Registration is closed for this event

When: MLK Day / Monday, January 21

Where: Meet at McDonald's across from Queens County Criminal Court (120-34 Queens Boulevard, Kew Gardens, NY) @ 12:30. Launch starts at 1pm in front of Queens Criminal Court.

What: Queens for DA Accountability coalition launch, release of our demands, press conference, story gallery

In July 2018, grassroots groups started talking about building power to transform our criminal legal system in Queens. Those conversations led to the founding of Queens for DA Accountability, a coalition centering black and brown, TGNC, immigrant/migrant, indigenous and other communities directly impacted by incarceration. Through community organizing, civic engagement, and narrative change, we will build power for our movements’ most expansive vision of decriminalization, decarceration and transformative justice while pushing the DA to take immediate steps to reduce harm now.

Every day, the Queens DA Richard Brown puts people in cages in the name of "the People." Richard Brown has been in office since '91 and is a relic of the tough-on-crime era that we all want behind us. Queens DA sends more people to Rikers Island for misdemeanors than any other DA. He prosecutes marijuana arrests and fare evasions, while other DAs have eased up. His practices are uniquely punitive, forcing people to waive their right to speedy trial, coercing plea deals, and requesting high bails. He targets vulnerable communities while failing to hold powerful, wealthy people accountable.

Not in our name! Our country is waking up to the role prosecutors play in mass incarceration--that movement has come to Queens. We demand the Queens DA respond to community demands for decarceration. 

Member organizations:
Color of Change
Make the Road NY
Rockaway Youth Task Force
VOCAL-NY
America's Future Foundation
The Bronx Freedom Fund
Court Watch NYC
Democratic Socialists of America -- Queens
Five Boro Defenders
Gay Men's Health Crisis
Justice Committee
Just Leadership USA
Neighbors Against White Supremacy
New Queens Democrats
New York Civil Liberties Union
Survived & Punished
WOMANKIND

If you are interested in joining the coalition, please email nina@vocal-ny.org

When
January 21, 2019 from  1:00 PM to  2:30 PM
Location
NY