Protesters in Harlem during Martin Luther King Jr. Day demonstration seek to root out ‘racist cops’
Hundreds of people gathered at Malcolm X Blvd. and Central Park North for a 'Dream4Justice' march to the United Nations. Elsewhere, protesters filled Foley Square in lower Manhattan and staged a die-in at Grand Central Terminal.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Monday, January 19, 2015, 5:33 PM
Updated: Tuesday, January 20, 2015, 2:46 AM
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Protests against police brutality were held throughout the city Monday, drawing hundreds of New Yorkers into the streets.
The biggest demonstration began in Harlem, where 400 people gathered at Malcolm X Blvd. and Central Park North for a “Dream4Justice” march to the United Nations.
“It's not fair that, after decades of marching, we don't have justice,” said Linwood Childs, 19, a University of Maryland student, who is African-American.
“It's hard for me to even speak about it because it hurts so much.”
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The protesters at the “Dream4Justice” march planned to walk to the United Nations.
Councilman Jumaane Williams addressed the protesters from a podium at the march’s start.
“Martin Luther King called himself a disrupter of peace. Other people called him a rabble rouser, a race baiter, and did not want him in the community,” Williams said. “We are doing the best of the traditions of Dr. King to raise and elevate the consciousness of people.”
MICHAEL GRAAE/NEW YORK DAILY NEWSNew York City Councilman Jumaane Williams said that the protest held on Monday was 'the best of the traditions of Dr. King to raise and elevate the conciousness of people.'
Joseph Guzman, who was shot 11 times by cops who killed Sean Bell in Queens in 2006, told the crowd he wanted to effect change for his children.
“We have to find a way to fix this, this is out of control right now,” he said.
“I have five sons — three by birth and two you couldn't tell me wasn't mine,” he said. “And if my son is in danger, is being hunted, I, in turn, become the hunter.”
MICHAEL GRAAE/NEW YORK DAILY NEWSTamika Mallory, a board member of Gathering For Justice, spoke at a press conference before the march in Harlem on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Protesters also filled Foley Square in lower Manhattan and staged a die-in at Grand Central Terminal on Monday night.
The protests were largely a reaction to the high-profile police killings of Eric Garner, 43, who died in a police chokehold in Staten Island in July, and Michael Brown, 18, who was shot to death by a cop in Ferguson, Mo.
Stan Williams, 41, of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said he joined the "Dream4Justice" march in part because it was Martin Luther King's goal “to continue the fight for justice under the law of for people of all colors.”
CARLO ALLEGRI/REUTERST-shirts with the image of Martin Luther King and with the words "I can't breathe" were being sold during the protest, showing the anger amon the African-American community that still exists over the death of Eric Garner, who was killed by police in 2014.
“I stand in solidarity with everyone here, no matter their age or the color of their skin,” said Williams, who is African-American.
Esther Rosado, 58, of Park Slope, Brooklyn, said she joined the march because “we need all of the communities to come together to make a change in a peaceful way.”
“To do it on Martin Luther King Day makes it all the more important,” Rosado, who is white, said. “It reminds us what he fought for, but also that we've gone back and not forward.”
The demonstrations were among a dozen held in the city to mark Martin Luther King Day.
