Here we are in 2021 – and already the stakes are high to protect our communities, fight for the economic well-being we all deserve, and dismantle racial injustice amidst the on-going pandemic.
It can be hard to remember community victories in times of upheaval and transformation. But just take a look back at 2020.
It's clear we are gaining incredible wins for our communities:
We’re restoring New Yorkers’ drivers licenses
As co-leaders of the Driven by Justice coalition, we campaigned to pass the Driver’s License Suspension Reform Act. On New Year’s Eve, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an amended version of the bill!
This ends the unjust practice of suspending a person’s driver’s license when they cannot afford to pay a traffic fine. Not having a license can mean losing work, missing medical appointments, or not being able to take care of your kids. All because someone can’t afford a traffic ticket. Driving with a suspended license puts people at risk of arrest, more fines and fees, and even jail. This burdens Black and Latinx New Yorkers who are disproportionately stopped, ticketed, charged, and convicted for traffic violations.
We have a few more steps to make this reform a reality and restore drivers licenses to hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who need them most!
We protected migrant activists from deportation
Immigration and Customs Enforcement thought that they could silence immigrant activists by infiltrating organizing meetings and threatening to deport them, but the community is stronger than ever.
Since 2014, federal immigration authorities targeted, surveilled, and undermined Migrant Justice members fighting for human rights in Vermont and nationally. In October, Migrant Justice reached a settlement with ICE immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Homeland Security, and the Vermont DMV to end the surveillance, harassment, arrests, and detention of Migrant Justice members for exercising their First Amendment rights.
We’re defending ventilator users
Since October, with Disability Rights New York, we’ve been fighting New York State’s policy to ration medical resources — like ventilators — during emergency health crises. Under New York State Department of Health Ventilator Allocation Guidelines, if there is a heightened need for ventilators and a shortage of machines, the personal ventilators of chronic ventilator users can be taken and given to other people perceived to have a higher chance of survival.
Hear from Staff Attorney Britney Wilson on healthcare rationing on a podcast that just came out.
We’re safeguarding public benefits
Last Spring, as COVID 19 raged, low-income Tennesseans, especially children and people with disabilities, were getting their health care benefits cut off without adequate notice. Errors in paper work were leading to loss of benefits during a global health crisis. So in March, we sued the State of Tennessee to protect access to Medicaid for thousands.
This case continues our commitment to ensuring people who are eligible for benefits can receive them through a fair process. We are proud to partner with the Tennessee Justice Center, National Health Law Program, and Selendy & Gay on this important case.
We’re fighting unfair medical debt
In June, with Kentucky Equal Justice Center, we filed a case on behalf of five patients to sue the University of Kentucky health care system and the Kentucky Department of Revenue over outrageous medical debt collection practices.
UK HealthCare is one of the largest medical providers in Kentucky. It violates patients' rights to due process with predatory debt collection practices. Bypassing the usual court processes, UK HealthCare collects debts without giving patients adequate notice or opportunity to contest the debts. This can sometimes mean wiping out a patient’s bank account, withholding tax returns, or seizing their property, all without a court order.
These are just a few things that make us proud of our 2020. There’s more change coming in 2021.
Wishing you a just and healthy new year,
Dennis Parker
P.S. If you can, support NCLEJ so we can keep up the long fight for economic justice.
