AKRON, Ohio — Cities across the country have been hosting National Night Out events. There were several National Night Out events scheduled across the city of Akron, but some were canceled due to rumors of protests.
Akron councilwoman Sharon Connor made the decision to cancel her community’s National Night Out in Goodyear Heights.
“We had gotten some messages from a friend of a friend of a friend,” Connor said. “That alluded to there might be protesters coming and that they might be wanting to engage our officers.”
Tensions between residents in Akron and their police force have been at an all-time high following the fatal shooting of Jayland Walker by Akron police officers.
The city has seen some sort of demonstrations or protests almost every day since Walker’s death. Amanita, who chose to not give her last name for safety reasons, said she has been participating in many of these peaceful protests.
“Since then, we have been asking the city and the police department for justice,” Amanita said. “There has just been groups of peaceful protesters going around the city.”
Amanita and other Akron-area activists said they have felt like their concerns haven’t been heard by city leaders.
“First of all, it’s unfortunate that the city of Akron and city officials aren’t willing to engage with local organizers and protesters,” she said. “They keep saying they are willing to have these tough conversations.”
According to the National Night Out website, it is an event that promotes police and community partnerships.
“We don’t want anyone being disrespectful to our officers,” Connor said. “Our community police officers and Akron officers do a great job here at the park and in our neighborhood and we don’t want to put our parents or children at any safety risk.”
Amanita said this isn’t the first time the city has changed plans since Walker was killed and she and other activists hope to sit down with officials soon.
“They are canceling events, they are cancelling in-person city council meetings and it’s all so they can avoid being accountable and avoid having those hard conversations,” the activist said. “I think that is why they cancelled the National Night Out events because they know if they have to show up to that they will have to have those conversations, they don’t want to do that.”
