Bangladeshi Amer for Political Progress (BAPP)

Today the NYC Council voted on 5 Bills to combat hate. Everyone deserves to worship safely and without fear. We are seeing a rise in hate violence, and I hear the fear from my constituents. I’ve helped synagogues and mosques in my district coordinate with the NYPD for additional security during religious gatherings. I was proud to vote today for measures that proactively address hate violence: Int. 22: Educating students about online hate, Int. 297: Providing emergency planning for religious institutions, and Int. 388: Creating a hotline to track hate and bias incidents Today I voted no on Int. 1-B & Int. 175-B. These bills would require the NYPD to create a plan for “buffer zones” that limit protest around houses of worship and educational facilities. But buffer zone bills give the NYPD too much power to police speech, and raise serious First Amendment concerns. They undermine the 2020 Summer Protests Settlement, which requires the NYPD to minimize protest policing and follow a tiered, First Amendment–compliant response. They have an exemption for labor picketing—creating a content- and speaker-based restriction that also violates the First Amendment. We live in a dense city, covered in schools and houses of worship. Buffer zones around these institutions would cover our city in speech-restricted areas. When Trump is eroding civil liberties, NYC cannot expand police discretion over when and where people can speak and organize. Organizations that join me in opposing these bills include: New York Civil Liberties Union, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Indivisible Brooklyn, and many more civil rights, pro-democracy, reproductive health, LGBTQ, immigrant-rights, and children's advocacy organizations. Read my full statement here: council.nyc.gov/shahana-hani… Read letter from NYCLU and 54 other orgs: nyclu.org/resources/policy/t…