21 March 2021: A Memorial for COVID Nursing Home Victims in Brooklyn

Families of Nursing Home COVID-19 Victims Honor Loved Ones, Demand Accountability

The families of victims from COVID nursing home fatalities gathered in Brooklyn for a memorial:

On Sunday, a street in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill neighborhood was filled with photos of seniors who passed away. The wall of remembrance put faces and names to the number of victims that is estimated to be in the thousands. They died away from their sons, daughters, grandchildren and other relatives, who could not visit them in their final moments due to the COVID-19 lock down.

The next excerpt features a description of one of the victims, who doesn't fit the mold of who you might think lived in New York's nursing homes:

"You don't go there to die. You go there to live and my mother is a perfect example of that. She was more active in her assisted-living facility than she had been in three years," said Donna Johnson, who lost her mother.

The organizers of the memorial identify the motive behind the Cuomo administration's deadly 25 March 2020 directive:

Peter and Daniel Arbeeny lost their father and other relatives. They organized the tribute.

"We do not blame the 15,000 on the nursing home staff who left their family to save our families," said Daniel Arbeeny.

Many of the families blame Governor Andrew Cuomo. Last year, in an effort to free up hospital beds, Cuomo signed an executive order which sent thousands of recovering COVID-19 patients to nursing homes. The relatives say this was fatal mistake.

"It was like our our governor said even though he did this, throwing fire in a dry brush. We lost thousands of our loved ones. I lost four family members in one week," said Peter Arbeeny.

The New York Post also covered the event, providing additional reactions from the families of other victims of Governor Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandal.

Ron Kim blasts Andrew Cuomo at memorial for COVID nursing home victims

New York Assemblyman Ron Kim (D-Queens) also spoke at the memorial. This report presents his comments.

Addressing dozens of mourners who came out to the emotional event on Henry Street in Cobble Hill, Kim (D-Queens) recalled a phone call he received from Cuomo allegedly threatening that his political future would be "destroyed" unless he shilled for the administration’s accounting of the death toll.

"When I got that call from Gov. Cuomo threatening me and my career, my livelihood, to lie for him, I wasn't scared of his bully tactics," Kim said. "But I was afraid that he would escape accountability.

"This is about decency," continued Kim. "And a decent man uplifts those who are not in power.... That's what this is about: This is about decent human beings coming together, taking on the most powerful politician in the state of New York."...

"Together, decency will win," said Kim, whose uncle, US Army veteran Son Kim, was among the 15,540 residents of nursing homes or adult-care facilities to die of a confirmed or suspected case of coronavirus through March 19. "Together, we will get to the truth.

"And that's why I know, I know that this governor will be held accountable," he continued. "That I know that his reign of abusive power will end soon. Because there are way too many decent people in the city of New York to let this guy go unchecked."

Does Governor Cuomo truly believe he's a decent man?

Here is video coverage of Kim's comments at the memorial: