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Thousands rally in Brooklyn for black transgender people

June 14, 2020 GMT

People inspired by a speaker raise their hands during a Caribbean-led Black Lives Matter rally at Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza, Sunday, June 14, 2020, in New York. Protests have grown and continued since the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

People inspired by a speaker raise their hands during a Caribbean-led Black Lives Matter rally at Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza, Sunday, June 14, 2020, in New York. Protests have grown and continued since the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed his knee into Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

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NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of marchers dressed in white flooded several blocks around the Brooklyn Museum to support human rights for black transgender people Sunday afternoon.

Organizers included the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, the Okra Project and Black Trans Femmes in the Arts. Scheduled speakers included transgender activist Raquel Willis, author Ceyenne Doroshow and the family of Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman who died after an epileptic seizure in solitary confinement last June at Rikers Island jail.

The march comes days after the reported deaths of two black transgender women, Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells in Philadelphia and Riah Milton in Liberty Township, Ohio. Both are being investigated as homicides.

The rally and silent march coincide with Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the country and comes in the middle of Pride Month.

Crowds of protesters also gathered at nearby Grand Army Plaza and at the Barclays Center. Some streamed down Flatbush Avenue and massed for a rally in Fort Greene Park. Many held signs decrying police misconduct and brutality. There were no reports of arrests.