The Only Good Cop Is A .................
On Saturday, November 7, 2009, the New Orleans Bookfair was in full swing, with blocks of tables full of local independent, radical, and alternative literature. A cop had been cruising the streets of the outdoor fair, stopping to stare at punk-looking musicians and the kids in the bouncey castle (pedophiles on the force?), making several passes as the otherwise festive day unfolded.
Like a hyena marauding at the edges of the event, he eventually pounced, stopping a bicyclist for riding the wrong way down the street, which was being harmoniously utilized by walking customers, bicyclists, musicians, and cars, all giving each other the space they needed. The officer stopped his car in the middle of the street, in the middle of the fair, and blocked traffic for over 30 minutes while he proceeded to slowly write a ticket to an unfortunate one of the dozens of people riding up and down the street on bicycles in both directions.
This cop was mistaken in thinking he could get away with his harassment of cyclists unchallenged, and soon a crowd gathered to witness and confront this blatant harassment. Chants began of "Stop Police Harassment" and "Riding a bike is not a crime," as bookfair attendees, neighbors, and onlookers joined in. Soon the lone cop was facing down a crowd of dozens, clapping, chanting, and exposing the routine function of the police as arbitrary bullies, enforcing the version of "law and order" they choose to enforce: against the poor, against cyclists, and against alternative cultures.
The cop was completely shamed, humiliated, and embarrassed, as not one person in the crowd of hundreds of onlookers supported his actions. He succeeded in further, and thanks to the spontaneous protest, very publicly, delegitmizing the role of the police in New Orleans for hundreds of people. The unemployed cyclist, who the cop no doubt saw as an easy target, was grateful for the support he received, and local anarchists pledged to stay in touch and bring a full courtroom to his hearing, as well as help him pay his ticket if he is convicted. Solidarity is our power.
His court date is set for December 23rd, and New Orleans bicyclists, anarchists, and anti-Prison Industrial Complex activists will be there to see this fight to its finish and show the cops that harassment of bicyclists and poor people in our city will not be tolerated.
To stay informed and get the details of the court-hearing, join the NOLA-anarchists email group:Send a blank email to nola-anarchists+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Like a hyena marauding at the edges of the event, he eventually pounced, stopping a bicyclist for riding the wrong way down the street, which was being harmoniously utilized by walking customers, bicyclists, musicians, and cars, all giving each other the space they needed. The officer stopped his car in the middle of the street, in the middle of the fair, and blocked traffic for over 30 minutes while he proceeded to slowly write a ticket to an unfortunate one of the dozens of people riding up and down the street on bicycles in both directions.
This cop was mistaken in thinking he could get away with his harassment of cyclists unchallenged, and soon a crowd gathered to witness and confront this blatant harassment. Chants began of "Stop Police Harassment" and "Riding a bike is not a crime," as bookfair attendees, neighbors, and onlookers joined in. Soon the lone cop was facing down a crowd of dozens, clapping, chanting, and exposing the routine function of the police as arbitrary bullies, enforcing the version of "law and order" they choose to enforce: against the poor, against cyclists, and against alternative cultures.
The cop was completely shamed, humiliated, and embarrassed, as not one person in the crowd of hundreds of onlookers supported his actions. He succeeded in further, and thanks to the spontaneous protest, very publicly, delegitmizing the role of the police in New Orleans for hundreds of people. The unemployed cyclist, who the cop no doubt saw as an easy target, was grateful for the support he received, and local anarchists pledged to stay in touch and bring a full courtroom to his hearing, as well as help him pay his ticket if he is convicted. Solidarity is our power.
His court date is set for December 23rd, and New Orleans bicyclists, anarchists, and anti-Prison Industrial Complex activists will be there to see this fight to its finish and show the cops that harassment of bicyclists and poor people in our city will not be tolerated.
To stay informed and get the details of the court-hearing, join the NOLA-anarchists email group:Send a blank email to nola-anarchists+subscribe@googlegroups.com
posted by The Iron Rail Book Collective at
12:16 PM
14 Comments
Links to this post
HEY LISTEN... do you have photographic imagez of or pertaining to thee Iron Rail? Newer? Older? Whenever? Us (derrick) tabling? The outside of the space? The inside of the space? The big Kimya Dawson love-in? The Rail defiantly open during police curfew? Something expecially clever written on the open-door chalkboard?
The police-- especially the NOPD-- are enemies of the people. This is not only true when you're wearing a "Stop Snitchin'" t-shirt, in ironic homage to black communities' silence in the face of oppression and interrogation; it's true when crime happens to you and "yours." It remains true when someone with your own complexion and economic background is killed. It remains true when kids steal the tip jar from the coffee shop you work at. It remains true when a New Orleanian without adequate mental health care flips out and is shouting at invisible stuff outside the house you rent.
