Dear New Yorkers, 


Over the past few decades we have made some real progress towards the multiracial democracy that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of – and on this day of remembrance we reflect and rededicate ourselves to that progress.  
 
Because we know that the arc does not bend towards racial justice all on its own.  

Today we see signs of stagnation and setbacks towards that progress. The unemployment rate for Black New Yorkers is currently more than double the city average. The Black-white home ownership gap is wider today that it was when the Fair Housing Act was initially passed in 1968. And we still need equity and MWBE “task forces” to ensure Black professionals get a seat at the table — let alone an equal share.  

It is no coincidence that as we talk about the work we must do to secure an equitable recovery from the COVID 19 pandemic, our focus remains on the same issues that Dr. King highlighted in his time: “decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children and respect in the community.”  
 
In just in the past few months across New York City we've seen nurses, baristas, drivers, deliveristas, college and university staff, journalists and more out on the picket lines, organizing and striking, demanding decent working conditions, better pay, more diversity, and inclusive and fair workplaces — and in so many of those struggles, it's people of color, especially Black New Yorkers, who are on the front lines.    

Standing on the picket lines in Memphis alongside striking sanitation workers, in the last weeks of his life, Dr. King highlighted the struggle towards those goals: 
 
“You are demanding that this city will respect the dignity of labor. So often we overlook the work and the significance of those who are not in professional jobs. Those who are not in the so called big jobs.   
 
“But let me say to you tonight that whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity, and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity, and it has worth.”   
 
Quoting Dr. King is easy. But fulfilling his dream requires action. It requires courage. And it will require a respect for all labor that uplifts humanity.   
 
To every one of you who is laboring for that dream today, thank you.  
 
Brad