With the Solid Ground housing in the background, thousands gathered at Magnuson Park for Rally for Black Lives to peacefully protest and march to the University Village. The former home of Charleena Lyles at Magnuson Park where she was shot five times by officers in front of her children while 14-15 weeks pregnant, served as a reminder to those that protested in 2017. Charges against the two officers involved were dismissed.

The protests in response to George Floyd’s murder (captured on video), began on March 26, 2020 and have stretched two weeks. During this peaceful protest in Northwest Seattle, many in the crowd were following the violent protest and police response Capitol Hill near the East Precinct.

Once the group arrived to University Village, they sang “Happy Birthday” to Breonna Taylor and kneeled on one knee for eight minutes and forty six seconds, the same amount of time in which the officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota used the knee-on-neck tactic on George Floyd, only to render him unconscious or dead on the scene. In the last few seconds of the silent protest, the leaders were told that the National Guard had surrounded the entire property of University Village and that all participants were to exit the property immediately.

Zero National Guard nor police were seen upon my exit from the property.