The sign on Denitta Brown’s vehicle read: "My grandchildren will not suffer from my silence."

"If I don’t speak up today, they will suffer worse," said Brown, a grandmother of two, from Springfield. "My silence won’t allow it."

Sunday’s Black Lives Matter Springfield solidarity procession attracted well over 2,000 vehicles, according to Springfield Police who helped direct traffic.

The procession comes days after the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis Police officer, though some in Sunday’s crowd remembered other victims, like Breonna Taylor, an emergency medical technician who was killed in her Louisville home on March 13.

Because of the sheer length of Sunday’s procession, the route had to be lengthened. Cars like Brown’s were still parked in the lot at Ninth and Adams streets an hour after the procession stepped off.

"This is the safest thing we could come up with to show solidarity and to speak out on the importance of black lives," said Khoran Readus, vice president of BLM Springfield.

Mayor Jim Langfelder, who earlier came out with a joint statement with Police Chief Kenny Winslow, was present Sunday. Ward Ald. 2 Shawn Gregory told Sunday’s gathering that "we’re going to bond together, just like we’re doing today, black, white or green."

Andrew Barnes, a patrol officer with the SPD, allegedly called Gregory a "f—ing idiot" in a Facebook post. The officer has been reassigned and faces an internal affairs investigation.

This story will be updated.

Contact Steven Spearie: 622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/stevenspearie.