Jimmy Van Bramer
Template:TOCnestleft Jimmy Van Bramer
Queens United Independent Progressives
Queens United Independent Progressives December 10 2020 ·
QUIP had the world’s most fun Zoom event tonight: a Holidarity (holiday + solidarity) party that brought together 106 members and friends.
The party began and ended with an awesome slideshow, conceived and executed by Co-Chair Rapi Castillo, of two and a half years of QUIP organizing.
Thomas Muccioli, Shawna Morlock and Vigie Ramos Rios took a page from A Christmas Carol, to explain QUIP past, present and future.
We offered salutes to and heard brief speeches from great organizers in Queens: Syonae Byeon of the MinKwon Center for Community Action talked about the Flushing Rezoning fight; Martha Ayon and Nick Haby talked about New Reformers electing 14 of 26 candidates for Democratic Party offices in its maiden election year. Marva Schomburg Kerwin and Kate Walls talked about Rockaway Revolution organizing a Black Lives Matter march in Belle Harbor. Rima Begum talked about organizing Bengali tenants in Jamaica.
Assembly member-elect Zohran Mamdani, Assembly member Ron Kim, State Senator Jessica Ramos, and Council members Brad Lander and Jimmy Van Bramer saluted us all, and talked about how profoundly Queens politics has changed—and how much work there was to do.
Participants included Rofadden Lazare, Melanie D'Arrigo and Doug D'Arrigo, Tyler Herald, John Choe, Farudh Majid, David Ian Robin, Shaeleigh Severino. Nalisa Budhu, Carolyn Tran, Divya Sundaram, Czarrinna Andres, Nancy Silverman, Shekar Krishnan, Nancy de Silva, Felicia Singh, Kassandra Damblu, Julie Won, Andres Aguirre, Christopher Espinoza, Sophie Cohen, Albert Suh, Nick Berkowitz, Emily Sharpe.[1]
New York City Council resolution to end blockade of Cuba
A resolution of the New York City Council calling for an end to the blockade of Cuba, Resolution 1092, has been officially introduced and is moving through the legislative process. After the resolution’s initial introduction, it was referred to the council’s Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries, and International Intergroup Relations. On Thursday, Oct. 31 2019, it was formally brought before the committee which is chaired by Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer of Queens, who is also one of the bill’s co-sponsors.
At the committee session, Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, a co-sponsor of the resolution, spoke of the context for the new resolution, particularly the recent re-introduction of harsh restrictions against Cuba by the Trump administration.
The resolution was formally introduced by its main sponsor, Council Member Inez Barron. In her remarks, Barron also said that the blockade was a Cold War leftover that has achieved nothing positive over the last nearly 60 years.
Chairmen Van Bramer then opened the hearing for public comment, first speaking in favor of the measure, saying, “the embargo only hurts people.” He said “the President is wrong on virtually everything,” and the blockade against Cuba “is one of those things.”
Gilberto Villa, who was born and lived in Havana but who is now living in New York, spoke not only of the economic losses caused by the blockade but also the immense but personal costs.
Some of the speakers who participated during the public comments section of the hearing included Dr. Damian Suarez, Pat Fry, Emily Thomas of Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, and Tom Gogan of U.S. Labor Against the War. |
Of note also were the remarks of Dr. Damian Suarez. Suarez related how he received his medical training in Cuba at no cost and pointed out that such training could be affordable, and thus accessible, for students of low or modest means like himself if the blockade was lifted. Suarez said he worked in a public hospital in the Bronx and that other doctors trained in Cuba were working in underserved neighborhoods across the U.S. There could be many more, he said, but the blockade limits this, thus preventing communities in the U.S. from getting this service.
Stephen Millies, an Amtrak retiree, spoke in a related vein about how two of his co-workers had died from meningitis even though an anti-meningitis vaccine has been developed in Cuba but which they could not access.[2]
Caban supporters and endorsers
The La Boom Nightclub in Woodside, Queens, was packed wall to wall with hundreds of supporters. People were chanting “Sí se Puede” and “Black and brown lives matter.” That was the scene at approximately 11:15 pm June 25 2019 when Tiffany Caban declared herself the winner in the Democratic primary for district attorney.
Tiffany Caban was a virtually unknown public defender until February 2019. Cabán built a grassroots campaign that brought in community organizations, such as Make The Road, and political groups, including the Working Families Party, Citizen Action, and the Democratic Socialists of America.
Cabán was endorsed by Larry Krasner, the District Attorney from Philadelphia who led the way in the movement for transformative justice. Her national endorsers included Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as well as Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Local endorsers included: NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer; NYS Senators Jessica Ramos, James Sanders, Julia Salazar, and Michael Gianaris; NYS Assemblymember Ron Kim; and NYC council members Jimmy Van Bramer and Antonio Reynoso.
Actress Susan Sarandon tweeted this morning; “@CabánForQueens victory over the ‘machine’ in Queens makes me proud to be from Jackson Heights and shows once again that a people’s movement can bring real change, real justice.”[3]