June 16, 2020 • 25 mins
A woman new to organizing decides to hold a small protest in her Connecticut town—and is moved to tears when she sees how many people show up to march alongside her.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
I'm Danny Shapiro, and this is the Way We Live Now.
Today is day since the word droplett has taken on
an ominous meaning, and day forty six of this podcast.
In the days following George Floyd's death, before the streets
of most cities and towns across America and across the
world were filled with protesters, a woman in Middletown, Connecticut
(00:30):
just had to do something. Erica Hunter contacted the police
and the mayor's office and put the word out that
she wanted to organize a peaceful protest and bring the
community together. More than a thousand people came from all
over the state. Rika Hunter is today's guest. Erica, thank
(00:53):
you so much for joining me to talk about the
way we live now. Thank you for having me describe
for us your current surroundings in as much detail as
you can. Muster. Well, I'm home, UM, A safe replace, UM,
quiet right now, UM. And I just got out of
(01:13):
work so relaxed my brain so I could be prepared
for you today. And what's what's worked for you? I
work for fair Haven Community Health Care. I'm a patient
access right so you know, during the whole COVID crisis,
the triage patients UM, we make appointments, We still prescriptions
(01:34):
for patients. UM. You also have behavioral health services numbers reservices,
so you know basically where where health care agency that
is UM very much part of the New Haven area
that's been around for years, that services thousands of patients HM.
(01:57):
That that has to have been a very intense jomb
to have last a bunch of months. It has been,
especially when you know, I contacted COVID. UM. My department
moved to another location, but I contacted COVID along with
some other members in my department, and since then we've
been actually working from home because obviously with social distance
(02:17):
and now it's kind of hard to have eleven people
that's in one department that doesn't have that much space,
but twelve deaths, you know, you can't really social distance.
So we've been making it work from home. Right. So
the reason why I really wanted to have you on
the show is that on MA you organized one of
(02:39):
the early protests following the death of George Floyd in Middletown, Connecticut.
And it came to my attention because my son goes
to college in Middletown, and you know, he called me
over and said, Mom, you've got to You've got to
see this. You've got to check this out. And from
what I understand, within twenty four hours from having decided
(03:01):
that you had to do this, you contacted the Middletown
police and you were joined by over a thousand peaceful
demonstrators from all over the state. Can you talk about
the impetus, like the moment where you realized, Oh, this
has to be done, Oh I have to do this. Um.
(03:25):
I was actually working that day and my son got
UM six, so I took him to the Minute Clinics
for him to get tested for COVID. On my way
back home, I was coming down Washington Street. There was
an older probably maybe early maybe late fifties, old early sixties,
older white man that was standing between Broad and Washington
(03:47):
Street holding as Sionis said justice for George George Floyd.
So I beat my horn like okay, yeah, I support this.
It took me about maybe six seven minutes to get home,
and I got six to my stomach. I was like,
it was this man standing the other by himself, and
nobody that looks like me or or my people that
are that like George Bloyd is out here holding this sign,
and I felt like I needed to do more, and
(04:10):
I pondered the idea all day and then about seven
thirty eight o'clock that night, UM, I contacted one of
my friends, UM, who was close to one of the
captains at the police department, to find out how can
I go about doing this? He sent all the criteria
to text and told me what I needed to do.
He told me to contact the Middletown Police Department speak
(04:32):
to the death sergeant or the supervisor on duty. And
that's what I did, UM, And it was a goal
from there. When you initially contacted the police department, was
this request, UM, you know something that he sort of
received easily and felt good about or was it? Was
it challenging at all at the beginning? Well, the very
first person I answered the phone, UM I, I think
(04:54):
he probably didn't know which way to go with the call. UM.
So I was on hold for several minutes, and then
someone else came to the phone and UM, I explained
what I was wanting to do, and UM then I
talked to that police officer for a probably about ten
fifteen minutes, and then I was given a call from
(05:16):
another UM officer going into more detail because they wanted
to know, you know, why would you want to stop
in front of the police department. And my basic response
was because you know, these are the concerns with the people,
and you know there's been issues in Middletown that there's
(05:37):
probably been people felt that they were social injustices. I
mean there's been social injustices everywhere. But going to the
Middletown green on that day wasn't what was necessary stopping
in from the police station, but also letting the community
know that listen, these police officers here, they didn't have
their their knee on George Floyd's net. There's no perfect department,
(06:00):
there's no perfect organization, there's no perfect association, and there's
no perfect family. And I'm not gonna use that term
bad apples because we've heard that um crazy, UM. We
are going to say that um now nowadays, now we
are using the term we start. We need them to
start holding their colleagues accountable. So if you see something
(06:24):
that it's like they tell us, if you see something,
say something, if you see something, you need to do something.
And we just need to let them know that. Listen.
In order for us to brush this gap back to trust.
We need their support and we didn't need their support.
They supported me fully in that march. They marched beside us,
they marched behind us, that they lead the way, They
(06:45):
cleared the street for us. We were supposed to have
the sidewalk. They called me all day, GI, you know
how many people are gonna have? I said, I don't know,
nothink like maybe one d two hundred people. Then I
got another call, you know how many people are gonna have?
Like like, I don't know if it's build a momentum
as said, it has been shared thirty eight times. Never
written in my life that I ever think that there's
going to be like a thousand people out there. I
kept I saw the mask when I stood in front
(07:07):
of everybody to begin the march, and I really started
to cry. And it was heart warm in that twenty
two hours of not even rule full effort, but the
fact that both many people came together because and I'm
hoping that of them were out there for the right
reason and not just being out there just to be
a part of something, but because they want change. Yeah,
(07:29):
and you're very active Facebook page on I scrolled back
and you posted welp, the mayor's office just called me
and they and they will be marching with us. Well,
I mean, how how did that feel. One of the
(07:50):
things that I think is extraordinary about this and about
this moment in time that we're in, um, but in
in your story, is how just utterly grassroots organic this
was that in less than twenty four hours, a small city,
which I guess Middletown would classify as a small city,
(08:13):
was mobilized. I mean like came together. Um. And when
I when I read you know what what you just
said that the police decided not to give you the sidewalk,
but instead to devote the entire street all the way
down this sort of wide street in Middletown with businesses
on both sides, and two, um, you know, to just
(08:37):
honor and respect this process and be a part of it. Yeah.
I'm getting goosebumps as you're talking about that, because it
didn't make a difference that, you know, we couldn't do
the sidewalks anyway too much because of the fact that
little towns. Everybody knows little town is like a local restaurant.
Main Street Middletown is nothing but restaurants. So there's a
(08:58):
lot of outside eating and that was one of my concerns.
And then and they're like, okay, we're gonna give you
the two um northbound lanes on Main Street. So they
were actually figuring out amongst each other. So I got
the call from the mayor first that he was going
to be participating and that they were gonna bring out
mass and pass them out to people. Then right after that,
I got the call from Chief McKenna and he was like,
(09:21):
you know, I want to be out there and I'm
gonna come up out there and speak, but I need
you to work with me to make sure you know
that this is not an an open form for people
to start bashing me. And I made that pretty clear.
There was a young lady that before we started marching,
she had a sign that said slatter of the pig
and I, um, I was not happy with that. It
(09:44):
was brought to my attention that she had it. I
politely went over there and I did in front of her,
and she was facing the police, pulling the sign and um,
it says slotter of the pigs, and I said, I
just looked at her and she said what my sign.
I was like, yeah, I said this protest is not
about that. I said, we all know that the pig
slang is um cops. It's like, you know, it's per pig.
(10:06):
Pig is just playing it's per cops. I said, we
need you to not march with that sign, and she said,
but this is not I said, no, after that sign,
it's not gonna be a part of this protest. I said,
you can do your own present protests separately if you
feel like. That said, but you will not be a
part of this protest at that sign. That's not what
this is about. So I guess during the approach he
(10:27):
had it down because the people were watching. And then
you know, as we got down to the front of
the police station, she was one of the ones that
you know, escalated a little situation while the mayor was speaking.
And I tried to, you know, diffuse that because I
told the mayor to hold on. It's like I'm such
a tape charge person at time. It's like I forgot
I'll talking to the mayor. I was like, hold on
this the mayor and I said, we're not here for that.
(10:47):
So I think that I've let the protesters that came
there for a peaceful demonstration and for situations to be heard.
I think they felt a little bit at ease that
I actually had a little bit of the crowd control
just by myself. How did you know how to do that?
That's just been my nature. You know, my family, my
(11:09):
mother had seven brothers and my mother is a was
very firm I come from two very firm, strong families.
So it's always been like I've always been a captain
of something. Um, I've always been in charge of something,
So leadership kind of comes naturally to me. And I
also have learned in my seasoned years how to diffuse
(11:30):
situations without trying to escalate it. At the same time,
you have to be able to diffuse it and not
escalate it. And at that moment, I knew that we
weren't there for that, and I wasn't going to allow
anybody to ruin the moment that we were there to
one march for George Floyd, but also for all the
other injustices that have been done to black and brown
(11:53):
people across this nation. What was the highlight of that
day for you? Dr connor Um His speech was powerful.
At those short he made an impact because, like he said,
he's the superintendent of schools. It doesn't matter if he's
in the suit or not. He still has to worry
sometimes whether his education or not, he still has to
(12:15):
worry because of the color of his skin if he's
going to make it home to his children. Um. The
other highlights would probably be the young lady that I
that I let come up to speak. Her neigh was Nashari.
You know, I felt after looking back at the video
a couple of times I felt compelled to apologize to
(12:36):
her because I I've spoken to her almost every other
day since the March. Since then, and um, this young
lady is a political science major. Um, she's got a
U minor and creative writing. And when she was in
the crowd when someone when I called Quentin fit stuff,
she was spitting out different bits of knowledge and I'm like,
she sounds like me. But at nineteen years old and
(12:59):
going on to her junior year at Southern, I was like,
she needs this platform because when I was nineteen, we
really didn't have a platform. But this generation is different.
They're speaking out there, being more involved. So she came
in and although her her um, her language at that
time was you know, full of curse words. And I
(13:21):
spoke to her about that. I felt wrong because I
felt like I chastised her and I shouldn't have because
the moment wasn't for that for her to feel like
she had to be silent. So I did apologize to
her later on for her feeling that she couldn't really
get it off her chest where she wanted to. But
her point was made in very clear. Because I've gotten
a lot of feedback like who was that passionate young lady,
(13:42):
and because I knew what she was really trying to
do and say, and a lot of the things that
she knew that were saying. I've been studying for a
couple of years. I was very proud of her, and
I had just met her, but I know that she
was the minority student coalition president when she was at
Mildasong High School and that she wants to be a lawyer,
and I'm like, this is what's going to be leading
(14:03):
our future in twenty years. So I was happy for her.
And then probably the fact that Bare Floor Shine, even
after the megaphone was gone, he stood in the circle
amongst the crowd and was taken heat. Not being surrounded
by police officers are being protected. He stood in that
circle and allowed questions to be asked to him. And
(14:27):
he didn't shy away from answering those questions. And he said,
you know what, I'm gonna have to get these answers,
get answers for you. And he dried. He answered these
questions the best that he could. He could easily walked
away and said, hey, I'm done, he didn't. He stood
there basically in the pit fire and allowed these different
people to ask him questions. So I think that that's
(14:48):
that made me look at him differently as far. I
was like, you know, he's not here just for politics.
He's here for change, and it strikes me to to that.
Then being able to witness all of that and see it,
um allows for the possibility of more open dialogue, you know,
(15:11):
more more connection, more change in the future because some
some barriers you know, came down he did. I also
noticed on your Facebook page that you are organizing another march.
I am for June Tea. So now that you have
(15:32):
had this really successful and you know, it's a strange
thing to say, it was a really successful protest and
you know, beautiful and meaningful. Um, how do you do
it again? Or how do you move to this next one,
what are you imagining? This one is definitely going to
stay within the Black Lives Matter movement. However, UM, it's
(15:56):
going to focus. Uh, the main focus on this is
we're gonna be UM June Team one hundred five years later?
Where are we now? And I'm gonna want the speaker
that's going to speak about June Team to UM to
expound on you know, what is the difference between June
(16:18):
eighteen sixty five to June. Um. We're still fighting some
of this. I mean, although we have more people that
are educated, education is you know, easier for us to get. However,
there's still fights we are fighting. UM. We see that
social injustices and racism isn't going anywhere, but it's putting
(16:41):
on new faces and the fact that you know, we
we still have a fight ahead of us. Like there's
people that were put into the position, UM, that were
knowingly racists, that have prevented and stifled people of color
for many years, and that needs to be brought to
the forefront as well, Like you know, blacks getting higher
(17:04):
UM sentences as opposed to white. I was reading something
the other day that there was a case out of
Florida two two gentlemen, one nineteen year old white male,
twenty one year old black male, same exact prime a
couple of months apart, same exact judge sentenced them, and
(17:24):
they had I guess Slorida goes by a point system.
They both had one D and thirty eight point two points.
They both had guns. They would both did this. It
was both libberries, exact same charges, nothing different on them.
The young white male he got time served, he was
less than two years. The black mail was sentenced to
twenty six years. There was nothing different about their cases.
(17:47):
And it's been said that this judge has looked at
you know, has always given harsher penalties to blackmails. And
this is something that has to stop because there's people
that haven't been knowingly put into office. Let's be honest,
their crime needs to stop happening. However, if it does,
when it does happen, the penalties aren't the same. It
(18:10):
is definitely not the same. There's like Michael Vicks or
more time for killing a dog than somebody that's raped
women or molested children. And you look at stuff like that,
like how does this happen? There needs to be a
universal law system, Like I don't I really don't think
that each state should have different laws because each judge
(18:32):
that sits on that bench, they're all putting their hand
on that viable and taking an oath to, you know,
make the right decisions to do this, to do that,
as some of them are not. They were put into
office knowing that they have a different agenda on your mind,
and that they were racists. We're not in the gym
pro South anymore. And and it's not fair. That's why
(18:55):
I keep on referring to this moment as a reckoning,
because it really does feel like the stories that you
are describing, Um, they are happening and happening and happening
and have happened, and you know it's it's time and
it's past way past time. UM. But it's it's amazing
to see what's happening now that truly feels like it
(19:18):
is something that is changing and is not going to
go back to the status quo. It's not going to
go back to the way it was. Um. Or so
I hope and pray. Two last questions, So in terms
of the next protest, you know, things are even more
intense now than they were on How do you imagine
(19:38):
being able to have the same kind of peaceful we're
all in this together, you know, vibe that that that
that first march really had. Well, I think that since
the last March, you know, accountability have happened. Um, We've
seen it really across in different stage accostination as far
as officers holding or other holes and other officers accountable. Um,
(20:03):
we've seen immediate firing. Um, you've seen um obviously the
the arrest of the officers, but now you know the
other three have been released, but things are actually being
re reinvestigated. So I think with everything that has been sparking,
not saying that everything is immediately changing, but now we're
(20:27):
looking at hopefully every police department, every state will adopt
accountability laws. Like if you are a part of something
and you see your fellow officer using accessive for us
and you don't stop it, you're just blame no no more.
I don't think the police. The problem sometimes I feel is,
I mean, I've been a part of I'm a Union child,
(20:48):
my mother was a Union in the Union, my dad
was in the Union. I've been in the Union and
the unions they're definitely to protect you. Um. However, I
think that your needs to be some type of protocol
or outline for when these police unions actually go to
represent certain individuals. Um, Derek Schouman shouldn't have been a
police officer to officers involved shooting, there's no way that
(21:10):
he was an officer. Still, he shouldn't have been there.
He should have been fired a long time ago. So
there's gotta be some type of reform when it comes
to that. And I'm dying for us to live in
a society we're judged by the content of our character
and not by the color of our skin. And people
always laugh at me and say that because I'm gonna
make a joke. You know, I'm I'm very light skin,
(21:33):
I'm fair skin, but I still have gone through racism.
Um I used to be and stales that Ray weren't
planning again. And I remember um trying to sell furniture
two away couple, Um, a couple of a couple of
different times, and they were so stand office to me.
(21:53):
It's almost like they gave me like the Heisman trophy,
move like don't come near me. So what we have
that my plan again was called a teal, which is
called team opportunity. So if you feel like you're not
getting anywhere with that prospect. Come into the door for
any reason. You try to give the team opportunity to
one of your other um colleagues that might be able
(22:15):
to close the deal for you. And I did, and
I t owed it to a gentleman. He was like
in this sixteen He was a white man, used to
be a teacher, and he closed the fourteen thousand dollars deal.
I'd rather have half of something than all of nothing.
If I would have stood there and try to make
them feel uncomfortable because they didn't want to work with
me because I was black. But they shouldn't have felt
(22:36):
uncomfortable because I was black. I was a black woman
in a suit, in a professional attire, but yet they
didn't want me to help them pick out the furnishings
for their homes. So I I gone through that. You
know myself, and I'm fine with it because I know
my strength. I know who I am, I know what
my parents how they raised me to be. But I
(22:58):
also know that I've learned a lot on my own
things that my parents didn't learn or didn't teach me
because they weren't really that type of individual. I'm much
more outspoken and outgoing. There both of them like I'm
the one that will jump out of a plane and
can survive anywhere, because I'm almost like a jack of
(23:18):
all trade. But my mom she's more content in her
atmosphere where I'm much more of the person as like
a free spirit. That's that's what she would like to
call on me. Well, you know, it's funny because I
was going to ask you as my last question, what's
bringing you hope? But I feel like you've answered it. Um.
There's there's so much that's hopeful in what you're saying.
You know, that's that's real and true and powerful, but
(23:41):
that is really hopeful as we continue to move forward
during these times. Erica, thank you so much for talking
to me. I blown away by what you're accomplishing. And
it's just such a great story of what one person
can do by planting that seed, by starting and and
and then look what happens. Thank you And if anybody
(24:02):
UM ends up listening to this. The march is June nineteen.
We're gonna be marching from ro Powell Avenue to the
South Green in Middletown. There's going to be keynote speakers
from across the state. We have some state representatives there
may or will be speaking um plint and fit um.
We're still working on a program, but this is definitely
(24:22):
having an agenda that we are not collatible damage for
the war on racism, or for the war on inequality,
for the war on oppression, or for the war on
specimic and social injustice. We just want to be treated equally,
to be treated fairly, and to really put it in
to all of this police brutality against the people of color,
(24:47):
beautifully put. Thank you, thank you so much. All right, well,
thanks for listening to the Way We Live Now. Tell
the way you're living now. We want to hear call
us on. You might want to a pen for this
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(25:10):
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We Live Now Pod. We are creating a community here
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can find me on Instagram at Danny Ryder. The Way
(25:32):
We Live Now is a production of I Heart Radio.
It's produced by a low brulante. Bethan Macaluso is executive producer.
Special thanks to Tristan McNeil and Tyler Klang. For more
podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Danny Shapiro, and this is the Way We Live Now.
Today is day since the word droplett has taken on
an ominous meaning, and day forty six of this podcast.
In the days following George Floyd's death, before the streets
of most cities and towns across America and across the
world were filled with protesters, a woman in Middletown, Connecticut
(00:30):
just had to do something. Erica Hunter contacted the police
and the mayor's office and put the word out that
she wanted to organize a peaceful protest and bring the
community together. More than a thousand people came from all
over the state. Rika Hunter is today's guest. Erica, thank
(00:53):
you so much for joining me to talk about the
way we live now. Thank you for having me describe
for us your current surroundings in as much detail as
you can. Muster. Well, I'm home, UM, A safe replace, UM,
quiet right now, UM. And I just got out of
(01:13):
work so relaxed my brain so I could be prepared
for you today. And what's what's worked for you? I
work for fair Haven Community Health Care. I'm a patient
access right so you know, during the whole COVID crisis,
the triage patients UM, we make appointments, We still prescriptions
(01:34):
for patients. UM. You also have behavioral health services numbers reservices,
so you know basically where where health care agency that
is UM very much part of the New Haven area
that's been around for years, that services thousands of patients HM.
(01:57):
That that has to have been a very intense jomb
to have last a bunch of months. It has been,
especially when you know, I contacted COVID. UM. My department
moved to another location, but I contacted COVID along with
some other members in my department, and since then we've
been actually working from home because obviously with social distance
(02:17):
and now it's kind of hard to have eleven people
that's in one department that doesn't have that much space,
but twelve deaths, you know, you can't really social distance.
So we've been making it work from home. Right. So
the reason why I really wanted to have you on
the show is that on MA you organized one of
(02:39):
the early protests following the death of George Floyd in Middletown, Connecticut.
And it came to my attention because my son goes
to college in Middletown, and you know, he called me
over and said, Mom, you've got to You've got to
see this. You've got to check this out. And from
what I understand, within twenty four hours from having decided
(03:01):
that you had to do this, you contacted the Middletown
police and you were joined by over a thousand peaceful
demonstrators from all over the state. Can you talk about
the impetus, like the moment where you realized, Oh, this
has to be done, Oh I have to do this. Um.
(03:25):
I was actually working that day and my son got
UM six, so I took him to the Minute Clinics
for him to get tested for COVID. On my way
back home, I was coming down Washington Street. There was
an older probably maybe early maybe late fifties, old early sixties,
older white man that was standing between Broad and Washington
(03:47):
Street holding as Sionis said justice for George George Floyd.
So I beat my horn like okay, yeah, I support this.
It took me about maybe six seven minutes to get home,
and I got six to my stomach. I was like,
it was this man standing the other by himself, and
nobody that looks like me or or my people that
are that like George Bloyd is out here holding this sign,
and I felt like I needed to do more, and
(04:10):
I pondered the idea all day and then about seven
thirty eight o'clock that night, UM, I contacted one of
my friends, UM, who was close to one of the
captains at the police department, to find out how can
I go about doing this? He sent all the criteria
to text and told me what I needed to do.
He told me to contact the Middletown Police Department speak
(04:32):
to the death sergeant or the supervisor on duty. And
that's what I did, UM, And it was a goal
from there. When you initially contacted the police department, was
this request, UM, you know something that he sort of
received easily and felt good about or was it? Was
it challenging at all at the beginning? Well, the very
first person I answered the phone, UM I, I think
(04:54):
he probably didn't know which way to go with the call. UM.
So I was on hold for several minutes, and then
someone else came to the phone and UM, I explained
what I was wanting to do, and UM then I
talked to that police officer for a probably about ten
fifteen minutes, and then I was given a call from
(05:16):
another UM officer going into more detail because they wanted
to know, you know, why would you want to stop
in front of the police department. And my basic response
was because you know, these are the concerns with the people,
and you know there's been issues in Middletown that there's
(05:37):
probably been people felt that they were social injustices. I
mean there's been social injustices everywhere. But going to the
Middletown green on that day wasn't what was necessary stopping
in from the police station, but also letting the community
know that listen, these police officers here, they didn't have
their their knee on George Floyd's net. There's no perfect department,
(06:00):
there's no perfect organization, there's no perfect association, and there's
no perfect family. And I'm not gonna use that term
bad apples because we've heard that um crazy, UM. We
are going to say that um now nowadays, now we
are using the term we start. We need them to
start holding their colleagues accountable. So if you see something
(06:24):
that it's like they tell us, if you see something,
say something, if you see something, you need to do something.
And we just need to let them know that. Listen.
In order for us to brush this gap back to trust.
We need their support and we didn't need their support.
They supported me fully in that march. They marched beside us,
they marched behind us, that they lead the way, They
(06:45):
cleared the street for us. We were supposed to have
the sidewalk. They called me all day, GI, you know
how many people are gonna have? I said, I don't know,
nothink like maybe one d two hundred people. Then I
got another call, you know how many people are gonna have?
Like like, I don't know if it's build a momentum
as said, it has been shared thirty eight times. Never
written in my life that I ever think that there's
going to be like a thousand people out there. I
kept I saw the mask when I stood in front
(07:07):
of everybody to begin the march, and I really started
to cry. And it was heart warm in that twenty
two hours of not even rule full effort, but the
fact that both many people came together because and I'm
hoping that of them were out there for the right
reason and not just being out there just to be
a part of something, but because they want change. Yeah,
(07:29):
and you're very active Facebook page on I scrolled back
and you posted welp, the mayor's office just called me
and they and they will be marching with us. Well,
I mean, how how did that feel. One of the
(07:50):
things that I think is extraordinary about this and about
this moment in time that we're in, um, but in
in your story, is how just utterly grassroots organic this
was that in less than twenty four hours, a small city,
which I guess Middletown would classify as a small city,
(08:13):
was mobilized. I mean like came together. Um. And when
I when I read you know what what you just
said that the police decided not to give you the sidewalk,
but instead to devote the entire street all the way
down this sort of wide street in Middletown with businesses
on both sides, and two, um, you know, to just
(08:37):
honor and respect this process and be a part of it. Yeah.
I'm getting goosebumps as you're talking about that, because it
didn't make a difference that, you know, we couldn't do
the sidewalks anyway too much because of the fact that
little towns. Everybody knows little town is like a local restaurant.
Main Street Middletown is nothing but restaurants. So there's a
(08:58):
lot of outside eating and that was one of my concerns.
And then and they're like, okay, we're gonna give you
the two um northbound lanes on Main Street. So they
were actually figuring out amongst each other. So I got
the call from the mayor first that he was going
to be participating and that they were gonna bring out
mass and pass them out to people. Then right after that,
I got the call from Chief McKenna and he was like,
(09:21):
you know, I want to be out there and I'm
gonna come up out there and speak, but I need
you to work with me to make sure you know
that this is not an an open form for people
to start bashing me. And I made that pretty clear.
There was a young lady that before we started marching,
she had a sign that said slatter of the pig
and I, um, I was not happy with that. It
(09:44):
was brought to my attention that she had it. I
politely went over there and I did in front of her,
and she was facing the police, pulling the sign and um,
it says slotter of the pigs, and I said, I
just looked at her and she said what my sign.
I was like, yeah, I said this protest is not
about that. I said, we all know that the pig
slang is um cops. It's like, you know, it's per pig.
(10:06):
Pig is just playing it's per cops. I said, we
need you to not march with that sign, and she said,
but this is not I said, no, after that sign,
it's not gonna be a part of this protest. I said,
you can do your own present protests separately if you
feel like. That said, but you will not be a
part of this protest at that sign. That's not what
this is about. So I guess during the approach he
(10:27):
had it down because the people were watching. And then
you know, as we got down to the front of
the police station, she was one of the ones that
you know, escalated a little situation while the mayor was speaking.
And I tried to, you know, diffuse that because I
told the mayor to hold on. It's like I'm such
a tape charge person at time. It's like I forgot
I'll talking to the mayor. I was like, hold on
this the mayor and I said, we're not here for that.
(10:47):
So I think that I've let the protesters that came
there for a peaceful demonstration and for situations to be heard.
I think they felt a little bit at ease that
I actually had a little bit of the crowd control
just by myself. How did you know how to do that?
That's just been my nature. You know, my family, my
(11:09):
mother had seven brothers and my mother is a was
very firm I come from two very firm, strong families.
So it's always been like I've always been a captain
of something. Um, I've always been in charge of something,
So leadership kind of comes naturally to me. And I
also have learned in my seasoned years how to diffuse
(11:30):
situations without trying to escalate it. At the same time,
you have to be able to diffuse it and not
escalate it. And at that moment, I knew that we
weren't there for that, and I wasn't going to allow
anybody to ruin the moment that we were there to
one march for George Floyd, but also for all the
other injustices that have been done to black and brown
(11:53):
people across this nation. What was the highlight of that
day for you? Dr connor Um His speech was powerful.
At those short he made an impact because, like he said,
he's the superintendent of schools. It doesn't matter if he's
in the suit or not. He still has to worry
sometimes whether his education or not, he still has to
(12:15):
worry because of the color of his skin if he's
going to make it home to his children. Um. The
other highlights would probably be the young lady that I
that I let come up to speak. Her neigh was Nashari.
You know, I felt after looking back at the video
a couple of times I felt compelled to apologize to
(12:36):
her because I I've spoken to her almost every other
day since the March. Since then, and um, this young
lady is a political science major. Um, she's got a
U minor and creative writing. And when she was in
the crowd when someone when I called Quentin fit stuff,
she was spitting out different bits of knowledge and I'm like,
she sounds like me. But at nineteen years old and
(12:59):
going on to her junior year at Southern, I was like,
she needs this platform because when I was nineteen, we
really didn't have a platform. But this generation is different.
They're speaking out there, being more involved. So she came
in and although her her um, her language at that
time was you know, full of curse words. And I
(13:21):
spoke to her about that. I felt wrong because I
felt like I chastised her and I shouldn't have because
the moment wasn't for that for her to feel like
she had to be silent. So I did apologize to
her later on for her feeling that she couldn't really
get it off her chest where she wanted to. But
her point was made in very clear. Because I've gotten
a lot of feedback like who was that passionate young lady,
(13:42):
and because I knew what she was really trying to
do and say, and a lot of the things that
she knew that were saying. I've been studying for a
couple of years. I was very proud of her, and
I had just met her, but I know that she
was the minority student coalition president when she was at
Mildasong High School and that she wants to be a lawyer,
and I'm like, this is what's going to be leading
(14:03):
our future in twenty years. So I was happy for her.
And then probably the fact that Bare Floor Shine, even
after the megaphone was gone, he stood in the circle
amongst the crowd and was taken heat. Not being surrounded
by police officers are being protected. He stood in that
circle and allowed questions to be asked to him. And
(14:27):
he didn't shy away from answering those questions. And he said,
you know what, I'm gonna have to get these answers,
get answers for you. And he dried. He answered these
questions the best that he could. He could easily walked
away and said, hey, I'm done, he didn't. He stood
there basically in the pit fire and allowed these different
people to ask him questions. So I think that that's
(14:48):
that made me look at him differently as far. I
was like, you know, he's not here just for politics.
He's here for change, and it strikes me to to that.
Then being able to witness all of that and see it,
um allows for the possibility of more open dialogue, you know,
(15:11):
more more connection, more change in the future because some
some barriers you know, came down he did. I also
noticed on your Facebook page that you are organizing another march.
I am for June Tea. So now that you have
(15:32):
had this really successful and you know, it's a strange
thing to say, it was a really successful protest and
you know, beautiful and meaningful. Um, how do you do
it again? Or how do you move to this next one,
what are you imagining? This one is definitely going to
stay within the Black Lives Matter movement. However, UM, it's
(15:56):
going to focus. Uh, the main focus on this is
we're gonna be UM June Team one hundred five years later?
Where are we now? And I'm gonna want the speaker
that's going to speak about June Team to UM to
expound on you know, what is the difference between June
(16:18):
eighteen sixty five to June. Um. We're still fighting some
of this. I mean, although we have more people that
are educated, education is you know, easier for us to get. However,
there's still fights we are fighting. UM. We see that
social injustices and racism isn't going anywhere, but it's putting
(16:41):
on new faces and the fact that you know, we
we still have a fight ahead of us. Like there's
people that were put into the position, UM, that were
knowingly racists, that have prevented and stifled people of color
for many years, and that needs to be brought to
the forefront as well, Like you know, blacks getting higher
(17:04):
UM sentences as opposed to white. I was reading something
the other day that there was a case out of
Florida two two gentlemen, one nineteen year old white male,
twenty one year old black male, same exact prime a
couple of months apart, same exact judge sentenced them, and
(17:24):
they had I guess Slorida goes by a point system.
They both had one D and thirty eight point two points.
They both had guns. They would both did this. It
was both libberries, exact same charges, nothing different on them.
The young white male he got time served, he was
less than two years. The black mail was sentenced to
twenty six years. There was nothing different about their cases.
(17:47):
And it's been said that this judge has looked at
you know, has always given harsher penalties to blackmails. And
this is something that has to stop because there's people
that haven't been knowingly put into office. Let's be honest,
their crime needs to stop happening. However, if it does,
when it does happen, the penalties aren't the same. It
(18:10):
is definitely not the same. There's like Michael Vicks or
more time for killing a dog than somebody that's raped
women or molested children. And you look at stuff like that,
like how does this happen? There needs to be a
universal law system, Like I don't I really don't think
that each state should have different laws because each judge
(18:32):
that sits on that bench, they're all putting their hand
on that viable and taking an oath to, you know,
make the right decisions to do this, to do that,
as some of them are not. They were put into
office knowing that they have a different agenda on your mind,
and that they were racists. We're not in the gym
pro South anymore. And and it's not fair. That's why
(18:55):
I keep on referring to this moment as a reckoning,
because it really does feel like the stories that you
are describing, Um, they are happening and happening and happening
and have happened, and you know it's it's time and
it's past way past time. UM. But it's it's amazing
to see what's happening now that truly feels like it
(19:18):
is something that is changing and is not going to
go back to the status quo. It's not going to
go back to the way it was. Um. Or so
I hope and pray. Two last questions, So in terms
of the next protest, you know, things are even more
intense now than they were on How do you imagine
(19:38):
being able to have the same kind of peaceful we're
all in this together, you know, vibe that that that
that first march really had. Well, I think that since
the last March, you know, accountability have happened. Um, We've
seen it really across in different stage accostination as far
as officers holding or other holes and other officers accountable. Um,
(20:03):
we've seen immediate firing. Um, you've seen um obviously the
the arrest of the officers, but now you know the
other three have been released, but things are actually being
re reinvestigated. So I think with everything that has been sparking,
not saying that everything is immediately changing, but now we're
(20:27):
looking at hopefully every police department, every state will adopt
accountability laws. Like if you are a part of something
and you see your fellow officer using accessive for us
and you don't stop it, you're just blame no no more.
I don't think the police. The problem sometimes I feel is,
I mean, I've been a part of I'm a Union child,
(20:48):
my mother was a Union in the Union, my dad
was in the Union. I've been in the Union and
the unions they're definitely to protect you. Um. However, I
think that your needs to be some type of protocol
or outline for when these police unions actually go to
represent certain individuals. Um, Derek Schouman shouldn't have been a
police officer to officers involved shooting, there's no way that
(21:10):
he was an officer. Still, he shouldn't have been there.
He should have been fired a long time ago. So
there's gotta be some type of reform when it comes
to that. And I'm dying for us to live in
a society we're judged by the content of our character
and not by the color of our skin. And people
always laugh at me and say that because I'm gonna
make a joke. You know, I'm I'm very light skin,
(21:33):
I'm fair skin, but I still have gone through racism.
Um I used to be and stales that Ray weren't
planning again. And I remember um trying to sell furniture
two away couple, Um, a couple of a couple of
different times, and they were so stand office to me.
(21:53):
It's almost like they gave me like the Heisman trophy,
move like don't come near me. So what we have
that my plan again was called a teal, which is
called team opportunity. So if you feel like you're not
getting anywhere with that prospect. Come into the door for
any reason. You try to give the team opportunity to
one of your other um colleagues that might be able
(22:15):
to close the deal for you. And I did, and
I t owed it to a gentleman. He was like
in this sixteen He was a white man, used to
be a teacher, and he closed the fourteen thousand dollars deal.
I'd rather have half of something than all of nothing.
If I would have stood there and try to make
them feel uncomfortable because they didn't want to work with
me because I was black. But they shouldn't have felt
(22:36):
uncomfortable because I was black. I was a black woman
in a suit, in a professional attire, but yet they
didn't want me to help them pick out the furnishings
for their homes. So I I gone through that. You
know myself, and I'm fine with it because I know
my strength. I know who I am, I know what
my parents how they raised me to be. But I
(22:58):
also know that I've learned a lot on my own
things that my parents didn't learn or didn't teach me
because they weren't really that type of individual. I'm much
more outspoken and outgoing. There both of them like I'm
the one that will jump out of a plane and
can survive anywhere, because I'm almost like a jack of
(23:18):
all trade. But my mom she's more content in her
atmosphere where I'm much more of the person as like
a free spirit. That's that's what she would like to
call on me. Well, you know, it's funny because I
was going to ask you as my last question, what's
bringing you hope? But I feel like you've answered it. Um.
There's there's so much that's hopeful in what you're saying.
You know, that's that's real and true and powerful, but
(23:41):
that is really hopeful as we continue to move forward
during these times. Erica, thank you so much for talking
to me. I blown away by what you're accomplishing. And
it's just such a great story of what one person
can do by planting that seed, by starting and and
and then look what happens. Thank you And if anybody
(24:02):
UM ends up listening to this. The march is June nineteen.
We're gonna be marching from ro Powell Avenue to the
South Green in Middletown. There's going to be keynote speakers
from across the state. We have some state representatives there
may or will be speaking um plint and fit um.
We're still working on a program, but this is definitely
(24:22):
having an agenda that we are not collatible damage for
the war on racism, or for the war on inequality,
for the war on oppression, or for the war on
specimic and social injustice. We just want to be treated equally,
to be treated fairly, and to really put it in
to all of this police brutality against the people of color,
(24:47):
beautifully put. Thank you, thank you so much. All right, well,
thanks for listening to the Way We Live Now. Tell
the way you're living now. We want to hear call
us on. You might want to a pen for this
nine O nine seven one three eight nine nine five.
(25:10):
That's nine O nine seven one three eight nine nine
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We Live Now Pod. We are creating a community here
and we would love for you to join us. You
can find me on Instagram at Danny Ryder. The Way
(25:32):
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