Alexandra Young and Johnny Rosalez, the first two to start the protests in Mangum, stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement after the May 25 murder of George Floyd. (Photo by Jacob Factor)
Published on June 11, 2020 in the Mangum Star
It started with just one.
Then it grew to two, then a multiple day movement.
Mangum residents joined in the nationwide protests of George Floyd’s murder May 25 to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Johnny Rosalez, an MHS graduate, stood solo on the corner of Lincoln and Louis Tittle Thursday afternoon with a Black Lives Matter sign.
It was over 100 degrees that day.
Rosalez was met with mixed reactions, honks, middle fingers and shouts.
Alexandra Young saw a Facebook post about Rosalez and couldn’t let him stand there by himself, so she made a sign and joined him.
“If you don’t stand up for something, you’ll fall for everything,” Young said.
Not long after that, Mangum police chief Scott Paxton brought several canopies for Rosalez and Young to use in case more people showed up.
“I’m pretty proud of our young people for standing up for what they believe in,” Paxton said. “It shows a lot of guts to be able to do that. As a citizen. As chief of police, I couldn’t be more proud of them. As far as the canopies go, if they're going to exercise their rights as human beings living in the United States, I want them to be comfortable.”
Paxton said he supports their right to voice their opinions and will never tell anyone not to do that.
Once the word spread about the two standing on the corner, more people joined, and soon over 15 people were standing on the corner with various signs.
It didn’t stop there, though.
The next day, the same group of young Mangum citizens, plus several more, stood once again on the corner to let their voices be heard.
Chandler Leamon-Webb, a MHS class of 2020 graduate, led the group with his voice.
“Once we knew there was going to be protests held here in our own city, we all decided to show our support,” he said. “We had to do something because without the people, nothing can change. We want to be peaceful, but we also want people to know we’re willing to inflict change.”
Leamon-Webb said seeing so many familiar faces from his small-town community was great because it shows they share the same values and desire for change.
“I have African-American friends at school who talk about this. Being in a small school, they don’t like to mention there is systemic racism,” he said. “The fact that they have to go through that and we’re privileged that we don’t, we just want to come out and show our support.”
Leamon-Webb had a message to give people who may not know about the situation.
“Black lives matter,” he said. “That’s what it comes down to. We’re not saying only black lives matter, of course that’s not the movement, but right now, there’s an institution that’s created systemic racism. It’s an institution that cares about only one class: the privileged class. They don’t care about anyone else. They’re protecting their agenda, not the people, and we’ve had too much of that.”
On May 25 in Minneapolis, George Floyd was killed by police officers who were arresting him because of a complaint of a counterfeit $20 bill. The killing spurred nationwide protests to demand justice for Floyd and other black people killed by police officers. The officer who killed Floyd, Derek Chauvin, was arrested May 29 and charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. On Tuesday, June 9, Floyd’s funeral was held in Houston.