PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Anaya A., Member of the Public
3:36:33
·
172 sec
Anaya A., a Haitian-American woman, expresses frustration with the meeting's proceedings and shares personal experiences of discrimination and economic challenges in New York City. She criticizes the system for forcing immigrants to hide their wealth to access affordable housing and calls for better representation of minority voices in public forums.
- Reveals her family's background of wealth and influence in Haiti
- Questions why she must hide her family's money to qualify for affordable housing
- Criticizes the removal of DEI and affirmative action programs
- Applauds those speaking truth to power in the meeting
Anaya A.
3:36:33
Oh, can you hear me okay?
3:36:35
Okay.
3:36:35
Good afternoon.
3:36:36
Well, I just wanted to say I'm extremely appalled about what happened here today.
3:36:41
I'm not sure exactly what their main agenda was, but a lot of people came unprepared, and it seems like it's been really unfortunate that I just sat through, like, 3 hours of this.
3:36:52
Anyway, my name is Anaya a.
3:36:53
Let's go back.
3:36:55
Finally, I'm gonna just speak a little bit of truth because I've been hiding a lot of truth about myself for so long because it's like, who's gonna listen to this little black girl, Haitian American from Brooklyn, A lot of times, people like myself are discriminated against.
3:37:09
We're immigrants, we're this, with that.
3:37:11
We're bullied.
3:37:12
We got a lot of problems that they think we're bringing to the city.
3:37:15
But what happens when a little black girl has a dream?
3:37:18
Her parents are already successful.
3:37:20
Her parents already have millions.
3:37:22
They're already hiding money each way because the government is after them.
3:37:26
Her grandmother is a multimillionaire Haitian woman that travels the world Her grandfather is the colonel of the Haitian army.
3:37:33
They dismantled the army.
3:37:35
They dismantled our land.
3:37:37
They forced us to move to this country for the American dream.
3:37:40
Ultimately for what?
3:37:42
For this, every time you try to step ahead, you can't.
3:37:46
So the bottom line is this.
3:37:47
Right?
3:37:48
I've been watching and listening for a long time and trying to be real low key because my situation is I can't afford a damn thing in New York.
3:37:56
Why is that?
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Why do I have to hide my money from the government so that you guys can give me affordable housing on a voucher?
3:38:04
Why is it that I go back to my parents property and live pretty nice with all the cars?
3:38:09
But because of this rare medical condition, that the government and the doctors talk about, I can't have nothing.
3:38:16
So let me hide my coins real quick.
3:38:18
Let me hide the bag.
3:38:20
Because at the end of the day, obviously, the system is made to break us.
3:38:25
But there's 1 thing that people must understand and I want everybody that's in here to look at me, first of all, and see that I'm not really 1 of those people that you think.
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Right?
3:38:35
I'm wearing a baseball cap.
3:38:37
I'm out here just chilling because I'm trying to learn.
3:38:39
But bottom line, when you look in this room, how many of us do you see represented here?
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Furthermore, I look at the press.
3:38:46
My background is psychology, public relations, media, communications, but obviously, you took away DEI.
3:38:55
You took away affirmative action.
3:38:57
You took away our voice so that we can't be in this room.
3:39:02
But I applaud you all for sitting here and speaking truth to power, especially you, ma'am.
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I don't even know who you are.
3:39:08
God bless you.
3:39:10
You ask the right questions, and it opens the eyes of people like me.
3:39:14
And, yes, I'm under the representation of Riverdale Sharpton, a leader of force to be reckoned with, but I'm just a Haitian American just trying to make it in this city.
3:39:23
Thank you for having this meeting today.
