George Floyd protests in Wyoming | |
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Part of George Floyd protests | |
Date | May 29 – June 2020 (1 month and 1 day) |
Location | Wyoming, United States |
Caused by |
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This is a list of protests in the U.S. State of Wyoming related to the murder of George Floyd, an African-American man killed by a white police officer. [3]
Wyoming's population is 93.2% White alone and 1.2% Black alone. [4] Protests were organized by African-Americans, European-Americans and Native Americans. [5] [6] [3]
On June 3, Casper police counted 300 protesters who marched peacefully through downtown Casper. [7] A splinter group, organized by Our Resistance Casper, continued a silent march against police brutality to the Dick Cheney Federal Building. [7] Their silence was broken by applause, chantings, and series. [7] The march remained peaceful even through other individuals carrying firearms gathered throughout downtown, including a group to 12 white individuals led by Dan Sabrosky who brought his AR-15 to "protect the First Amendment rights of the protesters," as Sabrosky said. [7] Independent, secondary protests continued after the initial protest ended. [7]
On Friday evening, May 29, about 125 protesters attended a candlelight vigil in Cheyenne near the steps of the State Capitol. [8] Additional protests were held on May 30 and 31. [9]
On June 7, hundreds of protesters gathered in City Park, where they were surrounded by armed ex-police and military officers, but with no active police presence. The protesters held a moment of silence to honor George Floyd before marching peacefully around the park. [10]
Approximately 50 people held a protest in Gillette on June 2. [11] The Black Lives Matter protests were met with an "All Lives Matter" counterprotest. [12] Local law enforcement including a SWAT team accompanied both protests who marched from Campbell County Courthouse and a local park on a 4.5-mile loop. [12] The protesters, counterprotesters, and police were all nonviolent. [12]
More than 150 people protested peacefully at Town Square on May 31, 2020, [13] with less than a 24-hour notice. [14] Luke Zender helped organize the Jackson protest and felt "as white-bodied individuals we have to take responsibility for the actions of our collective race." [3] The protesters chanted and then kneeled in a minute of silence to honor the memory of George Floyd and others harmed by police brutality. [14] The three-hour event remained peaceful despite some voiced opposition. [3]
In Laramie, protests responding to George Floyd's murder took place nightly for a span of three weeks. [6] Billy Harris organized the first march downtown for June 2, 2022. [6] An estimated 100 to 200 protesters marched through Laramie on June 2. [11] [6]
Meanwhile, initially questioning the effectiveness of marching, Timberly Vogel raised funds for Black causes. [6] However, Vogel, Harris, and others joined forces for a sustained series of protests. [6] By June 4, hundreds of protesters, possibly numbering more than 1,000, [6] walked the streets of downtown Laramie. [15] University of Wyoming football coach Craig Bohl even joined in one protest. [6]
The protests highlighted other police killings, including Robbie Ramirez, an unarmed Laramie resident shot in the back and killed by the Albany County Sheriff’s Deputy Derek Colling in 2018. [16] [6] The protests evolved to blocking traffic and supporting efforts for a grassroots organization Albany County for Proper Policing (ACOPP) seeking justice in the Ramirez case. [6] CNN wrote, "The public outrage over Ramirez’s death further fueled protests in Wyoming last summer amid nationwide demonstrations against police brutality and racial injustice following the killing of George Floyd." [17] Albany County Sheriff Dave O’Malley retired preceding Ramirez's mother filing a successful lawsuit against the department, [16] and the Albany County Board of Commissioners appointed Wyoming's first Black sheriff, Aaron Appelhans, on December 11, 2020. [17]
The small town of Riverton on the Wind River Indian Reservation held an early protest against George Floyd's murder at Riverton City Park. [5] About 150 protesters gathered at a park on June 1. [5] [18] The organizers including Northern Arapaho youth, such as Micah Lott, who had also participated in the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. [5] These Native American youth had previously protested a proposed white supremacist group in Riverton in 2003, and since then a local Native school's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day walk has provided a model for peaceful public protest for the community. [5]
About 10 people protested peacefully on Dewar Drive on June 2. [19] [20] One protester admitted he thought he would be pelted with eggs, but stated that people had been honking their horns or waving their hands to show support. [19] One protester, however, stated that there was some resistance and that they were followed after they were done protesting. [20] On the other side of the street, near the Rock Springs Chamber of Commerce, another protest began with protesters holding signs saying "All Lives Matter" and "Support Our Police." [19]
On June 5, an estimated 500 to 600 people peacefully marched from the Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library to the Sheridan County Courthouse and back in support of Black Lives Matter. [21] The Sheridan Police Department monitored the entire protest, but no violence occurred. [22] There was some animosity with some counter-protesters, [23] who shouted "Trump 2020" in response to the chant, "Wyoming is love." [21] Non-protesters stood by with weapons such as rifles and bows and arrows in case of violence. [21]