New York, New York

In November 2022, Color Of Change, in partnership with Survived and Punished NY, successfully pressured Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to drop the charges against Tracy McCarter. 

Tracy McCarter, a Black mother, grandmother, and nurse living in New York City was separated from her husband, James Murray, who is white, after he repeatedly struck, kicked and choked her. During their separation, his drinking worsened and his violence against her escalated. In March 2020, James was drunk and assaulted Tracy, who, according to reports, grabbed a kitchen knife to protect herself. When police arrived at the apartment, Tracy was administering emergency first aid to James, who had been stabbed. James was transported to the hospital. Tracy was arrested.

She was charged with second-degree murder and was held for nearly seven months at Rikers Island during the peak of COVID-19. In September 2020, Tracy was released on home detention with electronic monitoring while awaiting trial. 

During his election campaign, DA Bragg tweeted his support for Tracy by stating, “I #StandWithTracy. Prosecuting a domestic violence survivor who acted in self-defense is unjust" and that her prosecution was a “travesty of justice.” But it took his office over a year to eventually drop the charges, only after public outcry and pressure from Tracy and her loved ones.  

The Manhattan DA's own actions demonstrated that Tracy should never have faced criminal charges. During the trial, the DA’s office offered an extremely rare “Alford plea” in which Tracy would be convicted of second-degree manslaughter and third-degree menacing without the admission of guilt. Then after one year, if she’s not arrested again, the manslaughter conviction would be expunged and a misdemeanor conviction wouldn’t keep her from working as a nurse. But the presiding judge rejected the Alford plea. Tracy’s indictment and DA Bragg’s hesitancy to drop the charges against her reflects the prosecution's mandate to prosecute, convict and punish people at whatever cost, no matter how "progressive" the office claims to be.

Every day, Black women are terrorized by violence, retraumatized by abuse and betrayed by police who are paid to protect and serve the public. The myth that we can achieve “public safety” through increased incarceration, prosecuting and criminalizing Black people is not a new one. 

This is the myth that the United States is founded on. Police and prisons do not equal “justice.” In reality,  88% of survivors say that the police don’t take their complaints seriously. Not surprisingly, the legal system’s reputation for criminalizing survivors has consequences: Fewer than half of domestic violence survivors ever call the police.

While we applaud DA Bragg’s ultimate decision to drop the charges criminalizing Tracy for surviving domestic violence, Tracy never should’ve had to endure this in the first place. 

Our communities know the tools we need to thrive. We know what keeps us safe — and it will never be more prosecutors, prisons or longer sentences.