Media Contacts:
Dan Morris: 917.952.8920, [email protected]
Manny Vaz: 347.674.7935, [email protected]
For media inquiries specifically about today’s 4pm action, please contact: Nikita Price: 585-748-0751, [email protected].
#11Days of Action: de Blasio, Bratton Now Facing 11 Days of Action on Garner
Growing Movement for Justice Escalates Campaign for Police Reform and Accountability
First Action Today at 4 p.m. in front of 52 Vanderbilt Avenue (between 44th & 45th St, near Grand Central Terminal)
New York, NY— As he was being killed by NYPD police officers, Eric Garner said, “I can’t breathe” eleven times, and now a large coalition of organizations that helped turn #ICantBreathe and #ThisStopsToday into national rallying cries for a growing movement for justice is announcing #11Days of Action: eleven days of actions and events to mobilize New Yorkers to intensify pressure on Mayor de Blasio, NYPD Commissioner Bratton, and other officials to implement real police reform and accountability measures.
More details on #11Days of Action will be posted at www.thisstopstoday.org. Organizations involved in planning and executing these actions and events include: Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) members, such as Justice Committee, Make the Road New York, VOCAL-NY, Color of Change, New York Civil Liberties Union, Center for Popular Democracy, Jews for Economic and Racial Justice, New York Communities for Change, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Brooklyn Movement Center, Bronx Defenders, Brotherhood/SisterSol, Picture the Homeless, New York City Anti-Violence Project, Audre Lorde Project, FIERCE, Peoples Justice and other partners, including: Million Hoodies, Freedom Side and El Puente.
The first action to kick off #11Days of Action will begin at 4 p.m. *today* in front of the Manhattan Institute of 52 Vanderbilt Avenue (between 44th & 45th St, near Grand Central Terminal). For media inquiries specifically about the 4pm action, please contact: Nikita Price: 585-748-0751, [email protected].
The actions today will be led by homeless people harmed by discriminatory “broken windows” policing and also include a community conversation of Harlem young people. #11Days of Action will conclude on Saturday December 20 and include a town hall with families that have lost loved ones to NYPD police brutality and violence. Check www.thisstopstoday.org and @ThisStopsToday for updates.
Below are 11 demands to #ChangetheNYPD from organizations involved in #11Days of Action:
On the streets, in community centers and on social media, the following 11 demands will be amplified in the days ahead:
1) Mayor de Blasio should insist on full accountability for all NYPD officers responsible for killing Eric Garner and Akai Gurley and all officers who brutalize New Yorkers.
2) Department of Justice should convene grand juries to federally indict officers responsible for the killing of Eric Garner, as well as other NYC cases such as Ramarley Graham.
3) Governor Cuomo should issue an executive order directing the Office of the Attorney General to serve as special prosecutor in cases involving civilians killed by police officers.
4) Governor Cuomo should veto legislation (S7801/A9853) that would allow New York police unions to make police disciplinary policies subject to contract negotiations.
5) New York City should end the NYPD Commissioner’s exclusive authority over disciplinary decisions for officers in cases of abuse, misconduct, excessive and deadly force.
6) Mayor de Blasio should end broken windows, and other discriminatory and abusive policing practices. This includes enforcement of low-level offenses, discriminatory arrests for violations (non-criminal offenses) and enforcement of possession of small amounts of marijuana; blanket surveillance of Muslim communities; and political activists.
7) Mayor de Blasio should work with the City Council to pass the Right to Know Act to protect New Yorkers’ rights and improve daily interactions between NYPD officers and New Yorkers.
8) Court-ordered stop-and-frisk Monitor Zimroth and Mayor de Blasio should give organizations led by and for communities impacted by discriminatory and abusive policing a formal role in NYPD reform.
9) The Department of Justice should launch an investigation into broken windows policing and the use of force policies and practices of the NYPD.
10) NYPD Inspector General Philip Eure should issue a report on use of deadly and other excessive force, to include review of disciplinary outcomes in these incidents.
11) The NYPD should publish quarterly and annual reports of summons and misdemeanor arrests, as well as use of force, based on race, gender, age, precinct, and other demographic data.
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Below are statements from some of the organizations involved in planning #11Days of Action:
“Last week’s decision by the grand jury not to indict Officer Pantaleo disappointed me, saddened me, angered me and frightened me all at once. I live in a nation where laws do not treat people of color as equal. I live in a nation where black and brown boys cannot walk around without feeling like targets. I live in a nation where a 20-year old can be stopped over 100 times by the NYPD for absolutely no reason... I am that 20-year-old" -- Keeshan Harley, Youth Leader of Make the Road New York. "To win systemic change and end hyper-aggressive policing in our communities, we must sustain protests and continue to escalate. For the next 11 days, lets commit ourselves to #ShutItDown and say #ThisStopsToday."
"New Yorkers, especially the families who have lost loved ones to the police, have endured far too many incidents of NYPD use of excessive and deadly force with zero accountability," -- Loyda Colon, Co-Director of the Justice Committee. "We are demanding independent, competent investigation and prosecution of cases of police brutality and killing. We are launching these 11 days of action to say,'police violence stops today, change starts now!'"
"The protests that have erupted across New York City are not just moments of outrage, but a mandate to our government that abusive and discriminatory policing must end once and for all. Hear our demands and know that the movement is only getting stronger." -- Alyssa Aguilera, Political Director, VOCAL-NY
"For each time Eric Garner repeated his cry of distress - "I can't breathe" - we the people will be in solidarity and show this is what democracy looks like!" -- Darlene Bryant, Picture the Homeless
"New Yorkers have taken the streets for days now. Together, we have demonstrated that we are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve justice,” -- Jonathan Westin Executive Director of New York Communities for Change. "We demand full accountability to the for all NYPD officers responsible for killing Eric Garner, Akai Gurley and all officers who brutalize New Yorkers."
"Jews for Racial and Economic Justice stands in firm opposition to broken windows policing and the atrocious violence that police target at communities of color. We are united as a multi-racial Jewish community in extreme condemnation of the racism at the foundation of policing in this country." -- Marjorie Dove Kent, Executive Director, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice
"The New York City Anti-Violence Project supports the 11 demands as part of the #ThisStopsToday 11 days of action for police accountability. The 11 demands create greater safety for all New Yorkers, especially LGBTQ people are disproportionately targeted and impacted by police violence and ensure the NYPD are held accountable for their actions.”-- Shelby Chestnut, Co-Director of Community Organizing and Public Advocacy, the New York City Anti-Violence Project
"In New York City and across the country, LGBTQ youth of color are on the front lines of struggles to fight the broken windows policing practices that killed Eric Garner and the profiling and discriminatory policing practices that killed Mike Brown - because we are among their targets," -- Chris Bilal, campaign staff at Streetwise and Safe (SAS), an organization focused on the policing of LGBTQ youth of color. "We are fighting for these 11 demands in solidarity with all members of Black communities, and because our survival as LGBTQ youth of color depends on it."
“Community Voices Heard stands with the 11 days of #ThisStopsToday actions as a beginning to an end of police brutality and harassment of people of color. We acknowledge that the people will prevail against these current injustices.” – Joseph Mpa, Member Leader, Community Voices Heard
"El Puente believes that 'justice and liberty for all' really means for All! It is time for all who believe in our American creed to make this declaration real." -- Luis Garden Acosta, El Puente Founder & President
"In highly policed communities like East Harlem and the South Bronx, New Yorkers are routinely harassed, ticketed, and arrested for low-level offenses, particularly if they are appear to be homeless, transgender, or a drug user which is why NYHRE joins the call to demand that This Stops Today!"-- Mike Selick, Participant Action and Education Coordinator at New York Harm Reduction Educators (NYHRE)
"The bold protest actions across the country are not only to demand justice for Mike Brown, Eric Garner, and all the countless Black lives lost to police violence, but to expose white supremacist state violence as a major contributor to the acute domestic human rights crisis in the US. If it wasn't obvious before, it is now-- US government has no credibility nor ascendancy when it comes to human rights." -- Jackelyn Mariano, Bayan USA
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