ROCHESTER, N.Y. — After more than two weeks of demanding justice for Daniel Prude and calls for equity, Spectrum News spoke with Ashley Gantt, the organizer of Free The People ROC about issues the movement is pushing for.
She said each day's protest has a new focus, and the focus Wednesday was making sure people are participating in the 2020 Census as many occupy the outside of Rochester’s City Hall.
In addition to that, the death of Daniel Prude is bringing to light a lot of issues the group says needs to be addressed.
"It's exciting to see the community rally around the same issues, it's exciting to see people come out every single night when I know they're exhausted because I'm exhausted, and it's admirable to see people's dedication until we see justice," Gantt said.
After 15 days since the news broke about the death of Daniel Prude in police custody, Gantt of Free The People ROC believes the movement is winning, with people continuing to come out to demonstrate during the COVID-19 pandemic and after school has started for the fall.
Gantt said some of the group's demands have been met since protests started. We spoke to her about the division between what people may hear or see in the movement, and their true message as they call for justice for Daniel Prude.
"So, we have those conversations a lot here right, and we talk about de-funding the police, we hear a lot of white folks saying 'oh my God, why would we do that?' 'Oh my God, our neighborhoods aren't going to be safe' and what we say is like, 'if we de-fund the police, our neighborhoods would look just like Pittsford, we'll look just like Webster, we'll look just like Palmyra, or Mendon' or wherever they are, people would be able to walk outside of their house and not be over policed," said Gantt.
Free The People ROC said in addition to protesting, organizers have talked to lawmakers and say many are willing to aid in drafting legislation to change how emergency crews respond to mental health incidents like Daniel Prude's.
"For us, the next step is that these officers are arrested, so of course we want the policy done, but we don't want to put the cart before the horse, we want the people who murdered Daniel Prude to be arrested, to be fired and to be convicted," she said.
The group is calling for more than justice for Prude and changes in the police system.
Free The People ROC also wants changes to issues impacting Rochester communities as a whole — like housing, education and wages.
“We talk a lot about Daniel Prude, but also we live in a city where people don’t have access to healthcare, people don’t have access to housing, people don’t have access to quality education or even a basic education, we live in a society where people are working two and three jobs just to make ends meet and they’re not getting paid a livable wage and still can’t make ends meet," she said.