Local News

If you haven't heard of Harsha Walia or No One Is Illegal -- Vancouver (Indigenous Coast Salish territories), then you might want to look for her new book that came out in 2013 called Undoing Border Imperialism published by AKPress.org. In the meantime, check out the phone interview conducted by Rochester Indymedia from March 24, 2014 to get a glimmer of how wise and instructive her book is--and don't be fooled--as Walia states in the interview, "The thing that's always weird about writing is that everything gets ascribed to one person and what I'm saying isn't new. It comes across as different pieces of analysis put together but certainly it's a mix of other people writing."

On Wednesday, December 10, 2014, University of Rochester Medical Center medical students participated in a nation-wide action calling for die-ins and protests because #BlackLivesMatter. The die-ins and demonstrations happened at  more than 70 medical schools to protest the "lack of indictments for police killings in Ferguson, Mo., and New York, and to spotlight racial bias as a public health issue," according to a press release from Physicians for a National Health Program.

#WhiteCoats4BlackLives came together at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry seemingly over night according to Emily Walters, a third year medical student.

"On Facebook yesterday I saw someone at a different school post about this med student die-in. I clicked on the link to see what it said. It said that there were over 50 schools and Rochester wasn't on the list, which was surprising to me because we are--I feel like as a school our culture is very committed to social justice--the administration is very supportive of social justice," Walters said. "We started posting about it on social media and there was such a huge need for it by students that it came together really easily. A few posts on social media, a couple of emails, and the passion of the students," and #WhiteCoats4BlackLives materialized on campus happening that day at noon with over 70 students participating in the die-in.

The national call-out was endorsed by Students for a National Health Program, part of Physicians for a National Health Program ( www.pnhp.org ), an organization more 19,000 physicians, health professionals, medical and health professional students who advocate for universal, single-payer, improved Medicare for all.

Nationally, the die-ins happened around 3pm. However, in Rochester, they happened at noon. According to the Facebook event page, "Our event will take place at noon in order to accommodate the schedules of our medical students. Our advisory deans encourage students who are currently scheduled for advisory dean lunch but who wish to participate in this event to participate in this event and then attend advisory dean lunch afterwards."

During the die-in, Michael Seaberry, a first year medical student, read a piece he had recently written regarding the death of his father, a police officer, and the non-indictments of killer cops, Darren Wilson & Daniel Pantaleo. "I wrote this piece, then ironically, about a week later, the grand jury announcements were made about not indicting officer Wilson in Ferguson. So I tweaked it a little bit to go more along with the things that have happened to me by police officers--like being pulled over at gun point for no apparent reason at all by three police cars--which was very scary," Seaberry said. "My dad, being a police officer, I sort of see both parallels; I really trust police officers because that's what my dad was, and I'm also afraid of police officers in a sense, because of the things that have been going on and because I'm a young, black male."

"We as medical students feel that this is an important time for medical institutions to respond to the violence and race-related trauma that affect our communities and the patients we serve," states the press release. "Racial bias and violence are not exclusively a problem of the criminal justice system. As we have seen in Ferguson, Mo., New York, and countless other places, bias kills, sickens, and provides inadequate care. As medical students, we must take a stand against the oppression of our black and brown patients, colleagues, friends, and family. By standing together at medical schools nationwide, we hope to demonstrate that the medical student community views racial violence as a public health crisis. We are #whitecoats4blacklives."

Watch Rochester's action below:

On November, 17, 2014, Dhoruba Toure Shakur, a member of Black Souljahz, explained the murder of Vonderrit Myers Jr. at the corner of Shaw Blvd. & Klemm St. near Shaw Market. Off-duty St. Louis police officer Jason Flanery was the killer cop. According to family, Myers had a sandwich in his hands, not a gun. The store clerk at Shaw Market has told news sources that minutes before Myers was killed, he had been sold a sandwich.

No justice, no peace. Black lives matter.

From Rochester.Indymedia.org! Human Rights Day in Rochester--Capitalism vs. Human Rights--on December 8, 2014, at Downtown United Presbyterian Church. Opened by Shirley Stephens Thompson with Pat Mannix reading the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

White Coats for Black Lives actions at over 70 Med Schools & Hospitals today, December 10, 2014. University of Rochester Medical School was no exception. This afternoon over 70 students participated in a die-in. ‪#‎WhiteCoats4BlackLives‬ ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ ‪#‎RochesterIndymedia‬ ‪#‎DieIn‬ ‪#‎UniversityofRochester‬

"No Justice, No Peace" was a response to the grand jury's non-indictment of Ferguson, MO police officer Darren Wilson. It happened on November 25, 2014 at the same time as another march, rally and die-in that occurred at the University of Rochester.

The action, which consisted of banner drops, a snake march from South Ave. & Main St. ending on the east side of the Ford Street Bridge, numerous rallies, and multiple die-ins at Main St. and Stone St. and at the roundabout at Plymouth & Ford, was organized by B.L.A.C.K. (Building Leadership And Community Knowledge) at the same time as they were organizing the campus action. At the end of the action, people gathered in a circle and repeated strong words from black revolutionary Assata Shakur.

No justice, no peace. Black lives matter.

On December 4th, an emergency rally and snake march in response to the non-indictment of Eric Garner's killer, officer Daniel Pantaleo was called for by B.L.A.C.K. (Building Leadership And Community Knowledge). The rally started at Genesee St. and Brooks Ave. at 2pm. From there, the march went down Genesee, cut over to Jefferson, and went up to Main St., where a die-in occurred in the middle of the intersection. After that, demonstrators continued in the street down Main in an eastbound direction eventually rallying at city hall before dispersing.

Take Back The Land and allies gathered at George Douglass' home in the 19th Ward today, December 2nd, 2014, demanding that Wells Fargo call off its eviction order. The marshall and the movers failed to appear. Today was won. We'll see what tomorrow brings. #TakeBackTheLandROC #FuckWellsFargo #HousingIsAHumanRight #EvictionDefense

From Rochester.Indymedia.org. #BlackLivesMatter #Roc2Ferguson Rally & March
November 30, 2014 -- Maybe 300 - 500 demonstrators met at the Liberty Pole in downtown Rochester in a show of solidarity with the people of #Ferguson and those demanding #JusticeforMikeBrown and others who were and will be affected by police violence. Three #DieIns happened on the march route: East and Scio, the second was at Clinton & Court, and the third was in front of the Rochester City School District building on Broadway kitty-corner to the jail. There was a gathering point at the jail to recognize people and their humanity who are currently being held there. The march proceeded down Main and back to the Liberty Pole where #AssataShakur's words were once more spoken. No justice, no peace. #FTP #ACAB #FistsUpFightBack #ShawShooting #BadenShooting #JusticeForVonderritMyers #JusticeForKajiemePowell #JusticeforTamirRice #BLACKLivesMatterRoc #RoctoFerguson