THE NYC VACCINATION INFO, P15 INDYPENDENT #262: MARCH 2021

THE FALL OF LEIA DORAN LEIA SEX SCANDALS, COVIDANDREW COVER-UPS, HIS LIKELY SUCCESSORCUOMO & MORE BY JOHN TARLETON, P8 2 IN THIS ISSUE THE INDYPENDENT

THE INDYPENDENT, INC. 388 Atlantic Avenue, 2nd Floor Brooklyn, NY 11217 212-904-1282 EVICTION NOTICE, P4 www.indypendent.org Crown Heights residents are fi ghting to save a longtime local grocery Twitter: @TheIndypendent store that faces an April 7 eviction date. facebook.com/TheIndypendent WRONGFUL CONVICTION, P6 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Was the Brooklyn DA’s offi ce wrong about Ronnie Wright when they put him away on a murder rap? Ellen Davidson, Anna Gold, Alina Mogilyanskaya, Ann CRUELTY AS POLICY, P7 Schneider, John Tarleton Closing the subway system overnight to keep the homeless out is just one of the cruel policies the MTA has adopted during the pandemic. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF John Tarleton NO MO CUOMO, P8 Andrew Cuomo is the product of New York’s civic and media culture that CONTRIBUTING EDITORS elevates style over substance, attitude over aptitude. We deserve better. Ellen Davidson, Alina Mogilyanskaya, Nicholas WHO’S NEXT? P9 Powers, Steven Wishnia The governor’s departure would create new opportunities for a rising cohort of progressive leaders. ILLUSTRATION DIRECTOR Frank Reynoso TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE, P10 Take our Cuomo pop quiz and see how much you really know about DESIGN DIRECTOR New York’s chief executive. Mikael Tarkela TAX THE RICH, P12 Democratic socialists have been ramping up pressure on state legislators DESIGNERS to support higher taxes on the rich. And they’re getting results. Leia Doran, Anna Gold, Evan Sult VACCINES FOR ALL, P14 Community-based organizing and outreach is key to ensuring ensure OFFICE MANAGER racial equity in who gets vaccinated. Amba Guerguerian NYC VACCINATION INFOBOX, P15 GENERAL INQUIRIES: What you need to know, where to go and more. [email protected] AN OLD BIAS RESURFACES, P16 SUBMISSIONS & NEWS TIPS: Asian Americans have gone from a “model minority” to pandemic [email protected] scapegoats in one year’s time.

ADVERTISING & PROMOTION: RUSH LIMBAUGH DOXXED ME, P17 [email protected] She was a college student when Rush Limbaugh targeted her. It took years to recover. VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTORS Linda Martín Alcoff, Eleanor TAKE A BREAK, P18 Your life should be about more than your work, labor journalist Sarah J. Bader, Bennett Baumer, Sue Jaffe writes in her new book. Brisk, Roman Broskowski, Emlyn Cameron, Rico Cleffi , REVEREND BILLY’S REVELATIONS, P19 Renée Feltz, Lynne Foster, Words of wisdom from our advice columnist on the coming post- Esteban Guerra, Theodore pandemic life and what our new, new normal should be. Hamm, Em Gage Hammer, David Hollenbach, Manvi Jalan, Rob Katz, Kenneth Lopez, Derek Ludovici, Gary Martin, Farid Nassif, Reverend Billy, Olivia Riggio, Natasha Santos, Steven Sherman, Maresi Starzman, Julia Thomas, Tyrone Wallace, and Matt Wasserman.

VOLUNTEER DISTRIBUTORS Erik Anders-Nilssen, Eric HOORAY! Brelsford, Chris & Pam THANK YOU TO ALL OUR READERS WHO HELPED MAKE OUR ANNUAL WINTER

March 2021 March Brown, Hank Dombrowski, Joseph Epstein, Lew Friedman, FUND DRIVE A HUGE SUCCESS. WE COULDN’T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU! Priscilla Grim, Laura Kaplan, Michael Korn, Ashley Marinaccio, Christine Miller, Saul Nieves, Tom O’Keefe, Caroline Rath, Norm Scott and THE INDYPENDENT Carol Smith. THE INDY 227 ABOLITION PLACE 3 SUE BRISK

ed a landmark were unsuccessful. “You have to show that “I really don’t know where she got the strength, they were into many other CELEBRATION: or the courage,” says her daughter, Shawné Lee, very similar causes for which Brooklyn activists gather PRESERVING who r ecalls that her mother once had a gun pulled they cannot be imprisoned,” outside of 227 Abolition on her because of her work. You know, I think she Driscoll explained. “They Place, formerly known as was so strong in her conviction that it gave her the could never admit they were 227 Duffi eld St. (From left to fortitude to just keep going.” involved in the Underground right) Justin Cohen, Charlene The most recent push to save the house began in Railroad. … It means that the Allen, Shawné Lee and Aleah BLACK 2019, when the building’s owner, developer Samuel evidence about them being Bacquie Vaughn. Hanasab, fi led an application with the NYC Depart- Underground Railroad con- ment of Buildings to demolish it. Lee formed the ductors may be spoken evi- Friends of Abolitionist Place with the help of others, dence, but it may be true.” HISTORY including Aleah Bacquie Vaughn, executive direc- The basement of 227 also has architectural abnormalities, tor of the CJI Fund; Imani Henry of Equality for such as what appear to be sealed-up tunnels. Driscoll said BROOKLYN ACTIVISTS SAVE Flatbush; activist Justin Cohen; and city expert and many Underground Railroad historians have debunked the amateur historian Raul Rothblatt. existence of actual underground tunnels connecting Under- FORMER UNDERGROUND RAILROAD “For better or worse, the threat of demolition is a ground Railroad stops, but there were rumored to be other very concrete and coherent organizing call,” Cohen stops on the block, so it’s more plausible that there were STOP FROM WRECKING BALL, PLAN told the Indypendent. tunnels connecting them. The basement spaces could have The idea that the City was about to allow a stop also been hiding places. NEXT STEPS on the Underground Railroad to be demolished The Friends of Abolitionist Place now plan to turn the seemed almost inconceivable to many community building into a heritage site that will teach visitors about members, especially children. Brooklyn’s abolitionist history and celebrate Black culture By Olivia Riggio “It really resonated with the children and young people,” — much like the space Chatel created in her home. There says Henry, “because it’s just like, ‘You don’t even care are also reportedly artifacts in the house, which the group eneath the imposing, angular structures of the luxury about me having this space. I now know what it is. And you can learn more about once they’re able to get inside. Friends high-rise apartments and hotels of downtown Brook- don’t want us to have it. Very simple. Why would you take of Abolitionist Place appealed to the city to help them re- Blyn sits an unassuming brick rowhouse, 227 Duffi eld this away from me?’” solve mold and structural problems in the house, caused by St, on a block co-named Abolitionist Place in 2007. In Feb- In a 2020 article for Bklyner, Cohen outlined Hanasab’s the nearby hotel which pierced the water table and caused ruary, the home, which was owned by abolitionists Thomas history of persuading elderly and disabled homeowners to fl ooding. Friends of Abolitionist Place just received 501(c) and Harriet Truesdell in the 1850s and 1860s, was recog- sell their properties to him for outrageously low-balled pric- (3) status and is hoping to form a public-public partnership nized as a historic site by the city’s Landmarks Preservation es. In 2012, Hanasab tried to purchase a $600,000 home with the city. The city will be purchasing the home from Commission for its likely connection to the Underground from an 84-year-old wheelchair-bound woman and her son Hanasab this month. Friends of Abolitionist Place will also Railroad, saving it from being demolished. for $6,000. A judge later nullifi ed the sale, saying it “reeked be reaching out to arts and historical organizations in the The movement to save the home began in 2005, when of fraud.” county and state for help restoring it. “Mama” Joy Chatel, who lived in the home and operated Typically, buildings are designated landmarks for their ar- “I think that this offers them a really wonderful opportu- a salon out of the bottom fl oor, found an eviction notice chitectural signifi cance, but 227 Abolitionist Place’s design nity — and also challenging their own institutions — to be taped to her door. Over the years, she had learned the his- was nothing special. Instead, advocates had to make the part of maintaining a role in history and a positive part of tory of the home and its connection to the Truesdells and case for the home’s historical signifi cance. The 13 historian our history,” Bacquie Vaughn said. the Underground Railroad. Her late husband’s ancestors peer reviewers who contributed to the EDC’s 2007 report Advocates are still trying to get nearby Willoughby Square had bought the home directly from the Truesdells. had recommended that it be preserved, but according to Park designated as a space honoring New York’s abolition-

In 2007, Chatel sued to challenge the city’s eminent- Rothblatt, the agency buried that information in the report. ist movement, but that project is stalling. March 2021 domain eviction, with the help of Families United for Racial Proving a site was part of the Underground Railroad relies “There’s still a want and a need to preserve our history,” and Economic Equality. Later that year, a report commis- largely on circumstantial evidence, as aiding escaped slaves Lee said. “And I have to say ‘ours’ because it involves ev- sioned by the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) was illegal under the federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The eryone. It involves white people, it involves Black people… concluded there was no strong evidence of her home having Truesdells would have faced jail if they spoke openly about it involves women, children. It involves everything. And been part of the Underground Railroad, despite the boards’ their work — and the people they were helping would have my mom put a human face and story and feelings to that, THE INDYPENDENT local historians reporting that it likely had been. been returned to slavery — but there are a few things we because people can relate to just being a homeowner and The lawsuit was settled, and Chatel was permitted to stay can deduce from what they could speak openly about, says struggling, or single parent or grandparent, or a business in her home. She turned the ground fl oor into a cultural cen- historian Jim Driscoll. The area had many Black churches owner and the possibility of it being taken away.” ter: a performing-arts and rehearsal space that taught com- and access to transportation. The Truesdells were involved munity members about the home’s history and celebrated with abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison and other radical Black culture. Before she died in 2014, she made the home’s social movements such as women’s rights. And, of course, preservation her life’s work, but attempts to get it designat- there was the passed down oral history. 4GENTRIFICATION AISLE BE

FRESH FOOD: A longtime customer inspects DARNED an aloe plant at the Associated Supermarket at 975 CROWN HEIGHTS RESIDENTS Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn.

FIGHT TO SAVE NEIGHBORHOOD LIGHTS OUT?: Older neighborhood residents will have a harder time grocery shopping if the store GROCERY STORE FROM LUXURY they have used for decades closes. REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS. dealings over the property unless rezoning or construction permits are fi led under the By Julia Thomas Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP), a ma- jority of the Brooklyn Community Board 9 members n an early March Saturday afternoon, recently voted to support the fi ght to save Associated. Destiny Ciliberti walked three blocks “If the Associated disappears, what comes back, if from the Crown Heights apartment anything comes back? Will the community have af- building where her family lives to fordable food options?” says Fred Baptiste, the Com- the Associated Supermarket at 975 munity Board 9 Chair. “There’s defi nitely concern on O Nostrand Avenue to meet her mother to go grocery our part.” shopping. Outside the market, Ciliberti’s mother, Joy On January 30, dozens of people gathered to dis- McGeary, lingered in the cold air with her two young- tribute fl yers and share information with local resi- er daughters, ages seven and 11, while waiting for dents about the possible closure. One week later, more Ciliberti to arrive, exchanging “hellos” with a market than 100 people convened for a rally in support of employee and fellow shopper near the store’s auto- Associated and spoke about their longtime connections matic doors in the meantime. The family had gath- to the store and its importance in the community. ered to pick up a few items — snacks, spaghetti sauce, Michael Hollingsworth is a longtime housing ad- juice, chocolate chip Häagen-Dazs ice cream, and dur- vocate, lead organizer with the Crown Heights Tenant ing this particular trip, bread for turkey burgers — as Union and candidate for City Council District 35, they have done e very few days for as long as Ciliberti, where the Associated is located. He grew up shop- who’s 22, can remember. ping at the former A&P with his mother and brother. Now, as the Associated Supermarket faces an Looking at recent instances of gentrifi cation and the eviction notice from the site’s owner, many resi- impact of luxury grocery stores and housing develop- dents — including Ciliberti, McGeary and their ments in Black neighborhoods, Hollingsworth fears

SUE BRISK family — who have long depended on the store are that a new supermarket may not adequately serve the advocating that it remain, as an essential commu- community or allow people “to get the same things nity business that sells affordable groceries in the that they’ve been accustomed to, to be able to afford historically Black American, Black West Indian and the price points in this market,” he says. “When these Caribbean neighborhood. new developments come in, the supermarkets that “I think that this neighborhood is going to see the usually come with them don’t serve these folks well.” same type of development that over by Franklin Av- Vivia Morgan, a candidate for City Council in enue has seen where we see a lot of small shops kind nearby District 40, community board member, and li- of get shut down and bought out and then gentri- censed real estate agent, questions the accessibility of fi ed so that it appeals to the mass mainstream,” said housing rentals for working class people in the area, Ciliberti, who grew up in Crown Heights and is cur- some of whom she says are making less than $20,000 rently serving as an AmeriCorps member. “It just feels per year. Morgan started a petition on Change.org to like a losing battle in the gentrifi cation of Brooklyn.” “Save The Associated Supermarket,” which currently The supermarket is a staple for many in the com- has over 4,600 signatures. munity, particularly elderly residents who live nearby “If you really want to come to my community and and can easily access the store or get their groceries say you’re going to build affordable housing, let’s delivered by Associated employees. Local residents think about the people that’s working in McDonald’s, also say it’s the only grocery store sourcing fresh pro- in those fast food restaurants, and the home health duce for half a mile within the area, meaning that if aides taking care of the elderly,” Morgan told the the store is forced to close, the cost for transportation Indypendent. “When ... they said, ‘this is affordable,’ to travel to another supermarket would become a bar- it’s not really affordable. You have to ask the ques- rier or signifi cant hassle for many. tion, who is it affordable for?” The Associated Supermarket, housed in a one-sto- Ciliberti recalls frequenting the Associated as a ry building with a red metal roof bearing a glowing kid and feeling a sense of familiarity with the store’s “Associated” sign with two burnt out bulbs, has been employees, as well as comfort and fondness in know- open at its current site, adjacent to a parking lot, since ing that the market was a place she could consistently 1991. The market was predated by an A&P grocery count on to buy necessities. “In case I ever need any- store, which opened in 1970 when Midwood Invest- thing, I can come here, get something last minute,” ment and Development acquired the property. In she says. “The supermarket has always been the place 2015, Associated owner Pablo Espinal signed a 5-year to go. This is it for us, basically.” lease when his original 25-year lease expired, and has Juan Contreras, 45, who works in maintenance been on a month-to-month lease since June 2020. and lives with his mother two blocks away from the On March 8, Associated received a 30-day notice store, has frequented the store for 20 years. As the from Midwood to vacate the premises. Negotiations person responsible for cooking in his household, he between Espinal and Midwood about terms of the shops there every day and appreciates the store be- site’s development and payments for vacating the site cause several of the employees are also native Spanish have been ongoing since early this year. In January, ac- speakers. “I don’t see why they want to make it disap- tivists and other news outlets reported that Midwood pear,” he told the Indypendent. “We’re going to fi ght March 2021 March had previously presented a 90-day eviction notice, but because this is the only one. We need it.” Midwood said in a statement to the Indypendent that no such notice was issued. Midwood says that it will seek out court intervention and pursue damages under the lease if the property is not vacated by April 7. Neighborhood residents have been mobilizing to prevent such a day. Though the local Brooklyn

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PROSECUTORS • • •

The day after Napper’s murder, a woman with the surname Smith went with her cousin to the 79th HIDE THE Precinct. Smith had a close relationship with Chizz but also had known Wright for over twenty years, albeit not as a friend. She told detectives that Ron- nie approached the scene wearing his “RIP Popcorn” EVIDENCE shirt and identifi ed Wright, Williams, and Morris as the shooters. DID THE BROOKLYN DA’S OFFICE GET No physical evidence linked Wright to the scene. As Morris later told the federal jury, Wright, an as- RONNIE WRIGHT’S CASE REALLY WRONG? piring rapper, was a well-known fi gure in the neigh- borhood and on parole (for a 1995 felony conviction as a juvenile), making it especially risky for him to By Theodore Hamm show up to a large gathering with a gun. Detectives found no other witnesses placing him at the murder scene. ’m a murderer,” Demetrius Morris told a Brooklyn federal Two months after Wright’s arrest, Det. Christopher Hennigan “ jury in the winter of 2019. “I took innocent people’s lives.” of the 79th Precinct traveled to Altoona, PA, where Morris had In order to help prosecutors build their successful case fl ed. Morris, who had been arrested on drug traffi cking charges, against “G’z Up” gang leader Nicholas Washington, Mor- gave two divergent statements about Napper’s murder. ris confessed to committing two murders (ordered by Morris fi rst told Hennigan that he arrived at the scene with Washington)I in Bed-Stuy in 2005-6. One of the two people killed fi ve other gunmen, including Wright. He then stated that Wright was Andrell Napper, an innocent bystander who Morris gunned pointed out Chizz to the other gunmen. But Morris claimed that down in a botched retaliation shooting outside the Tompkins two others—neither himself nor Wright—did the shooting. Ac- Houses in August 2006. cording to the transcription of a second statement to the FBI lat- Shortly thereafter, the Brooklyn district attorney’s offi ce er that day, Morris now explained that the shooters were Wright, brought murder charges against two men for killing Napper, Williams, and one of the two others. Stephon Williams and Ronnie Wright. During the preliminary Prior to Wright’s trial, Brooklyn prosecutor Howard Jackson hearings prior to trial, Williams changed his plea from innocent did not provide either of Morris’ statements to Wright’s defense to guilty, but continued to implicate Wright. Williams, however, counsel. In his summation, Jackson brought up Smith’s identifi - never took the witness stand at Wright’s trial. cation of Morris as illustration that she could also see Wright. In February 2008, a Brooklyn state supreme court jury con- But the jury never got to assess Morris’ confl icting accounts of victed Wright of killing Napper. But amid the run-up to the 2019 Wright’s purported role in the murder. federal trial, Wright learned that Morris had made statements Wright’s legal team is now seeking to overturn the conviction to law enforcement offi cials shortly after the murder that were based on the Brady violations. Brooklyn State Supreme Court never turned over to his trial defense. Judge Ruth Shillingford granted a full hearing last April to deter- In the two statements, Morris denied he was a gunman and mine whether a retrial will be ordered. provided divergent accounts of Wright’s alleged role. The prosecu- In response to questions from the Indypendent regarding tion’s failure to turn over such potentially exculpatory material is why the offi ce refuses to overturn Wright’s conviction, the DA’s a clear Brady violation, which may yield an overturned conviction. spokesman emailed the following statement: “The defendant All of these points raise a simple question: Why is Ronnie Wright was implicated by an eyewitness, by a codefendant who plead- still in prison, where he is not eligible for parole until 2044? ed guilty to the murder and by another accomplice. That man, Demetrius Morris, pointed to the defendant’s involvement and contradicted his alibi defense in his 2006 statements and 2019 • • • testimony. We intend to continue to litigate this case in court.” As his legal team emphasizes, Wright was convicted as a gunman, not an accomplice. In his federal trial, Morris offered By 2005, New York City’s crime rate seemed to be in steady de- a third account of Wright’s role, this time repeating a version of cline. That year’s total number of murders, 539, was the lowest his initial 2006 account, in which Wright was a shot-caller (alleg- the city had seen since the early 1960s. “People will be shocked edly urging Morris and Williams to “go, go, go”), not an actual to see how safe it is to live [here],” a John Jay College professor shooter. The DA’s statement that Morris “pointed to the defen- told the New York Times. dant’s involvement” does not match its trial theory that Wright But as that same article noted, several areas of Brooklyn still shot Napper. experienced high rates of violence, including the 79th Precinct in Last fall, in a ruling on another case in which the Brooklyn northwest Bed-Stuy, home to the Marcy, Tompkins and Sumner DA’s team fought to preserve a faulty conviction, Judge Shilling- NYCHA houses. ford expressed serious concerns about the offi ce’s ability to inves- In early August 2006, a memorial service was held for a tigate its own work. “There has got to be an evaluation of what man known as “Popcorn,” brother of G’z Up leader Nicholas happened in every case,” she wrote. “And that cannot be done by Washington. Ronnie Wright attended the event and wore a T- the District Attorney’s offi ce.” Shillingford called for an outside shirt that day honoring Popcorn, his cousin. review commission. Around 10 p.m. that same summer night, a large throng of It was also Judge Shillingford who originally responded to people were hanging out on Throop Avenue outside the Tompkins Wright’s handwritten motion seeking to reopen his case based Houses. Suddenly, at least two gunmen showed up targeting a man on revelations during the federal trial. Her fi nal ruling in the case nicknamed “Chizz,” whom they believed to be Popcorn’s killer. came in January, when she ordered the DA’s offi ce to turn over Their bullets missed Chizz and instead hit two other men, with all fi les from the NYPD’s collaboration with federal law enforce- Andrell Napper dying at the scene and the other man surviving. ment during the G’z Up investigation. Shillingford is retiring The next day the cops arrested Stephon Williams, then 15, this year, and Wright and his team are hoping that Judge Sharon who told detectives that he had arrived at the scene with three Hudson shows a similar degree of diligence when she takes over accomplices, namely Washington, Wright, and a “light-skinned the case when Shillingford retires later this year. guy” (later revealed to be Demetrius Morris). Williams’ state- March 2021 March ments against Wright, however, did not surface in the trial. Wright, moreover, was the only one of the four people named by Williams who was not directly linked to G’z Up. Wright’s le- gal team, led by Dennis Kelly, sees this as a key factor explaining why Wright was prosecuted. At the time the feds were investigat- ing G’z Up and in the view of Kelly and company, they wanted to keep that fact under wraps. THE INDYPENDENT GRANT MICHAEL MASS TRANSIT 7 GARY MARTIN GARY

discriminatory, backed by two homeless-advocacy more intensively. Homeless advocates say the shutdown groups, Picture the Homeless and the Urban Jus- provided another excuse to remove homeless people. tice Center’s Safety Net Project. “The solution they’ve always had is ‘Let’s bring more HOW THE MTA He says he was forced to leave the subway doz- cops to this. Let’s arrest people. Let’s try to force peo- ens of times, and was often threatened with arrest ple off the trains,’” said Joe Loonam, housing campaign or the seizure of his belongings. “They’d actually coordinator at VOCAL-NY. “The shutdown is a really start writing up the ticket, and once I kind of en- dramatic version of a policy that has been carried out for visioned all I’d have to do to get my stuff back, I’d decades in the city.” USES THE just be like ‘OK, offi cer, I’m gonna get off the train On February 5, an MTA operative on Twitter respond- now, and you won’t see me anymore,’” he told ed to a passenger’s post about benches disappearing from the Indypendent from the Queens hotel where he’s some subway stations by explaining that the benches were been staying since February. removed “to prevent the homeless from sleeping on them.” PANDEMIC The MTA has said that the rules were designed The MTA quickly deleted the tweet and claimed that only to “protect the health and safety of custom- the benches had been removed for cleaning. Authority of- ers and employees in the midst of a global pan- fi cials told the Indypendent that it has never tailored a demic.” In a statement to the Indypendent, MTA policy to a passenger’s housing status. They did not re- TO FREEZE spokesman Andrei Berman said that “sheltering spond to a question about how many benches had been in the transit system is not a solution to a severe removed from the system in the past year. housing, mental-health and substance-abuse crisis that needs an effective and holistic response from the city.” Any suggestion otherwise, Berman said, • • • OUT THE is “a gross misunderstanding of the problem.”

Giselle Routhier says there are things the city and state • • • could do that would help homeless people and address HOMELESS the root causes of homelessness. She’s been calling on the city to offer all homeless New Yorkers a single-occupancy By Jordan G. Teicher Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director hotel room instead of a bed in a congregate shelter. (A of the Riders Alliance, said he agrees with the MTA—to lawsuit fi led in October by the Legal Aid Society and the t one of his daily press briefi ngs last April, an extent. He doesn’t believe that public transit is the law fi rm Jenner & Block makes the same demand.) She Governor Andrew Cuomo held up the front answer to the housing crisis. But, he says, the solution is also supports a bill pending in the state Assembly that page of the Daily News, which featured a “to make it so that no one has to live there—not to com- would create a housing voucher program, which would photo of homeless New Yorkers camped out plicate the lives of the people who do.” And he says that help homeless New Yorkers acquire stable housing. in a subway car. power lies squarely with Cuomo. “We need to see a care-centric model,” said Loonam. A“That is disgusting, what is happening on those sub- “The governor is the governor of the housing crisis, as “As soon as you have a new voucher program and you way cars,” he said. He called those conditions “disre- well as the transit crisis,” he said. have more beds opening up in supportive housing units, spectful” to essential workers, who need public transpor- Cuomo once led a commission that recommended then [Department of Homeless Services] outreach work- tation to get to their jobs. overhauling the city’s shelter system and expanding ser- ers can go into the subway and offer people a permanent The moment might have seemed like just another one vices for homeless New Yorkers, during David Dinkins’ place to live. That’s going to be a lot more attractive to of the governor’s “New York tough” poses. But the day mayoral administration in the early 1990s. But as gover- people. And you’re going to see a reduction in the number after Cuomo’s press briefi ng, the Metropolitan Transpor- nor, Pearlstein says, he has favored an approach based on of people who are sleeping on the trains.” tation Authority, which the governor effectively controls, law enforcement. Ideally, Barry Simon said, “peoples’ humanity, updated its Code of Conduct with new emergency rules “The governor’s wealthy backers who object to taxes peoples’ situation, peoples’ stories should have some sort ostensibly meant to “maintain social distancing” and also object to the fact that there is a physical homeless- of weight” when MTA leadership decides how to treat “safeguard public health and safety.” One rule forbids ness problem in the subway system. Whether it’s their homeless people in the subway system. But realistically, the use of wheeled carts greater than 30 inches long or own policy choice or his, the governor has resorted to a he said, he just hopes to be able to sit in the subway in wide. Another forbids passengers from remaining in a policing model rather than a housing or health-care mod- peace and “get out of the cold for a little while.” station for more than an hour. el probably because it’s nominally cheaper,” he said. “But Since the one-hour rule makes exceptions for a litany of course, it doesn’t resolve the problem.” of activities—including political campaigning, public In recent years, according to the Coalition for the speaking, and artistic performances—advocates argue Homeless, homelessness in New York City reached the that its real intention was to keep homeless New Yorkers highest levels since the Great Depression. Last year, out of the subway system. nearly 123,000 different people slept in the city’s shelter

The MTA made the emergency rules permanent last system. On an average night there were nearly 59,000 March 2021 September. people in the system. “Folks who are unsheltered and take refuge on the During the pandemic, however, many people experi- subways have seen a huge reduction in the number of encing homelessness have avoided the crowded congre- resources throughout the city to meet their basic needs. gate shelters, where COVID spreads easily. By June of last

People’s lives have changed for the worse,” says Giselle year, according to Gothamist, 120 homeless people in the THE INDYPENDENT Routhier, policy director at the Coalition for the Home- city had died from COVID. The vast majority had been less. “These kinds of policies from the MTA really only living in shelters. exacerbate that trauma and compound the diffi culties of With many other indoor public spaces closed, more trying to survive on the streets.” homeless New Yorkers descended into the subway system. In February, Barry Simon, a disabled 55-year-old man The day after the MTA announced its Code of Conduct who’s experienced homelessness since the 1980s, fi led a updates, the governor declared that it would suspend all- lawsuit against the MTA charging that the policies are night subway service for the fi rst time ever, to clean trains 8NEW YORK STATE VOCAL-NY

once, America’s most autocratic governor was not the ruling class and to the eco- in charge. nomics of austerity for every- WORD ON THE one else, even during a once-in- STREET: A protester WHY CUOMO a-century pandemic. makes their views known at • • • If he hasn’t been so great at a March 10 demonstration actually preserving the lives of outside Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s his constituents, Cuomo has Midtown offi ce. How did we get here? And what will be the end perfected the art of his own po- HAS TO GO game? litical self-preservation. Albany HE’S TOXIC, AND HE’S BEEN A DRAG For starters, Cuomo is an overhyped product of has been corrupt forever, but this governor has gone to the New York City’s civic and media culture — just like next level with creating a pay-to-play paradise for the wealthy Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani before him. It’s a and the well-connected. Cuomo has kept spending and taxes ON NY FOR YEARS culture that elevates style over substance; that substi- down for his well-heeled patrons while the choicest govern- tutes the ability to posture and strike an attitude for mental favors always seem to go to large campaign donors. real achievement; that turns a failed businessman- For example, before sending COVID-19 patients back to nurs- By John Tarleton turned-grifter into a once-in-a-generation tycoon, a petty ty- ing homes to ignite a mass die-off of the old, Cuomo gave full rant into “America’s Mayor” and the son of a former gover- legal immunity to hospitals and nursing home companies and hat a difference a year makes. nor into a model of rational, super-competent leadership even executives. The Greater New York Hospital Association and This time a year ago Andrew Cuomo when the evidence suggests otherwise. the nursing home industry have donated millions of dollars to was holding daily press conferences that New York is a city of strivers who pride themselves on Cuomo over the course of his career. captivated millions. His PowerPoint pre- shrugging off adversity and pushing forward. The likes of These kinds of arrangements allowed Cuomo to raise $36 sentations and a calm, empathetic father Cuomo, Giuliani and Trump seek to fl atter us when they adopt million when he ran for re-election in 2018. Imagine a man fiW gure persona that were oddly reassuring. It wasn’t exactly a “New York Tough” persona. But we pay a high price for barricaded in his offi ce behind a wall of cash, determined to The West Wing, but for liberals sweating out the plague at welcoming such fl attery. never leave. home and still rueing their 2016 defeat, it was good enough. Like Trump, Cuomo is damaged goods. They are both heirs Cuomo’s good fortune appears to have run out. His chances Cuomo had mastered the aesthetics of authority and mil- to family dynasties, one in business and the other in politics. of winning a fourth term now seem remote. And his chances lions applauded a man who seemed to be the opposite of Don- Their fathers were workaholics — powerful, emotionally dis- of completing his third term are shaky at best, with his fate ald Trump in every way. Some of his most ardent fans pro- tant men from mid-20th-century America whose approval now in the hands of Attorney General Letitia James. She is claimed themselves “Cuomosexuals” and cried out on social they are forever seeking and whom they are forever seeking investigating sexual harassment charges leveled at him by six media — “Govern me big daddy!” to surpass. Like Trump, Cuomo must control everything and women as the Indypendent goes to press. If he’s forced out, Only Cuomo’s staunchest critics noted that New York was everyone in his world. Like Trump, Cuomo always knows best little-known Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul would serve out the re- enduring one of the highest per capita COVID-19 death rates and drives away experts who tell him what he doesn’t want to mainder of his term. of any country or state in the world and that dead bodies hear. Like Trump, Cuomo’s mistakes are always someone else’s The younger, more progressive state Senate led by Andrea were stacking up like fi rewood in its nursing homes. For his fault. Like Trump, Cuomo revels in being a vindictive bully Stewart-Cousins would make quick work of Cuomo if they 111 consecutive daily press conferences, Cuomo received an no one wants to cross. And like Trump, he appears to have a could. But in New York impeachment has to be initiated by Emmy Award. penchant for sexually harassing women. the State Assembly, a bastion of old-guard machine Democrats You wouldn’t have guessed Cuomo was an Emmy winner Unlike Trump, Cuomo is hard-working and highly intel- that so far has stuck with Cuomo pending James’ report. A when he showed up for his March 3 press conference. He had ligent. But his inability to listen to others often leads to bad best-case scenario: In the three-people-in-a-room budget nego- vanished from public view for a week after being hit with a outcomes. We saw this with the nursing homes, which he or- tiations later this month, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie plays string of sexual harassment allegations from young women dered to accept COVID-infected patients at the height of the the good cop to Stewart-Cousins’ bad cop and extorts a king’s who had worked for him or had the misfortune to cross his pandemic with predictably devastating consequences. ransom of concessions from a desperate Cuomo on taxing and path at social events. Now, he had reemerged to issue a non- There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of New Yorkers spending and other progressive legislation — and then casts apology apology to any woman who had misunderstood his who voted for Cuomo because of his “experience” and ability him aside. light-hearted banter and his affectionate gestures. He stumbled to “get things done” who are now dead due to his negligence. If you would like to see Cuomo removed from offi ce, this over his words, became emotional. And he insisted he had nev- Think about that. would be a good time to give your local Assembly member a er touched any woman inappropriately even though there were call or an email. Many of them are wavering. However the end published photos from days before of him holding a woman’s game works out with Cuomo, let’s keep one thing in mind. March 2021 March face in his hands just before he tried to force a kiss on her. • • • He was never indispensable to start with. We never needed his Was Cuomo’s cringe-worthy performance an attempt to toxic masculinity, his neoliberal ideology, his systematic cor- make us feel sorry for him? Or, was this what happens to ruption or his blundering incompetence. We can do better. We a lifelong bully who suddenly fi nds himself at the mercy of Cuomo, 63, has spent the majority of his adult life at the deserve better. If we act on that insight in 2022, a new and events? Mass death in the nursing homes and a subsequent pinnacle of state power in New York. Three terms at the side of better day is possible in New York State. coverup had merged with a steady drip of sexual harass- his father Mario Cuomo, a term as attorney general and three ment charges to become one big mega-scandal that was mu- more terms as governor on his own. Ultimately, the biggest

THE INDYPENDENT tating too quickly for him to vaccinate himself against. For problem with Cuomo isn’t psychological. It’s his allegiance to ELECTORAL POLITICS 9 WHO’S cycle (without risking her Queens senate seat) or snag a seat in Congress if AOC READY TO runs for higher offi ce. BILL DE BLASIO Speaking of de Blasio, he’s now said to be interested in getting into the governor’s MOVE UP? race. Ugh, please no. Not that. He still has a strong base of support in the Black commu- nity and his 2014 rollout of universal pre-K By John Tarleton for four-year-olds was brilliant. But after spending much of his eight years as mayor pursuing a quixotic hether Gov. Andrew Cuomo bid for the presidency, the last thing we need is more limps to the end of his third of his checked-out, lackluster leadership. term or is impeached or forced to resign in the coming weeks or months, his chances of winning RON KIM Wa fourth term in offi ce seem vanishingly small at No one in Albany has been more consistent and this point. So who is likely to lead a post-Cuomo fearless in holding Andrew Cuomo accountable for New York and if necessary fi nish him off in a 2022 the Covid nightmare that unfolded in New York’s Democratic primary if he refuses to exit the stage? nursing homes than this fi fth-term Assemblymember from Flushing, Queens. He would be a powerful foil to the corrupt, amoral Cuomo. When he ran in the LETITIA JAMES 2019 special election for public advocate won by Ju- The New York attorney general is the clear front- maane Williams, he only got 3% of the vote. That runner to replace Cuomo. She has won statewide won’t be the case if he runs for that offi ce again. He’s offi ce once (2018), citywide offi ce twice as public already shown what one elected can do when they’re advocate (2017 & 2013) and was a Working Fami- serious about advocating for the public. lies Party-backed Brooklyn City Councilmember for 10 years before that. For resistance liberals, she can tout the scorched- JAMAAL BOWMAN earth legal war she has waged against Donald Okay, he’s been in Congress for less than three Trump and his scoffl aw family since becoming New months, so running for higher offi ce in 2022 would York AG. She’s also well-liked by the state’s power- probably be premature. But let’s hope he does so ful labor unions and could unlock the Black vote in before too long. The former middle school principal New York City, which has been Cuomo’s bulwark is unabashedly Black and left, yet has a disarming when facing previous prim a ry challenges from pro- happy-warrior persona that makes him a natural to gressives Zephyr Teachout and Cynthia Nixon. lead a broad multi-racial coalition like the one he James was recruited by Cuomo to run for AG mobilized last year to handily defeat the 16-term in 2018 as the offi cial Democratic Party candidate. incumbent, conservative Eliot Engel. Many in the party’s left wing have wondered since then where her real allegiances lie. However, it was James’ January report on the undercount of nursing AOC home deaths that brought the issue up to the front For as long as this political supernova holds her burner. And it’s James who is overseeing the inves- Queens/Bronx congressional seat, there will be tigation into Cuomo’s sexual harassment scandal. If chatter about which higher offi ce she will run for she issues a damning report, Cuomo will quickly fi nd next. However, she’s shown little interest in state himself in a Nixonian resign-or-be-impeached terri- politics. Her destiny seems to be to run for higher tory with his former ally poised to pick up the pieces. offi ce at the federal level. In case you were wonder- ing, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez turns 35 on October 13, 2024. JUMAANE WILLIAMS Jumaane Williams has followed a similar track as Letitia James — WFP-backed City Councilmem- ber from Brooklyn and NYC public advocate. He would also match James in being able to build a co- alition of Black voters and white progressives. Un- like James, he hasn’t held statewide offi ce though he did make a strong showing in 2018 when he carried New York City and fell short by only six points in his outsider run for lieutenant governor.

ALESSANDRA BIAGGI This progressive fi rebrand laid waste to Indepen- dent Democratic Conference (IDC) kingpen Jeff Klein in 2018 to win her state senate seat repre- senting parts of northern Bronx and Westchester County. Since then, she hasn’t been afraid to mix it

up with Cuomo. But she’s only 34 years old — so March 2021 if Letitia James runs for governor, making a bid for attorney general could be her next move.

JESSICA RAMOS THE INDYPENDENT Jessica Ramos is another dynamic, young state sen- ator who rode into offi ce on the 2018 blue wave and seems destined to run for higher offi ce. And like Biaggi, 2022 may be too soon to take aim at the governor’s mansion, especially if James or Williams is in the race. A former aide to Bill de Blasio, she could run for mayor or public advocate in a future 10TRUE/FALSE 11 TAKE THE CUOMO

NAMING RIGHTS POP QUIZ 13While wooing Ama- zon in 2018, the governor vowed AND CHECK THE ANSWER KEY ON PAGE 13 TO SEE HOW he would rename himself “Amazon Cuomo” if the company opened its second headquarters in Queens. MANY QUESTIONS YOU ANSWERED CORRECTLY TRUE FALSE pandemic that included THE DINNER a full apology for his PUBLIC SECTOR By John Tarleton PARTY role in the nursing home scandal. Upon becoming governor Illustrations by Leia Doran At the height of 2019 TRUE in 2011, Andrew Cuomo 14 4 budget negotiations, Andrew Cuo- FALSE blamed Wall Street for the 2008 fi- EARLY SIGNS mo brought his Budget Director nancial crisis and subsequent Great Andrew Cuomo has long been sus- Robert Mujica to a $25,000-per- Recession, vowing to protect the 1pected of having been responsible couple dinner with donors. WHOOPS! for the anonymous poster titled “Vote public sector by making the finan- TRUE Senior Cuomo aide Melissa For Cuomo, Not The Homo” that ap- cial industry pay for the crisis. FALSE 19DeRosa ignited a furor when peared on the city streets during the fi- TRUE she divulged to Democratic lawmakers nal weeks of the hotly contested 1977 FALSE that the Cuomo administration altered mayoral race between his father Mario CUOMO, DE BLASIO a July report to minimize the number of Cuomo and Ed Koch, a lifelong bachelor. & COVID nursing home patients who died from DRAWING A LINE TRUE As concerns about the CO- COVID-19. When he ran for governor in 15 FALSE VID-19 pandemic grew in February and TRUE 2010, Andrew Cuomo prom- 5 March of 2020, Gov. Cuomo deferred FALSE ised to put a nonpartisan commission in to Mayor Bill de Blasio on how New charge of legislative redistricting in place NICKNAME York City should respond to the looming of the partisan leaders of the State As- While serving as an advisor to his threat. 2father Gov. Mario Cuomo, young sembly and State Senate who tradition- TRUE SEXUAL Andrew Cuomo was dubbed “The Prince ally gerrymandered districts to their own FALSE HARASSMENT of Darkness” for his ruthless ways. advantage. 20ALLEGATIONS TRUE TRUE In February and March, four women FALSE FALSE 11 who previously worked for Gov. Cuomo mo has been essen- READY TO HOSPITALS ON LIFE claimed that he sexually harassed them. tially unchallenged by FEAST SUPPORT New York State has lost TRUE BYE PARTISAN progressives during his reign Andrew Cuomo’s closest aide, 16 HUD SECRETARY FALSE as the state’s highest elected official. Joseph Percoco, was convicted on 20,000 hospital beds over the past 20 As the secretary of Housing and When Republicans lost their TRUE federal corruption charges and sentenced years. During Andrew Cuomo’s decade Urban Development in the late State Senate majority in 2012, 6 to six years in prison for taking $300,000 in power, he has presided over numerous 3 FALSE ’90s, Andrew Cuomo helped prevent the Gov. Cuomo engineered the cre- in bribes — money he called “gabagool,” hospital closures and consolidations. subprime mortgage crisis. ation of the Independent Democratic in reference to HBO mob drama “The TRUE TRUE Conference (IDC), a group of four LADIES MAN Sopranos.” FALSE FALSE Democratic state senators who caucused  with the GOP and kept it in power. During his 2014 re-election run, TRUE TRUE 9 Andrew Cuomo was endorsed FALSE OUT WITH THE OLD FALSE by the newly formed Women’s Equality Party (WEP). As the COVID-19 death TRUE BUFFALO BULLION 17count soared in March 2020, Andrew Cuomo slipped an item into the COMMISSION FALSE In July 2018, Alain Kaloye- state budget granting full legal immunity IMPOSSIBLE 12ros, the principal architect to nursing home companies and execu- In 2013, Gov. Cuomo appoint- of the Buffalo Billion, Gov. Cuomo’s 7 economic revitali zat ion plan for We- tives for the duration of the pandemic. ed the Moreland Commission to HE’S GOT A TICKET TO RIDE stern New York, was found guilty of TRUE investigate corruption in the New FALSE York State government. 10 In the summer of 2017, as the steering hundreds of millions of dollars TRUE news broadcast photos of absurdly over- in government contracts to a bid-rigging FALSE packed subway platforms, Andrew Cuo- scheme. Executives from the two firms mo apologized for the MTA’s poor per- that benefited from Kaloyeros’ largesse CELEBRITY GOV formance and pledged to expand funding were significant campaign donors to March 2021 Last fall, Andrew UNOPPOSED? and invest in a 21st-century subway fleet. Gov. Cuomo. 18  Cuomo published a New York Since winning the governor- TRUE TRUE  Times best-selling book on the ship in 2010, Andrew Cuo- FALSE FALSE THE INDYPENDENT

March 2021 March 8 THE INDYPENDENT 12CHALLENGING AUSTERITY FROM BROOKLYN TO BUFFALO, SOCIALISTS ARE ORGANIZING TO TAX THE RICH

By Rob M. Katz

ven before the looming COVID-19 pandemic tore open a $60 billion hole in New York State’s fi nances for the next four years, Sen. Liz Krueger, the chair of the powerful Sen- ate Finance Committee, was hearing calls to raise taxes on New York’s wealthiest. EWhen a coalition of 40 organizations wrote to Krueger in February 2020 to propose a package of income taxes on wealthy individuals and large corporations, she told the New York Daily News that she sup- ports a “robust progressive tax system” but insisted that only the gov- ernor, who has spent his decade-long tenure slashing taxes and social spending, could grow total spending for new or expanded programs. In the pre-pandemic world, Krueger made clear that while she supported the sentiment, she believed her hands were tied. One year later, Krueger was hearing those demands louder than ever — this time from right outside her apartment in the Upper West Side. For the second week in a row, advocates from the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (of which this writer is a member) were joined by members of other organizations such as New York Communities for Change and Met Council on Housing for a rally outside of Krueger’s home apartment complex. A couple of NYPD

KEN LOPEZ offi cers watched from across the road and masked passersby hurried through the small crowd. “We’re here to make a simple reminder to Liz that you are in offi ce because of us,” speaker Robert Cuffy, a member of DSA’s Afrosocialist Caucus, announced. “You serve the people, we don’t serve you. And there’s a very clear message we want to send to you. Six bills are in the legislature targeting the rich. If you don’t sign them, you won’t be in the legislature. Because we’re going to primary you, and we’re going to mobilize against you.” Cuffy’s promise to evict the chair of the Senate Finance Commit- tee from Albany was rooted in a very tangible existential threat to the Democratic old guard. Left organizations like the DSA have orchestrat- ed a dizzying succession of electoral upsets, from the ousting of seven incumbent Democratic state senators in 2018 to the socialist sweep of six state legislative districts last year. Even the most entrenched veteran legislator could be felled. In a statement to The Indypendent, Krueger repeated her desire for “a robust progressive tax system.” “Our conference is engaged in a thorough evaluation of many po- tential revenue-raising proposals, and we will continue to push to en- sure that everyone pitches in their fair share, and no one is made to bear a disproportionate burden,” Krueger said. One year since the Feb. 20 open letter, her public stance was one of the few elements of this political struggle that remained the same.

FIGHTING FOR A BIGGER PIE

NYC-DSA’s Tax the Rich Campaign joins a wider statewide project, the Invest in Our NY (IONY) Coalition. A report released by the co- alition in January 2021 outlines six bills that would raise a combined $50 billion in annual revenue “to invest in our towns and our cities, our housing and healthcare, our schools and teachers, accessible transit and our people with disabilities, our workers and our youth.” The bills, if passed, would open up new revenue sources in the upcoming state budget, which is set to be signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo by April 1. “Our coalition decided that we’re not going to go the route of the March 2021 March earmark,” Michael Whitesides, a campaign organizer, said. “Instead of all fi ghting for different pieces of the same pie, we’re all gonna get together and fi ght for a bigger pie. That way we’re not going to be easily divided. We’re all united in this fundamental belief that the wealthy need to pay more in New York to fund a better future for the working class.” But the DSA’s Tax the Rich Campaign, which began in December

THE INDYPENDENT KEN LOPEZ and later merged with the sprawling IONY Coalition, attracted at- 13 POP QUIZ ANSWERS FROM BROOKLYN TO FOR YOUR FINAL GRADE, MULTIPLY THE take those bribes from two compa- NUMBER OF QUESTIONS YOU ANSWERED nies with state business in return for CORRECTLY BY 5. taking official actions to benefit the tention for the scope firms, and he was convicted and sent of its field operation. JUST DO IT: The net worth of NY’s billionaires 1. TRUE: Koch won despite the smear, to prison, he called the money “ziti,” BUFFALO, SOCIALISTS During the campaign’s has soared during the pandemic. but lost to Papa Cuomo five years later just like Tony Soprano would. “Week of Action,” when they both ran for governor. volunteers dialed more 12. TRUE: And sadly the $959 mil- than 105,000 numbers PRESSURE CAMPAIGN: Members of 2. TRUE: Andrew’s shadowy deeds lion solar panel factory that was cen- ARE ORGANIZING TO and placed flyers on the Democratic Socialists of America and New York to punish his father’s enemies and tral to the project has been a dud. 60,000 doors, accord- Communities for Change march through the Upper keep his supporters in line were so ing to field organizers East Side to the home of State Senator Liz Krueger. devilish that Albany insiders came 13. TRUE: He also generously of- Ben Silver and Nadia up with “The Prince of Darkness” as fered enticements including $3 billion TAX THE RICH Tykulsker. That wave his moniker. Andrew is reputed to be in public subsidies and a private heli- of calls boiled down to ance and some services we rely on are proud of his unofficial title. pad for CEO Jeff Bezos paid for with 2,500 conversations, in jeopardy. Public school class sizes are taxpayer dollars. 2,000 newly identified supporters, and at growing. Here in Lockport, which is just 3. FALSE: As HUD secretary, Cuo- least 900 respondents who agreed to be north of Buffalo, there was a maternity mo helped sow the seeds of the sub- 14. TRUE: When three young female transferred to their state representative’s floor closure, so people have to drive to a prime mortgage crisis of 2007–08 by legislators — Alessandra Biaggi, Jessi- office line right away. hospital in Amherst [a Buffalo suburb] to pushing government-sponsored enti- ca Ramos and Yuh-Line Niou — criti- Since then, socialist organizers have dis- have their baby.” ties Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to cized this action, a top Cuomo aide covered more than 1,200 additional sup- Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peo- get into the subprime housing mar- denounced them as “fucking idiots.” porters in the city, transferring nearly half ples-Stokes, along with Kennedy, Ryan, ket while capitulating to mortgage- of them to their state representative’s offic- and Assemblymember Monica Wallace industry players who didn’t want to 15. FALSE: Cuomo initially down- es, and left literature at 50,000 more doors have found themselves in the crosshairs of disclose the terms of the mortgages played COVID-19 as no more dan- encouraging New Yorkers to make calls. Buffalo DSA, which hopes to build connec- they were making. gerous than the flu. By late Febru- tions with their electeds through sustained ary, the State Department of Health pressure and advocacy. According to Mad- 4. FALSE: Cuomo relentlessly ceased communicating with the NYC UPSTATE & DOWNSTATE, den, the chapter has knocked on about 640 scapegoated public sector workers for Department of Health. When de Bla- STRONGER TOGETHER doors and identified about 200 supporters the state’s post-meltdown fiscal crisis. sio tried to shut down the city on over the phones. Rather than levy penalties or taxes on March 17, Cuomo overrode him but At the DSA and coalition levels, the join- Outside of New York City, DSA’s Wall Street, he overcame union oppo- then reversed course and locked down ing of political forces on the side of taxing statewide operation has discovered over sition and convinced legislators to cut the city on March 22, after thousands the rich runs from the Big Apple to Roch- 1,200 supporters and directly transferred pension benefits for future state em- more people were infected. ester, where four assemblymembers have about 500 to their representative’s office ployees instead. co-sponsored the IONY Act and work- lines at presstime. 16. TRUE: The shortage of hospital ing-class organizations like the Rochester 5. TRUE: However, when Cuomo ac- beds would come back to haunt Cuomo Organization of Rank and File Educators tually became governor, he scrapped at the peak of the pandemic when ail- have hosted phone banks with Rochester HIGHER EXPECTATIONS FOR that promise to win legislative support ing New Yorkers flooded safety-net hos- DSA. The strategy reflects lessons learned ELECTEDS for cutting public sector pensions. pitals that didn’t have beds for them. from the Upstate-Downstate Housing Alli- ance that won sweeping tenant protection To pass, the IONY Act will require 76 out 6. TRUE: Cuomo liked this arrange- 17. TRUE: Cuomo required nurs- legislation in 2019. of 150 votes in the State Assembly and 32 ment because it meant bills passed ing homes to accept COVID-infected In Central New York, reductions to- of 63 votes in the State Senate. As The In- by the Democratic-controlled Assem- patients from hospitals, leading to taling $84 million have forced Onondaga dypendent goes to press, 22 of 43 Demo- bly would die in the Senate without thousands of preventable deaths. The County to downsize its public workforce. cratic senators and 55 of 105 Democratic Cuomo being blamed by progressive nursing home industry and the Greater The county seat, Syracuse, already strug- assemblymembers, plus one independent voters. The IDC grew to include eight Hospital Association of New York are gles with one of the nation’s highest pover- assemblymember who caucuses with the Democratic senators. It was swept both major Cuomo campaign donors. ty rates and has had its own budget slashed Democrats, publicly sponsor or co-sponsor away in the 2018 midterms when en- by $18 million. at least one of the bills. No Republican is raged Democratic voters got wind of 18. FALSE: After presiding over the Capitalizing on the need for a sustain- supporting the measure. the scheme, and threw the turncoats highest COVID-19 death rate in the able revenue stream, Syracuse DSA has That leaves several unmoved and high- out of office. country, Cuomo did publish a best- mobilized in partnership with NYC-DSA profile Democrats like Krueger in NYC- seller (American Crisis: Leadership and local groups, according to Keller DSA’s sights, which have narrowed over 7. TRUE: The Moreland Commis- Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandem- Shelton, a member of the chapter. For the course of the campaign. One big fish, sion was always meant to focus on the ic). Apologies, however, were in short example, they’ve collaborated with the Senator Brian Benjamin — chair of the corruption of Cuomo’s rivals, though, supply. Cuomo has also received an progressive organization CNY Solidarity Committee on Revenue and Budget — an- not his own administration. When the Emmy Award for the daily press con- Coalition to clog representatives’ phone nounced his support for the package in commission turned its attention to ferences he held last spring. lines with messages. mid-February. Cuomo’s cronies, he promptly killed it. While two senators preside over Syra- To ramp up the pressure on more obdu- 19. TRUE: The New York nursing home cuse, freshman John Mannion and sopho- rate targets, DSA members across the state 8. FALSE: In 2014, anti-corruption death toll has now surpassed 15,000. more Rachel May, the Salt City socialists have recontacted New Yorkers supportive author and attorney Zephyr Teachout have chosen to focus their might on their of the campaign and invited them to con- ran against Cuomo in the Democratic 20. TRUE: Cuomo has denied he more entrenched, conservative Democratic stituent meetings, where electeds’ staffers primary and won 34% of the vote and engaged in any inappropriate touch- representatives, Assemblymembers Wil- are briefed on the IONY legislation and half the counties in the state, despite ing despite a published photo of him liam Magnarelli and Al Stirpe. constituents can make their case face-to- being massively outspent. Cynthia placing his hands on the face of a Further west, Buffalo DSA is knocking virtual-face. Nixon garnered 35% of the vote when woman who said that he tried to kiss doors and calling neighbors in Sens. Timo- On March 4, a group of teachers and she primaried Cuomo in 2018. her against her will. thy Kennedy and Sean Ryan’s backyards. students had met with staffers for Sen. Mi- Their push to tax the rich has been their chael Gianaris, the deputy majority leader 9. TRUE: Cuomo created the WEP as MY GRADE IS ______. second major effort following the Buffalo of the Senate who touted the support of a sham third party to sow confusion

DSA Healthcare Work Group’s success in progressive icons like Sen. Bernie Sand- among supporters of the left-leaning March 2021 pressuring Democratic Congressmember ers in his re-election campaign. The meet- Working Families Party (WFP). Brian Higgins to cosponsor the Health ing was organized by Michael Corsillo, a Emergency Guarantee Act, which would teacher at I.S. 145 in Jackson Heights and 10. FALSE: Gov. Cuomo denied he provide single-payer coverage through the a member of the progressive United Fed- was responsible for the MTA’s poor per- duration of the pandemic. eration of Teachers caucus Movement of formance even though he appoints the THE INDYPENDENT “I think that people recognize that the Rank and File Educators. majority of its board, including its chair. interests of capital and the private sector On the Zoom call, students shared per- In fact, it was the governor’s repeated — health insurers, banks, corporations sonal stories about how funding cuts to raids on MTA funding sources that led — have been placed above their own,” public schools had directly affected their to the subway system’s unraveling. Mo Madden, Buffalo DSA secretary and and their friends’ lives. The staffers were a caseworker who works with expectant 11. FALSE: Although Percoco did mothers, said. “We’ve lost health insur- Continued on page 18 14PUBLIC HEALTH COMMUNITY VS. COVID GRASSROOTS INITIATIVES SEEN AS THE BEST WAY TO OVERCOME RACIAL DISPARITIES IN WHO GETS VACCINATED

By Emlyn Cameron

prominent fi gure in the South Bronx through his min- istry and food pantry, Rev. John Udo-Okon sees the impact of COVID-19 on his community fi rsthand. He experienced the physical toll early last year, when he had to close his food pantry for a few weeks after he and Afamily members contracted the virus. Nearly a year later, he still sees its effects when he welcomes people to the pantry, where he says that the foodline has grown during the crisis. And he has seen it as part of his religious vocation. “We deal with a community which has been traumatized. As a pas- tor, I’ve conducted so many funerals,” he told The Indypendent. Rev- erend Udo-Okon estimated that, in a normal year, he conducts only two or three, but during the pandemic he has presided over 10 to 15. But, new, life-saving vaccines became available in December. As The Indypendent goes to press, 18% of Americans have received at least one vaccine dose according to the Centers for Disease Control. How- ever, there continue to be large racial disparities in who receives the vaccines nationally, as well as here in New York City. Sixty-nine percent more Black New Yorkers and 88% more Latinx New Yorkers have died from COVID-19 than white New Yorkers, ac-

KEN LOPEZ cording to the City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s data portal. According to the city, however, as of early March, the percent- age of white New Yorkers who have been fully vaccinated is more than twice that of either Black or Latinx New Yorkers. The reasons for these disparities are varied and include skepticism about the medical establishment among historically marginalized com- munities, pre-existing structural issues in U.S. healthcare, the high pro- portion of people of color working low-wage jobs with long hours, dif- fi culties with making appointments online and traveling to vaccination sites, and the overrepresentation of whites in the ranks of the elderly that were among the fi rst to be vaccinated. To counteract this imbalance, community leaders like Rev. Udo- Okon are using their infl uence to encourage local residents to get vac- cinated. Based near the Longwood stop on the 6 train in the South Bronx, Rev. Udo-Okon and his volunteer staff at Word of Life Interna- tional’s food pantry spend their Saturdays preparing crates of food to hand out to those lined up outside. Sometimes they also offer other ser- vices, such as pop-up HIV testing, according to Reverend Udo-Okon. And recently, the pantry has been working as a community partner with Dr. Zainab Toteh Osakwe, an assistant professor at Adelphi Uni- versity’s school of Nursing and Public Health. Dr. Osakwe is part of a team studying coronavirus vaccine hesi- tancy. She recruits people with concerns about the vaccine from the food line, and brings them to a desk in Word of Life’s main hall to speak about their worries. The pantry’s commitment to being a location for discussing the vac- cine has made it a central site for her research. She says that the pantry has started to forward questions to her from people who come to the site when she is not around. “There’s a huge potential here,” she said of the impact Word of Life could have in providing information to the community as a trusted resource. “There’s a very strong trust factor here and sites like this are a great opportunity.” Efforts by community members and local advocates like Rev. Udo- Okon to publicize the safety of the vaccine are already having an im- pact. For instance, Christine Culpepper De Ruiz, a Latina who lives in the Bronx, said that seeing other people talk about and post photos of getting the vaccine helped her feel more comfortable going to Yankee March 2021 March Stadium for her fi rst dose, and she hopes to provide similar reassurance to others now that she has received it. Cheikhou Oumar Ann, a community health advocate for Bronx Health Reach/The Institute for Family Health, is working to address the concerns of Muslim New Yorkers in the South Bronx, just a mile southeast of Yankee Stadium. He said that a local imam announcing his own vaccination after Friday prayer and in a Whatsapp group THE INDYPENDENT KEN LOPEZ drove interest in one community from 10 New Yorkers reaching out 15 COMMUNITY VS. to him about the vaccine in a day to 50 or 60 The seven people the Indy spoke to said they had been vac- doing in-home vaccinations for over the course of a weekend. cinated, were awaiting an appointment, or were trying to get homebound New Yorkers. On READY FOR THE an appointment. March 6, the city opened a vac- JAB: Max Daniel says he Shari Cornish said she received the vaccine after search- cination center at Co-op City, tried to sign up for a Covid-19 COVID BUILDING TRUST ing for hours for an online appointment with her 15-year-old the massive union-built afford- vaccination with no success. GRASSROOTS INITIATIVES SEEN daughter. But, now she is concerned that her daughter will not able housing complex in the The infamous 1932–1072 Tuskegee Study of be vaccinated before she has to go back to school, and will northeastern Bronx. The move 399 Black men whose syphilis cases were left bring the virus home. came at the behest of freshman BEING OF AS THE BEST WAY TO OVERCOME untreated is frequently cited as a reason for Lizbeth Rochez said via a translator that she wanted an congressman Jamaal Bowman SERVICE: Rev. Felicia distrust of the government and the medical appointment but didn’t understand how to use the internet and other Bronx elected offi- Udo-Okon and Rev. John RACIAL DISPARITIES IN WHO GETS profession. However, no empirical evidence to get one. And, Max Daniel said, “If you could get me one cials and with funding from the Udo-Okon at the Word of Life has been presented to back up that claim. tomorrow, I’ll take it,” but when he and his wife were able to Biden Administration. International’s food pantry in VACCINATED Dr. Betty Kolod, who practices medicine at schedule appointments in February, they were not available “The best way to vaccinate the South Bronx. an East Harlem hospital, says she has patients for months. people is in their own neigh- who are hesitant to take the vaccine, but they So what will it take to get more Black and Latinx New borhood,” Mayor de Blasio don’t cite Tuskegee to explain their wariness if they are even Yorkers vaccinated? said at a Co-op City press conference. aware of it. Instead, she believes it’s their interactions with to- With its Vaccine Command Center set up at 253 Broad- Meanwhile, local figures like Rev. Udo-Okon and day’s medical professionals that have given them reason to be way across the street from City Hall, the de Blasio admin- Oumar Ann and medical professionals like Dr. Kolod skeptical. She says many have gone uninsured or underinsured; istration has initiated a number of community engagement continue working with the vulnerable directly, offering re- they have been left waiting for hours for treatment and given initiatives. This includes setting up vaccination sites at New sources and information. second-rate care when they are treated. When they try to talk York City Housing Authority buildings and at safety net hos- On the first Saturday in March, the line of people wait- to physicians about their experience, they have been ignored. pitals and providing local groups with fliers and palm cards ing for food in 32-degree weather stretched a little over half “I’ve noticed that, at the tiniest signal for patients that I’m and videos produced by the City’s Department of Health in a block, down from Word of Life to a nearby intersection and listening to them, they will often become emotional,” Kolod 14 different languages. just around the corner. said. “It’s so unusual to them that a medical provider would But, multiple people working with locals or living in areas “Can you imagine if there were fliers being given out to all listen to them or want to hear what they have to say.” hard hit by the virus thought that city government should im- these people? That would make a lot of difference,” said Rev. This accords with the experience of Sandra Rivas. While she prove its outreach to maximize the number of people who can Udo-Okon. recently waited in line at the Word of Life pantry, she described be helped in accessing the vaccine. In the afternoon, Oumar Ann arrived by car at the pantry. how she caught COVID-19 in April but chose not to go to the Going to where people already are is crucial, says Dr. Kolod In the trunk were boxes of the city’s informational signs and hospital. She said she stayed home and medicated herself. — be it on social media sites or at physical spaces like churches palm cards about COVID safety tips, including some in Ara- But, when vaccines became available, she says she decided and barber shops. bic, and at least one box of fliers titled “What New Yorkers to get it and obtained an upcoming appointment at Yankee “It has to be through conversation and in settings that peo- Need to Know About COVID-19 Vaccines.” Written on the Stadium. Her family members are scared to take the vaccine, ple are already gathering at,” she said. box with a felt-tip pen was “2,000 Spanish, 2,000 English.” she says, but say they will do so if they see she is unharmed by her vaccination. When asked who she trusts most regarding the vaccine, she NEW STRATEGIES said “In my own experience, anything is better than suffering. I trust myself.” Toward that end, local pharmacies have started to give vac- Others standing in line at the food pantry felt similarly. cinations. In early March, the city announced it would begin

NYC VACCINATIONS WHO IS ELIGIBLE profit workers and government and STATE SITES ROUNDUP Visit on.nyc.gov/30pSUdU for details on the public employees and public-facing On Feb. 24 community-based New York State vacci- following categories. Having a hard time keeping up with how to get building service workers (not con- nation sites at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn and vaccinated in New York City? We’ve sifted through struction workers) York College in Queens opened. The MTA launched • People with underlying conditions the latest information and compiled some basics a pilot program to enhance bus service in Brooklyn including cancer, heart conditions, for you. As more doses become available and Between March and April, the city will designate and Queens to connect New Yorkers in these pregnancy, immune compromised, more groups are eligible for vaccines, the follow- more eligible at-risk groups and essential work- boroughs to the two vaccination sites. See the ad- diabetes, and plenty more. Find them ing information is subject to change. ers. The general public should be eligible by ditional bus routes at new.mta.info/coronavirus/ here: on.nyc.gov/3qr0q2I summer 2021. vaccine-sites. The state is also partnering with faith leaders in Brooklyn and Queens to launch a vaccina- • COVID-19 vaccines protect people from • People 60 or older Vaccination sites will require proof of eligibility for tion drive to encourage more community members severe COVID-19 illness, hospitalization eligible workers and people over the age of 60. to sign up for appointments at these sites using and death. • Group living facility staff and residents They will ask you to self-certify but will not require phone banking. To get vaccinated at one of these that you show proof if you have an underlying sites, visit the state website at on.ny.gov/3t1k1rZ , • The vaccine is free and you do not need • Correction, probation, or juvenile deten- condition; they may ask for proof that you live in drop into the center or call (833) 697-4829. to provide a Social Security number to tion officers New York State. get vaccinated. You will not be charged, To be vaccinated at Medgar Evers, you must live even if you do not have health insur- • Fire, police, public safety commu- HOMEBOUND RESIDENTS in one of the following zip codes: 11203, 11206, ance. If you have insurance, bring your nications, other sworn and civilian On March 4, the city began an initiative to vaccinate 11207, 11208, 11210, 11212, 11213, 11216, insurance card (your insurance may be personnel people who are homebound. Teams of FDNY and 11221, 11225, 11226, 11233, 11236, or 11238. billed by the vaccination provider, but medical professionals are reaching out to home- there is no copay). • Grocery/convenience store/bodega bound seniors to register them for and administer For York College: 11411, 11412, 11413, 11418, workers and restaurant workers, includ- the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Home- 11419, 11420, 11422, 11423, 11427, 11428, • On February 24, the FDA authorized the ing delivery workers and unpaid food bound residents should fill out a form at forms. 11429, 11430, 11432, 11433, 11434, 11435, Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine, which pantry/soup kitchen workers cityofnewyork.us/f/homebound expressing 11436, 11439, 11691, 11692, or 11693. only requires one shot, as opposed to interest in getting vaccinated. The city initially sent the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which • Health care workers, including coroners, out five teams to housing complexes in the Bronx There is also a mass state site open at Yankee require two shots. dentists/orthodontists and receptionists (Co-op City) and in Brighton Beach. By the week of Stadium in the Bronx. Bronx residents can schedule who come in contact with patients March 15, officials expect there to be 30 teams each appointments by visiting somosvaccinations.com

• You can find vaccine sites near you via the March 2021 vaccinating 240 seniors per day. or by calling (833) 766-6769. Hours: Monday–Fri- vaccine finder at vaccinefinder.nyc.gov/ • Hotel staff day, 7 am–11 pm; Saturday–Sunday, 8 am–8 pm. BUSING • You can schedule an appointment, includ- • Public transit and TLC (Taxi and Limou- Eligible senior candidates who sign up for their 24-hour mass vaccine sites are open at Citi Field and ing home visits, at on.nyc.gov/2OlcWUe sine Commission) workers, including appointment online will be screened and directed Empire Outlets. To make appointments, visit nyc. THE INDYPENDENT or by calling (877) 829-4692. airline and airport staff and ferry/port to transportation options, the city says. Department gov/VaccineFinder or call (877) 829-4692. authority staff for the Aging providers will contact New Yorkers by Once you schedule an appointment, you must phone to coordinate ride pick-ups. — AMBA GUERGUERIAN complete the form at on.nyc.gov/2OhPur5 • School, college and child care workers

• As of March 17: Public facing non- 16RACISM COURTESY

6) 1.31.21 OAKLAND, CA ness? Few things are more Three attacks in Oakland’s Chinatown depleting than watching the LEIA DORAN district. A 91-year-old man “suffered comments sections under LOVE US LIKE lacerations, abrasions and a contusion” stories about these attacks when a stranger approached him from be- collapse in a toxic froth of back-and-forth accusations, hind and shoved him to the ground. The grievance one-upsmanship, and mutual gaslighting. perpetrator attacked two more elderly I fi nd hope in groups like SafeWalks NYC, a commu- Asians before being caught. nity safety organization originally founded in response to YOU LOVE a string of attacks in Bushwick. Volunteers make them- 7) 2.4.21 — BROOKLYN selves available to neighbors, providing escorted walks Noel Quintana, a 61-year-old Filipino to and from subway stations. SafeWalks feels ideologi- American, was riding the L train when cally resonant in a year where the goal of defunding po- OUR FOOD an attacker lashed out with a box-cutter, lice and investing in restorative, community-based solu- leaving a deep scar across Quintana’s face tions seems attainable rather than utopian. They recently that would require 100 stitches. “I asked launched their Chinatown chapter. By Leia Doran for help,” said Quintana. “but nobody I also wonder — if we’re hearing about so many cases helped. Nobody moved. I don’t want to of violence against Asian elders, how many more unre- his year has seen a sharp rise in violent at- think because I’m Asian. I don’t want to ported incidents must there be? Surely there are victims tacks against Asian Americans—Asian think about that. Because it could also whose attacks weren’t recorded by bystanders or security American elders in particular. happen to anybody, but — I don’t know.” cameras, who picked themselves up off the ground and Technically, I’m Asian American. Specifi - headed home in that disoriented dream-state familiar to cally, I’m half Korean, half Italian-Irish-etc- 8) 2.16.21 — NEW YORK CITY anyone who has ever been mugged. What about people Tetc. But before saying anything else I’d like to mention 52-year-old Leelee Chin-Yeung was who don’t have social-media-savvy children and grand- some of the victims’ stories and (where possible) names. knocked out by a stranger. In unrelated children to spread the outrage of their stories? And even incidents on the same day, a 71-year- those who do … some of us might not be surprised to see 1) 12.15.20 — PORTLAND, OR old and a 68-year-old, both Asian, were our elders slap a bandaid on a cut that should have stitch- An Asian American man was attacked punched while riding the subway. es, shut down our anxious interrogation, wave away sug- by another man who asked “Are you gestions of police reports and hospital visits, and mask Chinese?” before punching him in the face This isn’t new. The historical precedent for anti-Asian up in the morning for their daily walk, private, stubborn, and fl eeing. prejudice in America is overwhelming and under-taught. and scared. In 1871, 18 Chinese boys and men were lynched by a I don’t mean to assume the character of anyone else’s 2) 12.17.20 — NEW YORK CITY mob in Los Angeles after a white civilian was killed in the elders. My own don’t fi t all the stereotypes. “Asian Six attackers hurled COVID-related slurs crossfi re of a fi ght between two Chinese men. The pursuit American” is a broad, problematic label, encompassing and beat an Asian woman after confront- of justice in the massacre’s aftermath was complicated by too many ethnicities, economic realities, and cultures to ing her for not wearing a face mask on an 1863 that which barred Asian Americans from partici- make sense as an indicator of anything. The richest Asian the A train. pating in court proceedings as witnesses or victims. Americans in the country earn more than whites, while From 1882 to 1943, the Chinese Exclusion Act barred Asians in New York are the lowest-earning immigrant 3) 12.23.20 — ANTIOCH, CA most Chinese laborers from immigrating or becoming cit- group. The Trump era exacerbated these disparities. For Police kneeled on the neck of 30-year-old izens. The Immigration Act of 1917 went further, creat- example, the Cambodian American refugee community Filipino American Angelo Quinto until ing an “Asiatic Barred Zone” stretching all the way from suffered a 279% increase in deportations between 2017 blood fl owed from his mouth. Angelo, who Polynesia to Turkey. and 2018, while 2020 saw Tony Pham, a Vietnamese had been suffering a mental health crisis, Japanese internment camps. Yellow Peril. Vincent refugee whose family arrived from Saigon in 1975, pro- died at the hospital three days later. His Chin. The “Model Minority” myth, which allows our moted to interim Director of ICE. Some of our countries sister said “I’m always going to regret call- perceived successes to be invoked at a bigot’s convenience of origin have colonized each other. Some of us trace our ing the police and hope no one has to regret for the purpose of disparaging another group, almost al- roots to places so geographically removed that before doing what they think is the right thing.” ways Black people. Kung Flu. landing here in the melting pot our people might never Despite this history, I struggle to accept that this cur- have crossed paths at all. 4) 12.30.20 — EAST BAY, PA rent wave of violence is racially motivated. I search for But these distinctions probably won’t matter to some- State Police responding to calls about a excuses that diminish the very possibility. Surely it’s just a one who attacks an Asian person, and so this fear might “distraught” man on an overpass claimed robbery, and the victims happen to be Asian. Absolutely be one of the few experiences shared by otherwise un- that 19-year-old Chinese American Chris- anyone can get stabbed on the subway. Rick Moranis related people who check that box when fi lling out a tian Hall had “retrieved a fi rearm” and got punched too. And police “resolving” mental illness census. That is, the fear that someday soon, a bigot on “pointed it in the Troopers’ direction” through excessive or lethal force is hardly unique to us. the subway might punch us in the head, and the people forcing them to fatally shoot him in self- Thankfully, tragically, we have numbers on which to around us might decide that we deserve it. defense. A witness video later surfaced, anchor our sense of the facts. Stop AAPI Hate has re- To learn more about organizations engaged in the fi ght showing Christian standing on the bridge leased a report that quantifi es this disturbing upswing for racial justice, visit stopaapihate.org, imreadymove- with his hands raised as the offi cers — over 2,800 cases between March and December. New ment.org (AAPI Women Lead) and advancingjustice-aajc. opened fi re. York City in 2020 saw a jaw-dropping 1,900% increase org (Asian Americans Advancing Justice). March 2021 March in anti-Asian hate crimes. 5) 1.28.21 — SAN FRANCISCO As the attacks against Asian Americans slowly gain 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee was taking visibility in the news, the questions multiply. How do we his daily walk when an attacker ran across reconcile our desire for justice with knowledge that the the street and threw him to the ground. He legal and carceral systems have been sucking the lifeblood sustained brain hemorrhaging and died in from the communities of Black and brown Americans? the hospital without regaining consciousness. How can we address cross-cultural tensions responsibly

THE INDYPENDENT while guarding against racial suspicion and anti-Black- MEDIA 17 THE DAY I

at school. They threatened both my paraple- gic, wheelchair-bound mother and me with WAS DOXXED rape and sexual violence in order to “teach me a lesson.” There were threats to torture and kill my pet cat. To be extra vigilant, my mom had to keep the cat primarily inside. BY RUSH The threats continued into the beginning of the fall semester when someone called Pace claimed to have a gun, so the university tightened security at my dorm. LIMBAUGH The threats were generally anonymous, though I still can recall an email from a (AND THE LIFE AFTER) woman in Pennsylvania describing how she brought her children into her living room to do a homeschool lesson on me as an exam- By Ash Marinaccio ple of what they should never become. There were, of course, several lonely white men who insisted I had ook at the evacuations from Katrina. inside information on Osama Bin Laden and that they “ We didn’t expect to be getting out any would put me on trial for treason. There were many time soon.” comments about my body and weight. This was the quote that gave me my I had daily panic attacks. I couldn’t work and strug- fi rst 15 minutes of “CNN fame” (or at gled to focus on my studies. I contemplated dropping leastL what felt like it). Little did I know, Rush Lim- out of school in my senior year, or at least transferring baugh was listening and intent on extending my noto- to a place where “they” couldn’t fi nd me. Most days riety for many more weeks. I was scared to leave the house. Nobody around me At 21, I was a rising senior at Pace University study- quite knew how to handle what was happening, so it ing abroad in Lebanon in an Arabic-language immer- was met with a lot of shame, especially because I had sion program. This coincided with Israel’s invasion of put my mother at such risk. I was told to toughen up Lebanon in the summer of 2006, which garnered a — that if I wanted to dish it out, I’d have to be able lot of international media attention. The U.S. media to take it (because, of course, a 21-year-old college focused on the Americans who were being evacuated student has the same amount of power as Rush Lim- from Lebanon. I was interviewed on American Morn- baugh and it’s an even playing fi eld … ). Some people ing by Soledad O’Brien about my experience exiting thought it was “cool” and a “badge of honor.” I con- Beirut aboard a Norwegian ship and asked whether or templated joining the Army to prove I was a “good not I had thought the United States was going to send American” and I contemplated suicide. help sooner, to which I replied, “Look at the evacua- In the years to follow, I did a lot of work in therapy tions from Katrina. We didn’t expect to be getting out to reclaim how I view myself. But I engaged in a lot any time soon.” of self-destructive behavior as well. Much of it still This quote enraged Limbaugh who took it upon manifests in extreme anxiety, imposter syndrome, and himself to make an example of me on his nationally general fear of verbalizing my opinions — or not tak- syndicated radio show. He was eager to push back ing credit for my work — which I have to constantly against charges from leading Democrats that the Bush keep in check, even now. administration was fumbling the Lebanon evacuation I didn’t know there was a term for what happened just as it had failed a year before to properly respond to me until nearly 15 years later when I started work- to Hurricane Katrina, leaving thousands of Black ing on my PhD at the CUNY Graduate Center and my New Orleans residents stranded for days on their ITP class was discussing doxxing. I tentatively raised rooftops. To his thinking, Katrina wasn’t a tragedy my hand and said I was doxxed by Rush Limbaugh that presented lessons to be learned but a “race card” and the room fell silent. After sharing my experience used by liberals to rile up Blacks against Republicans many others have contacted me expressing similar and in a mid-term election year no less. stories and backlash. For the past year, I have listened For my Katrina reference, I was denounced as a to other women’s stories, all of whom have elements spoiled “ingrate.” To Limbaugh and his army of dit- that are similar to mine. They talk about experiencing toheads, I was a clueless coed, a liberal damsel-in- the same emotions I did when it happened and living distress who had traipsed off to a foreign land, got with the fear and shame and constant anxiety. I have herself in a tight spot and was too self-absorbed to read numerous articles that discuss what to do in the appreciate the Navy SEALs who had belatedly tried event that you are doxxed. They provide what I imag- to come to the rescue. Instead of gnawing once more ine could be helpful resources to cancel social media on the old bones of D.C. Democrats like Nancy Pe- accounts, access to public information, etc. However, losi and Harry Reid, Limbaugh’s fans had fresh young a social media presence is necessary to my line of work meat to tear into: Me. as a theatre director, fi lmmaker, and performer, as it is Limbaugh’s words galvanized his listeners, several to many others at this juncture. Erasing yourself is not of whom doxxed me on rightwing online chat groups, an answer to combatting a culture of online violence. releasing my school information and phone numbers, I see doxxing as a systemic issue and part of the home phone number, home address, and email ad- international epidemic of violence against women. It dresses. Learning of my involvement with the Cam- cannot be seen as separate from the offl ine violence pus Antiwar Network and a staging of The Vagina that women endure. The violence women experience Monologues at my school further incited the haters. online is part of a larger culture of violence against When Limbaugh died in February of cancer at the women and should be addressed as such. In Novem-

age of 70, both The New York Times and The Wash- ber 2017, Amnesty International conducted a survey March 2021 ington Post both delicately referred to him as a “ra- on internet violence and found that a third of wom- dio provocateur” in their initial obituary headlines. en in the United States experience violence online in A more accurate term might be “media terrorist,” the form of harassment and doxxing. I have known “bombastic bigot” or “pioneering propagandist” of many public scholars, artists and thinkers who take

the kind of fake news and conspiracy theories that are extended breaks from social media because of the reg- THE INDYPENDENT now endemic to our social discourse. ular violence they face and the impact it has on their Following the discussion of me on his July 19, families. This can only be addressed through systemic 2006, show, I received non-stop death threats by change and collective efforts by communities, institu- phone and email for a month including to my mom’s tions and governments. home phone and to my personal cell phone. These callers made it clear they knew where I lived and went

ESTEBAN JIMENEZ ESTEBAN to school and threatened to kill me either at home or 18BOOKS BEYOND WORK ing to obtain) what one might call “dream jobs,” that work was boring. The fi rst half of the book cata- Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps jobs where the work itself is supposed to be your logues how women have been fully integrated into the Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone passion. Jaffe investigates how the “myth of the workforce, albeit often relegated to care work. The sec- By Sarah Jaffe starving, devoted artist has leapt from art workers ond half describes how “do what you love” was recuper- Bold Type Books, 2021 to unpaid workers, precarious academics, com- ated as a corporate marketing and management strategy, puter programmers, and even professional ath- forcing workers to profess to love their jobs. Rather than letes.” It will surprise few to learn that when the disrupting the accumulation of capital, capitalism has re- By Matt Wasserman work is supposed to be its own reward, the pay constituted itself around these twin critiques — as the and working conditions are often lacking. gains have been redistributed relentlessly upwards. A reader may object, with conomist John some reason, that software Maynard Keynes engineers making $200,000 famously predict- a year at a workplace with ed in 1930 that air hockey tables and ca- his grandchildren tered lunches have little in wouldE work 15-hour weeks. common with retail workers Universal basic income pro- fi ghting for $15. While some ponents claim that robots fractions of the professional are coming for our jobs (and classes, like adjunct profes- maybe they are). But here, in sors, have lost control of the dystopian present, those the conditions of their labor of us fortunate enough to and joined the ranks of the have jobs mostly work too precarious, not all have been much. Professionals work so affected. Jaffe’s urge to unpaid overtime; service synthesize and fi nd the com- workers take on second jobs. monality of struggles is ad- We work longer hours than mirable, but the two halves our European counterparts of the book could belong to and longer hours than the separate projects — and the past generation. introduction and conclusion Sarah Jaffe’s new book, could belong to yet a third Work Won’t Love You book. This is a minor quib- Back, examines the ideology ble, however, with a deeply and lived reality of work in engaging work. the post-Fordist economy. Many of us, of course, Through a series of cases have more to lose than our studies, bookended by an chains. Yet Jaffe convinc- introduction and conclusion ingly insists that we all none- rich with theory, she explores theless have much to gain how workers invest them- in uniting to throw off the selves in their jobs — and shackles of work. In a lyrical how they’re organizing for and powerful introduction better working conditions and conclusion, she urges across a variety of industries. us to abandon the idea that The fi rst section chron- our jobs give meaning to our icles those laboring in the life or defi ne us. Instead, she

helping professions and LARSEN CHRISTINE urges the reader to discover the service industry, engag- “the pleasures that are to be ing in affective labor. Jaffe found in rebellion, in collec- “follow[s] the labor of love as it moves from women’s Jaffe’s background as a labor journalist shows. The tive action, in solidarity” and to lay “claim to their time unpaid work in the home through paid domestic work, prose is crisp and compulsively readable. And her ap- and their hearts and minds outside of the workplace.” teaching, retail work, and the nonprofi t sector.” Whether proach is grounded not only in academic research but This is perhaps less of a political program than champi- raising children, helping clients or delivering “service also in individual interviews. oning the right to be lazy or fully automated luxury com- with a smile,” each job requires workers to “put them- Although the stories Jaffe tells are disparate, she syn- munism. But it would certainly be a good start. selves second to the feelings and needs of their customers thesizes them as the story of how capitalism responded or charges.” Traditionally coded as feminine, such jobs to two ’60s critiques. First, the critique of The Feminine are typically (de)valued accordingly. Mystique: Women were isolated and miserable in their The second section focuses on those working (or try- suburban homes/workplaces. And, second, the critique

and I think that the students are the reason for been relieved. The stimulus funding provided the tax on fi nancial transactions, or the “Wall SOCIALISTS that,” Corsillo said. “The personal stories of, by the American Rescue Plan Act, which is Street tax,” sponsored by progressive Assem- Continued from page 13 ‘this is where the money was going last year expected to be signed by President Joe Biden blymember Yuh-Line Niou and democratic and how that was benefi ting me as a student, in March, would deliver $12.5 billion in fed- socialist Senator Julia Salazar. The New York amicable but defl ected, claiming that Gianaris and then that program was cut, and here’s ex- eral aid for the state. However, that falls short Stock Exchange, backed by groups like the had to make calculated choices about what he actly how it hurt me’ — any adult that could of the $15 billion for which Cuomo had lob- defi cit-wary Citizens Budget Commission, has supports as deputy majority leader. listen to a student say that and not be moved bied to fi ll the budget gap and, as Whitesides threatened to mutiny if fi nancial transactions Still, “the students were very clear that if would have to be a really cold person.” noted, would merely let Albany kick the can are taxed. the senator’s staff wanted to highlight his role Drashti Brahmbhatt, one of the campaign’s down the road until next budget season. DSA chapters across New York State are as a leader, that they expected him to lead on organizers, credited the campaign with mov- “Fundamentally, the federal aid isn’t par- pushing Albany to call Wall Street’s bluff. this issue,” Corsillo said. ing Benjamin, Gianaris, and 10 at least other ticularly meaningful for this project,” they “When people don’t take you seriously, The next day, Corsillo received an email legislators to partially or fully sign on to the countered. “If you have one-time federal aid they ignore you,” Whitesides said. “But Wall from Gianaris thanking him for arranging IONY package. without an equal increase in annual revenue, Street’s been hammering on it being a bad March 2021 March the meeting. Separately, the veteran legisla- “I think politics in Albany is not the same you ensure a big fi scal cliff. You’re funding an idea, and that’s because they’re scared. The fi - tor announced that he had co-sponsored all anymore,” Whitesides said. “You can’t just expansion of public services with no way to nancial transactions tax is a fantastic bill and six bills, providing them with the credence of show up, take a few votes and go home. sustain that expansion, so a few years from the movement that we’ve seen from the en- the second-highest-ranking senator in Albany. People are demanding that their legislators now [the budget] will require bigger cuts than trenched political establishment to push back Corsillo wondered if the staffers’ report back do their jobs and actually deliver support for what we faced now.” on bills like that shows to me that they’re from the meeting had made an impression on people. If legislators are feeling the pressure, Meanwhile, the corporate world is ring- afraid it might actually pass.” Gianaris. that’s the whole point.” ing the alarm bells of capital fl ight, and sig-

THE INDYPENDENT “[Gianaris’s turnaround] was profound, In the short run, some of that pressure has nifi cant reaction has been targeted toward 19

“I was blown away by this collection. Profound and poignant, it illuminates the grief, outrage, and raw humanity that accompany epidemics.” —Ed Yong IF GOD Seema Yasmin SAS A Poems

BRANDON O’NEILL I REVEREND BILLY’S IRUSIRUS REVELATIONS V

Dear Billy, • • • I want to swipe right on Tinder again. I want to go out dancing at a crowded bar with friends. I want to sit in a packed movie theater again. I want to go to a Rev Billy, protest where it doesn’t feel like I’m in a Do you think I should get vaccinated? I hospital ward where everyone is stand- don’t want to get really sick or die from ing 6 feet apart and wearing medical Covid. But, I also don’t trust the govern- masks. It’s been a year. I want to live my ment. full life again. Please don’t guilt me for DELIA that. I bet you do too. Woodside JESS Bed-Stuy Delia! Delia! Get vaccinated, Delia! I refer you to Jess, the advice to Jess above. Your fi rst emo- Your letter looks like: “I want I want I tion is not the last word. Mistrust the NEWLY AVAILABLE FROM want I want I want….” government on your own time. You need Look, Jess. Our leadership at this time to be your own government now, in the INTERNATIONAL in history is the Movement for Black sense that you govern your own actions, Lives, #metoo and the Women’s March, enforce the law yourself. Getting vac- PUBLISHERS LGBTQ and Gender Rights, and Standing cinated is about other people too. We Rock and the fi ght for the Earth. From get vaccinated so that together we have the Black body to water is sacred — these a chance. Delia, and your readers too — movements all have in common the de- Get Vaccinated Now! Alphaeus Hunton: mand for health and safety. I want I want I want I want I want…. The Unsung Valiant And now everyone is changing. If we used to get drunk and party a lot — now REV The biography Alphaeus Hunton, we can change. Desire is no longer the leader of the Council on African same thing as liberty. That’s what Repub- REVEREND BILLY IS PASTOR OF THE CHURCH Affairs and an important  gure in the licans think. They have mask-burnings OF STOP SHOPPING. HAVE A QUESTION FOR to celebrate their freedom. The infection THE REVEREND? JUST EMAIL REVBILLY@ decolonization of Africa in the later spikes come straight from their “liberty.” INDYPENDENT.ORG AND UNBURDEN YOUR part of the 20th century. Now we desire a full life for everyone, SOUL. International Publishers and our individual cravings are no longer the fi rst item. I’m from the Church of Stop Shopping, so let me preach that the con- The Bittersweet Science sumerism of scratch-that-itch has trained A new book from Professor Gerald us to ignore the larger good. We concen- Horne uncovering the seamy trate on ME. ….want want want want want… underside of boxing The CDC has recently given fully v accinated people permission to hug, bump and grind, and generally carry The entire 5 volume set, The Life on — without masks. Here’s your chance, and Writings of Frederick Jess! You are probably at the local water- March 2021 ing hole as I write. Douglass, edited by the late My parting advice: In the UK, what historian Philip Foner. we call the “advice column” is called the “ agony column.” Jess, you’re in agony over the disappearance of the crowded THE INDYPENDENT bar but you’ll have more agony the next Visit our website time some desire is denied. Let that agony INTPUBNYC.COM go, Amen? Come to the really HOT party. or call: Let’s dance to the music of Justice For All! (212) 366-9815

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