The recent NYPD killing of 28-year-old #AkaiGurley in East New York and beating of 20-year-old #DonovanLawson in Bushwick speaks to the desperate need in New York City to completely #changetheNYPD. Continuing to ignore the fact that the problem with the NYPD is both systemic and cultural, referring to killings and beatings as accidents or isolated cases of "bad seed" cops, and proposing band-aid solutions like more training, adds insult to injury and maintains New York City as an unsafe place for low-income New Yorkers of color.
Mayor de Blasio's request for New Yorkers to not connect the dots to the killing of Eric Garner and other incidents is just another way of saying, stay calm while we sweep this under the rug like so many other cases of unarmed New Yorkers killed by NYPD.
The dots are obvious: the overarching theory that guides NYPD policy and practice treats entire communities as criminals and encourage offers to enter our neighborhoods as if they're going to war. There is a systemic lack of accountability for officers who kill and brutalize our loved ones. Until these things are changed, there is no justice and can be no peace.
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