Thanks to Matthew Poer for sending along photos from Saturday’s Black Lives Matter rally near Lassiter High School in East Cobb.
He estimated around 400 people lined up along Shallowford Road to bring attention to racism and police brutality in the wake of the death last week of George Floyd, a black man, in police custody in Minneapolis.
“I’ve been a law abiding and taxpaying resident of Cobb County and Marietta for eight years,” Matthew told us. “I’m a white man and I am sick of my friends, neighbors, coworkers and fellow Americans living in fear of systemic and individual discrimination.”
Saturday’s event at Lassiter was one of several rallies and protests to take place in East Cobb and around the county this week, as local elected officials and law enforcement agencies also responded to the issue.
All of the demonstrations thus far in Cobb County have been peaceful.
On Friday Cobb police officers retook their oaths promising to fight brutality and racism.
On Tuesday, Cobb commissioners will consider an anti-racism revolution similar to what passed in Smyrna and Acworth.
Many of the protests around the country also have been held in honor of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man shot to death while jogging near Brunswick, Ga., in February. Three white men have been charged with murder, and Cobb District Attorney Joyette Holmes has been appointed to prosecute the case.
Poer told us he also showed up Saturday in honor of Breonna Taylor, a black woman in Louisville, Ky., who was killed in March after police crashed into her apartment with a no-knock warrant related to a narcotics investigation.
Her boyfriend opened fire on officers, and Taylor was shot eight times during the exchange. Police did not find any drugs and no charges have been filed, but her family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Related content
- Cobb police officers take stand against racism, brutality
- Cobb commissioners to consider anti-racism resolution
- At East Cobb rally, ‘honking’ support for Black Lives Matter
- Cobb Police Chief: ‘No room’ for racism, injustice or brutality
- Cobb Police issues joint statement about planned protests
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