FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 27, 2012
June 27, 2012
Rally at Trial of Harlem Activist to Demand: End Stop & Frisk --
Don’t Prosecute those who Protest it
What: Rally against prosecution of Noche Diaz, a Stop Stop-and-Frisk Freedom Fighter
Where: Manhattan Criminal Court, 100 Centre Street, lower Manhattan
When: Thursday June 28 9:00 AM
Supporters of mass civil disobedience actions aimed at ending the NYPD policy of stop-and-frisk will rally Thursday to call for an end to the policy, and an end to prosecution of those who protest it. They will attend a 9:30 am hearing on motions to dismiss charges against Noche Diaz.
Professor Jim Vrettos of John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Juanita Young, an anti-police brutality activist and mother of Malcolm Ferguson, who was killed by the NYPD, will speak. Others who have been regularly stopped and frisked will describe the effect of the NYPD’s increased use of stop-and-frisk in 2012.
Carl Dix, Revolutionary Communist Party spokesperson, and initiator of the campaign to end Stop Stop-and-Frisk through mass civil disobedience says, “Stop-and-frisk comes down to treating Black and Latino youth like criminals, guilty until proven innocent, if they can survive to prove their innocence. In the 1960’s when the freedom riders took on Jim Crow segregation, they weren’t asking for more seats on the back of the bus. They were calling for an end to segregation. Like them, we don’t want stop-and-frisk mended—we want it ended.”
Noche Diaz was one of hundreds of people who became part of the intensifying fight against stop-and-frisk, when they answered the call made by Carl Dix and Cornel West to mount mass resistance, nonviolent civil disobedience actions against stop-and-frisk. Protests took place in Harlem at the 28th precinct, in Brownsville, Brooklyn at the 73rd precinct, and in Jamaica, Queens at the 103rd precinct. There were over 83 arrests in which people placed themselves on the line against the racist and illegal stop-and-frisk policy, including Noche Diaz. 20 were tried in May and convicted of ‘disorderly conduct;’ but not before they took the witness stand to indict stop-and-frisk a message which flew across the nation.
The Manhattan D.A. is attempting to combine two of Diaz arrests from October and March into one trial, which Diaz’ defenders call a “prejudicial action” which could deprive him of a fair trial.
Two other pending court cases for nonviolent Stop Stop-and-Frisk actions in Brooklyn and Queens involving 33 other defendants will be tried later in the summer.
Where: Manhattan Criminal Court, 100 Centre Street, lower Manhattan
When: Thursday June 28 9:00 AM
Supporters of mass civil disobedience actions aimed at ending the NYPD policy of stop-and-frisk will rally Thursday to call for an end to the policy, and an end to prosecution of those who protest it. They will attend a 9:30 am hearing on motions to dismiss charges against Noche Diaz.
Professor Jim Vrettos of John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Juanita Young, an anti-police brutality activist and mother of Malcolm Ferguson, who was killed by the NYPD, will speak. Others who have been regularly stopped and frisked will describe the effect of the NYPD’s increased use of stop-and-frisk in 2012.
Carl Dix, Revolutionary Communist Party spokesperson, and initiator of the campaign to end Stop Stop-and-Frisk through mass civil disobedience says, “Stop-and-frisk comes down to treating Black and Latino youth like criminals, guilty until proven innocent, if they can survive to prove their innocence. In the 1960’s when the freedom riders took on Jim Crow segregation, they weren’t asking for more seats on the back of the bus. They were calling for an end to segregation. Like them, we don’t want stop-and-frisk mended—we want it ended.”
Noche Diaz was one of hundreds of people who became part of the intensifying fight against stop-and-frisk, when they answered the call made by Carl Dix and Cornel West to mount mass resistance, nonviolent civil disobedience actions against stop-and-frisk. Protests took place in Harlem at the 28th precinct, in Brownsville, Brooklyn at the 73rd precinct, and in Jamaica, Queens at the 103rd precinct. There were over 83 arrests in which people placed themselves on the line against the racist and illegal stop-and-frisk policy, including Noche Diaz. 20 were tried in May and convicted of ‘disorderly conduct;’ but not before they took the witness stand to indict stop-and-frisk a message which flew across the nation.
The Manhattan D.A. is attempting to combine two of Diaz arrests from October and March into one trial, which Diaz’ defenders call a “prejudicial action” which could deprive him of a fair trial.
Two other pending court cases for nonviolent Stop Stop-and-Frisk actions in Brooklyn and Queens involving 33 other defendants will be tried later in the summer.
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The Stop Mass Incarceration Network is a project of the Alliance for Global Justice, a 501c3 tax-exempt
organization. Tax-deductible contributions accepted online or checks made payable to the "Alliance for Global Justice," with "Mass Incarceration Network" in the memo line may be sent to:
Stop Mass Incarceration Network
c/o P.O. Box 941 Knickerbocker Station
New York City, New York 10002-0900
Phone: 866-841-9139 x2670 * Email: [email protected]
Web: www.stopmassincarceration.org
Twitter: @StopMassIncNet
The Stop Mass Incarceration Network is a project of the Alliance for Global Justice, a 501c3 tax-exempt
organization. Tax-deductible contributions accepted online or checks made payable to the "Alliance for Global Justice," with "Mass Incarceration Network" in the memo line may be sent to:
Stop Mass Incarceration Network
c/o P.O. Box 941 Knickerbocker Station
New York City, New York 10002-0900
Phone: 866-841-9139 x2670 * Email: [email protected]
Web: www.stopmassincarceration.org
Twitter: @StopMassIncNet