Rally for Justice for Mike Brown Set for Saturday in Downtown Princeton
Some Princeton residents have organized a parade and rally to call for justice for Mike Brown, the 18-yer-old who was shot and killed by a police officer in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson on Aug. 9.
Daniel Harris said the goal of the rally is to insist on justice and share grief, dismay, anger, and a commitment to future change.
“Please join us in solidarity and determination to fight for equality and justice for all — the words we say when we recite the Pledge of Allegiance,” Harris said in an invitation to the event.
The rally is scheduled for this Saturday, Aug. 23, from 2 to 4 p.m. Organizers will gather at Tiger Park on Palmer Square and march along Nassau Street and Witherspoon Street. The march will end at Hinds Plaza next to the Princeton Public Library. Speeches will be given at the plaza. Anyone who wants to speak should limit comments to three minutes. Protesters are also welcome to bring songs to sing and poems to read. Harris asked that people bring cardboard signs, but that the signs not be mounted on poles or sticks.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.
Do the people that plan to rally know that it appears that before Brown was shot, he beat the police officer so severely that his eye socket was broken, and the officer is nearly blind in one eye now? I guess you can commit strong arm robbery, and then beat a police officer and not expect to be fired upon these days, eh
No kidding. Doesn’t quite square with the “anti-bullying” movement.
Rodney King was alleged to have assaulted the arresting officer as well. At subsequent trial, two of the officers who beat him were sent to jail. I would suggest that it might be appropriate to ‘wait and see’ what the conclusion of the investigation is.
So, why are we holding a rally before we know who’s telling the truth? Looks pretty bad right now. Cop with a broken eye socket, no shots in the back, as the witnesses said, strong arm robbery on video…yeah! Let’s rally!
Regardless of the specifics of what happened with Mike Brown (I don’t know what really happened and you don’t either), the case has become a focus for perceptions that the justice system disproportionately targets young men of color for ‘stop-and-frisk’, violence, and incarceration.
What in the world does this have to do with stop and frisk? You’re really stretching.
“Please join us in solidarity and determination to fight for equality and justice for all — the words we say when we recite the Pledge of Allegiance,” Harris said in an invitation to the event.
Following the pledge, everyone will walk down the middle of Nassau St. with stolen goods! A true tribute.
Te event is called “a rally for justice for Mike Brown”. Never mind the fact that Mr. Brown may have been beating the head of a cop in until his eye socket broke., when the shooting took place.
Actually, the report of his eye socket being broken has been said to be false, according to reports on CNN. But don’t let that stop the venom you’re spewing.
What venom am I spewing? What a ridiculous comment. All I said was it was stupid to rally for this guy when we don’t know the facts yet. You seem to have such venom for this officer that you’ve already condemned him without any facts.
seems like you are doing just the same thing regarding Mr. Brown.. neither of you know all the facts.. other than a CHILD’s life was taken too soon before he could try to become a man with hopes to attend college and make positive contributions to society
well maybe that “perception” exists because blacks disproportionately commit crimes…
If we are concerned about justice for all, that should include the officer involved as well. It’s lovely to portray Brown as an unarmed high school graduate and “gentle giant”, but the evidence coming to light is perhaps a bit inconvenient for those who subscribe to the narrative and have made up their minds. Let the investigative process play out. In the meantime, let’s march and sing for the scores of true innocents who are victims of violence each week around the nation.
Well well. This is surprising. Brown is like a little gaza, he may have threatened the police (Isreal) and gotten more than he could handle. I want to see if as many people support this as they support gaza and hamas.
This is a bit premature given the lack of clarity on the facts. Whatever really happened, it’s unlikely that Mr. Brown deserves to be dead.
But I’d be perfectly happy to attend an “anti-police militarization” protest. Perhaps we can change the theme.
Maybe they should take the rally to the streets of our beautiful capital city? It’s only 10 miles down the road. Oh wait…the people attending the rally would be too scared for that. True limousine liberals!
You should have asked mr harris when he plans to have a rally in Trenton in support of George Jamison who was senselessly murdered in Trenton. Since he was a minority in that city seems like his civil rights were violated too.
The purpose of the rally is to make white liberals feel good about themselves, even as they live in an all-white town and send their little ones to lilly-white private schools. But, as Bob below wrote, I’ll give ’em credit if they march down 206 to the killing fields of Trenton.
This is a misdirected rally. What we should be more concerned about is that in 2012 (the last year the stats are available), over 2,600 young black men were murdered. What is more concerning is that more than 2,400 of these murders were committed by other black men. Black men are killing each other at a rate higher than that of soldiers killed in battle.
As for this case specifically, any rally should wait until all the facts are known. What is fact is that the officer does have a fractured orbital bone, and the young man was not shot in the back. If you want justice for Michael Brown, don’t jump the gun (no pun intended) because it just might come back to bite you.
I love how some people on here are saying “wait for the facts”, yet are quick to accept those “facts” that haven’t been verified, such as the broken eye socket. This has been said to be a false claim on CNN AND there’s video of Wilson right after the murder, and he did not appear to be in pain. But keep engaging in your motivated reasoning where you only accept untruths that fit YOUR narrative. Some people care about the wider issues that have surfaced AFTER the murder, such as the inhumane treatment the police in Ferguson have shown toward the protestors. They have treated many CITIZENS, not the looters, not the rioters, like ANIMALS, even called them as such and one officer was suspended for recklessly pointing his gun at citizens. Some cops are racists and are bad. Just accept it. When you try to act like ALL cops are good, it weakens your case as much as when someone tries to argue that ALL people on the streets had good intentions.
The rally is for “Justice for Mike Brown”. Why are you rallying for someone that may have attacked a cop? Wouldn’t you want to know what went down before rallying for him?
The police officer’s eye socket was not broken, this is a lie and an urban myth. As for black on black crime, there’s as much black on black crime as there is white on white crime. Yes, more than 85% of violent crime against blacks is perpetuated by other black people. But the exact same thing is true for white on white crime. Our violence is segregated, just like our neighborhoods.