Every once in a while we get a gem from our rulers; sometimes they actually have the audacity to state their motivations. NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly did just that when he informed New York State Senator Eric Adams that the Stop and Frisk program was aimed at instilling fear in young black and latino men. Senator Adams testified:
Kelly “stated that he targeted and focused on that group because he wanted to instill fear in them that every time they left their homes they could be targeted by police,” Adams said.
Of course, Ray Kelly is denying he ever said such a thing. In fact, city attorney Heidi Grossman claims that was Ray Kelly actually said was that officers should "instill belief" in young men of minority backgrounds. Surprisingly Grossman didn't elaborate on what that belief might be; perhaps the belief that if you are a person of color in New York City you can expect to be terrorized by the NYPD.
Is this really surprising? What other motivation could there be? Roughly 94% of the stops result in no charges. While the super majority of stops target youth of color, whites are twice as likely to be carrying a weapon. Nine out of ten stopped in 2011 were neither arrested nor given summonses. Statistic after statistic proves that this has nothing to do with crime or gun control and everything to do with terrorizing people of color.
Posted with Blogsy
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