Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Jessica Bacon: "16-year-old assaulted in stop-and-frisk, then charged with assault." @ RH Reality Check

Michael Caddell,

Imagine getting stopped by the police because your face was covered with a scarf in freezing weather, being sexually assaulted by a police officer while you were handcuffed, and then getting charged with assault and resisting arrest as you were on your way to get emergency surgery for injuries inflicted on you by police during the attack. [1]

It seems unbelievable, but all that just happened to 16-year-old Darrin Manning on January 7th, right here in Philadelphia, under the regressive, racist stop-and-frisk policies that have clearly continued in spite of promises to reform policing guidelines. It all started when a young African American man and his teammates, all in uniform on their way to play a school basketball game, were stopped and harassed by a group of white officers for no obvious reason besides the color of their skin. [2]

Sign the petition: Ask Mayor Michael Nutter and District Attorney Seth Williams to investigate police actions in Philadelphia's 22nd District and truly put an end to racist stop-and-frisk policies in our city before another injustice like this occurs.

Darrin Manning was so badly injured in this attack by an officer yanking and squeezing his groin that he may never be able to father children of his own. This should never have happened, and it wouldn't have happened if not for the police department's stop-and-frisk practices.

Police actions should not make our city more dangerous for any of our residents, especially our young people. It's must not be acceptable for any police department to treat children of color like they're guilty until proven innocent, or as if they're foreign invaders who don't have the same right to be unmolested in public spaces as white children.

If Philadelphia's top-ranking elected officials are concerned about whether or not children in our city have good role models in their lives, I would ask that they start by looking at the behavior of our own police officers when they engage in this kind of routine street harassment and assault.

Join me to ask Mayor Michael Nutter and District Attorney Seth Williams to investigate police actions in Philadelphia's 22nd District and insist that Philadelphia police conduct themselves in an orderly, law-abiding fashion, and be respectful of all our citizens.

Jesse Bacon
Philadelphia Parent
Reader, RH Reality Check

[1] - "16-year-old says he suffered serious injuries during stop-and-frisk, arrest," black youth project, January 15, 2014.

[2] - "Communities Enraged After Black Boy Sexually Assaulted During Stop-and-Frisk," by Christopher "Flood the Drummer" Norris, Philly in Focus, January 15, 2014.

No comments: