On Tuesday, New York City’s top cop chided the city’s black and Latino communities for not showing their utter condemnation of the levels of violence in their communities.
“I think there should be an outcry that 96 percent of the shooting victims in this city are black or Latino,” Commissioner Ray Kelly said at a Police Athletic League event in Harlem. “There doesn’t seem to be any major community response, or demonstrations. We have not had a demonstration about this 3-year-old child. We haven’t had a demonstration about the level of violence. We’ve had demonstrations about virtually every other issue in this city except the level of violence, particularly in certain communities.”
The 3-year-old Kelly referred to is little Isaiah Rivera, who was shot in the leg on Sunday while playing in a sprinkler. Two men have been charged with attempted murder, but police are still looking for a third suspect.
Isaiah’s parents said the shooting has made them strong supporters of Commissioner Kelly’s controversial stop-and-frisk.
“They need to do it more often,” said the boy’s mother, Tiffiney Monajas. His father, José Rivera, believes the program “could have stopped this person, whoever did this, from having a gun.”
The police commissioner said the response to 77 New Yorkers being shot last week — a 28 percent jump over the same period last year — reveals that the black and Latino communities have come to “passively accept it.” In a later statement, Mayor Bloomberg agreed.
Of course, leaders of the black and Latino have responded — to Kelly’s comments.
State Sen. Eric Adams of Brooklyn resents Kelly painting black leaders as though they “don’t care about the safety of their community.” Melissa Mark Viverito, a city councilwoman whose district includes Spanish Harlem, told reporters that a rejection of the stop-and-frisk program isn’t equivalent to an acceptance of high levels of gun violence. “To imply that we don’t care just because we don’t agree with [stop-and-frisk] is irresponsible and inflammatory.”
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What? No way! How can they say that? We are more on edge because we have to live it. Many of us have to live with the dangers of it in our neighborhoods…That is such a racist remark for the NYPD to even dare to say. I am in disbelief.
The police is the one with the most relaxed attitude towards gun violence, really.
PR (public relations) CRAP !
Way to alienate your constituents, NYPD…
No…. The community probably isn’t saying anything to the police because maybe they’re undocumented and they’re scared they’ll get deported. This is exactly what happens when police start deporting people for questionable things. I know someone who was a witness to a crime and went to the police and got deported because they found out he was here illegally.
Some of the blame falls on the parents of the young people shooting! Come on!!! You mean to tell me you had no clue your kid was up to something no good. Please!!!
1) Maybe there is a perception of “acceptance”, but what can you really do when it is your everyday neighborhood reality – at some point you learn how to cope. 2) If the NYPD had a trusting relationship with communities of color, then perhaps more people would come forward with information and be open to working with city officials to stop the violence rather then finding personal coping skills. 3) Stop-and-Frisk does not help build trust between the NYPD and communities of color. 4) how about putting the focus ON PREVENTIVE programming that gets kids involved in stuff before the streets get to them. Then we don’t even have to deal with these issues when they get older.
*actually there is way more types of preventative programming that could happen to prevent violence then just getting kids engaged. but we can start there
when in the Bronx only 25% of residents finish High School and 17 % finish college what do you expect
Sadly yes, since blacks and Latinos are unfortunately the biggest purveyors of this kind of violence towards others and amongst themselves. It sounds racist to say so, but sometimes reality bites.
Many of these shootings also occur in areas that range from lower middle class to outright poor, but look for an NYPD presence in poorer neighborhoods and let me know what you find. I live in a decently affluent area now but I didn’t always, and I’ve had friends (fellow Latinas) from some of the toughest areas in Brooklyn. I had a friend that never let me ever visit her because there were shootings and gangs all over. She always came to me. Where I live now, there’s visible police presence…and there’s also money in the neighborhood. When people are scared and they feel like they can’t trust the cops…let alone find them…what does he expect?
But the cops are scumbags!
When the cops finally show up after the fact and the culprit is no where to be found, they rely on witnesses. And 99% of the time no one wants to endanger themselves or their family out of fear if retaliation! That’s the core of the matter! Fact is the nypd doesn’t care about Hispanics and Blacks killing eachother. Okay let’s say you try to do the right thing and tell the police who has or had an illegal firearm. Then you have to make an official statement. Then maybe go to court. And everyone sees you and hears your name. Who really believes these cops are gonna protect them?! Please!! This whole charade is just an illusion to make people believe that the nypd is trying to do something about gun control. Some pencil pusher who probably doesn’t have a single Latino friend thought this would be a good way to stir the pot. It takes No actual effort and No monetary support of any kind.
Opposing gun violence and supporting NY’s stop and frisk policy are two completely different things. The list goes on of reasons that there are higher levels of gun violence in the hood/barrio- stemming from education, poverty, distrust of authority, a racist prison industrial complex, etc- but why would any person of color support stop and frisk when 9 out of 10 people that have been stopped under the policy have been either black or Latino? Stop and frisk is nothing more but an urban version of policies like SB1070 that operate under the intimidation of racial profiling all the while function under the guise of a policy meant to secure our communities. Colorlines has some really great articles on the subject, I highly recommend them.
lindisima kosita beya
Police presence in the poorer communities are there, maybe not in their readily observable RMPs, but incognito. That said, Commissioner Kelly is right. The Hispanic and black community must now accept responsibility for the crimes in the community. Mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. Can’t blame the white man or racism for these crimes. You want to blame Stop & Frisk and “overzealous” police officers, and then watch your community go to shit. And then you blame police officers for not living in the community. Well, look at Officer Nelson Vergara for inspiration. He’s an officer at the 3-3 and lives in the 4-6, and three ago he got shot and wounded his attackers and arrested one himself. How about MTA Officer John Barnett, stabbed in the eye, killed his attacker. What I’m saying here is that it’s a harsh world out there, and you can’t go around blaming the po-po for everything. They are human beings too, and they want to go home at the end of their shift without injury or worse. I know I do.