Nashville residents protest Ferguson decision.

[Fasglas]

The "beat" goes on...

Nashville residents protest Ferguson decision, traffic moving again on I-24

Nashville residents protest Ferguson decision, traffic moving again on I-24




Protesters began lying down in the intersection of Fifth and Commerce. They marched from police headquarters to Lower Broadway, shutting down the street as tourists and others looked on. Once back at police HQ, officers greeted them with hot chocolate.

Protesters in Nashville marching against the decision in Ferguson, Mo., not to charge a white police officer in the shooting death of an unarmed black teen twice shut down Interstate 24 near Woodland Street in East Nashville.

At about 10:30 p.m., a group of lingering protesters left the interstate after blocking traffic in both directions.

When the protesters first arrived near I-24, police urged them not to go onto the interstate.

By 9:15 p.m., officers had cleared the interstate and traffic was flowing again.

From there, a small group of protesters moved down Shelby Avenue toward the James Cayce Homes public housing project.

But by 10 p.m., some protesters returned to the interstate and again worked to shut it down. This time, blocking traffic in both directions near Shelby Avenue.

The protests started around 7 p.m. near police headquarters in downtown Nashville. From there, marchers moved to Lower Broadway before returning to police headquarters and moving across the Woodland Street bridge to I-24.

Seth Haxton, 18, of Murfreesboro, came to Nashville Tuesday night tired of what he called injustice.

"Brown skin is not a crime," Haxton said.

Haxton found out about the vigil Tuesday afternoon and arrived in front of the police department at 6 p.m. With posters and a candle.

Soon, though, protesters marched away from police headquarters toward Lower Broadway and the heart of Nashville's entertainment district. They shut down Broadway at Fifth Avenue, and more police officers arrived on scene just in case.

Outside the bars, and underneath the neon of Broadway, tourists looked befuddled as hundreds of marchers passed. People came out of stores to watch.

Protesters shouted, "Hands up, don't shoot."

At one point, marchers starting lying down in the intersection of 5th and Commerce. Natalie Davis laid down in front of the wheel of a police car Tuesday night, she said, for her son.

Eventually, protesters made their way back to police headquarters. When they arrived, officers greeted them with hot chocolate.

The Nashville protest was one of dozens held across the United States.

"Indict, convict. Send a killer cop to jail. The whole damn system is guilty as hell."

That's one of the chants protesters shouted as they marched around downtown.

"No justice?"

"No peace."

"No racist."

"Police," is the call and response of another one.

Metro police offered the group that has gathered coffee and hot chocolate. People largely ignored the offer to continue chanting.

"What's his name?"

"Mike Brown."

Even before the planned 7 p.m. start time, officers closed off one lane of James Robertson Parkway to create more space for those gathering.

Dressed in scarves and sweatshirts and stocking caps to fend off the cold, people drew outlines of bodies in chalk on the sidewalk.

The first was labeled Micheal Brown; later someone came by to correct the first name to Michael.

"We're missing Trayvon," one woman said, looking down the line of chalk outlines. Trayvon Martin was shot and killed two years ago in Florida. Like the Brown shooting, the Martin case prompted questions among civil rights leaders about racism in society.

[erickpl]

Sounds like the Nashville police handled it well.

Defusing things with Swiss Miss! LOL

[mikeg826]

Originally Posted by erickpl

Sounds like the Nashville police handled it well.

Defusing things with Swiss Miss! LOL

hopefully they showed that brown and white can mix by using the marshmallow version .

[VITE1]

I am happy to see that these protesters behaved as good citizens should.

Since they are so upset with the system maybe they can stop taking EBT, Section 8 housing, Welfare, Killing each other a massive rates and maybe have kids with only one women at a time then pay for them.

That will show the Man that he's not needed or wanted

[stingraymyway]

It's amazing how the double standard works. Black on black= no problem. Black on white= no problem. White on black= protest and destroy property.

Let them burn their neighborhood down and then they can live in it.

[Rob]

This is what happens when housing projects are next to the interstate.

The best thing you can do is start building public housing in extreme rural areas and ship in all of their necessities once a month. If they do this crap - they are only delaying their own needs. If they want out, they have to get a an education in order to find a job to live in urban areas.

[RedLS1GTO]

Originally Posted by erickpl

Sounds like the Nashville police handled it well.

I disagree...

When the protesters first arrived near I-24, police urged them not to go onto the interstate.

Anybody protesting this is doing it either out of pure willful ignorance or because they WANT to spread racism and hate. As far as I'm concerned, they should have let them walk into oncoming trucks.


...or maybe directed them to some nearby train tracks.

[LATB]

Originally Posted by Dixievet

The best thing you can do is start building public housing in extreme rural areas and ship in all of their necessities once a month.

Oh HELL NO!!!

[Admiral Blue]

Go to work!

[Fasglas]

Originally Posted by Dixievet

This is what happens when housing projects are next to the interstate.

The best thing you can do is start building public housing in extreme rural areas and ship in all of their necessities once a month. If they do this crap - they are only delaying their own needs. If they want out, they have to get a an education in order to find a job to live in urban areas.

Hmmmm....

Not a bad idea, not bad at all.

[Loco Vette]

Originally Posted by RedLS1GTO

...or maybe directed them to some nearby train tracks.

We don't wanna clean that mess up either.

[LATB]

Originally Posted by Fasglas

Hmmmm....

Not a bad idea, not bad at all.

Originally Posted by LATB

Oh HELL NO!!!

^^^

[Fastguy]

Same thing here, they blocked 95 in Providence and the Mass Pike ramps. Disrupting people's lives is really a great way to advance a cause.

[RedLS1GTO]

Originally Posted by Fastguy

Same thing here, they blocked 95 in Providence and the Mass Pike ramps.

I'd love to see how they fared in a game of chicken with a big diesel dually.

Originally Posted by Fastguy

Disrupting people's lives is really a great way to advance a cause.

The people doing this kind of crap are WAY too stupid to even begin to comprehend that...

[DukeAllen]

I want to protest that we don't lock all the trash up. And kick the asses of that boy's parents for letting him be a thug in the first place.

[onedef92]

They balked in downtown Louisville last night, too.

[DukeAllen]

It used to be protests in the city where it happened. Are we going to have protests everywhere now, every time a white person defends them self?

[Rob]

Originally Posted by DukeAllen

It used to be protests in the city where it happened. Are we going to have protests everywhere now, every time a white person defends them self?

[DukeAllen]

Originally Posted by Dixievet

I sent you the memo!

[Rob]

Originally Posted by DukeAllen

I sent you the memo!

I fed it to the dog