​​At least 200 activists and marchers took to the New York City streets this Good Friday chanting things like, “Indict, convict, send those killer cops to jail, the whole Damn system is guilty as hell” but, not before a rally took place in front of 1 Police Plaza, then moved to City Hall park.​ ​

The rally and march is part of Holy Week of Resistance where rallies and marches took place all week.

One of the speakers, Jose LaSalle, from Cop Watch Patrol Unit, who with a team of other activists has taken up the cause of watching cops when they interact with the public, spoke first mentioning the Black Panthers. Jose gave an example of a black youth 17 yr old, Hakeem Kuta from the Bronx, who was with a group of friends in the stairwell of the building who was recently killed from, what “police say”, he “fell off of a six story building”.

Hakeem was unarmed, had no criminal record, no substances were found on him or any of his friends except less than 25g of marijuana which has been decriminalized in NYC. From an article in Keegan NYC, “the NYPD has an extensive history of escalating non-violent situations and planting drugs and guns on innocent people”. They frequently cite people with resisting arrest and no other arrestable offense, often to justify escalation and excessive use of force.

The story from the people is that they victim and cops were on the roof when the cops seen the youth, Jose said the cops “quota-ed him” the youth ended up falling off the roof and is in critical condition. “the 46 is one of the most corrupt precincts out there”, they have 5-6 cops convicted in that precinct”.

Josemar Trujillo spoke about not needing 1,000 more cops, we need “education, affordable housing, services that strengthen our communities”.

The NYC Council led by Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito, called on Mayor DeBlasio to authorize $97 million to hire, train and DEPLOY 1,000 new cops onto the streets of NYC claiming it’s part of a plan to “reform” the broken, racially discriminatory criminal justice system.

Her plan ignores the inherent problems between contact Cops and the communities of color. Communities of color fear the police with good reason. It’s been exposed the fact that the NYPD and other debts across the country have quota systems which is the opposite of real policing.

In the town of Ferguson, Missouri people of color were being placed into a Debtors Prison by being racially profiled, pulled over for and jailed for non crimes. Given fines and fees they could not afford causing them to be kept in jail.

Adding 1,000 more cops will escalate the violence since the police are there for a Quota system and sees the public as $. The Police Dept has is Privatized and is run like a FOR PROFIT Corporation. They are not out there to “Serve and Protect”, that’s just Hog wash to throw people off, and some fall for it easily because they’re not affected by the Police directly here:

And please, please call New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito’s office to tell her what you think about her plan to add 1,000 more cops to the NYPD: 212.788.7210

Sponsors include:

Coalition to End Broken Windows, Parents Against Police Brutality, Mothers Cry for Justice, ANSWER Coalition, Bronxites for NYPD Accountability, Copwatch Patrol Unit, El Grito de Sunset Park, Asociación Pro Derechos del Confinado Ñeta, Queens Neighborhoods United, Brite Leadership Coalition – East New York, Justice for Akai Gurley, New Yorkers Against Bratton, War Resisters League, Ya-Ya Network, Rockaway Youth Task Force, People’s Power Assemblies, NYC Shut It Down: Grand Central Crew, Brothers/Sisters In The Struggle, Stop The Urban Youth Violence, Revolutionary Student Coordinating Committee, October 22 Coalition, Communities United Against Police Brutality, ISO, Bronx Coalition Against Police Brutality, National Lawyers Guild – NY Chapter.

Family members of Akai Gurley, Anthony Baez, Nicholas Heyward Jr., Kimani Gray, Shantel Davis, Muhammad Bah, Reynaldo Cuevas.​

Photos by Cat Watters: