just received this statement from the Stop Mass Incarceration Network:
From Up Against the Wall to Up in Their Faces . . .
A Movement has begun to
STOP "Stop and Frisk"
The New Jim Crow just met the new Freedom Fighters
On Friday afternoon in Harlem people stood up and said "Enough!" to our youth getting jacked up and humiliated every day by the NYPD's Stop and Frisk program. Cornel West, Carl Dix, Rev. Stephen Phelps, Rev. Earl Koopercamp and 29 others were arrested in a non violent civil disobedience action blocking the doors at the 28th NYPD precinct in Harlem. Hundreds came out in support including a contingent from OCCUPY WALL STREET which endorsed the action the night before.
700,000 youth will be stopped and frisked in NYC this year. This is the first step in a pipeline that has locked 2.3 million in prison. People movingly testified to their experience of being degraded and humiliated and treated like criminals just for being Black or Latino. Those who have had to live with the fear that these "routine" stops can result in your death if you dare to ask what right the police have to stop you - were able to feel what it's like to not just have to take it. Because these 33 protesters put their bodies on the line to act – while 100's of others stood with them, supporting and bearing witness – you have to say it was a beautiful day for the people.
Time to Get Organized and Fight to Win
A movement of resistance was born today but now it's up to you to help take this forward. We are calling you to step up and be part of what is needed to stop this!
Release and Drop the Charges Against Noche & Jamel
#1: The police singled out 2 youth organizers of the protest, Noche & Jamel – releasing all the other protesters but them. One of these youths is a member of the People's Neighborhood Patrol of Harlem whose purpose is to prevent law enforcement from violating the peoples' rights and brutalizing them under the color of authority. The first thing in building this movement:
Demand these young fighters' release and donate funds for their legal defense.
#2: Come Sunday, October 23, 2011 to the IMPORTANT "GET ORGANIZED" MEETING to organize the next action and the movement to end mass incarceration, ST. MARY'S CHURCH, 2:00 PM, 126th Street between Old Broadway and Amsterdam Ave.
When Cornel West and Carl Dix began this movement they wrote: “If you are shocked to hear that this kind of thing happens in this so-called land of freedom and democracy - and it does happen all the damned time . . . you can't stand aside and let this injustice be done in your name.”
Yesterday was just the beginning. This will continue and spread until stop and frisk is stopped!
That requires you. Join or be part of the next action – first one neighborhood, then the next. Spread the word. Donate funds. To be a part of stopping this injustice join the Stop Mass Incarceration Network. Call us at 973.756.7666 or email to
stopmassincarceration@ymail.com
Labels: Carl Dix, Cornel West, mass incarceration, NYPD, racial profiling, stop and frisk
