Gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon wants driver’s licenses for all New Yorkers

The actress, politician, and progressive activist respond to questions from reporters in Brooklyn. The FilAm

The actress, politician, and progressive activist respond to questions from reporters in Brooklyn. The FilAm Photo

By Rene Pastor

Cynthia Nixon sat listening intently at the head of a table as dozens of students poured out their frustrations at what they described as an overbearing police presence in their schools.

She had come to the Center for Popular Democracy in Troutman Street in Brooklyn, a road festooned by colorful graffiti covering the entrances of bars. It is part of a long series of campaign stops the former “Sex and the City” star attended as she makes a bid to challenge Governor Andrew Cuomo. The state primary will be held on September 13.

Nixon said it is “time we listen to them (the students).”

She said, “Racial segregation, chronic underfunding of schools, and over-policing are an unholy trinity that are making too many majority Black and Latino schools more like jails than institutions of learning. We must end the school-to-prison pipeline. Every child deserves to attend a safe, supportive, and inclusive school.”

The organizers of the forum said that while black students account for only 17.4 percent of the students in New York State, some 44 percent of the students referred to law enforcement are black.

The complaints heard by Nixon echoed the concerns of New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza who said students told him they do not want their schools to look like prisons.

“Before we even begin school, we have to start preparing ourselves for dehumanizing and ineffective security measures like waiting in long lines to go through metal detectors and be scanned,” said Mayebelen Navarro, 18, of Make the Road Action and a resident of Queens. She attended the forum of Nixon.

The lawyer Miranda Hobbes in ‘Sex and the City.’

The lawyer Miranda Hobbes in ‘Sex and the City.’

The Nixon campaign makes the claim that New York has not revised its school discipline policies for decades. It states that the Trump administration has rescinded guidelines to protect transgender students, gutted the DOE Civil Rights department, and will rescind the school discipline guidelines designed to protect students any day now.

Security in schools has been increased in New York and across the United States after a rash of shootings killed dozens of children and teachers. For parents petrified of the shootings, it may be a tough sell to get police to dismantle the metal detectors.

Nixon is challenging Cuomo by campaigning from the left of the political spectrum – espousing issues such as immigration rights and the legalization of marijuana. She urged Cuomo to give driver’s licenses to all New York residents. This, after a Hispanic immigrant was picked up and now faces deportation after delivering pizza to Fort Hamilton.

“I stand with Sandra Chico and her husband Pablo Villavicencio. Pablo was torn from his family while trying to provide for them, by Trump’s rogue immigration agents because he didn’t have a driver’s license,” said Nixon. “Governor Cuomo must immediately issue an executive order granting access to driver’s licenses for all New Yorkers. Until Cuomo stops dragging his feet, there will only be more tragic stories like Pablo’s.”

She had taken a stand to give all qualified New York a drivers’ license regardless of immigration status.

Nixon’s campaign has managed to cut the 47-point lead enjoyed by the governor about a month ago. Polls have Cuomo in the lead by over 20 percentage points. He is running for a third term as governor.

Nixon seemed at ease in the intimate setting, talking to students who are part of her progressive constituency.

“We need to make sure our schools are just,” she said.

© The FilAm 2018

Nixon at an LGBT rally. She is married to Christine Marinoni, an education advocate.

Nixon at an LGBT rally. She is married to Christine Marinoni, an education advocate.



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