At age 66, longtime Harlemite Brodie Enoch has continued to defy all odds. Despite being legally blind and dealing with struggles throughout his adult life, he has pushed forward as both a devoted activist and father. Having just graduated from CUNY Law with a JD, he looks to effect as much change on issues affecting the most vulnerable in the city as possible.
“I just want to be there for someone who may not believe that they have a chance, a choice, or even just a voice,” Enoch said.
In the last 20 years, Enoch has worked on several initiatives, such as rights for the visually impaired, homelessness, fair wages, and voter participation, with groups such as Hope Community; Picture the Homeless, one of the first organizations that spoke out against stop and frisk; the Working Families Party; and Transportation Alternatives. He also founded the Harlem Alliance of Advocates for the Blind, known as the 145th Street Alliance, which focuses on pedestrian safety, economic access, and civil rights protections for the blind.
Born in Harlem and later raised in the Bronx, his household was one of activism and engagement. His mother, a community organizer, helped found the first food pantry in Harlem, and his father was a business owner in Harlem. As a child, Enoch attended the March on Washington in 1963. He says Harlem was always in his blood, and he eventually moved back as an adult.
As an adult, Enoch was involved in a number of business ventures, including opening up a nightclub, called The Beat, in Lower Manhattan, as well as real estate.
Unfortunately, during this time of the crack cocaine epidemic, Enoch began a battle with addiction in the late 1980s and would struggle with it for several years. He says it cost him everything, from his home to his wife at the time and all his business endeavours.
It was in 2003, while still struggling and living in a shelter, that Enoch began his journey toward activism and turning his life around. After meeting Anita Graham, from the organization Community Voices Heard, who spoke about inequity in housing at the shelter facility, he decided to get involved and connected with the group. He says they allowed him to take part in leadership roles such as leading campaigns and rallies. From there, he would join Picture the Homeless and become a board member.
Having been sober for 17 years, since 2007, he says it was coming out of his struggle when he realized how much needed to change about inequity for the most vulnerable in society. “When I came out of the fog, I realized that it was housing, access to a fair education, access to fair living, healthcare, green spaces, healthy foods — all these things that should have been there,” Enoch said. “That’s how I got into this; just by being in the fog and not having access to anything and coming out of it asking why.”
It was also around this time that he started to lose his sight and would require assistance. He would use that experience to further his drive for justice in establishing the 145th Street Alliance. “I realized how difficult it was for me as a blind person,” he said. “I started that because I felt alone.” He later connected with the American Council for the Blind and the New York State Commission for the Blind, which also helped put him through school.
In 2013, Enoch ran for City Council. Although his bid was unsuccessful, he was even more motivated coming out of it. “I didn’t win, but it opened my eyes again. I was losing my vision, but I saw there was a place for me, and I decided at that point to go back to school,” he said.
In 2016, he enrolled at City College of New York and graduated with his bachelor’s degree. He would later receive his master’s from Fordham University and finally get his law degree from CUNY in May, through the Pipeline to Justice program.
A father of four children, three of whom are adults and one who is 7, Enoch says his family have supported and encouraged him in his educational journey. “I consider myself lucky because I made it through,” he said. “If I had to go through it again to have my children, then I would go through it again.”
He also credits his close best friends, going back to the Bronx, who helped him come out of his worst struggles with addiction.
Among his other roles, Enoch serves on the board for the Central Harlem Senior Citizens Center and New York Independent Living Counsel. Now, newly graduated with his law degree, he looks to work in human rights law.
“I feel as if there is so much to do, there is so much I can give. For so long, I took. Now it’s time to give.”