Al Sharpton's NAN marches in Jersey City denouncing 'police brutality'
"Stop police brutality!" and "No justice! No peace!" were some of the chants repeated by about two dozen protesters Saturday as they marched down Martin Luther King Drive in Jersey City.
The event was organized by the north Jersey chapter of the National Action Network, the organization founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton.
The protesters held signs, waved flags and at times held their hands in the air, yelling, "Hands up! Don't shoot!" a reference to the death of Michael Brown, the unarmed 18-year-old African American who was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., in August.
Carolyn Oliver-Fair, executive director of the north Jersey chapter of NAN, said the protest was part of a "united stand across the country" against prosecutorial and police misconduct.
"We're talking about unnecessary brute force," Oliver-Fair said. "Black and brown people are targets."
Localizing her issue, Oliver-Fair characterized the death of Lavon King, 20, who was shot and killed by Jersey City police on June 24, as an example of "warrantless" police force.
King, who had warrants out for his arrest, was shot in the chest by a police officer after he struggled with the officer and tried to take away the officer's gun in the backyard of an Ege Avenue home, police officials said. King was unarmed.
King "was shot for no reason," said Dannielle Davis, 19, of the protesters. Three Jersey City police officers on motorcycles and at least one police cruiser escorted the protesters down the roadway.
Yusef Chavers, 53, watched as the protesters marched pass Bostwick Avenue. A community activist, Chavers said the area's problems run deeper than alleged police misconduct, and include gang violence and a lack of job training and education.
"I think it's going to take more than the norm of people and politicians" to fix these problems, he said. "It's going to take young people with a sense of awareness ... to fight for ... an agenda."
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Al Sharpton's NAN marches in Jersey City denouncing 'police brutality'