Friday, Aug. 21
Black Unity held a flash protest in front of the Wayne L. Morse U.S. Federal Courthouse, starting just before 7 p.m. The group blocked off 8th and Broadway.
There, Black Unity leaders and supporters blocked the intersection and stood in silence with the words “Breonna Taylor” written on tape over their mouths for approximately 15 minutes.
The event ended without confrontation. A BU leader noted, “This was the first of many to come.”
Saturday, Aug. 22
Flyers posted on street poles around Springfield promoted a #SaveYourChildren march — a debunked QAnon conspiracy — that was to meet at Norm’s Auto Body at 3 p.m.
Nobody showed up.
Sunday, Aug. 23
Black Unity hosted an all-day Civil Disobedience and Direct Action Training at Alton Baker Park from 1 to 8 p.m. including a Know Your Rights training by Civil Liberties Defense Center members. About 50 people attended.
Topics included learning the difference between non-violence and violence, brainstorming non-violent tactics, analysing how counter protesters and police think, what to do in the face of violence, risking arrest and community organizing.
Monday, Aug. 24
In solidarity with the protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake — who survived seven gunshots to the back but is paralyzed from the waist down — a leaderless protest started at the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza at 7 p.m.
Eventually taking to the streets, the march headed towards the Lane County Jail where a group of counter protesters — Corey Eugene Wyatt, who was arrested in 2013 for his role in a spree of racially-motivated killings, and another, known as Geena Hager who previously instigated fights during a BU protest in Springfield’s Thurston Hills neighborhood — confronted the crowd on foot and in a pickup truck.
The counter protesters followed the crowd downtown, where a vehicle that drove through the bicycle safety crew nearly hit the protesters. Shouting began when one counter protester believed a protester came too close. The anti-racist protesters yelled, “Go home, Nazis!”
In front of the outside seating area of Jameson’s Bar on Broadway, the confrontation briefly escalated from verbal to physical when Hager lunged at a protester, shoving and punching them.
A protester took Hager’s phone and ran half a block with it before Hager caught up and a short brawl ensued. Protesters quickly overwhelmed the counter protesters physically and the fight subsided once again to a shouting match. After the fight, Hager alleged someone hit her with “something chemical” and flushed her eyes with a bottle of water.
Though the counter protesters continued to follow the procession, there was no more confrontation. The protest came to an end around 9:20 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 25
The day after the Stand With Kenosha march, BU held a rally in solidarity with one of their own leaders, known as Jazmine Delilah, who was arrested the day prior and held overnight at the Lane County Jail.
Approximately 40 people gathered on the sidewalk across the street from the jail and waited to hear about her status in her detainment process.
The answer came just before 1:30 p.m. and a woman who was designated to go inside and request the information told the crowd EPD released Delilah and charges would not be filed at that time.
KEZI later reported that Lane County District Attorney Patricia W. Perlow declined to prosecute on charges of rioting, assaulting a public safety officer and resisting arrest at this time. Her arrest stemmed from the peaceful-protest-turned-violent confrontation with counter protesters and the Springfield Police Department in Springfield’s Thurston neighborhood on July 29.
