To the Editor:

Saturday’s Princeton parade and rally, called “Justice for Michael Brown,” was an overwhelming, energizing, healing, and sometimes scary event. Over 125 people, truly a rainbow of our diverse population, came from Ewing, Hopewell, South Brunswick, and Trenton, as well as Princeton, to hear nearly a dozen speakers demand justice and the equal application of law for all citizens, regardless of “race” or color.

The speakers — clergy, citizens, and lawyers — did not blame “the police.” They spoke against the long history of killings of unarmed young black men and against devastating costs of continued devaluation of so many “people of color” in our American society, and “the whites” acknowledged that we are people “of color” also.

They noted that “racism” — implying an action — is the real issue, not just “race.” The speakers stressed the need for the demilitarization of police across the country (that is, the reversal of post-9/11 Federal policy), the pain and suffering of so many in our society who endure threat, intimidation, warped educations, and constant fear. They pointed to America’s failure to implement fully the Emancipation Proclamation and the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and to the widening income gap and the misallocation of the nation’s financial resources.

One of the speakers asked everyone to put up their hands in a sign of surrender and helplessness and to close our eyes, and then to imagine what utter vulnerability and powerlessness really feel like. This imitation of the unarmed black men, shot to death, was immensely powerful. It was made all the more devastating as two speakers noted that we should expect more such deaths of innocent people unless our practice of criminal justice is immediately reformed.

So we must band together, again, as we have tried to do so many times. How many assaults on unarmed people will it take to ensure that justice and truly rigorous law enforcement will be properly observed? The rainbow of people assembled felt a renewal of energies, a commitment to renewed work.

In response to our ongoing crisis, the Princeton organization Not In Our Town (NIOT) will hold a special gathering of its “Continuing Conversations on Race and White Privilege” at the Princeton Public Library, Thursday, August 28, from 7 to 9 p.m. We urge everyone to attend. The matter of our nation’s health is at stake.

The parade and rally could not have happened without the determined and enthusiastic input of many people, including the mayor’s office and the Police Department. On behalf of the other organizers (Linda Oppenheim, Shirley Satterfield, John Heilner, Minnie Craig, Miki Mendelsohn, and Wilma Solomon), we extend our thanks again.

And we ask the Princeton community to work harder. Martin Luther King said it all: “Justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

Daniel A. Harris

Dodds Lane