As the city gears up to protest the NYPD's stop-and-frisk tactics this Father's Day with a silent march in Harlem, one young man's personal experience sheds light on the often painful repercussions of the controversial practice.
Before the age of 18, Tyquan Brehon had been stop-and-frisked by the NYPD over 60 times, a collective experience that has produced indelible scars on a young black male living in New York CIty.
The New York Times has produced an excellent profile on Brehon, who describes his baseless encounters with police:
Most of the times when I get stopped, I'm walking down the block. They never say 'this is why I'm stoping you.' When youre young and you're black, no matter how you look, you fit the description.
Brehon discussed getting stop-and frisked up to four or five times a month and the psychological effects that built up because of his run-ins, notably the negative consequences stop-and-frisks had on his education and eventually getting expelled. "I would do stuff that would get me suspended so I could be, like, completely away from the cops."
Fortunately for Brehon, a transfer to Bushwick Community High and involvement with Make the Road New York has turned his life around. He is working to enroll at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Read more at the Times.
A similar video (below) asks several New Yorkers about their own experiences getting stop-and-frisked. One of the men featured says the NYPD's typical description targets "do-rag, pants sagging, and Jordans; that's like 75 percent of everyone."
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