On Tuesday, June 2, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. was joined by a number of other Bronx elected officials, community groups and clergy who gathered in the cold light of day at East Fordham Road and Grand Concourse to witness first-hand the trail of destruction left in the wake of Monday night’s looting and riots.

 

It was reported by NYPD that the riots and looting were orchestrated by organized gangs, and not by protestors who have been rallying for police reform in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man, at the hands of police in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. Several new police reform bills have since been announced.

 

#bronxprotest As painful as it is to talk to the small business owners who loss their business due to the destruction of the looters. It brings joy to your heart watching how the community is chipping in to start the clean up. The healing who knows how long? pic.twitter.com/RGcIwzAmvL

— Marvin Hoffman (@theeye74) June 2, 2020

Congressman Elliot Engel, Councilman Ruben Diaz, Sr., Councilman Fernando Cabrera, Assemblywoman Nathalia Fernandez, and Assemblyman Michael Blake gathered outside The Children’s Palace on Fordham Road to pray for peace following a night of vandalism which saw several businesses looted across the borough. They also spoke and answered questions from members of the public, as clean-up efforts continued in the area.

 

Diaz said that Monday night’s events were bad, not just for The Bronx but for all of New York City. “I know that people are angry and scared, but this cannot be the way forward,” he said. “What happened on Fordham Road and Burnside wasn’t justice and George Floyd would not have wanted this done in his name. We call for peaceful protest, for everyone to come together against systemic racism and inequality without hurting those who are right here living in our own communities.”

 

Meanwhile, in an interview with Norwood News, Fernando said that he had been out on the streets in the Bronx on the evening of June 1 and had witnessed the violence first hand, personally calling Mayor Bill de Blasio to request police reinforcement in the Fordham area. Fernando said there were not enough officers on Fordham on the night in question, even though it had been widely reported that double the number of police officers would be on duty in the City to curb any looting or damage.

 

Fernando said, he felt compelled to call the mayor on Monday night as the riots were happening. “I told him, ‘You’ve got to give me reinforcements here now. We need it now,’ and he came personally,” he said.

 

“I want to thank the mayor. He literally drove as the riots were taking place, the looting,” he said. “They were literally on Burnside Avenue. I was talking to him. I was like, ‘Make a left, make a right’.” Cabrera said the mayor agreed with his assessment of the situation in terms of insufficient policing, and assured him that additional reinforcements would be on the ground on June 2.

 

Cabrera said his fear was that the riots would extend into other places in the Bronx. “We need to reinforce the entire Bronx,” he said. “They’ve been talking about Co-op City for a couple of days. There was chatter that it was going to be happening there.” Cabrera also said that he believed roving gangs brandishing machetes would return to different Bronx neighborhoods in the nights that followed.

 

On the following day, June 2, a citywide alert was issued advising of an earlier curfew time of 8:00 p.m. until 5 a.m., excluding essential workers,  which would remain in effect until June 8 at 5 a.m.

 

Fox News reported the same day that the mayor had previously instructed the NYPD not to be heavy-handed with protestors in an effort to de-escalate tensions. Reporters appeared to question if this decision had the unintended effect of tipping off looters of a free-for-all on June 1, where little police intervention was seen in the Bronx in videos captured on social media, tying in with Cabrera’s account of the situation.

 

For his part, the mayor, who spoke at a separate press briefing on June 2, defended his approach of refusing federal assistance, saying he did not agree with President Donald Trump’s proposal to send in the military to restore law and order in the City. “We do not need, nor do we think it’s wise, to have the National Guard come into New York City,” he said.

 

“When outside armed forces come into communities, especially these intense situations they have not been trained for, that’s a dangerous scenario. We have 36,000 police officers who will keep this city safe.” While it was clear the mayor’s aim was to manage the situation internally, the resulting situation did not live up to his ideals, as more riots continued across the City over the course of the week that followed, causing more damage to businesses across the City.

 

This was coupled with more evidence of police misconduct by some officers in their interactions with Black Lives Matter protestors, along with, what many public officials called a misguided approach to policing the protests, such as the decision to corral protestors at a rally in Mott Haven on Jun. 4.

During his visit to the Bronx, the mayor, together with Cabrera and Diaz, walked the length of the block and toured several destroyed and looted stores on Burnside Avenue.

 

Bronx Optical Center was looted the previous night, and the mayor talked to the eyeglass store owner, Jessica, about the incident. For her part, Jessica, who is also vice-president of the local merchants’ community, said she had opened the store in the Bronx to give back to the local community, and started off by thanking all the volunteers who had helped her clean up the store that day.

 

Jessica said she drove to Fordham Road on Monday night, because her husband was very nervous [about her business] and they watched the events unfold from their car. She said she also wanted to come and stand in solidarity with her local community.

 

Referring to the looters, she said, “They were like animals. It’s not normal the way they acted. We stayed in our car for about 15 to 20 minutes, taking in all the things that were going on all around”. She added that at a certain point she felt unsafe, and they decided to leave.

 

However, she said she was adamant that the looters and rioters would not deter her or the other members of the local community from forging ahead with their goals and their businesses. “They’re not going to take over this community,” she vowed, referring to the rioters, and adding that she stood in solidarity with the other pharmacy owners on the other side of the street who were also looted.

 

“No, no way. We came here for a reason. We opened in March 2019. We closed on March 20, 2020 due to the COVID. We’re here to stay and we’re not going to let no-one, no-one…” she said, before being drowned out by applause from the crowd inside the store.

 

“We don’t just sell glasses. We provide a service, a medical service,” she said. “We give eye exams to everyone. We don’t discriminate. We accept everyone. We take all the insurances, and all we want is to make a difference to the community. That’s what we’re here for. We’re not going to go anywhere.”

 

As the mayor offered words of support, and with a little emotion in her voice showing, Jessica said, “It’s hard, let me tell you to stand here and speak to you and not shed a tear, but I’m trying to hold on to provide support to everyone else. I want to be the voice of everyone here”. Amid more applause, she said to the mayor, “Maybe I’ll be where you’re at one day”. He responded, “I like that spirit too.”

 

Earlier that morning, police responded to a call from Bronx Zoo at 6:00 a.m. after a trespasser broadcast a break-in live on social media a few hours earlier. The zoo is currently closed for visitors.

 

One Twitter user posted a tweet saying that “Bronx Zoo used to hold Black people on display” there. CNN reported on this in 2015. Norwood News reached out to both Bronx Zoo and later to NYPD to find out if there was any property damage to the zoo or if any animals have been hurt. A representative from Bronx Zoo said he had no comment. We have not received a reply from NYPD, as of the time of publication.

 

A new grant for businesses affected by the riots, has since been made available to business owners, as reported recently by Norwood News.