Black Activists Halt Rally For Teen Arrested At Bridgewater Mall

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — Before a rally for 8th grader Z'Kye Hussain could even begin, a group of Black activists began yelling and halted the event outside of the Bridgewater Township Police Station on Wednesday afternoon. (See the video below)

The press conference/rally on Wednesday was to feature nationally-known civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton, who did not show up. Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Hussain's family also came to speak. He is also known for representing the families of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, and Breonna Taylor.

A group of Black activists took center stage before the rally began and started accusing Sharpton and Crump of being opportunists.

"All of them are millionaires, they are not staying in our communities, why are we listening to them? They don't speak for me," said one activist.

The shouting got so disruptive, Crump, Hussain's family and others were forced inside the Bridgewater Municipal building.

The conference resumed inside with only members of the press allowed to attend. Bridgewater Police were outside the meeting room in the hallway due to the crowd. Crump did not address the disruption outside prior to the media meeting and left after the meeting through the back to avoid the crowd.

The conference addressed a viral video showing a fight between a light-skinned teen and Hussain at the Bridgewater Commons mall. The video also shows township police officers kneeling on and handcuffing the Black teen while the white teen is left sitting on a couch. Read More: Cops Criticized After Stopping Teen Fight At Bridgewater Mall

"This video gave us ocular proof there is no way to distinguish it. Police in a split second saw a white kid on top of a Black kid and made the determination that the white kid was presumed innocent and the Black kid was presumed guilty," said Crump.

Crump noted that Hussain's mother Ebony told him that when she saw the video it made her think back to George Floyd.

Hussain's father, Jihad, who is a veteran in the military said his son was a good kid who loves to help the people in his community.

"We go to grandma's house every weekend, mow the lawn. He is a great kid and the way the cops treated him was as if he was a bad kid," said Jihad. "I don’t support that. I was in the military I fought for equality. This is not justice. This is not equality."

Crump said his group is contemplating filing a federal civil rights lawsuit based on "his fourth amendment rights being infringed upon based on unreasonable search and seizure. And obviously equal protection."

"I feel like I shouldn't be lucky that I wasn't hurt or killed by people who promise to protect us," said Z'Kye. "And that's why we are here today to change that. To not be lucky to be treated like animals."

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