Powerful rhymes such as “You can lock us up in prison / You can leave us busted, bruised up and battered / that won’t change the fact that Black lives matter,” were just some of the many that filled Downtown San Jose Friday.
The Black Lives Matter San Jose collective held a “Black-Out” rally where nearly 300 San Jose residents crowded the concrete sidewalks of San Jose City Hall to share poetry and music about injustice.
The collective was recently created and consists of a group of San Jose residents run by Patrick Smith, Shawn Austin, DJ Combs and Manna, who didn’t provide her last name.
The rally was originally planned to be held at the San Jose State University Olympic Black Power Statue. However, it was moved last minute to City Hall because the organizers did not have a permit for amplified sound.
“The protests here started so violent,” Smith said. “We can control the crowd with music, letting them express themselves and show their emotion.”
Smith said he knew George Floyd personally and the collective was established because he felt that the protests in Downtown San Jose were starting to die down.
Over 40 people signed up to speak at the event for one- to two-minutes each to showcase their poetry, song or testimony.
“Black lives matter and brown lives matter. Life matters at the face of police brutality,” Smith said. “To come out here to see all aspects of life, it's really overwhelming in a good way.”
San Jose resident Amaya Daniels said being on the microphone was incredibly heartwarming.
“At this point, I’ve seen so many people I recognize from other protests,” she said. “This is how it should always be. This movement is far from over.”
Electric guitarist and singer Joseph Canas said he has been downtown protesting everyday since March 29 and was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet by a San Jose police officer.
Canas performed covers of artists such as Michael Jackson and was joined by other musicians to perform an original song about police brutality.
Event organizers constantly asked the crowd to come closer to the stage until many were a few inches apart and which led to some inevitably dancing together to the music.
“Make it make sense, I’ll wait / I’m done waiting you can’t / I’m steady speaking my truth cause the truth they kept away,” Combs rapped.
Combs asked the crowd to hold up their right fist in the air and encouraged everyone to push through the pain as they kept their fist up for nearly 10 minutes.
“Pain ain’t s---, we’ve been doing this for 1,000 years,” Combs said. “Hold that s--- up, don’t give up. I know you’re tired, we’re tired too.”
San Jose resident Tyler Anderson said holding his fist up was one of the most eye-opening experiences he had during the rally.
“My arm was burning, I felt it start to cramp in that last minute,” Anderson said. “Nobody got to choose whether they felt something or not. He made sure we were all feeling something, even if it was just some shoulder pain.”
Combs said he didn’t plan on keeping the crowds’ arms up for 10 minutes, but it came from his heart.
“We've been out there saying ‘No justice, no peace’ for weeks. I wanted everyone to see where we are coming from,” he said.
Anderson said it was another example of his white privilege and he hoped every white person in the crowd recognized that as well.
“It’s in the moments when you’re so uncomfortable, that you understand something you’ll never understand,” Anderson said.
Smith said the collective is striving to have more open mic rallies for upcoming Fridays.
