The Daily Outrage

The CCR blog

CCR News: JRP Facilitator issues final report on stop and frisk reforms

Facilitator issues final report on Joint Remedial Process stop-and-frisk reforms

Last week, the facilitator in the Joint Remedial Process (JRP) to reform the New York City Police Department's (NYPD) stop-and-frisk practices submitted his final report to the court. The JRP was ordered by a federal court as part of a landmark decision in CCR's class action lawsuit challenging stop and frisk as racially discriminatory, Floyd v. City of New York. The JRP was intended to be a collaborative process—among affected communities, elected officials, policing experts, civil rights attorneys, and law enforcement—to develop a set of reforms to bring the NYPD’s practices in line with the Constitution. As the court said when ordering the JRP, "No amount of legal or policing expertise can replace a community's understanding of the likely practical consequences of reforms in terms of both liberty and safety." CCR issued a statement on the facilitator's report, along with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Bronx Defenders, and the Legal Aid Society, who represented plaintiffs in related lawsuits. In June, we will be responding to the facilitator's report and asking the court to order the NYPD to implement many of the reforms requested by the community through the JRP.

Oral argument in "Race Paper" case

[caption align="right"]"Race Paper" oral argument Facebook live[/caption]

On Friday, Senior Staff Attorney Omar Farah argued before a federal judge for the release of an unredacted copy of an intelligence document which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) refers to as the "Race Paper." The government produced the document in response to a FOIA request by CCR and Color of Change asking DHS and the FBI for information about the monitoring and surveilling of the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) and public protests of police violence and racial injustice. Other documents released in this litigation expose the degree to which any type of protest activity by Black people is monitored by federal agencies and viewed as potentially violent. Oral argument in this case comes after summary judgment briefing specifically on the "Race Paper" documents, the versions of which we received completely redacted. Watch a Facebook Live video with Omar to hear more about the argument and the case.

CCR demands the U.S. end military aid to Israeli units that killed and injured Gaza protesters, accountability for Israeli crimes at the international level

[caption align="right"]End the Occupation protest[/caption]

Last week, Israel continued its violent response to nonviolent protests—and the U.S. continued its unlawful support for these gross human rights violations. Since the Great March of Return in Gaza began on March 30, 2018, the Israeli military has killed more than 100 Palestinians and injured thousands more, with U.S. arms used to fire on protesters. Moreover, last Monday, Donald Trump moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, violating international law and further emboldening Israel's human rights abuses. On Tuesday, which marked the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, commemorating the forced displacement of more than 750,000 Palestinians in 1948, CCR and a coalition of human rights groups submitted a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo demanding that the State Department investigate Israel's use of lethal force against protesters in Gaza and halt any further assistance to Israeli military units involved in the shootings. U.S. law prohibits aid to foreign military units where there is credible information they took part in gross human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings such as the recent killings of protesters. In 2017, Israel was the largest recipient of U.S. military aid, receiving more than $3 billion. CCR also joined with 95 civil and human rights organizations in calling upon the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the violations of international law arising out of the attacks against protesters, in the context of the ongoing occupation. On Friday, the Human Rights Council voted to set up the Commission, with only the United States and Australia voting against it.

Sign the petition!

MPower Change has launched a petition calling on Governor Cuomo to immediately rescind the appointment of former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly to a new counterterrorism advisory council. Last December, CCR and Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) joined twenty civil rights, racial justice, and faith organizations to send a letter to Cuomo opposing the appointment. We highlighted two of Kelly's signature initiatives as police commissioner: the NYPD's racially discriminatory stop-and-frisk practices and its suspicionless surveillance of Muslim communities. Federal courts have addressed both policies, including in two CCR cases, finding the stop-and-frisk policy unconstitutional and comparing the Muslim surveillance program to the treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Governor Cuomo has sought to position himself as the anti-Trump, vowing to stand firm against religious and racial discrimination. But his appointment of Ray Kelly says the exact opposite. Tell Cuomo to dump Kelly. Sign the petition here.

Save the date for podcast party!

CCR is throwing a listening party to celebrate the launch of our new podcast, The Activist Files. Save the date: June 21, 2018, 6-9p.m. in NYC. More info coming soon!

Last modified 

May 21, 2018