“In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.”
Michael Jackson
I can't say exactly when and to whom I said it, but I do know that in the days following the scandalous behavior of NYC police during the West Indian Day Parade just this past September, I let ones and ones know how seriously hateful and vile their behavior was. I exhorted people for merely laughing in prudish shame; brushing off the incident(s), as one would the overseer to ward off the whip, as innocent bacchanal. I knew there was an unforeseen devilish, fiendish enjoyment that was masking perfect hatred and an attempt to ridicule and demoralize.
I know I may have my own personal reservations about the kind of bawdy dancing and extremely scantily clad women that has become the focus of the annual Caribbean style Labour Day festivities, but that doesn't excuse the police, who in capacity as tax-payer employees, were being paid to comport themselves in an appropriate manner and to the fulfillment of their civic duties. Grinding an African woman down to the street floor while wearing a sidearm and steel cuff-links is certainly not in the police handbook. If it is, it is just another proof that Africans under western jurisdiction will always be appropriated to less than human.
While it deplored me greatly to see those videos and pictures, I am even more aggrieved that, and yet not surprised in the slightest, and the newest allegations to surface. It is alleged, as noted in the article below, that Facebook was used for these officers and many more who share their sentiment, to vehemently vilify the very parade patrons, to castigate the West Indian community to shame for their annual celebration. A celebration which by the way brings in millions of dollars to city coffers every year.
I was reasoning not to long after reading below that maybe the community: the event sponsors and promoters, the artists who bring entire entourages to perform on rented trucks owned by city residents, the food vendors who spend hundreds of dollars to get the chance to make that last few dollars for school supplies and remittances abroad, even the tourists themselves who fly in from all over as this is the second largest West Indian Day event outside of the Caribbean after Toronto's Caribana, should opt to hold the festival, including the Children's Parade adjunct, in another location.
Yes, hold it on Long Island, which for it's part has a suitable size infrastructure including amenities to accommodate and better, maximize what should and can be an uplifting get together for West Indians for all ports. It is supposed to be a time for Africans in the West to celebrate their oneness as a people, even while they big up their individual regional culture and traditions. I hope Una Clarke and her daughter Yvette Clarke, the good Rev. Floyd Flake, Minister Al Sharpton and others of notable acumen are paying close heed to this story and making the appropriate next footsteps for the African community so unjustly and ungodly wronged in the West. I am putting them on my email list from this moment. But you can read on and see if I'm wrong for yourself.
Follow me on Twitter @JahKwasiAbahu
N.Y.C. Police Maligned BROOKLYN CARNIVAL Paradegoers on Facebook
Kirsten Luce for The New York Times
The West Indian American Day Parade is held annually over the Labor Day weekend as a celebration of Caribbean culture. They called people “animals” and “savages.” One comment said, “Drop a bomb and wipe them all out.”
It offered a fly-on-the-wall view of officers displaying roiling emotions often hidden from the public, a copy of the posting obtained by The New York Times shows. Some of the remarks appeared to have broken Police Department rules barring officers from “discourteous or disrespectful remarks” about race or ethnicity.
The subject was officers’ loathing of being assigned to the West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn, an annual multiday event that unfolds over the Labor Day weekend and that has been marred by episodes of violence, including deaths of paradegoers. Those who posted comments appeared to follow Facebook’s policy requiring the use of real names, and some identified themselves as officers.
Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s deputy commissioner for public information, said he learned of the Facebook group from a reporter and would refer the issue to the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau.
The comments in the online group, which grew over a few days to some 1,200 members, were at times so offensive in referring to West Indian and African-American neighborhoods that some participants warned others to beware how their words might be taken in a public setting open to Internal Affairs “rats.”
But some of the people who posted comments seemed emboldened by Facebook’s freewheeling atmosphere. “Let them kill each other,” wrote one of the Facebook members who posted comments under a name that matched that of a police officer.
“Filth,” wrote a commenter who identified himself as Nick Virgilio, another participant whose name matched that of a police officer. “It’s not racist if it’s true,” yet another wrote.
The officers were at times spurred on by civilian supporters and other city workers, including members of the Fire Department, an analysis indicated.
It is impossible to say with certainty whether those quoted are the people they claim to be. But a comparison by The Times of the names of some of the more than 150 people who posted comments on the page with city employee listings showed that more than 60 percent matched the names of police officers, and Mr. Browne did not deny that they were officers. Of course, some people do circumvent Facebook’s rule on identification.
It was impossible to determine the racial breakdown of the officers who were posting comments, but at least one of the participants said that most of them seemed not to be minorities.
Efforts were made to contact some of those who participated through the Police Department, through the prosecutor in a court case that revealed the existence of the group, through Facebook messages and through other methods. One, Nick Virgilio, said he was a member of the department but responded, “I don’t wish to comment.”
The comments in the group included anger at police and city officials and expressions of anxiety about policing what has often been a dangerous event. “Why is everyone calling this a parade,” one said. “It’s a scheduled riot.” Another said: “We were widely outnumbered. It was an eerie feeling knowing we could be overrun at any moment.”
“Welcome to the Liberal NYC Gale,” said another, “where if the cops sneeze too loud they get investigated for excessive force but the ‘civilians’ can run around like savages and there are no repercussions.”
“They can keep the forced overtime,” said one writer, adding that the safety of officers comes “before the animals.” Wrote another: “Bloodbath!!! The worst detail to work.”
“I say have the parade one more year,” wrote a commenter who identified himself as Dan Rodney, “and when they all gather drop a bomb and wipe them all out.” Reached on Monday, Mr. Rodney confirmed that he was a police officer and that he had used Facebook, though rarely, but denied making the comment. “That wasn’t me,” he said before suggesting that someone else might have been responsible. “I leave my phone around sometimes. Other than that I have no comment.”
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Whatever flaws he had as a man, no one said it better than Mike.
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