Michael Skolnik, political director to Russell Simmons and president of GlobalGrind.com, and Alyssa Aguilera, political director of Vocal-NY, part of the Communities United for Police Reform coalition,
Nothing in New York politics is easy, and Gov. Cuomo’s proposals to reform the criminal justice system — which attempt to respond to the controversy over what many think is the impunity given to the police officers who killed Eric Garner and Michael Brown — are no exception.
The building has to be one of the most unassuming in downtown Manhattan.
The hallways are quiet and bare, lined by mostly empty offices where an encyclopedia-sized police patrol guide on the bookshelves instantly stands out. This is clearly a space in transition, but as a newcomer, you'd be unsure if the people were either moving out or settling in—a hollow quality rare in New York City's bureaucracy. In fact, the only reason I knew I was on the right floor was because of a classroom-ready whiteboard in the lobby, with a few words scribbled:
ALBANY – The Equal Justice Agenda portion of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s State of the State speech primarily addressed the past several months’ protests and concerns over the shooting of unarmed civilians by police in New York and elsewhere.
“People are questioning our justice system, and they’re questioning whether it really is justice for all, and they’re questioning whether it really is color blind,”
Cuomo said. Even if that source of that distrust is just perception, he said, the problem is real, and the community and police have to trust and respect each other.
NEW YORK CITY—Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduced a plan to allow district attorneys to release grand jury information in cases where police kill unarmed civilians and the panel declines to indict the officers involved.
"People have to trust the justice system," Cuomo said during his State of the State address Wednesday in Albany.