Above photo: Protest at New York City Police Gala. Fight Back! News.
New York, NY – On June 4, New Yorkers protested outside of the annual New York City Police Foundation Gala at the Intrepid Museum in Manhattan, where billionaires representing some of the top financial, tech and political dynasties in New York City gathered to donate millions of dollars to the New York Police Department.
The crowd of 75 protesters, led by the New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NYAARPR), shamed each gala attendee as they arrived, chanting “Blood on your hands!”
The New York City Police Foundation is a 501©(3) non-profit which funnels millions of dollars each year into the already bloated NYPD budget. The money goes to programs which surveil communities, pilot new technologies, and extend the reach of the NYPD.
For example, one of the foundation’s principal programs is the International Liaison program, which establishes NYPD offices in cities across the world, including in Tel Aviv. Additionally, donors who attend the gala tend to get massive contracts with the NYPD These include companies like surveillance giant Palantir, and Motorola, the company supplying cops with their radios. Both have made huge contributions at the gala which have turned into major contracts with the NYPD.
The protesters assembled outside of the gala to demand a public police force that does not function like a private piggy bank for billionaires, but that is accountable to the people of New York City. At the protest, NYAARPR demanded: No funding for killer cops; community control, not billionaire control; and justice for Eudes Pierre and all victims of police violence.
Speakers at the rally included representatives of NYU Students for a Democratic Society, Brooklyn Against War, Adolfina, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and the Coalition for Justice for Eudes Pierre.
Sheina Banatte, cousin of Eudes Pierre, who was killed by the NYPD in December 2021, said, “The money being wasted to fund racism and corruption here at this gala can best be spent in the community places and spaces that can truly benefit people, families, community and quality of life.” She continued, “We will keep fighting for community control of the police, justice for Eudes Pierre, and justice for all stolen lives.”
After the program concluded, protesters tore open several pig head effigies, scattering red paint splattered money in the street to symbolize the blood money raised at the gala. The protest then marched through the streets of Manhattan chanting, “NYPD kills on patrol! How do we stop them? Community control!”
