NORMAN, Okla. (KFOR) — Hundreds of protesters gathered in Norman on Monday for a peaceful protest.
“We, you know, saw the video and it just hit home,” Keivon Giles told News 4, talking about the murder of George Floyd.
That’s why Giles helped organize a peaceful protest in Norman at Andrews Park on Monday.
“We’re coming out here peacefully and positively to just spread the word and get he word out. We don’t want any negativity,” Giles said.
The event stayed peaceful, with several local leaders speaking to the crowd, including Mayor Breea Clark.
“We are here today to talk about what needs to be done in the future,” Clark said.
During the event, Clark announced the hiring of a new diversity officer.
“We continue to have our struggles. Norman is not perfect, but our motto is building an inclusive community, which is you know is a verb, not past tense,” Clark told News 4.
Norman PD Chief Kevin Foster also addresses the crowd.
“There’s no way that anybody can look at what happened in Minnesota and try to justify that,” he said.
Later, Foster spoke to the media after negative chants following a racist meme sent out by an officer in a department-wife email chain late last month.
“It’s uncomfortable and we’ve had our incidences here that we’ve had to deal with and we’ve dealt with them and it’s still a stain on our past that we’re going to have to continue to deal with,” Foster said.
Several hundred people attended Monday’s protest.
Also among the crowd, was NBA all star Trae Young.
