Rallies and protests for Patrick Lyoya, a man shot to death by a Grand Rapids police officer, have taken place all across the country.
On Sunday, protestors marched up Woodward with one powerful pause.
“Today we’re standing in solidarity with the Grand Rapids community as well as Patrick Lyoya’s family as we demand Justice for Patrick,” said Sirrita Darby, a protestor.
Dozens came together marching against what they call an injustice, the death of Patrick Lyoya.
“It’s just important to be here because if it was one of my people, I would want the same thing,” said Mercedes Lucious.
Because of the protest, it seems like traffic came to a standstill for miles as many of the demonstrators decide to make their points very clear in the middle of the intersection of Woodward and Adams. Their point is that Patrick Lyoya’s life mattered.
“I know it might be an inconvenience for some people, but we need justice and we’re not stopping til we get it,” Lucious said.
As they continue to ask for the name of the officer to be released, one thing is certain, they won’t give up until he’s held accountable.
“We want them to identify the officer. Not only identify him, we want him to be fired as well as prosecuted,” Darby said.
A familiar theme we’ve seen in similar protest are many demands to defund the police. This instance is no different.
“Police don’t actually know how to respond to harm or how to deal with conflict in a healthy way,” said PG Watkins. “All they really know how to do is enact violence. As a community, we need to come up with different ways and systems of dealing with conflict and create new systems of relating to each other.”