8:31 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Controversia| New York City · 1 Comment
25 Apr 2008
I ride the NYC subway system nearly everyday with children. So why do I not feel safer with the announcement that the New York City Police Department will be patrolling the major subway stations with Mp5 submachine guns, rifles, body armor and bomb-sniffing dogs? The program is called Operation Torch and this new anti-terror effort is thanks to a 50 percent increase in a Homeland Security grant. The program’s complete cost? $151 million.
I feel safer already.
Via / CBS News (local tv)
9:58 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · GLBT| Justice| New York City · Comments Off
28 Sep 2007I, sadly, wasn’t surprised when I heard that Queer, mostly people of color activists, were attacked and arrested by the New York City Police Department
On the night of Wednesday, September 26, officers from the 9th Precinct of the New York Police Department attacked without provocation members of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project and of its community. Two of our community members were violently arrested, and others were pepper sprayed in the face without warning or cause.The Sylvia Rivera Law Project (www.srlp.org) is an organization that works on behalf of low-income people of color who are transgender, gender non-conforming, or intersex, providing free legal services and advocacy among many other initiatives. On Wednesday night, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project was celebrating its fifth anniversary with a celebration and fundraising event at a bar in the East Village.
A group of our community members, consisting largely of queer and
transgender people of color, witnessed two officers attempting to
detain a young Black man outside of the bar. Several of our community
members asked the officers why they were making the arrest and using
excessive force. Despite the fact that our community was on the
sidewalk, gathered peacefully and not obstructing foot traffic, the
NYPD chose to forcefully grab two people and arrested them. Without
warning, an officer then sprayed pepper spray across the group in a
wide arc, temporarily blinding many and causing vomiting and intense
pain.
1:23 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Cities| Justice| New York City · Comments Off
22 Nov 2005
The 576 Latino and black police officers of the NYPD whose claims were accepted in a landmark racial discrimination case have won, and between them will split the sum of $17 million:
Officers – 576 of them – will get awards ranging from $3,500 to $400,000 from the suit, which the city settled just over a year ago. The victims charged that the Police Department created a hostile work environment for black and Latino cops, especially when it came to disciplinary matters.
“Cops have their own disciplinary system. The penalty for black and Latino cops were disproportionately higher,” said Diane Paolicelli, an attorney with the firm that represented many of the plaintiffs.
Paolicelli said some cops lost pay, others were given bad assignments or even fired in the retaliatory climate.
She said awards, which varied based on the duration and scale of discrimination plaintiffs allegedly endured, will be sent out over the next month.
Yes, folks, racism exists even in fundamentally racist organizations like the police, and even in the “most liberal city in the nation”.
Via / NY Daily News
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