October 22 was the National Day of Protest against police brutality, and all over the country people gathered to speak out against police brutality. Twenty-one protests were organized across the country by Families Demanding Justice, a network of family members and friends of those killed by police, and its parent organization Dare to Struggle. One small part of this day of action took place in Newburgh.

 

A dozen protesters gathered in front of the Newburgh City Hall waving signs and shouting through a megaphone. This protest was organized by MJ Derilus, a Hudson Valley resident who is new to organizing. 

 

MJ isn’t a Newburgh resident, though they are a lifelong resident of the Hudson Valley area. He says he chose Newburgh for the protest site because it’s close to where he lives and because of the diversity of the city. He said “I know that the population in Newburgh is very diverse, has a lot of black and brown folks here, and so with that comes heavy policing and harassment against them, as well as homeless folks that live here in the town as well.”

 

The group wasn’t expecting big changes from their gathering, but hoped that this protest would be able to start a larger movement against police brutality in the area. Jamie Sanin, a protestor from Washingtonville who used to live in Newburgh said “I would guess and hope that…the people would come out who also think that police brutality needs to stop, and that we can just build coalition…The more we all come together and get to know each other, that’s how we get closer to stopping things like police brutality.”

 

The protestors made speeches calling out not just police violence, but also violence committed by ICE agents and corrections officers. The group called for justice and chanted the names of people who had been killed by police or corrections officers, including Tyrell Fincher, who was shot and killed by Newburgh city police in 2020 after pointing his gun at officers during an arrest, and Robert Brooks, a prisoner who was beaten to death by New York correctional officers. The officers involved in the killing of Fincher were not indicted in relation to his death. One correctional officer involved in the killing of Robert Brooks was found guilty of murder, while two others were acquitted.

Kimmy Reindl, a protestor from Connecticut, also told the story of James, a Newburgh resident who said his brother Micheal Jones was shot and killed by 4 police officers while having a mental health crisis.

 

County legislative candidate Gabrielle Hill spoke briefly to the group, urging the protesters to focus on changing policy, saying “we gotta change policy, because that qualified immunity is why they don’t go to prison…Once that policy’s changed, they can’t hide behind the qualified immunity meaning that they’re always going to be innocent before proven guilty, where with us we’re guilty before proven innocent.”

 

The message of the protest was one of hope and unity, but also one of anger. MJ rallied the group with chants of “Justice for Who? Everybody” and said in a speech “This is about being there for each other, because like it or not, all we have is each other”. They also said “The police are the fascists” and called politicians and “progressives”, “Power hungry opportunists.”

 

Partway through the protest a Newburgh resident named Lisa tried to talk to the group, but was shouted over with cries of “expletive 12” after she defended the police. She kept trying to make herself heard, and one of the protestors took her off to the side to speak with her after a few minutes.

 

The protest wrapped up at 6 pm as the air began to chill, with MJ making the final comments that “There’s always more to be done.”