About the event
After the 9/11 attacks, the NYPD became one of America's most aggressive domestic intelligence agencies. In 2011, Matt Apuzzo led an Associated Press investigation that revealed how the NYPD deployed undercover officers into minority neighborhoods as part of a human mapping program. The AP's investigation determined that the NYPD subjected entire neighborhoods to surveillance and scrutiny, often because of the ethnicity of the residents, not because of any accusations of crimes. Hundreds of mosques and Muslim student groups were investigated and dozens were infiltrated using informants, known as "mosque crawlers," to monitor sermons, even when there was no evidence of wrongdoing. Many of these operations were built with help from the CIA, which is prohibited from spying on Americans but was instrumental in transforming the NYPD's intelligence unit after 9/11.
Join us for "The Anatomy of Change: The NYPD's Illegal Surveillance Program'" as we explore the process and impact of this investigation as well as what this masterfully executed project and tell us about NYC today. Moderated by Moustafa Bayoumi, the conversation will feature Matt Apuzzo, one of his former editors, Michael Oreskes, Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York, Linda Sarsour, and others.
This event is part of the New York Council's "The Anatomy of Change: Journalism & Justice," a series that explores the role of journalism in American society and is a part of the Pulitzer Prizes Centennial Campfires Initiative.
Cosponsored by the New York Council for the Humanities, the Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center (MEMEAC), and the Writers' Institute at the Graduate Center, CUNY.
