Dear Mayor Bill de Blasio,
In the election when you were first elected as mayor of our great city, African-Americans gave you 97 percent of our vote. What did we get for it? We feel we received nothing comparable to the size of our vote. From the comptroller’s office, information shows that from at least four agencies in this city government, African-Americans received the smallest number of contracts awarded, which amount to “peanuts” to qualified contractors. And when 500 no-bid contracts are awarded by the Department of Education, please let us know how many were awarded to minorities.
Having won the primary, we would like for you to seriously consider the following requests to encourage Africa-Americans to again give you 97 percent or more of their vote:
Appoint a deputy mayor to be based at Queens Borough Hall and deputy mayors in other borough halls.
Fix the segregation and overcrowding in our schools and remove unqualified teachers and principals.
Repeal the MWBE law and submit a proposed law for minority businesses without the word “women” in it.
Help us to know how many of the no-bid contracts amounting to $2.7 billion or more will go to minority contractors.
Lend the power and support of your office to elect Councilman Donavan Richards speaker of the City Council.
Put vocational courses back in high schools for the many students who will not go to college.
With African-Americans living in Queens and in the largest Black voting bloc in the country, of which you are well aware of, we are genuinely concerned about who will be elected or re-elected mayor of this world-renowned city. Please give these requests your earliest undivided attention to help us determine how we will vote on Nov. 7, 2017.
Sincerely,
Bishop Charles L. Norris Sr.
Grace Saving Ministries, Visionary/Presiding Bishop