It was a breaking point. They spilled out onto the streets, the bridge, and the neighborhoods,

and when they climbed onto the train tracks risking everything, who would have known history would repeat itself only 36 years later.

This is two minute back history, what you didn't learn in school. One winter morning in 1986, old Michael Griffith traveled from Brooklyn to Howard Beach Queens to

collect his paycheck. But instead he got severely beaten by a mob in this

majority white community.

Then the son of an NYPD officer hit and killed Griffith with his car as he tried to escape.

It was a lynching and Black New York responded accordingly. Hundreds marched in the streets of Howard Beach, blocked the Brooklyn Bridge and surrounded a police precinct, but others also traveled below ground.

About 150 people climbed on two train tracks, shutting four subway lines down at the height of rush hour.

In 2023, New Yorkers found themselves into subway tracks again for Jordan Neely.

Police arrested protesters. Officials lectured about more peaceful protesting.

But traffic disruption has historically been critical to black protests, along with

sit-ins, stand-ins and drive-ins.

The constant criticism of black protests isn't just criticism.

It's a strategy to stifle black resistance pushing us farther away from justice and

liberation.

Yes, protests obstructing traffic are inconvenient, but we have been enslaved,

exploited and brutalized. Our resistance is supposed to be disruptive because no convenience is worth more than someone's life.

And when we imagine our freedom and fight for it, we are not only inconvenient, but dangerous to those who hate us.

In order to move towards the future, you've got to look to the past.

This has been two-minute black history, a podcast by Push Black.

If you enjoyed this episode and want to show your support, please rate and subscribe to our

podcast.

...