Calls for better conditions for NYCHA residents at BLM rally in Brooklyn
BROOKLYN - Unlike many other Black Lives Matter rallies that happened across New York City this weekend, a rally on Sunday took place inside the NYCHA Kingsborough Houses Development in Crown Heights to highlight long-standing NYCHA health and safety issues that have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
“There can be no more worthy cause than fighting on behalf of NYCHA residents, no more worthy cause because if Black Lives Matter, these lives certainly matter.”
For Kingsborough Houses resident Sharanda Lee, the mold in her apartment is a major worry for her two young children.
“My kids have asthma bad,” Lee said. “So they’re actually in the hospital a lot, in and out.”
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City Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel, who grew up in NYCHA’s Brownsville Houses, spoke about the urgency of the issues facing residents.
“The reason I go so hard when I’m in those walls of City Hall is because I know what I gotta deal with, I know what I have to protect. Because black women always have been protecting our communities, we always have been protecting our cities and our nation,” Ampry-Samuel said.
More than half a dozen other speakers addressed other issues of concern to the community, issuing a final call to action to register more people to vote.