NYC subway system (petition)

Sign this petition demanding that Governor Cuomo stop the fare evasion crackdown and properly invest in the subway immediately.

Dear MoveOn member,

I'm actor and activist Cynthia Nixon. I'm writing to ask you to sign this petition to Governor Cuomo after multiple videos and photos have recently emerged showing police officers tasering, tackling, holding down, drawing guns, and in some cases, punching Black and brown people in the subway. 

This is the result of an overly aggressive and unjust crackdown on "fare evasion," which has primarily targeted Black and brown people in low-income communities. And it comes on the heels of the announcement that the governor and the MTA intend to put 500 more state police—without body cameras—into the NYC subway system.

Instead of investing the millions needed for our crumbling subway, Governor Cuomo wants to invest in 500 police officers to continue his MTA fare evasion crackdown.

Poverty is not a crime. The fare evasion crackdown must stop immediately.

Sign this petition demanding that Governor Cuomo stop the fare evasion crackdown that targets Black and brown communities and invest in fixing the subway instead.

Sign this petition demanding that Governor Cuomo stop the fare evasion crackdown and properly invest in the subway immediately.

As part of the crackdown, NYPD officers have been stationed in large numbers outside and inside of train stations in low-income, Black, and brown neighborhoods. This comes as no surprise, as it follows the pattern of Black and brown communities across the country being surveilled, targeted, and subjected to police abuse and excessive violence.

But this excessive use of force by the police in the subway must stop immediately—which won't happen if Governor Cuomo and the MTA move forward with their current plans.

In one video, police officers draw their guns on a young Black man in a crowded subway car for presumably having evaded a $2.75 fare. In another image, an officer is holding down a young Black man who has been tasered. We should not taser or arrest someone for being unable to pay a $2.75 train fare. We do not need more state police with less accountability patrolling our subways.

What we need is for Governor Cuomo and the MTA to stop criminalizing poverty and to stop trying to raise money for our dilapidated train system on the backs of low-income communities and communities of color. We need Governor Cuomo to take the funding planned for hiring 500 new officers and invest it, and millions more, toward bringing the subway into a state of good repair.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks for all you do.

—Cynthia Nixon

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