Yesterday at 110th Street and Fredrick Douglas Blvd in Harlem a small crowd of approximately 30 people gathered at 3pm for a rally to show support for Ramsey Orta who has recently been released from Riker’s Island on Bail. Ramsey Orta is the man who video the murder of Eric Garner that was seen by millions on YouTube. Since the release of the video Ramsey had been harassed and arrested on bogus charges in retaliation for the release of the video.
The event was a non permitted event put on by a supporter of Ramsey Orta, Diana Leary. The legal team for Ramsey was present, Will Aronin who made a brief statement, and Ken Perry. Ramsey Orta was in attendance along with his Aunt, Lisa Mercado, his mother, Emily Mercado and Ramsey’s girlfriend.
Diana Leary mentioned the man who video taped the killing of Scott Walker who said he felt tempted to delete the video off his phone out of fear of retaliation. How it was brave for Ramsey Orta to stand there and film the murder of Eric Garner for a full 7 minutes.
The next speaker who helped put the event on spoke about the importance of what Ramsey did by risking his safety and the safety of his family. Q Kyte Beasley spoke out about how Rikers Island was going to reject the bail that was legitimately raised through donations on a GoFundMe.com site to keep Ramsey in jail. She called those in the crowd Warriors and “Brave within yourself”, for coming out to show support for Ramsey. We are facing “Extreme Pushback from NYPD, They’re tired of us being in these streets”.”They thought it was going to be a moment, be upset for a couple of weeks, the winter would come and we would go away”. Q Kyte gave a shout out to the Grand Central crew who gave weekly events about those who were killed by Police all over the country. Q Mentioned “Elsa”, who was pushed by NYPD and broke 2 ribs last Tues. during the #A14SHUTDOWN march.
Mike May, activist, who was on hand, kept shouting out messages of support for Ramsey and others who stand for justice.
“Ramsey brought attention to something they did not want us to pay attention to”. “We have to stand behind Ramsey Orta”. Q spoke about what happened in Ferguson but, “we didn’t think Ferguson was NY”. “It’s because of Ramsey’s video showing us the murder of Eric Garner on U.S. soil that we’re out here”. “We need to watch his back because if you think the war with I’m is over, It’s not. NYPD are very retaliatory and they want to make him pay for bringing light to this and bringing us out in to the streets, for us shutting down bridges, All of this is because of this man”.
Supporters spoke and commended Ramsey for all he’s been through.
The 120th Pct on Staten Island is still harassing and intimidating Ramsey to this day according to supporter, Mike May who was finally coerced to speak after shouting out from the side lines.
According to Activist, Mike May, who’s been on hand in support for Ramsey all winter, First thanked Ramsey for speaking Truth to Power and standing up to the authoritarian structure that continuously tries to knock all of us down, Especially you”, pointing to Ramsey. “Because you’ve got dirt on them and shared that dirt with we the people”. Mike went on to speak about living in a Democracy and returning power to the people. “We don’t need 1,000 new cops, we need jobs on Staten Island and city wide”. Mike May mentioned Debbie Rose and said she was on the wrong side of this issue even though he considers her to be a friend.
“DeBlasio and Bratton are saying, We can have a “special” Police Squad with MACHINE GUNS! to police the Freedom and Justice rallies. Does that make sense to a reasonable and rational person?” Mike referred to an article by Frank Serpico on out of control cops in Rolling Stone magazine. Mike then went on to briefly speak about who Frank Serpico in exposing NYPD corruption in the late 60’s early 70’s.
Saturday 4/25 on Staten Island at the court house at 5pm along with the GARNER WAY Foundation and the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, said Q Kyte. She told Ramsey he opened her eyes. That she heard about Treyvon Martin and was pissed off and came out for one day,, heard about Sean Bell come out for one day and went away,, “this is the First time I came out and stayed out here, Because You opened my eyes”, referring to Ramsey.
Aunt Shirley from Staten Island spoke up about Eric Garner being “Lynched to death.” Shirley mentioned a brother who was also choked by NYPD for leaving Bailey Seaton Hospital, who Shirley called “Barely Breathing”, for not wanting to be admitted to the Psyche ward. “this is nothing new”, she said.
Shirley referred to Ramsey saying what he did was something 90% of people would never do. Shirley mentioned that Ramsey knew Eric Garner for a long time. They were friends and the Media portrayed Ramsey as just being a passerby. NYPD was after Eric Garner for a long time.
I asked Shirley to talk about the Complaint form that Eric Garner had Filled out back in 07, I believe, about having been violated in the Street! By NYPD. NYPD gave Eric garner a Cavity search and squeezed his testicles out on the Street! That is why Eric Garner was saying, This Stops Today! NYPD kept letting Eric Garner’s complaint go unaddressed till he was killed.
“Ferguson didn’t happen because of Ferguson, Ferguson happened because of Ramsey”, said Shirley. When they found out about Ramsey that gave them the guts to stand up. “We’re standing up and we’re doing what we should have done a Long time ago, Protecting your ass”.
Photo Gallery by Cat Watters:
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