Every Issue is a Racial Justice Issue

Many candidates for office have a racial justice platform that is sectioned off from the rest of their platform. They have an economic policy, immigration policy, housing policy, and then a separate racial justice policy, by which they often just mean criminal justice reform. But we know that racism affects and infects every part of our society and that we cannot separate racial justice from any policy arena. We must bring a racial justice lens to everything we do in public (and private) life.

With that in mind, I want to describe the ways in which I will bring a racial justice lens to the job of Manhattan Borough President. I will also be clear up front that there are many policies I support that impact racial justice that the Borough President does not control, but for which I have advocated and will continue to advocate. These include: defunding the NYPD and reallocating money towards community services, marijuana legalization with reparations to impacted communities, increased funding from Albany for our public schools, and a wealth tax and pied-à-terre tax. What follows are commitments to racial justice within the scope of the job of Borough President, but by no means an exhaustive list of the ways in which I will incorporate a racial justice lens into the job. I look forward to advancing racial justice as your Borough President, and hope my fellow New Yorkers will hold me accountable to these commitments. I look forward to working together to help build a New York in which communities of color are not only safe and healthy, but can build true generational wealth.

Police Violence and Accountability: While the Borough President does not have a direct impact on policing in New York, I will always use my platform to speak truth to power and be a vocal advocate for radically changing policing and removing police from criminalizing so much of our lives. Mayor de Blasio’s police reforms passed this year were hollow, particularly as so many officers with repeated misconduct still walk the streets. I will constantly push the next mayor and police commissioner to not just scale back the size and scope of policing but to fire police officers for misconduct. We also need to get so-called safety officers out of our schools. These officers, who are more likely to arrest Black and Latinx students, help fuel the school-to-prison pipeline.

No New Jails — As Manhattan Borough President, I will oppose the borough-based jails plan, including the Chinatown jail proposal. In May 2020, the population of all New York City jails was under 4000 people. The current, existing borough-based jails in New York City house 3000 people. We can close Rikers without adding any more capacity to New York City jails if we simply reduce the pre-trial population in the City to under 3000. If we can put the people who stormed the Capitol on house arrest, we can figure out pretrial supervision for many of the people currently incarcerated in New York that does not involve sitting in jail while presumptively innocent.

School Desegregation and Resource Equalization — New York City schools remain hyper-segregated and receive unequal resources. As Borough President, I will appoint members of Community Education Councils and the Panel for Education Policy who will make our schools more equitable.

Housing Affordability and Desegregation — My housing plan calls for the creation of thousands of new affordable, deeply affordable, social, and supportive housing units to be created in every single Community Board district in Manhattan (and New York City at large). We cannot continue on our current path of segregated neighborhoods and de facto, if not de jure, redlining. I will do everything I can to create more housing in transit-rich areas and to create affordable housing everywhere to better integrate our city.

Lead Abatement — Rates of lead poisoning across New York City vary dramatically by neighborhood in a pattern of broader inequity. Black and Brown children are far more frequently exposed to lead — often residual in old paint and in soil — than White children. Lead poisoning can be devastating for children, causing developmental delays, hyperactivity, hearing loss, and permanent brain damage. As Borough President, I will fight for lead abatement to remove lead from every home, school, and playground in the City.

Waste Equity — The Borough President makes appointments to the Solid Waste Advisory Board. The burden of trash disposal — where trash is taken, and the consistency of trash removal — is unequally distributed throughout the City. While recent steps have improved trash equity in the City, I will appoint members to the SWAB that further the mission of waste equity, while also pushing for containerization to combat the public health hazard of loose bags of trash on our sidewalks and streets.

Green Space — The necessity of parks and green space in New York has never been more apparent than in the past year. The inequity in the distribution of green space throughout the City, and particularly in Manhattan, is notable. We need more green space in communities of color, rather than losing green space to development. I will not recommend any new development in Manhattan that reduces the amount of overall green space.

Transportation and Pedestrianization — Improving public transportation, pedestrian safety, and bicycle safety are vital pieces of achieving a more just city. We must improve transit access in non-white neighborhoods by expanding the Second Avenue Subway northward and by increasing the number of streets with enforced, dedicated bus lanes. I will also push for more dedicated bike lanes throughout the City, with stronger enforcement against cars that sit in them. Making public transportation safer, more reliable, and more equitable is key to making New York City racially just.

Community Boards — My office will invest resources in community board recruitment and public education, seeking to broaden the pool of applicants for appointment. I will seek to create applicant pools reflective across race and ethnicity (not to mention gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, language fluency, occupation, and housing type and status).

My office will also seek to make community boards better resourced and provide them with the tools and support they need, such as child care, in addition to allowing members to participate electronically, which will allow a greater gender and economic diversity of members. We must consider and understand why people do not participate in order to facilitate broader participation. Community boards right now are filled with older and whiter homeowners; I will ensure there are more renters on community boards, along with greater racial diversity in general. Our community boards desperately need to reflect the communities they represent.