‘Bushwick 32’ supporters arrested on phony charges

On Nov. 30 than 20 Black students were in the Criminal Court of Brooklyn, N.Y., facing charges from their arrest in May while walking peacefully to the wake of a fellow student and friend. The charges they face include “unlawful assembly,” although the students had permission to attend the wake from both their parents and the administration of their high school. Originally these students were the “Bushwick 32” but some of the students had their charges dropped or had been to court before Nov. 30.

The Bushwick youths have had support from fellow students, community members, organizations like Student Coalition Against Racial Profiling and Make the Road since the May arrest, and had planned a news conference for Nov. 30. Unfortunately, no bourgeois news outlet found this incident important enough to dispatch even one news crew, camera person, or reporter.

During the court proceedings four supporters of the Bushwick students—John Mekins, Brian Favors, Mario Cox, and Jesus Gonzalez—were forced out of the courtroom for attempting to have counsel with one of the students’ lawyers and calling out injustice when they saw the court’s treatment of fellow supporters.

Once in the hall a fight between the supporters and the court officers broke out. “We could hear what was going on in the hallway but when we wanted to go out and stop it we were told to sit down before the same thing happened to us,” said one of the Bushwick youths on trial at the time.

The four men were arrested in the hall and held in the courthouse. During the initial time of their holding, Brian Favors’ spouse and Mario Cox’s mother were not allowed to see their loved ones and were unaware of the charges and details of the incident. Due to the circumstances of the case and the arrest of the students’ supporters, the Bushwick youths’ case was moved to Dec. 7.

On Dec. 1, the four supporters were arraigned in the same courthouse where they had been the previous day standing up against racial profiling and the racism of the entire judicial system. More than 60 supporters of the four men packed the courtroom. Most of the crowd in the courtroom consisted of Latin@ and Black community members, while the judge, prosecution and the bulk of the officers present were white.

Mekins, Favors, Cox, and Gonzalez were accused of starting the altercation with court officers and resisting arrest during the prosecution’s statement. The defense teams for the four men used character statements about them to prove that they had no intention of or interest in causing an altercation with the officers and that doing so would have stood in contrast to their community work and past behavior.

Cox, a high school student, was scheduled to take the SAT at the very time he was in court. Favors is a teacher and a trusted advisor to the Buschwick students and their parents. Gonzalez is a dedicated community organizer and college student. And Mekins’ removal from the courtroom was a case of mistaken identity which was cleared up by Favors before the arrest.

The four defendants had visible bruises during the arraignment. They had been taken to the hospital for their injuries after the fight. All four men were released without bail, but the charges were not dropped. Cox and Gonzalez will be in court on Jan.7, and Mekins and Favors on Dec. 12.

After their release the four pillars of the community greeted and thanked each of their supporters outside of the courtroom. The defense team and defendants spoke to supporters outside the courthouse.

Ray Boudreaux of the San Francisco 8, members of the Black Panther Party and political prisoners, came out in support of these men and had this to say: “They attacked these brothers because they are organizers for our community. ... This is the whole U.S. government that we are up against and what we need is a revolution.”

The defendants let tears run down their faces as more supporters joined the crowd outside.

For all those who are against these racist acts of injustice, come out to Criminal Court at 120 Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn on Dec. 7, Dec. 12 (room AP1) and Jan. 7 (room AP6) and show your support.

The writer is a Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST) youth organizer. Email: [email protected].