A sea of protesters stretching 20 blocks marched in silence through upper Manhattan Sunday, but their message was loud and clear: The NYPD’s stop-and-frisk program has to end.
The Father’s Day march drew tens of thousands of people, including the parents of Ramarley Graham — who linked the Feb. 2 fatal police shooting of their unarmed son to the controversial policy.
“Today sends a message that something is wrong with the system,” said Frank Graham. “It made me feel so good to see all the people come out.
“We just want to show people that we’re tired of the policies that discriminate against people of color,” he said. “The policies have to be changed.”
Ramarley Graham, 18, was shot to death in his Bronx home Feb. 2 by Police Officer Richard Haste, who wrongly believed the teen had a gun.
The march down Fifth Ave., organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, began at 110th St. and ended a block from Mayor Bloomberg’s E. 78th St. home.
Organizers estimated 25,000 to 50,000 people participated in the march. Police could not confirm the number.
Protesters, united in their belief that the NYPD’s program unfairly targets blacks and Latinos from poor neighborhoods, carried signs reading “Frisk the Bankers” and “Stop Racial Profiling.”
“Stop-and-frisk is the most massive local racial profiling program in the country,” said NAACP President Todd Jealous. “All children, of every color, should feel protected by our police, not threatened, harassed or intimidated.”
Juan Arteaga, 37, of Brooklyn marched with his two sons, Ameer, 7, and Amor, 9.
“I got stopped countless times growing up,” Arteaga said. “You don’t have the right to speak up when it happens because the orders are coming right from the top. It makes you feel violated. They tell you, ‘How do we know you don’t have a gun?'”
Rep. Charles Rangel, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Controller John Liu were among dozens of politicians who marched. “All cops are not bad. But all of us are not criminals,” Sharpton told worshipers at the First Corinthian Church in Harlem before the march.
dbeekman@nydaily news.com
