Ilsa Matthes | Daily Press Protestors lined Ludington Street near the Municipal Dock Saturday for a protest of racism and police brutality. The peaceful protest, called “Bring Escanaba into 2020,” featured short speeches from locals with experiences with racism and a march down the sidewalk of Ludington Street.

ESCANABA — Hundreds of people were in Escanaba Saturday for a peaceful demonstration about racism and police brutality both locally and across the country.

“We’re not here to hate on the cops. We are here to stand up for black lives and that is it. We want to show that Escanaba can have a completely peaceful protest,” said Bring Escanaba into 2020 protest organizer Melanie Miller, who is white but has three black children.

At the start of the event, protesters gathered at the Escanaba Municipal Dock and lined both sides of the Ludington Street nearest the dock. They chanted “No justice, no peace,” “If my brothers and sisters can’t breathe, I can’t breathe,” and “What’s his name? George Floyd,” at passing vehicles, many of which honked and with passengers cheering out windows.

Protesters held signs featuring slogans from the Black Lives Matter movement and the names of black men and women who were killed by police officers, decrying police brutality, and showing solidarity from whites and other racial minorities with African Americans.

A small number of signs referenced Escanaba City Council Member Ralph Blasier, who has been criticized for joking that “Any person throwing objects at police, shooting at anyone, looting and setting fires will be shot in both legs and left lying there till dawn, and at dawn, each person will need to crawl to the hospital” at the city’s upcoming Independence Day celebration during a meeting of the Escanaba City Council held Thursday. Blasier issued an apology for the comments Friday, but as of Monday morning, an online petition calling for his resignation had reached 829 signatures.

Before a planned march down the sidewalk of Ludington Street, a number of local residents took to the microphone to talk about their experiences with racism and police brutality.

The first person to take to the microphone was Travon Gardner, who described how it felt to grow up in the Upper Peninsula where there are few other black people. He told the crowd that as a child he thought his mother painted him at night when he slept, that people would pet his hair like he was a dog or call him names, and police would stop him on the street.

“It’s hard being looked at differently, it is. But knowing I have every single one of you here? Every single one of you, it touches my heart. It does. This is going to be … one of the most memorable things I’m going to have in my life. Every single one of you is going to be part of my life now because of this.

Every single one of you, is in my heart now,” he said.

While the primary focus of the protest was about racism against the black community, other local people of color took to the microphone to express their solidarity and talk about their experiences in the Upper Peninsula.

“You are not alone. I am not alone. We are not alone. There are people of color in Escanaba and we are here and we are proud and we are loud and we are beautiful and we will not be silenced,” said Rosalea Coyle, who told the crowd she is Mexican American and Native American and that, while she did not know what it is like to be black, she had never really felt like she belonged in Escanaba either.

White residents shared their experiences, too, telling stories of family members who were black, their struggles challenging their own racism, experiences being in interracial relationships, and negative experiences with police.

“I am so, so sick of seeing this. We’re the free world, and no one’s free. We’re falling straight into authoritarianism and no one seems to care and it’s because it’s black lives. I’m just gone, and sick of it, and we need to come come together and realize that none of this matters — borders don’t matter, colors don’t matter, we’re in this together,” said Matthew Papineau, who is white and told the crowd that while he could not compare his own experience to the struggles of black people,a police officer pointed a gun at his head during a marijuana raid when he was seven.

Many of those taking to the microphone, including Papineau and Miller, noted that there are good police officers. Miller had worked actively with the Escanaba Public Safety Department prior to Saturday’s event to make sure the protest remained peaceful.

“We are on your side, and I promise you, that’s the belief of everybody I work with,” said Escanaba Public Safety Lt. Jamie Silverstone.

Following the impromptu speeches, the protest transformed into a march down Ludington Street. Despite a warning from Silverstone that there was a possibility of a counter-protest in the form of a pro-Second Amendment demonstration taking place, the march was peaceful and there were no disturbances.