3 shot dead at Fla. biker club
A jail cell kept Brooklyn’s Anthony Green from making the Million Man March 25 years ago, but the youth mentor said he remains inspired and committed to the ideals espoused that day.
Green, 52, joined dozens of Black men under black umbrellas who celebrated the march’s silver anniversary with a much smaller, but spirited march Friday across the Brooklyn Bridge.
When they stopped at Manhattan’s Foley Square, they assessed the progress made since Black men from every corner of the country convened in the nation’s capital on Oct. 16, 1995.
They also lamented the setbacks they have suffered, from ongoing police brutality to inadequate health care as demonstrated by the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on communities of color.
“I spent 30 years i n prison for a crime I didn’t commit,” Green said. “However, I have been home six years and working and doing everything I am supposed to do for the people of my community, for all of them.
“Whatever you do for one community trickles into others.
I come out here to show young brothers and sisters that despite all I have been through, trust me, we can make a difference.”
Nation of Islam Captain
Richard Muhammad, who organized the bridge event, said many participants were inspired by the police brutality death of of George Floyd.
“It struck a nerve with men in our community that we have to do something differently,” Muhammad said.
“A coalition of different organizations started a conversation that led to 13 weeks of us planning and coming together to generate the spirit of mobilizing and giving back to our community.”
The Nation of Islam, under the direction of its firebrand leader Louis Farrakhan, organized the unprecedented pilgrimage of of Black men at the seat of American government in 1995.
Husbands, fathers, brothers and sons at the Million Man March vowed to atone for their own mistakes and take responsibility for their families and communities and hold each other accountable.
“Black men, you don’t have to bash white people,” Farrakhan said at the time. “All we have to do is go back home and turn our communities into productive places.”
The message was the same as the song: Brothers Gonna Work it Out.
“We are human beings too and need to be looked upon as such,” Green said. “We need to stop being bad. We have good too and if people recognized that, maybe they will start looking at us differently instead of focusing on the violence.”
Three people were killed and a fourth was wounded early Friday after gunfire broke out at a Florida warehouse that’s been converted into a private motorcycle club, authorities said.
A preliminary investigation suggested that the shooting happened during an argument over someone’s motorcycle, but no suspects had been identified.
When officers arrived at the Orlando warehouse just before 2 a.m., two of the victims were already dead, while the other two victims had been brought to a hospital, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said at a news conference.
One of the two patients suffered non-life-threatening injuries, but the other was pronounced dead at the hospital.
It was unclear if any of the gunshot victims fired a weapon themselves.
Authorities believe the incident was isolated and not related to gang activities.
“We believe all the people involved most likely know each other,” Mina told reporters. “There is no immediate threat to the people in this area or anyone who lives or works in the area.”