May Day march down 2nd Avenue

[Photo by Bill the Libertarian Anarchist]

Two protests came together this afternoon, the May Day Parade and Rally and a demonstration by Disarm NYPD, which included a protest in solidarity with demonstrators in Baltimore speaking out against the death of Freddie Gray.

The rally started in Union Square ... then headed south down Second Avenue toward Foley Square... EVG reader Michael Rosenthal photographed the different groups who made up today's march from Second Avenue and East Ninth Street ...

























As Newsweek reported earlier this evening, "Barricades were used to keep protesters from taking over the entire street and there was a notable police presence. At least one person was detained by officers, though whether or not they were charged for any wrongdoing remains unclear."

Updated

Here are a few more photos of the May 1st Coalition for Worker & Immigrant Rights/Freddie Gray Rally leaving Union Square ... via James and Karla Murray…

Annual May Day rally at Union Square will include Freddie Gray protesters

You probably noticed the barriers that the NYPD put up yesterday along Second Avenue…



It was done ahead of the annual May Day rally, which has expanded this year to include Freddie Gray protesters...



The rally starts in Union Square.

According to CBS New York:

The May 1st Coalition for Worker & Immigrant Rights is organizing Friday’s rally and march in Manhattan. The rally will take place at 3:30 p.m. and be followed by a march to Foley Square at 5:30 p.m.

“We stand in solidarity with Baltimore in the wake of the most recent killing of Freddie Gray at the hands of Baltimore police. We are still trying to come to grips with the savage killing of Walter Scott killed in South Carolina, shot in the back running away from a police officer who decided to murder Scott in cold blood,” said Charles Jenkins, co-coordinator of the May 1st Coalition.

“This year’s event is dedicated to the struggle against police terror given the deep crisis for black and Latino youth,” said Teresa Gutierrez, co-coordinator of the May 1st Coalition.

Find more details at the Facebook event page.

East Village students, parents and teachers join in protesting Cuomo’s education reforms

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

Between chants of “Hey hey, ho ho, Andrew Cuomo has got to go!” and “Save Our Schools,” parents, teachers and students marched and rallied at the Earth School (600 E. Sixth St., which also houses PS 64 and the Tompkins Square Middle School) yesterday afternoon to express their displeasure with the governor’s budgetary plans.



The proposed budget, which would be decided upon by April 1, would increase the focus on high-stakes standardized testing, and teachers feel that the state would be intruding on their classroom teaching methods. There would also be increased funding for charter schools, which traditionally do not educate the same number of higher-need students.

The parents I spoke to expressed fear that their kids’ public schools would continue to be underfunded and that programs that are much-needed e.g., arts, therapy, libraries would suffer.







I spoke with Fatima Geidi and her son, Jamir Geidi (who is in third grade at the Earth School), about their experiences. Jamir had been at a charter school, Success Academy, for a few years and his mother said she was fed up with the lack of teaching and proper learning at the charter school.

She felt that her son was taught only what was necessary to take and pass standardized tests, not to think critically, or for himself. That he was, essentially, a test score and that the charter school was a test-prep center. And enrolled in public school her son (who has special-learning needs) now has social studies classes, something he wasn’t taught at charter school. She was particularly irritated that Cuomo failed his own standardized tests (the Bar) four times but mandates that public school funding should be cut on underperforming schools.



While I only attended the local Avenue B rally, it was part of a city- and statewide call to action. You can read more about it here.