Stop and Frisk: The Obsession of Eric Adams
NYC Mayor Eric Adams has many obsessions that he has brought into office with him. His ego,
naturally. His liking for appointing corrupt officials to public office is also well known. But the
one that really gets his juices flowing, that gets his pupils dilated more than anything else? The
abomination that is “Stop and Frisk.” In December 2021, just prior to taking office, he touted
the idea of re-introducing it to the streets of NYC, a desire that still burns bright within him to
date.
However, given the recent decision of the Supreme Court that it is legal for New Yorkers
to conceal carry a firearm, Adams’ Stop and Frisk fetish is now on very shaky ground.
Stop and Frisk has always been highly contentious, and rightly so. Its most basic logic is
something more so akin to Nazi Germany than 21 st century NYC and America – that people are
potentially guilty of something, but without a sniff of due process. Law enforcement are
allowed to act on their own hunches, grievances and prejudices in doing so.
It’s essentially the
philosophy of “your papers please” and there’s nothing you can do about it for fear of
apprehension. In the rest of the Western world, Stop and Frisk is barely known, let alone
enacted. Yet again another case of American Exceptionalism proving to be exceptionally wrong
and at odds with the rest of Western democracy.
There is though with Stop and Frisk the over-powering stench of racial profiling and blatant
discrimination. The statistics more than back this up:
Since 2002, over five million New Yorkers have been subject to the ignominy of Stop and
Frisk.
In 2019, 13,459 New Yorkers were subject to Stop and Frisk. Of those, 9% were White,
while 88% were either Black or Latino.
Nine out of ten New Yorkers who have been subject to Stop and Frisk have been
innocent.
Source: Stop-and-Frisk Data | New York Civil Liberties Union | ACLU of New York (nyclu.org)
While to the rest of us on Planet Sane, those figures alone should condemn Stop and Frisk to
the trash-can of history without delay. On Planet Not-Quite-So-Sane, where Eric Adams has a
second home, that data is a mere blip of inconvenience and therefore of no concern to him. But
now the Supreme Court has loomed large, and Adams fevered dreams of further subjugating
those he supposedly represents has now taken a serious legal body-blow.
Given that the nation’s supreme legal entity has ruled that carrying a concealed gun in NYC is
constitutionally protected, where does that then leave Stop and Frisk? Your first reaction may
be in a dumpster on fire. And yes, you’d be right. The target of Stop and Frisk is in the
overwhelming number of cases, either drugs or weapons, primarily guns. The Supreme Court’s
ruling effectively neutralizes the weapons part of that equation. And much as Adams might
hate to admit it, his illegitimate NYC fiefdom pales into legal insignificance in the face of the
highest court in the land.
New Yorkers, the most stoic and resilient of people, even they have their limits. And even more
so when it comes to petty despots with huge egos (look at their take on Trump for example),
which very much sums up the first line on Eric Adams’ resume. Adams likes to portray himself
as being “of the people” which is of course utter nonsense. That he is a Black American makes
the degree of irony rocket off the scale. We are going to do everything within our power to
ensure Adams and his ilk don’t have their warped dream come true – to turn the clock back to
the Dark Ages and have the World’s city turned into a dystopian extension of Adams’ bizarre
whims and fetishes.
As with so many other injustices facing the citizens of NYC and beyond, we won’t ever give up
the fight, and that includes against Stop and Frisk. To do so would be a betrayal of all those
sacrifices made by so many before us in the struggle to overcome tyranny and injustice.
Take heed Mayor Adams, your fascist plans of Stop and Frisk is now going nowhere, fast. And
that’s not only the Supreme Court throwing that back in your face, it’s also the millions of New
Yorkers which you claim to represent.