The Minneapolis police officer held his knee on George Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes.
A week later and hundreds of miles away, atop one of the highest points in Virginia Beach, a large crowd took a knee in the windswept dirt of Mount Trashmore to remember Floyd, holding a long moment of silence with heads bowed. After, the group, many clad in black and holding signs, rose and joined in song.
The prayer vigil Tuesday night at Mount Trashmore stood in stark contrast to the sometimes violent clashes between police and peaceful demonstrators that have played out in cities across the country since Floyd died in police custody.
Organized by the Virginia Beach Interdenominational Ministers Conference, Tuesday was originally planned as a two- or three-block march around the area of Pembroke Mall. But leaders diverted instead to a prayer vigil.
“We don’t want to create new opportunities for opportunists to come in,” said James Allen, the group’s president and associate minister at New Hope Baptist Church. Allen and others pointed to a protest at the Oceanfront over the weekend that ended in tear gas being launched and damaged businesses.
At Mount Trashmore, people gathered with ministers from across the city along with city leaders such as Councilman Aaron Rouse, acting Police Chief Anthony “Tony” Zucaro, recently retired chief Jim Cervera and Congresswoman Elaine Luria, who was among the speakers.
“The things that happened this week — to watch a man on the ground, to have the breath taken out of him, to have him strangled by someone’s knee in broad daylight — it’s just too much,” Luria said. “This is too much and we cannot continue to stand by and not act.”
At 6 p.m., the large crowd walked to the top of the Trashmore hill, gathering around a small generator-powered speaker and microphone. People handed out bottles of water and masks, one of the reminders of the coronavirus pandemic as many in the group showed up with their own face coverings and opted for bumps of the fists and elbows over handshakes.
People held signs that read “stop killing us” and “being black is not a crime.” Impassioned speakers wiped off the microphone before passing it along as cars whirred by on the interstate below and a breeze kicked up some of the dirt.
“People will finally hear the cries of people who’ve been crying for years,” Jason Knight, pastor at Mount Olive Baptist Church, said before the vigil started. “We’ve been silent for a long time, forcibly and non forcibly. We will be silent no longer.”
Allen and other ministers said they are demanding justice in the light of Floyd’s death, including criminal charges for the other police officers involved in his death and first-degree murder charges instead of third.
Allen also said his group has been working for years with the police department on a plan to improve relations between law enforcement and the community.
Speakers also said they want to see increased diversity in the police department and a diverse citizen police review board. They also urged people to get out and vote in the upcoming election and stop spending their money at the Oceanfront and Town Center.
“If we shut down Town Center and don’t spend a dime, you feel it,” Theron Williams, a local church leader, said to the crowd. “And that’s what I think we need to do. You won’t hear us when we cry from the top of the mountain. I bet you feel us when we stop giving you our dollars.”
After the last of the speakers was done, the group sang “This Little Light of Mine” before everyone walked home. But before that, someone stopped the crowd for two more chants.
“No justice, no peace” rang out in the evening. Then, chants of Floyd’s name.
Gordon Rago, 757-446-2601, gordon.rago@pilotonline.com
