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New York rally for Eric Garner: 'We don’t want any more Michael Browns' Thousands march in New York over Garner and Brown police deaths
(about 5 hours later)
Thousands of people gathered in the New York borough of Staten Island on Saturday, to protest near the spot where Eric Garner, an unarmed 43-year-old black man, was killed last month after white police officers used an illegal chokehold while trying to subdue and arrest him. Thousands of people gathered on Saturday in the New York borough of Staten Island to protest near the spot where Eric Garner, an unarmed 43-year-old black man, died last month after white police officers used an illegal chokehold while trying to subdue and arrest him.
As tensions continued to simmer in Ferguson, Missouri, over the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, by a white police officer earlier this month, up to 15,000 people were initially forecast to march in New York and rally to support the dead men and call for justice and fair policing. On Saturday a marshal at the event told the Guardian between 5,000 and 7,000 marchers were expected. As tensions continued to simmer in Ferguson, Missouri, over the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, by a white police officer earlier this month, up to 15,000 people were initially forecast to march in New York and call for justice and fair policing. On Saturday, however, a marshal at the event told the Guardian between 5,000 and 7,000 marchers were expected.
Crowds packed on to the Staten Island ferry alongside bewildered tourists out to photograph the Statue of Liberty, as activists and ordinary citizens of all ages and skin colours, from New York and further afield, headed to the gathering point close to where Garner was killed in July.
Protesters shouted “Hands up, don’t shoot” as they gathered at the protest, echoing the chant that has taken hold in Ferguson – some witness accounts say Brown had his hands up when he was shot dead in disputed circumstances two weeks ago.
T-shirts read “Black man walking, don’t shoot”, “Black lives matter” and “I have a dream”, in reference to the most famous speech by the assassinated 1960s civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
“I’m here today because I don’t want my nephews, who are aged one, two and three, to have to march when their generation grows up,” said Carolyn Butts, 47, who publishes African Voices magazine, as she headed towards the protest.“I’m here today because I don’t want my nephews, who are aged one, two and three, to have to march when their generation grows up,” said Carolyn Butts, 47, who publishes African Voices magazine, as she headed towards the protest.
“My grandfather lives in Norfolk, Virginia, Reverend David Butts, and he protested with Martin Luther King during the civil rights march in the hope that my generation would not have to do this. “My grandfather lives in Norfolk, Virginia, Reverend David Butts, and he protested with Martin Luther King during the civil rights march in the hope that my generation would not have to do this. I’m sad that I have to march today but after what happened to Eric Garner and everything going on in Ferguson it’s just too much. I’m not normally an activist but we don’t want any more Michael Browns.”
“I’m sad today that I have to march today but after what happened to Eric Garner and everything going on in Ferguson it’s just too much. I’m not normally an activist but we don’t want any more Michael Browns.” Rhonda Valerio, 44, brought her sons Justin, 15, and Randi, 17, from their home in the Bronx because, she said, she feared what could happen to them when they ventured out on to the city streets.
Police presence was light as the crowds began gathering. Organisers promised a peaceful protest and rally, at which the Reverend Al Sharpton and other political figures were scheduled to speak on Saturday afternoon. “I’m always in fear that they can be arrested just going to the grocery store on the corner,” she said. “I see it day after day in our neighbourhood. We’re not here against the police in principle – we need them – but we also need to stop them overreacting.”
Randy Tucker, a banker and president of the New York branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said there needed to be an increase in community policing, so officers got to know the people in the neighbourhoods where they both lived and served from childhood onwards. The crowds chanted “I can’t breath” as they marched through New York City’s perhaps least celebrated borough, echoing Garner’s reported last words.
He has held meetings with New York police chief Bill Bratton, in which they have discussed the controversial “broken windows” policing methods championed by Bratton, which involve police cracking down hard on minor offences as a strategy to prevent more serious crime. “I’m a surgical technician at New York Presbyterian Hospital,” said Valerio. “When someone says ‘I can’t breath’ you give them urgent medical attention, you don’t treat them like a dog.”
Garner was accused of trying to sell loose cigarettes on the street when police officers surrounded him; he struggled while being arrested and was put in a chokehold. He later died, apparently gasping repeatedly that he could not breathe. “I’m really impressed that the community came together today, from all over New York and other towns. As black youth our voices need to be heard. I saw the video of Garner being arrested, it was horrible,” said Randi.
“It’s important for white people to be here today, too, so that everyone protests together and they get rid of licensed killers among the police. We need to stop this kind of police brutality,” said John Breitbart, 61, a high-school teacher who travelled to the demonstration from the Upper West Side in Manhattan. “We need change,” said Justin.
Organisers planned to bring demonstrators in by bus. The march was scheduled to go from the site close to where Garner was arrested to the district attorney’s office in Staten Island, where the rally was planned. Garner’s widow, Esaw Garner, addressed the crowd, her voice catching with emotion.
“This is overwhelming,” she said. “We miss Eric so much. Thank you everyone for coming out to get justice for my husband and everyone else who has been a victim of police brutality. It’s not about white and black, it’s about right and wrong.”
Protesters packed in tightly outside Tompkinsville Park in the working class northeast section of the borough, on the spot where Garner was arrested.
“I’ve lived here for 20 years and I lost count of the number of times I was stopped and frisked by the police by the time I was in high school,” said Nate Jeffrey, 32, a mechanic with the city’s transit authority. He pointed to the long dreadlocks tied in a bunch down his back.
“My dreads are part of my identity and I want others to know that it is OK to look like this as a black man,” he said. “Corporate America is not particularly cool with the way we look and the way we talk, so I want young guys to know it’s OK and it should not be a cause for being arrested by police officers who are habitually aggressive.”
Signs among the crowd read “We stand with Ferguson”. Other signs read “Police, you’ve crossed the line”, “How would you feel if it was your child?” and “Please don’t kill me.”
Despite a current of anger running through the crowd, many were in a somewhat festive mood, perhaps inspired by organisers’ pledges that the demonstration would be peaceful and positive.
The police presence was noticeably restrained. Officers were in low numbers and principally dressed in bright blue polo shirts emblazoned with “NYPD Community Affairs”. Uniformed officers patrolled the demonstration as it marched across a section of the borough to a rallying point within sight of the Manhattan skyline.
Plain-clothes police officers were visible in the background and a small number of police helicopters buzzed overhead, but more obvious were the dozens of volunteer marshalls with simple armbands and baseball caps, telling the crowd where to go. Police officers told the Guardian no arrests had been made.
Three middle-aged female marshalls greeted demonstrators they knew with hugs and kisses.
“This crowd is here for justice for Eric Garner but there’s quite a positive attitude and I’m hoping it’s going to be peaceful,” said Coraminita Mahr, a volunteer marshall from Brooklyn representing the United Health Care Workers union. “We need restraint from the police in situations like Eric’s and Michael Brown in Ferguson – not a police officer acting as judge, jury and executioner – we need that kind of crime out of our police departments across the country.”
The veteran civil rights campaigner Al Sharpton called on the crowd not to oppose the police department per se, but to call on New York mayor Bill de Blasio to reform it. Sharpton urged the NYPD itself to “get rid of the bad apples”.
Randy Tucker, a banker and president of the New York branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) pointed out that a majority of the NYPD is now made up of minority officers.
“But the leadership is still white,” he said.
Campaign groups representing New York’s homeless, quakers, teachers and youth groups joined the march under overcast skies. Most were African American but it was a mixed crowd. Parents brought toddlers in strollers. Elderly people and children marched with banners. A veteran of the American Cavalry Regiment who served in Kuwait in the first Gulf War sat in a wheelchair and cheered on marchers.
“I’ve lived in Staten Island all my life. I served my country and these people are serving their city today,” he said.
Garner’s death, which was ruled a homicide by the city’s medical examiner, is under investigation by a number of public bodies; the Staten Island district attorney is preparing to bring the case before a grand jury.
One man watching the march go by was wearing a Harley Davidson cap and an NYPD T-shirt. He said he was there “to support the police unequivocally”. Giving his name only as Steve the man, who was white, said he understood why police officers appeared to jump on the back of Garner and one reached around his throat with his arm as they attempted to take him into custody.
“He was a huge man and he was resisting arrest, what else were the police supposed to do?” he said. “There is no reason for this protest, what purpose does it serve? The death was a tragedy but we have a court system and that will take care of this situation, not a demonstration.”
As the crowd marched slowly towards the Staten Island waterfront, however, chants of “Don’t shoot” and “Justice Now” rippled from front to back.
Men wore hoodies featuring a picture of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teenager who was shot dead last year. Another wore the civil rights era legend “I am a man”. Sha-King Campbell, 35, and his two young sons, Andre, five, and Josiah, six, cheered on the march with signs on their backs reading “unarmed civilian”.
“My boys look up to the police and I need them to know that not all officers are bad,” Campbell said. “But my father was shot by the police in a drug sting years ago and we never got justice.”
He added: “But we came today because we want to prevent violence and stop escalation when people get angry and the police behave badly.”
Josiah dropped his “Justice” sign and asked if it was time for ice cream.
Nine-year-old Carter Paterson, wearing a T-shirt quoting Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, said he was marching “because cops are abusing their power”.
“These people were not carrying guns when they were killed,” he said. “Trayvon Martin was innocent.”
Paterson said he wanted to be a scientist or engineer when he grew up. How could he express himself in such a mature way?
“He’s former New York governor David Paterson’s nephew,” said a nearby adult, half-apologetically.
Former Governor Paterson himself spoke to the crowd, listing victims of police shootings or assaults in New York going back to 10-year-old Clifford Glover in 1973.“We will march for all of them,” he said.
Sharpton, meanwhile, added another note on the day’s theme of peaceful protest, telling the crowd they were here “to build up, not to tear down”. But he added: “If you can do this to [Garner] you can do it to any citizen.”
The rally was also attended by Kadiatou Diallo, whose son Amadou was shot 41 times by police in the Bronx in 1999 – when he was unarmed. “The struggle for justice is long,” she said.
De Blasio did not attend the protest, but after leaving an event in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighbourhood he sent a supportive statement.
“I think that after an incident like this [Garner’s death], it’s very important that people express their concerns and that there’s a real dialogue about where we are going,” he said.
The subject of police tactics in New York is a fraught one, as Mayor de Blasio and police chief Bill Bratton face debate over the “broken windows” strategy of cracking down on minor crimes in an effort to prevent more serious ones.
One sign rising above the demonstration read: “Hey, Mr Cop, got no loosies on me now.” It was a sarcastic reference to Eric Garner’s alleged attempts to sell untaxed, single cigarettes - or “loosies” – on the street.
It was for this alleged offense that officers were attempting to arrest Garner when he was grabbed – in a way that Bratton has admitted was a chokehold – and was asphyxiated and died.