North Egypt News

Calling for justice and equality for African Americans, a demonstration was held in Benton — the same location of a 1995 Ku Klux Klan rally in front of the historic Franklin County Courthouse.

Organized by Gage Peach, of West Frankfort, and Kiersten Owens, of Benton, approximately 60 people attended the demonstration for about three hours on a recent Saturday. Peach said he felt it was important as the courthouse is slated to be torn down and replaced.

“We’re all for equality. We don’t want Franklin County to be known for its racism,” Peach told The Telegraph. “This is more about bringing the community together more than anything else.”

Demonstrators supported the cause by carrying signs, rallying around familiar chants such as “I can’t breathe,” “No justice, no peace” and “Black lives matter,” and paying respect to George Floyd.

While demonstrations have occurred in cities such as Mounds and Carbondale, where 40 percent of its population is people of color, demonstrations have also formed in Benton, Marion, Herrin, Carterville, Sparta, Murphysboro, Du Quoin and Anna, which are predominately white communities.

Communities such as Benton, Herrin, Carterville and Anna were considered “sundown towns” into the 1960s, where African Americans were not allowed out after dark by official policy, according to research in author James Loewen’s book “Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism.”

William Perkins was warned not to travel to places such as Anna and Benton, the 74-year-old African American of Colp recalled, adding that for decades Colp was one of few safe places for African Americans to live in Williamson County. 

Drawing approximately 200 people to Anna, young adults in Union County organized a rally on June 4.

“I came to Carbondale as an SIU student in 1972,” Carl Flowers, a retired African American Southern Illinois University professor and administrator, told The Telegraph. “To see that there was a rally for the Black Lives Matter in Anna — that is one that I would have never suspected would ever, ever occur.” 

Flowers said it is revealing to see the communities coming together.

“Times are a-changin’,” Flowers said to The Telegraph. “People are realizing that all lives do matter — absolutely — but in this case, a black life should be included in all of those lives.”

Organizing a one-man demonstration at the beginning of June that grew to approximately a crowd of 20 and then held a second demonstration on Saturday at Keyes Park, Nicholas Tate of Du Quoin said it doesn’t require a big gathering to send a message of unity.

“It’s amazing to me that there are as many whites out at these rallies in these various towns,” Perkins said to The Telegraph, noting that the demonstrations in Marion, Carterville and Herrin were uplifting. “That’s just really got me. Our story is being told, in more ways than just as it relates to police.”