New Yorkers protest NYPD gala

New York, NY – On a hot afternoon of Thursday, June 6, several hundred people gathered in front of the Intrepid Museum to disrupt the annual New York City Police Foundation Gala.

The foundation is a notorious nonprofit in the city that allows donors to anonymously donate money to the NYPD. As it’s been around since the 1970s, it’s been used as a way to funnel money into the NYPD without accountability for the donors. It’s egregious that the NYPD, with a budget of $11 billion, gets even more funds while libraries are getting shut down.

The foundation is also responsible for funding three major programs. Crime Stoppers is a program that gives money to civilians to report on each other. Option Foundations is a program where they pair up children with an NYPD officer and use virtual reality technology to teach them emotional intelligence. Finally, International Liaison: is the program that funds all overseas NYPD offices, including the one in Tel Aviv.

The gala is a yearly celebration for the NYPD and the wealthy trustees. The cheapest ticket to get in is $2500 and the most expensive one is $250,000. All proceeds go to the NYPD.

The protest was called by the New York Community Action Project (NYCAP) and had over 29 organizations endorsing it, including NYU SJP, Within Our Lifetime, Palestinian Youth Movement, Bayan North East, and Justice for Eudes Pierre.

Despite record levels of heat and the blazing sun, the crowd was fired up as wealthy donors entered the gala in their finery. The organizers were situated so that attendees had to walk by them and face down the angry protesters. Chants of “Blood on your hands” and “Shame” followed the wealthy as they scurried past.

Sharif Hall of NYCAP said during his introduction to the demonstration, “These rich people are donating money to the same foundation that will give money to the NYPD to go into our community to kill Black and brown brothers and sisters.” The crowd responded with loud “shame” as NYPD officers looked on.

The main demands of the protest were to disclose the donors’ names, stop funding police terror, and to demilitarize the subway. NYCAP has been organizing around the increase of police and the National Guard on the subway station since March.

Speakers at the rally were from NYU SJP, Justice for Eudes Pierre, and Bayan North East. Each speaker connected the issue of the NYPD to their own demands for justice and liberation.

Shivani Ishwar of NYCAP said this during their speech, “We know they are lying. More cops, more soldiers – they don’t keep us safe. They put us in danger. Since October, we’ve seen how they’ve treated people just for speaking out against a genocide. We’ve seen how they’ve stopped people because they’re Black or brown, or because they’re wearing a keffiyeh. We’ve seen how they rush to the defense of the institutions, at the direct expense of the people. We know that the only way to keep us safe is to get these cops out of here. We know that we need to get the National Guard out of our city!”

The protest ended with chanting with unrelenting energy. New Yorkers do not like the NYPD and will continue organizing to stop its onslaught of terror.

#NewYorkNY #InJusticeSystem #PoliceBrutality #NYCAP #CommunityControl #PoliceCrimes #NationalGuard