Thread by @asanderford

Another protest this evening at 72nd and Dodge, the site of last Friday’s protest. This time they’re on the Petco corner.

One pair of protesters was mom Christy Allen, 54, right, and daughter Christina Allen, 29, left. They were smiling and laughing as people drove by one of Nebraska’s busiest intersections honking horns in support.

Christy Allen, left, said she’s hopeful because she sees so much support from people of every race for what protesters are trying to accomplish.

“What’s going on now is it’s time for people to come together as one,” she said. “It’s time for a change, and the change is here.”

A look at the scene.

KaLecia Davis, 19, and Silas Jones, 18, both of Omaha, said this was their first night of attending protests. They are heartened by public support for the equality of treatment they seek from police and by the justice system.

Davis said:

“We should be able to call 911 without fear. We should be able to walk the streets without fear. We are not going to stay silent. We are going to fight for what we believe in.” (She’s on the right.)

Jones said maybe, just once, something horrible like James Scurlock’s death might start a movement. He’s on the left.

Another view of 72nd and Dodge.

Crowds now starting on two corners, including the Crossroads Mall corner.

Another protester tonight is Cori Davis, 17, who is starting at @UNOmaha this fall. She said people are tired of talking with little progress. They want meaningful change.

“I think it’s better to be here than to be at home watching TV. You shouldn’t see skin color as suspicion.”

I’m going to change corners for a bit. Here’s a little video from the Petco corner.

Here’s the view from the crosswalk on both corners of 72nd and Dodge.

On the Crossroads corner, an Omaha family, including Pat Bridgeman, 51, and Julian Bridgeman, 12. Pat B. said she loved feeling the support of the community, the honks and posters and screams and raised fists.

“My heart is huge. It’s different shades and sizes and colors.”

Julian Bridgeman, 12, left, said:

“I like knowing everybody can come together like one big family.”

Across Dodge on the Do Space corner, I spoke briefly with @OmahaPolice Sgt. W. Seaton, left, and Lt. Mike Davis, right. They said the protesters have done everything they’d want them to do. They’re staying out of the street. They peacefully protesting.

Seaton said:

“It’s a small but passionate crowd. This is exactly what they should be doing. If they keep this up, we aren’t going to have any problems.

The only people who have been rude to the officers, they said, are a handful of passersby, not the protesters.

Martae Mitchell, 21, an elementary education major @UNLincoln and Omaha native, said it is amazing to see so many people out protesting.

“It took a lot of pain to see what’s going on. It kills me to know I’ve got a target on my back. I have a lot of people looking up to me.”

Mitchell said:

“It’s more than just me. It gives me a lot of hope that change is coming. People see what’s going on, and that it needs to change.”

Forgive me y’all. I’m gonna take a little break and hydrate. Be back in a sec. Been a long hot day.

Still going strong at 72nd and Dodge, a lot stronger than the old reporter out here with them.

Omar, left, who did not give his last name, said he’s out here showing solidarity with his brothers. He works in health care and said “People who donate blood, they don’t donate white blood or black blood. It’s all red. And mine can go to you and yours to me.”

I’m gonna need a minute for this last interview of mine tonight. Sometimes someone speaks and knocks you down with the weight of his words. That was my experience tonight with Omaha native Lester Johnson, 25. He’s the tall gentlemen in Carolina blue. I’ll show his face soon.

Johnson said he is tired. He is tired of having to fight for the most basic form of equality, the ability to live as a black man in America without fear. It shouldn’t take a protest, he said, to argue that human lives have value.

Black people want to see the Constitution’s words upheld in action, Johnson said. “Being black in this country is scary. I’m a college graduate. I have no issues with the law. I pay my taxes. But too often in the eyes of the law, I am a big black man who people see as a threat.”

Said Johnson: “We as a black community, we love everybody. All we want is inclusivity. We are tired of fighting for something you can see with your own eyes. Open them, because we ain’t going anywhere.”

Here’s a better picture or two of Johnson.

Update from the corner.

A little twilight video from 72nd and Dodge.

One more video from Dodge.

And a photo with it. An Omaha family.

How 72nd and Dodge looks right now.

Little smaller crowd on the Crossroads side than earlier.

Just spoke again to @OmahaPolice Lt. Mike Davis of the southwest precinct.

He said if the protest stays as peaceful as it has and people keep staying out of traffic, police will give them a little leeway on making their way home at and slightly after curfew.

Lt. Davis said:

“The protesters have been great all night. Give me this any time.”

Crowd thinning out at curfew. They shouted down a white guy trying to gin up the crowd, told him he was putting black lives at risk.

Here’s what it looks like now.

Live look at 10:25 p.m.

Pretty thin now.

The folks @OmahaPolice are keeping their word. Nobody went in the street, nobody acted out. They’re giving folks room to decide to leave.

Folks are packing up to leave. A handful of stragglers.

This is the whole of the remainder of the #OmahaProtests.

Brief update.

A different kind of final four.

Good night from central Omaha. Appreciate everybody who followed along. I’m headed to furlough next week, but please keep following my @OWHnews colleagues.

And stay safe.