"No Justice, No Peace": King’s Student Accounts of Black Lives Matter Protests in NYC and LA
Photo by Rachel Freeman
With hands raised high into the air and eyes clenched shut, Shá Sanders, King’s senior and President of the Table, the student organization at King’s created to give a voice to minority students, stood in front of the Barclays Center to protest police brutality and the murder of George Floyd. The tear gas released by police officers into the predominantly peaceful crowd clouded her vision. An officer walked towards her demanding she leave the premises immediately. Then, as she walked away, stopping just momentarily to help a girl who had tripped behind her, she was struck down in the ribs by an officer’s baton.
“I’m never going to say ‘all cops are bad,’” Sanders said. “I’m going to say that they’re all complicit.”
During the Black Lives Matter protests at the Barclays Center on May 29, some demonstrators notably threw water bottles at the police, prompting the release of pepper spray and over 200 arrests. Thousands attended the protest that started in Downtown Brooklyn and ended in Lower Manhattan, seeking justice for George Floyd and other Black lives that have fallen victim to police brutality.
This year, 1,028 people have been shot by the police. The shooting of people of color tends to be disproportionately higher than that of white people, with Black Americans accounting for 13 percent of the population, but encountering twice the rate of police shootings.
People across all 50 states have engaged in protesting after the death of George Floyd, the second black victim of police brutality in May publicized in the media.
“I would say to the people who don’t understand why we’re doing what we’re doing, I want them to put themselves in my shoes,” Sanders said. “They tell us, ‘peacefully protest,’ and that’s what we’re doing. We still get sprayed and we still get hit. It seems like what they really want is to say, ‘shut up.’”
Sanders noted that she did witness some looting and rioting after escalation during a peaceful protest.
“From the jump, it was all pretty peaceful,” Sanders said. “I’ve seen some looting, but I seldom see it. When we marched yesterday through SoHo, I saw a couple of boarded up shops, but not as much as the media makes you believe.”
Though Sanders did not see it often, looting and violent protests have been sweeping the nation from Minneapolis, MN, the home of the late George Floyd, to New York City. Some protestors have commited arson while others have vandalized private property. This kind of protesting has been discouraged by public officials, including President Trump, who called the protestors “thugs” and predicted that the looting could lead to “shooting” on Twitter. President Trump has also been tweeting the phrase, “LAW AND ORDER” on repeat, attempting to condemn and discourage the protests that have turned violent.
King’s sophomore, Cheekie Payton has been peacefully protesting in Los Angeles as an ally to the black community. Her appearance resembles a white woman, though her father is Hispanic and has experienced the negative effects of police brutality firsthand.
“When I was growing up, he would tell us stories of all the times he would get pulled over by police and get thrown onto the curb, harassed, and treated unfairly,” Payton said. “My white mom never really dealt with that at all.”
Both Sanders and Payton have been protesting for police and justice reform, working not to abolish the police, but to refine the system. Payton and Sanders both advocated for stricter universal licensing and laws for police in the U.S..
Payton has attended protests across LA, hoping to use her “privilege” to help those protesting around her. Just like Sanders experienced, Payton witnessed a woman get hit with a baton during one of the peaceful protests.
“I understand that I do have privilege in this country,” Payton said. “I am a white female. I will never understand what they have been through and what they will go through if there isn’t change.”
While Payton protested in LA, she witnessed a black man protesting and yelling at one police officer. After a few minutes, the police officer came closer and lifted his baton. Before the cop could strike, she stepped in front of him and raised her hands. The police officer immediately lowered the baton.
“The police backed off,” Payton said. “It was so horrifying to see it in person. Just because I look a certain way, they weren’t going to hurt me.”
Sanders, who had been hit with a police officer’s baton, was almost immediately met with an ally. As she laid on the ground, a white man came in between her and the officer who had hit her. He helped her up and directed her to two other allies who offered her saline solution for her eyes.
“I am the President of the Table and work with the Ally Initiative and that, to me, is what an ally has always been,” Sanders said. “It is someone who doesn’t just post a black square on Instagram, but the kind that says ‘if you’re not free, I’m not free.”