Juneteenth Demonstrations Held Throughout South Florida
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Demonstrators held a series of rallies Friday afternoon throughout South Florida on this day known as "Juneteenth," marking the end of slavery in 1865.
One hundred and fifty years later, the protests are being held amid the Coronavirus Pandemic and were sparked in large part by the May 25th death of George Floyd while in police custody.
Many say they are protesting against system racism and capitalism.
There was a peaceful but sprit demonstration at the Torch of Friendship at Bayside in Miami, where about 120 people held up signs, chanted, sang songs, and clapped and called for changes in policies in police departments and city governments.
One demonstrator with a loudspeaker at Bayside told the crowd "If you have your eyes wide open and not living under a rock, you know that people are not free. A lot of Latin people are not free. A lot of poor white people are not free. You all know who is free. But look to me and I tell you we have come a long way."
Watch CBS4's Hank Tester's report on Juneteenth:
Aniyah Sanders, the founder of 305 Black Youth, says she organized the Miami rally—-a youth rally that was called "Our Lives Matter."
She told CBS4'S Peter D'Oench "I put together this youth rally to let everyone know that we have to be together and watch each other's back to prevent anything bad from happening. It's so important because we are the next generation of doctors, lawyers, and teachers and it is so important that we educate ourselves in America and that we put our hearts into this and that we support everyone and realize that the color of your skin and sexual orientation does not matter."
Miami Police stood by and watched the Bayside demonstration Our demonstrations were planned in Fort Lauderdale and in Little Haiti.
