Tensions ran high in downtown Fallon on Monday when Black Lives Matters protesters from Reno joined a rally aimed at bringing the community and police together held at Millennium Park. Local business owners lined Maine Street in front of their shops and were joined by armed local residents, several dressed in assault gear, concerned about property damage and potential violence after the Reno protest on May 30th turned into a riot.
The event was organized by Daysha Bridges who said she originally thought it would be a good idea to hold a bbq in the park for Fallon law enforcement officers to help build relationships between the community and police. “The community did not take that idea very well, maybe because of my Facebook picture or a post that I made on Facebook.”
Bridges said she moved to Fallon from North Carolina four years ago through the military and worked at New Frontier for two years. “When me and my husband decided to split I felt like Fallon was a safer community for my kids” and she decided to stay in Fallon. “This community is my home, I love it.”
“Today we are out here using our voices to speak for all those who no longer have a voice,” said Bridges. “We have a long history in this country of police abusing their power and not being sympathetic to the communities they are serving, we are not against the police, we need them to be better for us.”
Bruce Homer was on Maine Street watching the BLM protesters with several other business owners. He said, “It doesn’t matter what color you are, all lives matter. We don’t have a police brutality problem in Fallon.”
“What I don’t like,” said Jack Heisey, “is people from outside our town coming here and trying to teach us a moral lesson.”
A group of five men dressed in combat gear and carrying semi-automatic rifles and side arms referred to themselves as independent constitutionalists, and said, “we’re just here to make sure it stays peaceful.”
A separate group dressed similarly said they were there to support law enforcement. “Black lives matter, but all lives matter, buildings matter and our businesses matter,” said Randy Evans. “We’re not here to cause trouble, we just want to show our strength for our city. Fallon is a good town.”
Brian Itskin owns a business on Maine Street, and he said he doesn’t have a problem with people protesting. “It’s what they’re protesting for, they’re protesting stuff that doesn’t happen in Fallon. I’ve never seen a cop in Fallon beat someone up. So, what brought them to Fallon, I don’t know. We’re not out here to shoot anyone, we’re here to make sure it stays legal, when they come through store windows and when they throw bricks through windows, that’s where everyone in Fallon will draw the line.”
Wende Hucke Hook and Kari Ernst have a business on Maine Street, and they were out front of their business offering water to anyone who walked by, whether in fatigues or BLM t-shirts. “I’m praying that it doesn’t get out of control,” said Hook. “I agree with their protest, but I don’t agree with them bringing outsiders to potentially cause damage to our community.”
As protestors set up in Millennial Park, they burned sage sticks to “smudge” the area, a ceremonial practice used to cleanse a person or place of negativity. Several members of the local clergy were on hand, and some offered prayers of peace. One business owner mentioned that clergy from her church had also blessed Millennial Park the night before the protest.
Toward the end of the protest, people from both sides of the street began crossing over to engage with each other. Although several of the confrontations were heated, the most profound ended with Bridges and a local defender placing their signs and their guns on the ground in a show of conciliation.
“The world is growing, and we want to grow with the world,” said Bridges. “I’ve decided to make this my home and my children’s home and I want my children to grow up in a place where they are safe and I don’t have to worry what’s going to happen if my son walks down to the corner store.”
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