BROOKLYN, NY, August 31 — Another black woman has been murdered by racist New York City cops in the ruling class’s continuing terror campaign against black and Latino working-class people.
On July 22, reports circulated in the bosses’ media about Kyam Livingston, a 37-year-old African American woman who died while in police custody. According to the NYPD, Kyam had violated an order of protection by “attacking her grandmother in a drunken rage.” They claimed they were “rescuing” the grandmother by whisking the alcoholic and physically violent Kyam in handcuffs off to the 70th Precinct and then to Brooklyn Central Bookings Jail. While awaiting arraignment, they say, Kyam suffered from “sudden seizures” and was immediately rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
But anyone who has dealt with the NYPD knows there’s another side to this story. According to the family of the deceased security guard, Kyam was arrested on July 20, being accused of violating a limited order of protection issued by the Kings County Family Court on behalf of her grandmother. The order stated that Kyam could not be intoxicated or argue with her grandmother in the home they shared.
Although there was no physical violence and Kyam had just left the shower when police arrived, the cops claimed she “smelled of alcohol” and took her into custody. Shortly afterwards, Kyam was taken to the hospital but instead of being held for a 24-hour detox, she was released after only a few hours. Police then took her to the 70th Precinct for processing, and then held her at Brooklyn Central Bookings Jail.
According to witnesses who’ve come forward to the news media and to the family’s lawyer, Kyam began to complain of suffering severe stomach pain and diarrhea shortly after her arrival in the jail. Over a period of 20 hours she repeatedly begged for medical attention.
Others in the cell with Kyam saw that she was very ill and cleared a bench for her so she could lie down, tied her hair back and tended to her, while continuing to plead with the guards for medical help. The guards threatened to “lose the paperwork” of those who were complaining, stating that Kyam was an “alcoholic” and therefore her condition was not serious enough for a call to the medical team, which was right downstairs.
Finally, Kyam went into convulsions. Her cellmates began banging on the bars to demand that the cell attendant bring a doctor. The cop in charge came to the cell, observed Kyam convulsing on the bench, and said that everyone should “just let it play out,” saying her grandson also suffered from seizures.
By the morning of July 21, Kyam was dead. She was blue and had been dead for at least 20 minutes before EMS arrived. Rather than being rushed to the hospital as the police claimed happened, witnesses with her at the time say she was taken from Brooklyn Central Booking Jail in a body bag. Her case had been ready for calling several hours before her death, but the paperwork (as threatened) was “temporarily misplaced.”
The police and the mainstream media did their work of covering up their murder by smearing the character of Kyam and her family. As if having a dispute with a family member somehow means that Kyam deserved to die, covered with vomit and feces, in a filthy holding cell prior to even being arraigned by a judge.
This is the reality of being a working-class person in New York. The police can stop and frisk you at any time, for any reason, just because you “look suspicious” or pull on your waistband or are engaging in what they define as “furtive movements.” They can plant something on you or arrest you for the smallest infraction and then lock you up in a filthy, unsanitary, unbearably hot, overcrowded cell full of rodents and waterbugs, serving you spoiled food and drink, for at least 24 hours. And this is before a judge has even heard your story and made a decision as to whether you’ve even committed a crime.
Nobody’s immune. Something as simple as forgetting to pay a parking ticket could land you in Central Booking Jail and suffer such treatment.
But that’s not the end of this story. Kyam Livingston’s family is organizing for systemic change. At 6:00 p.m. on August 21 they were joined by their friends and neighbors at a Vigil and Rally in front of Brooklyn Central Booking, where they remembered Kyam, mourned her loss and demanded justice. The family is asking that the cops responsible for Kyam’s death be held fully accountable and that conditions at the prison be improved immediately. They’re demanding that the NYPD hand over the video surveillance tapes from the night of Kyam’s death (which the City claim’s doesn’t exist), and that they divulge the names of the cops on duty responsible for Kyam’s murder.
Kyam’s mother has vowed that there will be an action every month until justice is served. The next one will be on Saturday, September 21, at 1 p.m. on the corner of Church Avenue and East 18th Street, where Kyam Livingston grew up. All those outraged by her murder and are tired of the cruel treatment meted out on the community by fascist cops should join these actions to raise our voices and demand the indictment of the NYPD.
But we must also understand that a society based on profits and racism can never realize full justice for workers. Capitalism reaps huge profits from the super-exploitation of black and Latino workers, which drags down, and divides, the whole working class. This hellish system must be destroyed.