Over the last 14 days, protestors in Detroit have marched a collective 74 miles through Corktown, Southwest, Downtown, Midtown, Virginia Park, New Center, Islandview, and deep into the Eastside.

Protestors are demanding justice for George Floyd and the numerous other Black Americans who have died or faced brutality at the hands of police. The structural violence of expanded video surveillance, rampant foreclosures, unfettered evictions, and broad disinvestment in Black neighborhoods has also been a focal point of protestors demands delivered to the Mayor.

In the early days, marches were met with an intense and often brutal police response with full riot gear and tear gas. Clashes have been driven by police responding to the defined curfew which led to mass arrests until the Police Chief declared he would no longer enforce the curfew. Marches following this declaration saw no clashes and always ended peacefully. Marches have pulled on Detroit’s long history of police brutality which served as the spark for the 1967 rebellion.

A regular group has been convened at the Detroit Public Safety Headquarters (DPSH) each day at 4pm ranging from 100 to 1,000 people. There have been other marches organized like one along the Dequindre Cut, DPSCD’s march from King High School to Spirit Plaza, and more recently a shutdown of both sides of 8 Mile Road.

#BlackLivesMatter