MIM Notes No. 202      January 15, 2000

New York court rules hunt for any Black is okay

Recently, a New York Second Circuit Court of appeals ruled that it was 
"Constitutional" for cops in Oneonta, New York to target every black man 
in town for investigation following the robbery of a 77 year old white 
womyn. After the womyn reported that the suspect was probably young, 
probably a Black man and probably had cuts on his hand, over 200 
oppressed nation men and one Black womyn were stopped and questioned, 
sometimes by force.(1, 2)

People in Amerikkka supposedly have the "rights" and "protections" of the 
Constitution against illegal search, seizure and actions by the state 
that deny due process of law. But the appellate court ruled that pigs 
stopping every Black man they could find was not a violation of their 
14th Amendment rights to equal protection. The court justified this by 
saying that the pigs did not question people "solely on the basis of 
their race." The cops had more to go on: sex, possibly age, and a 
possible cut hand. Of course, the pigs did not use the other descriptions 
in limiting their search.(3)

The court also ruled that the pig's actions did not violate the 4th 
Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure without 
due process because nothing was "seized." However, the cops operated 
without warrants and without reasonable suspicion.(3)

Amerikkka is an imperialistic society based on national, class and gender 
oppression. The Injustice system and the KKKonstitution of the u.$. have 
never offered real protection to members of internal colonies. Instead 
Amerika's bourgeois legal system helps to prop up imperialism.

Amerikan rhetoric is that this is a country of rights and equality for 
all. As we have often stated, there are no rights, only power struggles. 
When the imperialists are in power, the privileges of legal protection 
will support bourgeois material interests. No ruling class in history has 
ever conceded privileges to the oppressed without a struggle.

Notes:

1. New York Times, 27 Sept. 1992.

2. The New York Times, 5 Nov. 1999.

3. The New York Times, 4 Nov.r 1999.