FRANKLIN, Pa. (EYT) — A large crowd of local residents turned out for the Venango County Black Lives Matter “Enough is Enough Rally” on Saturday in Franklin.
(Photos courtesy of Sydney Herdle Photography & Multimedia)
The event began at 11:00 a.m. at Bandstand Park with area resident Wesley Gadsden enacting George Floyd’s final moments.
“We wanted it to make an impact, and I know a lot of events have been doing the eight minutes and 46 seconds of silence in honor of George Floyd, but he (Gadsden) actually said all of his final words so everyone could hear exactly what he said before he went unconscious, then we spent the remaining minutes in silence,” organizer Angela Wofford explained.
Michelle Jones and Wesley Gadsden on the bandstand stage during the 8 minute 46 second moment of silence for George Floyd.
According to Wofford, there were a lot of tears from those assembled, both during Gadsden’s reenactment and during the words of the later speakers.
“A lot of people cried during most of the speakers.”
Area residents Arianne Basham, Malik Richburg, and Kaia Dean all spoke about their own personal experiences with racism in our area, as did Rolland “Bay” Lawrence.
“A lot of people are unfamiliar or unaware of the racism here,” co-organizer Michelle Jones said.
“We wanted to bring light to it as a kind of wake-up call. It didn’t just happen in the 60’s, it’s still happening now.”
The event also included both prayer and a speech by Rev. Roy Gearhart, of Galloway United Methodist Church, as well as poetry by Ezra Woodard and Ava Vandeventer.
“I think it was definitely very powerful and impactful,” Jones said.
“We did have armed people that showed up, guarding the monument, which intimidated some people, but overall, we’re proud of the turnout. We didn’t let that scare us and still came together, showed unity, and got a conversation started.”
Shelbie Stromyer, candidate for the 21st District State Senate seat, was in attendance at the event and was pleased with the turnout, as well.
“It was an amazing gathering of people who want to stop racism,” Stromyer said.
“What people don’t realize is these protests are a perfect storm that is affecting all types of discrimination across the United States right now, from the color of your skin to who you love to your socio-economic status and how you worship.”
Stromyer also noted she believes it will be the young people who do the most to move our country forward in terms of ending discrimination.
However, she was also distressed at the armed presence at the protest.
“I am shocked that assault rifles and handguns had to be there all in the name of stopping Antifa.”
While the sight of guns near the event was jarring for some, the organizers were pleased that everything still went smoothly and remained, as they planned, entirely peaceful.
After the speakers, the crowd joined together to march from the park to city hall.
Wofford noted that before, during, and after the event, they had many people reach out to them about any other plans they may have for the future.
According to Jones and Wofford, the Venango County Black Lives Matter organization plans to continue forward and hopes to hold more events in the future.
“We don’t have specifics yet, but we announced at the rally that this is not a one-stop thing. Nothing can be accomplished at one rally. It was just to bring awareness to the issue and connect with allies so we can do more moving forward,” Jones said.
According to Wofford, they’d like to see or create more educational forums and provide a safe place for people to voice their concerns and get information in the future.
“People really want this, they want to know what the next steps are, they want to be included and to be a part of this movement.”
