Fight KKKourt Injustice: Brooklyn

BROOKLYN, NY, November 25 — About thirty students and staff rallied in front of Tilden High School the day after the grand jury decided not to indict racist killer cop Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO. Today began with dozens of students and staff grabbing up PLP’s antiracist buttons to put on their shirts and book bags.
Students made signs throughout the day that said “I am Mike Brown”; “Racism Means Fight Back”; and “NYPD KKK” in preparation for the rally. There were lots of discussions around students’ experiences with police harassment and brutality. This issue hits close to home with a lot of students in this school who knew Kimani “Kiki” Gray well. Kiki was the unarmed, sixteen-year-old who was gunned down by racist NYPD in March of 2013, just a few blocks from the school.
As school let out for the day, students and some staff gathered with their signs in front of the school and began chanting “No Justice No Peace, No Racist Police” and “Racism Means Fight Back.” After the rally, students vowed to make the next one bigger, by organizing more of their classmates.
Only days later, when a grand jury decided not to indict killer cop Daniel Pantaleo for the murder of Eric Garner in Staten Island, students began immediately organizing to be part of the city-wide fightback. Their first action was a “die-in” during the school day two days after the announcement.
Over 30 students circled the hallways, clapping and yelling loudly, and then about 10 students lay on the floor, pretending to die in solidarity with Michael Brown and Eric Garner. After the “die-in,” students walked into their class chanting “I can’t breathe!” over and over. After a few minutes of chanting, they returned to their classwork. Students debriefed the action in classrooms, noting that they should have informed more students about the action. Some students didn’t know what was going on and didn’t participate. Moving forward, students are strategizing future actions. The struggle continues.