Paul Bass Photo
Demonstrators invoked the memory of civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King to denounce gentrification and police profiling at a rally on the Green.
Twenty-five people, mostly Yale students, attended the rally, which took place at the Church-and-Chapel end of the Green at 3 p.m. on Monday, coinciding with the national commemoration of King’s birthday.
The activist group ANSWER organized the rally, which included a petition for New Haven police to stop conducting its “Surge” operation. (Read a full story and reader debate about the Surge here.)
“They roll up on people of color, and they’re pushing people out of the area,” claimed ANSWER organizer Norman Clement. “We see this happening in this area, which is being gentrified more than it is now. … The police department doesn’t want black and brown people to be seen in these areas.” Clement told the group that he had received promises at a conference at Yale a few weeks ago that people would volunteer to help his group monitor police officers, and video-record their actions, during the Surge. But then nobody followed up, so the monitoring never happened. “I have to question people’s dedication to changing things,” Clement said.
Organizers at the rally also distributed pocket-sized pamphlets entitled “Know Your Rights When Dealing With Police — Fight The Surge — Say NO to the NHPD’s ‘Stop & Frisk.’” The pamphlet informs people they need not give police their names or ID unless they’re driving; and urges people to “FILM police (from a safe distance) with your phone or camera” and “GET badge numbers from police harassing you or others.”
No New Haven police officers were assigned to be present at the rally. Reached afterwards, Assistant Chief Luiz Casanova said department brass has discussed public criticism of the Surge. (Pictured: A Surge stop on Nov. 13.) Casanova said the operation was never meant to involve stop and frisk tactics or targeting of racial groups. The intention of the effort was to respond to requests for greater police presence at spots where quality-of-life crimes, like public drinking, were causing problems, he said. Officers from different districts would show up and patrol a spot, such as the Church and Chapel area, on foot at the beginning of an evening shift. “At the end of the day it’s simple police work. Perhaps it was given the wrong name. It’s like a ‘park and walk,’” Casanova said. “We’ve been asking cops to do this since the inception of community policing. Park the car. Walk the neighborhood. Interact with community. … We’re going to fix it. We’re certainly not going to title it ‘The Surge [anymore].’” Police have made few arrests during Surges, he said.
Rally speakers decried racial discrimination in the country’s criminal-justice system. “The U.S. has so many more of its people in jail than North Korea ever did,” ANSWER organizer IV Staklo told the gathering.
Trevor Carty (in foreground of photo), a 29-year-old sales representative from New Haven, stopped with three friends to observe the rally. He said he agrees with the message. He spoke of being harassed by patrol cops for hanging out with his friends at the corner of Winthrop and Whalley avenues. “They try to shoo everybody off,” he said. “Not everybody wants to shoot each other. There’s good people here.”