By Dani Tietz
dani@sjodaily.com

Hundreds of protesters came to St. Joseph’s Peaceful Protest for Equality Friday. 

Standing on the corner of IL-150 and Main Street, those holding Black Lives Matter signs with their fists in the air were oftentimes greeted with honks and praise for taking a stand against racism.

A few passerbys voiced their disapproval by flipping the group off or putting a thumbs down out the window. One voice yelled, “So you want to get rid of the police?”

Protesters said that they were not interested in getting rid of the police. Instead, their purpose was to let their friends and neighbors of color know that they are valued within the St. Joseph community.

St. Joseph-Ogden alumni Grace Wilson-Danenhower shared her story of moving to St. Joseph.

She and her sister, Clare Smith, lived with their mother, who is white. The girls said that their mother and the girls were welcome on the cul-de-sac until a neighbor brought over a soup, and Clare’s father, who is black, answered the door.

“(The neighbor) didn’t say one word to (Clare’s) father,” Grace said. “She didn’t open her mouth, handed him the soup and walked away. (The neighbor) was in shock. How could there be a black man, a male, to move in next to them?”

The family, with two mixed-race children, noticed that the block they grew up on was no longer as vibrant as it was before they moved. They had been told that neighbors would always have parties, but after they purchased the home, those gatherings ended.

“It slowly became evident that they did not accept us for what our family was,” she said.

Grace said that she wasn’t at the protest as a leader, but because children of color who grew up in St. Joseph were asked to share their experiences with the crowd.

Clare, who graduated from St. Joseph-Ogden in 2019, shared her story about being in a child growth and development class at the high school. There were four black students in the class, but only one black baby. 

The black students were asked to sign up for a weekend with the black baby.

“They only had one baby girl, which was black,” Clare said. “I, personally, want a son. So I asked, ‘Can I have a white baby?’ And (the teacher) was like, ‘That’s not realistic. And I was like, ‘Lady.’ 

“She basically told me that even if I had a kid with a white guy that my kid would be black. And this baby was way darker than me. 

“I didn’t think the baby looked like me.”

Clare said that she hopes that students in the future don’t have to go through what she did.

“They should have light-skin babies, (Asian) babies; but they only have white and black.”

Grace added that even if the district can only have white and black babies for students, then all students should have the option to choose a baby they want to care for, regardless of race. 

“If someone gave you a baby, would you throw it out, just because it was a certain color that you didn’t want?” Grace asked.

Twenty-seven year old St. Joseph resident Shelby Stevenson offered her perspective on recently moving from Urbana to the area with her two children.

Changing schools, going from a diverse environment to a community which is predominately white,  it was difficult for Shelby to put her oldest, a second-grade student, into St. Joseph Elementary.

As a black woman with two children whose skin tone is different, Shelby wanted to find a community that would treat both girls and her diverse family equally.

“(My oldest daughter) is one of nine blonde-haired blue-eyed kids in her classroom,” Shelby said. 

“(My youngest daughter) will most likely be the only black kid in her class when she goes to school.”

“That makes me uncomfortable because I’ve been the only black kid in a class before. I don’t want her to be pointed out or feel like she’s got no friends. “I want her to know that she has support and that she doesn’t have to feel different here.”

Listening to Alec Ballard talk about growing up in the St. Joseph community since he was four or five years old, also helped put Shelby’s mind at ease. 

“I don’t have any complaints because the stuff that was dealt out was playful, there wasn’t anything bad about it,” he said. “You guys have been good to me.”

Alec said his mother, who died nearly two decades ago, would be proud of the protesters. 

“She’d be proud of how you all treated us and had taken care of us,” he said. “I think she’d be really proud of you all.” 

Growing up, Alec didn’t see himself as different than his peers. 

“To me (skin color) didn’t matter,” he said. “I mean, I saw you guys the same way as I saw myself. We’re all who we are. 

Friday’s protest showed Shelby that the community would embrace her diverse family. 

“I just cried because now I feel so much more comfortable sending her knowing that there’s like an entire community that actually feels the same way that we do,” Shelby said.

Seeing four white men stand on the same corner earlier in the week, protesting the death of George Floyd and racism in America, Shelby said that her heart lit up.

“I cried because I didn’t think that that would happen in a town like this,” she said.

“We have neighbors who haven’t even waved to us yet. Just seeing that there was actual support here and seeing that there’s people that actually believed in the cause that I believe in, that meant the world.

“Now I’m comfortable with sending (my youngest) to school here.”

Shelby said that racism is taught. 

“I’m mixed race by white privilege, my whole family is white,” she said. “I didn’t think I was different until other people pointed it out. 

“What we can learn, we can unlearn.”

Part of unlearning goes back to understanding that people of color can have children with different skin tones. 

Shelby took her oldest daughter to Pensacola with her ex-husband, who was black. She was questioned if the girl was her daughter. 

Oftentimes, Sunday school teachers won’t let Shelby pick up her daughter after service because their skin tone is different.

Both Clare and Shelby were surprised to see a diversity of ages in the crowd as they protested. Shelby said that younger generations are teaching the older generations. 

“I think that people are talking to their parents and being open,” Shelby said.

Still, Clare said that as she reached out to many of her peers through social media, some said that they could not come because their parents would not allow them to or because they had to work, even though she witnessed cars full of those same people coming through the four-way stop during the protest.

While standing on the north side of IL-150 holding a sign that read, “Love Overcomes,” Clare was flipped off by a man that she held the door for at the Jack Flash. 

“I have white friends; I have my black friends; I have my mixed friends,” she said. “I love them, not because of their color, I love them for their personality.”

Love is also the message that protest organizer Jon Arteaga wanted people to leave with Friday.

“I thank these people for standing up and showing you who they are. I love them. I don’t care if nobody else does, I freaking love them,” Jon said. 

He also said that the protest should be the beginning of a long-burning fire. Grace asked Jon to read a few points that protesters would like to see changed in the St. Joseph, Ogden and Prairieview School Districts.

“Like (Grace) said, it starts with the kids,” Jon said. “It starts with the parents raising those kids. 

“We really want more education about black lives in our schools. It doesn’t matter if there is only one black kid in that class, every child should know what oppression is, how to recognize it and how to stop it.

“We would like to end zero-tolerance disciplinary actions and implement restorative justice.

“We would like the school administration to hire more black teachers.

“We would like to mandate Black History, it should never be an elective. 

“And the last very large, very, very important point, we would like to fund counselors, not cops in that school.”