Press Room

"I offer prayers for peace and comfort to the family of Victor Mercado. His passing after contracting COVID-19 is the thirteenth death at Rikers this year amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis. His pre-trial detention became a death sentence.

"Lives are continuing to be lost as our leaders take steps that are too small and too slow. While some recent actions have helped reduce the strain on the system, we can't be content to move in the right direction, it has to be with the right level of urgency.

"It is even more clear today that we must expand decarceration efforts to older individuals and those with health risks, but it also seems clear that if the city and state had done so earlier, a life would have been saved. The crisis conditions on Rikers continue to threaten staff and incarcerated people alike in a health and safety emergency. This is not public safety."

"Today I, like many in our city, choose not to celebrate the name or legacy of Christopher Columbus in marking the holiday. In changing the holiday's name, we haven't changed or forgotten our nation's history – only how we choose to mark it, and who we put on a pedestal. Few historical figures will entirely hold up to a litmus test of purity, and so it is critical to look at any celebrated figure in the full truth and scope of their actions – and do our best to stand with the oppressed, not those who caused the oppression. This shift won't change the devastation of indigenous and historically oppressed people that colonialism ushered in, but it stands at least as a statement of our intention to learn from, rather than repeat, past mistakes.

"That progression cannot be in name alone. In celebrating Italian heritage, we must also tangibly support Italian American communities and the rich culture that has helped shape our city. In honoring Indigenous Peoples' Day, we must not only work to undo the harm of centuries but end the ongoing systemic oppression Indigenous communities face. In truth, each of these commemorations should be marked with their own occasion rather than combined, but this represents at least some progress. With this year's change comes and opportunity for reflection, engagement, dialogue, and action to promote the values we should champion and reject the injustices we must acknowledge."

"For years, my office has been advocating for an end to the practice of separating some children onto a ‘gifted and talented’ track as toddlers, in favor of incorporating subject-specific accelerated programming and the students receiving it into mixed level classrooms. The administration’s announcement today is a major step forward and a long time coming in the ongoing work toward educational equity – work that so many dedicated parent, student, and school staff advocates have engaged in for years in conjunction with the efforts of the School Diversity Advisory Group. I thank the Chancellor and Mayor for being willing to shake up the old system and create new opportunities in this area.

"I was a beneficiary of the gifted and talented program. I understand the trepidation and hesitancy that many parents may feel after today’s announcement. At the same time, I know that the best way to ensure each of our children has the best education is to remove harmful barriers in the classroom and the social, racial, and economic inequities they represent and perpetuate. Inertia is never a real reason to prevent progress. We can’t just rest and rely on the way things have been, we need to have the courage and drive to move forward. We must ensure the new system will still provide opportunity for accelerated learning and advanced instruction, without many of the detrimental effects of the program as it is currently constructed.

"The announcement itself is not enough – the city now needs to fully engage with parents and inform them about the new system, and ensure that schools have the resources to carry out the plan. I’m ready to make sure the implementation of this new program lives up to its promise of educational equity and advancement for our students."

"Ed Mullins’ position in law enforcement leadership was harmful long before yesterday, and we now have an opportunity for improved leadership tomorrow. While much remains unknown about the circumstance of Mullins’ resignation and the FBI raid that prompted it, it seemed clear for many years that under his leadership the SBA was more interested in the preservation of power than the well-being of its law enforcement membership, or of the people of New York they are charged to serve. His tenure was unnecessarily hostile, often exemplified by more hateful fearmongering than engagement in the work of co-producing public safety in a just, equitable, and effective way. It was harmful to the union’s membership and to all New Yorkers.

"It is my hope that with new leadership comes a new direction for the Sergeants Benevolent Association, a willingness to collaborate with communities and an openness to the changes that we know can benefit everyone who is truly interested in keeping communities safe. While it is unlikely that we will all agree on every issue or strategy, it is imperative that we approach this dialogue and this work honestly and in good faith, and I invite the new leadership of the SBA to join that conversation."

"I thank the federal monitor for recognizing the need that I and others have seen – for state and federal outside support to help address the crisis on Rikers that has taken two lives in the last few days. The Mayor finally agreeing to visit Rikers next week, as a result of sustained pressure rather than his sense of duty, does not excuse his long absence in presence or leadership. The monitor is right that the city’s role in allowing this emergency to grow and its failure to respond with the necessary speed and scope have made it clear that additional personnel and resources are needed on the island as we work to simultaneously decarcerate and safely return staff to work.

"Urgent aid from an outside entity is needed to restore and protect the health and safety of incarcerated people and staff alike. At the same time, care and caution is critical to ensure any outside presence alleviates, rather than adds to, the chaos and confusion inside. New personnel should be focused on medical, humanitarian, and administrative intervention. They must be incorporated with clear instructions and clear command structures to meet the clear need – not for carceral enforcement, but for disaster relief."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement as the crisis of the United States' expulsion of and tactics against Haitian migrants seeking asylum continues, and after the United States special envoy to Haiti resigned in protest of the administration's inhumane response.

"I had hoped that when we got rid of the former President, we would also be done with the inhumane, anti-immigrant and anti-Haitian sentiment and policies that pervaded his administration. Unfortunately, the world now watches as President Biden and Vice President Harris oversee the violent rejection of Haitians seeking asylum as the island is facing compounding crises of political and natural disasters. Armed with makeshift whips, the administration is exacerbating, rather than resolving, a humanitarian crisis.

"These are the situations that our relief, refugee and protected status policies were created for, and yet instead of diplomatic and humanitarian tools rooted in compassion, this administration is using enforcement tools rooted in xenophobia and a system propped up on anti-Blackness. Deportations are the wrong approach both morally and situationally. The United States has a moral imperative to stop Title 42 expulsions, extend the opportunity for asylum to the people who have come here from the island, and expedite humanitarian aid to Haiti for the people who haven’t."