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Thursday, June 25, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
MULTIMEDIA
Experiencing my small town’s Black Lives Matter protests
I grew up in Chelsea Michigan, a
small town 20 minutes away from
Ann Arbor. Chelsea is a racially
homogenous
community,
and
has very few minorities, so when
protests for Black Lives Matter
started happening in the end of
May, I never thought they would
happen in my community. Sure,
I expected a few small isolated
protests to pop up, but not much
more than that. But much to my
surprise, my town was holding a
rally against racism in a local park.
I packed up my camera and drove
into town 30 minutes after the set
start time, because I truly believed
it would be a measly showing
of some high school and college
students.
When I passed Pierce Park, I was
astonished. There were a couple
hundred people, all six feet apart,
in a circle around a microphone,
where various members of the
community spoke. I just couldn’t
believe it. The age of attendees
ranged from infants to senior
citizens. The biggest surprise was
how many older members of the
community came to show their
support.
I have never seen my small,
white community come together
like this before, unless it was for a
high school football game, or the
Christmas parade. The protest
remained peaceful, everyone sat
and did not move until the speakers
were finished. Then, a small group
of mostly high school and college
students marched down Main
Street. I figured that night was
the end of it. Everyone showed up
to support the community and we
would never speak of it again. I was
happily surprised by my town.
But later that day, I received
several
texts
about
a
march
planned for exactly a week later. I
was once again surprised. I arrived
at the starting location for the
march (earlier this time) and there
were less people than the rally,
most likely because a march does
not allow for any social distancing
and did not allow the older or at risk
populations to participate in the
same capacity as the week before.
The crowd gathered in Pierce
Park, the location of the rally the
week before, and were briefed about
the route that they were planning
on following. There were no official
organizers of this protest.
They then promptly started
marching right down Main Street,
in the heart of our town. They were
chanting loud enough for the whole
town to hear.
Chelsea is known for two major
landmarks,
the
Clock
Tower
standing on Main Street and the
Jiffy Mix Factory (the only one in
the world). The normally peaceful
downtown disrupted with cries
for change and justice. It was very
powerful to see the protesters
march down Main Street, passing
these large icons of our town.
Store owners looked through their
windows at the protesters and
people in cars stopped to raise their
fists.
The protest then turned off
Main Street and went through
neighborhoods downtown, where
houses had people came outside to
see what was going on. Most people
were cheering for the protestors
and were looking on proudly of
what their community was doing.
The march picked up many people
along the way that joined their
cause as well.
The crowd became louder and
louder as the march went on,
shouting “say their names,” “no
justice, no peace” and “these racist
cops have got to go.”
The
route
ended
in
front
of
a
Chelsea
High
School’s
administrator home, to send a
message of how change needs to
start in the education system, while
children are learning how they see
the world, and our school systems
need to lead by example. The crowd
was now much bigger than when
they started, now at about 100-150
people.
The group then circled back and
ended right where they started for
an open mic.
I was incredibly moved by Diarra
Seye, who spoke of her experience
at Chelsea as one of the only black
students, and as a Black woman
living in America.
I never realized the treatment
she was getting, when I was right
inside the building with her. We
were even in the tennis program
together. “I don’t see my color
but everyone else does, I feel like
a normal person,” she remarked.
What resonated with me the most
was: “I didn’t know that people in
Chelsea actually cared,” which was
my attitude as well, but seeing how
proud she was of our community
made me so proud to be a part of it.
JULIA SCHACHINGER
Summer Managing Photo Editor
PHOTO ESSAY