 Yonkers, NY - 27 years after the NAACP filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Yonkers for discriminatory housing and school policies, the desegregation case that defined a generation in Yonkers has come to an end.
At a ceremony marking the occasion, Mayor Phil Amicone, flanked by members of the Yonkers City Council, representatives from the NAACP, civic and community leaders, and current and former elected officials, signed a settlement agreement indicating that the city has met all of its obligations under the federal order, bringing closure to United States versus the City of Yonkers.
Final agreement on the settlement was enabled by the completion of a court ordered stock of 600 affordable housing units that were constructed throughout the city, except in Southwest Yonkers. The school portion of the desegregation case was settled in 2002.
Below is a copy of Mayor Amicone's remarks on this historic agreement.
"I want to begin by welcoming our current and former elected officials. I'm joined by members of the Yonkers City Council; past and present members of the NAACP and its current director, Karen Edmonson. Former mayors Angelo Martinelli and John Spencer are also here. Thank you all for joining us.
"There are precious few occasions that transcend the normal political discourse here in the City of Yonkers. My fellow residents, today is one of those days.
"We gather here in this place with a rare opportunity to straddle the chasms of race and class that have at times been so wide in this country and in this city, knowing that today they are a little narrower.
"We come here not as African-Americans or whites or Latinos. Not as members of one organization or another. Not as residents of one neighborhood or another. Not even as politicians. Today we are here only as residents of the City of Yonkers-the one thing that has always made us whole, even in our most fractious hour.
"And as proud residents, today we are united in celebration that the City of Yonkers is once again in control of its own destiny.
"27 years ago, the United States government, along with the NAACP, sued the City of Yonkers for discrimination, and set off the most turbulent and divisive chapter in the long history our city. Today we will write the final words of that chapter and turn the page toward a new and better day.
"We finally have the freedom to choose our own destiny for ourselves, and knowing this, we have the confidence that our choice will be right.
"We are a better city today than we were thirty years ago, in many ways. And we are better not by dictate, but because we have made the choice as a government to afford everyone an opportunity to succeed.
"Yonkers is fully integrated. We provide more affordable housing opportunities than any other city in the county. And, five years removed from federal binds, our schools are better and stronger than they have been in many years, well on their way toward returning to a true neighborhood system.
"Together, we have made much progress. In a moment, I will sign an agreement indicating that the City of Yonkers has met all of its obligations under the federal court order. The significance of this moment is impossible to understate. United States versus the City of Yonkers and the ensuing federal court order that we end today defined an entire generation in Yonkers. The federal desegregation case, as it came to be known, affected every family and neighborhood in this city. No man, woman or child, for better or worse, was spared its effects. Though each of us was touched separately, we learned much as a city.
"We learned firsthand how powerful and divisive racial tensions can be.
"We found true appreciation for the strength and fellowship our residents derive from their neighborhoods and their neighbors.
"As I look around at the faces in this room, there is a tendency to relive the tumultuous times that led us here. We are not ignorant of the history that brings to this day, as Yonkers plainly bears its marks for all to see. But to recant past dissension and revisit old divisions on this happy occasion would be an injustice. Instead, we breathe a long collective exhale, relieved this chapter in our city's history is finally over.
"Today is about moving forward and we can find harmony in unity. In a letter to fellow believers, St. John tells us that "He who has love for his brother is in the light." How can we not believe that today?
"Bound by this principle, we have confidence that we will not be forced to relive the unhappy days in our past. That, instead, we will make a better future for all of us.
"Abraham Lincoln, perhaps our greatest leader, struggled more than a century ago with the challenges that confront us today. At the end of the Civil War, he issued this plea to the nation in his Second Inaugural.
"'With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up our wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all peoples.'
"Lincoln's brevity and wisdom serve us well even today.
"Our city and our residents have endured much. We have met the challenges that have been placed before us, and together we will move forward to a new and brighter day."
 |
