Coast to Coast Outrage and Protest in Solidarity with Baltimore and Freddie Gray

April 30, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On Tuesday, and then even more widely on Wednesday night, protests erupted from coast to coast demanding justice for Freddie Gray, the man brutalized and killed by Baltimore police. At the beginning of the week, April 27, a powerful uprising shook Baltimore and the nation. As Carl Dix put it, the uprising in Baltimore “delivered an unmistakable and powerful message that the time is over when people will just take the unending and outrageous murder and brutality carried out by police. The torture and murder of Freddie Gray for nothing—and the ongoing, infuriating lies and cover-up—is only the latest in a long line of such horrors in not only Baltimore but all over the U.S. From North Charleston, SC to Ferguson, Missouri from Pasco, Washington to New York City and beyond—THIS MUST STOP! (see Statement of Carl Dix, 8 pm April 27, 2015: On the Uprising in Baltimore).

The Baltimore uprising was viciously condemned by Barack Obama, CNN, and the powers-that-be, who called the youth they lock down, beat down, and have no future for “thugs” – which more than one commentator from different perspectives has called out as being just an ugly euphemism for the “n-word” – to dehumanize and isolate those who rose up.

In that light, the nationwide protests that drew people of all ages, different nationalities, and significant numbers of college students who in NYC and other places defied mass arrests and highly public displays of police brutality, were particularly inspiring. Those protesting Tuesday and Wednesday came from all walks of life, and differing, and sometimes mixed perspectives on the uprising in Baltimore, but were united in demanding an end to police murder of Black people.

The following, collected from correspondents, social media, and mainstream news sources gives a partial picture of some of the protests. As we post this, we are getting news of more and spreading protests tonight.

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In Baltimore on Wednesday, thousands, including many students from Baltimore and DC campuses marched, including hundreds of students from Johns Hopkins University who joined a protest called by the Black Student Union and Hopkins Feminists. After marching through campus, they headed downtown to join the main citywide protest. They were joined by hundreds of high school and other college students, meeting at Penn Station then heading to a rally at City Hall.

Thousands rallied in Union Square in New York City. Eric Garner's daughter Erica was among speakers. Almost immediately, the protest was viciously attacked by the NYPD as people moved into the street. Press reports indicate over 140 people were rounded up, and photos of people from elderly protesters to a Black youth attacked for dancing are all over the media. Never-the-less, the protesters broke out of police encirclement and split into groups that shut down traffic from one side of Manhattan to the other. Those in the streets were making a statement through signs and chants that “Black lives matter” and “I mourn broken backs not broken windows.” One grouping made it to Times Square chanting “We got your back,” others streamed onto the West Side Highway and blocked the entrance to the Holland Tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey. Among the protesters: family members whose loved ones were killed by police, Black youth who face police brutality every day, and others standing with them – activists in different movements, college students, lawyers, and parents with their children. Signs from the Stop Mass Incarceration Network were all over, and the huge Stolen Lives banner from revcom.us (PDF / JPG ) was prominent in the crowd.

Thousands – college students, youth, Arab American rights activists and people of all ages -- marched in D.C. beginning in Chinatown and ending in front of the White House on Wednesday. A George Washington University student was quoted saying: “ I don’t want to see the fight die out just because we’re getting tired of the same thing over and over again.” Protesters continued to march and block traffic late into the night.

Over 1,500 marched in Minneapolis led by a group of Black men carrying a coffin. Protesters blocked a major bridge.

In Boston about 800 people marched on Wednesday – among them activists, people from the hood and students from many area colleges. "We stand with Baltimore, we stand with Ferguson, we stand with Staten Island," said speaker Nikea Ramsey, whose brother, Burrell Ramsey-White, was killed by Boston police three years ago. "This pain is real," she added. "I just had a baby, three months old, never going to meet his uncle."

In Chicago, protesters shut down an intersection near the University of Chicago for twenty minutes after a four-mile march that defied police attempts to stop it.

In Houston Wednesday evening several dozen people, mostly African-American, came together to express solidarity with the defiant ones in Baltimore. Also out in numbers: pigs in helicopters, pigs on horses, pigs in paddy wagons. A young barber saw the protest on tv and rushed down as soon as he got off work. Residents of the neighborhood came out.

In downtown Denver on Wednesday night police in riot gear with military-style weapons attacked the crowd of 100 with pepper spray. At least five protesters -- including one whose face was bloody after being assaulted by police -- were arrested.

Hundreds marched in San Diego Tuesday night.

April 28 150-200 people in the course of the evening took to the streets in Ferguson, Missouri to stand in solidarity with the Baltimore Uprising. The protest was young, with many high school age youth. And it was very defiant. The demonstration gathered on W. Florissant Ave. where the uprising against police murder began 9 months ago in response to the police murder of Michael Brown. People marched and repeatedly shut down traffic on W. Florissant. There were repeated confrontations with the police trying to disperse the protest. Tear gas was shot at protesters. People commented they had not been seen this level of mass defiance on W. Florissant Ave. since the grand jury’s non indictment of Darren Wilson for the murder of Mike Brown last November. The next night, there were two protests in Ferguson. According to CNN, 300 people took part. "

In Seattle, people held a march and die-ins downtown. There were also protests in Tulsa.

 

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