The protest in Mott Haven was part of a widespread response to police violence prompted  by the death of George Floyd. An 11 p.m. curfew was declared on June 1 and became an 8 p.m.  curfew on June 2 . During the June 4 protest, as the new curfew approached, police blocked off the protesters’ route. This tactic, referred to as kettling, caused the group to redirect their path, leading them right into a police trap, effectively preventing them from exiting the area before curfew.  

“We became trapped,” protester Andom Ghebreghiorgis said. “A deliberate action was planned by the police to stop us prior to the curfew. There was a lot of uncertainty, folks weren’t sure what was going to happen. We thought if we were just talking to the cops, they would let us go.”

HRW reviewed 155 videos and interviewed 81 participants from the Mott Haven protest and  found evidence of at least 61 injuries caused by police.

“Based on this research we were able to document the extent to which the assault in Mott Haven was intentional and in clear violation of international human rights law,” Ida Sawyer, Crisis and Conflict Director at HRW, said. “In all of our research we found no evidence of threats or acts of violence by the protest organizers or protesters. To the contrary, the protest was peaceful until the police responded with violence.” 

 This particular police crackdown has become known as one of the most aggressive examples of their interference in Black Lives Matter marches in New York City. Protesters who experienced the incident, paint a harrowing picture of the violence. 

“We felt like we were being trampled,” Ghebreghiorgis said. “I heard refrains that I had only seen on TV from previous police murders, ‘I can’t breathe, you’re going to kill us’.” 

The police arrested at least 263 people. The arrests included 16 Legal Observers from the National Lawyers Guild and medics. Legal observers and medics were formally exempt from the curfew and the NYPD’s arrest of these groups was a direct violation of the NYPD Patrol Guide. The police have not said whether they are investigating these violations. Chief of Department Terrance Monahan did not respond to a request for comment. 

“The internal mechanisms to hold police accountable are completely obstructed from public view,” Julie Ciccolini, a researcher at HRW, said. “The system has been designed to prevent any real scrutiny. It’s the police policing themselves.”

Most protesters were charged with unlawful assembly, a Class B misdemeanor. As of January 2020, police officers  in the state of New York are not allowed to make arrests for misdemeanors. Instead, officers are supposed to issue a court appearance ticket unless the offender meets a narrow list of criminal exclusions, such as having outstanding warrants. In spite of this law, protesters were detained for hours without cause. 

“We were in our cuffs and it was an extremely hot day, [so we all had] our masks [around] our necks,” Ghebreghiorgis said. “We were in close proximity in this police van with no protection from the coronavirus. We ended up waiting in the [van] for a couple hours. It was clear that they had no plan to process all of us.”

 The Bronx District Attorney has dismissed the unlawful assembly charges from the protest, but some protesters still face charges and will appear in court on October 2. Over 100 lawsuits have been filed against the NYPD for their handling of this incident.  The costs of the arrests continue to mount. 

 “Initially there is the cost to deploy two helicopters and scores police officers and supervisors that day, including significant overtime cost,” Sawyer said. “The department spent $9 million more on overtime than they spend on an average day. The largest cost will likely come from the resulting misconduct complaints, investigation, and lawsuits. We estimate that this operation will cost New York City tax payers at least several million dollars.”

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 La Morada is a restaurant that multitasks. From the kitchen, flautas, enchiladas, mole, tacos are served up. In their dining room, the tables double as a community space, where the words “No Mas Deportaciones” and “Black Lives Mattered” are painted on doors and corners, where a flyer saying “Vote” and “Resist” is plastered repeatedly on the Mott, Haven, Bronx entryway.  

Last night it served as the venue for the Bronx Museum’s second installment  of their Bronx Speaks series, a program that combines art and social justice. Neighborhood women,street vendors, chefs, activists, teamed up with art collectives to trace their journeys to Mott Haven, their home. Throughout the night speakers took turn sharing what the community of Mott Haven meant to them. For the outsiders, from the art collectives, it was an opportunity to share why they became involved.

Yajaira Saavedra, the daughter of the owner of La Morada is one of those women who needed space to express her fear and frustration at the way her neighborhood is changing.  “As an undocumented immigrant, I can’t rely on the NYPD,” Saavedra said, her voice shaking. “I felt safer when they weren’t everywhere. I feel safer when it is just my community.”

She spoke at length about the need to fight back against the gentrification in the neighborhood, that an increased police presence was a danger to a largely black and brown community, to a community of immigrants, street vendors, and working class people.

Yajaira anecdotes are reflective of the neighborhood’s statistics: Mott Haven is 72 percent hispanic, and 25 percent black. Of the 94,000 residents in the neighborhood, 36 percent have a limited proficiency in English. Mott Haven has the highest percentage of adults who have not completed high school in all of New York City and 46 percent of the district lives below the federal poverty level. The neighborhood has the highest rate for child asthma in the whole city,  nearly three times the city average.

Her sister, Carolina Saavedra, the su chef of the restaurant, learned to cook in Mexico, at the Oaxaca Culinary Institute. Carolina was first in the first speaker in the series. Upon returning to the United States, she was dismayed to realize that her Mexican cooking experience wasn’t good enough for most restaurants. She looked around and saw the food of her culture, the precious mole which once used to be considered a gift to the gods, offered up in knock off restaurants for twice the price.

The art that Carolina made was for her children, and for the children she watched grow up in the neighborhood. She recreated “The Hungry Caterpillar” for the kids, and the culture she knew. The caterpillar munched on guacamole and rice and beans, not candy or sandwiches.

As she read her story, Carolina broke down in tears. So did many others who presented their art that night. A woman named Eutiquia Herrera, who sold coco helado immigrated to the U.S. from a poor, small village in Mexico. Juana Tapia, who learned to make her mother’s perfect mole sauce because she missed her so much, but could not return to Mexico – the mole was her only connection to home. Carmela, who made her art to smell like the flowers she misses in Mexico, and that she grows in the Mott Haven community garden.

David Keef, a war veteran and program director of the Frontline Arts group, used papermaking as a way to deal with his traumas – he taught the method to the women of Mott Haven, hoping to make a connection to the community and learn more about people different from him.

“As a veteran myself, I feel somewhat responsible and I feel guilt for the systemic racism, the nationalism and colonialism that America perpetrates,” Keef said into the crowded dining room. “I feel deeply betrayed by my country. A country that strips people of innocence and culture, a country that dehumanizes an entire population”

The betrayal Keef feels, one he tied to mass incarceration, increased deportations, and the criminalization of the poor – an average Mott Haven resident might have an experience with any, or all three, scenarios – Mott Haven has one of the highest incarceration rates in the city, nearly double the average for the Bronx.

For Keef, working with communities like Mott Haven was a way to teach his form of storytelling, one through art, to other people who would benefit from telling their stories. Mott Haven, which was recently almost renamed the Piano District in an effort to gentrify the area, is suffering from rising rents and increased costs at local retailers, a way to share personal experiences in a community setting was a needed catharsis.

Each woman could not separate the importance of their home, their community in Mott Haven, from the feelings of safety and happiness felt in their lives. All feared what gentrification and over policing could do to a community connected by street vendors.

“Who’s going to know us? Who’s going to see us? Who will we talk to?” Carolina Saavedra asked, while clutching the art that featured vignettes of her life.

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