Although it should probably come as no surprise, the racial bias of the New York Police Department's Stop and Frisk program has been brought incontestably into the open. During federal court hearings challenging the constitutionality of the NYPD's practice of Stop and Frisk, New York State Senator and former Police Captain Eric Adams recounted a conversation he had with NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly in 2010.
Adams, who raised concerns about Stop and Frisk's disproportionate impact on people of color, testified that Ray Kelly responded by saying "he targeted or focused on that group because he wanted to instill fear in them that any time they leave their homes they could be targeted by police."
Rank-and-file members of the police operate similarly to the rank and file of the armed forces. Like the attacks on Occupy demonstrators (including sexual violence against female protestors), the Stop and Frisk program's disproportionate impact on people of color is not the result of rouge officers. It is the result of orders from the top.
Last May, following a massive silent march organized by a broad coalition of Black, Latino/a and, encouragingly, LGBTQ organizations, the practice of stop and frisk dropped 70% from earlier in the year. Now, with this revelation, there is a chance that stop and frisk can be ended altogether in the courts. In the meantime, the fightback must continue. Activists must also begin to organize around ending police brutality locally.
While the issue of stop and frisk may not be as acute in smaller cities as in a place like New York, police harassment of the Black and Latino/a community exists without a doubt. In Newburgh, two black men were killed by police just last year.
TAKE ACTION
*Learn more about the epidemic of stop and frisk in New York City
*Get involved in the struggle against police brutality locally by joining the End the New Jim Crow Action Network (ENJAN). Our next meeting in Poughkeepsie is Wednesday, April 10th @6:00, at the Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Library, Family Partnership Center, 29 N. Hamilton Street.
Adams, who raised concerns about Stop and Frisk's disproportionate impact on people of color, testified that Ray Kelly responded by saying "he targeted or focused on that group because he wanted to instill fear in them that any time they leave their homes they could be targeted by police."
Rank-and-file members of the police operate similarly to the rank and file of the armed forces. Like the attacks on Occupy demonstrators (including sexual violence against female protestors), the Stop and Frisk program's disproportionate impact on people of color is not the result of rouge officers. It is the result of orders from the top.
Last May, following a massive silent march organized by a broad coalition of Black, Latino/a and, encouragingly, LGBTQ organizations, the practice of stop and frisk dropped 70% from earlier in the year. Now, with this revelation, there is a chance that stop and frisk can be ended altogether in the courts. In the meantime, the fightback must continue. Activists must also begin to organize around ending police brutality locally.
While the issue of stop and frisk may not be as acute in smaller cities as in a place like New York, police harassment of the Black and Latino/a community exists without a doubt. In Newburgh, two black men were killed by police just last year.
TAKE ACTION
*Learn more about the epidemic of stop and frisk in New York City
*Get involved in the struggle against police brutality locally by joining the End the New Jim Crow Action Network (ENJAN). Our next meeting in Poughkeepsie is Wednesday, April 10th @6:00, at the Sadie Peterson Delaney African Roots Library, Family Partnership Center, 29 N. Hamilton Street.
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