What it looked like when anti-racism protesters took to the streets of a small Sierra town
Protesters returned to rally against racial injustice in Colfax on Wednesday in a response to an incident at a smaller rally in the rural Placer County city last week where a man threw white supremacist and anti-black stickers at protesters from a truck.
The incident, which was reported by the The Union of Nevada County, was described in a Facebook post by Grass Valley resident Ariel Elliott. According to the paper, Elliott turned the racist material over to local law enforcement.
Colfax resident Bryanna Eisenhut addressed the crowd of protesters Wednesday with Elliott.
“I came together with another person,” Eisenhut said, referring to Elliott, “to organize in solidarity with the protest of last week, just to show that that kind of violence to a peaceful protest, or a protest at all, is not going to silence the voiceless people.”
Passing traffic appeared largely supportive of the group’s Black Lives Matter and anti-racism signs, but the event also inspired one area man to fly a flag in support of law enforcement and take video of the protesters.
Bill White, of the Auburn area, held the “Thin Blue Line” flag — a black and white version of the U.S. flag with a single blue stripe that was created to support law enforcement but has also become a symbol of white supremacy for some — taking video of the protesters with his phone as they held their rally.
White, who also wore a Trump 2020 hat, said he was present to support law enforcement.
“They’re getting a bad name, of course, from the media and whatnot, and everybody else,” he said. “My heart goes out to George Floyd of course, his family, his children, but some of these people are over the top — the rioting, the looting, things like that.”
He said he went into the city of Auburn recently because he heard “Black Lives Matter is going to be there, they’re going to burn up the town” from a “credible source.”
“I was concerned for Auburn. They were going to bus people in from the Bay Area, Sacramento supposedly, so I was concerned,” he said. “I brought a first-aid kit to take care of whoever needed help.”
