CUMMING, Ga. — Following the disbursement of what organizers are calling mixed messages about the nature of a planned protest in Forsyth County, it has been officially canceled.
According to a post from the Forsyth County Democrats, the group of high school teens at the "heart of organizing the peaceful protest" made the decision to cancel the event due to a concern for the safety of local law enforcement and attendees.
The group of teens writing:
"We would like to start off by thanking everyone who has helped and supported us since the very beginning. We started this off by wanting to get our message across to not only our county and state, but also to our nation, that despite Forsyth County’s history we could still come together as a community to protest systemic, covert, and overt racism. It has been brought to our attention that there has been a lot of commotion surrounding our event. We have always stressed that this would be a PEACEFUL event, but it has been interpreted as an excuse to cause chaos in our community, and that was never our intention."
The message going on to say:
"We did not mean to create confusion and realize that if we were to continue with Friday's event as planned that it would put a strain on the local authorities."
In place of the event, the teens are asking citizens to hold a 9 minute moment of silence in honor of George Floyd and "the many other lives lost to hatred towards the black community."
Earlier in the week, the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office posted to their Facebook page that they were:
"aware of social media posts calling for peaceful demonstrations and prayer vigils, as well as a few posts with a more evil tone across Metro Atlanta and the suburbs. Some of which have mentioned Forsyth County."
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