Indict! Convict! Send ALL Criminal Cops to Jail!
The whole damn system is guilty as hell!
The crowd gathered and chimed in.
Indict! Convict! Send ALL Criminal Cops to Jail!
The whole damn system is guilty as hell!
Stop Mass Incarceration gathered on the Manhattan side of the Staten Island Ferry. The destination was 202 Bay Street. In front of the Bay Beauty Supply store where Eric Gardner was choked to death last year on the 17th of July. Students greeted arrivers off the Staten Island Ferry with voter registration cards while wearing t-shirts saying, “Eric Garner can’t vote but we can.” One student stated that voting is extremely important and we are trying to register most protesters today.
“I Can’t Breathe” were the words Eric repeated eleven times. As a Police Officer choked Eric with his forearm. Citizens and Police Officers stood and watched Eric die.
July 17th marks one year and we are back on Staten Island with elderly women carrying signs “Black Lives Matter” and “Stop the War on Blacks” as they kept up with the mixed in age crowd. The Staten Island grand jury declined to indict police officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner. Several days before the year anniversary of Garner’s death New York City reached a settlement with the family of Eric Garner. There was an agreement to pay $5.9 million to resolve a wrongful-death claim over the killing by the police on Staten Island last July.
Carl Dix was present and vocal of the lack of change since the death of Eric Garner. “This act was unacceptable. Look up the history of lynching. This was a lynching. This was a festive occasion for those hungry to lynch. Even though there was a video and the killer cops still walked. This is about everyone that saw this. And the result was a slap in your face. And it is not just Eric Garner.” In 1996, Dix co-founded the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of Generation. Most recently, Dix has been a central figure in the campaign to stop the “Stop and Frisk” campaign aimed at opposing the New York City stop-and-frisk program to stop hundreds of thousands of people in New York City and frisk them for weapons, drugs or other items.
The family of Eric Garner and concerned citizens will continue fighting for just laws hoping that police officers who practice criminal activities are indicted and convicted.
Cynthia Turnquest-Jones
Cynthia Turnquest-Jones a co-host of People Before Politics Radio is an avid philanthropist. In October 2012 she launched Tha B.U.M.P. “Brown Urban Mother Partnership”, hosting an informational breast cancer session “Save the Women not the Boobies” inviting mothers from the community to sit and enjoy healthy foods while engaging in dialogue about breast cancer.
In addition to Tha B.U.M.P, Cynthia is a member of Delta Sigma Theta, Incorporated, Mocha Moms, Incorporated, MAMAiAM, the Episcopal Church Women, secretary for Mount Saint Michael Academy PTA in the Bronx, and a member of Graham Elementary School PTA.
