October 5, 2007
PARTY FOUL
marred Sylvia Rivera Law Project celebration
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Mendez-Penate and Gossett at City Hall |
"The more things change, the more they stay the same." That was how New York City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez characterized an incident involving members of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) and the New York City police at the SRLPs 5th anniversary celebration at a Lower East Side bar last week. Mendez spoke at a press conference on the steps of City Hall on Monday intended to bring attention to what the SRLP calls "an unprovoked attack" by the police.
"This is the sort of all-too-common police violence and overreaction toward people of color that happens all the time," said SRLP founder Dean Spade, echoing Mendez' comments. "It's ironic that we were celebrating the work of an organization that specifically opposes state violence against marginalized communities, and we experienced a police attack at our celebration."
The alleged attack occurred on Wednesday, September 26, outside the M&R Bar. Members of SRLP, an organization that advocates for low-income people of color who are transgender, gender non-conforming, or intersex, had gathered there to celebrate the organization's fifth anniversary. According to the SRLP's press release, at some point during the festivities, members of the group witnessed two officers "using excessive force" in attempting to detain a young black man outside the bar. When several of the group members made queries about the necessity of such excessive force, the scene quickly grew ugly.
A crowd of SRLP community members gathered outside the bar to provide oversight of what they believed was an act of police discrimination and abuse. Despite the fact that the group had gathered peacefully, was in no way obstructing foot traffic, and remained on the sidewalk, two SRLP community members, Ileana Mendez-Penate and Reggie Gossett, were violently arrested by members of the New York Police Department's 9th precinct, witnesses said. Witnesses also claim an officer then sprayed innocent onlookers in a "wide arc" with pepper spray, temporarily blinding many and causing others to vomit.
The police account of what happened varies greatly from the SRLP's. Paul J. Browne, the Deputy Commissioner of the New York Police Department told the Update via email that a police officer was "interviewing" Gossett after witnessing an altercation between Gossett and another individual. The trouble began when Gossett "pushed into the officer." Mendez-Penate, said Browne, then "interfered" and was also arrested.
Meanwhile, according to Browne, a crowd of approximately 45 people prevented the two officers present from leaving with Gossett and Mendez-Penate, so six additional officers were called in. Browne admitted that an officer used pepper spray against an "unidentified individual" who tried to prevent the officers from leaving. To corroborate the police version of events, Browne offered the testimony of Tod Brennan, an area club manager, who reported that police officers were "attacked by the crowd" when they tried to make the arrests. Mendez-Penate and Gossett were released within 24 hours of their arrest and charges against them were dropped. Browne did not explain why the charges were dropped, why just six additional police were required if police were being "attacked" by a crowd of 45, or why, in a group of that size, police were only able to summon the testimony of one corroborating witness.
Eyewitness account
When asked to respond to Browne's version of events, Housing Works attorney Ignacio Jaureguilorda, who was in the crowd that witnessed the incident, said, "The police are skewing the timeline of events to make their version look better, but their version makes no sense. Backup was called prior to any arrests that were made, not in response to anyone preventing officers from leaving." With respect to the alleged pepper spraying of an "individual," Jaureguilorda said, "The fact is, the officer sprayed indiscriminately into the crowd."
Lourdes Hunter, a Housing Works case manager for the transgender transitional housing program who attended the SRLP press conference, expressed dismay at the entire situation. "There's a history of abuse in marginalized communities that goes all the way up to the mayor," Hunter said. "It's shameful."
A recent survey of LGBTQ youth of color in the West Village conducted by FIERCE!, a community organization for Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Queer, and Questioning youth of color in New York City in collaboration with the Peter Cicchino Youth Project of the Urban Justice Center, backs up Hunter's comments. 70 percent of the youth surveyed reported police targeting and profiling on the basis of their race, sexual orientation, transgender identity, gender expression; 61 percent reported that no reason was given by the police when they were stopped, approached, or arrested.
Glo Ross, a lead organizer for FIERCE, believes police abuses of the LGBT community will continue to be met with enthusiastic resistance. "We only get stronger when abuses like this happen to us," Ross said.