More than 60 demonstrators took to the streets of Fairplay in a peaceful protest Friday morning to express their displeasure regarding police violence against minorities.

Like many of the recent protests in communities nationwide, Friday’s protest in Fairplay was centered around the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American who died May 25 in Minneapolis, Minn. after white police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and held face down on pavement.

The protest began at about 11 a.m. on Fourth Street, continued along Front Street and eventually reached U.S. Highway 285 before tracking back along that same route and concluding around 12:20 p.m.



http://www.theflume.com/free_content/ar ... df3dd.html

Thanks for carrying on the Journalistic Tradition!

I simply cannot wrap my mind around recent events. I appreciate that living in South Park makes it quite difficult to often relate to what happens elsewhere. Ours has always seemed to be a bastion of reasoned and balanced perception, substantially free of the chaos and dysfunction found in some other places. Lately, however, the differences appear profound.
Clearly, our broader society has become much different than I had believed. An isolated event caused by the actions of one rogue police officer has taken on far greater significance. It has not mattered that this officer will be dealt with appropriately by the criminal justice system. A significant portion of our population has decided that the officer’s wildly inappropriate actions are better dealt with through rioting, looting, and wanton destruction of property.
I appreciate that we in South Park live in an environment where a killing involving law enforcement is most likely to involve the death of a law enforcement officer resulting from the actions of their superiors.
I had thought it possible that our local crazies might have decided to effect some form of local protest, should the two of them figure out how to word a makeshift sign. But, I had never imagined dozens of protesters in Fairplay. Hopefully, they spent money in the Park Bar following the tiring protest activities. Can’t even imagine that scene.
Something good may come of all of this beyond the morons carrying big screen TVs out of a looted Target store. As an aside, perhaps someone can explain to me how things like this advance the goal of broader social justice.
What seems to be good is that there is clear evidence that the looting and associated violence has been done by Blacks and Whites, and decent individuals of all races have been vocal in denouncing those having engaged in looting and acts of destruction. Black leaders have denounced the actions of those who have hijacked legitimate and peaceful protest and have been supportive of law enforcement officers having acted with honor and restraint.
What truly concerns me is that a significant portion of our society has been shown to feel that looting, property destruction, and assault on law enforcement constitutes legitimate form of protest, to be engaged in before adequate investigation and corrective action conducted by legal authority. I don’t see how civil society can exist in such an environment.

I should probably explain my somewhat humorous comment about our local crazies. While I fully support citizen right to engage in peaceful protest activity, I have a problem with protesters attempting to promote an impression that a significant number of law enforcement officers exhibit discrimination against Blacks, or act based upon such discriminatory animus. Having served years in law enforcement service, I can assure that the vast majority of law enforcement personnel harbor no such animus.

The way I read it was start in the morning- protest a bit, quit by lunchtime. That is the best protest ever. Why on earth does a protest have to go on day after day? Especially at night when people who have nothing to do with peaceful protest use the crowd to loot and destroy in town.
Anyway, Wish every town would have done that. Peaceful protest in the am then go have lunch.

I agree. You can reasonably question some of their assertions, but it appears they conducted the protest and made their point appropriately and respectfully with minimal adverse impact on traffic and commerce.