A silent march in New York City yesterday afternoon brought thousands into the streets to protest the NYPD’s controversial “Stop and Frisk” Program.

Activists and opponents of the program say the program is racist, ineffective and abusive.

Participants in the event ran the gamut from well-known elected officials to everyday concerned citizens like you and I.

From the New York Times:

“The presence of several elected officials at the march, including the Democratic mayoral hopefuls Bill de Blasio, the public advocate; Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker; Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president; and William C. Thompson, the former city comptroller, seemed to signal a solidifying opposition to the policy, which has long been opposed by civil rights groups.

Wade Cummings, 46, a teacher, attended with his 19-year-old son, Tarik. Both said they had been stopped by police officers — once for the father, three times for the son.

‘I’m concerned about him being stopped and it escalating,’ the father said. ‘I like to believe I taught him not to escalate this situation, but you never know how it’s going to go down.’

Police officers stopped nearly 700,000 people last year, 87 percent of them black or Latino. Of those stopped, more than half were also frisked.”

Read more at NYTimes.com

Are protests an effective means of combating “Stop and Frisk?”

Should the Justice Department investigate the NYPD’s treatment of people of color?

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