SPOKANE, Wash — The past two weekends have seen thousands of people flock to downtown Spokane and Riverfront Park to protest police brutality in light of the death of George Floyd during an arrest by the Minneapolis Police Department.
Although leaders with Occupy Spokane and the local chapter of the NAACP don't have plans for a large public showing today, that doesn't mean their efforts have stopped. Their work will continue at city hall, as they plan to attend the Spokane City Council's virtual meeting.
The public is allowed to listen to the meeting and see the agenda, and organizers are taking advantage of this access, touching base with city leaders to have conversations about the protesters demands.
"The conversations have been good. 'Hey, we understand. Hey, we're concerned. Hey, we're with you and we love that and we've heard it before.' What we're saying now is that do you hear us and that we mean it," Kurtis Robinson, president of the Spokane NAACP chapter, said.
Those demands revolve around the idea of diverting what the leaders see as excess funding given to law enforcement to other areas, such as mental health resources and community relations.
"How do we reallocate those funds into a peace force where police officers are getting the training they need within mental health services to really help their community and not continually contribute to the war on poor and overcrowded jails," Occupy Spokane leader Dustin Jolly said.
The public forum part of the meeting allows the public to listen, but not speak, on agenda items. According to KREM's Brandon Jones, the public forum portion of the meeting was pushed back to a 4:45 p.m. start time.
A small group led by local activist leader Renee White formed outside of Spokane City Hall during the council meeting. According to KREM's Brandon Jones, who was at City Hall, White delivered a message that she doesn't want fighting, but instead unity and for the community to be informed.