Covid Call: ​“Let’s Change The Map”

This year has taken everyone across the country by surprise and it is my obligation, as President of the board and member of the Black and Hispanic Caucus, to talk about the injustices that the African American and Hispanic communities face.

The Covid-19 pandemic has taken over our lives and has changed everything we know to be normal.

Good evening Mayor Elicker, City Town Clerk Smart, Board of Alders, and community members.

A special thank you to the chair and vice chair of the Black and Hispanic Caucus, Alders Delphine Clyburn and Ernie Santiago, for allowing me to deliver the Black and Hispanic Caucus State of the City Address tonight.

This year has taken everyone across the country by surprise and it is my obligation, as President of the board and member of the caucus, to talk about the injustices that the African American and Hispanic communities face.

The Covid-19 pandemic has taken over our lives and has changed everything we know to be normal.

Schools are closed, parents are working while caring for their children, non-essential workers are staying home, small businesses are being forced to close their doors and, more than ever, homeless people are looking for shelter.

Essential workers continue to care for our sick, prepare food, clean our buildings, stock groceries, deliver packages and do so much to make sure we get all the essential things we need. These workers are often working without adequate personal protective equipment. Even during the scariest of times, they are still doing their jobs.

Although Covid-19 is affecting everyone in America, it has taken a much higher toll on the Black community. This doesn’t surprise me and I’m sure it doesn’t surprise many of you.

Jobs. Jobs. Jobs

The Black and Hispanic Caucus has long recognized the oppression that our community suffers, and we have long fought back by insisting on racial, social and economic justice here in our city.

As a caucus we listened to the cries of the community and understood that we had a job crisis. We fought for the underserved residents in our communities in a very pointed way.

We set up New Haven Works to be an organization that advocates for all residents, in particular those in our neighborhoods of need. They worked to place residents into good union jobs with employer partners.

Next we were able to secure a local jobs agreement with Yale University to hire 1,000 residents, 500 from the neighborhoods of need.

The caucus followed this all the way through, and when it got close to the end date of the agreement, we held a public hearing and asked Yale to account for their progress. 

Yale failed to meet the commitment.

Because of the hard work of the alders, the community, the unions at Yale and New Haven Rising, Yale University committed to 16 permanent pathways that give our residents more access to good union jobs with high standards. 

With this agreement, residents will be able to take care of their families while stimulating the economy.

This is about transformational change. This is about Yale respecting New Haven.

This fight has been about bringing our residents out of poverty and onto a more sustainable track, to the American dream where one job should be enough.

This crisis will put a strain on the city, employers and our residents, but we have no interest in going backwards.

We have achieved all of this progress, but it’s still not enough. It is not enough because Black and Hispanic people have faced such a long history of discrimination. Winning true justice after this history is going to take focus and commitment.

The suffering of the African American and Hispanic people came way before Covid-19.

Our Black and brown communities were already experiencing a pandemic. People of color in New Haven have been consistently denied opportunities for decades.

So, our situation is bigger than Covid-19. Covid-19 is just exposing decades of injustices toward minorities.

It’s the structural racism that constantly create barriers that prevent minorities from prospering in America. What we are experiencing right now is the direct affect of structural racism and poverty on top of a deadly virus. This is about access, opportunity and economics. 

Policies in this country and some right here in our city were intentionally put in place to prevent minorities from accumulating wealth.

Without wealth, Black and brown people cannot invest properly in their communities. And we will not see the type of return we are so desperately seeking.

New Haven must provide more opportunities for more residents in the neighborhoods of need to build wealth.

We have the perfect opportunity in New Haven to build real sustainable economics in one of the poorest neighborhoods in our city, Newhallville, through the cooperative laundry development. 

The previous administration under Mayor Harp’s leadership saw the disparity and set the pathway for this type of development to come to Newhalville, and now Mayor Elicker is tasked with making this vision a reality.

Environmental Racism

Just like Covid-19, climate change is increasing the suffering of black and brown communities. Climate change create emergencies that wash away the progress we made. The people who are already displaced by climate change are mainly Black and brown.

We all remember the government’s failed response to Hurricane Katrina, which left thousands of Black families fleeing their homes, wading through polluted waters and stranded in the Louisiana Superdome.

Then in 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, and some of the last to get power and water turned back on were poor residents in public housing. In 2017, Hurricane Maria killed thousands of people and left all of Puerto Rico without power.

Our work in New Haven cannot just be about our city, because the suffering in the world is too great for us to just focus here. Our local actions must contribute to justice for the poor, Black and brown people globally.

Our state, the city and the community stepped up to help Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Connecticut created a relief fund, our community members raised money and sent supplies and our school system enrolled over 200 students that were displaced from the Island. This hurricane displaced 100,000 people and our city provided refuge.

Maps: From Redlining To Covid

Throughout our country we know that Black and brown people are amongst the highest unemployed, work many of the lower wage jobs, lack access to adequate healthcare, are food insecure, have high rates of homelessness and are more likely to live in poverty.

Although Covid-19 and natural disasters affect everyone in America, it takes a much higher toll on minorities.

Right now, every time you turn on the television, you hear how this virus is killing African Americans more than any other race. Just look at Louisiana, Detroit and Chicago, and even Connecticut. We can’t turn a blind eye to the harsh reality we are facing.

Many of the things I have said tonight don’t come as a surprise because we live it every day.

We have always been denied opportunities that others were granted, and just when we start defeating racist policies, here come climate and economic impacts that repeat historical patterns of oppression.

The redlining maps that were drawn over 80 years ago codified racial segregation in many cities in the United States. In New Haven, the map was drawn in 1937.

A similar map was drawn in 2008 during the financial crisis when looking at unemployment and foreclosure rates.

Now today, a map emerges when looking at the impact of Covid-19 hospitalizations across the city.

The economic gap is already wide, and as a caucus, we refuse to let this pandemic bring us backwards. If we don’t take care of the least among us how could we ever survive another pandemic.

Remember during the pandemic that many of the workers deemed essential are the lowest paid and have the least amount of protections. Without their work people would go hungry, buildings wouldn’t get cleaned, packages would not be delivered, and we would not be able to survive. At a minimum these workers deserve jobs that allow them to take care of their families with dignity.

I’m going to leave you with a quote from the great Reverend Barber, a champion of the Poor People’s Campaign:

“Epidemics emerge along the fissures of our society, reflecting not only the biology of the infectious agent, but patterns of marginalization, exclusion and discrimination. We are seeing that our society is only as healthy as our sickest person. Our country is only as secure as our least secure homeless person, low wage worker ​‚indebted student, or uninsured person. It is times such as these that require that we come together in bold, new ways and build a moral fusion movement that has everybody in it and no one left out. “

So, on behalf of the Caucus, we are asking Mayor Elicker, the community and the entire Board of Alders to be bold together, so we can tackle the structural racism in our city that holds people back. This is a call to action and the Black and Hispanic Caucus will be on the front lines to ensure that after this pandemic is over, New Haven will have a map that shows all people are benefiting with the opportunities that should be granted to every one of our residents.

Now is a perfect time to do this. For so long there has been a wedge inserted between the Black and Hispanic communities, tonight we say no more. We must unite to tackle the issues that so often divide us. We are those that must make the changes for our future to provide generational wealth rather than generational curses.

Let’s change the map. Let’s change the city. Let’s change the policies. And let’s change the history for a prosperous future for us all.

Thank you.