Community speaks out to ‘not let Black death end in silence’
EBS STAFF
BOZEMAN – On Sunday afternoon, local activists gathered at Bogert Park in Bozeman to protest the death of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black man who was killed by police during a traffic stop outside Minneapolis on April 11. The march was put on by Bozeman United for Racial Justice and the Black Student Union at MSU and included a march downtown, speeches, a group song and a moment of silence.
Attendees were encouraged to bring noisemakers and express their grief and rage in a nonviolent manner, as well as pay their respects at an alter below the stage. The alter included a portrait of Wright alongside Adam Toledo, a 13-year-old who was shot by Chicago police on March 29. Around the stage was a string of yellow air fresheners, each representing a person of color killed this year. It is said that Wright was reaching to change his air freshener when he was originally pulled over.
“Today in this moment, in this space, we remember Daunte and George [Floyd] and Breonna [Taylor] and Adam and the countless others we’ve lost,” said Christopher Coburn of the Bozeman United for Racial Justice during a speech on stage at Bogert Park. Coburn is also a Bozeman City Commissioner and serves on the Gallatin County Board of Health. “I’m with you in grief, I’m with you in pain and I’m with you in resolve to not let Black death end in silence.”
