Flatbush Riots

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” 
― Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


Try as I might, I can't do anything but relive the riots of last night over and over again in my mind. I had gone to the neighborhood Walgreens down the block from my house to get ice cream and a few groceries. I ended up getting caught in the middle of the riots that are sweeping the neighborhood.

This past weekend, 16-year-old Kimani Gray was shot 7 times in the back and killed by NYPD officers. According to eyewitness reports, which contradict the NYPD's official story, Kimani was going about his business in the neighborhood and was unarmed when he was targeted and shot multiple times in the back by a group of uniformed police. Every night since this deplorable act of police brutality, there have been riots in Flatbush.

Security had to lock us inside the store and bolt the doors to keep the protesters out. The group came up to the doors and windows and started smashing against the glass. For a very tense half hour, I bunkered down with other customers inside the store as the riots raged outside. We stayed as far away from the windows as possible for fear someone would lob something through the plate-glass windows.

While inadvertently getting caught in the middle of all that was a traumatic experience for me, I am more concerned with the root causes and pain that are leading masses of people in my community to uprising and rioting. African-American, Caribbean-American and really all other ethnic groups that reside in Flatbush (myself included) have a definite right to be angry with City Hall, Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD for the way that our neighborhood has been put on NYC's back burner and left to plunge into poverty, crime and all kinds of other urban decay.

The NYPD's brute-force intimidation tactics, sweeping mass arrests, attempts to squelch the right of the people to assemble and demonstrate, and utter lack of accountability MUST end. The Police Department is reaping the bitter fruits that it has sown by perpetrating a culture of guilty until proven innocent, dishonesty, intrusion, violation of privacy, rough-handling and arresting any dissension, and the list goes on and on. I would be the first to add my voice to those who recognize the very real and pressing needs for reform and complete overhaul of the NYPD's mode of operating.

However, I will reiterate once again that violence is never the solution. We must find a constructive outlet for our grievances. My heart goes out to the family and friends of Kimani Gray. In reality though, these riots are about much more than Kimani's story alone. People are NOT happy with the way things are going in Flatbush (or the rest of New York for that matter), and the past few nights have just been the boiling over of years of buildup. City Hall needs to wake up and start listening.