Stop and Frisk Protesters on Trial in Queens, NY

Supporters stand with RCP co-founder Carl Dix and co-defendants on trial yesterday for protesting the Stop and Frisk law. photo Marvin X

On Tuesday jury selection began in the trial of Revolutionary Communist Party co-founder Carl Dix and codefendants. Since the line into Queens County Criminal Court weaved around the block for hours, we decided not to enter the courtroom. We remained outside and caught Carl during the lunch recess. Over lunch, we discussed the trial. "They don't want to discuss the Stop and Frisk law but we were arrested for protesting Stop and Frisk, no other reason. The DA is the same one who wasn't able to convict the police for killing Sean Bell so we have no illusions who we're dealing with. And the judge is very thorough in the jury selection. We want the charges dropped but we could be facing six months in jail."

Carl talked about his activist history, how he spent two years in Federal prison for refusing to fight in Vietnam although he had joined the military. This writer spent years in exile (Toronto, Canada, Mexico City) and five months in Federal prison for also refusing to fight in Vietnam.

Mr. Dix recalled while in prison, the inmates were visited by then US Congressman Ron Dellums from Oakland. "We know Dellums slipped and slider through the years, but he was helpful to our cause when he came to Leavenworth Federal Prison and demanded to meet with us and warned officials he would keep an eye on our condition. Things did improve."

We told Carl how Stop and Frisk was used in the Bay Area during the kidnapping of Patty Hearst and the Zebra killings. All black men were stopped as suspects in the kidnapping and killing of white people, then issued a South African style apartheid pass. Should New York issue a pass as well so that those 700,000 stopped last year do not need another stop, just show their pass?
--Marvin X

Marvin X is a writer, poet, activist on tour promoting his latest book The Wisdom of Plato Negro, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, 2012. He can be reached at jmarvinx@yahoo. Visit is blog: www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com. On Saturday, November 17, 4-6pm, both Carl Dix and Marvin X will speak as fathers of "Black Power Babies" at the Restoration Plaza Gallery on Fulton Street in Brooklyn. Contact Sun in Leo PR for more information: 718-496-2305, prgirl@suninleo.com.