It frightened her because Johnson said that the community has not always been kind to her or her husband, and she knows from reading history books that the town has not always been the most welcoming place for people of color. 

Despite that fear, she showed up. A few days ago, she found the Forsyth County United Facebook group — what she called “an overnight organization” — where she found community members who she now calls family. She started to help organize the event, and she came to the Cumming square an hour before the protest was planned to begin at 12 p.m. on Saturday, June 6, to help make signs and set up a podium.

Soon after, protesters started flooding in, all of them holding up signs calling for justice and equality or simply stating, “black lives matter.” Less than an hour had passed before the area in front of the courthouse, stretching from the administration building to the jail, was crowded with hundreds upon hundreds of people chanting and waving signs. According to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, the event ended up bringing in approximately 900 people.

Suddenly, Johnson did not feel so frightened anymore.

“I had no idea,” Johnson said, choking up. “I had no idea that you guys would come out here like this.”

Many of the organizers, protesters and even those driving through downtown Cumming also felt empowered by the large group standing before them — a turnout that many said they did not expect in Forsyth County.

“I was blown away,” organizer Candice Horsley said.

The group consisted of a pair of health care workers still donning their scrubs in the sweltering, mid-day heat; LGBTQ individuals celebrating pride month by standing up for their black community; a group of Black Panther members standing straight-faced with their rifles across their chests on the stairs of the courthouse; and many more children and families who felt safe to come out because of the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office’s promised protection.

Lt. Allan Frampton stood in front of the courthouse for most of the protest, listening to what community members had to say and talking with protesters and organizers about the movement.

While everyone was protesting against police brutality, Frampton noted that it is the system that they are protesting.

“It’s not personal,” Frampton said. “And we don’t take it personal.”

Frampton said that he believed most of those who showed up were from Forsyth County, but there were a few who came from other areas in the region to show their support, such as Shelia Nickel from Cobb County who said that she has been to three other protests in metro Atlanta.

The majority of the crowd was also white, but they stood in the heat for three hours Saturday to take a stand for the black community.

“I told my friends when I joined that Facebook group that there are white folks in Wakanda, y’all,” Johnson said. “And I’m grateful for your listening ear to our unheard voices.”

Throughout the protest, demonstrators took the opportunity to share their own experiences with hate, racism and the police — speaking into a microphone with speakers loud enough for the officers standing in front of the Sheriff’s Office headquarters just across the street to hear.

Grace Cronan, a 21-year-old wife and mother in the community who helped organize the event, spoke about the many times she has encountered racism not with the county’s police force, but with its people.

She described one moment when she said she was on her way to see her husband at work, when a woman pulled out of a parking space quickly. She said she honked just to make sure that the woman in the car did not hit her, but then the woman ended up following her behind the building and yelling slurs at her in front of her husband.

“That was the first time Greg [her husband] witnessed a racist verbally attack me, but it wouldn’t be the last,” Cronan said.

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Johnson also shared her husband’s story — a black man she said has been pulled over by officers in the county nine times.

“If you knew my website-building, Fortnite-playing husband who has never smoked a cigarette in his life, you would wonder why he’s been pulled over, harassed by police on nine occasions,” Johnson said. “No speeding tickets on that man’s record, no infractions, no crimes committed. Just harassment. If you ask our good friends, they’ll tell you they don’t know anyone who's been pulled over more times than my husband, and this is in the back of my mind every time someone looks at my two sons and says, ‘you look just like your daddy.’”

Residents Brian Collins, Greg Cronan, Janahya Sugick, Katie O’Bryant, Michael Parson and Pauline Dunn also had a moment to speak, and organizer Rachel Nintzel explained to the crowd the list of demands that the Forsyth County United group sent to the Sheriff’s Office.

Some of their demands included requiring de-escalation classes for officers and requiring officers to give a warning to citizens before escalating a situation. They also asked that the Sheriff’s Office provide resources on its website to help protect the people of color in their community.

As the protest drew to a close at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Dunn led a prayer and a following eight-minute silence to remember George Floyd. 

About a 10-minute drive from the courthouse, about 50 more community members gathered at an IHOP on Market Place Boulevard to protest injustice in their communities.

The managers at the IHOP location let 16-year-old Amina Gueye plan her own protest in front of their building starting at 2 p.m.. Like other organizers in the area, Gueye was disappointed when a protest originally planned for this past Friday was canceled, and so she immediately reached out to the Sheriff’s Office to plan a new one on her own.

“I think America is kind of waking up to what’s happening,” Gueye said. “And this isn’t just about George Floyd. This is about all of the injustices that black people face, and I just wanted to get everybody out here — people of all colors. We need to make a change, especially the younger generation. We are the future, so we can make change, and I just want everybody to stand in solidarity for this movement, especially in a town like Cumming with its history.”

Legal observers with the ACLU were there watching over the small protest along with medics who carried water, sunscreen and medical packs.

Aside from some profanities shouted by passersby on the road, however, both protests were peaceful, and the Sheriff’s Offices stated that no one was injured or taken into custody.

“Today, Forsyth County gave an example to our nation of how people can assemble and have their voices heard in a constructive and peaceful way,” FCSO posted to its Facebook page. “Kudos to all concerned.”

Many have flooded social media since the end of the protests to thank the organizers and everyone involved.

“Do not thank us,” Cronan said. “Don’t thank us for doing the bare minimum. Fighting for the rights of my brothers and sisters is a given and it is not an option not to. So don’t thank us for standing up here today because this should not be a surprise, it should be an expectation that anybody who has the ability to speak up for our community’s behalf does so.”

Hundreds in the community have joined the Forsyth County United Facebook group in only the past few days, and the number is only growing after the protest as members are posting photos and videos and sharing their thoughts. With such a large group, Cronan believes it will continue.

Organizers hope that after today, others will no longer be frightened, like Johnson has been for 13 years, to stand up and have their voice heard in Forsyth County.