This post will be the last for our week dedicated too the Black Lives Matter movement. It is an article/ in depth Interview with a few of the group who organised the BLM Protest in Kings Lynn Norfolk. 3 or the organisers kindly answered 5 questions about the protest to give some insight and tips too hosting your own Protests!

Q1: What is your name, age, and where are you based?

A1: Jasmai Gostling, 22, Kings. Lynn.

Q2: What made you want to Organise a BLM Protest in your community?

A2: we wanted to host the protest as a way of spreading awareness of a problem that I think is overshadowed a lot in Norfolk, we wanted to educate the people of Kings Lynn on the racism and police brutality that is happening across the uk and in other countries. Also how it effects those people and how they can help fight the cause!

Q3. What was the most difficult+ rewarding aspect about the protest?

A3: The most rewarding part of the protest was that more people are now aware of racism issues happening around the world and the issue is being spoken about more often and ways of helping the cause are more openly available through social media
The difficulties were having such a short time to organise the protest as we could have had more people involved and more resources on hand so people were better educated on what they can do to fight for balck lives matter

Q4.Has anything come from the protest/ had a lasting effect on your community?

A4:What’s come from the protests is that the issue is being spoken about more aswell as people have had more involvement in spreading things like links to petitions and telling their friends how to help the cause as it felt more accepted to talk about that before in kings lynn

Q5. Do you have any tips for others wanting to organise their own protest?

A5: Tips for people holding their own protest is to make sure permission is given to use an area to host the protest and that you get the correct authorities involved to prevent anything getting out of hand so you can focus on the cause you’re fighting for! Good Luck!

Q1. What is your name, age and where are you from?

A2:Ben, 29, Kings Lynn.

Q2. What made you want to organise a BLM protest in your community?

A2:Desire for change.

Q3. What was the most difficult+ rewarding aspect about the protest?

A3:Organising it and getting  bombarded by journos on the phone was difficult. The turnout was the most rewarding.

Q4.Has anything come from the protest/ had a lasting effect on your community?

A4: Local BLM groups have popped up on Facebook and people seem to talk about it a lot more!

Q5. Do you have any tips for others wanting to organise their own protest?

A5:Get the local liason officer on board, it helps massively.

Q1: What is your name, age, and where are you based?

A1: Marcin Cyprian Trenka, 24, Poland.

Q2: What made you want to Organise a BLM Protest in your community?

A2: When the ball started rolling in America, and that momentum carried over to here, it felt like the perfect time to get together with other people to make a difference together. It only felt right to attend and do what I could to fight against prejudice. I also wanted to take the opportunity to bring up topics not often talked about, for example the discrimination against eastern Europeans in the UK.

Q3: What was the most difficult+ rewarding aspect about the protest?

A3: The most difficult part I thought was going to be getting up there and speaking, but the crowd and everyone involved gave me a very heart warming welcome and made speaking at the event easy and natural for me. The most difficult part was writing my speech. I have stayed up long into the night making sure it was as good as I could make it. It was nerve-racking at times as  I knew I would be speaking on behalf of other people and didn’t want to misrepresent them. The most rewarding part was seeing the difference I’ve made within people that day.

Q4.Has anything come from the protest/ had a lasting effect on your community?

A4: After the speaches, I’ve had people come up to me and thank me for what I’ve done and talked about. That was of course very nice, but it didn’t matter to me so much as just knowing that people were able to hear the speech and knowing it made a difference for them.

Q5: Do you have any tips for others wanting to organise their own protest?

5: If you can’t do a lot, do what you can. If you are given the opportunity to get involved in a larger way, do the most that you can. When it comes to speaking, just be brave, be yourself, and speak from the heart. You don’t have to be perfect, and no one expects you to be. People are just happy to be there to learn about people’s lived experiences, and know people are making a difference and they are there to support them.

All images by Elsie.

-THANKYOU FOR READING-