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Hundreds gathered to march up Pilot Butte, the site of KKK cross burnings in the early 20th century. Organized by Central Oregon Black Leaders Assembly the “Take Back the Butte” peaceful protest, which happened on Juneteenth, culminated to a final moment at the top where the “bad juju” was lifted off the iconic Pilot Butte.

Additionally the protest looked to highlight the Black Lives Matter movement and pay homage to George Floyd. Juneteenth is a holiday that celebrates the final emancipation of slaves in America.

Take Back the Butte Protest

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Events highlighting Freedom Day and a march to take back the Butte

This article appears in Jun 17-24, 2020.

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Take Back the Butte

by Kyle Switzer, The Source - Bend, Oregon
June 24, 2020

<h1>Take Back the Butte</h1> <p class="byline">by Kyle Switzer, The Source - Bend, Oregon <br />June 24, 2020</p> <p><span class="fdnDropCap">H</span>undreds gathered to march up Pilot Butte, the site of KKK cross burnings in the early 20th century. Organized by Central Oregon Black Leaders Assembly the "Take Back the Butte" peaceful protest, which happened on Juneteenth, culminated to a final moment at the top where the "bad juju" was lifted off the iconic Pilot Butte.</p> <p>Additionally the protest looked to highlight the Black Lives Matter movement and pay homage to George Floyd. Juneteenth is a holiday that celebrates the final emancipation of slaves in America.</p> <div class="wp-block-group fdn-after-article-related"> <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Related Stories</h3> </p></div> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com/news/take-back-the-butte-12716965/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com&quot;&gt;The Source - Bend, Oregon&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.bendsource.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/cropped-Untitled-design-4.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://www.bendsource.com/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=33980&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://www.bendsource.com/news/take-back-the-butte-12716965/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/bendsource.com/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

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