Tag Archives: police brutality

From the Justice Committee NYC – Building a Safer New York

  By Maegan La Mala | October 24, 2012 - 5:43 pm | ,
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The following statement was released by the Justice Committee in New York City, an organization who has been at the forefront of the struggle against police brutality in NYC against Latinos and other communities of color.

 

Oct. 23, 2012

 

Building a Safer New York

 

Last week another parent prematurely buried her child. Noel Polanco is another name added to the very long list, another young man – another Latino/a – unnecessarily killed by the New York Police Department (NYPD).

 

It is important to remember that this is not an isolated incident. If we take a moment to look back on the last year alone, several people come to mind; Ramarley Graham, Mohamed Bah, Reynaldo Cuevas, Shantel Davis, just to name a few.

 

If we look back exactly 5 years ago Sunday (Oct. 21, 2007), we remember Jayson Tirado, like Noel, also an unarmed motorist. Jayson was killed by an off-duty police officer who fled the scene and did not turned himself in for a full 19 hours. The grand jury decided not to indict the officer: a far too familiar story for many families.

 

Between Jayson and Noel’s there are so many stories of death at the hands of the NYPD in just those five short years.  Too many.

 

As the movement against Stop, Question and Frisk (SQF) continues to grow in NYC, we cannot forget that while halting the NYPD’s unjust and discriminatory use of SQF is an important step, we will not end police violence simply by changing one problematic policing tactic.  This is because police violence is a systemic problem rooted in the fact that the NYPD has historically played and continues to play a significant role in maintaining the unequal political, social and legal structure of New York City. The widespread use of the Stop, Question and Frisk is just one primary and pertinent example.  In fact, police violence affects all of our communities in many different ways including but not limited to verbal abuse, over-policing in our streets and schools, physical and sexual assaults, illegal searches to determine the gender of trans and gender non-confirming New Yorkers, and unwarranted surveillance of Muslim and other communities.

 

Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly are key authors of the problem.  They continue to support their police officers’ violent and illegal actions and fight against policies, like the Community Safety Act (http://changethenypd.org/community-safety-act), that would increase police accountability and transparency.  They leave us with no choice.

 

We are tired and angry of living in a city where it’s “okay” for NYPD officers who are supposedly hired to “serve and protect us”, to instead humiliate, harass, assault and kill us.  As concerned New Yorkers, we must take a stand and say NOT in our City! NOT in our neighborhoods, and NOT in our name!

 

Only as a unified city can we put a stop to discriminatory and abusive policing. The chant “the people united will never be defeated” may seem like an out-dated slogan.  The historical fact is that whenever there has been a change that empowers oppressed people and changes our lives for the better, there has been a unification of people across race, class, age, sexual orientation and gender identity. And because that unity was rooted in the voices, leadership and with respect to those directly affected, its has prevailed.  Just a few examples of this kind of unity can be found in the civil rights movement, in many cases to free political prisoners, and more locally in the our success in dismantling the notorious NYPD’s Street Crimes Unit responsible for the killing of Amadou Diallo (February 4th, 1999).

 

Today we call on all New Yorkers to take a stand! We call on you to say discriminatory, abusive policing is NOT okay! And we ask you to join us in our effort to create a safer New York for all New Yorkers!

 

A few ways to get involved are:

Become a Know Your Rights trainer

Join an existing Cop Watch team or create your own

Support the Community Safety Act [http://changethenypd.org/community-safety-act]

 

To get involved, email us at info@justicecommittee.org.

 

 

Justice Committee

 

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Photos October 22 Downtown Los Angeles – Day Against Police Brutality

  By Maegan La Mala | October 23, 2012 - 1:49 pm | , ,
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Yesterday, October 22nd, about 150 people marched through the streets of Downtown Los Angeles remembering the lives of those stolen from communities at the hands of law enforcement. Leading the march that started around Pershing Square in the afternoon and ended at Los Angeles Police Headquarters in the early evening was the families of those who lost their lives to police brutality. The event was organized by the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation but there were many local grassroots organizations present including the Los Angeles Youth Justice Coalition, Los Angeles Community Action Network, Gender Justice Los Angeles, and the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition. There were also plenty of Occupy LA people present.

Check out pictures from the march below.

As someone new to Los Angeles, who has attended Oct. 22 events in NYC in the past, there was some tension between organizations and somewhat poor planning that seems to characterize these events. I was really surprised by how the Los Angeles Police Department isn’t “on top” of protesters, meaning physically close, while they march. They generally allow for a buffer space in both the front and the back of the march,which is something unheard of in NYC where the NYPD is very physically close to marchers.

Did you participate in any of the Oct. 22 events in your community? Please tell us below.

 

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NYC : Confronting Police Violence in the Courts – May 19, 1-3pm – Justice Committee Workshop

  By Maegan La Mala | May 4, 2012 - 7:19 am |
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In order to achieve real change, we must address police violence on multiple fronts:  on the streets, with policy-makers, and in the courts.  This workshop will address one important aspect of this struggle.

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Join us for a panel discussion with lawyers and organizers from THE BRONX DEFENDERS and the JUSTICE COMMITTEE.

CONFRONTING POLICE VIOLENCE IN THE COURTS:

LEGAL STRATEGIES AND LEGAL CLINIC

 May 19, 1-3pm @147 W24th Street, 3rd floor (1, C/E, or F/M to 23rd St.)

This workshop will include:

  • Pros and cons of filing complaints with the CCRB and IAB
  • Individual and class action civil suits
  • Organizing for justice
  • Lawyers will be present to answer legal questions

To RSVP email: JusticeCommittee@gmail.com.  RSVP highly recommended but not required.

Please note: This workshop is open to Latin@s and other people of color who are concerned about police violence in their communities.

The Justice Committee is a Latino/a-led grassroots organization dedicated to building a

movement against police violence and systemic racism in NYC.

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NYC Candlelight Vigil In Memory of Iman Morales 9/23

  By Maegan La Mala | September 13, 2010 - 1:19 pm |
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Iman Morales was a loving son, brother and friend.

Please join his family as they remember his life and denounce his death at the hands of the NYPD.

The vigil will mark two years since Iman Morales, a 35-year-old man with mental illness was tased to his death by NYPD officers on September 24th, 2008.

After receiving the tasing order from NYPD Lieutenant Michael Pigott, despite an NYPD procedure forbidding tasing someone on an elevated surface, NYPD Sergeant Nicholas Marchesona tased Iman.

Iman, who stood naked on the ledge of a store front awning 10 feet above ground when he was jolted by the taser, was propelled to his death in front of his horrified mother as her cries for help to couch his fall were repeatedly ignored.
Lieutenant Michael Pigott who gave the taser order took his own life days later. Sergeant Marchesona, who fired the taser that killed Iman was promoted to Detective six weeks after the Killing.

As Iman’s family, community members and activists, we are outraged by yet another instance of police brutality against our community and in particular against a person with mental illness. Iman’s death once again highlights the blatant misconduct exhibited by the police when responding to mental health crisis calls and underscores the lack of consideration and empathy not only for communities of color but for their own members of the New York City Police Department.

Please Join Us
Date: Friday, September 24, 2010 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Location: 489 Tompkins Avenue btwn. Decatur St.& Macdonough St. Brooklyn, NY
Directions: C Train to Kingston-Throop Station or the B25 bus to Brooklyn Ave.

Sponsored and organized by the Justice Committee
For more info contact justicecommittee@gmail.com or 212-614-5343

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Police in LA Kill Guatemalan Day Laborer, Community Demands Answers

  By Maegan La Mala | September 8, 2010 - 12:37 pm |
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Last Sunday, Manuel Jamines was shot and killed by police in Los Angeles. The why depends on who you ask. According to police, Jamines, aged 37, was drunk and was waving a knife around. Police claim that they ordered Jamines to drop the knife in English and in Spanish and when he didn’t, they shot and killed him. Others say that there was no knife and those that say there was say that directives were given by police only in English. The police claim a knife was recovered at the scene.

Edited to add (2:22 pm EST) that some reports that I am now reading say that Jamines may not have spoken Spanish that well either because he was an indigenous Guatemalan. This draws parallels to what happened with Cirila Baltazar Cruz

For two nights in the row the Latino community has taken to the streets, calling the killing an example of excessive use of police force. During those protests, riot police have fired foam projectiles and arrested over 20 people, mostly for failure to disperse and unlawful assembly.
(more…)

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Feds Fail to Take Sean Bell Killer Cops to Task for Civil Rights Violations

  By Maegan la Mamita Mala | February 16, 2010 - 9:55 pm |
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When New York City Police Officers Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper were acquitted after killing father and husband to be Sean Bell in a hail of 50 bullets, many, especially the people of color communities of NYC were outraged, but not surprised. We were told not to riot because justice system worked but for those of us in Queens, NYC who had seen the killers of 19 year old Manny Mayi get off (one becoming a police officer), for those of us who saw the police officers who killed cook Jose Librado Sanchez, because he had a knife (imagine that working in a kitchen with a knife), we knew that the Queens District Attorney’s Office had little energy or interest in mounting a strong prosecution.

And so hopes were placed in the Feds. After all the Federal Department of Justice successfully prosecuted once NYC Police officer Francis X. Livoti for violating the civil rights of Anthony Baez when he used an illegal and deadly choke hold against the Puerto Rican in 1995. Today those hopes were killed and in many ways the family and friends of Sean Bell have lost their beloved again as the the U.S. Justice Department says there’s not enough evidence to show the officers acted willfully in the death of Sean Bell.
(more…)

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UC Berkeley to Investigate Police Brutality in Protests

  By la Macha | November 24, 2009 - 1:58 pm |
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And speaking of the upheaval in the University of California system, Democracy Now! has some really important updates about the protests that happened after the UC board voted to increase tuition rates by over 30%.

Forty students were arrested Friday night after campus police entered Wheeler Hall, which the students had taken over earlier in the day. The students were part of a statewide movement protesting the UC Board of Regents decision to raise tuition by 32 percent. Students at UCLA, UC-Davis, UC Santa Cruz and San Francisco State also took over campus buildings last week.

On Monday, more than 200 students rallied at Wheeler Hall in Berkeley to protest against what they called overtly aggressive tactics by the police. Organizers say officers hit demonstrators with batons and fired rubber bullets.

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Where is the outcry over this type of violence?

  By la Macha | October 16, 2009 - 2:13 pm |
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We all remember the horrific video of the school kids in Chicago literally beating a fellow student to death. It was played over and over for us on national television and talk shows cashed in the main question: How can this be happening in our schools?

Or, more specifically, how can this be happening in *those* schools. Because we all know that there are certain kids who have to put up with this violent shit every single day of their lives, and there are certain kids that simply don’t.

But my question was never brought up, much less answered. Why do we assume that the kids that are brutalizing other human beings in the most horrific ways haven’t learned that behaviors from others? I.e., adults?

From Truth Out comes a video that is almost as horrible as the beating video. A teen age boy with a learning disability was walking down a hall way when the school cop noticed that the boy’s shirt wasn’t tucked in.

Within seconds, the police officer pushed him into the lockers, repeatedly punched him and then slammed him to the ground and pushed his face to the floor. The officer then applied a face down, take-down hold to the child, a maneuver that has resulted in over 20 deaths nationwide and is banned in eight states.

Now, many activists and bloggers have rightfully noted that just because there’s been an overtly racist reaction to the beating death of the teenager, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t something going horribly wrong in youth culture today. I agree with those people. Kids don’t just beat others to death without having gotten the idea somewhere that reactions like that are ok.

I would argue that the police man’s reaction to a boy walking down the hallway with his shirt untucked is one of the reasons why so many youths today react the way that they do to perceived insults. How many children are treated in similar ways by adults–whether it be the police, teachers, fathers or store managers?

And why do we think that our kids aren’t noticing that “power” comes in the form of violence?

I know many people will try to say that kids have a choice to make the bad choices that they do, and it’s not society’s fault and when oh when are we ever going to stop turning our kids into pansy Sesame Street “love everybody” queers?

I have to wonder, however, how many of those people who would say something like that have spent time mentoring youth? Grown ups want youth to take responsibility for their choices–but how many times have grown ups taken responsibility for their choices? The choices we are making right now are causing children to beat other children to death, leaving the most vulnerable kids open to violent attack by adults, and taking away opportunities from youths before they even realize they had the opportunity to begin with.

And yet, even though it is OUR choices that are harming kids, we are blaming everything on others. Seems kids are learning more than what we give them credit for.

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