A week since protests took over Dallas streets, those using their voices to call for change say they finally feel as though they’re being heard.
“We’re making changes by being out here, so that’s progress for me. It’s slow progress, but it’s progress. And if we’re progressing in the right direction, I’m great with that," Sheema Kashaka said. "That means we’re out here with people actually listening to us. And we’re being heard, finally. We’re being heard."
Nearly every day this week, Kashaka has marched with those calling for an end to police brutality and for their community and nation to recognize that black lives matter.
“It’s peaceful out here. It’s positive. It’s beautiful,” Kashaka said.
In recent days, she said she's been encouraged by scenes of officers kneeling with protesters and Dallas police Chief Renee Hall’s announcement that she would not charge the 674 protesters detained on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge Monday.
Following Friday afternoon’s rally, the protesters continued to march through downtown Dallas and later into Uptown.
"We’re out here with people actually listening to us. And we’re being heard, finally. We’re being heard."
Sheema Kashaka
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Airion Watkins-Clark said they were there to show their cries for change couldn’t and shouldn’t be contained to a single neighborhood.
“To be comfortable right now is some real B.S. It really is. To look up and know other people are suffering, that’s like you watering your garden while the person next door is burning, you know? You don’t get to look the other way this time,” Watkins-Clark said.
The group defied the city’s 7 p.m. curfew, stopping in several intersections for the 8 minutes and 46 seconds ex-Minneapolis police Ofc. Derrick Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck.
Police held back as they did.
