Saturday, June 06, 2020

Black Lives Matters Demonstration - 6/6/20

I tried to post this directly to Facebook, but it swallowed my images and just wouldn't give them back for you to see.  So, here's what I wrote and, hopefully, the images and videos.

THE NEWPORT HARBOR PROTEST MARCH, 6/6/20
Well, neighbors, I stood on the sidewalk a block from my home for about 90 minutes, waiting for the march proposed by a young high school student to make it's way to my location. I was alerted to this event by my friend, Sandy Asper, who knows the young man who conjured up this idea. As you can see from the graphic I snagged from my Facebook page, it was planned to launch from Newport Harbor High School at 2:00 and travel straight up Irvine Avenue to Santiago Drive, cross the street and return down Irvine back to the high school. It got a late start which, according to Mayor Katrina Foley, the delay was due to some personal stories being told before the march.
ANYHOW...
The outward bound segment of the march reached my location - midway between 19th Street and 20th Street, around 3:00 p.m. and it was very orderly. Newport Beach police officers escorted the group the entire way and were very courteous. And, many of the marchers, despite chanting things that were certainly not pro-police, were very courteous to the officers as they passed them on the route.
TOO MANY IMAGES... BUT...
I took a lot of photos and videos. The video clips I included in this report were as the marchers headed back. I took it in two segments - one of about 1:30 long and the second that is about 4:40. I thought it was necessary to properly present the atmosphere. I saw a few familiar faces, including a couple of neighbor boys - young men I've watch grow up into their middle 20s - as they joined the march.
A GOOD EVENT
In my opinion, this was a good, well-organized and managed event. I saw not the slightest hint of antagonism from marchers or the observers. There were VERY FEW of those, by the way. From my vantage point I could see about a mile of the march course and I don't think there were more than a couple dozen observers.
ENJOY THE IMAGES
I hope you get the sense of what this event was about. Enjoy...