Protest demands justice for Ramarley Graham

New York — On Feb. 2, one year after Ramarley Graham was shot to death in his bathroom in front of his 6-year-old brother and his grandmother, hundreds of Bronx residents and supporters from throughout the New York metropolitan area rallied with the family of Ramarley and marched to the 47th Precinct, where Richard Haste, the cop who killed the 18-year-old, was assigned.

The rally was chaired by Frank Graham. Many of the signs were homemade, a testament to the grassroots nature of the movement that supports the family and works to win justice for Ramarley, led by Ramarley’s Call (ramarleyscall.org). Some of the chants called for justice, but were also about not needing police, seeing them as a menace and a repressive force in the community.

Others who were there presented information about the struggle for reparations for the Central Park 5, four young Black men and one Latino man who were falsely charged, convicted and imprisoned in 1990, and about the case of Shantel Davis who was shot to death in Brooklyn in June 2012 by cop Philip Atkins.

The march went up White Plains Road to 233rd Street to the 47th Precinct. There was a tremendous amount of community support along the route of march, and afterwards there was a service at the church where Ramarley’s funeral was held.

In addition to the mobilization on the anniversary, the family filed a lawsuit against the New York Police Department on Feb. 1. In it, the NYPD is charged with attempting to cover up the facts surrounding Ramarley’s death and with disproportionately targeting youth of color in its controversial stop-and-frisk program.