for “driving while black.” While driving through Walker County, he was pulled over. The officer told him he wasn’t doing anything wrong, and he just wanted to know where he was going, because he looked “suspicious.” Curry asked if it was because he was black, and the officer said, “Well, there aren’t really any black people this side of town.”
One speaker from Moody emphasized that being for black lives does not mean being against the lives of police officers. In Moody, Lt. Stephen Williams with Moody police was killed earlier this week, and the speaker called his death “heartbreaking.”
Another Vestavia resident, Sarah Kate Roberts, also spoke, urging people in the crowd to donate money to organizations like Alabama Arise, which is working on policy change in Montgomery to improve policing and community relations. Roberts said Vestavia is an affluent community and needs to “open our wallets.”
Keith Mims, a Hoover resident, said he has been profiled many times by the Hoover police. Mims said he has three sons, all of whom played sports at Spain Park High School and are now grown men, who have also been profiled.
“You get tired of it,” Mims said. “We’re tired of it! We’re tired of it! We’re tired of it, and it’s time for change! It’s time for change!”
Williams told the crowd, which seemed to be mostly white, to stand with them against injustice.
“We need our white allies to speak up in this moment,” Williams said. “Protest isn’t enough. ... We have been crying at the footsteps of justice for too long. Now, we're standing, and we're asking you stand with us."
Oni Williams speaking to crowd
Oni Williams with Faith in Action Alabama gives a passionate speech in front of Vestavia Hills City Hall on June 5.
