Tuscaloosa Residents Host Fifth Weekly Protest for Black Lives Matter
The TTown Freedom Marches group held their fifth Black Lives Matter protest at Snow Hinton Park in Tuscaloosa on Sunday. The event started at 6 p.m., and the protestors marched across the park to the sidewalk next to busy McFarland Boulevard, where they received honks of support.
The group began as two friends, Lux Murray and Nisha Singh, wanted to continue the conversation about racial injustice in Tuscaloosa. They started making flyers for social media to encourage other locals to join.
"I just wanted to keep it going because there's really no point in people saying that they're outraged about something and only protesting one or two weeks," protest organizer Lux Murray said. "So why not keep it going?"
Murray and fellow protest organizer Nisha Singh said after their fourth march on the campus of the University of Alabama, some University of Alabama faculty and staff joined them and brought more people.
"We were walking, and a couple decided to join us to march, and at the end, they said they were part of UA staff and had other people interested in joining," Singh said. "It was awesome to see the number of us change."
The group said they plan to continue marching every weekend at Snow Hinton Park and hope to return to their route on the campus soon. For now, they are waiting to obtain the appropriate permits and will post updates on their Facebook group, TTown Freedom Marches.
"I think it would be great to have students see folks on campus peacefully protesting for social justice, students right now are looking for that kind of leadership," said Jessy Ohl, a professor of Communication Studies at UA. He marched with the group after seeing them protesting while he was out walking his dogs.
When the organizers started their protests, they had less than 15 participants. As they begin planning their sixth protest, their Facebook group currently contains 82 members.
"For us to really let protests die is just an excuse," Murray said in a speech to participants. "We protested strong for two weeks, but we didn't accomplish anything at all, honestly. So, until we get what we're fighting for, there's really no reason to stop, and as long as I'm putting these protests together, we will be protesting every week."
The group will continue to post their flyers for the weekly protests on their Facebook page. They've also made an Instagram account, @ttown_freedom_marchers, where they post photos and updates.