Black Lives Matter Winston-Salem still want change from city leaders and they shut down part of University Parkway Monday to get their point across.
It was the fourth rally the group has held in the last month and this time they went to the coliseum area.
It started with a rally on University Parkway in front of the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Speakers talked to the crowd about personal experiences and changes they wanted to see in the city.
Protesters then marched down Coliseum Drive to the intersection with Reynolda Road. Police said the group disrupted traffic at that intersection for about 20 minutes before walking back to the Coliseum.
Protesters said the rally and march were about keeping the pressure on the city's elected leaders.
"End so-called routine stops in our working-class black and brown communities," said one speaker while listing demands to the rally crowd.
The group's list of demands included changes in policing. Some also called for defunding the police department.
"We're gonna get with it at some point. It may seem radical, it may seem difficult but abolishing slavery seemed radical [when they were talking about it]," said another speaker.
Poet and Wake Forest University Assistant Dean of University Collaboration Donovan Livingston also spoke to the crowd. He said Black Lives Matter Winston-Salem's goals regarding the police are nuanced.
"Not merely defunding the police but finding ways to reallocate those funds," said Livingston.
The next event listed on Black Lives Matter Winston-Salem's Facebook page is scheduled for Saturday and will address coronavirus care in prisons and jails.