Anti-racism / Racism

This interview was originally published by the Party for Socialism and Liberation at: http://www.liberationnews.org/from-inside-attica-interview-with-jalil-muntaqim/

Apartheid Attica.

Solitary confinement, brutality

and beat downs—prisoners

toe the line doing the time

for being Black in America,

the legacy of slavery, Black

Codes and Jim Crow.

Do Black Lives Matter?

Excerpt from Jalil Muntaqim’s poem “Apartheid Attica”

So Witness Palestine Rochester is going to have a kick off event--Connecting the dots: Ferguson to Palestine--with Rev. Graylan Hagler to start their film series season at the Little Theatre. Rev. Hagler was scheduled to speak at Colgate Rochester Crozer DIvinity School, but was dis-invited and has been receiving death threats. Witness Palestine Rochester is scrambling for a new venue and Rev. Hagler says he is committed to speaking in Rochester.

We need some people power in court this week! Please come out and support these awesome individuals. Court is at 99 Exchange St.

MONDAY (7/13):
Beaten and arrested by officer Mario Masic:
Quintin Keene: Mon. 7/13, 9:30 am, Judge Morse's court

Please join these home defenders, Ms. Woods, and Ms. Mcgriff in solidarity at their upcoming court dates! Upcoming Take Back the Land Rochester court dates for this week:

TODAY! Shannon Coleman, Jacob Spezio, and Christian Nelson: All three were charged with trespass and resisting arrest. They were arraigned last week. Their next court date before Judge Maija C. Dixon is Monday, June 29, 2015, 2:00pm at the Hall of Justice, 99 Exchange Blvd.

TOMORROW! Audrey Woods: Audrey was held by police until her father left their home. She was eventually released to him. She was charged with obstruction of governmental administration. Her arraignment before Judge Stephen T. Miller took place on June 25, 2015. Her next hearing is Tuesday, June 30, 10:30am at the Hall of Justice, 99 Exchange Blvd.

WEDNESDAY! Other pending eviction actions: Liz Mcgriff is facing foreclosure as well. Her next court appearance is before Judge John J. Ark, on Wednesday, July 1, 9:30am at the Hall of Justice, 99 Exchange Blvd. She has not been evicted yet, but is combating the bank's arguments for her removal. Please come out and support her. Let's stop it before it begins!

The Rochester Coalition for Police reform convened a press conference on Tuesday June 16 at 10:30am on the steps of City Hall.  The purpose was to 1. Proclaim a victory with $2 million alotted to Body Worn Cameras that was passed in the city's budget and 2. To indicate that the coalition wants a role in the shaping of the policies which will be approved by City Council at  a later date. You can read CPR's body worn camera policy recommendations here. Also CPR has put out a guide to help people with the city's survey regarding body cameras. That guide can be found here.

CPR also renewed the call for the Community Safety Agenda which includes an independent and viable Civilian Review Board process with subpoena power and independent investigative authority; a curtailment of Sop and Frisk (racial profiling), improving community understanding of individual rights to consent to be searched, and anti-racism professional development training for police officers.

Graphs depicting data on police demographic information from August 2013. Two questions were asked of the data 1) What is the racial composition of the Rochester Police Department?, 2) What is the gender composition of the Rochester Police Department?, and 3) How much of the police force works in the communities that it lives? Data was given to Rochester Indymedia after a Freedom of Information Act request was filed with the City of Rochester. The number before the percent represents that number of officers on the force for that category.

POLICE OFFICERS.pdf

POLICE OFFICERS.pdf

The RPD uniformed officers list in .pdf format containing the names, ranks, ages, genders, races and residencies of the RPD officers from July 2013. The Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) was used to gather this data from the City of Rochester.

Below is a scanned image of the very first set of appointments to the Police Advisory Board in May of 1963. The clipping can be found at the Local History Department of the Monroe County Library Downtown Branch. "9-Man Police Advisory Board Named," was written by Times-Union reporter Vince Spezzano and published on May 20, 1963. The board was comprised of three men of color and six white men, which included an accountant, a treasurer, three members of the clergy, a lawyer, the Labor Council president, a pediatrician, and a history professor.

Ricardo Adams has been active in building a more just and peaceful community in Rochester, NY.  This video was created by Rochester Indymedia to honor our comrade and friend on his 60th birthday.

City of Rochester affidavit re Benny Warr.pdf

City of Rochester affidavit re Benny Warr.pdf

Affidavit from Spencer L. Ash, City of Rochester attorney, dated November 7, 2014. in response to Mr. Warr's motion to compel the City to release discovery material for his case.