Protestors march toward downtown Pendleton from Roy Raley Park on Monday, June 1, 2020. The protest, which centered against racism and police violence, drew approximately 150 protestors.

Protests against racism and police violence spread to Hermiston and Pendleton on Monday, June 1, as people gathered peacefully in both cities.

Hermiston’s protest kicked off at noon on the corner of Highway 395 and Elm Avenue. By 12:30 p.m. there were roughly 60 protesters standing on the sidewalks along all four corners of the intersection. Almost all wore masks, and they held signs with messages, such as “Black Lives Matter,” “No Justice, No Peace” and “All lives don’t matter until black lives matter.”

Some protest signs referenced George Floyd, the black man who died in Minneapolis in police custody on Memorial Day. Cellphone footage from bystanders shows officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 45 seconds while Floyd repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe before passing out about six minutes in. Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter after protests were staged in Minneapolis.

Jose Rodriguez was the first to arrive at Hermiston’s protest, wearing a handmade “I can’t breathe” T-shirt. As he paced up and down the sidewalk, fist in the air, several passersby raised a fist in return.

“I think this town needs to know it’s not right,” Rodriguez said in reference to Floyd’s death. “It’s important to make people feel uncomfortable.”

Inle Gonzaels, who organized the protest, said she wanted to make sure that people saw Hermiston residents join in with the nationwide protests.

“Even though the black community in Hermiston and Eastern Oregon is small, that doesn’t mean anything,” she said. “People should see we’re an ally.”

Naxely Jaime of Hermiston held a sign saying, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” She said people in Hermiston seem to view race as a taboo subject, but she wanted to make people understand that “we’re not going to be quiet about it.”

Avery Szulewski also said the community “doesn’t like to talk about” racism.

“I myself, I have white privilege, and I need to use my power to bring light to that,” she said.

The protesters drew mixed reactions from passersby on what the Oregon Department of Transportation has reported is Eastern Oregon’s busiest intersection. Many motorists honked and waved or raised their fists in apparent solidarity. One woman came out of McDonald’s with a bag of food for the protesters.

Others were less supportive. Their reactions included making obscene gestures, veering close to the protesters as their trucks released a cloud of black smoke, and yelling. One woman repeatedly shouted at the protesters while waiting in line in at the McDonald’s drive-thru, at one point yelling, “You guys aren’t old enough to know (expletive).” At least one man shouted the N-word at a group of teenagers standing on one of the corners.

The protest remained peaceful as it stretched past its previously planned hourlong time slot, however, and at one point two officers from the Hermiston Police Department arrived and handed out water bottles to protesters.

Isis Ilias brought her 8-year-old daughter, Abi Gutierrez, to the protest, and said her daughter kept asking her questions.

“It’s a good way for her to learn … She is going to learn something,” she said. “I don’t know what she’ll learn, but it will be something that she will not learn at home.”

Ilias said she was headed to Pendleton’s protest next.

There, a crowd of a roughly 150 people held signs similar signs to the Hermiston group. Their chants rotated between “Police reform now,” “Black Lives Matter,” and “Say his name: George Floyd.”

But for the roughly 150 people who gathered at Roy Raley Park to protest the death of Floyd and other instances of black people dying at the hands of police, there was a consistent thrum throughout the crowd: “No justice, no peace.”

For black protesters, the event was personal, a chance to act on the pain and fear that comes from each fatal encounter between law enforcement and black people.

Kadedra Hackler brought a homemade Black Lives Matter poster with other notes on the margins, like, “It could’ve been my dad, uncles, cousins, friends, mom, sister, niece, coworker (or) ME.”

Hackler noted that there weren’t many African Americans in Pendleton — the U.S. Census estimates 2.2% as of 2018 — so she was heartened that so many people showed up.

The U.S. Census estimates Hermiston residents who fall under the category of black or African American alone at 0.4% as of 2019.