Amsterdam News Editor
With the killing of officers Rafael Ramos, and Wenjian Liu, shot by Ismaaiyl Brinsley, New York City is in crisis. And the backdrop is the protests of police killings of unarmed Black New Yorkers over the decades: Akai Gurley, Eric Garner, Sean Bell, Kimani Gray, Anthony Baez, Elinor Bumpers, Patrick Dorismond, Ousmane Zongo, Timothy Stansbury, Amadou Diallo, Randy Evans, Nicholas Heyward, Shantel Davis, Iman Morales, Khiel Coppin, Aswan Watson and the list goes on.
Turmoil is laced with community and police frustration, as Mayor Bill de Blasio twists in the wind while dueling with the mouthy police union head, Pat Lynch, wrestling with NYPD insubordination, and countering calls for his resignation because of the mass of anti–police violence protests shutting down big bridges and big commerce.
The police-community relations are at its most severe tipping point. Walking through the Tompkins Houses/Myrtle Avenue/G train area in Bed-Stuy, by the tribute to officers Ramos and Liu, reveals a tense atmosphere. The faces of some mourners are wrapped in anger folded into trepidation and solemness. Bubbling under the surface, though, is a curious mix of anticipation and the need to defend or strike.
After de Blasio requested a halt to protests until the two NYPD offices are laid to rest, Flatbush resident Jayquan K. told the AmNews, “How is he going to tell the people to show respect when all he has done is impose police policy that is killing and harassing us? Then he is going to turn around and ask us to sit down and be quiet, until he gives us the green light to stand up and fight for our rights? He must be bugging.” At Woodhull Hospital Saturday, embattled de Blasio walked through a gauntlet of NYPD officers with their backs turned to him. Lynch later declared, “There’s blood on many hands tonight.” Surrounded by disgruntled officers who want to police the streets in the controversial and massively questioned manner in which they have been doing, Lynch condemned the tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators who he said “incited violence on the street under the guise of protest.”
“We most definitely should not stop the protests,” insisted Assemblyman-elect Charles Barron. “They didn’t stop when they killed Eric Garner or Akai Gurley. They didn’t have a moment to reflect on their actions. They didn’t stop harassing young Black and Brown men in the streets. The whole point of the protests is to make the point that we have had enough. We have long said that New York City is a racial powder keg that is about to explode. We have to keep fighting for justice. For Akai Gurley and Eric Garner, and all the victims. Commissioner Bratton must go. He has blood on his hands.”
Brinsely first shot his ex-girlfriend in the stomach in Baltimore, and then rode the bus to New York City, declaring on social media that he was going to “put wings on pigs today … They take 1 of ours… Let’s take 2 of theirs.” Previously, he had acknowledged his own mental health issues and run-ins with the criminal justice system.
“He needed mental health help not jails,” Barron told the Amsterdam News. “His issues were not addressed, and it led to his killing of those two officers. But be clear, this is not a part of our struggle for justice for the victims of police killings in our community. It is tragic, and we send our condolences to all the victims, but the issue of the protests and Brinsley are not connected—at all.”
Council Member Robert E. Cornegy Jr. told the AmNews, “This [Saturday], a murderous, suicidal perpetrator of domestic violence entered our city with the intention of doing violence and took the lives of two NYPD officers before killing himself. In his evil act, this shooter stands alone. He was neither from our community, nor does he represent it.
“Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were public servants, in the line of duty. They have loving families who must now grieve their loss during this holiday season and forever. This inexcusable killing leaves me raw and in deep mourning, and I wholly condemn it. Let all the people of Bed-Stuy, central Brooklyn, NYC and beyond surround these officers’ families with our love and support, and may they rest in peace.”
Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke was equally distraught at the turn of events, she said, “As we mourn the deaths of these two police officers, let us be resolved that their lives will not have been taken in vain. Let us renew our fight and commitment to removing illegal guns from our communities and ending the epidemic of gun violence that continues to threaten our lives. … We must continue to press for comprehensive gun-control legislation that makes the trafficking of handguns a federal crime. Let us be strong in our resolve to fight until such laws become the law of our land.”
Former Gov. David Paterson told the Amsterdam News, “The best way for the city to heal is for people to start trusting the sincerity of each other’s concerns. Many people do not appreciate the tension and the anxiety in enforcing the law as is experienced by the police.
“The biggest obstacle to progress is that the majority of the police do not know the experiences of young Black males who live in the Black community and the unfair treatment that they receive on a regular basis. This would be a good time for self-examination on either sides rather than pointing fingers at each other.”
At about the same time Brinsley killed Ramos and Liu, people were gathered at East New York’s Pink Houses to mark the sad, one-month date since the killing of Akai Gurley, who was shot by officer Peter Laing. They called for movement in the case, and the immediate arrest of Laing.
Monday, with rallies and a press conference, Inez Baez marked the 20th anniversary of the chokehold death of her son Anthony Baez in the Bronx by then officer Francis X. Livoti.
A letter drafted by Ferguson Action and cosigned by more than a dozen grassroots organizations sent “condolences to the families and friends of those injured and killed this weekend.” The letter continued, “This is not a time for political grandstanding and punditry. Unfortunately, we continue to see elected officials and police leadership twist this tragedy into an opportunity for them to silence the cries for justice from families who have lost their loved ones to police violence. Our families matter, too. Those exercising their First Amendment rights to secure a justice system that works for ALL are being thrown under the bus by police departments and their union leaders who want to skirt their responsibility to our communities.”
In a regard to remarks by PBA President Lynch, the letter stated, “This weekend, Patrick Lynch used his role as the president of the largest police union in New York to essentially declare war on Black communities. This is unacceptable and should be condemned. … Under his leadership, the police union has resisted nearly every positive criminal justice reform—including the end of discriminatory stop-and-frisk practices, protecting the Miranda rights of those arrested and inviting community input in the creation of policies that govern the police. Commissioner Bratton must also immediately end his shameful attempts to use the deaths of these officers to attack democracy by advancing unfounded claims to connect this tragedy to protests. A troubled young man who began his day by attempting to kill his ex-partner, shot two officers and then killed himself has nothing to do with a broad non-violent movement for change. The NYPD is conveniently ignoring the facts surrounding this tragedy in order to score cheap political points. … Commissioner Bratton and Patrick Lynch must immediately apologize to New Yorkers who desperately want change in the city. Mayor DeBlasio and other elected officials should condemn these opportunistic distractions that attempt to avoid meaningful reform.
A concerted attempt to defame the millions who have acted on behalf of those lost to police violence proves that the NYPD leadership has no intention of creating any trust between this department and the communities they purport to serve… The problem is a discriminatory pattern of police violence that continues unabated and that police brass don’t care to stop it.”
The letter concludes by stating that a national movement has been “sparked by the grief [of] millions. Joining Eric Garner, Mike Brown and Tamir Rice are the thousands of lives lost in the last decade to police shootings. We are in the streets because we are fighting for the right to live our lives fully and with dignity, without the threat of unconstitutional police violence and repression. Our work continues.”