Workers Vanguard No. 1010	12 October 2012

Defend Jazz Hayden!

(Class-Struggle Defense Notes)

The following statement was issued by the Partisan Defense Committee on September 10.

The Partisan Defense Committee condemns the arrest of Joseph “Jazz” Hayden, an outspoken opponent of the NYPD’s racist stop-and-frisk campaign and advocate of rights for ex-prisoners. On 2 December 2011 the police stopped Hayden and unlawfully searched his car. He was arrested on two counts of possession of a weapon for having a penknife and a miniature commemorative baseball bat replica in his car. The 71-year-old Hayden is facing a possible 14 years in prison.

Hayden’s arrest was a blatant act of retaliation for his documentation of police harassment of Harlem youth and posting his flip-camera videos on his allthingsharlem.com/copwatch Web site. He had filmed these same two cops in a stop-and-frisk incident earlier in the summer. The arresting officers told him they knew exactly who he was. Hayden’s arrest was intended to silence and intimidate those who oppose the rampant repression of New York City youth at the hands of the police.

We join the many others in demanding that charges be dropped against Jazz Hayden.