16 days in Queens: Black Lives Matter movement grows from Arverne to Astoria
/
Demonstrators in Astoria Park on June 1. Eagle photo by Christina Santucci.
By David Brand
The police killing of George Floyd touched off weeks of protests across Queens, where Black Lives Matter demonstrators have taken to the streets from Arverne to Astoria for 16 days and counting.
During overwhelmingly peaceful events, Queens activists and everyday residents continue to demand an end to racist police violence against Black New Yorkers, funding cuts for the NYPD and the enactment of various police reform measures.
At the same time, peaceful demonstrators in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan have faced violent responses from officers, a crackdown that only intensified following a few late-night looting incidents. Mayor Bill de Blasio imposed an 8 p.m. curfew that empowered the NYPD to break up demonstrations and arrest protestors en masse. Dozens of people arrested in the Bronx were sent to Queens Central Booking, and at least one person has been locked up for a week following his arrest.
But no curfew could contain the tens of thousands of New Yorkers who showed up night after night to keep the pressure on policymakers and call out white supremacy.
The movement has already achieved major milestones, like forcing state lawmakers back to Albany to repeal 50-a and compelling the City Council to take up a bill criminalizing police chokeholds — nearly six years after the death of Eric Garner, a Black man choked by a cop in Staten Island.
There is still much more work to be done to reverse centuries of institutional racism in New York City and elsewhere in the United States, but the movement is only getting stronger.
Here’s a look back at the past two weeks in Queens.
Jackson Heights protestors march to ‘Defund the NYPD’
Eagle photo by Rachel Vick
On the first Saturday of major New York City demonstrations, community members marched from Diversity Plaza in Jackson Heights to the 115th Precinct to demand the city cut the NYPD’s roughly $6 billion budget and divert the money to services that uplift communities.
“We need the New York City Council to step the fuck up,” said Sharmin Hossain, the political director at the justice organization Equality Labs. “We need them to defund the NYPD now.”
“You all need to call Corey Johnson, Mayor de Blasio — we need to organize every single elected across this country to stop accepting money from police departments,” she said.
Johnson condemned the NYPD’s use of force during the weekend of demonstrations, while de Blasio commended the response, even suggesting cops were correct in driving a vehicle into a crowd in Brooklyn.
“I’m out here because I’m tired of it,” said S. Sampson, a 28-year old black man from South Jamaica. “Cops overextend what they should do, and once I heard about a protest here I said ‘I have to step out.’ It makes me happy that everyone came together.”
“Growing up in Jackson doesn’t allow for racism, so to see it across the country there’s not an option to ignore it,” said 22-year-old H. Jare. “Our culture, we’re a community of immigrants so for us black lives matter, always.”
Demonstrators jam Jamaica streets, flood Flushing Meadows Corona Park
AP Photo/Seth Wenig
The next day, thousands of people took to Guy R. Brewer Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue to continue the protests against racist police violence. Hundreds of others visited Flushing Meadows Corona Park to gather before the iconic Unisphere.
During the marches, Dr. Jonathan Quash, director of the Men’s Center at York College, called out decades of over-policing in Jamaica, a predominantly Black and Latino community.
“Police brutality is detrimental to all people as it undermines relationships between the community and law enforcement,” Quash said. “We are living in an age where policing and policing techniques are in need of serious reform. I am truly hoping that Jamaica, Queens can be an example to the entire nation as to models of police reform.”
Some cops takes knee in solidarity
Photo via 103rd precinct/twitter
Deputy Inspector Vincent Tavalaro, the commanding officer of the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica, knelt with protestors along Jamaica Avenue during the May 31 demonstration.
The gesture of humility and solidarity came the same weekend as Brooklyn officers drove a police vehicle into a crowd of demonstrators and viral videos captured cops shoving and macing peaceful protestors. Meanwhile, some demonstrators became violent themselves, tossing bottles at police, smashing storefronts and torching squad cars.
Powerful vigil in Astoria Park marks fifth day of demonstrations
Eagle photo by Christina Santucci
On June 1, hundreds of people came to Astoria Park, carrying candles and signs with messages like “Racism is a Pandemic,” “White Silence = Violence,” and “I Can’t Breathe.”
They gathered at the foot of the park, along the East River, to read poems, sing songs and speak out against systemic racism.
One woman described the fear she feels for her three-year-old son, who is black, and another woman told the crowd about her husband, a lifelong activist who died last month from COVID-19. Several speakers talked about how they had not planned to speak or had never before attended a protest but felt the need to show their support.
Protestors head to Hollis for ‘Let Us Breathe Call to Action’
Demonstrators pack Hollis Avenue. Photo by James Johnson
A June 3 rally in Hollis organized by community activist James Johnson attracted hundreds of demonstrators, mostly young people, who took a knee in Hollis Avenue. The Let Us Breathe Call to Action was one of several daytime demonstrations across Queens in the first week of June.
“It was important to do a rally because we wanted to make sure we got our message across and make sure we were controlling our own narrative in Southeast Queens,” said Johnson, who runs the organization Opportunities for Southeast Queens Millennials.
“We wanted the Southeast Queens community to know that millennials feel this way. We’re hurting, we’re in pain. We want change now. And we wanted to do it on Hollis Avenue, a historic place in the Black community,” he added.
“This is how we roll in Southeast Queens.”
Marchers take the streets in Ridgewood, as NYPD looks on
Eagle photo by david brand
Even as cops cracked down on protestors in the Bronx, Manhattan and Central Brooklyn June 3, NYPD officers from the 104th Precinct in Ridgewood accommodated a group of about 2,000 demonstrators marching through Ridgewood and Bushwick for more than three hours.
Edwin Palat, a 25-year-old Bushwick resident, joined the march when he got out of work because he said he had been the victim of police violence and abuse on several occasions.
“I’ve been stop-and-frisked a number of times, tackled on top of a car,” he said. “This is my neighborhood. That’s why I’m out here.”
One man was arrested in Ridgewood, near the Myrtle-Wyckoff M and L station after he jumped onto a police vehicle, but the winding procession continued on, with cops blocking traffic to let them pass.
Lawmakers take up call to action at Borough Hall
Eagle photo by rachel vick
Nearly two dozen Queens elected officials gathered outside Borough Hall on June 4 to call on the state legislature to repeal 50-a and enact various police reforms following days of protests by their constituents.
“There’s no form of protest that white supremacy will approve of,” said Assemblymember Alicia Hyndman before a gathering of about 100 Queens residents and activist organizations. “We have to legislate our way to freedom.”
Hyndman stood alongside fellow members of the New York State Black, Latino, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, as well other local elected officials, including U.S. Reps. Gregory Meeks and Grace Meng, District Attorney Melinda Katz and State Sen. John Liu.
Public defenders pack Black Lives Matter rally outside Queens Criminal Court
Staff from the Queens Defenders address public defenders demonstrating outside the queens criminal court building. Eagle photo by David Brand
A few hundred public defenders and activists rallied outside the Queens Criminal Courthouse Monday to call on the city to cut funding to the NYPD, remove officers from schools and end racist police violence against Black and African Americans.
The demonstration was part of a coordinated effort by public defender organizations across the city and attracted staff from the Queens office of the Legal Aid Society and the Queens Defenders — whose attorneys and other staffers wore face masks emblazoned with the agency’s new closed-fist logo.
“Black people did nothing wrong,” said an 8-year-old boy named Jaden, who took the megaphone to address the crowd from the courthouse steps. “We’re only judged by the color of our skin and that doesn’t mean anything.”
All 7 Queens senators vote to repeal 50-a
State Sen. Leroy Comrie said he was proud to vote for the repeal of 50-a and the enactment of other police reforms. Photo courtesy of Comrie’s Office
After years of advocacy led by communities of color, the state legislature passed a bill to repeal 50-a, a section of state criminal law that has shielded police personnel records from review. Opponents of 50-a said the measure mask patterns of abuse by officers. The effort to pull the curtain off disciplinary files emerged as a short-term goal of demonstrators statewide.
All seven Queens state senators voted to eliminate the protection. Six of them — Leroy Comrie, Michael Gianaris, John Liu, Jessica Ramos, James Sanders Jr. and Toby Ann Stavisky — co-sponsored the legislation. State Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr., a moderate Democrat, also voted for repeal, issuing a lengthy statement to explain his vote.
The legislation, Addabbo said, “increases transparency amongst governmental agencies, improves public safety relations with the community, reveals the disciplinary records of law enforcement agents who are properly investigated for misconduct, while still protecting personal information of officers.”
There were also a few uninspiring moments related to 16 days of civil unrest:
Corona pols regret 'loot-out' false alarm
A corona business prepared for possible loot-out that never happened. photo by kat ramus
A group of young people tried to break into stores at Queens Center Mall on June 1. Three days later, Corona elected officials got wind of a similar “loot-out” planned for Junction Boulevard and issued an “emergency joint statement” to caution constituents. Their warning spurred a swarm of NYPD officers in the majority immigrant community.
But the “loot-out” warning was a false alarm based on some flimsy information shared on social media. Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, State Sen. Jessica Ramos and Councilmember Francisco Moya each said they regretted the warning.
“We should have responded differently,” Cruz wrote in an open letter published by the Eagle. “In hindsight, this wasn’t communicated properly and for that I regret any confusion, fear, and pain this may have caused folks.
NYPD sends arrested protestors from the Bronx to Queens Central Booking
Eagle file photo by david brand
A decision to arrest dozens of peaceful Bronx protestors and send them to Queens Central Booking left family, friends and activists confused for hours about the whereabouts of arrestees June 4.
While people awaited information about their locked-up loved ones, a group of activists gathered outside the Queens Criminal Courthouse to provide medical attention and pass out food and water the next morning.
By about 10 a.m., one woman said she had been waiting for her friends for six hours. Another woman sitting outside the courthouse said she wasn’t sure her friends would be released by the afternoon or if she would have to wait until the evening. She said she did not actually know if they were being held in Queens or somewhere else.
Public school teacher Andom Ghebreghiorgis was one of the demonstrators arrested after the NYPD used a controversial tactic known as kettling to corral protestors. He described the experience during an appearance on City Watch on WBAI 99.5 FM on June 7.
“I could hear a chorus of screams and it’s a sound I won’t get out of memory for a long time. People saying ‘I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe,’” said Ghebreghiorgis, who days earlier dropped his bid for a Bronx Congressional seat.
“It was a good 10 minutes of police just wailing on people,” he added.
Ghebreghiorgis said he and dozens of demonstrators were packed in Department of Correction buses and transported to Queens Criminal Court, where they waited outside in the rain for hours.
“It was just totally overrun,” he said. “When we got to Queens and saw there were like 300 people in a line that was moving at a snail-like pace, you could see the NYPD did not have the capacity or were not prepared to deal with the amount of people they seemingly intended to arrest.”
After hours in Queens, Ghebreghiorgis was taken to Brooklyn Criminal Court, where he spent roughly 12 more hours locked up.
‘Whitestone Wolverine' tries to run over Black Lives Matter demonstrators
SCREENSHOT VIA CRUZING_ON_A_CRUZ/ INSTAGRAM
An enraged driver with four blades strapped to his arm threatened to kill demonstrators during a protest against police violence and racial injustice before attempting to hit them with his SUV in Whitestone on June 2.
Multiple cell phone videos showed the middle-aged white man, Frank Cavalluzzi, brandishing a bladed weapon attached to his arm and screaming at demonstrators as he stalked them on foot along the sidewalk, where posters condemning the police killing of George Floyd hung from a chain link fence.
Other videos show him returning to his vehicle and driving the car onto the sidewalk, sending the demonstrators running for their lives.
“He literally made a crazy U-turn, parked in front of them and started chasing them with his 4 knife weapon,” said one witness, who filmed the incident. “After that, he got back into his car and GOT ON the sidewalk, stepped on the gas pedal and started chasing those kids with the intent of running them over. Then he just got away.
Cavalluzzi was arrested and charged with attempted murder. A few days later, another driver tried to run down protestors at the exact same spot in Whitestone.
Additional reporting by Sherry Shivprasad, Rachel Vick and Christina Santucci.
