NYC: Banner Drop and Disruption for Indigenous People’s Day

Submitted to It’s Going Down
by Peter Soeller

Members of the black empowerment group, BYP100, surprised a contingent of NYPD officers celebrating their colonial Christopher Columbus holiday with a speak-out and banner drop outside St. Monica’s Church on E. 79^th Street, re-focusing this October Monday on Indigenous Peoples.

https://twitter.com/SoellerPower/status/785520941027717122

BYP100 demanded reparations for the physical and psychological violence inflicted on Black and Indigenous people by the so-called United States, an end to policing of Black and Native bodies, as well as replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous People and People of Color centered holidays.

As the NYPD arrived in ceremonial attire, many of them expressed astonishment at the action, some laughing and filming the protesters. BYP100 members pointed out the inherent racism in through the heavy use of Italian and Irish symbolism to perpetuate a white supremacist colonial narrative. Italian flags flew on the back of the NYPD scooters, accompanied by the American flag and the flag of the NYPD.

https://twitter.com/SoellerPower/status/785522515707826177

Protesters chanted “Fuck the Police” and “Columbus Day to KKK, Fuck this racist holiday!” while cops, their friends, and families looked on with concern.

A banner hung across the street from the church reading: We Demand Justice for Stolen Bodies & Stolen Land.

https://twitter.com/SoellerPower/status/785525701004955648

After the drop, protesters gathered around a makeshift shrine built to honor Indigenous ancestors for a prayer then closed with Assata’s Chant. The cops didn’t interfere with the action, mostly attempting to get participating officers to ignore protesters to no avail. No arrests were made.

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