By ROD ZOOK
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — With vehicles adorned with the words "Black Lives Matter" and other signs, a group gathered for a peaceful protest in the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer. Local teacher Naee Williams put the gathering together with support from the local chapter of the NAACP and Hutchinson Police.
“I actually noticed some underlying racism here in the community of Hutchinson,” Williams said. “And then with everything going on with the George Floyd case and the Ahmaud Arbery case, I decided we needed to use our platform here to take a stand.”
Guests included officials from the NAACP along with Rep. Jason Probst and Mayor Jade Piros de Carvalho.
“Tell me what you want and I’ll do it,” Probst announced. “Day after day I see or read another story of people of color suffering unjust deaths.”
The meeting was set by Williams with support from the NAACP and a meeting with the Hutchinson Police Department.
“The events are tragic and unfortunate,” Hutchinson Police Chief Jeff Hooper said. “What’s amazing about Hutchinson and amazing about what’s happened here is that everybody came together with an effort to build things up as opposed to tearing them down.”
Hooper met with Williams on Thursday and was very positive about the meeting.
“It was a really great conversation, I think we met for a couple of hours on Thursday . . . with her and her group and members of the NAACP,” Hooper said. “She’s a really great young lady, had the right frame of mind and really wanted to get the message out.”
Darrell Pope with the local chapter of the NAACP says it was great to see a large and diverse crowd on hand despite the hot weather.
“We all live in this world together,” Pope said. “It takes all of us to make sure that if there’s justice for one, there’s justice for everyone. And so when we all come together and work together and support what’s right, then that’s when we see people living together and peaceful coexistence.”
For Williams, she hopes it is the start of continued dialogue between law enforcement and the community to address the issues.
“Our political leaders definitely need to do what they're supposed to prevent history from repeating itself,” Williams said. “People just need to stop being so oblivious to what’s going on.”