As snow flurries came down, dozens of Black women and allies held hot pink and black signs that read “The time for truth is now” and “Black women matter” as they chanted in downtown Bridgeport Saturday. The march, titled Black Women Speak, aimed to demand justice for Black women and call out Bridgeport city officials, who organizers say don’t prioritize Black residents.
“No hate, no fear, Black women are welcome here,” protesters yelled as they walked from Bridgeport City Hall to the Margaret E. Morton Government Center.
The march comes after the untimely deaths of two Bridgeport women, Lauren Smith-Fields and Brenda Lee Rawls, last December. The families of both women claimed the Bridgeport Police Department mishandled their cases by failing to notify them of their deaths in a timely manner, which sparked a probe into the agency. Their deaths have garnered national attention, with all eyes on Bridgeport’s leadership, especially Mayor Joe Ganim and acting Police Chief Rebeca Garcia.
But while their deaths may have sparked the outcry, families of the victims were not involved in the march. In a conversation with Connecticut Public Radio, Alexis Farrow, the family representative for the Smith-Fields family, said they were consulted last-minute about the event. And while “they didn’t appreciate [Lauren’s] name being used in the planning process,” at the end of the day people were showing up for her all across the world, so they gave their support. Brenda Lee Rawls’ family could not be reached, but according to a statement from Bridgeport Generation Now Votes, one of the groups involved, organizers reached out to the family two days before the event.
Still, march organizers said the deaths of these two women have drawn national attention to an issue in Bridgeport and across the country for decades: the mistreatment of Black women.
“This is not new. These women who passed away, this is not a surprise to us. The behavior that went on in [Bridgeport Police Department], it is not a surprise,” Gemeem Davis, president of Bridgeport Generation Now Votes, told protesters at the government center.
Advocates called out Ganim for what they claimed is “silence and complicity for years as the city’s police department failed residents.” The organization released a statement earlier this month outlining several instances where they say there was lack of action.
“We've been saying from 2016 that this police department is in crisis, that this police department is racist, and that this police department does not care about me and you and especially Black women,” Davis said.
Ganim and the police department have not yet responded to requests for comment. Ganim had made a public statement of condolences to the families of Lauren Smith-Fields and Brenda Lee Rawls on Jan. 30 regarding the deaths.
“I want you to know that I am extremely disappointed with the leadership of the Bridgeport Police Department and have found the actions taken up to this point in regard to these two investigations unacceptable,” Ganim said in the statement.
Later, he ordered administrative leave with pay for the officers involved in both cases while the department investigates the conduct of two officers who responded to the deaths of Smith-Fields and Rawls.
Alexis Farrow, along with other relatives of Lauren Smith-Fields and Brenda Lee Rawls, faced Bridgeport’s Board Police Commissioners earlier this month to call for the U.S. Department of Justice to take over both cases and acting Police Chief Garcia to step down.
Protesters at the Black Women Speak March also made their own demands calling on the administration to do much more to prevent similar situations in the future. Among them was another call for the DOJ to investigate the Bridgeport Police Department. They also asked the state to create an advisory task force to look into murdered and missing Black women and girls.
Advocates were joined by several Connecticut officials, including Ganim’s 2019 challenger for mayor and current state Sen. Marilyn Moore of Bridgeport, state Rep. Robyn Porter of New Haven and Bloomfield Mayor Danielle Wong – all Black women in office who called for more representation in places of power.
“I am the only Black woman mayor in the entire state of Connecticut. And that just goes to show that we have so much more work to do. We do not have the representation that is required to make the change we seek,” Wong said.
She was joined by her two daughters and, like many other speakers, said she does the work for them and the many other Black children who deserve to be heard. Wong’s daughters were just a handful of young faces in the crowd.
Chelsea Morin, a 17-year-old Bridgeport resident, said she showed up because her voice mattered.
“Black women are oftentimes the backbones of movements, but we’re not protected. The death of [Lauren Smith-Fields] hit really close to home because it could have been me or any of my sisters,” Morin said. “It shows how the police force and many public administrations don’t care about Black women.”
