NYPD’s Disparate Response to Protests
Earlier this month, there were protests in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn that violated COVID-19 restrictions, set fires in the streets, and saw a mob attack a journalist — all while the NYPD was on the scene. The incidents were in response to restrictions imposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on specific communities experiencing a resurgence in COVID-19 infections. A couple of weeks prior, a human rights organization’s report exposed the violent oppressive response the NYPD executed against protesters during a planned protest in the Bronx in June, organized in response to the continuing legacies of systemic racism and police brutality.
While the Bronx protesters hadn’t been violent, didn’t set anything aflame or attack any member of the public, the NYPD responded by “kettling” those protesters, a tactic where a wall is formed to prevent the crowd from continuing forward while another wall encloses them from the rear. The cops then assaulted the trapped protesters with batons and pepper sprayed them, leaving many bloodied, including medics and legal observers. The disparity in the response to these two protests reveal a troubling picture and outlook for our community, and we now must respond in kind.
The community in Borough Park took to the streets this month in response to the perceived targeting by the governor. Cuomo issued an executive order returning specific areas of New York City to full shutdown, as was in place during the city’s initial surge of COVID-19 infections in March. A communal outcry is justifiable for a community that has historically been targeted for victimization by the power structure and forced to endure unspeakable horrors. In such cases, self-defense against oppression becomes a necessary tool for survival. Calling out targeted oppression is an instinctual survival mechanism.
Cuomo’s executive order is a response to the recent uptick of COVID-19 infections. Its intention is to avoid a resurgence of infections, and avoid the enormous strain on the city's ability to respond to the health crisis. New York City has been targeted by the power structure: by the Trump administration, which has sought to withhold federal funds that could be appropriated to defend against the resurgence, thus putting the population of the city back into harm’s way, possibly costing many lives and adding to the strain on hospitals. Self-defense becomes the mechanism for survival for New Yorkers. The response of imposing restrictions becomes a vital cog in holding back a second wave of the pandemic.
The community leaders of Borough Park announced on social media that there would be a demonstration against this perceived targeted oppression. The NYPD’s response was to deploy officers to the scene, and they are visible in the video recordings from this month’s protests. Despite clear violations of COVID-19 restrictions, despite setting fires, and despite a mob attacking a journalist, the NYPD’s response during the protest was…nothing. Not one person was arrested. No swarms of officers in riot gear. No violently aggressive attempts to inflict bodily harm on protesters.
Their response was to allow the protest to take place no matter how it shaped itself. For the people that suffered lingering injuries at the earlier Mott Haven protest, whose bodies will never recover to the point they were before the police viciously attacked them, that pain stings just as much — especially knowing NYPD’s response was completely unnecessary and unjustifiable, and that the police had the capacity to allow the protests to continue, just as they did in Borough Park.
A community that has been targeted for oppression through racist policing policies, such as the so-called “Broken Windows Policy”, and whose stereotypes are reinforced by arrest quotas which disproportionately funnel people of color through the criminal justice system, are being doubly aggrieved by the targeting of NYPD riot response units which could have just “stood down” like they chose to do in Borough Park.
Our community leaders should be denouncing the disproportionate responses of the NYPD. Those charged with representing these communities now neglect them through their silence. It is clear from the swell of protests across the country that people of color are demanding their voices be heard, and that injustices be highlighted and addressed. Local leaders are not heeding the people’s calls. They are not responding in kind. Bronx Democratic Party Chairperson and State Sen. Jamaal T. Bailey tweeted ten times about the Lakers during game 6 of the NBA finals, but not once over the past few weeks about the Human Rights Watch’s report on the NYPD’s assault on Bronx protesters. Interestingly, he is on the ballot on Nov. 3.
This article is not against the protests, or against the protesters. If anything, I stand firmly in defense of the right of an aggrieved community to organize and collectively express their voice to the overarching political leaders. In fact, I implore everyone to organize to address the concerns of their communities. We are very much aware of what is at stake nationally in the upcoming election. There are many movements afoot to mobilize eligible voters to get involved. However, there is just as much at stake at the local level, especially for New Yorkers.
There are local politicians and community leaders who have decided to blind themselves to the realities of average New Yorkers. Their silence is complicity. We must hold our local community leaders responsible in all the same ways that we must hold our nation’s leader responsible, and we must do so by first holding ourselves responsible for those that we select to represent us. There is much more at stake on Nov. 3 than who occupies the White House. It is our responsibility to make sure that we move the right people to Washington DC, and also much closer to home.
