News
NAACP, 1199 SEIU, National Action Network To Announce Father’s Day Silent March to End Stop and Frisk
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 14, 2012
Contact: Derek Turner, NAACP 202.292.3383
Leah Gonzalez, 1199 SEIU, 212.603.1190
Rachel Noerdlinger, National Action Network 646.981.5903
NAACP, 1199 SEIU, NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK TO ANNOUNCE FATHERS’ DAY SILENT MARCH TO END STOP AND FRISK
-THOUSANDS OF CIVIL RIGHTS, LABOR, FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS & COMMUNITY LEADERS TO SILENTLY PROTEST RACIAL PROFILING BY NYPD-
NEW YORK, NY– NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous, 1199 SEIU President George Gresham and Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network will join civil rights leaders, faith leaders, and elected officials on Tuesday, May 15 in Foley Square to announce a “Silent March to End Stop and Frisk.” The March, to be held on Father’s Day, June 17th, will protest the discriminatory, humiliating and ineffective New York Police Department policy known as “Stop and Frisk” that affects hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, each year.
WHAT: Press Conference to announce details for Silent March to End Stop & Frisk
WHEN: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 10:00am
WHERE: Foley Square (Between Lafayette & Centre Street)
WHO:
Benjamin Jealous, President and CEO, National NAACP
George Gresham, President, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
Rev. Al Sharpton, Civil Rights Activist/Founder of National Action Network
Marian Wright Edelman, President, Children’s Defense Fund
Donna Lieberman, Executive Director, New York Civil Liberties Union
Dr. Hazel N. Dukes, President, NAACP New York State Conference
Constance Malcolm, Mother of slain teenager Ramarley Graham
Joo-Hyun Kang, Communities United for Police Reform
Jazz Hayden, Campaign to End the New Jim Crow
Javier Valdez, Co-Executive Director, Make the Road New York
NYPD’s Stop and Frisk policy allows officials to stop and pat down any individual based on suspicion alone. Blacks and Latinos are nine times as likely as whites to be stopped, and the vast majority of those frisked are innocent. In 2011 alone, the NYPD stopped and questioned 685,000 people. Of those, 605,000 walked away with no charges.
Racial profiling is a concern for New Yorkers of every background because it is discriminatory and does not keep our neighborhoods safe. The murder of Trayvon Martin in Florida has underscored the tragic consequences of racial profiling. Here in New York, the killing of unarmed teenager Ramarley Graham in February shows that little has changed since the shootings of Patrick Dorismond, Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell.
The tradition of silent marches for civil rights dates back to 1917, when the NAACP held the nation’s first silent march in New York City to protest lynchings, segregation and race riots in the South. That march, led by W. E. B. DuBois, led thousands silently down Fifth Avenue, and became an iconic symbol of strength in the face of injustice.
For more information please visit www.silentmarchnyc.org
