Stop Mayor Kenney's Deadly Budget!

Members of ACT UP took to the streets again, with our coalition partners in the Philadelphia Coalition for Affordable Communities. We mourned Philadelphians lost to COVID, violence, and the dangers of being unhoused, and called on Mayor Kenney to defund the police and invest in housing for all.

Just a few body bags have accumulated shortly after 10am, as a passerby in red and white stops to check out the action and give respect to the Catto statue. Photo credit: Jeanne Lyons

By 11am, the bodies were mounting. A passerby on a bike stops to read the signs, the names of the dead, and share in the mourning and anger. Photo credit: Jeanne Lyons

An activist chalks the outline of the body bag and writes the name of a community member who died of COVID-19 while waiting for affordable, accessible housing. The names in this photo are Michael Day and Tyshawn Woods. Photo credit: Jeanne Lyons

At noon, we held a vigil for the dead. Here a member of PCAC and a member of Applied Mechanics hold ACT UP’s banner reading “Inaction = Death. Housing Saves Lives.” Photo credit: Jeanne Lyons

By noon, over 30 body bags had been created and delivered by people all across Philadelphia, in mourning and in anger. Photo credit: Jeanne Lyons