by Thomas Altfather Good
 “Black Lives Matter” (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
|
NEW YORK — December 13, 2014. Several thousand New Yorkers took to the streets on Saturday to express outrage at police for their role as trigger-men in the numerous deaths of unarmed African American men and boys — and at the judicial system for its history of exonerating police involved in these killings. |
| On a cold, windy, Winter day, protesters - a multi-generational, multicultural mix - marched from Washington Square to One Police Plaza. Their beef? The list of young Black men — one only 12-years-old, not yet a man — killed by police is lengthy and growing with alarming regularity. As if that wasn’t enough to bring protesters into the streets prosecutors seem unable to convince grand juries that sufficient probable cause exists for an indictment, often despite damning evidence. District attorneys appear inept, unable to obtain a mere indictment — not a conviction, an indictment. From Ferguson, Missouri, to Staten Island, New York, district attorneys seem incompetent. In Staten Island, Dan Donovan failed to secure an indictment for the Eric Garner homicide — in a town where it is often said that any DA could indict a ham sandwich. The possibility of complicity has been raised, further fueling discord. And on Saturday 30,000 protesters descended on Manhattan to express their discontent with the defenders of civilization. The solidarity and civility of the marchers, as good an example of diversity as you would find anywhere, made many observers, including this reporter, proud to be a New Yorker. |
 A multigenerational set of Sisters (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
 The ever-expanding List (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
 A march marshal (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
 A legal system — and a chokehold? (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
 For some activists it’s been a long struggle (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
 The UAW contingent (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
 Legal observers from the National Lawyers Guild (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
 “Proud to be out in the streets today with my UAW sisters and brothers and New Yorkers of conscience as we marched for justice for Eric Garner and all those who have suffered at the hands of police misconduct and prosecutorial indifference.” - Scott Sommer, UAW Region 9A Subregional Director (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
 A UAW activist from Local 2325 (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
 “I am Eric Garner”` (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
 “Stop Police Brutality…” (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
 A circle of hope (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
 No more Mr. Nice Guy… (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
 “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” (Photo: Thomas Altfather Good) |
|
“The failure of the District Attorney in Staten Island to obtain an indictment in the killing of Eric Garner at the hands of the NYPD is not only shocking to the conscience, but an absurd and outrageous result in light of publicly available evidence. Recent incidents of abusive police actions in Ferguson, Staten Island, Julie Kushner, Director, UAW Region 9A |
|
Thomas Altfather Good is a proud member of the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981 |
