Last Sunday people from both sexes, all races, all religious denominations and sexual orientations marched through
the streets of New York City to protest the strict Stop
and Frisk laws used by The
City's Police Department. The march which begin at 110th
Street passed by Gracie Mansion, home of New York City
Mayor Michael Bloomberg before ending at 78th Street.
If you aren't familiar “Stop and
Frisk” is the policy where police officers in the city are given
license
to stop people who they deem
suspicious. Who would have ever imagined that of the 685,000
people
stopped last year as a result of
the policy 87% would be Black and Latino. As calculated
as the march strolling thru the Mayor's neighborhood was it was also
extremely fitting.
Under Mayor Bloomberg Stop and Frisks
in New York have skyrocketed 603% since 2002 when the city was ran by
then mayor Rudy Giuliani. When you are to the right of Rudy in
Gotham on the issue of police misconduct it's not a good place to be
as far as the Black and Brown communities are concerned,
Giuliani wasn't the second coming of Eugene “Bull”Connor, but he
might as well had spit on the graves of Patrick Dorismond and
Amadou Diallo, two black men who were killed by NYPD
under his stewardship.
One of the interesting developments in
the increase of Stop and Frisks is that fewer than 10% of those being
stopped have been arrested, while the percentage of crime in the city
has not gone down because of it. These numbers and asinine comments
by the mayor himself only lead to more hostility between the
community and its cops. Bloomberg was quoted as saying Sunday that
“Innocent people who are being stopped can't be disrespected, that
is not acceptable”, then as to appease people of color by quoting a
man who he still clearly thinks was the first Black President Bill
Clinton he said “The practice should be mended not ended”.
There are so many things that are wrong
with the Mayor's outlook on this entire situation, for one the fact
that the numbers are so skewed towards black and brown people tells
me that Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly don't
think that white people commit crimes. Even in more priviledged parts
of the city where the diversity of the residents is almost
non-existent people of color make up a higher percentage of those who
are stopped, which is basically a situation where the officer is
saying “what the hell are you doing in this neighborhood”.
Secondly, some of these stops have led
to the arrests of teenagers and young people who have had small
amounts of marijuana in their possession. We can debate the pros and
cons of marijuana, but no seventeen year old kid should placed in the
criminal justice system, tagged as a felon, and be put at risk of
ever getting into college or getting an apartment, which is what this
does. White kids who are not stopped nearly as much as kids of color
are basically given a license to experiment with weed without being
subjected to the same possibilities.
What this policy does more than
anything though is just heighten the tensions between these two
communities and the police department that is suppose to protect
them. Bloomberg knows very well the history of New York, not only the
murders of Dorismond and Diallo, but the murders of Sean Bell
and Ramarley Graham. Graham was an 18 year old black kid who
was shot and killed by an NYPD officer in his Grandmother's bathroom
earlier this year. While apparently being tone def on these
individual situations, The Mayor seems intent on pushing a policy
that continues to exacerbate negative feelings that Black and Brown
people have about “The Men in Blue”.
The Father's Day March on Sunday was
great because it was an example of the community using it's voice to
shed light on injustice, I get the feeling however that real change
won't come until there is a new occupant in the aforementioned Gracie
Mansion. Let's just hope Mikey B. doesn't use anymore of his vast
personal fortune to buy himself another term.
I want to know what you think e-mail me at ebrew79@live.com for the latest columns and updates, also follow me on twitter @ebrew79
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