Brooklyn on Fire: Police Brutality Slammed id BAA21819; Fri, 12 Sep 1997 01:52:34 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the September 18, 1997 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- AT ANGRY BROOKLYN RALLY: COMMUNITY LAYS OUT DEMANDS TO QUASH POLICE BRUTALITY By Pat Chin Brooklyn, N.Y. The vicious beating and rape of a Haitian immigrant by New York City police was the backdrop for an important town meeting here on Sept. 9 to discuss independent strategies against police brutality. A coalition of Haitian groups sponsored the forum, which brought 400 people to the Rev. Herbert Daughtry's House of the Lord church. Sabine Albert introduced the many Haitian, African American and Afro-Caribbean speakers, who denounced the long history of police terror in this city that has worsened under the administration of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a former prosecutor. Speakers also denounced those within the oppressed communities who betray the class struggle by siding with the oppressors. "Police brutality is an issue of overriding concern," said Rev. Daughtry in his welcoming remarks. "There is not a Black or Latino family untouched by it." The four cops indicted for beating Haitian worker Abner Louima had been due to return to desk jobs at Brooklyn's 70th Precinct, "but that's not going to happen," announced Carl Thomas, one of Louima's lawyers. He said community pressure--there have been three large demonstrations--forced the department to keep officers Justin Volpe, Thomas Weise, Thomas Bruder and Charles Schwartz off duty for now. CALL FOR COMMUNITY CONTROL OF POLICE Daniel Simidor laid out some of the community's demands, which include repealing a law that gives killer cops 48 hours after an incident before they can be questioned. But, added Simidor, "the most important demand is community control of the police." Fanget Michael said: "This is not an isolated incident. This is business as usual for the NYPD." The Black youth named many people who have been killed by the cops over the years. Ben Dupuy, co-director of Haiti Progress newspaper and a spokesperson for Haiti's National Popular Assembly, pummeled the big-business media for pro-police coverage of the Louima attack. "We're fighting a system," said Dupuy. He announced a general strike in Haiti set for Sept. 30 to oppose the U.S./UN military occupation and the IMF/World Bank economic plan that Washington is trying to force on that already impoverished Caribbean country. "This coalition is not going to let things die," promised Dupuy. "We're going to mobilize until we get what we're looking for." "The struggle," said Viola Plummer of the December 12th Movement, "is fundamentally one between capital and labor." Plummer explained that there are no good cops, since the police are part and parcel of a system that must "keep the most oppressed communities oppressed." MORE ACTIONS PLANNED Workers World Party's Larry Holmes told of working with "progressive and rank-and-file trade unionists to get the labor movement more directly involved in the anti-police brutality struggle." Holmes announced a public meeting of labor activists against police brutality to be held at the Martin Luther King Labor Center on Oct. 3. "We can never forget all those who are still fighting for justice for their children," said Richie Perez of the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights. He introduced the families of police murder victims. Elombe Brath of the Patrice Lumumba Coalition traced the history of police brutality in the New York City area, show ing the link to the capitalist system. Michael Warren, lawyer for the family of Michael Stewart who was hog-tied and killed by the police, outlined how the cops work hand-in-hand with prosecutors, coroners and judges. Sonny Carson, a long-time leader in Brooklyn's African American community, proposed a demonstration for Sept. 30 to coincide with the general strike in Haiti. "We should get a lot of people to show up on Flatbush Avenue, and this time not let them"--the police--"know where we're going." Kim Ives of the Haiti Support Network told of police brutality committed in Haiti by New York City cops sent there to train the police force. It's not a question of one or two bad cops, said Ives. "The problem is systemic." A cultural performance by a Haitian women's musical group closed the program. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@workers.org. 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