STOP stop-&-frisk

June 17 protest against stop-and-frisk, New York. WW photo: Brenda Ryan

A mass demonstration took place here against the racist and anti-LGBTQ “stop-and-frisk” policy and the anti-immigrant “Secure Communities” legislation on June 17, Father’s Day. A crowd of nearly 20,000 assembled and marched in Harlem on the Sunday afternoon. The action was called by the NAACP.

NAACP President Benjamin Jealous told MSNBC, ”In most cities, when you ask who gets beaten up by the cops, the answer comes back: black people, people of color, and the gay community.” (Associated Press, June 18)

The organizers requested that the marchers be silent as they denounced the policies of the New York Police Department. Countless organizations came to the demonstration, forming a reverent funeral procession of sorts that stretched for blocks and condemned the police brutality that has led to the deaths of many innocent Black and Latino/a people.

United Healthcare Workers East, 1199 SEIU, joined with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 37 and numerous other unions, who had made official union signs and placards denouncing the NYPD. A group of legal aid lawyers, who are United Auto Workers members, marched in that contingent. Beauty schools, churches and mosques mobilized to attend the march, as well as more explicitly political organizations.

In the legacy of the Stonewall rebellion against police brutality, participating LGBTQ organizations included FIERCE, an LGBTQ youth of color organization, and the Audre Lorde Project. At least 28 LGBTQ organization endorsed the call for the June 17 march.

The United National Antiwar Committee led a contingent along with the local Muslim community. The Muslim community in New York City has been greatly victimized by the NYPD’s various entrapment schemes, including the framing of innocent Muslims on terrorism charges. These schemes play off and strengthen anti-Islamic bigotry.

Signs at the march condemned stop-and-frisk from different angles. Some spoke of the policy as being unconstitutional. Others linked the racist policy to capitalism and threats of war against Syria and Iran. Other placards, refusing to let racist killings be forgotten, bore the faces and names of victims of police terror like Ramarley Graham and Sean Bell.

Workers World Party brought a large banner reading “Unite to Fight Racism.” Workers World placards reading “Prisons are concentration camps for the poor; tear down the walls!” were distributed throughout the crowd. Hundreds of copies of Workers World newspaper were circulated as well.

As the silent march ended and people began to disperse, chants erupted spontaneously. “The cops are violent! We will not be silent!” echoed loudly. Some demonstrators even used bullhorns, ending this march of silent reverence with a militant, angry spirit of unvanquished resistance.