100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care
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Noel Leader, a Co-founder and active member of the community advocacy group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, made reference to this question asked by Adam Clayton Powell in a speech that is not as popular now as it was when he was alive but it still has validity.
Powell went on to say that God used Moses, a slave with a shepherd’s staff and ignorant of the power bestowed upon him, to part the Red Sea, march through the wilderness, spring water from a rock, bring manna from heaven and lead his people to freedom. Leader’s “What’s in your hand?” addresses the issue of community commitment. “We’re police officers so we feel that what we do is an asset to our community, we always want to be a model for other professionals,” he said in a phone interview. “If they are doctors, we want there to be 100 doctors who care, who organize themselves specifically to benefit the lot of African American people.”
He gave other examples of those who can benefit their communities. “We would expect of Hunter College students that whatever they desire to do in life, don’t only think of themselves but think about our communities. Whatever they decide to do,” he said. “They should do it, not only to benefit themselves and their family, they should have a commitment, whatever the field that they are in, I don’t care if it’s sanitation, whatever they do, it should not only benefit them but also their communities and they should always be mindful of that.”
His organization was born out of that very concern for the health of the African American communities in New York City. In 1995, it was founded by Leader and several other concerned law enforcement professionals. At the onset they sought 100 members of the law enforcement community who desired to make a difference in their communities. The response was more than the 100 they sought. Besides the color of their skin, they shared a sense of community, culture and pride in their profession of enforcing the law, and had the desire to give back to their communities.
Throughout the years that desire to give back has afforded 100 Blacks the opportunity and ability to donate over $100,000 to groups, other organizations and individuals to help with necessities like books, college tuition, and other contributions, he said.
Negative experiences occurring in minority communities of color also prompted 100 Blacks to work on their behalf. In 1997, shortly after the group came into existence, a Haitian immigrant, Abner Louima, was sodomized with the handle of a plunger in the bathroom of a police precinct by a police officer after he was arrested. Leader said that 100 Blacks was obligated to speak out against such an hideous injustice. The organization has been quoted in numerous news media throughout the years. In a Daily News article by reporter Erin Einhorn, Leader was quoted calling upon then Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to investigate racial profiling by members of the New York City police department.
The article said that of the 575,304 people who were stopped and questioned by police in 2009, 87 percent of them where black or Latino and only 6 percent of those stopped were arrested. Leader said that those numbers justified intervention by Cuomo. [Full article here.]
NYPD’s frisk card plan is ‘garbage,’ cop group says — by Wil Cruz reported the organizations concern that NYPD was holding on to personal information collected from stop and frisk victims even though the stops did not warrant arrests. Full article here.
In Sen. Eric Adams fights ‘crack’ epidemic by launching ads urging youth to pull up saggy pants— by Jake Pearson, the reporter Pearson wrote about co-founder Eric Adams’ announcement that 6 giant, 22-foot billboards were to be posted in high traffic areas in Brooklyn, primarily in Crown Heights. The billboards urged black youth to pull their pants up off the ground. “This whole sagging pants culture seems to have swept the city and the country,” Adams was quoted as saying. “Children will be children. But as adults, we need to be on record and tell them they’re doing something wrong.” [Full article here.]
100 Blacks and National Lation Officers Association of America, which originated in New York City, have joined forces to speak out about things that are wrong. Anthony Miranda, the executive chair of NLOA said in an interview that his organization and 100 Blacks were the only two law enforcement organizations in the city truly committed to advocating for and advancing police policies with the best interest of protecting minority communities.
It is in this spirit that the two organizations work together against police brutality, discrimination and unfair practices against police officers as well as unfair and illegal practices that occur in minority communities, Miranda said. “If 100 Blacks and NLOA were not here, then literally New York would not have a progressive law enforcement that is going to represent the interest of our community,” he said.
Despite the criminal acts and unprofessional behaviors of some members of New York’s law enforcement professionals, Leader still encourages young people to join the force.
Why?
Young African Americans could have an advantage when it comes to dealing with the African American communities because they are members of the communities. He also said,
“More often than not, officers who don’t come from our community, who don’t live in our community, many of whom have never had any genuine contact with African American people, when they became police officers, all of their preconceived notions, sometimes is acted out inappropriately on members of the black or brown community. So it’s very beneficial to the police departments, all departments to have a diverse police department.”
He also said that people can have a better sense of sensitivity with those who reflect their backgrounds. “It is always beneficial for African Americans in any climate to join the police force not only for that reason but also financially, it’s a good paying job,” he said. “It has medical and dental benefits that are superior to a lot of jobs; it has a 20-year retirement plan where you receive a pension plan that is worth one half of your salary for the rest of your life. So, therefore, there are multiple benefits as well as the contribution an African American can give towards making the department much more sensitive to the African American community.”
100 Blacks provides workshops. On its website, http://100blacksinlawenforcementwhocare.com, visitors can find a form to request one of four workshops, such as: WHAT TO DO WHEN STOPPED BY THE POLICE; GANGS-OUR COMMUNITIES DOMESTIC TERRORISTS; WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU COME TO COURT; DISASTER PREPEREDNESS – ARE YOU READY?
Ranette Garcia has been the president of Hunter Undergraduate Student government since July; she also has also been a member for four years prior to her being elected president. She was not aware of the work of 100 Blacks in the communities where many Hunter students live, work and study, she said. She said in an interview that she would consider inviting 100 Blacks to the campus after talking to this reporter. “We want to hear what the students want, what they need and if it’s something that we can make happen, we are willing to do it, we need those ideas,” she said.
100 Blacks hosts a Tuesday evening community access cable tv show hosted by Father Lawrence Lucas; Community activist and New York City Chaplin for Department of Corrections, Michael Greys, Julian Harp and Noel Leader. They are all original founder members of 100 Blacks. The show is titled Community Cop and serves as a platform to discuss issues that affect the community. It can be seen live every Tuesday at 5 p.m. on cable Cable hannel 34 in Manahattan (Manhattan Neighborhood Network), Cable Channel 68 in Brooklyn (BCAT) and Cable Channel 70 in the Bronx (BRONXNET)
On Tuesday December 7, Michael Greys, Julian Harp and Noel Leader discussed several issues, such as The National Defense Authorization Act. This act according to the broadcast would allow police officers to arrest and detain American citizens whom they suspect of domestic terrorism without allowing them the right to an attorney or without the officers having any concrete evidence of terroristic behavior. Harp said that he was concerned not only that law enforcement officers would use this power, but that they would abuse it. He urged American citizens to hold their elected officials accountable so that they along with President Obama would hear the voice of Americans and veto the act. [President Obama signed it into law December 31].
They also discussed the proposed implementation of voter IDs for registered voters. Greys said that this was an attempt to pick apart the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He also said that it was a scheme to take away the black vote. “Twenty-five to 30 percent of the average black population does not have government ID cards, most people won’t get one just to vote,” Greys said.
Harp said he was concerned that this could also pose a disadvantage to students registered to vote in states different than the ones where their campuses were located, that they then would have to travel home to vote, a serious inconvenience and many may not be able to afford the trip home. Greys described as stupid a comment by Republican Presidential Candidate, Newt Gingrich concerning child labor laws being stupid. “I would have no problem if Newt was referring to having poor children participate in some sort of mentoring program where they can work in fortune 500 companies and be able to sit in with the chairman of the board and others, that would be fine,” Greys said. “But when he relegates it to washing toilets and things like that and sweeping and mopping, menial tasks like that. He’s talking about it will bring back the dignity of a job, he’s inferring that somehow black youth is the reason why there’s high unemployment in the black community.”
Leader also said that the reason child labor laws were implemented was so that children can be more concentrated on getting an education, working and attending school would affect performance in school, it would be difficult to do both at the same time. [Gingrich’s statement according to the Los Angeles Times. [Gingrich responding to criticism of his comment, HUffington Post.]
100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care has its proverbial hands full when it comes to matters that concern the well being of the communities it represents. From internal conflict with fellow law enforcement members to government policies that are a disadvantage to African Americans and also upholding its commitment to contribute to the building up of the African American community.”We’re police officers, we’re members of the law enforcement community so our goal and our job and responsibility is to make sure that in the field of law enforcement that our community is respected and not abused and not taken advantage of,” Leader said. “We’ll do whatever we can do to make it right.”
Kerlean Sandy can be reached at ksandy@hunter.cuny.edu