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Sunday, NYC: Silent March to End Stop and Frisk
via SilentMarchNYC.org:
The Silent March to End Stop and Frisk
Join Civil Rights, Faith, Labor and Community groups in a silent march against NYC’s “Stop and Frisk” Policy! On Father’s Day, let’s stand together to show that New Yorkers refuse to let our children be victimized by racial profiling.
Father's Day
Sunday, June 17th - march begins at 3 pm
Assemble on West 110th St. between Central Park West/8th Ave. and Fifth Ave.
- - Enter the assembly area from the west or from the north, NOT from the east!
- - You can begin gathering as early as 1pm, but remember - the march starts at 3 pm!
- - Closest subway stops: Cathedral Parkway (110 St) on the B and C trains, Central Park North (110 St.) on the and 3 trains.
- - Please check subway schedules for any changes.
- - Contingents are being assigned locations within the assembly area. Please check back here in a few days for details.
March route
- - The march begins at 110th St. and Fifth Ave.
- - We will march south on Fifth Ave. to 78th Street.
- - Mayor Bloomberg's mansion is on 79th St., just east of Fifth Ave.
REMINDER: this will be a silent march for the entire route!
What to Bring
- - Wear comfortable walking shoes.
- - Put on sun screen and/or wear a hat, especially if it is a sunny day.
- - Carry a bottle of water.
- - Posters, signs, banners - but remember that you cannot use wooden or metal sticks!
What Not to Bring
- - Do not bring any noise makers or musical instruments!
In contrast to previous demonstrations, we will march in silence as an illustration of both the tragedy and serious threat that stop and frisk and other forms of racial profiling present to our society. The silent march was first used in 1917 by the NAACP—then just eight years old—to draw attention to race riots that tore through communities in East St. Louis, Illinois, and build national opposition to lynching.
Now, 95 years later, you can join us in powerful protest to help end this great injustice and begin rebuilding national opposition to racial profiling.
If you're outraged that police, security guards and even community watch volunteers in so many neighborhoods continue to treat young people of color differently, or if you're concerned for your children, or your neighbors' and friends' children, then channel these emotions into action by joining thousands in calling for an end to racial profiling and the abuse of New York's stop and frisk laws.
Silence is a powerful force that, like other forms of non-violent protest, holds a mirror to the brutality of one's opponents. On June 17, we will hold up a mirror to New York City's stop-and-frisk policy. It is not only discriminatory, it actively seeks to humiliate innocent citizens—particularly African American and Latino men—and criminalize otherwise legal behavior.
The Facts about Stop and Frisk
- In 2011, NYPD officers conducted 685,724 street stops, a more than 600 percent increase since Mayor Bloomberg’s first year in office when officers conducted 97,000 stops. More than 4 million people have been stopped under this administration.
- The massive spike in street interrogations has done little to remove firearms from the streets, the ostensible reason behind the stop- and-frisk regime. Instead, the wholesale violation of civil rights has sown mistrust between police officers and the communities they are supposed to protect.
- Nine out of 10 people stopped are totally innocent, meaning they are neither arrested nor ticketed.
- No gun is retrieved in 99.9 percent of stops.
- The proportion of gun seizures to stops has fallen sharply — only 780 guns were confiscated last year, not much more than the 604 guns seized in 2003, when officers made 160,851 stops.
- Though they account for only 4.7% percent of the city’s population, black and Latino males between the ages of 14-24 accounted for 41.6% of the stops in 2011. The number of stops of young black men exceeded the entire city population of young black men.
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