Healdsburg local Hollie Clausen and Healdsburg student youth activist Izabel Soto led a boisterous crowd in a musical march down Center Street and up Johnson Street to the Fitch Mountain Elementary School campus on Friday night, July 31, in a show of support for equality and justice for Black, Indigenous and people of color in light of the death of George Floyd and other deaths at the hands of police officers.
Folks were encouraged to make signs and learn chants at the Plaza where the event kicked off. Drummers led the marchers down the street and attendees used tambourines and shakers to make some noise and chant. People chanted, “Fire, fire gentrifier, Black people used to live here, people of color used to live here,” and “Say her name, Breonna Taylor,” as curious onlookers peeked out of their front doors to see the spirited crowd.
Marchers ended the event at the lawns of the Fitch Mountain campus where they provided water, hand sanitizer and masks to anyone who needed it. Healdsburg City Councilmember Ozzy Jimenez shared a few words about his experience growing up as a Latinx member of the LGBTQ+ community and Healdsburg High School graduate and civil rights lawyer, Patrick Gomez Buelna, discussed his experience and how he came to work in civil rights.
The evening ended with a dance performance from Rosa Buck and, back at the Plaza, an eight minute and 56 second moment of silence for George Floyd and a prayer for Breonna Taylor and the other lives lost at the hands of law enforcement.
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