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Anti-racism protesters peacefully march in San Diego

Several protests were held Saturday in San Diego County to demonstrate against racism and inequality in the justice system.

SAN DIEGO — Protesters held peaceful gatherings and marches Saturday through the streets of Coronado, downtown San Diego, North Park and in Pacific Beach.

Chanting for freedom and "no justice, no peace,” protesters marched behind a banner bearing the names Floyd, Arbery and Taylor, black people who were recently killed. Hundreds of protesters with signs held high marched to "defund the police."

“We're here to call to defund the police and fund the people, we believe that the police budgets are increasing and increasing in light of all this violence, and we haven’t gotten justice for George Floyd, and we won't get it until we fight enough to get it,” said Danny Colmenarez of Party For Socialism And Liberation.

Organizers had speaker after speaker at Waterfront Park make their message loud and clear from the Black Liberation Party to activists from Filipino student movements to the Chicano Brown Berets.

 “There is a pandemic going on, but I also believe that this is equally as important,’ said protester Noor Bibi.

Protesters were calling for drastic change in law enforcement.

"It's not necessarily getting rid of police, but slowly changing departments and getting police reform,” said protester Grace Lowery.

In Coronado, at least 300 students and parents from Coronado Unified School District gathered at Spreckels Park to speak about the issue of racism, according to protest organizer and parent Anne Edwardson. The group then marched through the streets of Coronado for about an hour. 

Edwardson said she's been battling school board members for years to get them to do something about minority students being treated badly by teachers and other students. She said it's going to take a lot of pressure on the school administration to get them to listen to complaints about racism on campuses.

"We've been brushed off for so long," Edwardson said, noting that the group planned to prepare online comments to present to the school board at their next meeting on Thursday.

Mercedes Hayes is Coronado High School alum, who says in elementary school, she was asked by classmates if she “was going to be a slave for colonial day.”

Hayes and other former black students said they wished they had more support.

In downtown San Diego, the Party for Socialism and Liberation - San Diego and other activist groups hosted a "March & Rally: Defund the Police. Fund the People!" that began at noon in front of the San Diego County Administration Center along the San Diego Bay waterfront and marched in the street down North Harbor Drive.

Also at noon, a youth-led protest was held in Pantoja Park in downtown San Diego.

A Black Lives Matter protest began at 2 p.m. in Pacific Beach Community Park and protesters marched to Bonita Cove at West Mission Bay Drive.

Roller skating passed traffic in North Park, one group protested on wheels, some on skates others with a skate board and more even on bicycles.

An organizer of "Speak Up, Roll Out," who goes by her skater name “Abominatrix” said skating has deep roots in the African American community and the demonstration was filled with allies.

"You can have a sense of normalcy with everything back open, but the issues at hand haven't gone away, we not only exercising to be out in our community but to exercise your voices," she said.

Skaters banded together with brightly colored and animal print skates with signs aligned to support local black-owned businesses.

"Black voices have been silenced, so this has been basically a place where you can be loud as you want to be, and we're not going to be silenced," said organizer Kiana.

Of the gatherings and marches in San Diego, SDPD Officer Tony Martinez said, "There were no disturbances. Everything's been peaceful so far."

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