Unity Rally At Martin Luther King Park Begins And Ends In Peace
In the wake of two recent incidents community members raised their voices of at a special rally at Martin Luther King Park on Wednesday March 27, 2019.
The first incident was a police stop of two juvenile suspects on Lynch Ave SW resulting in one arrest. On March 11, 2019 an officer drew his gun on a fifteen and a sixteen - year - old male who didn't comply with after being stopped for walking in the street. The teens, both Hispanic, reportedly did not comply when ordered to take their hands out of their pockets.
The second incident occurred on March 17, 2019 when an officer used force to pull a male motorist from his vehicle during a traffic stop. According to police, the driver who is Black refused to show a valid driver's license and refused to tell the officer his name. He reportedly would not get out of the vehicle when instructed to do so by the officer, honked his horn and was apparently reaching for something in the vehicle on California St NW and National Ave. NW.
The March 27th rally was a call for unity among African Americans in Grand Rapids.
It was a call for stopping unjust treatment of Black youth during police stops.
It was a call for better police - community relations in Grand Rapids.
It was a call for the Black community to work on twelve key areas to bring about change in the community.
Concerned voices called for release of bad officers, and called for better police - community relations.
Protective and caring voices were raised on behalf of the well - being of the community's youth.
"This injustice will not stop until our community says that we are not going to put up with this any more, we're not going to take this anymore and we are going to fight back, whether it is economic boycotts or elections — but by any means necessary, because we are not going to take this treatment.
But at the same time, we do understand that even if you are wearing a blue badge and a police uniform, there is still a human being under there. I don't want to judge all police by the bad ones, but when you see a young man get hit 30 times and he is surrounded by six police officers and none of them pulled their friend off of the young man, then we have collusion and conspiracy for that issue.
We know that there are a lot of good officers that have saved some of our lives who are out here, but the bad officers have to go, because the young people who are getting beaten are our future leaders and we need them concentrating on their education, this global economy, technology, the children that they are bringing into the world and not full of anger because they have been beaten down by the Grand Rapids Police Department.
We refuse to put up with it anymore, and we are looking to better those relations." – Commissioner Robert Womack
"We did an press conference yesterday in front of City Hall in regards to a lot of the movements that are going on in the community. The 360 movement was created to make changes in the community by working in these twelve key areas: identity, education, child development culture, justice, business, physical health, mental health, outreach, family politics and media. The 360 movement is a network of committed individuals working together to give this community the CPR that it needs". — Devine Booker "As a group of people, we need to stand up and love one another and be concerned for one another. I am so concerned about my babies that I moved back to this ratchet city that I knew was apartheid. South Africa in America, USA, Grand Rapids." – Jewellynne Richardson
"What they like to do in general across the country is to wait out the community. What they do is to bet that after six months or a year, the Black community will quiet down and this is going to go away. What I would like to encourage you to do is to keep fighting the fight. Don't let it go away. You keep your foot on their neck until something changes". –Lamont Cole
"I would first like to say thanks to the Grand Rapids Police Department for representing this city; but things have changed; times have changed. The relationship that we once had with the police is now strained and we are trying to bring it back together with this rally.
Hopefully, this is not the last rally that we will have so that this community can be whole.
We are Black people and we come from a perspective of love and if we are approached with love, then you will receive love in return.
I want to build a relationship of love with the police so that we understand that we need the police; but we don't need the police to beat us down or to harass us and other things that make us afraid of the police. We want to let the police know that we respect you, but you have to respect us as well." –Tionne Cruz
At the start, the event was declared as a peaceful rally. It began peacefully, with prayer led by Bishop Dennis McMurray of Renaissance Church of God In Christ. The rally ended as it started — peacefully.
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