Defund NYPD

One-click sends your demands to all 51 members of NY city council, we must act quickly to demand they #DefundNYPD, one of the most brutal and powerful police institutions in the country, and invest in Black communities and their futures. 

We write this as a collective of NYC Muslim, Muslim organizations and institutions and allies to the Muslim community. We represent some of the one million Muslims in NYC, a little under 10% of the city’s population. Our community is racially diverse, made up of majority Black Muslims, many of whom have been targeted by various levels of police violence. We write this as both Black and non-Black Muslims to demand that you support defunding the NYPD immediately. 

Over the past two weeks, we have witnessed a powerful uprising for Black lives, both across the US and the globe. This uprising, sparked by the murder of Mr. George Floyd, at the hands of police, has been a call to defund policing systems across the US. We, the undersigned, as Black and non-Black Muslims wholly support the call to defund the NYPD. 

The NYPD has played a distinct role in perpetuating violence towards Black and Brown communities across NYC and just in the last few days has demonstrated their misuse of authority and power as they brutally swarmed, beat, and caged thousands of protestors. Some even used NYPD SUV vehicles to slam into protestors. The NYPD has shown us time and time again their complete disregard and lack of accountability. This is not safety, in fact, this is an abusive system that aims to sell you the idea of safety in exchange for unmonitored power and authority that they can wield against innocent lives, particularly Black lives, as they please and when they please with no accountability.

How much suffering, humiliation, and domination must we bear before we begin to ask real questions about real change? When the system is flawed, and the people hired to protect the public are harming the people themselves, and mayors and government officials turn a blind eye, who then is responsible? We are stuck in a cycle that needs to be broken and while we wait, Black lives bear the brunt of this force and misuse of power. These systems are dangerous, they are dangerous for Black lives, they are dangerous for people of color, and they are dangerous to our society. 

This past April, NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio proposed major budget cuts for the Fiscal Year 2021, especially to education and youth programs, while refusing to slash the NYPD budget by any significant margin. While the Mayor has agreed to divert NYPD funding to social services, he has yet to outline the proposed cuts he intends to make.

We write this note today to demand that you vote “no” on the Mayor's FY21 proposed budget as it currently stands, without cuts to NYPD. Furthermore, we urge you only to vote for a budget that includes at least $1 billion in cuts to the NYPD with equal reallocation towards social services and education programs, effective at the beginning of FY21, July 1, 2020. 

One-click sends your demands to all 51 members of NY city council, we must act quickly to demand they #DefundNYPD, one of the most brutal and powerful police institutions in the country, and invest in Black communities and their futures. 

Signatories Include: 

Waael Abdallh
Community Organizer
Little Egypt NYC

Kujegi Camara
Community Engagement Program Manager
Muslim Community Network

Fatoumata Waggeh
Co-Founder and Community Relations Manager
Smiling Coast Women Empowerment Network

Sageda El-Buluk 
President 
Sudanese Youth Network

Mazin Khalil
ED, Sudanese Americans for Nonviolent Demonstrations
Co-Founder and Secretary
Sudanese Youth Network (SYN) 
Named Muslim New Yorker of the Year

Laye Barry, Cultural Activist
Undergraduate Student
CUNY Hunter College 

Kazi Fouzia
Organizing Director
DRUM

Moumita Ahmed
Candidate for District Leader in AD 24
Co-Founder of Millennials for Bernie
Co-Founder of New Formers
Co-Founder of Bangladeshi Americans for Political Progress (BAPP)

Sarah Alsaidi
Doctoral Candidate | Counseling Psychology | Columbia University - Teachers College
Student Activist

Rana Abdelhamid (she/her/hers)
Rana@malikah.org
Founding President, Malikah
Co-Founder, Little Egypt

Mariam Abukwaik
Student Activist
NYU

Little Egypt NYC

Muslims for Progress (MFP)

MALIKAH 
movement@malikah.org

Shahana Hanif 
shahana.hanif@gmail.com
City Council Candidate, District 39
Co-Founder of Bangladeshi Americans for Political Progress (BAPP)

Mahfuzul Islam
Candidate for New York State Assembly District 24

Bangladeshi Americans for Political Progress (BAPP)

Dania Darwish 
Dania@asiyahcenter.org
Asiya Women’s Center 

Linda Sarsour
Executive Director
MPower Change

Abdukhalil Khalil
President (2019-2020)
National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)

Mohammed Khalil
Sudanese Youth Network (SYN), Member
National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)

Zainab Koli
Co-Founder, Faithfully Sustainable
Co-Founder, NY MSA Showdown
faithfullysustainable@gmail.com

Kadiatou Balde
Co-Founder, Faithfully Sustainable Faithfully 
faithfullysustainable@gmail.com

Sharmin Hossain
Political Director
Equality Labs

Ali Najmi
Candidate for Judicial Delegate
Assembly District 24

Thahitun Mariam
thahitun.mariam@gmail.com
Community Organizer and Activist
Founder, Bronx Mutual Aid Network
Co-founder, Bangladeshi Americans for Political Progress (BAPP)

Kifah Shah (she/her/hers)
Campaign Manager
MPower Change

Chaumtoli Huq
Associate Professor of Law
CUNY Law School

Rima Begum 
Housing justice activist
Founder of Bangladeshi Tenant Union
Co-Founding member of BAPP, MSW

Ibrahim Abdul-Matin
Board Member, Sapelo Square

NY MSA Showdown
nymsashowdown@gmail.com 

The Muslim Protagonist
muslimprotagonist@gmail.com

Kira Bolden, JD
Co-Founder, Citizens Against Capitalism
Jannahshands.org
Shakirabolden@gmail.com

Gulnahar Alam
Gulnahar.alam@gmail.com
Organizer/Executive Director 
Founder of Andolan Organizing South Asian Workers
Community Health Worker/Program associate

Tahanie Aboushi 
President of the Muslim Democratic Club of NY 

Imam Khalid Latif
Executive Director  |  The Islamic Center at NYU 
 
NYU Muslim Student Association
nyumsa2017@gmail.com
 
Fatima Saleh, Student Activist 
NYU Class of 2022

Namra Khan, Student Activist
FIT Student
 
Alima Ahmed, Student Activist
Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
 
Layla Elkoulily, 
Student Government President (2019 - 2020), NYIT 
 
Asma Bawla 
Founder of Muslimah Podcast 
NYU Class of 2021
 
Adam Gagan
Artistic Director | Performing Arts Mosaic 
 
Pamela Garcia 
COO | Performing Arts Mosaic 
 
Raibena Raita, Student Activist
NYU Class of 2022
 
NYU Tandon Muslim Student Association 
tandon-msa@nyu.edu
 
Fareeha Mahmood, Student Activist
NYU Class of 2021 
 
Saliha Nazir, Student Activist
Union College
 
Lina Mohammed 
Gender Justice Activist
 
Belal Mobarak 
Educator | Artist 
 
Huda Quhshi 
Lejemalik Salon 

Sabrina Abdalla 
Educator and Founder of the Cirri 
 
Mariama Jalloh
Founder of Jalloh Studios 
 
Ibrahim Bechrouri
PhD candidate at the Institut Français de Géopolitique
Adjunct Lecturer at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY)