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Syracuse Protests call for End of Violence, Better Relations with Police

A crowd of people marched Syracuse streets today to demand an end to violence and call for better treatment by Police.  Organizer Shauna Spivey-Spinner believes better relations in each community can help.

“We need community policing.  We need to know the cops in our neighborhoods and they need to know us.  You can’t expect someone from Solvay to come and work on the Northside when they know nothing about our neighborhoods so we need community policing.  We need to know who these cops are so we can trust them, because trust needs to be built.”  

The rally comes days after police were shot and killed in Louisiana, and within weeks of black men being shot and killed by police.  Syracuse also saw its own incident where police shot and a man died on Father’s Day, though the cause of that killing has not been determined.  

Credit Jeremiah Thompson/WAER News
Some of the protesters at a morning rally.

  Clifford Ryans noted the diverse group at the protest can hopefully lead to change.

“You can’t have a closed mind, trying to be an advocate within the community.  Because if your min d is closed or if your mind is of one set, you’re not going to be able to get any results. But if you open your mind as a human being first, then you can get results.  When we unify we get results; when we’re divided we don’t get results.”

The marchers carried signs that read “End Racism”, “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” and “Black Lives Matter”.  

Credit Jeremiah Thompson/WAER News
Mayor Miner and Police Chief Fowler spoke with protestors

  Mayor Stephanie Miner joined police chief Frank Fowler at city hall to praise the people for getting involved.

“This is one of the great things about this community.  They care very deeply for each other.  They care very deeply to make sure that there’s a quality of opportunity for everyone regardless where you came from, where you were born, your religion, your skin color.  These are the kind of issues that we deal with as a city every day.” 

  A separate afternoon rally near Clinton Square organized by the Syracuse chapter of Black Lives Matter was also calling for an end to violence.

Chris Bolt, Ed.D. has proudly been covering the Central New York community and mentoring students for more than 30 years. His career in public media started as a student volunteer, then as a reporter/producer. He has been the news director for WAER since 1995. Dedicated to keeping local news coverage alive, Chris also has a passion for education, having trained, mentored and provided a platform for growth to more than a thousand students. Career highlights include having work appear on NPR, CBS, ABC and other news networks, winning numerous local and state journalism awards.