KINGSTON – Motorists on Broadway were
confronted by dozens of activists Saturday afternoon who rallied outside
Kingston City Hall in support of Baltimore brutality victim Freddy Grey,
who died in police custody last week.
Six Baltimore police officers are charged with murder in the incident, which resulted in public unrest and emergency curfews in Maryland.
The peaceful Kingston event, organized by End the New Jim Crow Action
Network (ENJAN), was marked by chants, placards, and a giant puppet show. Most of the participants were white, although the crowd consisted of all ethnic groups. Nearby, a pair of cops on bike patrol observed from a careful distance.
“We’re rallying here to show our solidarity,” said Kingston civil rights activist Ismail Shabazz, who heads the local chapter of Black Panthers for Social Justice. “We’re glad we have a number of people here, because they understand that black lives matter.”
“They’re not angry, but they’re upset that these police abuses are still happening,” said ENJAN spokesman Odell Winfield. “We have met with the police chief and the mayor, and they’re receptive to what we’re saying.”
Shabazz: “black lives matter”
Protestors gathered in front of City Hall
A second public forum led by local ministerial alliance takes place June 9 at New Progressive Baptist Church in Kingston.
Winfield said they have brought their message to residents from Newburgh to Poughkeepsie, Rosendale and New Paltz. “We’ve been bringing the issue back to the Hudson Valley because people have been asking what is going on. How can we help?” he said.
“This issue is not an issue that has just come up, but has been an issue for over 400 years, where our people were enslaved,” noted Pastor Doris Edwards of Riverview Missionary Baptist Church. She said that the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. would have been disappointed to see how society has “slipped back into a mindset of injustice.”
Pastor Dhasan McComb of New Beginnings Church agreed.
“It’s a shame that when a black man comes into the neighborhood, and has to worry about getting pulled over by the police, he’s afraid of being shot,” McComb said. “We’re not rioting, but we are protesting for justice, for the lives of men who have gone, and the lives of men who may get shot in the future. We ask that you stand with us, walk with us, protest with us, and go against the forces that seek to hurt people.”
