Press Conference Statement, May 6, 2012

Ravenswood Houses

Contact: Steve Kohut, Peoples’ Justice Representative, 646.696.6683, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Peoples’ Justices for Community Control and Police Accountability (Peoples’ Justice): is coalition of New York City grassroots organizations that seeks to contribute to the movement to end discriminatory, unlawful and abusive policing through activities aimed at educating and empowering affected communities.  Commissioning Know Your Rights mural like the one recently completed near Ravenswood Houses is one example of this work. 

Why Know Your Rights?

All New Yorkers, whether they are citizens or not, have certain rights when interacting with law enforcement: the right to not consent to a search during a street stop, to not be profiled based on how one looks or where one lives, and to not be subjected to harassment or excessive force are some of these rights.  Unfortunately, as the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk data – and the experiences of members of Peoples’ Justice organizations – show, too often the police violate these rights in a manner that is embarrassing, frightening and dangerous for those targeted.  Peoples’ Justice feels strongly that teaching affected New Yorkers their rights, as well as how to exercise those rights safely, is one of the first steps we must take to empower the communities in which we work to respond to and deter discriminatory, unlawful and abusive policing. 

MEDIA ADVISORY: Broader Community Plans Wednesday Press Conference In Response To New Documentation That Reveals Government Surveillance Program Expanded Far Past Muslim Communities

Press Contacts: DRUM, Executive Director, Monami Maulik. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Direct phone: 347.385.9113

 Who:     Community activists, organizations, religious leaders, elected officials,

               Muslim community organizations, and legal and community advocates.

 What:    Press Conference in front of One Police Plaza

When:   Wednesday, March 28^th at 11:30pm EST

Why:  The most recent set of documents revealed by the Associated Press on Friday, March 23rd uncovers that the scope of the NYPD’s Intelligence Divisions surveillance program far exceeded what was previously known in regards to the local New York Muslim community. The now well-documented program also ensnared dozens of other local community organizations that have simply questioned or publicly opposed government policies over the past decade, including several groups specifically working on NYPD accountability. It was also revealed that the program’s geographic scope went far past Muslim student organizations across the Eastern seaboard, going as far away as public events and demonstrations down in New Orleans.

These new revelations continue to heighten and significantly broaden the very serious questions that have yet to be answered by the NYPD and elected officials surrounding this program. For weeks the local Muslim community has stood together with other leaders from around this city and decried that blanket surveillance of a community based on religion and race goes in the face of constitutional rights and to the core of what American values in this great city stand for. This cry has grown louder with these new revelations and confirms that the program was not developed as a response to security threats, but as a way of keeping track of those who have actively opposed government policies.

Representatives from surveilled organizations will be holding a press conference this Wednesday at 1p.m. EST to join the ever-growing call for greater NYPD oversight, transparency and accountability.

Organizing Groups: DRUM – Desis Rising Up & Moving, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, War Resisters League, The International Action Center, Al Awda NY, The Ruckus Society, The Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood, Justice Committee, Peoples’ Justice for Community Control and Police Accountability, CAAAV, The New York May 1st Coalition, Domestic Workers United, and Critical Resistance.   

Endorsers: National Lawyers Guild NYC Muslim Defense Committee, Majlis ash-Shura (Islamic Leadership Council) of Metropolitan New York, CUNY CLEAR, VAMOS Unidos, Center for Constitutional Rights, SAALT, Arab American Action Network, Pakistan Solidarity Network, South Asian Solidarity Initiative, Southwest Workers Union, Pakistan USA Freedom Forum, Filipino Advocates for Justice, Dignity Campaign for Real Immigration Reform, Muslim Legal Fund of America, Masjid as-Salam, Defending Dissent Foundation, Turning Point for Women and Families, International Socialist Organization, Judson Memorial Church, Occupy Faith NYC, Trinity Lutheran Church, Project Salam, Jews Against Islamophobia, BAYAN USA, Campaign for Peace and Democracy, New York City Labor Against War, Labor for Palestine, Socialist Action, Solidarity, Blacks in Law Enforcement of America, St. Mark's Church in the Bowery (Episcopal), Jordan Flaherty, Professor Chip Pitts (Standford Law School & Oxford University), Shamshad Ahmad, Professor Vijay Prashad (Trinity College), Aysha Ghani, Audre Lorde Project, Streetwise and Safe, Picture the Homeless, Communities united for Police Reform, Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment, FIERCE  (list in formation)

Statement in Solidarity with (Un)Occupy Together Protestors in Oakland, NYC and Around the World

Peoples’ Justice for Community Control and Police Accountability (Peoples’ Justice or PJ) stands in solidarity with (Un)Occupy¹ protests in New York City, Oakland, throughout the country and around the world, and with all others who struggle against capitalism, the severe economic inequality it causes, and the unjust systems of oppression (e.g. white-supremacy/racism, patriarchy/sexism, heterosexism/homo- and trans-phobia, xenophobia etc.) that co-arise with it. Furthermore, we stand for the rights of protestors to make their voices heard without fear of repression by police departments that use our tax dollars to protect and defend the wealthy elite (the 1%). These departments do not serve our communities and never have.

In recent weeks, in cities across the US, the police have been deployed to silence and violently suppress protestors and evict encampments.  The tear gas, “non-lethal rifles”, and concussion grenades used against Oakland protestors last week were perhaps the worst attack so far, but sadly, not the first and probably not the last.  Here in New York City, over the past forty-plus days, we have repeatedly witnessed the New York Police Department (NYPD) attacking people exercising their right to assemble. They have used pepper spray, batons, fists and unjust arrests against protestors since the beginning of Occupy Wall Street, most recently severly beating several protestors who were marching in solidarity with Oakland.  Through these actions the police in Oakland and New York have only demonstrated that they do not serve the people.