My complaint seems to have entered OK. Maybe Blogger stopped putting a copy into an editable form. Maybe Google expects that everything being entered is original and not copied. Later I'll see if I can find the original letter and convert it so it looks like something I've written. That may be a lot more  trouble than it is worth.

New Format in Blogger is TERRIBLE

The new format as shown in my last blog about Cheryl's proposed name for the walkway at the beach, is a mess. If I can't fugure out how to fix it I'll have to give up using blogger after many years. Google really screwed it up.

Dr. Vivian Usborne Child Walkway/Villa Beach‏

Dr.

Letter to the Editor of Searchlight, written and forwarded by Cheryl King

Fri, Apr 27. 2012

Editor: Thanks to Tipi Punnett for the invitation to the honouring of Dr Vivian Usborne Child on April 11, 2012, by the St Vincent National Trust.

It was a lovely occasion and it was a pleasure to see Dr Child so vibrant and effusive. Congratulations to the SVG National Trust, to the Punnett family and the others for putting it all together so successfully. It is wonderful to demonstrate public appreciation in this manner.

Dr Vivian Usborne Child’s contributions to St Vincent and the Grenadines in different spheres were highlighted. She served as a medical doctor, artist, journalist, and author. It must also be mentioned that she also took the time to visit and play with the children at the Calliaqua Day Care Centre, then called the “Creche,” many years ago. Those children are now all grown.

For many years, consistently, in the newspaper, Dr Child advocated the need for a safe way to get across the rocks at Villa Beach, walking in the direction from the beach to the Aquatic Club.

Now that the walkway has been built and it is such an added benefit to those who use it, and to the area, it may be fitting to name the walkway the “Dr Vivian Usborne Child Walkway” in her honour.

Cheryl Phills King

Medical Update on The PM

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, April, 19, CMC – Doctors attending to Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves will determine over the weekend whether or not he is well enough to travel back home, the state-owned National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) said Friday.

 Gonsalves, 65, had been complaining of feeling unwell during his stopover in Barbados on Wednesday on his trip to Qatar  and is receiving medical attention in that Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country. NBC said that doctors met with the Prime Minister on Friday and that a decision was taken that he could not travel to the Middle East. It said Gonsalves will be joined by his wife, Eloise.

“A decision as to when he will return to Kingstown will be made over the weekend,” the state-owned media house said.

Opposition leader Arnhim Eustace in a brief statement said he wished the Prime Minister a speedy recovery.

Gonsalves was due to lead a three-member delegation to Qatar for the World Investment Forum that began on Friday to be followed by a UN conference of trade and development (UNCTAD) ministers on Saturday. Ambassador to the United Nations Camillo Gonsalves, the prime minister’s son, who is also part of the delegation, is already in Kuwait for the meeting. The World Investment Forum (WIF) is a high-level, biennial, multi-stakeholder gathering to foster dialogue and action on the world’s key emerging investment-related challenges. 

http://cananewsonline.com/news/78594-medical-update-on-st-vincent-pm.html

USA, SVG sign new agreement:Drugs traffickers beware

Author: Kenville Horne Published: 04/12/2012

The Barack Obama led United States of America administration and the Dr. Ralph Gonsalves led government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines have signed another agreement, under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative(CBSI).

The CBSI is a commitment made by President Obama at the fifth Summit of the Americas Conference in April 2009, to deepen regional security cooperation and complement the other citizen security initiatives in the Hemisphere.
The recent agreement, signed on Wednesday 4th April, at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Kingstown, extends assistance to this country’s fight against illicit drug trafficking and effort to increase public safety.

It provides a sum of US$768,000 to be used as follows: US$200,000 towards law enforcement professionalization; US$343,000 for rule of law and anti-corruption measures; and US$ 134,000 to strengthen counter-narcotics control capabilities.

Money laundering and financial crimes will be tackled with an additional US$91,000.

The agreement will also see the US providing assistance in sharing real time information in locating, indentifying, tracking and intercepting civil aircraft in SVG’s airspace.

Traffickers will be caught

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Charge d’ Affaires/ US embassy in Barbados, Christopher Sandrolini, stated, “The United States has contributed by developing the Cooperative Sensor Integrated Initiative(CSII) to integrate partner nations with the United States into a regional Web Base, declassifying the information sharing system covering air and sea.”

Sandrolini espoused that, with the sharing of real time information, drug traffickers will be caught and prosecuted.

Adding that the US has a role beyond counter narcotics, he detailed the benefits of the agreement. “It will increase air and maritime domain awareness by improving our shared ability to assemble and analyze real time data, which we can act upon, and there will be improved capacities in humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and search and rescue.”

He commended the local authorities on the recent conviction of Antonio Gellizeau , referring to it as a “ground- breaking conviction which established an important precedent in the Eastern Caribbean,” and added that “if they (drug traffickers) are not stopped, they will also use their (ill-gotten) gains to ferment corruption and other kinds of crimes, which essentially are corrosive to the fabric of a free society.”

US and SVG continuing cooperation

According to Prime Minister Dr. Gonsalves, the United States has two C26 aircrafts doing over flights and providing information relating to the detection and apprehension of people at sea.

“They wouldn’t know what is happening, the persons who are at sea. When the plane is in the sky, they wouldn’t see it, but the infra-red facility is picking them up and they connect with the coast guard bases, for us to move,” Dr. Gonsalves warned.

Dr. Gonsalves praised President Obama for initiating the CBSI, saying that it was bearing fruit.
The US government is also expected to provide, by July this year, two fast interceptors.
The construction of a Coast Guard base in Canouan will also receive assistance under the CBSI.

From The Vincentian

SUSAN RICE, U S AMBASSADOR, VISITS SVG MISSION

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. April 13, 2012: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, has expressed regret over the arrest of Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves by an officer of the New York Police Department.
Ambassador Gonsalves was reportedly handcuffed by an overzealous New York City cop on Wednesday, March 28th after he stepped out of his official car, through a barricade in front of the Vincentian mission building in midtown, Manhattan.

Ambassador Rice, who is a member of cabinet of the U.S. government, visited Ambassador Gonsalves at his office in the Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations on Tuesday, April 10th. It marked the first time that a cabinet-level official of the U.S. Government visited the Vincentian Mission.

Recognizing that Ambassador Rice is currently serving as President of the United Nations Security Council at a particularly busy period in the Council’s agenda, Ambassador Gonsalves stressed his appreciation that Ambassador Rice had taken a personal interest in the matter, and had taken the time to visit him at his office.

Ambassador Rice informed Ambassador Gonsalves during the 30-minutes meeting that the New York Police Department would undertake a thorough internal examination of what took place on March 28, 2012. The Vincentian envoy has previously detailed his assault, arrest and detention by the NYPD in the lobby of his workplace.
Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the relevant resolutions and agreements governing the interactions between the United Nations and the United States of America, diplomatic agents have immunity from arrest or detention in the exercise of their functions.

Ambassador Rice reiterated the seriousness with which the U.S. government views its obligations to ensure that the dignity and safety of United Nations’ diplomats is respected. Ambassador Rice also indicated that she intended to discuss the incident with both CARICOM and the 33-member Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries (GRULAC), which sent formal letters of protest to the United States Mission in solidarity with Ambassador Gonsalves.
Both Ambassadors agreed to keep in touch to follow up on the matter.

Gonsalves told the AP immediately after the incident that the police officer ran into the building behind him on March 28th and “grabbed me by my neck and shoulders, spun me around and said, `Didn’t you see me talking to you.’”

Gonsalves said then, he replied: “You couldn’t have been talking to me.”

But the cop persisted, and demanded identification. “I said, `Why? Am I under arrest?’ He said, `Well you are now.’”
“At that point he handcuffed me, with assistance from other officers he called as a backup,” Gonsalves was quoted as saying, even as other ambassadors began to tell the officer he was in the wrong as Gonsalves has diplomatic immunity. The ambassador was handcuffed for 20 minutes.
“The officer, for the first time, (then) inquired who I was,” Gonsalves told the AP. “I told him. He called for his superiors. The U.S. State Department, as host country, was also called and they sent representatives.”

“The initial position of the NYPD was that I was disorderly, and something should be done because of my disorderly conduct,” added the ambassador.
But Gonsalves said after discussions with him, the State Department representatives, and the other diplomats, “the NYPD were persuaded to release the handcuffs, and I’m back in my office now.”

“Separate and apart from any diplomatic immunities, I personally think the officer was wrong and committed an assault against me,” Ambassador Gonsalves was quoted as saying. “We will be following up. We will seek other forms of redress, but what form it will take, I can’t say.”
The NYPD has said Gonsalves was detained in handcuffs after ignoring the officer’s repeated requests to stop and identify himself. He was released as soon as he produced identification, a spokesperson said.

The CARICOM Consular Corps in New York has slammed the New York Police Department following the arrest of the ambassador and said it is “a pattern of conflict developing between the NYPD and the Caribbean community.”

The Corps, in a statement obtained by News Americas, said it is of the view that the latest act of March 28th sets a dangerous precedent by the NYPD and does not augur well for good relations between the NYPD, the Caribbean Diplomatic community, and all Caribbean nationals.
As a result, the Corps said it has decided to “put on hold all joint activities with the Corps and the NYPD until an amicable solution can be reached in this matter.”

The incident is reminiscent of the arrest of Grenadian-American, New York City councilmember, Jumaane Williams at the annual West Indian Labor Day Carnival last September. Williams, was arrested when he walked through an NYPD barrier. Both men are black.


Published on Apr 12 2012 // Breaking News, Caribbean, Featured, News, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Top Stories, United States

St Vincent envoy to speak

St Vincent envoy to speak


MON, APRIL 09, 2012 - 11:40 AM

NEW YORK – St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ New York Consulate General and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Diaspora Committee of New York say they are organizing a town hall meeting in Brooklyn this week so nationals can hear directly from United Nations’ Ambassador, Camillo Gonsalves, about his recent arrest by the New York Police Department (NYPD).

The announcement was made recently as Vincentians here continue to express mixed views about the envoy’s arrest on March 28.

“The Town Hall Meeting featuring His Excellency Ammassador Camillo Gonsalves is very important," Maxwell Haywood, chairman of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Diaspora Committeee of New York, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) yesterday in an exclusive interview.

“Vincentians in the Diaspora have many questions about the incident between Ambassador Gonsalves and the policeman working with the NYPD. Many of them still do not have the information from the ambassador,” added Haywood, who also serves as a United Nations Development Officer.

“So it is important that Vincentians living in New York and other places in the USA get the opportunity to hear directly from Ambassador Gonsalves, instead of hearsay,” he continued. “It is vital for them to have the information so they could judge for themselves.”

Haywood also said the meeting is for the New York Consulate General and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Diaspora Committee of New York to “express solidarity with our highest representative at the global level,” stating that the sovereign rights of St. Vincent and the Grenadines were violated in the ambassador’s arrest.

“In addition, our ambassador, who is also human, needs all the love, care and solidarity he could get at this moment,” he told CMC.

“Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves represents the nation's highest levels of aspirations, culture, and humanity in the eyes of the international community. To the world, he embodies the nation’s dignity, soul and heart,” he added.

“Moreover, he is protected by international law, yet he was treated in this manner. We must show solidarity,” continued Haywood, stating that the meeting will take place on Wednesday evening at the Friends of Crown Heights Educational Center.

Gonsalves, the eldest son of St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, said he was arrested for about 20 minutes by a white police officer in the lobby of the building that houses the St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Mission to the UN in midtown Manhattan.

He has strongly denied claims by the NYPD that he was arrested after he refused to indentify himself.

Gonsalves further said he did not get the opportunity to show indentification because the police officer, who he could not identify by his last name and badge number- Parker, 21289 - had unexpectedly grabbed him from behind and "spun" him around, in the lobby of the building and immediately wrestled to handcuff him. (CMC)

Nation News, Barbados and Antigua Observer

Thinking Aloud

I wrote this a bit ago, but maybe I went too fast and I ought to step back a bit.



Let's see where we have gotten to.

I have argued that we made a serious evolutionary error in the early Neolithic Era when we abandoned equality-on-the-average as our normal scheme for organizing ourselves and went to follow-the-leader instead.

(The Indus River Civilization suggests that we didn't have to do that, we could have stuck with equality-on-the-average. We just had bad luck that the Indus River dried up.

Anyway, we got stuck with follow-the-leader, because power, the ability to order somebody else to do what you don't want to do yourself, is addictive. People who have power, like people who get addicted to narcotics, don't want to give it up. They will destroy the world, or that part they can reach, rather than give it up.

However, evolution works in a way that affects the species, not individuals. That's why we have been evolving in such a way as to correct the mistake we made.

Follow-the-leader civilizations, as Toynbee showed, are inherently unstable; but we have kept replacing them by other follow-the-leader civilizations. We struggled for close to ten-thousand years replacing one set of failed leaders for another set, sometimes by wars, sometimes by natural mortality.

We kept doing that and gradually improved our technology until we accidentally produced an invention (the cell phone and the internet) that could give the rest of us the same kind of communications power that the elite has.

We can thank Steve Jobs for the iPhone that will let us have the same equality-on-the-average infrastructure that we had in the Paleolithic. Because we can use it to communicate at a distance it doesn't seem to have the drawbacks of a tribal infrastructure. Because we aren't living in close contact with one another it isn't limited to small groups. We can practice equality-on-the-average for populations of billions without getting that upset with one another.

Steve Jobs, whether he knew what he was doing or not, gave us the way to make the next step in evolution.

In that he made the step the canceled out Calvin's shortcut.

Calvin invented a category of people who were not aristocrats, but who were better than commoners. He called them the "Elect", a group of people who displayed evidence of "God's Grace" because they were able to conspicuously consume tchotchkes or status symbols. In effect he created a new branch of aristocracy.

The difference was that the Elect didn't qualify for this aristocracy by having an ancestor who used violence to steal land or other wealth; the Elect exploited some technology, like ocean-going ships, to create new wealth themselves by trading cheap trinkets for expensive tchotchkes.

This proved to be such a good idea that the religious connection was quickly lost and the Elect turned into a "middle" class who had less status than aristocrats but more money than peasants and serfs. But we retained the idea that making lots of money was not quite as good as being born to a land-thief's family, but it was a lot better than doing hard labor.


Since this new middle class couldn't use traditional methods like looting to make money, they had to invent new ways.

The traders went to far places and traded trinkets for tchotchkes.

The Planters farmed export goods like cotton, sugar and coffee on virgin land using african slaves.

The entrepreneurs connected machinery to prime movers so they could exploit women and children as workers who were dextrous rather than strong.

The clerks and mechanics who did the work the owners had been doing invented the game of trading certificates of fractional ownership, and since that meant there was no "owner" to make decisions, they became the bureaucracies that managed commerce and government.

Those bureaucrats are now the elite. They have tried to keep their elite status by reversing evolution for the rest of us. The corporate bureaucrats even went so far as to let the global economy collapse so the rest of us would have less money. They knew that the government bureaucrats would let them have back most of the money they lost, paid out of the money obtained by taxing the rest of us.

The idea was that if the elite bureaucrats lost their money it would be bad for the rest of us. That's nonsense, of course, but it gave the government bureaucratic elite an excuse for bailing out the corporate bureaucratic elite.

That made it clear that politics, instead of being Republicans vs Democrats, is a game of Elite Professional Politicians against the rest of us.

They have divided us in groups called Radical Left-wing Progressives, Liberal Democrats, Conservative Republicans, and Reactionary Right-wing "Tea Party" adherents, with each group of us being conned by a particular story that blames things on the rest of us.

The elite bureaucrats of both kinds keep running things by feeding us a con, but so successfully that we think of the other parts of "the rest of us" as our enemies when they are just suckers like we are but who believe different lies.

The next stage of evolution would be to direct creative technology in a different direction. The notion that making money was good, invented by Calvin to make a place in society for his middle-class followers, is obsolete because the old middle-class is now the elite. Instead of increasing equality, money-based values now increases inequality.

We don't need profit as the goal of social effort, we need efficiency in using resources to produce quality of life.

By making efficiency the goal, rather than profits, we would solve the problem of ecological responsibility.

We would provide efficient food, clothing and shelter as part of an efficient public health program.

By making all production efficient and automated, we would eliminate labor as a part of production.

Human labor would only be used when it can accomplish something that the machinery can't accomplish by itself, and that will be something creative. (See Norbert Wiener's The Human Use Of Human Beings).

That will make the autonomous stage of human development, which includes a generalized creativity, a universal goal for ambition, and, conversely, common labour would be recognized as inherently undesirable because it is not as efficient as automatic machinery in repetitive production.

That would make those people not involved creatively in the efficient production of necessities into a Leisure class with the time and energy available to do the politics of direct democracy.

That would demonstrate that Calvin's invention, while it was the stimulus to using the science of cybernetics to use resources conservatively, has to be replaced by Post-materialist (or Extensive) values to allow us to fit comfortably into an economy based on resource conservation.

That would make the isocratic values of egalitarianism, ecological responsibility, cooperation, and creativity the core values of human civilization.

My theoretical analysis of the evolutionary history of the human species from the paleolithic to today is reasonably consistent and makes sense. What it does not do is provide a time scale. It says that we are evolving toward an isocratic global civilization, and that we are getting closer, but it doesn't give us a time scale.

But we can try to make make some kind of estimate that will help us to be prepared.

We went through something like five stages in the 500 years of the industrial era, so we are probably not going to take much longer than 100 years from now to get to the next evolutionary stage.

On the other hand the bureaucratic elite, both government and corporate bureaucrats have been successfully trying to reverse evolution for the better part of a century, and they don't have any reason to stop, so we could be stuck with that for several hundred years.

So we can't say for sure when we will make the evolutionary transition to an Isocratic civilization. What we can say is that it will eventually happen, and in probably less than a thousand years.

A transition that takes place in one or two years will probably not be planned because it will take the form of a violent revolution that starts with some incident and explodes. Such a transition is not likely to work.

The existing establishment is protected by the police, National Guard and the regular military, and they are all heavily armed. The only way that we could have a revolutionary change in the United States is if the United States Army acted like the Egyptian Army, and refused to participate in the street demonstrations one way or another. The United States Army is not so stratified that the junior and non-commissioned officers would be sympathetic with demonstrators who appear to be left wing.

Given orders to shoot at demonstrators they wouldn't hesitate. They would act more like Khadaffi's mercenaries. But uncontrolled right-wing demonstrators would suffer the same fate.

So the odds are that a one-year scale revolution would simply not work; and would be likely to end up as a right-wing oligarchy.
It would require a longer revolution to get to an Isocracy, something like that described by Sinclair Lewis in It Can't Happen Here. It reminds us that we are in a period like the 1930s, during the period we were recovering from the Great Depression and Fascism was very popular, like the Tea Party is now.

A ten-year scale is slightly more likely because that would involve something like the New Deal that directed the recovery from the Great Depression of the 1930s into a democratic rather than a fascist direction. It would differ slightly because the interests that bind the Republican and Democratic professional politicians are too strong to cause either to adopt Isocratic values.

In that case the process would involve a third party, and that would be difficult to build even using traditional capitalist (i.e., money based) values, much less Isocratic values.

It might be a useful thing to build an Isocratic Party on a national scale even if it didn't win anything except the occasional minor office.

But one shouldn't expect anything to happen with it in the absence of a crisis that could be reacted to. If there were such a crisis, a global economic collapse, perhaps, a well-prepared Isocratic Party could step in with practical solutions that offer a smooth transition to Isocracy.

But that is unlikely because the people who staff a political party do it for the income, and not as a form of public service.

If you have a political party that is staffed by ideological volunteers they will tend to be moved by an ideology too simplistic to be Isocratic, or they will be so sophisticated that they will not only lack popular support, but they will be held in suspicion by security agencies and will be hounded by the police and the FBI. That again is reminiscent of the 1930s.

So a third political party is not a bad idea, but it will not be easy. It is not, however, impossible.


In their pioneering work, Value Change in Global Perspective, Paul R. Abramson and Ronald Inglehart showed that the gradual shift from Materialist values (such as the desire for economic and physical security, [i.e., money]) to Post-materialist values (such as the desire for freedom, self-expression, and the quality of life [e.g., autonomy]) is in all likelihood a global phenomenon. Value Change in Global Perspective analyzes over thirty years worth of national surveys in European countries and presents the most comprehensive and nuanced discussion of this shift to date.

Robert Giacalone wrote in the New York Times: "Extensive Values Adherent growth among the population of industrialized economies has been impressive. One study estimates that 35 percent of Americans are now EVAs, and another study predicts that in the coming decade, EVAs will outnumber those who hold materialist values (currently the dominant group). For this reason, some believe we are not seeing just a change in simple values, but a change in worldview."

A colleague, Carole Jurkiewicz said "Identification of and recalibration toward these values under such conditions is difficult, particularly given the growth rate. Even now, with evidence pointing to a slow, steady growth rate of about one percentage point each year (Inglehart & Abramson, 1994), the number of expansive values adherents does not yet exceed the number of traditional materialists (Kidd & Lee, 1997). But by 2010, the number of expansive values adherents worldwide is likely to outnumber materialists (Abramson & Inglehart, 1992)."

By the time (somewhat later than 2010) we have a majority of EVAs in the population we will be able to put together a scenario that will allow a gradual transition from our present money-based values to Isocratic values.

The difficulty is that we need to have a majority of EVAs who are "out of the closet", and right now (in 2011) we don't have anything near that.

We can expect that the money-based value propaganda of the elite will make EVAs reluctant to "come out of the closet", so we should look for a level of consumption that is less than income would imply, and a reduction of consumer debt, as a measure of E values.

One positive act would be to form an Isocratic Church; which would take advantage of the constitutional protections afforded religious organizations that are not provided to political ones.

An Isocratic Church could openly promulgate Isocratic values: egalitarianism (equality-on-the-average); cooperation (as opposed to competition); ecological responsibility and creativity.
It took me the better part of a hundred years to put these ideas together, so another hundred or two years to spread the ideas around and let people get used to them is not unreasonable; and a church is good for that kind of long-range thinking.

More Camillo Gonsalves Story

Grantley Williams posted this story from the BaJan Sun on Facebook

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – The New York Police Department (NYPD) could face possible legal action as Caribbean governments respond to the detention and handcuffing of St. Vincent ambassador to the United Nations, Camillo Gonsalves. According to reports, CARICOM ambassadors sent strong protest notes to the United States ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice and to Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon expressing their outrage at the situation.

It is understood that Caribbean ambassadors spoke out against what they described as the blatant and aggressive conduct of the police officer who handcuffed Mr. Gonsalves.

Ambassador Gonsalves, himself a lawyer, is also considering the possibility of suing the officer and New York, as the officer assaulted him.

The diplomat passed through a police barricade to enter the Manhattan building when he was held by the officer who also placed him in handcuffs. It was the quick intervention of the US State Department that resulted in the release of the diplomat after he was held for 20 minutes.

Ambassador Gonsalves, son of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, in a statement released by his government, said that he was “struck or somehow bruised’’ behind his right ear and was treated at a hospital for minor injuries to his head, wrists, hand and shoulder.

The St. Vincent and the Grenadines ambassador said he was returning to his office after lunch, stepped out of his official car and walked through a barricade in front of the building — as he has done for the past five years — when he was confronted by an officer. The building houses a number of U.N. missions including Israel’s and has a 24-hour police presence, with a guard post outside.

According to Gonsalves, the officer demanded to know why he went through the barricade. He said he didn’t respond and proceeded to the elevator. He said the officer ran into the building, approached him from behind, “grabbed me by my neck and shoulders, spun me around and said, `Didn’t you see me talking to you?’’’

Gonsalves said he replied calmly: “You couldn’t have been talking to me.’’

He said the officer then demanded identification. “I said, `Why? Am I under arrest?’ He said, `Well you are now.’’’

Gonsalves said the officer tried unsuccessfully to get his hands behind his back to handcuff him, and he remained “uncooperative, but peaceful.” The backup officers who were called forced his hands behind his back and handcuffed him, he said.

He said other ambassadors with offices in the building — including the envoys of Gambia, Dominica and St. Lucia as well as his own staff — came into the lobby and began to tell the officer he was in the wrong, and that Israeli diplomats had crossed the barricades that day, just as he did. As a U.N. diplomat, Gonsalves has diplomatic immunity.

As the crowd gathered, Gonsalves said, the officer who arrested him “began to act in an uneasy manner.’’

“Apparently by way of post-hoc justification, (the) officer … said quietly to his fellow officers, but within my earshot: `I couldn’t let him just walk into the building. Look at him: he could be a terrorist,’’’ Gonsalves said.

The building is also the home to many other diplomatic missions. The majority of the diplomatic missions in the building are members of the Commonwealth, with the notable exception of Israel.

“We enter the building by means of a common lobby and shared elevator system, through which we have access to our various permanent missions and office facilities,” Gonsalves explained.

The lobby of the building is staffed by unarmed personnel, who check the identification of visitors to the building, and determine who should gain access. The lobby is also staffed by Israeli security officials, who perform separate identification and safety checks on those individuals visiting the Permanent Mission of Israel.

Uniformed police officers of the New York Police Department (NYPD) are stationed outside of the building. The NYPD officers do not engage in checking the identification of people seeking to enter the building. There is usually one NYPD officer stationed in a permanent guard post directly in front of the building. One or two other officers traditionally patrol the city block on which the building is located.

On the outside of the building, the NYPD maintains stacks of metal barricades, which normally lean against concrete structures that line that particular sidewalk. The barriers are called into use whenever political demonstrations or protests take place outside of the building. In such instances, the barricades are erected on the opposite side of the street from the Permanent Mission to contain the demonstrators, and to keep the protestors from “disturbing the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity,” as is mandated by Article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961).

According to Gonsalves, ambassadors and other diplomatic staff, as well as delivery drivers, couriers, and pedestrians, regularly step between and around these metal rails when no demonstrations are taking place. It is the common practice for ambassadors and other diplomatic staff to be dropped off by their drivers directly in front of the building, and for those persons to step around/between the barricades, cross the sidewalk, and enter the building. The staff members of the Permanent Mission of Israel, as the largest diplomatic staff in the building, are probably the most frequent users of this particular mode of entry. However, all diplomatic staff frequently enter the building in this manner.

“Over the course of my four and one-half years as Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, I have regularly entered the building in this manner,” he pointed out.



CARICOM NEWS NETWORK

The History Of Equality in the US

It starts, oddly enough, in the late 1400s. The Roman Empire had crashed some time ago and Europe was recovering. Among the things that were happening was that traders were pushing their boats and some of them, like King Henry the Navigator of Portugal, found that stuff that was brought back from far places was uncommon and could be considered very valuable if it was considered desirable. Gold was something that was already desirable and pearls and these could be found far away and traded for local stuff like knives and cloth that was easily made by machine. By the end of the 1400s even private traders and ship captains were rich but, of course, they were still commoners. It took more than being rich to be aristocratic.

But where there is a need somebody will invent a remedy. In this case it was Calvin. He invented a kind of person who was, in his religion, beloved by God. He called that kind of person a member of the “Elect” and he said you’d know that kind of person because God rewarded him with all kinds of good stuff. In other words if you were rich and dressed and ate like a rich man and lived in a big house, you were in this new kind of aristocracy: “The Elect”.

In other words Calvin invented the characteristic social dynamic of the Industrial Era: Upward Mobility by accumulating money.

The Traders brought exotic stuff from overseas and traded it for money. The Bankers lent some of that money to other traders who chartered boats and made money that they divided with the Bankers. And they all were upwardly mobile.

But some of the people who hired space on the boats weren’t planning to come back and be upwardly mobile. They stayed in the colonies and tried to make a living. Some of them landed in areas where the soil was fertile and you could grow crops like sugar and coffee and cotton that would last in storage and could be shipped to Europe. They paid passage money for europeans to work on their plantations, but they found that for field workers it was a cheaper investment to buy slaves from Africa. When they were prosperous enough they decided to cut the connections with Europe. We call that the American Revolution.

In the north it wasn’t as easy to grow tropical crops like sugar and coffee, but you could grow grain. That needed machinery to process the quantity to support an economy, so the north went in for mechanical invention. When that was mature and the industrialists wanted to show some upward mobility the Planters still pretty much controlled politics. The result was the American Civil War, the creation of a War Machine by the Industrialists, and the abolition of slavery, which destroyed the economic system of the south. The industrialists controlled the United States for the rest of the century.

But they made one mistake. They didn’t pay attention to what their employees were doing. The Northern Industrialists tried to express their Upward Mobility by acting the way they thought European aristocrats did: they built mansions in the Cities and mansions as summer playhouses in resorts like Newport Rhode Island. In the way that their houses were run by their servants, they left their corporations to be run by their clerks and mechanics. That was the mistake. The ownership of the corporations was split into thousands of pieces that were used as gambling chips in “stock markets” so that nobody really “owned” the corporation any more. The corporation was operated by the former clerks and mechanics who became the bureaucrats who were the “managers” of industry.

Through World Wars One and Two and the Great Depression these managers became a self=governing oligarchy that made its own rules and exploited the rest of us. During the Second World War women and the poor were employed because young males were fighting, so that they had a taste of upward mobility. This frightened the managers. The economist made the argument that if women and poor men were allowed to experience upward mobility they would expect to indulge in conspicuous consumption like the managers did, and that would exhaust the global resources. By the 1950s this was accepted doctrine, and since then, while the incomes of managers have increased significantly, that has not been true of the working and middle classes.

When Barack Hussein Obama was elected President, the top managers pulled the plug so that everybody except the top of the upper classes suffered.

However, during the second half of the 20th century laws were passed that made it illegal to discriminate according to gender or skin color. These laws were passed as a palliative to prevent women and dark-complected people from taking action to have the laws enforced. Unemployment is still higher among darker-complected persons and women get paid substantially less for the same kind of work. The managerial class, corporate managers and government bureaucrats, had no intention of treating dark-complected persons and women as equals of white men, and they know neither party will take serious action in that regard.

The police, who are the ones who have to clean up after the politicians, know what the game is, and if they are stupid enough they’ll try to play it too. Since they have to cowtow to politicians they take the opportunity to make up for the bile they have to swallow by harassing those who they think are powerless. Unfortunately some police who aren’t bright enough to understand the game pick the wrong people to harass.

This is a particularly sensitive period. Women and dark-complected people have at least the protection of the laws, even if those laws are seldom enforced. But they are there and there will be females and dark-complected people who will take the risk of going to court. There may even be wealthy foundations that will take the risk of supporting cases that are sure things. So the situation is not entirely hopeless.

And there is a goal to be won. If the laws that prevent gender and skin color discrimination serve to make people act as if those qualities are not detracting from equality, then the only thing left to certify inequality is money. And money, unlike gender and skin color, is not permanent. If the economy crashes, and we all get poor, we will all be equal. And that may look like a desirable option in the face of systematic harassment by the police.

My Comments

One of the things I do here on St. Vincent and the Grenadines is work on an analysis of the social evolution of the human species. It comes slowly because it comes in fits and starts, especially when some event happens that is reported in the media.

Take the example of SVG Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves being roughed up by a racist cop who was too stupid to ask an old hand who that black guy was who was going in the building he happened to be hanging out at. The cop in the guard booth would have told him that it was Ambassador Gonsalves and that he belonged there and that he had diplomatic immunity so if you harass him, like you might normally harass a black man for the hell of it, you would likely get an international incident. Or maybe the local cops knew he was stupid and arrogant and wanted him to get into trouble so he'd get his stupidity and arrogance off their backs.

Whatever the circumstances were the stupid cop took the opportunity to display his stupidity and roughed up an Ambassador with dilemmatic immunity (so that will always be on his record). That is an incident that is presumably not an everyday event, probably because most Ambassadors have bodyguards. It is the kind of incident that is not reported too often, as explained by the political opposition. If you complain about something the NYCPD does, they will create a lot of trouble for you, if necessary creating a whole fictional event to describe in a court with a friendly judge.

Unfortunately for this stupid policeman he picked a black man to harass who was not only subject to diplomatic immunity, so it involved the State Department, who had to apologize for the cop's stupidity, but the particular Ambassador he chose to harass was not only an attorney but the son of the Prime Minister of the country he represents in the U.N.; so he wasn't afraid of the NYCPD and he not only had the voice of his own country behind him (except, of course, for the political opposition) but the U.S. Government as the host country of the U.N. and the U.N. itself, whose agreement with the U.S. is very specific about police harassment of U.N. representatives.

That made the incident of some interest to the news agencies, who serve media in countries where the population has a noticeable fraction of dark-complected persons. That, in turn, interested the media who serve the dark-complected populations of U.S. urban areas. And that brought out cases that were similar to the Ambassador Gonsalves.

Which brings up an interesting question. Why did a NY cop, no matter how stupid, have the impression that the NYPD would support him if he acted out his racism? And, indeed, why did they do exactly that, threatening the Ambassador with even more harassment?

More in the next blog entry.

More NYC Cop Racism

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. Dec. 7, 2011: Caribbean American Congresswoman, Yvette D. Clarke, has slammed as outrageous, comments allegedly posted on Facebook by some New York City Police officers on the West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn.

Clarke’s comments come on the heels of a New York Times article on Monday that revealed the highly charged and racist comments posted on Facebook by some officers upset at having to work at the parade.
“I am outraged by the Facebook posts from some of New York City’s Police officers regarding the West Indian American Day Parade,” said the congresswoman in a statement. “The Facebook posts, which were recently highlighted in the New York Times, illustrate that unfortunately, some NYPD officers harbor a sick, disdainful and bigoted perception of the very communities they are sworn to protect and serve. While we will never truly know how wide-spread and pervasive this mentality is within the department, the fact that it exists, is a very serious breach of the trust that most Brooklynites have held in relation to the NYPD.”

Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants who has been a regular attendee and supporter of the parade since her post as a New York City Councilmember, said it is clear that the comments has harmful implications for all people living in communities across Brooklyn.
“The bottom line is, these officers through their Facebook group, have done more to set back the police and community relations gained over the past two decades. Simply put… it undermines the reputation of the NYPD,” she said.

The congresswoman is urging Commissioner Raymond Kelly to launch a thorough and full investigation of this Facebook group, remove and reassign any officers who may be assigned to precincts in Central Brooklyn and hold these individuals accountable for at minimum, their breach of the public trust.

“Unfortunately, when a law enforcement climate is created that promotes an abusive stop and frisk policy and racial profiling as an effective crime fighting strategy in the department, you are essentially inviting the biggots and racists within the organization to ‘reveal their preferences’ through their thoughts, words and deeds. This is totally unacceptable and it is clear that we are truly witnessing an all time low from the NYPD,” added the congresswoman.
Meanwhile, Caribbean American Council Member, Jumaane D. Williams, who was arrested by officers after this year’s parade, said he is not surprised at the page.

“What concerns me is that the racist language used here matches up with racist NYPD policies such as stop, question and frisk,” he said. “It really underscores the crisis facing communities of more color in this city. They have every right to express their concern that they are not being defended by local police officers, but rather are under attack.”

He added: “Yet, Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly have maintained their deafening silence towards this issue,” he said. “Neither of them are willing to admit there is a systemic problem with the culture of the NYPD. They both have insisted that each case is a bad apple here or there; what we now have is a bumper crop of bad apples. We have a bushel of bad apples. What is the bar? What is the threshold for recognizing the problem?”

Mayoral spokesman Stu Loeser says the Police Department is investigating and will handle the matter appropriately, as they always do.

The page, meanwhile, has disappeared from Facebook. Organizers of the annual West Indian American Day Carnival, now in its 44th year of existence, have so far not commented on the issue.

NDP Thinks Racist Police Assault OK

The Antigua Observer reports on the effect of Vincy politics on the assault to Ambassador Gonsalves, The NDP evidently would prefer SVG diplomats to be at risk of assault by rogue cops, and they glory in the lack of knowledge of the police.
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Vincentians in New York express mixed views about envoy’s arrest

NEW YORK, April 1, CMC – Vincentians here in general have expressed mixed sentiments about Wednesday’s arrest of St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ United Nations Ambassador, Camillo Gonsalves, by the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Gonsalves, the eldest son of Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonslaves, has vehemently denied claims by the NYPD that he was arrested on Wednesday after he refused to identify himself in the lobby of the building that houses the Mission to the United Nations in midtown Manhattan.

“The mere fact that he (Camillo Gonsalves) is a Black man, the racist element comes out,” said Jofford Sutherland, president of the Brooklyn-based Friends of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Committee, the New York arm of the incumbent Unity Labor Party in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in an exclusive Caribbean Media Corporation interview on Sunday.

“It does not matter what are your credentials, racism still exists,” added Sutherland, the dean of a public school in Brooklyn. “It’s being perpetuated in a most sophisticated way. We (the United States) are supposed to be the bastion of democracy, and these things are still happening.

“It’s very unfortunate that it (arrest) happened, and it will not be the last for Black people to be treated this way. It’s total disrespect for the Black man,” Sutherland continued.

“If he were White, they would not have put handcuffs on him,” he said. “This is disgusting and belittling. They (Gonsalves administration) should demand an apology from the (US) State Department. I don’t care which political party is in power (in St. Vincent and the Grenadines), they should respect his office (UN).”

Maxwell Haywood, chairman of the Brooklyn-based St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Diaspora Committee of New York, said he was “comprehensively appalled that this can happen to anyone, especially one of St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ highest representatives at the global level.

“This is a very loud message to all of us that police harassment and brutality are alive and well,” said Haywood, who is also a United Nations’ Development Officer.

“We have to be always vigilant against such police actions,” he added, noting that the police officer who arrested Gonsalves was white.

“This means we have to be very organized, and we need an organized response to this action by the police,” Haywood told CMC.
Greg Dublin, a director with the Brooklyn-based Friends of Crown Heights Educational Center, said Gonsalves’ arrest was “unwarranted and appears to be an overzealous response of a police officer.

“The fact that Camillo (Gonsalves) has been doing this (walking through the railings in front of the building) for the past five years is an indication that his action is somewhat admissible,” he said.

“If the officer had simply asked for identification and thereby established his (Gonsalves) diplomatic status, this fiasco could have been avoided,” he added.

“The grabbing of the neck and arm and forcibly turning one around in those circumstances seem excessive to me,” Dublin added. “A thorough investigation should be forthcoming.”

But Vincent Bacchus, a former police sergeant in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who currently serves as president of the Brooklyn-based St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Progressive Organization of New York (SPONY), the arm of the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, said Gonsalves was “totally wrong” in his actions.
“He went through the barricade knowing that New York is high against terrorism. He should have stood up and speak to the police. The police didn’t know who he was,” he said.

“All these things could have been avoided,” he added. “It’s Camillo’s (Gonsalves) fault. He should have complied with the police. The police was carrying out his duties according to how he was trained.

“If he’s (Gonsalves) immuned (because of diplomatic immunity), the police did not know that. It’s not the same police stationed there all the time,” Bacchus continued. “To me, Camillo was showing his true colors. You avoid things. The police did not do anything wrong.”

Bacchus also warned the Gonsalves administration in Kingstown to be careful how it responds to the incident.

“He (Gonsalves) should be quiet,” he said. “If you sue (file legal action), Vincentians are here (in the United States). You’ll make it difficult for others who want to come here,” he said, dismissing, at the same time, charges of racism in the matter.

“It’s not racism,” Bacchus declared. “Let’s put fair where fair is. If Camillo was right, no matter what, he was right.”

Lennox Daniel, a former Deputy UN Ambassador in the Gonsalves administration, who has since switched allegiance to the NDP and currently serves as Bacchus’ deputy, said tersely, when CMC asked for comment: “No comment.”

But Stephen “Scumbo” John, SPONY’s treasurer, who unsuccessfully contested the 2001 general elections in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on the NDP ticket, in the South Windward constituency, said it’s “a lot of noise about nothing.

“To be stopped by police and put handcuffs on you, it’s nothing,” said John, who is also a high school principal in Brooklyn.
“He should have identified himself,” he, however, added. “That’s a mistake.”

At the same time, John said: “I’m not embarrassed that my ambassador was stopped by police and got handcuffed.

“This guy (police officer) on the beat did not know him (Gonsalves),” he added. “But, that’s (Gonsalves’ arrest) not a big thing.”
John also urged Prime Minister Gonsalves to tread cautiously in the matter.

“I think the PM (prime minister) should relax and don’t push too much,” he said. “He’s (Camillo Gonsalves) is not less of an ambassador because of that. Leave it alone. Nothing will come out of it.”

Godfrey Pitt, a former police officer in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who heads the Brooklyn-based Friends of Argyle International Airport Committee, U.S.A., said the incident should not have occurred.

“Something went wrong, and it should not have led to that (arrest),” he said. “It’s a pity. Sometimes, you can only learn from these things.

“But I know some police officers, if you’re calm, they’ll respond differently,” Pitt added.

The NYPD claimed, in a brief statement, that its officer “had asked the ambassador to stop, he refused, he continued and entered into the location, and the officers followed him into the location.”

But Gonsalves refuted the NYPD’s claim.

“I never refused to identify myself,” he told CMC. “I asked him (police officer) ‘why, am I under arrest?’ And he said, ‘you’re now’.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t show ID (identification),” Gonsalves affirmed.

He further said he did not get the opportunity to show identification because the white police officer, who he could only identify by his last name and badge number – Parker, 21289 – had unexpectedly grabbed him from behind and “spun” him around, in the lobby of the building and immediately wrestled to handcuff him.

The envoy, however, said, while his hands were clasped in front of his person, he told Officer Parker that he should not be arrested under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which gives diplomats immunity.

Gonsalves also denied reports that he had entered barricades erected in front of the Mission building at 800 Second Avenue.
He said no wooden or metal barricade was erected in front of the building when he returned from a business lunch on Wednesday with the UN ambassadors of Taiwan and Gambia.

He said police usually erect metal barricades to contain the crowd when there are demonstrations against Israel, whose Mission to the UN is also housed, along with some Caribbean and African countries, in the same building.

Gonsalves, however, said metal railings were stacked against concrete blocks in front of the building.

“To say I went through the barricade wouldn’t be correct,” he told CMC. “I did not break the barricade.”

Gonsalves said, after his driver dropped him off in front a “police guard post,” located in front of the building, he “nodded” at the police officer stationed inside.

As he walked towards the entrance, he said the officer shouted: “Hey, you, what do you see the barricades there for?”

Gonsalves said, since he thought the officer could not be speaking to him, he kept walking.

He said the officer then entered the building and “assaulted” him, calling for “back up” by other police officers.

The diplomat said, with the aid of his colleagues, Officer Parker handcuffed him for 20 minutes.

Gonsalves said, after his UN diplomatic colleagues and their staffers told the officers they had erred in arresting him, the officers tried to defuse the situation, deciding not to press “disorderly conduct” charges against him.

He said he had also spoken to a State Department official at the United Nations about the matter.

As a result of being “roughed up” by the police, Gonsalves said he is experiencing “a lot of numbness in my left thumb, and my left shoulder is having difficulty moving.

“Behind my left ear, I have scratches,” he said, disclosing that he had gone to the Emergency Room at New York University Hospital for treatment on Wednesday night.

“The ER (Emergency Room) doctor tells me I have peripheral nerve damage in my left hand and ligament damage to my left shoulder,” he added. “I was also given a tetanus shot because of a cut I received.”

Gonsalves said, while Officer Parker did not issue any racial epithets at him, he overhead him telling his colleagues: “I couldn’t let him come into the building. Look at him, he could be a terrorist.”

The envoy, however, said the other officers were not disrespectful to him.

“This is not an issue with the NYPD,” he said. “It’s one overzealous cop.”

Gonsalves said all diplomats at the Missions to the UN should be treated equally by the NYPD since “all States are equal.”

He said the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) diplomatic corps met on Thursday about the issue and “agreed to issue a number of letters” to the United States (as host country to the United Nations) and the UN Secretary General.

He said those letters will be copied to New York City Mayor’s Office and the Missions to the UN.

“It’s up to the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines how to respond to this, because it’s an affront to our country,” said Gonsalves, stating that “all of our options are open at this time.”

He said those “options” could be legal, political and/or diplomatic.

In a letter to US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, Delano Bart, ambassador of St. Kitts and Nevis to the UN and chairman of the UN caucus of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations, said Gonsalves’ arrest was a “flagrant violation” of the rules of diplomatic immunity and privileges.

He described the Officer Parker’s treatment of Gonsalves as “provocative and uncivilized” and a “very serious and flagrant violation of obligations under the United Nations Headquarters Agreement and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.”
Under those agreements, the US recognizes diplomatic immunity from arrest and prosecution for accredited foreign diplomats.
“On his way to the elevator, he was shouted at and confronted by a police officer, who rudely questioned his action and then grabbed him by the neck and shoulder, displaying undue physical harassment against the ambassador,” wrote Bart in his letter to Rice.

CARICOM GROUP ISSUES STATEMENT ON THE ARREST OF AMBASSADOR GONSALVES

Release from Star983fm


Chairman of the United Nations CARICOM Group, Delano Bart, who is also St Kitts and Nevis permanent representative to the United Nations, has accused the New York City Police Department of “flagrant violation” of the rules of diplomatic immunity and privileges by aggressively arresting the ambassador of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Reuters news agency reported that, in a letter to US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, Bart said the incident occurred on Wednesday after St Vincent's envoy, Camillo Gonsalves, stepped out of his car. Gonsalves is the son of the prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves. Bart said in the letter, which was obtained by Reuters on Friday that Gonsalves walked past a police barrier to take the elevator to his office. “On his way to the elevator, he was shouted at and confronted by a police officer, who rudely questioned his action and then grabbed him by the neck and shoulder, displaying undue physical harassment against the ambassador,” Bart wrote.


Under international agreements, the United States commits to recognizing diplomatic immunity from arrest and prosecution for accredited foreign diplomats. The New York Police Department (NYPD) could face possible legal action as Caribbean governments respond to the detention and handcuffing of this country’s ambassador to the United Nations, Camillo Gonsalves.

According to reports, CARICOM ambassadors sent strong protest notes to the United States ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice and to Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon expressing their outrage at the situation. It is understood that Caribbean ambassadors spoke out against what they described as the blatant and aggressive conduct of the police officer who handcuffed Mr. Gonsalves.

New York Police Practice: Explaining The Gonsalves Case

This is an earlier story by Kelly Virella that goes a long way to explain the violation of diplomatic immunity in the case of SVG Ambassador Camillo Gonsalves. The NYC Police play by their own rules and not the US Constitution. We should thank Abassador Gonsalves for bringing this to our intention. I think it is interesting that the Mayor of New York, who is the boss of the NYCPD is a wealthy Republican.

Written by: Kelly Virella February 8, 2012

For almost 30 years — from 1983 to 2012 — the New York Police Department went about arresting people under laws that state and federal courts had long declared unconstitutional, cuffing and booking almost 22,000 people. In 2010, federal judge Shira A. Scheindlin finally held them in contempt of court. Yesterday, she signed an order approving what is effectively their punishment: a $15 million class-action settlement that could generate individual payments of as much as $5,000.

Those arrested were forced to defend themselves in court and even served jail time for completely lawful behavior. The class action settlement also requires the city to help the courts vacate and seal all convictions stemming from the illegal arrests.
“NYPD used these void laws over the past few decades to target people based on poverty, race and sexual orientation,” said J. McGregor Smyth, an attorney from the Bronx Defenders and a lead attorney for the class. “We are happy that the city has finally taken responsibilities for these abuses, agreeing to pay meaningful damages to its victims and to stop its unconstitutional practices once and for all.”

The three unconstitutional laws under which the NYPD made the illegal arrests prohibited people from loitering to panhandle, to search for sex partners or to wait in a bus or train station. Federal and state courts struck down all three of those laws between 1983 and 1993 as violating First Amendment rights, according to The New York Times.

As NYPD officers continued illegally arresting people under the unconstitutional laws, the department made efforts to stop them. It increased communication and training, disciplined some of the officers and conducted an internal investigation, according toThe New York Times. However, Judge Scheindlin found the NYPD in contempt of court because, she wrote, they were not proactive about preventing the problem.

“Nearly every measure that the city has undertaken,” she wrote, according to The New York Times, “has been at the direction of the court, the prodding of plaintiffs, and/or under threat of sanctions.”

The attorneys handling the class action lawsuit plan to send a notice to all 22,000 members of the class in about three months.
The New York City case echoes a similar case in Chicago, in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Chicago’s anti-gang loitering law. That law targeted African American and Latino youth who were not engaged in criminal activity and resulted in the arrest of 45,000 innocent people, according to the ACLU, which represented the plaintiffs.

Loitering laws that disproportionately affect blacks remain on the books in the many states and cities. Some have their roots in the anti-vagrancy laws that emerged in the South after the Civil War. Those laws aimed to restore white control over black labor, by ensuring that no blacks were idle. According to A Short History of Reconstruction:

Vagrancy — a crime whose definition included the idle, disorderly and those who “misspend what they earn” — could be punished by fines or involuntary plantation labor; other criminal offenses included insulting gestures of language, “malicious mischief,” and preaching the Gospel without a license.

Dominion of New York is the international magazine of black intellectual swagger. We go beyond the surface of news headlines to profile, investigate and satirize thinkers, problems and ideas of significance to the African diaspora. Fan us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.

Kelly Virella lives in an East Harlem walk-up with her husband, her bicycle and her books. She's worked as a journalist for 11 years and started this website during the summer of 2011. She fell in love with New York City during her first visit here as a 16-year-old and finally made good on her promise to move here in April 2010.

Another Case Like The Camillo Gonsalves Story

Written by: Kelly Virella April 3, 2012

The police barricade in front of his United Nations office building was one that he and other diplomats routinely stepped over to get into their offices, which were guarded 24-hours per day by police. In fact, he had been stepping over the barricade for almost 5 years. And when he did it Friday, he saw diplomats from Israel doing so too. But when Camillo Gonsalves, an ambassador for St. Vincent, stepped over the barricade to return to his office this time, a confrontation with police ensued, culminating in his arrest, Caricom News Network is reporting. Gonsalves was also assaulted, the agency reported: “struck or somehow bruised’’ behind his right ear and was treated at a hospital for minor injuries to his head, wrists, hand and shoulder.

Gonsalves is the second black political figure to be arrested by the NYPD after police failed to recognize their privileges as public officials. At the West Indian Day parade in September, New York City city council member Jumaane Williams was arrested under similar circumstances. After Williams and members of the group he was marching with finished their march, they wanted to go to the Brooklyn Museum to attend a luncheon reception marking the close of the carnival.

Upon showing their credentials, they were given permission by a supervising officer near the library at Grand Army Plaza to enter a barricaded area, which was meant for elected officials and dignitaries, and make their way back to the museum. That’s where the trouble started. The next police officers they encountered did not believe they had clearance to enter the off-limits area, Williams says. Despite showing his credentials, Williams was arrested. At the Million Hoodies March last month, Williams lamented racial profiling. “We’re begging you to give us justice, so we can give you peace,” he said.

Gonsalves’ confrontation with police occurred Friday. He said it began after he crossed the barricade and walked past the guard post. Not only did diplomats step over the barricades, but service workers did too. But the officer, whose last name was Parker, emerged from the post and confronted him, demanding to know why he crossed the barricade. According to Gonsalves, the officer shouted: “Hey you! You! What the hell do you think the Goddamn barricades are there for?” Without responding, Gonsalves went inside the lobby, chatted with a friend, then headed to the elevator. Officer Parker approached from behind, grabbed him by his neck, spun him around, and said “didn’t you see me talking to you?”

Not understanding why he was being yelled at for going into his office building, Gonsalves replied in a calm voice: “You couldn’t have been talking to me.”

“Show me some ID right now!” Officer Parker allegedly said.

“Why? Am I under arrest?” Gonsalves said, to which the officer allegedly replied “You are now!” Under international law, Gonsalves had diplomatic immunity. So when the officer told Gonsalves to place his hands behind his back, Gonsalves refused to comply. Only when backup came was he handcuffed. But at that point a crowd of diplomats had congregated were screaming at the police that they were violating Gonsalves’ rights.

Other officers began questioning him — without reading him his Miranda rights — asking him who he was and what happened. In earshot, he could could hear the arresting officer allegedly saying, “I couldn’t let him just walk into the building. Look at him: he could be a terrorist.’” Gonsalves took the risk of explaining the situation to the additional officers and someone called senior NYPD officials and state department officials to the scene of the incident. When they arrived, police released Gonsalves from the handcuffs he had been in for 20 minutes and he went to his office.

Later a state department official — who personally expressed regret over the incident — informed him that the NYPD was considering giving him a summons, which would require him to pay a fine. He informed the official that he considered himself the victim of a police assault and was considering seeking his own redress. Shortly thereafter, police sent word that they would not be issuing him a summons.
 

Kelly Virella lives in an East Harlem walk-up with her husband, her bicycle and her books. She's worked as a journalist for 11 years and started this website during the summer of 2011. She fell in love with New York City during her first visit here as a 16-year-old and finally made good on her promise to move here in April 2010.


http://www.dominionofnewyork.com/2012/04/03/another-black-political-figure-wrongly-arrested-by-bypd/#.T30Ww79WpwI

New US ambassador

By OBSERVER News - Wednesday, April 4th, 2012.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Larry Palmer is the new United States Ambassador to Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Speaking to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ambassador Palmer said, “I am honoured to have been nominated to represent the United States in this important region. These nations play an important role both bilaterally and in multilateral organisations like the Organisation of American States and the United Nations.”

Ambassador Palmer recognizes that “the global economic downturn has hit the region particularly hard,” and further said, “I will build on prior work and lead American efforts to promote economic prosperity, trade, and entrepreneurship in the region.”

According to a release from the US Embassy, he is committed to furthering the success of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), which he said “is vitally important to providing for the safety and security of the United States by ensuring that Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean can combat transnational organised crime and avoid the violence and instability seen elsewhere in the hemisphere.”

Palmer is a career member of the senior foreign service. He was formerly US ambassador to Honduras and also served as president and CEO of the Inter-American Foundation, an independent agency that provides grants to Latin American communities to foster economic development. In addition, he has served in Uruguay, Paraguay, South Korea, Sierra Leone and the Dominican Republic, and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia.

A native of Augusta, Georgia, Palmer earned a Bachelor of Arts from Emory University, a Master of Education in African History at Texas Southern University, and a Doctorate of Higher Education Administration and African Studies from Indiana University in Bloomington.

http://www.antiguaobserver.com/?p=73438

No sympathy for REDjet

TUE, APRIL 03, 2012 - 4:39 PM

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, April 3, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says he has no sympathy for the financial problems facing the Barbados-based low cost carrier, REDjet, adding that he was never informed as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) lead prime minister on air transport of its operations in the Caribbean.

“Nobody in any country in CARICOM wrote me or told me about it. None of the countries where REDjet was servicing (informed me). None. The owners of REDjet did not come and see me and tell me what they were doing, so I interpreted that as there was no interest in having the CARICOM air transport spokesperson get involved in their business,” Gonsalves told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

On Monday, a senior Barbados government minister said that efforts were being made to have the low-cost carrier resume operations within a two month period.

Trinidad and Tobago over the weekend announced that it had revoked the licences granted to the carrier that last month suspended its services to various regional destinations.

Billed as a low-cost, no-frills carrier initially offering fares as low as US$9.99, the privately-owned airline did not give specific reasons for the shutdown last month, but suggested that it was expecting state assistance to continue operations and blamed "subsidised" competitors for its troubles.

“REDjet is hopeful that we will be given a small part of the state assistance others receive, as it will allow us to get our recently approved and exciting new routes established and profitable. Once this happens our shareholders and staff will do their utmost to see that there is no return to high fares and business as usual”, the company said in a statement then.

But Gonsalves, who has renewed a call for a regional meeting on aviation, told CMC that he had no intention of getting involved in the any action to save the airline, adding “let me say this, REDjet is privately owned, Caribbean Airlines (CAL) is owned by the governments of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, LIAT is owned by the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“The statement by REDjet that the market is not on a level footing...they are quite correct about that in one important respect and that is to say that CAL continues to receive substantial subsidies in fuel from the government of Trinidad and Tobago”.

www.nationnews.com/.../gonsalves-no-sympathy-for-redjet/
 

“Hoodies Up” march for Trayvon Martin

by: JOELLE FISHMAN april 2 2012

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A "Hoodies Up" march and rally of nearly 1,000 filled the streets of New Haven Saturday calling for justice for Trayvon Martin, and an end to racial profiling.

The march was held in solidarity with the national march in Sanford, Florida where neighborhood vigilante George Zimmerman tragically ended 17-year old Trayvon Martin's life. Participants called for Zimmerman's arrest and spoke in opposition to the "Stand Your Ground" gun laws recently passed in a dozen states.

Initiated by the Black Students Alliance at Yale, and joined by students from Southern Connecticut State University, local NAACP branches, civil rights activists, youth and community organizations, union members, and elected officials, the New Haven march sent a strong message of unity.

"I am so excited by the Black students at Yale," said Rev. Scott Marks to cheers. "The university wants the students to stay on campus but they are taking part in this community. And I am so excited that white Yale students have come with them," he added, welcoming the new activism by youth.

The youngest speaker, six years old, said he didn't see why wearing a hoodie should get anyone shot. He led a chant, "Justice for Trayvon."

Activists of all generations gathered at 3 pm in front of the closed youth center, the Dixwell Community House, where they were asked to sign in with the name and ward number, for follow-up on election day. Voter registration cards were also on hand.

They then marched in the street with police escort behind the banner of the New Elm City Dream youth group to the New Haven Green, ending on the steps of City Hall.

Barbara Fair, leader of My Brother's Keeper, welcomed the crowd and emphasized that one goal of the day was to build support for Connecticut Senate Bill 364 which aims to strengthen legislation passed in 1999 requiring police departments in all municipalities to compile annual data on incidents of racial profiling. Last year only 27 of 92 municipal police departments filed reports.

State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield explained that SB 364 creates a common form that all police departments must use for reporting on racial profiling. "When this bill comes up for hearing, you need to be there!" he exclaimed.

Herman Zuniga, president of East Haven Immigrants United, which formed in the wake of profiling and harassment of Latino immigrants by the East Haven police now under investigation by the federal Department of Justice, aroused everyone when he declared that the struggles of Latinos and African Americans for equal rights are one.

Kathleen Cleaver, a lecturer at Yale Law School and former leader of the Black Panther Party, likened the impact of the murder of Trayvon Martin to the murder of Emmett Till in 1955 in Mississippi, which helped to spark the civil rights movement of the 1960's.

African American and Latino youth, targeted by the policies of the extreme Right Wing, suffering high unemployment and disproportional rates of incarceration, are now stepping forward to become engaged in the political process and demand an end to institutionalized racism.

The New Haven march and similar marches and rallies held in Hartford and Bridgeport, together with actions on campuses and communities across the nation, signal an awakened anti-racist unity by youth and all generations.

Trayvon Martin and St Vincent’s UN Ambassador: the Racist Similarities

[I am not generally a fan of Sir Ronald's, he's too conservative and pro-business for me, but he hit this nail right on the head.]

Monday, April 2, 2012 - 17:12 BY SIR RONALD SANDERS

It seems that institutional racial profiling continues to be a massive problem in the United States notwithstanding that the country has an African-American President, several African-American Congressmen and Mayors of Cities, and accomplished African-Americans in the media and in corporate America.

 I have not mentioned the entertainment business – either sport or music -- because for decades those are the two areas in which black people were expected to be.  They have long been ‘racially profiled’ as acceptable within the confines of these two categories.
 
Even though there are thousands of African-Americans in the police forces across the states of America, institutional racial profiling is particularly evident amongst the police.  In part, this is because the police force is the institution that most confronts black people every day in the United States, and the reports of abuse are legion.   As a friend, former diplomat and current commentator, Peter Simmons, puts it: “Obama’s election does not mean that the country has moved to post-racial status”.
 
In reality, although he is the President of the Unites States, Barack Obama himself continues to be a target of racial abuse.  Some of the statements made about him by bigoted and prejudiced Americans – even within the US Congress – would never have been made about any former US President.
 
As I write this commentary, the circumstances surrounding the admitted killing of 17-year old African-American Trayvon Martin in Florida by George Zimmerman, who could at best be described as an eager neighbourhood watch vigilante, is yet to be properly determined.  What is certain is that the police did not do their job correctly, and Martin’s death is yet to be investigated thoroughly.  This has caused well-thinking people in the US and across the world to speculate about how different the police would have acted had the victim been white and the admitted-killer been black.
 
This same bigotry and prejudice is also reflected in the assault and arrest of a Caribbean Ambassador to the United Nations in New York by a white policeman.  On March 28, the Ambassador of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Camillio Gonsalves, was pursued by a New York policeman into the building that houses his Mission to the UN, assaulted, forcibly hand-cuffed and arrested.  His crime, as he describes it, without any denial from the New York Police Department, is that he did not respond to a shouted challenge from the police officer: “Hey You! You! What the hell do you think the Goddamn barricades are there for?” as he crossed a barricade to enter his own Mission – something he and others have done for years, and which others – including representatives of Israel – had done that very day.   Israel’s diplomatic mission to the UN is located in the same building.
 
The key that unlocks the offensive and aggressive nature of the policeman’s behavior in relation to Ambassador Gonsalves is his remark to fellow officers: “I couldn’t let him just walk into the building. Look at him: he could be a terrorist.”
 
Well, how a person looks is not reasonable grounds for suspicion that he or she may be a terrorist. Because someone looks Arab, African or in some way different from white people is not enough reason for such an assumption.  Unless, of course, racial profiling is the basis of judgement which, in this case as in many others, it clearly was.  Maybe, if the policeman had approached the Ambassador politely and inquired who he was, he may have had a civil response and a production of the identification that would have avoided the incident altogether.   But, he seemed determined to use his position to subjugate a black man who did not surrender to what he regarded as his authority.  In execution of that mindset, he pursued Ambassador Gonsalves into his building and despite the protestations of the security guards within the building and the objections of other diplomats on the scene, he assaulted him, handcuffed and arrested him. 
 
Intervention by officials of the US State Department and senior officers of the New York Police Department caused the removal of the handcuffs and the avoidance of the Ambassador being ignominiously carted-off to a police station for formal charges.
 
As this commentary is being written, the New York Police Department is considering issuing the Ambassador with a summons for disorderly conduct. It would be shocking if they did so, particularly in the context of their officer’s behaviour, and it should rightly lead to the strongest objection from the entire diplomatic community at the UN.
 
The Caribbean diplomatic community has already voiced its outrage at the incident.  The Chairman of the Caucus of Caribbean Ambassadors has written the US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, pointing out that the “observance of privileges and immunities is a matter of great importance to the normal functioning of Ambassadors” and member states of the UN expect the highest standards from the individuals and entities charged with such observance.
 
Like the circumstances surrounding Trayvon Martin’s death, this incident involving a UN Ambassador and the Police in the US is far from being put to rest.  In each case, there are elements of racial bigotry and prejudice and consequent poor police conduct.  It is those very elements that the St Vincent government has now asked the US State Department to investigate.
 
There is clearly great need for the authorities in the US to address racism in its police forces.  They may not be able to legislate against racism, but they can legislate and implement machinery to punish those whose racial prejudice and bigotry motivate their actions.  The election of a unique African-American to the highest office of the land in the US was a great tribute to millions of Americans who saw beyond colour. It is not so for many who abuse the authority of their positions and give Americans a bad name. That is the sadness for America.
 
* * *
Sanders is a consultant and former Caribbean diplomat. Responses and previous commentaries at:www.sirronaldsanders.com

SVG Ambassador Gonsalves assaulted by NYC cops

Another version, probably including an interview as well as the Ambassador's statement
SATURDAY, 31 MARCH 2012 CARICOM NEWS NETWORk

NEW YORK, USA -The Ambassador of St Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, Camillo Gonsalves, on Friday became the latest victim of police profiling when he was handcuffed and arrested after walking through a barricade to get into his office building by a New York police officer who thought he could be a terrorist.
Ambassador Gonsalves, son of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, in a statement released by his government, said that he was “struck or somehow bruised’’ behind his right ear and was treated at a hospital for minor injuries to his head, wrists, hand and shoulder.

Gonsalves said he was returning to his office after lunch Wednesday and stepped out of his official car and walked through a barricade in front of the building — as he has done for the past five years — when he was confronted by an officer. The building houses a number of U.N. missions including Israel’s and has a 24-hour police presence, with a guard post outside.

According to Gonsalves, the officer demanded to know why he went through the barricade. He said he didn’t respond and proceeded to the elevator. He said the officer ran into the building, approached him from behind, “grabbed me by my neck and shoulders, spun me around and said, `Didn’t you see me talking to you?’’’

Gonsalves, the son of St. Vincent’s Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, said he replied calmly: “You couldn’t have been talking to me.’’

He said the officer then demanded identification. “I said, `Why? Am I under arrest?’ He said, `Well you are now.’’’

Gonsalves said the officer tried unsuccessfully to get his hands behind his back to handcuff him, and he remained “uncooperative, but peaceful.’’ The backup officers who were called forced his hands behind his back and handcuffed him, he said.

He said other ambassadors with offices in the building — including the envoys of Gambia, Dominica and St. Lucia as well as his own staff — came into the lobby and began to tell the officer he was in the wrong, and that Israeli diplomats had crossed the barricades that day, just as he did. As a U.N. diplomat, Gonsalves has diplomatic immunity.

As the crowd gathered, Gonsalves said, the officer who arrested him “began to act in an uneasy manner.’’

“Apparently by way of post-hoc justification, (the) officer … said quietly to his fellow officers, but within my earshot: `I couldn’t let him just walk into the building. Look at him: he could be a terrorist,’’’ Gonsalves said.

He said senior police officers and State Department officials from the U.S. Mission eventually confirmed that he was a diplomat and his handcuffs were taken off after about 20 minutes.

The statement released by the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines said The Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations is located at 800 Second Avenue, New York and Gonsalves said he enters and exits those premises multiple times on each working day.

The building is also the home to many other diplomatic missions. The majority of the diplomatic missions in the building are members of the Commonwealth, with the notable exception of Israel.

“We enter the building by means of a common lobby and shared elevator system, through which we have access to our various permanent missions and office facilities,” Gonsalves explained.

The lobby of the building is staffed by unarmed personnel, who check the identification of visitors to the building, and determine who should gain access. The lobby is also staffed by Israeli security officials, who perform separate identification and safety checks on those individuals visiting the Permanent Mission of Israel.

Uniformed police officers of the New York Police Department (NYPD) are stationed outside of the building. The NYPD officers do not engage in checking the identification of people seeking to enter the building. There is usually one NYPD officer stationed in a permanent guard post directly in front of the building. One or two other officers traditionally patrol the city block on which the building is located.

On the outside of the building, the NYPD maintains stacks of metal barricades, which normally lean against concrete structures that line that particular sidewalk. The barriers are called into use whenever political demonstrations or protests take place outside of the building. In such instances, the barricades are erected on the opposite side of the street from the Permanent Mission to contain the demonstrators, and to keep the protestors from “disturbing the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity,” as is mandated by Article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961).

According to Gonsalves, ambassadors and other diplomatic staff, as well as delivery drivers, couriers, and pedestrians, regularly step between and around these metal rails when no demonstrations are taking place. It is the common practice for ambassadors and other diplomatic staff to be dropped off by their drivers directly in front of the building, and for those persons to step around/between the barricades, cross the sidewalk, and enter the building. The staff members of the Permanent Mission of Israel, as the largest diplomatic staff in the building, are probably the most frequent users of this particular mode of entry. However, all diplomatic staff frequently enter the building in this manner.

“Over the course of my four and one-half years as Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, I have regularly entered the building in this manner,” he pointed out.

On Wednesday, at about 2:45 pm, Gonsalves said he returned from a lunch with other diplomatic colleagues and, as is the custom, the official vehicle of the Permanent Mission of St Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, which bears diplomatic licence plates, stopped directly in front of the building that houses the Permanent Mission.

Gonsalves then recounted the sequence of events.

“I exited the official vehicle in full view of the NYPD officer in the guard post, and began to walk to my office, while the staff member continued driving the car to its designated parking area. As usual, I stepped between the metal barricades, which were not linked together or otherwise connected, and continued towards the front door of my office building.

“After I had walked past the guard post located on the sidewalk, an NYPD officer emerged from the structure and shouted at me angrily.

“He said: ‘Hey you! You! What the hell do you think the Goddamn barricades are there for?’

“I was, quite frankly, shocked at the NYPD officer’s loud and angry outburst, both because of its hostile tone and the fact that, in over four years of entering the building in that manner, I had never been previously been subject to any comment whatsoever. I did not respond to the NYPD officer, and instead continued into the lobby of my office building.

“In the building, I was greeted by the unarmed personnel that supervise the entrance of visitors to the building. Since the building staff all know me very well (as they know all longstanding tenants of the building), they do not require me to produce identification to enter the building. I stopped to speak briefly with the individual on duty that day, a Caribbean national with whom I chat often.

“I was proceeding to the elevators when the NYPD officer that shouted at me earlier entered the building. He approached me from behind placed his hand on my neck and shoulder, and spun me around to face him. The officer, again angrily, shouted at me once more.

“He said: ‘You! Didn’t you see me talking to you outside?’

“I replied, in a calm voice, ‘You couldn’t have been talking to me.’

“The NYPD officer then responded, again with hostility: ‘Show me some ID right now!’

“I replied to the NYPD officer’s demand with a simple question: ‘Why? Am I under arrest?’”

Gonsalves said his question was based on the fact that (1) the officer had already grabbed him and spun him around, impeding his entry into his office; and (2) the NYPD officers stationed outside the building, to his knowledge, have never previously requested identification from any individual. The decision to check identification and to grant access to the elevators is made by the building personnel in the lobby, not the NYPD.

Gonsalves continued:

“As soon as I asked the NYPD officer why I was being asked to produce identification, and whether I was under arrest, he said, ‘You are now!’

“The NYPD officer, whose surname is Parker, and whose badge number is 21289, then produced his handcuffs and demanded that I place my hands behind my back. Aware of my rights under the relevant sections of the Vienna Convention, and aware of the fact that I had committed no criminal offence, I informed Officer Parker that I would not place my hands behind my back. Officer Parker proceeded to place his handcuff on my left wrist. I clasped my hands in front of me and stood perfectly still and rigid, as if at attention.

“Officer Parker then began to squeeze the handcuff tightly on my left wrist, in an attempt to yank my hands behind my back. He was unsuccessful in this effort. Officer Parker called for backup, and another one or two NYPD officers arrived in the lobby and began to manhandle me in an effort to handcuff me. I remained uncooperative, but peaceful. At some point I was struck or somehow bruised behind my right ear. There are minor abrasions in this area.

“The officers, collectively, managed to force my hands behind my back and to handcuff me. I was pulled to the side of the lobby, where Officer Parker informed me that he was getting a squad car to take me to the ‘17th Precinct.’”

Other ambassadors with permanent missions in the building, as well as other diplomatic staff, began to congregate in the lobby. They were shouting at the NYPD officers that they were at fault, that Gonsalves had done nothing wrong, and that they should not arrest and handcuff ambassadors. The persons gathered in the building lobby also stressed the number of times that very day that members of the Israeli Permanent Mission had entered and exited the building in that manner.

“Other officers on the scene began questioning me about what took place, and also asked me whether I worked in the building and in what capacity. I responded to them calmly and truthfully, despite the fact that I was under arrest and being questioned without having been informed of my ‘Miranda Rights’ as mandated by US law. Similarly, I had not been informed of the supposed ‘crime’ for which I was under arrest. The other officers persuaded Officer Parker not to place me in a squad car and instead to call his superior officer. My own staff, in turn, learned of my predicament and called the individuals in the United States State Department responsible for the interactions between Permanent Missions and the United States, our host country,” Gonsalves continued.

“As the crowd gathered, Officer Parker began to act in an uneasy manner. Apparently by way of post-hoc justification, Officer Parker said quietly to his fellow officers, but within my earshot: “I couldn’t let him just walk into the building. Look at him: he could be a terrorist.’”

After approximately 20 minutes in handcuffs, senior NYPD officers and US State department personnel arrived in the lobby. At that point, Gonsalves’ handcuffs were released, and he went upstairs to his office.

The lobby of the building in question is under 24-hour video surveillance. The Permanent Mission of St Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations is currently attempting to obtain the footage of the incident, which Gonsalves is confident will corroborate his account of his ordeal.

“The US State Department Personnel later joined me in my office to express their personal regret that the incident had taken place. They also said that the NYPD was considering issuing me a summons for disorderly conduct, which would require me to pay a fine. I informed them that I considered myself the victim of a police assault, and may pursue my own redress to that assault. Shortly thereafter, the State Department personnel informed me that the NYPD had decided not to issue any summons,” Gonsalves said.

“Later that day, I was contacted by the US State Department and reminded that, if I decide to pursue legal action for my assault, I would be waiving whatever jurisdictional immunities I possess as a diplomatic agent. I was informed that, if I contemplated legal action, I may become subject to a countersuit by the New York District Attorney. Responding to this, I told the State Department official that all of my legal and diplomatic options remain open at this point, and that I was unwilling to foreclose on any action under threat of counteraction,” he added.

On Wednesday night, Gonsalves said he visited the emergency room of the New York University Medical Center, which is located a short way from his office, where he was evaluated by Dr Heather Mahoney, who examined the following injuries:

1. Abrasions to the back of his head (and performed basic tests of balance and coordination)
2. Bruises on his wrists
3. Swelling and numbness in his left hand
4. Injuries to his left shoulder, which prevented a full range of motion in that joint.

Dr Mahoney ordered X-rays, which revealed no broken bones. She diagnosed Gonsalves with peripheral nerve damage in his left wrist and hand and possible strained ligaments in his left shoulder. In Dr Mahoney’s opinion, the damage should not be lasting. However, she indicated that he should see hand specialists and orthopedists if the hand and shoulder pain, respectively, does not dissipate within a week. He was also given a tetanus injection, due to the bruising on his wrists caused by the officer’s handcuffs.

The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations ensures that, at a minimum, any diplomatic agent enjoys “immunity from jurisdiction and inviolability in respect of official acts performed in the exercise of his functions.”

Article 29 of the Convention, which deals with the issue of “inviolability,” states: “The person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The receiving State shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity.”

Article 22 states that the receiving state (in this case, the United States) “is under a special duty” to “prevent any disturbance of the peace of the diplomatic mission or impairment of its dignity.”

Included in the Agreement between the United Nations and the United States of America regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, which was approved by the UN General Assembly on 31 October 1947, the United States is bound, to extend these privileges and immunities to Permanent Representatives of the United Nations, even in instances where the United States itself does not maintain diplomatic relations with the countries accredited to the United Nations.

Similarly, Article V of the 1946 Resolution 22(I), entitled “Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations” states “Persons accredited to the United Nations by Members as resident representatives and their staffs, whether residing inside or outside the zone, shall be recognized by the Government of the United States of America as entitled on its territory to the same privileges and immunities as that Government accords to the diplomatic envoys accredited to it, and the staffs of these envoys.”