By Mary O’KEEFE

Dual protests, one for Black Lives Matter and the other for Blue Lives Matter, occurred across the street from each other on Friday afternoon near Lowell Avenue and Foothill Boulevard.

The two organizations faced off, yelling slogans across the street at each other maintaining a peaceful, albeit loud, protest. Los Angeles Police Dept. received calls throughout the day concerning everything from indecent exposure to gunfire. The police investigated but found no evidence of those incidents.

At times, one or two Blue Lives Matter protestors would cross the boulevard, carrying signs or yelling nearer to the Black Lives Matter protestors. Then, at one point, a car from the Black Lives Matter side of the street parked in the center of the street in the turning lane and protestors got on top of the car to yell at the Blue Lives Matter protestors.

Friday was Juneteenth, which commemorates annually the end of slavery in the United States. While President Abraham Lincoln enacted the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan 1, 1863, which freed enslaved people, those in Texas did not accept the decree until June 19, 1865. That is when Major General Gordon Granger arrived at Galveston, Texas with the news that the Civil War had ended and those who were enslaved were free.

“We are just confused as to why those [protestors for Blue Lives Matter] chose today to hold their Blue Lives Matter rally,” said Black Lives Matter protestor Sara Schultz from La Crescenta. “Today is Juneteenth, this is racist … You have your freedom of speech every day of the year; if you want to protest Blue Lives Matters that is your right and I am going to support [your right to protest] but today is not the day.”

Schultz and her friends felt it was important to step up and speak out.

“Small towns are where change can start,” she said. “La Crescenta was founded by Nazis. This is not a welcoming town for my Black and brown friends.”

La Crescenta and Glendale has a past that includes, decades ago, rallies that were staged at Crescenta Valley Park by the Bund, an American-based arm of the Nazi Party.

CVW reporters at Friday’s protest reported seeing more signs, flags and shirts that supported President Donald Trump than signs for Blue Lives Matter. That is not to say there was no contingent of just Blue Lives Matters protestors. Away from the Trump 2020 flags and the Defund Garcetti signs stood a group at the nearby intersection holding signs that simply read, “Thank You, LAPD” and “Blue Lives Matter.”

“I am here because my brother [is a police officer],” said Hannah Murray.

She wanted to show her support not only for her brother but also for officers who are serving the community.

Murray is a woman of color. She added that she is concerned for her brother’s and other officers’ safety as they continue to do their jobs, that she understands that Black lives matter and wants to focus on other issues people of color face.

“They [Black Lives Matter] don’t support Black officers. Someone told me once that ‘Your brother doesn’t count because he is a police officer.’ So they discredited his race because he is an officer first and a Black person second? If Black lives matter then they should care about his Black life as well,” she said.

  Mary Okeefe