FEBRUARY 11, 2015: JUSTICE FOR AKAI GURLEY

On November 20, 2014, NYPD officer Peter Liang and his partner were conducting an illegal vertical search of the Louis Pink Houses in East New York. As Akai Gurley and his partner Kim were coming down the dark stairwell where the lightbulbs were out, Liang raised his gun and shot at them, hitting Akai Gurley in the chest and killing him. Neither officer attempted to perform any type of resuscitation nor did they call for an ambulance right away. It is alleged that they texted their union representative.

After all the officers in the recent past have not been indicted for the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and many others, it was announced that officer Liang WOULD be indicted. On February 11, 2015 he turned himself in and appeared in court, in a full suit, no handcuffs or shackles, and to the dismay of many of those present, the appointed judge is Asian. So is officer Liang. Many of us have spent many days in court and we've never before seen an Asian judge.

After reading the charges, the DA claimed that they did not see him as a flight risk and motioned for him to be released on his own recognizance until his next court appearance in May. WHAT? If that had been US, if WE had been in court for the murder of a police officer [if we were so lucky to survive to our court date], we would have been in shackles and thrown in a cell until May. Every day is more proof that there are two separate justice systems, one for those who are wealthy or police and another for the rest of us and if history has taught us anything, it's that an indictment means very little. The killers of Sean Bell and Ramarley Graham were both indicted, yet acquitted or got off on a technicality. We want to see REAL justice and that means everyone receiving the same penalty regardless of skin tone, officer vs non-officer or wealthy vs poor.

Here are some photos that I took of the demostration outside the court and DA's office in Brooklyn, New York.