Energetic, peaceful protest marches in Cedarhurst, Lawrence

What was expected to be a small protest of possibly 50 people swelled to nearly 400 as children, adults, Jews, non-Jew, blacks, whites and Latinos marched from Andrew J. Paris Cedarhurst Park in Cedarhurst and back on Sunday to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement, opposition to racism in any form and chanted the slogans “No Justice, No Peace” and “Black Lives Matter.”

Participants gathered at Cedarhurst Park on Cedarhurst Avenue and headed to Central Avenue. Along Central Avenue in Cedarhurst and Lawrence the marchers did not chant as they promised village officials and then when the march turned the corner at Rockaway Turnpike and Central Avenue the chanting began.

Shua Auerbach one of the march organizers said that he did this to support the Black  Lives Matter movement and protect the rights of free speech and free assembly. “I think by having this march definitely opens up a lot of awareness and support in the community and I think it’s a very positive thing to have a community come together and show solidarity for when the entire country is going through something difficult, said Auerbach, 19, a Five Towns resident who just completed his freshman year at the University of Pittsburgh studying engineering.   

Protests have been occurring nationwide for nearly two weeks after the Memorial Day death of George Floyd by allegedly being pinned to the ground by the leg of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with murder second-degree and fired from his job. The three other officers at the scene were charged with aiding and abetting murder second-degree, and were also fired.  

Cedarhurst resident Lina Mavruk, the other main march organizer, said that her priorities are giving a voice to people she thinks have not been heard by the majority of the country and stressing the importance of voting.

“It’s really important that we show our people of color in the community that we care about them and that their voices are heard,” said Mavruk, 19, who is focusing on business courses at Nassau Community College and works at the Broadway Mall. “And I feel that over the past couple of years it’s kind of been like not really focused on that anymore it’s kind of like oh you know we’re here but I think the proper word is that our voices have been suppressed.”

She wanted to show that protestors are not violent, saying that “violent people are violent.” “We’re doing it to heard, specifically to give a voice to the people who have been shunned and not listened to,” Mavruk said. It’s about proving people wrong and paying respect to people who have lost their lives because of police brutality and those policemen and policewomen who have committed acts of crime while on the job have not faced consequences and it’s not all right.”

Amplifying the voices

Not only was Floyd noted in several signs held by the marchers, but others such a Breonna Taylor, an emergency room technician, who was killed by Louisville police officers in her own home on March 13.     

“We are here to amplify the black voices and stand in solidarity as the Jewish LGBTQ plus community and to make sure that people out here are pressuring their Assemblywoman Melissa Miller and their Sen. Todd Kaminsky to [repeal] 50-a and the Eric Garner Bill  and the Hands Up Act to make sure that the systemic issue is abolished and that there are no exceptions,” said Ashley Markowitz, 15, a rising junior at Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway High School, and a Lawrence resident.

New York State Law, section 50-a of the Civil Rights Law does not allow public disclosure of police disciplinary records, personal files and associated material. The Congressional bill in Garner’s name would amend the federal civil rights law and prohibit chokeholds by law enforcement. Garner died in a chokehold placed by NYPD police officer Daniel Pantaleo in 2014. Garner was accused of selling illegal cigarettes on State Island. The Hands Up Act is another proposed federal bill that would punish law enforcement officers for shooting unarmed citizens.   

Peninsula Public Library board member Sarah Yastrab took part in the protest alongside board President Jeff Leb. “Peninsula Public Library is historically a place where the whole community comes together,” said Yastrab, a PPL trustee for eight year. We’re a very diverse community. We support everybody in the community. We are made up of very different minorities and we all work together. Jeff and I are here to represent that idea of all the different segments of this wonderful community coming together to support each other in each other’s moment of pain.”

A second march

With a phalanx of police vehicles from the Nassau County Police Department and the volunteer auxiliary police, the marchers proceeded through Cedarhurst and Lawrence and back to the park. Before the march began, Inwood resident Leslie Santizo, 41, an early childhood specialist, said she attended the march to support the younger people. “As a former student of the area, who faced some this institutionalism they are talking about, I’m here to stand up against it and to support all my colored people in this struggle right now.”

At the park, a second time, protestors chanted some more and noted the issues that they think need to be addressed. Then there was a second march that included nearly 100 when it began.

“Definitely certain reforms, bills that we could pass, to ensure that the criminal justice system doesn’t have the opportunity to disproportionally suppress minorities or other people or freedom of speech,” Auerbach noted before the march, is what he would like to see get done in the short-term.   

Mavruk emphasized the need to repeal 50-a and for young people to vote. “That’s all it comes down to, we have to vote, have to vote, have to vote,” she said. “A lot of young people are unaware how to register to vote, what parties to vote for and just in general, unaware how to find information. Nothing is going to change if we don’t vote.”