At least one Mt. Orab resident is seeing positive change from peaceful demonstrations across the country.
“If we have to stand out there silent for an hour a day, that’s fine,” said Ryan Anderson. “That’s what it takes because our government is listening to us.”
Anderson lives in Mt. Orab and has participated in more than 20 demonstrations sometimes as far away as Detroit, Michigan. One of those events was a march on Friday, June 12th that took place between the Mt. Orab Park and Kroger. Anderson says their group of about 15 people walked three and a half miles that afternoon. “It’s not just about George Floyd at this point. It’s about all black lives and all police brutality,” Anderson professed.
The four-hour event on Friday never devolved into violence of any kind. One verbal argument took place briefly until the agitators left without incident. According to Mt. Orab Police Chief Bryan Mount “I think it went well… I think just our presence there encouraged them to [leave].”
“We do want to remain peaceful, and I do work very closely with our state and local agencies to make sure our events are secure,” said Anderson, who shared with the Brown County Press that future events are planned to take place in Brown County. However, some details are deliberately withheld until right before the event takes place. “That way I don’t have antifa or biker gangs or any outsiders showing up to start trouble.”
Less secure events are what the BlackLivesMatter movement in Brown County works to avoid, especially after Anderson attended the protest in Bethel on Sunday and described that “it was kind of like a turf war like you would see in a high school.”
Anderson made a statement about more violent movements across the country: “The rioting and the looting and the breaking and the burning of things, that has not got us anywhere. The news has put us in that category of people who are breaking buildings and burning… and that’s not what we are about.”
But despite bad publicity from incidents like the one in Bethel, Anderson sees positive momentum. Specifically, the recent signing of the Breonna Taylor Act by the Mayor of Louisville will eliminate what are known as “no-knock warrants” in that city. Anderson claimed “We would have never gotten that if it wasn’t for our peaceful protest and not backing down. And Ohio is right on the tail of Kentucky in adopting the Breonna Law.”
Ohio and other legislative bodies have introduced laws that would amend hiring practices for law enforcement, ban the use of chokeholds, or take other measures. “I have seen our cities – not just here in Ohio – but across the world, have listened to us,” said Anderson.
