February 1, 2o21
Rochester, NY

Diallo Payne attends a protest Wednesday at the Rochester Police Locust Club in Rochester, N.Y. Photo courtesy: The Washington Post

Five years ago today, in the hills on the south shore of Lake Ontario, historic home of the Indigenous Seneca, 200 people march to and surround a police station in downtown Rochester after the release of body cam footage of police responding to a family distress call by pinning a 9-yr old girl to the ground, handcuffing her, and pushing her into a squad car. She screams for her father and they scold her for "acting like a child." She replies, "I am a child." The situation escalates and an officer pepper sprays the girl in the face.

A bill to prohibit police from using chemical agents against minors is — at this moment — sitting in a committee in the New York State Senate.