Ray Kelly Booed Off Stage During Brown University Talk

Ray Kelly Booed Off Stage During Speech at Brown University in Boston : "Racism is not for debate"

A student-led backlash to NYPD Police Commish Ray Kelly speaking at the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University had been brewing for days, The Wall Street Journal reported. Several student groups and Providence residents attempted to get the university to rescind Mr. Kelly's invitation, which was denied. "Mr. Kelly has been heralded for bringing crime in New York City to the lowest point in more than 50 years, but he has also been in the spotlight after a federal judge ruled that the NYPD's stop-and-frisk practice was unconstitutional because it disproportionately targets minorities," The Wall Street Journal report added. Watch the video of the heckling. One student shouts, "Racism is not for debate !"

• Video : Ray Kelly Heckled Off Stage At Brown University (Gothamist)
• Ray Kelly Booed Off Stage During Speech at Brown University (The Wall Street Journal)

During the recent Democratic primary race for the next mayoral administration in New York City, Mr. Kelly became the intense focus of criticism when former primary front-runner Christine Quinn expressed her unflinching support for Mr. Kelly's unconstitutional policies of racism and police brutality. Controversies over police procedures has been a hallmark of the Bloomberg-Quinn administration.

Christine Quinn and Michael Bloomberg File for Divorce

For 15 years, voters had to suffer through Christine Quinn's self-interested dealings as she hitched her political wagon to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Speaker Quinn's close working relationship with Mayor Bloomberg is turning off voters from supporting her mayoral campaign. Now that Speaker Quinn is desperate to rescue her political future, she is about to throw Mayor Bloomberg and his legacy under the bus. Her efforts to divorce herself from Mayor Bloomberg may be too little, too late.

Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn - Copyright 2013 by Louis Flores - Uncorrected Proof Not... by Connaissable

Christine Quinn NYPD Abner Louima Brutality Task Force Anniversary

Christine Quinn Watered Down Rudy Giuliani's Abner Louima NYPD Police Brutality Task Force Recommendations.

Quinn Then Went On To Enable NYPD Culture Of Racism And Brutality.

Before the evening of August 9, 1997, was out, NYPD police officers had brutalized and tortured Abner Louima inside a police station house in Brooklyn.

After the tremendous public outcry, then Mayor Rudy Giuliani appointed a police brutality task force, and among the task force members he named was Christine Quinn. She was one of the driving forces to weaken the task force's recommendations, and eventually her efforts lead to a split among the task force members.

The weaker recommendations, which Quinn championed, went on to be represented in a majority report of the task force, while a set of more aggressive recommendations were formulated in a minority report. Read this excerpt from a report published by The New York Daily News :

Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union and a task-force member, spearheaded a dissenting report that made a connection between race and police misconduct. "On issues like police brutality and race, you never compromise," Siegel said. But Quinn said her strategy was to make it easier for Mayor Giuliani who called some of the report's recommendations unrealistic to adopt reforms quickly in the wake of the sodomy and torture of Abner Louima, allegedly by police. (NYDailyNews * Saturday, February 20, 1999, 12:00 AM)

On the anniversary of Mr. Louima's torture and brutality, let us not forget who Speaker Quinn sides with.

Who's Been "Moving On Up" During the Bloomberg-Quinn Era ?

A new video posted on YouTube takes a satirical look of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s political record. The video is set to a Karaoke recording of ''Moving On Up'' -- the famous theme song from the hit sitcom, The Jeffersons, and the video uses sarcasm when Speaker Quinn denies some of the most controversial political choices she’s made.

Among the issues addressed in this short video are :

• the $30,000 in campaign contributions Speaker Quinn accepted from Rudin Management Company, which basically foreclosed on St. Vincent’s Hospital ;
• Speaker Quinn’s controversial support for police commissioner Ray Kelly, who oversaw a culture of racism and brutality at the NYPD ;
• Speaker Quinn’s controversial use of fictitious accounts to hide her political slush fund ; and
• the ever-changing rationale for extending term limits.

NSFW : Christine Quinn Ray Kelly Police Brutality Video

Christine Quinn Supports Ray Kelly.
Does She Endorse Police Brutality ?

A new video posted on YouTube shows New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn heaping praise on NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, even though the NYPD has had a record of racism and brutality under Commissioner Kelly. The new YouTube video shows six real examples of how law enforcement officers have a pattern of using excessive force.

Links to examples of excessive force used by NYPD and by peace officers :

• Peace Officers beat man in Queens (May 2012)
• NYPD beat man with club in LES (July 2008)
• NYPD shoves Critical Mass rider (July 2008)
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• Woman yanked by hair (Nov. 2011)
• OWS pepper spray attack (Sept. 2011)
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• Pitbull shot by police (Aug. 2012)
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Chapter 7 of Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn, which is being serialized this summer, addresses the NYPD’s history of violating the civil rights and civil liberties of activists. The conversation around reforming the NYPD needs to be enlarged to also address the police department’s persistent violations of civil rights and civil liberties. A task force should be empaneled with subpoena power and charged with investigating and issuing binding recommendations to finally overhaul the NYPD.

Since its debut on Scribd, a free preview of Roots of Betrayal : The Ethics of Christine Quinn has generated over 16,000 combined reads, and research from Volume I inspired Michael Grynbaum to write a front page article in The New York Times : Quinn’s History of Mastering the Insiders’ Game.

The Nation Article About Christine Quinn And Homonationalism

"There was even an 'LGBT against Quinn' contingent at last weekend’s @HeritageofPride march." http://t.co/dq16QIhZsx @thenation @Quinn4NY

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) July 7, 2013

From "The Powerful Lesson of New York's Police Oversight Law" (The Nation) :

"Then there was Christine Quinn, notorious for her vow to offer Police Commissioner Ray Kelly the same job. Perhaps she just is not that angry about how Kelly has treated Muslims and people of color New Yorkers, whether gay or straight. But the NYPD has also directly profiled queer people. It’s common for transgender and non-gender-conforming people to be stopped and arrested for prostitution simply for carrying condoms, and until recently many trans people were afraid to carry condoms for fear they could be used as evidence against them in court. I’m not alone in my ire for Quinn or my sense that she’s a flip-flopper (e.g., she voted no on 1080, but yes on 1079). There was even an “LGBT against Quinn” contingent at last weekend’s pride march. How depressing that a host of prominent gay and lesbians groups and activists—most recently Edith Windsor herself—have endorsed Quinn’s run for mayor. That’s homonationalism in action."

Will Bill Thompson Betray Black Voters on Stop-And-Frisk ?

New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Bill Thompson’s restrained approach to ending stop-and-frisk policing has paid dividends with the endorsement from a coalition of city law-enforcement unions, the NYTimes writes. (via City & State First Read)

From the NYTimes :

Jumaane D. Williams, a city councilman from Brooklyn who has sponsored legislation against stop-and-frisk tactics, bluntly suggested that Mr. Thompson was taking the allegiance of black voters for granted.

“I think he believes that the color of his skin is what’s needed to get to communities of color, rather than standing on the correct substance of issues,” he said.

Christine Quinn Caught In Stop-And-Frisk Trap

At tremendous political peril to Christine Quinn, the leader of the NAACP plans to make ''stop-and-frisk'' a major mayoral campaign issue.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has been so close and chummy with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's and NYPD Commish Ray Kelly's unconstitutional and racist policy of ''stop-and-frisk.'' She has been waging a neoliberal campaign that is hard on crime by being harder on people of color.

But now comes NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, who is sick and tired of the racial profiling that underpins the entire ''stop-and-frisk'' program, The New York Post reported.

Mr. Jealous "trashed" the stop-and-frisk program during remarks he made at Nazarene Congregational Church in Brooklyn yesterday, and Mr. Jealous's comments were seen as criticism of Mayor Bloomberg's and Police Commissioner Kelly's ill-conceived support for the use of stop-and-frisk. Indeed, Mr. Jealous portrayed Mayor Bloomberg and Commish Kelly as "villains."

“We intend to ensure through every legal means that stop-and-frisk becomes a thing of the past with the next mayor of this town,” Mr. Jealous said.

Three of the four major Democratic candidates — Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and former city Comptroller Bill Thompson — have all said the practice should be reformed but not scrapped. Quinn has yet to take a position on a package of bills before the Council to scale back the program.

City Comptroller John Liu wants to abolish stop-and-frisk altogether.

Jealous also said he wants the next mayor to get rid of Kelly, who consistently polls higher among Democrats than any elected official.

Quinn has signaled she would keep Kelly on board if she won the race and Kelly was willing to stay.

Her competitors in the primary have not made the same commitment.

For her past support of Commish Kelly and for going along with fully funding the NYPD's stop-and-frisk program all these many years -- over 3.7 million stop-and-frisks have occurred whilst Christine Quinn has been speaker of the City Council -- Speaker Quinn has been targeted by activists for enabling the NYPD's discrimination against people of color. (Another blog post about the protest against Christine Quinn's support of stop-and-frisk.)

Read more : Christine Quinn Caught in Stop-and-Frisk Political Trap

Who Is Josh Isay ?

The Man Pulling The Levers, Turning The Knobs, And Flipping The Switches Behind The Curtain

Josh Isay is New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's campaign spokesman. Mr. Isay is a major political consultant in New York and Albany, with an outlet in Washington. He is one of Sen. Charles Schumer's main political consultants and advisors. So, when we wonder : why is it that no matter who gets elected, nothing seems to change, it is because the paid political consultants are the ones who keep pushing politicians into certain agendas that make them "electable." Who is advising Speaker Quinn to make these backroom deals, to keep NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, in spite of the fact that we need a federal commission to investigate the NYPD ?

When all of us keep working to demand reforms from government, who are the people behind the scenes, who are saying, "No." We only see Christine Quinn, but do we ever know to take a look at who is Josh Isay. Josh Isay worked for Bill Rudin. When the community kept demanding a full-service hospital to replace St. Vincent's, Josh Isay was advising Christine Quinn that it was O.K. to make the community of the Lower West Side of Manhattan into paws in their game to help Josh Isay's other clients, the Rudin Family. And when we wonder what happened to Speaker Quinn's former progressive roots, all you have to do is to look at her political advisors. If you vote for Speaker Quinn, because you are under the impression that you are going to get the "old" Christine Quinn of 13 or 14 years ago, then I invite you to please take a look at who decides what Speaker Quinn is allowed to do.

Read more : Who is Josh Isay ?

Reaction To Christine Quinn's Secret Campaign Deal With Ray Kelly

Joe.My.God. Readers React To Christine Quinn's ''Secret Deal'' To Keep NYPD Commish Ray Kelly Out Of Mayoral Race

On Joe.My.God.'s blog post today, several readers posted comments criticising New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's backroom deal with Commissioner Raymond Kelly :

''Christine Quinn is a great example of why we shouldn't just blindly vote for someone just because they are LGBT,'' wrote KT.

''Quinn has been saying for more than a year now that the next mayor should ask Kelly to stay on. Apparently, Christine is a big fan of Stop and Frisk,'' wrote band.

''This all reminds me of the ending of The Devil Wears Prada,'' wrote Joe.My.God.

The tone of the blog post and the comments was very critical of Speaker Quinn for making backroom deals, for supporting Commissioner Kelly, and for supporting stop-and-frisk.

PBA Run Advertisements So They Won't Have To Change NYPD Culture, Stop-And-Frisk, Ticket-Fixing

All of a sudden now, the NYPD are worried about their "public relations." They are worried enough to pay thousands of dollars for advertisements, but not worried enough to change the policies, which give them the bad reputation that they have.

Our demand is that the City Council defund the NYPD of the resources that allows police to carry on their unconstitutional and discriminatory policy of using "stop-and-frisk" unfairly and illegally towards minority communities.

Join us on Sunday at 1 pm in Jackson Heights for a protest against one of the chief political enablers of the "stop-and-frisk" policy : March Against Christine Quinn and Stop-And-Frisk.

Each and every year, @chriscquinn approves the #NYPD budget without defunding #stopandfrisk facebook.com/events/2573144… @endstopfrisknow

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) December 24, 2012

Protest Against Christine Quinn and Stop and Frisk

Since she became Speaker of City Council, over 3.7 million New Yorkers have been stopped and frisked. Why is this acceptable ?

This is a sign of leadership failure.

Join us as we march and make the demand that City Council defund the NYPD of the resources so that the police can no longer continue their unconstitutional practice of stopping and frisking mostly innocent people of color.

Bring whistles. We will meet at 74th Street and Roosevelt Ave. in Jackson Heights, Queens. We will then march along Roosevelt Ave. -- and blow our whistles on stop-and-frisk !

Speaker Quinn seems to play a budget game with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, which follows tactics that scare people into thinking that the mayor will cut the NYPD budget. But it is all a game to score political points with voters, and it has nothing to do with real public safety or protection of our civil liberties and civil rights.

Protesta contra parar y revisar -- y contra Christine Quinn

Desde que se hizo la presidenta del Concejo Municipal, más de 3,7 millones de neoyorquinos se han pasado por el programa de policía de "parar y revisar." ¿Por qué es esto aceptable?

Únase a nosotros para marchar y exigir que el Concejo Municipal reduce los recursos proporcionados a la policía de Nueva York que permite a la policía para continuar con su práctica inconstitucional de "parar y revisar" a personas inocentes.

Traiga pitos. Nos reuniremos en la calle 74 y la Avenida Roosevelt. Entonces, nos marcharemos a lo largo de la avenida Roosevelt. Y soplamos nuestros pitos contra la programa de "parar y revisar."

Christine Quinn and Stop-And-Frisk : How Am I Doing ?

NEW YORK (AP) — The police practice known as stop and frisk has been part of the New York Police Department's crime-fighting strategy since the early 1990s, but the number of stops shot up in the last decade. The vast majority of those stopped have been black or Hispanic.

Since she became Speaker of City Council, over 3.7 million New Yorkers have been stopped and frisked. Why is this acceptable ?

Take a 5 seconds to like us on Facebook : Queers Against Christine Quinn

A look at the numbers:

2002

Number of stops: 97,296

2003

Number of stops: 160,851

Demographics: 54 percent of those stopped were black, 31 percent Hispanic.

2004

Number of stops: 313,523

Demographics: 55 percent of those stopped were black, 32 percent Hispanic.

2005

Number of stops: 398,191

Demographics: 54 percent of those stopped were black, 32 percent Hispanic.

2006

Number of stops: 506,491

Demographics: 53 percent of those stopped were black, 29 percent Hispanic.

2007

Number of stops: 472,096

Demographics: 54 percent of those stopped were black, 31 percent Hispanic.

2008

Number of stops: 540,302

Demographics: 53 percent of those stopped were black, 32 percent Hispanic.

2009

Number of stops: 581,168

Demographics: 55 percent of those stopped were black, 32 percent Hispanic.

2010

Number of stops: 601,285

Demographics: 54 percent of those stopped were black, 33 percent Hispanic.

2011

Number of stops: 685,724

Demographics: 53 percent of those stopped were black, 34 percent Hispanic.

2012 (first six months)

Number of stops as of June 30: 337,434

Demographics: 53 percent of those stopped were black, 32 percent Hispanic.

___

Source: New York Police Department and New York Civil Liberties Union

Related : Quinn Says Next Mayor Would Be ‘Lucky’ To Have Kelly Stay As Commish

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NYPD Arrest Political Drone Poster Artist

From Gawker :

Essam Attia is the New York street artist responsible for placing fake NYPD ads reading "Drones: Protection When You Least Expect It" around town. In September, he gave a video interview to Animal NY, with his identity and voice obscured, in which he discussed this project and his art in general. Wednesday morning, the NYPD arrested him at home.

The NYDN reports that he's charged with "56 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument, grand larceny possession of stolen property and weapons possession," the last (and possibly worst) charge coming because cops found an unloaded .22 pistol under his bed when they arrested him. On a practical level, Attia was not the most careful art criminal. He signed his work "ESSAM;" and he told Animal that he was a "a 29-year-old art-school grad from Maine, who served in Iraq as a 'geo-spatial analyst.'" It probably did not take an incredible amount of police work to narrow down the possibilities.

Still—great work by the NYPD to prove Essam's point: you are all being watched. Poke humor at the ALL SEEING GOVERNMENT EYE, and it will make you pay. IT KNOWS ALL. In the Animal interview, author Matt Harvey noted, "He agrees that there is an inherent irony in his spoofs: the very fact that the NYPD (which claims to be strongly pursuing him with their 'counter terrorism squad') hasn't caught him yet, is proof that we have not reached a state of Orwellian control."

Ah.... cancel that.

[Photo via Animal]

Still no statement by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn about whether the New York Police Department will ever put into active use a squadron of unmanned drones against its own citizens, much less about the First Amendment violations stemming from the NYPD's arrest of the street artist.

Ray Kelly Stop And Frisk Awards Ceremony

Members of Stop Stop & Frisk, #OWS, and students at Columbia present NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly with the 2011 Bull Connor Award, for excellence in cracking down on people of color. At Columbia University's SIPA, Matthew Swaye thanks the world's top cop for the privileges his administration affords heterosexual white men.

Bull Connor was the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, during the American Civil Rights Movement. He took covert actions to enforce racial segregation and deny civil rights to African American citizens

Ramarley Graham Murdered By NYPD

NYPD Undercover Police Kill An Unarmed Teen -- Sparks Outrage In New York City

Ramarley Graham, 18, was shot and killed in his grandmother's Bronx apartment in yet another example of NYPD's aggressive police tactics that targets and murders innocent men of colour. The police officer responsible for this latest murder has been identified as Richard Haste. Video by Gary Anthony Ramsay from PressTV.