Bronx Connections: 2020 Election Local Lens

New York State and City officials have drawn a lot of criticism from President Donald Trump this election cycle. In a Sept. 2 memo to the Department of Justice, drafted to review federal funding for certain state and local governments, Trump said New York City officials were “permitting anarchy, violence, and destruction,” in the city.

The Justice department, led by U.S. Attorney General William Barr, concurred, saying the City had “refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract criminal activities.” Trump had cited an almost doubling of shootings from 492 to 896, compared to the same period in 2019, and also made specific reference to the killing of a one-year-old baby boy.

The president did not offer any views as to why there was an uptick in crime in 2020, nor did he acknowledge the widespread calls for police reform in the wake of the killing by police of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other unarmed African Americans. The president, it seems, is concerned by some but not all crime.

While nobody heralds a 17.6 percent uptick in citywide murders compared to September 2019, maintaining public safety, as well as just and accountable policing, may well be the single most important issue facing voters this election.

In a January 2020 New York Times Op-Ed, NYPD Police Commissioner, Dermot Shea, wrote that New York’s recent bail reform laws constrained judges from holding (in custody) repeat offenders with long records of both crime, and absconding trial. “It eliminates cash bail and the possibility of detention for a wide array of offenses, including weapons possession, trafficking of fentanyl and other drugs, many hate-crime assaults, the promotion of child prostitution, serial arson, and certain burglaries and robberies,” he wrote.

Prior to this recent spike, crime in the Bronx, like elsewhere in the city, had dropped dramatically in recent decades since the peak rates of the early ‘90s. The borough has, nonetheless, the highest per capita rate of crime of the five boroughs according to NYPD reports, and is also home to a number of violent gangs.

The NYPD reported a 3.83 percent increase in total crime complaints in the Bronx in September 2020 compared to last year. While the increase is not insignificant, crime levels in the borough are still more than 70 percent lower today than in 1993.

Referencing the rising violence, in his September memo, the president also cited the City Council’s $1 billion cut from the NYPD’s budget and the related cancelling of 1,163 new hires as evidence, in his opinion, of the City’s mismanagement of crime.

At a recent campaign rally in Atlanta, Trump said, “Every year thousands of African Americans are murdered as a result of violent crime in these Democrat-run monstrosities. The way they run them – it’s worse than Afghanistan.” He added, “I will always support law enforcement.”

Trump’s emphasis on law and order is not new. In 1989, he took out a full-page ad in four newspapers calling for New York State to adopt the death penalty following the brutal rape of a woman in Central Park. In the wake of a media frenzy over the case, Five Black and Hispanic innocent youth were subsequently convicted wrongfully for the crime.

According to The New York Times, their convictions were vacated in 2002, and the city paid $41 million in 2014 to settle their civil rights lawsuit. The incident was later the subject of the Netflix documentary by Ava DuVernay called “When They See Us.”

While the Trump administration has addressed criminal justice reform to a degree, with the signing of the First Step Act, which reorientates criminal justice toward rehabilitation rather than punishment, and can shorten sentences for those who exhibit good behavior, the bill had broad, bi-partisan support and passed easily through the legislature.

Meanwhile, the president has done little to acknowledge the infringement of the rights of protestors and independent observers during the recent Black Lives Matter protests, nor the violence inflicted upon them by some members of the police – the very reason the protests began in the first place.

Human Rights Watch recently issued a scathing report of the use of kettling by the NYPD at a June 4 protest in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, whereby protestors were beaten, corralled into a ring and then arrested for breaking curfew. Many later testified during a State hearing on the handling of the recent protests by police.

Some police were dressed in what appeared to be riot gear at the protest. They later said there was a known, credible threat of violence in the vicinity. An earlier car stop by police in the nearby vicinity resulted in two males and one female being charged with criminal possession of a weapon. Police recovered lighter fluid, a helmet, two hammers, spray paint, fireworks, a laser pointer, and a sledgehammer. A separate, nearby incident resulted in the arrest of a woman and a man for criminal possession of a loaded .357 revolver.

A few days earlier, during the riots which took place on Fordham Road on June 1, Jahmel Leach, 16, is seen on video being hit with a Taser by police, who said he was starting a fire. There were other media reports that he had been beaten. According to Jahmel’s uncle, Yamil Miller, the teen almost lost his teeth, and subsequently required surgery.

He had also been brought into custody without a parent or guardian being present. His family and attorneys are bringing a lawsuit against the NYPD as a result of the incident. In the meantime, charges against Jahmel have been dropped, and the Bronx DA’s office is investigating the incident.

Trump’s apparent zero tolerance approach to criminal justice contrasts with the more measured views of his opponent, former Vice President, Joe Biden. Trump did issue a June 16 executive order on safe policing, including the creation of a database to coordinate the sharing of information between and among Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies concerning instances of excessive use of force related to law enforcement matters.

Biden has been more vocal, however, in acknowledging the injustices faced by African Americans within the criminal justice system by some members of law enforcement. He has said repeatedly he does not condone violence or looting, and stresses the importance of criminal justice reform as a way to reduce crime. In particular, he cites the need for the expansion of educational opportunities and increased funding for mental health and substance abuse services as being key to his vision for crime reduction.

In response to the president’s attacks on Democrats, Biden has also suggested that one reason for the increased violence in the United States has been the president’s inflammatory rhetoric. In October, the FBI reported a foiled plot by a rightwing, self-styled militia group to blow up a bridge and kidnap Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, during an earlier stage of the pandemic, in an act of rebellion against the governor’s lockdown measures which the group saw as infringing upon their freedom. Trump has been criticized for not doing enough to support CDC recommendations on social distancing and mask wearing, and for apparently emboldening such groups into revolt.

“This president long ago forfeited any moral leadership in this country. He can’t stop the violence, because for years he’s fomented it,” Biden said. “He may believe mouthing the words ‘law and order’ makes him strong, but his failure to call on his own supporters to stop acting as an armed militia in this country shows how weak he is. These are not images of some imagined Joe Biden America in the future. These are images of Donald Trump’s America today.”

Melody Jiménez is the founder of No Voice Unheard, a Bronx-based advocacy platform that gives a voice to youth impacted by gun, gang, and street violence. She says the president’s words have been “a bit harsh,” but she respects his commitment to helping the police keep communities safe.

“I feel that the President is just trying to strive for law and order,” she said, adding that throughout the pandemic, there had been a lot of looting, and a lot of protests. She said she agreed with both the slogan and the agenda of Black Lives Matter in the beginning but later, she had some doubts. “At this point, I do feel like a lot of hatred is being portrayed, and at this point, if change is to come about, we need to do it with policy, and not riot the way riots are happening.”

In June 2020, during a Juneteenth celebration in the Norwood section of the Bronx, local resident, Miriam Neptune, was one of the organizers of the group, Norwood Neighbors for Racial Justice, who penned an open letter to New York City officials calling to defund the NYPD. Referring to the impact of the criminal justice system on young Black youth, she said, “Our children are caught up before they even leave the schoolhouse doors. There are law enforcement entities that are ready to see them doing the wrong thing, and instead of giving them options and ways to resolve conflicts, [they’re] criminalizing them and sending them into the school-to-prison pipeline.”

Meanwhile, Sistas and Brothas United, the youth organizing arm of the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, a 46-year-old organization of students, parents, clergy and community members across the Bronx, have been organizing rallies in the borough to take action against school policing, and what their organization says are the practices and policies that criminalize young people in schools. 

For the last two decades, the group said it has been working to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline, organizing to eradicate suspensions, arrests, metal detectors, and school safety agents in schools that they say push young people out of school and into the prison system.

One of the points frequently raised in the context of criminal justice, by the Black community, and indeed by the wider community, is that unarmed Black people get killed by police at a higher rate than their White counterparts, and that in many cases, armed White people do not get shot at the same rate as Black people when taken into custody.

According to statistica.com, the rate of fatal police shootings of Black people is almost triple that of White people, and the rate of fatal police shootings for Hispanic people is almost double that of White people. Similar findings are available on Mapping Police Violence.

Heather McDonald of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research has written a book outlining her views on crime and policing called, The War on Cops, in which she writes that crime has risen because police “officers have been backing off of proactive policing, and criminals are becoming emboldened.” McDonald testified in Washington D.C. on September 2019 during a House Judiciary Committee Hearing on Policing Practices about her research on the topic. Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff of the Center for Policing Equity also testified at the same hearing, refuting parts of McDonald’s testimony. McDonald would later provide additional comments further to Goff’s testimony.

Back in the Bronx, Jiménez said she was worried the Black Lives Matter protests were eroding the existing communication networks between Bronx residents and the police. She said she believes the police are necessary and that the best way to hold them accountable is by speaking up at community events.

“If we do speak up more, if we do engage with [the] NYPD, if we do go to town hall meetings, and we do go to board meetings, it would make a change in our community… [but] not to protest, not to make a person feel uncomfortable, because you know, it’s a job at the end of the day,” she said. Nonetheless, Jiménez seems concerned that the president’s choice of words distract from his broader pledge to keep Americans safe.

One narrative that is often cited in media reports about crime is that more Black people are killed by police because more Black people are caught up in the criminal justice system. In fact, the Black community acknowledges that Black on Black crime exists, just as White on White crime exists, Hispanic on Hispanic crime exists and Asian on Asian crime exists. Why Black on Black crime is sometimes singled out as an anomaly is an unanswered question. Indeed, Black Leaders and groups such as Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence (B.R.A.G.) are frequently at the forefront of the solution, leading many anti-gun violence protests, alongside police, as well as initiatives to bring about a culture change.

At an anti-gun violence rally in the Morrisania section of the Bronx on July 23, Dante, a young Black man, spoke on behalf of the group, Save Our Streets (SOS). “I recently lost somebody about three weeks ago,” he said. “His name was Tyron. I lost him to gun violence. I don’t think I ever felt any pain like that before. Like, it was a wake-up call. I feel like it was a call for me to step out from my youth. I don’t want to see no more violence,” he added, his voice beginning to quiver ever so slightly.

He continued, “Not just gun violence, I don’t want to see stabbings. I don’t want to see robbing. I don’t want to see killing. I want to see so much more, and I know we can do better. I know everyone can do better.” Addressing the crowd, which included family members of those who had lost loved ones to gun violence, he added, “I don’t know everybody who passed away but Rest In Peace to them too. I want them to take my love with them. I hope they know we’re all here for them.”

At a subsequent anti-violence event in the Belmont section of the Bronx on Oct. 3, which included different groups and people who were and are affected by gun violence, Eve Hendricks, mother of 17-year-old Brandon Hendricks, a rising basketball star and student, who was shot in cross fire in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx on June 29, spoke about the lasting pain for those who are left behind in the aftermath of gun violence. “What about me? What about my son?” she said. “Do you know how hard it is? I suffer every night.”

Meanwhile, Bronx Councilmember Ritchie Torres acknowledges crime statistics are rising, and at a recent press conference with Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, offered some suggestions as to why this was the case.

“Fewer gun arrests, fewer gun cases solved, slower response times – these are signs of a possible work slowdown,” he said referring to the NYPD’s work. “Occam’s razor holds that the simplest explanation is almost always the best and the dramatic increase in gun violence can be best explained by the dramatic decrease in gun enforcement.”

Torres is the chair of the City Council Oversight and Investigations Committee. He and Adams have called for an investigation into whether there has been such a slowdown.

At a recent community council meeting of the 52nd precinct, Deputy Inspector Thomas J. Alps rejected this suggestion, citing a list of precinct response times and statistics as back-up. He also added that there had been no “blue flu” at the precinct but that there had been a reduction in headcount due to retirements and resignations.

In contrast to the president’s steadfast calls for “law and order,” Torres, who is running in November to replace Congressman José Serrano in New York’s 15th congressional district, argues that safety for all individuals depends on the equitable application of accountability, a reference perhaps to the proposed, future, independent oversight of the NYPD.

In the meantime, Torres believes the Bronx will become safer by investing in social programs that work to prevent crime from occurring in the first place. He said “a re-imagination of public safety,” is needed and he supports efforts to “civilianize” state responses to substance abuse and homelessness.

“The federal government should provide more resources to state and local governments,” he said. “If there’s a collapse in public services, then that’s going to contribute to more violence in New York City. We need funding to invest in alternatives to policing.”

Síle Moloney contributed additional reporting to this story.