Markeshia Ricks
Silent marchers entering the Green Saturday.
Marching down Dixwell.
One hundred years ago, thousands of marchers took to Fifth Avenue in New York City to protest mob justice and the ongoing lynching of black people throughout the country. On Saturday, the Greater New Haven Branch of the NAACP took to the streets of New Haven to mark the occasion — and to demonstrate why the march must continue.
More than 50 people gathered in the Dixwell neighborhood, the historic heart of the city’s African-American community, to commemorate the silent protest parade that the NAACP organized in 1917. The re-enactors marched from the site of the former and future home of the Q House, winding their way past the Shops on Broadway, down Elm Street and to a stage on the upper Green.
During speeches on the Green the names of those lost in unarmed killings by police such as Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Sandra Bland were called. They also made sure to call the name of 14-year-old Tyriek Keyes, who was recently lost to gun violence on the streets of New Haven.
Dumas.
Dori Dumas, the Greater New Haven NAACP Branch president, noted Saturday that just two months ago the branch celebrated its own 100th anniversary. And 100 years ago, just two weeks after the founding of the New Haven branch, the NAACP staged a silent protest that drew thousands of people into a New York street — many of them children and all dressed in their Sunday’s best — holding signs that blasted the hypocrisy of a country that proclaimed to be founded on the equality of men endowed with “certain unalienable rights.”
Professor Khalilah Dean Brown, SCSU NAACP President Tyrese Ford, NAACP Youth Council President Kaleb Walton and Police Chief Anthony Campbell address the crowd on the Green
Many of those who helped organize the 1917 march like James Weldon Johnson helped organize the New Haven NAACP branch. And as it was 100 years ago, young people led the marchers through the city on Saturday.
Professor David Canton gives some direction.
State Rep. Robyn Porter and Alder Darryl Brackeen Jr. share a laugh before the march.
Dumas said though there has been progress, minorities still face problems such as voter suppression, inequality in education and unfair treatment in the justice system. She said marching Saturday was not only an act of commemoration but a reminder that some of the same rights that people struggle for particularly the right to be treated equally under the law is something that is still a struggle for many in the country today.
Porter invokes Tyriek King; State Sen. Gary Winfield invokes the need to get involved at the state level.
“We’re still in this struggle and we want to march for those who don’t have a voice to make sure that people are aware that we are paying attention,” she said. “We’re not going to let them turn back the clock. It’s time to move forward. We’re so far from where we need to be. We can’t get comfortable.”
Marchers wind their way past the coming L.L. Bean store.
Police Commissioner Anthony Dawson helps with signs.
The NAACP youth council led the marchers.
Encountering Yale’s many summer campers on the trip to the Green.
One of the greatest victories of the 20th century was the dissolution of the Soviet Union but here we have not only fellow New Havener's carrying a ridiculous banner celebrating communism, but we have two elected officials of the Democratic Party pictured here holding the Communist Party USA banner. Doesn't the Democratic Party in New Haven have a few rules about such things? Also the NAACP should reconsider who they let march with them. Bad dent in credibility.