Enough is enough for Melissa Robbins, a civil rights activist who lives in Fox Chase, and about 250 others who gathered at the Five Points section of Burholme last Tuesday. Robbins and other speakers spoke on behalf of the Black Lives Matter movement in the first major protest in the city’s Northeast section.
Groups of protesters left from Fox Chase Elementary School and Northeast High School and walked to the World War I memorial at Cottman, Oxford and Rising Sun avenues. They chanted and carried signs with messages like “NE Philly says Black Lives Matter,” “End Police Brutality” and “Defund the Police.”
The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other acts of violence against African Americans have sparked protests all over the country and in Philadelphia. Robbins said she and other organizers were tired of seeing neighborhoods such as Fox Chase and Burholme stay silent.
“If Fox Chase is not racist, then stop acting like it,” she said to cheers from the crowd.
When they organized the protest, Robbins said she received an outpouring of residents saying they wanted to speak out in their neighborhood for a long time. She also said people on social media called them “animals” before the protest and that many people in the crowd had experienced racism in the neighborhood.
Capt. Matt Deacon, commander of the 2nd Police District, led a police presence that helped maintain peace the entire protest.
“People on social media said we would smash cars, destroy businesses and said we were animals,” Robbins said.
George Bezanis, a public school teacher, 63rd Ward Democratic committeeman and president of the Fox Chase Homeowners Association, said he had witnessed discrimination against black people, and as a white liberal he was done playing “the middle.”
He recounted socializing with neighbors on St. Patrick’s Day when racist comments were made. He made eye contact with neighbors who knew it was wrong, but no one said anything, he said.
“White silence is complicity,” he said. “I’m promising myself right now in front of you, I will not do that again.”
He also referenced a Martin Luther King Jr. quote about those who remain silent being the biggest enemies in the fight for equality.
“It’s not enough not to be racist. You have to be anti-racist,” he said.
Yaasiyn Muhammad, an educator, activist and longtime Fox Chase resident, said there is a difference between the values America espouses and the values it actually upholds, saying white supremacy is baked into the culture of the country.
“True patriots work to improve their nation. They do not praise the hate of the past and the present,” he said.
Keziah Ridgeway, a Northeast High School teacher, spoke with some of her students joining her at the monument. She said other children made fun of George Floyd’s killing video in front of her daughter.
She asked the audience the first time they were called a racial slur, with responses from the crowd such as young as third grade.
“You say you don’t want to talk about racism and white supremacy because that’s a topic you don’t know how to broach with your children,” Ridgeway said.
“I say look at my children behind me. They had no innocence,” she said.
Robbins thanked U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle for sending a representative, since he was in Washington, D.C. She also thanked state Rep. Kevin Boyle for calling her twice to say he would try to make the rally from Harrisburg, adding that he sends his regards. In attendance was Mike Doyle, a Democrat who waged a write-in campaign in the June 2 primary to try to win a spot on the general election ballot against state Rep. Martina White.
Robbins condemned the people who showed up at Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 to support Staff Inspector Joseph Bologna, a Mayfair resident charged with aggravated assault for his actions during a riot. In general, she said people need to stop perpetuating hate.
“Stop saying Blue Lives Matter to counter Black Lives Matter,” she said.
Robbins criticized Councilmen Brian O’Neill, David Oh and Bobby Henon for not supporting an effort to reallocate money originally earmarked for the police department. She said O’Neill once disrespected her on the day Council denounced President Donald Trump for calling African countries “s—holes.” She added that O’Neill “perpetuates racism in the Northeast.” O’Neill did not respond when the Times reached out for comment.
Two men attempted to interrupt the protest, with one being escorted off the monument by an officer and another being physically blocked by the crowd from entering. They later told media they wanted to speak about people being killed in Chicago every weekend and crime rates among African Americans.
As the protesters walked, they chanted the names of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other African Americans who were killed by police.
Protests have continued in other areas of the city, resulting in the removal of the bronze statue of former Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo in Center City. Critics of his say he discriminated against minorities like the black and LGBTQ communities. ••
