Police rally with public for Black Lives Matter

Kneeling for nearly nine minutes at Dallas City Hall. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)

More than 500 people gathered at Dallas Police Headquarters for a Blue for Black Lives Matter rally at 11 a.m. On Friday, June 5.

Earlier that morning, Chief Renee Hall instituted as policy a proposal state Rep Lorraine Birabil said she would introduce as a bill in the next Legislature. Dallas officers are now required to report bad behavior observed among other officers. As one police officer at the rally said, it would protect the public and protect the officer being reported. Four officers in Minneapolis wouldn’t be facing up to 40 years in prison if one of them had said something.
The rally started with officer Arturo Martinez saying, “We are united against racism.”

He said discrimination against the Hispanic community is wrong and discrimination against the LGBT community is wrong.

“Every concern must be heard,” he said. “But today it’s black lives that matter.”

Before marching to Dallas City Hall, Hall and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban spoke.

Through much of the march, officers and citizens marching with them chanted George Floyd’s name. But a block north of police headquarters, the crowd stopped and turned to the South Side Flats and chanted the name of Botham Jean, the man killed by former officer Amber Guyger in his own apartment that she claimed she mistook for her own.

The rally ended at Dallas City Hall with everyone taking a knee for the nearly nine minutes a Minneapolis police officer killed Floyd as he knelt with his knee on his victim’s neck.

— David Taffet