Speak Out Against Stop and Frisk

Tonight, Jumaane Wiliams and other vocal opponents of stop and frisk, will hold a town meeting in Brooklyn to speak out against Mayor Bloomberg’s veto of two bills that would limit racial profiling by the NYPD. He and others including the NAACP and the Malcolm X Grassroot movement will also brainstorm ways to undo what the mayor has done.

Here are the facts:  Each year, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, primarily men of color, are wrongfully stopped, frisked, or searched. Many receive a summons, or are even arrested. Some are even sexually or physically assaulted by NYPD officers. They are being targeted by an increasingly confrontational and arrogant police force, often humiliated in their own homes, schools and neighborhoods.

In 2011, the New York Police Department made over 684,000 street stops – a 14% increase over 2010 (and a 603% increase since 2002, Bloomberg’s first year in office)! Close to 90% of the stops resulted in no arrest or summons whatsoever.

The mayor’s veto of the recent legislation to end discriminatory policing and bring accountability to the police means stop and frisk will continue. The many opponents of the tactic want to see the end of business as usual.  “New Yorkers want to live in a safe city where police officers treat all residents equally and respectfully, and are not above the law,” note the organizers of tonight’s event.

Here are the details of the community discussion:

Community Safety Act, TOWN HALL MEETING

Thursday, August 1, 2013, 6:30-8:30pm

Calvary AME Church, 790 Herkimer St., btwn Rochester & Suydam Place (A/C to Utica)

For more information on this event, click here or contact Djibril Toure at 917.865.9639.