SOUTHAMPTON — Around 100 people showed up outside Town Hall at 5 p.m. Tuesday for a march in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“We were inspired, quite frankly, by the protests going on across the country,” said David Kris, who co-organized the event with fellow Southampton resident Jasper Cowley.
“To end racism, it isn’t on black people or people of color. It’s on white people,” said Kris, who said that the protest is intended to be “first and foremost a solidarity march” and “a peaceful protest.”
From Town Hall, the marchers headed to Conant Memorial Park and then to the Southampton Police Department. The route was selected for its accessibility, said Kris, who noted that there has been interest in the community in alternatives to policing but not necessarily in defunding the Police Department.
Parking was made available to the protesters by the First Congregational Church of Southampton, though the church is not co-sponsoring the event.
“We’re just being nice neighbors,” said Quentin Chin, interim pastor at the church.
Kris said news of the protest generated “a little bit of blowback from certain members of the community,” after the event was posted on the Southampton Community MA 01073 Facebook page.
But the post also generated significant support for the protest, he said: “We had a lot of outpouring saying, ‘This is the right thing to do.’”
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.