SOUTH HADLEY — More than 230 demonstrators lined the streets of South Hadley in the area of College Street on Sunday afternoon as part of a vigil in support of Black Lives Matter and racial justice.
The vigil, co-hosted by Center Church, All Saints Episcopal Church and Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, saw a mix of members and non-members of the churches, and participants ranging in age from children to seniors.
Many participants held signs with messages such as “No justice, no peace,” “No lives matter until black lives matter,” “Racism is a pandemic,” and “White silence is violence.”
The Rev. Lori Souder of Center Church said that the concept of “silence is violence” is what she believes drove many participants to the vigil.
When organizing the event, leaders from the three churches “recognized that all life is sacred, and as partners, we have to hold ourselves accountable,” she added.
The vigil was among numerous demonstrations held in western Massachusetts over the weekend, including a Northampton protest against police brutality that drew thousands of people downtown on Saturday and an “Educators for Black Lives Matter” rally in Amherst on the Amherst Common.
The local demonstrations join a wave of protests and vigils held nationwide to support Black Lives Matter and protest police brutality and racial violence. The protests were sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a black man from Minneapolis who died after a white police officer had kneeled on his neck for close to nine minutes.
Almost all demonstrators wore masks and appeared to stand around seven feet apart, as organizers had instructed due to the pandemic. The spaced-out demonstrators spanned nearly one-third of a mile, the organizers estimate, starting at All Saints Church and extending to the gates of Mount Holyoke College.
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.