Join us at 3pm on June 17th for Silent March to End Stop and Frisk

Dear [FNAME],

As co-chair of the Immigrants' Rights Table, the NYIC invites you just us at the Silent March to End Stop and Frisk on Sunday, June 17th at 3pm, beginning at 110th Street between 5th Ave and Lenox..  ***Please note that time was changed from original time to accommodate those attending religious services in the morning.***  The website for the march is here:  http://www.silentmarchnyc.org/

On Father's Day, the NYIC will join a coalition of groups led by NAACP National, 1199 and National Action Network, with participation from a very broad cross-section of community groups, faith, labor and many elected officials, in a silent march to end racial profiling and to call for an end to NYPD’s practice of Stop and Frisk.  This march is also a great opportunity to build stronger alliances with African American communities in particular, in light of the support that we will need on the surveillance issues, and in light of NYIC's historic efforts to promote stronger working relationship between the two communities.

As a way of background, in 2011, in New York City, 685,724 people were stopped, 84 percent of whom were Black and Latino residents — although they comprise only about 23 percent and 29 percent of New York City’s total population respectively.  A significant number of those affected are immigrants, as 32 percent of black and 42 percent of the Latino population are immigrants. Of those stopped, 605,000 walked away with no charges.  2011 is the highest year on record for stops.  And just last week, a federal judge granted class certification in a lawsuit challenging the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk

Please note that this is an UNPERMITTED march.  Immigrants and others with concerns about interaction with police should take this into consideration when deciding whether or not to participate.

• There will be no permit, but NYPD is closing 5th avenue and well aware of the march and activities
• We are avoiding arrests at all costs.  Those who want to do Civil Disobedience will be asked to step away from the march and do it on a side street
• NYCLU and NLG are offering legal observers.
• The end of the march will end 2 blocks south of Mayor Bloomberg's house instead of on his block

For those that have questions about the rights of immigrants when interacting with police, you can attend this training before the march:

Know Your Rights Training for Immigrants and Allies Friday June 15, 2012 | 5:30-6:30 pm | 1 Centre Street 19th Floor Latino Justice PRLDEF will be leading this training hosted by the Manhattan Borough President’s office.  The training will help organizers and members know how to keep undocumented members safe and the do’s and don’ts of those who may come into contact with the police. 

To RSVP contact Sara C. Valenzuela at SValenzuela@manhattanbp.org.

If you can attend Sunday's march, please RSVP to: jvimo@thenyic.org or (212) 627.2227 x248.

I look forward to seeing many of you on Sunday,

Jackie Vimo
Director of Advocacy
www.thenyic.org