MLK and today’s democracy
200,000 tenants deserve better
COURIER L 36 IFE, JANUARY 21-27, 2022
EDITORIAL
OP-ED
We can only imagine
what Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. would say
were he to look upon America
in the present day and see its
political fracture.
We would think that Dr.
King, a man of unwavering
courage, determination and
peace who devoted his life to the
pursuit of equal rights for every
American, would shudder at the
voter suppression efforts happening
across this country.
Dr. King was on the front
lines of the Civil Rights Movement
in the 1960s, and his efforts
helped pave the way for
not only the passage of the
Civil Rights Act and the Voting
Rights Act, but also the ratifi -
cation of the 24th Amendment,
which abolished poll taxes that
Southern states used to prevent
Black Americans from voting.
Today, voter suppression has
taken on numerous other forms.
States controlled by Republican
governments are now closing
poll sites, restricting their hours
of operation and even imposing
restrictions for people waiting
to stand on line to vote.
Trump-loving Republicans
are even trying to control who
counts the votes, with some
states fl irting with allowing
state legislatures to override
the results of a presidential
election by appointing their
own electors for the candidates
of their choice, not the voters.
And there’s further evidence,
through an indictment
of 11 members of the right-wing
militant group the Oath Keepers
last week, that the Jan. 6,
2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol
was a “seditious conspiracy”
aimed at forcibly overturning
the results of the 2020 presidential
election.
Democracy is under attack
in America, from within, like
never before. We believe Dr.
King would undoubtedly feel the
despair many Americans feel
these days in witnessing such
an orchestrated effort to suppress
the right to vote — something
that generations of freedom
fi ghters and freedom riders
fought so hard to defend, risking
their own lives in the process.
But were he with us today,
we know that Dr. King would be
the loudest of voices in America
countering the fl ood of lies and
anti-Americanism with truth
and a devout love of country.
He would want not just
the government to act, but all
freedom-loving, truly patriotic
Americans to take a stand
against the autocracy in our
midst — and to do so peacefully.
Regardless of our backgrounds,
we must recognize
the threats to our democracy
and the right to vote and act, as
Dr. King would have, to oppose
them wherever they arise.
As he said in February 1968,
just months before his assassination,
“There comes a time
when one must take a position
that is neither safe, nor politic,
nor popular, but he must take it
because conscience tells him it
is right.”
BY MARCELA MITAYNES
To celebrate Martin Luther King
Day, State Leadership in Albany has
decided to let the eviction moratorium
lapse and put nearly a quarter of a million
households at risk of displacement.
This is hardly a way to honor the
legacy of the democratic socialist organizer
and force behind what became
the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
For the last several months, constituents
have called my offi ce every
day fearful of what would happen on
Jan. 15, when the eviction moratorium
expired. The Black and brown immigrant
New Yorkers who have called my
district home for decades are afraid
because so many are not protected
from eviction by New York’s rent stabilization
laws. They are parents, small
business owners, and unregulated
renters: families who, once their lease
is up, are vulnerable to harassment
and enormous rent hikes. Many of my
neighbors, come Jan. 15, will learn
their landlord is evicting them as retaliation
for a request for repairs, retaliation
for an arbitrary interaction,
or for no reason at all.
Evictions are discriminatory with
the greatest impact falling on Black and
brown New Yorkers. For unregulated
renters, landlords can take them to
court or evict them for discriminatory
reasons: their family make-up, their
source of income, or yes — even the
color of their skin. This blatant discrimination
is supposed to be illegal, but in
courts across New York State, landlords
do not have to give any reason to pursue
eviction at all, allowing their unscrupulous
behavior to continue unchecked.
Good Cause Eviction would protect
against this. Sometimes called the
“Right to Remain,” it would protect
people from this fate by providing most
tenants in New York State with legal
protections against no-fault evictions.
It’s so important to my district, which is
both home to 14,000 unregulated renter
households and one of the most rapidly
gentrifying parts of the City. Without
good cause, my neighbors have no protection
against landlord retaliation
and unreasonable rent increases that
ultimately displace tenants.We know
that many landlords use a steep rent
increase as a way of effectively pursuing
an arbitrary and unjustifi ed eviction.
Good Cause would prevent that:
requiring that landlords give a reason
or “Good Cause” in order to evict and
to justify large rent increases.
Good Cause is so important not
just for renters, but for entire neighborhoods.
Research has shown us that
just one forced removal from a home
can kick off a cycle of displacement and
instability that can be diffi cult to end.
When one person suffers from unsafe
or unstable housing in a classroom or
in a workplace, the whole community
suffers. The overall impact of evictions
on our communities is impossible to
account for, but between the fi nancial
and social displacement impacts, and
the impacts on health and education,
the costs are astronomical.
I know this fi rst hand. I became a
State Assemblymember after decades
as a renter and housing organizer in
Sunset Park. I have experienced the
unnecessary suffering and trauma
that evictions can infl ict, especially
upon Black, brown, and immigrant
communities. Like so many other immigrant
households in New York, my
family moved to the U.S. from Peru
when I was a child. In 2006 after 30
years of living in the same apartment,
we were evicted by a predatory landlord.
This was incredibly destabilizing
to my life in a time when I was already
vulnerable, raising my daughter on
my own. In the aftermath of that loss, I
dedicated over 10 years to building tenant
power right here in Sunset Park,
Brooklyn. That work helped allow for
the passage of the historic 2019 rent reform
laws, a fi ght that continues now
in our effort to enact Good Cause.
As the eviction moratorium expires,
Good Cause is a fair and balanced
approach that appeals to every
sensibility. It would allow landlords to
recoup investments in their properties
and tenants to fairly navigate the lease
renewal and eviction process. It would
improve living conditions, as tenants
would be able to proactively use codeenforcement
systems without the fear
of retaliation. It’s also politically popular:
over 80 percent of New York democrats
support it.
But Albany has to act now to avoid
a mass eviction crisis and displacement
of our communities in New York State.
Nearly 4 million New Yorkers would
benefi t from the added protections provided
under Good Cause – something
that is so necessary in the face of rapidly
rising rents, record-high homelessness,
and sustained unemployment. I am
calling on Gov. Hochul to make passing
Good Cause protections as soon as possible
a priority, and that is why I call on
my colleagues in the state legislature to
sign onto this legislation today.
Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes
represents the 51st Assembly District
which includes the neighborhoods of
Red Hook, Sunset Park, and northern
Bay Ridge. Born in Peru, Marcela has
been a tenant organizer in her community
with Neighbors Helping Neighbors
for more than 10 years.
“Good Cause is so important not just for renters,
but for entire neighborhoods.