FOR CHANGE
BK to support Black trans people
Thousands of people march across the Brooklyn Bridge during the
third week of protests citywide. Photo by Todd Maisel
Protests continue as
legislators begin reforms
COURIER LIFE, JUNE 19-25, 2020 3
Photo by Todd Maisel
of George Floyd’s killing, and
also came near the midway
point of Pride Month.
A majority of the rally-goers
wore white, as the event’s
fl yer called for, in solidarity
with the movement. An
estimated 10,000 people descended
upon the Brooklyn
Museum before branching
off in different directions,
many making their way
down DeKalb Avenue to Fort
Greene Park.
The rally was held in partnership
with the Okra Project,
Marsha P. Johnson Institute,
Glits, For The Gworls,
and Black Trans Femmes in
the Arts.
“Today, I call upon each
and every one of you to make
a commitment,” Ianne Fields
Stewart, founder of the Okra
Project, told the crowd at the
Brooklyn Museum. “Today,
I urge you to commit that
today is the very last day
that transphobia will claim
the lives, loves and joys of
Black trans people. For too
long, Black trans people have
fought for our unity, and for
too long, cisgender people
have been acting like they
ain’t know what the f— we’re
talking about.”
The Okra Project, which
Fields started to help address
food insecurity within the
trans community, recently
dedicated $15,000 to memorial
funds for McDade and Pop.
“It is the last day,” Fields
reiterated to cheers. “Today
is the last day that Black nonbinary
people feel forced to fi t
themselves into a binary that
doesn’t exist. Today is the last
day that cis people use trans
people as an encyclopedia
when Google is right there.
Today is the last day and today
I demand that you commit
that there will be no more
hashtags … Transphobia ends
today.”
There were no reports of
any arrests following the day
of peaceful protesting.
BY BEN VERDE &
TODD MAISEL
Demonstrators marched
through the city again this
week, continuing weeks of
protests against police brutality
and calling for the
NYPD to be “defunded” in
favor of other programs.
The demonstrations fi rst
began in New York on May
28 with several hundred in
Manhattan’s Union Square,
and quickly spread throughout
the Five Boroughs as the
city joined the nationwide
movement of protests stemming
from the killing of
George Floyd by a Minneapolis
police offi cer.
In the midst of the outcry,
legislators in Albany voted
on June 9 to repeal 50-a, the
state law that often keeps police
disciplinary records a
secret.
Assemblyman Robert
Carroll, who co-sponsored
that bill, said that his offi ce
had received over 5,000 calls
and emails demanding more
police accountability.
“It’s always much easier
to get things done when there
is popular will,” he said.
In New York City, the
NYPD will soon be required
to provide disciplinary records
of active police offi cers
in a publicly available online
database — something that
would have been impossible
under 50-a, Mayor Bill de
Blasio said Wednesday.
“Transparency is not
something to fear but something
to embrace,” de Blasio
said.
The NYPD will also be
required to publish all internal
trial decisions as
well as the information for
approximately 1,100 pending
internal cases — including
the names of offi -
cers involved, the charges
they face, their hearing
dates, and the resolution,
the mayor said.
In addition to the repeal
bill, state legislators also
passed laws to outlaw choke
holds and to create special
prosecutors in the event of
abuse by the police.
Many city legislators,
meanwhile, have rallied
around cries to reduce
funding for the NYPD —
prompting de Blasio to
commit to “shifting” funding
away from the police.
“We have taken that commitment
to shift funding,”
Hizzoner said on Tuesday.
“Shifting funding from the
NYPD to youth services, to
social services.”