Vermonters in communities around the state are planning to gather this weekend to demonstrate against racial injustice, as protests sparked by the death of George Floyd nationwide stretch into their third week.
After vigils, protests and driving rallies drew people by the hundreds and thousands across Vermont last weekend, officials and communities started considering policy changes to address systemic racism.
State lawmakers this week worked on measures targeting racial inequities in law enforcement, including banning chokeholds, mandating the use of body cameras, and expanding collection of traffic stop race data, which in past years has shown sharp disparities in search rates between white people and people of color.
Residents of Burlington and Montpelier this week called for cuts to municipal police department budgets, echoing national calls to defund police. Chittenden County’s top prosecutor announced she would review all pending cases against black defendants for racial disparities. In Bennington, where a black legislator stepped down from her seat in 2018 partially because of racial harassment, a petition is calling for the police chief and town manager to resign.
VTDigger will be covering anti-racism rallies across the state this weekend. Planned events include:
- Brattleboro: Friday, 5 p.m., vigil on the common
- Montpelier: Saturday, 10 a.m., painting Black Lives Matter on State Street
- Randolph: Saturday, 12 p.m., starting on Maple Street
- Colchester: Saturday, 12 p.m., near Dollar General on Prim Road
- Bennington: Sunday, 3 p.m., in front of the police department
- Stowe: Sunday, 1:45 p.m.-3 p.m., (driving) Stowe Elementary School
- Burlington: Sunday, 10:30 a.m. Juneteenth gathering at City Hall
- Waterbury: Sunday, 4 p.m.-5:30 p.m., Rusty Parker Park
Read the story on VTDigger here: LIVE UPDATES: Racial justice demonstrations continue into third weekend.