The assault on the FTP4 protest on June 4th in the Bronx carried out by the NYPD in collusion with the mayor’s office is the latest in a long history of police assaults on Black people and their allies rising up to demand justice and liberation. NYPD Chief Terrence Moynahan’s ordering of NYPD officers to choke a Black woman who dared to use her voice stands as a piece with Bull Connor’s beating and hosing women and children in Alabama in the 60’s. Any city official who claims to recognize the dignity and value of Black life would acknowledge this brutality for what it is: a violation of our human rights.

Instead Bill De Blasio and his administration are attempting to bury this atrocity with a sham investigation by the Department of Investigations (DOI) and the NYC Law Department. The Law Department specifically has a monetary incentive and legal duty to defend the city, including the NYPD. Still, De Blasio himself has said: “I’m waiting for their conclusions.” This is not a legitimate or “impartial” investigation but an attempt by the city to exonerate itself of any wrongdoing and we will have no part in it. We declare today that we will not cooperate with this investigation. We refer any inquiries about the assault on FTP4 to the human rights watch report, which was thorough, extensive, and impartial, including nearly 100 pages, compiled from 150 pieces of video evidence, and some 80 interviews of people involved. The mayor's office wants to conduct this sham investigation to say “who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes.” The evidence is clear and on video, what happened was a violation of our human rights, period.

When Eric Garner was murdered by the NYPD, Mayor De Blasio hid behind his Black son while doing nothing to hold the NYPD accountable. When the NYPD continued to kill Black people during the pandemic, he hid behind his Black wife, while doing nothing to hold the NYPD accountable. Now he has a Black woman from the DOI, Shanika Griffith-Mercado, reaching out to us so he can hide behind her. Mayor De Blasio, we know you will have no shortage of Black people to cape for you, but we will not be fooled. We say today that you can hide no longer. In the face of a rising fascist movement across the country which is embedded in and in allegiance with police departments, we have seen you fail to stand up to the NYPD, and instead allowed them to grow as an independent political force in opposition to Black equality, Black liberation, and Black life. We know what you would have done in 1930’s Germany because it is exactly what you are doing now, you would have fallen in line. We will not.

Human Rights Watch Article: Systemic Police Brutality and Its Costs in the United States