Above: Demonstrators laid down in the middle of the street in Cleveland protesting police killings across the country. (Photo by Enrique Correa/Fox 8 News).
Note: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in November 26th article, White People Feel Targeted by the Ferguson Protests—Welcome to Our World, published in TIME Magazine explained what these protests are about:
“The people of Ferguson, and across the country, are not protesting against white people or police officers, they are protesting against the kind of racism that is so embedded in various social institutions that it’s invisible to all except those it affects. They are protesting a blind faith in any institution when the facts don’t warrant that faith.”
For these protests to be effective they must continue until there is evidence that the system is seriously responding. Uncompromising persistence for justice is demanded by the times we live in. KZ
No End In Sight as Protests are Planned for Upcoming Week
Demonstrations continued Saturday night in New York City and across the country, as protesters raised their hands and voices to decry abusive police tactics in light of the growing number of unarmed black men who have been killed by police officers.
Picketers swarmed New York City’s Grand Central Terminal and Times Square, four nights after a Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict white police officer Daniel Pantaleo for the chokehold death of Eric Garner, and not quite two weeks after a Missouri grand jury refused to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for the shooting death of Michael Brown.
The protesters were also out honoring 28-year-old Brooklyn dad Akai Gurley, whose somber funeral was held Saturday, after he was shot dead by a NYPD officer on Nov. 20 in a Brooklyn public housing project stairwell.
Mass die-in at Grand Central right now. #EricGarner #AkaiGurley #BlackLivesMatter #ICantBreathe (alexqarbuckle insta) pic.twitter.com/RJGLAwFoL3 — New York City Alerts (@NYCityAlerts) December 7, 2014
Times Square protest #ShutItDown pic.twitter.com/sHylwm24nk — Andy Campbell (@AndyBCampbell) December 7, 2014
Riled up demonstrators flocked into the aisles of the Times Square Toys “R” Us, picking up plastic guns from the shelves in a nod to the toy pellet gun that 12-year-old Tamir Rice was holding when a rookie officer fatally shot him in Cleveland on Nov. 22. “We want all people treated equally,” Manhattan resident Taylor Azure said.
#forever21 #EricGarner #ShutItDown #nyc pic.twitter.com/DK0VKwIAKc — Andy Campbell (@AndyBCampbell) December 7, 2014
Earlier in the day, about 50 supporters gathered at the Louis H. Pink Houses in Brooklyn, where Gurley was shot to death.
“The cops are supposed to be there to help us, but instead they’re killing us,” Rosetta Jordan, 65, told The Huffington Post. Passionate protests also played out across the U.S.: In Davidson, N.C., more than 200 people interrupted a Christmas event by sprawling out on the ground in a street, an increasingly-common protest tactic known as a “die in.” A similar demonstration was held in Tampa.
A woman shouted “Hands up” and ~100 people replied “Dont shoot” and hit the ground, silent. At C.H. park @TB_Times pic.twitter.com/1ysL9IuHHS — Josh Solomon (@Josh_Solomon15) December 6, 2014
Protesters gathered outside a Seattle police station.
During a moment of silence a #Seattle #Ferguson protester holds a sign outside @SeattlePD HQ. pic.twitter.com/r4sGVT9d7y — Ken Lambert (@SeaTimesFotoKen) December 6, 2014
In Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, protesters of all races flooded streets and public spaces, calling for fair and equal treatment from police.
Peaceful protests in LA #BlackOutHollywood | filmed by @ItsErinGold: http://t.co/SOPvFSI65Y — A.A. (@_anhelica) December 7, 2014
In California, protesters shut down a major San Francisco transportation center and marchers filled Berkeley streets.
#BART: Station closed in North Berkeley due to protest. #MichaelBrown #Ferguson #ICantBreathe — ABC7 News (@abc7newsBayArea) December 7, 2014
Even in Anchorage, Alaska protesters marched holding signs on snow-covered thoroughfares.
About 120 people winding through downtown #Anchorage chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot.” pic.twitter.com/QQcz9JxxoS — Devin Kelly (@devckelly) December 7, 2014
In Cleveland, angry demonstrators expressed fury about the death of 12-year-old Rice.And in Phoenix, protesters decried the shooting death of Rumain Brisbon, yet another unarmed black man who was killed, this time after a police officer mistook a pill bottle for a gun on Dec. 2.
Tensions have been running high throughout the country after it was revealed that Wilson would not be indicted for killing Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Protests inFerguson were at times violent, but most other cities have held almost entirely peaceful demonstrations — with cries of “Hands up, don’t shoot,” “I can’t breathe,” and “Black lives matter,” richocheting from coast to coast.