Hundreds showed up Sunday morning to turn anger into action in response to a Back the Blue rally that packed the parking lot at Friendship-West Baptist Church last week.
The call to action caravan set out from the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy en route to Friendship West.
“I’m excited to take part in a great movement like this," Camelia Dennis said. "I’m excited to get people to vote. America is just not great anymore."
They encouraged people to get active and register to vote.
“We’re not going to let this coronavirus affect us. We’re going to go to the polls and vote,” Barbara Record said.
Church members came out to show their support following last week's incident at the church.
“Our pastor is a fighter. And he teaches us to fight with him,” Record said.
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Last week, hundreds of vehicles that were participating in the Back the Blue cruise from Bedford used the church parking lot as a rest area. In a statement, the church said an organizer asked for permission to use the parking lot for a Black Lives Matter rally. The organizer of the event has apologized for any misconceptions or misunderstandings.
Friendship-West Senior Pastor Fredrick Haynes has called last Sunday’s rally an act of white supremacy.
Outside Friendship-West on Sunday, he said it was "interesting to ride through community characterized by so much neglect."
He is demanding the defunding of local police and the re-imagining of city structures that he believes are to blame for racial inequality.
“You basically poked a bear, and the bear is saying we’re going to vote. We’re going to register for the census. And we’re going to impact how the budget allocates money for the police department,” Haynes said.
Haynes said some people have reached out about last week's Back the Blue rally to apologize and express support for what his church does.
