NEW YORK CITY
'Stop demonizing youth'
By Teresa
Gutierrez
New York
Representatives of street and youth organizations and their
supporters gathered on the steps of City Hall here April 14:
the Almighty Latin Kings and Queens, Zulu Nation, former
members of the Black Panther Party, the Youth Advocacy
Coalition and others.
They held a news conference to denounce the policies of New
York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Police Commissioner Bernard B.
Kerik. They called the media event in response to the continued
criminalization of youth by city officials as well as by the
mainstream media.
Supporters included the Rev. Luis Barrios, members of
Workers World Party, Refuse and Resist! and other
activists.
Hector Torres, a main leader of the Almighty Latin Kings and
Queens told reporters: "We love our children. Police
Commissioner Kerik does not. Gangs and violence are a symptom
of a bigger problem. The media and the government are putting
us as the enemy to feed their prison-industrial complex."
A statement issued by the Kings and Queens explained, "In
this era of record-breaking economic gain and unprecedented
budget surplus, there are more families living in homeless
shelters, WEP is a fiscal failure, our unemployment rate ranks
higher than the nation's, our educational system is more a
tragic expression of neglect and hostile politics than a place
for growth and development of our future leaders, and we are
still waiting for the city's response to the inequitable
distribution of State funds to our public schools."
A representative of the Youth Advocacy Coalition declared
that the media and police demonize youth to justify their
repressive campaign and that the "gang problem" is over-hyped
and does not address the fact that the city has no program to
deal with the problems of youth.
Shepard McDaniel, an original member of the Black Panther
Party, read an ominous statement from the New York Police
Department's "Street Gang Handbook." It reads, "We fear that an
individual with charisma may unite all the gang forces." While
the police claim to be concerned about rivalries between street
youth organizations, the cops fear the potential revolutionary
power of youth united against the state.
Malik from the Zulu nation said: "It's strange that the Gang
Intelligence Unit is beefed up in inner city schools. Yet it is
all over the country people shoot and bomb at schools and you
don't see this kind of policy."
High school teacher Sara Catalinotto came in support of the
activity. She said her students are tired of being stopped by
the police because they happen to be wearing a color associated
with gangs. They are also tired, she continued, of so-called
truancy cops stopping them from getting to school when they are
late or when they get out early due to a light schedule.
It amounts to more repression against youth by the NYPD.
In response to so-called youth violence, the Kings and
Queens statement affirmed, "The violence is nurtured by
cutbacks in youth employment programs, shorter library hours,
elimination of art and recreation programs, lack of youth
centers."
The statement concluded, "We refuse to be the scapegoats to
justify the expensive expansion of an incompetent Gang
Intelligence Unit who utilize questionable sources and methods
to gather information."
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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