The United Clergy Caucus is a heterodox convening of African-American clergy from across the five counties of New York City. We began with a parochial concern, the 13th Congressional District. With the killing of Eric Garner, our view expanded to the entire city of New York. Our meetings have welcomed representatives of civic organizations, unions and radical and militant groups, as well as municipal, state and federal elected officials and their surrogates. The United Clergy Caucus continues to grow in numbers and influence.
We have become profoundly disappointed with the leadership of Mayor Bill de Blasio! It is our shared commitment to communicate this disappointment to the members of the churches we lead and to the communities we serve. Our dismay finds its root in, but is not limited to, the mayor’s refusal to meet our demand to fire officer Daniel Pantaleo for the killing of Eric Garner!
Moreover, we are insulted that the mayor would not respond to our initial request to meet concerning this tragedy, but rather had to be forced, by public embarrassment, to speak with representatives of Black Lives Matter. Now, the mayor and Police Commissioner William Bratton, a generator of stop-and-frisk, have pulled from their quiver one of the more poisonous arrows of political racism known in the African-American community, “divide and conquer.” By establishing the “Clergy Advisory Council” (de Blasio) and the “Citywide Urban Ministers Symposium” (Bratton), they hope to confuse and divide our communities.
This will not work! Some of us have been around long enough to know the tricks played by mayors and commissioners before them. We have witnessed CPR and other slick media campaigns. This is not progressive, sirs. It is very much regressive. Fire Pantaleo and stop hiding behind the Department of Justice. Stand up for a Black life the way Black lives stood up for you, Mr. de Blasio!
Furthermore, we live in the greatest city in the world! It needs to be cared for, managed and loved. Many among us are uncertain about your love and are challenged by an often, seemingly aloof management style. We will continue to convene as the United Clergy Caucus with the hope that you will respond to our demand to fire Pantaleo. We will also continue to advocate for the people to demonstrate in the streets and in the marketplaces and to vote at the ballot box.
Finally, here is the list of the initial demands made by the United Clergy Caucus regarding police reform and justice for Garner:
- Deny the request of the Department of Justice to suspend the NYPD internal investigation of the unlawful death of Garner and immediately resume its prosecutorial phase.
- Immediately fire Pantaleo for using a prohibited procedure, a chokehold, which led to the unlawful death of Garner.
- Immediately cease “broken windows” as a policing policy, which is often the catalyst for over-policing in Black and Brown communities, leading to unnecessary confrontations with NYPD police officers.
- Immediately withdraw all efforts at lobbying the state Legislature to make resisting arrest a felony.
- Immediately cease stop-and-frisk as a policing policy.
