History was made on Saturday, June 6th, 2020 when the first ever Black Lives Matter protest occurred in Pekin, IL at the Tazewell County Courthouse.
Pekin is probably the most well-known of the former sundown towns in Central Illinois. Sundown towns were municipalities which by law or by practice banned African-Americans from being within the city past dark, effectively preventing them from living within city limits. Going back to my great-grandparents, who were born in the early 20th century, the one thing people associate with Pekin is racism.
But, a group of Pekinites want this to change. In the wake of the death of George Floyd, we’re seeing a seismic shift in the American consciousness surrounding the struggle for Black Liberation. Around 150 people gathered outside the Tazewell County Courthouse, to protest for Black Liberation. Brittany Wagner, a Pekin woman of colonial complexion, and Ezra Collum, a black man, organized the event. They read off the stories of Black men & women who have been killed by the police. George Floyd, Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, and so many more.
Wagner led the crowd in a boisterous display of solidarity. Protesters marched around the Courthouse on blocked off streets, and laid on the ground for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the same amount of time Derek Chauven kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck. Wagner, a deaf woman native to Tazewell County, spoke with such fire & fury because despite not being able to hear, the one thing she could hear was the injustice against black lives & the injustice perpetrated by the police. As so many other people of no color dug there heads in the sands of All Lives Matter, Wagner heard loud and clear the clamoring of systemic inequalities; it was a sound that clearly shook her to the core. At certain points in her speech, she paused to wipe away tears.
“Where were the All Lives Matter crowd when a Chinese-American got stabbed because of COVID?” Wagner asked the crowd. “That wasn’t All Lives Matter. All lives don’t matter when it’s inconvenient to them. These are not an inconvenience. These are people. Everyone deserves a chance!”
Ezra Collum, spent his portion speaking about Black Trans Lives, both those people murdered by police & transphobic bigots. “People don’t know their names; they don’t see them on Facebook. I just want to make it known about Black Trans Lives: we matter too.” Ezra said the names of several black trans people murdered in the past two years. Tony McDade, Celine Walker, Anatash’a English, Cathalina James, Nina Bop, Dana Martin, Chynal Lindsey, Bee Love Slater, Bailey Reeves. “The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reports a multi-year trend showing that Trans Women of Color have greater risk of death by hate crime than any other group in 2019. There was at least 22 trans- or nonconforming people murdered and it is the 5th consecutive year in a row where at least 20 trans people were murdered.” he said.
Whether it would even be possible to hold a Black Liberation rally in Pekin was always an open question. I talked to many Pekinites present about the kind of backlash they would receive from friends & family in Pekin if they were actively anti-racist. “ YES THEY ARE AFRAID!” said Wagner. “Yes, there are some die hard racist people who are attacking me in my inbox, and posting about who I am, but people in Pekin can be afraid of the backlash and that shouldn’t even exists. The consequences are racists continually harassing those who are trying to do right.”
One Pekinite, Heather York, said she absolutely believes Pekinites are afraid to speak out against racism when they see it. “Just the personal consequences they see from people they know. People they know will put out a witch hunt on them, just for saying Black Lives Matter. Racists will encourage people to ostracize them.”
Wagner was threatened by multiple people online for organizing the protest, and discovered her window had been tampered with, though they cannot say for sure whether the two are related.
“There is an unbelievable amount of racism I’ve experienced in Pekin, unfortunately,” said Wagner, “causal talking casual racism. At a very young age I was exposed, I remember thinking why isn’t this fair but ya know as a kid in a predominantly white neighborhood, I didn’t understand that it was racism against POC until I was older.”
Before the event even occurred there were fears of violence against protesters. One Pekinite, a so-called “concerned citizen”, Matt Armentrout, posted on Facebook, and essentially made a call to arms from the community to be prepared for what he assumed would inevitably turn to looting.
Wagner reached out to Armentrout because she knew many people were concerned with going to a protest surrounded by people with weapons. Wagner told me, “So, the story behind that was he posted a status mentioning guns and protecting his town. It put a lot of fear into people obviously. I got to talk to him and tell him everything I stand for and against in a message, I talked to his childhood friends and they talked to him and he understood where I was coming from. If everyone really is aware of what’s happening in this fight for injustice, they’ll realize exactly what were about and then like Matt, be standing on the frontlines instead of against and protecting us.”
And to Armentrout’s credit, he and his “concerned citizens” did show up unarmed, largely watched from afar, and they spent most of their time discouraging any racist counter-protesters from instigating the BLM protest. However, it was certainly a bizarre experience seeing “concerned citizens” (some with Nazi tattoos) recording every moment and capturing every face.
Already, this group of anti-racist Pekinites is starting to gain traction. Their first action was in many ways just to create a space where anti-racist Pekinites could see each other and form bonds of solidarity. So, that they know they aren’t the only ones disgusted when people drop the N-word or fly a Confederate flag or make a racist joke about people.
There were even actual fascists who attempted to incite event. A truck repeatedly drove by the intersection of the protest with a Trump flag, flipping of protesters. At one point, the vehicle was even stopped by police and told they should leave the protesters alone. However, the vehicle obstinately refused, returning evermore, this time with the traitorous flag of the Confederacy adorned across from the Trump 2020 flag. One brave American patriot protesting for Black Liberation, was so incensed by the foul stench emanating from the Confederate trash, that he took the flag from the truck and properly disposed of it. At this point, the fascists were outraged, with one trying to run BLM protesters over with his mo-ped. “No Lives Matter! No Lives Matter!” He screamed at the peaceful protesters chanting “Black Lives Matter”. The individuals in the traitorous Confederate vehicle were again stopped by police and each one was cited for disorderly conduct. They could face a maximum fine of $750 each.
Heather York, who is organizing another BLM protest in Pekin Saturday, June 13th, at the Tazewell County Courthouse, says their group has a list of demands they plan on presenting to the Pekin Police Department.
Demands:
1. Defund the Police, a reallocation of funds towards other services. Reduction of militarized police. More specific training on deescalation and subduing someone without lethal force, sensitivity training on basically everyone, training on active anti-racism.
2. Accountability for officers that abuse their power. Let us sue individuals officers for misbehavior.
3. Disband the Police Union entirely. It is superfluous. They are already heavily protected. If they’re brutalizing people, they don’t deserve protection; and if the police aren’t brutalizing people, then they don’t need union protection.
4. Alternative emergency uses – Instead of calling 911 for the police, you’d call for a social worker, therapist, etc.
This group of young Pekinites will continue to organize around anti-racist issues as long as it takes, and encourage more anti-racist Tazewell County residents to take a more active role in addressing systemic racial issues.
When asked if she worries about racist attacks from the community, Wagley said, “If we show people, We are about peace. We are about change. We are about love. People will understand.”
