With the luxury shopping mall 
Somerset Collection as a back-
drop and across the street from 
a boarded-up Saks Fifth Avenue 
establishment, approximately 500 
predominantly young protesters of 
all races broke the typical calm of 
a Monday afternoon in the Metro 
Detroit suburb of Troy, Mich., 
chanting, “No justice, no peace, no 
racist police.”
Almost all donning face masks, 
they joined hundreds of thousands 
of people in major cities across the 
United States and across the world 
in peaceful protest of the killing 
of an unarmed Black man, George 
Floyd, by a white police officer, 
among other documented acts of 
police brutality. No Troy police 
officers were seen wearing a mask, 
though The Daily cannot verify 
every officer on the scene did not 
have a mask.
In its entirety, protesters were at 
the Big Beaver Road and Coolidge 
Road area for about four and a half 
hours and remained peaceful the 
entire time, though about 30 pro-
testers who stayed at the end were 
told by Troy police officers they 
would be arrested if they did not 
leave the intersection. None of the 
protesters were arrested, though 
the Troy Police Department arrest-
ed one person, a 68-year-old male 
from Troy who intentionally struck 
a protester with his car. According 
to the Troy Police Department, the 
victim had no apparent injuries.
Troy is about a half-hour drive 
to Detroit. It is one of the many 
suburbs of Metro Detroit that grew 
wealthier from white flight in the 
mid-1900s — the mass movement 
of white families from cities to 
the suburbs in fear their property 
values would deteriorate as Black 
neighbors moved in — and is now 
the largest city in Oakland County, 
one of the richest counties in the 
country. According to 2019 census 
estimates, it is about 68 percent 
white — and just under 4 percent 

Black. 
Most of the protesters arrested 
in Detroit in the last several nights 
of protest there were from its sub-
urbs. According to Troy protest 
organizer Marshele Parker, this 
move to protest in the suburbs of 
Detroit was an intentional choice 
among the organizers. 
“We started seeing people on 
social media saying, ‘Why don’t we 
bring it to the cities that we actu-
ally know hurt us more than the 
city of Detroit?’” Parker said. “So 
that’s when we decided to all come 
to Troy. We decided to go to Som-
erset because it’s one of those big 
malls in Michigan. And because of 
the systematic oppression in place, 
the Black dollar doesn’t stretch 
that far, and when it does, it goes to 
their favorite mall such as Somer-
set with all the glitz and the glam.”
Somerset Collection was closed 
all day Monday in anticipation of 
the protest. In a statement to The 
Oakland Press, Somerset spokes-
man Peter Van Dyke said the clo-
sure was taken as a necessary 
safety precaution for everyone 
involved.
“Somerset Collection values and 
supports freedom of speech and 
peaceful protest,” Van Dyke said.
The event was organized by the 
Black Activist Movement Network, 
a new group formed by Parker 
and other Black college women: 
Rebekah Long, Cameron Simp-
son and Joy Mosley. For over two 
hours, the crowd of several hun-
dred protesters, mainly students 
who lived in the surrounding area, 
walked around the Coolidge Road 
and Big Beaver Road intersec-
tion, then down Big Beaver Road 
towards the Troy Civic Center. 
Many held posters denouncing 
police brutality and anti-Black rac-
ism, chanting as cars around them 
filled the afternoon with honks of 
support.
Among the suburbs, Parker said 
Troy was chosen as the site for 
their protest because of word-of-
mouth about racist interactions 
with the Troy police.

2

Thursday, June 4, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NEWS

Demonstration in 
Troy: ‘We need to be 
where the silence is’

While 
the 
COVID-19 
pandemic rages on and social 
life has come to a stall, cities 
across the United States are 
drawing 
passionate 
crowds 
demanding justice, peace and 
an end to police brutality 
against Black people. 
George Floyd, a Black man, 
was 
killed 
in 
Minneapolis 
police custody on May 25 after 
a white police officer kept his 
knee on Floyd’s neck for eight 
minutes and 46 seconds. Three 
other officers participated in 
the killing. A private autopsy 
confirmed the death was a 
homicide and a result of not 
only choking, but also pressure 
on Floyd’s back from the other 
officers who pinned him down.
While on a jog, Ahmaud 
Arbery was shot outside of 
Brunswick, Ga., after being 
chased by an armed white 
father and son, who believed 
he was a burglar, on Feb. 23. 
According 
to 
the 
Georgia 
Bureau of Investigation, the 
two 
assailants 
have 
been 
arrested and charged with 
murder 
and 
aggravated 
assault. 
GBI 
also 
arrested 
William Bryan Jr., the person 
who filmed the viral video of 
Arbery’s killing. 

In 
Washtenaw 
County, 
Sha’Teina 
Grady 
El 
was 
punched in the head multiple 
times by a police officer while 
her husband, Dan Grady El, was 
tased when both resisted being 
physically removed from the 
scene of a potential shooting. 
These are only some of the 
recent crimes of racism and 
police brutality.
Robert 
Sellers, 
chief 
diversity 
officer 
and 
vice 
provost 
for 
equity 
and 
inclusion at the University of 
Michigan, released a statement 
addressing 
recent 
events 
against the Black community 
titled “I Am So Tired.” In his 
address, Sellers detailed his 
sentiments of being African 
American in light of recent 
events and reflected on his 
parents’ guidance as a kid. 
“What my recollections of 
my parents’ example did do was 
provide me with a perspective, 
a lens through which I can 
view and understand all that is 
happening now,” Sellers wrote. 
“This lens reminds me that this 
struggle is not new, nor is it 
likely to be won in my life time. 
Sadly, it is likely that more 
Black people will die before 
we become the country that 
remotely resembles the one 
described in our constitution. 
This lens also reminds me that 
this country is MY country. My 
ancestors sacrificed their lives 
in building this country.”

Students describe 
protest experiences

Read more at michigandaily.com

CLAIRE HAO
Daily News Editor

FRANCESCA DUONG
Summer Managing News Editor

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As calls for justice fill 
the nation, read first-
hand narratives

About 500 march in 
Metro Detroit suburb

