Maria Norris said she and other protesters were met with tear gas and force from Asheville police after a peaceful protest Sunday night. Asheville Citizen Times
From May 29-June 6,2020, hundreds of protesters poured into the streets of Asheville to demand justice for the murder of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis manwho was killed after a white police officer kneeled on his neck fornearly9 minutes.
While some days were filled withmultigenerationalgroups marching through downtown streets chanting, I cantbreathe - Floyd's words before he died -and No justice, no peace, otherdayswere clouded withchemical fogs after police shot pepper balls and tear gas into the crowds.
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Since those tense days that included city-imposed curfews last year, the Asheville Police Departmenthas madesome changes to how it handles protests.
In March, Police Chief David Zack presenteda report of its actionsto City Council.
The study, called an "After Action Report," suggested 11technical changes to police practice and policy, includingrequiring officers to turn on their body cameras while they are policing protests or shooting chemical weapons.
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The reportalsosuggestedthings some activists find outrageous. The final recommendation: APD will continue to review best practices on crowd control tactics,including the use ofchemical weapons.
Clouds of teargas rise as protesters meet police after hundreds crossed the Bowen Bridge May 31, 2020 in reaction to the death of George Floyd.(Photo: Angela Wilhelm/awilhelm@citizentimes.com)
In July, City Councilunanimouslypassed ameasureto give reparations to Black residents,through promoting homeownership and business opportunities. But, for the 2022 budget, the citys finance department suggested putting just about$1 million into the reparations fund until it can arrange a commission to study the action further (and there is also $200,000 set aside for the study).
For the 2021 and 2022 budgets, the city has moved somefunding and responsibilities away fromthe policeand into different departments,including animal control and noise ordinanceenforcement, but its a far cry from the 50% reduction in police spending that many activists called for last year.
Perhaps the most visible change to the city is theVance Monument:a 75-foot granite obelisk honoringa Confederate-era governor and senator who enslaved people. Crews have been taking it down since May 18, and it is expected to be totally gone by June 2.
Blocks from the Vance Monument are seen on the ground as the obelisk is disassembled May 25, 2021 in Asheville.(Photo: Angela Wilhelm/awilhelm@citizentimes.com)
Still, thepeople who marchedlast summerare divided over what kind of progress has really been made.TheCitizen Timesspoke withfour activistsabout whatthey thinkhas changed since the protests, whats yet to be done, and what the legacy is of the movement in peoples consciousness.
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Oralene Simmons is the founder of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County.In the 1960s, she integrated the all-whiteMars Hill College.She was the first Black student enrolled.Her great grandfather, Joseph Anderson, was enslavedand held as collateral to guaranteeone of theloansused to buildthe college.
Simmons wasnt a member of Black Lives Matter, but she admired their work.
Ifeel that it was a movement. And notjusta phrase that people could shout about or have bumper stickers, that it really meant a lot to so many people, she said.
Simmons was on the committee that was established todecide the future of theVance Monument.Shethinks its a good thing that its been taken down,andalsothinksits a step in the right direction thatthe police budget for2022allocates more money for officer training. She believes the department needs to scrutinize who exactly theyre hiring, be rigorous in their accreditation process, and providetransparencywith the public when they do something wrong.
Oralene Simmons is the founder of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County.In the 1960s, she integrated the all-whiteMars Hill College.She was the first Black student enrolled.Her great grandfather, Joseph Anderson, was enslavedand held as collateral to guaranteeone of theloansused to buildthe college.(Photo: Angela Wilhelm/awilhelm@citizentimes.com)
There must be transparency in policing, and policehave tobe held accountable, she said. No one is above the law, and no one is below the law.
As a mother and grandmother ofBlack sonsand grandsons,Simmonssaid she thinks about their interactions with police an awful lot,to the point where I am afraid.
She thinks the department must do everything it can to make sure that another killing of a Black person, like the murder of George Floyd, does not happen in Asheville.
I know that there are so many other mothers that feel that way and thinkcould this happen?she said.
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Idris Salaamis a chefwhoworked security for protestersduring the marcheslast summer. He was hit in the hand with a tear gas canister on the JeffBowen Bridge. He said it burned his body, and his phone.
He joined the protests without any group affiliation.
I've always been against police brutality and everything going back to, I guess, when I was a kid, and I have always wanted to be with people who were trying to fight for change, andeverything else. And I had a friend thatrantheBlack Lives Mattermarch last year, and he asked me to be security, Salaam said.
Idris Salaamis a chefwhoworked security for protestersduring the marcheslast summer. He was hit in the hand with a tear gas canister on the JeffBowen Bridge. He said it burned his body, and his phone.(Photo: Angela Wilhelm/awilhelm@citizentimes.com)
Over the years, police brutality in Asheville had worn on him, he named thepolice killing ofJai Lateef Solveig Williamsand beating ofJohnnieRushassituations that especially weighedon his mind.
Stuff like thatthat has been going on and going on and going on, and they kept saying Yeah we'regonnachange, we'regonnachange.I said, No, you guys are not trying to change. I just got fed up, he said.
Salaam also thinks the increased funding forofficertraining, along withthe moving of noise enforcementordinance outside of police jurisdiction,is a good thing,but its not enough.
I could tell you right now that the demands(of last summers protests)have not been met, he said.
It bothers him how secretive the police are with their body camera footage. He thinksit should be released as soon as its asked for.
Healsothinks the Vance Monument coming down is a positive development.
Heshould not have a monument in the middle of the city representing him, Salaam said. He thinks it should be replaced with something dedicated to any one of the numerous notable Black people whove grown up in Asheville: Nina Simone, for example.
The Vance Monument is disassembled in Pack Square May 25, 2021.(Photo: Angela Wilhelm/awilhelm@citizentimes.com)
Heknows the city passed a plan to give residents reparations, but he doesnt understand why its taking so long and why neither he, nor people in his community have been consulted about it.
They're just not doing anything they said they would do, he said, But in the meantime, we've seen hotels go up left and right. Like, what's going on?
Salaam says,for him, one of the protestslegacies is thedeep distrusthe has ofthe policeafter being shot at.
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That's one of the images that stuck in my head. I mean, I'm not afraid of police or anything. But it makes me wonder like, wow, these guys wouldactually do that? Whatever trustIhadin the police is gone. I don't trust them whatsoever, he said.
Healsosaid he gets stopped by police as he walks around his neighborhood, which does the opposite of build trust.
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Gritsisthecommunity outreach coordinator with the Racial Justice Coalition in Asheville. They (Grits uses the pronoun they) area 20-year-old abolitionist.Similar toSalaam, they have misgivings about the reparations process. Theyare also critical of the police budget.
They didn't divest 50% of the police budget, Grits said, it was really just shifting money within the police budget.
If they are having conversations about reimagining public safety and eventual divestment, I'm not hearing it, they said. Not only did they not divest from the police, they also have dragged their feet to create conversations or spaces where folks can talk about what it means to reimagine public safety.
Grits cites the same two instancesof brutality by APD, which Salaam said activated him, but Grits has a different reading: After each incident, the department put in new policies to prevent brutality and killing, but they didnt work.
Reform cannot work, Grits said, The city is just trying to hop on the reform train again. It's ridiculous.
What initiatives are we putting in place outside of cops?The system itself is rotten. So where's the social worker?Wheres themutual aid?Wheresthe mental health practitioners? Wheresharm reduction?Whereiscrisis response?Because cops can't do that rightnow, Grits said.
Hundreds crossed the Bowen Bridge to protest the death of George Floyd in Asheville May 31, 2020.(Photo: Angela Wilhelm/awilhelm@citizentimes.com)
Even if community elders are saying,We need police,more police,it's because there are no alternatives. Data shows when we put more police in neighborhoods, violent crimesstill go up, because they're nearly reactive, Grits said.
What I hear ispeoplesaying that we need to feel safe. We need to feel heard.Wewant to be comfortable in our community, Grits said. These were the demands of the movement,theysaid,butneither the city nor the police have taken steps to meet these demands in practical, transformational ways.
Dewana Little isthe executive director of the YMI Cultural Center,one of the oldest Blackcultural centers in the county.She said the two most visible changes in the last year are the removal of theVance Monument and the change in conversations about systematic racism.
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Theres a danger, though, in relying too heavily on symbolic changes, she thinks.
The monument is not-- that'ssymbolic, that's not impact,right?SoI think about the money spent to take down the monument and how that could have beenused in the Black community to supportBlack businesses, support home ownership, support the elevation ofBlack people, she said.
Sheechoesthe concerns of the other activistsabout the reparations process.
We had a conversation. Just a conversation on, Oh! Reparations! Inclusion! And diversity! And equity! Little said.
Shesaysconversations arent enough.
The hold up to real change, toreallyaccomplishingtruereparations, isashiftinpower, she said.
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Little says the conversation about reparations has been happening for years. Even though reparationsisa radical shift from the status quo, she argues that it isnt actually that hard to figure out: (people ask) how do we do this? It's the same way you do it when you do it for white people. And that's the reality. Like it's not complicated. Use the same technique that you've been using for years to fund white people and use it to fund Black people.
Shethinks Black residents, not the city or the county, should have total control over the reparations process.
Itjustdon'tmake sense to me," she said. "It's like, why do yall have to have the power and control over the reparations committee? If you're really thinking of true reparations, why can't black people control their own reparations?
Littlesaidthatdifferent community organizations have told City Council effective ways to doreparations, even before the resolution passed.
So now you need a study to figure out what weve been telling you for all these years? And thats money that could be invested in our community, she said.
Even though there's reparations, and all of these things thatve happened like a year later, the impact is yet to be seen.
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Little also said shes disappointed in the police budget for the coming year. She says the call last year from activists was clear: defund the police, invest in other services for the community. The 2022 budget, she says, doesnt do that.
Though the activists agree there is more work to be done and disagree on what that might look like, theyre nearly unanimous in their understanding of the legacy of the marches: the power of collective action.
Salaam said those in power saw that if you do the people wrong, the power is in the people. And the people will show you that they're fed up.
Thepeople in Asheville saw how we can come together and make a difference. ... People thought Asheville was just real calm, present, progressive, but they saw that the people of Asheville don't play.
Clarissa Donnelly-DeRoven is the cops and courts reporter at the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at cdonnellyderoven@citizentimes.com or follow her on twitter @plz_CLARify.
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Asheville's Black Lives Matter protests: What's changed a year later? - Citizen Times