Oak Ridge Today

Protesters want life, liberty, justice

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Civil rights leader Reverend Harold Middlebrook tells Black Lives Matter protesters in Clinton on Thursday, June 11, 2020, that the movement will require more than a march. (Photo by John Huotari/oak Ridge Today)

CLINTON—Civil rights pioneer Anna Theresser Caswell asked people to not hate.

Civil rights leader Reverend Harold Middlebrook told local Black Lives Matters protesters that the movement will require more than a march.

Caswell and Middlebrook were two of about a dozen speakers at a Black Lives Matter march and protest that started at the Clinton football field and ended at Clinton Middle School on Thursday. Several hundred people attended.

Clinton Middle School is where the high school used to be. It was desegregated more than 60 years ago. It’s reported to have been the first high school in the South to desegregate under the U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954.

Caswell, 77, was one of the 12 Black teenagers who walked down from Green McAdoo School on Foley Hill and desegregated the old Clinton High School, which had been all-white, on August 27, 1956.

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Clinton 12 invited to march with BLM protesters

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Members of the Clinton 12 have been invited to march with Black Lives Matter protesters in Clinton this evening (Thursday, June 11).

The Clinton 12 were the 12 black teenagers who integrated Clinton High School in the fall of 1956, braving threats of violence, after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Organizer Trevor King, who organized a peaceful protest in Oak Ridge last week, said marchers in Clinton are scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. at the football field at 250 West Broad Street.

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More than 1,000 protest for equality, police reforms, end of racism

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Hundreds of people march from Oak Ridge High School to the Civic Center for a Black Lives Matter protest on Tuesday afternoon, June 2, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was updated at 9:45 a.m. June 11.

More than 1,000 people marched and protested in Oak Ridge last week, asking for equal treatment for black people.

They said the nation is obligated to fight systemic racism, racial inequality, and police brutality. They want to live without fear. They advocated for police reforms, accountability, and the use of de-escalation tactics.

Protesters hope to end 400 years of oppression that started with slavery in America in 1619 and continued after the Civil War with attacks on black people, lynchings, the Ku Klux Klan, segregation, discrimination, and racism. That oppression has been felt in Oak Ridge, and some young adults and teenagers said they have experienced or witnessed racism.

Protesters said they were angry, upset, and frustrated. They called the death of George Floyd while he was detained by police in Minneapolis last month a murder. They recalled the deaths of other black men and boys, some killed by police and others by citizens. They acknowledged that there are many good police officers, but they condemned police officers who they said hide behind their badges to do wicked deeds.

“Enough is enough,” protesters said. “We are done dying.”

Hundreds of people meet at Oak Ridge High School before marching to Oak Ridge Civic Center for a Black Lives Matter protest on Tuesday afternoon, June 2, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Protesters met at Oak Ridge High School Tuesday afternoon, June 2, and marched to the Oak Ridge Civic Center. They carried signs and wore T-shirts that said “Black Lives Matter” and “I can’t breathe.” They chanted “No justice, no peace” and, led by organizer Trevor King, “Make racism illegal.” Silence is compliance, the protesters said, and silence in the face of evil is itself evil.

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Peaceful protest, conversation about race planned Tuesday

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Marriah, right, and Ziyah march for Black Lives Matter on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge on Sunday, May 31, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A peaceful protest and a conversation about race relations are scheduled for Tuesday in Oak Ridge.

The conversation about race relations in the United States and Oak Ridge is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday. It’s between Oak Ridge City Council member Derrick Hammond, who is a pastor; Oak Ridge Police Chief Robin Smith; and local youth. You can watch it live on Facebook at the Oak Ridge Police Department page and on the Oak Valley Baptist Church website at oakvalleybc.com.

The peaceful protest is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the parking lot of Wildcat Arena at Oak Ridge High School. Participants will make signs and shirts there. At 5 p.m., they plan to march to the International Friendship Bell at Alvin K. Bissell Park, organizer Trevor King said in a Facebook post.

The Oak Ridge Police Department will be there and will participate, although it’s not a city event. Smith will walk across the street with everyone, and he has been asked to speak, City of Oak Ridge spokesperson Lauren Gray said Monday.

King said everyone is welcome to attend Tuesday’s event.

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Community Matters leaders report back at ORHS on Sunday

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Community-Matters-Unitarian-Universalist-Nov-1-2015-14

Pictured above at a Community Matters forum at Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church on Nov. 1, 2015, are the Reverend Derrick Hammond of Oak Valley Baptist Church, center, the Rev. Jake Morrill of Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, left, and Father Brent Shelton of St. Mary’s Parish. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The leaders of the Community Matters series of forums held last fall will report back on what they’ve learned at Oak Ridge High School on Sunday.

The informational session is scheduled from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, April 24. All Oak Ridge residents are invited to attend.

This event will feature community leaders including Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, Police Chief Jim Akagi, ORHS Principal Martin McDonald, and leading pastors in town, all to continue the conversation begun last fall, a press release said.

“In the last couple of years, communities around the country have engaged the conversation sparked by Black Lives Matter,” the press release said. “In some communities, this has looked like protest. In others, it has looked like study and reflection.” [Read more…]

Opinion: Community leaders convene Community Matters forums

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Editor’s Note: We are including this column on our news page in addition to our opinion page because it includes information about upcoming community forums.

Last November, a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, decided not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the death of Michael Brown. Given the many strong feelings all over the country, several clergy in Oak Ridge decided to address our community. In our public statement, we called for “inspiration, perspiration, and collaboration” in our shared efforts for racial justice. We concluded, “We, the faith community, look forward to partnering in 2015 to foster holistic, long-term, and systemic solutions to the complex set of social, economic, and community challenges that plague our great society.”

In the 11 months since, painful conversations about race across our country have continued in Baltimore, Maryland; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Dallas, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; and even now, in Oak Ridge.

This summer, the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church began to display a message on its electronic Oak Ridge Turnpike sign, which reads, “Black Lives Matter.” Given the national scope of this slogan, people have taken this to mean different things. Some have responded, “All lives matter,” while others have answered with, “Police lives matter.” One thing is sure: It has stirred conversation and fostered what Martin Luther King Jr. called “a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.” [Read more…]

Photos: Police Lives Matter rally

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Police Lives Matter Rally Crowd

About 65 people attended a Police Lives Matter rally at Alvin K. Bissell Park on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A rally at Alvin K. Bissell Park on Saturday, September 19, showed support for police officers and first responders. It included music, prayer, several speakers, a reading of the names of fallen officers, a short march, and a candlelight vigil.

“I had this for support of our police officers, first responders, and all lives,” said Kevin Rice, one of the three organizers.

Here are pictures from the rally.

Police Lives Matter Candlelight Vigil

The Police Lives Matter rally included a candlelight vigil at Alvin K. Bissell Park on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

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Opinion: Rev. Morrill addresses ‘Black Lives Matter’

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Jake Morrill

Jake Morrill

By the Rev. Jake Morrill

This past July, a church committee requested a new message on the electronic sign, which faces the Oak Ridge Turnpike. The message they requested was “Black Lives Matter.” The board of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, or ORUUC, voted to approve it, and the message was added to the sign’s series of scrolling messages.

Since then, we’ve received feedback from different members of the community. Some has been to praise the sign; some, to criticize.

The Police Lives Matter Rally

Saturday night, I attended a rally called Police Lives Matter in A.K. Bissell Park. My colleague at ORUUC, the Rev. Tandy Scheffler, attended as well.  She’s a recent graduate of the Citizen’s Police Academy.

She told me she saw the rally as a chance to demonstrate that support of police officers and support of black lives is not an “either/or,” but a “both/and” for her. Yes, she said, police lives matter, and yes, black lives matter, and yes, all lives matter. I agree. Along with my gratitude for police officers and first responders, I also attended because the rally’s organizers have been critical of the church’s “Black Lives Matter” sign.

When people have an opinion, I believe it’s important to listen. In fact, responding to online criticism of the sign in recent weeks, I’ve extended at least 15 invitations to people to sit down together so we could talk. I’m sorry to say that no one, as yet, has accepted my invitation. [Read more…]