On December 22, 2019, JFREJ and our friends at the Street Vendor Project teamed up to throw a Chanukah/Las Posadas party in the subway to say "More churros, less cops!"

As we brace ourselves for winter, NYPD's enormous budget remains intact, and the billionaires get richer every day. All while NYC's street vendors remain both excluded from COVID-19 economic relief at the state level, and excluded from accessing business permits at the city level. On top of that, they continue to face harassment and abuse from the NYPD, in instances like this from this past November, when police handcuffed a woman selling churros in a Brooklyn subway station.

Together, and joined by State Senator Jessica Ramos, we took over the Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Ave subway station to sing, dance, eat churros, and share rituals from both Chanukah and Las Posadas — two multi-day winter holidays. Our multicultural celebration was a glimpse at the liberated New York we all deserve, where where no one is criminalized for not being able to afford a $2.75 fare, and where there’s a churro cart in every station!

We say it again: Pass #Intro1116, #FundExcludedWorkers, ¡Que vivan los churros!

Photos below by Neha Gautam