About three hundred people lined the Sterling Highway on Saturday afternoon, peacefully protesting police brutality. But peacefully doesn’t mean quietly—the crowd loudly chanted "Black lives matter!" and cheered when people spoke on the stage in the park.
Faith Borromeo of Kenai organized the event. She said she didn’t know what kind of participation to expect and was pleasantly surprised when more than 700 people responded to the event’s page on Facebook. She said the intent was to show solidarity with other protesters across the country.
As the event continued in Soldotna Creek Park, the crowd swelled, with most people wearing masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Despite concerns about counterprotesters, none materialized in the park or surrounding area.
The event in Soldotna was one of hundreds of similar events all over the country this weekend. People brought homemade signs with messages like “Say their names,” noting the names of black individuals killed by police recently such as Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd, and “Enough is Enough.” A number also carried signs with messages in Alaska Native and Native American languages on them.
Kirsten Nyquist carried a sign decorated on both sides, with the names of black people killed by police on one side and specifically the names of black transgender people on the other side. She said because June is Pride Month, she wanted to highlight the names of murdered black transgender people, who helped found Gay Pride Month.
"[I'm here] to show solidarity, just to be a part of this community, to be a part of people in this community that stand with all the other protests around the country," she said.
The protests nationwide were spurred the death of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis who died as a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on his neck. Ongoing protests in major cities have been mixed with some violence and looting, but most reports of protests in smaller towns have been peaceful demonstrations, including those in Alaska. Gov. Mike Dunleavy noted this in a Facebook post and thanked Alaskans for protesting peacefully.
In Soldotna Creek Park, a number of individuals took up a bullhorn to tell the crowd about their experiences with racism in the Soldotna area. Hannah Warren said she was happy to see so many people turn out and hoped that the community can change to be more inclusive.
"To the next generation, I want to tell you what I tell my own child-- never let anyone steal your voice," she said. "We will be here to support you."
After hearing from a number of community members, the crowd walked out together to the sidewalk, stretching from the Tesoro gas station on the corner of Birch Street nearly to the Kendall car dealership, waving at passing cars. Frequently, the cars would honk and passengers would wave supporting signs of their own. Even hours after the official end of the event, some stayed on the side of the highway and continued to demonstrate.
Reach Elizabeth Earl at eearl@kdll.org.
