Worland resident felt compelled to join in Casper protest

WORLAND — A Worland resident joined about 300 people from Casper and Wyoming in a protest in downtown Casper last Wednesday, June 3.

Amanda Hoffman of Worland said she decided to participate in the June 3 protest in Casper as soon as she saw it posted on social media Tuesday morning, June 2.

Why the need to participate? “I feel really strongly that there is a very pervasive problem of racism in this country and there’s a lot of police brutality in this country. The time to say enough is enough was a long time ago. It’s really time now to stand up and make changes. It can’t go on the way it has been,” Hoffman said.

She said she also wanted to support and uplift black voices and support them in their fight for equality and justice.

Protests have been occurring across the country and most recently in Wyoming since the death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

According to the Associated Press, George Floyd, 46, died after he was arrested in Minneapolis, accused of using a counterfeit $20 bill at a grocery store.

A white officer, Derek Chauvin, and three other officers were fired from the Minneapolis Police Department on Tuesday, May 26. Chauvin has been charged with murder. Reports said he knelt on Floyd’s neck for nearly 9 minutes. The three other officers were charged June 3.

WEDNESDAY PROTEST

The Casper protest was the first time Hoffman has participated in that type of event. She went with a few friends. While this was her first protest, she said she would have participated in others in the past had she been able. “I’ve always been very outspoken. I believe very strongly that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and humanity and equality. And I believe very strongly that things have got to change in this country. It’s the land of the free but it’s not free for everybody,” she said.

According to the Casper Star Tribune, Casper police told the Star-Tribune afterward that the crowd was roughly 300 strong. The first march to the Hall of Justice was organized by the Casper Youth for Change.

Hoffman and her friends arrived a bit late due to construction and joined the protest at the Hall of Justice about 12:30 p.m. where speeches were underway. “We sat and listened. We took a knee and had a moment of silence (for George Floyd and for victims of police brutality).”

Hoffman said the atmosphere was “electric. People are really angry, people are hurt, people are grieving. This is a way for us to get out and say we’re not OK with this kind of thing happening at all. The mood throughout the march was very upbeat, very energized. We all knew what we were there for and we were all united.”

She said she and her friends did join the protestors as they left the Hall of Justice, marching down Second Street in Casper. She said she and her friend got ill from the heat and left the march early.

Will the peaceful protests bring about the needed changes in the country? Hoffman said, “You would hope so, but there have been peaceful protests, and the Black Lives Matter movement for years and nothing has changed.

“I don’t endorse violence, but I understand why people are enraged and I also see how the police have escalated a lot of these situations into violence.”

Hoffman added, “I would ask people to get out of their bubble, find black authors, black activists. Read their works and try and learn something.”

Hoffman was unable to participate Friday’s Casper protest.

Protests around the state were also held in Laramie, Gillette, Pinedale and Cody.