The death of a black man while in police custody in Minnesota sparked reaction with a gathering in Missoula Friday. Around 50 people stood in front of Missoula’s courthouse lawn this morning responding to the death of George Floyd.
Nonso Maxwell Obieysi, the president of the University of Montana’s Black Student Union, led and organized the rally alongside the Pacific Islanders Club and a local chapter of the national activist group Sunrise Movement.
“I felt like I had to do something," Obieysi said. "Also, being in Missoula and a place where it’s predominantly white, I wasn’t exactly sure how it was going to go."
The crowd wore masks, held signs, some reading “End Racial Injustice,” and stood at a distance from one another.
Chris Young-Greer spoke on the steps of the courthouse with a megaphone, asking people to value human life regardless of the color of their skin. She spoke with MTPR after the rally.
“As a black woman and the mother of black children, I am concerned and honestly terrified by the things that are happening in our communities all over the nation,” Young-Greer said.
A group in Helena also gathered in response to George Floyd’s death.