Over 100 people carrying signs and banners converged at the Dreamstyle Arena Saturday for a Black Lives Matter rally and march.
Event Coordinator Shakir Farid Abdullah, a human rights activist with Black Lives Matter, called the turnout “beautiful” and said the event took about two months to coordinate.
He said the event’s focus was to bring the community together and meet one another.
Demonstrators took to the streets by early afternoon, filling and marching in two lanes westbound on Avenida Cesar Chavez.
Marchers repeated a variety of chants, such as “Whose streets? Our streets,” “Hands up, don’t shoot” and “No justice, no peace.”
Travelling onlookers waved, raised a fist, honked or sped by.
After a mile of marching, participants gathered in front of the Dennis Chavez Community Center, where Albuquerque Black Lives Matter and about 20 other organizations hosted speakers, dancers and singers.
“It’s a real big thing for our kids to see us in a positive light and for us to control that narrative. There doesn’t have to be a tragedy, a death or murder for us to come together and have a good time,” Arthur Bell, an event coordinator with Black Lives Matter, said.
Students with the University of New Mexico Queer and Trans People of Color Club were also part of the crowd, holding a banner that read “Black Trans Lives Matter.”
The group said their focus is flexible and they will “stand in solidarity with other organizations to support the cause.”
Selina Villa, a senior majoring in Chicana and Chicano Studies, said she hopes the march will spur “more awareness and education” while bringing the community together and providing networking for activists.
“(We want) other organizations to network to build a bigger, better struggle towards the liberation of black lives,” Villa said.
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Other organizations at the rally included Millions for Prisoners New Mexico and Save the Kids, organizations that reach out to those affected by the incarceration system.
Adrienne Cabou, a member of the All African People’s Revolutionary Party and event coordinator for the march, said she wants to see an end to “mass incarceration of African people” and the “systemic poverty in African communities.”
She said this can be achieved through community organization, giving back to communities and by recognizing “black excellence.”
“When you live black excellence, you are only living that because of the masses of African people who fought for that, who fought for you to have that,” Cabou said, adding, “We are not yet free, but if we organized and we unified, we will be free.”
Anthony Jackson is a freelance reporter with the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @TonyAnjackson.
