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Insight News • August 19 - August 25, 2013 • Page 3
COMMENTARY Lawyers’ Committee praises Federal Courts’ stop and frisk ruling Last week, a federal district court judge declared that the New York City Police Department’s controversial stop and frisk practices are unconstitutional. Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law President and Executive Director Barbara Arnwine issued the following statement applauding the court’s ruling in the case, Floyd v. City of New York: “The court’s decision is a promising step toward administering justice more fairly and equitably in New York City. Today, the court recognized that racial profiling can no longer be tolerated and held the New York City Police Department
responsible for changing these discriminatory practices. We are disturbed that the New York City Police Department has deliberately targeted people of color based on their race, a practice that the court found to be intentionally discriminatory and unconstitutional. We commend the NYCLU, the Center for Constitutional Rights and all of the plaintiffs and the brave law enforcement officers who pursued this litigation seeking to stop this unjust policy. The Lawyers’ Committee calls upon all police departments throughout the nation to reexamine the need for stop and frisk policies and to eliminate
racial profiling in the operation of any such policies. Throughout our nation, innocent people of color are far too often victims of racial profiling in violation of their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Between 2004 and 2012, the New York City Police Department made 4.4 million stops, and over 80% of those who were stopped were black or Hispanic. The Lawyers’ Committee is encouraged by the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the reform process in New York City. The independent monitor will play a key role in changing law enforcement policies, ensuring
effective implementation, and preventing future racial profiling. The Lawyers’ Committee is also pleased that the court has recognized the essential role of community involvement in overhauling police practices. Under the court order, the police department will receive input from a wide range of stakeholders, including communities most affected by
racial profiling. By empowering citizens to help shape law enforcement reforms, we believe the court’s ruling will ultimately result in more reasonable police practices, greater trust between residents and police, and safer neighborhoods.” The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in
1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. We are celebrating our 50th anniversary in 2013 as we continue our quest of “Moving America Toward Justice.” The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice under law, particularly in the areas of fair housing and fair lending; community development; employment; voting; education and environmental justice. For more information about the Lawyers’ Committee, visit www. lawyerscommittee.org
‘Stop and Frisk’: Unconstitutional racial profiling By Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO, NAACP “No one should live in fear of being stopped whenever he leaves his home to go about the activities of daily life.”
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Those words came from U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin in her fiery 195-page ruling on the NYPD’s “stop-and-frisk” program. After a two-month trial featuring dozens of interviews and statistical analysis of nearly five million police stops, Judge Scheindlin concluded what so many already knew: New York City’s stop-and-frisk is an unconstitutional racial profiling program. Many of us celebrated her decision in Floyd v. City of New York this week, but this is just one victory in an ongoing fight against racial profiling. Within hours of the decision, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he would appeal the case. However, there are a number of concrete steps
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the veto with a minimum of 34 votes. Second, last month members of Congress reintroduced the End Racial Profiling Act of 2013 (ERPA). The bill comprehensively addresses racial profiling by law enforcement on a number of levels: by defining the problem, explicitly banning racial profiling, mandating data collection to better understand the problem, requiring law enforcement training on racial profiling, and holding federal officers accountable. The bill has 15 co-sponsors in the Senate and 39 in the House, and the national conversation around racial profiling has given it significant momentum. Finally, a number of NAACP chapters and other grassroots groups have
reenergized the fight to end racial profiling and other discriminatory laws on the state and local level. “Trayvon’s Law” is a set of guidelines for organizers who want to end the flawed policies that led to Trayvon Martin’s death and the inability of the system to hold anyone accountable. It provides a legislative basis for laws to ban racial profiling, repeal stand your ground-type laws, and create accountability for law enforcement and community watch groups. A group of students called the Dream Defenders have taken Trayvon’s Law to heart. For the last four weeks, they have camped out in front of Florida Governor Rick Scott’s office demanding an end to Stand Your Ground and racial profiling. Many civil rights advocates from all walks of
life have joined their fight. Earlier this week Talib Kweli was the most recent highprofile name to join them at the Florida State Capitol. The Dream Defenders have exemplified Margaret Mead’s quote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” Every challenge to stop-andfrisk, racial profiling, and other unjust polices has been the result of a groundswell of ground-level, grassroots activism and support. We can and must apply the same type of grassroots thinking to the larger battle to end racial profiling across America. Ben Jealous is president/CEO of the NAACP.
Dropping the leadership baton
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that are being taken to help fight racial profiling in New York City, across the federal government, and on the state level. First, a diverse coalition in New York City is supporting the Community Safety Act (CSA). The CSA is a set of two bills - one would effectively ban racial profiling by the NYPD, while the other would appoint an Inspector General to create greater oversight and allow victims of stop-and-frisk to hold police accountable for profiling. The New York City Council passed the CSA last month despite misinformation and fear tactics by the opposition, but Mayor Bloomberg made good on his promise to veto the bill. It is now up to the City Council members to stand by their principles and override
Opinion
By Julianne Malveaux Research shows that this generation of young people, no matter of their race, are likely to do less well than their parents did. Shackled by a trillion dollars worth of student loans and a flat labor market, the New Yorkbased Demos organization says the student loan burden prevents young people from buying homes and amassing wealth. While there are some racial gaps, many young people enter the labor market already behind the space their parents occupied. As I spend time with young people, especially young African Americans, I understand their frustration. They want to know what the civil rights generation has done to pass the baton of
March From 1 To commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the National Urban League and the Memorial Foundation, led by Harry E. Johnson, are hosting the Drum Majors for Justice Celebration in Washington, D.C. on Friday, August 23. The Urban League will also host a Pre-March Rally on Saturday, August 24. FRIDAY, AUGUST 23rd “Redeem the Dream Summit” Grand Hyatt Hotel, 1000 H St. NW – Independence Ballroom Doors Open at 8:30AM – Open to the Public 9:00-11:00AM “We Shall Not Be Moved: A Watershed Moment for a Movement” ▪ A stellar line-up of civil rights legends and national leaders will look back on a day that brought more than 300,000 people together to hear leaders from the “Big 6” address a nation at a crossroads. Speakers will reflect on the 1963 March
activism and improvement to them. They want to know how they should move forward. While they are willing to participate in marches and civic action, they want to know what’s next. And they want to know why their voices are not heard in Black leadership. Those who are seasoned offer their history of activism as proof that they should lead. They forged the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and didn’t ask their elders for permission. They pushed elders to move to a more active position and when elders would not meet them, they pushed themselves. There was no shame in their game. Whether militant or moderate, they embraced parts of the Black Panther Party political program, which begins with these words, “We want freedom, we want the power to determine our destiny.” Too many of us, African Americans, young people, progressives, do not determine our destiny now. We flow with the wind. Too many have dropped the
baton, but continue to act as if they are clasping it. Too many mouth their interest in young leaders, but fail to bring them to the table. Too many who are 40 and 50 describe themselves as young, but if you tell the truth and shame the devil, these folks are solidly middle aged. So where are their protégées, those who will take, not snatch, the torch from them. As I move around the country to speak, organize, and motivate, I am stunned by events that focus on youth, but have only a few (and often no) young people present. Imagine if young people had the opportunity to have meaningful exchanges with their elders. Too often young people are segregated into a “youth” program when interaction with adults would be both motivating and stimulating to them. If we kick young people to the curb, we drop the baton that was handed to us. We baby boomers have a responsibility to both Generation X and Generation Y. We have shirked that responsibility. I do not know how to describe
on Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s iconic speech, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
2:00-4:00PM (Freedom Plaza, 14th Street and Pennsylvania Ave. NW) “Drum Majors for Justice Future Leaders Celebration” ▪ Celebrating young people as leaders in their own communities, this symbolic event will captivate the hearts and minds of young adults and encourage them to take up the mantle and step into their roles as Drum Majors for Justice. The event will also feature marching bands from local colleges and universities.
11:00AM-12:30PM “The Next 50 Years: Freedom Forward” Panel Discussion ▪ Contemporary movement leaders will discuss the legacy of the March on Washington in the new era of civil rights – with its unprecedented challenges to hard fought victories in affirmative action and voting rights. Hear why this is “not a commemoration, but a continuation” and why “Jobs and Freedom” – joined by “Economic Empowerment and Justice” – remains the clarion call for civil rights in the 21st century. This panel will be a historic gathering that will chart the next 50 years of the movement. The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) is a proud supporter of the Redeem the Dream Summit. The National Newspaper Publishers Association, also known as the Black Press of America, is a 69-year-old federation of more than 200 Black community newspapers from across the United States.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 24th 5:30-7:30AM (Independence Ballroom, Grand Hyatt Hotel, 1000 H St. NW) “Urban League Pre-March Rally” ▪ Urban League leaders, partners, friends and supporters will gather for a brief program, rally and sign-making session, before heading down to the Lincoln Memorial for the 50th Anniversary March on Washington Realize the Dream March & Rally. For more information, visit http://drummajorsforjustice. com/ or www.nul.org.
Rev. Cecelia Bryant. I could call her mentor, role model, or friend. Or I could say that she is a great inspiration and, in a simple sentence, she has encapsulated the work that we must all to do move our community forward. You have to replicate yourself seven times, she said, and you have to ask those you replicated to replicate themselves seven times. In other words, there has to be an embrace, and a responsibility to embrace the next generation not only politically but also personally. Who are the people who will come behind you? Who will incorporate your work into their own? Who will understand that you put your hand on them because somebody put their hand on you, and who will feel obligated to put their hand on others? The civil rights generation made massive progress, but in many ways they dropped the ball. While they made it clear that there was work to be done, too many of them did not choose those who would do it. Too
much energy and focus has been placed on one or two people, and we need cohorts of the next generation to work together. My Baby Boom generation has dropped the ball as well. We have been beneficiaries of the Civil Rights Movement, but we have not passed our largess or our lessons on. The Baby Boom generation has been, in many ways, one of the most economically privileged generations of African American progress. So why do so many of us, who enjoy the legacy of this progress, fail to recognize the people and organizations that have brought us to this place. Rev. Willie Barrow says that we are not as much divided as disconnected. When the baton has been dropped, what can we expect but a generational disconnection? Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, D.C.-based economist and writer. She is President Emerita of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C.