'We need action': Salinas residents kneel at George Floyd protests Monday

Ayrton Ostly Kate Cimini
Salinas Californian

Breanna Page, organizer of the first of two Salinas George Floyd protests that took place Monday, was surprised when she saw the crowd on the steps of Salinas City Hall.

"Honestly, I thought maybe 15 people would show up."

Her audience? Hundreds of people with countless signs and cheers.

"I'm here so that people don't have to worry about their husbands going for a jog," Page said, referencing the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery.

"I'm here for the mother who's worried when her son goes to pick up Skittles," she continued, speaking of Trayvon Martin, who was gunned down in 2012. "We're here to make our voices heard and let everyone know that black lives matter. And I have so much love in my heart for everyone here today."

Photos of Monday's Salinas for George Floyd protest. June 1, 2020.

It had been two hours since the protest formed along West Alisal Street in front of Hartnell College. Protesters lined both sidewalks for two blocks in the heat of the midday, as drivers passing by honked and raised their fists. Some blasted protest music, slowing so those gathered could dance. 

MILPA Director of Policy and Programs Cesar Lara encouraged the protesters to do more to make their voices heard.

"There's things that we can do in our community going forward," he said. "But there's also other actions. The city of Salinas will be voting on a budget on the 27th on this month... we need action and we need changes in our budget. We don't want words, we need actions."

A passerby holds a fist up out of a passenger window in support of protesters at Hartnell College. June 1, 2020.

Protesters left the sidewalk into the street to make their way towards Salinas City Hall at 2:30 p.m., reaching the steps for another hour of speeches from protest leaders.

"I put a knee down so you can walk on home at night," protester Xavier Woods told the crowd. "I put a knee down so you can see your loved ones one more time. I want my sister to go home without fear that she'll have a knee on her neck because she yelled at the wrong person."

Woods and many of the protesters were in Seaside on Saturday.

"I want everyone here, when they go home, to look at their loved ones and tell them that they made a difference," Woods said. 

Xavier Woods speaks to the crowd gathered in front of Salinas City Hall Monday. June 1, 2020.

"I bet you George Floyd told his loved ones I'll be right back," he told the crowd. "But he didn't make it. So we have to make it back for him."

The crowd knelt for nine minutes to represent the nine minutes Floyd had a knee on his neck. The final 20 seconds were in silence.

Salinas Police blocked off Lincoln Street for the protesters and did not interfere with the protests. By 3:30 p.m., the crowd had dispersed with thanks from Page and other speakers for showing up.

"You've proved to each other that black lives do matter," Page said. "Thank you all so much for being here and making a statement."

At the second rally, organized by the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), hundreds gathered later Monday outside the California Rodeo Salinas. Activists read poetry, called for justice for Floyd while the crowd knelt and raised their fists in peaceful protest on the green lawn.

Salinas Mayor Joe Gunter called for a change in the way police were hired and trained in order to make sure a death like Floyd's never happened in Salinas.

"Seeing the horror of what's happened, we don't want to be the problem," said Gunter. "We want to be the solution. So be safe tonight and pray for that man's family."

Salinas Police Chief Adele Fresé said Salinas police had already made many of those changes when she first arrived. They added women and people of color to the force, training officers extensively, hiring from Salinas and including LULAC in the officer hiring process, she said.

"We're proud of our training," Fresé said.  "We're proud that we do it right. That's why we do lose a lot of people on our field training program...because we don't give a lot of leeway as you might see in some other places."

At first, she said, she didn't even want to watch the full video of Floyd's death, fearing it would be too much. 

"But I have to watch it. I need to feel what other people are feeling," she said.

So she made herself watch.

What she saw horrified her, she said. 

"I saw a lack of regard for human life," Fresé said, visibly frustrated. "There was no decency, no consideration for another human being. Some of this is at the core, it's about respecting other people.

"There's nothing that could lead up to that event that could justify....a knee on the neck is lethal force," Fresé said. "It was disgusting."

Fresé waited until Monday to release a statement because she wanted first to listen to the community, attend protests and talk with people there, she said.

Fresé worried people felt the police had made no progress in the last 50 years, despite integrating deescalation tactics, developing relationships with the community and more. 

"To come to May of 2020 and have this killing in Minneapolis and hear, look, nothing's changed...that cannot shake and shatter the path that we are on, because I believe we are on the right path."

Organizer Breanna Page speaks to the crowd Monday afternoon. June 1, 2020.

Theron Franklin, a 54-year-old black man from Salinas, said he had been the target of profiling by police himself throughout his life.

A pastor at Royal Family and a CalTrans employee, Franklin attended the Monday evening rally with his 21-year-old daughter, a recent Hartnell graduate who would soon be leaving for college in Atlanta. He stood in the back of the crowd, leaning against a Monterey pine, watching the crowd intently. He nodded along with speakers as they exhorted those present to remember to stand up against injustices. 

"One thing I would like to see is a total change in the way the police and other people in authority look at black folks in general," Franklin said. "They should not be threatened by us...and people from other races should not feel that a young black man is a threat.

"We are invested in this country, just like anybody else. We go to work, we raise our families. We're invested in wanting to make America a better country."

When he had been profiled, he said, before he became a Christian it upset him, but he didn't handle it the way he would handle it now.

The way Dr. King would have handled it, he said.

"Lashing out in some way, I've seen that that does nothing to change that person's point of view," Franklin said."I told my congregation yesterday, Jesus said to love your enemies; to do good to those who spite you. I firmly believe that: we are to love our enemies. I believe that in my heart and my soul.

"The change, it may not come right away, but we can hopefully do something to impact someone in a positive way by showing them kindness rather than lashing out towards them in anger."

Ayrton Ostly peruses Twitter, fields, courts and tracks throughout Salinas looking for stories from the community. Have a tip? Drop an email to aostly@thecalifornian.com and subscribe for full access to all of The Californian's local news coverage.