Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement on the announcement by Mayor Bill de Blasio that New York City will allow a law prohibiting racial profiling enacted in 2013 to remain in place.

Michael Bloomberg, when he was Mayor of New York City, had initiated a lawsuit to remove the law, which was passed by a majority of the City Council, then passed again by a super-majority of the City Council to override Mayor Bloomberg’s veto. Mayor de Blasio has decided to terminate the lawsuit.

The law allows victims of racially discriminatory practice – such as the excessive practice of Stop-and-Frisk – to file lawsuits against the City of New York and its agencies.

“As with Apartheid in South Africa and Jim Crow in the United States, the practice of racial profiling by the New York City Police Department was based on the presumption that some members of our society are inherently suspicious based on their race or religion and that some people have fewer rights than other people. Our faith in the dignity of each individual person and our belief in the equality of all of God’s children contradict that false claim. Our Constitution contradicts that false claim,” said Congresswoman Clarke. “With his decision to terminate this lawsuit, Mayor de Blasiohas demonstrated his commitment to a city in which the rights of every person are entitled to respect.”

U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the House Committee on Small Business, Ethics, and Homeland Security, where she is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.