ATLANTA (AP) — Thousands of people across Georgia joined in dozens of protests for racial justice Saturday, from sometimes-festive events in downtown Atlanta, to a protest that drew hundreds in a once all-White north Georgia county.
Atop a parking garage Saturday in downtown Atlanta, a group of Black college band alumni were serenading one main protest area with a tuba-heavy mix of tunes.
A group of students and alumni of Atlanta’s historically black colleges organized a march and protest against police violence, including parents of two people killed by police.
Recent Morehouse College graduate Jauan Durbin said he began organizing protests after fellow students Taniyah Pilgrim and Messiah Young were pulled from their car and shocked with a stun gun last Saturday by police in downtown Atlanta.
Durbin said youth protesters are calling for other measures including increased financial assistance for black businesses from Atlanta’s city government and increased funding for the city’s public school system.