© 2024 WVIK
Listen at 90.3 FM and 98.3 FM in the Quad Cities, 95.9 FM in Dubuque, or on the WVIK app!
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Community

Citizens Organize Peaceful QC March For Solidarity

Protesters marched in St. Paul, Minn. following the death of Philando Castile.
Fibonacci Blue
/
Flickr
Protesters marched in St. Paul, Minn. following the death of Philando Castile.

Thursday night, dozens of people gathered at Life Church in East Moline, Ill. for prayer and an open forum in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of two black men this week by police officers in Baton Rouge and a town near St. Paul, Minn. The citizens who gathered at the church organized the Quad Cities' first Black Lives Matter march.

The Quad Cities March for Solidarity will begin at the Rock Island Police Department at 6 p.m. Friday evening, cross over Centennial Bridge, and end at the Davenport Police Department. 

Rock Island resident Brandy Donaldson was at the Life Church gathering last night. She says she can no longer watch videos of black people dying at the hands of law enforcement and not speak out against it.

"If you're silently watching these things, it's almost like you're giving it permission to continue to happen," Donaldson says. "I can no longer just sit back and be quiet and be silent and not use whatever platform I possibly can in my own community to speak out about these things."

In light of the deaths of five police officers following a Dallas protest last night, Donaldson says anybody who wishes harm against law enforcement should not attend the march. She says the people who gathered last night want peace and unity.

"Not one time in that room did anyone bring up taking arms against police officers. Not one time in that room did anyone bring up returning violence with violence," she says. "It was quite the opposite."

Donaldson encourages people of all races, along with community leaders and law enforcement to join the peaceful march.

Tags
Related Content