200 march from downtown Petaluma to the police headquarters

A group of about 200 students participated in a peaceful demonstration Wednesday afternoon, starting at Walnut Park downtown and ending on the doorstep of Petaluma Police Department headquarters.

It was the second-largest Petaluma demonstration in the past week amid a nationwide explosion of outrage and demands for justice following the release of video showing the death of 46-year-old black man George Floyd by a white police officer.

Petaluma resident, recent Casa Grande High School graduate and accomplished athlete Lillian McCoy, who is black, co-organized and led the group to bring more attention to police brutality and acts of racism.

“When I walk by myself downtown, people have honked at me and used the ‘N-word’ at me. If I go into stores I usually don’t go into, I’m followed. There are times where it’s definitely hard to be black in Petaluma,” McCoy said.

Nearly all of the protesters Wednesday afternoon wore masks but social distancing was limited, as primarily high school and college-aged youth planted themselves outside the police department on Petaluma Boulevard North.

With brows and foreheads visibly dripping with sweat amid 90-degree temperatures, many hoisted “Black Lives Matter” signs and knelt in front of the police department with fists raised. Several families with young kids joined the student-led demonstration, and chants were oftentimes drowned out by continuous honks of approval from passing cars.

19-year-old Petaluma High School graduate and University of California, Davis student Miranna Lindberg was among those who heard of the event through word of mouth.

“I came out because I want the system to change. I have a brother that has anxiety just going outside because he’s black,” Lindberg said. “The system needs to change and we are the change.”

Many of those who showed up were neighbors, classmates and acquaintances of McCoy. But some, she said, were new faces.

Brothers Jesse and Brian Marinero only learned of the demonstration by hearing the procession pass by near their house off Payran Street. The pair found scrap cardboard lying around, quickly made signs with a black Sharpie, and joined in.

McCoy’s grandmother Pamela Grandy, mothers Elizabeth Daye and Tasia McCoy, father Nolan McCoy Jr., two little brothers and one of her sisters all stood close by the 17-year-old as she led chants and shouted at the police to come out and take a knee in solidarity. Her great-grandmother, long-time Santa Rosa civil rights activist and author Ann Gray Byrd, escaped the sun and maintained social distancing by watching from a car parked nearby.

“It was definitely a family affair,” McCoy said. “My mom used to live in this town in high school and was racially profiled. My great-grandma used to lead protests in this area as well, so it only felt right.”

For a moment while she was kneeling just steps away from the front door of the police department, McCoy buried her face in her hands and started to cry. She said her family members were the ones who encouraged her to keep going.

“At that moment I was thinking about how hard it is to be black, and when I kneel, I just felt all the power stripped away from me,” McCoy said. “It was hard, and I can’t imagine what George Floyd went through. But I can be there for him in spirit, so I kneel for him today.”

Lt. Tim Lyons was the only officer to answer requests from the crowd to come out and kneel, a symbolic act that protesters are increasingly calling for as nationwide demonstrations continue for more than a week. Lyons made a brief appearance, at first flashing peace signs and eventually kneeling alongside protesters.

Crowds reached a peak of up to 200 and began to thin out by 3p.m., disbanding around 6 p.m. McCoy said future demonstrations are in the works.

“I haven’t seen a lot of protests in Petaluma yet, but people are finally talking,” McCoy said. “It is far from over.”

(Contact Kathryn Palmer at kathryn.palmer@arguscourier.com, on Twitter @KathrynPlmr)