MILFORD, CT — Best friends Remi and Heather are 8. They both love slime, kittens and ice cream. Remi is white. Heather is black. Remi joined her parents Amelia and Robert Brenner at the Black Lives Matter protest Monday in Milford.
The protest was a small-town gathering but no less impactful than the protests in major cities across the country featuring thousands of marchers. Remi said she wanted to come to the protest with her mom and dad because she’s worried.
“I have black friends and I feel sad this is happening,” the girl said and then darted to her father, burying herself in his arms.
Black Lives Matter in Milford
Hundreds filled the Milford Town Green on a blue sky Monday in solidarity with their black neighbors, friends and loved ones to demand change.
“The time is long overdue for everyone to stand up and take a position against racism and intolerance,” Carol Gosselin said as she and her husband Art joined the protest. Their signs read: “Unite in every community” and “No justice, no peace.”
One of the Solidarity Protest for Black Lives Matter and George Floyd organizers and speakers, Kira Ortoleva, lost her best friend Mubarak Soulemane, 19, when he was shot and killed by state police in West Haven earlier this year. Soulemane was suffering from a schizophrenic mental health episode, Ortoleva said. The troopers involved in the tasing and fatal shooting both live in Milford.
“I am here to help you understand,” she said, letting people know that she cries for Soulemane every night. “We have waited too long for change.”
Ortoleva explained what is being demanded: “Defunding police would require accountability and reject proposed expansion.”
“This can be explained simply,” she said to voluminous cheers. “All police departments in the United States were fully geared with riot shields, pepper spray canisters yet our doctors were scrambling for a single mask to help us during the pandemic.”
Demilitarization, she said, means to “disarm police from lethal force” and ended the militarization of police.
“It is not right to kill unarmed black and brown people,” she said. Other demands included neighborhood councils in an effort to get citizens involved in policy-making.
‘I’m glad they’re here’
Milford Police Chief Mello said, before the rally began that he was “glad” to see protesters and when asked about concerns he said that, “If we have any trouble, it won’t be from them.”
“I respect them and I’m glad they’re here,” Mello said as a river of people flowed into the Green. “Our job is to protect people’s constitutional rights. And this is their right.”
