Anderson@Large

Pennsylvania National Action Network Calls on Sen. Warren to Support Removal of Frank Rizzo Monument

When I moved to Philadelphia, Frank Rizzo, a former mayor and police commissioner, had been dead for nearly two decades. Still, Philadelphians spoke about him with a passion and anger that was visceral. Rizzo’s legacy includes the untreated trauma that he inflicted on the African American community.

As I researched Philadelphia’s jazz history, I heard stories about how Rizzo harassed jazz musicians and club owners. So it is shocking that a monument of a man who was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for a pattern of police brutality that “shocks the conscience” is at the gateway to municipal services.

I looked at the story behind the story and learned the Rizzo monument was financed by his family. The public was never asked whether the vanity project was an appropriate monument for the City of Philadelphia. Not only was the public not asked, the vanity project was unveiled on January 1, 1999 after the Mummers Parade, an event that for decades featured marchers in blackface.

On the day Mayor Jim Kenney announced his endorsement of Sen. Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic presidential nomination, it was reported Kenney has no plan to remove the Rizzo monument from Thomas Paine Plaza. Warren supports removal of Confederate monuments and the Confederate battle emblem from the Mississippi state flag.

I join Pennsylvania State Chapter National Action Network in calling on Warren to support removal of the monument of Frank Rizzo, a racist cop who trampled on civil rights, urged supporters to “vote white” and traumatized the African American community. You can read the press release here.

Take Down Philadelphia’s Monument to Police Brutality

On January 1, 1999, a statue of Frank Rizzo was installed in front of the Municipal Services Building. Tellingly, the statue was unveiled after the Mummers parade which is known for its exclusionary practices and racially-charged antics.

The former police commissioner served as mayor from 1972 to 1980. Rizzo’s brutal legacy is memorialized in the 1979 lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department charging the Philadelphia Police Department with engaging in a pattern and practice of brutal behavior that “shocks the conscience.” It was the first time a city was prosecuted by the Justice Department.

Almost from Day One, there have been public protests demanding the removal of the statue from its prominent perch across from City Hall. In the wake of Charlottesville, the calls have grown louder. Philadelphia Daily News columnist Solomon Jones recently wrote:

Because he oversaw and maintained police brutality in the black and brown communities in which I grew up, the statue of Frank Rizzo must immediately be removed from the steps of the taxpayer-funded Municipal Services Building.

Not one more cent of my tax dollars maintaining it. Not one more moment of my property housing it. Not one more word from my city excusing it.

The Frank Rizzo statue must be moved to private property, and it must be moved now.

Frank Rizzo was both the symbol and the substance of a racist system upheld by law enforcement. His police force was used to maintain racial boundaries that kept blacks trapped in red-lined communities, locked into a segregated educational system, and mired in the ongoing morass of second-class citizenship.

Attorney Michael Coard is unsparing in his takedown of Rizzo. Coard wrote the installation of the monument to police brutality “broke each of the Ten Commandments of Race/Politics in Philadelphia.”

The drumbeat of voices calling for the removal of the statue forced Mayor Jim Kenney to initiate the process to consider the removal or relocation of the artwork. The City of Philadelphia issued a “Call for Ideas: Rizzo Statue.” To amplify voices from the African American community and allies, the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Action Network has prepared a form letter that concerned citizens can sign on Wednesday, September 13, between 9am and 6pm. The PA NAN office is located at 1046 W. Jefferson Street, Lower Level.

The letters will be hand-delivered to City Hall on Friday, September 15. If you have any questions, call (215) 765-6181. Let’s do this.

Grand Jury Clears Cops in Darrin Manning Stop-Frisk

Last week, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams released the findings of the grand jury investigating the Darrin Manning case. To no one’s surprise, the grand jury “concluded that the police acted responsibly and that no criminal act was committed by any members of the police department on that day.”

To hear the cops tell it, the Jan. 7, 2014 incident was a Norman Rockwell moment.

You see, Officer Thomas Purcell wanted to stop Darrin and his teammates out of concern they were trying to get this attention:

Unsure whether the students needed help or were trying to communicate with the police, he opened his door and asked the students what they said. Officer Purcell further testified that he did not hear any response from the students; the students, including Student #1, agreed that they did not respond to the officer.

At 1:55:22 p.m., Officer Purcell activated the police lights on the van in order to perform a U-turn on the busy street. He also testified that he was performing a U-turn to further investigate whether the students were victims of or witnesses to a crime, hence their trying to get the officers’ attention.

Really?

Lewis S. Small, Darrin’s attorney, wrote in an email message:

Reminds you of when the police climbed over OJ’s wall at his compound without a warrant because “they were concerned about his safety.”

Matthew Smith Sr., president of the Pennsylvania State Chapter National Action Network, dismissed Officer Purcell’s testimony as inconsistent with police-community relations in Philadelphia. Smith said in a statement:

It strains credulity to suggest Officer Thomas Purcell stopped in the middle of Girard Avenue out of concern the teenagers were trying to get his attention. When they ran that should have been a clue they didn’t want to talk with him. And that should have been the end of the story. But it wasn’t. Darrin Manning stopped because he knew he had done nothing wrong. Everything that followed flowed from an illegal investigatory stop.

The grand jury found the evidence doesn’t support Darrin’s claim that a white female officer grabbed and squeezed his testicle. Officer Cucinotta testified she was “physically unable to reach his genital area.”

My experience is that a man’s genital area is in easy reach no matter what he’s wearing.

Attorney Small asked:

The real question is why did they omit Darrin’s teammates’ testimony in their finding that he heard Darrin screaming that the police officer was squeezing his balls, and yet they quote him as to the resisting arrest? He corroborates Darrin’s version of the events.

It ain’t over.

A Tainted Stop

Friday marked the two-month anniversary of a Philly-style stop-and-frisk that made national and international headlines. A white female police officer conducted an illegal pat down of Darrin Manning during the course of which she grabbed his testicles. Less than 24 hours later, Darrin underwent emergency surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Friday also marked the date of Darrin’s appearance in Juvenile Court to stand trial on trumped-up charges stemming from the illegal stop and frisk.

To no one’s surprise, the District Attorney’s office requested a continuance because they are “conducting additional investigation into the underlying matter and the actions of the police during the arrest of young Mr. Manning.”

Judge Amanda Cooperman granted the joint request for a continuance. A status hearing will be held on April 28, 2014. Darrin’s presence is not required. Instead, his attorney, Lewis Small, and an Assistant DA will tell Judge Cooperman “where we go from here.”

Two months later, where are we? We still don’t know the name of the female officer who sexually assaulted Darrin. The blue code of silence has silenced Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey. But it’s only a matter of time before he has to say her name.

We still don’t know why Officer Thomas stopped Darrin. The 2011 consent decree the City of Philadelphia entered into with the ACLU provides:

Stops and frisks shall not be permissible, without limitation, where the officer has only anonymous information of criminal conduct, or because the person is only “loitering” or engaged in “furtive movements,” or is acting “suspiciously,” or for the purpose of “investigation of person,” or on the basis of non-articulated “flash information,” or only because the person is in a “high crime” or “high drug” area.

In plain English, police officers are permitted to stop, question, and frisk individuals who are suspected of committing, having committed or about to commit a crime.

In calling on District Attorney Seth Williams to drop the charges against his client, Attorney Small said:

None of those conditions were met. There were no radio calls indicating any crimes being committed. Boys running on a very cold afternoon, without more, does not meet the [reasonable suspicion] condition, particularly when Darrin had stopped running and walked over to the police van.

With no allegation that Darrin was engaged in any criminal activity, the 16-year-old honor student is guilty of being arrested.

Philly ‘Stop-and-Frisk Run Amok’

Seven weeks ago, Darrin Manning, a 16-year-old honor student, was minding his own business. On a record cold day in Philadelphia, he was wearing a hoodie and scarf on his way to play in his charter school’s basketball game. That was enough for Officer Thomas Purcell to make it his business to stop him. In Purcell’s worldview, a young black man is “acting suspiciously” when he bundles up against the cold.

Following the illegal stop, frisk and arrest, a white female police officer patted down Darrin. During the course of her illegal pat down, she grabbed Darrin’s testicles. Twice. Less than 24 hours later, he underwent emergency surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His operating physician wrote:

He [Darrin] was involved with an encounter with the police department during which his scrotum was grabbed and he reported acute onset of left testicular pain.

Those are some of the facts highlighted at today’s press conference. In attendance were Darrin’s lawyer, Lewis Small; his mother, Ikea Coney; Veronica Joyner, founder and chief administrative officer of the Mathematics, Civics and Sciences Charter School of Philadelphia; and Paula Peebles, chair of the Pennsylvania State Chapter of the National Action Network.

In calling on District Attorney Seth Williams to drop the charges, Attorney Small said:

What happened to Darrin is a case of stop-and-frisk run amok.

The fact that Darrin did not have a weapon and in fact is not a criminal seem to have no relevance to the police. Darrin was stopped for no reason. He was arrested for no reason. He was subjected to a brutal attack for no reason. The charges made against Darrin are not supported and should be dropped.

[…]

Darrin Manning has suffered enough. It’s time for the District Attorney to withdraw the charges in this case. It’s time to end this injustice.

Darrin and his mother have suffered enough. The trumped-up charges won’t shield the Philadelphia Police Department from being held accountable for engaging in a pattern or practice of stops and frisks undertaken without reasonable suspicion.