Posted: Friday, September 9, 2011 2:26 pm

Jumaane Williams

 Outrageous Treatment of Brooklyn Elected Official

Tony Best

Indignation, outrage and a firm belief that if police officers can arrest a member of the City Council and a senior City Hall aide without cause then it can be open season on members of the general public. Add obvious racial bias to the list and the picture would become clear.That’s how New Yorkers have reacted to what they see as the “incredible” arrests and detention of Brooklyn City Council member, Jumaane Williams, and Kirsten John Foy, Community Affairs Director for the City’s Public Advocate, Bill de Blasio by white police officers. They were detained for entering a “frozen” security zone reserved for police officers near the Brooklyn Museum during Monday’s mammoth West Indian American Day Carnival.

Both Williams and Foy, who are Black and were previously given permission by a senior police official to enter the secure area, were thrown to the ground by two white police officers, said eyewitnesses. They were then arrested, handcuffed and taken to a nearby Jewish Temple on Eastern Parkway but were later released without charge after several federal, state and locally elected representatives and others protested the treatment of the highly respected officials at Monday’s West Indian American carnival along Eastern Parkway.

The cultural festival, the largest of its kind in the country, was attended by more than two million revelers and spectators.Speaking at a City Hall press conference yesterday morning, Williams said that he was convinced that his Black skin played a significant part in the awful way he was treated by the cops. Like an array of other elected officials of all races, Williams demanded disciplinary action against the cops involved.“You do have to acknowledge that if I did not look the way I look, young, Black with locks and earrings like other Black males. If we were elected officials of a different persuasion, we are sure that things would have been handled differently,” was the way Williams put it.De Blasio used different words to condemn the arrests.‘

“It’s broad daylight, they get thrown to the ground, they both get arrested,” De Blasio complained afterwards. “If that’s what happens to an elected official and a senior appointee, imagine what happens to a general member of the public.”New York State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, a member of the Brooklyn delegation in Albany, agreed but put it differently.The entire handling of the case, he charged, was “unjustified” and was “further evidence of the siege mentality the N.Y.P.D has unleashed against Black men in New York City,” he added.That was why he demanded disciplinary action against the offending white cops and an apology from the Mayor, Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelley, both of whom intervened after the incident and promised a thorough investigation.

As eyewitnesses saw it, the problem started when Williams, a popular figure in his district and a known critic of the Police Department’s stop and frisk policy which has transformed tens of thousands of Blacks, especially men into victims of unjust police crime fighting tactics sought. They were had earlier received permission from a high-ranking officer who was dressed in a white shirt to enter the restricted area. But when they when they entered the zone they were immediately surrounded by several police officers who demanded identification and a reason for their presence along the sidewalk. That happened despite the fact that Williams was wearing a pin certifying his membership in the City Council and Foy showed his credentials

.“Jumaane was wearing a Council member’s pin, they were trying to explain who they were, but the officers weren’t listening,” said the Public Advocate who wasn’t present but had rushed to the scene after he was told of the incident.When Williams protested and an argument erupted, both men were thrown to the ground and arrested, explained De Blasio.Mayor Bloomberg who like Williams, attended the pre-carnival breakfast and later walked down the Parkway, later spoke to the Council member while a Deputy Mayor reached out to De Balsio. The details of their conversations were not disclosed.“As the Police Department has indicated, they are investigating the incident and will take all appropriate steps once it is concluded,” Stu Loeser, a mayoral spokesman.For its part, an NYPD spokesman, Paul J. Browne, admitted that before Williams and Foy could identify themselves they were prevented from entering the area.“A crowd formed an unknown individual punched a police captain on the scene,” Browne said while asserting that they weren’t arrested but “were detained until their identifies were established, and then released.”Williams who represents a predominantly Caribbean Council District in Brooklyn was elected to City Hall less than two years, achieving the rare distinction of defeating incumbent office holder, Dr. Kendal Stewart.“This has been an unbelievable and regrettable experience,” said Williams.Yvonne Graham, Brooklyn’s Deputy Borough President, who played a prominent role at the carnival breakfast attended by a host of top elected officials including the Mayor, the Governor Andrew Cuomo, Williams, De Blasio,  Assemblyman Jeffries, Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette Clarke and State Senator Minority leader John Sampson, said that she was awaiting the outcome of the investigation by the police.“We know that police officers are there to make the West Indian carnival a safe place for the spectators and the costume bands,” she said. “They work hard to make it as safe as possible and we appreciate that. But we can’t compromise on respect for the Caribbean and community and for its representatives, indeed for any community in the City. There must be respect for everyone at all times and every attempt must be made by the Police Department to ensure that its officers don’t get out of line and do the wrong thing. What happened is regrettable, to say the least.”Stefan Ringel, William’s spokesman, said that the Council member and the senior aide of De Blasio were both “given permission by a higher ranking official to walk on the sidewalk. But when we headed up the street the Councilmember was stopped by three officers.”A problem, he added, was the “disrespectful” behavior of the cops in dealing with the problem.