“We want to march – just because,” said organizer Jordan Mann. “In a show of unity and because this is our city.It’s about showing our humanity at its core. We shouldn’t need, as Black people, a reason to congregate. We should be able to do it – just because.“

Mann brought together just under 50 people to march from Hope High School on the East Side of Providence to the park across the street from the Providence Place Mall where a DJ was waiting with music.

The march was not affiliated with any of the local groups that have marched or organized this summer in the wake of police killings of Black people across the country, but that doesn’t mean that Mann or the other marchers are somehow not taking a stand for Black lives.

“I was really emotional when protesters were shot at by armed vigilantes,” said Mann. “I’m from St Louis. Seeing people become folk heroes for pointing guns at Black people – I was really perturbed by that.”

Mann sees the march and the small party at the destination downtown as a kind of self care.

“We are human,” said Mann. “We are Black. And somehow, that’s inherently perceived as a threat. So right now we just want to be human, and be Black, and go though the city that we live in.”

Here’s some footage from the park downtown.