College students join day of protest against police brutality

When Myriah Rose was 19 years old, she had an odd encounter with police, she said. 

According to Ms. Rose, a non-matriculated student at Lehman College, she was coming out of a convenience store with her older sister on East 238th and White Plains Road when police officers jumped out of a truck and threw her and her sister against their vehicle without explanation.

“They told us to get our hands in the air,” claimed Rose, 28, the founding vice-president of the student-run grassroots organization Class Action Student Group. “They spread our legs open with their feet and they asked what we were doing over there. Afterwards, they got in the truck and drove off. It was very traumatic for me.” 

Ms. Rose shared her story with a crowd of protestors in front of the Lehman College bookstore on Oct. 22 as part of National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality. Despite her experience, she said that not all police officers are “bad,” adding that those in law enforcement who do not abuse their power should not be thrown in the same bunch with the “bad apples” that do. 

Ephraim Cruz, 41, was perhaps a model example.  Mr. Cruz, a former U.S. border patrol agent and whistleblower, who was among the speakers at the protest, helped to commemorate victims of police violence while demanding accountability. 

Mr. Cruz and other demonstrators said that countless people have died unjustly at the hands of police, including Kimani Gray, Ramarley Graham and Eric Garner, whose deaths have led to a public outcry. For activists, the protests against police brutality, which occurred in more than 50 U.S. cities last week, were a call to action.  

“Enough is enough,” declared Mr. Cruz. Referencing the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown, who was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in early August, he told the crowd that police brutality “is not just a ‘Ferguson’ issue.” 

Mr. Cruz and other advocates denounced the militarization of the police department in Ferguson, Missouri and other American cities.

“The sky [watch] towers that we use on the border are now being used on the streets,” he said.