NY Actors & Activists Release Video Call on Mayor de Blasio and City Council to Cut At Least $1B from NYPD Budget & Redirect Funds to Black, Latinx & other Communities of Color

Hollywood and Broadway actors from New York teamed up with activists in a new video calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City Council to defund the NYPD’s FY21 expense budget by at least $1B and redirect those monies to crucial services, programs and infrastructure in Black, Latinx and other communities of color. In the video, they call on Mayor de Blasio and the City Council to take at least $1 billion out of the NYPD’s bloated almost $6 billion expense budget and invest it instead in the city’s youth and communities of color – to reduce police violence and help ensure an equitable recover from COVID-19 for NYC’s Black, Latinx and other communities of color. The video was created in partnership with Communities United for Police Reform (CPR), Working Families Party, About Face and We Stand United.

The video is available here: https://youtu.be/c-e0a-RBG2c

This video is being widely shared across social media. It asks NYC residents to take action by going to CPR's #NYCBudgetJustice take action page at: https://www.changethenypd.org/nycbudgetjustice/takeaction 

The deadline for the Mayor and City Council to adopt NYC's FY21 budget is June 30. On June 7th, Mayor de Blasio promised a shift in the budget from the NYPD to youth and social services, and on June 12th Speaker Corey Johnson and City Council leadership pledged that they would work to cut $1 billion out of the NYPD's budget - both referenced in the video. Communities United for Police Reform released this report on June 16th, outlining the movement's demands and roadmap to cut at least $1 billion directly from the NYPD FY21 expense budget and redirect monies to communities.

As the video says, “Answer the call of the hundreds of thousands of protesters and millions of New Yorkers, invest in our city’s youth and communities of color.”

The video continues, “Let’s demilitarize the police force. Our communities are not war zones. Stop the direct transfer of military weapons to police departments. Take the military grade sound cannons, humvees, and the machinery of war out of our neighborhoods. And give us the resources that we need to rebuild and thrive. Let our city lead the way.”

“For far too long the NYPD has seen their budgets skyrocket and it hasn’t made our city safer for our communities,” said Nelini Stamp, Director of Strategy and Partnerships at Working Families Party. “It is time to cut at least $1 billion dollars of the NYPD’s budget and invest it in community programs like affordable housing and education.”

Anthonine Pierre, Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) spokesperson and Brooklyn Movement Deputy Director said: “We call on Mayor de Blasio, Speaker Johnson and the City Council to lead in this moment. At least $1 billion dollars must be cut directly from the NYPD FY21 expense budget and redirected to fund crucial services, programs and infrastructure in Black, Latinx and other communities of color so that our communities have a chance at an equitable recovery from COVID-19 – and the adopted City budget must require additional transparency of the NYPD’s secretive and opaque budget.

Let us be perfectly clear: Our demand to #DefundNYPD by at least $1 billion is a floor, not a ceiling. We are not playing around and our demand that the NYPD budget be cut by at least $1 billion will not be satisfied by fuzzy math or musical budget chairs by the Mayor, Speaker or City Council. Cutting at least $1B directly from the NYPD’s expense budget will automatically yield additional savings from other City budget areas including fringe and pensions that should be redirected to support our communities in the pandemic. Moving cops from the NYPD to other agencies will not decrease police violence or yield monies that can be reinvested in our communities. Claiming fringe costs as part of the $1B cut from the NYPD expense budget will be seen as the fuzzy math and lie that it is. Cut the NYPD’s FY21 expense budget by at least $1 billion and invest it into our communities. Thanks to these amazing actors & activists for using their voices and platforms to amplify this critical demand.”

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About Communities United for Police Reform

Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) is an unprecedented campaign to end discriminatory policing practices in New York, and to build a lasting movement that promotes public safety and reduces reliance on policing. CPR runs coalitions of over 200 local, statewide and national organizations, bringing together a movement of community members, lawyers, researchers and activists to work for change. The partners in this campaign come from all 5 boroughs, from all walks of life and represent many of those most unfairly targeted by the NYPD.