Black Lives Matter protest on wheels rolls through New Bedford – SouthCoastToday.com

NEW BEDFORD From sit-ins and marches to die-ins and walk-outs, it may seem like youve seen every type of protest. Now you can add a rollout to the list as another Black Lives Matter protest made its way through downtown New Bedford Sunday morning, this time on roller skates and bicycles.

A turnout of roughly 60 people met on Rockdale Ave. at Buttonwood Park, either riding decorated bicycles or on roller skates.

The protest was organized by Chakira Gonsalves-Elkhoury, a former New Bedford police officer, now a UMass police officer, who said she wanted to put a modern spin on the old Cape Verdean Bike Parade.

My grandmother, back in the day, was part of a board that would do the Cape Verdean Bike Ride. That kind of died off and the parade got canceled, and then with everything else in the world going on right now I was looking through some photo albums I thought, You know what? We need to do a little rollout thing. So we put together a little rollout for Black Lives Matter, pay a little homage to my grandmother and celebrate the Cape Verdean Independence Day, Gonsalves-Elkhoury said, citing her passion for roller derby as a motivator for the idea to put the protest on wheels.

I play roller derby for a womans team, which is Mass Tech Roller Derby, and I also just started a junior roller derby league in the area, which is South Coast Shipwreckers Junior Roller Derby. Then we have kids from the Star Chasers [cycling group] and we also have the Solstice kids that love to skateboard. So, I kind of modernized what my grandmother did with the Cape Verdean Bike Parade and thought this was a good way to do it, she explained. The Shipwreckers is my juniors league, so thats where the idea came from. Then I reached out to my team and Providence Roller Derby came out, I think theres Boston Roller Derby here too, and we have Chicks and Bows here from Boston.

Cyclers and roller skaters took off from Buttonwood Park just before 11:00 a.m., heading down Union Street toward downtown, weaving through various streets before heading back to the park.

Peter Walker, of New Bedford, greeted the protesters as they reassembled back at Buttonwood Park, leading the group in the chant, Solidarity and unity is our community!

Walker went on to deliver a speech to the crowd, thanking the participants along with those who brought their children to the event to learn about racial inequality.

So many different young people have stepped out here and have taken the charge and have done what matters most. It inspired us to be here today. You can never lose sight of the fact that when it matters most, you led this movement, he said, for before turning his focus onto the topic of Independence Day celebrations in America and the U.S. flag.

I will never celebrate that day. You will never see me wave a red, white and blue flag until I feel true equity for all of our children. Our futures are conjoined. Bigger than the Crayola box, bigger than the colors that were fighting over. We are on a rock, hurling through a void of endless nothingness on a conjoined ride to an uncertain destiny. We cannot waste our time arguing with each other. We cannot keep looking to the stars. We need to be reaching towards the stars, and we can do that together, Walker said.

Like the protest itself, the turnout was also unique, as a large presence of families with young children joined the groups of individual adults.

New Bedford resident Jamilyn Gordon participated in the rollout with her family, including her young daughter. Gordon said she was happy to attend the family-friendly event, with her family bringing their own wheels in the form of strollers.

Im here with my 3 year old daughter, my brother and some more family and friends and its been great. Luckily, we were all able to come together, so we were swapping strollers when need be and helping each other out. But, once you keep to the mission at hand the walk doesnt seem so bad, said Gordon.

I think today were all just in solidarity about whats going on around the country. Black lives do matter, and we understand that, but, all lives cant matter until black ones do. Today is also Cape Verdean Independence Day, and New Bedford is heavily saturated with the Cape Verdean community and culture, and so were out here representing, she said.

With the first rollout protest in New Bedford wrapped up, Gonsalves-Elkhoury said she wants to make it an annual demonstration, adding that its her responsibility as a police officer and an active member of the community.

I have a little bit of a different view because I do work for a local police department, said Gonsalves-Elkhoury.

I used to work for New Bedford Police and now I work for UMass Police, so I see this as my opportunity and my responsibility to bridge that gap between my community that I service with my juniors program and the womens program and all the other things I associate with. So, if were hurt by what the police are doing and I work for the police, its now my responsibility to step up.