In the Media

Advocates urge de Blasio, Cuomo to put homeless in unused hotels

04/07/2020
Albany Times Union

ALBANY — Advocates and elected officials, including New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, are urging Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to house up to 30,000 homeless individuals in unused hotel rooms to help them engage in social distancing and limit the spread of COVID-19.

With support from several New York City council members and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and state Assembly members Walter Mosley, Yuhline Niou and Harvey Epstein, the group said the move would stem the spread of coronavirus among people living on the streets as well as in homeless shelters.

CPR: Cuomo’s Budget Criminalizes Jeopardizes Minority Communities During Covid-19

04/03/2020
Black Star News

Community United for Police Reform say Cuomo's budget furthers criminalizes, and endangers, vulnerable minority New York communities during COVID-19 pandemic.

Communities United for Police Reform (CPR), the largest, most diverse coalition fighting for public safety and police accountability in New York, released the following statement about the New York state budget just enacted in Albany:

NYC Electeds Call on Mayor, NYPD to Ease Low-Level Arrest During Virus Crisis

03/18/2020
BK Reader

Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Council Member Rory Lancman, Chair of the Committee on the Justice System, and Council Member Donavan Richards, Chair of the Committee on Public Safety, are calling on the city’s top law enforcement officials to take all necessary measures to keep as many New Yorkers as possible out of the criminal justice system in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement comes just as, Wednesday morning, it was revealed that a Corrections Officer working on Rikers Island tested positive for COVID-19.

We must hold police departments to account, even if the Trump administration fails to do so

12/20/2019
CNN

(CNN) Of all the ways the Trump administration has tried to roll back Obama-era initiatives, abandoning efforts to address police brutality, bias and misconduct may be one of the most devastating.

After protests broke out across the country following the police killings of Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Missouri in 2014, the Department of Justice (DOJ) under former President Barack Obama began to ramp up its efforts to combat unconstitutional policing.

Where Eric Garner died, changes in NYPD policing win little applause

08/22/2019
AP

NEW YORK (AP) — A police cruiser constantly sits a few feet from a small floral memorial to Eric Garner on the Staten Island sidewalk where he spent his dying moments five years ago.

Tompkinsville Park, which police were targeting for patrols when they encountered Garner selling loose, untaxed cigarettes, remains a gathering place for desperate people.

Expletives flew on a recent hot afternoon as park regulars discussed everything from drugs and mental illness to jail conditions and the bail paid so they could sit on a park bench.

Reform advocates, family members of men and women killed by police demand firing of NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo for 2014 death of Eric Garner

08/14/2019
New York Daily News

A coalition of police reform advocates is demanding the NYPD fire Officer Daniel Pantaleo for the chokehold death of Eric Garner, and that it discipline all the officers involved in the case.

In a Wednesday letter to Mayor de Blasio and Police Commissioner James O’Neill, more than 60 community groups and family members of people killed by police blasted the mayor for “years-long unnecessary delays and obstruction” following Garner’s 2014 death on Staten Island.

'We are fighting for justice': Protesters call for firing of NYPD officers at 'We are Eric Garner' rally

Video still of Gwen Carr addressing crowd at youth-led action on fifth anniversary of her son Eric Garner's killing
07/17/2019
USA Today

NEW YORK – Hundreds of youth organizers carrying coffins and posters marched Wednesday at Foley Park, calling for Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York Police Department to fire all officers involved in the chaotic arrest and death of Eric Garner.

The "We are Eric Garner" rally, held on the five-year anniversary of Garner's death, followed Tuesday’s decision by the Department of Justice to not pursue civil rights charges against NYPD officer David Pantaleo, who put the 43-year-old black man in a chokehold.

Stop telling us we didn’t see what we saw. A cop choked Eric Garner to death. The District Attorney wouldn’t prosecute him. The Justice Department turned its back. Now the mayor must step up and fire him.

07/16/2019
New York Daily News

The next time Mayor de Blasio jets off to Keokuk, Iowa or Orangeburg, South Carolina, or wherever he goes to try to sell people on the crazy notion that he can be President of the United States, there should be a large screen with video of Eric Garner telling voters that he can’t breathe.

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