Justice for Daniel Prude: Activists achieve major gains, push for more
Primary tabs
There is an astonishing amount of activity surrounding Justice for Daniel Prude going on in Rochester right now. I thought it could be nice to produce a summary of everything happening, since it can be overwhelming trying to track it all. Please comment if this is useful, and we can do more regular summaries and updates. Also if anyone is interested in joining in, or already doing similar work and wants to collaborate, please send me a message and let's talk.
Wednesday night marked the 8th straight evening of protests in response to the murder of Daniel Prude, which are part of over 15 weeks of sustained black lives matters demonstrations organized by Free the People Rochester. The initial nights were marked with extreme aggression and violence from the police, including shooting pepper balls and tear gas into the crowd. Starting Sunday night, the police backed off their attacks, which has allowed for peaceful demonstrations.
The nightly demonstrations have been inspiring and powerful. A typical night starts with speakers at 584 Jefferson Ave, the location of Daniel Prude's murder, marches to the public safety building, with more speakers, and some great chanting (speakers, speakers 2, looking for more video, if you have anything to share, please comment), and continues on more actions, depending on the night. Thursday night featured a community celebration of life for Daniel Prude where activists joined with Daniel's family for a street party and speakout.
Alognside the nightly demonstrations has been a supportive ally actions. On Sunday a group of activists picketed officer Vaughn's house at 6am to bring attention to the killer cop living in their neighborhood (short video). Monday morning saw activists protest naked and in spit hoods in front the public safety building, before being wrapped in blankets and escorted safely out to symbolize the care that should have been provided to Daniel Prude the night he was murdered. This was followed up with a second action Thursday morning in front of City Hall. Tuesday night saw a unity bike ride to honor Daniel Prude through the Jefferson ave neighborhood.
During the daytime, Free the People has organized educational events like the an Webnesday community town hall on policing and public health was hosted on zoom and Facebook live (highly recommended viewing). They also held a press conference to address the police violence against the protesters.
The pressure has already started to rack up significant victories for the movement. On Tuesday, police Chief La'Ron Singletary, along with his entire command staff resigned from their positions. About half of the officers, including Singletary will be leaving the force entirely, with the rest moving to lower ranks.
Free the People celebrated the resignations, while continuing to push for more. The latest flyer lists their latest demands, which include: Fire and prosecute all officers involved in the murder, drop all criminal charges against protesters arrested since 5/30, defund and demilitarize the police, and enact "Daniel's Law" prohibiting police from responding to mental health calls.
The last demand is for Mayor Lovely Warren to resign, and she has been under serious pressure to do so. Tuesday night activists rallied in front of city hall, leaving behind "Resign" in red paint (alongside "Murders" in front of the PSB). On Wednesday, the head of the police union, Mike Mazzeo, called for Warren's resignation (Warren responded by calling for Mazzeo's resignation). Also that day, City Council President Loretta Scott made comments that directly contradict the Warren's version of events since March, and said that City Council will continue and independent investigation into the matter (Connections with Evan Dawnson, Evan Dawson's other shows are also definitely worth listening to).
Free the People will continue to hold daily demonstrations until their demands are met. For more info see their Facebook page. I've also found Ken Braley's page extremely useful for keeping up-to-date. If anyone has other good sources of info, please leave a comment.
It's absolutely amazing to me just how much has been going on. I hope I was able to capture it okay in this post, please comment with any missing information or corrections. However, the only way to fully understand is to get out there yourself. See Free the People's facebook page for the latest actions and events.
