This archive report was first published on 10 June 2020.
White Counterprotesters in Franklinville, N.J., Mock George Floyd's Killing ¶
On Monday, a group of about 70 people gathered in Franklinville, New Jersey, to rally against police brutality and systemic racism, echoing protests that have unfolded across the United States since George Floyd's killing in police custody.
As the diverse group marched along, waving signs and chanting slogans in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, they were met by several white men who had gathered near a sign that said “All Lives Matter” and in front of a pickup truck draped with an American flag and a pro-Trump sign.
One of the men yelled at the marchers angrily while kneeling on the neck of another who was facedown on the ground, an apparent attempt to mock the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis after a white officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
The scene, which was captured on video, sparked widespread condemnation. The mayor and the police chief in Franklin Township issued a statement calling the episode “revolting” and saying that it had left them “appalled and saddened.”
On Tuesday, the state’s Department of Corrections said it had suspended one of its employees after confirming that he was among the group that taunted and tried to upset the protesters. The employee, a senior corrections police officer, had joined the Corrections Department in March 2002 and worked at a youth detention facility in Bordentown until January 2019, when he moved to the Bayside prison in Leesburg.
Gov. Philip D. Murphy called the counterprotesters’ actions “repugnant.” “We won’t let the actions of a few distract from our progress toward dismantling systemic racism,” he said in a statement.
The union that represents New Jersey’s 6,000 corrections officers, PBA Local 105, said in a statement that under “no circumstance do we condone nor will we ever tolerate actions and expressions of discrimination, harassment and hatred” of the sort engaged in by the counterprotesters.
Late Tuesday, FedEx confirmed that one of its employees had also taken part in the counterprotest and had been fired as a result.
The protest, organized by Daryan Fennal, started at the local community center at around 3 p.m. and marched more than two miles to police headquarters, where the group knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the length of time the white officer had his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck.
Ms. Fennal, 21, said she was crying immediately when she saw the counterprotesters, who had yelled, “If George Floyd would have complied he wouldn’t be dead”; “Go cash your checks”; “Start running”; and “Black Lives Matter to no one” as the group passed.
Ms. Fennal said the expressions of hatred had not diminished her passion, or that of others, to continue protesting against injustice. “There are more people who are encouraged, even more so, to stand up and march alongside us and help black people who are facing systematic racism,” she said.
Another protest is scheduled in Franklin Township on Saturday.
