BELLVILLE — Tamara Schaefer stepped up to the podium in front of city hall. More than 60 people sat on the grass in front of her, in the same square where Bellville hosts its farmers markets and craft shows, waiting to hear her speak.
Schaefer smiled at the crowd, but just moments into her opening address, the young mother burst into tears. Her motives for launching a Black Lives Matter peaceful protest in Bellville were personal.
“I’m the mother of a biracial son. He’s 3,” she said. “I don’t want to have to be scared of when he’s going to be called a racial slur or not be treated fairly because of the color of his skin.”
Schaefer’s fears for her young son escalated a few weeks ago, when a viral video showed the death of a black man, George Floyd, at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis.
“When I watched the video of George Floyd, pleading for his life until his life is finally taken, halfway through his death he pleaded for his mother,” Schaefer told the crowd. “In that moment, I didn’t see George Floyd, I saw my son. I saw everyone’s child.”
Schaefer spearheaded the protest along with Cherita Kershner, a fellow Butler resident and mother. Kershner was adopted as a baby and raised in Butler, where she experienced the devastating affects of racism at a young age.
“My personal goal for this peaceful protest was to bring not only unity to the community, but also, I wanted to encourage fairness and accountability in our community,” said Kershner, a 2012 graduate of Clear Fork High School.
Kershner’s voice broke as she described being a victim of racially motivated bullying during first, second and third grade.
“I had to be taken out of school fourth through seventh due to the radical racism within the school system at the time. It wasn’t everybody,” she said.
Nevertheless, Kershner said she has hope that her daughter and the generations that follow will grow up in a more inclusive community.
“The reason for this peaceful protest today is to bring justice to the black, brown and indigenous voices that have been silenced within our community. Together we are louder. Together we stand up and say as community that injustice will not be tolerated here and it stops with us,” Kershner said.
“Today, we choose to actively listen to those who feel their voices have no power and have felt that their power has been stripped from them. Today, we either choose to rise up and challenge another to be more empathetic, more mindful, more educated and that much more compassionate toward each other, including the black community as a whole,” she continued.
“By stating black lives matter, we are not discriminating against all lives matter. We are just simply stating that we matter just as much, that our black and brown voices deserve to be fully heard and accepted, not tolerated or mocked in the media and public eye.”
Multiple pastors spoke at the event, including team pastor Kristin Scott of Storyside Church, interim pastor Daniel Cammarn of St. Paul Lutheran Church and Pastor William Humphrey of All Souls Unitarian Universalist.
Humphrey paraphrased the words of Ibram X. Kendi, an author and professor, urging those in attendance to be more than “not racist.”
“If you’re not aggressively against it, than you’re silently for it. There is no neutrality in the struggle. We have to be antiracist. We can’t just be not racist,” Humphrey said, quoting concepts from Kendi’s book “How to Be an Antiracist.”
“The good news is that to be an antiracist is a decision that we make,” he continued. “Each moment that we are interacting with others, each moment that we are here we can make the choice to be antiracist. We can choose justice. We can choose peace.”
Halfway through the ceremony, attendees sat in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds — the amount of time that George Floyd lay in the street, suffocating from the knee of a police officer pressing down on his neck. Humphrey then read aloud the names of seven unarmed black Americans who had been killed by law enforcement officials.
After the protest was over, Schaefer walked around and handed out lollipops for the kids. Then she walked up to Bellville Police Chief Ron Willey and asked if she could take a photo with him.
He said yes.
“It’s not us against white people, it’s not us against cops. I mean, I’m white,” Schaefer said. “It’s us against police brutality and just bad people in general and hatred.”
Police officers were stationed around the square during the event, but Willey said their primary purpose was to keep everyone at the protest safe.
Although there had been rumors of a counter-protest, the event had no significant opposition, with the exception of one older white male, who stood across the street chanting “all lives matter” at the beginning of the event.
“I knew the community and I wasn’t worried too much about it. They’re good people here and they showed it tonight,” he said. “Everybody has a voice and that’s what we’re here to protect — their first amendment right.”
