BOB HERBERT: Arrested While Grieving

[kevinmc]

No one is paying much attention, but parts of New York City are like a police state for young men, women and children who happen to be black or Hispanic. They are routinely stopped, searched, harassed, intimidated, humiliated and, in many cases, arrested for no good reason.

Most black elected officials have joined their white colleagues and the media in turning a blind eye to this continuing outrage. And many black cops have joined their white colleagues in the systematic mistreatment.

Last Monday in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, about three dozen grieving young people on their way to a wake for a teenage friend who had been murdered were surrounded by the police, cursed at, handcuffed and ordered into paddy wagons. They were taken to the 83rd precinct stationhouse, where several were thrown into jail.

Leana Matia, an 18-year-old student at John Jay College, was one of those taken into custody. “We were walking toward the train station to take the L train when all these cops just swooped in on us,” she said. “They cursed us out and pushed the guys. And then they handcuffed us. We kept asking, ‘What are you doing?’ ”.....

http://freedemocracy.blogspot.com/2007/05/bob-herbert-arrested-while-grieving.html

[ninkasi]

1. This is bullshit!

Grieving teen-agers, oh please, protect me! What an absolute crock of shit! After reading the article, I can find nothing that the mourners did wrong, other than the apparently unforgivable sin of being born black. This is the 21st Century, and we live in what we like to call the Land of the Free.

Who is free? The kids who were trying to go to a funeral? What danger did they represent, other than being in a group? I applaud Bob Herbert for bringing attention to this atrocity. It was in Bob Herbert's column I first read about about the shameful arrests of black citizens in Tulia, Tx. This is a link from 60 Minutes. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/26/60minutes/main575291.shtml

We have enough crime, without using our resources to detain and arrest lawful activities. Years ago, one of my friends, a co-worker who is black, bought a brand new car. Because of her work schedule, after making her down payment, and obtaining the proper financing, she sent her older son to pick her new car up.

He was 20, and was stopped no fewer than 3 times from the car dealership to his home. Apparently, although he never got a ticket, he was pulled over for the unpardonable sin of driving while black. Until all of these injustices are corrected, we will never truly be the land of the free. Think about this, if you wish.
Many immigrants came to this country in the early 1900's. Some of our black friends have a pedigree going back 250 years before that.

There is no longer any room for such bigotry in our country. We are being destroyed by fascist neocon forces, who delight in our standing off against each other. Don't fall for it.

[sam sarrha]

2. i am white and really tall, 6'6", as a Teenager i was stopped in our town of 40,000 ALL the TIME..

once walking home from Church with suit and tie and a Bible, i was an Eagle Scout, i ran 6 miles in the evenings in track shorts and schools team long distance runners tank top.. they set up check points and stopped me at least 4 times a evening, for 6 YEARS.. 'where ya going in such a hurry?" same guys and they weren't being humerus..i had my drivers liscence in plasic thing pinned on my jersey, once they demanded my draft card, no exception to the law, and were going to run me in for looking like some guy 5'10", i said i was 6'6" and he grabbed his stick and said,'a couple inches doesnt make any difference'.. they wanted an excuse to bust my head.. one of them beat my friend with a stick, a sap and his gun 43 times for giving his friend a ride home.. the cop had a reputation for beating people.. however my friend was encircled by 20 customers from a restaurant as the beating went on they shouted out the number of the strike as the cop hit him.. trying to tell him they were witnesses.. my friend was the vice president of the local Local Teamsters Union.. that is the only thing that stopped the rogue cop after years of brutalizing young people.. and they let him quit and go free.

people need to organize and start a Citizens Review Board and document as many incidents and the offending officer, collect police reports and get statistics and take them to court. they want us to believe we are powerless, but we are not.. but we have to put a lot of constructive effort into initiating change. or nothig changes, these guys are not doing the job they are paid to do, it is safer to mess with kids, bust a kid for a joint than mess with herion dealers..they carry guns and after all the CIA probably runs that operation

[chemp]

3. years ago, I was pulled over buy the same cop every night for three weeks

I'm a chef. I was working late night in a restaurant at the time. Driving home past 3am. My hair was quite long. Oh I am white, as most in that community is. Blacks in the city will not even go into that town to see a movie for fear of the police.
but I digress...

The cop would ask for License & reg
I would ask what the problem was
The cop would ask where I was coming from
I would ask what the problem was
The cop would ask where I was going
I would ask what the problem was
The cop would ask what was in the bag on the passenger's seat (work clothes)
I would ask what the problem was

After three weeks of this harassment, I asked him, in my best german accent, if my papers were in order.
Three more cars arrived immediately. I was detained for another two hours and my car was searched.
I filed a claim which went nowhere. I moved to another nearby town.

[sam sarrha]

4. smart assing to a psychopath with a gun is never recomended

[chemp]

5. Heh! I was a mere pup of 24 at the time.

Now that I'm in my 40's I don't get in as much trouble, even though my idealism has not subsided.
It's my wife who keeps me from doing stupid shit these days.

[tblue37]

7. You are right, Sam. Teenaged males are stopped and badgered

all the time for being teenaged males. Blacks and Hispanics are harassed much worse, of course, but teenaged males are also harassed just for being teenaged and male. The cops harass a lot of people just to demonstrate their power. The demographic that cops are drawn from include a lot of bullyboy types, guys who want a badge, a gun, and the freedom to abuse other people. I realize that a lot of cops are good guys who risk their lives for us, but a lot are not--and the unspoken code is to cover for the rotten ones, so even the good guys are often part of the cover-ups that make it possible for the bad ones to get away with their abuse of power.

I was just 21 years old, newly married to a young college professor, when I first became aware of this sort of thing in 1971. The 13-year-old son of one of my husband's colleagues had been in a local pizza place with a couple of friends when a young cop came in and started harassing them. He kept after them, and finally took them in to the station, but they had not done anything wrong. They hadn't even back-talked him when he started mouthing off to them. The manager of the pizza parlor and a couple of witnesses spoke up for the boys and the cop actually got into some trouble for it, but I think that only happened because the boys were all sons of prominent men in the community and they were regular (and welcome) visitors to the pizza parlor whom the manager knew and liked. (Also, of course, the fathers had the wherewithal to hire lawyers.) If they had been poor or minority kids, my guess is they would have gotten into trouble just for being there when the cop came in with the urge to show everyone how big his d**k was--or how big a d**k he was.

[tblue37]

6. I believe I have read in some “goddamned piece of paper” somewhere

that American citizens have the right to peaceable assembly:

Some of the kids were told at the scene that they were being seized because they had assembled unlawfully. “I didn’t know what unlawful assembly was,” said Kumar Singh, 18, who was among those arrested.

One of the things that pisses me off the most about these outrageously wrong arrrests is that when concerned bystanders ask the blackbooted thugs why they are arresting the victims of their harassment, they are always told to shut up or they will be arrested, too. And if the people being arrested ask why, they are usually assaulted even worse. We aren’t even allowed to ask a reasonable question of these “public servants” who are sworn to “serve and protect” us. I hope Bill Mahr and KO get hold of this story and run with it:

Kathleen Williams, whose son and two nieces were rounded up, was at the scene. She said there was no disturbance at all, and that when she tried to ask the police why the kids were being picked up, she was told to be quiet or she would be arrested, too.

[mackdaddy]

8. Video recorders in Cell phones may be the only protection...

The only time you can win a he said she said against a bad cop is if the whole thing is on video. Nothing will keep everybody involved more on the up and up if they know it could show up on you-tube or the 6 o'clock news, or the review board. And it doesn't hurt if the officer was doing his job correctly too.