GREENFIELD — Chants of “Black lives matter” rang out over the city’s downtown as protesters packed the sidewalk and lawn along Main Street in front of the Hancock County Courthouse.
Many held signs displaying their opposition to racial inequality. Passing drivers often showed their support for the protesters by honking their horns, setting off cheers throughout the crowd.
The event Thursday evening kicked off a series of protests scheduled in Hancock County in the wake of demonstrations across the country and parts of the world after George Floyd, a black man, was killed by Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, on May 25.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryDavid Lakes, 23, Greenfield, organized the protests Thursday and Friday evenings. Lakes, who is white, said his motivation went beyond police brutality.
“We can’t enslave a population and then actively oppress them and not expect disparities to happen later on in time,” he said. “Poverty is cyclical, violence is really cyclical, so it goes deeper than things we just see on TV.”
He said he was pleasantly surprised by the protest’s turnout, which Greenfield Police Chief Jeff Rasche estimated neared 200. The protest on Friday attracted 100 to 150 people.
Lakes protested alone downtown earlier this week, and a few others eventually joined him. One of them was Briana Anderson, a fellow Greenfield resident. She came back again on Thursday and led the crowd in chants of “Black lives matter” and “Hands up, don’t shoot,” a slogan that originated after Michael Brown, a black man, was killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.
Anderson said she’s been protesting in Indianapolis and saw Lakes demonstrating earlier this week when she decided to join him.
“There’s just a difference between seeing it in my city and seeing it in my town,” she said.
Anderson, who is mixed race, said learning of Floyd’s death broke her heart. At the same time, she continued, she hated to admit that she was also desensitized to it in a way.
“As a mixed person, you see it in little ways, in big ways and I just think that that’s the main reason that finally everyone’s coming together,” she said. “…We have seen this happen for so long and we’ve tried other outlets with hashtags and everything and it’s just not enough. There has to be a physical presence.”
She was moved by the response outside of the courthouse.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “My family’s actually predominantly white, so it’s awesome that allies feel just as comfortable to come out and speak for those who they feel like can’t speak for themselves.”
Antonio Campbell, Greenfield, attended the protest as well.
“We’re just looking for an equal voice, equality for all,” he said. “Things have been happening recently unnecessarily, so we’re trying to show that we don’t stand for that type of thing and we’re trying to do it in a peaceful way.”
Campbell, who is black, said he was hurt when he saw the video of Floyd’s death.
“It’s always hurtful, especially to see somebody who looks like you in that particular type of situation,” he said.
As he looked out on the crowd of people lining the sidewalk and courthouse lawn, he said he was grateful to see that so many others felt similarly about the killing.
“It’s great to know that you have support from all walks of life,” he said.
Laurene Lonnemann, a Greenfield resident who is mixed race, also attended the protest.
“My life experience has been a combination of injustice and privilege, just depending on how you see me,” she said.
She, too, was uplifted by the event’s turnout.
“I honestly didn’t expect this many people in Greenfield to be here,” Lonnemann said. “…I also think it drives awareness to those that are driving by with negative impressions. They see that it’s not just one or two people, and that there is support for change.”
Nate Luke, Greenfield, said he protested in downtown Indianapolis last weekend and couldn’t turn down the opportunity to do the same in his own backyard.
“It’s nice to see something like that happening in my own town,” he said while taking a knee on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse. “…There’s a group of people in this country whose lives have been marginalized by the many, and that time needs to end.”
Not far down the sidewalk was Kayci Berkshire, also of Greenfield.
“For the last several years, I’ve been really noticing a rise in racism and just overt acts of violence,” she said.
Berkshire, who is white, participated in a racial dialogue circle at Bradley United Methodist Church, where she got to know some African-Americans.
“Just hearing their stories about the real, everyday racism that they deal with — every single one of them have so many stories — and they became my friends and I just realized I had to do something,” she said.
Protests like the ones on Thursday and Friday can have a positive impact, she continued.
“I feel like the more conversations that happen, the more people take a look at themselves and just get more and more involved, the more they realize that black people are telling us that they’re hurting and they’re oppressed, and if we listen and we tell others, then yeah, we can make a difference,” she said.
Next to Berkshire were Tyler Vetor of New Palestine and Carolyne Sirk of Shelbyville. Vetor, who’s white, said he came out to stand in solidarity against racial injustice and police violence while also standing with the black community to let them know that he loves and supports them.
“The more people who are aware of what’s going on, the more people who are stepping out of their comfort zone and stepping out of their bubble and realizing that this may not be happening to you, but this is affecting communities of color across the nation and across the world,” he said.
Sirk said she wanted to turn her feelings on the matter into action.
“I was tired of sitting on my couch and reading about it on Facebook,” she said.
Greenfield neighbors and best friends Amy Burnine and Katelynn Sims attended too.
“I feel there’s not enough respect in this world; there’s too much hatred,” Burnine said.
Sims said she wanted to attend because she has nieces and nephews of mixed race.
Burnine said she hopes protests like the one on Thursday will help ease that abundance of hatred she feels there is in the world.
“I guess that’s all we can do, is hope and pray for it,” she said.
Phil Miller, a former Greenfield City Council member, said he was “excited as all get-out” to see the protest.
He said while it’s important to voice disagreement with racism and police violence, it’s also important to seek solutions to those problems. Miller thinks a bill Michigan congressman Justin Amash is working on has merit, as it aims to end qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that shields government officials from lawsuits over discretionary actions.
As protesters chanted, “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” in the background, Miller said a very small percentage of law enforcement officers fall into a dangerous mentality of thinking they’re judge, jury and executioner.
“That has to be taken a lot more serious and has to be done away with,” he said.
Miller also thinks it would be helpful if an attorney not associated with a prosecutor’s office handled cases involving police officers accused of crimes.
“If an attorney’s taking care of it, he doesn’t have to worry about getting reelected,” Miller said. “He doesn’t have to worry about a lot of things that the prosecutor has to.”
Several law enforcement officers monitored the protest, including Hancock County Sheriff Brad Burkhart.
Rasche said he spoke with Lakes before the protest and that it was well-planned.
“We’re here to support whoever wants to come out on our streets and have their voice heard,” Rasche said on the lawn of the courthouse as the protest carried on before him. “…I feel very confident after talking with David. I think he’s done a very good job planning this. As you can see, they’re just here to be heard and to be seen and not to cause harm, not to talk badly about anybody, not to hurt or damage the city or anything like that.”
When the police department announced the protest on social media, it drew fears that it would become violent like others across the country, he continued.
“We wanted to assure the community that these people have a right to be here, they have a voice, we talked to them ahead of time,” Rasche said.
Law enforcement was prepared if the event became disorderly, he added. He said he was less concerned about that possibility regarding those participating in the planned protest, but rather the potential for those with opposing views attending with a desire to start a dispute.
“We wanted to make sure that we had a plan, and we do, and hopefully we won’t need it,” Rasche said.
He said no businesses in the area had to close, and many already were for the night by the time the protest got underway. American Legion Place, the street on the east side of the courthouse square, was shut down during the demonstration.
Rasche said he was grateful to see the protest turn out the way it did.
“It’s refreshing to hear people drive by and the honks and the thumbs-up and all that, to know that people are maybe starting to come together and they’re doing a positive thing, trying to put a positive spin on such a negative light that’s been cast over the last week and a half,” he said.
A small group gathered across the street from the courthouse in support of law enforcement and held signs that read, “Back the blue.” They were siblings Abby, Patrick and Shelby McCorkle, Greenfield, whose father works in law enforcement.
“We’re not disagreeing with ‘black lives matter,’ but we’re backing the blue,” Shelby McCorkle said.
Her sister, Abby McCorkle, agreed.
“There are corrupt cops, but there are also good cops, and no one seems to realize that at all,” she said.
Occasionally motorists passed the main protest with offensive gestures and angry shouts, but Lakes urged his fellow demonstrators not to engage.
Protesters briefly knelt before the event ended at its scheduled time of 7 p.m.
A second event on Friday evening also drew a crowd, though not quite as large as Thursday’s; police estimated the number of protesters as between 100 and 150. The group again gathered in front of the courthouse and was greeted by many supportive honks from passing cars, while police officers looked on.
Anderson spoke using a rolled-up poster as a megaphone before leading the crowd in a march around the courthouse square and a chant of “no justice, no peace.” She said she had experienced racism after moving to Greenfield from Indianapolis.
“Today shows, though, that small town does not mean ignorant,” she said.
Protesters and law enforcement officers both said they were happy the event had remained calm and positive.
Will Bolben, a black Greenfield resident, said he hoped those driving past would learn from white protestors’ willingness to show up in support of the black community.
“It’s affecting more than people who just look like me,” he said. “Our community is being affected, but it’s all of us.”
Bolben said it can be difficult to talk about racism in a predominantly white community like Greenfield.
“There’s a history here that probably 20, 30, 40 years ago, this wouldn’t be happening,” he said. “You don’t get anywhere without being uncomfortable. It’s part of the movement.”
Other protesters also spoke about Hancock County’s history with racism. Susan McAmis, a white lifelong county resident, said she recalled the Ku Klux Klan and the John Birch Society being active in the community throughout the 1960s and 1970s. As a high school student, she remembered seeing a banner over U.S. 40 identifying Martin Luther King Jr. as a communisit.
“I’d like to see more diversity in Hancock County law enforcement agencies,” she said. “The demographics of the county are changing. I think that we have a history in Hancock County of being racist, being dangerous for black people to visit and live in. I think we have a lot, as a community, to learn about being good neighbors.”
On Facebook, Lakes encouraged protesters to wear masks and maintain social distancing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. After the event, he said he wished that had turned out better. Indiana’s COVID-19 guidelines allow for social gatherings of up to 100 people with social distancing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Another protest was scheduled for the same time and location on Friday. Today (Saturday, June 6), an event called “Hancock County Families Against Racial Injustice — Children’s Forum” is noon to 1 p.m. at the Courthouse Plaza to the south of the courthouse. Rasche and other officers will be on hand to answer questions and black members of the community will speak as well. A protest was also scheduled at Landmark Park in Fortville Friday evening.
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Fortville Police Chief Bill Knauer posted the following on Facebook ahead of a protest scheduled for Friday evening in town.
Greetings.
As your Chief of Police I have remained silent on the topic of George Floyd and what has taken place across our State and not just across our Nation but around the world. So I want to put this out there. First, there is not one member of the Fortville Police Department that condones what happened in Minneapolis. I have talked to everyone of the officers and they are sickened by these actions. All four of those officers are responsible for the death of Mr. Floyd. The three officers standing there should have knocked officer Chauvin on his ass and taken control of the situation. This was nothing short of murder and I’m disappointed it took so long to charge all of these officers. Do I believe this was race related? Absolutely! I have been in law enforcement for close to 35 years. I have trained with the best of the best and not one department that I know of teaches an officer to place anything on someone’s neck or leave them on their stomach so they can’t breath. Simply ridiculous. For so many years the black community has been treated unfair. Some of you may agree and some will not and that’s okay. I’m not looking for negative responses or questions. I’m telling you what I believe. The people that are rioting and destroying property are not about George Floyd simply because they are distracting from the real issue. That issue is the black community being treated unfairly. The peaceful protesters have done nothing wrong and not only have the right to organize and protest but this cop will stand with them. Of course all lives matter however everyone assumes that white lives matter and blue lives matter but sadly not enough of us think Black lives matter. THEY DO! Again, this is my position as your Chief and felt I owed it to my community to share my thoughts. Please rest assured that as long as I’m your Chief EVERYONE regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or anybody will be treated with respect and professionalism by this department. I encourage everyone to go to the Town of Fortville website and check out our Mission Statement. Please be safe and as always, I’m always available. Chief Knauer, Fortville Police Department.
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WHAT: Hancock Co. Families Against Racial Injustice – Children’s Forum
WHEN: Noon to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 6
WHERE: Courthouse Plaza, downtown Greenfield
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