People gathered Friday afternoon outside the Peter W. Rodino, Jr. Federal Building on Broad Street to protest police misconduct.
NEWARK -- More than 50 people protested against police shootings and misconduct in the criminal justice system during a rally Friday afternoon outside the Peter W. Rodino, Jr. Federal Building.
While about a dozen city police officers blocked off the intersection of Broad and Court Streets, citizens gathered to preach for unity between cops and the communities they serve.
"We must ensure that we have a binary covenant -- a covenant that will address how police persons treat our citizens, and therefore have a covenant that speaks to how our citizens ought to respect our police officers," the Rev. David Jefferson, Sr., New Jersey's president of the National Action Network, told the crowd.
Larry Hamm, chairman of the People's Organization For Progress, called on the community to join several mothers of those killed by police at 4 p.m. on Mondays outside the federal courts building for what he calls Justice Mondays, "to let these people know that we will not let this be swept under the rug," he said, pointing to the building at 970 Broad Street.
"It is incumbent upon all who want justice no longer to be spectators, but to get off the sideline and get involved in the struggle for justice," Hamm yelled into a microphone. "Because our very survival is at stake."
100 Newarkers call for racial unity (PHOTOS)
As the gathering wrapped up, the Rev. Amir Natson, who used to pastor Ebenezer Baptist Church on Camden Street, said minority communities need to take pride in themselves before they can deal with issues affecting them.
"Our young sons are selling drugs because they can't get jobs. ... They (join gangs) because they are looking for love," Natson told the crowd. "Where are our fathers with these young men that have children that don't know how to be fathers to their children, because they've never had a father?"
The rally comes after protesters across the country have called for an end to police violence in the wake of the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.
The night after Castile was killed, five police officers in Dallas, Texas, were killed when a sniper ambushed them during a peaceful protest. At least nine others cops were injured before police used a robotic device to kill the heavily armed shooter.
Luke Nozicka may be reached at lnozicka@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @lukenozicka. Find NJ.com on Facebook and Twitter.