Press Room

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement on the racial disparity in the impact of the COVID-19 public health crisis after new state data showed significantly higher rates of antibodies in lower income communities of more color throughout New York City.

"Today's data once again confirms what we already knew, and what I've stated repeatedly -New York's lower income neighborhoods of more color are epicenters within the epicenter of this crisis. This devastating outcome is the result of delayed and inadequate responses by the city, state, and federal government that put New Yorkers with less privilege at greater risk on the frontlines without a plan for protection, and perpetuate long-standing systemic failures.

"We know more people will continue to contract and lose their lives to this illness at disproportionate rates unless we expand and expedite efforts to combat the virus in these communities. While I'm glad to see the Governor now take additional steps to address these disparities, it does not make up for lost time or lost lives."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement in response to Mayor Bill de Blasio's announcement of a revised approach to social distancing enforcement intended to limit summonses, after data showed deep racial disparities in enforcement and cases of aggressive over-policing surfaced.

"After more than a month of pressure from our office and many others, I'm relieved that the administration is acting to reduce the unequal over policing in social distancing enforcement that we predicted, warned against, and offered alternatives to. More masks and fewer summonses are definitely a positive step. It is also heartening to hear that this effort will begin to push education as the integral tool to compliance. It will mean fewer summonses, fewer arrests, and thankfully for the administration, fewer viral videos. While this new approach may finally be the "lighter touch" that the administration had claimed in recent days, we still need more forward movement. As we have seen with marijuana, lowering the overall number of enforcement actions is not the same as reducing the racial disparities in those actions.  

"Any reset of social distancing enforcement efforts need to be driven not by police, but as our office has consistently called for, by community leaders and credible messengers such as the Crisis Management System (Cure Violence Groups) in the Office of Neighborhood Safety. We also need to see other non-law enforcement agencies engage in a holistic community approach aimed at education and resources- many have the capacity to do so, particularly those with city vehicles. 

"As the weather gets warmer, I hope these are facts and policies the Mayor and Commissioner can acknowledge and support. Our city is depending on us all."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams today announced Esmeralda Simmons, Esq., former executive director of the Medgar Evers College Center for Law and Social Justice, as his appointment to the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), the nation's largest independent police oversight entity. This is the first appointment to the oversight body by a Public Advocate since the board's inception in 1993, following a 2019 City Charter revision which gave the Office of Public Advocate an appointment to the entity.

Under the charter amendment, which was overwhelmingly approved by voters in November 2019, the Public Advocate was authorized to designate an appointee to the fifteen member board. Public Advocate Williams, who has a long history of working for better policing and fighting to improve transparency and accountability, was strongly supportive of the amendment.

"Esmeralda Simmons has decades of experience in working for truth, no matter who tells it, justice, no matter who it is for or against, and I'm proud to name her as the first-ever appointee to the Civilian Complaint Review Board by the Office of Public Advocate," said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. "Like this office, the CCRB is a watchdog, holding people and systems to account, and Esmeralda Simmons knows the systemic injustices in our law enforcement, seen today in the disparity in COVID-19 enforcement and seen for decades in cases that have come before the CCRB. I know she will be a powerful, fair voice for oversight."

"By working to hold members of the New York City Police Department accountable, the Civilian Complaint Review Board plays an incomparable role in the relationship between the police and civilians," said Esmeralda Simmons. "I am honored to have been appointed to serve in this capacity and look forward to drawing on my skills and experiences to advance justice in the City of New York."

Esmeralda Simmons is an accomplished lawyer and public servant who has spent decades fighting for human and civil rights on the municipal, state, and federal levels. Simmons founded, and served as executive director of, the Medgar Evers College Center for Law and Social Justice, a community-based racial justice advocacy center that focuses on legal work and research. Through the Center, she provided community organizations with legal counsel and research assistance.

Before founding and directing the Center for Law and Social Justice, Simmons served as First Deputy Commissioner at the New York State Division of Human Rights, where she developed and led the implementation of policy in support of New Yorkers' human and civil rights, and as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of New York.

Simmons has served as counsel or co-counsel on numerous major federal Voting Rights Act cases and has secured victories before the United States Supreme Court. She is a member of the Metropolitan Black Bar and American Bar associations, Ile Ase, Inc., and the New York Voting Rights Consortium. Simmons is a graduate of Hunter College and Brooklyn Law School.

For more information on today's CCRB appointments, click here.

A ban on pre-employment testing for marijuana usage took effect in New York City beginning this week. This landmark marijuana justice measure sponsored by New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams is among the first of its kind, particularly in a state in which use of recreational marijuana has not been legalized.

The local law, which was voted on by the City Council last year, bans pre-employment testing for marijuana usage in the vast majority of cases. New York City employers will no longer be able to require a prospective employee to submit to testing for the presence of any tetrahydrocannabinols (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana, in such prospective employee's system as a condition of employment. Exceptions are provided for certain safety and security sensitive jobs, and those tied to a federal or state contract or grant.

"Marijuana testing isn't a deterrent to using the drug, it's an impediment to opportunity dating back to the Reagan area - one that disadvantages low-income workers, often workers of more color, many of whom we now call essential but treat as expendable." said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams. "Particularly now, as we are grappling with how to recover from the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst levels of unemployment in a century, we need to be creating more access points for employment, not less- and if prospective employers aren't testing for past alcohol usage, marijuana should be no different. This is an economic recovery issue, a worker justice issue, and one that New York City must lead the way on."

More information for employers and prospective employees on the implementation of the law is available from the NYC Commission on Civil and Human Rights here.

Cannabis accounts for about half of all positive results on drug tests, and failed tests lead to an inability for many to advance in their careers. Vox reported in 2018 that as many as 70% of large employers utilize pre-employment drug screenings, encompassing as many as 40% of jobs. This legislation does not prevent employers from testing for usage while on the job or imposing penalties for that usage, rather it is aimed at removing an unnecessary barrier toward seeking employment.

New York State has not yet legalized recreational marijuana, although polling indicates that a majority of residents support legalization.

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."

Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement after newly reported data showed clear racial disparity in social distancing enforcement actions by the NYPD.

The Public Advocate first called for the release of this data last month, and reiterated his calls after several photos and videos showed disparate enforcement among communities and people of more color.

"The administration stalled to deliver this data, and now we know why. After weeks of pressure, this reveals what we suspected, feared, and warned against - 68% of arrests for social distancing violations were of Black New Yorkers, 24% Hispanic, and 7% white. This virus has disproportionately claimed thousands of black and brown bodies, and now, in response, it is black and brown bodies facing the kind of over-policing never seen in other communities.

"As we approach another warm weather weekend, we cannot allow the same inequities and injustices in social distancing enforcement that were clear throughout the city last week. The same standards and methods need to be applied in the West Village as in East New York, and those methods need to be redefined. Maintaining public health policies cannot be centered on a law enforcement response - it needs to be community-centered with the focus on promoting safe practices with a holistic response incorporating all holistic community response, not aggressively penalizing lapses. Distributing masks, not summonses. As we've long said, funding for outreach efforts need to go to community groups and leaders, clergy and cure violence organizations, while enlisting city agencies to raise awareness with New Yorkers so we can shift toward a community response, not a police response.

"Social distancing and mask mandates are about public health and public safety, but public safety does not equate to over-policing."