Hundreds expected to join ‘Unity in Community Protest’ march Saturday in Warner Robins
Hundreds are expected to join the “Unity in Community Protest” march along Watson Boulevard on Saturday, an organizer says.
The march is expected to start at 5 p.m. at 2063 Watson Blvd. with a large parking lot anchored by the At Home store to serve as a staging area for participants. The march will end at city hall at 700 Watson Blvd. with a rally to follow.
The Houston County Chapter of the NAACP is hosting the event.
“The march tomorrow is like many other marches that have happened since we have seen George Floyd with a knee on his neck for almost nine minutes — could not breathe,” the Rev. Rutha Jackson, chapter president, said Friday. “The inhumane act of this officer resonated throughout the entire world and it definitely does resonate here in Houston County.
“So tomorrow, we will lift up the injustices committed toward unarmed men and women in our country, states and cities. Just to name a few: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and many others who were unmercifully killed. Their lives were taken because of a systemic structure in our police departments not only across the nation but also in our very own backyard. We need to call it out. We need to stand up and be heard that we will no longer tolerate, live with racism in our community, in our state, in our city.”
More than 500 people are expected to join the march, she said.
At least three vehicles, likely church buses or vans, will be available for those who want to participate but are unable to walk or who get tired along the way and just need to stop and rest, Jackson said.
The vehicles will be positioned behind the marchers, she said. Participants are asked to arrive at the staging area at 4 p.m. in order for the march to be organized and start on time.
The march is expected to be completed by 6:10 p.m., with the rally to follow immediately afterward outside the Warner Robins Municipal Complex.
Francys Johnson, a civil rights attorney, pastor and a former president of the Georgia NAACP, is expected to speak at the rally, Jackson said, along with four young adults who plan to discuss the impact of Floyd’s killing.
Additionally, police chiefs for the cities of Warner Robins, Centerville and Perry, as well as the county sheriff, have been invited to speak, she said.
Eastbound lanes of Watson Boulevard will be closed for the march as it progresses down the street, with Warner Robins police expected to provide escort in front of and behind the march, police said.
Motorists are advised to find alternative routes or expect delays, according to a Warner Robins police Facebook post. Westbound lanes are expected to remain open.