Friend,
In the days following the Jim Owles forum, I worried that my response to a question about cannabis would be used against me by racists who seek to reduce me – and my candidacy – to “drug use.” I went so far as to raise my concerns with several people, who dismissed them as unnecessary, citing the current trends and the responses of the other candidates.
As the weeks passed, I began to think perhaps they were right. Yet, it seems that my initial instinct was correct – and perhaps I am old enough now to know better.
Yesterday, the New York Times chose to make that the focus of one of the three sentences they wrote about my candidacy. The only time they have written anything about me beyond naming me
I have struggled with – and spoken out against – the erasure of my candidacy by the media and the chattering class since I launched this campaign. Those are all much more subtle acts of racism, sexism and classism that I have come to expect even as the campaign gains momentum and increasing grassroots support.
This most recent act represents a new low, though perhaps not a surprising one. One that is steeped in the very deeply rooted systemic racism and injustice my campaign is committed to eradicating.
I am a first generation, woman of color.
I am a single mother.
I am a founder of a national early childhood organization.
I am a former executive of an anti-poverty non-profit organization.
I am a graduate of several Ivy League institutions that are heralded among the 1%.
And I am the first Afro-Latina candidate to run for the office of NYC Mayor.
Yet, despite the work I have done to be “legitimized” in this country, two white women who happen to write for a “newspaper of record” can take it upon themselves to attempt to summarily dismiss me. A manifestation of ongoing struggles of BIPOC/WOC - that despite “checking all the boxes” and “doing all the right things” - as dictated by white society, that we can still be “checked,” reduced or “put in our place” if we dare get “too uppity” or don’t “stay in our lane.”
I am a single mother.
I am a founder of a national early childhood organization.
I am a former executive of an anti-poverty non-profit organization.
I am a graduate of several Ivy League institutions that are heralded among the 1%.
And I am the first Afro-Latina candidate to run for the office of NYC Mayor.
Yet, despite the work I have done to be “legitimized” in this country, two white women who happen to write for a “newspaper of record” can take it upon themselves to attempt to summarily dismiss me. A manifestation of ongoing struggles of BIPOC/WOC - that despite “checking all the boxes” and “doing all the right things” - as dictated by white society, that we can still be “checked,” reduced or “put in our place” if we dare get “too uppity” or don’t “stay in our lane.”
And I can't help but wonder about the silence of the others in this race, even as they claim to be committed to equity and justice. What is that they say about silence and the oppressor?
These are the very dangerous systems andand structures my campaign seeks to dismantle. I will not be dismissed or reduced to a soundbite. You will not define me.
These are the very dangerous systems andand structures my campaign seeks to dismantle. I will not be dismissed or reduced to a soundbite. You will not define me.
Thousands of New Yorkers have supported this campaign. Thousands are feeling heard, seen and represented.
We will not be silenced. We will not be lulled into a false sense of complacency. We demand change. We want it now. You might have big money, you might have big media, and you might have machine politics.
We have the people. We have the power. And we are done with your state of normal.
We will not be silenced. We will not be lulled into a false sense of complacency. We demand change. We want it now. You might have big money, you might have big media, and you might have machine politics.
We have the people. We have the power. And we are done with your state of normal.
Pa’lante, in solidarity,
Dianne
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DianneMorales4NYC
PO Box 61
New York, NY 10101-0061
Dianne Morales for NYC
200 Jefferson Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11216
United States
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