Demonstrators took to the streets of downtown Riverhead today to protest against the deaths of black men at the hands of police across the country.
Waving hand-painted signs in the air, they shouted chants of “Black Lives Matter,” “Stop killing us,” “No justice, no peace,” and “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” At times the crowd shouted, “All lives matter” and “Blue lives matter” — the two refrains often used to respond to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Initially about 110 people lined both sides of Peconic Avenue between the Route 24 traffic circle and Heidi Behr Way beginning shortly after 12 noon. Their numbers swelled as the afternoon went on. Dozens of passing motorists honked their horns in support of the demonstrators.
The crowd eventually marched down East Main Street to Riverhead Town Hall and then back again to the Peconic River parking lot where the demonstration began.
The demonstration lasted a total of about three hours and ended without incident. While Southampton Town Police had a visible presence on the south side of the river, Riverhead Town Police were largely invisible, keeping watch from the outskirts of the peaceful protest.
“I’m really pleased with the turnout. It’s more than I expected it to be and it’s truly a multiracial crowd,” said organizer Vanessa Vascez-Corleone. People of all ages, races and ethnicity turned out: children, teens, parents with babies in strollers, senior citizens — blacks, whites, Hispanics and Asians. “That’s beautiful,” she said.
“This is all about standing together as one, standing up to say this killing has got to stop. We have to stop the racism in the justice system,” Vascez-Corleone said. “We need to stand up in Riverhead and in every community across the country.”
“Let’s be clear. We never said only black lives matter,” said a man who identified himself as Howard, 32, of Riverhead. “The civil rights movement is very real to me. They fought for and died for our rights, but people are still getting murdered today. People are still getting lynched — without a rope. It’s 2016. This should not be happening,”
Lifelong Riverhead resident Fred Miles explained that blacks “just want to be treated like every other race. “It’s it’s not just black lives. It’s everybody’s lives that matter.
Willie Jenkins, a Bridgehampton native now living in Riverhead said he’s “sick of the injustices in the system, the racial profiling, the lack of accountability particularly when its a person of color.
“I know all the cops aren’t bad. I appreciate the police officers that do their job every day and do it right. We have to hold the ones who don’t do it right accountable just like any other criminal,” Jenkins said.
“The videos this week really hit home, after two years of problems,” said Jenkins, the father of two young sons, who accompanied him to the demonstration. “The man’s daughter was in the back seat.”
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Denise Civiletti
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