protests

As demonstrators gathered in downtown Rochester last week in protests against police brutality spurred by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Dr. Linda Clark started to get nervous.

Clark, the president of the Black Physician’s Network of Greater Rochester, said she was concerned that the protests would bring members of Monroe County’s black community -- already at high risk of dying from COVID-19 -- into closer contact with more people, spreading the disease even further.

Then, she thought of the long-term implications of the demonstrations.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is urging the thousands of New Yorkers who are participating in social justice protests to get tested for the coronavirus to help prevent another potential outbreak. 

Cuomo said there are enough tests available now for everyone who participated in a protest to get tested. He said even though most demonstrators wore masks, it was a crowded environment, and they should just assume that they were exposed to the virus. 

“If you were at a protest, go get a test, please,” Cuomo said. “The protesters have a civic duty here, also. Be responsible. Get a test.”  

We continue our conversation about the events of the weekend, about the Black Lives Matter movement, and about broader issues of race and police-community relations across the country.

Our guests:

• Danielle Ponder, diversity and inclusion officer for the Monroe County Public Defender's Office, and lead singer for Danielle Ponder and the Tomorrow People
• Jonathan Ntheketha, actor, performance educator with Impact Interactive, and adjunct professor
• Anthony Hall, dean at Vertus Charter High School for Young Men, and executive director of BOOKBAGS Express
• Justin Morris, community activist
  

The events in American cities over the last several days, including Rochester, have revealed the depth of decades of pain. Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren says the protests have been important and peaceful, but the looting shows that the community can fall into a trap set by people outside of the movement.

This hour, our guests discuss those issues and more:

• Danielle Ponder, diversity and inclusion officer for the Monroe County Public Defender's Office, and lead singer for Danielle Ponder and the Tomorrow People
• Jonathan Ntheketha, actor, performance educator with Impact Interactive, and adjunct professor
• Lavelle Lewis, self-employed real estate investor, and volunteer organizer for Rochester's weekend cleanup efforts

The global climate strike, a worldwide event to bring awareness to climate change, was a focus at the University of Rochester on Friday. Students organized a teach-in with speakers from groups working to combat the climate crisis. 

Ashley Bardhan is a senior at the university and one of the organizers of the teach-in. She says she was moved to take action because national and international leaders aren’t doing enough to curb climate change. 

In a recent op-ed for the Guardian, writer LA Kauffman warned activists protesting the Trump administration’s policies that marching is not enough. Kauffman writes that while the number of marches across the country continues to rise, protesters need to take additional, more tangible steps to make an impact.

So what do those steps look like? We sit down with local activists who discuss their strategies and what they think will make a difference when it comes to changing policies. In studio:

• Kristen Walker, co-founder of Flower City Noire Collective
• Scotty Ginett, LGBTQ community leader
• Anthony Plonczynski, leader of the 21st Legislative District for the Monroe County Democratic Party, and co-founder of La Cumbre
• Katelyn Figueroa Plonczynski, local activist