BUFFALO (WBEN) - In a day that could not have produced more appropriate weather, thousands of people gathered for the Allies for Black Justice March in downtown Buffalo on Sunday afternoon.
Protesters began the march in Niagara Square right in front of City Hall, and then they took to Elmwood before arriving at their destination on Bidwell.
Just an incredible mass of people moving down Elmwood in downtown Buffalo right now. I don't even have an educated guess as to how many protesters there are. @NewsRadio930 pic.twitter.com/lOh9EyFFWH
— Brendan Keany (@BrendanKeany) June 7, 2020David Hall served as one of the organizers for the event, and he shared some of his story and what led him to taking a leadership role.
"I decided to be one of the organizers because on the same day that George Floyd passed away, I got harassed by officers - I didn't get police brutality, but I got harassed by officers," Hall began. "Even before that, my brother has gotten brutalized by officers, and it was just things that I faced in the community as well as being around the African-American community in Buffalo.
"I had so many testimonies that came to me just from talking to people, so I really wanted to be a part of this movement."
"It means that people aren't focused on rioting; they're not focused on looting - they're focused on how we come together to make our community better," said Hall. "How do we come together as a team to make our community better? How do we say black lives matter and show that black lives matter? How do we show that positivity matters, and it's not so much about let's fight each other, let's be black versus white, but how do we come together, and how do we bring positivity back to our community, back to our city."
There are some specific changes that Hall and the organizers are pushing for.
"Personally, I think that police have way too much power," he said. "I think that we focus on that power instead of focusing on how we come together as a community positively, like today, and talk about these changes and how to make them work."
Hall believes police should be required to go through more extensive training and further psychological examinations.
