One winter morning in 1986, 23-year-old Michael Griffith traveled from Brooklyn to Howard Beach, Queens, to collect his paycheck. But instead he got severely beaten by a mob in this majority-white community. Then the son of an NYPD officer hit and killed Griffith with his car as he tried to escape.
It was a lynching. And Black New York responded accordingly.
Hundreds marched in the streets of Howard Beach, blocked the Brooklyn Bridge, and surrounded a police precinct. But others also traveled below ground.
About 150 people climbed onto train tracks, shutting four subway lines down at the height of rush hour.
In 2023, New Yorkers found themselves in the subway tracks again for Jordan Neely. Police arrested protesters. Officials lectured about more “peaceful protesting.” But traffic disruption has historically been critical to Black protest, along with sit-ins, stand-ins, and drive-ins.
The constant criticism of Black protest isn’t just criticism. It’s a strategy to stifle Black resistance, pushing us farther away from justice and liberation.
Yes, protests obstructing traffic are inconvenient. But we have been enslaved, exploited, and brutalized. Our resistance is supposed to be disruptive, because no convenience is worth more than someone’s life.
And when we imagine our freedom and fight for it, we are not only inconvenient, but dangerous to those who hate us.