On Feb. 4, several hundred people marched through the Morrisania neighborhood of the Bronx, N.Y., to protest the Feb. 2 police killing of unarmed, 18-year-old African-American Rahmarley Graham in his home. Graham’s six-year-old brother and grandmother witnessed the shooting.
The protesters also demanded the release of Jateik Reed, another African-American youth, whose savage beating on Jan. 26 by four officers was captured on video. Among the charges against Reed are assaulting a police officer and drug possession. Hours after the beating, Reed’s family members and friends were also arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest at a Bronx police precinct. Reed was released on bond Feb. 6 from Riker’s Island.
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None of the police involved with these two horrific incidents has been charged as of yet. Ironically, the Feb. 4 demonstration took place on the 12th anniversary of the police murder of 23-year-old African immigrant Amadou Diallo, who was struck with 19 out of 41 bullets fired at him while standing in the hallway of his apartment building in the Bronx. The four police officers involved in this criminal act were acquitted.