I AM RAMARLEY GRAHAM

Bronx Community Against Stop/Frisk/Murder

  

  A video Published on Jun 8, 2012 by StopStopandFriskNYC

An example of the growing grassroots organizing against the massive stop and frisk campaign launched by the NYC Police Dept. Almost 700,000 people were stopped and frisked last year. Nearly 90% of those stopped were Black & Latino males... and most of them were under 35. These men and women now have a police record that will impact upon their job possibilities, their college admissions and scholarship hopes. in addition, there's deep psychological damage than can be done by being seen as a criminal because you are born Black or Latino.

But, for the NYPD, race trumps age. For example, last year, I (I am 68) and an elder Latino Brother were stopped and frisked for taking the usual shortcut thru a local park in the Bed Stuy section of Brooklyn. Because I protested this nonstop in a very public setting, we were not arrested or issued a summons. We were just warned not to walk thru the park without a child.

But, our identities were run thru the system. This means that we have a virtual record of this encounter that shows up everytime we ever get stopped anywhere in the US!

I had initially refused to show my ID and told the Latino Brother not to do so also. But, he clearly had feared for his life being surrounded by four cops with hands on their guns... so I submitted to showing my ID in hopes to not get him into any trouble.

Ramarley Graham's parents along with Bronx community activists are holing Thursday nite vigils in front of the home where Ramarley was shot by the NYPD. They are holding 18 vigils-- one for each year of his age. We all need to find ways to support this family and the community's battle to end the stop and frisk terror tactics of New York's Fiendest.