Name: Hundreds peacefully rally in Ferndale to oppose police brutality
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Hundreds peacefully rally in Ferndale to oppose police brutality

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Detroit Free Press A busy intersection in the heart of Ferndale was lined Sunday&nbsp;with about 200 people who rallied against&nbsp;police brutality and racism.Drivers passing by the Woodward Avenue and 9 Mile Road intersection in downtown Ferndale honked their horns and raised a fist in support of the afternoon demonstration, which&nbsp;followed in neighboring Detroit."We’ve been fighting for this as a family, as a community for years and years and years," said Jamiil Gaston, 29, of Southfield. "We can’t just let our&nbsp;community get slaughtered by unjust systems that exist already&nbsp;—&nbsp;whether it’s the cops, whether it’s politicians, whether it’s large corporations. All this has to end immediately."Gaston, whose grandmother grew up sharecropping and whose great-grandmother was a slave, said he was pleased with the event but wondered if the crowd should have taken more action, perhaps occupying the street&nbsp;to block traffic for 8 minutes and 46 seconds — the amount of time Minneapolis Police Department Officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck."We’ve got to be out here, we’ve got to show our faces, we’ve got to make noise, we got to —&nbsp;maybe we have to break things sometimes,"&nbsp;said Gaston, who attended the Detroit protests the previous two nights. "But at the end of the day, we have to be out here,&nbsp;not just us as black people, not just other minorities, but our entire community.”The Ferndale rally&nbsp;was calm.&nbsp;Some in attendance chanted "Black Lives Matter," others held signs that read anti-racist slogans such as "White Silence = Violence" and "Support Black Lives."Read more:&nbsp;More: A couple of uniformed officers, including Chief Vinny Palazzolo, were on hand to monitor the event and show support for the community. Ferndale police are familiar with how to handle such events, Palazzolo said, noting a demonstration with 1,200 people after President Donald Trump's&nbsp;election&nbsp;and the occasional protests and counter-protests at the Planned Parenthood building on Woodward.“We’ve always been there to support our community members. They have the right to peaceably assemble and we’re there to support them,”&nbsp;Palazzolo said.&nbsp;“This movement right now is resonating with people across the world.”The rally began at 1 p.m. and was ongoing a few hours later.Ferndale resident Andrew Lessley, 24, said it's time for the gay community to be vocal and show support."We've suffered and we're seeing black people suffer even more than we have, too. It's time for us to use our voice to amplify their's, support them," Lessley said. "The gay community very much has our own racist issues as well. I very much think it's important for the gay community to get out and show we stand in solidarity."Joe Guillen, a member of the Free Press Investigations Team, has been covering city governance and development issues for the newspaper since 2013. He previously worked at The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer covering county and state government. Contact him at 313-222-6678 or jguillen@freepress.com.

Detroit Free Press A busy intersection in the heart of Ferndale was lined Sunday&nbsp;with about 200 people who rallied against&nbsp;police brutality and racism.Drivers passing by the Woodward Avenue and 9 Mile Road intersection in downtown Ferndale honked their horns and raised a fist in support of the afternoon demonstration, which&nbsp;followed in neighboring Detroit."We’ve been fighting for this as a family, as a community for years and years and years," said Jamiil Gaston, 29, of Southfield. "We can’t just let our&nbsp;community get slaughtered by unjust systems that exist...

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Joe Guillen

The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primarily serves Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston, Washtenaw, and Monroe counties.  The Free Press is also the largest city newspaper owned by Gannett, which also publishes USA Today. The Free Press has received ten Pulitzer Prizes and four Emmy Awards. Its motto is "On Guard for 189 Years".

Hundreds peacefully rally in Ferndale to oppose police brutality

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