The Black Lives Matter protest on Sunday, May 31st, 2020 was perhaps the largest protest event in Germantown’s history since the Civil War and it set the stage for a series of massive non-violent protests throughout Montgomery County, but it was not without precedent. In fact, Germantown has a unique and complicated relationship with the Black Lives Matter movement that goes back several years.

First, some facts about Germantown: Germantown is the third largest Census Designated Place in the State of Maryland as well as one of the most diverse in the United States. Wallet Hub has rated us amongst its top 10 most diverse cities for nearly a decade and amongst its top 5 the majority of those times. Germantown is largely working class — owing to its mixed income design (the subject of a future post), but has decidedly no social or political organizing. Previous instances of social activism in Germantown have been small and either reflective of broader movements in the US or hyper-local issues (like proposed developments). My research into protests in Germantown’s history have turned up nothing since the Civil War (in which several neighbors stood on opposing sides and would flip between parades and property damage to express that), except for a handful of small walkouts from Seneca Valley and Northwest High Schools. Speaking personally, my own brother participated in one such march in 2016 shortly after the Presidential election that year. They marched from SVHS down Great Seneca Highway.

The lack of organized action in Germantown should not be mistaken for a lack of passion though. Germantowners routinely participate in protest in Washington DC and get involved with County Council and planning board activities. Some Germantowners have even run for office and won. Historically, Walter Johnson is the go to reference for this, but today Councilmember Craig Rice and Delegates Leslie Lopez and Kirill Reznik all established their political bases in Germantown.

Now, to the matter of the moment: the Black Lies Matter movement.

In November of 2019, Germantown made statewide news after County Executive Marc Elrich and Governor Larry Hogan got into a fight over the display of a “thin blue line” flag in a Germantown police station. The flag was a gift from a community member that drew mixed reactions due to its association with “Blue Lives Matter,” a reactionary movement created in response to Black Lives Matter. Elrich asked for the removal of the flag to avoid the controversy and Hogan criticized him publicly, even doing a photoshoot in front of the flag to show his support. As all of this was occurring, a handful of Germantowners who sided with the Governor took to the streets near Germantown town center wearing pro-Blue Lives Matter regalia. Yet, aside from a few lofty statements, this dispute did not really go anywhere. Until 2020.

This year, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and protests over police violence across America, Germantowners took to the streets. In a first for northern Montgomery County (known colloquially as the Up County), over one hundred demonstrators met around noon on Sunday, May 31st, and marched down Fredrick Rd. (Rt. 355), Middlebrook Rd., and Germantown Rd. (Rt. 118). Kellen Brooks, a Germantown-area resident and alum of Seneca Valley HS (as well as Director of Media Relations for Building Leaders and Advancing the Community or BLAC), said in an interview with Alex Tsironis of the MoCo Show, “it’s about 20 people in the parking lot of Chick-Fil-A, by the time I get there [we] go ahead and started walking…and then we got to the 5th District police station, where the feuling site is and we kind of, I think we kind of woke up the 5th district…They didn’t know a protest was coming, you know. They didn’t know any of that and they pretty much, without them, this doesn’t happen.” A local news plane and several journalists showed up to this protest, quickly drawing greater attention. At one point, #Germantown was trending on Twitter throughout the state. As news and social media drew attention, more residents flooded into the streets, bringing the total to an estimated 200-300 people. The protesters stopped traffic across town well into the evening, with chanting, occasional speeches, and moments of silence. Local police kept traffic at bay, but there were no altercations between any of those present — unlike the protests in DC, where Secret Service deployed tear gas against protesters the following afternoon. In fact, there was a highly publicized and critiqued moment in which several MCPD officers took a knee with protesters. By the time I got there around 5pm (I was at a smaller memorial event in Silver Spring with fellow GHS Board Member Karen Adjei), the crowd had again dwindled to fewer than 100.

Although it was relatively small, this protest was the first in a series of suburban events throughout the county. The following week, protests happened in Gaithersburg, Olney, Rockville, Bethesda, Silver Spring, and Clarksburg, some getting several thousand attendants. Never before had this kind of movement taken place throughout the county — it was as if folks saw Germantown and realized that they could draw on the same energy to highlight instances of police violence close to home. Across the county, folks chanted the names of Robert White, Finan Berhe, and Emmanuel Okutuga (all unarmed Black men killed by MCPD in recent years) and called for actions to defund and radically rethink policing in the United States. Protesters in Bethesda also called for measures to protest the Moses African Cemetery (which has striking parallels to another cemetery for enslaved Africans in Germantown that I will cover in future posts) from development.

One week later, protests returned to Germantown. This time, around 1,000 people showed up to hear speeches at Clarksburg HS, including one by Delegate Gabriel Acevero (D-39), who represents parts of Germantown and is the lead sponsor of Anton’s Law (a bill written to advance police transparency named after Anton Black, a Marylander killed by police in Greensboro in 2018). Clarksburg High School graduate Zoe Tishaev (who was carrying/distributing drinks at this protest) described the march as “electrifying — we marched 12 miles round trip [to the Germantown Police Station] and confronted the cops face-to-face and demanded that they answer for the crimes against African-Americans their institution, their jobs perpetuate.”

Germantown set the tone for Montgomery County’s suburban Black Lives Matter movement, highlighting the energy of the people, the local and personal nature of police violence, the leadership of Black citizens and officials, and the ways that protests can be organized very quickly.

Check out further reading on these events and movements:

Hearst Television Inc. (2020, March 03). Lawmakers again pitch Anton’s Law, seeking transparency in police-involved deaths. Retrieved from https://www.wbaltv.com/article/antons-law-transparency-police-involved-deaths-anton-black-greensboro/31214379

Iati, M., & Boorstein, M. (2020, June 08). Faith community takes center stage as thousands again gather for 10th day of protests in D.C. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crowds-gather-near-white-house-for-10th-day-of-protests-in-dc/2020/06/07/bc924062-a6cb-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html

Grunberger, A. (2020, June 07). Clarksburg Protest To Close Portion Of Route 355, Expect Delays. from Retrieved from https://patch.com/maryland/germantown/clarksburg-protest-close-portion-route-355-expect-delays

Reed, D., & Editorial Board. (2020, June 02). Suburban protestors speak out against police brutality. Retrieved from https://ggwash.org/view/77877/suburban-protestors-speak-out-against-police-brutality

Hartner, Z., & Howell, M. (2019, November 04). ‘Thin blue line’ flag at Montgomery Co. police station stirs up controversy. Retrieved from https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/11/blue-lives-matter-flag-on-display-at-montgomery-county-police-station-stirs-up-controversy/

Taylor, R. (2020, May 31). Protest right now in Germantown, Maryland. The protestors are blocking the intersection of 355 (Frederick Rd) and Germantown Rd. A news helicopter is in the air. pic.twitter.com/Ux4vtU7pvN. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/rachelvetica/status/1267179559373455360

Tishaev, Z. (2020, June 07). Students, teachers, alumni, neighbors, community members, and politicians of all colors and creeds showed up today to stand against injustice. Organizers say we had 1,000 people take over 355, Father Hurley Boulevard, Germantown Road, and the Milestone Center. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/brNfrqkTm8. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/aintthatZo/status/1269757749598060550