Officer Damien Golden was the first black police officer hired in the town of Manlius. Seven years later, there are two black officers. That’s two of 38.
That lack of diversity at work and at home is not OK with the 300 people who showed up on a grassy Manlius lawn Sunday afternoon to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests in Syracuse and cities across the U.S.
Protesters held signs that said “Silence is Violence” and “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”
Golden is the school resource officer at Fayetteville-Manlius High School in addition to his regular police work. He has come to know many of the people who held signs and raised their fists in protest, especially the young people who organized the rally.
“I am very proud of this community,” he said as he watched quietly from the back of the rally with Police Chief Michael Crowell.
The killing of a black man by the knee of a white police officer in Minneapolis on Memorial Day has shined a light on police brutality and racism not just in law enforcement. The speakers at Sunday’s rally asked the mostly white people in the crowd to count the number of black colleagues in their offices.
Leila Abdul-Malak, who graduated from F-M High School last year, said she had only one black teacher in her entire school career. Now, she is a student at Northeastern University, studying health science and psychology.
Abdul-Malak is 19 years old. She organized Sunday’s protest in Manlius. She worked with police to find the safest location, block off streets and manage a crowd in the middle of a global pandemic.
“Living in this community, it’s really easy to ignore a lot of issues that happen,” she said. “We’re sort of sheltered here, living in a bubble.”
Even as she planned the event, Abdul-Malak said she experienced some of the small acts of racism and ignorance that happen every day to black people who live in white communities. The town of Manlius is 89.9 percent white, according to the U.S. Census.
“I had boys from my high school class call me a joke and tell me to shut up when speaking about my fears as a black person,” she said.
Someone in the crowd shouted back, “Never shut up.”
Demonstrators gathered at the Manlius Swan Pond amphitheater in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement.Michelle Breidenbach
Katelyn Kriesel, who was recently elected to the Manlius Town Board, told the crowd a story about how Manlius police recently trailed the father of her children, who is black, as he dropped the girls off at her house in Manlius.
Later, they pulled him over in a bank parking lot just up the street from Sunday’s rally. He was eventually let go. The two have filed a complaint with the police chief, who said he is investigating.
It was a scary lesson for her daughters and a reminder that she cannot always protect them.
Kriesel sometimes has to remind herself that she has been elected to public office. She and other Democrats flipped the elected majority of the Manlius Town Board from red to blue last year for the first time in history.
She said she and other councilors will review every policy in the town’s books to be sure they are treating people fairly. She promised to use her voice to change state policies as well.
“We will effect change no matter what,” she said. “I will not rest.”
Rallies against racial injustice are happening in small suburban towns and villages throughout the U.S.
In Camillus Sunday, more than 100 people lined West Genesee Street in front of the Camillus Municipal Building in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Most held signs decrying racism, police brutality and injustice.
Many passersby honked their horns in support. Some held a clenched fist out of their car window, a symbol of the movement.
Camillus police recognized the protest and were on hand. The demonstration remained entirely peaceful.
MORE ON THE PROTESTS
Syracuse Black Lives Matter rally draws 2,000: ‘This is a critical moment’
In Ahmaud Arbery’s footsteps, runners in Syracuse support Black Lives Matter movement
Syracuse mayor: Impossible to ignore peaceful protests, ‘open mind’ to policing changes
Faces of the Syracuse protests: Why we are marching, rallying against police brutality
Contact Michelle Breidenbach | mbreidenbach@syracuse.com | 315-470-3186.
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