They handed out sheets of paper with names to passersby and to those who joined in, but they did not want people to just read them. Instead, they wanted the people to say them. “Say Their Names” is a weekly vigil aimed to honor, remember, and say the names of Black people who were killed by police.    

Ann Shirazi and Jenny Heinz, two members of Rise and Resist, an organization committed to standing up against hatred and discrimination, collectively decided to hold a vigil every Friday at 5 p.m. on 96th and Broadway. The idea is to provide neighbors in the Upper West Side a place to stand together and stand up for what they believe in without having to worry about public transportation and large crowds during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Things like this go off the front page so quickly,” Heinz, 77, of the Upper West Side said. “We wanted this to be an ongoing vigil for people to be able to say their names.”

Volunteers alternated reading the names out loud for the public to hear. After each name was read, Shirazi rang a bell to acknowledge that their name was said and heard. 

During a weekly Upper West Side vigil, Ann Shirazi holds a sign during a moment of silence for the amount of time that Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck. Photo by Nathan Morris

“We wanted to humanize these people,” Shirazi, 76, of the Upper West Side said. “They were not just names that you read, but they were also human beings that had a life before they died.”

Phyllis Cunningham, 82, of the Upper West Side has attended the vigil since the start. She said it is an opportunity to become aware of police violence directed at Black people. 

“The Upper West Side used to be more progressive, and then it shifted to be more conservative,” Cunningham said. “Sometimes you need to make people uncomfortable because maybe they will go home and actually think about it,” Cunningham said. 

There were mixed reactions during the vigil. While some motorists honked their car horns in support, sometimes others react with anger. 

“Occasionally we get a finger, and if we didn’t then we’d know we weren’t doing our job,” Shirazi said.

 One time Cunningham had a woman ask her for the list of names she was handing out but when Cunningham gave it to her, the woman crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it in a tree.

List of the names of Black people who were killed by police that’s handed out at the weekly Upper West Side vigil. Photo by Nathan Morris

“I would hope that when she got home, she thought about why she did that some more,” she  said.  

 Cunningham said that our nation is in one of the scariest times she could remember.

 “I thought we made so much progress, but I honestly do not know where we go from here,” she said. 

Heinz was not positive about the future of the country. 

“I am sad about where we are now, and for the future of the people and our planet,” she said. “Anger has been trying to keep my grief at bay.” 

Shirazi said she will keep fighting for change no matter how impossible it seems. 

“I hate to say this, but I think things will get worse because sadly, people of color are easy targets,” Shirazi said. “Still, you are doing this when you know there is a possibility that you won’t change anything or that things could get worse.” 

And she has a simple reason for not giving up.

“Because we can not,” she said.

The post Vigil Honors Black Lives Killed by Police appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

On May 19, Hong Kong extended its ban on public gatherings of more than eight people to June 4, the very day the Chinese government was accused of killing thousands before the Forbidden City gate 31 years ago. After the 30th annual vigil in 2019, numbers at the vigil this year were anticipated to remain high amid local protests against Chinese extradition bill, police violence and the recently proposed national security bill. 

The ban on public gatherings was later extended to June 18 due to sporadic community infections of COVID-19 in Hong Kong. Some Hong Kongers denounced the ban as a deliberate tactic to prevent the annual candlelight vigil for Tiananmen from taking place amidst reviving protests.

The organizer of the vigil, The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, called for individual vigils “wherever you are” on their official website. They planned to attend the vigil in groups of eight to avoid violating the public gathering ban, but police said attempts to split up into smaller groups would still be considered illegal, according to the South China Morning Post. 

As the sun set on the evening of June 4, silver barricades lay by the foot of the entrance at Victoria Park after members of the Alliance removed them. People attending the vigil  sat a few metres apart to observe social distance before more arrived. At 8 p.m., Hong Kongers holding white candles gathered in areas like Whampoa, Mongkok and Victoria Park despite the ban. 

This is the first occasion that the vigil was banned in Hong Kong. 

Typically, hundreds of thousands legally attend the vigil while internet censors in mainland China are stricter than usual on this day. Last year, on the 30th anniversary of Tiananmen, real-time comments on some mainland China’s video-streaming websites were disabled for the week. 

This large gathering came together after the island’s legislature passed a controversial national anthem law hours before the 30-year tradition. The Chinese national anthem law bans any insult of the national anthem, such as altering its lyrics or singing it in a “disrespectful way,” rendering protestors who use the Chinese national anthem in their protests illegal. 

Throughout the day, hashtags such as “#6431”, referring to the 31st year commemorating June 4th, and “#8964”, June 4th of 1989,and “#TiananmenSquareMassacre” trended on Twitter. Videos on Twitter also showed people wave protest flags and shout protest slogans. 

In Mong Kok, a district famous for nightlife and shopping, riot police arrived after 9p.m. covered with surgical masks and raised the blue flag, a familiar sight in Hong Kong to disperse protests deemed illegal over the past months. 

Shortly after the riot police left, plainclothes police officers subdued and arrested a few people after protesters tried to block roads after the vigil at Mong Kok. More than 3000 riot police officers were said to have been deployed to enforce the ban against public gatherings, according to the South China Morning Post on Wednesday. 

Secretary of State Michael Pompeo met with Wang Dan, Su Xiaokang, Liane Lee and Henry Li, high-profile survivors of the Tiananmen protests, in Washington and tweeted about the gathering ban on June 2. 

It starts; so soon. For the first time in 30 years, Hong Kong authorities denied permission to hold the #TiananmenVigil. If there is any doubt about Beijing’s intent, it is to deny Hong Kongers a voice and a choice, making them the same as mainlanders. So much for two systems.

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) June 2, 2020

The protests in Hong Kong have taken on a new agenda after China approved national security law that criminalizes succession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in Hong Kong. Demosisto leader Joshua Wong called on European leaders to “be more vocal on the expansionist communist party in China” While European leaders have not responded to China’s national security law collectively, the United Kingdom is set to offer three million Hong Kongers visas and pathways to citizenship. Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen also pledged to help Hong Kongers who wish to leave.

Meanwhile, vigils to commemorate Tiananmen were also held in Taiwan and Australia. 

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On the first anniversary of Hurricane Maria yesterday, many Puerto Ricans marched to Trump Tower from St. Bartholomew’s Church in Midtown Manhattan, angry at how the federal government has handled post Hurricane Maria efforts.

“They have been absolutely negligent,” said Mercedes Verdejo, 49, one of the protesters, who is from the Upper West Side.  She was joined by hundreds of other supporters.“I was actually trying to see if a government can be charged with negligent homicide.”

When the category 4 hurricane struck Puerto Rico, it destroyed everything in its path. Many residents didn’t have power, water, food and medical treatment for months. Villages have been struggling to rebuild. Thousands of families still need to cover their homes with blue tarps while they wait for repairs.  

Protesters believe that the federal government is to blame.

“They didn’t treat us like human beings,” said Carlos Matos, 20, who is a refugee. “They didn’t show any type of preparation.”

After the storm, Matos was separated from his family for two weeks unable to communicate with them at all. Eventually, he fled to New York. He was one of the students that NYU offered undergraduate services to.

He said that Puerto Rico had enough available shelters, but no one was prepared and they had no resources.

“I remember listening to truckers,” said Matos. “People ready to transport these resources to all parts of the island, saying we have been here for days and they have not told us what to do and have not allowed us to move through the island to get these products to the people.”

Many protesters waved Puerto Rican flags, heads sign that read, “Puerto Rican Lives Matter” and “Boricuas Remember” as they walked to Trump Tower about a half a mile away. They were upset about the recent comments from the Trump Administration about hurricane relief efforts.

“Why are we Americans when we need to fight his wars, pay taxes, for everything else but for this we don’t serves justice and we don’t deserve help,” said Yolada Volden, 57, as she held a Puerto Rican flag.

Earlier this month, George Washington University released  a study that showed around 3,000 people have died due to Hurricane Maria. This is including those who were affected after the storm. The findings were 46 times larger than what the government previously estimated back in December.

President Trump responded to the study, tweeting that “3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico” and that he thinks it was an “incredible unsung success.”

“He is out of line, he has no filter,” said Volden. “He is totally inappropriate as the president of the United States. I am just ashamed to say that I am an American and that he is my president.”

Protesters were also very concerned that these circumstance will have more of a long term impact on the mental state of victims.

“More struggles are regarding mental health,”said Mantos.”The trauma has taken on my family’s bodies and their minds. They don’t have the time to heal because the economic crisis has them working all the time.”

Even through all the hardships, Puerto Ricans are standing together to rebuild  their state and each other.

“We will help the Island rebuild,” said Marilyn Molina, 57, whose parents were trapped in their home during the storm. “If I have to invest every vacation I take by going back to Puerto Rico to build the economy, that is what I will do for the rest of my life.”

The post Anger remains one year after Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Dozens of people gathered in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and chanted “I watch your son, you watch mine.” “Enough is enough.” They held signs that read, “Youth Matter, Black Lives Matter.”

They rallied, they marched, they held vigil  yesterday in memory of Carey Gabay and the 94 Brooklyn victims of gun violence. Carey Gamble served as an attorney in Governor Cuomo’s administration, and was killed by a stray bullet during a West Indian Day celebration on Sept. 17th.

City officials, residents, chaplains, community outreach organizations, and residents of all races, walked a mile, praying and chanting to Ebbets Field.

Marcher, Devine Alexander of St. Albans, Queens, is a member of Guns Down Life Up (GDLU), an organization that works to dissuade youth from turning to guns. Alexander, who was once an inner city kid himself, understands it can be hard to escape violence. He believes there are better ways to cope with the struggle inner city kids may face. His group provides mentoring and an outlet for kids to have someone to talk to.

Devine Alexander is a member of Guns Down Life Up (GDLU) an organization that aims to dissuade youth from a gun-violent lifestyle. Crown Heights, Brooklyn. photo by Taisha Henry.

“There’s a lot of unsaid reasons why kids go the way they go, maybe not being financially secure, not having a place to live, or just no no one to talk to, “Alexander said. “So we’re here just to set an example that you can change your life and be a prime citizen of society”.

Alexander believes that his organization and others like it, provide action and change in the community. He said he has seen kids in his organization move away from a violent lifestyle and lead others to do the same.

“We’re trying to start a mindset when they’re very young to educate them, that guns do kill people and guns are dangerous,” he said.

Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo, one of the officials who led the rally, believes that boroughs should have an office dedicated to gun violence with responders who come within 72 hours of a gun-violence incident.

As of June, 72% of New York City’s murder victims were killed by guns, a 15% increase from last year, according to a New York Daily news article.

And according to NYPD’s weekly crime statistics, between September 7 and September 13 there have been 33 incidents of gun violence in Brooklyn, and 51 incidents city wide.

Cumbo is also working to gain funding for Operation SNUG, a project funded and implemented by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, which aims to end gun-violence.

Febe Kennedy who marched with Dr.Martin Luther King believes that the youth need to learn respect and love before any real change can happen. Photo by Taisha Henry

Feber Kennedy, a Coney Island resident, who attended the rally said, that the most important thing that young people need to learn is to respect and love one another.

“I’m one of the old folks, I remember marching with Dr. King,” he said. “We had love back then and I think the love needs to continue up here.”

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