Question of the Week: Why are you participating in this rally?
(Asked at Saturday’s “Justice for Michael Brown” rally)
Monifa: “I have two African American sons, and each time I see another black man shot down by police officers it scares me. We raise them to be nice people, to be respectful, and to be educated, and then all of a sudden just because people suspect others to be doing something that they’re not supposed to be doing, they take away our children.”
Ashante: “I have two boys and it’s important for me to make a statement that we need to make a change and this is a real situation. This is not the first time and it’s not going to be the last time. And we need to make a resolution to stop the violence.”
—Monifa Harrison, Trenton (L) and Ashante Thompson, Princeton
Joshua: “Because it’s very bad, what we are doing to people, and we should stop it.”
Tyler: “So we can change things. No guns.”
Zion: “To make a change. A change to make it peaceful.”
Tristan: “Because I want to have peace in the world. And I don’t want to be afraid of police officers.”—(Left to right) Joshua Snyder, Tyler Owens, Zion Madden, Princeton;
Tristan Harrison, Trenton
Glenda: “I work in Princeton for an organization called the Center for Family Community and Social Justice and we go into inner-city schools throughout the state of New Jersey and we work with high-risk families and youth. Our main goal is to break the pipeline between school and prison. And we feel that all across America the fact that young black youth are being shot or going to prison concerns us.”
Monice: “I heard about the rally from my friend Glenda and I was so very saddened and shocked by the death of Trayvon Martin and strongly felt that the incident could have been avoided. And I didn’t demonstrate at the time and then when I found out about Michael Brown, I really wanted to stand up for justice and for young people. There must be another way for the police to control the way they perceive rowdy behavior as justification for shooting someone.”
—Glenda Mendelsohn, Yardley, Pa. (L) and Monice Flint, Newtown, Pa.
“I’m here because I believe that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And I feel just heartbroken about all of the young people who are being killed and racism is just such a horrible thing and I couldn’t not come. It is a very small thing to do to register my protest.”
—Sarah Roberts, Belle Mead
“I believe that in the wake of the Michael Brown shooting, we have to be more aware and more conscious of racial profiling.”—Max Shane, Princeton
Carl: “I just want to be informed about the other side. I feel policemen, in this case, and in many cases, don’t always get to defend themselves publicly, as we’ve just seen where people came out and tried to put up a defense for the officers involved and were quickly whisked away. I’m speaking as a retiree from the NYPD, and I really am not wanting to be taking a side but would just like to be as informed as I can about these tragic events.”
Lawrence: “This case seems to be a rush to judgment. There need to be cooler heads. Hopefully this remains calm. There is an indictment on both sides. Let the grand jury do their jobs. More violence would only fan the flames.”
—Carl DeFazio, Princeton (L) and Lawrence Lieberman, Princeton