This past Sunday I was at the Black Lives Matter gathering at Union and County Streets in New Bedford. The event there was peaceful.
The Mayor and Chief of Police made an appearance.
I had arrived early so I could get a good visible spot and set up my folding patio chair since I was most likely there for the duration. While the organizer as busy on one corner and I was setting up on another, a car slowed down with a person much younger than my now undeniable senior years and yelled, “Get a job!” at me. I yelled back, “I’m retired, dumbass!,” and he moved on.
Later another car slowed down yelling, “All lives matter” in response to my Black Lives Matter sign, and I yelled back the question, “If all lives do matter, why would you have a problem with my mentioning Black ones do?”.
For most of the time of the gathering there was a lot of honking in support.
An individual in an old ratty Jeep pulled up at the light when it turned red, and revved up his engine spewing exhaust fumes mostly onto the car behind him and, when the breeze shifted, onto himself before the light turned green. The Jeep made two more pass-throughs, spewing exhaust each time he went slowly through the intersection, but sadly for him, as he went through the intersection the last time, his exhaust system couldn’t handle the pressure and his muffler and exhaust pipe fell off. The crowd allowed him his shame quietly as his Jeep sputtered to a stop by no one running over to him jeering.
After a time the assembled marched to Buttonwood Park escorted by police with the marchers staying on the sidewalk.
Since I live only a block from where the rally was, and being a senior citizen, I went to my place, got my car, and drove to the park to take part in the activity there. I arrived long before the marchers and took a video of their peaceful arrival.
Two elderly women who walked by me asked what was going on and when told about the march and the reason for it expressed their support since what had happened to George Floyd was, in their words, just wrong..
When I saw the intention was to match the perimeter of the park, I returned to my car and drove to the West side of the park to hold my sign and cheer the marchers on as they passed the parking area. Other observers there gave positive signals to the marchers.
After the marchers had passed I attempted to pull out and rejoin them at the next stopping point, but I had to wait for 6 State Trooper vehicles with blaring sirens and flashing lights to speed by to catch up to the marchers. This was on a city street and the marchers were on a city owned park sidewalk. Why were they there?
Obviously, from the verbal reactions from people standing near my car, this gave the impression the peaceful marchers who these people had just seen walk by must have done something earlier, they hadn’t, or were doing something now, they weren’t.
I was able to catch up and To cure this problem people visit spe buy discount cialist and surely get the related issue solved effectively. You are advised to practice exercises like jogging, Continued on line viagra walking, swimming and stretching. buy viagra professional This enhances sexual stimulation and actually offers better results when it comes to sexual performance in the bedroom. No cialis tadalafil tablets more wasting an entire day in a classroom setting. drove slowly behind the marchers through the park’s roadway.
The marchers remained peaceful.
At one point, I had to go around the unmarked gang unit car that had been watching with binoculars from a distance when the gathering was still at the County/Union intersection and followed at a distance as the marchers headed for the park.
When looking for a side street to park my car when the marchers had arrived at a major intersection at the corner of the park, I passed the trooper vehicles parked on a number of side streets. At least one vehicle situated itself near the marchers. There was still a NBPD presence, so there was no need for state troopers.
Their presence changed the impressions of bystanders and created tension among the marchers that had not been there prior. I was wondering if there was going to be some action on the part of the troopers.
The County Sheriff even drove by in his black SUV.
Were they there to prevent any violence from a group that had been peaceful, or change the tenor of the event and the emotions of the marchers to create a problem? The flashing blue lights had an influence on the group “vibe”.
One individual who had joined the marchers as they marched, but had not been at the Union/County location, being a bit of a pest at this time, irrelevantly loud mouthed and obviously new at demonstrations, and, I might add, a little clueless, began to direct angry words at the trooper vehicle near the marchers. People moved close enough to her to prevent any escalation without provoking her. She was seeking the spotlight.
I took pictures and videos of the marchers at different points, but if I showed just the clip of her acting up, I could totally misrepresent what was a huge gathering of peaceful people.
While I was with them, the most nominally “disruptive” thing the demonstrators did once at each intersection around the perimeter of the park was pushing the pedestrian button and running into the street to take a knee and returning to the sidewalk when the light changed.
The only disruption to traffic, which I got on video, was the gang division’s unmarked car sitting in a left turn only lane, preventing people behind from making the turn they were signaling when they got the green arrow.
I went on my way as the marchers headed down Kempton toward the Fairhaven/New Bedford Bridge. The State Troopers left at that time as well.
Among the marchers were people of all ages, genders, sexual orientations, races, ethnicities, religions, and political affiliations, all unified and peaceful.
After returning to the County Street/Union Street intersection, as darkness fell, the official gathering was ended as a precaution against any misbehavior after dark, an act that was reassuring to the community who had obviously seen activities elsewhere.