The NYPD: Shielding Hate and Racism

"From The G-Man" Issues An Open Challenge to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly

Dear Commissioner Kelly,

Would you care to share your views on what happened at the rally for the 16 police officers indicted for ticket-fixing. If you're unclear as to what I'm referring to, let me refresh your memory.

Hundreds of officers showed up at the courthouse to support the officers charged, and a large group of protesters were also on hand to proclaim the officers deserved to be prosecuted for crimes just like anyone else. When protesters began to shout "Fix my ticket", New York's Finest shouted back "E...B...T" at the mostly-minority group, which implied that they were all welfare recipients.

I'm not going to pull any punches with you, Commissioner Kelly. As the editor-in-chief of this news and information site, I am extremely bothered and concerned by the response of the officers because I think it sent the wrong message to the minority community, the public and the world: a message that does not reflect many of the good and upstanding officers in the New York City Police department.

I'm certain there were a good number of educated and hard-working minority people among the protesters. Even if there were welfare recipients among the group, they may have been employed for most of their lives and forced into the system after losing jobs because of the dire state of the economy. Regardless of their financial situation, everyone deserves to be treated with some level of respect. Everyone!

The police officers that attended the rally are charged with the task of protecting, serving and treating all people with courtesy, professionalism and respect, but they chose to disregard the NYPD mandate that day. The police officers also chose to ignore the fact that even former business and career professionals, many of whom are also people of color, have been forced to file for food stamps after exhausting and extensive job searches proved fruitless.

Commissioner Kelly, these police officers not only embarrassed the department, they embarrassed the city of New York when they chose to respond with shouts of "EBT". The saddest part is they probably don't even care.....and the New York City Police Department won't denounce the act.

From The G-Man has reached out to your office, twice in 2011, to request an interview to discuss ways to ease tensions between the New York City Police Department and communities of color. I've even sent you several interviews that were posted on this site to give you a sense of how the piece would look and to assure you the interview would be fair. To date, you have not responded.

I just don't understand. I mean, you found the time to give 60 Minutes an interview. Is your failure to respond based on the fact that I'm just a start-up news source? Is it because I'm not a reporter for the Drudge Report, Huffington Post, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC or NBC News? I really would like to know, and I don't think I'm asking too much.

Whatever the reason, your failure to respond is most unfortunate and would lead many reading this to believe that, perhaps, the police commissioner of New York City is no different from those who attempted to humiliate the protesters with shouts of "E....B....T!"

You, sir, being a former U.S. Marine, know that Marines are all about accomplishing the mission, and you've managed to do that on a number of levels with regard to the safety and security of New York City. I now challenge you, Commissioner Kelly, to seek measures to effectively deal with the level of hatred and distrust for New York City police officers that is prevalent within minority communities of this city: a city that you and 40,000 others have sworn to protect and serve.

This commentary is from the heart and.....From The G-Man.

Photo source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shankbone/4576777230/sizes/o/in/photostream/
Author: David Shankbone
Permission: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic