Bear Witness!
Life in the Age of Mass Incarceration
Black History Month, February 2013
February 1, 2013—Join us as we launch a month of Bearing Witness to the horrors mass incarceration inflicts on millions and millions of people in this country. And join us as we close Black History Month 2013 with a week of Bearing Witness and manifesting resistance to mass incarceration and all its consequences.... READ MORE
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Blow the Whistle on Stop-and-Frisk Press Conference
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August 29, 2012
Cornel West, Carl Dix, and several others who began a campaign of non-violent civil disobedience last year to end the controversial NYPD practice of stop-and-frisk announced Wednesday a new and more widespread wave of public protest beginning September 13. Read full press release Clips from press conference, August 29, 2012
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Bronx Rallies in Support of Noche Diaz
July 27, 2012
STOP AND FRISK IS THE CRIME, NOCHE SHOULD DO NO TIME! Protestors rallied in front of Bronx Criminal Court today protesting charges against Noche Diaz, who was unjustly arrested for observing Jeffeth James being beaten and then arrested by officers of the 43rd last March (see News12 coverage of the beating). COURT UPDATE: Noche's trial has been postponed until October 2. Press: "Aplazan audiencia de 'Noche' Díaz" (El Diario, 7/28/12) English translation: "Trial Postponed for 'Noche' Diaz" |
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Stop the Prejudicial Prosecution of Noche Diaz
Noche Diaz, photo credit: Bud Korotzer
What you can do:
“Noche” Diaz, a young revolutionary, has been arrested five times since October and has had eleven charges piled on him in four boroughs, all for observing and protesting the illegitimate actions of the NYPD. Noche was one of the founders of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, which has organized major protests against stop-and-frisk beginning on October 21, 2011 in Harlem, kicking off a citywide struggle against stop-and-frisk. He is well known to the people...and to the NYPD for being a member of the People’s Neighborhood Patrol of Harlem.
- Sign the resolution to drop charges
- Call Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson at 718-590-2001 & tell him to drop the charges against Noche Diaz
“Noche” Diaz, a young revolutionary, has been arrested five times since October and has had eleven charges piled on him in four boroughs, all for observing and protesting the illegitimate actions of the NYPD. Noche was one of the founders of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, which has organized major protests against stop-and-frisk beginning on October 21, 2011 in Harlem, kicking off a citywide struggle against stop-and-frisk. He is well known to the people...and to the NYPD for being a member of the People’s Neighborhood Patrol of Harlem.
Motorist beaten by NYPD
In March, Noche was arrested in the Bronx. This is the same precinct where NYPD officers from the 43rd Precinct killed Amadou Diallo in 1999 with 44 shots, as he stood, unarmed, in front of his door, and where they killed Malcolm Ferguson, another unarmed Black man, in 2000. As Noche walked up to the intersection of Westchester and Boynton on March 13th, officers from the 43rd had removed a Black motorist, Jeffeth James, from his car and were beating him in the street. Bystanders were screaming at the police to stop, and pulling out their phones to document the brutality. But to the NYPD, the problem wasn’t the beat-down of an unarmed man, but peoples’ outrage at them for doing it. The police put a headlock on a woman taping the police, and threw her partner into a window for coming to her defense.
Noche and others were watching police conduct, as they have a legal right to do, but he and two others were arrested. Bronx prosecutors even admit Noche was within his rights to observe, as he told them at the scene. He is charged with disorderly conduct and specifically with not obeying a cop’s order to move.
Because NYPD arrested Noche in Brooklyn and Queens last fall for participating in mass civil disobedience to STOP stop-and-frisk, and arrested him twice in Manhattan when they claim he interfered with their attempts to arrest unnamed other person who were not arrested, NYC prosecutors now argue that Noche shows a “pattern” of interfering with police. In Noche’s case the pattern is of unjustified arrest for doing lawful activity, and of police lying, piling on charges to target this young revolutionary activist.
What about the PATTERN of police murder and brutality against millions? What about the PATTERN of getting stopped-and-frisked, getting put into the system with a record, and incarceration facing a big part of this generation of youth? It's outrageous that police routinely beat people, way too often killing young men like Ramarley Graham, unarmed when he was shot in his own apartment this year in the Bronx. But people who observe, document, and verbally expose the routine brutality of the police are themselves arrested and brutalized and called criminals?
No more guilty-until-proven-innocent for our youth! We can’t allow the authorities to target, convict, and jail Noche, who faces years in jail on Class A misdemeanor charges. By targeting Noche they are trying to send a message that people who stand up to their brutality and expose the illegitimate use of authority by the police are criminals.
No! Right is on the side of the protesters. We can’t and won’t stand for this, coming from authorities who endanger hundreds of thousands in NYC alone, with the racist, illegal and unconstitutional practice of stop-and-frisk, enforcing a system of mass incarceration of millions. We can defending Noche by condemning these unjust charges, demanding the prosecutors drop them, and by hundreds of us showing up July 27th for his trial, and strengthening and spreading the movement against mass incarceration, stop-and-frisk, and the whole unjust system it’s part of.
Noche and others were watching police conduct, as they have a legal right to do, but he and two others were arrested. Bronx prosecutors even admit Noche was within his rights to observe, as he told them at the scene. He is charged with disorderly conduct and specifically with not obeying a cop’s order to move.
Because NYPD arrested Noche in Brooklyn and Queens last fall for participating in mass civil disobedience to STOP stop-and-frisk, and arrested him twice in Manhattan when they claim he interfered with their attempts to arrest unnamed other person who were not arrested, NYC prosecutors now argue that Noche shows a “pattern” of interfering with police. In Noche’s case the pattern is of unjustified arrest for doing lawful activity, and of police lying, piling on charges to target this young revolutionary activist.
What about the PATTERN of police murder and brutality against millions? What about the PATTERN of getting stopped-and-frisked, getting put into the system with a record, and incarceration facing a big part of this generation of youth? It's outrageous that police routinely beat people, way too often killing young men like Ramarley Graham, unarmed when he was shot in his own apartment this year in the Bronx. But people who observe, document, and verbally expose the routine brutality of the police are themselves arrested and brutalized and called criminals?
No more guilty-until-proven-innocent for our youth! We can’t allow the authorities to target, convict, and jail Noche, who faces years in jail on Class A misdemeanor charges. By targeting Noche they are trying to send a message that people who stand up to their brutality and expose the illegitimate use of authority by the police are criminals.
No! Right is on the side of the protesters. We can’t and won’t stand for this, coming from authorities who endanger hundreds of thousands in NYC alone, with the racist, illegal and unconstitutional practice of stop-and-frisk, enforcing a system of mass incarceration of millions. We can defending Noche by condemning these unjust charges, demanding the prosecutors drop them, and by hundreds of us showing up July 27th for his trial, and strengthening and spreading the movement against mass incarceration, stop-and-frisk, and the whole unjust system it’s part of.
STOP “STOP & FRISK” — NO MORE SILENCE!
April 19, 2012--The New Freedom Fighters who got arrested October 21, 2011 protesting Stop & Frisk in Harlem on October 21st went on trial and found guilty for standing up to injustice. This is an outrage. They acted last fall because they were tired of seeing the authorities treat Black and Latino youth like criminals, and they will continue to fight “Stop & Frisk.”
Now is the time to step up this fight. We have upcoming court cases in Brooklyn and Queens Criminal Courts. The vigilante murder of Trayvon Martin has become a concentration point for outrage over racial profiling, 2.4 million people in prison and all the horrors the justice system perpetrates. It is way past time to say NO MORE to all of this. Join us in doing this!
HERE ARE WAYS EVERYONE CAN GET INVOLVED:
1. June 5th will be 100 days since Trayvon Martin’s murder. On that day, wear hoodies with slogans calling for Justice for Trayvon and an end to mass incarceration.
2. Bear Witness: Break the Silence--End the Shame. Tell your story of abuse by the cops, of suffering in prison or discrimination against former prisoners. Record your own story (go to www.bearwitnessproject.tumblr.com) or contact us and we’ll record you. Organize “Bear Witness” days in your school, community center or church.
3. Join the fight to Stop “Stop & Frisk.” Trials of those who protested Stop & Frisk will happen in Queens and in Brooklyn in the weeks to come. Come out and join us in saying, ‘We Won’t Stop Till We Stop “Stop & Frisk!'"
MEETING — Monday, May 14th at 7:00 PM. Location: Revolution Books, 146 West 26th Street NYC (#1 to 28th; A/F to 23rd).
Call 866-841-9139 x2670 or email us.
MASS INCARCERATION + SILENCE = GENOCIDE
Now is the time to step up this fight. We have upcoming court cases in Brooklyn and Queens Criminal Courts. The vigilante murder of Trayvon Martin has become a concentration point for outrage over racial profiling, 2.4 million people in prison and all the horrors the justice system perpetrates. It is way past time to say NO MORE to all of this. Join us in doing this!
HERE ARE WAYS EVERYONE CAN GET INVOLVED:
1. June 5th will be 100 days since Trayvon Martin’s murder. On that day, wear hoodies with slogans calling for Justice for Trayvon and an end to mass incarceration.
2. Bear Witness: Break the Silence--End the Shame. Tell your story of abuse by the cops, of suffering in prison or discrimination against former prisoners. Record your own story (go to www.bearwitnessproject.tumblr.com) or contact us and we’ll record you. Organize “Bear Witness” days in your school, community center or church.
3. Join the fight to Stop “Stop & Frisk.” Trials of those who protested Stop & Frisk will happen in Queens and in Brooklyn in the weeks to come. Come out and join us in saying, ‘We Won’t Stop Till We Stop “Stop & Frisk!'"
MEETING — Monday, May 14th at 7:00 PM. Location: Revolution Books, 146 West 26th Street NYC (#1 to 28th; A/F to 23rd).
Call 866-841-9139 x2670 or email us.
MASS INCARCERATION + SILENCE = GENOCIDE
