In front of police headquarters in lower Manhattan, activists and elected officials yelled the names of numerous Black and Latino men killed by NYPD officers over the years. Among the names shouted were Eric Garner, Anthony Baez, Ramarley Graham and Saheed Vassell.
They said as the mayor and Police Commissioner Derrmot Shea publicly support the conviction of former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd, they should be doing more to punish cops who kill people in New York.
"He ran on a police reform platform and he would applaud someone else," said Victoria Davis. “And what does that say about you? You can't even run your own city."
Davis' brother Delrawn Small was killed by an off-duty officer in Brooklyn in 2016 in a road rage incident. Wayne Isaacs was found not guilty during a trial and remains on the police force. Davis wants him fired.
The group also called for the firing of officers Brendan Thompson and Herbert Davis for the shooting death of Kawaski Trawick inside of his apartment at a supportive housing building in 2019. He had a history of mental illness. Cops say he had a knife and the district attorney declined to bring charges.
"We do not need to be paying those officers when they broke down his door and tased him and killed him," said Councilman Brad Lander.
Speaking about the conviction in Floyd's murder, Dermot Shea said, "The public needs to have trust and know that there is accountability when things go wrong. And to me, that is what this case was about, it was not just about George Floyd, it was about many, many names before and since quite frankly."
The community wants that accountability in New York City. The mayor responded this way.
"We have a lot more to do, I want to be clear. Reforming policing is necessary, it has to be ongoing.”
Officials and activists say it's not just about bettering the relationship between cops and communities of color, but it's also about keeping people safe. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said the NYPD cannot do that alone.
"We won't get to the heart of the matter until we decide what is it that actually makes a community safe,” Williams said. “But what we have seen in budgets over and over is that everything else that makes a community safe is cut, except the police department."
The group said that must change.