Vivian Wang and Jeffery C. Mays

Waving signs and chanting, shouting to be heard in the bar's darkened interior, they demanded an end to big money in politics. They were Democratic activists — and their target was one of their own: Carl E. Heastie, the Democratic speaker of the New York state Assembly.

But they also had to shout over the sound of counterprotesters: an equally sized group of black community leaders, who had assembled to support the speaker and denounce the activists.

The progressive movement in New York has been credited with overturning politics in Albany: The Legislature is now under Democratic control for only the third time in 50 years. But the progressive push, fueled by many newly energized activists, has also alienated some of the party’s old guard of black leaders, igniting an internal battle with racial overtones.

Black community leaders have leveled accusations of paternalism. Black lawmakers have warned of a gulf between activists’ priorities and those of their constituents. Even black activists who are part of the insurgent wing have cautioned of overreach by white progressives.

“People talk about how black lives matter,” said Charlie King, a longtime Democratic operative and a former senior campaign adviser to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “Well, black leadership matters. If white progressives can’t respect that, they will be made to respect that.”

Since President Donald Trump’s election in 2016, Democrats nationwide have grappled with whether a new wave of progressive energy — fueled in large part by young people and well-off white suburban women — represents black voters, the longtime pillars of the Democratic Party.

In New York, the debate has taken on particular weight. Black Democrats now lead both houses of the state Legislature, after years of Republican opposition. In the Assembly especially, black lawmakers have risen under Heastie’s leadership, as have those with ties to the Bronx County political machine that Heastie once led.

Some of those freshly cemented power brokers are now bristling at the suggestion by newly prominent activists and elected officials that they have not been progressive enough on issues like rent regulation, new taxes on the ultrawealthy and campaign finance changes.

They call such criticisms misplaced and racially charged, and they suggest that the activists do not represent the communities they claim to speak for.

“What the driving force of this movement cares about isn’t what communities of color care about,”saidstate Sen. Brian Benjamin, a black Democrat who represents Harlem.

The issue came to a head outside Heastie’s fundraiser last month, when progressive activist groups like Indivisible and Rise and Resist, which formed after the 2016 presidential election, organized a protest. Black leaders arrived to counterprotest.

The dueling groups lined up on opposite sides of a sidewalk: the protesting activists, many of them white, facing the counterprotesters, all black.

The activists “don’t look like us, don’t live with us,” said the Rev. Troy DeCohen, a pastor who leads the United Black Clergy of Westchester.

“What they’re trying to do is co-opt what historically has been rooted in the black community,” he added, referring to the black community’s history of social justice activism.

The new groups draw strong support in primarily white neighborhoods in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Westchester. Several of the protesters at Heastie’s fundraiser lived in the West Village.

Some of the candidates backed by the new groups last year, though diverse in race and gender, won significantly more votes in gentrifying areas of Brooklyn and Queens than in predominantly black or brown neighborhoods. Their rivals had accused them of siding with gentrifiers over poorer communities.

But the groups also include members from diverse demographics; local chapters dot the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. They support racial justice priorities such as criminal justice changes and more school funding.

They also work closely with unions and longer-standing activist groups that are well known for representing — and being led by — working-class people of color.

“I was deeply offended by the suggestion that it was only white progressives,” said Jawanza Williams, lead organizer for VOCAL-NY, which focuses on issues like criminal justice and homelessness.

Williams, who is black and formerly homeless, helped lead the protest outside of Heastie’s fundraiser. “It erases the struggle of black organizers who are progressive.”

The protesters at the fundraiser emphasized that their criticism was not of the Assembly speaker as a black man, but for the role they said he played in delaying campaign finance changes.

"What struck a chord was the hypocrisy,” Livvie Mann, of the group Rise and Resist, said of Heastie. Mann, who is white, organized the protest. “Days after the budget, he does a huge fundraiser, and it felt like a slap in the face.”

Kirsten John Foy, president of the activism group Arc of Justice and one of the organizers of the counterprotest, said he agreed with the need to get big money out of politics. But he took issue with the protesters’ tactics and their lack of diversity.

DeCohen said black members of the activist groups had been “brainwashed.” He added, “We always call them the Uncle Toms.”

Jason Walker, VOCAL-NY’s campaign director, replied that he was surprised to “see the black faith leaders take the playbook” of racial division.

“As a black millennial and a progressive, I’m looking for my leaders to set up the next generation to win,” he said.

Heastie, in brief comments to reporters as he entered the fundraiser, brushed off the criticism. The political action committee for which he was fundraising gave $50,000 last year to help elect more Democrats to the Senate.

“History will show that the Democratic Assembly has always been the progressive champions,” he said. “That’s what people should be looking at, on the actions that we take.”

The tension arrives at a key moment in New York history: Along with Heastie’s historic ascent to the speakership, Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins this year became the first black woman to lead the state Senate. Democrats had seized control of both chambers of the Legislature on a promise to quickly enact sweeping change.

But the party has disagreed about what changes, when, and in what order.

The $175 billion state budget passed April 1 included major progressive victories, including limiting cash bail and releasing money for the city’s public housing system. The black leaders said those achievements should be celebrated, and suggested that campaign finance reform was a lower-priority issue.

“I’ve never had one person in Central Harlem and East Harlem say, ‘Brian Benjamin, go to Albany and get me public financing,’ ” said Benjamin, the state senator, though he said he supports the idea. “They want affordable housing, money for education and criminal justice reform.”

But proponents of public financing said getting big money out of politics would make other progressive goals possible.

Ricky Silver, a lead organizer of the group Empire State Indivisible, called public financing the “tip of the arrowhead as it relates to all progressive issues.” Studies have shown that donor diversity increases in public matching systems.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson wrote a recent opinion piece calling the policy a potential “game changer.”

White activists also defended their right to criticize Heastie.

“He, as the leader of the Assembly, represents the entire state,” said Paul Rabin, a member of the group Rise and Resist.

Still, several black leaders who were not at the protest said that while they agreed with the activist groups’ goals, the groups should be conscious of how their actions might appear to observers.

L. Joy Williams, president of the Brooklyn NAACP, said “optics and public perception” of the issues activists were fighting for could sidetrack their cause, rather than advance it.

Jamaal T. Bailey, a state senator who represents the Bronx and Westchester and considers Heastie his political mentor, said Democrats should focus on party unity, citing lyrics from the Jay-Z song “Family Feud.” “Nobody wins when the family feuds,” he said. “What’s better than one Democratic majority? Two.”

Even black activists who have been heavily involved with the new activist groups warned that certain voices should be careful not to drown out others.

Sherese Jackson, who until recently was the only nonwhite board member of Indivisible Nation BK, an activist group in Brooklyn formed after 2016, said the group often discusses how to increase diversity. But the discussions had yet to turn into real change.

“It is definitely a struggle as a woman of a color,” she said, “feeling 100 percent safe in a mostly white, progressive world.”

Events such as the protest against Heastie, even if well-intentioned, could further deter nonwhite people from joining, she said.

“The visual alone — I could see how that could come across to people, and it could be a turnoff,” Jackson said. “This does not help the trust factor.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/nyregion/blacks-democrats-ny-dispute.html" id="7bcb16e4-7429-3e1a-a529-429f0700a2d7">The New York Times</a>.

'Black Leadership Matters': Why a Racial Rift Is Growing Among New York Democrats

As big-dollar political donors recently gathered at a Manhattan wine bar to honor one of the country’s most powerful black state lawmakers, protesters converged outside.

The lawmakers — including some of legalization’s most vocal supporters — say that unless people of color are guaranteed a share of the potentially $3 billion industry, in the form of job training, adult education and licenses in the industry itself, there may be no legalization this year.

Ten states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational marijuana, and as lawmakers elsewhere consider their own laws, they seem intent on not repeating what they see as the mistakes of some early adopters.

They say one misstep, in particular, stands out: None of the 10 states or Washington ensured that minority communities, which were often targeted for low-level drug possession, would share in any economic windfall of legalization.

In New York the question of economic return for those communities has emerged as a defining, and perhaps pivotal, issue.

“I haven’t seen anyone do it correctly,” Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples-Stokes, the first black woman to serve as Assembly majority leader, said of legalization.

“They thought we were going to trust that at the end of the day, these communities would be invested in. But that’s not something I want to trust,” she continued. “If it’s not required in the statute, then it won’t happen.”

Critics say marijuana legalization has fostered an inequitable system in which wealthy, white investors often reap the profits of the fledgling industry.

In Colorado, black entrepreneurs said they were banned from winning licenses because of marijuana-related convictions. Black people make up just a handful of the thousands of cultivation or dispensary license holders there, and continue to be arrested on marijuana-related charges at almost three times the rate of white people.

In California, several cities introduced equity programs retroactively. Oakland now requires at least half of licenses to go to people with a cannabis-related conviction and who fell below an income threshold.

New York lawmakers are eager to make their state the first to tie legalization directly to an economic equity program. And that has meant seeking changes to Cuomo’s proposal, which though it provides for a “social and economic equity plan,” does not specify how much weight would be given to minority license applicants, or how much money would be invested in communities ravaged by the war on drugs.

Opponents say those omissions undercut Cuomo’s efforts to frame legalization as a way to right the wrongs that decades of criminalization had wrought on communities. He called for sealing some drug-related records and funding substance abuse treatment.

Even as Cuomo has pressed for speed, urging the Legislature to include legalization in the state budget in April, crucial lawmakers have shown little interest in rushing his proposal through.

“It’s not going to go the way it looks now,” said Peoples-Stokes, a Democrat who represents a district that includes Buffalo. She has introduced her own bill, which directs half of all marijuana revenue to a community fund supporting job training, and prioritizes licenses for people from communities most affected by criminalization.

Cuomo seemed to acknowledge as much Monday, telling reporters that he was “no longer confident” that marijuana would be in the budget.

The debate in New York is unfurling as at least three Democratic presidential candidates — Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Julian Castro — have said they support reparations for African-Americans. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently called for “affirmative action” licensing for entrepreneurs of color in the marijuana industry.

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, another presidential candidate, has introduced a bill to legalize marijuana nationwide. Co-sponsored by four other Democratic presidential hopefuls, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, it includes provisions for job investment in minority communities.

In New Jersey, where the Legislature is also weighing legalization, a coalition of black pastors, the NAACP and advocates is also pushing for legalization only if tied to community reinvestment. After lawmakers in November moved the bill through a committee, the state’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union called adding language about education and job training a top priority.

Of particular concern in New York has been the influence of wealthy medical marijuana corporations, which are overwhelmingly led by white people and may be well positioned to capitalize on the recreational industry.

That concern has made itself so clear that the New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association, worried that legislators might seek to shut them out of the new industry, sent a letter to Cuomo and legislative leaders Monday promising to set up a $25 million “Cannabis Economic Opportunity Fund” to provide zero-interest loans to companies led by women and people of color. (The association recently asked the company MedMen to resign from the group amid allegations of racism among top executives.)

The medical companies have sought to shape the bill in other ways, too: Their executives and people tied to them have donated more than $600,000 to Cuomo’s campaign account.

The governor’s bill also would require applicants to already have the land, buildings and equipment needed for their businesses, which would effectively exclude many black people because of historical disparities in capital, said Kassandra Frederique, New York state director at the Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit group. Frederique’s group is pushing for the bill to include zero-interest loans and provisional licenses.

Other interests are already clamoring for a share of the hypothetical tax revenue as well, which has been projected to reach as much as $677 million a year. Last month, Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan to divert at least some of the money to New York City’s subway system.

But legislative leaders suggested that revenue might not materialize without a robust economic equity plan.

“I was very clear with the governor and the mayor that the marijuana revenue, if we get there,” should go first to “community investment,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said.

A bill that includes only criminal justice changes, at the expense of economic ones, would not meet that standard, advocates said.

“Some people exploit the social justice piece of legalization,” said Bertha Lewis, president of the Black Institute and a chief strategist for We Rise to Legalize, a coalition of advocacy groups.

“You can’t talk to me about justice and not talk to me about economics. They are inextricably joined.”

Throughout New York City, communities are trying to ensure that they see some benefit from legalization, regardless of what happens in Albany.

The City Council’s Progressive Caucus and the Black Latino and Asian Caucus recently introduced laws and resolutions calling for the city to have local control over home delivery and cultivation of marijuana, potentially allowing smaller businesses to share in the sales.

“Not arresting people is not good enough,” Donovan Richards, a city councilman from Queens, said. “Economic justice must be served.”

For some marijuana skeptics, “economic justice” has become the selling point, and also the sticking point. The Rev. Anthony Trufant, pastor of the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Brooklyn, held a conference at his church last month aimed at improving diversity in the cannabis industry.

Among its speakers was Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who said in an interview that a “growing emphasis on the economic aspect of marijuana legalization” had replaced an “overemphasis on social justice.”

Trufant said the economic argument had helped ease his initial hesitation about legalization.

“There are opportunities for investment,” he said. “There are opportunities for employment.”

If reinvestment initiatives are not put in place alongside legalization, the underground market is likely to remain, said Dasheeda Dawson, chief executive of MJM Strategy, a cannabis consulting and marketing firm.

“The industry right now reads as very white,” Dawson said. “If I’m in the hood and I’m hooking up my man with revenue by purchasing from him, I’m going to continue to buy black.”

Still, the economic argument has not won over all the skeptics.

The Rev. Johnnie Green Jr. of Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem said black politicians and activists were “fooling themselves” if they thought licenses to sell marijuana would go to the black community.

“The licenses will go disproportionately to Caucasians. It’s already been proven in every city where there’s legalization of pot,” he said. “I just wish they would stop acting like this is a win-win for the black community.”

The Rev. Reginald Lee Bachus of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem said he would push to ensure that legalization, if successful, would create funding for black communities, but would not push for legalization itself because the issue had divided his congregation.

“I lose a segment of my support if I come down on one side or the other,” Bachus said, “but I have 100 percent support if I talk about the tax revenue.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/nyregion/marijuana-legalization-african-americans.html" id="71e80f1d-72ea-3f54-af02-48ebfd4be452">The New York Times</a>.

Black Lawmakers to Block Legalized Marijuana in N.Y. if Their Communities Don't Benefit

Black lawmakers and activists are blocking a push to legalize recreational marijuana in New York, warning that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal could perpetuate the racial inequality that it purports to fight.

But they also had to shout over the sound of counterprotesters: an equal-sized group of black community leaders, who had assembled to support the speaker and denounce the activists.

The dueling groups lined up on opposite sides of a sidewalk, with the protesting activists, many of them white, facing the counterprotesters, all black.

The new groups draw strong support in primarily white neighborhoods in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Westchester County. Several of the protesters at Heastie’s fundraiser lived in the West Village.

But the groups also include members from areas with diverse demographics; local chapters dot the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. They support racial justice priorities such as criminal justice changes and more school funding.

“It is definitely a struggle as a woman of color,” she said, “feeling 100 percent safe in a mostly white, progressive world.”

This article originally appeared in <a id="7bcb16e4-7429-3e1a-a529-429f0700a2d7" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/06/nyregion/blacks-democrats-ny-dispute.html">The New York Times</a>.

Progressive Push Exposes Racial Rift Among New York Democrats

Progressive push exposes racial rift among New York Democrats

<h1>Black lawmakers are blocking a push to legalize recreational marijuana in New York, warning that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal could perpetuate the racial inequality fostered under current drug laws.</h1>

The lawmakers say that unless people of color are guaranteed a share of the potentially $3 billion industry, there may be no legalization this year. They want to be assured that some of that money will go toward job training programs, and that minority entrepreneurs will receive licenses to cultivate or sell the marijuana.

Ten states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational marijuana, and as lawmakers elsewhere consider their own laws, they seem intent on not repeating what they see as other states’ mistakes.

They say one misstep, in particular, stands out: None of the 10 states or Washington ensured that minority communities would share in any economic windfall of legalization — missing out on an opportunity to redress years of having a disproportionate number of African-Americans arrested on marijuana charges.

In New York, the question of economic return for those communities has emerged as a defining issue.

The black New York lawmakers include some of marijuana legalization’s most vocal supporters, but they want to make their state the first to tie legalization directly to an economic equity program. And that has meant seeking changes to Cuomo’s proposal, which though it provides for a “social and economic equity plan,” does not specify how much weight would be given to minority license applicants, or how much money would be invested in communities ravaged by the war on drugs.

Alphonso David, the governor’s counsel, said that those provisions would be written in regulation after legalization was passed. “Some people are looking for a level of detail that may not be appropriate for legislation, and we have to be careful how we implement the legislation so we don’t have to change it every few years,” he said.

But opponents say those omissions undercut Cuomo’s efforts to frame legalization as a way to right the wrongs that decades of criminalization had wrought on communities. He called for sealing some drug-related records and funding substance abuse treatment.

David said the state’s regulations after legalization could include zero-interest loans for minority entrepreneurs, funded by payments from companies seeking licenses.

For some marijuana skeptics, “economic justice” has become the selling point, and also the sticking point. The Rev. Anthony Trufant, pastor of the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Brooklyn, held a conference with the group Women Grow at his church last month that was aimed at improving diversity in the cannabis industry.

Among its speakers was Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who said that a “growing emphasis on the economic aspect of marijuana legalization” had replaced an “overemphasis on social justice.”

This article originally appeared in <a id="bced32e3-1980-4549-8312-050c65bf5b2e" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/nyregion/marijuana-legalization-african-americans.html">The New York Times</a>.

Ten states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational marijuana, and as lawmakers elsewhere consider their own laws, they seem intent on not repeating what they see as other states’ mistakes.

Black lawmakers to block legalized marijuana in N.Y. if their communities don't benefit

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Pulse Kenya is the most followed news and entertainment platform in Kenya. It informs and engages young Kenyans around the clock and provides updates by the hour.

Vivian Wang and Jeffery C. Mays

Articles written by the author

'Black Leadership Matters': Why a Racial Rift Is Growing Among New York Democrats

Black Lawmakers to Block Legalized Marijuana in N.Y. if Their Communities Don't Benefit

Progressive push exposes racial rift among New York Democrats

Black lawmakers to block legalized marijuana in N.Y. if their communities don't benefit