Following the Courtroom Drama. . .
An article appeared in today's Gotham Gazette about the case of Mary Black's son being Stopped, Frisked and arrested, and how her and her son's courage to stand up to power and injustice is leading the movement to end the racist and dastardly practice by the NYPD.
Here's our comment to the reporter and the Gotham readership:
Thank you for your coverage.
As the co-founders of The Mothers’ Agenda NY (aka The MANY—a grassroots, human rights group of activist mothers organizing to raise our voices against all policies that make our lives and that of children so difficult), both Khem Irby – a mother of 6 — and I were there the morning of Mrs. Black's son's arraignment. We came to the courthouse rally in support of Mary Black and her son, and also to send a vehemently strong message and public call to action for other mothers in NYC’s communities of color to stand up and say we’ve had quite enough of our Black sons being targeted. We were there (and still present on this issue) to stand shoulder to shoulder with Mrs. Black and all other mothers in our community to demand an end to the fear and terrorizing tactics that traumatize and stigmatize our sons (and us!) via our mayor and police commissioner’s sanctioned policy of Stop & Frisk by the NYPD.
But Khem and I left the arraignment both confused and upset over what took place in the courtroom.
You correctly reported “the arraignment judge hearing evidence in her son’s disorderly conduct case indicated that telling a police officer, ‘I don’t give a fuck,’ is insufficient justification for an arrest. A trial has been set for March.” But just prior to setting the trial date, the judge said she had no legal motion before her to dismiss—giving the impression that had the defense attorney prepared one, she was ready to sign off and make this criminal case against an innocent 11th grader, disappear.
Make no mistake, we certainly stand with Mary Black and applaud her courage, strength and willingness to use her son’s case as a demonstration of fighting injustice and I write with absolutely no disrespect. Khem and I are deeply concerned for Mary Black's son — and because we care — find ourselves questioning the legal counsel the family had been given—either by the anti-Stop & Frisk activists thus far involved and/or by their attorney.
We are troubled by the fact that with so many thousands of mothers’ of sons who have been Stopped & Frisked in the last few years, the burden of leading a resistance movement to end this disgusting practice had to be taken up in solo by one brave outspoken mom: Mary Black and her son. As a community of Black matriarchs, how do we continue in good conscience to allow any mother or teen to carry this message of injustice alone?
So, we pray that in the coming weeks this bright and extremely polite 16-year old, is not left unprotected in “legal limbo” while this pending case against his good name and character resides on the books. We pray that from now until his court date -- or after(!) -- he will not find himself stopped by the police again; and thus made to endure more of the abusive and threatening practices so casually employed on the streets against our innocent sons.
Lastly, we pray that this young man will somehow be able to put the emotional assault upon his youth behind him in order to regain a focus on being a happy teen, more absorbed in playing basketball and studying for his Regents and PSAT exams in preparation for college and his future than being the strategically placed “poster child” for a resistance movement that we, speaking on behalf of The MANY, believe would be better, and safer left to the adults of our community — and city to wage.
As parents, activists and concerned community folk-- each of us has an obligation to get involved for the sake of unburdening NYC's Black youth. By all means, we have to make a pledge in unity to protect them from this sick society so that they have a chance to grow healthy and strong. Like the subway signs tell us about fighting terrorism, “if you see something, say something.”
As the co-founders of The Mothers’ Agenda NY (aka The MANY—a grassroots, human rights group of activist mothers organizing to raise our voices against all policies that make our lives and that of children so difficult), both Khem Irby – a mother of 6 — and I were there the morning of Mrs. Black's son's arraignment. We came to the courthouse rally in support of Mary Black and her son, and also to send a vehemently strong message and public call to action for other mothers in NYC’s communities of color to stand up and say we’ve had quite enough of our Black sons being targeted. We were there (and still present on this issue) to stand shoulder to shoulder with Mrs. Black and all other mothers in our community to demand an end to the fear and terrorizing tactics that traumatize and stigmatize our sons (and us!) via our mayor and police commissioner’s sanctioned policy of Stop & Frisk by the NYPD.
But Khem and I left the arraignment both confused and upset over what took place in the courtroom.
You correctly reported “the arraignment judge hearing evidence in her son’s disorderly conduct case indicated that telling a police officer, ‘I don’t give a fuck,’ is insufficient justification for an arrest. A trial has been set for March.” But just prior to setting the trial date, the judge said she had no legal motion before her to dismiss—giving the impression that had the defense attorney prepared one, she was ready to sign off and make this criminal case against an innocent 11th grader, disappear.
Make no mistake, we certainly stand with Mary Black and applaud her courage, strength and willingness to use her son’s case as a demonstration of fighting injustice and I write with absolutely no disrespect. Khem and I are deeply concerned for Mary Black's son — and because we care — find ourselves questioning the legal counsel the family had been given—either by the anti-Stop & Frisk activists thus far involved and/or by their attorney.
We are troubled by the fact that with so many thousands of mothers’ of sons who have been Stopped & Frisked in the last few years, the burden of leading a resistance movement to end this disgusting practice had to be taken up in solo by one brave outspoken mom: Mary Black and her son. As a community of Black matriarchs, how do we continue in good conscience to allow any mother or teen to carry this message of injustice alone?
So, we pray that in the coming weeks this bright and extremely polite 16-year old, is not left unprotected in “legal limbo” while this pending case against his good name and character resides on the books. We pray that from now until his court date -- or after(!) -- he will not find himself stopped by the police again; and thus made to endure more of the abusive and threatening practices so casually employed on the streets against our innocent sons.
Lastly, we pray that this young man will somehow be able to put the emotional assault upon his youth behind him in order to regain a focus on being a happy teen, more absorbed in playing basketball and studying for his Regents and PSAT exams in preparation for college and his future than being the strategically placed “poster child” for a resistance movement that we, speaking on behalf of The MANY, believe would be better, and safer left to the adults of our community — and city to wage.
As parents, activists and concerned community folk-- each of us has an obligation to get involved for the sake of unburdening NYC's Black youth. By all means, we have to make a pledge in unity to protect them from this sick society so that they have a chance to grow healthy and strong. Like the subway signs tell us about fighting terrorism, “if you see something, say something.”
Mothers unite!
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