Revised Open Letter Calling for NY to Address Racist State Violence

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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, 

We understand that the legislature may reconvene in July to consider emergency legislation, including legislation that will begin to address the deeply entrenched structural racism in New York’s criminal legal system. 

We commend the state legislature for acting swiftly to repeal 50a and enact the STAT Act, even as these reforms are long overdue. However, if the legislature is committed to addressing other forms of violence embedded in the system and that leave generational trauma and scars across the Black community, including Black immigrants, Black incarcerated people, and Black LGBTQIA+ people, your efforts must go further.  

We need bold and immediate change that pulls power away from systems that have made clear that Black lives, Black pain, Black existence, and Black humanity do not matter. We are in the streets. We are marching. We are risking our lives to challenge systemic oppression. We are your constituencies and we are calling on you to do more to ensure that Black lives matter. To that end, we are calling on you to proactively address racist state violence from policing to courts to jails and prisons. 

That is why we call on you to reconvene the legislature in July and 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 slate includes: 

  • 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,

  1. Action Together Rochester 

  2. Advocates for the Incarcerated at Fordham Law School

  3. African Services Committee

  4. Aging People in Prison Human Rights Campaign

  5. Ali Forney Center

  6. Amida Care

  7. Amnesty International Brooklyn Local Group 27

  8. Appellate Advocates

  9. Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)

  10. Asociación de Mujeres Progresistas Inc.

  11. Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (UAW 2325)

  12. Barriers Know More Poverty Prevention Foundation

  13. Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Long Island 

  14. Black and Pink NYC

  15. Black Diaries, Inc. 

  16. Black Lives Matter Hudson Valley

  17. Black Trans News LLC 

  18. Black Youth Project (BYP) 100 - NYC

  19. Brooklyn Community Bail Fund

  20. Brooklyn Defender Services

  21. BronxConnect

  22. The Bronx Defenders

  23. Broome County Peace Action 

  24. Broome Tioga Green Party 

  25. The Brotherhood/Sister Sol

  26. Call BlackLine

  27. Campaign for New York Health

  28. Campaign for Youth Justice

  29. Campaign to End The New Jim Crow 

  30. Capital Area Against Mass Incarceration

  31. Center for Appellate Litigation

  32. Center for Bronx Nonprofits

  33. Center for Community Alternatives

  34. Center for Constitutional Rights

  35. Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU Law

  36. Children's Haven: A Place of Healing & Hope, Inc.

  37. Circles of Support

  38. Citizen Action of New York

  39. City University of New York (CUNY) Law School 

  40. City Voices

  41. City Wide Tenant Union of Rochester

  42. Close Rosie's

  43. College & Community Fellowship

  44. Columbia County Sanctuary Movement

  45. Community Service Society of New York

  46. Correctional Association of New York

  47. Criminal Justice Task Force, RocACTS

  48. Defenders Clinic at CUNY School of Law

  49. The Door-A Center for Alternatives

  50. Drug Policy Alliance

  51. Empire State Indivisible

  52. Enough Is Enough 

  53. Exodus Transitional Community

  54. Experiencing God Ministries

  55. First Unitarian Church of Rochester, Criminal Justice Ministry

  56. Flying Squirrel Community Space

  57. Fortune Society

  58. Free the People WNY

  59. Friends of Island Academy

  60. FWD.us

  61. Gangstas Making Astronomical Community Changes, Inc. (GMACC)

  62. The Gathering for Justice

  63. Genesee County Public Defender

  64. Girls Inc. of Long Island

  65. Granny Peace Brigade 

  66. Greater Rochester LGBTQ Caucus 

  67. Harlem United

  68. Housing Justice for All 

  69. Housing Works

  70. Hudson Valley Community Coalition 

  71. Human Rights Coalition

  72. Incarcerated Nation Network

  73. Indivisible Westchester

  74. Innocence Project

  75. Immigrant Defense Project 

  76. Ithaca Prisoner Justice Network

  77. It Takes A Village Action Organization, Inc.

  78. Jews for Racial & Economic Justice

  79. Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club

  80. John Jay College Institute for Justice and Opportunity

  81. Junior League of Buffalo 

  82. Justice and Peace Resource Center

  83. Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier  

  84. Justice League NYC

  85. Justice for Families

  86. JustLeadershipUSA

  87. LatinoJustice PRLDEF

  88. Lawyers For Children

  89. Legal Action Center

  90. Legal Aid Society of Nassau County

  91. The Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County

  92. Legal Aid Society of Westchester County

  93. LIFT-NY 

  94. LGBT Bar Association of Greater NY

  95. Long Island Progressive Coalition

  96. Make the Road New York

  97. Marsha P. Johnson Institute

  98. Memorial United Methodist Church

  99. Met Council on Housing

  100. Metro Justice

  101. Morningside Heights Resistance

  102. Mott Haven Reformed Church

  103. Nassau County DSA

  104. National Action Network, NYC Chapter Second Chance Committee

  105. National Association of Mental Health (NAMI) – Huntington

  106. National Association of Mental Health (NAMI) – Queens

  107. National Center for Law and Economic Justice

  108. National Equality Action Team 

  109. National Trans Bar Association

  110. National Trans Visibility March

  111. Nazareth College Jail Project

  112. Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem

  113. Neighbors Against White Supremacy (NAWS) Central Queens

  114. Neighbors Together

  115. Network Support Services Inc.

  116. New Hour for Women and Children – Long Island

  117. New Leaf Coalition

  118. New Pride Agenda 

  119. New Sanctuary Coalition

  120. New York City Anti-Violence Project

  121. New York Civil Liberties Union

  122. New York Communities for Change

  123. New York Immigration Coalition

  124. New York State Council of Churches

  125. New York State Defenders Association, Inc.

  126. New York State Tenants & Neighbors

  127. Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson

  128. No Justice No Pride

  129. No Justice Under Capitalism

  130. North Bronx Racial Justice

  131. Northeast Political Prisoner Coalition

  132. Northern Manhattan Coalition to Immigrant Rights (NMCIR)

  133. North Star Fund

  134. NYCAIC #HALTsolitary Campaign

  135. NYC Jericho Movement

  136. NYU School of Law

  137. Ocean Hill-Brownsville Coalition of Young Professionals

  138. Onondaga County Bar Assoc. Assigned Counsel Program

  139. The Osborne Association 

  140. Queens Defenders

  141. Parole Preparation Project of NYC

  142. Partnership for the Public Good

  143. Peaceprints of Western New York 

  144. Positive Women's Network-USA

  145. Presbytery of New York City

  146. Prisoners Are People Too

  147. Public Interest Resource Center, Fordham Law School

  148. PUSH Buffalo

  149. Racial Justice BK

  150. Real Justice PAC

  151. Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) Campaign

  152. Religious Society of Friends 

  153. Returning Citizens Society

  154. Rise and Resist

  155. Rise Up Kingston 

  156. Riverside D.A.R.T 

  157. ROC Acts 

  158. Rochester Alliance Of Communities Transforming Society, Inc. (RocACTS)

  159. Rochester Decarceration Research initiative

  160. Rochester First Unitarian Church (Criminal Justice Ministry) 

  161. Rochester Never Again Action

  162. Rochester Mutual Aid Network

  163. ROCitizen

  164. ROC DSA

  165. Safe Passage Project

  166. Sanctuary for Families

  167. San Diego County Central Committee of the Peace and Freedom Party of California 

  168. Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network

  169. Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet (Albany Province Justice Committee) 

  170. Sound Justice Initiative

  171. South Central Brooklyn United for Progress

  172. Southern Tier Independence Center

  173. St. Augustine's Episcopal Church, Croton-on-Hudson

  174. St. Mary's Episcopal Church

  175. S.T.R.O.N.G. Youth, Inc.

  176. Students for Sensible Drug Policy

  177. SURJ NYC

  178. Tenants Political Action Committee

  179. Tocsin Magazine 

  180. Transcending Barriers 

  181. Trellis

  182. T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights

  183. Truth Pharm Inc.

  184. Turning Points Resource Center

  185. United Christian Leadership Ministry, Western NY

  186. United Voices of Cortland

  187. Uptown Progressive Action 

  188. Uri L'Tzedek

  189. Veterans for Peace, Broome County Chapter

  190. Violence Intervention Program

  191. VOCAL-NY

  192. Westchester Coalition for Police Reform

  193. Westchester for Change

  194. Women's Health and Reproductive Rights

  195. Women & Justice Project

  196. Women's Prison Association

  197. Woodhull Freedom Foundation

  198. Workers Center of Central NY

  199. Worth Rises

  200. Yonkers Sanctuary Movement 

  201. Youth Arts New York

  202. Youth Represent

  203. YVote/Next Gen Politics

Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club