Govts take advantage in times of crisis to expand policing, surveillance, & incarceration. @NYCCouncil & @NYCMayor aren’t providing the aid our communities urgently need.

Check out our list of demands: http://tinyurl.com/BMAI-Demands .

Support by signing on http://tinyurl.com/signon-statement

Continue reading below for a list of our demands

As @NYCCouncil + @NYCMayor negotiates the budget and considers measures to address the COVID-19 crisis, we demand that:

(1) James O’Neill step down as the COVID-19 Senior Advisor to the City.

(2) @NYCMayor appoint an expert on public health and hospitals to serve as the COVID-19 Senior Advisor to the City;

(3) The City stop the expansion of police in response to this pandemic (i.e. arrests for crimes of poverty, acts of survival, etc.);

(4) The City redirect any increased spending from protective gear for police to equipment and other resources for frontline workers;

(5) The City declare mutual aid as an essential service that doesn’t warrant being stopped by police;

(6) The City declare a temporary ban on jail admissions as well as the release of all people serving city sentences, detained pretrial, & for parole violations;

(7) The City reduce restrictions with electronic monitoring and house arrest to ensure residents can safely prepare for the pandemic;

(8) The City fund more community-based orgs that provide re-entry services in order to meet the needs of people being released;

(9) The City provide economic & housing support for Black & brown sex workers, street vendors, undocumented people, & all who do not qualify to receive support from the federal stimulus package;

(10) The City seize its vacant luxury apartments and/or empty hotels to provide immediate housing & economic support for people who are homeless & recently released from jails and prisons;

(11) The City give communities access to Bedford Union Armory, vacant land, & other unoccupied space in order to provide necessary community-based cooperative efforts + services, such as field hospitals, food banks, community gardens, etc; and

(12) The City fully fund the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) and work with program partners to ensure all youth participants have access to technology so that they can work remotely.

Thank you to the orgs that have expressed support: @DecrimNY @BAJItweet @MaketheRoadNY @theCCR @RAPPcampaign @paroleprepny @bluestockings @jvplive @CUNY_CLEAR @projectnia @AQE_NY @RedCanarySong @freedomtothrive @Law4BlackLives @PYM_USA @BrwnGrlRecovery

If we allow these systems to further expand, they will be with us long after the virus has been contained. Support by signing on here http://tinyurl.com/signon-statement