“Stop & Frisk” – Tell Me Again, Who is at Risk?

Podcast: Download

Today’s “15 Minutes of Fact” could be called 15 Minutes of Fire – which is about as hot a topic as you can find today beyond “stand your ground” – and that is “stop and frisk.”

I personally consider these legally sanctioned actions to be pure-and-simple illegal and immoral bookends to each other insofar as they are applied to members of the black and Latino communities.  “Stop & Frisk” is designed to search out weapons carried by such folk, and “Stand Your Ground” protects gun owners who shoot down people from this same community.

Today we are going to spend a few minutes of precious phone time with Leslie Cagan, a respected NYC activist.  The subject is Stop and Frisk.  The occasion is The Silent March Against Racial Profiling taking place this Sunday, June 17, here in NYC.  (Details at:  www.SilentMarchNYC.org)

I caught up with one of the very-busy Leslie to get her take on this march and its importance.

We couldn’t go to a better source.  Leslie is an American activist, writer, and socialist organizer involved with the peace and justice moment and it would be hard to name any protest movements in the past 40+ years that she hasn’t participated in: anti-war, anti-nuke, LGBT, feminist, and back in the day – the Black Panthers.

She holds this event to be of equal and significant importance to any of them.

To put this into historical context, Leslie compared this planned march down Fifth Avenue to be today’s equivalent and echo of an NAACP March held on that same street in 1917 to draw attention to race riots that in East St. Louis and to build national opposition to lynching.

Enjoy this packed 15 Minutes of Fact and come away enriched and enlightened.  Can’t be at the actual march?  Get on the phone and get on your mayor’s case…wherever you live.  Write letters to city hall, your governor, your politicians, your president.  Perhaps they will hear you now…even as a silent parade.

If you want to connect with Leslie or gather more details on this event, go to the Silent March link above, on Tumblr at http://silentmarchnyc.tumblr.com/, RSVP at  http://bit.ly/KEy8uQ, or search her out personally on LinkedIn.