HOUSTON, Texas — At least one Black Lives Matter protester in Houston was reported to yell “F**k blue lives” while others chanted “Pig, pig, bang, bang.” The anti-police rhetoric came during a protest march in Houston’s predominantly black historic Third Ward on Saturday evening.
The protest began in McGregor Park after the release of the dashcam video by Charlotte, North Carolina, police showing the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, a black man, by a black police officer. On September 22, a white female officer in Tulsa was charged with first-degree manslaughter after she shot and killed Terence Crutcher. As reported by Breitbart News and the AP, Officer Betty Shelby was charged after dashcam and aerial footage showed the shooting and Crutcher walking away from the officer with his arms in the air. The footage does not include a clear view of when the officer fired the sole shot that killed the 40-year-old black man.
At one point, a confrontation developed between the protesters and police, according to the Houston Chronicle’s Keri Blakinger. The standoff occurred in a parking lot on the University of Houston campus. Ultimately, the protesters backed up and took a different path.
“F**k blue lives,” shouted one protester that Blakinger described as “particularly incensed.” She reported others chanting “Pig, pig, bang, bang.”
The protesters occasionally blocked street intersections remained peaceful and out of the flow of traffic during the protest.
The usual chants of “No justice, no peace! No racist police!” could be heard during a march down a sidewalk alongside Martin Luther King Boulevard, KTRC ABC13’s Lauren Lee reported. The protest march was dubbed a “Day of Remembrance” in honor of those killed in officer-involved shootings.
Event organizer Gregory Chatman told Lee, “We just want black people to feel safe in our communities. We want to go outside without worrying about if police are going to kill us today or harass us today.”
Protesters invaded the intersection of Scott and Wheeler Streets for a few moments. They raised their hands in the air and chanted “Hands up, don’t shoot” for a few minutes and then continued on their march towards Texas Southern University, Blakinger reported for the Houston newspaper.
A co-organizer for the march, Deondre Moore told Blakinger, “We’re tired of seeing what’s going on in America. We’re fed up.”
“Every morning I see black and brown bodies in the street. I don’t feel safe when I see a police officer coming around,” Moore continued. “I’m afraid to say this, but white people don’t have to deal with this,” he continued. “When something is wrong, we need to call it for what it is – systematic racism, police brutality, a system that wasn’t built for people who look like me. It needs to be dismantled and rebuilt.”
Houston police officers erected barricades to prevent protesters from occupying the nearby I-45 Gulf Freeway, KPRC NBC2’s Brandon Walker reported. Other than a couple of brief incidents, Houston police officers kept protesters either in sidewalks or in parking lots as they moved along their route.
Chastity Gibbons told Walker, “I wanted my kids [to] be able to see how to protest.” Gibbons brought her four children to the event, including five-year-old Elijah.
The protest remained peaceful and no arrests were made.
Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2.
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