Letter to Congressman Bennie G.Thompson
United African movement
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alton H. Maddox, jr. Tel.: (718) 834-9034
Chairman Fax : (718) 834-1275
16 Court Street
Suite 1901
Brooklyn, NY 11241
May 16, 2007
Cong. Bennie G. Thompson
Chairman
Homeland Security Committee
2432 RHOB
Washington, DC 20515
Re: Public Funding of Police Terrorism
Dear Cong. Thompson:
The United African Movement is an activist, grassroots organization committed to rooting out white supremacy and police terrorism. It also has been actively involved in most of the racially-charged hate crimes in New York City for the past twenty years.
Moreover, I am personally fully familiar with the legal structure, the history and practices of the New York Police Department through legal advocacy and through community action. Two words accurately describe this police agency: nepotism and racism. It is institutionally racist and it was established to replace slave patrols.
This past Sunday, the Daily News expressed your concern about the long arm of the New York Police Department into other jurisdictions. Recently, the Commonwealth of Virginia enacted legislation to check extra-territorial investigations. Georgia is contemplating similar legislation. Congress must follow suit.
Since the ratification of the Reconstruction amendments, Congress has had a special obligation to ensure that descendants of enslaved Africans are accorded due process of law and the equal protection of the laws. This is a constitutional check on state action. UAM’s concern is the extra-judicial conduct of the NYPD through federal financing.
Racial profiling is running amuck in New York City. By its own numbers, the NYPD stopped 508,540 persons in 2006. Fifty-two percent of the detainees were persons of African ancestry and 29 percent were Latinos. Blacks constitute approximately 30 percent of the population. Whites constitute a similar percentage of the population.
Dr. Calvin O. Butts is the senior pastor of the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Within a very short distance from the church, a white police officer publicly abused Dr. Butts recently. Neither Mayor Michael Bloomberg nor Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly ordered disciplinary action against the abusive policemen. If a rabbi had been abused, heads would have rolled.
New York City has a policy of assigning most of its paramilitary personnel in Black communities despite the “War on Terrorism.” In confrontations with descendants of enslaved Africans, any member of the NYPD is empowered to act as judge, jury and executioner.
For example, the NYPD conducted a pre-dawn raid on the Harlem apartment of a middle-aged woman, Alberta Spruill, while she was preparing to go to a city job. She was unable to survive the attack and the city has refused to disclose the contents of any search warrant. No probable cause existed for this raid.
Many of these warrantless, police confrontations end up with serious injuries or fatalities. For economic reasons, the NYPD has a “shoot-to-kill” policy. High-powered, police weapons are fired indiscriminately and repeatedly to ensure the death of the target.
Under New York’s wrongful death statute, the typical, non-surviving Black man has no economic value. This benefits the city in police misconduct litigation. The jury is instructed to refrain from awarding reasonable and compensatory damages.
New York’s judicial system, which a blue-ribbon commission described in 1991 as “infested with racism” aids and abets any law enforcement official who kills a Black person while, on the other hand, it punishes a law enforcement official who engages in criminal conduct without an intent to kill.
Compare the assassination of Amadou Diallo with the torture of Abner Louima. Four white policemen, absent probable cause, pumped 19 bullets into Diallo’s body. Twenty-two bullets missed the mark. Diallo’s estate received approximately $2 million. Two white policemen sexually tortured Louima with a broomstick. He received approximately $9 million.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has publicly and strenuously announced that Arab profiling will not be tolerated while he is aggressively, pushing a policy of racial profiling in the Black community. The statistics reflect his command. No Arabs has died at the hands of the police and no evidence exists that they are being routinely harassed by the NYPD.
Crain’s New York Business recently conducted a poll on the NYPD. Most members of historically-oppressed groups believed that the police treat people differently. Race was the determining factor. Forty-three percent of whites also shared this perception. Some experts blame the NYPD’s ComStat system which calls for profiling by zip codes.
The Geneva Conventions prohibits certain weapons and certain unrestrained conduct on battlefields like what happened to Amadou Diallo. No similar restraints have been imposed on the NYPD and Blacks would be safer on battlefields than they are on New York City streets. Citizens should not have to face the same mindset and military hardware as terrorists and enemy combatants.
Through its funding of the NYPD, Congress is putting all persons of African ancestry at serious risk in New York City. These anti-terrorism funds are being disseminated to the NYPD without any cheeks and balances. This is police agency which is inherently racist.
Congress should refrain from continuing to fund the NYPD until the Department of Justice seeks a court order placing the NYPD into federal receivership for being unwilling or unable to exercise its affairs in accordance with the U.S. Constitution. The only visible war on terrorism in New York City is a war on Blacks with no relief in sight.
Very truly yours,
AHM:sr
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Alton H. Maddox, jr. Tel.: (718) 834-9034
Chairman Fax : (718) 834-1275
16 Court Street
Suite 1901
Brooklyn, NY 11241
May 16, 2007
Cong. Bennie G. Thompson
Chairman
Homeland Security Committee
2432 RHOB
Washington, DC 20515
Re: Public Funding of Police Terrorism
Dear Cong. Thompson:
The United African Movement is an activist, grassroots organization committed to rooting out white supremacy and police terrorism. It also has been actively involved in most of the racially-charged hate crimes in New York City for the past twenty years.
Moreover, I am personally fully familiar with the legal structure, the history and practices of the New York Police Department through legal advocacy and through community action. Two words accurately describe this police agency: nepotism and racism. It is institutionally racist and it was established to replace slave patrols.
This past Sunday, the Daily News expressed your concern about the long arm of the New York Police Department into other jurisdictions. Recently, the Commonwealth of Virginia enacted legislation to check extra-territorial investigations. Georgia is contemplating similar legislation. Congress must follow suit.
Since the ratification of the Reconstruction amendments, Congress has had a special obligation to ensure that descendants of enslaved Africans are accorded due process of law and the equal protection of the laws. This is a constitutional check on state action. UAM’s concern is the extra-judicial conduct of the NYPD through federal financing.
Racial profiling is running amuck in New York City. By its own numbers, the NYPD stopped 508,540 persons in 2006. Fifty-two percent of the detainees were persons of African ancestry and 29 percent were Latinos. Blacks constitute approximately 30 percent of the population. Whites constitute a similar percentage of the population.
Dr. Calvin O. Butts is the senior pastor of the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Within a very short distance from the church, a white police officer publicly abused Dr. Butts recently. Neither Mayor Michael Bloomberg nor Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly ordered disciplinary action against the abusive policemen. If a rabbi had been abused, heads would have rolled.
New York City has a policy of assigning most of its paramilitary personnel in Black communities despite the “War on Terrorism.” In confrontations with descendants of enslaved Africans, any member of the NYPD is empowered to act as judge, jury and executioner.
For example, the NYPD conducted a pre-dawn raid on the Harlem apartment of a middle-aged woman, Alberta Spruill, while she was preparing to go to a city job. She was unable to survive the attack and the city has refused to disclose the contents of any search warrant. No probable cause existed for this raid.
Many of these warrantless, police confrontations end up with serious injuries or fatalities. For economic reasons, the NYPD has a “shoot-to-kill” policy. High-powered, police weapons are fired indiscriminately and repeatedly to ensure the death of the target.
Under New York’s wrongful death statute, the typical, non-surviving Black man has no economic value. This benefits the city in police misconduct litigation. The jury is instructed to refrain from awarding reasonable and compensatory damages.
New York’s judicial system, which a blue-ribbon commission described in 1991 as “infested with racism” aids and abets any law enforcement official who kills a Black person while, on the other hand, it punishes a law enforcement official who engages in criminal conduct without an intent to kill.
Compare the assassination of Amadou Diallo with the torture of Abner Louima. Four white policemen, absent probable cause, pumped 19 bullets into Diallo’s body. Twenty-two bullets missed the mark. Diallo’s estate received approximately $2 million. Two white policemen sexually tortured Louima with a broomstick. He received approximately $9 million.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has publicly and strenuously announced that Arab profiling will not be tolerated while he is aggressively, pushing a policy of racial profiling in the Black community. The statistics reflect his command. No Arabs has died at the hands of the police and no evidence exists that they are being routinely harassed by the NYPD.
Crain’s New York Business recently conducted a poll on the NYPD. Most members of historically-oppressed groups believed that the police treat people differently. Race was the determining factor. Forty-three percent of whites also shared this perception. Some experts blame the NYPD’s ComStat system which calls for profiling by zip codes.
The Geneva Conventions prohibits certain weapons and certain unrestrained conduct on battlefields like what happened to Amadou Diallo. No similar restraints have been imposed on the NYPD and Blacks would be safer on battlefields than they are on New York City streets. Citizens should not have to face the same mindset and military hardware as terrorists and enemy combatants.
Through its funding of the NYPD, Congress is putting all persons of African ancestry at serious risk in New York City. These anti-terrorism funds are being disseminated to the NYPD without any cheeks and balances. This is police agency which is inherently racist.
Congress should refrain from continuing to fund the NYPD until the Department of Justice seeks a court order placing the NYPD into federal receivership for being unwilling or unable to exercise its affairs in accordance with the U.S. Constitution. The only visible war on terrorism in New York City is a war on Blacks with no relief in sight.
Very truly yours,
AHM:sr
posted by Attorney Alton Maddox at 12:08 PM
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