Williams delivers fiery address on activism
Persaud gives away rain barrels, recycles e-waste
Caribbean L BQ ife, May 3–9, 2019 5
By Nelson A. King
Brooklyn Senator Roxanne J. Persaud
on Saturday her fourth annual
Rain Barrel Giveaway and inaugural
E-Waste Recycling events, giving away
a hundred free rain barrels and recycling
dozens of unwanted electronics
for residents.
On a sunny, yet windy, April 27 morning
at the 19th Senatorial District Office
in Canarsie, Brooklyn, Persaud, in partnership
with the NYC Department of
Environmental Protection, gave away
the rain barrels to constituents during
this year’s Senate District 19 Rain Barrel
Giveaway.
The Guyanese-born Persaud said representatives
from the NYC Department
of Sanitation and Healthfirst also distributed
additional giveaways to residents
picking up their rain barrels, and
the NYPD 69th Precinct lending a helping
hand.”
Persaud said she has hosted this
event each year since 2016 and has now
given away 400 rain barrels, “which
are tank systems that help save money,
conserve water and reduce pollution.”
Additionally, during and after the
giveaway, Persaud hosted the Lower
East Side Ecology Center, also at
her District Office, for her inaugural
E-Waste Recycling event.
“Dozens of residents filtered in and
out throughout the day to recycle their
e-waste,” she said.
The e-waste is referred to unwanted
electronics, which are now illegal for
New Yorkers to discard in the trash.
“Despite the harsh winds, my staff
and I were on hand to serve our constituents;
the weather did not prevent
the scores who came out to collect a
rain barrel or drop off their e-waste,”
Persaud said.
“Thank you to the constituents of
Senate District 19, who are doing their
part in helping save the earth,” she
added. “I must also thank our partners:
the Lower East Side Ecology Center
for sponsoring the e-waste disposal,
the Department of Environmental Protection
for the rain barrels, and the
Department of Sanitation, as well as
Healthfirst for the giveaways.
“In addition, we cannot forget the
69th Precinct Officers and Youth
Explorers for lending a helping hand,”
she continued. In fact, one officer even
personally delivered a barrel to the
home of a constituent.”
Persaud described the event as “a tremendous
success.”
“Moving forward, we must continue
to ‘Reduce-Reuse-Recycle’”, she said. “I
look forward to next year’s events”
By Nelson A. King
Before a crowd of hundreds of activists
from across the country, New York
City Public Advocate, Jumaane D. Williams
on Tuesday, April 30 delivered
what was described as “a fiery address”
on activism in elected office, with a
focus on housing justice for all.
The speech served to begin the final
day of the People’s Action Convention,
a gathering of grassroots organizers
nationwide in Washington, D.C.
Also speaking Tuesday morning were
newly-elected Bloomington Council
Member, Jenn Carrillo, California Representative,
Ro Khanna, and Vermont
Senator and presidential candidate,
Bernie Sanders.
Williams’ speech explored his path
from grassroots organizing to elected
office, and how he used the skills and
philosophy of the former to shape his
work in the latter.
He praised the “inside-outside” strategies
that bring activists on the ground
together with elected officials in the
halls of government, and spoke of how
these strategies can bring about housing
justice and a “Homes Guarantee.”
“I understood that you had to be
close to the ground, to see the real
human struggle and the impact of policies,
and not just for a photo op for
policy change,” said the former representative
for the 45th Council District
in Brooklyn. “And so, I decided to run
for office.
“Sometimes you need to shut down
the street, or protest a fast food restaurant,
or march across the Brooklyn
Bridge; I’m there,” added the son of
Grenadian immigrants. “I know how to
do that real quick. But there were some
people who told me it wouldn’t work
once I got elected.
“They told me when I took office
that I had to choose between being an
activist and being an elected official,
and we said ‘hell no,’” Williams continued.
“The best elected officials are
activists.”
“I know that I represent all that Donald
Trump hates, and the people who
support him,” he said. “I am a Tourette’s
having, ADHD having, hip-hop loving,
earring-wearing, educated young black
man, and I am also a city-wide elected
official. I am a civil servant with a civil
disobedience record.”
On housing justice, Williams said
more than half of New York’s households
pay more in rent than they can
afford.
“This has cascading impacts,” he
said. “Without a safe and stable home,
it is impossible to have stable healthcare,
stable education, or a stable job.
Sometimes, the system lets people fall
through the cracks, and sometimes it
pushes them down.”
On rent regulation and the fight
for meaningful reform around housing
issues, the public advocate said that
while many of these rights will expire
altogether in June, “people who are in
this room will fight and fight hard.
“For people who answer to the real
estate industry or their own bottom
line, profit and politics are being put
over people,” he said. “But the people
are fighting back.
“We need to do this together,” Williams
urged, stating that the last time
he took the issue to New York State’s
Capitol, he was arrested outside the
Governor’s office.
“But I’m ready to go knock on some
doors, starting with his,” Williams
insisted. “It’s time to take the issue to
those in power, for all who don’t have
any. To get them a home, for those who
don’t have one.
“For families struggling to hang onto
the apartment where they grew up,
where their family grew up; for residents
of public housing, which is used
perennial as a political prop; for everyone
who has lost their home to the
greed and recklessness of Wall Street,”
Williams continued. “This is going to
be an uphill fight, but we’re ready for
the climb.”
He said housing is a crisis, expensive,
and is segregation.
“Housing is, too often, a political
compromise,” Williams said. “But
home? Home is safety. Home is security.
Home is a future. Home is sanctuary.
Home is a basic human right.
“We are going to continue to work,
continue to fight, to let all people,
regardless of income, of neighborhood,
of race or employment or gender or
military status or religion, to go home,”
he added. “But to help them go home,
we have to go to work. Let’s go.”
NYC Public Advocate, Jumaane D. Williams speaks to the People’s Action
Convention on Tuesday morning. Offi ce of Public Advocate
Senator Roxanne Persaud, second
from left, with constituents, members
of the NYPD and Sanitation Department
in giving away rain barrels.
Offi ce of Senator Roxanne Persaud