The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/black-lives-matter/)
The case of two black residents that began with a controversial arrest in April has brought national debates on police brutality and systemic racism home to Ithaca.
Cadji Ferguson, who was controversially arrested last April for his alleged involvement in an Ithaca Commons fight, was acquitted of disorderly conduct by Tompkins County Judge Scott Millerthe, who cited lack of evidence in a bench trial.
An Ithaca police union said Mayor Svante Myrick’s ’09 decision to share footage from an April arrest on the Commons was “intentionally misrepresenting an incident” and “improper” in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Black Lives Matter Ithaca condemned the Ithaca Police Department in a Facebook post Tuesday, saying the department has demonstrated a “pattern of abuse and disrespect” towards people of color.
A man vandalized a Black Lives Matter sign in front of a City of Ithaca alderperson’s house on Monday morning in an act that was caught on video.
Sekou, a prominent Black Lives Matter activist as well as an author, theologian and musician, spoke on the role of the artist in a postmodern age.
“America is not inevitably marching towards equality,” she said. “We have to fight for our rights — bitterly, consciously, tenaciously.”
ICYMI: Members of Black Students United, joined by dozens of students, marched from Center for Intercultural Dialogue to Ho Plaza on Sept. 23. The rally was a call to action in response to recent national acts of police violence against African Americans. https://youtu.be/u5i9e2X465o
This past Friday, students, faculty members and administrators united on Ho Plaza to commemorate the tragic deaths of Terence Crutcher, Keith Lamont Scott and other black men, women and children who lost their lives at the hands of white police officers. What was for many a weekend of homecoming celebrations, was for others a time to grieve and reflect upon racial injustices in America. Despite the success of the protest, the backlash that resulted revealed divisions among our community when it comes to race perspectives. An event that should have enhanced community members’ understandings of their peers’ sentiments instead highlighted a problematic interpretation of the Black Lives Matter movement. “The BLM crowd is worthless.
“If you hear an IPD police officer say anything like, ‘IPD is an exceptional police department,’ I want you to correct them and let them know the blood that is on their hands,” said Dubian Ade. “The IPD is somehow, someway absolved from the violence that has been occurring on a national level. No, it has also been occurring on a local level.”