Portales holds peaceful protest

PORTALES - Though the wind wasn't too cooperative, a protest about the death of George Floyd otherwise came off smoothly and peacefully Thursday night in front of the Roosevelt County Courthouse.

A planned candlelight vigil was ruined by gusty winds; a few gusts even knocked a box of candles off a bench. But the rally went on, with African-American, Hispanic and white voices heard through speeches and readings, as protests of Floyd's death neared the end of their third week.

Floyd, an African-American, died on May 25 in Minneapolis as a result of white police officer Derek Chauvin pressing his knee on the back of Floyd's neck. Many people believe that Floyd's death is just another painful chapter in the story of police brutality and discrimination against minorities, often African-Americans specifically.

Minneapolis is thousands of miles away. But the reverberations have been felt worldwide, including Portales.

"I think in small communities and any rural area you kind of think that these things don't affect you, that things happening in the world might not affect your community," said Jasmine Johnson, who helped organize Thursday night's event. "We wanted to bring people together to say, 'That's not true.'"

Johnson earned her bachelor's degree from Eastern New Mexico University in 2015, her master's from there two years later. She played for the ENMU women's basketball team from 2011-15. And she happens to be African-American.

Though voices of all races from everywhere were welcome Thursday, Darrelyn McCloud, who also attended Eastern and has lived eight years in Portales, wanted African-American voices to be heard.

"As a black man," he said, "I just wanted to show that we are here, too. There are only a few of us in our town."

McCloud was also eager to hear different viewpoints from a variety of people Thursday.

"Unity," he said. "I just wanted unity and wanted our community to not let what's going on in the world be swept under the rug."

Dennis Lopez is a Roosevelt County Commissioner, born and raised in Portales. He is Hispanic, but has African-American nephews, African-American grandchildren, so bigotry against African-Americans is personal to him.

"It's been pretty emotional to see what's transpired in our country in 2020," Lopez said. "I cringe, I pray, I get angry. ... Starting with small towns like Portales, every day is a new day, and it should be."

Some white voices joined in to show their outrage at the Floyd killing. Janet Lyn Bresenham delivered an especially impassioned speech.

"We will never be free until every man and every woman and every child is free," Bresenham said. "It just breaks my heart that we are still dealing with this in 2020."

Jodee Moody, originally from Southern California, came to the area like so many via military service at Cannon Air Base. She brought her 10-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son to Thursday night's rally. Though a white mother of white children, Moody believes that everyone is responsible for making a change.

"I think it's good to have a peaceful protest," she said, "to have everyone get together and support each other. I wanted my children to see this."

As the protest was ending, Johnson reminded the attendees, "After today it doesn't stop here."

And it won't. Before leaving, Portales Mayor Ronald L. Jackson handed Johnson his business card. "We want to work together with you," he said. "We want to get young folks more involved."

So, awareness has been raised, with hope for change.

"It's happening," Johnson said with a smile. "And that was our main goal."