#SilentMarchNYC Liveblog

June 17th, 2012

At 3pm on Father’s Day, thousands of New Yorkers will gather on 110th Street in Harlem and march down 5th Ave to protest Stop and Frisk. Silently.

We’ll be updating this post throughout the march with pictures, videos, tweets and information. Check back often!

– Update #12, 4:15pm –

Why do you march?

– Update #11, 4pm –

WFP Communications director Joe Dinkin wore his hoodie to the march:

– Update #10, 3:30pm –

The Daily Kos has a long front page article on today’s silent march. The opening really explains what this is all about:

Today, on Father’s Day, Fifth Avenue in New York City will echo with the sound of silently marching feet. No shouted slogans. No protest songs. No rallying cries. Just long lines of people by the thousands—marching for justice in a righteous battle to end New York’s Stop and Frisk policies.

Silence is sometimes louder than words.

Blacks, whites, latinos, asians, Native Americans, union members, youths, straight folks and LBGTs—all united in a powerful coalition to demand justice and an end to the racial profiling taking place on city sidewalks and streets. This is a coalition forged out of pain but fired by love.

Today people will bear witness to their belief in equality in a profound expression of common humanity.

Brotherhood and sisterhood.

It is fitting that it takes place on Father’s Day, since so many of those affected are young men, some who may never be given the chance to be fathers.

– Update #9, 3:15pm –

The silence is working:

– Update #8, 3pm –

And the march is under way!

– Update #7, 2:45pm –

The live stream is now, um, live:



Video streaming by Ustream

– Update #6, 2:35pm –

Our very own Joe Dinkin sends along a picture showing what it looks like from inside the march.

– Update #5, 2:25pm –

The gathering crowd is growing. Some great signs already.

– Update #4, 2pm –

People are already gathering for the silent march, which officially kicks off at 3pm. Jasiri X just posted this photo of the marchers lined up to go:

– Update #3, 12:45pm –

Why a silent march?

Stop and frisk silences communities of color by humiliating law-abiding young men. Our silence today is a protest against the oppressive silence of racial profiling.

As it says on silentmarchnyc.org:

In contrast to previous demonstrations, we will march in silence as an illustration of both the tragedy and serious threat that stop and frisk and other forms of racial profiling present to our society. The silent march was first used in 1917 by the NAACP—then just eight years old—to draw attention to race riots that tore through communities in East St. Louis, Illinois, and build national opposition to lynching.

Now, 95 years later, you can join us in powerful protest to help end this great injustice and begin rebuilding national opposition to racial profiling.

If you’re outraged that police, security guards and even community watch volunteers in so many neighborhoods continue to treat young people of color differently, or if you’re concerned for your children, or your neighbors’ and friends’ children, then channel these emotions into action by joining thousands in calling for an end to racial profiling and the abuse of New York’s stop and frisk laws.

Silence is a powerful force that, like other forms of non-violent protest, holds a mirror to the brutality of one’s opponents. On June 17, we will hold up a mirror to New York City’s stop-and-frisk policy. It is not only discriminatory, it actively seeks to humiliate innocent citizens—particularly African American and Latino men—and criminalize otherwise legal behavior.

– Update #2, 12:05pm –

Rodney King, whose videotaped beating at the hands of the LAPD led to a series of riots in the early ’90s, has died. He will no doubt be on the minds of the people marching today.

– Update #1, 11:50am –

Tracy Martin, the father of Trayvon Martin, has an important Father’s Day message about Stand Your Ground, the Florida law that made it possible for his son’s killer to walk free for so long before his arrest. Already in 2012, sixteen unarmed African Americans have been killed by police officers, security guards or self-appointed vigilantes.

On Twitter, people say they’re marching for Trayvon and other victims of gun violence:

Discussion

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