The Green Party of New Jersey

Is Pleased that Governor Phil Murphy Signed the Independent Prosecutor’s Bill, But Still Seeks Answers and Justice for Jameek Lowery

#JUSTICEFORMEEK and all victims of police brutality

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 2, 2019

Contact:

Carrie Gordon at (973)412-6577 Communications Chair of the Green Party of New Jersey

Madelyn Hoffman at (973)876-1023, Green Party of New Jersey member and recent candidate for U.S. Senate in New Jersey

Craig Cayetano at (201)320-9753, Green Party of Passaic County co-chair

The Green Party of New Jersey and the Green Party of Passaic County fully supports and celebrates Governor Phil Murphy’s signing of the Independent Prosecutor’s Bill on Wednesday, January 30th. It has already shown its relevance, following last night’s fatal shooting in Passaic involving the police. It isn’t clear whether it will apply to the Jameek Lowery case, as that occurred while the bill was sitting on the Governor’s desk unsigned.

However, we know that Jameek Lowery’s family, the people of Paterson, and Black Lives Matter activists will continue in their efforts to obtain answers to a host of questions surrounding the death of Jameek Lowery, a Paterson resident who came into a Paterson police station seeking help. GPNJ and GP of Passaic County will continue to support those efforts until justice is obtained.

“On Tuesday, January 8th, instead of answers, the police gave us mace,” said Zellie Thomas, Black Lives Matter activist and co-chair of the Passaic County Greens. “On Friday, January 11, when we wanted to know what happened to Jameek at the Paterson Police Department, they brought us there, cuffed. You can jail a revolutionary, but you can’t jail the revolution. We won’t stop until we get justice for Meek and all victims of injustice.”

GPNJ and the GP of Passaic County joined the Paterson community’s call for the Attorney General to move the investigation to a different venue outside of Passaic County and to appoint an independent prosecutor to conduct the investigation. We applaud Governor Phil Murphy for signing the bill (A3115/S1036) that would require just that, but there’s still much work to be done.

“Allies from BLM-Paterson, Green Party of NJ, Silk City Socialists and many other groups banded together to call, email, tweet and message the Governor’s office this last month,” said Craig Cayetano, co-chair of the Passaic County Green Party. “Thankfully, in the 11th hour Governor Murphy decided to listen to the voices and will of the people.”