New Yorkers Must Denounce Apartheid Policing By Bloomberg and Kelly

South Africa’s policing moved away from Apartheid-style; yet Bloomberg and Kelly want to defend the practice in New York City. This is not acceptable.

[The Police Watch]

New
York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly
continue to defend their ineffective, unconstitutional Apartheid-style
stop-and-frisk regime with visits to Black churches to sell their
spin. 
 
The duo claim the racially biased practice is aimed at
getting guns off of the streets,  when in fact a study by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU)
showed this claim to be false as barely any guns were recovered even
after 685,724 stops were conducted last year. The NYCLU study found that
of the people frisked “a weapon was found only 1.9 percent of the
time.” Moreover, White people were “twice as likely to be found with
guns” said the study. 
 
So, instead, the duo play the race card
by telling the church leaders that the killings in African American and
Latino communities are mostly committed by African American and
 Latino,perpetrators. 
 
As if to say that if in a White
neighborhood most of the killings were committed by White folk, then all
White people should also forfeit their constitutional rights and be subjected to stop-and-frisks. 
 
Sure,
Bloomberg and Kelly think they are right. Back in the day, in South
Africa, the regime there, and the police chief, also believed they were
right to stop-and-frisk any Black man on the street.  
 
There it was official government policy enshrined in their constitution: it was called Apartheid. 
 
Mayor
Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly can’t run an extra-judicial Apartheid
policing policy in New York. That’s why a U.S. Federal District judge,
Shira A. Scheindlin, has granted class action status to the lawsuits against New York City.  
 
Since
then, Bloomberg and Kelly have unleashed bitter personal attacks
against the judge, primarily through The Daily News‘s editorial page, prompting
Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals to call for a cease fire in
an Op-Ed  in The News today. Anyone who has been subjected to
Bloomberg’s and Kelly’s Apartheid police approach can join the lawsuit and
should contact the NYCLU.  
 
Meanwhile African American political
and religious leaders such as Councilman Charles Barron, Councilman
Jumaane Williams, and National Action Network’s President Rev. Al
Sharpton continue to oppose Bloomberg’s and Kelly’s Apartheid policing. 
 
South
Africa’s policing moved away from Apartheid; yet Bloomberg and Kelly
want to defend the policy in New York City. This is not acceptable. 
 
Opponents point out that nearly 90% of those stopped-and-frisked illegally last year were African American and Latino males.  Clearly,
there’s another type of policing that Bloomberg and  Kelly need to
focus on. On July 13, 2012, 31-year-old NYPD Officer Nicholas Mina was
arrested and arraigned on gun trafficking charges. He reportedly
confessed to stealing guns out of his fellow officers’ lockers at the
East Village’s 9th precinct, and selling them to street thugs in an
underground market, which lasted for more than six months.  
 
He
also had more than $50,000 in counterfeit money, thousands of oxycodene
and oxymorphone pills, heroin, and stolen prescription pads at the home
of an accomplice, 24-year-old Ivan Chavez’s home. 
 
If
Bloomberg,and Kelly truly want to curb gun violence, get guns off of the
streets, and find out where the guns are coming from, they should have a
long talk with Officer Mina. 
 
Last time I checked, there were no gun factories in Bed-Stuy, East New York, or in the Bronx.

Bloomberg and Kelly must invite the politicians and community activists who were denounced by Kelly earlier this week to explore together a comprehensive approach to combating violence while preserving the constitution of the United States.

Food for thought? 
 
 
“Speaking Truth To Empower.” 
 

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