WBAI News
- New York 11/26/2014 by Linda Perry (WBAI)

When St. Louis prosecutor Bob McCullough announced the grand jury decision-- that there would be no indictment for police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed black teen Mike Brown in Ferguson--protests erupted around the country.

 In Union Square, Constance Malcolm, the mom of Ramarley Graham who was shot dead by police in his own bathroom in the Bronx, in front of his grandma and baby sister, expressed the anguish of many. She said, "It has to stop here, because black lives matter.. They matter!"

"We worry about our children… and it shouldn’t be like that," said Brown family lawyer Benjamin Crump. He denounced St. Louis prosecutor Bob McCullough and the process of the grand jury in Ferguson. 

He said, "We have here the local prosecutor who has a symbiotic relationship with the local police who sit in judgment whether to indict the police." 

Brown family attorneys said the grand jury process was rigged from start to finish in order to clear Wilson in the shooting death. They criticized the types of evidence the prosecutor presented, as well as the way it was presented and the timing of the grand jury's decision.

Standing next to Mike Brown’s dad at a St. Louis news conference Tuesday, Crump said the decision not to indict was a "direct reflection" of the evidence that prosecutors presented.

“We want people to believe in the system," he said. 

The Brown family attorney is calling for the Mike Brown Law which would require all police officers throughout the country to wear body cameras-- to ensure that all receive equal justice.  

In New York City , NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton and 9 officers were pelted with fake blood by a demonstrator. Bratton says protests in New York have been going very well, that the department is giving protesters breathing room to express outrage.

Meanwhile the death of yet another black man at the hands of police is on the minds of demonstrators. Akai Gurley was killed by NYPD Officer Peter Liang  in a Brooklyn housing project stairway Thursday night. The Brooklyn Prosecutor’s office ruled Gurley’s death a homicide and Assembly member-elect Charles Barron says the shooting of Akai Gurley warrants a charge of criminally negligent homicide.

At a news conference on Tuesday Mayor Bill de Blasio said we have to reform the relationship between police and community all over the country

"Obviously, in New York City, we've embarked on a very intense program of reform, and a fast program of reform. Stops are down – you can see immediately, there's been a huge reduction in – in fact, in the last week, a 60 percent reduction – six zero – in the number of marijuana arrests. The retraining of the police force is unprecedented – the new inspector general, the reinvigorated CCRB – I mean, these are the kinds of things that will lead to lasting change."

De Blasio said this city is changing the way things are done, and that we have a lot more work to do. LP WBAI News, New York

James Woods and Ashoka Jegroo contributed to this report.