Black communities are not a monolith, and one-size-fits-all policy approaches have not and will not change the material conditions of our communities. Over the last decade, the population of New York City increased, but 200,000 Black people (about a 9 percent decrease in the Black population of NYC) have disappeared from New York City. Eerily reminiscent of the history of state-sanctioned violence that destroyed Black communities and Black flight from the south to the north. 

Neighborhoods that were once meccas for Black people have rapidly become unaffordable. The reality is that the wealthy are not leaving New York City; Black working-class families are being displaced out of their communities in alarming numbers. The ever-increasing cost to raise a family or survive in New York City is unbearable for our communities, specifically Black communities, that have been disenfranchised for generations and have been in the struggle before affordability became a crisis and issue to prioritize.

Across the board, the disparity for Black New Yorkers is stark:

• Black New Yorkers make up 56 percent of people in the NYC shelter system;

• The median wealth of Black New Yorkers is at $2,800, Asian New Yorkers $43, 100, and White New Yorkers $321,000;

• Black households have a median income of $53,000, compared with roughly $98,000 for white households;

• Homeownership rates for Black New Yorkers is 27 percent in comparison with 42 percent for white New Yorkers; Black people are 43 percent more likely to be denied loans to purchase mortgages than white people;

• 17 percent of New York’s population is Black; however, Black New Yorkers make up 48 percent of defendants for minor offenses, 59 percent of the jail population, and 49 percent of the NYS prison population;

• 6 percent of Black New Yorkers are uninsured; Black New Yorkers have the highest rate of high blood pressure; and in NYC, Black women are nine times more likely to die during childbirth.

Despite these clear disparities and many more, we still lack champions on the state level - particularly those with a large population of Black New Yorkers - lacking the political courage to make a clear Black Agenda and prioritize an ascension plan for our communities. Black communities deserve both a policy and a cultural agenda that bolsters our cultural identity, economic, political, and educational empowerment, and builds community autonomy and reliance -truly embodying Kujichagulia.

Repairing, Protecting & Building Black Futures

1. Pass a Racial Equity Impact Assessment legislation to analyze how proposed laws may have a disproportionate impact on minority communities before it is passed as law.

2. Reparations for African descendants whose labor was extracted through chattel slavery and for the businesses, homes, and property that were stolen and burned due to state-sanctioned terror, lynching, forced sterilization, mass displacement, and the anti-Black exclusion that permeated and bolstered the many institutions we have today.

3. Fund and create a mechanism for Baby Bonds, Children’s Savings Accounts, or Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) to build financial assets from a young age and reduce the wealth gap.

4. Fund and create pathways for historically Black communities to participate in Community Land Trust as a means to collectively preserve their communities.

5. Direct funds towards infrastructure in Black communities, such as violence prevention programs, targeted employment initiatives, healthcare systems, schools and education, and housing, to create nurturing, positive communities for future generations.

6. Address the generational violence of mass incarceration by reforming our sentencing laws and parole system, allowing for proper wages in prisons, abolishing the prison labor system, and providing humane pathways towards rehabilitation.

7. End predatory activities that target Black homeowners and encourage displacement and gentrification, such as deed theft, discriminatory mortgage lending, eviction moratoriums with no restitution, or delayed housing court.