Protesters holding signs march at a demonstration for Saleem Osman
Title
Protesters holding signs march at a demonstration for Saleem Osman
Description
A group of protesters march beside police barricades while holding signs during a demonstration for Saleem Osman, a CAAAV organizer for the Lease Drivers Coalition. The signs read “Stop Police Brutality” and “Why Did The Police Attack Saleem?"
On May 26, 1994, Osman traveled to 33rd Street and Sixth Avenue after being called to help mitigate a dispute between a Pakistani cab driver and a white truck driver [1]. There, he was confronted by plainclothes officers from the Transit Police and the Midtown South Precinct who told him: “There’s no black mayor anymore. You better watch out” and “Go back to your own country.” The officers, who never identified themselves, proceeded to drag Osman out of his cab by his hair and clothing and subsequently beat him. This resulted in injuries to his head, neck, legs, and wrists that required medical attention. Osman was then arrested on the fabricated charge of assaulting two police officers and resisting arrest. Over a hundred Asian Americans and yellow cab drivers marched from Police Plaza to Central Booking in protest of this unlawful arrest on May 27, 1994. After 24 hours in police custody, Osman was released, due in large part to the demonstration and a CAAAV media campaign [2].
This violent attack on Osman was emblematic of the danger cab drivers, many of whom were South Asian, faced in New York City and across the United States during the early 1990s. Nationally, cab drivers had the highest rate of on-the-job homicides, with New York City leading well ahead of other urban areas. NYPD officers often acted aggressively hostile towards drivers and consistently used racist and anti-immigration slurs against them [3]. More broadly, the Asian American community faced an uptick in brutality at the hands of the NYPD during this era. Out of the 71 cases of Asian American violence the CAAAV tracked between 1993 and 1995, 34 had law enforcement as the primary perpetrators and 18 had law enforcement as accomplices [4]. For more information on this topic, check out the Spring 1995 and Winter 1996 editions of the CAAAV Voice Newsletter.
[1] CAAAV, “Update on Saleem Osman Case,” CAAAV Voice Newsletter, Winter 1994, 5.
[2] CAAAV, “Police Brutality,” CAAAV Voice Newsletter, Spring 1994, 1.
[3] CAAAV, “Focus on Cabbies,” CAAAV Voice Newsletter, Spring 1995, 4.
[4] CAAAV, “Police Brutality in Asian American Communities,” CAAAV Voice Newsletter, Winter 1996, 3.
On May 26, 1994, Osman traveled to 33rd Street and Sixth Avenue after being called to help mitigate a dispute between a Pakistani cab driver and a white truck driver [1]. There, he was confronted by plainclothes officers from the Transit Police and the Midtown South Precinct who told him: “There’s no black mayor anymore. You better watch out” and “Go back to your own country.” The officers, who never identified themselves, proceeded to drag Osman out of his cab by his hair and clothing and subsequently beat him. This resulted in injuries to his head, neck, legs, and wrists that required medical attention. Osman was then arrested on the fabricated charge of assaulting two police officers and resisting arrest. Over a hundred Asian Americans and yellow cab drivers marched from Police Plaza to Central Booking in protest of this unlawful arrest on May 27, 1994. After 24 hours in police custody, Osman was released, due in large part to the demonstration and a CAAAV media campaign [2].
This violent attack on Osman was emblematic of the danger cab drivers, many of whom were South Asian, faced in New York City and across the United States during the early 1990s. Nationally, cab drivers had the highest rate of on-the-job homicides, with New York City leading well ahead of other urban areas. NYPD officers often acted aggressively hostile towards drivers and consistently used racist and anti-immigration slurs against them [3]. More broadly, the Asian American community faced an uptick in brutality at the hands of the NYPD during this era. Out of the 71 cases of Asian American violence the CAAAV tracked between 1993 and 1995, 34 had law enforcement as the primary perpetrators and 18 had law enforcement as accomplices [4]. For more information on this topic, check out the Spring 1995 and Winter 1996 editions of the CAAAV Voice Newsletter.
[1] CAAAV, “Update on Saleem Osman Case,” CAAAV Voice Newsletter, Winter 1994, 5.
[2] CAAAV, “Police Brutality,” CAAAV Voice Newsletter, Spring 1994, 1.
[3] CAAAV, “Focus on Cabbies,” CAAAV Voice Newsletter, Spring 1995, 4.
[4] CAAAV, “Police Brutality in Asian American Communities,” CAAAV Voice Newsletter, Winter 1996, 3.
Creator
Betsy Ho
Date
May 27, 1994
Contributor
Digitized by: Vivian Truong
Cataloged by: Irene Madrigal
Cataloged by: Irene Madrigal
Rights
Copyright is held by CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities
Format
Photograph
Identifier
Photo166
Files
Citation
Betsy Ho, “Protesters holding signs march at a demonstration for Saleem Osman,” CAAAV Digital Archive, accessed November 23, 2024, https://archives.caaav.org/items/show/2371.