On September 15, 1983, 25-year-old artist Michael Stewart waited for his train at a Manhattan station. Transit police say they saw him scribble his graffiti tag on the wall in marker. But whether he did or didn't, what they did next was inexcusable.
After handcuffing and escorting him out of the station, 11 white officers bashed Stewart with billy clubs, bludgeoning him to the ground as he screamed. Then, they choked him with a nightstick and hog-tied his limp body before throwing him into a police van.
He died 13 days later. During his autopsy, a white doctor removed his eyes to hide the hemorrhaging from an illegal chokehold. His trial ended with officer acquittals from an all-white jury.
Stewart's death inspired a famous painting by Basquiat as well as the iconic character of Radio Raheem in Spike Lee's “Do The Right Thing.”
And today, the kind of broken windows policing that killed Stewart still targets us, from cops abusing unhoused people to stopping and frisking teenagers at leisure.
What kind of a system is this? One that pretends to prevent violence but doesn't? One that kills people wielding only magic markers and toy guns? Or is it one that lies to us to trick us into believing we need it to keep each other safe?