WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES AUGUST 27, 2020 7
voices during opposing Woodside protests
of events with the understanding
that it’s really about educating the
community,” Frutos said. “Once
they realize what sort of oppressive
system they’re supporting, we know
they’ll come to our side.”
About a mile away, around 100 Blue
Lives Matter demonstrators lined
the sidewalk of Greenpoint Avenue
near the intersection of Greenpoint
and 39th Street.
While many demonstrators had
come out on the late summer weekend
to show support for the 108th
Precinct, others were there to see
how the clash would play out.
“It’s in my neighborhood. It’s Saturday,”
said Jay Gold, who marched
with the Blue Lives Matter group.
Gold added that he believed that
defunding the police, a major tenet
of the Black Lives Matter movement,
is “absolutely ridiculous.”
A couple marching with the group
who requested their names be withheld
for safety reasons, agreed.
“The police are necessary and part
of being in a city that’s safe,” they
said. “We feel the rhetoric and the
message has been lost.”
Flanked by countless police officers
and trailed by at least eight police
cars, the Blue Lives Matter group,
which was primarily comprised of
older, white people, began to march
northeast around 11:05 a.m.
As the Blue Lives Matter group
marched, Sunnyside residents
shared mixed reactions to the
demonstration.
“People have freedom of speech,”
said Marconi Alexandria, who
watched the march from the sidewalk.
“I actually thought there
would be more people.”
Others found the march offensive,
including two women eating lunch
outdoors as the marchers walked
by.
“It’s embarrassing,” said June Choi.
“There are a lot of minorities in the
neighborhood and this march is so
disrespectful.”
The Blue Lives Matter march arrived
at Sabba Park around 11:30 a.m.,
to find the Black Lives Matter group,
which was a younger, more diverse
coalition of supporters, already
there and assembled.
Sitting on the ground, blocking the
most direct route to the center of the
park, demonstrators held signs reading
“Please Google ‘over-policing’”
and “Black people are saying stop
killing us, y’all saying, ‘but.’”
For about a minute, the two groups
stood opposed to each other in silence.
Slowly, pro-police demonstrations
began walking on the outskirts
of the park, an area that Black Lives
Matter protesters had not blocked.
The two groups silently melded
into one in the center of Sabba Park a
few minutes later. Black Lives Matter
protesters stood next to Blue Lives
Matter protesters until leaders of the
pro-police group began to speak.
“My wish today is that you see
some of these officers protecting
both sides, see them for who they
are,” one of the pro-police organizers
said. “I hope that both sides realize
that we’re all human.”
All was calm until Councilman
Robert Holden, who voted against
the city’s June budget because of cuts
made to the NYPD, took the mic.
A Black Lives Matter protester
blasted a police siren through their
bullhorn when Holden began his
remarks.
“The Black Lives Matter protesters
haven’t lived through the bad
times of New York City,” Holden
said. “We have and we have to back
the blue.”
At one point, Black Lives Matter
demonstrators began to play speeches
by famous Black racial justice
fighters, including Malcom X.
As a Blue Lives Matter demonstrator
spoke about the dangers of
defunding the police, a recording of
Gil Scott-Heron could be heard asking,
“Who will survive in America?”
The competing speeches drowned
each other out.
About 40 minutes after arriving,
pro-police supporters began to leave.
The NYPD officers who had escorted
them to Sabba Park remained, as did
the Black Lives Matter protesters.
Once the park was theirs, Black
Lives Matter protesters began to
chant, give speeches and hold a fourminute
meditation. With about 30
police officers lined on the outside
of the park, organizers asked them
their reason for being there.
“If you’re going to keep us in this
park, at least learn what we are
fighting for,” one of the organizers
said through a bullhorn.
Around 1:15 p.m., Black Lives Matter
protesters departed Sabba Park to head
back to John Vincent Daniels Jr. Square
where the demonstration would end.
Sabba Park was nearly empty by
1:30 p.m., save for three Black Lives
Matter organizers and an NYPD
community affairs officer from the
108th Precinct. They had all stayed
behind to share what brought them
to the park on Saturday, what they
were fighting for.
As people from the neighborhood
returned to the park to eat
their lunches and spend time outside,
the four men continued their
conversation.
/WWW.QNS.COM
