Humans in blue strip the dignity of poor men. The midtown ring of steel offers false security to the affluent but steals their freedom. Subway cars are stuffed with “outer area migrants” who clean offices, work in hospitals and stare at computer screens. The low-income serve the protected class but migrate to the outer fringes to sleep. Streetcars provide “food” to sustain their bodies, and the lucky ones have families to enrich the spirit.
Commissar Ray Kelly’s enforcers feel legs, arms and waists to see if any contraband may cause danger to the “protected.” The frisk is demanding but brisk. College kids, factory workers and the unemployed are all subject to this humiliation but very rarely are weapons found. The words of the Founders “to establish justice” are replaced by “to ensure domestic tranquility.”
The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees “the right of the people to be secure in their persons…against unreasonable searches and seizures,” protected citizens after the Revolutionary War from the practice of British soldiers searching colonialists without cause. Now, fellow citizens in blue uniforms smash this Fourth Amendment right frequently on a daily basis. Anyone who is stopped and manhandled by “Kelly’s Crews” should hand the enforcer a card with the Fourth Amendment on it without saying a word.