by Robert Lederman(3/26/99), President of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics)<ARTISTpres@aol.com>
provided through OPENAIR-MARKET NET
I'm the protester Mr. Trebay described at the One Police Plaza demo who greeted Commissioner Safir with, "Have a nice day in the Police State". To date I've been arrested 36 times for protesting against Giuliani's ever-evolving fascist vision for New York. My, "Giuliani as Hitler" portraits and the thousands of "Arrest Giuliani" signs created by members of A.R.T.I.S.T. have been a significant aspect of these protests from the beginning. Now that the four police officers have been indicted it's more important than ever to keep up the pressure.
To allow Mayor Giuliani to claim credit for scheduling a few token meetings with black and Latino officials or to make a few concessions about civilian oversight of the police would be a further injustice to the memory of Amadou Diallo. The ultimate responsibility for Mr. Diallo's death is directly attributable to the Mayor.
He and Commissioner Safir are not running a police department so much as a propaganda machine with officers assigned to produce statistics useful to the Mayor's political future. The only acceptable outcome of this issue is the resignation, removal from office and/or arrest of both men.
Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics), (718) 369-2111
Email: ARTISTpres@aol.com
Website: http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html