The demonstration at Gowen Park features black Mainers telling emotional stories about how racism has affected their lives.
SANFORD — The talked, sharing stories about how racism had impacted their lives. They marched. They lay prone on the ground for eight minutes and 46 seconds, chanting, “I can’t breathe.”
And when it was over, everyone went home.
A Black Lives Matter protest at Gowen Park attracted about 400 people Saturday afternoon, with a little less than half of them marching to Sanford’s Police Department for a brief demonstration.
The protest, sponsored by Project CommUnity, joined a growing number of similar demonstrations in Maine and across the nation, prompted by the Memorial Day incident involving George Floyd, a black man who died when a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
While it was considerably smaller than protests that have been held in Portland, the message was the same.
“We need change,” said Lateisha Wallace after an emotional speech detailing her experiences with racism while growing up in nearby Lebanon. “And this is how we start it.”
One by one, protesters took the microphone at the pavilion, detailing their lives as a black person in Maine.
They were tales of cutting remarks from friends, who would later claim they were made in jest.
