Monday, January 5, 2015
A group of demonstrators including Bev, Jenny, Joan, Marty, Mercy, Nancy, and Tibby carried signs provided by We Will Not Be Silent.
What Do We Want? Justice!
Each sign had a slogan on one side and the name of a black person killed by the police or by white terrorists on the other side. You probably recognize the names of Mike Brown and Akai Gurley and know how they died. Carole Robertson was killed when the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed at 10:19AM, Sunday, September 15, 1963 by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Carole Robertson was 14 years old when she was killed.
Around 8:30PM a group of demonstrators left Grand Central Terminal and marched chanting to Times Square. When we stopped, one woman was called on to speak to the gathering crowd of onlookers. That is where I learned that the woman carrying the Akai Gurley sign was his aunt.
Since the whole damn system is guilty as hell, where do we begin?
Here are some thoughts. What are yours?
- Have special prosecutors in charge of grand juries in cases where a police officer has shot an unarmed black person.
- End the criminalization of nonviolent behavior.
Changes in policing are not the only way to solve problems.
- Maintain facilities in NYCHA housing.
- Raise the minimum wage.
- Reverse the slide into extreme income inequality with progressive taxes.
What else?
– Eva-Lee Baird
for the Granny Peace Brigade
Granny Peace Brigade 