Two participants in the April 30 march from the Syracuse University campus to downtown Syracuse in solidarity with Baltimore pleaded not guilty in court Tuesday morning to Local Law 16-35(b)—holding a march without a permit.

Derek Ford, a graduate student at SU, and Rev. L. Micah O. Dexter II of The New Salem Missionary Baptist Church of Syracuse were both charged with violating the law. THE General Body, a coalition of student organizations at SU, organized the march in coalition with various local activist organizations to show solidarity with protests in Baltimore as a result of the death of teenager Freddie Gray.

“It’s not anything we did; it’s who we are. The groups we are affiliated with have a history of fighting police brutality in the city,” Ford said.

Local Law 16-35(b), which Ford and Rev. Dexter are charged with violating, states, “No persons, society or organization of any name or nature shall assemble, congregate, parade or march in or through any of the streets of the city without first securing a permit therefor in accordance with this section.”

Ford said he thinks them being charged with violating the law is an intimidation attempt by the police and mayor’s office, not necessarily the district attorney.

“This is a total waste of resources and time,” he said.

A Facebook page was setup by THE General Body to encourage members to attend the duo’s arraignment.

Collin Chambers, also a graduate student at SU, was one of “ten or 12” people who went to the arraignment and said Ford and Rev. Dexter, “are two community leaders the police definitely want to quiet down.”

Part of both Ford and Rev. Dexter’s defense, Ford said, is that police are unfairly applying this law to the two of them for their activism in the community.

In addition, Ford’s court summons was dated May 22, which Ford said led him to believe police waited for SU students to leave campus to send the summons.

“There’s no case against either Rev. Dexter or me. They targeted us,” Ford said. “They’re selecting this particular march and two particular people.”

A pretrial date is set for July 8.

Published on June 9, 2015 at 3:32 pm

Contact Danny: dmantoot@syr.edu