Protesters in Wilmington held a demonstration and die-in Monday night, expressing their frustration over the failure of grand juries in Ferguson, Missouri and Staten Island to indict police officers involved in the recent deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
A diverse crowd of around 250 people gathered at 8th and King streets. Amid chants of “Black Lives Matter” and “I Can’t breathe!” the crowd made their way down King Street where community leaders rallied the crowd before lying still in the street for four and a half minutes, symbolizing the four and half hours that Michael Brown's slain body lay in the street after being shot by police.
Dr. Donald Morton, leader of the Tabernacle Full Gospel Baptist Church, organized the demonstration as part the NAACP's "Moral Monday" civil disobedience movement that responds to government actions deemed counterproductive to vulnerable communities. He says the turnout on such short notice shows the community is tired of the inequality it is seeing in these recent cases and ready to have their voices heard along with others across the nation.
"What that has done has kind of raised awareness as to just how bad things can be as it relates to racial matters and institutional matters," said Morton. "So all the people that you see here today are people that are concerned about black people being killed and marginalized people being killed."
Earlier in the day Mayor Dennis Williams told Delaware Public Media he supports the demonstrators’ right to address their grievances - though he doesn't feel the same level of friction exists between Wilmington police and their constituents as does elsewhere.
Williams says city police expeditiously try to resolve any perceived mistreatment of citizens by law enforcement.
"We don't tolerate any foolishness like that. We have a swift and active internal affairs unit," said Williams. "And I strongly believe that the engagement between the police and the community and the community and the elected officials is very open, and I think that's very important."
Police closed off four blocks of King street at 5:00 PM Monday to accommodate the demonstration.
