It’s been a hard week. The news has been filled with images of attacks on Black lives, from violent NYPD incidents and arrests to murder.
On a national level, we’ve seen the country stand and grieve with the family of Ahmaud Arbery. We also want to say the names of Nina Pop, a Black trans woman who was murdered in her home in Missouri; and Breonna Taylor, a Black woman and EMT who was shot and killed in her bed by the Louisville Metro Police Department in Kentucky.
In New York City, the Brooklyn DA’s office released stats on social-distancing enforcement: of the 40 people who were arrested for social-distancing violations from March 17 through May 4, 35 were Black, four were Latinx, and one was white. We’ve seen video after video of NYPD officers attacking and violently arresting people of color throughout the city, while they hand out masks to white people.
These actions are connected.
We are heartbroken, and we are furious. And yes, we are sometimes overwhelmed with feelings of helplessness and shame. But we cannot let those feelings allow us to look away or disengage. As SURJ National Director Erin Heaney writes, “At SURJ, we know that systems of white supremacy and other oppression rely on keeping white people and communities silent or actively opposed to movements for racial justice. We know our work is to break silence and organize more of our people into movements for racial justice and against white supremacy.”
Let this moment activate you.
The work of dismantling white supremacy needs to happen on both internal and systemic levels. Symbolic actions are not enough.
For some self-reflection, we encourage you to read “The Empathy Crisis of White America.” The piece asks us to consider why and how the national media pays attention to the murders it does:
“... it’s crucial for us to interrogate why it often takes video evidence of such senseless brutality in order for us to believe the victims’ families, or feel sympathy for their deaths. Are our feelings only activated when we ourselves can bear witness to brutality—when we can, from the safety of our own homes and the comfort of our white skin, replay these horrific tragedies on a loop?”This week, we’ve seen this in the different ways the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Nina Pop, and Breonna Taylor have been covered by national media - and, maybe, our own social media.
On a city-wide policy level, the Mayor’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year includes continued overinvestment in policing -- but significant cuts to social services, including public housing and education. Prioritizing policing over people is dangerous at any time, but especially in response to this pandemic. Read on for action you can take from home to advocate for a fair and equitable budget (under Calls to Make, below!).
Finally, read and review these alternatives to calling the police, made by Equality for Flatbush, and check out Justice Committee’s guide for how to CopWatch during COVID-19. There is a lot about the NYPD that we cannot control, so it is essential that we align our actions with our values in the ways we can.
Take good care, friends.
In solidarity,
SURJ NYC