Black Lives Matter Protesters Unite in Paterson and Clifton

By: Alaa Essafi 

Peaceful protests against police brutality following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis have been organized across New Jersey over the last several weeks. The protest in Paterson on June 13th at Paterson Free Public Library was absolutely electric. 

After chanting for some time, activist Zellie Imani took the megaphone to make sure that he called attention to the budget of the Paterson police force, which is a whooping $43 million, while the Department of Recreation has a budget of $2 million. “Defund the Police” and other chants to continue the fight for justice were echoed by every speaker and protester. 

Photo By: Joseph Moore

@sirm00re

The plea for justice was especially impassioned in the Paterson community, as Paterson community members are still demanding justice for Jameek Lowery. Jameek Lowery was murdered after going to the Paterson Police department for help, and he lost consciousness in the ambulance. Although his death was ruled an accident, the fact that he arrived at hospital with his face bruised by an unexplained injury caused Jameek’s family and prominent Paterson activists to protest in hopes of finding answers. 

Zellie Imani, the leader of Paterson’s Black Lives Matter Movement said, “Don’t think you’re alone right now. We are not alone. There are people chanting Jameek Lowery in Minneapolis. They’re chanting Jameek Lowry in LA and in the UK. We are worldwide and we are going to fight this together.” 

“Don’t think you’re alone right now. We are not alone”

A congregation of over 100 protesters raised their fists and listened as Zellie continued, “We are a movement of love. You love black people so much that you risk your life right now in the midst of a pandemic to ensure that another black person does not get killed in this country. That’s love.” We marched until we reached an intersection where we knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, after each minute shouting “George Floyd.” 

The Clifton protest began at 5 pm at Albion Park and consisted of about 100 protestors. It was organized by Clifton Waves, a collective of Clifton High School graduates who came together to demand racially diverse representation in the Clifton Board of Education and City Council. 

Nadir Pearson, an organizer of the Clifton protest said, “We went over to Paterson today so we can show we are really conscious about working with other folks and other communities in our area. This is not an isolated thing, this is something that happened to George Floyd in Minneapolis and it’s creating waves everywhere. Because we all feel this.”