Youth activists lead a march through Downs

Posted on July 2, 2020
Protesters march through the streets of Downs. (photo by A.J. Harris/WJBC)

By A.J. Harris

DOWNS – Bloomington Normal Youth Activists led a rally through the small town of Downs yesterday Wednesday), hoping to spread their message to a relatively homogeneous community.

Over 60 people gathered in Dooley Park in Downs before marching through the streets to protest injustice and police brutality towards Black people.

Steve Stark, a resident of Downs, has been to several rallies before, but believes it’s important that they come to smaller communities.

“I think it’s really easy for small towns that don’t have a lot of diversity to pretend that issues of race don’t affect us,” he said.

Stark adds “It’s important that we put our voice with the collective voice that is going on around the country.”

United Methodist Church Pastor Donald Jackson, speaking to the crowd but addressing the town as a whole, said that protesters are not the enemy, nor are the police or the people, but it is injustice that is the true enemy.

He encouraged those those wanting to learn and understand to read, ask questions, and above all listen.

A.J. Harris can be reached at [email protected]

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