Protests in Montclair Call for Police Reform, Body Cams, Citizen’s Review Board – TAPinto.net
MONTCLAIR, NJ – Community activists and residents of Montclair staged a peaceful march and protest on Saturday in honor of George Floyd. In Floyd’s highly publicized death which occurred while he was in police custody in Minnesota. Protests sparked outrage across the nation following his death, as the video went viral showing three officers sitting on a handcuffed Floyd, who cried out multiple times that he couldn’t breathe.
Floyd had been allegedly arrested for passing a counterfeit bill and died after being handcuffed and pinned to the ground with the officer’s knee on his neck, even though he said he could not breathe. The officer, after a national outcry that included violent clashes with police in some cities, has subsequently been charged with second degree murder.
As the crowd of more than a thousand people peacefully gathered at Nishuane Park for a brief program, former Montclair students sang the Black National Anthem and spoke of their experiences with discrimination in the community.
Maxi Lopes addressed the crowd to discuss her experience growing up in Montclair. The 2015 Montclair High School graduate said that there are two Montclairs.
She said, “I’d be lying to you if I said we live in a perfect community. Our town is known for being diverse, but what you don’t know is that we all don’t live in the same Montclair.”
Lopes continued, “As a child I struggled with playdates because every time I wanted to have a playdate with one my friends, their parents never wanted it to be hosted at my house, because I lived on New Street.”
She added, “It created an insecurity within me that I stopped inviting kids over to my house and I only went to theirs. At that young age, it begins to create a narrative, because now you are constantly playing with their toys, at their house, going by their rules and their power dynamics. Suddenly you are inferior.”
She also spoke of being the only black girl at a slumber party, at the age of 12, where she was the entertainment for the group’s ridicule.
“We need to teach our children that the pigment of their skin makes them no better than the next person. I’ve been angry and tired of the constant battle of being profiled and mistreated for being black. We aren’t even safe in a place as sacred as our homes.”
She went further to say, “Things are not OK. Stop asking us how we are doing, because you already know the answer to that question. Ask us what you can do to help and stand 10 toes down with us through the battle.”
Adarian Sneed followed by leading the singing of the Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice.
At the end of the program, the crowd, led by organizer Abraham Dickerson, marched down Harrison Avenue to the Montclair Police station on Bloomfield Avenue. They met up with Larry Hamm, activist, US Senate candidate and President of People’s Organization for Progress.
Attendees included Police Chief Todd Conforti, Deputy Chief Will Young, Mayor Robert Jackson, Mayor-Elect Sean Spiller, Sheriff Armando Fontoura, Essex County Prosecutor Ted Stevens, Councilor Renee Baskerville, Councilor Russo and other community leaders joined protest organizers to raise awareness and to call for significant reforms.
Hamm called for defunding of the police department, body cams, a citizen’s advisory board and with the aim of redirecting law enforcement dollars to other programs.
To a cheering crowd, he said, “Two weeks ago, officer Chauvin had his knee on the neck of George Floyd, strangling him to death. He cried out, I can’t breathe….he cried for his mother.”
A resident of Montclair for 30 years, Hamm said it was the proudest day of his life. “To see all of the people out here, black, white, yellow, red, brown…We’re all here united…and we’re angry. There’s nothing wrong with being angry. We’re outraged. There’s nothing wrong with being outraged. And we’re furious….about the death of George Floyd, Breonna and Ahmaud.”
“We’re going to take our anger, take our fury, take our outrage and turn it into energy to end the scourge of police brutality in this country.”
The rally included chanting of slogans, cries for justice for Floyd as well and other victims of police shooting. After Hamm’s moving speech, protesters kneeled in the street for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, which was the amount of time Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck.
Hamm went further to call for the choke hold to be outlawed. “We want the choke hold to be outlawed throughout the state of New Jersey and the United States.”
We want racial profiling outlawed in New Jersey and the United States.”
“We want police departments to lose their federal funding if they don’t report their police brutality cases.”
“Do you know that modern police forces, as we know then in the United States today, originated out of the slave trade? They were slave patrol then and they are slave patrol now.”
Hamm went further to call for a police review board in the United States and outlawing of the chokehold in Montclair.
“It is going to take months for them to put Chauvin in jail…”
“This must not be your first and last demonstration, this must begin a movement.”
Chief Conforti and Deputy Young also kneeled with the crowd.
Many of those in the crowd were of a diverse array of cultures, but had come out in support of the cause and expressing outraged by what they saw as injustice. Dickerson had stated online that he wanted to organize a protest and march arm-in-arm with the protesters.
As they concluded and marched down Bloomfield Avenue towards Lackawanna Plaza, the crowd began to chant “No justice, no peace” and “Black Lives Matter.”
Though there were other smaller gatherings in the community since Floyd’s death on May 25, this was the first opportunity for the greater community to come together, raise their collective voices and advocate for justice and equality.
Other police departments including Irvington and Millburn had been called in to assist in safety efforts and closing down streets.