A few weeks ago, Orange County Legislature Chairman Steve Brescia stood at a Back the Blue event organized by the Trump Republican Party, and misled the crowd about a recent vote in the Orange County legislature.

His lies have been a recurring theme throughout the campaign trail; however, this point was particularly misleading. I want to make it very clear that while I strongly believe that law enforcement have a tough job, people of color, like myself, have faced challenges at their hands that have not only spanned generations, but which continue to this day. Black Lives Matter and similar movements are not against police, but against a racist and bigoted system that has disproportionately prosecuted people of color. We are against systemic racism in all its forms and are calling for change.

If being anti-racist is radical as the Republicans continue to say, if standing with communities of color that are calling for much needed change is extreme, I will proudly carry that badge. However, Republicans will have to explain to communities like Newburgh why they are perpetuating racism and bigotry while also adding to our crime and violence while pretending to be a part of the solutions.

As a sitting legislator, I have been told to go back to my country more times than I can count, even though I was born here in the Hudson Valley. This is how racism works: it doesn’t care about your title or your education, it tries to dehumanize you. They don’t care if you graduated top of your class, or that you speak multiple languages or that you are the youngest legislator. They just see your skin color and your last name. That’s the racism that exists in our own backyard; not in some faraway place, but right here in Orange County. Republican leaders and those who sit on the side lines must stop ignoring the lack of equality and justice and stop denying the very existence of systemic racism and white privilege or they need to step aside. And if they really stand for law and order, they shouldn’t be supporting voter suppression and armed militias at polling locations, as Brescia intends to do in Montgomery during the first days of early voting.

The resolution naming “unwavering support” for all law enforcement agencies that Brescia continues to speak about on the campaign trail was not only tone deaf, but also an insensitive and poorly timed Republican response to months of protests in the aftermath of the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. This too, was not about law and order, but about ideological partisan politics. Racism is clear and apparent in all structures, and I refuse to support any resolution which uses language that suggests we do not have room for necessary change and improvement within these structures. The Republicans very clearly took the side of law enforcement over people of color. But as the legislator representing the most diverse community in Orange County, I would be disgracing myself and my community to stay silent. Brescia and his minions disregarded for months the calls for change put forward by the Democratic caucus, and they have yet to accept a resolution in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and the protestors risking their lives across the country. Both of these moves are insulting to communities of color who demanded a response from a government that has been silent on systemic racism and police brutality.

I also want to clarify the lies that have been made by Chairman Brescia about my thoughts on law enforcement. Not only have I worked with law enforcement on crisis intervention training and de-escalation here in the Hudson Valley, but as the former parole reentry coordinator for Orange County with RECAP, I worked closely with NY state parole officers, local law enforcement and probation officers. In my first year as a legislator, I worked with the County Executive to obtain $5000 for the Youth in Police initiative in the city of Newburgh. Moreover, while I have become less optimistic about focusing funds on community policing and training alone, I do recognize the value both have.

Nevertheless, it is not enough if the system itself is broken and if there is no buy-in from the top. I want officers to have more tools in their tool belt, which is why I totally support investing more funds into mental health and substance abuse. What I do oppose is racist officers who use power and influence to hurt people.

The real problem in places like Newburgh has been the failed leadership of the Republicans in the county. Our county government has for decades treated Newburgh as a place to send everyone they don’t want to really help in their own towns. This is amongst the many reasons why Newburgh has a higher abundance of homeless individuals, house more sex offenders than any community and amongst the highest number of people who struggle with drug addiction. During the debate last week Brescia talked about the need for affordable housing in our cities, but pretended as if it was not a regional and nationwide problem as has been reiterated by our own Commissioner of Social Services and Mental Health on multiple. Brescia wants to pretend that Newburgh’s walkable streets make it the best place for affordable housing, but in reality it is because communities like Montgomery, Cornwall, Monroe, Tuxedo, Port Jervis and so on, have actively rejected a need for services and the creation of affordable housing for lower income families. That’s how much Republicans look down on working families struggling with poverty.

In addition, it is because Newburgh is an empathetic city that proudly embraces diversity and inclusion that we have long made sure to pick up the slack where this county has failed under Republican leadership. People of need are forced to come to Newburgh, far from their families and their support systems, because all the wrap-around services are kept in the cities. The county directly and indirectly maintains the existence of poorly conditioned SROs that are below human conditions. Ultimately, people must find housing or be forced to live on the streets. Middletown and Newburgh are constantly pinned against one another, when the real problem is the decades-long republican leadership that has blatantly created a system that inherently hurts the communities it is charged to help. That does not mean that Newburgh does not struggle with its own challenges. Steve Brescia’s friends at the Partnership and the IDA could be helping bring much needed industries and jobs; but instead, he has used his monopoly on power to divert all industries to Montgomery and other Republican- controlled towns.

Brescia talks about helping people, but to date Newburgh maintains the highest rates of child poverty and he has never talked about changing that. The most environmental challenges exist in Newburgh and instead of addressing it he used his power to ram through a resolution in support of Danskammer, a power plant that will only further poison our communities air and water, even though a rising number of communities had come out against the project and continue to do so. This type of leadership is why places like Newburgh are hurting. It thrives today in spite of the contempt shown by people like Brescia and career politicians like him.

Lastly, let me be clear that, Brescia and the Republicans in Orange County continuously use outdated data to portray Newburgh as the most dangerous place in New York -a statement he has reiterated at his events, which is also untrue. These outdated leaders only see the crime, but do not want to acknowledge how they have contributed to it. We need leaders that understand that systemic racism is a real challenge here in Orange County, leader’s that recognize that climate change is a real problem and do not vote in favor of more poisonous fossil fuel plants.

We need leaders who actively work to help our most vulnerable communities every single day, not someone who just does it when it is convenient and votes to give himself a pay raise any chance he gets.