60 years after the March on Washington, Black protesters still catch the ire of police

Overall, there were nearly 1,000 incidents of police violence reported in 2020 during the protests. 

The March on Washington wasn’t just a watershed moment for the civil rights movement. It was an anomaly compared to other events from the 1960s to today, when Black protestors have felt the wrath of the police.

In 1963, police released their dogs, swung their batons and used water hoses on peaceful protesters during the civil rights protests in Birmingham. In Cambridge, Maryland, that same year, police used tear gas to disperse citizens protesting discriminatory policies. 

Now six decades later, despite the March on Washington’s drive for civil rights, Black people still suffer indignity and injustice when they exercise their right to peacefully protest. The country saw that during the summer protests in 2020 when citizens took to the streets to condemn the killing of George Floyd and racial injustice in America. 

Research from Harvard University notes the George Floyd protests across the country in 2020 were mostly peaceful. Still, police officers used tear gas, batons and rubber bullets on demonstrators across the country. In New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis and Portland confrontations between demonstrators and police officers became violent.

In Denver, for example, police fired pepper balls at a car containing Shaiitarrio Brown and his pregnant girlfriend, Brittany King. A video shows a visibly upset Brown exiting his car after it was struck by a projectile, the Denver Post reported. After a verbal exchange with police, the video shows cops opening fire. The city of Denver paid Brown and King, who were injured in the incident, a settlement of $325,000.

Overall, there were nearly 1,000 incidents of police violence reported in 2020 during the protests. 

Max Dimas, who took part in a Floyd-related protest in New York City, said he’ll never forget how police in Brooklyn spoke to and dealt with protesters and how he saw their actions as hostile. 

“It was crazy. I understand being aggressive with the people who were just using the [rallies] to cause destruction but they were going after people who were just marching and chanting,” Dimas told theGrio.

“We have a right to call out our government when they fail us,” Dimas said. “That’s our right as Americans,” he said.

Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum previously had another take when he told The New York Times, ”American police simply were not prepared for the challenge that they faced in terms of planning, logistics, training and police command-and-control supervision.”

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