Youth Cry Out For Change At Sag Harbor Rally For George Floyd

SAG HARBOR, NY — Crying "No justice, no peace," and waving signs, a crowd turned out in Sag Harbor recently for a youth-organized "Black Lives Matter" protest march to "stand in solidarity" after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Young, old, families, friends, and even designer Donna Karan turned out for the event, where passionate speakers addressed protesters.

Protesters marched along Main Street in Sag Harbor and lay down in the street, some with hands behind their backs, to mark the almost nine minutes that Floyd begged for help and his mother as a police officer pressed his knee into his neck before he died.

Organizers spoke with Patch about why they felt the need to come together and raise their voices.

"We can use what we've learned from this movement to educate the people around us, encourage them to take action by voting on a local level and larger scale to ensure we have individuals that will better represent us as a town, state, and country," said Lateshia Peters. "Anti-racism is an everyday practice and it is all of our jobs from this point on to become more humane, empathetic people."

Co-organizer Brontë Zunis said she wanted to help in the march's organization because change begins at home, "in our backyards and streets. I'm so proud of the turnout we had, from babies to grandparents, everyone showed up. I'm especially proud of my generation and the fervor in which we act in the face of injustice," she said.

It's imperative, she added, that young people are active both politically and socially, and most importantly, that they work to educate people about the history of racism and segregation in their own community.

"We will listen, educate ourselves, run for office, demand reallocation of police funds, we will require solutions, we will take to the streets, give back to our communities, and we will put ourselves on the front lines as indefatigable advocates for justice," Zunis said. "We will be the generation to end the systemic racism and oppression that has plagued our country since its colonization."

And, said co-organizer August Gladstone: "It's time for racism to end. It was time 400 years ago. With the most recent strain of politically sanctioned police violence it has never been more clear that something needs to be done. Something drastic. Our voices are not being heard by the people in power, so we need to make them heard the way people have been advocating for change for years, through protest. We in the Hamptons are so prone to existing within our bubble of rich white privilege, but we can exist there no longer. If the older generation doesn't want to join us we'll be so loud on their manicured front lawns that they'll have to join the fight. This is not a political fight, this is a fight for justice, equality, and human rights. This is a fight that we will win."

(Video courtesy of Kate Mueth).

Speakers included Sag Harbor Village Mayor Kathleen Mulcahy and Dr. Georgette Grier-Key of the Eastville Hostorical Society.

"Are you fired up? We want justice and we're going to get justice," Grier-Key said. "And your presence here today tells me that, 'Time is up.' And we're going to get the justice we deserve."

She added: "I know that there are mothers in this audience. It's up to the mothers who are weary, worried, concerned about your children, I want to remind you of the power that you have. When George Floyd called to his mother, called for her, she unleashed all of us to fight for justice for him."

Screaming before the cheering crowd, Grier Key said: "Let me remind you of your labor pains that you bore. That is the power that mothers have. So let's not be worried about this generation that stands before us, stronger than ever. We must remember what we put into them, that they can do it. They have the power that you gave them."

She urged the crowd to remember, when voices and feet hurt, "We still have work to do."

To the Class of 2020, she said: "You are graduating today. You deserve a future. The time is now. Equity now. We want change. We demand restorative justice. We want to dismantle all racist policies and structural racism."

On the East End, protests have been held in Riverhead, Peconic, Greenport, Bridgehampton, Southampton, Westhampton Beach, and East Hampton; despite crowds that sometimes surpassed 1,000, no incidents were reported.

This weekend, a new protest will take place at the traffic circle near the hospital in Riverhead at noon; protests are also planned for Hampton Bays and Shelter Island on Sunday.