‘STOP KILLING MY FRIENDS’

Protesting is a passion in Siggy Buchbinder’s family. Her father took part in demonstrations against the Vietnam war in the 1960s, then brought her to her first one in 2003, protesting military action in Iraq.

She went on march for women’s rights.

These demonstrations feel different, she said. There are so many young people. The momentum, she said, is building for change.

“I think people need to stay in the streets. I think it was working and I think it will continue to work,” Buchbinder said. “Now is not the time to let up. Now is the time to go even harder.”

Even among the many white New Yorkers who joined demonstrations following Floyd’s death, Buchbinder, 27, stands out. She is nearly 6 feet tall and looked even bigger with her arms raised high, holding a sign that read “Stop killing my friends.”

Buchbinder was one of four white graduates in her high school class of 172 in 2011, and says many of her friends are people of color: “It would be wrong to not stand and fight with them.”

She doesn’t lead chants, believing the speaking should be left to black protesters. Nor was she concerned about the curfew in effect most of the week. Fear of what the police might do has always been something her friends had to worry about much more than she did.

“I think my friends have always been kind of nervous of the cops,” Buchbinder said. “I think growing up they don’t mess with the cops. They don’t get into situations where they could be in trouble.”

(AP/Wong Maye-E) Siggy Buchbinder, 27, holds up a sign reading “Stop Killing My Friends!” during a solidarity rally calling for justice over the death of George Floyd on June 5 in the Brooklyn borough of New York.