Guilty... of Taking Pictures?
I decided to release this column to VirtualJerusalem readers, exclusively.
When in NYC, I reside in the East Village which I love and return to every summer.
Back in the "day" Club Tabac was the hot nightclub. Celebrity sightings were common and my street was lined with limos. That scene has changed as it's been replaced with another club.
Celebrities have also been replaced ... with drunken patrons milling onto the sidewalk and street. Reported complaints from neighbors accompanied by pictures of the squalor have been posted but to no avail, it continues.
Returning from a performance with my family we attempted walking through the crowd that surround the club, and passed by a young woman laying sprawled in the street in her own vomit. The revelers didn't miss a beat.
As I snapped a picture of this scene, I was approached by a police officer screaming, "Get out of here!" while striking me in the chest. So I demanded to see his supervisor.
Wrong move.
I hear: "Cuff her!"
I was thrown to the ground, and felt a boot in my back as I was handcuffed by two police officers. My kids who were right next to me started screaming : "Mommy! Mommy!"
My husband asks the officer to release me and the officer threatens to arrest him!
He asks: "What will you do with my kids?" The officer smugly replies: "I'll place them with "ACS!"
With good reason, my husband backed off from the scene. Sadly, my family watched as I was dragged and kicked into the police car.
I heard the label "Dirty spic," though I don't know who said it and it was later denied. However, my report lists me as "Latino."
I have been mistaken for everything, but never for a criminal!
Once in the car, the sergeant taunted me: "You're going to the tombs!"
I assumed it was merely a threat as only murderers and criminals go to the "tomb"s which is located way beneath the NYC courthouse.
It wasn't a threat.
After being booked, I was escorted to the notorious "tombs," passing shackled dangerous male inmates en route to the women's cell.
All my experiences cannot be revealed due to explicit content. My words are limited but know this: I prayed and G-d heard my prayers.
I survived heinous conditions in the cell. And now, while blessed to be home, my traumatized daughters will never trust policemen.
After my release, (no bail - no crime!) I needed legal clearance before I could inform VJ readers that police brutality is real.
I survived. How many didn't have that chance? 
Being a woman of color, I can't imagine what it's like to walk the streets of NYC being a black or Latino man. I absolutely do think my appearance had "something" to do with me being detained.
Had I been Asian and taking pictures, it would be acceptable. It sounds like a joke but would they have detained me? Can you imagine the report? "Asian woman was taking pictures!" That would never stick and all my Asian friends agree with me on this.
My apologies for being late with my blog, but I'm traumatized.
I will keep you updated. But now my kids' trauma is my concern as they cling to me every second since this experience.
Thanks for being loyal VJ readers. I know I was missing but I'm back! To tell you like it is... and like it was. And for the record ... it was not pretty!!!
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