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Black Lives Matter movement marches in Valley Stream

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Black Lives Matter demonstrators marched to West Merrick Road.
Black Lives Matter demonstrators marched to West Merrick Road.
Courtesy Taylor Corley

A group of about 25 students and some parents marched in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement on Monday in Valley Stream. They sought to support the demonstrations happening around the country, protesting police killings of civilians and other instances of violence.

Reactions to the demonstration were largely positive — horn honking and words of encouragement, as well as several passersby who stopped and joined the procession.

A few reactions were not positive, according to Pamala Corley, 52, of Valley Stream, whose 17-year-old daughter Taylor organized the march. Corley said that a woman driving past rolled down her window and called the marchers the N word, and a man gave the students the middle finger as he drove by. Both were white, Corley said.

“The ones that did hear it didn’t respond,” she said of the epithet. “I almost reacted,” she said, adding that one of the Nassau County police officers who escorted the group down Fletcher Avenue to Merrick Road appeared to shake his head when he heard it.

Corley said she accompanied her parents to various rallies when she was growing up in Queens, including one where civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson carried her on his shoulders. The experience has changed since then, she said.

“They’re on the social media, they see the videos — it’s so different than when I was a child,” she said. “Now there are a lot more resources.”

Corley cited the recent killings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., and Philando Castile, in Falcon Heights, Minn., as cause for the latest wave of frustration that is being felt across the country, and in her household. The movement’s message, she said, is simple: “Equality for everybody, across the board.”

The marchers walked south on Fletcher Avenue from Central High School to Chase Bank on West Merrick Road. Taylor organized the protest on Instagram — her first time doing anything like it.

“I know a lot of adults think that kids or children my age don’t really care about what’s happening in the world,” said Taylor, a Central High School student. “We just wanted to show that we are aware. We think that everyone deserves equality and that all lives matter.”

Taylor said that because she wasn’t aware of any previous Valley Stream rallies, she wanted to organize one herself. She approached her parents with the idea, and they encouraged her to see it through.

The demonstration began at Central High School at 1:30 p.m. and lasted for about an hour.

“Some people stopped in the street and came and rallied with us,” said Taylor, who added that she met new people from different ethnic backgrounds who had heard about the march on social media.

“I felt super proud of everyone,” she said. “They didn’t have to come. The turnout that we had encouraged me and showed me that people care and they pay attention.” The result of the demonstration has inspired her to better publicize the next event, which she said she hoped to schedule for late July.

Taylor said the interactions between the police officers and the demonstrators was positive, and her mother agreed.

“This has nothing to do with Valley Stream police,” Pamala said. “And they understood.”

She said that an officer explained to her that they learned the protest might take place along Sunrise Highway (which was later deemed too dangerous) and they responded to make sure demonstrators were protected.
“We walked away with a big smile on our face,” Corley said.

Another 17-year-old Central High School student, who declined to give her name because she didn’t tell her parents she attended, said that when she heard about a protest in the area, she immediately decided to go.

“Well, it was my first time at a rally and I was pretty nervous at first,” she said. “I didn’t know how it would end up. But once we started to speak out loud and walk, I felt really good and confident about what I was doing.”

There were only a few participants at the beginning, she said, but passersby cheered them on and several joined in. The student said she attended because it seemed like the right thing to do.

“It was great,” she said. “I felt like a true activist.”

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