{"id":13152,"date":"2024-08-01T15:28:52","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T15:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=13152"},"modified":"2024-08-01T15:31:43","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T15:31:43","slug":"new-order-national-human-rights-organization-holds-protest-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/01\/new-order-national-human-rights-organization-holds-protest-march\/","title":{"rendered":"New Order National Human Rights Organization Holds Protest March"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Antonio Chandler, Christopher Casey, Sr, Cedric Watson, Gerald Rose, Siti Dotson-Chambers and Edward Lee Polk in the background<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Truth Staff<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The New Order National Human Rights Organization held a protest march on Saturday July 20 to bring the public\u2019s attention to a number of Toledo Police Department\u2019s incidents that have resulted in complaints from area citizens.<\/p>\n

The protesters started at Promenade Park, walked north on Summit Street, west on Jackson until they reached the Toledo Police Department on N. Erie Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very concerned about the recent issues under the chief of police administration,\u201d said Gerald Rose, president and founder of New Order. Rose, a former Toledoan, has been based in Atlanta since the mid 1990s but makes his way home to Toledo on any number of occasions to further the work of his organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cMinorities are most affected,\u201d said Rose as he noted that police profiling of individuals tended to be directed all too often at minorities leading to incidents that have recently\u00a0 roiled the community.<\/p>\n

One such example is an incident which occurred on April 11 after a license-plate reader erroneously identified a resident\u2019s pickup truck as a stolen vehicle. When the resident, Brandon Upchurch, was stopped, he was approached by Officer Adrian Wilson with gun drawn and declined to get out of his truck initially until he could find out what the problem was.<\/p>\n

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Gerald Rose leads the marchers to TPD headquarters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When he did finally exit the vehicle \u201cto de-escalate the situation,\u201d said Upchurch later, a series of mishaps followed. Ordered to lie down, Upchurch searched for a proper place to do so, was not deemed fast enough and Officer Wilson directed his canine partner to attack Upchurch.<\/p>\n

Upchurch was treated for the dog bite by the Toledo Fire Department which cleaned and bandaged Mr. Upchurch\u2019s wound; he was taken to St. Vincent Hospital to be examined and then transported to Lucas County jail.<\/p>\n

He was charged with obstruction and resisting arrest and, after a number of postponements, originally a court date of June 12 for the misdemeanor offenses. They were later dropped but one has since been reinstated. The police officer was deemed by an internal review to have acted properly.<\/p>\n

However, the protest march was not directed at just one incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s for all incidents,\u201d said Rose. \u201cWe\u2019re getting a lot of complaints about issues here in Toledo. This is where I started an I\u2019m not going to forget where I come from. I\u2019m not doing this for fame, I\u2019m doing this for the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to prevent [police violations],\u201d Cedric Watson told his fellow marchers just before they started walking towards the police station. \u201cA lot of times police don\u2019t like Black people.\u201d Watson said that the way to prevent such violations in the future was to ensure that there were repercussions for such actions now. \u201cRepercussions come when there is a protest.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Natyjae Anderson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among the marchers was a young woman who recently had just such an incident with TPD officers.<\/p>\n

On June 26, Natyjae Anderson was a passenger as her mother was driving north on Detroit Avenue when a confrontation began with a man in a black SUV, recalled Anderson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe black SUV cut us off and a man started yelling at me that he was a cop,\u201d said Anderson of the other driver who only appeared to Anderson and her mother as \u201ca Caucasian male.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man started following Anderson and her mother for about three or four blocks, and \u201cgot the license plate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later that day, three squad cars arrived at Anderson\u2019s parents\u2019 house containing five or six uniformed officers. The driver of the SUV was now in uniform, said Anderson, and began yelling that \u201cyou used a handgun.\u201d Anderson said she does not own or have a gun.<\/p>\n

They handcuffed Anderson, and without reading her rights, took her to Lucas County Jail and charged her with aggravated menacing with a weapon. They didn\u2019t search the house or vehicles and didn\u2019t search Anderson. A weapon, said Anderson, has not been produced. She spent 20 hours in custody and has a trial date now set for August 23.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to trial, I didn\u2019t do anything wrong,\u201d she said in answer to a question about taking a plea deal. \u201cI\u2019m not taking accountability for something I didn\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her mother was ticketed for speeding, reckless operation of a vehicle and not stopping for a red light.<\/p>\n

Those types of interactions are just what the marchers said they want to prevent. Referencing the 2020 Minneapolis George Floyd homicide, Wilson said: \u201cIf we could prevent and hold them accountable for the knee in the neck before somebody died, that will stop the knee in the neck.\u201d<\/p>\n

The marchers, as they made their way up Summit and across Jackson to police headquarters used several chants to describe what their mission was. One of the chants:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t get no justice, they won\u2019t get no peace!\u201d<\/p>\n