Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder last week asking the Department of Justice to intervene in Floyd, et al. v. City of New York and Hassan, et al. v. City of New York to protect the constitutional rights of residents in the New York metropolitan area.

Over the last ten years 3.8 million innocent New Yorkers have been detained by the New York City Police — almost ninety percent were Black or Latino.

In a statement this week Rep. Clark asserted that the NYPD has also conducted investigations of hundreds of mosques, Islamic schools and non-profit organizations, searching for “persons of interest.”

“Our Constitution establishes that individuals are presumed innocent,” said Clarke. “The practice of conducting searches of young African-American and Latino men on the sidewalk, and the warrantless surveillance of Muslims gathered for study in schools and prayer in mosques, undermines our civil society’s moral commitment to the personal privacy and dignity of each person,” she added.

“We cannot remain indifferent as the constitutional and common law rights of our fellow New York City residents are violated. We need answers from our elected officials and their appointees. We need the federal government to become involved on behalf of the people of New York.  It is important to note that if we do not address stop and frisk, immediately and effectively, this policy can have national implications,” Clarke concluded in a statement regarding her letter to the Justice Department.

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