Lansing rally scheduled for Thursday morning protesting Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor killings
FOX 2 - The last time there were big rallies at the Capitol in Lansing people were protesting the Stay at Home Order. Tomorrow there will be a rally against hate as people raise their voices against the loss of life.
"The thing that I want to accomplish most is awareness and let people know," said Rick Ector.
Rally against hate in Lansing Thursday after innocent killings of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery
The last time there were big rallies at the Capitol in Lansing people were protesting the Stay at Home Order. Tomorrow there will be a rally against hate as people raise their voices against the loss of life.
Detroit firearms instructor and gun rights advocate Rick Ector hosting the rally in Lansing protesting the killings of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky shot dead as police served a warrant at her home for a man already in custody, and for Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, gunned down as a father and son attempted to make a citizen's arrest.
Breonna Taylor
"Under questionable circumstances like the Arbery shooting, I wish that he actually had a firearm he was lawfully carrying that he could use to defend himself," Ector said.
The Black and Latinos Against Racist Empowerment Rally will take place at the State Capitol Thursday.
Ector is enlisting the help of state lawmaker Karen Whitsett, as well as host of African-American gun owners like Marcus Weldon who was acquitted of attempted murder after shooting two men in self-defense in 2014.
Ector is also including Michael Lynn Jr. who provided a state rep with an armed escort into the Capitol two weeks ago.
Ahmaud Arbery
"We can walk into the capitol with arms just like everybody else can," Lynn said. "We can protest with arms if we want to, just like everybody else can."
That armed escort was in response to the Stay at Home Order protest in which demonstrators open carried firearms inside the Capitol - intimidating some state lawmakers.
Ector says he's neither encouraging nor dissuading attendees from open carrying firearms at the rally, and is not expecting it to mirror the more boisterous protests at the Capitol that made national headlines.
"Just as a matter of courtesy I contacted the local Michigan State Police in Lansing and I told them we were coming," Ector said. "And it was a great pleasant, civil conversation."
The rally will be at 9 a.m. Thursday.
