by Carl Dix
Another day, another trial of the Stop & Frisk Freedom Fighters. This time in Brooklyn for the Nov 1, 2011, Stop & Frisk protest at the 73rd police precinct in Brownsville, the precinct that has the highest level of stops under that illegitimate, racist NYPD policy. Even tho’ the judge had split us into 2 different cases and then severed Greg Allen from his group trial when he decided to defend himself, all 13 of us were in court together.
We held a pretrial huddle before going into the court room. I reminded people of why we were there—that we hadn’t committed any crimes, or even violations. That we were acting to stop the criminal actions of the NYPD, in particular its illegitimate, racist Stop & Frisk policy. And that this rested on a long tradition—the freedom riders and others who put their lives on the line to fight the old Jim Crow or the abolitionists of the 1850’s who fought pitch battles with slave chasers trying to drag Black people in the North to the South to enslave them. This is the tradition we Stop & Frisk Freedom Fighters are standing on the shoulders of when we say, “We Won’t Stop Till We Stop ‘Stop & Frisk!’”
On that basis, we plotted some legal strategy and went into the court room. Before either of the group trials went forward, the judge gave his verdict in Greg’s case. He granted Greg’s motion to dismiss the charges because the prosecution hadn’t proven that he was guilty of disorderly conduct.
The remaining defendants all made motions calling on the judge to dismiss their cases because the facts in the cases were all the same, and if the state couldn’t prove that one of us was guilty of disorderly conduct, they shouldn’t be allowed to continue persecuting the rest of us.
The judge wouldn’t dismiss the other cases because he “expects that the prosecution will appeal” the dismissal in Greg’s case. And he postponed our cases till Feb 7th and 14th (They’re keeping us split into 2 groups.) to give the prosecution time to make its appeal of his dismissal, and maybe to figure out how to retool their cases against the rest of us.
Not clear how this one will go from here. It’s possible that between now and Feb, the judge will get the word that the powers that be who are doubling down on Stop & Frisk want him to keep this prosecution going. Maybe another judge will be placed on this case. And there are prosecutions of 9 more Stop & Frisk Freedom Fighters still pending in Queens. Noche Diaz faces trials in Manhattan and the Bronx for observing while cops brutalized high school students and a Black motorist. Christina Gonzalez faces a number of cases in damn near every boro but Staten Island for standing up to police abuse.
And over and above that, we need to go on the offensive against Stop & Frisk and Mass Incarceration overall. I’ve been working on a proposal to really launch an effort to gather the stories of people who’ve been abused by the criminal injustice system, stories that bring to the light of day the way mass incarceration and all its consequences have devastated the lives of 10’s of millions of people across this country.
If you come out to Thursday night’s “Evening in Support of the Stop & Frisk Freedom Fighters …” we can get into this idea and other plans we have for going forward.
Another day, another trial of the Stop & Frisk Freedom Fighters. This time in Brooklyn for the Nov 1, 2011, Stop & Frisk protest at the 73rd police precinct in Brownsville, the precinct that has the highest level of stops under that illegitimate, racist NYPD policy. Even tho’ the judge had split us into 2 different cases and then severed Greg Allen from his group trial when he decided to defend himself, all 13 of us were in court together.
We held a pretrial huddle before going into the court room. I reminded people of why we were there—that we hadn’t committed any crimes, or even violations. That we were acting to stop the criminal actions of the NYPD, in particular its illegitimate, racist Stop & Frisk policy. And that this rested on a long tradition—the freedom riders and others who put their lives on the line to fight the old Jim Crow or the abolitionists of the 1850’s who fought pitch battles with slave chasers trying to drag Black people in the North to the South to enslave them. This is the tradition we Stop & Frisk Freedom Fighters are standing on the shoulders of when we say, “We Won’t Stop Till We Stop ‘Stop & Frisk!’”
On that basis, we plotted some legal strategy and went into the court room. Before either of the group trials went forward, the judge gave his verdict in Greg’s case. He granted Greg’s motion to dismiss the charges because the prosecution hadn’t proven that he was guilty of disorderly conduct.
The remaining defendants all made motions calling on the judge to dismiss their cases because the facts in the cases were all the same, and if the state couldn’t prove that one of us was guilty of disorderly conduct, they shouldn’t be allowed to continue persecuting the rest of us.
The judge wouldn’t dismiss the other cases because he “expects that the prosecution will appeal” the dismissal in Greg’s case. And he postponed our cases till Feb 7th and 14th (They’re keeping us split into 2 groups.) to give the prosecution time to make its appeal of his dismissal, and maybe to figure out how to retool their cases against the rest of us.
Not clear how this one will go from here. It’s possible that between now and Feb, the judge will get the word that the powers that be who are doubling down on Stop & Frisk want him to keep this prosecution going. Maybe another judge will be placed on this case. And there are prosecutions of 9 more Stop & Frisk Freedom Fighters still pending in Queens. Noche Diaz faces trials in Manhattan and the Bronx for observing while cops brutalized high school students and a Black motorist. Christina Gonzalez faces a number of cases in damn near every boro but Staten Island for standing up to police abuse.
And over and above that, we need to go on the offensive against Stop & Frisk and Mass Incarceration overall. I’ve been working on a proposal to really launch an effort to gather the stories of people who’ve been abused by the criminal injustice system, stories that bring to the light of day the way mass incarceration and all its consequences have devastated the lives of 10’s of millions of people across this country.
If you come out to Thursday night’s “Evening in Support of the Stop & Frisk Freedom Fighters …” we can get into this idea and other plans we have for going forward.
RSS Feed