GREENSBORO, N.C. — A myriad of emotions has poured out over the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis. From protesters marching peacefully in the streets to businesses being looted and vandalized, people are undoubtedly angry.
Boarded up businesses in downtown Greensboro reveal how some opted for destruction as their form of protest. An act that has cost business owners more losses in addition to those compounded by the coronavirus pandemic.
But one protester in Greensboro took her plea directly to police officers during a chance meeting.
Janina Bowen and a group of friends were walking past a line of around 50 police officers in riot gear when she stopped and began to express herself late Sunday night.
"We are tired, I would not let my future generation grow up knowing that you all have the power. I can't even tell him that you all will protect him if anything happens," cried out Bowen, a rising senior at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro as those around whipped out their cell phones to record her.
Bowen said she was moved to speak out about police interaction with minority communities when she saw the officers lined up in the parking lot of the Greensboro Police Department right across from City Hall.
"Now this is the time for everyone to say something. I'm fed up, I know everyone's fed up and it's getting messy, it has always been messy," Bowen said speaking to WFMY News 2 on Thursday.
She said her emotions have been boiling up underneath and she has been voicing out hopelessly to her roommates. So when she saw the officers standing in their formation she knew that was the perfect opportunity to tell officers how she truly felt and hoped they would listen to her.
"That moment, I was not speaking to them as a whole, I was speaking to them as individuals. So take the badge off, take the helmet off, and the kits, drop your guns, drop your tasers and see me as a human being," she said.
After a few moments of uncertainty about what to expect from the lady who was screaming passionately at them, the officers did just that.
They kept quiet and paid attention to her from across the street.
Bowen spoke for about 10 minutes with only the sound of passing cars distracting from her monologue and interrupting the silence from the officers.
"There is no more ignoring the situation anymore because it affects everyone. It affects you, it affects me, it affects my family, it affects your family and it has me hot all over," she added.
"This has got to stop and it starts with y'all, not us, y'all," she continued crying out in the video recording that was minutely peppered with some expletive expressions.
Bowen said she knows not all law enforcement is bad but wants them to hold each other accountable.
"You being an officer, you are supposed to be top-notch, because you are protecting the country," she concluded.
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