RIDLEY TOWNSHIP – A mostly peaceful march turned tense Saturday as crowds of mostly white men bum-rushed Black Lives Matter protesters as they neared the township police station before police separated the two sides. They continued to shout at each other for almost an hour.
At the station as the crowds were scuffling, a woman had her Black Lives Matter flag ripped from her hand and a reporter had her phone punched out of her hands twice as she attempted to capture the scene.
Tension had been mounting all day as groups gathered at the Herbert W. Best VFW Post 928 with motorcycles and flags, including a Confederate one. As Black Lives Matter protesters gathered in a park nearby, motorcyclists drove by several times and revved their engines, including during the remarks of a state senator.
While the Black Lives Matter protesters marched along MacDade Boulevard, two pick-up trucks stopped in front of them near Kedron Avenue and burned a bunch of black smoke in front of them.
Throughout the route, which started at the park across the street from Frontier Saloon, then went down Academy Avenue to Holmes Road, then down MacDade to the township police station, both sides yelled at each other with shouts ranging from “Go the f— home!” to “We love you!”
“We have protested peacefully throughout Delaware County,” Black Lives Matter protester Taylor Kowalski said to the crowds at the police station. The march was organized by Delco Resists. “We have gone through minority neighborhoods and we have gone through white neighborhoods and I am so disappointed at the citizens of Ridley Township that came out here today, who did not respect police wishes and came here for violence.”
The Ridley Park resident continued, “I’m not anti-police. I do need to say when I moved here a year ago … I did not expect this to be the community that I walked into. I got a house here to raise my children and I question that in the last few weeks.”
On his way to the march starting point, state Sen. Tim Kearney, D-26 of Swarthmore, stood at the corner of Sutton and Fourth avenues, looking at the gathering at the VFW.
Of note to him was a Confederate flag flying that read, “It’s about Heritage not Hate.”
“I’m all for dialogue but I’m not for intimidation and bullying,” he said. “That’s what it is … It’s like sticking a finger in somebody’s face and hoping somebody mouths off and starts a fight.”
At the rally prior to the march, the senator said this week he would be introducing “Breonna’s Law,” which would make no-knock warrants illegal and require police to identify themselves and to wear identification.
“COVID-19 has basically put a magnifying glass over the inequities that we have in our society,” he said. “It has forced us to really look at these things, the underlying things that cause these things to happen. Systemic racism is real. It’s real and … it’s really hard to unpeel that onion. But, I’ll tell you know that this is a moment on that arc towards justice.”
Over at the VFW, as Neil Diamond’s “America” played on the sound system, Chuck Fitzgerald, president and founding member of Stars, Stripes, Bars & Pipes, said his concern was to protect first responders.
“We’re here to support all veterans and first responders,” he said. “That’s what we do. It’s part of our mission statement. The VFW is private property and we’re here to protect it in case of any kind of vandalism. Other than that, we’re here, our God-given right just like everybody else’s, as a group to come and support the VFW. We’re here for the community, 100 percent here for the community and all our first responders – our police, our firefighters, EMTs, everybody and U.S. military. We’re here to support their families, too.”
Fitzgerald voiced a concern about the safety of the VFW’s property.
“This is a private property and we’re just protecting it in case of any kind of vandalism happens,” he said. “We saw the other protests and they got out of hand a little bit and we’re here to protect our beautiful place … They have every right to protest. We’re not here to stop that.”
Over at the park across from the Frontier Saloon, some expressed their concerns.
“We are going to have a peaceful protest,” Collingdale Mayor Felecia Coffee said. “We understand what’s going on. We understand the climate that we’re in. We have to remain peaceful. We have to remain humble because I got a message to me today that said, ‘Mayor Coffee, don’t go.’ Mayor Coffee, don’t go? Mayor Coffee is here and she will be here with these young ladies.”
One of the young women to organize the event was Taylor Shiflett, who remained focused on her theme. “Just let them know that we’re still here,” she said. “And we still stand for Black lives. We’re going to keep pushing that message.”
As the Black Lives Matters group began to assemble to march, organizers advised women and children to move towards the middle for their safety and have the men walk on the perimiter.
The march itself began around 1:30 p.m. as it meandered down Academy Avenue, then to Holmes Road, then MacDade Boulevard.
Chants from the group included, “Black Lives Matter!” and “Who’s street? Our street.” Some assembled along the route, chanted “All Lives Matter!” and “Everybody’s Life Matters.”
Before the march reached Kedron Avenue along MacDade, two dark pickup trucks stopped in front of them, then revved up, spewing clouds of black exhaust smoke on the walkers.
As they walked passed the VFW, words were exchanged between the two sides – one consisting of a vast majority of white middle-aged people with various American flags and the other with Black Lives Matter flags and placards, with varied races and ethnicities and ages ranging from infants to elderly in wheelchairs, with many in that crowd in their 20s. Despite impassioned words between the two sides, no physical altercations occurred.
After a stop at Chick-fil-A, where Chiwishi Abney spoke about concerns she has for her daughters who work there, the march continued to the Ridley police station.
Awaiting there was a group men, some on motorcycles. Once the Black Lives Matter group turned to go towards the Ridley police station, the men ran up to them and started pushing them. The other side then pushed back and a scuffle ensued until police pulled them apart.
Kate McFadden of Glenolden tried to insert herself between the two groups to try to de-escalate the situation and had her flag yanked from her.
“I was pushed,” she said. “In the beginning, we walked up, the guys started fighting, I put myself in the middle of them and they actually ripped the Black Lives Matter flag out of my hand and bent the whole pole. I don’t know where the flag is … so I guess they still have it.”
As a reporter took photographs of the scene, a white man from the group that had been waiting for the Black Lives Matter protester punched her phone out of her hand. As she picked it up to continue her work, it was punched out of her hand a second time.
Police quickly came to the scene and put themselves between the two contingents, forcing them to remain apart for the remainder of the time.
“We ain’t trying to fight you all,” Black Lives Matter protester Carol Kazeem shouted on her bullhorn. “You came for us!”
Shouts from the other side responded, “Nobody cares! Go home!”
“This is our home,” someone retorted.
Earlier in the day, Rabbi Jeremy Gerber of Congregation Ohev Shalom joined members of the Interfaith Council of Southern Delaware County.
“This cause affects everybody,” he said. “It’s not an issue that only affects one group and until we confront the history of racism in the country, until we deal with this legacy, we can’t have any peace or justice for anybody. If we ever believe that we ourselves deserve compassion and kindness, then we have to extend it to others and also in some way, also, take a back seat and listen to others’ pain. People who say, ‘All Lives Matter’ or ‘Blue Lives Matter’ aren’t listening … If somebody’s experienced pain or trauma as pervasively as we’re talking, then it has to be addressed. It’s everywhere. It’s a saturation of racism and it has to be addressed.”
Back at the police station as the two sides began to disperse, Ridley Township Police Capt. Scott Willoughby stood with his force, even though he had been scheduled for vacation.
“Everybody has their right to march,” he said.
Shortly before, Black Lives Matter activist Richie Taylor of Chester had thanked everybody for coming out.
“We came for a peaceful demonstration and we’re going to stay on that note,” he said. “Peaceful. Demonstration. I have a message for you today and this message is for everybody. I had a man ask me, ‘Why do you say ‘Black Lives Matter?’ I looked at him and said, ‘Because I’m Black and my life matters.’ He said to me, ‘Well, shouldn’t it be ‘All Lives Matter’? And, I paused before I answered him. I said, ‘Not all lives have been historically persecuted and mistreated by the justice system in America. Not all lives are being denied rights and fair treatment by the justice system in America. My sentiment is not one of favoritism. It is a demand for equal treatment.’ The man said to me, ‘Then, it’s still ‘All Lives Matter.’ I said, ‘One day, it will be. One day.'”
