by Karen Vance

On Saturday, July 25 several hundred cars are set to drive slowly through Pomona, Claremont and La Verne in a motorcade in support of Black Lives Matter.

Those planning to participate include faith groups and community organizations, along with state senators, assembly members and local civic leaders.

This witness for Black Lives Matter will follow a 16-mile route through Pomona, Claremont, and La Verne, covering main streets in each city and passing by the Pomona Police Department, the courthouse building and city hall. 

It will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, beginning at the the Pomona school district parking lot at 1440 Holt Ave., Pomona-Indian Hill Mall west, where participants are asked to arrive by 10 a.m. for staging.

Volunteers in orange vests will be there to help you every step of the way.  Please do wear masks when you are outside your car.

Each of our cars will carry self-made signs that say “Black Lives Matter.” We need to model with tender care, the love and compassion these signs represent. Our patience, our calm and our cheer provide clear witness.

We must be very mindful of traffic along our route. We will be traveling at 15 mph in the left-hand lane. Drivers will need to come in and through our motorcade.

Cars will leave the lot in four groups:  historically Black churches and organizations; state and local civic leaders; all faith groups; then community organizations.

The motorcade is being organized by me, a longtime elementary teacher (recently retired) in Pomona and member of the Claremont Friends Meeting (Quakers). The motorcade is a COVID-safe way for our community to stand as one.

I felt led as a member of Claremont Quaker Meeting to create an interfaith motorcade witnessing to our support of Black Lives Matter.

Claremont Quakers supported my leading for a motorcade, and plans began. The invitations I sent out were accepted by faith groups and forwarded to others. State and civic officials and community organizations joined us. 

The local NAACP, National Council of Negro Women and historically Black churches will lead the motorcade, and we have people joining us from as far as Fontana and Pasadena.

I did not, could not have expected this outpouring of love. I pray that the care with which we proceed underscores and amplifies our message: Black Lives Matter.

For more information or to receive a map of the staging area, please contact  Karen Vance at birdbance@yahoo.com.