George Floyd protest continues

IRONWOOD - Protests continue to be held in front of the Memorial Building in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and for an end to police brutality.

Bill and Jodi Buergey said they have attended protests for more than 50 years for various issues. They came Sunday to support anti-racism and call for an end to systemic racism. They were compelled again by the state of the nation since the killing of George Floyd, an African-American man who died while handcuffed and laying on the ground with the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer on his neck on May 25.

"I think our current president has really led to a split in the country and has empowered the white supremacists and neo-Nazis and other groups that advocate hate," Bill Buergey said. "It's a shame to see that some of these protests have turned into looting and violence of their own but I think it's past time that we give all people a fair shake regardless of their color and treat everybody with equal rights. As they say in the Bible, 'Treat others and you would want to be treated.'"

Dominic Makara, 17, said some people have told him that there is no racism in Ironwood and the protest event is not needed. But with the protests, he has witnessed a lot of it from people in their cars and also on social media.

Some people said they wanted to join the protest but were scared, he said. That made it even more important to hold the protest, he said.

Richard Brozzo Jr. said he came to protest white privilege. He and other protestors said most people were supportive but that a few got out of their cars to holler that the protesters were making a bad situation worse.

Bruce Greenberg said he attended to support the memory of another black man who was victim to a "senseless and brutal murder" at the hands of police. 

"This has been going on ever since Jim Crow was established in the South right after the Civil War," Greenberg said. "We have to make an effort to change our justice laws. We have a functional apartheid justice system in this country and it needs to stop."

Cory Benjamin, of Montreal, Wisconsin, said he attended to stand against social injustice in America. The brutality of the police force against African Americans is the extreme example of injustice in a society that still tolerates casual racism in the workplace, the schools and in public, he said. 

"I've been told at work by coworkers that there is a difference between African Americans and the "N" word," Benjamin said. "I hear the same old racist jokes at work and in public."

People claim to not be racist because they have black friends, he said. They continue to hold racist beliefs while using their friends as a token.

"I want to end that and don't want that to be part of the culture around here or in America," Benjamin said. "I want everyone to be accepted for who they are."

Sgt. James Revoyr, the communications officer for Michigan State Police at the Wakefield office, said that troopers have not experienced the protests that a lot of departments have nationwide.

"This has not been an issue here as much as the big cities and we are thankful for that," Revoyr said. "The protesting is fine as long as it's done legally we have no problem with it and we are not going to intervene unless there is any kind of trouble."