Stand Together was the theme of a rally in New Haven Sunday, where city officials, community leaders, and New Haven residents gathered at one of the city’s African-American churches.
The rally was in response to the recent shootings of two black men in Minnesota and Louisiana and the death of five police officers in Dallas.
About 200 people gathered in the sun filled parking lot of Varick Memorial AME Zion Church to promote solidarity, community, and change. It wasn’t the kind of rally with lots of call and response. It was, instead, a group of local, state, and community leaders with brief, passionate messages that called for an open dialogue and action.
But New Haven police sergeant Shafiq Abdussabur talked about what it’s like to be a police officer.
"If anybody in America thinks that a police officer puts on this uniform, leaves their family, not knowing if they’re going to return home at the end of the day, and they walk out the door with the intention that they are going to kill a black man -- if anybody out there believes that, then you’ve lost your mind, because that is not the mindset" he said.
Abdussabur said the series of shootings across the country affect everybody. And he had a reminder for city residents.
"This is not Minnesota," he said. "This is not Ferguson. It’s the New Haven police department. We do not shoot unarmed black men in the city. We haven’t shot unarmed black men in the city. We work with the community. We partner with alders, we partner with senators, we partner with reverends, we partner with the Jewish community, the Muslim community, the white community, the Latino community. That’s what we do."
New Haven Mayor Toni Harp and other officials including CT NAACP President Scot Esdaile, and several religious leaders from the community shared their thoughts about change and violence. Several expressed how they’ve grown weary of all the talk, marches, and moments of silence.
Abdul Karim Sharif lives in New Haven. He and his wife and daughter were among the crowd in the parking lot. He said he’s heard it all before. He’s skeptical, but hopeful.
"To me it’s just a lot of rhetoric," he said. "No one’s life is more valuable than the next person regardless of what nationality you are. You know, a life is a precious thing. We have the police officers, they have tasers. They have other measures they could take besides taking a person's life. It’s kind of scary out here right now being a black man. Especially being a black man. "
The peaceful afternoon rally lasted about an hour. As the speeches were wrapping up the sky turned gray, the crowd dispersed, and the rain fell in buckets.
