Demonstrators Rally At Fort Worth Black Lives Matter Protest
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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - It's not too soon to protest. That was the message from hundreds who gathered Saturday night in Fort Worth at a Black Lives Matter rally.
Police were watching closely here to make sure things never got out of hand. As the crowd grew, the rally remained peaceful, but protestors were determined not to be silenced.
"We want justice, and we want it now," one of the speakers yelled leading the crowd in a chant.
Organizers were clear from the beginning that the rally was not meant to be polarizing. Belinda Thomas said she came for one clear reason.
"Just so that we can end police brutality of all black men," Thomas said.
The crowd drew protestors from a spectrum of causes with speakers lashing out at everything from Wall Street to the Department of Veterans Affairs, but they all came back to one unifying theme.
"At the root what we're dealing with is a cry out for justice in the case of unarmed people being indiscriminately shot by police," rally organizer Cheryl Ananda said.
Not everyone agreed. An armed counter-protester who would identify himself only as "Michael" found himself at the center of the crowd's anger.
"I am watching racism growing. I am watching an organic racist movement just rising up and it's being nourished," he said.
But Thomas managed to keep things calm, even giving "Michael" a hug showing even those who disagree can rally together.
"It isn't racist. It's just that all lives matter. However until recently it seems that black lives didn't, so we just want to emphasize that they matter too," Thomas said.
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