When do we, as a nation, stand up to police brutality? When do we say no to cops acting like members of an occupying army? What does it take?
DURHAM — A month after Jesús “Chuy” Huerta died in police custody, dozens of armored police officers assembled as an alliance of about 150 friends, families and protesters marched for a second time on the Durham Police Department Thursday evening.
Police, some dressed in riot gear and equipped with rifles and shotguns, assembled in rows around the building, waiting, as the marchers streamed toward police property around 7:30 p.m., demanding answers for a family’s pain.
Protest organizers and police alike had in prior days urged marchers to remain peaceful, hoping to avoid the window-breaking and small number of arrests that marked the first protest for Huerta.
Thursday’s march, however, ended with several more arrests. Firecrackers and at least one bottle was thrown by protesters. Then several canisters of gas discharged by police before the crowd finally dispersed around 9 p.m.
The uproar over Huerta’s death has calmed little in the last few weeks, seeming only to intensify with Chief Jose Lopez’s claim that the 17-year-old shot himself in the head while his hands were cuffed behind his back in a police cruiser.
Most police forces are funded on the local level. To stop abuse, stop your tax dollars from being spent on your local cops. Pressure the mayor and your city council members. Attend those public meetings and raise hell. If you get arrested that’s the price you must pay in a participatory democracy sometimes. Call it a ticket to ride.