Why is the NYPD After Me? Young, Black, and Frisked
NICHOLAS K. PEART
New York Times, December 17, 2011
EXTRACT:
For young people in my neighborhood, getting stopped and frisked is a rite of passage. We expect the police to jump us at any moment. We know the rules: don’t run and don’t try to explain, because speaking up for yourself might get you arrested or worse. And we all feel the same way — degraded, harassed, violated and criminalized because we’re black or Latino. Have I been stopped more than the average young black person? I don’t know, but I look like a zillion other people on the street. And we’re all just trying to live our lives.
As a teenager, I was quiet and kept to myself. I’m about to graduate from the Borough of Manhattan Community College, and I have a stronger sense of myself after getting involved with the Brotherhood/Sister Sol, a neighborhood organization in Harlem. We educate young people about their rights when they’re stopped by the police and how to stay safe in those interactions. I have talked to dozens of young people who have had experiences like mine. And I know firsthand how much it messes with you. Because of them, I’m doing what I can to help change things and am acting as a witness in a lawsuit brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights to stop the police from racially profiling and harassing black and brown people in New York.
Read full story.
Phi Beta Iota: This is a compelling story that documents and out of control police department that in passing spends $75 million a year arresting and incarcerating people for recreational use of marijuana. What Mayor Mike Bloomberg has done with his CIA pals in NYC is a foretaste of what the USA will be like if We the People do not reassert our Constitutional rights and restore the Republic.
