About a hundred people gathered for a Black Lives Matter protest in Carson City on Saturday. The demonstration, which started rather small with a few protesters wielding signs, quickly gained momentum and ended up in a standoff against people who were eating on a nearby restaurant patio.
At about 10 a.m. demonstrators started trickling in. Soon, people lined South Carson Street in front of the Nevada State Legislature while others took up a corner across the street at West Fourth Street.
Local support was mixed. Passing motorists waved, honked, held a fist up in support, avoided eye contact or gave the protesters the middle finger. A handful of counter protesters gathered south of the main protest.
Carson City native Nejae Jackson has been attending the Carson City Black Lives Matter demonstrations regularly.
“Every Saturday we come out here,” Nejae Jackson said. “We still have a lot of hate, a lot of people driving by with Trump signs, a lot of people flipping us off, telling us to go back where we came from, but we are from here.”
The hate didn’t stop Nejae Jackson from attempting to have dialogue with a President Donald Trump supporter sporting an American Flag on his shoulder, who kept repeating, “All Lives Matter.”
“We didn’t say only Black lives matter. All lives matter, of course, but Black lives are the ones that are in danger right now,” she said. “Some people support Donald Trump, but they might not support every single thing that Donald Trump does. You might not support every single thing that Black Lives Matter does, or everything that Black Lives Matter says, but you know what we’re about. So, if you can’t support that, then you need to take a look within yourself and see what’s wrong with you.”
Conversations about defunding or reforming the police have been at the forefront of Black Lives Matter demonstrations, too.
“Police are not judge, jury and executioner,” Nejae Jackson said. “Their job is to bring people in, to seek justice. If they think something’s wrong, their job is to bring us in and to execute the laws within their authority. Right now, they’re abusing their authority. They are not judge, jury and executioner. They do not get to make these decisions.”
At one point during the protest, the demonstrators stood in the street and momentarily halted traffic. Law enforcement quickly moved in and redirected traffic to side streets and around the protest.
Then protesters fully gathered in the street, lying face down on the pavement with their hands behind their backs for eight minutes, which was roughly how long white police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis, killing him.
Najae Jackson has been demonstrating with her sister, Engageante Jackson, and their nephew, Daniel Johnson.
Engageante Jackson led some of the chants while demonstrators were lying down on hot asphalt. Protesters shouted, “I can’t breathe,” which were some of Floyd’s last words, and also chanted the names of other African Americans who have been murdered by the police.
Engageante Jackson also wants people to recognize that her life matters as a Black, gay woman.
“I would like people just to realize that my life matters, simple as that. I’m not saying it’s more important than anyone else’s, I’m just saying it matters,” Engageante Jackson said. “I can’t look at the TV and see another black man killed, or any other black person killed without thinking of my nephew, or my father or anybody in my family.”
Engageante Jackson wants to see drastic changes for law enforcement and has experienced police brutality herself.
“I’ve been at gunpoint two times by the police, and I’ve never had a criminal record,” Engageante Jackson said. “So, I think that the police need a lot of defunding. They need better training, implicit bias training. They need mental health checks. I think that stuff like that should happen year round so that the police officers are constantly with it.”
Another protester, Carson City resident Brittany Kindersmith, pointed to her sign that said, “Black Lives Matter,” and shouted at cars passing by to honk if they care about Black people.
“There are a lot of people driving by who are trying to act as if they cannot see that there are a hundred people out here with signs, and it’s frustrating for people to ignore it,” Kindersmith said. “I would almost rather the people that come by give us a thumbs down, or yell at us, but you can’t ignore the problem anymore. When the people are stopped at the light, then I go up next to their car and I just hold the sign there, and wait for them to look at me and do something.
“There was a man driving, and a woman in the front seat, and a child in the backseat who was probably close to 10. The dad would not look away from staring straight ahead, the woman looked at me, and then quickly got out her phone, and their child was in the backseat giving me a thumbs up. That’s the reason that I walk up to the cars because everyone in the vehicle might not feel the same as the driver,” Kindersmith added.
Black Lives Matter protests have swept across the United States every day for three consecutive weeks. The Carson City demonstration blossomed three Saturdays ago and started out with three white men, including Carson City resident Matthew Wilkie.
“I have gotten backlash from that: how dare you as three of my men start this. I think that is actually what needs to happen. I think that it needs to be the white man out here,” Wilkie said. “It is important for that open line of communication, too.”
Wilkie said the protests are strategically held at the state’s capital because he wants the demonstrations to send a message that there needs to be legislative change.
“We would like to see more community development, more resources to that, instead of over inflating, over militarizing the police,” Wilkie said. “I’m not saying that police don’t need to be there, because they are needed. However, when police are coming to peaceful things with riot gear downtown, or in tanks, things like that, is that needed? Is that appropriate use of money? When we have people down in Reno, and other places around here, they’re living in the streets, they’re being dispersed, they’re being broken up. I want to see true legislation for all the homeless people, Black people in America, LGBTQ. Legislation does not go towards minorities currently, and that’s what we would like to see, is actual legislation pushing for actual equality for all people.”
Addressing racism in smaller communities
Some demonstrators also strived to shine a light on racism that exists in northern Nevada, including in the state’s capital and Gardnerville.
Gardnerville resident Ari Cofresi said there’s value in having Black Lives Matter demonstrations in smaller cities.
There’s a lot of racism in Carson City, and, at the same time, there’s a lot of love.”
“I really wanted to come out here because I know that Carson is a small place, and I knew that it wouldn’t be as big as Reno,” Cofresi said. “The more people that come into the little towns, the better it’s going to be. This isn’t a large crowd, but it’s still making a difference. Going to the little towns is probably what would be the best idea because we know you can get a large crowd at the big cities, but the little ones like this, with the most racist people. The smaller towns, they need more reality.”
Cofresi said that Garnerville is not diverse. She also said this is the first protest she has been able to attend due to a hectic work schedule. She’s fired up and is demanding that her Black family members and friends are protected.
“There’s a lot of injustice that’s happening, and it’s been happening for a while, but it’s always been hidden,” Cofresi said. “Once Trump started coming out, everybody else thought that they were strong enough to come out and go against everybody. I have a lot of friends and family that are Black, along with Mexican. I’m out here because I want to support them because walking through the stores, I get dirty looks walking with my Black aunt and Black uncle.”
Other demonstrators, like Carson native Troy Izzi who said he called out of work to be at the protest, wants law enforcement in Carson City to be held accountable for their actions. He also wants their violations to be made available to the public.
“When people are arrested, when civilians and citizens are arrested, they’re put all over the newspaper,” Izzi said. “They’re put all over Carson Now, they’re put all over Facebook, but if a cop makes a mistake, we’re just not allowed to see it at all. We’re not allowed to make it known to the public that they did something wrong.
“Also, Derek Chauvin the police officer that killed George Floyd had 15 misconducts on his record. That is crazy. He should have never had more than two misconducts. After one misconduct, he should have had to be put on desk work for a year, heavily reprimanded. After two misconducts, you obviously do not have the temperament to be a civil officer, to be a peace officer of any sort,” Izzi said.
Izzi has been to the recent Black Lives Matter protests in Reno but agreed that there is importance in being present at the demonstration in Carson City.
“The reason we’re here today is because this group here needs people. They need bodies, and people within Carson City need to know that people do care and that change will be made, and that a race of people shouldn’t be targeted or made to feel completely alone in this world because they are not alone,” Izzi said. “You can see a lot of hate. A lot of people flipping us off, yelling, ‘Fuck you!’ There’s a lot of racism in Carson City, and, at the same time, there’s a lot of love.”
Protesters clash with counter-protesters, diners
After the protesters laid in the street, they made their way toward the intersection of South Carson and Fifth streets. Law enforcement were there redirecting traffic. As demonstrators began gathering at the intersection, Carson City Public Works pulled up in a truck and added barriers between the protesters and law enforcement.
The protesters shouted at the law enforcement from across the barrier to join them, and that their silence shows that they do not care about the Black Lives Matter movement. Law enforcement did not engage.
A little over a dozen protesters then made a loop through Carson City and ended up back at the Nevada State Legislative building, then made their way toward the handful of counter protesters.
About 20 Black Lives Matter protesters faced off with a few white men. Some people having lunch at restaurants directly across the street continued to eat while watching the events unfold.
The protesters began shouting at one man, who asked that his name not be published.
He said he was in the area because he’s protesting to reopen Nevada’s economy. He told This Is Reno that he had no idea a Black Lives Matter demonstration was happening, though he stood with others holding “All Lives Matter” signs and some sporting Trump merch.
Wilkie asked the man, “Can you be for reopening Nevada and pro Black lives?”
The man repeated that he believes all lives matter. The demonstrators shouted that he was racist.
“Your white privilege won’t even allow you to purse your lips to say, ‘Stop murdering Black people,” Nejae Jackson said to him while she raised her hand in the air and slapped the outside of her forearm.
The crowd went back and forth with the man and several others for nearly an hour before the counter-protesters gave up and crossed the street. The Black Lives Matter crowd cheered when the small group walked away, and people eating lunch across the way clapped for the counter-protesters like they were returning heroes.
Then, a man sitting at one of the tables shouted, “Heil Hitler!”
There was a moment of stillness, it took a second for the Black Lives Matter protesters to register what they had just heard.
Then protesters and people who were eating lunch outside at Mom & Pop’s Diner began shouting back and forth. One man who was sitting at a table closest to the sidewalk began egging the protesters on and telling them to say stuff to his face—and then the protesters crossed the street.
A little over a dozen protesters surrounded the man’s table, including Nejae Jackson. The man said he wasn’t going to hit a girl.
About 20 law enforcement officers already on standby nearby rushed over and formed a human wall around the man, facing the protesters. They told the protesters that they need to clear the area because it is private property.
Najae Jackson asked to speak to the sheriff; the officers refused. She then began shouting at the officers to cite her for trespassing if she is not allowed to be there; the officers did not.
Najae Jackson turned away from law enforcement and addressed the small crowd of protesters: “They abuse their authority to get us to do what they want us to do, but fuck that!”
The crowd and restaurant goers shouted back and forth. Those at the restaurant shouted that the protesters are the ones being hateful. One man with white skin said the crowd is racist for assuming that he is white.
One man shouted, “You’re ruining my lunch!”
The crowd argued with those sitting at the table that they do not care about Black lives.
Law enforcement remained silent for the most part, and did not let any protesters or restaurant goers cross the barrier they formed with their bodies.
The protesters stood alarmingly close to law enforcement officers, none of whom were wearing masks. One protester asked why not, an officer responded that it is personal preference.
The crowd and restaurant goers yelled at each other for about an hour, then everyone, law enforcement included, slowly left the area.
