Dear Friends,
We’ve had a tremendous earth-shaking year since the Stop Mass Incarceration Network launched its stop stop-and-frisk campaign in 2011. Taking inspiration from the nonviolent civil disobedience tactics of the civil rights movement, hundreds of people led by Cornel West, Carl Dix and other community leaders, have marched to police precincts in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens to collectively stand up to the police. In each case, brave new freedom fighters have been arrested for blocking the entrances to police stations.
In May of 2012, 19 of the new freedom fighters went to trial in Manhattan to put stop-and-frisk on trial for our first action at the 28th Precinct in Harlem. This trial was touted by the media as the first significant political protest trial since the Sixties. In November we successfully defeated the attempts by the Queens County DA to escalate the charges against Carl Dix, Jamel Mims, Morgan Rhodewalt and Bob Parsons, for our action at the 103rd Precinct, the same jurisdiction where the unarmed Sean Bell was killed in 2005. Seeking to impose a one year sentence for two counts of Obstruction of Government Administration, our lawyers and the defendants themselves successfully defeated the threat in a rollar coaster trial where we saw one of the sitting jurors -- a 67 year old white woman who criticized stop-and-frsk -- arrested, and along with another juror, kicked off the panel. 13 more freedom fighters are awaiting trial in Queens, and we have another set of trials coming up in the new year for the actions at the 73rd Precinct in Brownsville, Brooklyn, the site of the highest ratio of stop-and-frisk actions by the NYPD.
All these civil disobedience actions in 2011, and the subsequent trials have played a crucial role in changing the nature of both the understanding about the threat of stop-and-frisk and its relationship to mass incarceration, and how people are being given voice and more empowered to raise the level of the needed resistance. As an Associated Press overview article pointed out, “... courtroom clashes over stop and frisk have amplified the debate.” In fact, we need to take this conclusion further, the work of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network in its Stop Stop-and-Frisk campaign has transformed the discourse and taken it to a whole different level of understanding of the need for mass direction action.
On April 19, 2012, the Network initiated a National Day of Resistance to Stop Mass Incarceration, which saw coordinated actions and rallies in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and elsewhere.
On September 13, 2012, the Network initiated a Blow the Whistle on Stop-and-Frisk day, in which we raised the funds to distribute 5,000 whistles throughout the city of New York and its surrounding areas. This caught the imagination of tens of thousands of youth and others where we still hear stories of people and communities blowing their whistles whenever they witness illegal actions by law enforcement.
We are circulating a Resolution calling the Manhattan, Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn district attorneys to drop charges against stop-and-frisk protesters, and for Noche Diaz, a young revolutionary and new freedom fighter, who is being targeted by the authorities for his principled and determined stand against police brutality and stop-and-frisk.
So, this all comes down to this: We need your help. We are literally operating on a shoestring. Organizers are still paying for expenses out of their own pockets. If you want to give to a cause that will truly appreciate and value your contribution, this is it!
This is our first mass fundraising appeal beyond our usual pass-the-bucket appeal to cover operating expenses. Immediate expenses include raising $10,000 to cover the cost of legal defense effort, which includes securing trial transcripts, and the cost of the attorneys themselves who are minimally compensated. The cost of flyers, buttons, and the like are very heavy. And the sales of the stop-and-frisk buttons can only cover costs so far. We also need the ability to open and to operate a real office.
In addition to monetary support, we need volunteers to help with legal defense, in public relations and media consulting. We also need volunteers to aid in administrative tasks. Most importantly, we need help
spreading the word in any way you can that stop-and-frisk has to end!
We’ve had a tremendous earth-shaking year since the Stop Mass Incarceration Network launched its stop stop-and-frisk campaign in 2011. Taking inspiration from the nonviolent civil disobedience tactics of the civil rights movement, hundreds of people led by Cornel West, Carl Dix and other community leaders, have marched to police precincts in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens to collectively stand up to the police. In each case, brave new freedom fighters have been arrested for blocking the entrances to police stations.
In May of 2012, 19 of the new freedom fighters went to trial in Manhattan to put stop-and-frisk on trial for our first action at the 28th Precinct in Harlem. This trial was touted by the media as the first significant political protest trial since the Sixties. In November we successfully defeated the attempts by the Queens County DA to escalate the charges against Carl Dix, Jamel Mims, Morgan Rhodewalt and Bob Parsons, for our action at the 103rd Precinct, the same jurisdiction where the unarmed Sean Bell was killed in 2005. Seeking to impose a one year sentence for two counts of Obstruction of Government Administration, our lawyers and the defendants themselves successfully defeated the threat in a rollar coaster trial where we saw one of the sitting jurors -- a 67 year old white woman who criticized stop-and-frsk -- arrested, and along with another juror, kicked off the panel. 13 more freedom fighters are awaiting trial in Queens, and we have another set of trials coming up in the new year for the actions at the 73rd Precinct in Brownsville, Brooklyn, the site of the highest ratio of stop-and-frisk actions by the NYPD.
All these civil disobedience actions in 2011, and the subsequent trials have played a crucial role in changing the nature of both the understanding about the threat of stop-and-frisk and its relationship to mass incarceration, and how people are being given voice and more empowered to raise the level of the needed resistance. As an Associated Press overview article pointed out, “... courtroom clashes over stop and frisk have amplified the debate.” In fact, we need to take this conclusion further, the work of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network in its Stop Stop-and-Frisk campaign has transformed the discourse and taken it to a whole different level of understanding of the need for mass direction action.
On April 19, 2012, the Network initiated a National Day of Resistance to Stop Mass Incarceration, which saw coordinated actions and rallies in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco and elsewhere.
On September 13, 2012, the Network initiated a Blow the Whistle on Stop-and-Frisk day, in which we raised the funds to distribute 5,000 whistles throughout the city of New York and its surrounding areas. This caught the imagination of tens of thousands of youth and others where we still hear stories of people and communities blowing their whistles whenever they witness illegal actions by law enforcement.
We are circulating a Resolution calling the Manhattan, Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn district attorneys to drop charges against stop-and-frisk protesters, and for Noche Diaz, a young revolutionary and new freedom fighter, who is being targeted by the authorities for his principled and determined stand against police brutality and stop-and-frisk.
So, this all comes down to this: We need your help. We are literally operating on a shoestring. Organizers are still paying for expenses out of their own pockets. If you want to give to a cause that will truly appreciate and value your contribution, this is it!
This is our first mass fundraising appeal beyond our usual pass-the-bucket appeal to cover operating expenses. Immediate expenses include raising $10,000 to cover the cost of legal defense effort, which includes securing trial transcripts, and the cost of the attorneys themselves who are minimally compensated. The cost of flyers, buttons, and the like are very heavy. And the sales of the stop-and-frisk buttons can only cover costs so far. We also need the ability to open and to operate a real office.
In addition to monetary support, we need volunteers to help with legal defense, in public relations and media consulting. We also need volunteers to aid in administrative tasks. Most importantly, we need help
spreading the word in any way you can that stop-and-frisk has to end!
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