February 24, 2022

work from home for justice

Dear friends,

This morning, it is hard to feel upbeat. The multi-pronged Russian invasion of Ukraine and the launch of a US truck convoy to DC are too much bad news. I did consider going back to bed, but I have class this morning with a veritable United Nations of English language learners.

Tuesday was an eventful day and I forgot to tell you about an interesting phone call I received. Gregorio Morales was following up on an email I sent a few weeks ago, when the city’s Human Resources Administration issued guidelines to deny benefits to people who lost their city jobs after refusing to get vaccinated.

At the time I urged you to thank the mayor for standing firm on the vaccine mandate AND call on him to rectify HRA policy on eligibility for public assistance, since it’s punitive and unprincipled to deny people access to SNAP benefits.

So, Mr. Morales called to thank me for writing and to tell me that HRA has been authorized by the state to review applications for assistance from those who have been terminated because of vaccine refusal; they will determine benefits on a case-by-case basis. He described a general impulse at HRA to grant benefits rather than deny them, in recognition of the many reasons — including mental health issues and targeted misinformation — that have led folks to refuse vaccines.

As a believer in the power of good government, I was very pleased to get that call.

Correction: On Tuesday, in my haste to post some good news, I wrote “more people are queer.” This was a note I had written myself, not an accurate interpretation of the findings of the Gallup poll I was referring to. What the poll data showed is that more people are readily self-identifying themselves as queer, which is an indication of changing social attitudes.

In light of that good news, it seems especially galling that as mayor of the US city with largest population of LGBTQ people, Eric Adams has named three “known homophobes” to important posts in his administration.

Cathy Marino-Thomas, the board chair for Equality New York, an advocacy organization, said Mr. Adams’s decision to put two of the three men in the faith partnerships office, which will interface with religious organizations, was especially problematic, because members of the LGBTQ community already struggled for recognition among their fellow faith leaders.

Adams has made a fair point about people who have, in the past, expressed unenlightened views:

“If we say everyone who did not get it then should be banished permanently, that’s the wrong message. The goal is to convert, allow people to evolve, so that they can see the error of their ways.”

I share the mayor’s belief that all of us can learn and grow, if we are willing. As my partner noted this morning, though,

personnel is policy.

Without persuasive evidence that his nominees have left bigotry and ignorance behind, the mayor’s own commitment to equity is in serious doubt.

Contact the mayor to let him know that we expect him to pick exemplary people to do the people’s work. This action is ready-made.

George Takei, the actor who played Mr. Sulu on the original Star Trek, was a child when his family was forcibly relocated to the Tule Lake Segregation Center. Many years later, he testified at a congressional hearing in favor of restitution for Japanese Americans who lost their homes and businesses during the wartime internment.

Takei is now working for restitution and reparations for African Americans descended from those who were enslaved in the US.

"For us, it was four horrific years," Takei says. "For African Americans, it's four torturous centuries."

"I believe that America today is strong enough and confident enough to recognize a grievous failure. I believe that it is honest enough to acknowledge that damage was done. And I would like to think it is honorable enough to provide proper restitution to the injury that was done.”

I’m not sure that Takei is right that we are strong enough and honest enough as a nation to recognize the injuries that slavery and white supremacy have caused. That recognition and repair are necessary seems unquestionable, however.

Like wealth, trauma is not equally inherited in this country. In every historical period, Black Americans have faced racial violence and discrimination within every single US institution.

No single entity can repair the racial trauma that Black people carry today. A comprehensive national effort that reaches deep into states and cities across the country must be launched to address the multitude of economic, social, and psychological harm done to Black people. Considerable organizing will be required for the nation to take on this work. But while the task ahead remains challenging, the effort is essential to heal the trauma of our nation.

Let your state legislators know that you support the creation of a state commission on reparations.

Don’t wait for the state! Join the Reparations Movement.

Last year, twenty climate disasters in the US caused almost $57 billion dollars in property damage to ten percent of American homes. You might want to read that sentence again.

Sign the petition to FEMA and State Governments: Prioritize disaster preparedness and relief for Black and brown communities.

We’re not going to head off climate disasters without changing our ways. One of our new council members, Sandy Nurse, is also an expert composter,

a founder of the waste hauling service BK Rot, and now the chair of the City Council’s Sanitation Committee. 

“The way to make [composting] efficient is to make it mandatory, making it mandatory across the city,” Nurse said.

But the city has been slow to adopt this environmentally-conscious practice and Mayor Eric Adams, reversing a campaign promise, said last week he is putting a stop to the expansion of the city’s curbside composting efforts.

Let the mayor and your city council member know that we can’t afford to not to adopt a mandatory curbside composting collection program for all residents. The action is ready-made!

The Sanitation Department wants

to hear from everyone interested in Curbside Composting as it helps us make the case to expand this service to more neighborhoods.

Sign up now to tell DSNY that you want curbside composting!

State Senator Brad Hoylman introduced legislation last week that would require large cities to institute composting for all residential buildings.

Contact your state legislators to support S8374 to require universal composting. I made it easy!

Remember, anything that enables us to experience our own efficacy can be good for our mental health. Action is a balm. And perhaps there’s time for a restorative nap later.

with love,

L