Justin Jones speaks to a crowd of demonstrators as National Guard members guard the Captiol
Monday evening in Nashville began with hundreds of people speaking, singing and chanting on Legislative Plaza as a Tennessee Highway Patrol helicopter circled above and more than 100 state troopers and members of the Tennessee National Guard circled the Capitol across the street. It ended with the protesters leaving peacefully after Guard members laid down their shields.
On the plaza, a series of speakers addressed the diverse crowd, who wore masks and held signs. In between the remarks, the crowd sang songs and chanted "black lives matter" and "no justice, no peace." Organizers regularly addressed the media, emphasizing that this was a peaceful rally and urging reporters to "go back and tell the truth."
"We understand the power of the media," Russell Pointer, one of the lead organizers of the event, told the Scene later. "Without somebody being here on the ground, without somebody telling the truth, it's easy to misconstrue peaceful protest with riotous looting and burning which we saw. We don't condone any type of violence, we're not with any violence. We're here peacefully exercising our constitutional rights."
At one point, a woman named Dominique warned the crowd against attempts by police to shift the narrative or deflect attention from systemic problems and violence against black Americans.
"The police are not with us," she said. "It doesn't matter how many times they come and kneel next to us."
Her words resonated in a town that has seen how such stunts don't always portend real change. Metro Police Chief Steve Anderson was lauded in national headlines in 2014 when he directed his officers to greet people protesting police brutality with hot chocolate instead of tear gas. What followed was years of resistance to reform like body cameras and civilian oversight of the police department.
Later, the protesters took knees and asked the National Guard to join them, though none did.
After Dominique, a white man took the megaphone to address white people, calling out their silence about racism and claiming responsibility for ending it.
"This is not black people's job to make white people understand that black lives matter," he said.
There was no organized counter protest, although as a later speaker led the crowd in song one white man with a Confederate flag mask and a sign that read "All Lives Matter" knelt in front of him.
When prominent Nashville activist Justin Jones spotted some lawmakers watching the rally from a balcony at the Capitol, he turned to address them, inviting them to come speak to the crowd as the people started chanting "join us!" Next, Jones asked the crowd to form a two-by-two line and follow him across the street to the Capitol. As they began to walk, he called to the National Guard members through the megaphone: "We are unarmed, nonviolent protesters."
The crowd gathered on the Capitol steps right in front of the line of National Guard members, who wore riot gear and stood with large shields in front of them. The crowd returned to singing and chanting, periodically inviting the armed Guard members and state troopers to join in. At one point, Jones led the crowd in a chant: "Why are you in riot gear? I don't see no riot here!" Later, he asked the National Guard members, who were lined up less than a foot from where he stood, to lay down their shields. They did.
The crowd cheered and began singing the spiritual "Down by the Riverside": "I'm gonna lay down my sword and shield, down by the riverside."
See more photos of the event below.
Stephen Elliott contributed to this story.
