Several hundred protesters gathered outside Springfield’s City Hall Monday, calling for fair treatment from police for blacks and Latinos.
Eutrina Holley of Springfield was one of the speakers.
“Black lives matter! Yes, I’m black and Puerto Rican. But it’s not just about Puerto Ricans today. It’s not about whites today. It’s about these black boys that are being killed,” Holley said. "Years ago they [were] hung in the trees. Now they’re being shot on the streets. We can’t go backwards.”
The rally follows the deadly shootings last week by police of two black men in Minnesota and Louisiana.
Several speakers at the event, including Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, also referenced the killings last week of five police officers in Texas,
“What we saw in Dallas is that there is blow-back from the violence of racism that will engulf us all,” said Stein, a doctor from Lexington, Massachusetts. “No one is safe. While black lives are endangered, everyone is endangered. We must ensure black lives matter.”
Several other speakers expressed horror at the Dallas attack, saying they mourn the murdered police officers while they mourn those killed in recent police shootings.
Springfield Police watched the speeches and held traffic for pedestrians crossing the street near the protest, outside City Hall. After the rally, protesters marched a little over a mile to the federal court building.
This report was originally published by NEPR.
