Peaceful Protesters in Superior Demand End to Racism and Police Violence
Large group rallies for change outside the Douglas County Goverment Center
SUPERIOR, Wis. – More than a hundred people protested at Superior’s first major rally in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.
Protesters are demanding an end to police violence and racism everywhere, including Superior.
“We have had police brutality here on African American people,” said protester Taylor Whitaker. “Just because they haven’t been murdered doesn’t mean it won’t happen yet, it hasn’t happened yet. Just because we’re a little town doesn’t mean that stuff can’t happen here.”
Duluth branch NAACP president Stephan Witherspoon says communities of color have been systemically held back for far too long.
“It has been disproportionate across the board with people of color being oppressed in many different ways over many different generations,” said Witherspoon. “It stops now.”
He says it’s important for people of all races and backgrounds to stand up for historically marginalized groups like African Americans.
“We need our white allies to step up and to speak up and speak out and fight for us,” said Witherspoon. “Fight with us and for us. We need our allies to step up.”
The rally outside the Douglas County Government Center was organized to give people a platform to speak their voice and join the growing nationwide movement against systemic racism.
“I’ve been dealing with racism my whole life. This is the first time in 23 years that something like this has ever happened and I want to be a part of it,” explained Whitaker.
Superior Mayor Jim Paine attended the rally. He says the intersection of Belknap Street and Hammond Avenue has hosted protests for a few nights, with Thursday’s rally being the largest.
“Racism is real. It is a problem in our community and we need to work together to solve that problem and that’s going to take leadership, so I want to let them know I’m committed to that cause with them,” said Paine.
The mayor tells us the city of Superior worked closely with protesters to plan a safe event.
He calls the Superior Police Department “one of the most progressive police departments in the United States.”
“We have implemented body cams on all of our police officers, we’ve sent them all through crisis intervention, deescalation, implicit bias training,” explained Paine. “We have an entire citizen police and fire commission that handles all hiring and firing, and that’s why we’ve moved to character-based hiring so we hire good people and then we train them to be good officers.”
Paine acknowledges there is a lot more work to do and says he’s committed to bring people of color into leadership roles in Superior.
Witherspoon calls his community’s relationship with the city “ongoing.”
“Our relationship with the police force is predicated on the last altercation with one of our community members,” explained Witherspoon. “So it’s always about accountability.”
Superior Police Chief Nicholas Alexander tells us there was no damage and no arrests associated with Thursday’s peaceful protest.
