Written By Christina Williams
It was a long rainy day in Elizabeth City for protesters. With temperatures in the sixties and cold rain trickling down, BLM out-of-towners and locals held umbrellas and marched around the streets shutting down different areas throughout the day. Photos and videos from earlier today are posted below.
By 6pm many of the participants were tired and wanted a break so the group marched back toward Waterfront park to get into their vehicles.
Just after 7pm the remaining protesters were marching up Halstead Boulevard towards the Walmart. To put it into perspective, its over 3 miles from the Ruby Tuesday in town to the Walmart and these protesters walked farther than that, mostly being rained on and on slippery wet pavement.
By 8pm the protesters were blocking in the intersection between the Tidal Wave Auto Spa and Walmart on Halstead leading towards the Interstate. So many law enforcement units were around that the night sky was lit up blue in the surrounding area.
Although a claim was made that the protesters would stand in the street all night if they had to until Andrew Womble the District Attorney agreed to released the body cam footage, the protesters dispersed around 9pm with rain increasing.
They said they wanted everyone back out at 7am in the morning to start again. The crowd did not sound pleased at the hour they were asked to meet, but NAACP leader Rivers said he knew they could do it.
Earlier in the day a group of church leaders being hailed “Civil Rights Leaders” changed sides. Yesterday, they had Sheriff Wooten on a Facebook Live feed with them, but today they had a complete change of opinion and called for Sheriff Wooten’s resignation.
Sheriff Wooten will not resign. And he shouldn’t – he has not done anything wrong. He is duty bound by the law to follow proper procedure. If wrongdoing is found he will seek punishment for all involved in wrongdoing.
People should not villainize a Sheriff who is doing a great job solely based on media and BLM spin. Sheriff Wooten has worked tirelessly for the people in Pasquotank County to make this one of the safest and best places to live.
Elizabeth City residents who think they will be able to vote him out next year didn’t vote him in in the first place, the county residents did. People who support Sheriff Wooten shouldn’t worry, he will be protecting and serving our county a long time.
