NYC Racial Justice Commission Approves Three Proposals for 2022 Ballot

*Reposted from Gotham Gazette, Written by Samar Khurshid*

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Racial Justice Commission, created to advance racial equity through structural changes to the city charter, voted Thursday to approve three proposals that will appear on the November 2022 general election ballot.

The three proposals would establish a new preamble to the City Charter; create new racial equity oversight bodies and a citywide racial equity plan; and establish a new measure of the “true cost of living” in New York City.

“I think we've done some very good work here. I believe it's a start, I believe it's a good, strong foundational beginning,” said Jennifer Jones Austin, chair of the 11-member commission, in a phone interview on Thursday. “We knew from the very beginning that we could not, as a commission, a New York City Commission, dismantle on the whole racism that has persisted since the beginning of our society with the killing and displacement of Native Americans. We knew we couldn’t do that. But what we were hopeful for, and committed to doing, was taking the first critical steps to provide a foundation upon which people who will follow us could build, to bring about greater equity for New Yorkers, beginning with racial inequity.”

At a meeting Thursday evening, the Commission members discussed the final proposals, made certain amendments while rejecting others, and unanimously approved the resolution containing all the proposals. The language for the ballot will be formulated by the commission staff and published in its final report on December 13, just over two weeks before de Blasio is term-limited out of office.

For the entire article visit: https://www.gothamgazette.com/city/10961-nyc-racial-justice-commission-…