Hundreds gathered at MLK park in Rochester on Saturday and marched in solidarity with Black Lives Matter protesters worldwide. One of the stops of the march included the Rochester Public Safety Building.
A series of protests taking place across the country are in response to the death of a man named George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
"One of my favorite quotes is from Martin Luther King [who] said 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' What we witnessed in Minnesota is horrifying and should be [happening] to anybody," said Monroe County Legislator Vince Felder.
Floyd was detained by police responding to a call about a forgery. A witness's cell phone video, shared widely on social media, captured a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on Floyd's neck for several minutes as Floyd said he could not breathe, before his body went limp, and he died.
"[It was more than eight] minutes and the man is screaming and pleading for his life, telling him he can't breathe, and to be ignored like that and have the other officers around him do nothing, it speaks to a level of not just viciousness but insensitivity about the lives of people."
"When we first started raising the idea [of] Black Lives Matter, [the] first thing we heard from some people [was] all lives matter. Well, if all lives matter, why didn't this man's life matter?"
Protesters of all ages and cultural backgrounds took to the streets and side walks of downtown Rochester on Saturday, holding signs, and chanting in unison.
"To be here today and [to] see all these people who don't look like me, but care about me, and care about people that do like me, really means a lot."