BROOKLYN, NEW YORK - Several hundred children and their parents rallied in the midday sun Tuesday in New York City in support of George Floyd and racial equality.
“I want my son to see firsthand what it means to stand up for people’s rights,” said single mother Evie, 42, who brought her 2-1/2-year-old son, who is white and Latino.
Brittany, 32, a white woman from Brooklyn, was there with her 9-month-old biracial daughter, Simone. She said she and her black husband have discussed how and when to start talking to their daughter about racism.
“I’ve heard it’s never too young,” Brittany said. “It will be a conversation to be had. It’s not something to protect kids about.”
The diverse crowd gathered outside the Brooklyn arena that has been the center of the borough’s protests for the past two weeks. The children had signs that asked, “What kind of world will you leave me?” A black boy in a stroller held a sign saying, “I am not a threat.”
Signs show support for racial equity at a rally in Brooklyn, New York, June 9, 2020. (Margaret Besheer/VOA)
They are calling for justice in the death of George Floyd, 46, an African American man who died in police custody May 25 in the U.S. city of Minneapolis after an officer knelt on his neck for nearly 9 minutes. Floyd’s funeral took place Tuesday in his hometown of Houston, Texas.
The young protesters assembled under the arena’s marquee, which displayed a quote from U.S. civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “The time is always right to do what is right.”
“It’s actually a really big deal,” said 9-year-old North, about why children should protest racism.
Maebel Gebremebhin, 33, came with her three sons. As a black mother, she said she has a lot of anxiety about the world she sends her boys out into and worries a lot about the future.
“I want my kids to be able to grow up and become men, and then to become old men, and then to become grandfathers and great-grandfathers,” she said, emotion catching in her throat. “The way that the world is now, I don’t know if that is a possibility for them. I don’t know if they will make it until adulthood or teenagehood or great-grandfatherhood. I don’t know if that’s a possibility for them — just because they are black.”
Grassroots organization Warriors in the Garden handed out fruit, water and snacks, and helped children make signs to carry as the group biked and walked to the Brooklyn Public Library.
Organizers had supplies on hand for children to make signs at a rally for George Floyd in Brooklyn, New York, June 9, 2020. (Margaret Besheer/VOA)
“You’re never too young to be an ally,” Derek, one of the organizers, told the crowd. He said they are determined to get legislative change, including more transparency in police disciplinary records, and to shift funds from the city’s police department to youth and education programs.
“It’s not right that teachers throughout the country have to go through more vetting processes than people who have life-threatening weapons,” Chris Muckle, 30, a city teacher and protest organizer, said of the shroud of secrecy around police disciplinary records. “It’s not right. It’s not right.”
On Tuesday, New York’s City Council was expected to review four reform bills, including one that would ban the police from using chokeholds on suspects and another ensuring police display their shield numbers and ranks.
New York Mayor Bill De Blasio said he broadly supports the proposed legislation and is confident they will be able to move forward on it.