Neighbors unite for Black Lives Matter in Salisbury

A crowd formed on the lawn of Bowling Green Elementary School in Salisbury on June 10 shortly before a protest was scheduled to take place to protest police brutality and systemic racism. The group accumulated in size before two organizers addressed the crowd and a few hundred marchers took off, chanting and holding signs reading “Black Lives Matter,” “No Justice, No Peace,” and the names of black and brown people who were killed by police such as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and  Taylor McDade.

Protesters took a left on Stewart Avenue before marching alongside Eisenhower Park on Salisbury Park Drive and continuing the demonstration for over two hours.

Nearly one hundred protests like this have been happening across the country and several countries since George Floyd was killed in police custody in Minneapolis on Memorial Day, when a officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Janice Farias, 26, and Erik Galindo, 26, have attended a number of them throughout Brooklyn and Nassau County. They were in Salisbury walking through the crowd to hand out water bottles from a cooler.

Many of the group said they were from the neighborhood and some even attended Bowling Green Elementary School as children.  “It’s absolutely incredible,” said Rikki Hernandez, 21, of Westbury, when asked what it means to see such a local turn out. “My only complaint is that it’s long overdue.” 

Hernandez marched beside Amy Ventura, 21, and Michelle Lay, 23, who both added that they hope this adds to a movement that is covered in history textbooks one day.

In a similar sentiment, Kelsey Juarez, a Salisbury resident and history teacher in Brooklyn, held a sign on which she wrote a poem penned by one of her students. She said most of them are black or brown and she tasked them with writing a poem about Black Lives Matter.

“Racism lives everywhere, including the suburbs,” said Will Orellana, who marched with his wife Jennifer and their two children Lucas, 8, and Isabella, 4. Orellana said that such a protest brings attention to it, while demanding justice for those who were killed in police custody. “I don’t want my son to be the next one,” he added.