Civil Rights

Hundreds march in South Kingstown because Black Lives Matter

“We see so much racism and prejudice here, I think it’s really important for us to stick together, especially right now, and what better way than to make a group?“ A youth led and organized protest/march drew between 4 and 500 people in South Kingstown Tuesday afternoon. The rally started at Old Mountain Field, with sign holding along the road.

Rhode Island News: Hundreds march in South Kingstown because Black Lives Matter

June 9, 2020, 10:02 pm

By Steve Ahlquist

We see so much racism and prejudice here, I think it’s really important for us to stick together, especially right now, and what better way than to make a group?


A youth led and organized protest/march drew between 4 and 500 people in South Kingstown Tuesday afternoon. The rally started at Old Mountain Field, with sign holding along the road. Then the march began, a brisk walk through South Kingstown that made a loop back to the start. Along the walk people in cars honked and waved in solidarity, people emerged from their homes to cheer the march on. Back at Old Mountain Field, the rally took a knee in the road for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time a Minneapolis police officer kept his knee of the neck of George Floyd, ending the man’s life.

Since Floyd’s death, rallies and marches have been staged across the country and throughout Rhode Island, calling for an end to the police murder of Black people.

“There’s so many Black and Brown people here,” said Ginger Mombelly, who recently graduated from South Kingstown High School. “We see so much racism and prejudice here, I think it’s really important for us to stick together, especially right now, and what better way than to make a group?

“Me and my friends are trying to get together a Black Lives Matter organization SK,” continued Mombelly. “We’re going to have a meeting this Sunay at The Collective from 5-6:30. We’re going to get together a list of demands, start petitions, start rallies to go to – Because we really want to make steps for a change.”

Here’s video of the march and the moment of silence at the end. The woman speaking towards the end of the video is Bella Noka, a Native American activist and member of the Narragansett Indian Tribe.

https://www.facebook.com/steve.ahlquist.7/videos/10157405036343364/

“We’re here to support the Black Lives Matter movement,” said Abby Dech, a junior at South Kingstown High School and one of the organizers of the event. “Since the death of George Floyd by a police officer, the whole country has been in an uproar, realizing how much people of color have been disadvantaged by our criminal justice system. People of color have higher incarceration rates, they experience a lot of police brutality because of their race so we’re standing with the Black community to show our support and hopefully make a change in Rhode Island so stuff like this doesn’t happen here or anywhere else every again.”

He are pictures from the event: