QUESTION!

words.

"The aggressive policing of public spaces under NYPD Comissioner Ray Kelly, combined with erosion of community spaces and social programs under the Bloomberg administration, has left many of the young people most at risk of being stopped – youth of color, LGBTQ and gender nonconforming, low-income, homeless, immigrant and Muslim populations, to name only some – feeling like they have nowhere to go and nothing to do. Advocates like Richie-Babbage argue that the most effective way to increase children's safety is to invest in community-based initiatives that empower youth and connect them with caring adults, such as employment and after-school programs – both of which have been drastically cut under the Bloomberg administration. The city's most recent budget attempted to eliminate 41,000 after-school slots for school-aged students and 8,000 childcare slots for young children, disproportionately affecting low-income communities.

Remarkably, the mayor acknowledged the importance of after-school programs earlier this summer, at a press conference denouncing the Community Safety Act meant to address police harassment and racial profiling in communities of color: "You take a look at who's killed, this is clearly a societal problem that most of the crime is concentrated in a handful of neighborhoods," Bloomberg said. "We have to improve our schools, we have to have after-school programs." Under his administration, after-school spots have been reduced by 35 percent since 2008.

Bloomberg has reduced social programs for New York's poorest children while adamantly defending police practices that criminalize them – even after those policies are found to be unconstitutional. For his critics, the question is clear: Which kids is Bloomberg really worried about protecting?"

ROLLING STONE: Stop-and-Frisk City: Does Bloomberg Really Care About Kids' Safety?

SEE ALSO:

THE WASHINGTON POST: Positive steps on ‘stop and frisk,’ drug arrests