Thursday January 24 through Saturday January 26 we are going to the area where the NYPD beat Jeffeth James last March, and where Noche Diaz was arrested while observing the beating.  We are building support in the neighborhood, and looking for people who saw the beating, so that we can verify video footage to be used at trial.

JOIN in Thursday & Friday 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm, and Saturday afternoon 1:00 - 5:00 pm.  Meet at McDonald's, near the Elder Avenue Station of the 6 train in the Bronx at Westchester & Boynton Avenues.  Call 347 979 7646 for updates.
You can help post a flyer in the area with this message:

Can You Help Keep Noche Diaz from Getting Locked up Because He Observed the NYPD Beating Jeffeth James near this corner?

March 12, 2012 , in late afternoon at the corner of Westchester & Boynton, Noche Diaz saw NYPD beating Jeffeth James, right, in the street as they pulled him out of his car.  NYPD beat Jeff so badly, allegedly because of a faulty license plate light, that his dreadlocks were left on the street. 

Many people gathered in outrage, and pulled out their phones. Noche Diaz, left, told the police he had the right to observe them without interfering, but got hauled to jail with two other observers.

Noche, a revolutionary freedom-fighter, goes on trial Monday January 28 in Bronx Criminal Court.  IF YOU SAW what NYPD did to Jeffeth James, we need you to verify video footage of the beating. Jeffeth's trial is Monday February 4.

Contact:  Stop Mass Incarceration Network

347-979-7646 or [email protected]

Your conversation will be CONFIDENTIAL

Responding to the pressure of growing numbers of people coming in solidarity with Carl Dix in Judge Lopez’s courtroom at Queens Criminal Court, the judge abruptly reduced Carl’s five day court observation sentence from five to two days.  This effectively ended the sentence today, Tuesday. 

This is a real victory and reflected the fact that people coming to Queens Criminal Court to register their opposition to Judge Lopez’s treatment of Carl on Monday and Tuesday could not be ignored.  Going from this important development, we must turn our immediate attention to Tuesday, January 22, 2013.  

Put this on your schedule!

Come to the press conference and rally for the next set of Stop-and-Frisk Freedom Fighters going to trial in Queens:  Calvin Barnwell, Elaine Brower, John Hector, and Richie Marini for 11/19/11 arrests at 103rd Precinct, Jamaica, Queens, and Noche Diaz in Manhattan:

Tuesday Jan 22, 2013 – Rally at 8:45 am; Trial at  9:30 am.
Queens Criminal Court,  125-01 Queens Blvd, Queens
E/F train to Kew Gardens/Union Turnpike

OR

Tuesday Jan 22, 2013 -- Rally at 8:45am; Trial at 9:30 am.
Manhattan Criminal Court
100 Center Street

Noche Diaz for arrests observing police 10/21/11 and 3/27/12

This is a big day--much support is needed!

For more information:
[email protected]
www.stopmassincarceration.org

by Carl Dix

The judge who handed down the sentences in the Queens’ Stop & Frisk case got personal.  I got a $250 fine, 5 days court observation and $120 court costs.  Morgan Rhodewalt got the fine, 5 days community service and court costs.  Jamel Mims got 5 days community service and court costs.  And Bob Parsons got court costs.  1st off, we shoulda gotten off with time served—no fines and no community service.  Stop & Frisk is wrong, and we were right to protest it!

In handing down these sentences, the judge said, ‘The jury saw thru Dix’s arrogance, and Rhodewalt’s false statements.’  Of course, the jury hadn’t said any of this.  The judge was really spitting his own venom at us, and he followed that up by giving Morgan and me extra punishment.

Why did the judge say I was arrogant?  Because he feels it was arrogant of me to decide Stop & Frisk was racist, illegal and illegitimate and to call on people to join a campaign of civil disobedience to stop it!  And to come into his court and say that what we did was the right thing to do.  He probably thought my statement before sentencing was also “arrogant.”  I noted that “Ray Kelly told 3 Black legislators he wanted every Black and Latino youth to be afraid they might be stopped & frisked every morning when they leave their house.”  I added, “This was wrong, and we were right to stand up and say NO MORE to this outrage.”

Morgan’s “false statement” was about his complaint to the Civilian Complaint Review Board over the police having tightened his handcuffs so tight he lost use of his thumbs for several weeks.  Before the trial, the prosecution argued, unsuccessfully, that this complaint amounted to a confession of guilt in this case.  But the jury never saw this statement, so it’s ludicrous to say they saw thru his false statements.  (There’s something to learn from this.  The complaint to the CCRB didn’t in any way deter cops from making handcuffs too tight on people they arrest, but it did serve to give the government an added way to target the defense in this charged political case.)

There’s another wrinkle to the judge sentencing me to court observation.  He said he did this in consideration of my physical condition.  Rev. Steven Phelps, the Senior Minister at the Riverside Church had offered that we could do any community service we were sentenced to could be done thru ministries at their church.  If the only issue was coming up with community service that fit my physical condition, the Riverside Church’s offer would’ve fit the bill.  The judge was essentially saying that he was going to take this arrogant Black man and make him sit in his court room, under his thumb, and maybe teach him some humility.

That won’t happen!  Stop & Frisk is still wrong.  Mass Incarceration is still racist and illegitimate.  It is right to stand up and say NO MORE to this slow genocide strangling inner city Black and Latino communities across the country!  Watching this judge operate in court for a week won’t change any of that.

Friends,

Greetings on the new year.  We ended 2012 with victories in putting stop-and-frisk on trial and defeating serious protest charges on the freedom fighters.  Myself, Jamel Mims, Bob Parsons & Morgan Rhodewalt were found not guilty of Obstructing Government Administration in Queens, and Greg Allen, who defended himself in Brooklyn, got his charge of disorderly conduct dismissed.
 
We have much to do in the year to come.  Others will go on trial in Queens for the same charges in January and February.  2 Stop & Frisk trials are scheduled in Brooklyn in February.  Noche Diaz, in addition to being part of these trials, also faces trials in Manhattan, where he faces several years in jail for observing the police brutalizing people, and the Bronx.  In all these cases, we need to put Stop & Frisk and all the abuse the police and law enforcement overall enforce on the people on trial outside and inside the court room.
 
And we have to escalate our efforts to STOP mass incarceration and all its consequences.  An important way that we will be doing that is thru a project called Bear Witness, which will involve collecting stories of people who have been stopped and frisked or hit with racial profiling in other ways, people who have been railroaded to prison, who have been subjected to torturelike conditions in prison or who have been discriminated against once they've served their sentences and been released from prison.  We will make these stories accessible in various ways to open people's eyes to the unjust and horrible ways tens of millions of people's lives are enmeshed in the criminal "injustice" system.  And we will use this exposure as a springboard to launch broader resistance to mass incarceration.
 
I urge you to join us in doing this, beginning on Monday, January 7th, at the sentencing in Queens and at the Stop Mass Incarceration Network monday night at Riverside Church.  (Details on this are below.)
 
Yours in resistance,
Carl Dix
 
 
Court Battles in Queens & Manhattan - Support Needed

We've learned how important it is to challenge the unjust policies all the way through, and support those who stand up politically to unjust authority, while bringing out the huge difference between what the system promises and what it delivers.  

Monday: Carl, Jamel, Bob & Morgan will be sentenced Monday morning in Queens.  A strong showing of supporters, as we had during the trial, will make a difference.  The prosecution is asking for 5 days community service and a $250 fine.  Please write a letter to Judge Gene Lopez asking for a sentence of time served only, no fine, no community service.  1/5 days in jail and about 40 days going to court on this case, for disorderly conduct - not even a crime, but a violation - that is enough.  And the "community service" was already performed when these and other protesters stood up and said NO to Stop & Frisk.
 
Send letters via e mail to attorney Martin Stolar at [email protected].  He will present them to the judge on Monday.  

January 22: Noche goes on trial Tuesday Jan 22 in Manhattan for two instances of being arrested while observing NYPD actions in Harlem.  We are still looking for witnesses in one case, and will be organizing teams to canvass the area around 135th & Fred Douglass, between Jan 7-21.  The charges against him -- a possible 4+ years at Rikers - are outrageous.  This brother, a revolutionary leader, needs our most active support.

A Year of Stopping Mass Incarceration
On two Mondays this month we will meet to discuss the state of mass incarceration and make plans to greatly step up work to stop it.  Please join us.  Even if you can't attend meetings, or make it to court, there will be many things you can do.

Mon Jan 7, 2013 9:30 am
Queens Criminal Court 
125-01 Queens Blvd
Sentencing for Carl Dix, Jamel Mims, Morgan Rhodewalt, Bob Parsons

Mon Jan 7,  and Monday Jan 21 7pm
SMIN/Defense Committee meeting.  All welcome.
Riverside Church, Claremont Ave btwn 120th and 122nd Sts in Manhattan.
 #1 train to 116 or 125

Tuesday Jan 22 8:45 am Rally 9:30 am Trial
Manhattan Criminal Court 
100 Center Street
Noche Diaz for arrests observing police 10/21/11 and 3/27/12 in Harlem

Tuesday Jan 22 8:45 am Rally 9:30 am Trial
Queens Criminal Court 
125-01 Queens Blvd
Calvin Barnwell, Elaine Brower, John Hector, Richie Marini trial from 11/19/11 arrests at 103rd Precinct

Mon Jan 28
8:45am Rally, 9:30am Trial
Bronx Criminal Court
215 East 161st (old bldg)
Trial for Noche Diaz, arrested as Jeffeth James was beaten 3/12/12 more info on Noche; blog post on Dec 3 court date