June 3, 2020

“Finally We’re Starting to See People Care”: Hundreds Peacefully Defy Curfew in Brooklyn to Demand Justice

Mother Jones/Mark Helenowski

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Police trailed a raucous, peaceful protest of several hundred people in Brooklyn early Wednesday night, permitting demonstrators to take over streets past curfew. While sporadic confrontations broke out at separate protests later, at least for these twilight hours, the scene provided a striking contrast to days of images dominated by police aggression.

As the sun set, and a citywide curfew came and went, our digital producer Mark Helenowski followed a sizable group of spirited protesters through the Bushwick and Williamsburg neighborhoods of Brooklyn, just one of many such groups across the city, large and small. Residents shouted support from rooftops; others banged pots while leaning out windows. On the ground, truck drivers, postal workers, and transport officers stopped to cheer on street corners. “Fuck your curfew!” the group chanted. A police officer on the scene said the NYPD would let the protest continue “as long as it stays peaceful.”

The afternoon’s breaking news that all four officers involved in George Floyd’s death have now been charged won’t abate the defiance and energy of protesters, said Dawaun Hill, a 28-year old accountant. “I wish [the charges] would have happened without the reaction of the people,” he said. “But wait—people have to riot? People have to loot?”

Kevon, a 35-year old bike messenger, agreed. “I know they’re just token charges. They don’t want any more destruction of property, so they’re going to throw a couple of their own under the bus.”

“Power to the people!” Courtney Bledsoe, a 33-year-old comedian, yelled from the sidewalk. “Your whole life, you watch black people die. You watch them die. And nobody cares. And finally we’re starting to see people care,” she said, wiping away tears.

Bledsoe said she hoped these protests marked a threshold moment for public awareness about state-sanctioned violence. “We have marched, and marched, and marched, and it wasn’t until that video of George Floyd that people really woke up. It’s amazing, it’s amazing to see.”

“The government is starting to realize that this is a real movement going,” said Gary Guzman, a 35-year-old owner of the local Brooklyn Drip clothing store, in between bouts of leading the group in chants. “Every day is getting stronger and stronger.”

This was his third day of protesting—and he’s not quitting anytime soon: “We won’t stop until we have what we need in this country.”

Mother Jones/Mark Helenowski

Listen to Mother Jones reporters cover protests from Minneapolis to New York, on this episode of the Mother Jones Podcast:

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate