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Gov. Andrew Cuomo says New York is leading the country with its package of police reform bills.
"The murder of George Floyd was just the tipping point of the systemic injustice and discrimination that has been going on in our nation for decades, if not centuries," Cuomo said Friday. "These are issues that the country has been talking about for a long time, and these nation-leading reforms will make long overdue changes to our policing and criminal justice systems while helping to restore community confidence in law enforcement. I want to applaud Senator Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie and the bill sponsors for working through these tough issues and for their fast action. New York State is the progressive capital. We never sit back and say just what the nation should do – we show the nation what it should do, and we did that again today."
Assemblyman Charles Barron, D-Brooklyn, has one word to describe the spate of police reform bills passed this week by the state Legislature -- weak.
In his 15 minutes of time on the Assembly floor to debate a repeal of Section 50-a of the state's Civil Rights Law, Barron leveled broadside criticism of the state Legislature, U.S. Sen. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. and Gov. Andrew Cuomo for what Barron says is a dismal record on civil rights and poverty.
As far as repealing Section 50-a of the state Civil Rights Law, a measure meant to allow public access to police officers' disciplinary records, Barron was clear he doesn't think the legislature's work this week goes far enough.
"Now that the stuff has hit the fan, and the flames are up, (New York City Mayor Bill) de Blasio found a whole lot of money to defund the police and said even the police commissioner is with him on that," Barron said. "Whoa, where did you get that idea from? So we've got to watch out for the co-opting of the movement, trying to sound like us and defund the police like de Blasio. Really? Hypocrite. The governor can't wait to get 50-a. Hypocrite. The leader of this Assembly and the leader of the Senate are working in concert and I think that is the problem. And then they come to you and all attack somebody like me. Don't take it personally. This isn't personal. This is all politics. The personal part is my people are dying. And I really don't care what you think about me. But our people are dying. You can take all the bows for this weak legislation. I'm telling you it's not going to hold."
BARRON'S WARNING
The repeal of 50-a is one of several bills passed by the state Legislature last week in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the subsequent protests in cities across the country. Some protests have been peaceful demonstrations, including protests in Jamestown, Warren and Dunkirk, while others have turned violent with injuries to both police officers and protesters and damage to property. Measures like opening police officers' disciplinary records to the public aren't enough to prevent future incidents from happening, Barron said.
Barron speaks after a lifetime of work on civil rights. In 1969, Barron joined the Harlem branch of the Black Panther Party. In 1979, Barron joined the National Black United Front and became the founding chairperson of NBUF'S Harlem Chapter. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed Chief of Staff to the Rev. Dr. Herbert Daughtry, chairperson of the National Black United Front. From 1982-87 he served as Secretary General of Rev. Daughtry's African Peoples Christian Organization (APCO). He traveled across the United States visiting many college campuses, churches, prisons and communities organizing around international, national and local issues. As the founder and CEO of the Dynamics of Leadership Corporation, Barron also traveled the country presenting seminars and workshops on leadership development.
"These demonstrations, and I've warned this country and I've warned this city, when peaceful methods for justice and systemic change are ignored or rejected, violence is inevitable," Barron said. "These bills will not stop the next explosion, because they're weak. A police officer, we have to deal with when they're committing the act. Every one of you sitting in here, you know if a police officer comes up to you and you're innocently moving about in your neighborhood and they attack you and call you out of your name, you could care less what their background is, you want to know how do we get that one to jail? How do we get that one off the streets? Every time we have these things, they say we need retraining. They need cultural sensitivity. We need to have a conversation on race so that we can understand you better, so they can understand black people better, so that they can understand. If you want to talk about looting, we were looted from Africa, stolen and brought here to build the economic foundation for capitalism. You want to talk about looting? The land of the indigenous people were looted by the founding fathers of this sinful, racist, parasitic, predatory capitalist nation."
WHY SPEAK OUT NOW?
Barron criticized the state legislators and Cuomo for moving quickly after Floyd's death compared to their perceived inaction after the death of several New York City residents at the hands of police officers. Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old Guinean immigrant, was shot by New York City police officers in 1999 after he was allegedly mistaken for a suspect in a rape case. Sean Bell was shot in 2006 after a bachelor's party argument in a night club in which police thought there were going to be shots fired between groups of patrons and opened fire when Bell allegedly sped in a car toward an officer, hit the police officer and then hit an unmarked police minivan. The officer testified he thought he saw someone in the car reach for a gun, though witnesses disputed that account. The last case Barron mentioned is the 2013 death of Eric Garner, who died after being placed in a chokehold by two New York City police officers.
In the cases of Diallo and Bell, charges were filed against the officers but the officers were acquitted. There were no charges filed following Garner's death, but a $5.9 million out-of-court settlement was reached.
"You don't have to go all the way to Minnesota," Barron said on the Assembly floor. "Why didn't you say something about Amadou Diallo? Why didn't you say something about Sean Bell? Why didn't you say something about Eric Garner? I could spend the rest of my time making the list. You were silent, and your silence is consent. It is disingenuous for you now, you're going to talk out against this. Why? Because of the pressure the protests have put on everybody, burning down police stations. I have no mercy for looting Macy's and Gucci. I don't think we should destroy those properties or those small businesses in our neighborhood. That's why people are scared. For a second there the stock market dropped. It's gone back up now. That's why they panicked."
Assembly Republicans, including Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, and Joe Giglio, R-Gowanda, voted against the 50-a repeal because it would unseal records of claims that turned out to be unsubstantiated against police officers. There are also some who have said unsealing complaints against police officers could open doors to defense attorneys to use unrelated disciplinary records in court to undermine police credibility.
Barron dismissed those claims, saying the very quickness with which Cuomo said he would sign the bill is a sign that the 50-a repeal isn't tough enough.
"Any time you have this hypocritical governor saying, 'Bring me a bill. I can't wait, I'll sign it tonight.' You know it's ineffective," Barron said. "You know it's not going to hurt the police. So you go ahead and pass all this legislation. By the way, for the record, I supported it all. I think it's weak. I think some of the advocates wanted this bill badly. And look at that, they made this bill the prize package. We've got to repeal 50-a. They made this bill, the background check, like that's going to stop them from murdering us."
Barron prefers an elected complaint review board that has the power to investigate, prosecute and send police officers convicted of crimes to jail if warranted. Barron also advocated for dismantling police departments and using new structures to respond to mental health emergencies and other specialized emergency situations. The biggest shortcoming of the legislature's work this week, though, is the lack of consequences for police officers who take someone's life.
"If they murder us give them 25 years to life," Barron said. "I will buy them a black history book to read in jail. You need consequences. We've come up with this."
A FINAL WARNING
Several times in his comments, Barron mentioned the repeat nature of some of the legislation that had come before the Assembly. The Brooklyn Democrat noted legislation banning chokeholds as one example of such legislation while also criticizing the inability of Cuomo and leadership in the Senate and Assembly to agree to legislation outlawing racial profiling.
That, and what Barron perceives as the lack of consequences included in the policies passed this week, are reasons why Barron said he expects protests again in the future.
"I hope I'm wrong," Barron said. "I've never wanted to be more wrong on something in all my life. This is not going to put the flames out. These bills are not going to stop a worse uprising. You think the fires in Minneapolis, the fires in Ferguson, the fires in Baltimore and all over the country were something? Wait until you see the flames the next time if we don't take a serious, serious approach to dealing with this issue. It's been with us a long time. I've been at it 50 years, so pardon me if I'm not excited about a package of legislation I've seen 50 times. This is not the answer."