We would ordinarily open an email like this asking if you and your families were safe and doing well. Unfortunately, we know the answer.
Our country is in pain. No one watching the callous murder of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer could recognize a society they would describe as just or moral. That this is the reality for millions of Black Americans is shameful and a reminder that we have not done nearly enough to correct centuries of injustice and oppression.
New York, so often celebrated as as a progressive leader in the United States, is no exception. Alongside one of the most segregated school public school systems in the country, we are home to an agency that has routinely violated the rights of Black residents: the New York Police Department.
The NYPD's behavior during protests over the weekend was simply unacceptable. The images of a young woman being shoved into the gutter and a police cruiser driving into a crowd of people ought to shock us all. In the midst of a brutal response to peaceful protests, two members of the state legislature - Senator Zellnor Myrie and Assemblymember Diana Richardson - were handcuffed and pepper sprayed.
Coincidentally, last week we endorsed Senator Myrie and Assemblymember Richardson in their re-election campaigns. We could not be prouder of their leadership in standing up against injustice. We are also proud of BYD members who showed up to demonstrate and state unequivocally that Black Lives Matter.
Now is the time for legislative action and reform. Now. Not some other time.
As you may know, New York State has a law on the books called Section 50-a, which shields the disciplinary records of police records who are involved in violent incidents. This unjust and unjustifiable law has served to protect police officers from accountability. It must be repealed.
Our friends at New Kings Democrats and Communities United for Police Reform are calling on Speaker Carl Heastie and Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to reconvene the legislature to pass a repeal of 50-a. A proposed bill introduced by Assemblymember Danny O'Donnell and Senator Jamaal Bailey will do just that.
If you have time, please sign up to make some calls. We cannot allow another week to pass in which police disciplinary records are kept under lock and key.
We are also painfully aware that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. Families are still suffering and the aftereffects will be with us for years to come.
Injustice and racism did not succumb to the coronavirus, but neither did our resolve and determination to fight them. The world won't be the same when the pandemic ends, nor should it be.
We - all of us - can make it better.
In Solidarity, Brooklyn Young Democrats Executive Board
