Gotham Gazette

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Opinion

Key Protections for Black, Brown, Immigrant, and Poor New Yorkers Await Governor Cuomo’s Signature


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Gov. Cuomo signing legislation (photo: Kevin P. Coughlin/Governor's Office)


This summer, New Yorkers statewide simultaneously reckoned with the new reality of COVID-19 and the persistent reality of systemic racist violence. The state Legislature heard the calls from millions in the streets and passed vital legislation during an emergency session that protects the communities most vulnerable to these twin threats. 

The State Senate and Assembly passed bills that would keep ICE out of New York’s courts and their eyes off COVID-19 contact-tracing information, a bill that would end the practice of suspending a driver’s license over traffic fines, and another that would move incarcerated parents to a prison closer to their children. 

Together these four bills provide urgent protections to Black, brown, immigrant, and poor  communities that have been hardest hit by this economic and health crisis. 

But while the Legislature took decisive action this summer, we are still waiting on action from Governor Cuomo. Now, four months after the bills passed, he has not signed them into law. Our communities can wait no longer. 

Immediate action by the governor is even more critical as we face a second wave of COVID-19. Communities of color and immigrant New Yorkers continue to be disproportionately impacted by the virus and the ongoing economic fallout. We need to protect the rights of all New Yorkers—public health depends on it.

The Protect Our Courts Act would ensure equal access for immigrants to state courts by preventing warrantless arrests by ICE targeting people simply attending court. As we celebrate essential workers—many of whom are immigrants—we must provide protections for immigrant New Yorkers traveling to, from, or attending court. ICE’s practices before and during the pandemic show that they have little regard for public safety—COVID-19 rates have exploded at detention centers across the state and the country.  

Contact tracing remains an important public health tool for stopping the spread of COVID-19 and keeping New Yorkers safe. But our current contact-tracing efforts are failing, in part because New Yorkers are rightfully concerned that our information will not be kept confidential. The solution awaits the governor’s signature. The Contact Tracing Confidentiality Act would prohibit police or immigration enforcement from having access to contact tracing information and ensure that contact tracing information cannot be used against us in court or administrative proceedings. It would also protect the confidentiality of contact tracing data and limit its use to public health purposes.

Essential workers have been called to the frontlines, but they are also one of the populations most at risk for traffic debt. The Driver’s License Suspension Reform Act would end New York’s cruel practice of suspending a person’s driver’s license if they cannot afford a traffic ticket, a practice that disproportionately impacts Black and brown New York communities—which, not coincidentally, are the communities hardest hit by COVID-19.

The pandemic has placed a huge strain on families with incarcerated loved ones, and visiting is hard enough without travelling hundreds of miles. The Proximity Bill would require the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) to move incarcerated parents to the New York State prison closest to their children after security level, health, and programming needs are met.

New Yorkers face a winter of tough choices. Governor Cuomo, though, has an easy one before him: sign these bills the Legislature passed months ago or do nothing and withhold protections from Black, Brown, poor, and immigrant communities, who have been the hardest hit by the health and economic fallout of the pandemic. 

Governor Cuomo's support for essential workers and communities of color on these issues is long overdue. All he needs to do is pick up his pen.

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Marvin Mayfield is the Statewide Organizer at Center for Community Alternatives. Alice Fontier is the Managing Director at the Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem. Whitney Hollins is an advisor to the New York Initiative for Children of Incarcerated Parents. Mizue Aizeki is the Interim Executive Director of the Immigrant Defense Project. Antonya Jeffrey is the New York State Deputy Director for the Fines and Fees Justice Center.

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For the Entire Metro Region, We Must Do Everything We Can to Avoid Another Broad Economic Shutdown


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Steve Bellone, the author/left, at a local business (photo: @SteveBellone)


To say that 2020 has been a rough year for New Yorkers would be the understatement of the century. COVID-19 hit us like a mack truck, with the greater New York City metropolitan area suffering the worst.

Working with Governor Cuomo, we quickly sprang into action to flatten the curve and save lives with a shutdown. But it did not come without a steep toll on our economy and small businesses. After months of strict shutdown rules, New Yorkers finally began to see a light at the end of the tunnel when many of our businesses that had been previously shut down were allowed to open their doors once again.

In Suffolk County, we worked tirelessly to give our businesses both large and small support and guidance to allow them to safely reopen. As a bedroom community of New York City whose economy is inextricably linked to the five boroughs, I was encouraged when the city turned a corner and clear progress was being made to return toward a sense of normalcy, albeit a new normal. Employers were given confidence that they could begin planning again for the future.

Now, as we head into a second covid wave, compounded by the winter months and flu season, we must stay laser-focused on curbing the spread. In what is a small silver lining of this entire ordeal, we can confidently say that we have learned a lot over these last eight months and are more equipped than ever to keep New Yorkers safe, while also protecting their livelihoods and the economy that we rely on to fund our critical services.

Governor Cuomo’s micro-cluster approach is a sound one that will help nip spikes in the bud before they become unmanageable, and will allow us to avoid the devastation of another blanket shutdown. The governor was right when he initially acknowledged that the business community isn’t contributing to the spread of the virus. Businesses, and the retail industry in particular, have taken a lead in enacting safety protocols to protect both consumers and employees. Even before many governments across the country required it, indoor retail locations took proactive steps to require masks on their premises, implement stringent cleaning protocols, and prominently place social distancing guidelines throughout stores. These are responsible solutions that have been proven to work and effectively curb the spread of the virus.

The effects of another blanket shutdown in New York City would be felt across our entire region. Businesses across the five boroughs not only impact the city, but our entire metropolitan region and the whole state, helping to provide tax revenue and employment to millions of New Yorkers. At a time when many jobs have been slow to return to New York, indoor shopping malls, retail stores, and other businesses provide a critical source of income for struggling families.

Additionally, the decisions around what businesses can remain open should be based on the safety protocols they have in place, not what items they sell. We learned over the course of the shutdown months that the distinctions of “essential” and “nonessential” businesses are artificial, as New Yorkers should be the deciders of what is essential for their family, and every single job and business matters to the people who rely on them. We must prioritize the notion that all work is essential and do everything in our power to allow people to work safely.

Whether it’s a retail store, your neighborhood restaurant, or any other service industry, all of our businesses contribute to the fabric of our society and employ our fellow New Yorkers. It’s incumbent on us as leaders to keep New Yorkers safe while ensuring that our economy can stay open and afloat.

New York City’s success is critical to all of our success, and it is my hope that Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo can work together on a plan to stamp down covid spikes and avoid a blanket shutdown until we can get a vaccine distributed. Both Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio have an immense opportunity to spearhead New York City’s economic revival and they would be right to take it.

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Steve Bellone is the Suffolk County Executive. On Twitter @SteveBellone.

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Keeping Apart, Staying Connected, and Giving Thanks on This Very Different Thanksgiving


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Chirlane McCray, the author, thanking health care workers (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)


This Thanksgiving will be unlike any other. The empty chairs at our tables are a stark reminder of lives lost, personal caution we must take, and the advisories to limit travel to control the spread of the coronavirus. Amid the rising virus toll and deep divisions symbolized by an electoral map of red states and blue states we still crave connection.

New Yorkers have something in common with those in every single state: the pain all humans suffer through sickness, isolation, death, economic distress, and socio-political upheaval. This year has been a powerful reminder of the need for emotional healing, as well as policies and a national mandate to prioritize behavioral health care. The past few months have also brought an equally powerful realization of how much we need each other.

Let us make this Thanksgiving a day to exercise gratitude for the many ways we have survived the long days and nights of 2020. From health-care workers saving lives to the teachers returning to classrooms amid uncertainty, our fellow Americans have had our backs. 

Here in New York, anyone needing support can find it 24/7, in over 200 languages through our NYC Well helpline at 1-888-NYC-Well. You can talk, text “well” to 65173, or visit nyc.gov/nycwell.  The city has also gathered resources and holiday advice at one accessible website

On the precipice of a dark winter, we will have to lean on one another for sustenance, for survival, for joy. We must connect to each other and what keeps us whole. Think about it. Do we care about the political affiliations of our teachers, our doctors, those working in food pantries or delivering the mail?  

No matter how they voted, everyone is under pressure. Seventy-six percent of Democrats and 67 percent of Republicans found the election significantly stressful, according to a recent American Psychological Association poll. New research suggests that almost one out of five COVID-19 patients are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within 90 days of a virus diagnosis. More than 12 million of us have tested positive for the coronavirus.

With the virus raging and the country in the midst of a political transition, our streets and our airwaves are far from quiet. Protestors continue to march against racial injustice. Some of our fellow citizens, including our current president, have raised their voices to question the election results, despite no evidence supporting that claim.

As an African American woman in her sixties, who has lived through many iterations of social justice movements, I am not naïve about the country’s continued need for change or the political struggles ahead. As a mental health care advocate and the First Lady of New York City, I sit at the juncture of the political and the personal. Those two worlds both overlap and collide. 

But this Thanksgiving, I hope others can bow their heads, as I will, to express gratitude for the high turnout for this presidential election, which one expert has suggested could well be the highest in over a century. People risked their health to stand in long lines to vote and exercise rights that cannot be taken for granted. 

This Thanksgiving, these many months of social distancing should only sharpen our awareness of the importance of our families, our neighbors, and our loved ones. Maybe instead of talking about politics and voting at our gatherings we can find ways to talk about our feelings, our hopes and dreams, and our fondest memories of times we have been together. 

Voting for president is just one expression of civic engagement. What do we know about politics closer to home? Who is our local councilperson? What about the school board? In a time of enormous need, there is so much we can do to help and show true citizenship. Volunteers are needed for seniors and for children, in animal shelters and in food lines. We can honor those we have lost by expanding our social circles and reaching out to friends and relatives in distant places. 

It is amazing what can be achieved when people go through tremendous pain and make it to the other side. Let us pledge to be civil in our disagreements, to push for continued progress, and to be grateful for what we have. 

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Chirlane McCray is First Lady of New York City. On Twitter @NYCFirstLady.

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