LYNN — In front of police headquarters — with Mayor Thomas M. McGee, Police Chief Michael Mageary, and other City Hall staff and uniformed officers standing close by — they held a large sign:
“Get Off Our Necks,” it read.
Wednesday evening, the Essex County Community Organization (ECCO) held its Get Off Our Necks! protest, a caravan that began in Salem, stopped at the Essex County Superior Court, Lynn Police headquarters, and the Lynn Common, in protest of police brutality and racial violence.
The dozens of cars involved in the mobile demonstrations were plastered with signs reading, “Black Lives Matter.” They made their way through Lynn, where McGee and Mageary met them outside the police station to answer questions.
Many of the questions echoed nationwide calls to defund or disband police departments, with organizer Darrell Murkison asking if McGee and Mageary would support defunding the Lynn Police. McGee said he would not support an effort to “defund,” but would support a “reimagining” of policing in Lynn.
Mageary denounced police brutality, said any officer caught lying on a police report — regardless of years on the force — would be terminated, and said that his department would provide any records of discipline and complaints against officers that it was legally able to. However, he said he would not support defunding the local police, an answer that was met with some booing from the demonstrators.
“I am not in favor of defunding the police department,” he said. “Social issues of homelessness, poverty, and mental illness all require a teamwork approach.”
At the end of the meeting with city officials, organizer the Rev. Bernadette Hickman-Maynard said, “We would like to reiterate, people are dying,” before the caravan left for the Common.
At the Common, and during the end of the demonstration, each person kneeled on the Common for 8 minutes and 46 seconds — a reference to the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in Minneapolis after a police officer kneeled on his neck for that amount of time on May 25.
Organizers with ECCO estimated about 125 people took part in the caravan. Several of the demonstrators were not from Lynn, including Bethany Swanson, from Hamilton, who said her husband and children were at another demonstration in Essex during the Lynn rally.
Swanson said she was “sick to (her) stomach” over Floyd’s death, and moreso “to think it’s not an isolated incident.”
“It is very clear we have to make a show for justice, and against supremacy,” she said.
Even before the caravan made its way to the Common, people were lined up there and waiting, holding signs reading, “Black Lives Matter.”
Lynn resident Michael Cerona held a sign reading, “More Love,” and drovers frequently honked their horns or waved as they drove past.
“My sign says, ‘More Love,’ because I think this world deserves more love,” said Cerona, who added he had purposely not watched the widely circulated video of Floyd’s death because it “looks awful.”
The last two weeks have been marked by nationwide protests — and protests across the globe — following Floyd’s killing on video. Other police killings, including that of Breonna Taylor, who was killed in her apartment in Louisville, Ky., in March, have been frequently mentioned during the demonstrations.
In the Floyd video, now-former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin can be seen with his hands in his pockets while kneeling on a handcuffed Floyd’s neck, ignoring the protests of onlookers, who beg him to stop. Floyd himself can be heard saying, “I can’t breathe,” and, “Momma,” before eventually going limp. Chauvin has been arrested and charged with second and third murder, and the other three officers at the scene have also lost their jobs and face charges of aiding and abetting.
Lynn residents, as well as those in surrounding communities, have participated in the protests against racism and police violence. In addition to the demonstration Wednesday night, protesters have previously gathered on the Common, outside Lynn Police headquarters, and at Red Rock Park in the last fortnight demanding equal treatment for all races by law enforcement.
