'Officer, I Can't Breathe!' LI Caravan Decries Police Brutality

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — A caravan of vehicles headed from Bay Shore to Greenport Sunday as local residents came together to protest police brutality and demand change.

The event, "Strong Island Caravan for Justice," was organized by Tiara and Margarita Ferebee, Marylin Banks-Winter and others.

Lights flashing and horns honking, with "Black Lives Matter" signs waving in the wind, drivers in the caravan left Bay Shore made stops in East Patchogue, Shirley, Riverhead and Mattituck before arriving at Fifth Street Beach in Greenport, where a candlelight vigil was held.

As the wind whipped, their words echoed in the night as a cold rain began to fall."Mama!" and "No justice, no peace," the group, including small children, cried as they rallied for justice.

Margarita Ferebee said she would continue to fight to protect her children, and all children — and to speak out against police brutality and justice. She said some police officers are not held accountable, despite being involved in shootings.

"It's unlawful, unjust," she said. "How many face no prosecution, while continuing to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars each year? They continue to abuse people, to target people. They chose this career path. But not every one of them should be an officer. Some of them do a wonderful job, and I know a few, personally." But there is a percentage, she said, who are "monsters, carrying a badge."

She spoke about reports of small children being tear-gassed and maced. "They target our children every day," she said. "It's disgusting." People have also died protesting at George Floyd rallies, she said.

The caravan was held, Ferebee said, "in memory of every person killed due to police violence. We are going to be doing this in memory of every child, every mother, every father, every sister, every brother, every cousin, every aunt, every friend, every employee, companion — everybody that anybody may have known that was somebody in this world, whose life has been taken unjustly."

Robert Ray, the African American Educational and Cultural Festival's social justice director for health care, said "Black and Brown people are often killed more than everybody else." Ray said he owns a Mustang and a Porsche, works for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and attended Stony Brook University. "But to the racist cops, I'm a drug dealer."

Systemic racism, Ray said, exists on Long Island, not just the nation.

He added: "President Trump said when the looting starts, the shooting starts. And it did — they are shooting us even more."

"My wife and I both chose to put this caravan in place in memory of over 1,000 unarmed people who have been victims of police brutality from 2013 to 2019," Margarita Ferebee said. "Our police shouldn't be killing our people. Verbal abuse, torture, harassment, assault and battery, murder. This is our country's new normal? Absolutely not. This must be addressed, not swept under the rug. Abuse of authority is almost the new normal today. And justice, is simply unjust. This is why we are choosing to have a caravan for justice."

Ferebee handed out candles and brought lanterns she'd created, with the names of those killed, that she'd hoped to illuminate in the night for "a powerful moment."

The group chanted: "What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!"

Ray spoke of George Floyd, whose death in Minneapolis sparked protests across the East End and nation: A police officer pressed his knee to his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds as Floyd begged for help and cried out for his mother until he died, he said.

"Just imagine someone's knee on your neck and you're gasping for air," Ray said. "We are suffering right here on Long Island. Everyone that's out here right now, activists, we are often looked at as terrorists because we support Black Lives Matter. I know you are not terrorists. You are Black people fighting for justice."

And Ray said, he wanted to make one point clear: "We are not anti-police. We are anti-racist police."

Those gathered pleaded for equality in law enforcement, education, housing, and the healthcare system.

The mother of a 16-year-old who died in Brentwood after she was reportedly bullied also spoke, as did advocates for the transgender and LBGTQ and autism communities, all of whom are working tirelessly for change in schools, in law enforcement, in the community.

"Know your rights," Ray said. And, he added, the pathway to change cannot be forged by "screaming at the police officers, saying 'F--- you!' That's not respectable." There needs to be education, he said, adding that "if something happens, I have to call the police. We have to love the officers."

Eric Williams, who organized an earlier protest in Riverhead, also addressed the group. "The purpose is bigger than you and me. It's for everybody. It's for the generations that come behind us. We have to leave a legacy. We have to do something; without doing this, things will never be changed," he said. "We have to continue."

A little girl also addressed the men and women gathered. "I am very thankful for all these protests. I hope all these protests are worth it so the world can be a better world," she said.

"We're fighting for you, baby girl," Margarite Ferebee said. "Every day."

Her wife Tiara Ferebee also told her story: "On October 16, 2017 I made a mistake. I shot a cop with a BB gun."

Ferebee said the plainclothes officer was driving an unmarked car in Queens and the incident was a mistake. "The charges got knocked down. But that is why I do this," she said. "Why do the police not get charged with the same thing I got charged with, when they kill somebody? I will not stop until there is equality. No justice, no peace."

And, she added: "They say it doesn't happen in Suffolk County, or Long Island. It does. Kevin Turner." The 19-year old died in 2011 after accusations of police brutality; his death led to protests.

Ferebee spent years incarcerated, her wife said, adding that police officers should also be held similarly accountable.

Marylin Banks-Winter invited all to join AAECF. "We are a movement now. We need change and we need it now. I want to say to my brothers and sisters in law enforcement: We all need to be educated today. We're not Marxists. We're not Antifa. We vote. We pay your salary. We are your friends. We work. We own businesses. We are schoolteachers, nurses and doctors, we have to take care of you. We are professors, therapists, scholars. We are public servants. We are the military," she said, adding that she spent eight years in the Armed Forces. "We are your friends. We are law enforcement. We are American citizens — and we are your neighbors."

Ray urged all present to "get out there and vote."

Tiara and Margarita Ferebee also organized a protest against police brutality and George Floyd's death on Route 58 in Riverhead in June.

Banks-Winter said the goal of the event was to support the ongoing movement for 'justice and equality. This is not new but continual for us."

She added: "Like Senator Kamala Harris said, the bad police make it bad for the good ones. We are not against the police but are for police reform — fair treatment under the law. We are for a president and vice president who listen and hear the cry of the people of this United States," Winter said.

The current administration does not, Banks-Winter said. "Mothers and fathers are still planning funerals for their children, who have been murdered in the custody of the police. Families cannot attend the funerals and 'going home' services because of COVID. The President could care less. I thought men and women of all nationalities are supposed to be equal in this country. A country that the Indigenous people allowed people to come and help build, not tear down, divide and conquer. Where is the unity?" she asked. "Where is the justice? We are sick and tired of the racism and bigotry and the discrimination against Black and Brown People. America was unified during 9/11 and went right back to the rhetoric in 2017. Wake up, people! Enough is enough! We demand final change."