Protesters Hold 'Die-In' Outside Boston's Franklin Park

ROXBURY, MA — Several thousand rallied in Franklin Park Tuesday evening to protest the death of George Floyd last week at the hands of Minneapolis police, an event that commenced with a "die-in" that lasted nearly 9 minutes, the time an officer kept his knee on Floyd's neck.

Black Lives Matter Boston and Violence In Boston, Inc. organized the gathering, during which protesters chanted, "Hey hey, ho ho, racist cops have got to go!" and "Black lives matter" as a sea of people marched shoulder-to-shoulder for more than a mile from Blue Hills Avenue through the park to the Shattuck picnic area, peacefully.

"They said we couldn't make it down here without violence," said Activist and Violence In Boston founder Monica Cannon-Grant as she addressed the crowd. "You see violence?"

At the beginning of the March, rally-goers stopped traffic in Roxbury as they stopped to lay down in the middle of an intersection for a "die-in" that lasted 8 minutes and 46 seconds, marking the time a Minneapolis police officer kept his knee on Floyd's neck. Two autopsies have called Floyd's death a homicide.

Aerials of the 'die-in' on Blue Hill Avenue for George Floyd. Protesters are on the move through Franklin Park now in #Boston #WBZ pic.twitter.com/hD3AsPp7lr
— Brad Tatum (@BradTatum) June 2, 2020

The protesters then stood up, and holding signs and chanting marched toward Shattuck Hospital, taking over the roadway as far as the eye could see.

The peaceful Franklin Park rally comes after a day of peaceful protests across Boston Sunday ended and violence broke out. Photos: Boston Protest Damage: Cleanup Begins

Once at Shattuck picnic area, protesters blanketed the grass and Cannon-Grant addressed the crowd.

"Find a black-run organization or business and donate," she told the crowd.

"Black-on-Black crime is a term that white folks created. Any population of people living amongst their own people kill their own people," she said. "Black-on-Black crimes happen. Asian-on-Asian crimes happen. Do better. Stop using the white supremacy tactics against each other."

Cannon-Grant implored those gathered to vote, she criticized Sen. Ed Markey for not showing up, and thanked Rep. Joe Kennedy for making the effort. She praised Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley for working on a resolution that aimed to allow for the criminal prosecution of officers who engaged in police brutality.

"We need to seize this time," agreed community organizer and former city councilor Tito Jackson.

Jackson said residents should register to vote, not only for the presidency but for local elections.

"We can't point fingers at Washington if we aren't doing what we can, here," he said.

The official rally lasted more than two hours and stayed peaceful, with Cannon-Grant calling for a peaceful end to the event, directing participants to head back the way they came - peacefully and to avoid the police.

"[Expletive] the police, I don't care about them, but I do care about you," she told them. "Act like you got some sense."

Although law enforcement was present on the outskirts during the rally, their presence was felt in the helicopter hovered above.

After the main rally was over, the thousands who had been in the field poured back onto Franklin Park Road chanting where police were waiting. Shortly after, a police paddy wagon drove into the crowd in what seemed like an attempt to move protesters out of the road. The crowd was too big, and surrounded the vehicle. That vehicle and another eventually backed away to the cheers of the crowd.

"It was tense," said Dejean Pruitt, of Marlboro.

But, it didn't ultimately spark any violence.

Pruitt said he also attended the Sunday rally but said the chaos that ensued afterward, was a shame.

"I understand the pain and the passion, but if we do that we're gonna just look like animals. And they'll use it against us," he said. "People just gotta think."

He echoed the sentiment of a number of people who attended the rally, marveling at the unity he saw in it.

"My biggest takeaway is that everybody is coming together to fight tyranny," he said. "To me that's amazing."

Youth activist Carrie Mays, who attends UMass as a freshman and helped start Teen Empowerment spoke at the rally. When she looked out at the crowd she said she was impressed at what she saw looking back at her.

"There were people of all colors here. I felt like it was a humanity rainbow," she said.

The rally also honored Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African American woman who was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police Department officers in May, as well as Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old African American man who was fatally shot in Georgia while jogging among others.

As rain started to fall, around 8:30 p.m. spirits were high, people used their signs to keep the rain off their heads, throwing a fist into the air when cars honked in solidarity.

One young protester said to his friends "That was perfect: provocative nonviolence."

Previously: Boston Protest Damage: Cleanup Begins