Several community organizations will participate in a demonstration at 3:00 p.m., Tuesday, September 8, 2015, in front of the Daily Freeman’s Building on Hurley Avenue, Kingston.The demonstrators will protest of the newspaper’s initial coverage of the four area young men, Kaireem Marks, Jr., Jante Clark, Adam McQueen and Dante Crump, who were killed in an automobile accident in Saugerties on August 26. The story included the criminal records of some of the victims. That information, however, was subsequently deleted from the newspaper’s website following an immediate outpouring of community denunciations.Rev. G. Modele Clarke, president of the Ministers’ Alliance of Ulster County, said the inclusion of the victims’ criminal records was grossly insensitive and irresponsible.“It appears to be a knee-jerk reaction to criminalize and diminish the lives of black victims after these tragic events,” Clarke said. “We saw it in Ferguson, last year with Michael Brown, in Staten Island with Eric Garner and several other similar instances across the country.”Odell Winfield, president, of End Jim Crow Action Network (ENJAN), said the newspaper’s decision to include the victims’ criminal record was ill-advised.“Releasing that type of information while the community is hurting so deeply is not only insensitive, it tends to devalue the lives of these four young men,” Winfield said.Several community organizations are sponsoring this demonstration. They include: The Ministers’ Alliance of Ulster County; Kingston Council of Churches; End New Jim Crow Action Network (ENJAN) Citizens Action of New York and Midtown Rising.For further information, contact Rev. G. Modele Clarke: 914-388-0671
