Put Stop-and-Frisk on Trial—Not the Freedom Fighters!
No Jail Time for Carl Dix & the Stop-and-Frisk Protesters
All Out to Defeat the Charges

October 28, 2012 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Outrageous trials against five courageous freedom fighters who put their bodies on the line to end the racist police policy of stop-and-frisk begin on October 23 and October 30. Carl Dix, Jamel Mims, Morgan Rhodewalt, Bob Parsons and Noche Diaz could be jailed for 2 to 4+ years.

Make no mistake: what is being put on trial here is nothing less than the ability and right to stand up and say NO MORE to the racist policy of stop-and-frisk, which terrorizes Black and Brown people throughout the city.

Without mass resistance and the actions of these people and hundreds more who put their bodies on the line in protest, stop-and-frisk would not now be so hotly contested in the city and the courts. The even more urgent truth is that standing up to defend these freedom fighters has everything to do with putting an end to the crime of stop-and-frisk and the way a whole generation is being condemned to lives of criminalization, marginalization, brutality and the spirit-crushing, human-wasting confinement of the largest prison system in the world.

The authorities want to punish these people for having stood up for justice, and through doing that deliver a message that anyone who resists their criminal injustice will pay a heavy price. This must not go down! If we allow them to be convicted and jailed without a massive fight, the battle against stop-and-frisk and the whole spirit of resistance will be seriously weakened. But if many, many people stand with them in this legal battle, if we beat this back, then the movement will gain further initiative, pulling more people into the struggle.

BACKGROUND: Carl Dix is a revolutionary leader who initiated, together with Cornel West, the movement to Stop “Stop-&-Frisk” and End Mass Incarceration, including by leading a series of courageous non-violent protests of civil disobedience at police precincts throughout New York City. Carl Dix, Jamel Mims, Morgan Rhodewalt and Bob Parsons will be on trial in Queens on October 23 facing more than 2 years in jail for the protest in Queens on November 19, 2011. The Queens District Attorney has piled charges on them, twice adding to the charges they faced months after their arrest. This DA, who couldn’t or wouldn’t put on an effective case against the cops who murdered Sean Bell in 2006, is vigorously trying to put these freedom fighters in prison. This makes it even more clear their intent to punish any who dare to stand up. This only underscores the importance of people coming to court to demand the charges be dropped!

On October 30, Noche Diaz, a leader in the movement to end mass incarceration who is known throughout Harlem as a member of the People’s Neighborhood Patrols and across the city’s campuses for speaking in classes against stop-and-frisk, goes on trial in Manhattan, facing more than four years in prison for politically calling out police who were brutalizing people.

Fourteen more defendants will be tried in two more trials in Queens, and on November 5 and 27 in Brooklyn for a November 1, 2011 protest at the 73rd Precinct, which has the highest rate of stop-and-frisk in the city.

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