Hawthorne Community Calls Out Racial Incident on Macfarlan Avenue-6/12/2020
PRESS RELEASE
Hawthorne Community Calls Out Racial Incident on Macfarlan Avenue-6/12/2020
For Immediate Release
06/18/2020
Contact: Ms.Arbresha Ahmeti #201-724-7832 aahmeti314@gmail.com
Mr. Craig Cayetano #201-320-9753 craigcayetano@gmail.com
Mrs. Monet A Kendall #973-405-3225 mkendallturner@greatoakslegacy.org
The Hawthorne Community is saddened to inform everyone that less than a week after we united as one community, in support of Black Lives Matter with a momentous march through town and rally at Borough hall there was a racial incident on Macfarlan Avenue. Last Friday, June 12th around 6pm, a black father of three, Erich Garland, was out with his two sons and daughter. They were stretching and working out at the bottom of Macfarlan Avenue, when his sons wanted to practice running up the steep hill. In recent years, this has become a common thing to do in town for those who exercise. Erich, with his daughter in the truck, had started to slowly follow his sons up the hill, recording from his phone and pulling over when cars passed by. Not even 10 minutes had passed when the father and his children were approached by Hawthorne police saying that they received a few calls about a man trying to kidnap children.
https://www.facebook.com/1168797672/videos/10221000760866582/
Not just one call but a few calls were made directly to local police. Was this because Erich Garland was driving an older model pickup truck? Were the police called because Erich Garland was a black man in said pickup truck? The police were told that there was a black man recording and trying to kidnap “white children” on the hill. Erich’s truck was approached by police and his children were asked by them if Erich was their father. Even though Erich’s sons might have a lighter skin tone than their father, the children are easily identifiable as being Erich’s, due to a strong physical resemblance. The officer who arrived at the scene was just doing his job. Apparently, the town received “multiple calls’ said Erich. The officer afterwards then suggested to Erich “to take his kids to the park next time.”
If we, as a community can come together to denounce the death of George Floyd, we also have to come together to denounce this racial incident on one of our streets. In these eye-opening and transformative times we, the people of Hawthorne and elsewhere, need to become aware of the dangers of calling in false reports to the police. This is especially true when it involves anyone that is black or brown.
Community surveillancing is neighborly, but can take a dreadful turn when it resembles racial profiling. Here are some articles, videos and other resources to explore this further.
https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1293&context=mjrl
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j2qGd6QyiOa_Li6cdsrNJ0HuVBUCSi1E/view
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/calling-the-police-on-black-people-can-put-them-in-danger
Erich said regarding the incident, “First and foremost, I do not condone violence or the vilification of all law enforcement. I also want everyone to know I proudly am friends with a lot of law enforcement officers, and I understand that those who violate the public trust are the exception, not the rule. With that being said, again I will say the incident that took place on Macfarlan Avenue in Hawthorne had nothing to do with the police. It happened because of the ignorance of a few residents that live on that street. The police department was only answering the call of someone who pays taxes, that is their job. When the officer came he did not threaten me nor did he act violently towards me. He was very polite and informed me why he was called. Was it profiling? Yes it was, but not by the police.”
The Hawthorne Community put forth a “Call to Action” at the march on Sunday June 7th for our police department to consider working on and adopting. Now we need to take the message into the community as well, to educate those on Macfarlan Ave and throughout Hawthorne. The dangers are well documented. Here are links to a few articles to support this.
https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/5/17/17362100/starbucks-racial-profiling-yale-airbnb-911
Erich has been in front of this on his social media accounts and also added, “Focus on what happened to me which is neighborhood profiling. That’s the matter at hand here.”
The Hawthorne Community is calling for people concerned with this incident to come to Macfarlan Avenue this Juneteenth Friday, June 19th at 6pm to hand out information to residents. We want to prevent another incident like this from happening again to anyone of color. We will keep our attention on issues that are reported. Our goal is in improving all relations between the community, people of color and our police. We have created a Facebook Page-Hawthorne In Solidarity with Black Lives Matter to share information, articles and draw attention to the serious social justice issues both nationally and locally.
We kindly request the police make transcripts of these calls public to us, the town and our local news to ensure that proper de-escalation and procedures are followed in the future. Calls that you feel are harmless to police which may be out of trying to protect your community speak sometimes to subconscious and conscious prejudices. These stereotypes of “that person is suspicious or they don’t look like they belong here” need to change towards black and brown people. This will be an educational and peaceful night. Everyone is welcome and we are asking those participating to meet at the bottom of Macfarlan Avenue at 6pm. Please bring and wear a mask for consideration of others as we will walk up the hill and go door to door handing out information. We will also walk the surrounding streets to inform and educate residents about the incident.
