The Prez’s big stop-&-frisk lie
Tactic biased, does not cut crime
On Friday, Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke was found guilty of second-degree murder for the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. It was a rare moment of accountability; in fact, it was the first time an officer was convicted of murder in an on-duty shooting in Chicago in nearly 50 years.
This, a first step in restoring relations between police and the communities they serve, is what Chicago needs, real reform — not a return to failed policies like stop-and-frisk.
The President of the United States, however, addressed the International Association of Chiefs of Police annual convention Monday, and there, he praised stop-and-frisk, saying Chicago should embrace the practice and emphasizing that he ordered Attorney General Jeff Sessions to “immediately” go to the city.
As someone who was at the forefront of the fight to end the unconstitutional policy of stop-and-frisk, I will be the first to make sure it isn’t revived in Chicago — or anywhere else.
In 2013, a federal judge ruled that stop-and-frisk tactics utilized by the New York City Police Department violated the constitutional rights of minorities. Though this did not end the practice overnight, it was a welcome development that many of us had been advocating for over many years.
According to the New York Civil Liberties Union, nine of 10 people who were stopped and frisked were inno- cent, and guns were found in less than 0.2% of stops. In 2011, 87% of those stopped by the NYPD were black or Latino. In fact, the number of stops of young black men was greater than the entire population of young black men in the city.
To put it another way: Stop-andfrisk racially profiled and harassed primarily young people of color, and increased the divide between police and communities. For years, we pushed for its end, and after fighting for things like an outside monitor to oversee changes to police practices, we are not about to let Donald Trump rewrite history.
During his speech Monday, Trump said “stop-and-frisk works.” This is a lie; it was other strategies that drove crime down. But instead of embracing those strategies, this President would rather turn Chicago into a police state where people of color will be further targeted.
They will not be afforded the presumption of innocence that Trump now loves to tout. And as the data show, this will not increase safety in the neighborhoods that desperately need it.
From now until the midterms, I will actively campaign against any candidate who embraces Trump’s outrageous stop-and-frisk proposal for Chicago. These harsh policing tactics didn’t work in New York, they didn’t work in Chicago and they didn’t work elsewhere.
In fact, ever since the city of Chicago entered into an agreement with the ACLU to limit stop-and-frisk in 2016, the number of shootings and murders there has declined, with a further decline expected for this year. Let’s call Trump’s tactics what they are: fearmongering, criminalizing groups of people and stirring up his base.
Black and Latino Americans are not an applause line or a punching bag for Trump or those who endorse his ideas; nor are we a scapegoat for any politician looking to make a name off our suffering. Treat us that way, and we will do everything we can to vote you out.