MCKINNEY, Texas — The marches, chants and resolve for change continued across North Texas Sunday.
In McKinney, dozens gathered to mark just more than five years since a local police officer, Eric Casebolt, slammed a 15-year-old girl in a bathing suit to the ground and knelt on her after responding to a disturbance at a pool party.
The officer never faced criminal charges because a grand jury decided not to indict him, but he did resign.
Joey Foote was the McKinney protests and vividly remembers the video of Dajerria Becton being thrown to the ground, because his own daughter was about the same age.
“When I saw that, I saw my daughter being tossed around like a rag doll,” Foote said.
He wants reduced funding and stronger oversight for police.
“They should be held accountable just like any other civilian would be,” he said.
Down the road in Collin County, hundreds marched in Plano.
In Dallas, the streets filled again with chants for justice and in Fort Worth, there were calls for change, too.
Sean Howe was in McKinney and sees protests across the world as the momentum needed for action.
“This is our moment and we’ve got to get past the stall,” Howe said. “I think you’re seeing a country that has looked itself in the mirror and said, 'This is not who I want to be.'"
While COVID-19 continues to spread, those marching say the bigger risk is doing nothing.
“That should tell everyone that this thing is very important,” Foote said. “This is worth us putting ourselves at risk for.”
In some cities it’s by the thousands and in other by the dozens but calls for change have echoed around the world.
“You’re seeing protests in small rural cities with hardly no African Americans living in them,” Howe said. “None of us are free if some of us aren’t.”