Both Richardson and Frisco held socially distant protests advocating for racial justice and police reform over the weekend, in caravan form.
Hana Hendi was one of the organizers for the Richardson protest. She said she wanted to get her community together to speak out about the need for police reform, but recognized their concerns about COVID-19.
"I thought that it was a very safe way to get high risk and cautious individuals in the area to get involved," Hendi said.
Hendi said there are also a number of older people in her community that she didn't want to put in harms way.
Tess Duke organized the Frisco protest, and demonstrators came all the way from Dallas to particpate. Duke is at high risk for COVID-19 and wanted to find a way to help herself and others participate in the protests safely. A caravan of cars seemed liked the safest way to go, she said.
"I feel like it's powerful that a group of people who normally wouldn't be able to go out and protest, that we're going to try to make an effort and show our support. I think that that's moving and I hope we can do it again in other communities," Duke said.
Demonstrators in Frisco held signs and decorated their car windows with phrases like "Black Lives Matter" and "white silence is violence."
Then they paraded through downtown with a police escort.
Dallas resident Mary Yoon said she came out because her daughter wanted to protest, but she was concerned about their safety with some of the tactics used by Dallas Police.
"We definitely wanted our voices heard," she said. "But we wanted to stay away from where the major violent areas are going to be for my daughter's safety, so that's where I'm going as a parent."
Dallas resident Cayenne Price came to speak out against police violence directed toward people of color. She grew up in Frisco and said she's in favor of defunding police departments.
"A lot of people take it the wrong way, thinking we want to dissolve police departments completely, and that's not the point," Price said. "The point is to reallocate some funds from police departments and just put that money into other community programs."
She said she also wants to see more accountability in police departments, so officers can come forward about bad actions they witness from other police.
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