Rally in Harlem against police brutality

A crowd of about 40 people gathered in Harlem Wednesday as part of an annual nationwide protest against police brutality.

Speakers at the demonstration, organized by the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, denounced what they described as an “epidemic” of shootings, harassment, and brutality committed by law enforcement across the U.S. The rally brought together a diverse group. Among those who participated were: Parents of people killed by the police; teenagers with the Ya Ya Network—a citywide youth organization that fights racism, sexism, and homophobia, works to oppose military recruitment, and advocates for women’s reproductive rights, among other issues; members of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP); activists with Make the Road by Walking, a Brooklyn-based group that advocates for civil rights, health care, and housing for low-income New Yorkers; a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW); and activists with The World Can’t Wait Drive Out the Bush Regime, a nationwide grassroots movement that opposes the policies of the Bush administration and demands the administration’s political ouster from office.

Margarita Rosario, who works in Highbridge, was one of the first speakers at the rally. In January 1995, Rosario’s son, Anthony, and her nephew, Hilton Vega, were shot and killed by NYPD Officers in the Bronx. No charges were filed against the officers. The killings became the subject of the 2001 Documentary, “Justifiable Homicide.”

According to the synopsis of the film on the Web site of Human Rights Watch, “Forensic evidence and testimony from witnesses reveals that Anthony Rosario and his cousin Hilton Vega were shot repeatedly while lying facedown.”

Rosario has spoken every year at October 22 rallies for the past decade or so, and on Wednesday she broke down crying as she recounted the fatal shootings of her son and nephew.

“When are we gonna get together and stop this epidemic? When?” Rosario asked. As she spoke, several people at a bus stop across West 125th Street responded approvingly, nodding or raising a fist.

Taking note of their reactions, Rosario addressed the bystanders directly. “You say ‘yes,’ but you’re not on this side of the street,” Rosario told them.

At least one person responded to her challenge.

“All this stuff gotta stop man,” Harlem resident Richard Kirkpatrick said, explaining his decision to cross West 125th Street and join in the protest.

Kirkpatrick said he had led one of the first marches in Harlem following the April acquittal of the three officers charged in the killing of Sean Bell. Asked why he felt more people had not joined in the protest spontaneously, as he had, Kirkpatrick replied, “When it happens to their son or daughter, that’s when they’re going to join us.”

Although statistics and high-profile incidents of police brutality suggest victims are often persons of color—while the officers involved are often white—Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) member Carl Dix said police brutality was caused by capitalism, and not simply racism on the part of individual officers.

“Cops are the front-line enforcers for the capitalist system that operates on the basis of exploitation and oppressing people, and needs to have people under control,” Dix said. “If it were just racist cops, they’d be punished when they acted on that racism.”

A bit later, Dix spoke into a loudspeaker as he urged Harlem residents to attend a program on revolution being held Sunday at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

As the protestors marched a short time later from the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building to Harlem Hospital, 18-year-old Dez Camara, of the Ya Ya Network, said it was important for youth to speak out.

“They say young people, we just like to sit back and complain,” Camara said. “But we’re actually taking initiative after school.”

Camara suggested many people declined to protest against police brutality out of fear. But he said protests like Wednesday’s could help to change that dynamic, and added that, over the years, he himself had come to see demonstrations as meaningful actions.

“When I was in 7th or 8th grade and I saw something like this, I would just laugh at them,” Camara said. “Now I see why they’re doing it.”

As the protestors passed West Harlem Fried Chicken on 341 Lenox Ave, an elderly female bystander noted the march had grown quiet. “Come on, let me hear you all!” the woman yelled at the marchers.

The crowd responded with energetic chants of “They say get back/we say fight back!”

Mathis Chiroux, an Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) member, who was one of 15 people arrested at a protest outside the final presidential debate at Hofstra University last week, told the crowd that police had violently pushed back the group of non-violent demonstrators; in the process, Chiroux said, police horses trampled his friend and fellow IVAW member, Nick Morgan, leaving Morgan unconscious. Chiroux also said that officers had knocked several others to the ground.

The Web site of NYC Indymedia shows photos of Morgan taken after the demonstration.

The IVAW vets and their supporters had been attempting to enter the debate site so that Chiroux and fellow IVAW member Kris Goldsmith could ask Barack Obama, and John McCain, respectively, one question each: Chiroux wanted to ask Obama if, given his stated opposition to the Iraq War, he would be willing to support military servicemen who refused to fight in Iraq; Goldsmith wanted to ask McCain about what he viewed as the candidate’s record of voting against funding for vets.

“We are all standing together,” Chiroux told the Horizon shortly before addressing fellow demonstrators, “to oppose injustices committed by the state on its own people.”

Speaking a few minutes later to the crowd, Chiroux linked police brutality in the U.S. with wars abroad.

“I oppose Americans oppressing Iraqis,” Chiroux said. “And I oppose Americans oppressing Americans.”

Juanita Young trial expected to end Friday

Closing arguments are set for Friday in the trial of Bronx resident and anti-police brutality activist Juanita Young.

Young is charged with obstructing government administration and attempted assault stemming from a November 2006 incident in which she was arrested at her home. But Young, who is 53 years old and partially blind, says she was the one who was assaulted : She says that after police arrived at her home in response to a 911 call placed by one of her daughters who had gotten into an altercation with another daughter, several officers barricaded her in her room, held her down, and struck her several times.

Young was hospitalized for several days, according to the October 22 Coalition To Stop Police Brutality, an organization with which Young is active. The Coalition is urging Young's supporters to pack the courtroom tomorrow, as well as Monday - -when a verdict is expected.

Young's lawyer, Geoffrey Stewart, told the West Bronx News Blog Thursday that the assault charge is based on the allegation that Young threw a container during the incident.

Young's experience with law enforcement has been bitter, to say the least. In March 2000, her son Malcolm Fergusson, 23, was shot and killed by the NYPD in Soundview; Fergusson's name was added to the list of unarmed men of color killed by the police. Young sued the city for wrongful death, and won: In June 2007, a jury awarded her $10.7 million. In October 2007, Young won a separate lawsuit against the city stemming from a 2003 incident in which she alleged police threw her down a flight of stairs while arresting her during an eviction. Young was charged with trespassing in her own home but was later acquitted.

Young's trial is set to resume at 9:30 am Friday in Part 06, Room 460 of the Bronx County Hall of Justice, at 265 E. 161st Street.