A protest planned for Thursday has been rescheduled as a rally for Aug. 2 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the city’s farmers’ market site at the corner of Washington and Jackson streets.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the rally after hearing from organizer Brianna Knox and other people speaking for and against the rally.

“This is not just for African-Americans; this is for everyone in the community to come together as one, because lately we’ve been seeing a lot on the news, due to police brutality and it’s turned into a race thing,” Knox told the board. “Everyone is trying to divide us and trying to make everyone section off, and it shouldn’t be that way. I’m having this because if the youth start something, then everyone will change.

“Youth are our future. We need more educators, more lawyers, more mayors, more judges …. If the youth don’t have the mindset, then we will have no one.”

John Shorter, president of the Vicksburg Chapter of the NAACP, said the organization is helping Knox with her rally, adding, “When a young person asks for assistance, we feel that you do your best to assist them in what they’re trying to do if it’s warranted.

“We do have problems here in Vicksburg,” he said. “(But) not like everywhere else, it’s not a racial thing.”

Shorter gave the board a handout outlining the NAACP’s targets for police reform, which included passing new laws to hold police accountable for misconduct, accurate data on police stops, community involvement in developing police policies, civilian oversight on complaints against police, policies on police body and dash cameras, and federal investigations of cases of police shootings.

“We only promote non-violent confrontations,” he said, “It’s not about violence, it’s not about race.”

Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said Knox had a constitutional right to hold the rally and commended her “for so eloquently explaining” her plan. He said neither Knox nor Shorter had misrepresented their plans for the rally, which he said comments he saw on Facebook pages “have taken all out of proportion.”

“Hopefully, today you’ve put it back into context,” he said, citing her meetings with Police Chief Walter Armstrong and Fire Chief Charles Atkins, both of whom approved the rally.

“I commend you for doing it, and I have every intention to vote for it,” he said.

Several residents, however, questioned holding the rally, saying they were concerned about the possibility of violence from outsiders.

James Davidson called the rally “not a peaceful protest; it’s an officer against the black being done wrong,” adding he realized there were some bad police officers, “just as there are good.”

“But you’ve got somebody in town that wants to do their protest, that’s one thing,” he said. “But when you bring a lot of out-of-towners that don’t really care about Vicksburg, then it’s going to get ugly just like it has in Dallas and all these other towns.”

Davidson said he has friends and family who are police officers, “So I know their job.”

“We’ve got a respect problem; people need to respect each other,” he said.

“We don’t need that (the rally) here,” he said.

Flaggs said he agreed with Davidson that Vicksburg is a different community.

“That’s the reason I believe we can have it and we can have it decent and in order,” he said. “As mayor and as part of this board, we’re going to do everything in our power, in our God-given power, to see that it’s calm. We’re going to do everything to see that it’s done peaceful and in decent order, and I have every intention of being there.”

Patricia Dennis commended Knox for wanting unity, but added, “When the outsiders do come in — and they will come in, because they come to every rally that is put on to help communities nowadays, and it generally turns violent, and it scares me for the youth of our town, the youth of our county, the businesses downtown.”

She asked Flaggs about the city’s plans to protect the businesses and the stores. Flaggs said he would not discuss the police or fire departments’ security plans, but assured Dennis they were in place.

Knox, a Vicksburg resident and student at Mississippi Delta Community College in Moorehead, filed a request to hold what she called at the time a peaceful protest to call attention to black-on-black crime and the lack of prosecution of crimes involving the deaths of blacks.