Ferguson protests reach Dallas. Faith Cleaver-- P4

While the grand jury's decision in Ferguson may not have been surprising, it was none the less upsetting. The grand jury decided that police officer Darren Wilson would not be indicted for the shooting of unarmed black man Michael Brown and the announcement sparked immediate protests in Ferguson which quickly turned violent. Since then, multiple protests have occurred not only in the U.S, but around the world. Many different nations have commented on the jury's decision including North Korea who referred to America as a "Graveyard of human rights," over the announcement. One of the cities involved in the protests was, you guessed it, Dallas.
    On Tuesday night protesters gathered for a peaceful rally outside of the police station on Lamar st. At around 8pm, protesters began taking to the streets. (For the record, no one was aware this was going to turn into a march, it just happened.) Demonstrators caused minor issues as they walked through reunion arena but quickly caught the attention of police. The march continued through downtown Dallas where marchers blocked traffic by walking the opposite way in the streets through the already congested entertainment area of downtown. One of the most appropriate chants of the night was, "Whose streets?! Our streets!"
    Soon police were notified and nearly every intersection had a blockade stationed at it. I later found out from a news story that people in their cars had called 911 because they were frightened by the protestors. The increased police presence created tension in the situation as we marched towards I-35 freeway. I recall my sister telling me that we were going to be marching on the freeway soon and laughing at her statement because it seemed so ridiculous. Little did I know, we were actually going to walk on the freeway. Protesters jumped over freeway barricades and waited for the perfect moment to run into oncoming traffic. By perfect moment, I mean a moment where there weren't as many cars coming our way. We quickly caused a backup of one side and walked through the stalled cars triumphantly. More police appeared quickly, calling for us to exit the freeway. Did anybody listen? Of course not. News reporters have been continuously praising police for keeping calm in the situation to which many respond by questioning what it means for an officer to keep calm.
     With one side of the freeway blocked (and a group of people sitting in it) a woman began yelling for us to block the other side. Now two sides of the freeway are blocked, with many angry drivers honking at us. Some of the drivers did not honk. Some of the drivers stuck out their hands for high fives and yelled from their windows in support. A few drivers even exited their cars and walked with us until they got too far from their vehicles and had to turn back. Most drivers however recorded what they were seeing on cell phones.
     After about two hours of blocking traffic, police began leading drivers to a detour while others tried to get the crowd of protestors to disperse. "Please leave or you will be subject to arrest," was something I heard many times that night along with sirens. For the crowd of 100 to 300 people on the freeway, there was an equally staggering number of police vehicles. The lights, sirens, and amplified voices were dizzying as protestors grouped tighter together linking arms so as not to be torn apart and arrested. On the edge of the crowd was a man who was not linked to anyone else yelling to the police about the history of civil rights in our nation and the rights we were given in the constitution. He once yelled to the officer that the first right in the constitution was to assemble and how dare he try to take that right away from them. I stood in awe as i marveled at the man's bravery but was quickly reminded of the present situation by the harsh shoving of police.
      This is when police began arresting people. Police began pulling people from the crowd to arrest them as protestors hopped over the barricade. (I was standing on the barricade and had to get help from someone to get down due to the shoving around me.) Several people were arrested in this moment as we walked down the exit ramp back to the streets. Down the ramp we continued the chant, "No justice for Mike Brown, shut this mother f***** down!" When we returned to the police station, officers would not allow us to leave the sidewalk area. They formed a blockade of cars and bodies to keep us from leaving and were soon being hit by the yelling of protestors. My sister and I included.
      Looking back, I do believe we took advantage of our right to assemble but it begs the question if we went beyond assembling. When we asked officers why they were trying to arrest us, they said for obstructing major streets and freeways. It is important to note that we weren't violent and remained peaceful throughout the night. We did disturb the peace though, but is disturbing the peace unconstitutional?