Sunday, September 21, 2008

"Harlem Shooting -Annual African American Day Parade"

By Richard Ivory

So today was the start of Harlem's African American Parade here in New York City and I along with a few friends came out to join the festivities. The 39th Annual African American Day Parade.

THE 39th ANNUAL AFRICAN AMERICAN DAY PARADE

(Largest Black Parade In America ) 111th Street & Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. To 142nd Street

GRAND MARSHALS
Governor David Paterson *David Dinkins * Rev. Al Sharpton *Dr. Adelaide Sanford Congressman Charles Rangel * Comptroller William Thompson* Lillian Roberts

The parade is an annual event that starts at 110th and runs to 142th street and according to NY 1
Governor Patterson will be marching in the parade ...The entire event started around 1pm and was amazing I will be providing pictures from the event tomorrow.Of course the event was fun and exciting but that was until the shootimg occured and folks started

*Harlem Shooting & The Media Black Out*


As I am typing, all of Harlem is in fear the time is around 9pm and there are shots all over the Harlem. On 127th near and St. Nicholas, a young light skinned black male in his 30's or early 40's was shot and possibly an officer. I am not sure how accurate the information is regarding the cop death is but I do know that there is no mention if this on NY media. Usually the media is quick on reporting this stuff but there is a dead silence where is NY1? caught the tell end of this criminal act and witnessed the guy laying on the street with blood flowing from his chest.


I actually stood within feet of the person who had just been shot. There were about nine cops surrounding the person trying to make sure he was okay until the ambulance came. A few of the neighbors from the local projects buildings wondered as did I why the ambulance was taking so long. A few lamented that the cops might get a little trigger happy because of what occurred. About 20 minutes into the police helping this guy into the ambulance more shots rang out. I guess out of a sense of "self preservation" I and others ran to protect ourselves as we watched cops run down to the street that the shots were being fired. Sitting there watching him I asked the cops if he world make it? I was told that while he was shot in the chest it was not his heart .I am being told from sources on the ground that this occurred last year and was the result of gang retaliation. I am also hearing that there may have been an officer shot but I am not being told.

~This is Richard folks reporting for HipHopRepublican.com from the a war zone in Harlem not Fallujah. I will be posting pictures tomorrow of the festival...for now this
link has more .The Gothamist has a great article about the recent spike in shootings in Harlem.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks. I thought I was going crazy because I couldn't find any news on this story today. Last night, with cops everywhere and a police helicopter in the air, I knew something had to be up. People in the neighborhood were talking about it, but . . . no news.

Anonymous said...

You're damn right, where are the media? NOTHING in the NYTImes today, barely a mention on NY1.

thanks for your report.

-West121

Anonymous said...

why is this not on the news anywhere? i can't believe this not on ny1

Anonymous said...

It's not in the media for a reason: WHITE PEOPLE. With all these condo's being built in Harlem, it is only right that they keep the violence to a minimum and on a hush...so that the white people can think that Harlem is safe.

Chrissy said...

There was a lot going on around here last night. There was a woman being beaten on 132. There was a lot of police activity around here. There were 6 people shot and mess load of people were arrested. The helicopters for two nights was a tell tale sign that a lot was going on.

Anonymous said...

Its not on the news because of all the gentrification going on. can't scare all the white people...

Anonymous said...

I was in the area of 127th and St Nick from about 2PM till 6PM.There was a police presence as soon as I came out of the subway.I don't remember hearing any gunshots in the area.The police presence continued heavily into the evening...
on the subways and in the area of Port Authority.I was told by the friend I was visiting on 127th
,that there was trouble at the parade and that there were shootings.I've been trying to find more online and on the news.but there's NOTHING !!!
Not even in the newspapers !!!

Anonymous said...

one minute into the video listen for the gunshot. helicopter circling above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0z3CqVveJQ

PCM said...

Amazing this wasn't news. I believe 7 people were shot (give or take one or two) and 14 guns were recovered by police.

I've written more about it on my blog, cop in the hood.

Unknown said...

Echoing what others said, thanks for posting this. I too had no idea what was going on. The media really dropped the ball on this one.

And on calling the events as a war zone, I thought the same thing earlier in the day when I saw the line of police vehicles on 110th St. It looked more like something out of Generation Kill than what I think of as my neighborhood. I was half expecting Sgt. Brad Colbert to rap the side of the lead vehicle and tell the convoy to move out.

Anonymous said...

I work in EMS in harlem and Washington Heights. It is really sad that EVERYDAY someone is getting shot, stabbed, or wacked with a machete (?spelling?). Hardly ever does it get into the media. But if Suzi from 88th and 2nd gets shot its days of frenzy in the media. I would love it everyday there is an incident people knew about it. As far as the response time, there was not enough units to cover what was going on that night. From 9pm on it was insanity. Go back to Labor Day wknd as well. Where was all that coverage??? SAD!!

Anonymous said...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/09/23/2008-09-23_dozen_arrested_after_africanamerican_day.html.......U CAN READ THE ARTICLE HERE

Anonymous said...

Black youth outa control?.....

Daily News report here:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/09/23/2008-09-23_dozen_arrested_after_africanamerican_day.html


a cop's blog:

http://www.copinthehood.com/search/label/african-american%20day%20parade


..."kids gon wild again" back on Easter Sunday here:

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/new.roc.city.2.243536.html



or hear it from the horse's mouth:

http://uptownboyz.blogspot.com/2007/09/easter-night-new-roc-city.html

Anonymous said...

brwnsknmspiggy..... Whitey didn't suppress the media's reporting of the shootings. Whitey the real estate mogul didn't either. This year's prior Harlem shooting rampages were all over the news. The Media is in the business of making money, not reporting the news. EMS is right, if Suzie gets shot on 88th and 2nd, then the hammer falls. Why is that?
Part of the reason is the entire neighborhood is on the phone to 311, the press outlets, their religious leaders, and everyone one else they can reach about it. This occurs without having a mechanism in place to orchestrate it. How many folks in Harlem flooded both the press and the mayors office with complaints about these shootings and the rising gun violence in Harlem? Regardless of what maybe perceive as a bias towards our community, the fact is that action does bring results if supported by the numbers. Every call into 311 is statistically counted. Large numbers of calls end up on a list to be explained what happened and why. No calls, no action. Same with the press outlets. 300 calls to a news paper ensures it get printed and blogged. It's not very complicated. You hold these people accountable for what happens in Harlem and they'll take an interest. The other part of the problem is harder to fix. Why does this community allow their children to have, carry and use guns? Join Gangs? act like thugs? We got to start fixing the problem from within. Can't blame other folks for what happens with our own children.

Anonymous said...

yes, where is the outrage? it starts at home and with the schools, people step up!

AroundHarlem.com said...

Do some research.

Property values are directly tied to police reports.

In Harlem, crimes are currently being reported as less severe than they actually are so as not to affect the property values too much.