Thomas Breen photos
Marching on Saturday. Below: An American flag with the faces of Black men and women killed by the police.
Over 100 young people from throughout the county marched and rallied downtown to “cancel” Independence Day as it currently exists.
They argued that true freedom for all Americans won’t come through fireworks or backyard barbecues — but rather through protest, political advocacy, and an honest reckoning with this country’s history of oppression.
That four-hour long demonstration took place Saturday afternoon, and was organized by a group called Connecticut Against Brutality.
Dozens of teenagers and people in their early 20s from New Haven, Milford, West Haven, Hamden, Branford, and other surrounding towns gathered by the flagpole at the Green just after 1 p.m.
They marched up to the Peabody Museum, along Hillhouse Avenue, and then down to police headquarters at 1 Union Ave., making frequent stops along the way to call out the historic exclusion of black and brown Americans from the promises of freedom and equality laid out in the Declaration of Independence.
They also spoke about more contemporary freedom struggles, including the nationwide uprising against police brutality, the movement for Black lives, and youth-led demands to defund and abolish the police and implement a new form of community-based public safety.
“If we’re still living in a country where Black people cannot walk down the street, or drive in a car, or sleep in their own beds at night without fearing for their safety and the safety of their own families, then we’re not free,” said Siobhan Ekeh (pictured), a Milford resident and rising high school senior who led Saturday’s action.
“If we’re living in a country where women’s reproductive rights are constantly under siege by this country’s government, then we’re not free,” she continued.
“If we’re living in a country where LGBTQ rights are constantly under siege by that same government, then we are not free.
“If we’re living in a country where trans Black women are dying at epidemic levels from violence and murder, then we are not free in this country.”
Cecilia Dondorful-Amos, Alexis Chang, and Nana Dondorful-Amos.
New Havener Alexis Chang (pictured at center) agreed.
“The 4th of July is cancelled until Black lives matter,” Chang said. “The 4th of July is cancelled until Black trans lives matter. The 4th of July is cancelled until Black disabled lives matter.
“As of today, we have nothing to celebrate. Don’t be silent. Do not sit back and celebrate a holiday that has only benefited the white people in our society.”
Chang and West Haveners Nana and Cecilia Dondorful-Amos stood atop a bench next to the flagpole on the Green and took turns reading from Frederick Douglass’s, “What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?”
“How can you celebrate America’s freedom and independence when its people are not free or independent?” Nana Dondorful-Amos said before diving into Douglass’s speech. “July 4th is far more complicated than backyard barbecues and fireworks. That stereotype is white America’s version of Independence Day.
“To some, celebrations of American independence on July 4th are a reminder of the country’s hypocrisy on the matter of freedom, as slavery played a key role in this nation’s history.”
New Haven resident Jacob B. (pictured) offered what he said is a more appropriate way to celebrate the national holiday as the group prepared to march from the Green and into the city’s streets.
“Let’s protest, obstruct, and defund until they have no choice but to listen,” he said. “Let’s support small minority-owned businesses, give freely to those in need, prioritize stability, forgiveness, and rehabilitation for those who suffer, and reinvest in communities that have struggled with poverty and neglect for too long.
He said that tearing down statues and getting police leaders and politicians to kneel in support are symbolic victories for current liberation movements. “The real victory is in abolishing the philosophy of supremacy and the cultural colonialism of capitalism that holds one person superior to another,” he said.
And with that, the group hit the streets.
Marching up Church Street to Grove, then over to Hillhouse, and then taking a pause outside the Peabody Museum for a teach-in by two Yale students on the undergraduate-led movement to abolish the Yale Police Department.
They then marched back down Hillhouse Avenue, Grove to Church, then to Elm, and to State, and made their way down to police headquarters on Union Avenue.
Police officers on motorcycles, on bicycles, and in cruisers blocked traffic along the way, ensuring that the protesters could march in the street without having to worry about oncoming traffic.
Outside police headquarters, the dozens of marchers took a seat — in the shade, if they could find it — and listened to a half-dozen more speakers, some on the agenda, some impromptu, weigh in on what Independence Day 2020 means to them. Organizers passed bottled water and granola bars to to anyone in the crowd in need of sustenance after the miles-long march.
“On this day, on the 4th of July, I’m happy to see a movement, I’m happy to see people organizing,” said Hamden Town Council member and state senate candidate Justin Farmer (pictured).
He urged those in attendance to fill out the U.S. Census, to register to vote, to research politicians and candidates for office where they live, and to vote in the state’s Aug. 11 primary.
“Let’s make sure that the next 4th of July, that we really mean that we are liberated and that we did something different,” he said.
Los Angeles-based filmmaker and West Haven native Ogechi Musa agreed.
“We need new soil, or we will not grow,” Musa said. “We keep fighting because there’s strength and power in numbers. It’s going to take all of us to dismantle white supremacy.”
Click on the Facebook Live videos below to watch excerpts from Saturday’s march and rally.