‘Hard conversations’: A full week of protests wraps up in downtown S.A.

Every day for a week, protesters have taken to the streets of downtown San Antonio to push for social justice and police reform. Below is a timeline of how events unfolded on Saturday, June 6. 

Protesters shout for justice and police reform outside of SAPD headquarters on Saturday afternoon, June 6, 2020.

Protesters march from SAPD headquarters around the courthouse and back, shouting the names of black men and women who died in police custody on Saturday afternoon, June 6, 2020.

4:45 p.m. | Hundreds of marchers are now returning to the SAPD headquarters in the 8th day of protests against the murder of George Floyd.

4:40 p.m. | Today’s march winds through several city blocks as hundreds join in protest of the murder of George Floyd.

4:25 p.m. | Around 300 people were gathered outside the San Antonio police department headquarters by 3:30 pm Saturday, the second weekend protests continued in the city following the murder of George Floyd.

“I wanted to create a safe and open space for us to come and remember the ‘why’ of what we’re doing,” Kristen Calahan, the organizer of the protest on Saturday afternoon, said.

“To be seen as a human and have your life being valued as such is all that we’re asking,” she said.

Many of the protesters came following the parade in Alamo Heights earlier in the day, including, including Matthew Diana, 17 and Sky Erbin, 16.

The two students at Alamo Heights High School said they had long noticed racial inequality, but the video of Floyd’s murder spurred them to participate in the recent protests.

“I’m here to be the voice for those who no longer have a voice,” Erbin said. “Me being out here is just something in my soul that I feel like I have to do.”

A group of friends organized following the widespread outrage over Floyd’s death to begin registering voters at the ongoing protests.

Dana Wrann, a teacher, said her group dubbed the “radical registrars” has signed up between 150 to 200 new voters over the last week.

“We’re just a group of friends that in general find that voting in really important,” Wrann. “It’s important for us to vote for people in power that will stop this systemic oppression.”

Pharaoh Clark, a local activist attending the protest, said he’s set to meet on Monday with Mayor Ron Nirenberg to discuss police reform in the city.

Reforms he plans to propose include things such as ending no-knock warrants and creating a public online database of police complaints.

“That’s what we want to talk about: how to make the system fair and equal for everybody,” Clark said. “(Nirenberg) has been very receptive and seems like he really wants to shoulder the burden.”

4:20 p.m. | After leading a chant of “I can’t breathe” for a group of about 300 people at a protest Saturday in front of the City of San Antonio Public Safety Headquarters, 6-year-old Thalia Wilson timidly handed back the megaphone.

Next up was 3-year-old Fern Skidmore. Fern’s mother, JoJo, a 23-year-old single mother, said she chose to attend Saturday’s protest after thinking about the death of Breonna Taylor.

“My daughter is going to go to college someday, and she could be the next Breonna Taylor if change doesn’t happen,” JoJo said. “So we are here for Breonna Taylor.”

As a white parent of a black child, JoJo said helping Fern understand racial issues has been a challenging process, but one she wanted to start early.

“They’ve been hard conversations,” JoJo said. “It hurts that I even have to do this, but all in all, it’s necessary.”

Leah Wilson, Thalia’s mother, said the family has been attending protests through the week, also bringing her 8-year-old son, Justus, and 2-year-old daughter, Annora.

Leah, 37, said she didn’t begin to understand her white privilege until she was in her 20s. She hopes her children can grow up with a different perspective, and she believes they’re old enough to begin that process.

“It’s really important to me that they learn a lot earlier than I did,” Leah said. “I want them to grow up being anti-racist. I don’t want them to have to unlearn the inherent biases that we have.”

Anthony Sanchez, a 25-year-old United States History teacher at East Central High School, said calling on children to lead chants serves as a reminder of the importance of molding the next generation.

The opportunity also helps young people understand that they have a voice, Sanchez said.

“It’s beautiful, because that’s the next generation that is going to be here,” Sanchez said. “We’re setting the example to them that, ‘Hey, look at what we’re doing now. We’re not going out there being violent. We’re not going out there looting.’ We’re being peaceful and seeing this peace actually create some change.”

Sanchez also asked some of the older members of the diverse group of protestors to step forward and speak.

“I was a teenager when Dr. King was marching. I sat that one out,” said Al Hassler, 68. “I’m not going to sit it out anymore.”

3:55 p.m. | The tiniest of San Antonio residents have joined the protest outside SAPD.

3:15 p.m. | As demonstrators gather for their eighth day of protests, Mayor Ron Nirenberg has announced the city will be lifting its temporary curfew in the downtown business district this afternoon.

2:55 p.m. | A group of friends calling themselves the “radical registrars,” organized in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, are registering people to vote at the ongoing protests. Dana Wrann, a teacher in San Antonio, said her group had registered hundreds of new voters in the last week.

San Antonio residents gathered downtown Saturday afternoon, June 6, 2020, for a eighth day of protests over the death of George Floyd.