NAACP weighs in on officer
Schenectady police kneeled on man’s neck in early July
The Schenectady chapter of the NA ACP gathered Saturday afternoon to discuss policing and how to move forward after a video emerged of a Schenectady police officer kneeling on a man’s neck in early July.
Nicolle Harris, pastor of Duryee Memorial AME Zion Church in Schenectady, spoke at the news conference and recalled how she first heard the news.
She was in New Jersey visiting family, and recalled reading an article that reported there were police officers who knelt to pray with Black Lives Matter demonstrators earlier this summer. She said she was elated.
“It did my heart good. I even did a little bragging,” Harris told the crowd in front of Schenectady City Hall. “I told my family, ‘That’s Schenectady. That’s the place I’m pastoring now.’ ” But the feeling didn’t last.
More recently, she saw her city made headlines again, but this time it was in national news. She saw the story about how a Schenectady officer allegedly made a young man lose consciousness by putting his knee on his neck.
“I’m asking local police officers and police officers across the nation to remain mindful of what you do with your knees,” Harris said.
The issue of police knee holds became a flashpoint and sparked worldwide protests to end police brutality
and racism after George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, died in May after a white Minneapolis police officer held a knee on his neck while restraining him.
“It is not just hypocritical, it’s disingenuous to kneel with someone to pray with them and then use that same knee to restrain them,” Harris continued.
Cynthia Farmer, Chair of the NAACP Education Committee, discussed solutions the organization would like to see implemented, which include police mentoring programs to build positive relationships with youth and a residency requirement for city police, among several other initiatives.
Several city council members and Schenectady Police Chief Eric Clifford were all in attendance. However, Mayor Gary Mccarthy was not there.
“It’s important for the mayor to be a part of this,” Dr. Odo Butler, president of the Schenectady branch of the NAACP, said in regard to conversations about race.
He said the city would have to have difficult conversations about race.
After the news conference, Clifford told reporters he spoke to the mayor before the event and said the mayor said he had a conflict. Clifford said the two agreed Clifford would represent the city at the event.
He also said the July 6 incident is still under investigation, but he expects to have more information next week.
A Schenectady resident also chimed in with a question during the news conference. Steve Ram said he felt the officer’s actions in early July did not deescalate the situation, and Ram asked Butler if he thought officers’ “egos” were something that was part of the problem.
“These are the uncomfortable conversations we need to have,” Butler said.