BURLINGTON — More than 1,000 people took to the streets of downtown Burlington on July 4 to protest systemic racism and Black oppression in America, which organizers say make a mockery of freedoms espoused on Independence Day.
The march was organized by the “Black Perspective,” a Vermont group dedicated to supporting minorities in Vermont, the Black Men Alliance, and People for Peace and Security: Cancel the F-35.
Since the May 25 death of George Floyd, dozens of rallies, protests and marches have been held in cities and towns nationwide. On June 20, nearly a 1,000 people took a similar walk through Burlington calling for the defunding of the Burlington Police Department and for an end to systemic racism.
Six days later, protesters again gathered in Burlington to call for an end to police brutality and systemic racism.
After mounting pressure from groups like the Racial Justice Alliance and thousands of concerned community members the Burlington City Council approved a 30% decrease to the city’s police department budget June 30.
At the start of the rally Saturday, members of Cancel the F-35 spoke out against the basing of the fighter jets in South Burlington. Noise from the F-35 disproportionately impacts the city of Winooski, which has Chittenden County’s most diverse population.
Zanevia Wilcox, a member of Black Perspective, described what the Fourth of July means for a “21st-century slave.”
Black people have fought and died for the United States since the Revolutionary War, but have seen little change, Wilcox said.
“Well, it’s just another day. Just another day in the American nightmare, another day in a new nation that refuses to patch its old wounds,” Wilcox said. “We fought for this country because we were promised our freedom. Today we’ve been brainwashed to fight for this country for no incentive.”
Black oppression has continued unabated, and that is why the Fourth of July is not the same for all Americans, she said.
“American history is black history, yet we never learned about the slaveowners that spent centuries raping black women, long enough to give me my last name,” Wilcox said. “We never learned that the same act of patriotism, embedded in the Declaration of Independence is what led to the lynching of 3,446 black bodies.”
Following Wilcox’s speech, the crowd marched up Church Street. Restaurants and shops closed by the pandemic had signs of solidarity in their windows. Others closed outside tables and stood in silence.
Some businesses stayed open and as the crowd passed chanting “Black Lives Matter,” restaurant-goers at the Church Street Tavern sat and stared.
The procession took over Pearl Street and walked to Battery Park where demonstrators heard Black speakers reflect on their experiences.
Anthony Marques, a speaker at the march turned rally, asked white people in the crowd to change how they see Black people.
“I carry a camera everywhere I go and the one thing that’s on that camera that means so much to me is the lens I look through,” he told the crowd. “I think that’s also the issue with who I am as a person. So I’m asking every single what person here … you guys need to start switching the lens that you use on a regular basis.”
During one moment of silence, everyone in the crowd was asked to either lie on their stomach with their hands behind their back, re-enacting the death of George Floyd or lie on their backs, representing the death of Breonna Taylor.Â
After three hours of speeches, poems and reflections on the Black experience in the United States, the event turned into an open forum.
