Transcript Key:
The voices and sounds will be divided with its respective label in bold. Miscellaneous notes will be in italics.
Speakers:
Vilma Madera: A local resident of South Bronx and an eye witness to the incident on June 4.
Jason Epting: An educator and activist representing Mott Haven Families calling to hold the officers accountable for June 4.
Syed Haq: Reporter and Narrator of the documentary. A student in Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.
Special appearance from Jason’s kids
End Transcript Key
[I can’t breath chants fades off as I start speaking]
Syed
After the killing of George Floyd on May 24th last year by Derek Chauvin, who was a Minneapolis police officer then, Black Lives Matter activists around the country took it to the streets demanding accountability. And So did the protestors in Mott Haven. A neighborhood in South Bronx. This was a peaceful protest on June 4th which was documented by a Human Rights Watch report showing no signs of violence. Atleast from those in attendance. But this changed drastically when the clock hit 8pm. This was the curfew time which protestors were not supposed to break. And they didn’t. But they were made to.
[HRW clip]
Lady recording herself in the clip at the protest: Police have us fucking surrounded right now police got us trapped. They fucking out here right now on the bullhorn. Telling us that we can’t be here after 8. And we ain’t do nothing wrong. At about 7:45 they intentionally started cornering us. They have us pushed in, in a pen. We are trapped, we are trapped. Whatever narrative is spun to you later dont believe it. The got helicopters over head, before 8 o clock they were already here trapping us.
Vilma
I guess that was watching TV and my son tells me what yo what’s going on. Cause you know, we heard voices, loud people and everything.
Syed
This is Vilma madera, she witnessed the whole incident on june 4th from the window of her apartment
Was there any sign of, uh, you know, violence or menace?
Vilma
No, from the, from the protesters. Yeah. No, no, not at all. Not at all. They will quiet. I was like, and when I send you the videos you could hear, I was like, you know, they would, they were protesting in peace and everything. And once they got there, They started beating them up and everything.
[Sounbite of the incident merges with Vilma’s bite]
I got pictures of people with their heads open when they will taking them in the ambulance. Well, not in the ambulance, they were, Um, they had them in stretchers. And, um, Doctors and nurses with their, um, their clothes on and they were arresting them.
Syed
This was despite essential workers such as doctors and nurses being exempted from the curfew. This was according to the executive order signed by mayor bill de blasio on June 1st, which stated and I quote:
“This Order shall not apply to police officers, peace officers, firefighters, first responders and emergency medical technicians, individuals travelling to and from essential work and performing essential work.”
[Soundbite of cops threatening protestors]
Vilma
And the thing was that non-line, they will put it in those Patty wagon. They will put in like 40, 50 people in one patty wagon. And it was crazy. I was like, Oh my God. But look, and, and at one point I was counting them and I lost count. Because they were just throwing them in there in that, that Patty wagon with no windows or nothing.I was like in this pandemic and they throwing all these people in there and, you know, yeah.
Syed
The last time Vilma saw something close to this was the historic blackout that left most of New York City without electricity.
Vilma
that was in what, 1977 that cops breaking heads and everything. Yeah, it was. And then, you know, at one point I was nervous because I was in my window and I was jumping from one window to another, so I was like, and they were looking at me cause I was screaming at them.I was like that’s abuse. And um, and they were all looking at me and I was like, I don’t care. I’m going to record everything.
Syed
There was a concern that anyone who would leave the building might also get arrested.
.
Vilma
Yeah, it was, it was bad. It was bad. And then the cops jumping on everybody’s cars, like they was there, cars jumping on cars, hitting people, pushing them around it.
It was crazy. It was crazy. I never seen something like that.
Syed
After this atrocity a local activist decided to take a stand.
[Jason Epting comes up] [Natural sound included in the conversation]
Syed
I met with Jason Epting
Waddup Jason?
Jason
What’s up bro?
Syed
There is a peaceful rally every Sunday at 10 am outside the 40th precinct in Mott Haven. Yes the same precinct that trapped and arrested peaceful protestors on June 4th. Jason with his family and neighbors has been showing up here every Sunday for almost a year now And it’s always a delight to meet his kids
Max (Jason’s kid)
You? Again?
Syed
But I can’t speak for them. I’ve been coming to Mott Haven atleast once a month since last September. And unlike what the police report would generally indicate, it seemed like a pretty friendly neighborhood to me.
*Taliking to Jason* This looks like a pretty family friendly neighborhood, compared to what other people sometimes say.
Jason
Yes it absolutely is. Like I told you before it was like when you see a news station or anybody here, they’ll post up like right here, news trucks would be right here, and then it’s like ok whatever the crazy atrocities that happened here, and believe me there are some atrocities that happen here. We’re always working to help eradicate those things, especially by going through government talking about money, and capitalism, and like those things to primarily prevent a lot of those things. However we had, like yesterday we had a spring event yesterday, we had like probably 40 families over who celebrated just because it’s the changing of the seasons. Spring harvest. We had a Puerto Rican band there and playing. We have a lot of different things that happen are great, and we look out for each other. It’s the best neighborhood bro. It’s the best neighborhood.
Syed
These things take place more often than one might think, but it’s never reported, which means nobody ever sees it.
Syed
Even their rallies on Sundays aren’t always just chants outside the 40th precinct that paints an image of a stereotypical protest. By the way, speaking of paints, that’s exactly what they do. His kids use art to express their fight for social justice. Sometimes they ask for markers and crayons, whereas at other times
[Soundbite of the kid asking for coffee]
Jason’s kid
I WANT SOME COFFEE!!
Jason
No it’ll stunt your growth, I want you to be 6’6 dunkin’ on fools
Jason’s kid
Can I have one single coffee.
Jason
No, I rather you have another munchkin.
Syed
He means munchkins from dunkin donuts.
This neighborhood group is called Mott Haven Families which pretty much means families from Mott Haven coming together for children’s education, abolishing ICE, but the Sunday rallies weren’t something initially on their agenda.
Jason
Um, one thing that I think was very important about this group is like, first of all, it’s like, I was, I kind of undercover, like trying to be the leader of this group, um, which makes this as a black led organization.
Syed
But because his community is so diverse his group became more inclusive, and when the kettling and assault on the peaceful protestors took place.
Jason
… jeez, Like, we just felt like we had to do something we had to, you can’t just stay silent on this, give food or provide resources only. I think you have to, you have to stand behind, you know, like what you believe about what the police are doing in our neighborhood. We can’t ignore it. I’m all for rallies. I’m all for… um, people going and marching and those different things. I think it can be very impactful. I think it will continue to be impactful as a tool to use, to help dismantle the white supremacy and the things around policing or anything that we were actually protesting.
Syed
His fight to have the officers held accountable for June 4 still continues, but, something huge happened this past April. The conviction of Derek chauvin.
But as soon as one case got handled, the same week..
[Soundbite: news anchor announcing the killing of makhia bryant]
Jason
Wow man, another person.
Syed
The case of Chauvin was one within the many unsolved cases for police accountability
Jason
I don’t know how that could not have happened in the Eric Garner case. I don’t know how that couldn’t happen in other cases, across the United States and especially New York city. So we’re going to keep, go back retroactively and fight for those.
Syed
Though initially he felt positive about Chauvin finally being convicted, this wasn’t as intriguing to him as some people made it to be. since it was someone doing something illegal who got held accountable as they should’ve had in the first place.
Jason
And that goes for everybody in every position. Right. Um, but especially the cops, we found that the unions have pushed these narratives, that they’re heroes.That’s exactly what the problem with policing today in the system. So we’re going to keep putting cracks in the system. Hopefully we can find a way to jump in there and explode, you know, like, uh, like the Trojan horse, you know, it’s like right now, I’m, I’m saying defund the police a little bit, because that’s where we’re going. And other people are saying, train the cops and stuff. I guess we can do all those things, but to be honest with you, I don’t think it’s ever going to change really and do what I think a police system should do until, until it’s like imploded. Like it started off as slave catching. It started off as marginalizing people and protecting property of rich people and keeping Black and Brown people and immigrants in line. And how is that different today? It’s no different. It’s like we have some people that, and then. They come into neighborhoods now, robot dogs. I bet you, they won’t have it in upper East side. They’re going to have it in Harlem. They’re gonna have it right here in South, South Bronx. So it’s the stuff that they do is always going to do this until we get in and like implode.
Syed
Jason got 6 kids who always show up at these rallies on Sundays. Either on foot, or pushed in a stroller.
Jason
I think we get a bad rep. Sometimes it’s like, Oh, you got kids over there and you’re doing this little art project and those things. I mean, think about what we actually did for almost a year.
Syed
They had little kids who were processing things that are happening in the United States around policing, around community, around helping.
Jason
What I think we did is we created future revolutionaries. We’ve created future activists. We’ve created people who are actually going to impact the world. Like I..I’m all for going for a rally, but I’ve never gotten any better by going to a rally just alone. It’s the knowledge, the civic engagement, it’s the education and knowledge around what we can do.
And guess what? I got kids sitting there. Dinner tables talking about this, one.. at least one time a week. And then they come and process it through art and they process it through talking. They hear people talking, um, they start having their own discussions. We make space for that. I mean, me being an educator, I, you can’t ask for anything better than that. Like, this is what I, this is what I want in schools. Could you imagine, like every week, every week you sit down and start talking about everything that’s going on. And then you process it through art and then you have a discussion about it. You get to say whatever you want and process it and then give a little bit of knowledge around it so that you can form an opinion, bro.
Syed
That’s the kind of people Jason wants in our world decades from now
Jason
Not the people who are just showing up just to rallies because they feel emotional or they feel. Like that wasn’t right. But they don’t have space to process and in those things, so I thought what we did here, it was very intentional. I want to build a kids in our neighborhood and having an entry point for the parents as well, so they can have, uh, cause we, I just want better for them. I want better for my kids and myself. Um, and I think most parents, most parents, I say all parents want that for their kids. Um, so I think that this is a way to get that.
Syed
He heard some statements from parents saying this isn’t as impactful and he feels..this is one of the lamest things he has ever heard.
Jason
I’ve seen very impactful things that even get like pushed out right now, um, that are very impactful and well organized.
Syed
Jason describes his family as a homeschool, or even unschooling family, where he gives his kids the space to be more open minded and become who they’re supposed to be.
Jason
What we find is that because we have that concept that they wanted to open a business right now at their age, 12, 10. And have their own business. We’ll be like, Hey, let’s support you. But I think all too often, people are like, no, you’re too young to do that. That’s not the case at all. They’re not too young to process this. They’re not too young to process racism. They’re not too young to process business and entrepreneurship. All these things are, um, things they should be practicing now. And we’re giving them space to do it.
Syed
Earlier this year they handed a letter to the precinct demanding accountability for the officers…but to nobody’s surprise the precinct still hasn’t taken action against the officers involved on June 4th. But this wouldn’t stop Jason and his group to continue fighting for their cause. And if he gets tired, he has done enough to have his kids go.
[Chants]
End Transcript.