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JANUARY 28 - FEBRUARY 3, 2021
Vol. 23 No. 4
Elmont man is arrested in MLK Day protest By MElISSA KoENIg mkoenig@liherald.com
Ruvan Wijesooriya/Instagram
JoNAthAN PEcK, oF Elmont, says he was forced to the ground in an altercation between NYPD officers and Black Lives Matter protests on Jan. 18.
An Elmont man was among nearly 30 people arrested in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day Black Lives Matter protest in Lower Manhattan at which 11 New York City police officers were injured, officials report. Jonathan Peck, 28, an aspiring actor, producer and writer, helped organize the protest “building upon the beliefs of Reverend King in standing up, marching, protesting and speaking on the injustice and oppressive systems in America,” Peck said. The goal was to “remove disparity amongst the people” and to demand that police departments be defunded and demilitarized, until they are ultimately abolished.
But that night, police report, a group of protesters near City Hall started harassing a woman filming them on her iPhone. Officers formed a circle around the women to protect her, they said, and protesters began throwing glass bottles at them. Other officers then used their microphones and loudspeakers to direct the protesters to leave the area. “On such a day that we’re honoring Martin Luther King, [we have] demonstrations that consist of violence, throwing bottles, breaking property, calling for the death of officers [and] to burn the city down,” New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea told NY1 following the protest. “I really Continued on page 4
A new president, and continuing polarization Elmont and Franklin Square residents share their thoughts on Biden’s inauguration
By MElISSA KoENIg mkoenig@liherald.com
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. stood at the very site where farright insur rectionists had stormed the Capitol two weeks earlier to be sworn in as president on Jan. 20, and pleaded for unity at one of the most polarized moments in the nation’s history — a moment some Franklin Square and Elmont community members found hopeful, and others thought was disingenuous. “Realistically, I think it was
just a reversal of the 2016 election,” Joseph Vitaliano, of Franklin Square, wrote in response to a Herald social media inquiry about people’s thoughts on the historic day. “This time Democrats won, and Republicans have to grapple with the same feelings Democrats felt at the time that they openly mocked Democrats for feeling.” Biden became the oldest president in American history, at 78, and Kamala Harris was the first female, first Black and first
Asian-American to become vice president. “The inauguration means a lot of different things to different people, but for most, it was historic for women everywhere,” wrote Sarah Campbell, of Elmont. “No matter your political views, religion or race, this was a tremendous accomplishment for our daughters to have to break one less barrier.” Campbell’s friend Renee Williams added that Harris’s ascent “showed us what we can all achieve no matter your gender, color or race.” Carl Gerrato, of
Franklin Square, meanwhile, wrote that Biden’s victory proved that “age is meaningless.” Yet just one-quarter of registered Republicans believe the 2020 election was conducted fairly, according to a December
study by National Public Radio, PBS NewsHour and Marist College. At protests across the country since the Nov. 3 election, many have echoed the unfounded claims of a fraudulent election, but Mario Scirica, of Continued on page 3