RNC letter to Bloomberg
Sep. 3rd, 2004 04:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kimberkit(cross posted to real journal)
So -- I'm writing a letter to my mayor telling him why his handling of the RNC protests was excessive to the point of ridiculousness. If anyone would like to critique it, I would appreciate that...
Mike, a friend of mine, was arrested in a peaceful anti-pollution demonstration he wasn't even a part of. Josh, a friend of Jesse's, was thrown into solitary confinement, and has been kept there since Sunday, based on charges that appear to be totally trumped up. It's police brutality, sponsored by Mayor Bloomberg.
My draft of the letter appears below -- I'm going to handwrite it and mail it on Saturday.
Dear Mayor Bloomberg,
Throughout your term as mayor of New York City, I have supported your political initiative. I cheered when you promised to strengthen the city and its image, post 9/11. I approved of your anti-smoking campaign. I believed in you as someone who had funded anti-domestic violence programs. So it is with a certain amount of disbelief and horror that I examine your handling of the recent Republican National Convention protests.
Nearly 1,500 arrests have been made by the New York City police department during the week of the convention. Police have arrested hundreds of innocent bystanders and peaceful protesters; the New York Times, Newsday, and several independent webloggers' accounts have all confirmed unwarranted police aggression and overzealousness in the arrests of this week. In fact, before the convention had even begun, police arbitrarily arrested 264 protesters at Critical Mass, an anti-pollution bicycle demonstration that has had a history of peaceful gathering in New York. Demonstrators and innocent passersby who had been standing on the sidelines spent over 30 hours in holding cells, suffering chemical burns and trauma.
Mayor Bloomberg, you have historically encouraged peaceful protest - Peaceful Political Activist buttons are given to tourists when they enter the visitor center in New York. Yet the recent arrest of Josh Kinberg, for chalking water-soluble messages on the sidewalk, sets a frightening tone for what I can actually do in my city. One cannot walk down the street in Manhattan without feeling threatened, rather than protected, by the teeming hordes of police who give out menacing glares all around. How can I trust the police under your office?
During the convention itself, the police arrested hundreds more peaceful protesters, including several hundred from the War Resisters League that had previously negotiated with police as to whether they could proceed in a march that would not obstruct foot traffic. People have been thrown into holding cells for days without being charged; in the case of Josh Banno, they have been put into solitary confinement based on charges that are not clearly rooted in any sort of event-based or eyewitness testimony.
Mr. Bloomberg, I am severely disappointed in your supervision and handling of the New York City police department at a time when the country's eye is upon us. You certainly have lost my confidence.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
(my name here)
So -- I'm writing a letter to my mayor telling him why his handling of the RNC protests was excessive to the point of ridiculousness. If anyone would like to critique it, I would appreciate that...
Mike, a friend of mine, was arrested in a peaceful anti-pollution demonstration he wasn't even a part of. Josh, a friend of Jesse's, was thrown into solitary confinement, and has been kept there since Sunday, based on charges that appear to be totally trumped up. It's police brutality, sponsored by Mayor Bloomberg.
My draft of the letter appears below -- I'm going to handwrite it and mail it on Saturday.
Dear Mayor Bloomberg,
Throughout your term as mayor of New York City, I have supported your political initiative. I cheered when you promised to strengthen the city and its image, post 9/11. I approved of your anti-smoking campaign. I believed in you as someone who had funded anti-domestic violence programs. So it is with a certain amount of disbelief and horror that I examine your handling of the recent Republican National Convention protests.
Nearly 1,500 arrests have been made by the New York City police department during the week of the convention. Police have arrested hundreds of innocent bystanders and peaceful protesters; the New York Times, Newsday, and several independent webloggers' accounts have all confirmed unwarranted police aggression and overzealousness in the arrests of this week. In fact, before the convention had even begun, police arbitrarily arrested 264 protesters at Critical Mass, an anti-pollution bicycle demonstration that has had a history of peaceful gathering in New York. Demonstrators and innocent passersby who had been standing on the sidelines spent over 30 hours in holding cells, suffering chemical burns and trauma.
Mayor Bloomberg, you have historically encouraged peaceful protest - Peaceful Political Activist buttons are given to tourists when they enter the visitor center in New York. Yet the recent arrest of Josh Kinberg, for chalking water-soluble messages on the sidewalk, sets a frightening tone for what I can actually do in my city. One cannot walk down the street in Manhattan without feeling threatened, rather than protected, by the teeming hordes of police who give out menacing glares all around. How can I trust the police under your office?
During the convention itself, the police arrested hundreds more peaceful protesters, including several hundred from the War Resisters League that had previously negotiated with police as to whether they could proceed in a march that would not obstruct foot traffic. People have been thrown into holding cells for days without being charged; in the case of Josh Banno, they have been put into solitary confinement based on charges that are not clearly rooted in any sort of event-based or eyewitness testimony.
Mr. Bloomberg, I am severely disappointed in your supervision and handling of the New York City police department at a time when the country's eye is upon us. You certainly have lost my confidence.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
(my name here)
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 06:23 pm (UTC)