ATLANTA, Texas - What was rumored to be a major protest, with out-of-towners coming to help, actually turned out to be one of the more peaceful gatherings held in the past weeks.
"I showed up at two o'clock just to see if the rumors of people coming from Shreveport were true," said organizer Shelby Kennedy, of Atlanta. "There are a lot of rumors out there, especially on Facebook. We are not marching into town; I haven't spoken with anyone from out of town; and it really is just a peaceful protest."
By six o'clock, when most people are returning home from work, there were approximately two dozen people gathered in the grass in front of the Atlanta Walmart on Loop 59. Kennedy, along with Hannah Pennington, organized the protest based on what they have seen happen throughout the nation.
"We thought it would be good to do it here. We are asking for the city to enforce police brutality laws and give officers more training," Kennedy stated. "It takes more training to be a cosmetologist than a cop. That doesn't seem right to me."
One of the protesters was T.L. Dickerson, a long-time resident of Atlanta. He was there with his brother Johnny Dickerson and niece Ashley Haire.
"I remember back in the late '50s, early '60s blacks had to leave town after 10 p.m., and they had to park in the alley. But that's how it was most everywhere," said T.L. "It's a whole lot better than it used to be, but we can all do better. There is still problems in the workplace, holding the black man down. We're still treated like we are a little less than the white person. We all just need to think a little more about it."
"It's 10 times worse for a black woman today than for a white woman," said Ashley, as she held a sign that said "Listen and Make a Change."
Although he was out of town during the time of the protest, Mayor Travis Ransom said he was "all for a peaceful protest,"adding, "there are about 25,000 cars that travel through on Highway 59 every single day. My main concern is that the people in those cars show our residents the respect they deserve and everyone remains safe."
The Walmart had closed before the protest started as a matter of company protocol, said a dispatcher for the Atlanta Police Department.
The dispatcher was not sure if any other businesses in the town closed.
"We are just taking it one step at a time," she said late Tuesday afternoon.
Kennedy called the protest a community effort, with everyone coming together for a cause.
Protests have been held in Texarkana the past two weekends. A protest was organized in De Queen, Arkansas, in recent days, as well.
"Everyone is protesting in big cities across the nation, but people fail to realize change starts locally, in individual towns," Kennedy said. "We would like to see more police training."
On Sunday, May 31, Walmart closed several hundred stores across the nation early, after about a dozen of its stores suffered damage, according to national media sources quoting a Walmart official.
The Texarkana, Arkansas, Walmart closed at its normal time on this date, but the entrances to all its doors were blocked by a wall of bottled water pallets for the remainder of the night. Business has gone on as usual since then.
Protests have swept the nation since the death of George Floyd at the hand of a police officer on May 25.
(Gazette reporter Lori Dunn and editor Danielle Dupree contributed to this report.)