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Date: 5/30/2023
SUNDERLAND – On May 25 three local groups took to the Sunderland bridge to commemorate George Floyd’s death. Floyd, a Black man, was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, 2020 — three years ago.
It was a time to remember Floyd, the impact he had on the nation, and that an officer, Derek Chauvin, killed him.
“This is the third anniversary of the George Floyd murder, and as you know, that kicked off huge demonstrations nationally and internationally,” said Randy Calvo, pastor at the Congregational churches in Hatfield and Sunderland. Calvo is also a member of Hatfield Equity Alliance fighting against Racism Together (HEART), one of three organizations involved in the effort. “We just want to make sure people don’t forget, after three years, that [racism is] a continuing problem.”
The Sunderland Human Rights Task Force and Deerfield Inclusion Group also led the event.
Calvo couldn’t attend, due to health reasons, but commented in over the phone that Massachusetts, according to the Anti-Defamation League, ranks fourth in the nation for the prevalence of white supremacy propaganda. He attributed some of the activities to pushback against the Black Lives Matter movement and related efforts to draw attention to institutional racism. Floyd’s murder was filmed and uploaded to the internet. The video triggered a national awakening.
Calvo took the resurgence of hate literature as a signal that efforts to publicize racial violence were working.
“Here, in Massachusetts, we’re a pretty progressive state when it comes to individual rights,” Calvo said. But the fourth place ranking, “That’s still a scary number.”
A couple dozen people, primarily from Deerfield, Sunderland and Hatfield, gathered in the parking lot of Sunderland Library, made signs, chatted happily, hung placards around their necks, unfurled banners and lined up. Kids, mothers, elders, a library employee and members of the town’s Human Rights Task Force began to march up School Street, past Town Hall, and around the corner onto Route 116.
Sunderland resident Susan Triolo led the chanting as people marched. She repeated, “No justice, no peace, no racist police!” A dozen marchers responded, voices echoing off Town Hall. “Black youth are under attack, what do we do?”
The answer for Aaron Falbel, a library employee and member of the town’s Energy Committee: stand up and fight back.
“George Floyd has evolved into something more than George Floyd the man. George Floyd is now George Floyd the symbol of all the wrongs and sins that we have committed, as white people, against people of color,” Falbel said. “We act as if only white lives matter. All lives can’t matter until Black lives matter too.” Falbel, a member of the town’s Human Rights Task Force, concluded, “They deserve the dignity and respect that any human deserves.”
Roadwork in Hadley rerouted commuters through the center of Sunderland, across the bridge, and the commemoration was scheduled to take advantage of the heavier traffic. Lots of horns were honked, sometimes enthusiastically, by drivers heading for Route 91. Joanna Schoen, a founding member of the town’s Human Rights Task Force, wasn’t ruffled.
“Experiencing the reality of injustice, as a child, can only help grow sensitive adults,” Schoen said. “Children are our future. It would be really wise to work with them in a way that would open their eyes and give them empathy.”
Erika McGee, a woman of color, spoke about the need to let those who commit racial violence know that other people will not stand for it. She also emphasized that the color of Floyd’s skin was beside the point.
“It’s important to have rallies like this so we can demonstrate that somebody is watching and somebody does care about what happens to human life,” McGee said. “We’re not here because George Floyd was brown … We’re not here because of his skin color. We’re here because he was murdered. His life was taken from him. That’s why we’re here. We don’t want anyone to forget what happened to him.”