Hands Up!
Written by Javon Chasten / Photo by Clay Banks
What is a protest? According to Google a protest is “a statement or action expressing disapproval of or objection to something”. A protest can be made in so many ways; kneeling, sit ins, bus boycotts, posts and tweets, marching. All powerful statements that send a message or spark a conversation. However what makes a protest, or who rather, are the people!
Red, Black, and Green. Those were the colors chosen by Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. for the Pan African flag. A flag that has become a common sight in the streets across the United States of America. States that seem far less united recently than the country’s name would suggest. One of Garvey’s plans and dreams was to facilitate African American migration to Liberia. Almost 80 years after his death, and African Americans, and all people of color, are fighting for our liberation here on American soil. Today thousands of modern day freedom fighters and revolutionaries have flocked to the streets of the United States, and streets around the globe, to demand the freedom and right for Black people everywhere to live without the fear that our skin color will make us targets. That it will no longer be open season for us as if we are doe’s and buck’s in a forest.
Signs in the windows of stores, homes, and apartments reading “Black Lives Matter” can be seen all around. Workers standing outside of storefronts cheer on those marching. Tenants hang outside their apartment windows banging pots and pans to show their support of protesters. In the sea of those marching are people of all colors, ages, occupations, and backgrounds. A beautiful sight of togetherness and camaraderie. Good samaritans hand out water, snacks, and food. Everything from peanuts to vegan empanadas were given to protesters who were tired and covered in sweat from the glaring sun above. At one point the heavens seemed to part, granting those marching a refreshing shower for a few moments. Rain would not deter anyone from marching to get their messages across, that the systematic racism of old will no longer be tolerated and blindly accepted.
Thousands of hands raised in solidarity to signify the many Black and brown unarmed men, women, and children who have died in front of the guns of trigger happy police officers. Names like Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, Breonna Taylor and Philando Castile can be seen written on signs raised all around you. The name of George Floyd is shouted through the streets in unison. His is just one of many names on a sad, yet long, list of people who died at the hands of police brutality. A brutality that is all too common for Black and brown people. Historically police rarely receive any type of real punishment for their acts of violence. It seems like they are held to lower standards than that of the average American citizen.
There is no comprehensive government data on the topic, but most, if not all, independent studies show that Black people are killed at a disproportionately higher rate than that of any other race of people in America. Mappingpoliceviolence.org, which uses data from 3 databases - Killed by Police and Fatal Encounters, and the U.S. Police Shootings Database, says that 99% of police killings from 2013-2019 went without a conviction. The site also states that in 2019 police killed 1,098 people in America. Of those 1,098 people, Black people killed account for 24% of those deaths, despite only being 13% of the American population.
Many of these deaths came from false raced-based 911 calls. An old trend that has gained new attention thanks to the advancement of technology in the form of camera phones. By now I’m sure we’ve all seen at least one video of an outraged white woman threatening to call the police on Black people for seemingly no reason. Some of which are quite hilarious, but its origins are sinister and heinous. The story of Emmett Till comes to mind. A young 14 year old boy who was falsely accused of flirting with or whistling at a white woman in a grocery store. Till was kidnapped, beaten, mutilated, and murdered. His body was thrown in the Tallahatchie River, and left there for three days before it was discovered. Today we’ve seen Black people threatened with calls to the police because they were barbecuing with family in a park, walking into their apartments, or like Ahmaud Arbery, jogging in a neighborhood. Being Black should not be suspicious and make someone a target.
The persistence of the people has begun to pay off though and progress has been made. One of the focuses of the New York marches was to repeal 50-a, which was a state law that did not allow the review of personnel records of police officers, firefighters, and corrections officers. Therefore not allowing police misconduct records to be seen by the public. On June 12th however New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation into law that repealed 50-a, bans police chokeholds, and prohibits false race-based 911 calls.
That has not stopped the call for continued progress and reform. The marches have not, and will not stop there. As long as police brutality goes uncharged and unpunished, the people will not and should not let up. So long as unjust laws remain written, we must fight to rewrite them. Change is the only constant, and the time for change in our system is now!
Javon Chasten is an artist and writer born and raised in the Bronx.
To see more work and get updates follow him on Instagram and Twitter .