OPPOSE THE NYPD’S “STOP AND FRISK” PRACTICES

From New Action’s April 2012 Delegate Assembly leaflet:  Leaflet 2012 April

Since 2002 the number of NYPD stops of African-Americans and Latinos has jumped nearly 700%. In 2011 685,000 stop and searches were conducted by the NYPD. As today’s resolution states,“87 percent of the people stopped…were people of color, and 53 % were African-American.” 9 out of 10 have done nothing wrong or illegal. How many are our students? This practice is not only damnable but it is thoroughly and blatantly racist. It clearly violates the Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights.

Today we place ourselves in strong opposition to the current NYPD policy of “stop and frisk.” Further, this resolution supports the communities with the largest concentration of people of color. It unites us with the NYCLU, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and others to support legislation to ban the practice. This legislation would also prohibit “NYPD quotas for a minimum number of stops and searches each police officer must make.” Isn’t it time we as a society end the practice of racial profiling and institutional racism?!