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harlem, usa
same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Stop and Frisk Practice in Chicago has Higher Rates than New York City

the american civil liberties union (aclu) of illinois completed a study in march of this year. the aclu found the chicago police department (cpd) is unlawfully stopping a "shocking number of people," and they single out (racially profile) black and brown people.  

the aclu's compelling report showed "chicagoans were stopped more than four times as often as new yorkers at the height of new york city's stop and frisk practice." last summer, the cpd made over 250,000 stops - none led to arrests. black people constitute about 33% of the city's population, yet they accounted for nearly 75% of all stops. 

the cpd has increased pedestrian stops under the eye of police superintendent garry mccarthy. he spent much of his career in the new york police department and was the former police chief in newark, new jersey. both cities received court challenges. the cpd does not collect systematic data on all frisks or stops resulting in an arrest or ordinance violation.

the aclu made some recommendations, in order to cultivate trust in the black and brown community. they suggest the cpd: 1) collect data on all stops and frisks, and make them public; 2) provide regular training on legal requirements for stops and frisks; 3) require officers to issue a detailed receipt for every pedestrian stop.  

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