Crowds gathered in the northern New York village of Canton, population 6,400, on Saturday for a vigil honoring black lives lost to police brutality.…
Crowds gathered in the northern New York village of Canton, population 6,400, on Saturday for a vigil honoring black lives lost to police brutality.
The gathering in the village near the Canadian border was one of several taking place this weekend in smaller, more rural towns scattered across New York, reflecting how widespread protests have become outside of major cities. Another march held in Plattsburgh, about 100 miles east of Canton, drew several hundred more, while about 75 others also gathered south of Plattsburgh in the town of Westport.
Organizers of the Canton gathering asked attendees to kneel on the village green as church bells rang for nine minutes, the length of time a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on the neck of George Floyd before he died.
“Our discomfort is but a fraction of the pain,” said Teresa Veramendi after the bells had stopped ringing.
