All Three NYC Racial-Equity Ballot Measures Pass with Overwhelming Support
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New York City voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed three ballot measures designed to mandate the creation of a massive new racial-equity bureaucracy in the city.
The three initiatives were proposed by leaders of the NYC Racial Justice Commission, who were appointed last year by then-mayor Bill de Blasio. The initiatives are intended to “put equity at the heart of our government” and to broadly and “fundamentally change the NYC Charter,” according to a commission report released in December.
The first proposal, which would add a preamble to the city charter that includes a statement of values and acknowledges a history of “grave injustices and atrocities” in the city and in the country, passed with 72.3 percent of the vote, according to Board of Elections data. That preamble will now include an aspirational vision of a “just and equitable city for all,” and a declaration that “diversity is our strength.”
The second proposal passed with 69.8 percent of the vote, according to election data. It mandates that the city charter be amended to establish an Office of Racial Equity that would be led by a chief equity officer, establish a racial-equity commission to identify priorities, and require that every city agency produce a racial-equity plan every two years. “Equity work would no longer be siloed, but rather developed out holistically across all agencies,” according to the Racial Justice Commission’s report.
The third proposal, which will require the city to establish a new “true cost of living” measure to “provide a clearer picture of the racial wealth gap,” passed with 81 percent of the vote. The new measure will not take into account public assistance — rental assistance, unemployment benefits, Social Security — and will “guide the City’s decisions as it develops and administers programs and services,” the report states. Critics believe the intention of the measure is to engineer an artificially high cost-of-living figure, and use that figure to increase spending on social assistance programs.
Critics of the proposals warned that they will further embed left-wing racial ideology in the city’s fabric; pit residents against one another based on their race, ethnicity, and sex; and become a magnet for progressive interest groups and racial-justice grifters. They also noted that the proposal to build out the city’s racial-equity infrastructure is vague, and it doesn’t include an estimated budget impact or spell out how many new racial-justice bureaucrats would be hired.
The commission behind the three proposals was announced by de Blasio in March 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic and in the wake of the racial-justice riots that roiled the nation after George Floyd’s killing in Minnesota. Last December, the commission released a 154-page report announcing its recommendations to “identify and root out structural racism.” The three proposed ballot initiatives were designed to “form a seed whose roots will grow over time and knit together a new soil for an equitable society,” the report states.
