The last few months the Justice for Kenny Coalition has been busy building with the ANSWER Coalition and the October 22nd Coalition to bring attention to Kenny Lazo's case and to link police brutality to immigrant rights. We have had some very successful events. On April 3rd, we had our very first event at theBrecht Forum where we featured several key speakers including: Jennifer Gonzalez (partner of the late Kenny Lazo), Juanita Young (mother of the late Malcolm Ferguson), William Bell (father of the late Sean Bell), Nicholas Heyward (father of the late Nicholas Heyward, Jr.), Allene Person (mother of the late Timor Person), Kathie Cheng of Oct 22 Coalition, Monica Ruiz of ANSWER Coalition, Pierre Yurovski of Amnesty International, and Frances Villar 2009PSL Mayoral Candidate for NYC. We showed, Police Terror: The Police Murder of Kenny Lazo, a documentary short by ANSWER's Eddie Pages, Forced Trajectory: Images from the After Effects of the Police Murder of Kenny Lazo, a photographic essay by me, and we also featuredANSWER's Kenneth Chan Cruz' artwork. After the film, slideshow, and speakers, MC Majesty hosted the spoken word / hip hop portion of the event, featuring Spirit Child, Peggy Robles Alvarado, Raul K Rios, and Fifth Column's BadSportt. The night ended with us fundraising over $500, enough for us to rent a bus to go from the city to Bay Shore, Long Island for Kenny's 2nd year anniversary vigil held right outside the Suffolk County 3rd Precinct where he was left to die on April 12, 2008. Our event was covered by NY1, who stayed for nearly 70% of the event, and played repeatedly on NY1 headlines all Easter Sunday. :)
William Bell, father of the late Sean Bell, sits, listening to the speaker. Kerbie Joseph of theANSWER Coalition and PSL sits in front of him.
Brian Benitez, Kenny Lazo's cousin, speaks out in public for the first time about Kenny's murder.
Hip hop artist, Majesty, performs.
Jennifer Gonzalez, Kenny Lazo's partner, speaks about her experience after Kenny's abrupt death, April 12th, 2008.
The following week, we used our funds to rent a school bus and took 20-some activists with us from the city to Bay Shore, where we demanded justice for Kenny Lazo in front of the 3rd Precinct of the Suffolk County Police Department. The purpose of this was to connect NYC with Bay Shore so that the people of Bay Shore could literally witness our solidarity. There, we met with several of Kenny's friends and family members, including Kenny's mother, Patricia Gonzalez, and Kenny's father, Elfonzo Lazo who both traveled from out of state for the event. The event was held from 1PM-5PM, but the energy of the crowd was so powerful that we decided to stay until 6PM. As traffic passed, we received several car beeps in support of our cause. Several activists and artists spoke on the mic, condemning the obvious corruption of the Suffolk County police, and also police brutality on a national and international level. Speakers included: UK MC LowKey, MC Majesty, MC Eva Egypt, PSL's Frances Villar, March Forward!'s Edward Pages, ANSWER's Vanessa Frida, Kenny's partner, Jennifer Gonzalez, Rebel Diaz Art Collective's Marcel Cartier, Kenny's parents Patricia Gonzalez & Elfonzo Lazo, myself, and others. This event marked the 2nd year anniversary of Kenny's death.
Both events were later mentioned in PSL's Liberation newspaper which is distributed nationwide. Click here to read the article.
MC Majesty on the mic, who enthusiastically hosted the April 3rd event.
MC Eva Egypt on the mic condemning the SCPD.
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