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Albert Baldeo leads fight for resources and political representation
District Leader and Community Advocate Albert Baldeo, John Albert of Taking Our Seat.Org, Prita Singh of the Rajkumari Cultural Center, Frank Singh of the Inter Community Civic, and Vishnu Mahadeo of the Richmond Hill Economic Development Corporation testified before the State Senate Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment Hearings Tuesday, December 14, 2010.
District Leader Albert Baldeo is congratulated by Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
Their testimonies were forceful, and were well received by the State Senate panel. Data, census figures, maps and arguments were submitted to convince the State Senate to draw Indo-Caribbean/South Asian Districts to serve the common needs and goals of that growing community in Queens, especially in Richmond Hill and Ozone Park.
Leading the group was Albert Baldeo, who put this community on the political map in 2006 when he almost defeated a 20-year-old incumbent Republican State Senator, Serf Maltese with 49% of the votes.
Historically, this has been the best showing by a South Asian/Indo-Caribbean candidate and Baldeo’s high profile pioneering political struggles and battles have been well documented in the media: www.albertbaldeo.com
“There will be other hearings in the future, and civic, religious, professional, business, community advocates and leaders will do their community and generations to come a great service by asking that fair districts be drawn to give a voice to all taxpayers,” Albert Baldeo urged.
“Redistricting and reapportionment determines how every citizen and community will be represented at the state and federal levels of government for the next 10 years. Fair and objective criteria should serve as the guiding lights of the ‘redistricting” process’ and advance justice and equality for all New Yorkers,” he concluded. Baldeo presented specific data and maps to show that South Asians/West Indians/Indo-Caribbeans, (SAWIICs), are divided and gerrymandered into City Council Districts 28, 30 and 32, State Senate Districts 10 and 15, and Assembly Districts 23, 25, 31, 32 and 38, and do not constitute a majority in any one of these districts. Consequently, it is very difficult for a SAWIIC candidate to win a seat at the City, State or Federal level.
“This has led to discrimination and racism, which strangle the everyday existence of SAWIICs to the status of second class citizens. Police harassment and profiling, quota ticketing and revenue fines, closure of hospitals, medical centers and schools, kids subjected to filthy, overcrowded trailer parks for classrooms, home foreclosures, harassment from the City’s building inspectors and sanitation, spiraling unemployment, increased taxes and the cost of living have marginalized them from government services and funding, and has underscored their need for representation at all levels of government.
Their plight is best understood with the closings of our area hospitals Mary Immaculate and St. John’s, the threatened closures of John Adams and Richmond Hill High Schools, 10% rate of unemployment, high home foreclosures and small business closures in our district. We do not even have a health clinic, community center, day care center, non-denominational senior center, social services center, or even a job-training center. No other community comes close to this paradigm of utter despair,” Baldeo concluded.
Their testimonies are now part of the public record and can be found after the 2nd hour mark at: http://www.nysenate.gov/senator/martin-malave-dilan.
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