HW Peace, Citizenship and Education Project Demonstrates Against Racism
(Sherry A. Wells, June 6, 2020)
Huntington Woods, MI – At 12:43 on Monday, Joanne Kristal emailed to the list for the Huntington Woods Peace, Citizenship & Education Project. “Organic Demonstration/Protest Today at 5:00 – George Floyd/Racial Injustice.”
Barely 4 hours later, she was joined by at least 20 others. In the meantime, Judy Bate and Carla Volkers handmade their own signs and stationed themselves on the southwest corner of Woodward and 11 Mile Rd. Across the street, Janice Fialka used the sign she’d carried in the prior day’s demonstration in Ferndale.
The organization began almost twenty years ago in response to U. S. foreign policy in reaction to the 9/11 event. It is most known for the annual July 4 parade with the homemade huge white doves. (Only one is still able to “fly.”) But since its founding, its monthly meetings cover a wide range of current national and local issues. Its attendance and membership have expanded beyond Huntington Woods.
Drivers who normally continued southbound on Woodward past 9 Mile and Woodward would know about the 17-year peace group’s “Honk if You’re Against War” protest. However, it seemed that as many as a third of those who looped around at the 11 Mile intersection to proceed east on Woodward knew to honk their agreement with the demonstrators.
This is one of a vast number of protests happening around the world following the death of a black man named George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police on Memorial Day. Protests have been happening in cities large and small. The protest was mild compared to riots that destroyed parts of Minneapolis, Atlanta, New York and other cities around the county and the globe. In Metro Detroit several smaller protests have been up, including in Pontiac, Royal Oak, Ferndale, Farmington Hills, Rochester Hills, Huntington Woods, Clarkston and more.