Common, Immortal Technique, Nas & Russell Simmons Protest At City Hall
Dec. 11, 2014, 12:40 p.m.
"I don't feel its possible that the killer of Eric Garner will not go to court. I don't feel it's possible that things will continue as business as usual."
Common speaking to the crowd
Russell Simmons, Common, Immortal Technique, and Nas took to City Hall yesterday to decry police brutality against minorities and demand justice for the death of Eric Garner. "We need everyone here to support and I appreciate each and every race coming out to support us, but we've been having this problem for a long time," Common told the crowd. "We're here together, and we're going to stand together and do everything it takes to change this system."
The Justice League advocacy group sponsored the event. The organization boasts Harry Belafonte, Simmons, and Tamika Mallory, the former executive director of Al Sharpton's National Action Network among its leadership.
Simmons spoke of the potential to utilize celebrities like Jay-Z to further galvanize the movement. "Getting them together with the tens and millions of Facebook users can cause a revolution this country has never seen." He then went on to express confidence in eventual justice for the Garner family: "I don't feel it's possible that the killer of Eric Garner will not go to court. I don't feel it's possible that things will continue as business as usual."
Simmons also spoke about his meeting with Governor Cuomo earlier that day, and said the governor told him that he is looking into creating a special prosecutor's office to handle situations like this in the future. However, a Cuomo rep tells the NY Post, "While the governor didn’t promise to appoint an interim special prosecutor, the two discussed the possibility — among others — and a range of options to take up during the legislative session."
The Post, by the way, went Full Post with their headline "Cuomo has policing powwow with rap mogul (and ex-crack dealer)." The tabloid also quoted state GOP spokesman David Laska, who said, "Given Jay Z’s history with the law, he’s as serious a source on police policy as Vladimir Putin is on freedom of speech. That kind of a photo-opportunity politics from the governor is the opposite of leadership.”
Garner's son, Eric Jr., was also at the rally, along with New York City Council member Jumaane Williams. Nas, who announced the event on his Twitter account, did not arrive until after speeches were given.
Williams, who was introduced as "hopefully our future mayor" by Mallory, told the crowd, "I'm going to say something you're not going to play, because you never do. This conference to me has nothing to do with being anti-police." He elaborated: "The problem is we sent the police department into these communities after they've been ignored for so long to do the jobs of many, many agencies and that can't happen."
Among the Justice League's set of demands: an "immediate" end to Broken Windows policing, the appointment of a special prosecutor, and the firing of Officer Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who killed Garner.
The organizers of Saturday's Millions March beginning at 2 p.m. in Washington Square have a similar set of demands.
