A protest against racial injustice and police brutality took place Tuesday at the Greene County Courthouse in Jefferson.

Jefferson Mayor Matt Gordon tells Raccoon Valley Radio he was pleased with how the protest went on the downtown square.

“Everything that I was told, it was very peaceful, it was how a protest should be done (and) they were respectful of everything. And one good thing about small town Iowa is we can have things like this go on where they get their message across, and you probably know most of the people that are there protesting.”

While protest co-organizer Dale Hanaman mentioned at Tuesday’s rally that law enforcement was notified about the protest, Mayor Gordon says there were no concerns voiced to him from the Jefferson Police Department and zero thought that it would turn into a riot or that there would be looting. Gordon believes there is public trust with the local police department.

“We’ve got good relationships with our officers and the public. So I really and truly don’t feel that there’s many people fearful of the kind of brutality that you saw from the officer in Minneapolis. That’s a good thing about living here is if we have a bad officer we’re going to know about.”Gordon appreciates the work that not only the Jefferson Police Department does, but also the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.