Greenwich rally calls for action on racial justice
GREENWICH — “I stand for a community that is tired of being stood upon,” the Rev. Thomas Nins of the First Baptist Church told a crowd gathered on a hot Saturday afternoon at Town Hall to protest the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis.
“What do I stand against? I stand against racism in every form. I stand against injustice in every form,” said Nins, who is also the police chaplain and the father of “two beautiful black sons,” with his first grandchild on the way.
“I have been protesting ever since I was a young man. I have been out there fighting the battle — and I’ve got to tell you, those of us who have been out here are sick and tired of fighting the same dad-gone battle year after year after year. We’re just tired of it.”
Nins, who told the crowd that he takes personally the death of George Floyd, led the crowd in several chants of “No Justice, No Peace.”
He said he was not there as a show of sympathy but to call for action, including voting and speaking out against bigotry. Nins offered a sharp rebuke against President Donald Trump and Republicans, even those who are friends of his, who support the president.
The rally for justice, organized by Indivisible Greenwich, brought at least 600 people together, with some holding signs saying, “Wake Up White People,” “Don’t Apologize, Mobilize” and “White Silence Is Violence.”
“We are here to mourn,” Indivisible Greenwich co-founder Joanna Swomley said. “We are heartbroken and sick by yet another cruel torturous murder at the hands of those who took an oath to serve and protect. We are desperately sad, and we’re here because there is a movement going on today that has a chance for real change. And it requires our presence and our help in order to sustain it.”
The crowd filled the front lawn at Town Hall and overflowed onto the other side of Field Point Road, with many attempting to practice social distancing in the coronavirus era. The crowd was the largest ever for an Indivisible Greenwich event, co-founder Nerlyn Pierson said.
Floyd’s death has sparked protests around the world and calls for tough measures to stop police brutality and racial profiling. He died lying in the street as an officer kneeled on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
The Greenwich rally included 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence in Floyd’s memory. Swomley urged everyone to kneel, if possible, with First Selectman Fred Camillo among those joining in the kneeling and time of prayer and contemplation.
Central Middle School student Hugo Levine, 13, spoke passionately about what he has witnessed in the country since Floyd’s death on Memorial Day. He asked, what happened to Floyd’s rights and what has happened to the rights of some protesters across the country who have been arrested.
“I would like adults to be honest that someone like myself is treated differently than someone with darker skin,” said Levine, who is white. “That is the root of systemic racism that has dominated our country for 400 years. That is white privilege. I could go into a store and steal something and it would be less likely that I was ‘robbing’ than a person with a darker shade of skin.”
U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4, a town resident, said he was saddened, disgusted and broken by Floyd’s death and loudly called for action at the rally.
Himes said he was “deeply conscious in this moment of listening and reflection that one of the attributes of the systemic racism that has haunted this country for four centuries” was that white men of privilege and power have spoken while others have had to listen.
Himes called Floyd’s death “a moment of horror and evil” but said the problem does not end with police officers “who have murdered unarmed black men” because it is about systemic racism in the country.
Social programs like the New Deal and the Great Society largely lifted up poor white people while excluding people of color, he said.
“I wake up every day grateful to represent every single one of you, agree with me or not, and the next thing I think to myself is that a child who is born in Darien is going to succeed and a child who is born poor in South Norwalk probably won’t,” Himes said. “That is not OK.”
Indivisible offered several action items to legislators for reforms in police procedures. And they asked Camillo to agree to the “commitment to action pledge,” which calls for a review of the police department’s use of force policies and a report on planned reforms.
After the rally, Camillo met briefly with Swomley and said he will review the pledge.
The four officers in Floyd’s death have been fired and face criminal charges. Derek Chauvin, who was seen in a video kneeling on Floyd’s neck, had his charges upgraded this week to include second-degree murder along with third-degree murder and manslaughter. The other three officers, Thomas Lane, Alexander Keung and Tou Thao, have been charged with aiding and abetting murder.