Fort Greene Peace Joins Millions March NYC

Tens of thousands of people streamed into Washington Square Park from across New York, New Jersey and beyond on Saturday, December 13, for the Millions March NYC rally for police accountability — and among them was a contingent from Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.

Nearly a dozen members and friends of Fort Greene Peace teamed up with fellow activists with Brooklyn For Peace, marching from Barclays Center along Flatbush Avenue and Fulton Street before catching the subway into Manhattan.

They were armed with placards displaying the faces of Brooklynites — men and women — killed by police officers since the 1980s. Among them were recent victims such as Akai Gurley and Eric Garner, as well as others such as 13-year-old Nicholas Heyward Jr., Patrick Dorismund, Duane Brown, and Shantel Davis.

Also displayed was Shem Walker, a 49-year-old Clinton Hill man and U.S. Army veteran who was shot and killed in 2009 by an undercover officer who was sitting on Walker’s mother’s stoop and who family said Walker tried to evict, suspecting him of drug-dealing. No grand jury was ever convened to consider charges against the officer, and in June of this year, the city reached a $2.25 million settlement with Walker’s family over his death.

“It was right on Lafayette [Avenue], west of Classon [Avenue],” said Ed Goldman of Fort Greene Peace. “For us, it’s been personal ever since he was shot. And before that was Michael Stewart.” Stewart was a graffiti artist and Pratt Institute student who died in 1983 from a heart attack following his arrest in a subway tunnel for spray-painting graffiti.

Seeing a local movement reflected on the national scale, said Goldman, “suggests the possibility to make a huge change instead of our voices shouting in the wilderness.”

For Clinton Hill resident Cosmo Palmisano, the Millions March NYC rally was his first and he was inspired to get involved because “it’s very frustrating to see what’s happening. Akai [Gurley’s] funeral was right in our neighborhood, at Brown Memorial Baptist Church. Enough is enough. It’s an unjust system and the more we get together, the greater our numbers and voice.”

Karen Malpede of Clinton Hill said it’s also important to make sure the next generation is heard.

“I teach at John Jay [College] and it’s not a separate struggle for me, my students and my neighbors. It’s important to take a stand and ask for justice,” said Malpede, who has written plays about violence and the militarization of police. “Also, for a community that feels under seige, it is important to stand up with and for students of color to say they’re not alone.”