We are New York City elders who are ready to challenge the city's priorities and demand change. Our city devotes far more financial resources to punishment and incarceration than it does to the lives of its residents -- including older residents who deserve to live in comfort and dignity. We are tired of the city penny-pinching when it comes to our lives, but giving willingly, eagerly and heedlessly when it comes to funding the forces of violence and death.
We are gathering to honor those who were not given a chance to grow old because their lives were snuffed out by the NYPD, and to demand that those of us living be granted the right to live with dignity. A budget is a living and breathing document that codifies a city's priorities. We demand that our city's budget funds peaceful aging instead of the forces that curtail life. We demand Bill de Blasio and the New York City Council #DEFUNDNYPD, and invest in elder care, education, housing, jobs, healthcare, social services. Invest in Black lives, because they matter.
