New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has stood by the NYPD’s controversial “Stop & Frisk” policy as it continues to unfairly target blacks and Latinos even though the unlawful practice has affected 685,724 people alone in 2011.
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The practice of “Stop & Frisk” isn’t always about the numbers but the people affected by such an aggressive policy on a daily basis.
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And the proof is shown in a short film by the New York Times that focuses on Tyquan Brehon, a young man who lives in one of the most heavily policed neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
Before his 18th birthday, Tyquan had been unjustifiably stopped by the police more than 60 times.
On several occasions, merely because he asked why he had been stopped, he was handcuffed, placed in a cell and detained for hours before being released without charges.
At one high school he attended, he recoiled at the heavy presence of armed officers and school security agents saying-
“I would do stuff that would get me suspended so I could be, like, completely away from the cops,”
Tyquan’s life turned around when he transferred to Bushwick Community High School and joined Make the Road New York, a community organizing group that is part of Communities United for Police Reform.
Watch Tyquan’s journey as he explains “The Scars of Stop-and-Frisk”.
