Please join Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) and members of the #RightToKnowAct coalition on Tuesday, February 13, 6 – 9 pm at Middle Collegiate Church (50 East 7th Street, Manhattan) to celebrate this movement victory. Please RSVP here: bit.ly/RTKAPartyrsvp
Together, 200+ local and national organizations, the families of New Yorkers killed by police, and countless community members did what some once thought impossible: we got half of the Right to Know Act, the consent to search bill (Intro 541), passed into law. This community-created legislation will protect New Yorkers from unconstitutional police searches that they continue to face every day.
We created the imperative for the city to take action to protect New Yorkers against police abuses during common policing encounters. We also shifted the debate with our #NoOn182 efforts – changing the narrative and making clear the harms and serious deficiencies of the counterproductive Intro 182 version advanced at the last minute with zero support from any advocates. By standing together for what was right, we nearly defeated the NYPD-corrupted identification bill, in spite of the full weight of the Mayor & Speaker’s offices backing this bill – the bill only passed with 27 votes, just one more than required to pass legislation. It was the closest vote of the last four-year legislative session.
This victory for our communities would not have been possible without strong organizing efforts by so many throughout New York City – the public education and outreach campaigns in local neighborhoods, getting our communities out to City Hall, building a coalition of over 200 national and local groups, calling legislators, collaborating across sectors and so much more. After so much hard work, it’s time to CELEBRATE! bit.ly/RTKAPartyrsvp
