Residents rally at State Line Post Office to protest George Floyd death

Demonstrators protesting the death of George Floy in Minnesota gather Saturday at the Downtown Post Office in Texarkana and march. Most of the group marched back to the post office before heading north down North State Line Avenue and ended up at a store parking lot at State Line Avenue and Arkansas Boulevard.
Demonstrators protesting the death of George Floy in Minnesota gather Saturday at the Downtown Post Office in Texarkana and march. Most of the group marched back to the post office before heading north down North State Line Avenue and ended up at a store parking lot at State Line Avenue and Arkansas Boulevard.

TEXARKANA - The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, earlier this week, rippled 902 miles south into Texarkana on Saturday.

About 70 to 100 people participated in a George Floyd rally in downtown Texarkana to draw attention to the injustice they see in the death of Floyd, a black man, who died while being arrested by a white police officer.

"This is not about rioting and violence; this is about black lives mattering," said Aylin Sozen, a former Texarkana resident and rally organizer, as she spoke to the group gathered outside the downtown Texarkana Post Office. "We are just asking to breath and that's it. We are getting together to hold our elected officials responsible."

The Texarkana protest was one of many held nationwide Saturday following Floyd's death after a white officer pressed a knee into his neck while taking him into custody. Georgia's governor declared a state of emergency early Saturday to activate the state National Guard as violence flared there and elsewhere.

The Guard was also mobilized in Minneapolis and surrounding cities.

Scenes across the nation were both peaceful and violent, according to Associated Press reports, with thousands of protesters chanted, "No justice, no peace," and, "Say his name. George Floyd," and hoisting signs reading: "He said I can't breathe. Justice for George."

Sozen said that Saturday's rally in Texarkana is a grassroots effort to draw attention to racial injustice.

"We are here to deliver a peaceful message: Stop killing us," she said. "We are out here fighting for our rights and we have got to make a stand for all of us. A voice that doesn't speak out is no voice at all."

Brittany Strange, a former resident and another of the organizers, said there is no time to be silent, especially when it comes to human rights for people like Floyd.

"It's pretty tragic to see thing like this still going on," Strange, now a Colorado resident, said. "I recently came back to Texarkana because of the pandemic, and we are continuing to get a growing number of calls to get justice for George Floyd. This is like a something we haven't had to face in a long time, and we just can't stand to let things like this happen anymore."

Strange said efforts to get a rally organized started last Thursday evening.

"It started with just a couple of people, then we eventually got at least 100 interested in this rally," she said.

Strange said more rallies may be held, as well as a possible voter registration drive.

Following Sozen's speech, rally participants conducted a couple of marches through downtown Texarkana, delivering chats such as, "We don't want a riot, but we can't just can't be quiet."

Most of the group marched back to the post office before heading north down North State Line Avenue and ended up at a store parking lot at State Line Avenue and Arkansas Boulevard. There, the crowd grew as nearby motorists honked and yelled in support of the protest. Some people parked and joined, while others watched from their cars.

The rally started just after 3 p.m. and continued into the evening.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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