Locals join call for justice

By ELIZABETH LEPRO
Posted 6/9/20

REGION — Small town America often exempts itself from events that roil streets elsewhere.

Not this time.

The response to the May 25 killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd by police …

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Locals join call for justice

Posted

REGION — Small town America often exempts itself from events that roil streets elsewhere.

Not this time.

The response to the May 25 killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin has reverberated from Minnesota to New York City to Europe to right here, where residents have been joining the international demand for racial justice. In Narrowsburg, protestors have stood on the bridge nearly every day. In Honesdale, a central park rally exposed the power of disinformation on social media. In Monticello, locals showed up by the hundreds to demand justice for an employee who was racially targeted. In Livingston Manor, a small group of youth led generations in a march. In Callicoon, residents heard stories of pain and pride. 

Though some protestors faced threats—including one reported attack on Honesdale’s Main Street—no violence was reported as a result of the protestors themselves.

In majority-White Wayne and Sullivan counties, the message was mostly of allyship. When Black speakers had the microphone, they asked their neighbors to stand with them, to have uncomfortable conversations and to not back down. 

“Grant us the strength to do what’s hard,” WJFF radio host and writer Janus Adams told the hundreds gathered in Callicoon Sunday. Looking around the park that day at a now-familiar scene of cardboard signs, masked faces partially revealing determined expressions, raised fists in solidarity, children holding their parents with one hand and a protest sign in the other, it seemed that people were willing to try. 

Click the following links to read River Reporter's coverage of various local protests:

black lives matter, protest, police brutality, small town America, Honesdale, Narrowsburg, Livingston Manor, Callicoon

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