Protesters plan rally on how Black lives can’t breathe in New York

BY DERON DALTON

On April 14, we’re going to revive the spirit of Ferguson, that spirit of refusing to suffer the brutality of the system in silence. And we’re going to TAKE IT HIGHER,” said Carl Dix of the Revolutionary Communist Party, a co-initiator with Dr. Cornel West of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network. “We have to get back out into the streets to declare that we’re not backing down, we’re not going away,” according to the organization’s Facebook page. Photo Courtesy of Stop Mass Incarceration Network

Dr. Cornel West, co-founder of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, focused on ending police violence, called for a national day of action on Tuesday, April 14. Occu-Evolve, an organization focused on economic justice in New York, in solidarity with many other organizations is protesting police brutality.

A diverse group of 11 Occu-Evolve organizers gathered at 60 Wall Street Atrium on Friday, April 10, and discussed plans for the upcoming protests. “We have been working with issues dealing with police violence and police brutality,” said Sumumba Sobukwe, 47, leader of Occu-Evolve. “We have members that are part of Stop Mass Incarceration Network that made the call for this citywide, national, international action.” Photo BY Deron Dalton

Protesters are expected to rally outside of the New York Daily News at noon because the Daily News organized donations to the families of slain NYPD officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos exceeding the goal of $800,000, but not the families of slain New York black men Eric Garner and Akai Gurley.

Garner died after NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo put him in a chokehold in Staten Island on July 17. He was not indicted.

Rookie NYPD officer Peter Liang accidentally fatally shot Gurley at a housing complex on Nov. 20. He was indicted.

Protesters are expected to occupy the subways and march to Union Square at 2 p.m., and continue the protest against police brutality.

“We should not be fearing the cops when they are here to protect us… but you got some bad apples that’s involved in the police department,” said Joseph Sellman, 66, a member of Occu-Evolve. “And we need to weed them out.”

Stop Mass Incarceration Network works to end police brutality, and Stop and Frisk, a NYPD practice of stopping and questioning black or Latino pedestrians, and frisking them for weapons and other contraband.

“Not only are they abused with stop and frisk in the city, but it’s also about the killings of black and brown men in this city,” said Ale Murphy, a member of Occu-Evolve and Stop Mass Incarceration Network, who is in her 50s.

“We’re saying here at Occu-Evolve that we can’t breathe being it for gentrification, affordable housing, minimum wage… and we are not going to take anymore,” said Joseph Sellman, 66, member of Occu-Evolve. “And we’re going to make that point Tuesday of this week.” Photo Courtesy of Occu-Evolve.

According to some of the protest’s organizers, a number of issues — including racial profiling, low wages and gentrification of their neighborhoods intersect with the Black Lives Matter Movement.

“We’re saying that there’s a connection to all of these issues that goes deeper than just police brutality,” said Sumumba Sobukwe, 47, leader of Occu-Evolve.

“A lot of black people are getting pushed out of their homes because of raising rents,” Sobukwe added. “It’s an overall attack on black people to push them out of New York City and out of out of other cities where they have been historically and traditionally, to bring in people who have more money.”

Sobukwe said black residents of New York City are struggling to pay the increases in rent and feed their families.

“Gentrification is affecting for the most part black and brown people because they’re trying to push us out of Manhattan, from Brooklyn and pretty soon from the Bronx,” Murphy said.

Sobukwe said the issue of police brutality affects all black people regardless of gender, sexual orientation and lifestyle.

“We want to also have solidarity from other races and people as well,” he said. “People who just care about justice.”

In addition to Tuesday, a protest is scheduled for Wednesday, April 15, in Columbus Circle at 5 p.m. for raising the minimum wage to $15.