Mahwah Will Protest Racial Injustice On Saturday

MAHWAH, NJ — Faith leaders, elected officials and Mahwah community members will gather together on Saturday in protest of racial injustice, and in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

A protest is scheduled for Saturday, June 20 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Commodore Perry Field, 70 E. Ramapo Ave., in Mahwah.

Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton and Rep. Josh Gottheimer are slated to speak at the rally, as are various area faith chaplains and local political candidates.

According to a news release from the Mahwah Alliance for Change, the Sri Guru Singh Sabha of Glen Rock will donate refreshments, and local musicians and spoken word artists will perform.

In totality, the protest will be another example of local communities giving space to the Black voices within their community to voice concerns, and provide context on the realities of the injustices that Mahwah organizers will protest this weekend.

“The path towards greater racial equality hinges on how we nurture our relationships with each other which includes listening when African Americans and People of Color speak about the discrimination they routinely experience," said Nadia Khan, of the Mahwah Alliance for Change.

"The communities our children will inherit depend on the work we do to uplift all the diverse voices. At this moment, we must come together to amplify Black voices. We need to be vociferous in teaching our children not only to be kind but to be anti-racist.”

Protests both locally and across the country have sparked intense debate about police brutality, and the use of force.

Last week, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal outlined his plans for revising New Jersey's "use of force policy," and said he plans to issue a directive revising that policy "before the end of 2020."

This initiative is part of Grewal's Excellence in Policing initiative, which launched in December of 2019.

Grewal wasn't the only one to speak up about the need for police reform, as New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker was among a number of high-profile Democrats to support the "Justice in Policing Act of 2020." Booker, along with California Sen. Kamala Harris, sponsored the bill.

The bill would allow use of force only as a last resort, ban chokeholds, prohibit racial and religious profiling, make it easier to hold police accountable for misconduct and eliminate qualified immunity for police officers.

The bill would also ban the use of no-knock warrants, a move that's already happened in Louisville, as, this week, Breonna's Law was enacted in the city. The law is named for Breonna Taylor, the black Louisville EMT killed by police in her home on March 13 while officers were carrying-out a no-knock warrant.

Taylor's death, along with the death of George Floyd, has sparked these intense conversations around reform, and also the nationwide protests.

Floyd, a 46-year old Minneapolis man, died on May 25 with the knee of a white police officer on his neck. Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis Police Officer who was captured on video kneeling on Floyd's neck, has been charged with second-degree murder.