By Shelby Stewart
Staff Writer
Brandon Twp.- On June 6, around 30 Brandon residents gathered on M-15 near the entrance to Brandon High School for a peaceful, anti-racism rally.
“We wanted to show support for our community members, people of color,” said Tammy Battaglia, one of the organizers of the rally. “That’s more why we were out there, not a protest.”
Across the country major cities and rural areas alike have been seeing protests, marches and riots on behalf of the Black Lives Matter movement, which seeks to end police violence against people of color. The movement had a resurgence after a video went viral of a Minnesota police officer kneeling on the neck of a man, George Floyd, and suffocating him, resulting in Floyd’s death.
The whole rally was put together in about 36 hours after some people showed interest in doing something in support of the movement on Facebook.

“We would have been happy with the handful of people who showed interest on that post,” said Battaglia. “I had my one chair if I was there by myself. We want to continue the conversation on behalf of our neighbors of color and talk about ways to stand up to against racism and that racism has no palace in Brandon.”
There were a lot of car honks in support with the rally, she added.
“Lots of beeps, lots of waving,” she said. “We had a couple rabble-rousers show up at the end and we tried to share facts with them but they just wanted to argue. People who just want to argue, we don’t want to get in with them. We want to talk to people who might not be aware of the issue.”
For anyone looking to join in on future efforts, online classes, or projects, join the Ortonville Peaceful Anti-Racism Alliance Facebook group.
“We just want to educate, inform, and take action if we see places where we see we can take action,” said Battaglia.