Zohran Mamdani, New York’s mayor-elect, has criticized the Police Department’s surveillance tactics. He reappointed the police commissioner who helped create a ubiquitous web of monitoring. Source: New York Times
Posts published in “Civil Rights and Liberties”
Arthur Waskow, 92, Influential Rabbi and Activist for Social Justice, Dies
By Gotham Rex on October 25, 2025
Through more than two dozen books and two organizations he helped start, he had a profound impact on the intellectual and political life of Jewish congregations in the United States. Source: New York Times
U.S. Sues Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators Who Protested Outside Synagogue
By Gotham Rex on September 29, 2025
The Justice Department sued participants in a confrontation at a New Jersey synagogue that devolved into violence. An official said there might be more such cases to come. Source: New York Times
Adams Says He Will Revisit N.Y.C. Schools’ Bathroom Gender Policy
By Gotham Rex on September 18, 2025
Mayor Eric Adams’s remarks, aimed at a policy allowing students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity, came two days after the Trump administration expressed concern over such guidelines. Source: New York Times
Julian Heicklen, Cantankerous Civil Liberties Advocate, Dies at 90
By Gotham Rex on March 20, 2022
A retired chemistry professor, he staged weekly protests in front of a Manhattan courthouse, angering prosecutors, who tried to send him to prison. Source: New York Times
Two Teenagers Were Fighting. Only the Black One Was Handcuffed.
By Gotham Rex on February 17, 2022
A video of the fight at a New Jersey mall circulated widely online. Gov. Philip D. Murphy said the appearance of “racially disparate treatment” was “deeply, deeply disturbing.” Source: New York Times
Landlord Accused of Demanding Sex From Tenants to Pay $4.5 Million
By Gotham Rex on December 15, 2021
A federal civil rights suit had accused Joseph Centanni of demanding sexual acts from tenants in Elizabeth, N.J. He denied wrongdoing, but agreed to pay. Source: New York Times
Rev. C. Herbert Oliver, Civil Rights Activist, Dies at 96
By Gotham Rex on December 11, 2021
He helped focus the nation on bombings and police abuse in Alabama in the 1960s and, later, on problems with the education of Black students in Brooklyn. Source: New York Times
Federal Scrutiny of Cuomo Widens to His Office’s Treatment of Women
By Gotham Rex on December 3, 2021
The Justice Department opened an inquiry into reports of sexual harassment and retaliation in the former governor’s administration. Source: New York Times
Mount Vernon, N.Y., Police Face Federal Civil Rights Investigation
By Gotham Rex on December 3, 2021
The inquiry will focus on whether the Mount Vernon department engaged in a “pattern or practice of unlawful policing,” officials said. Source: New York Times
3 Officers Used Excessive Force in Arrest of Black Teen, U.S. Says
By Gotham Rex on November 19, 2021
The officers were charged with violating the teenager’s civil rights when they stomped on his head in New Jersey in 2018. Source: New York Times
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams Announces Civil Rights Push
By Gotham Rex on November 19, 2021
Damian Williams, the first Black U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, noted a rise in anti-Asian and antisemitic crimes. Source: New York Times
Rev. W. Sterling Cary, Pioneering Black Churchman, Dies at 94
By Gotham Rex on November 19, 2021
He embraced what became known as Black liberation theology and, in 1972, became the first Black leader of the National Council of Churches. Source: New York Times
Saving the Connecticut Farm That Helped Spark M.L.K.’s Dream
By Gotham Rex on November 12, 2021
Summers spent working on a tobacco farm in the 1940s opened a teenage Martin Luther King Jr. to a world beyond the Jim Crow South. Source: New York Times
How the N.Y.P.D. Is Using Post-9/11 Tools on Everyday New Yorkers
By Gotham Rex on September 8, 2021
Two decades after the attack on New York City, the Police Department is using counterterrorism tools and tactics to combat routine street crime. Source: New York Times