Activists staged a silent protest outside of the United Nations Monday in hopes of eliciting a response from the mayor regarding the rising death toll in New York City Jails.
Mayor Eric Adams visited the United Nations on July 18 to make a speech as part of the commemoration of Nelson Mandela International Day. However, while the city’s top elected official spoke inside, protesters from the Jails Action Coalition gathered outside on 43rd Street and First Avenue.
Holding black cloths inscribed with the names of those who have died inside Rikers Island, the demonstrators stood silently with the United Nations serving as a backdrop. A banner reading “There is nothing natural about dying in jail” served as the centerpiece of what the group clearly wants to generate as a shadow looming over the mayor the same way the deaths on Rikers Island loom over their families.