Members of the Coalition to Pass the Community Safety Act (CSA) spoke out before Thursday night’s Providence City Council meeting about the importance of empowering local communities on policing.

“Providence needs the Community Safety Act because without it we feel unsafe,” said campaign coordinator Vanessa Flores-Maldonado in a statement. “The Coalition hopes that a public hearing will speak loudly to the need of an ordinance that seeks to hold police accountable when they harass and brutalize our community.

The Coalition, which is comprised of local community organizations and members, had previously submitted a petition on July 1 to have the city council hold a public hearing before going on their August break. However, the 90+ signatures submitted took 3 weeks to verify and no public hearing was scheduled within the 14 days required by the City Charter.

Malcus Mills of DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality) introduced three speakers, Dan, representing PrYSM (Providence Youth Student Movement), Wayne Woods of DARE, and Justice, speaking for RI Jobs with Justice.

Dan spoke about the gang database used by the Providence Police Department. If a youth is placed on the gang database list, they have no ability to remove their name or even check to see if their name is on the list. This may result in loss of job and educational opportunities in the future.

Right now, said Dan, the police, “judge people by their appearance, their race, gender etc, and they will say you are guilty… because they think you are part of a gang.”

Wayne Woods spoke of being profiled and pulled over on the East Side of Providence. After being removed from his car, searched, and then waiting for 20 minutes as his car was searched by police, he and his friend, both black men, were sent on their way. The police told the men, “To go home and take it easy.”

If the CSA were passed, said Woods, the car could only have been pulled over for probable cause and the police would have to issue a receipt to people they detain, outlining the conditions of the probable cause.

“A big part of why the CSA needs to be passed is so that we can hold people accountable to what they’re doing,” said Justice, representing Jobs with Justice. “Civil servants and law enforcement should be accountable just like other working people, and we need to be able to protect the people of Providence, we need to be able to protect the youth of color in Providence.”

The Providence Community Safety Act is a city-wide proposed ordinance that aims to hold police accountable and make communities safer. Developed by community members and organizations who are frustrated with police harassment and lack of accountability, the CSA has 12 key points that outline how police officers should interact with community members. These points range from video recording to traffic stops to the gang database.

In a two hour march through downtown Providence, nearly 100 workers and activists visited businesses engaged in wage theft, low pay and anti-unionization efforts. The event was organized through Rhode Island Jobs with Justice in collaboration with Restaurant Opportunities Center of RI (ROC-RI), Fuerza Laboral, Carpenters Local 94, SEIU Rhode Island, UNITE HERE Local 217, Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) and IUPAT Local 195 DC 11 Painters.

The groups are “seeking a city ordinance that would require all companies getting tax breaks in Providence to pay workers a living wage of at least $15/hr, provide paid sick days, health benefits, and fair, predictable schedules.” They also want the city to “follow the First Source ordinance by hiring residents of Providence, prioritize hiring people from high poverty neighborhoods, and make sure that people working these jobs have a pathway to a real career by using apprenticeship programs.”

The groups are also asking Mayor Jorge Elorza to live up to the campaign promises he made while still a candidate at a mayoral forum in South Providence, “to set up a community board with the power to approve/disapprove projects, take back money if companies aren’t living up to what they say they’ll do, and negotiate the construction of projects community members identify as needs, such as affordable housing, or fixing up an abandoned lot into a park.”

The Providence Police Department cleared the streets ahead of the marchers, who started their protest outside of Gourmet Heaven  on Weybosset St. This is the third time protesters gathered outside the restaurant, which is accused of stealing wages from employees here in Rhode Island in a situation similar to Connecticut where substantial fines have been levied against the company for wage theft. Two workers addressed the crowd, and spoke about the abusive working conditions they say they endured. One worker said he was told, when he demanded his pay, that if he complained the management would have him deported.

The marchers then walked a short way up the street to Cilantro restaurant, a chain recently fined by the US Labor Department for wage theft to the tune of $100,000. Oddly, a Cilantro worker met the crowd, offering tortilla chips and bottled drinks, which were refused. “We don’t want your crumbs, we want our money,” quipped Michael Araujo of ROC-RI.

The march then continued across the city to the Providence Hilton Hotel, owned by The Procaccianti Group, where hotel workers were already outside picketing. The two groups merged into a protest of well over 150 people. The workers at the Providence Hilton announced a worker-led boycott of the hotel, joining the boycott efforts of workers at the Renaissance Providence Hotel (also owned by Procaccianti Group.) Employees from the Omni Providence Hotel were also on hand to support the boycott effort.

City Councillor Carmen Castillo spoke to the crowd about her experiences working at the Omni Providence Hotel, which was owned by the Procaccianti Group when it was called the Westin. Since the Procaccianti Group sold the hotel, worker conditions have markedly improved. Also speaking to the crowd was hotel worker Santa Brito.

The protest then headed for the Providence City Hall, stopping along the way at the Subway sandwich shop attached to the skating rink. Here Jo-Ann Gesterling, a fast food worker from Wendy’s, spoke to the crowd. Gesterling has led previous at her store and was arrested last year in Hartford CT during a Fight for $15 protest there. Gesterling talked about the importance of raising the minimum wage to $15, and about the effort to improve working conditions at her restaurant.

The final stop of the march was Providence City Hall, where Malchus Mills of DARE called on Mayor Jorge Elorza to honor his campaign commitments and enforce the First Source ordinance, which prioritizes city hiring from Providence communities. Mills also called upon the City Council to demand fair wages and benefits for workers from companies seeking tax stabilizations from the city. Also speaking at the City Hall was Jeffrey Santos, member of Carpenters Local 94.

The local march starts at 4pm, at the Grants Block, 260 Westminster St., and will proceed through downtown to Burnside Park. Hotel workers are also holding a separate action today in front of the Hilton Providence at 5pm.

Speakers at the larger action will include Jo-Ann Gesterling, who led this action at a Wendy’s in Warwick, Malchus Mills, a DARE organizer, Mike Araujo, of the Restaurant Opportunities Center who is helping waitstaff win a higher wage this year and Providence City Councilors Luis Aponte and Mary Kay Harris. And while the group is marching in solidarity with workers around the country, they’ve also got a few local demands.

According to a press release from Jobs With Justice:

“The coalition seeks to pass a city ordinance that would require all companies getting tax breaks in Providence to:

• Pay workers a living wage of at least $15/hr, provide paid sick days, health benefits, and fair, predictable schedules
• Follow the First Source ordinance by hiring residents of Providence, prioritize hiring people from high poverty neighborhoods, and make sure that people working these jobs have a pathway to a real career by using apprenticeship programs
• AND, to set up a community board with the power to approve/disapprove projects, take back money if companies aren’t living up to what they say they’ll do, and negotiate the construction of projects community members identify as needs, such as affordable housing, or fixing up an abandoned lot into a park”

The speakers highlighted some of the differences in tactics among the various activists and groups, but all agreed that the activism of Rosa Parks and the election of Barrack Obama as president was not the end of the fight against systemic racism in America. There’s still a lot of work to be done.

Malcus Mills is a prominent member of DARE, as well as a member of the Rosa Parks Human Rights Committee and the Peoples Assembly.

“If you look back through history, change has never happened quickly, and never without those who have lost their lives…”

Joe Buchanan is a member of the Rosa Parks Human Rights Committee.

“In 1955 I was three years old when Rosa Parks, this working Black woman got on the bus. She is one of the many great Black women through history…”

Providence City Councillor elect for Ward 11, Mary Kay Harris, is also a member of the Rosa Parks Human Rights Committee.

“It’s very important that we continue to look at human rights, the rights of people, the right for a movement, the right of people to have a voice…”

Native American Ray Two-Hawks Watson gave a fiery speech in defense of last Tuesday night’s Ferguson protesters who blocked the highway here in Providence.

“…everybody was up in arms about it. Oh, it was dangerous and this, that and the other, but to that I say it’s dangerous being a youth these days. Because not only do you have to worry about gangs, not only do you have to worry about drug dealers and all that but you also have to worry about police officers who should be protecting you from those elements treating you like you’re one of them.”

Sheila Wilhelm, of Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) was unapologetic in her defense of the protesters.

“Dr. King said, ‘Riots are the voices of the unheard,” and it’s a shame sometimes what we have to do to get our voices heard, but also, ‘by any means necessary.’ Especially, especially when we’re fighting for our children… Personally, when I saw the actions of last week and the protests, I was humbled. I was honored and I was so, so, so proud…”

Jim Vincent, of the Rhode Island branch of the NAACP was one of the more vocal critics of blocking the highway, but he kept his comments here to Rosa Parks and civil rights in general.

“We’ve always heard things in America like, ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men and women are created equal’ and “justice and liberty for all’ but where has that been over the decades for people of color and black people in particular?”

Lauren Niedel of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats saw the great lady as an example, and said, “Everybody here can be a Rosa Parks.”

Camilo Viveiros of the George Wiley Center tied racial to economic justice.

“Economic injustice has caused many to not have utilities throughout the year…. There continues to be a war against poor people, but many have given up on the war on poverty…”

Freethinker Peter Nightingale, of Occupy Providence and Fossil Free RI, gave a wonderful, and the most radical talk of the bunch.

“We need to change everything to break the chains of predator capitalism… We need degrowth, and we need a four hour workday. Degrowth means shrink the economy. I said it, put it on TV. He’s nuts…”

After the speakers there was a re-enactment of Rosa Parks’ nonviolent resistance on board a RIPTA bus, which was crowded to overflowing with onlookers and news cameras. Deborah L. Wray played the part of Rosa Parks.

Support Steve Ahlquist!