POLITICS
Mark-Viverito Enters Bronx Congressional Race
Former Council speaker recently targeted by Puerto Rico’s disgraced ex-governor
BY MATT TRACY
Ritchie has some more
competition.
Former City Council
Speaker Melissa
Mark-Viverito has jumped into the
crowded race to replace outgoing
Congressmember José Serrano in
the South Bronx next year.
Mark-Viverito, who is the interim
president of Latino Victory Fund
and most recently lost her bid in
the city public advocate special
election earlier this year, is entering
a contest that already includes
out gay Councilmember Ritchie
Torres, homophobic Councilmember
Ruben Diaz, Sr., and Assemblymember
Michael Blake.
To this point, buzz surrounding
the race has largely focused on the
juxtaposition between Diaz’s conservative,
anti-LGBTQ past and
Torres’ historic chance to become
WILLIAM ALATRISTE/ NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL
Former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito
is mounting a run for Congress on a platform of
Medicare for All.
the nation’s fi rst out gay black
congressmember, the fi rst out gay
Latinx congressmember, and the
fi rst out gay member of the New
York City congressional delegation.
That comparison is even more
profound in light of the political
anomaly that voters in one of the
bluest congressional districts in
the nation could possibly elect a
candidate whose views align more
closely with the Republican Party.
But Mark-Viverito, who grew up
in Puerto Rico, would make history
of her own as the fi rst woman
to occupy the 15th Congressional
District seat. She is aiming to
shake up the race just weeks after
her name emerged at the center
of a scandal that upended the political
climate in Puerto Rico and
forced out Governor Ricardo Rosselló.
The former governor and
his top aides called Mark-Viverito
a “whore,” made anti-LGBTQ remarks,
and joked about shooting
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín
Cruz. Notably, Mark-Viverito is the
fi rst woman to enter what is now a
four-person race.
Mark-Viverito does not live in the
15th Congressional District or even
in the borough — she resides in
East Harlem — but her old Council
district included parts of the South
Bronx. She said in a tweet on August
7 that she “served as Speaker
of the NYC Council for fi ve years,
where I’ve fought for women, immigrants,
LGBTQ communities, and
black and brown New Yorkers that
have historically been ignored by
our government.”
She also penned a piece for the
Bronx Free Press on August 6 in
which she discussed her decision
to jump in the race and refl ected
on her experience growing up in
Puerto Rico.
“My Bronx-born Mami put me
to work in the feminist movement
in Puerto Rico alongside Afro-Boricua,
Lesbians, cis, working, and
middle-class women all fi ghting together
for equality,” she said.
She continued, “Every movement
emerges out of some injustice.
Most recently, the revolution
that has rocked Puerto Rico is one
➤ MELISSA MARK-VIVERITO, continued on p.17
HUMAN RIGHTS
Polanco’s Family Sues City, Jail Offi cials
Trans woman died behind bars in restrictive housing at Rikers in June
BY MATT TRACY
The family of the late Layleen
Xtravaganza Cubilette
Polanco has fi led a
federal civil rights lawsuit
against the city and fi ve city
offi cials responsible for her care,
charging that they violated her
constitutional rights as well as the
Americans with Disabilities Act.
The suit follows the medical examiner’s
determination on July 30
that Polanco, a transgender woman
who was found dead in her restrictive
housing cell at Rikers in
June, died due to seizures caused
by epilepsy. She also suffered from
schizophrenia.
Polanco’s mother, Aracelis Polanco,
and attorney David B. Shanies
charge in the suit that the 27-yearold
died because of medical neglect
— and that she would be alive today
if she had been treated in accordance
with the law and Department
of Correction policies.
“The city’s deliberate indifference
to the constitutional rights of inmates
with serious medical needs
in punitive segregation caused the
death of Layleen Polanco,” the lawsuit
states.
The suit mentions that jail offi -
cials were fully aware of her medical
conditions and that they should
have been more attentive and sensitive
to her needs. Instead, the
suit states, “She had been dead so
long that fi rst responders found her
body cold to the touch.”
As a result, the suit continues,
the actions of the offi cials named in
the suit, who “were deliberately indifferent
to a known and substantial
risk of serious injury to her,”
“caused Layleen to choke to death
and die alone in her cell.”
MATT TRACY
Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco’s sister,
Melania Brown, said during a City Hall rally in
June that her sibling was “left like road kill.”
The lawsuit also faults the city
for failing to train and discipline its
employees in light of the risks faced
by inmates with medical needs.
“The City tacitly authorized the
pattern of misconduct witnessed
here,” the suit states. “Nothing was
done to investigate or forestall such
incidents.”
The suit further cites violations
of the 14th Amendment and the
Americans with Disabilities Act.
The family alleges Polanco did not
receive reasonable accommodation
for her medical conditions, which
included neurological impairments
stemming from her epilepsy.
“Had she been reasonably accommodated,
she would have been
detained in a readily observable
cell, and would be alive,” the suit
alleges. “As a result of the refusal
to provide her with a reasonable accommodation
for her disability, Ms.
Cubilette-Polanco suffered discrimination,
unequal treatment, exclusion
and violations of her rights under
the laws of the United States…”
Polanco’s death adds to the
growing list of transgender women
of color who have died this year
➤ LAYLEEN POLANCO, continued on p.17
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