It hurts Ralph Priddy to watch TV and “see the tears flowing from my black brothers and sisters.”
But it pains the Mayfield retiree more when African Americans, especially youths, don’t vote. “Our forefathers fought and died for the right to vote,” said Priddy, who was among as many as 400 people — young and old, black, Hispanic, and white — who gathered Monday afternoon in the Graves County seat to protest systemic police brutality against African Americans, notably George Floyd.
Floyd died on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer put his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes. All the while, Floyd, 46, handcuffed and pinned to the street, cried out that he couldn’t breathe and begged for help. The brutal slaying sparked outrage and protests in several cities and towns.
Derek Chauvin, the officer who killed Floyd, and three other officers who were with him were fired. Chauvin has been charged with murder. The other officers are under investigation.
The Mayfield protest, which lasted about 90 minutes, “was very peaceful, very orderly,” said Mayor Kathy O’Nan.
Mayfield, population about 10,100, is the seat of Graves County, nearly as far west as Kentucky goes. “I came because it’s time to protest,” said the Rev. Bruce Dobyns, Mayfield-Graves County NAACP president. “It’s time for people to start paying attention, particularly whites who don’t realize the pain and suffering African Americans have endured since they got to this country.”
Added Dobyns, retired pastor at the First Christian Church: “Their suffering is not over, and we whites are complicit because we are in power. There needs to be a power sharing.”
Many in the crowd carried homemade signs such as: “WE BLEED THE SAME BLOOD,” “Black Lives Matter,” “All Lives Can’t Matter Until Black Lives Matter,” “IF YOU ARE NEUTRAL IN SITUATIONS OF INJUSTICE THEN YOU HAVE CHOSEN THE SIDE OF THE OPPRESSOR” and “Racism is America’s Original Sin, Enough is Enough.”
Two black grade schoolers carried a sign that asked “When Do I Change From Cute to Scary?” “White Silence is Violence,” proclaimed a sign a white couple held up.
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There were no speeches, but Malique Humphries stood atop a car and led chants with a plastic megaphone: “Black Lives Matter!” “No Justice, No Peace!”
He later grabbed a small, battery-operated loud speaker, climbed aboard a fire truck and continued. “Say his name!” Humphries shouted. “George Floyd!” the crowd chorused.
After marching around the 1880s-vintage red-brick county courthouse, the crowd dispersed.
Mayfield police and Sheriff Jon Hayden stood at the edge of the crowd. The law officers blocked traffic around the square and diverted vehicles around the protestors. Several motorists showed their support for the protestors by honking their horns and giving the thumbs-up sign.
“We shut the streets off as soon as we saw it was needed to be sure everybody was safe,” O’Nan said. “I wish I had known about [the protest] earlier, because we’d have shut the streets down as soon as people got here. That’s the only glitch I saw.”
Several men in the crowd played football at Mayfield High School, a prep powerhouse with a dozen state championships. Josh Dunn and Trent Kendall are ex-Cardinal gridders and members of Paducah-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 816.
Dunn was accompanied by his wife Cynthia and their daughter, Lyndee. They were masked, as were several others in the crowd.
“We’re all part of the working class,” said Dunn, who paraphrased the old socialist and labor leader Eugene V. Debs: “If there is a lower class, then I’m amongst it.”
Kendall printed “I can’t breathe” on his tee shirt with a black felt tip pen. “I love all people because Jesus loved all people, and I want to be a light in a dark world. I want to leave the world a better place.”
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