Dear friends,
T.S. Eliot said that “April is the cruelest month,” but I have always felt that it was March. I am happy to bid this month goodbye, with its grim anniversary.
The Senate and Assembly, meanwhile, created a $2.1 billion pool for excluded workers in their one-house budget resolutions passed earlier this month — largely symbolic statements of priorities that traditionally kick off budget negotiations with the governor’s office.
In contrast, Cuomo’s proposal included no aid for the forgotten workers. Last spring, the state of California funded a small relief effort for undocumented immigrants, while NYS did nothing.
Call on the governor to provide aid to undocumented workers without onerous “verification requirements to prove loss of income caused by the pandemic.”
Contribute to Make The Road New York’s Emergency Response Fund to support excluded workers.
Lots of you are involved in mutual aid efforts in your own communities. The scale of the hunger problem in NYC is huge, though, so make sure you write to the governor.
Support KWTMA, our partner in maintaining the free fridge (E. 2nd St) and pantry (E. 4th St) near Fort Hamilton Parkway.
A man has been arrested for the brutal beating of a Filipino woman in midtown on Monday. She has been hospitalized for her injuries. The doorman and other building staff, who shut the door of the apartment building and failed to offer the woman assistance, have been suspended from their jobs pending an investigation.
Learn more about the work of Stop AAPI Hate and support their work.
Every time one of these terrible hate crimes occurs, the trauma ripples out to whole communities of people, who are living in fear. Untreated trauma manifests in many ways, and none of them are beneficial. The Asian Mental Health Collective was formed to provide mental health support and to “normalize and de-stigmatize mental health within the Asian community.”
Support the Asian Mental Health Collective.
with love,
L