This Call was issued by Cornel West and Carl Dix, September 2011:
You’re young and Black or Latino. You’re on your way out to have a good time, without a care in the world. Or you’re going to or from work or school, or just hanging out in your hood. All of sudden cops descend on you. They make you turn out your pockets and show some ID; maybe they disrespect you in the process. If you’re lucky, it doesn’t go any farther than this.
But only going that far is still too damn far! And it happens all the damn time. The NYPD is on pace to stop and frisk over 700,000 people in 2011! That’s more than 1,900 people each and every day. More than 85% of them are Black or Latino, and more than 90% of them were doing nothing wrong when the cops stepped to them.
What gives the NY police department the right to stop and frisk you just because you are Black or Latino? Who revoked the part of the constitution protecting people from unreasonable search and seizure for people whose skin happens to be Black or Brown? And these kinds of stops can easily go beyond harassment and humiliation. Remember Amadou Diallo, gunned down in a hail of 41 police bullets because they said they thought his wallet was a gun? This is intolerable! It must be stopped. WE ARE STOPPING IT, AND YOU MUST JOIN US IN DOING THAT!
NY police chief Ray Kelly says his cops don’t practice racial profiling. The numbers show that Kelly’s statement is a lie. Is he stupid, or does he think we’re stupid enough to believe this lie. Policies like Stop & Frisk are why there are 2.5 million people in jails across this country. They have criminalized whole generations of our youth. This is intolerable, and it must be stopped. And we are stopping it!
Figures on marijuana arrests in NYC tell the same story. Despite the fact that NY decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, more than 50,000 people were arrested in the past year on charges of possession of marijuana. Even though the government’s own figures say the overwhelming majority of marijuana users are white, more than 2/3’s of those arrested for possessing marijuana are Black or Latino!
WE ARE STOPPING ALL THIS -- JOIN US IN DOING THAT! In the days leading into the Oct 22nd National Day of protest to Stop Police Brutality, the Network to Stop Mass Incarceration is calling for Stopping Stop & Frisk. We will target this illegal, unconstitutional policy with non violent civil disobedience.
If you are sick and tired of being harassed and jacked up by the cops, JOIN US. If you have had enough of seeing your brothers and sisters, your cousins, your aunts and uncles and fathers stepped to and disrespected by the cops, JOIN US. If you don’t want to live in a world where people’s humanity is routinely violated because of the color of their skin, JOIN US. And if you are shocked to hear that this kind of thing happens in this so-called homeland of freedom and democracy—it does happen, all the damned time—you need to JOIN US too—you can’t stand aside and let this injustice be done in your name.
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Photo Credit:
Li Onesto, Revolution newspaper
Statement From The Stop Mass Incarceration Network:
HANDS OFF NOCHE DÍAZ!
DROP ALL THE CHARGES AGAINST HIM!
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Patrol of Harlem. He courageously works to safeguard constitutionally guaranteed rights of citizens in neighborhoods where these rights are often abused. Today he faces charges in Manhattan and the Bronx for witnessing police brutalizing citizens. Noche refused to leave these community members to face this brutality alone. For that he faces charges that could send him to prison for several years in his Manhattan trial. Noche is a freedom fighter who has put himself on the line to defend basic human rights in many poorer communities of color throughout New York City. He now needs our help. Please stand up for him, for our communities and yourself; Join us in saying: Stop the legal persecution of Noche and drop all the charges against him.
Click here to sign the statement
Join: Gbenga Akinnagbe, actor/director; Rev. Luis Barrios, professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice*, Rosa Clemente, NYC; Rev. Robert Coleman, The Riverside Church*, NYC; Randy Credico, impressionist and social comedian, NYC; Annette Warren Dickerson, Center for Constitutional Rights*; Carl Dix, Revolutionary Communist Party; Eve Ensler; Walt Frazier, former NBA player; Jasiri X, musician; M1, musician; Michael Letwin, Former President, Association of Legal Aid Attorneys; Arturo O'Farill, musician; Bill Perkins, NY State Senator; Rev. Stephen Phelps, The Riverside Church,* NYC; Kevin Richardson, Richard Santana and Yusef Salaam, Central Park 5; Mark Ruffalo, actor and director; Hector Soto, Hostos Community College*; James Vrettos, professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice*, Michael Tarif Warren,attorney; NYC; Cornel West, professor and author; and many more people are adding their voices...
Luis Acosta, Dominican Club, Hostos Community College*; Rebecca Arian, Student at CUNY Law and National Lawyers Guild Organizer*, NY; Anna Berg, People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, northeast, NYC; Theo Block; Al Blount, Detroit MI; Reginald T. Brown. M. Ed., Breaking Ground*, Unity Fellowship Church* NYC; Celina Caban, 2L CUNY Law Student, NY; Kristina Chan; Frank Chou, CUNY School of Law*, NY; Sally Connors; Alonso Correa, Bronx; Delmas Costin; Brandon Cox, artist; Cristian Castro; Anthony De Jesus, Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College; Larry Everest, Revolution correspondent, author Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda; Jorge Fuentes, Hunter College, NYC;* Eleanor Gilpatrick; Angel Gonzalez, Dominican Club, Hostos Community College*; Alan Hausman, concerned citizen; Diane Heath; Amy Helfant, activist and worker; Marlene Hennessy; tony hintze; Rob Hollander, New York; Timothy Holmes; George Homanich; Walyida Hughes; Sabina Ibarrola; Erica Itzkowitz, Managing Director, Big Apple Playback Theatre*, NYC; Ramon Jiménez, Freedom Party*, Bronx; Noel Juan, Music Director, San Francisco Bay Area; Alex Kern; Frank Kirkland, concerned citizen; Gregory Koger, revolutionary communist who was imprisoned as a youth and spent many years in solitary confinement; Joseph Kohn, MD, Brooklyn, NY; Eckhard Kuhn-Osius, concerned citizen; Betty Wolder Levin, Professor, Brooklyn College/CUNY*;Jesse Levine, CUNY Law School*; Don Lewis; Joe Matos, Chatham, PA; Johan Mercedez, Dominican Club, Hostos Community College*; Victoria McFadyen; Amaris Modesto, New York; Travis Morales, Stop Mass Incarceration Network, NYC; Eileen Moran; George A. Muchita, college administrator, resident of NYC; Samantha Ng; Rael Nidess, MD, Marshall, TX; LeaVerne Noble; Philip Perez, Dorsey; Terry Phelan, Albany NY; charles (c free-wil) philp; Lee Phillips, Instructor, Hostos Community College*; Dorli Rainey, Seattle, WA; Scott and Susan Rhodewalt, Westtown, PA; Joe Reilly, Highlands NJ; Michael Rose, Auckland. NZ; Justin Scott; Robert Schaffer; Valentin Silverio, Bronx; Nancy Ann Siracusa, New York; Jon Spinac; Pamela Stamoulis; Darnell Stephen Summers, “Stop the WAR Brigade”; Katherine O'Sullivan; Debra Sweet, Director, World Can't Wait;Angelita Torres; Sebastian Torres, Newspaper Club, Hostos Community College*; Andrea Vasquez; Nancy Vining Van Ness, Director, American Creative Dance, NYC; Donna Wallach, San Jose CA; Clyde Young, revolutionary communist and former prisoner;
…and over 1,300 other signers
- See more at: http://www.stopmassincarceration.net...erlay-context= |
