Community Speakout and Action On Policing and Anti-Black Racism

In light of the refusal of grand juries to indict the officers who killed Mike Brown in Ferguson, and who killed Eric Garner in NYC, DRUM members joined the city-wide mobilizations condemning police violence and racism.

In order to bring the conversation back into our communities, DRUM organized a speak out, with over 100 people, to discuss issues of race and policing, and combating anti-black racism in society and within immigrant communities. Youth leader Jensine Raihan highlighted the importance of being in solidarity with black communities: “we are not free until we are all free”. Through personal narrative, DRUM leader Shahina Parveen spoke about the similarities and differences in the ways policing affect immigrant and black communities: “My son was targeted and entrapped by an NYPD informant in a manufactured terrorism case, and sentenced to 30 years. Though utterly heartbroken, I still get to see and touch my son once a month. I wonder about the black mothers parents who will never see their children again.”