POST-RELEASE WITH PHOTOS: Yale Law Students Joined by Hundreds of Faculty, Community in Opposing the Failure to Indict in Michael Brown, Eric Garner Cases
Cruz, Conchita
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2014
Contacts:
Temidayo Odusolu, (415) 971-2779
Rakim Brooks, (646) 346-3725
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YALE LAW STUDENTS JOINED BY HUNDREDS OF FACULTY, COMMUNITY IN OPPOSING THE FAILURE TO INDICT IN MICHAEL BROWN, ERIC GARNER CASES |
NEW HAVEN, CT - On Friday, December 5, 2014, Yale Law Students were joined by hundreds of faculty and community members in protesting the indefensible failure of grand juries to indict in the recent cases involving Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Approximately 1,000 concerned community members marched in silence from Yale Law School at 127 Wall Street to the New Haven Superior Court at 235 Church Street, hand-in hand, demanding an end to police brutality and seeking justice for Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and countless other people of color killed by police each year.
“I was really overwhelmed by the response,” said Jordan Bryant, Yale Law School Class of 2016, who led the march from the front of Yale Law School to the New Haven Superior Court. “What you saw here today was raw power. Now it’s time to take our outrage to the next level by using what we’re being taught as law students to create change. We are not finished.”
“We needed to take the risk to show our commitment--that was very important to us,” said Rakim Brooks, Yale Law School Class of 2016. “We weren’t going to bottle our anger up into a neat pre-authorized package while the system we will be sworn to uphold betrays our most vulnerable citizens. Instead, we chose to commemorate and continue the proud tradition of Civil Rights leaders gave their lives in the fight for equal treatment before the law.”
Law student organizers organized a march from Yale Law School at 127 Wall Street to the New Haven Superior Court at 235 Church Street, hand-in hand, without the required city permit. The protesters blocked traffic on three major streets -- College, Temple and Church -- on their way to “dying in” for 4.5 minutes, to symbolically represent the amount of time that Michael Brown’s body was left out, partially uncovered, on Canfield Street for 4.5 hours. Designated student marshals guided the protesters throughout and some volunteers were pre-designated to stand in the streets holding signs that read “BLM” for Black Lives Matter and “We Can’t Breathe,” which were Eric Garner’s last words. Student organizers then rallied the protestors around the New Haven Superior Courthouse, leading them in chants of “No Justice, No Peace” and “Black Lives Matter.” The protest lasted just over thirty minutes, but took over 36 hours of planning.
Community members’ listed demands:
- The swift indictments of Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo by special prosecutors or the U.S. Department of Justice.
- State and local communities must review their procedures for managing perceived threats from community members and issue unambiguous statements explaining their policies to the public.
- The prosecution of law enforcement officials who use excessive force.
Energized by today’s events, student organizers are in the process of formulating policy reforms and developing litigation strategies. Press releases regarding those policy reforms will be forthcoming. Photographs of the event are attached and can be used by the media and attributed to Hana Bajramovic.
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