Racial justice supporters marched across Jersey City on Oct. 22, in a continuing call for police accountability in response to the 2023 killing of Black New Jerseyan Andrew Washington during a mental health response call.
From late afternoon to dusk, marchers called for “Justice for Drew” and to “stop police brutality in the Black community” as the Garden State mulls whom to send during a mental health crisis.
Oct. 22 marked “Fists Across America,” a nationwide movement against police brutality and repression. Washington’s aunt, Tony Ervin, brought the protest to Jersey City, organizing it for a second year in a row. Initially, she was asked to join actions in Newark.
“I said, no, it’s time for Jersey City to start to participate,” said Ervin. “ I had planned something here in Jersey City last year. It was on the weekend, so it was very well-attended, and we had quite a few people who came out to support. And surprisingly enough, even this [time] being on a week[day] evening, we had quite a few people.
“Last time, we went to our local county park. This time, we came into City Hall and wanted to express just our displeasure [about] the misconduct that’s going on in our police department — it’s not being addressed.”
Throughout the route, onlookers greeted marchers with supportive honks and cheers. When protesters passed a local high school, football players paused practice to throw their fists up in solidarity.
Ervin said the protesters are also calling for more transparency and vetting how officers are hired.
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Ervin remembered her nephew as a jokester who loved sports and fried fish. He also rapped under the stage name Drew,3 which is now the name of the mental health advocacy organization Ervin started after he died.
“Where Drew lived on Randolph Avenue, his neighbors were in outrage because Drew literally lived in the same area the majority of his life,” said Ervin. “Drew had a full life: He came and went, he walked the dogs, he had a job, [and] he had things that he was going on. It just so happened that time during July and August, he was spiraling out … however, the community was outraged [at his death]. They loved him.”
Earlier this year, New Jersey passed the Seabrooks-Washington Act, named after Washington and Najee Seabrooks, another man killed by police during a mental health response last year. The bill put $12 million toward local municipalities to establish pilot Community Crisis Response Teams to deploy in mental health emergencies.
Efforts to remove the NYPD from mental health crises mirror efforts across the river — earlier this month, the AmNews reported on the Department of Justice’s involvement in a discrimination lawsuit over police deployment to mental health emergencies as opposed to medical professionals to physical health emergencies.
Currently, a program called B-Heard deploys medical professionals instead of the NYPD exists in largely Black and Brown neighborhoods, including Harlem, but not every call is guaranteed to provide a non-police response. In New York State, a Daniel’s Law task force formed in response to the killing of Chicagoan Daniel Prude in Rochester.
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.