NORTHAMPTON — A year after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, more than 60 people gathered Tuesday to remember Floyd and other victims of police violence.
“Black Lives Matter means defund the police,” read one large banner hanging over the steps of City Hall. The names of people of color killed by police filled another.
The standout was hosted by Northampton Abolition Now, an organization that has been pressing city officials to divest from policing in the city and to steer those resources toward social services. In particular, the group has asked the mayor and city councilors to follow through with recommendations from the Northampton Policing Review Commission, which called for a Department of Community Care to take over functions like wellness checks and suspicious person calls from the Northampton Police Department.
“We are here … to demand our city leaders create a budget that is commensurate with our values,” said Ashwin Ravikumar, an organizer with the group and an Amherst resident. He urged city leaders to act on the Policing Review Commission’s recommendations, “with money and resources following those functions.”
Similar remembrances were held across the country Tuesday, paying homage to Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after Chauvin pressed his knee into his neck for 9½ minutes, and calling for changes to policing in America.
A jury convicted Chauvin of murder on April 20, and the city of Minneapolis settled a $27 million wrongful death lawsuit with Floyd’s family.
In Northampton, the City Council cut the Northampton Police Department’s budget by 10% in June 2020 after some residents organized around a demand to divert funds from law enforcement to education, health care or other social services.
In his $121.7 million budget proposal for fiscal 2022, Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz proposed a line item appropriation of $423,955 for a Department of Community Care. The budget also includes a 3% increase to the Police Department, which Narkewicz said would mostly go toward contractual obligations for cost-of-living increases and step raises.
Alyssa Arnell, who chairs the history department at Greenfield Community College, spoke Tuesday about the history of racism and policing in the United States. She urged those gathered to make sure that history does not repeat itself.
“What change looks like is calling out the racism and not allowing those types of messages to go unquestioned,” Arnell said. “We can do better.”
Following Arnell’s speech, the group sought to hold 9½ minutes of silence for Floyd. However, around 3 minutes into the speech, someone in the crowd began shouting anti-capitalist messages.
Jose Mediavilla — an environmental activist known for vocally protesting on local street corners against society’s fossil fuel consumption, microplastic pollution and other environmental abuses — drew the ire of some in the crowd for interrupting the moment of silence.
Eventually, a confrontation between Mediavilla and a small group of people became a fistfight that spilled out into the Main Street crosswalk in front of City Hall. Police, who were operating a drone over the protest, were quick to arrive and break up the melee. Four police cruisers blocked the street as the fight quickly broke up.
“We’re going for a walk,” one officer told Mediavilla, motioning him away from the group he was fighting with. The officer told the group they had the right to peacefully protest, but not to fight.
Police made no arrests and issued no citations, the on-duty officer confirmed later Tuesday evening.
The rally attendees were shaken by the incident, though the event eventually continued. With a City Council budget hearing scheduled Tuesday evening, organizers set up stations for people to attend the public comment and speak about reimagining policing.
One of those preparing to speak at the City Council meeting was Nataly Gomez, an Easthampton resident and member of the group 01027: A Knee Is Not Enough, which has called on Easthampton city officials to go beyond symbolic actions to reallocate resources and prioritize the safety of people of color in that city.
Gomez said she wants to eventually see the end of qualified immunity for police officers nationwide — a legal doctrine that protects government employees from personal liability in civil lawsuits. As to whether local communities will begin to make systemic changes to their police departments, Gomez said city leaders need to go beyond actions that make them look “progressive” without changing policies.
“We need actual change,” Gomez said.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.