300 Protest George Floyd Death in Maryville

Around 300 students, Northwest athletes, and community members came to the Maryville Square to protest the death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis Saturday. The event was first announced, then it was moved online. But then, it was moved back live and came off peacefully. Marchers circled the Nodaway County Courthouse for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time that it took a police officer to use his knee to choke Floyd, who was Black, against the ground and kill him. Subsequently, they shared their own experiences with race and law enforcement.

There were many positive comments on Facebook from members of the community about the information they learned from the rally.

In the days leading up to the event, numerous Black students who attend Northwest took to Twitter to describe their experiences with racism. One reported asking a group of classmates a question and just getting stared at. Another reported that a professor had repeatedly ostracized a Black student in their class, seeking to repeatedly humiliate her after she had challenged some of his problematic statements. Many reported being called racial epithets by other students and that the university had done nothing about it. In one instance, a student subsequently had their car keyed; in another instance, the university had retaliated against the student making the racism allegation by switching their class.

Before the main protest, a group of several dozen Northwest athletes, organized by football coach Rich Wright, marched from the football field to the square to show their support for the protests. Women’s basketball assistant Addae Houston, who is Black, has spoken out about the killing of George Floyd and has been backed by his boss, Austin Meyer.

The protest found agreement from a surprising source in Nodaway County Sheriff Randy Strong. On May 29th, on the Nodaway County Sheriff’s Department’s Facebook page, he wrote, “I proudly add my name to the list with my brothers and sisters in blue. I do not support the actions of this officer or the other officers standing by not protecting the rights of this citizen.” He said that actions like this give police departments a bad name and that they should not define the actions of most.

He wrote, “Please do not judge all of us, for the actions of this police officer. Most law enforcement officers truly care for people and take pride in serving others. I am so proud to have some of the finest men and women in law enforcement working for me. Please join me in praying for the family of Mr. Floyd. He did not deserve to die in such a way, especially at the hands of someone who had taken an oath to protect and preserve the peace.”