Press Room

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement after it was revealed that Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon purchased and utilized Clearview AI facial recognition software.

"I was alarmed to learn that the Staten Island District Attorney's office has worked with Clearview AI beginning in May of 2019, and I am grateful that the Legal Aid Society helped to uncover the existence of this contract. That the District Attorneys' office deemed the pursuit of further transparency about this purchase to be an invasion of privacy is ironic, hypocritical, and unacceptable.

"Use of this kind of technology disproportionately targets and falsely condemns people of more color- It amounts to a more technologically advanced version of the same biased-based law enforcement we have battled for many years. District Attorney McMahon must immediately halt any usage of this tool, and District Attorneys across the five boroughs must commit to banning the use of this software in their own offices.  Facial recognition technology like Clearview AI has the capacity to be not a tool for public safety, but a threat to it."

"President Biden has taken office, and Donald Trump has left it. Given the events of the past four years and the past two weeks, we cannot underestimate or overstate the importance of our institutions holding well enough to remove a tyrant. With President Biden, Vice President Harris, and their administration taking office, we can minimally begin the long and difficult work of undoing the harm inflicted by the man who occupied that office for four years, and by his enablers. But we know, too, that we cannot simply go back - we can neither erase the pain and suffering of the last four years nor find ourselves content to return to the levels of pain and suffering that existed before it. We have to move forward with humanity and purpose, pushing for progress through established impediments and often against political winds.  

"For New York City and for our nation, in the next one hundred days, the next four years, we must continue the pursuit of equity and justice, lifting up the vulnerable and victimized. We face a long recovery from compounding crises, but today the ongoing crisis, the existential threat, that was the Donald Trump presidency came to an end, and for that I am grateful and relieved. Now, we may allow ourselves a brief moment, a breath - and then we will continue the work."

"Speed, equity, and efficiency are not mutually exclusive aspects of vaccine distribution - they are as interconnected as they are essential. The city and state were delayed in recognizing and responding to the disparity in COVID-19 cases and resource distribution for some demographic and geographic groups, with deadly results. We cannot repeat the same errors in distributing the vaccine, particularly in a moment when trust in government is both critical and critically depleted.

"I have called on the city and state to transparently report the data of vaccine distribution to date, continue those reports in real time, and demonstrate a strategy for reaching high risk communities and high risk workers moving forward with the limited supply of doses available. When the administration delayed the release of demographic data we requested on social distancing enforcement, it ultimately showed what we suspected- communities of more color disproportionately harmed. If the same is true now, immediate steps must be taken to expose and address disparity. Getting the vaccine to New Yorkers quickly and safely is an incredible challenge, but with strong leadership, not an insurmountable one."

"The commemoration of Rev. Dr. King's life, legacy, and message has rarely come at a moment more palpably in need of it. He spoke of two Americas, one 'beautiful of situation' and one of 'daily ugliness,' with the two divided along racial bigotry and resource inequity. That structural schism, that systemic inequity ingrained in our nation from its founding, remains deep.

"Today we see not only the two Americas, but the movements pulling it in two directions. The first is represented by the millions of people who marched for racial justice last summer, the second by the domestic terrorists who last week marched on Washington not to condemn white supremacy but to uphold it.

"The disparate response to these actions- and the attempts to draw moral equivalence between them- show where we are now, how much closer we may be in this moment to the nightmare Dr. King feared than to the dream he envisioned. Yet undoubtedly today we will hear many who seek to sanitize Dr. King's legacy, who misrepresent what he fought for as a revolutionary for a just and equitable society.

"Just one day before terror struck the Capitol, we elected a man to serve there who preached from Rev. Dr. King's pulpit. There have always been two Americas, one empowering the worst of us and one pushing back and fighting for the best. With Dr. King as an example and inspiration, I am committed and proud to be pushing back."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement after Senator Charles Schumer announced that President-elect Biden's administration will deliver New York roughly $2 billion in additional COVID-19 relief through FEMA.

"I am grateful for the President-elect's commitment to provide New York with an additional $2 billion in reimbursement of COVID-19 expenses through FEMA, relief that I and others had called for the incoming administration to provide- I thank Senator Schumer and the de Blasio administration for raising their voices in this call. This support is critical to meeting the needs of the public health crisis and helping address the budgetary and economic crises caused by the pandemic that saw New York as its epicenter.

"As we await further details on the specific distribution of these funds, and assurances that the city's portion will be directly allocated, we also know that we will require much more action from both the state and federal government to facilitate a recovery centered on investment rather than austerity. We have an obligation to protect essential services and vulnerable populations with revenue from the wealthiest New Yorkers who have profited during the pandemic and funding from a federal government that has utterly failed in its response under Donald Trump."

"I am grateful that today, Governor Cuomo listened to our calls to build an offshore wind turbine manufacturing hub at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. As I have consistently said-- alongside an incredible coalition of activists and local, state, and federal elected officials-- we can and must revitalize our coastline and support the Sunset Park community in a way that is environmentally and economically beneficial. We made this argument in opposing the Industry City rezoning, and I am glad it is now being heard in favor of alternatives.

"This project presents an incredible opportunity for the revitalization of the New York City industrial waterfront that will create good jobs and clean energy at the same time - part of a just transition for New York City and State. In the immediate recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis, and the long term economic and environmental sustainability of our city, this project is crucial and this announcement a victory for climate justice."