West GS ’80 to organize police brutality protest in NYC

Cornel West GS ’80, a former African American studies professor at the University, and Revolutionary Communist Party member Carl Dix are organizing #RiseUpOctober, a march with a goal to end police brutality against black individuals and seek justice for police murder victims.

The event's organizers have invited 100 families of victims of police killings to take part in the march, Dix said. He added that other advocates of social justice Eve Ensler, Jamal Joseph, Rev. Stephen Phelps and Gina Belafonte are also organizing the event.

West did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The march is the culmination of three days of protest and speeches, Dix said. The full program begins on Oct. 22 with a commemoration in Father Duffy Square in New York City to celebrate the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. Marchers will gather the following day to advocate for the shutting down of Rikers Island, one of the nation’s largest state penitentiaries, through non-violent direct action.

The march will take place Oct. 24 in New York City at Washington Square Park.

West, who has published books on social justice such as “Race Matters”and“Democracy Matters,” helped to found the University’s Center for African American studies and was arrested in August when he was demonstrating outside a courthouse in St. Louis on the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown’s death.

West previously collaborated with Dix in publicized statements regarding social justice and a campaign against the New York Police Department to end the “Stop and Frisk” policy.

“I see a need to build resistance against the horrors that are being brought down,” Dix said. “Dr. West, Cornel, has shown that this is something that he wants to do, and since we want to do the same thing, we have no problem working to do it together. We at times go at it in different ways but that’s actually the strength and not a weakness.”

Dix added that is important to continue protesting because the violence has not stopped.

“In fact, if anything, it’s intensifying and there are attempts by the authorities to suppress the protests both through mass arrest, targeting of people viewed as leaders of the protest with heavy charges and also trying to demonize the protesters,” Dix said.

Yoselin Gramajo ’16, who has been working to mobilize University students for the protest, said she has seen racial violence and social justice become a prevalent topic of discussion among students over the past year.

“I think it’s time for Princeton students to step up and become part of the movement towards making that change and I don’t know how long it will take and I don’t know what it will take but if we all use the voice we have and use the privilege that we have, then it’s a good step in that direction,” she said.

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Kellen Heniford ’14, who is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in history at Columbia, is the student volunteer for the protest who got in touch with Gramajo to inform her of the movement. Heniford said she recalled noticing increased interest in racial issues among students during her time at the University. She noted that early on, she felt her peers to be apathetic toward such issues but that the protests held in the 2014-15 academic year on campus surprised her in their widespread support and popularity.

“When I saw pictures of people protesting outside Frist, a huge group of people doing speeches and talking about the Black Lives Matter Movement, I was shocked because I felt like that never would have happened while I was there,” Heniford said.

Heniford said that this change was due to a group of students who were persistent in their efforts to encourage conversations about social justice and racial violence on campus.

Gramajo noted that the Black Justice Leagueformedrather organically in 2014, adding that it has been a while since so much activism happened at the University and that activists on campus are trying to figure things out as they go.

“Students have to make an important contribution to any serious movement for significant change in society because students are in a position where they can come to know a lot about what society is like,” Dix said.

Correction: Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this article misstated that Yoselin Gramajo '16 formed the Black Justice League on campus. The 'Prince' regrets the error.