The reflex of police officers, when making the decision whether to use force and on what scale, must not be a result of instinctive bias, but on objective and discernible factors. As the enforcers of law and order, they have to adhere to the letter of the law and minimize the taints of biases and life long social conditioning.
— Letitia James
Our schools should be sanctuaries of learning, not nightmares of cruel and racist behavior.
Though few hiring managers would deliberately choose to offer women less money than their male counterparts, when using salary history to determine compensation, they unintentionally preserve the status quo. Too often, women will have a lower salary history, and, therefore get a lower offer.
Wage discrimination lasts forever. The disparity haunts women beyond their years in the labor force, impacting how much they save for retirement and ultimately receive in Social Security benefits.
Within New York City and state, families in need face a confusing hodgepodge of supplemental rental assistance programs, many of which are ineffective individually and all of which are clearly ineffective in the aggregate.
Under the not-so-watchful eye of ACS, children continue to die avoidable deaths. This is beyond unacceptable and betrays our moral conscience.
Walmart markets its gun department as 'sports and outdoors,' but let us get one thing straight: They are not just selling hunting rifles.
Some contractors force workers to provide paybacks to keep their jobs. Others intentionally misclassify workers in order to underpay them - by, for example, paying a skilled construction worker as a general laborer.
Children of domestic violence, of course, suffer terrible consequences.
I know what it's like to be on public assistance and to be unemployed. And I know what it's like to be evicted.
The scales of justice often, in my head, are unbalanced. And so my job is to try to balance out those scales.
All of my life and particularly throughout of my public career, I have been talking about the feminization of poverty. And one of the manifestations of the feminization of poverty is the issue of pay inequality in our society.
I come from humble beginnings myself.
The reality is that I've been counted out for a very long time and people continue to underestimate me and I continue to overperform.
As Public Advocate for the City of New York, I will be working with the Administration for Children's Services and others to bring about necessary reforms - and ensure that our city meets its most solemn responsibility - protecting the welfare of our children.
Human induced climate change is real, and the evidence is right in front of us. It threatens our shores. It promises to bring intense heat waves and powerful storms. It has the power to disrupt our economy, endanger our food supply, and imperil global stability. We must take action to stop it.
For generations America and its institutions have refused to acknowledge the true severity of the harm that domestic violence imposes on our society.
The vast majority of our men and women in uniform are doing the right thing.
The vast majority of our teachers, our principals and our PTAs are well informed and well meaning, but even those with the best intentions can benefit from cultural competency training.
Our evenly matched rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness require an equal paycheck.
Home Stability Support is our best shot at creating an all-encompassing and effective system to ensure that our at-risk children and families can remain in the homes they deserve.
The status quo is clearly broken, and we must strive for bigger, bolder solutions that will provide New Yorkers with the support they need to remain in their homes.
Dysfunction in Washington has stalled any meaningful federal action on gun control. So it's increasingly up to big cities like New York to take bold steps to get weapons off our streets and change the national discourse.
While New York City cannot prevent other jurisdictions from selling firearms, it has taken a powerful stance against guns by divesting pension funds from gun manufacturers.
Legally, many contractors are required to pay a prevailing wage. However, bad actors often find ways to get around this requirement.
Like with all other crime, we must, of course, treat the perpetrators of these actions as the criminals they are. But unlike with the vast majority of other crime, justice is not delivered simply by punishing the perpetrator. This is because the harm associated with domestic violence extends far beyond the point of contact.
I come from a family of eight on public assistance, my parents were separated. My mother struggled, my father struggled.
I come from a long line of very strong, tough women. We stick to our principles and stand up for what we believe in, which is fundamental fairness, which is my raison d'etre.
I just try to fight for the underdog, and try to fight for those who are locked out of the sunshine of opportunity.
I've got a moral center.
I've been independent all of my life.
I say that our economic future is in the new technology that will lead to more fuel efficient cars and cleaner energy.
When it comes to climate change and the environment, President Donald Trump is plain wrong.
Telling the truth about domestic violence - and those who shield it - should not be punished.
Only when we ensure that the mistakes of our past are not the vision for our future, will we truly have achieved justice.
We must ensure that we are hiring and retaining qualified, diverse candidates not only to teach in our classrooms, but to work at the DOE overseeing our students' education.
Being underpaid once shouldn't condemn you to a lifetime of inequality.
New Yorkers want to be compassionate, and they want to live in a city where homeless people aren't stuffed into shelters, spilling out onto the streets. They also want a support system that works.
Before any family is placed in any type of shelter, there must be a thorough, top-to-bottom, building-wide inspection. These inspections must be ongoing and publicly accessible. There is no excuse for any person to be blindly put into an apartment without a guarantee that the space is safe.
New York City must divest the hundreds of millions of dollars we have invested in Walmart for far too long, dollars that are only fueling violence and undermining the greater public interest. Once our nation's largest city does so, I know other states and municipalities will follow suit.
The workers who get hurt by corner-cutting often do not realize they are being wronged. Even when they do, they do not have the support and resources to fight back. Without a union to stand behind them, these workers are forced to stay in bad jobs, or face no job at all.
New Yorkers would be shocked to learn of the conditions some construction workers in our city toil under.
Part of the reason why I wanted to be involved in politics was to create and be a part of policy changes.
I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth.
We have these events, 'Talk to Tish.' They're basically kitchen-roundtable discussions about issues in the City of New York, because you can learn more by listening.
I've known struggle.
The Office of Attorney General should be independent and the Office of Attorney General should have the power to investigate without the approval of the governor of the state of New York. It's absolutely critically important.
We must simply do every single thing in our power to protect our children from abuse and help them live healthy, prosperous lives.
As Public Advocate for the City of New York, I have a duty to speak truth to power and do what is best for our City and its residents.
Is truth about domestic violence and those who enable it more important than a company's corporate partnerships? I think so.
