Artist arrested at One Police Plaza Protest
Artist/activist Robert Lederman was arrested outside One Police Plaza today (9/2/99) as he wrote "Giuliani = Police State" in chalk on the sidewalk. Approximately 25 police officials, including attorneys from the NYPD legal division, were present in addition to a group of artist demonstrators. The demonstration was held in order to protest the shooting on Monday of Gidone Busch.
This is Ledermans 39th arrest for protesting against the Mayor and his eighth arrest on the charge of Defacement of Public Property with chalk. All of the chalking arrests involved writing "Giuliani = Police State" during protests.
The City has never brought Lederman to trial on any of these arrests yet it claims in its legal motions to the Federal Court in Lederman et al v Giuliani, a civil suit now before Judge Lawrence McKenna that, the defacement statutes are...valid, content neutral, time, place and manner restrictions," and are "...narrowly tailored to address the City's significant governmental interest in keeping public property free of visual blight." In the same motion they go on to state, "Nor can the Lederman plaintiffs establish that the defacement provisions are enforced in such a manner as to violate their equal protection rights."
These arrests are a blatant example of selective enforcement and false arrest, Giuliani style. On residential streets and outside schools in every borough, children draw on the street with chalk each day. None have ever been arrested. The NYPD gives children chalk to draw with on the street during PAL (Police Athletic League) sporting events. The Department of Parks gives children chalk to use in parks and Parks employees use chalk to draw gameboards on Park Property for chess, hopscotch and Skelly tournaments. The Mayor has a press release on his City-owned website advertising the fact that he has personally painted the finish line for the NYC Marathon on a NYC street. Macys is allowed to paint a huge advertisement on the street adjoining Herald Sq. Park each year. That ad lasts all year long and is a massive example of, defacement. Is it a coincidence that the Mayor shills for Macys on a regular basis even acting as the official host of their fireworks display on July 4th? Proof (in most cases from the Citys own websites) of all of these examples of the City allowing chalking have been submitted as evidence in the lawsuit.
The only people arrested in NYC for using chalk just happen to have written anti-Giuliani slogans during protests. No more perfect example of selective enforcement and content-based censorship of speech could be imagined.
The following statement was read during the protest. One Police Plaza, 12 noon, 2/9/99
So far this week the police have shot and killed two men under very questionable circumstances. Unfortunately, these unjustified deaths are not unique. The use of excessive force by the police is an almost daily occurrence in New York City. During the Giuliani administration, being a minority, or homeless, or mentally disturbed, or a protester or simply being a street vendor makes one a criminal. As the Mayors so-called quality of life campaign has unfolded, more and more people have found themselves involved in confrontations with the police who increasingly, treat all New Yorkers as criminals. In that kind of political climate, such unjustified police shootings are inevitable. What we are here to address is not the police officers who fired the 12 shots that killed a disturbed Jewish man on Monday or the officer who on Wednesday accidentally shot a Black man suspected of not paying a taxi fare. We are here to draw attention to the fact that under this administration, the lives of many New Yorkers are seen as having little or no value.
When the police respond to a 911 call about a dangerous dog, they bring a net, or a pole with a noose or a tranquilizer gun and try to subdue the animal without killing it. That shows a level of humane treatment absent from the way Gidone Busch was treated.
Yesterday, in defending official NYPD policy, the Mayor said that when the police make a decision to use their guns they are instructed to shoot to kill. Apparently, that training also includes the directive for every officer on the scene to keep shooting even after a suspect is mortally wounded, disabled or lying on the ground. That may be a reasonable standard for police officers facing someone holding hostages or who is about to fire a gun. It seems excessive when dealing with a mentally ill person swinging a hammer or an unarmed man, who, like Amadou Diallo, reached into his pocket for his ID.
By their statements during the past few days the Mayor and Commissioner Safir appear to be faithfully defending the police. We should not be fooled. They are defending their own policies. They are defending their own record of violating the civil rights of the people of this City. They are defending the philosophy that sees the police as soldiers in an occupying army and the public as inmates in a prison with little or no rights.
We are here today to demand that Rudolph Giulianis Police State be reigned in before more needless deaths occur. We are not against the police. We are against the police state.
Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists Response To Illegal State Tactics) <ARTISTpres at aol.com> (718) 369-2111 <http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html>
1/14/98 Arrest: Defacement of Property (City Hall). Arraigned 2/17/98 346 Bwy. Adjourned to 3/4/98 AP1. Adjourned to 4/30/98 AP1. Adjourned to 6/15/98 Jury Part 7. Dismissed.
1/21/98 Arrest: Defacement of Streets, Disorderly Conduct. Arraigned 2/19/98 346Bwy. Adjourned 3/4/98 AP1. Adjourned to 4/30/98 AP1. Adjourned to Jury Part 7 6/15/98. Dismissed.
2/27/98 Arrest: Defacing Property with Chalk. Arraigned 3/30/98 346 Bwy. Adjourned to 4/30/98 AP1. Adjourned to 6/15/98 Jury Part 7. Dismissed.
2/28/98 Arrest: Defacing Property. Arraigned 3/30/98 346 Bwy. Adjourned to 4/30/98 AP1. Adjourned to 6/15/98 Jury Part 7. Dismissed.
3/1/98 Arrest: Defacing Park Property [cuffed and held 20 minutes inside police car then released to stop riot]. Arraigned 4/1/98 ECB Court. DISMISSED after trial due to officer writing wrong date of occurance.
3/26/98 Arrest: Defacing Parks Property. Arraigned 4/28/98 AR2. Case not Prosecuted by D.A. Dismissed.
3/26/98 Summons: Abuse of Parks Property. Arraigned 4/27/98 346 Bwy. Adjourned to 6/15/98 Jury Part 7 Dismissed.
9/2/99 Defacement of Property One Police Plaza Arraignment 10/8/99 346 Bway.