THREAD: A positive story from NYC. Please retweet. This man deserves some recognition. While there was looting elsewhere, something extraordinary happened at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. A group of 5 young men who saw a rudderless movement going awry decided to change course. 
Earlier in the evening, thousands of protesters left the plaza & marched through Brooklyn. Back at the Barclays Center, these 5 young men took ownership of the space. They calmly persuaded people to take part in a candlelight sit-in and a dialogue about race and racism.
All was going well, but then a larger, angrier, more agitated group came along. Ndeh Ntumazah (on the left in the photo) walked over to that group and asked the group's leader if he could speak over his bullhorn.
Ntumazah spoke in a calm, measured tone. He invited the agitated group to join the non-violent peaceful protest, and the group listened. They joined the sit-in. A tense situation was de-escalated.Then, as the curfew neared, the 5 young men said they would be leaving peacefully.
Speaking in a calm, measured tone, Ntumazah encouraged everyone else to leave peacefully, to get home safely and return the next day to resume their protest. Almost the entire crowd left. No confrontation with police. No cat and mouse game. That was it.
These same men were among a group of people who 2 nights earlier stopped others from looting the nearby Target. Ndeh Ntumazah said, "We just saw the rioting and thought that it wasn't the point of all this... We decide that the important thing was to start a dialogue among us."
Ntumazah said, "Ultimately we are all humans. We are all experiencing the human condition... I understand people that come with that aggression. But personally, I hold no malice toward anyone. I feel if I can make that known, other people will respond positively to it." SHARE
Here's a shareable version on Facebook facebook.com/steve.kastenba…
I mistakenly gave the impression that the larger marching group was intent on having confrontations. They were not violent, nor were they making aggressive moves. They used a different tactic & had a different energy than those seated in the plaza. Tension momentarily increased.
