Following is based on a talk given in a panel titled “Fighting the expanding police state” at the Nov. 13-14, 2010, National Conference on Socialism, sponsored by the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
 Yari Osorio PSL photo: BIll Hackwell |
In 2002, the NYPD made about 100,000 of what they call “stop and frisks.” By the end of 2010, police stops are projected to reach close to 600,000. That is an almost six-fold increase, which has prompted challenges from community members in court and on the streets.
This summer the New York Times published an extensive article about Brownsville in Brooklyn, revealing that over four years the 73rd precinct made over 52,000 recorded stops in one eight-block area of Brownsville. These stops amounted to nearly one stop a year for every one of the 14,000 residents of these blocks.
In some instances, people were stopped because the police said they fit the “description of a suspect.” But the data show that fewer than 9 percent of stops were made based on “fit description.” Far more—nearly 60 percent of the time—the police listed either “furtive movement,” a catch-all category, or “other” as the reason for the stop.
Many of the stops, the data show, were driven by the police’s ability to enforce seemingly minor violations of rules governing who can come and go in the city’s supposedly “public” housing (projects). The police stand in building hallways and ask everyone they see for ID, and if they cannot produce someone to vouch for them they are taken in for “trespassing.”
So what are we doing about this in New York City? We started to hold public meetings in the middle of those eight blocks on the corner of Rockaway and Sutter Avenues. When we arrived in the community we did not know what to expect. Slowly people—mainly older folks—from the neighborhood came up to us, and unloaded tales of their sons or grandsons being beat up by the cops, or having drugs planted on them. We heard about family members arrested for visiting people in public housing. Every other week we came back to that corner with our speaker and microphone. We slowly built up a list of people who were interested in helping our campaign to end this racist practice of harassment by the NYPD.
We got the local community center and church members involved, because we believe that the way to prevent police terrorism begins by taking pro-active steps in confronting the abuses of daily police practices. When the community is seen as fragmented by the police, they feel they can act with impunity. However, when the community is organized and is able to assert its rights, the cops must show us respect.
We stress the importance of designating a “block captain” who keeps phone lists of community members and organizations in case of trouble with the police. We advocate that local buildings, bodegas and businesses have visible flyers that state, “We do not tolerate police violence or harassment.” Of ultimate importance, we must have discussions about how the community itself can respond to the problems of crime. The police want us to think that there are only two options: out of control crime or constant police harassment. We in the Party for Socialism and Liberation know that there is an alternative and that alternative is socialism, where the police would truly be a public safety force made up of the people and to serve the people. The task of building the confidence and revolutionary spirit in our communities is of paramount importance. We should be responsible for the safety of our communities—the people, not the capitalist police!.
