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The video above shows scenes from the Black Lives Matter protest.

Although the announced Black Lives Matter protest at the finish line of the Twin Cities Marathon attracted nationwide attention in the week leading up to the event, on race day the actual demonstration went unnoticed by many runners and spectators.

More than 8,500 runners took to the marathon start line in downtown Minneapolis, cheered on to the finish in St. Paul by boisterous crowds. Dominic Ondoro of Kenya won in 2:11:16 and Serkalem Abrha of Ethiopia won the women’s race in 2:31:39.

After meeting with St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman on October 1, Black Lives Matter St. Paul organizer Rashad Turner had promised not to interfere with the finish of the race—as originally planned—and to stage a peaceful protest near the finish line to call attention to recent cases of what the group alleges is police brutality.

That protest began forming at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, two and a half hours into the marathon, with about 75 people who gathered in Boyd Park, three blocks west of the race course.

At 10:45, the group of protesters had grown to about 125 people. Many carried signs with slogans that read Black Lives Matter, Rest In Peace Police Violence, and Solidarity Against State Violence.



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Turner thanked the protesters for coming and spoke about recent cases of police brutality and what Turner called “state-funded murder” of people of color. Turner introduced the aunt and cousin of Phil Quinn, and the aunt of Marcus Golden. Both Quinn and Golden were shot and killed by St. Paul police.

Minneapolis activist Mel Reeves spoke at the rally, telling those gathered that he knew how hard runners work to prepare for a marathon because he had been a cross-country runner himself, but that there was nothing more important than human life.

“It’s one thing for a thug to shoot you—they’ll probably go to jail,” he said. “When a thug in a uniform shoots you, they go on vacation. You got to go to your jobs and your schools and raise hell. Marathon isn’t appropriate? We should be doing more inappropriate stuff. No struggle, no progress. Let’s make these people give us some justice.”

At 11:25 a.m., the group walked out of Boyd Park and proceeded to Dayton Avenue, flanked by St. Paul police on bicycles. Police in a protected motorized cart followed the protesters, asking them to move onto the sidewalk as the streets were not closed to traffic. The request was ignored.

As runners streamed north on the east side of John Ireland Boulevard along the final half-mile of the course, spectators east of the course lined the roadway.

But on the west side of the street, there were two fences, 30 feet, and a dense police presence separating the protesters from runners. Police on foot, in motorized carts, on horseback and bicycles were posted along the final half-mile, the finish area, and the protesters’ march route to ensure marchers’ safety.

The protesters, chanting slogans, marched a route that crossed over Highway 94 and intersected with the course behind the finish line grandstands. Despite repeated requests to stay on the sidewalk, the group filled the streets, surrounding cars as they passed. At one point, about 30 state troopers ran toward the protesters, but they passed by and instead blocked the highway exit ramp to prevent cars from hitting protesters.

Bike and mounted police blocked the protesters’ way several times, but police moved to the side when the group kept marching.

Pausing behind the finish grandstands, Turner’s words were drowned out by the finish line announcing. A few spectators at the top of the stands turned around to watch the demonstration, but the group was neither seen nor heard by the vast majority of the crowd.

As many of the protesters lay down in the street, two young black men who remained standing said Black Lives Matter chose the marathon as a venue because that’s where the media was. Then they pointed to the surrounding police escort, noting that they were all white. “We get beat up every day just for being black. We’re here to show our support. White cops are killing people.” They also mentioned economic inequality as a cause for police mistreatment of people of color.

Kris Hennelly and her daughter, Maddie, both runners, were part of the Black Lives Matter demonstration.

“There are larger injustices happening in St. Paul and around the country that are more important than a marathon,” Hennelly, a marathoner, said. She thought the marathon was an appropriate venue because marathons are privileged events, for people with the time, energy, and money to do so.

At noon, the group continued south along the west side of John Ireland Boulevard, in the opposite direction of the runners, and stopped at a grassy area in the shadow of St. Paul’s Cathedral. They pressed up against the metal crowd fences, chanting and cheering when runners, 30 feet away, gave a peace sign or raised a fist in support.

Most runners did not acknowledge the protesters.

“I didn’t hear them,” said one runner after the race who asked not to be identified. “I was in a world of my own. It would have been very upsetting if they’d tried to block the course. I would have tried to finish; I think most runners would.”

Black Lives Matter St. Paul was visible to runners and spectators for about an hour before they returned to Boyd Park at 1 p.m., as the five-hour marathoners continued heading to the finish.

Few marathoners who finished between four and five hours said they heard the protesters, though most were aware of the Black Lives Matter protest from the previous week’s news and social media coverage.

“It made people think,” said a woman who had finished the TC 10-Mile before the marathon. “I run with a bunch of people at work, all of us white, and this protest sparked a conversation about racism and privilege we’ve never had. I like to think, if I’d run the marathon [instead of the 10-mile], I would have stopped and joined in their protest.”

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