Talib Kweli, Phillip Agnew, Chris Hayes - MSNBC Interview on Stop-and-Frisk lyrics

Talib, you’re a New Yorker i’m
Curious about your reaction to
The ruling today have you
Ever experienced firsthand stop-and-frisk

Oh yeah
I’ve experienced stop-and-frisk all over
The world: in New York City
In Japan last month i had
Police stop me you know
It’s hard for people who don’t go
Through it and don’t live
In neighborhoods where it’s happening to
Understand how degrading it feels

I mean
If we’re just talking on a constitutional
Level, you know, we have certain rights
And what they’re telling people by
Accepting stop-and-frisk as a
Policy, you’re telling people, "because you
Live in a poor neighborhood, it’s your
Fault and you deserve to be
Criminalized" And that’s not constitutional
It’s not fair

Phil, It’s interesting to me that
The judge cited the
Trayvon Martin case numerous times
In the opinion
In the 200 page opinion issued today racial
Profiling and legal redress for the
Racial profiling is one of the issues
You’re occupying the capitol over do
You think there’s a connection between what
We say in Trayvon Martin’s death
And the trial afterwards and the decision
Out of New York today?

I think what Brother Talib said is correct i
Think young people of color
Experience racial profiling
In New York and in Chicago just recently here
In Miami, a young man, Israel Hernandez
Was tased to
Death for tagging an abandoned McDonald’s
In Miami i think
It’s a problem we see everywhere as the
Brother said
It is hard to understand racial profiling
If you haven’t been the victim of it
And I think the policing methods that
We’ve been using need improvement and
There needs to be greater monitoring by
Communities over their police departments

What do you say to the argument
We heard from Councilman Vallone
And hear from a lot of
Folks: this is ultimately
Done for the protection of black
And brown men of color
Who are the most likely to
Be victims of crime?

Well, you know, the key is
You want police to have
Good relationships with
The community that’s the only way that
You’re going to move forward look, if
I walk to the ATM at two in
The morning and a cop who
I know I’ve had negative experiences with
Starts aggressively asking me questions
And I know I haven’t done anything
Wrong it might escalate into something it
Creates an environment for violence this
Us being against stop-and-frisk
Being against zero tolerance laws like that
Is not a eff police thing
At all we love the people in our
Community we want to see better police
Community policing
Better monitoring if you continue to
Unconstitutionally criminalize a generation
Of people, it will become eff the police and
That’s no good for anybody