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Community Corner

"Day of Outrage" Organizers Ask Community to Continue Working Toward Unity and Justice

More than 100 people filled Feaster Park on Saturday

City residents from all over New Brunswick came out en masse and joined together on Saturday to help demonstrate that police brutality and misconduct won’t be tolerated in their city.

The protests took place at Feaster Park, the New Brunswick train station, and a brief press conference was held by the sons of 46-year-old Barry Deloatch, who was shot and killed by city police officers on Sept. 22. 

“It’s a good showing,” said Deloatch’s son Barry Gavin. “For everybody to come together and coincide with each other, I feel it’s a very good showing. I just don't want everyone to do it just because it’s live and fresh and they want to jump on it. Just keep going with it.”

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Over 100 people attended the Feaster Park rally at 2 p.m., where there were snacks and refreshments, a disc jockey, speeches, singing performances, and spoken-word poetry.

The “Day of Outrage” in the city was bigger than just Barry Deloatch - it's part of a community-wide initiative and part of an even greater national day of protest to stop police brutality, said one of the event’s organizers, Tormel Pittman.

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“This is our city,” said Pittman, chairman of the city’s Direct Action Coalition. “If any wrongdoing happens within this city, whether it is in the community or by the police, they should be disciplined just like everyone else. We want to make sure that nobody’s above the law.”

There’s no better place to hold an anti-police brutality march in the city this year than in the park right across the street from where Deloatch was killed by police one month ago, Pittman said.

“This is a historic spot and will be a reminder to everyone about the things that can happen when people feel above the law,” he said. “People need to always remember this spot. It can’t disappear.”

The rally served as a way for everyone, regardless of age, gender, race, religion and sexual orientation, to come together, Pittman said.

“This is a beautiful day,” he said. “We’ve got children out here, all different races, all different ages, and we’re going to entertain that. We’re going to have a good time today and we’re not going to allow anyone to destroy that. It’s not a white thing, it’s not a black thing and it’s not a Latino thing. It’s a justice thing.”

Because of the children present, a protester whose sign contained an expletive was asked not to display it by the event organizers.

About 20 minutes prior to the rally, it was reported that an incident between a police officer and a city youth ended in violence, an action Pittman warned the crowd would not be tolerated.

“If your intention is to use this movement to get some aggression off that you want to get off, please fall back,” he said. “Because I’m telling you right now, none of us are with that. That’s a fight you’ll fight yourself. We’re not out here for that.”

New Brunswick Police Department Sgt. Keith Thomas confirmed the report, but said the altercation was unrelated to the “Day of Rage” rallies.

Prior to the rally, one of the event’s organizers dropped by the police station with a small gesture of peace and friendliness — sandwiches for all the officers on duty, Thomas said.

At about 4 p.m., the rally concluded with a march through the city, stopping at the shooting sites of Carolyn “Sissy” Adams and Shaun Potts, both of whom were killed in years past by city police officers.

Both the police and the protesters remained peaceful during the rally, and the march was not met with police interference or aggression.

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