Activist Calls Controversial Judge “White Racist Pig,” Sent to Rikers
Activist Calls Controversial Judge “White Racist Pig,” Sent to Rikers
Contact: Nick 631-278-9472
New York, May 15, 2012 — Stop Mass Incarceration Network — Occupy Wall Street/Stop Stop and Frisk activist Christina Gonzalez was arrested in court and sentenced to ten days in jail on Friday by Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge John H. Wilson, who charged her with “contempt of court.”
The confrontation with Judge Wilson began when Ms. Gonzalez, charged with obstruction of government administration and disorderly conduct for her participation in a Brownsville Stop Stop-and-Frisk action last November, stood in the aisle to ask court clerks if a fax memo had been received indicating her attorney’s inability to be in court that day. The judge yelled at her to sit down, and then asked the court officers to remove her to the area outside the courtroom.
When her case was called about an hour later, Ms. Gonzalez attempted to reenter the courtroom, not knowing that the Judge had not intended for her to return at all. Without warning, the Judge immediately ordered for her to be handcuffed. She became indignant at what appeared to be an arbitrary abuse of power in the courtroom and asked another defendant to call her employer since she “was being arrested by a white racist pig.” With court still in session, Judge Wilson demanded that she apologize. Ms. Gonzalez refused, stating that in good conscience she could not. The Judge abruptly found her in contempt, and immediately had her taken into custody. A bystander in the courthouse who filmed the incident was also arrested. Ms. Gonzalez is currently serving her sentence on Rikers Island.
Fellow activists were appalled at the Judge’s actions and impressed by the courage Ms. Gonzalez displayed in the courtroom. ”Too often in court, in front of the police, we do not speak up because as hard as we try, the submissiveness is ingrained into us,” said fellow defendant Nick Malinowski. ”So few people are willing to act on their beliefs before systems of authority. We all should behave this way.” Another defendant, Matthew Swaye, called her a “prisoner of conscience.”
Judge Wilson stirred up controversy in 2006 with the publication of Hot House Flowers, a children’s book about illegal immigration. In the story, the illegal immigrants, represented by dandelions, use up water, soil, and sunlight to the detriment of the native flowers in the hot house. Critics have called the book an “ugly allegory” and say it teaches intolerance and xenophobia.
Twenty Stop Stop-and-Frisk protestors, including Mr. Swaye, were convicted earlier this month on charges of disorderly conduct in Manhattan Criminal Court, following their participation in an October 21st rally in front of Harlem’s 28th Police Precinct. On the witness stand, the activists continued to publicly deliver the message, voiced in the streets, that the NYPD stop-and-frisk policy is racist, illegal, and unconstitutional. The Friday court date related to a civil disobedience action the same group had taken on November 1st in Brooklyn.
Photo © Erik Mc Gregor -erikrivas@hotmail.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/occupywallstreet/7005813441/
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The Stop Mass Incarceration Network was formed in 2011 by Cornel West and Carl Dix, among others, to address racist, illegal, and abusive NYPD practices. Stop Stop + Frisk holds the NYPD accountable with community support, a holistic critique of the Prison Industrial Complex, cop watch, and civil disobedience.
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This project is organized by the Resilience Advocacy Project. For guidelines click here.
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Ramarley Graham’s Family Accused NYPD of Harassment Before Shooting
peoplesmovement:
The family of Ramarley Graham had been advised to move from Harlem to the Bronx by community leaders who feared they had become the target of an NYPD harassment campaign.The advice was given just a couple of months before Graham was shot dead in his bathroom by an officer.
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Hundreds Rally Against Prison Industrial Complex And Mass Incarceration – THE NEW JIM CROW!
WBAI’s Radio Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report
Monday, March 5, 2012, 7- 8 pm EST, over 99.5 FM
or streaming live at http://www.wbai.org
Produced & Hosted by Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash
********************************
Hundreds Rally Against Prison Industrial Complex And Mass Incarceration –
THE NEW JIM CROW!
The Occupy Wall Street Prisoner Solidarity Subcommittee along with hundreds
of allies heeded Occupy Oakland’s call to action and marched in solidarity with
Pelican Bay prisoner’s hunger strike protest, with brothers and sisters who are
dispossessed by the criminal INJUSTICE system, with immigrant detainees
and with political prisoners everywhere. They raised their voices against the
growth of the privatization of the prison system and mass incarceration –
the New Jim Crow. The characterization of the system of mass incarceration
as the New Jim Crow raises the racist nature of the prison system, pointing out
that between 1970 and 1995, the jailing of African Americans increased seven
fold. African Americans make up 12% of the U.S. population - and 53% of the
nation’s prison population. There are more African Americans enslaved under
correctional control today - in prison or jail; on probation or parole - than there
were in 1850.
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Federal Agents Arrest Workers Fighting Sweatshop Conditions
With
Jei Fong, Chinese Staff and Workers Association
and
Sarah Ahn, The Justice Will Be Served! Campaign
Yes Car Service livery drivers went to the government to expose their employers’
illegal practices; labor law violations and tax fraud. Instead of investigating these
complaints, federal agents engaged in a campaign of harassment against the
workers, arresting them, and threatening others with jail and deportation to force
them to retract their complaints. Now workers and community organizations
are demanding that US Attorney General Eric Holder stop the attack on workers
who file complaints with government agencies, prosecute the federal government
agents for their wrongdoing, and ensure the right of all workers to complain to
government agencies regardless of their immigration status.
*********************
Protest Demands MTA Brings Back Laid Off Workers
With
Transport Workers Local 100
and
OWS Labor Outreach Committee
TWU Local 100, elected officials, and community supporters called on the MTA to
use nearly $500 million dollars in its GASB 45 Fund to restore services cut in 2010,
and to rehire 120 laid-off Station Agents, and settle a fair contract for 38,000 TWU
Local 100 members. According to MTA budget documents, the agency holds
approximately $489 million in a reserve fund called the GASB 45 Fund (Government
Accounting Standards Board). Since 2006, the MTA has been depositing tens of
millions of dollars every year in this account. Even in 2010, when bus and subway
services were reduced or eliminated al-together, the MTA stashed money away
instead of drawing from its reserve fund to avoid service cuts.
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Thousands To Join The Line And Say “NO MORE PINK SLIPS”
With
Arthur Cheliotes, President, Communications Workers , Local 1180
Arthur Cheliotes, will discuss and urge you to Join the Line. Be there Super Tuesday
March 6, from 8:14 to 8:28 am to form the world’s longest unemployment line for
14 minutes - 1 minute for each of the 1 million currently unemployed Americans. This
visually stunning and politically significant form of protest symbolizes the 14 million
Americans who lost their jobs during the last five years, and the 10 -15 million people
who have given up hope of finding a job and are not even counted in current
unemployment statistics. More people were living in poverty last year than in any year
since the Census Bureau began keeping records half a century ago, while the richest
1% has tripled its wealth and corporations are being bailed out without giving back.
So Join the Line, a creative action where we will stretch are arms and join together to
say, No to Pink Slips, Yes to Government and Business Putting America Back to Work!
*************************
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“Mass Incarceration + Silence = Genocide”
Stop Mass Incarceration Network’s Carl Dix’s presentation “Mass Incarceration + Silence = Genocide,” at The Riverside Church on February 18th: http://vimeo.com/37254933
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PEOPLES’ JUSTICE OPEN COP WATCH TRAINING
CALLING ON THE BRONX AND ALL OF NYC TO WATCH THE COPS
PEOPLES’ JUSTICE OPEN COP WATCH TRAINING
When: Mon. Feb 27, 6:30-8:30pm
Where: The POINT, (Hunts Point, Bronx)
Address: 940 Garrison Ave
Directions: 6 Train to Hunts Point Ave (http://www.thepoint.org/directions.php)
*Free refreshments*
*Childcare available*
Who should attend:
*Folks who are tired of watching police violence in their neighborhoods and schools
*Folks who wanna talk with their communities about the issues they face
*Folks who wanna get involved in Peoples’ Justice (http://www.peoplesjustice.org) or Communities United for Police Reform (http://changethenypd.org/)
*Groups of 3-5 who want to start Cop Watch teams.
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