June 5, 2020: New York, New York
Hon. Carl Heastie, Assembly Speaker
New York State Assembly
188 State Street, Legislative Office Building, Room 932
Albany, NY 12247
Hon. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Majority Leader
New York State Senate
188 State Street, Legislative Office Building, Room 907
Albany, NY 12247
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie,
People across the world are witnessing the pain of hundreds of years of Black subjugation, abuse, and murder at the hands of the state. We’ve seen the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade and countless others taken by law enforcement. But the deaths and violence don’t stop at police interactions. They are perpetrated against Black people in jails and prisons across New York and have taken the lives of Layleen Polanco, Benjamin Smalls, Kalief Browder, and too many others. The system that purports to “protect” and uphold “public safety” has instead subjugated, dehumanized, and murdered Black people for centuries.
We need bold and immediate change that will pull power away from the system that has made clear that Black lives, Black pain, Black existence, and Black humanity do not matter. To that end, we are calling on you to do what is right and address racist state violence from policing to courts to jails and prisons.
Police violence is one piece of a larger system, and we believe that this element is critical taddress through the full repeal of 50a and the full Safer NY Act. It is also important to address other forms of violence happening across the system and that leave generational trauma and scars across the Black community, including Black immigrants, Black incarcerated people, and Black LGBTQIA+ people.
That is why, next week when the legislature reconvenes, we call on you to pass a slate of bills to peel away at the devastation wrought on Black New Yorkers by a system of mass criminalization and state violence. This includes:
- Full Repeal of 50a: S.3695 (Bailey) / A.2513 (O’Donnell)
- Police Statistics & Transparency (STAT): S.1830 (Hoylman) / A.05472 (Lentol)
- Elder Parole: S.2144 (Hoylman) / A.9040 (De La Rosa)
- Fair & Timely Parole: S.497 (Rivera) / A.4346 (Weprin)
- The HALT Solitary Confinement Act: S.1623 (Sepúlveda) / A.2500 (Aubry)
- Repeal the #WalkingWhileTrans Ban: S.2253 (Hoylman) / A.654 (Paulin)
- Protect Our Courts Act: S.00425 (Hoylman) / A.02176 (Solages)
We are also calling on you to indefinitely delay implementation of bail reform rollbacks and to oppose any efforts to expand pretrial jailing that will expose thousands of more Black people to the violence and extraordinary health risks of New York’s jails.
The time is now to begin to address the violence of the police, jails, and prisons that have proven deadly to too many Black New Yorkers.
Signed,
- Action Together Rochester
- Advocates for the Incarcerated at Fordham Law School
- African Services Committee
- Aging People in Prison Human Rights Campaign
- Ali Forney Center
- Amida Care
- Amnesty International Brooklyn Local Group 27
- Appellate Advocates
- Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
- Asociación de Mujeres Progresistas Inc.
- Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (UAW 2325)
- Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Long Island
- Black and Pink NYC
- Black Lives Matter Hudson Valley
- Black Trans News LLC
- Black Youth Project (BYP) 100 – NYC
- Brooklyn Community Bail Fund
- Brooklyn Defender Services
- BronxConnect
- The Bronx Defenders
- The Brotherhood/Sister Sol
- Call BlackLine
- Campaign for New York Health
- Campaign for Youth Justice
- Campaign to End The New Jim Crow
- Capital Area Against Mass Incarceration
- Center for Appellate Litigation
- Center for Bronx Nonprofits
- Center for Community Alternatives
- Center for Constitutional Rights
- Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU Law
- Children’s Haven: A Place of Healing & Hope, Inc.
- Circles of Support
- Citizen Action of New York
- City Voices
- City Wide Tenant Union of Rochester
- Close Rosie’s
- College & Community Fellowship
- Columbia County Sanctuary Movement
- Community Service Society of New York
- Correctional Association of New York
- Criminal Justice Task Force, RocACTS
- Defenders Clinic at CUNY School of Law
- The Door-A Center for Alternatives
- Drug Policy Alliance
- Enough Is Enough
- Exodus Transitional Community
- Experiencing God Ministries
- Flying Squirrel Community Space
- Free the People WNY
- Friends of Island Academy
- FWD.us
- The Gathering for Justice
- Genesee County Public Defender
- Girls Inc. of Long Island
- Greater Rochester LGBTQ Caucus
- Harlem United
- Housing Justice for All
- Housing Works
- Hudson Valley Community Coalition
- Human Rights Coalition
- Incarcerated Nation Network
- Indivisible Westchester
- Innocence Project
- Immigrant Defense Project
- Ithaca Prisoner Justice Network
- It Takes A Village Action Organization, Inc.
- Jews for Racial & Economic Justice
- Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club
- John Jay College Institute for Justice and Opportunity
- Justice League NYC
- Justice for Families
- JustLeadershipUSA
- LatinoJustice PRLDEF
- Lawyers For Children
- Legal Aid Society of Nassau County
- The Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County
- Legal Aid Society of Westchester
- LIFT-NY
- LGBT Bar Association of Greater NY
- Long Island Progressive Coalition
- Make the Road New York
- Marsha P. Johnson Institute
- Memorial United Methodist Church
- Met Council on Housing
- Metro Justice
- Morningside Heights Resistance
- Mott Haven Reformed Church
- Nassau County DSA
- National Action Network, NYC Chapter Second Chance Committee
- National Association of Mental Health – Queens
- National Center for Law and Economic Justice
- National Trans Bar Association
- National Trans Visibility March
- Nazareth College Jail Project
- Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem
- Neighbors Against White Supremacy (NAWS) Central Queens
- Neighbors Together
- Network Support Services Inc.
- New Hour Women and Children
- New Hour for Women and Children – Long Island
- New Leaf Coalition
- New Pride Agenda
- New Sanctuary Coalition
- New York City Anti-Violence Project
- New York Civil Liberties Union
- New York Communities for Change
- New York Immigration Coalition
- New York State Council of Churches
- New York State Defenders Association, Inc.
- New York State Tenants & Neighbors
- Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson
- No Justice No Pride
- No Justice Under Capitalism
- North Bronx Racial Justice
- Northeast Political Prisoner Coalition
- Northern Manhattan Coalition to Immigrant Rights (NMCIR)
- North Star Fund
- NYCAIC #HALTsolitary Campaign
- NYC Jericho Movement
- NYU School of Law
- Onondaga County Bar Assoc. Assigned Counsel Program
- The Osborne Association
- Queens Defenders
- Parole Preparation Project of NYC
- Partnership for the Public Good
- Positive Women’s Network-USA
- Presbytery of New York City
- Prisoners Are People Too
- Public Interest Resource Center, Fordham Law School
- PUSH Buffalo
- Racial Justice BK
- Real Justice PAC
- Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) Campaign
- Returning Citizens Society
- Rise and Resist
- Riverside D.A.R.T
- Rochester Alliance Of Communities Transforming Society, Inc. (RocACTS)
- Rochester Decarceration Research initiative
- Rochester Never Again Action
- Rochester Mutual Aid Network
- ROCitizen
- ROC DSA
- Safe Passage Project
- Sanctuary for Families
- Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
- Sound Justice Initiative
- South Central Brooklyn United for Progress
- Southern Tier Independence Center
- St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, Croton-on-Hudson
- St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
- S.T.R.O.N.G. Youth, Inc.
- Students for Sensible Drug Policy
- SURJ NYC
- Tenants Political Action Committee
- T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
- Truth Pharm Inc.
- Turning Points Resource Center
- United Christian Leadership Ministry, Western NY
- United Voices of Cortland
- Uptown Progressive Action
- Uri L’Tzedek
- Violence Intervention Program
- VOCAL-NY
- Westchester Coalition for Police Reform
- Westchester for Change
- Women’s Health and Reproductive Rights
- Women & Justice Project
- Women’s Prison Association
- Woodhull Freedom Foundation
- Workers Center of Central NY
- Worth Rises
- Yonkers Sanctuary Movement
- Youth Arts New York
- Youth Represent
- YVote/Next Gen Politics