NEWSELA New protests for fair treatment By Los Angeles Times, adapted by Newsela staff on 12.08.14 rd. Count 884 NEW YORK — In 1964, US lawmakers stated that people must be treated fairy. the Civil Rights Act. The law (On Thursday, leaders ofthe black community said a new civil ights movement is badly needed, They say black people are treated unfaiy by police. Thay hope a civil rights movement wil lead to more justice, In the last two weeks, grand juries decided not to charge two utite policemen who were involved inthe deaths of two black men. A grand jury is made up of a ‘group of people. They decide if a person should be charged with a crime. Aller the decisions, angry crowds gatherad around the county, The prot say the men would not have been kiled if they had been white. They bolieve each oficer should have been charged with a cme. “Black ives mater! the protesters shoutedPain And Rage In Their Voices. Black leaders have listened to the rage and the pain oftheir words. They hope the protesters will begin a naw civil rights movement. They also demand that the government investigate i police uses too much fore. They‘ asking for something simple, They want 1o be treated the same,” New York City Mayor Billo Blasio said Thursday about the protesters. The day before, a grand jury decided not to charge policeman Daniel Pantaleo with & crime, Eric Gamer, who was black, died while the white police officer, Pantaleo, was trying to arrest him Mickey Thomas is a 21-year-old student protesting in New York. There was no justice," Thomas sai, “I defintely think we've had enough. | fel ike there is @ new cil rights movement.” Marches Worked Once Before Last weak, violence broke out in Ferguson, Missouri. grand jury there decided not to charge Darren Wilson with a crime. On Aug. 9, Wilson, a white policeman, shot Micheel Brown, who was black, ‘On Thursday, black leaders urged protesters to come to Washington, D.C., on Dec. 13, They hope that if enough peoale come, the government must listen to them, [Al Sharpton is one ol the leaders. He is the head of the National Action Network. “Marches and boycotts lad tothe °64 Cl Rights Act.” Sharpton said ‘Sharpton said thatthe Civil Rights Act lad to change 80 years ago. The United States became a more fac country, Today, though, change Is stl needed, he sai, Even The President ls Concerned ‘Those pushing for change have the attention of top leaders. President Barack ‘Obama i the fst black American president, Attorney General Erc H. Holder ‘Jung, who leads the Justice Department, is black, De Blasio's wife is also black, Holder has discovered that some police departments do reat black people Unfair He ordered them to change their ways, The black leaders say this is not enough. They want Hoder to look into all cases where police hurt or kil Connie Rice is aa cul rights lawyer in Los Angeles. Sho said the government will isten to the protesters, They will force police to be more falDarnell Huntis with University of California, Los Angeles. He sald people have become mare aware of the problem, Lieutenant Colonel John Grimpel is with the Now York Police Department [Although the grand jury did not charge Pantaleo, the NYPD is sil investigating Itis looking into Pantalao's actions on the day Gamer died. If the department ‘decides Gamer's death was the oficer’s fault, he could be punished, He might be fred, Grimpel sald.