ROGERS -- A second protest against racism and police brutality took place Wednesday afternoon outside of City Hall.
The protest was one of many across the country in the past couple weeks since George Floyd, a handcuffed black man died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes.
"This isn't a trend. This isn't something that just happened. This is something that's been happening for centuries, years and now we finally have the right generations to deal with it and the right voices that want to be heard," protest organizer Jada Portillo, 18, said to a group of about 100 protesters.
Protesters met outside the Rogers Activity Center, where they knelt for 8 minutes, 46 seconds, the amount of time police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck. They then marched about half a mile to City Hall.
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Protest organizer Raizza Sandoral led the march with chants such as "What was his name? George Floyd. What did he say? 'I can't breathe,'" and "No justice. No peace. No racist police."
Protesters held up signs such as those that read, "All mothers were summoned when George Floyd cried out for his" and "All lives can't matter until black lives matter."
Nakisha Snell spoke at the protest and said they weren't just there to mourn Floyd's death, but all of the injustices against black people for the past 400 years.
"I want to make sure that people know every time we see a black man getting killed on the street on video, every time it's circulated, that we picture our fathers, that we picture our uncles, our brothers, our sons and that is extremely traumatic and that's an injustice," she said.
Snell said solidarity is good but it's no longer enough.
"I want white people in the audience to know and to recognize the privilege and the power that you have to dismantle the systems that other white folks have built to oppress us. You have the power to dismantle these systems."
Portillo criticized police officers' treatment of protesters at various protests.
"If the police are our allies, then why do they feel the need to gas and shoot innocent protesters? And now the burning question is why isn't anyone being held accountable for that?" she said.
Police fired tear gas at protesters in Bentonville last week.
"A water bottle thrown does not equal tear-gassing everyone there," Portillo said.
Rogers police stood on the outskirts of protests at both protests in Rogers and didn't intervene or use force at the protests. Police cars blocked off intersections along Third Street on Wednesday to allow protesters to march.
Protester Emma Willis said she appreciated the people running for office who came to the protest and criticized the lack of participation of community leaders.
"When we ask for your comments, and we ask for your solidarity, and we ask for you to march with us, and you aren't here, your silence is deafening," she said.
Celeste Williams, Ronetta Francis and Jon Comstock, all running for local offices, were at the protest.
"I have a business in Rogers," Willis said. "I sit on boards. I speak up on behalf of those who cannot, yet those people who sit in those board rooms are not out here with me. I am asking for more from my community."
A protester said Mayor Greg Hines was to be at the protest but canceled. Hanna Lairy, spokeswoman for the city, said Hines and Police Chief Hayes Minor both had prior commitments at the time of the protest that they made before they knew about the protest.
Hines and Minor released written responses to protesters' questions surrounding the Police Department's polices as well as to responses to the "8 Can't Wait" campaign circulating around the country calling for eight specific police reforms.
"From 2016 to 2019, RPD officers arrested 19,830 individuals and used force 228 times (1.15%). Adding these arrests to the tens of thousands of other interactions our officers have had during this same time span (traffic stops, calls for service, etc.) the likelihood of a Rogers police officer using force is very, very low," according to the statement.
The Rogers Police Department hasn't used deadly force since 2011. The protests have given the department the opportunity to further evaluate policies and procedures, according to the statement.
