50 Years after "I have a dream" racism is alive and well in New York City

Keeshan Harley is an ordinary 18-year-old from Brooklyn. He goes to school, hangs out with his friends and writes poetry. And, since he was 13, he says he's been stopped by the New York Police Department nearly 150 times.



From Wikipedia

The New York City stop-question-and-frisk program is a practice of the New York City Police Department by which police officers stop and question tens of thousands of pedestrians annually, and frisk them for weapons and other contraband. The rules for stop, question and frisk are found in New York State Criminal Procedure Law section 140.50, and are based on the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the case of Terry v. Ohio^[1][2] About 684,000 people were stopped in 2011.^[1][3][4] The vast majority of these people were African-American or Latino.^[1][3][4] Some judges have found that these stops are not based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.^[5]

 On August 12, 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that the stop and frisk practice was unconstitutional and directed the Police to adopt a written policy to specify where such stops are authorized.^[16][17] Scheindlin appointed Peter L. Zimroth, a former chief lawyer for the City of New York, to oversee the program.^[18] Mayor Bloomberg indicated that the city will appeal the ruling.<sup>[19]

Editor's note:

I have been having an ongoing discussion with a friend of mine about the "attitude of African American people who are in your face". He is a 37 year old white man complaining about the "attitude" of African Americans. I'm not sure what this is about, but whites live in fear of blacks in Brockport, Rochester, and in our country. How else can we explain the toleration of "stop and frisk" in our State which is reminiscent of the "Pass" laws in South Africa, and incidents like the killing of unarmed Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch bully, George Zimmerman?

Last week we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech. While there has been some progress, "Stop and frisk" is a racist program implemented in New York City in our State. As New Yorkers we need to get it changed. I have a 19 year old bi-racial granddaughter and while it is my understanding that females are not as subject to the same program as African American males, I would be fearful of her going to New York City with an African American boy friend any time soon. God forbid, their visiting from Brockport, NY they would be subjected to being body slammed against a wall, having their pockets emptied, their purse and backpack ransacked and I am not sure what else this "frisking" consists of.

As a Unitarian Universalist I value the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and justice, equity, and compassion in our human relations, and the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. These values don't seem to be in operation in New York City especially when it comes to police treatment of people of color.

It would help if you could witness for our African American brothers and sisters like Keeshan Harley and his mother and let Governor Cuomo and Mayor Bloomberg and others know that we don't agree with the racist "stop and frisk" policy in New York City or anywhere in our great state of New York. As New Yorkers we need to stand in solidarity with one another against the oppressive, racist, subjugating practices of our governmental officials.</sup>

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Criminal justice watch - death of children in America

We feel deep empathy, compassion, and sadness for families and victims in Newtown. We talk about the victims here as innocent children who met a horrible death completely out of their hands. We wonder how the families and friends of victims will cope with such a loss. 

 But, the same kinds of sympathy and compassion are often not extended to families who lose their children in street shootings every day. These situations are treated very differently by the media, by our leaders, and by many of us. We see these shootings as events that only happen to people who are caught up in the wrong crowd. We assume that these victims — who are often children — must have been dealing drugs, in a gang, or doing something to meet such a horrible end. Everyday violence in our inner-cities helps us hold onto a precious myth: Fatal violence only happens to people who bring it on themselves. If we can believe this, or at least think it might be true, we can feel safe again. How do we reconcile these conflicting responses to tragedy?

Jooyoung Lee. For more click here.

Editor's note: There have been 42 homicides in Monroe County so far this year one in Brockport. The ones in the suburbs like 18 year old white college student, Alexandra Kogut, have received a lot of attention, but most, inner city people of color are given a quick once over and forgotten.

Of the 211 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2010, over half (131) were riding in the vehicle with the alcohol-impaired driver. My two children, Ryan aged 8, and Brigid aged 5, were killed by a 3 time drunk driver on Rt. 31 in Ogden in 1993.

Grief for murdered children is heavily influence by social class in our society. By all means grieve for the children killed at Sandy Hook and support their parents, but lets not forget the families just as devastated in the United States by the death of their children in our inner cities in America and on our nation's highways.

Criminal justice watch is a regular feature of the Brockporter Online News Magazine which appears most Wednesdays.

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