Photo By Jacob Leidolf

On Thursday, December 4, Boston’s 73rd annual official tree lighting takes place in the Boston Common from 6 to 8 p.m. But, honestly, who right now gives a shit about a glowing Nova Scotian sapling?

Yesterday marked the end of the criminal case against New York police officer Daniel Pantaleo whose chokehold on unarmed Eric Garner caused Garner’s death. After deliberating for less than a day, a Staten Island Grand Jury decided there wasn’t enough evidence to move forward. This decision quickly sparked protests in New York City, as well as set in motion plans for a rally for justice in Boston.

More than 3,000 people have RSVP’d to #EnoughIsEnough: We Are The Ones, Justice For Eric Garner, which will be held at the Boston Common, righteously  crashing the official tree lighting.

Details from the Facebook event page: 

In response to the no indictment verdict of the police officer who murdered Eric Garner. We will be standing in solidarity at the Boston Common Tree Lighting! Bring your signage, energy, and a friend! We will be meeting at the Boylston St. entrance across from the Lowes Movie theater.

The rally is on the heels of week of unrest in the Hub, including: “a march to the State House last Monday immediately following a grand jury’s failure to indict now-former police officer Darren Wilson; a rally the day after, organized by Black Lives Matter Boston, that attracted roughly 1,500 people and a crush of media attention; a powerful Black Friday action complementing Walmart pickets everywhere; [and] walkouts by area high school and college students.”

As part of the efforts to ensure that this rampant police brutality doesn’t become just a blip in the headlines, the Lucy Parsons Center is hosting a political sticker marking party led by artist Jacob Leidolf. Initially the event was planned for later in the evening, but has been rescheduled from 5-7pm to accommodate the rally for Eric Garner.

Details from the Facebook event page:

Join us for an evening of art making with local artist Jacob Leidolf. We will be making stickers (see examples below) that pay tribute to victims of police brutality and killing by officers or that have more general messages like “stop police brutality” or “don’t shoot”. These stickers will be made available to organizers locally and sent out to other states. Attendees are free to take stickers at the end of the night as well. 

 For all sticker makers, I will bring as many blank stickers as I can grab but if anyone has the chance to go by a post office, we will be primarily printing on Priority Shipping Labels (Label 228) – They are available for free to anyone at your local post office (or online for free @ https://store.usps.com/s…/browse/productDetailSingleSku.jsp…) however the USPS can sometimes get snippy about people cleaning out the whole stack every day… So if anyone else can bring stickers that would be great!

 
#ENOUGHISENOUGH: WE ARE THE ONES, JUSTICE FOR ERIC GARNER. BOSTON COMMON. THU 12.4. 7PM. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT THE EVENT FACEBOOK PAGE.

STICKER MAKING PARTY: USING ART TO ADVOCATE FOR JUSTICE, POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY AND VICTIMS OF POLICE BRUTALITY. LUCY PARSONS CENTER, 358 CENTRE ST., JP. 5-7pm/ALL AGES/FREE. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT THE EVENT FACEBOOK PAGE.

FURTHER READING

ONE WEEK LATER: LOOKING BACK ON THE MASSIVE #BOSTON4FERGUSON RALLY BEFORE LOOKING FORWARD
BOSTON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WALK OUT

WHY HARVARD STUDENTS ARE WALKING OUT WITH THEIR HANDS UP

#BOSTON4FERGUSON DISPATCH AND ANALYSIS

COUNCILOR JACKSON HOLDS COURT IN THE MIDDLE OF #BOSTON4FERGUSON DEMONSTRATION

PICS FROM THE BIGGEST PROTEST IN THE HUB IN YEARS #BOSTON4FERGUSON

EVEN WITH FERGUSON BACKDROP, MASS MEDIA BARELY REPORTS COPS GETTING AWARDS FOR FATAL SHOOTINGS

PLEASE STOP COMPARING FERGUSON TO THE BOSTON MASSACRE

THE ROOTS OF THE PROBLEM IN FERGUSON

BOSTON SITS IN SOLIDARITY WITH VICTIMS OF POLICE BRUTALITY EVERYWHERE