Philly black protest voices: 'Shutting things down today'

Don't like the sorrowful scenes coming out of Dallas, where five police officers were shot to death by a sniper?

Well, that's what "war looks like," said Erica Mines, 38, a member of the Philly Coalition for REAL Justice, which is protesting police killings of young black men around the country.

"A life for a life is never a solution, but in times of war, this is what it looks like," she said. "We are tired and we are ready to stand up."

As the nation convulsed in sadness and anger on Friday, some local African American protest leaders said the killings in Dallas won't curtail their demands for justice over the deaths of minorities at the hands of law enforcement.

The captured-on-cellphone police shootings of Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota provoked wide outrage and protest - stunningly followed Friday night by the assault on police who were patrolling a demonstration in Texas.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown said the gunman, talking to police in a standoff before he was killed, said he wanted to kill white people, especially officers, because he was upset about recent police shootings of black people.

Protesters marched in North Philadelphia and Center City on Friday evening, drawing supportive horn honks and fist pumps from some motorists as bystanders watched and recorded the events on their cellphones. On Thursday, clergy and Black Lives Matter organizers led hundreds in a march that forced traffic diversions in Center City.

"We are shutting things down," Asa Khalif said before the Friday night demonstrations here. "Yes, this is a tragedy [in Dallas], just like when black and brown people are murdered. We are going to pray for the officers and demand justice, but we are going to stay the course."

Khalif, active in the Black Lives Matter movement, was cousin to Brandon Tate-Brown, who was shot and killed by Philadelphia police during a traffic stop in Mayfair in 2014. No officers were charged.

"I'm feeling like this is a turning point, like people are finally going to understand why we are so angry," said Deandra Jefferson, 23, who helped organize the "Philly is Baltimore" protest after the death of Freddie Gray.

In the city of Chester, in the Pennsylvania suburbs, the Rev. Bayard Taylor of Calvary Baptist Church was upset - but not surprised - by the most recent police shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana.

"It's a travesty to see it happening again," he said.

Taylor, who as an activist focuses on police-community relations in Chester, was concerned that the Dallas slayings would taint the Black Lives Matter movement. He wants the group to develop a strategy to ensure it is not falsely associated with violence.

Azeem Hopkins-Bey, grand sheik of the Moorish Science Temple of America in Philadelphia, said he was sending prayers and condolences to all the families of recent violence.

"All life is considered sacred. All life is considered precious. It's never a sound decision to resort to violence because of the frustration with the issues plaguing society today," Hopkins-Bey said. "Because of the time we are living in, we really must focus on love and respect for all."

On Friday, as people in the region worked through anger, confusion, grief, and gloom, some tried to take a measured, long-term view.

The violence in Dallas "doesn't represent the movement at all," said organizer Paul-Winston Cange, 23, who recently joined the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in Washington after graduating from Temple University. "All the time I've been organizing, at rallies, I've never once heard calls for retribution against the police."

Black protesters "mourn the deaths of those police officers, and we denounce anyone who would take action like that," he said. But, he said, "It should not deter us from staying in the streets."

He wants the movement to work on a multiyear strategy, including the passage of new laws, to curb police violence. Otherwise, he said, the problem remains in a cycle of death and protest, with no systemic change.

Others said the same - that now is the time to work toward permanent change.

"My heart went out to people [in Dallas]," said the Rev. Mark Tyler, pastor of Philadelphia's historic Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church. "Those folks went to work yesterday, and they had a full expectation they were going home to their families - and they didn't."

At the same time, "I don't think there's going to be any letup on our demands for greater police accountability, greater transparency, and the things that have brought us to this moment. . . . My hope is we can come to the middle, recognizing there's a gulf between us all, and come to a place where we can begin to look at real solutions."

In Philadelphia, Dorothy Johnson-Speight reflected on how violence - wherever it occurs - is always personal and specific.

The founder and executive director of the antiviolence group Mothers In Charge lost her son in a shooting over a parking spot in 2001. She's been riveted to the news from Dallas, familiar with the pain unfolding for families there.

She wondered how the country would recover - but didn't think Black Lives Matter should halt protests. Marches should disown violence, she said, just as police should dismiss "bad apples" in their ranks.

"Our hearts go out to all of the families," she said. "You don't begin to understand it unless you've lost someone to violence."

jgammage@phillynews.com

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@JeffGammage