Petition Day Success
On Sunday April 15th, PROP volunteers hit the streets for PROP’s third official petition day. Bolstered by the efforts of over 30 volunteers in 4 boroughs, PROP took a major step toward its goal of gathering at least 25,000 signatures. Robert Pinter and Bob Gangi worked hard in Tompkins Square Park and the dedicated Senator Velmanette Montgomery rallied in front of the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Bedstuy, Brooklyn. Other sites included Central and East Harlem, Washington Heights, the Fulton Mall and the Utica Avenue subway station in Brooklyn, Fordham Rd in the Bronx, and Corona in Queens. PROP volunteers around the city engaged with the public on the objectionable police policies and practices that negatively impact far too many New Yorkers every day. PROP received a notable about of media attention about the day including an article in El Diario and coverage on NBC TV. Overall, PROP has collected more than 3,000 new signatures bringing our total to over 8,000. A big thank you to all our determined interns and volunteers – if you’re interested in helping with future petition drives, contact Rosa (rsquillacote@urbanjustice.org) and stay tuned on Facebook, our website, or our email listserv for the next petition day date, coming later this spring.
Regardless of whether you can volunteer for Petition Outreach Days, you can always participate in our petition drive. We encourage you to sign our online petition and forward it widely, as well as to download copies of our print petition and collect signatures from colleagues, friends, neighbors. Completed petitions can be brought in person or mailed to: PROP at the Urban Justice Center, 123 William St 16th Fl, NYC, NY 10038.
PROP volunteers also documented stories of people’s bad encounters with the NYPD for the PROP Narratives Project, an aggressive public education campaign sharing the stories of individuals’ encounters with unjust NYPD policies and practices such as the quota system, stop and frisk, and arbitrary arrests and ticketing. We gathered dozens of stories this weekend and are always looking for more. To share your story about encounters with the NYPD, as either video or written testimonial, please email prop@urbanjustice.org.
And, of course, a big thank you to our dedicated volunteers. It is by organizing together that all of us can address and correct current abusive police practices to create a safer, more inclusive city for all New Yorkers.