***Peoples' Justice will be conducting a Know Your Rights training at Occupy Wall Street tomorrow in support of this action (below).  Please join us and wear a Cop Watch t-shirt if you have one!***

Protest Police Harassment, Brutality and Attacks

Fri. Sept. 30, 4-6pm 

Supported by: Bail Out the People Movement, Labor-Community Forum/South Bronx Community Congress, BAYAN USA, International Action Center, Jersey City Peace Movement, Pakistan USA Freedom Forum, New Yorkers Against the Budget Cuts.

Police Break the Law: NYPD Officers Destroy Know Your Rights Billboard Posters 

Recently, New Yorkers witnessed New York Police Department officers tearing down one of several billboard posters legally mounted by Peoples’ Justice for Community Control and Police Accountability (Peoples’ Justice or PJ).  Peoples' Justice is a city-wide coalition of grassroots organizations working to end police violence in New York City.  The coalition has been purchasing billboard space for posters that provide information about New Yorkers' rights when dealing with NYPD officers in low-income communities of color since mid-2009 as part of its Public Art and Advertising Campaign. Support for this campaign is provided by Center for Constitutional Rights through a grant from the Ford Foundation.

In the last week, New Yorkers witnessed officers from the 43rd Street Precinct tearing down one of PJ’s Know Your Rights posters in the Bronx. Neighborhood business owners and residents who witnessed the defacements reported being harassed and threatened by the police. Last year, several billboard posters in Brooklyn were also destroyed, although those responsible were not seen.  Peoples’ Justice demands the NYPD stop destroying these posters, which we have paid for and posted legally.  We would also like to call attention to the fact that defacing these posters constitutes criminal and unconstitutional activity, namely, the destruction of private property and a violation of the first amendment right to free speech. We ask anyone who witnesses NYPD officers defacing other posters to email us ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ). Your identity and email address will be used by someone in the People’s Justice Coalition to contact you and ask you about what you witnessed, and will not be revealed or provided to authorities.

** Thanks to Vocal New York for authoring and circulating this petition.

http://www.vocal-ny.org/

It's time for Mayor Bloomberg to end the policy of race-based stop and frisks that has led to a pattern of abuse by the NYPD in communities of color. 

Hundreds of thousands of young Black and Latino men are harassed by the NYPD every year through race-based stop and frisks and other racially biased practices that target young people of color.[1] 

On Monday, Council Member Jumaane D. Williams and Kirsten John Foy, a senior aide to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, were the latest victims of abusive practices by the NYPD.[2] On their way to an event during the West Indian Day Parade, they were repeatedly pushed and then arrested by police officers. (Video of Mr. Foy's arrest online is available online)

Police Detain Brooklyn Councilman at West Indian Parade

By FERNANDA SANTOS and MICHAEL WILSON

Published: September 5, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/nyregion/city-councilman-jumaane-d-williams-is-handcuffed-at-west-indian-day-parade.html?hpw

A city councilman from Brooklyn was handcuffed and briefly detained by the police on Monday afternoon during the West Indian Day Parade after an argument with officers over whether he was allowed to use a closed sidewalk, said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, whose aide was also detained in the dispute.

The councilman, Jumaane D. Williams, was not charged with a crime, nor was the aide, Kirsten John Foy, Mr. De Blasio’s community affairs director.  The annual parade, which celebrates the culture of the Caribbean islands with feathered costumes and music and attracts tens of thousands of spectators, is a high-turnout event for the police as they seek to ward off trouble. On Monday, officers responded to at least two shootings at the parade, in which two men were wounded.