by Jazmine Otey
While in Downtown Roanoke, protester Denzel Hudson and a group of others decided to lay on the ground for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in honor of George Floyd. While face down on the brick ground, Hudson closed his eyes and let the footage of Floyd being murdered play in his mind. As his neck began to lock up and he held his arms behind his back, Hudson imagined how excruciating it’d be to have an officer’s knee pressed into his neck. The thought was enough to bring tears to his eyes.
“I felt like I was only in part of his shoes,” Hudson said. “In that instant, I knew that this was real. It’s one thing to be in front of a screen looking at it on TV or a phone, but actually playing that role in a way hit me like a ton of bricks.”
During the numerous protests in Roanoke last week, Hudson made a point to be a part of as many as he could. He was involved in protests on May 30, May 31, June 3 and June 4. For some, he’d stay as long as ten hours.
At first, Hudson wasn’t planning to participate. After seeing the footage of the Target in Minneapolis being demolished, he was uncertain if Roanoke residents would protest peacefully or violently. Although he understood the reactions, he didn’t agree with rioting and looting.
But after watching a live video on Facebook, he knew he wasn’t doing any justice sitting behind a screen. Upon his arrival, he instantly found solace in standing alongside others peacefully protesting not only for Floyd but for Black lives.
“Something came over me to see the magnitude of people with just so much love out there,” Hudson said. “I genuinely felt safe around pretty much every one of them.”
When Hudson saw the SWAT officers, riot shields and armored vehicles he fully came to terms with the magnitude of this movement. In that moment he realized that this is what his ancestors went through.
“I felt as if my ancestors took over me in a way and were speaking through my body as well as everyone else out there,” Hudson said. “I felt like it’s a legacy that we need to continue. I don’t think they’d appreciate us being silent about it. This has been happening for generations.”
Brenda Hale, president, Roanoke Branch NAACP, agrees with Hudson in that the current fight for racial equality is analogous to what Blacks have battled for years.
“The NAACP was primarily formed in 1909 because the heinous acts of lynching were rampant against African Americans in the U.S. Here we are 111 years later confronted with a different type of modern day lynching, death by police brutality,” Hale said before a crowd of protesters at Washington Park on May 30.
Hale can remember Martin Luther King Jr. coming to her high school to talk to her and her classmates about civil injustices imposed on Blacks in the ’60s. Now, nearly 60 years later, Hale is displeased to see Blacks still being treated unfairly and says that we must seek justice in the courtroom just as Martin Luther King Jr. did.
Hale advises that Black Americans, especially young Black Americans, go out and vote to change the paradigm that’s currently in place.
“You had to have all of this legislation take place in order to have amendments to the Constitution so that Black people could have amiable rights that other people automatically have,” Hale said. “So therefore, you have institutional racism and systemic institutions that are still in place. It’s a constant uphill battle, but like they say ‘I’m no ways tired.’”
Hudson isn’t tired of fighting either.
“Always fight for what you believe in,” Hudson said. “This is not gonna change overnight. Some of these things have just been going on for too long. The change is definitely gonna be a process, but I can definitely see it’s in effect.”
