Second Protest In Minden Draws Larger Crowd
A second protest march happened in the small community of Minden on Sunday, June 14th. Protesters of all age, race, and religious affiliation marched from the Martin Luther King Drive area to the Minden Civic Center with a group called Citizens for Justice.
The group, made up of 27 members, and headed up by some of the local church leaders, marched not only for the recent deaths involving police on a national scale, but the injustices within their own community of Minden. They believe Minden is a city divided by racism. Many claim that there are actually "two Mindens", referring to the obvious division from one side of the train-tracks to the other.
Citizens for Justice organized the march to call for a change in the way the police and city leaders deal with it's African American citizens.Benjamin Martin, the spokesman for Citizens for Justice said, "Conditions here are filled with racism and we're calling that out,".
The march to the Minden Civic Center was peaceful and uninterrupted. Church leaders, and other members of the community gave moving speeches, led chants, and sang songs in solidarity with the demonstration. The crowd at this demonstration was much larger and more vocal than the first protest from the previous Sunday. The crowd marched with signs, Black Lives Matter T-shirts, and most everyone had a face mask, some of which were provided by the Citizens for Justice group.
It's obvious that a change is deeply wanted in the small town of Minden Louisiana. And the Citizens for Justice group say that this is only the beginning. They will continue to fight for change.