Protestors walking on Columbus Avenue around 90th street. Photo by Sean Geoghan.
A protest over the shooting of Ferguson teenager Mike Brown wound through the city on Monday night, with a couple hundred people walking through the Upper West Side around 11:30 p.m. Coming from Times Square, they walked up Columbus Avenue, yelling “Hands Up Don’t Shoot.” Helicopters flew overhead.
Video below by Emily Baer:
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The illuminati must be loving this bullshit. #DivideAndConquer #OWS
ie, aka the 30,000 foot view..
Guess none of these people have actually read the grand jury testimony or followed the actual trail of physical evidence? Typical liberal, knee jerk reaction without actually analyzing the facts. There is no conclusive evidence that he had his hands up, and he certainly never yelled “don’t shoot.” So, I have to conclude that if a known felon tried to shoot any one of these protesters, they’d be OK with that. Perhaps they should join NYPD and see what real life is like beyond their cozy little lives on the UWS.
Upper West Side Mom – what the heck are you doing living in the UWS if you are so contemptuous of its liberal denizens? I am also an UWS mom and a lawyer, and although I don’t claim to be an expert about what is “real life” beyond my cozy little life on the UWS like you seem to claim to be, I did work for a public defenders’ office and had friends and acquaintances who very easily could have slid down the slippery slope of the criminal justice system. I defended young black men who were targeted by police merely for loitering on street corners and perhaps got caught with pot on them or were stopped for jaywalking and then were arrested for “obstruction of justice” (a nice vague term which allows police to arrest anybody who annoys them). Once they are arrested, they get caught up in the criminal justice system and are labeled criminals with records. I’m sure your kids may use recreational drugs someday or jaywalk, but I doubt the police will go after them like they do black men. Imagine living your life feeling like the police can and will stop you for the slightest infraction or for merely standing around. Sounds pretty crazy-making to me. I imagine those people marching up Columbus were protesting the injustice in our society for black men, not just the grand jury’s decision in this case.
There are people with diverse political views on the UWS. Not everyone marches in lockstep with the prevailing left-wing politics.
Really, Other UWS Mom? For a “liberal denizen” you sure have an intolerable view of others that don’t share your views.
The UWS does not have a monopoly on “liberalism” and we’re not all clones of mindless,blind “liberalism” like yours for the sake if it. Last I checked, I’m entitled to live where I’d like, or does my freedom to reside on UWS despite my occasionally not “liberal” ideas not fall within your liberal view? Clearly ignorance is bliss, as you’ve allowed your one sided opinions to cloud your judgment as a lawyer, and that’s dangerous. Why should the burden of centuries of racism and injustice fall on the shoulders of a single police officer who’s been cleared by the grand jury? Why is it OK that he and his family, and anyone who supports him, have had their lives threatened? If that were to happen to any of the “protesters” in Ferguson, you’d be the first person to scream racism. That does not sound very just or “liberal” to me.
Upper West Side mom – first of all, speak for yourself when you speak of one sided opinions. I think that liberals are more capable of seeing different sides to a story, just not one side as you clearly do. Second, you misunderstood my earlier post. I was not disagreeing with the grand jury verdict. I did not see or hear all the evidence, so I am withholding judgment on whether the decision was correct or not. What I was doing was responding to your comments belittling liberals who live on the UWS and the protestors who were probably out there because of the decades of injustice, not merely because of a single grand jury decision. Sure, this was the trigger (rightly or wrongly), but there is so much history and resentment behind it. Finally, I was not telling you to get out of the UWS. I was questioning why you would live in this neighborhood since you so clearly dislike the liberals who are prevalent here. I would not live in Texas since I wouldn’t want to be surrounded by conservatives, and if I planned a move there, my friends would all ask me why the heck I was moving there. Yes, you have the right to live here. I just think it’s odd that someone like you would.
ANOTHER UWS Mom: I hate to burst your little bubble world, but from an actual liberal to a faux liberal: “Liberalism is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty (which is especially stressed in classical liberalism) and equality (which is more evident in social liberalism).” By definition, you are not a “liberal” as you do not espouse a view supporting liberty and equality in the fullest sense. Rather, you are small minded, unaccepting of the views of others, and would deny equality to others based on ill informed, one dimensional and misguided opinions. Most true liberals that I know are smart and perceptive, so guess you’re out on that count too. There goes your safe little identity, but I’d still accept you as a neighbor on UWS, unlike you. Guess that makes me…a LIBERAL.
UWS Mom has every right to live on the UWS, other UWS, thanks. Again who is more non-tolerant then liberals with regard to others with different opinions…
I too claim not to know everything about the Ferguson situation – I think we have enough issues here in New York.
But as a refresher here is the video of Mike Brown robbing and intimidating the store owner the same day he was killed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_ErCzbXOxU
Now, does certainly does not deserve to die for this, however one can perhaps assume that when stopped, he was not cooperative with the police and things escalated. Again I make no judgements. I leave that for the grand jury.
Other UWS mom, you sound like a true public defender who has drank the koolaid from your clients. Do you really think they where all angels and the police just pick on them because they are young men of color? come on,give me a break. of course they are going to tell you that. you are their (free) lawyer. the sad sad fact is that nearly all of those grainy surveillance camera pics of the crimes committed on the UWS and NYC show the truth that most perpetrators are young men of color. Again, I wish it was not true. and I think we as a society should do much more for them as it truly the major issue holding our city and country back. Give every low income black male private tutors, free college and if they are older, real job training and mainstreaming into society.
BUT
they won’t happen. You can’t even have a conversation about it – that while most young black men are NOT criminals, most criminals are young black men (at least in NYC).
I will be probably be attacked here and called racist. But I say to the liberals, why do expect less from others. do you think they are somehow not capable of what you would expect of yourself and your children?
I think they are equal , and yes we have racism in this Country and I am happy to work to correct the past wrongs. Does does not mean making excuses for the basics: studying and going to school, working, not inflicting violence on others.
thats it. I will not respond to this posting.
I am sad for the state of our country.
These people were marching for Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, and many others. This is about all police, not just what happened in Ferguson. These are big issues in this city right now and they are only growing in importance. Just wait until they reach a decision on the Eric Garner case, then you’ll really have something to hide your yuppie kids from.
So what do you suggest? Convict somebody for murder just to placate angry people that think they know more than those who were actually involved in these incidents? Is that the American Justice system you’d like to see in place?
Well put West side mom. I heard they were coming to the UWS so I went to sneak a peak on Columbus. The vast majority were college kids or yuppy types (predominantly white, many with dread locks and $1200 DSLR cameras), who have probably never experienced first hand the type of racism they claim to have empathy for. Typical of ‘tolerant’ liberals to demand their version of justice regardless of facts. If we could just convict an innocent man and cave into the mob mentality, none of these protests would have to happen! *sarcasm*
I’m not defending everything the protestors said, but this wasn’t about “convicting” WIlson. It was about indicting him.
The burden of proof normally needed for an indictment is very, very low (if two witnesses disagree over a single piece of evidence, this often leads to an indictment).
The likelihood of Wilson being eventually convicted is irrelevant here. He wasn’t indicted, and that is highly, highly unusual for a case as complex as this.
Dear Upper West Side Mom,
Maybe you haven’t done your research. It’s not that difficult in this country to become a felon. One doesn’t need to be a violent criminal to achieve this status. One day, you might be talking to your kids about how to avoid this presitigous title.
Regardless of the history of Michael Brown, it is beyond justice to imagine why he was shot 12 times, as the latest evidence reports, and why he was shot in the head, as per the officer’s testimony.
So, what you are saying is that if he had his hands down, and didn’t yell, “Don’t shoot.”, he deserved to be shot? And, I’m guessing you are taking the police testimoy as the gospel truth. Murder is murder.
Um, Ella, no worries at my end that my kids will be felons as they were not raised to murder and steal,and so sorry for you if that’s not the case in your own family. Speaking as someone with both a criminal defense and prosecutor background, you have to work pretty hard at being a hard core criminal to achieve FELON status. Felonies include but are not limited to Murder, Aggravated assault and/or battery, Manslaughter, Vehicular homicide, Arson, Burglary, grand larceny, manufacture, sale, distribution, or possession with intent to distribute of certain types and/or quantities of illegal drugs such as heroin, Treason, Kidnapping, Child pornography, Threatening an official (police officer, judge).
Murder is murder, except when it’s not, as in this case. Easy to second guess how you’d react in a life threatening situation (I again ask if you’ve read the testimony), but harder to take the time to analyze the data and form a reasoned opinion, as hard as the conclusions may be to accept. And, as New Dad so accurately points out below, the Grand Jury could not find probable cause to indict, which is a very low standard.
Want to do something productive? Move to Ferguson and open a business or trade school to alleviate the poverty that leads to crime in these neighborhoods.
Well said. They have decided to convict, forget any actual evidence or testimony (which, by the way, completely corroborates the police officer’s version of events.) And instead of directing that energy in a righteous manner to bring attention to their cause, they plunder and destroy from innocent, hard working small business owners.
Reading through the grand jury materials today, it seemed that there was a good deal of evidence supporting an indictment. It also seemed that the way the prosecutor handled this was not the usual way, in terms of the way he instructed the grand jury. I was not there, and I know that evidence looks different in writing than “live”, and so I do suspend judgment to some degree – and yet I can’t blame people for lacking trust in a system that lets them down so frequently.
“LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL”…..OR….LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR NONE!!!
Elissa–
Self-Defense is Self-Defense. What we know is Michael Brown committed a theft, asaulted a convenience store worker and police officer, and was rushing toward the same police officer to committ further assault when he was shot and killed.
Case closed.
We do NOT know that he was “rushing” towards the officer.
See the NY Times’s in-depth summary of the events: all we know is that he was moving towards him. Some witnesses say he was charging, others say he was slowly falling forwards.
I don’t really have a dog in this fight, but just wanted to point out that a grand jury does not need to find ‘conclusive’ evidence that a crime was committed. Their job is not to ‘convict.’ That’s what a trial is for. The grand jury’s role is simply to determine whether there exists sufficient probable cause to indict. If there’s an indictment, then the case proceeds to a trial. The evidentiary standard for determining probable cause is a much lower bar than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard that needs to be established at a trial in order to have a conviction. Hope that helps clarify things a bit.
Thank you, I’ve been trying to point this out. I’ve seen public defenders online say that normally, if two witnesses even disagree about a piece of evidence, the case goes to trial. The fact that this one didn’t is suspect. (And the fact that the prosecutor declined to actually prosecute Wilson and instead left it completely neutral is highly unusual).
Walked along with them for a few minutes out of curiosity. Very well-behaved, no risk of anything getting out of hand, police watching but not getting involved. Struck me as largely white, gentry-uptown liberals, with a few graduate students and other professional protester types (not that there is anything wrong with that).
Commendable that people gathered for a cause rather than a Shake Shack line or Santa Con bar hop. Hopefully these people also vote at election time.
Saw ’em from my window. Bored, uninformed, unmotivated, media-brainwashed kids thinking this will make something of their lives.
I bet a lot of the leftists in these demonstrations had no problem with the State of Israel running over unarmed Rachel Corrie with a bulldozer, and probably defend the bulldozer driver/killer to this day.
I think you’ve got the wrong party here Scott.
Anyone remember OJ? No protests then!!!!