Birth of a movement
George Floyd’s wrongful death in May of 2020 ignited a series of protests not just nationally but also globally. Activists, privileged individuals who were newly awakened to the atrocities systemic racism enables in the spaces it inhabits, and Black and POC individuals who have had no choice but to face the exhausting trials and injustices presented to them on a day to day basis, all participated in peaceful protests. One of the many who felt called to organize within their communities was Anthony King, founder of BRAVE and leader of the successful peaceful protest in Bowling Green.
“It was a Tuesday morning, and I’ll never forget, I woke up thinking about doing a protest,” King said when recounting the experience. He had never been to a protest before let alone organized one, but neither obstacle felt insurmountable in the face of the change he wanted to effect. He started small and simply, creating a flyer and putting it up in town.
“I thought only twenty people would come to the corner of Wooster Green.” Before King knew it, he was in a group chat of 80 people, all united in working out the logistics for a peaceful protest. As traction continued to build, the Mayor of Bowling Green and safety administrator Lori Tretter contacted King, who met with them to ensure the protest would go off with the safety of its participants unthreatened. To its growing list of planners, the protest would be successful only if it was peaceful.
By the day of the protest, King’s initial prediction of 20 protesters had expanded to 80 or 100—nothing had prepared him for the 500 participants that greeted him.
People of color shared their stories and voiced their frustrations as King led everyone to Wooster Green and opened the protest’s platform to the community that had gathered. Black participants voiced feelings of being targeted by Law Enforcement, citing being pulled over without cause, being censured by officers, as well as wrongful convictions. Black students shared that they were being mentally taxed at the university, felt unrepresented in classrooms and organizations, and felt unsafe walking in the town after midnight as a result of Bowling Green’s history as a Sundown Town and former KKK stronghold.
“It was just a beautiful and raw and transparent and open time,” King shared, recalling the stories he heard and committed to memory. “[It was] such a multi-dynamic space of people that were frustrated, confused, hurt, empty—filled with rage. [They] felt a longing for justice, there were people that wanted to throw away the system altogether, and people that wanted to work with the system we have and improve upon it.” It was crucial for him that the protest provided a space for all of those varying opinions to come together and feel listened to and represented.
The protest ended when King marched protesters from Wooster Green to the court house, and it ended successfully—there were no arrests, no reported injuries, and no citations. “Truly, an effective protest,” King affirmed, revealing that he can still remember as though the protest was yesterday.
After the protest’s success, he knew there was no room to rest. With a newly formed group of like-minded individuals, King founded BRAVE, and secured memorable victories in quick succession. The passing of Bowling Green’s Racial Resolution through City Council, the Juneteenth Event downtown, and eventually the establishment of BRAVE as a non-profit all stand as remarkable achievements of a young activist’s dedication to civil rights, and exciting indications of what is yet to come.
