Tuesday, Oct. 27

Following a two-week hiatus, Black Unity took to the streets on Tuesday with a crowd of about 40 starting at University Park around 7:20 p.m.

Marching for “Justice for George Floyd” and in solidarity with Nigerians against SARS, or the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, BU leadership and the group marched near the University of Oregon with a few new chants including “heal those scars by ending SARS” and “gang, gang, it’s lit, defund that shit.”

Shortly before heading back to where the march ended at 9 p.m., a student at UO elicited applause and cheers when he “kickflipped for Black lives” on a skateboard as requested of him by the crowd.

Thursday, Oct. 29

Two days later, BU returned to University Park for another protest, this time marching for Marcellis Stinnette, another young Black man killed by a police officer in Waukegan, Illinois on Oct. 20. Stinnette’s girlfriend, Tafara Williams, was pulled over for a traffic stop while the two were in the car and a police officer opened fire after she claimed Williams attempted to back into her. The Waukegan Police Department fired the officer after reviewing footage from the incident.

A group of about 30-40 people gathered and began to march through streets adjacent to UO around 7:30 p.m.

Despite a temperamental generator running the speaker system, a BU leader broke out into song, drawing lots of applause.

The group stopped and took over several intersections throughout the march. At one intersection, three separate cars attempted to speed through a parking lot around the group – one of them nearly hitting a support vehicle. Another vehicle peeled out only to almost hit another car turning around. 

At around 9:30 p.m., the march made its way back to University Park and ended.