Albany march part of national protest of Ferguson decision

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

Protesters walk through downtown Albany on the way to the Federal Office Building to rally against a grand jury decision in the Michael Brown case on Tuesday.

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For Jannah Umar, a grand jury’s decision not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed, black 18-year-old, was more than upsetting — it hurt.

“It feels like his blood is not as important as someone else’s blood, and that hurts,” said Umar, 24, of Albany. “I have black brothers. I have a black father. I have black uncles.”

She reflected on how Brown’s lifeless body was left for more than four hours in a residential street after the shooting.

“When we see Michael Brown laying in the street for four hours, I’m thinking, OK, so that could happen to my brothers and nobody would think twice about it,” she said.

Umar joined hundreds of residents who gathered peacefully outside City Hall in Albany Tuesday night and marched to the Leo O’Brien Federal Building on Pearl Street chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, these killer cops have got to go.” They carried signs with messages such as “Police State,” “Black Lives Matter” and “Justice for Mike Brown.” The march was part of a national effort to protest the grand jury’s decision in the Ferguson, Missouri, case that led to weeks of outrage-infused protests sometimes coupled with violence.

Umar’s sister, Malika Umar, 13, held a sign that read “Darren Wilson: Black America’s Most Wanted.” She said when she learned of the decision on the news Monday night, she became furious. When she heard about the protest taking place in Albany, she knew she had to be there.

“It’s also history, so why not be a part of it?” she said.

Chantel Langlois’ sign read “Civil Rights Movement: 1954 — to be continued.”

She said the history books say the movement ended in 1968, but that clearly it has not ended if people are still marching in 2014.

“It’s not going to end with my generation,” the 25-year-old Watervliet woman said. “It’s going to end when my great-great-great-grandchildren can walk the streets without being followed by police.”

Noelene Smith of Albany, whose sign read “Black Lives Matter,” said the grand jury’s decision shows that young African-Americans don’t get the “breaks” that Wilson, the police officer, received.

“There was one lawyer in there and that was a prosecutor,” she said, referring to prosecuting attorney Bob McCulloch, who announced the decision on Monday. “No one was there to represent Mike Brown’s side.”

Speaking through a megaphone to the crowd gathered on Pearl Street, which was blocked off by Albany police vehicles, Willie White channeled civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” said White, founder and director of A Village, a community organization that seeks to improve the lives of people in Albany’s South End, “so I’m inspired today because you are out there.”

He said the throng was there for Michael Brown, but also to call for systemic change to what he called the country’s broken justice system. He then led the crowd in a chant: “Black lives matter.”

“The black community feel like there’s two justice systems: one for the white folks and one for the black folks,” he said. “There’s always been a pattern of us getting the short end of the stick, and I’m here today to bring voice to that, and I speak for people who are not here tonight because I hear it in my community every day.”

The march was endorsed by several community groups such as Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace, First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, Albany Social Justice Center, Holding Our Own Inc., Citizen Action of New York and Organization for a Free Society, according to the Facebook page “Solidarity Response to Grand Jury Verdict on Mike Brown’s Murder.”