NYCLU Sues NYPD Over Racial Data

The New York Civil Liberties Union filed suit yesterday against the New York City Police Department (NYPD), which refused to provide data on race related to police shootings.

An article in New York Newsday reported that the department's annual report on police shootings contained racial data up until the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo, when then-Police Chief Louis Anemone was ordered to remove the data by then-Commissioner Howard Safir.

Perhaps the thinking is that if there is no evidence of racial disparities, there are no racial disparities. Or moreover, that if there is no race data, then people of color can't get angry about the department's institutional racism. The strategy hasn't worked so far.

The shooting of Sean Bell last year and the huge community response to the no guilty verdict for the police involved with the shooting show that the NYPD maintains racially tinged police practices and reenforce the experience in communities of color that the police are more likely to shoot someone who is Black or Latino than someone who is not.

The NYPD should open its books and show everyone the data. The only way to get control of the out-of-control police in the city is to begin with full information. As Anemone told Newsday,

"'Sunshine is the best disinfectant,' Anemone said, repeating a lesson he learned under a previous commissioner, Bill Bratton. 'Open the place up. We have nothing to hide.'

'This is how you get the trust of the public -- I believe in this 110 percent.'"

Whether or not the police have something to hide, revealing the full impact and racial significance of their policing is the key to addressing community concerns for real safety and fairness.

Critical Mass Bikers Ride for Sean Bell

This evening hundreds of bicyclists and commuters gathered in Union Square to call for justice in the Sean Bell police shooting case. Many of the crowd were gathered for the monthly Critical Mass Bike Ride in Manhattan that highlights transportation alternatives and and bike riding in the city.

Sean Bell's widowed fiancé, Nicole Paultre Bell, his father, William Bell, and Rev. Al Sharpton spoke to the rally from a portable loudspeaker.

A National Action Network (NAN) press release billed the action as a "'slowdown'... to protest the verdict in the Sean Bell case."

"We thank Critical Mass for inviting us here today," said Sharpton. "Because when you demand the right to ride, that is all Sean Bell was trying to do that night, was ride."

Critical Mass bicyclists have faced harassment and persecution at the hands police over the years while trying to simply ride the streets of New York.

Sharpton also mentioned his support of marriage equality for all regardless of sexual orientation during the rally. New York Governor David Patterson recently advised State offices to honor gay marriages performed in other states in keeping with current state law.

More demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience are being planned to bring justice for Sean Bell and his family, as well as making structural changes to the New York Police Department to ensure such a tragedy never happens again. "Let's ride together, so we can live together," said Sharpton.

Sharpton also called for a citywide town hall meeting against violence 10:30 am tomorrow, Saturday May 31, in light of recent shootings in Harlem. The mass meeting will be at NAN headquarters (106 West 145th Street at Malcolm X Blvd.) and will be followed by a march to Mount Morris park at 11:30 am.

The Critical Mass rally ended with a unique image: Rev. Al Sharpton got on a bicycle and rode across 14th Street on the south end of the park through the intersection, being chased all the way by a crowd of news photographers, gawkers and passers by. Other bicyclists mounted up and headed to the streets.

Gabcast! CPNY Blog Audio #2 - Rev. Al Sharpton speech at Critical Mass

Rev. Al Sharpton speaks to gathered supporters and bicyclists at the Critical Mass Bike Ride, Friday, may 30 in Manhattan. Riders then too to the streets to bring attention to police accountability issues and too demand justice for Sean Bell who was killed by police in 2006.

We Are All Sean Bell

I was arrested last Wednesday.

It was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had.

I was not alone.

That afternoon at six locations around New York City, thousands of people of all races gathered to protest the innocent verdict in the police killing of Sean Bell and to call attention to the larger issue of reforming the New York Police Department.

Dozens of us then peacefully moved to block key transportation hubs in a well-orchestrated “pray-in,” to force the city to listen to community demands.

The Rev. Al Sharpton and Bell’s family and friends led a group to the nearby entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Police blocked our way. News trucks swarmed. Commuters stopped to watch. A young white office worker in a necktie and button-down shirt approached me and asked if it was too late to get arrested.

We knelt in prayer, were warned several times of our impending arrest, and were eventually segregated by gender and carted off in buses to Central Booking.

We were Muslim, Christian, Jewish, atheist, union members, mothers, grandparents, students, clergy, veterans, journalists, business people, professionals. Members of SEIU Local 32BJ, Transport Workers Union Local 100 and other trade unions were in our number, as were members of the NAACP, Sharpton’s National Action League and United for Peace & Justice and City Councilman Charles Barron of Brooklyn.

Hours ticked off as we were photographed and cataloged. We greeted each other as long-lost friends. The men around me began chanting: “We are all Sean Bell!” The women somewhere distant chanted back: “We are all Sean Bell!”

Someone would begin: “Count it off!” and we screamed: “1, 2, 3, 4, 5 …” up to 50, the number of shots fired into Bell and his friends Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, all unarmed. Bell died just hours from his planned wedding. “50 shots means murder!”

My name was called. I was brought to a large room, circled in bulletproof glass. Inside, nearly 100 men were holding a spontaneous rally. The crowd welcomed me like a hero.

As an African American man, there is something counter-intuitive to voluntarily risking arrest. So it was powerful that, among the interracial crowd, African American men made up a majority. Many talked of their experiences in prison, their negative interactions with the police and their identification with Bell. One brave man said he was an ex-con, currently on parole, but was so angered by the Bell case that he asked permission from his parole officer to participate in the civil disobedience. While police violence affects everyone, Black men face a particular threat.

Even Benefield and Guzman, who had everything to fear from the police, were in the cell that day, both bearing bullet wounds that may never heal. Guzman addressed the men around him, saying, “I want to shake every one of your hands before I leave.”

Racist policing is so pervasive that it is hard to find an African American man who has not encountered the criminal justice system. But instead of fearing jail, dozens of Black men made a statement by getting arrested that day.

Numbers the NYPD released the week of our arrest prove the racial bias in city policing. Of the sobering half-million arrests made in the city in 2006, an indefensible 50.8 percent were of Blacks. Stops in the first quarter of 2008, in fact, were the highest ever. The police claim that their stop-and-frisk policies are based on actual complaints or suspect descriptions, but very few of those stopped were even arrested, let alone charged.

Just last week, police officers harassed and detained an African American who happened to be an off-duty police chief.

Yet almost everyone who spoke in the holding cell noted that the police killing of Bell, and all police violence, is a universal human rights issue. It is everyone’s business to solve.

One young man said, “This room looks like New York. We have Black and white, Latino and Asian.” He pointed out that everyone is at risk when the police can act with impunity — any New Yorker could have been killed that night, shot on the nearby train platform or in a neighboring apartment.

One by one we began being released. I was issued a ticket for disorderly conduct. But we had won the day. We had become galvanized, unified and dedicated to making the city fulfill the demand of justice for Sean Bell and real changeshttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif to policing.

We pledged to spread the word, to ensure that there is never another crime like those experienced by Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo or Abner Louima. We are all Sean Bell.

Libero Della Piana (ldellapiana @ cpusa.org) is a resident of Harlem, N.Y., and chairperson of the New York State Communist Party.

Reprinted from the People's Weekly World.

Sean Bell Protests Rock New York City

By Dan Margolis

Nothing can bring Sean Bell, an African American man murdered by police officers on the eve of his wedding, back. But tens of thousands of New Yorkers and others are demanding that something be done to redress what most see as a travesty of justice: Not only was Sean Bell killed, and two of his friends wounded, when cops, unprovoked, fired fifty bullets at him, but of the five officers involved, only three were indicted—and each was acquitted on all counts.

New Yorkers and others, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network and a host of labor and community organizations, are demanding a federal civil rights suit be brought against the police officers involved, a special state prosecutor to review and prosecute claims of police brutality, and a police civilian review board with teeth.

On May 7, coordinated civil disobedience actions around Manhattan and Brooklyn brought out thousands of people to support these demands, and justice for Sean Bell. Overall, more than 200 people were arrested at the different sites, including Bell's wife Nicole Paultre Bell, the other shooting victims, Rev. Sharpton, N.Y. NAACP leader Hazel Dukes, leaders of United for Peace and Justice and of the Communist Party USA.

Sharpton said that this is just the beginning, and vowed further civil disobedience that would "shut this city down" if justice is not served.

Stephen Armstrong, Samuel Delgado, and others contributed to the multimedia in this article.

Sean Bell Judge Issues License to Kill

This morning judge Arthur J. Cooperman issued not guilty verdicts in the Sean Bell shooting case on all counts for all officers. This is a huge travesty of justice and amounts to giving police everywhere a license to kill.

The judge's ruling emphasized that the police defendants are innocent until proven guilty, but ignored the fact that the police treated Sean Bell and his friends as guilty from the very start and went on to execute him and severely injure the others.

Justice Cooperman goes on to say that the people didn't make their case. While it is clear the Queens District Attorney made many errors in prosecuting the case (the first and foremost was allowing the case to be tried only by a judge instead of by a jury), the main argument the judge makes is that the witnesses were not up to par.

In essence, he claims that inaccuracies and contradictions in witness testimony was the basis for the acquittal. Furthermore the judge questioned the quality of the witnesses, pointing out prior criminal convictions and "demeanor on the witness stand," perhaps code for "Black". He points out that thee defense case had inaccuracies as well, but believes they carry less importance.

Most shocking perhaps is the acquittal on charges of reckless endangerment. While assault charges required proof of intent, reckless endangerment is a matter of fact. Police bullets sprayed the car more than 40 times and pierced a wall in a nearby apartment and even landed on the AirTrain platform a football field away. If this isn't reckless endangerment, we don't know what is. What if another innocent bystander had been hit with a bullet or died? Would this have been reckless enough for the judge?

The judge wrote, "Questions of carelessness and incompetence must be left to other forums." But the extreme carelessness towards use of deadly force is in fact, criminal.

The ruling sends a clear message whether or not the police follow procedures, or have been drinking, endanger the public at large, or fire on a unarmed person, the police are justified in using deadly force if they "feel" that they are under threat.

Some commentators have stated that the police have a lower standard of proof when it comes to self-defense. But the police standards must be much higher than the average person exactly because they have access to deadly force. Police officers are in a potentially dangerous job and are supposed to be trained and prepared to deal with potential hazards. But it is the general public safety and not their own which they are pledged to protect.

Racist police violence plagues New York City and has for years. The sad fact is that Sean Bell’s killing is far from unique: Amadou Diallo’s murder, the torture of Abner Louima, the rooftop shooting of Timothy Stansbury, the list goes on and on. The police have made New York City a dangerous place to be African American or Latino.

Some say the Bell case cannot be one of racism because of the race of the police involved. But it is the recurring pattern of policing and police violence, which shows the targeting of low-income communities of color. Racism is not isolated to bigotry by individuals. It includes systematic policies that result in disparate outcomes whatever the intention. In fact, New York City Police Department routinely treats black lives as dispensable regardless who is wearing the uniform.

The police that night never tried to intervene in the altercation that occurred outside the club. They never tried to deescalate the situation that they themselves testified as potentially dangerous. Their plan was never to prevent a crime from happening that night, but to assume that one would. Sean Bell was just another criminal in their minds.

Once again we, along with the entire community, mourn the loss of Sean Bell's life and the devastation to his family and young bride-to-be. We also fear for the safety of Black and Latino residents of the city in a climate created by this ruling. Without a major change in police policies and practices and without establishing serious consequences for killing young people of color in the city, police killing will definitely continue, despite Mayor Bloomberg's promise of "never again".