Judging by the article he wrote for the Wall Street Journal,
it is obvious that New York
police commissioner, Ray Kelly does not have a PhD in philosophy or in writing
articles that sound coherent. He certainly talks like a cop, and he may be a
good one – something I am not equipped to assess. And so, while I am happy to
let others judge him as to his competence with regard to the position he holds,
there are a few things I wish to contribute to the debate he just launched.
The article he wrote was published on July 23, 2013 under
the title: “The NYPD: Guilty of Saving 7,383 Lives” and the subtitle:
“Accusations of racial profiling ignore the fact that violent crime
overwhelmingly occurs in minority neighborhoods.” What is jarring about the
subtitle is that the author complains about “accusations” being leveled with
regard to acts of racial profiling he admits the NYPD committed for the good
reason that violent crime occurs in “minority neighborhoods.” Hey, Mr. Kelly, if
someone points out that you're doing something you say is a good thing, this is
not an accusation. It is the truth, and you are defending it, which you have
every right to do. What you cannot do, however, is call an accusation what you
admit is true. The rule of thumb is that if it is true, it cannot be an
accusation; it is a statement of the truth.
Speaking mainly about “young men of color,” the commissioner
says that his department has engaged in “proactive” policing strategies without
telling what exactly proactive means to a cop. He then complains about the
critics who “allege that massive numbers of minorities are stopped and
questioned by police.” To make his point, he quotes numbers that, in reality,
tell a disconcerting story. He says that in a city of 8.5 million people, each
of his 19,600 officers stops about 50 persons a year. That's a total of 980,000
stops each and every year. So I ask how many young men of color live in a city
of that size. I estimate no more than two million. Doing the math, this says
that one in two are stopped and questioned every year. It also means that
virtually all of these young men are stopped once every two years. That would
be massive alright.
Once again, the author makes an error of logic comparable to
the one he made in the subtitle. Here it is: “Racial profiling is a
disingenuous charge at best and an incendiary one at worst.” But is he going to
deny it? No. On the contrary, he defends it on the grounds that it has
“rock-solid legal and constitutional foundation underpinning [it].” He also
expresses understanding towards the people who did nothing wrong being upset
when they are stopped and searched.
What Ray Kelly says after that is what comes close to home.
Here is how he starts that part of the presentation: “In a similar vein, our
detractors contend that the NYPD engages in widespread, unwarranted spying on
Muslim New Yorkers. Again, this is a sensational charge belied by the facts.”
Well, I am not a Muslim anymore than I am a New Yorker or a Black or a Hispanic.
I am a typical male of Egyptian origin who happens to be “twice” a Christian,
having been baptized as a Copt and a Catholic. I have a story to tell; a horror
story that lasted 45 years. I get so upset the moment that I start telling it,
I am forced to drop it quickly and move on to something else. Bits and pieces
of it are told in a few places throughout this website, and I do not wish to
add anymore to that except what is absolutely necessary to make the point I set
out to contribute to this debate.
To make that point as succinctly as I can, I must now reveal
something I did not know before launching this website. Up to now I had only
known about the people I met, and the events I witnessed since the day in 1968
when the Toronto Star published my letter to the editor under the title “Don't
listen to propaganda, Egypt is a civilized country” after which the Canadian
Jewish Congress sent someone to warn me that I should never again contact the
media, or else.”
I did not heed that warning but went on doing what I wanted
to do. In the process, I mingled with Jews, became friends with some and did
antagonize a few others. I was also approached by Jewish organizations, some of
which coaxed me to do one thing or another, promised me this or that, enticed
me with this offer or that one, warned me of this consequence or that outcome –
but nothing that I could not shrug off and forget about.
And then after the launch of the website, I began to receive
information as to what was being done behind my back relentlessly and
throughout the decades to “get rid of me” or at least maintain me on the
blacklist. The most horrifying story to chill the spine was that of the Jews
who came this close to convincing a provincial Minister to have me arrested and
thrown in jail. The reason why it did not happen is that they could not think
of an entrapment scheme I would bite into or a legal excuse they could use to
harm me.
I am certain that the same sort of thing must be happening
in America