Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement in response to Mayor Bill de Blasio's announcement of additional 'social distancing ambassadors' after NYPD data showed clear racial disparity in social distancing enforcement actions by police.
"As a citywide elected leader who comes from the communities that are being disproportionately targeted, who has seen the impact of over-policing for many years magnified in this pandemic, even I was shocked to see the egregious degree of disparity in social distancing enforcement in the limited data that this administration - which came in on a platform of reforming that over-policing - was finally pushed to release. It was what we had suspected, feared, and warned against, only worse. So I was glad to see the administration finally announce some changes we had called for - to hand out more masks and less summonses, to engage civilian agencies as ambassadors, and to expand community outreach. It's not enough to correct the immediate disparities or the long term inequities - but some progress would still be welcome, if it weren't so overdue while time is not a luxury we have.
"Successful implementation of an approach that is not centered around law enforcement and penalization means working from the bottom up, not the top down. Through a dialogue, not just a decree. The administration needs to bring community stakeholders to the table following this announcement, to discuss the realities of enacting this policy. Beyond that, it needs to employ local leaders such as clergy, and credible messengers with deep ties to their neighborhoods, with a focus on engagement and education, but not enforcement. It needs to amplify that personal engagement by broadcasting key public health messages, while formalizing a more robust plan for utilizing specific city agencies. And it needs to act proactively, not reactively, to racial disparities amid the COVID-19 crisis by heeding the calls of all who have seen them long before this pandemic."
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