South Bronx Demands Respect
ED Morales
By ED Morales
Yesterday was a beautiful spring day in the Bronx, and I spent part of it with South Bronx Unite, a group that has lead the pushback against the relocation of Fresh Direct from Queens to a public waterfront in the Port Morris section of the Bronx. About 100 people were there, singing and chanting to some slammin pleneros who had come for the occasion. Nine volunteers were arrested in an orchestrated display of civil disobedience to draw attention to the health and environmental hazards that come about when we cede our waterfront to corporate entities like Fresh Direct, Fed Ex, and the New York Post, who has a headquarters just to the east of the demonstration site.
The video says it all. There was a protest during which protestors placed flowers on the gate that Fed Ex uses to mark the limits of their site and deny locals access to the waterfront, a group of nine protestors staged a sit in and, as orchestrated with the NYPD, were arrested and taken to the local precinct. Protestors marched from the waterfront site at 132nd St and St. Ann’s Avenue to the precinct at 138th and Alexander Avenue and waited for the release of those arrested. When they were released, there was a celebration.
