New York City – Hasidic community complained and were outraged for being warned by Mayor Bill De Blasio that they “might” be arrested if they don’t obey social distance rules, and privileged members of the community are given free face masks by friendly officers to keep them safe, meanwhile Blacks and Hispanics members of underprivileged neighborhoods are harassed and beaten by the NYPD for less to nearly no violations at all.
In an earlier article, we mentioned the growing outrage of Black and Brown communities in New York City for the apparent double standards exercises by New York City in their enforcement of Hasidic members of the community versus those of underprivileged neighborhoods. Particularly after an estimated 2,500 Jews went out into the streets with no regard towards curving the current pandemic of the coronavirus, and no significant action was taken by the New York City Police department, except for what appeared to be 12 summons and a warning from the Mayor which caused the Mayor later to publicly apologize.
Members of underprivileged communities once again begin to voice their outrage as tensions continues to rise between members of these segmented citizens and the New York City Police Department. Many calling for “Cop Watch”, asking the community to be vigilant about police brutality and to us their cell phones to record anything they see.
Community Leader Lilah Mejia post in her social media, “Policing black and brown neighborhoods looks like this during the time of COVID19…”, while depicting side-by-side images that show one side police officer Garcia who beat and arrested a Black by-stander, while on the other a police officer handing out masks to whites outside in a park who were less than the mandated 6 feet apart without any face coverings.
The latest incident in Brooklyn, a young boy is apparently told by the police that he is being beaten for not wearing a mask. Shaun King who has a prominent social media following describes the contrast of police treatment between neighborhoods, “Compare that up against police 5 miles away across town kindly, gently, respectfully giving white people masks as they crowd together at public parks. My blood is boiling.”, he says in an Instagram post.
Then in the another post Shaun King writes, “Again, all of this brutality is being done to Black people, in Black spaces, in the name of “enforcing social distancing.” But the @NYPD & @NYCMayor are really just using it as an excuse to brutalize and beat and maul and humiliate Black people everywhere.”
The continuous rising of police brutality towards minorities in New York City is compounding to additional stress faced by these very same neighborhoods and segment of the population having to deal with other social complications that are exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, such as job losses and economic uncertainty. A situation that is starting to bring entire communities at odds with law enforcement.
While the Mayor has said he is not happy particularly with the actions of officer Francisco Garcia who was placed in temporary suspension, pending an investigation, little more does not seem to be said of the issue. Garcia seems to be implicated in at least 7 lawsuits for police brutality dating as far back as 2015, and costing the city over $200,000 in legal charges according to sources.
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