In Their Own Words
Part 3: Daily Disrespect
“The Biggest Gang Here in New York City”: From Serve and Protect to Patrol and Control
Note: PROP originally published this report in May 2013. It is available in .pdf format from the PROP website. PROP is republishing it here in multiple parts to make its content more widely available and in the hope of spreading its findings and message. This report is even more relevant in light of continued public protests and discourse on biased policing practices in NYC and the United States.
“[Cops] talk to you like you’re ignorant, like you’re an animal.” Christopher A. Chadwick, 20-year-old college student.36
“[The cops] said, ‘Pull up your hoodie and turn around,’ to see if I had a gun. Being from an Arab country, I take it more personally, especially after my service.” Rachiq Yassine, Moroccan immigrant and street vendor, who served three tours in Iraq with the US Army.37
“[The cops] treat you like trash. You can’t even speak because once they’re mad at you, you go to jail.” Shavell Notice, Bronx resident.38
“I felt like I couldn’t defend myself, didn’t know what to do. No witnesses there to see what was going on. I just wish someone was there to witness it. I felt like no one would believe me. I couldn’t tell anyone. I kept it in till now… I still am scared.” Keenan H., on his beating by NYPD Officers.39
“I was coming out of the store and the police stopped me. I felt real awful you know, it was in front of everyone and I hadn’t done anything wrong… It was a distressing experience. Makes you realize it can happen any time any place.” Vinci, Bronx resident.40
“This was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life. One, because I have always worked well with police officers, have always respected their profession.” Michelle Benfield, social worker, describes the NYPD’s inappropriate response to her nonviolent psychotic episode.41
“We all feel the same way — degraded, harassed, violated and criminalized because we’re black or Latino.” Nicholas Peart, 23, on repeated stop-and-frisks.42
“It made me feel violated, humiliated, harassed, shameful, and of course very scared.” April R.43
“The whole situation was unnecessary. I felt out of place. I’m not that kind of person. I’m a working man. My job is to help the police not have to work so hard, talking to kids, trying to keep them out of trouble. Meanwhile, I’m the one getting frisked.” Gerald Gadsden, youth worker.44
“It feels very unsafe. A lot of people are very afraid to walk and be free. They feel that the people who are supposed to be protecting them are actually bullying them.” Tairece Flowers, 17-year-old.45
“[Stops and frisks] belittle people’s self-esteem and character, make them feel less of a citizen and less of a person with rights. I feel that stop and frisk is another tactic to be used against people of color to make them feel like this is what they should expect to happen to them in their lifetime and that this is a normal way of life when it’s not, and it’s unconstitutional.” Mark K.46
“‘Watch yourself; you shouldn’t be in these type of neighborhoods. This is what happen[s].’ But [cops] forget that these are the neighborhoods that we live in…” Charles B., resident of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, a “high-crime” area.47
“You accept [harassment from the cops] as everyday life. It becomes very denigrating to a human soul to have to go through that.” Colin Samuel, Queens resident.48
“It makes you emotional just standing here talking about it. You get to the point where you don’t feel like a human being.” Jacqueline Yates, Bronx mother.49
“I told him I wanted to be a lawyer. So the officer, the one that gave me the ticket, told me, ‘Ha. You would never be that…I’ll give you a ticket where you won’t ever be that’… The whole time last year I thought, like, ‘Wow, I did all of this hard work for nothing.’” Theresa C.50
You can read this report in full, and many others, on PROP’s website.
