New Yorkers have a Valentine’s Day message for Amazon: It’s not us, it’s you.
Amazon has decided to cancel their proposed second headquarters in Queens!
Organizing made this possible. It takes all our neighborhoods to beat a billionaire. It’s a historic win for all New Yorkers — especially for JFREJ and our grassroots organizing partners across the city. Together, we mobilized immigrants, workers, neighbors, and communities across Queens to fight for a city that works for us, not one that’s built for billionaires like Jeff Bezos.
We want to give a huge shoutout to our amazing coalition partners (CAAAV, Desis Rising Up & Moving, Make the Road NY, ALIGN, CHHAYA CDC, Democratic Socialists of America, MPOWER Change, New York Communities for Change, New Economy Project, and Progressive Hacknight) for their dedicated work to keep Amazon out of New York City from the beginning, and in particular to the frontline groups who have been crystal clear on what’s at stake from day one.
There’s so much to celebrate today. Our cross-borough, multiracial, multifaith solidarity; our ideas for what our city and state could use billions for, and who gets to decide; and the joy of beating back a corrupt give-away to the richest person on the planet.
This is what real leadership from our elected officials looks and feels like: accountability to the will of the people, and governance on behalf of all New Yorkers, not just the wealthiest. But this win does not belong to politicians. It belongs to the grassroots movement that forcefully created space for electeds to hold the line.
Join us in savoring today and thinking about the future. Tomorrow we’ll get right back to fighting the threat that Amazon poses to American Jews, our neighbors, and our democracy in NYC and everywhere. We’re in solidarity with our friends in Northern Virginia and Nashville whose fights against Amazon’s reach continue. GIVE HERE to fund our critical and ongoing work.
This victory is so sweet because when neighbors beat billionaires we know we’re winning the fight to protect and expand our democracy in NYC and across the US. Thank you for being a part of JFREJ, we couldn’t have done it without you.