Home / Dallas News / Protesters in Dallas call for end to police brutality, demand Chief Hall resign

Protesters in Dallas call for end to police brutality, demand Chief Hall resign

Standing in front of a boarded-up recreation center in Little Mexico named after Santos Rodriguez — a 12-year-old boy killed by Dallas police in 1973 — organizers for a protest against police violence handed out yellow umbrellas to those in the crowd.

The umbrellas did not simply provide shade for the stifling Saturday afternoon heat — they were a symbol.

Written in black marker on each of the 30 or so umbrellas were the names of those killed by Dallas or Fort Worth Police Departments in recent years, such as Clinton Allen, Fred Bradford, Jr. and Tobias Mackey.

The protest was one of a handful of events in Dallas on Saturday that reverberated the message of the Black Lives Matter movement. Right before the event in Little Mexico started, another protest — which started in Reverchon Park — spilled up Harry Hines Boulevard, directly in front of the rec center.

Earlier in the afternoon, a separate gathering of about 30 people took place in Pioneer Park right after the 5th District Court of Appeals in Dallas ruled that the city of Dallas could remove the Confederate monument. The group was there in support of the monument.

The events on Saturday capped roughly two weeks of protests nationally and in Dallas calling for the end of police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a black man who died after being taken into custody when a white officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Closer to home, protesters called attention to incidents of police brutality in North Texas.

In her introductory remarks, protest organizer Jennifer Miller teared up when addressing the family of Atatiana Jefferson, whom she acknowledged in the crowd.

Jefferson, 28, was killed by Fort Worth police on Oct. 12, 2019, after a welfare check to her mother’s home resulted in officer Aaron Dean fatally shooting her through a window as she played video games with her 8-year-old nephew, Zion.

A grand jury indicted Dean for murder in December.

“Zion, you’ve been incredibly strong,” Miller said. “And you shouldn’t have had to be.”

Speakers called for an end to the current state of policing — which they said was born from slave patrols and still steeped in racism — and asked the crowd for a deeper commitment than just a social media post.

They also called for Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall to resign.

One of the chants as the crowd marched was: “Chief Hall. Step down. We, the people run this town.”

Hall has come under fire after protesters reported tear gas and less-lethal ammunition was used as they were arrested on June 1 at the Margaret Hunt Hill bridge. Hall later announced she would not charge 674 people taken into custody that night.

The focus of Saturday’s protest, which drew around 200, also included a broader spotlight on violence against the black trans community. The event was organized by the Dallas Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression and Dallas’ chapter of Black Youth Project 100.

Organizer Niecee X Asantewaa told the crowd that all black lives won’t matter until black trans lives matter, and called those in attendance to include the voices of black trans women in their circles.

“For those who have been at the bottom, they still can’t breathe and won’t be able to breathe while we stay comfortable,” Niecee X said.

Earlier in the day, at Reverchon Park, about 300 people gathered in the afternoon heat before a small stage to hear civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, activist and data analyst Samuel Sinyangwe, state Rep. Lorraine Birabil and others speak at a peaceful rally organized by the Next Generation Action Network.

Other speakers included North Texas pastor Frederick D. Haynes III. His remarks were heavy with references to African-American writers and musicians. At one point, he riffed on the phrase made famous by Biggie Smalls in the late rapper’s hit “Juicy.”

“If you don’t know, now you know,” he said.

“Now you know that we live in a nation that is structured and has systems that are tilted to the disadvantage of those who are disadvantaged. If you don’t know, now you know that black people have been criminalized, and demonized and other-ized, and we’re here to say that it’s over.”

“This is the third Reconstruction,” he added.

Embattled McKinney councilman La’Shadion Shemwell also took the microphone. Shemwell, who’s facing a recall election after residents and city officials balked at his call to declare a “Black State of Emergency” in October, said, “Had other Texas lawmakers heard that plea, had they stood with me… maybe countless others would still be alive today.”

He urged listeners to, “Keep the same energy when it’s not the popular thing to do.”

He also criticized the Dallas Police Department’s response to the earlier protests as insufficient.

“We’re not gonna be pacified with their 90-day treaties,” he said, referring to department’s promise this week not to use tear gas and other less-lethal weapons to control peaceful crowds after a judge agreed to temporarily ban the Dallas Police from doing so.

“We’re not gonna be pacified with police officers taking a knee,” he said, dismissing the gesture as a photo op.

“If you do not see your elected officials, be like me, become an elected official,” he said.

Dominique Alexander, leader of Next Generation Action Network, followed up by taking aim at Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, saying he had not engaged directly with activists in his response to the protests.

“The only thing that Eric Johnson cared about was when the business district was shut down, and getting it back open,” he said.

Cory Hughes, another activist, echoed Shemwell’s remarks about persistence as nationwide protests head into their third week.

After police violence is addressed, “the next thing is to deal with the inappropriate sentencing of our black brothers and sisters in this country.”

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