Actor and artist Lou Meyers passed away February 19, 2013 from a heart related emergency.  Meyers was most known for his role of Mr. Gaines on the television show, "A Different World' and appearances on "The Cosby Show."  Many people were unaware of his role as an activist.  All Things Harlem got a chance to hear Lou Meyers speak and community forum about the criminal justice system and mass incarceration.  Below is video of the event from our archives.  Mr. Meyers begins speaking around 2:10 mark.

Lou Meyers - Photo from Getty ImagesVideo

On January 15, 2013 potential Democratic Mayoral candidates debated issues at Al Sharpton's Nation Action Network headquarters in Harlem. The annual event was in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  Community members and other politician were also in attendance. 

The potential candidates included City Comptroller John Liu, Public Advocate Bill Deblasio, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Former City Comptroller Bill Thompson and former City Council Member Sal Albanese.  They discussed issues important to the Harlem community like, improving education, the NYPD's stop and frisk policy, and who they would make next police commisioner.

Click on the picture below for video of the debate.

Skip to 01:41:00 for beginning of debate and also look for other parts labeled MLK JAN 15, 2013 PART 3 and PART 4

Screenshot from NAN Mayoral Debate

All Things Harlem's take on this debate is that the candidate with the most clear answers to the questions was John Liu.  For example, he was the only candidate to make a clear distinction on the issue of stop and frisk saying that he would do away with the policy completely.  All the other candidates answers were much more ambiguous but were leaning more towards reforming the program and not ending it. 

What do you think about the debate?  Do you have a better idea of who you would support in the Democratic primary?

Video from breakingthetaboofilm

Breaking The Taboo is a new film that highlights the tremendous failure of the War on Drugs and its consequences.  This film that is narrated by Morgan Freeman is a must see.  

Support Jazz Hayden!

Support Joseph “Jazz” Hayden as his next court appearance on July 31, 2012 in Part F at 100 Centre Street in Manhattan. We will be gathering outside the courthouse at 8:30 am.

Photograph by Lyric Cabral, The Village Voice

Dear Friends, Allies and Supporters,

As you may already know, I have a pending case in Manhattan Criminal Court resulting from a bogus stop & frisk by the NYPD from December, 2011.  I can unequivocally state that this stop and arrest was in retaliation for my work as a Citizen Reporter aggressively covering police/community relationships in the Harlem community.  (To review my body of work you need only go to my web site, www.allthingsharlem.com/copwatch to view four years of coverage of police community relations in Harlem.)

My work on this issue is well known and has been covered by many news organizations, including The New York Times, the Village Voice, the Amsterdam News, the Economist,  NY1, Channel 7, Democracy Now, Eyewitness News, WPIX Channel 11, Gothamist, The Brooklyn Rail, The Nation, Newsone.com and the National in Abu Dhabi (Middle East).  The Harlem community is well aware of my work, and encourages and supports it.

As you are probably already aware, the racist practice of stop & frisk by the NYPD has gained national attention for its astronomical numbers of unwarranted stops, nearly 700,000 in 2011. Less than 6% of those stopped were charged with any crime or violation of the law.  The disproportionate impact on communities of color, specifically Blacks and Latinos (87%), has led to city-wide protest and condemnation in the local and national media.

For every action there is a reaction.  Because of my coverage of this racist and ineffective practice, I have been targeted for retaliation.  My right as a citizen to cover the police in public places, as they perform their duties (a right recently acknowledged by U.S. Attorney General Holder) has resulted in my being targeted by the 32nd precinct in Harlem.

I am currently facing felony charges – and potentially years in prison -  as a result of an unlawful stop and search of my car last December. In July of 2011, I filmed the same officers who later arrested me performing an unlawful car stop in Harlem. You can view that video here: 

During the video you can hear the officers talking to me and saying that they know who I am and know my background.  At minute 5:05 the officer can be heard saying, “You done selling drugs yet or what? I know your rap sheet.”  Then again around 5:55 the officer can be heard saying, “Go sell some more drugs sir.  We know your background, I know who you are.” The officers let the men in the car go without charges. But they had other plans for me.

In December of 2011, the very same officers stopped my car and conducted an illegal search.  They found a pocket knife and a mini replica baseball bat in the car, and charged me with two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, a felony punishable with two to seven years on prison. My stop and arrest was unequivocal retaliation for my surveillance of these officers and work in the community.

Today I need your help. Please contact Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance and demand that all charges against Joseph Hayden be dropped and that the NYPD be put on notice that citizens have a right to monitor their “servants” as they perform their duties without retaliation. The significance of these cases of retaliation for covering “our servants” extends beyond my case alone.  These actions by NYPD raise the larger issue of their role in communities of color, the rights of citizens to monitor law enforcement, and the rights/role of new media in covering the news.  What is happening to me has happened to hundreds of thousands of citizens in New York City.  Enough is enough!

Send your letter to:

Cyrus Vance
Manhattan District Attorney
One Hogan Place
New York, NY 10013

You can email him at vancec@dany.nyc.gov. Please cc me on your letter at jhayden512@aol.com.

A sample letter is included below.

If you can make it, please join me at my next court appearance on July 31, 2012 in Part F at 100 Centre Street in Manhattan. We will be gathering outside the courthouse at 8:30 am.

Thanks for your support.

Yours truly,

Joseph Jazz Hayden

Campaign to End the New Jim Crow

www.allthingsharlem.com

SAMPLE LETTER TO CYRUS VANCE

Cyrus Vance Manhattan District Attorney
One Hogan Place
New York, NY 10013

Dear District Attorney Vance,

[PLEASE MAKE INCLUDE YOUR NAME, YOUR JOB OR OTHER IMPORTANT AFFILIATION AND HOW YOU KNOW JAZZ]

I am writing today about an urgent matter, the case of Joseph Hayden. Your office has chosen to seek an indictment against him for two counts of Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree. I believe that his arrest was a retaliatory act on the part of the police against one of their most outspoken critics, a long-time neighborhood cop watch activist and police reform advocate.

There is no doubt that Mr. Hayden has a lengthy criminal record. But he has put his past behind him and become an important community activist. He is a longtime member of The Riverside Church Prison Ministry and a founding member of the Ministry’s  Campaign to End The New Jim Crow, a group dedicated to combatting mass incarceration and building caring communities. And for the past four years, Mr. Hayden has videotaped police officers as they stop and frisk people in Harlem as part of a neighborhood copwatch program and posted these videos on his website, All Things Harlem.

Mr. Hayden was pulled over for a traffic stop in Harlem in December 2011. When the police approached his car, they made it plain that they recognized Mr. Hayden by statements such as “We know you.” The two officers who stopped him in December were the same officers filmed by Mr. Hayden several months earlier (view the video here: http://bit.ly/NjOZTN). After clearly acknowledging that they knew who he was, the officers unlawfully searched his car, finding a penknife and a small commemorative replica baseball bat. These items are the weapons for which he is now facing felony charges punishable by 2 to 7 years in prison.

During your campaign for District Attorney, you sat down with Mr. Hayden for an interview for his website. During that interview, Mr. Hayden asked you what you would do to stop racial bias and harassment of people of color by the NYPD. You told him that while you “can’t tell the police who to arrest or who not to arrest,” but as District Attorney you would like to assure that “when it comes to us, that we are not making charging decisions that are biased in any way.” You can view the video here: 

In light of your commitment to make unbiased charging decisions, I urge you to drop the charges against Mr. Hayden. Given Mr. Hayden’s prominent role in filming the police, it is clear that his arrest was retaliation for his community activities. I also urge you to take seriously the dangers of police practices that effectively silence citizens who dissent. United States Attorney General Eric Holder has affirmed the right to record police officers in the public performance of their duties. By allowing Mr. Hayden’s indictment to proceed, the Manhattan District Attorney casts a chilling effect on this right.

Thank you for your kind attention to this letter.

Sincerely

[NAME]
[ADDRESS]

you can also Sign The Petition

Click here to sign the Change.org petition asking District Attorney Cyrus Vance to Drop the Charges

Glenn Martin discussing Stop & Frisk

This past Thursday, May 17, video footage from allthingsharlem.com's was used during a debate on Stop & Frisk on NY1 show Inside City Hall.

NY1 -  With the New York City Police Department already on pace to break last year's record for the number of New Yorkers stopped and frisked, Inside City Hall’s Errol Louis debated the pros and cons of the procedure with Glenn Martin, the Vice President of Development and Public Affairs for The Fortune Society and Heather Mac Donald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

The Attica Prison Uprising: Forty Years Later

Watch this informational video about the Attica Prison Rebellion from The Nation Magazine.

This video features Allthingsharlem.com's founder Joseph "Jazz" Hayden. 

The niggerazation of America...courage is in short supply...a spineless Democratic Party...poverty and truth telling...the counter revolution is winning." Cornel West discusses Attica, its history, and the current state of affairs in the United States.

Amiri Baraka recites his famous and controversial poem on 9/11, entitled, Somebody Blew Up America.

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, asks a panel to respond to what were loud cheers heard in support of the Death penalty at the September 7, 2011 Republican debate on MSNBC.  Joseph "Jazz" Hayden responds to the question asking how does a "Christian Nation" who follows Christ support the death penalty, which is the same thing used to crucify Jesus.

Dhoruba Al-Mujahid Bin-Wahad explains that we live in a police state.
He addresses the importance of recognizing that we live in a police state and that we need to decentralize public safety of public safety. Also that we need community control of our communities.