26 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 4, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
editorial
We must work together to change together
Th ere are so many layers to the unrest
we’ve witnessed this weekend with the
protests sparked by the police-involved
death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Here in New York, the vast majority of
those who took to the streets demanding
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Story: NYPD offi cers kneel with protesters during
Queens rally
Summary: One day after a mostly peaceful protest
in Jackson Heights, demonstrators marched down
the streets of Jamaica Sunday calling for an end
to injustice following the death of George Floyd at
the hands of Minneapolis police offi cers last week.
One demonstrator, Aleeia Abraham, posted a video
on Facebook showing police offi cers kneeling in
solidarity with protesters.
Reach: 9,667 (as of 6/2/20)
justice were peaceful. Th ere were no
fewer than a half-dozen protests across
the fi ve boroughs on Saturday. Most of the
protesters — especially those in Queens,
where the demonstrations did not escalate
— exercised their First Amendment
rights with respect for the community,
the mission and themselves. Police offi -
cers largely stood back and let the protests
happen with little interference.
But then, in what Mayor Bill de Blasio
described as “pockets” of Brooklyn and
Manhattan, all hell broke loose.
Physical struggles between cops and
protesters. Police vehicles torched.
Businesses vandalized. And some cops
used very questionable force against demonstrators.
Th e struggles continued into
the week.
Each side blames the other for provocation.
Each side has merit in their arguments
— yet each side also has responsibility
for the chaos that ensued.
Yet this situation is not just about riots;
it’s much deeper than that.
Th ere’s anger and outrage everywhere,
and it is more than justifi ed — though
violence isn’t. To not acknowledge and
understand that anger and outrage is to
willfully ignore the situation.
Look at the nation we live in.
For decades, Black and Hispanic
Americans have been treated like second
class citizens by bad cops in police
forces across the country. More oft en than
not, acts of unjustifi ed brutality result in
exonerations or dead-end investigations,
without justice for victims who were
harmed or killed without cause.
In the present, the economy is in shambles
while more than 100,000 people have
died from the COVID-19 pandemic. Even
this virus has underscored our unequal
society: Most of the victims of this illness
are people of color.
Th e police fi nd themselves in a tough
place of their own. Th e majority of cops
who respect an individual’s rights and
serve with integrity are tarnished by every
bad cop who doesn’t. Every time there’s a
police-involved death like Floyd’s, they all
take a hit.
Th ey then have to face angry throngs
who hurl insults and objects at them. Th at
leads some of those cops to cross the line
in an instinctive response to protect their
colleagues and themselves. And then they
become objects of further scorn.
We are caught as a society in many
vicious cycles that, more and more each
day, resemble one giant death spiral.
Th ere’s only one way out of it: Changes
in government to fi nally fulfi ll our
American declaration, set 244 years ago,
that “all men are created equal.”
And to do that, we must work together
— protesters and police, community
activists and law enforcement unions,
elected leaders and police offi cials — to
rebuild communities and ensure that
every police department in America has
the best-trained men and women who
can keep the peace while always fulfi lling
“equal justice under the law.”
REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Protesters march near the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
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