Concord Students Hold March Against Racism, Police Brutality

CONCORD, NH — Student leaders, including those from Concord High School, have organized a march against "systemic racism and police brutality" Saturday in Concord.

The march will start at 1 p.m. at Memorial Field and will make stops throughout the city until marchers reach the Statehouse. The city of Concord is warning of traffic disruptions and parking bans in certain areas of the city until around 4 p.m.

The march, according to the students, is being organized "in response to continued violence against black individuals." The students said the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, "and so many others," reaffirms that "change is necessary and it needs to come now."

The students "are calling for justice and equitable solutions for the generations of oppression faced by the black community," according to a press statement.

"Throughout the United States, we have witnessed the prevalence of systemic racism and its impacts on black communities," the students said. "Disproportionate incarceration rates of black individuals to white individuals is only one example of how the criminal justice system functions off a platform of discrimination. Unruly policing has for too long been an excuse for the persecution and violence of young black men. The responsibility does not only fall on the black community. It is just as important for white individuals to be not only allies but actively working to deconstruct systemic racism."

Marchers will gather at Memorial Field on South Fruit Street at 1 p.m. They will march at 1:15 p.m. from South Fruit Street to Clinton Street, Clinton Street to McKee Square, South Street to Green Street, and Green Street to the Concord Police Department headquarters for a moment of reflection. A rally is expected to start at 2:15 p.m. at the Statehouse and bells will be rung at St. Paul's Episcopal Church around 2:40 p.m. At 3 p.m., marchers are expected to leave the Statehouse, march up Centre Street to Westbourne Road, to Warren Street, to South Fruit Street and back to Memorial Field.

Motorists are asked to avoid these areas, if possible, according to Stefanie Breton, the city's public information officer.

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