‘This is a protest, not a concert,’ organizer says at Bellingham event July 4
Several hundred people gathered near Waypoint Park on Bellingham’s waterfront for a Fourth of July event and protest against systemic racism put on by a Black-led organization that is a collective of local artists, students, business people and activists.
Stand Speak Listen organized the event, “Rhythmic Unrest,” that ran from 4 p.m. to after 11:30 p.m. in the park at 1145 Granary Ave, Saturday, July 4.
People sat in small groups in the sun during the day, wearing masks to avoid COVID-19, and listening to the speakers and performers.
Ebony, a Stand Speak Listen co-founder, said she wanted her organization to empower people to take care of themselves and each other. Ebony, who is Black and white, believes police brutality in Bellingham is under-reported.
She said the mission of Stand Speak Listen is to create comfortable spaces for uncomfortable conversations. She said a lot of things have been swept under the rug.
“If you stand with me, please say so,” she said as the crowd stood.
Music by DJ Will was stopped early in the event as several police, fire and ambulance trucks entered the park under Roeder Avenue.
Skai Johnson, one of the organizers, said they were responding to a medical emergency near the West Chestnut Street bridge that was not associated with the event.
As police continued to deal with the incident under the bridge, Seven Da Pantha asked the crowd to move closer to the stage for his rap performance.
Jade Jordan, who has been dancing since age 2 and is now a captain on WWU’s hip hop dance team, continued the performances, dancing against a backdrop of the remaining digester tanks at the former home to Georgia-Pacific’s tissue mill.
Near the acid ball at Waypoint Park, artists spray painted on a particleboard wall.
Speaker Ashe Tippens criticized negative Black stereotypes and whitewashed history. They said these stereotypes are a form of anti-Blackness that hurt progress.
Abdul Malik Ford, who spoke at an earlier Solidarity Rally, is a WWU student and leader. He said there is nothing to celebrate today, because Black, Indigenous and people of color are not free. “The inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are the hollow words of the white man,” Ford said.
“We will not celebrate until we can see that Black lives matter, until we can see that Black trans lives matter, until we can see that Black women’s lives matter, until we can see that all Black lives matter,” Ford said.
Patrick Freeland of the Muskogee Creek Nation told the crowd it’s important for people to recognize the plurality of their identities. He asked the crowd to think about their sense of belonging.
He asked the crowd to raise their hands if there was a time in school when they felt they didn’t belong and most of the crowd raised a hand.
He then asked people to keep their hands up if they were ever actually told they didn’t belong. Only a few Black, Indigenous and people of color individuals continued to raise their hands.
“One of the most powerful tools you have is a sense of belonging. ... We in this space belong here,” he said.
Johnson, co-founder of Stand Speak Listen, told the crowd that the ambulance from earlier in the day was responding to a suspected suicide at a nearby bridge. He encouraged people to speak to each other with compassion and asked the crowd to join him in a moment of silence.
Aniah Coleman said she is proud to have grown up in the diverse community of Stockton, California. She said moving to Bellingham was a culture shock, because city residents are so white. She said living here she feels like she’s a unicorn or that she’s on display because she’s Black.
Coleman said that a lot of the descriptors used to describe the Black people killed, such as father, or EMT, or sweet boy, hurt the movement. She said they’re used to create a perfect image and drum up sympathy and outrage. She said Black lives are allowed to be mediocre, imperfect and uninspiring and to still hold value and matter.
She said no reason, accolade, or respectability has ever saved a Black person from police brutality.
She said people need to learn to care about Black lives and take action, simply because they are a person. “A Black life has value simply because it is a human life,” she said.
Terrance “Teejay” Morris, a local organizer who put on the Solidarity Rally at Maritime Heritage Park in early June, said he still gets death threats for holding the local rally.
He said he feels like he’s in a burning building and he doesn’t know what to do with the pain he has.
He said he didn’t know what Black was until he came here at age 8 from Barbados. “I’m not from this country, but I know all the hate this country has,” he said.
Morris asked the crowd and allies to demand justice, to use their privilege to do something. He said people should let go of this flawed system and create a new, inclusive system.
He thanked the organizers for letting Black, Indigenous and people of color people to use their voices and said he plans to run for City Council in Bellingham.
Dance, rap and other musical acts, performing in front of the digesters lighted in multicolors, performed late into the evening.
In a prepared statement on Friday, Bellingham Mayor Seth Fleetwood said “the city does not oppose this peaceful assembly, because they have a Constitutionally protected right to gather and express themselves on racial injustice in America. We recognize this is a momentous time — a time to seize this moment in history and make meaningful strides in racial equity.”
“We want people to understand it is a protest. We are protesting but we’re changing the narrative of what a protest is. Expression, music, art and dance is still a protest. We do not have to chant and yell and have anger for it to be a protest, though we will be celebrating Black, Indigenous, people of color, and trans and LGBTQ culture. It is a protest against what is going on,” Johnson said.
George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Floyd’s death has set off nationwide protests against systemic racism and oppression of people of color. Several local protests, demonstrations and rallies have been held in Bellingham.
Bellingham Herald reporters Robert Mittendorf and Martín Bilbao contributed to this story.
This story was originally published July 4, 2020 at 5:02 PM.
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