The Anatomy of Change: A New Yorker's Tale of Activism, Advocacy, and the Battle for Progress

By Olivia Rawiel

Where does change come from? Is it an idea? An action? A protest? 

These are the questions that ring through the streets of New York City.

When asked about what could be different, most New Yorkers simply shrug their shoulders and admit submission to what is already the norm of the city. Why change what is already famous for being a crap-hole, filled with hotdog carts, sky scrapers, and tourist traps? Most do not wish to disturb the everlasting patterns and revolving cycles of city life, because to do so would mean risking losing more of what is already being lost to centuries of gentrification and capitalism. 

But, what most New Yorkers don’t realize is that change is not analogous with the negative aurora that many people admit the city already possesses. Change is what built the city from the ground up. It is what continues to encourage New York to reach forward with its long curling fingers into the future, inspiring the rest of the world to follow in its thundering footsteps. And there are many that can testify to this. 

One person in particular is Council Member Rita Joseph, a Haitian activist and foster mother, who continues to answer the call of public service so that New York may grow instead of whither like so many ‘empires’ before it. 

Having immigrated from Haiti at a young age, Ms. Joseph herself is the product of the NYC Public School system, where she later started her career as a teacher. But before that, her life of advocacy began at just 19 years old, when she organized her first rally consisting of more than 150,000 participants. She hosted this protest with the group she founded called Haitian Enforcement Against Racism, in defiance of the FDA’s discriminatory “bad blood” rules, which prevented people of Haitian descent from donating blood. Ms. Joseph was extremely unsettled by these regulations and in an interview with the HSES Eagle Eye added: 

“Let's say one of my relatives got sick, I wouldn't be able to donate blood to save their lives.”

The “bad blood” rules also included hemophiliacs, gay men, and sub saharan Africans. Because of this rally, the FDA consequently relaxed their restrictions on blood donation, commencing the astonishing start of Ms. Joseph's career. 

“So that's where it all started and the advocacy hasn't stopped.” She stated.  

When asked about her ability to create such a large movement at such a young age, she mentions her use of grassroot level activism and elaborates on its details. 

“We went to churches,” she explains, “we were in the streets giving out flyers, doing town hall meetings and emphasizing how important this is going to be and how it was going to impact future generations if we don't speak up.” 

Ms. Joseph portrays the power of using her voice, especially when it feels like no one else will. But, what's even more important is the community that's being united through that vocalization. By sharing her thoughts, she implies that the people around her are worthy of change and can be expected to contribute to the impact started by a single person.

In a clear representation of this idea, Ms. Joseph “knocked on 32 thousand doors” as a campaign strategy, so that she could show how she was not above the people, but part of them.  

“I was an educator who was doing good stuff in her school and saw that the seat needed to be filled with a community member, no one attached to any political dynasty.” She stated when referring to her beginnings as a council member. 

When her teaching career began, she went to District 22, an affluent district, where Rita herself went to school as a child. 

“I saw that the schools that I was teaching at didnt have the same resources that I grew up having, so that's where the internal thing started.” she explained.

 This is how she found her resourcefulness in partnerships. Connecting with the people around her, working with neighbors and schools and government officials to create a better environment for the kids. 

This idea echoes across the rest of her career, emphasizing how what you look like or what neighborhood you're in should never determine what kind of future you have. 

“I've always said that where you go to school, your zip code should not determine what your school looks like and what kind of activities you have in your school.” 

This adds to the consistent pattern of speaking up, even when it feels like you might be the only one. 

“Don't be afraid.” Ms. Joseph explains. “Reach out for partnerships. Reach out to the electives. Not only when you have a problem, but say ‘hey, look at my schools’, ‘invest in the schools’. If you are to say young people are the future, we must invest in them; historical investments. Not just a few dollars here and there.” 

This level of commitment should be the foundation of New York City; not some wishy-washy prefix of promises that have no resolve. We are in a society that is laden with lazy politicians willing to swipe away responsibilities in the face of justice. People in power who are more concerned with how they look in the media than with their own real purpose as an alleged community member. So many people these days forget that they are not just some onlooker judging the world as it unfolds before them. But, by living in civilized society, they are actually part of their environment, alive and blooming, consistently included in its evolution and decline. 

Additionally, Ms. Joseph's role as a foster mom has inspired her even further to advocate for change.

“I was fighting for my boys,” she remarks. “I adopted my two young boys from foster care and it's also been important to me, [because] when I entered to become a council member, there was no office in the NYC public school system to support students in foster care. And that was very important to me. So we created that office.” 

Because of her, there are now far more resources for children raised by foster care than ever before. She also created a bill that gives data on people in the foster care system, charting things like whether they have IEPs, where they live, what gender and ethnicity they are, and more. 

Consequently, Ms. Joseph also baselined something called Fair Futures, which is a movement that supports students in foster care up until the age of 26. 

“The state drops them at 21. So we wanna make sure they have investments. For tutoring, college, job placement, housing, all of the things that are various for students in foster care.” She explains. 

All of this information connects to Mayor Eric Adams’ recent move to defund public education. This includes a 100 million dollar cut in January for schools all around New York. This is following a five percent budget cut already established in November of 2023. Consequently, the teachers union sued Eric Adams to put a stop to the downsizing of NYC public schools, an already depleting system in the city. 

When asked about her thoughts concerning the mayor's actions, Ms. Joseph says, 

“It was unnecessary, because we found the money in the budget and the council is calling for him not to cut education money.” 

What Mayor Adams plans to do, completely undermines everything Rita Joseph and the citizens of NYC have fought so hard to protect. It is only the beginning of unraveling the long and complex web that holds the city afloat from falling into the politically shambled abyss below. Without public education funding, schools can regress, leading to a lack of thriving communities and integrated cultures–values that are critical in school settings.

“We’re calling on the mayor.” Ms. Joseph preaches. “When he ran he said if we don’t educate, we will incarcerate. So we cannot take away investments from young people.” 

Her voice and history of activism is proof of how vital change is to our city, our home. If reform is not consistent, it will come to a fiery halt and New York will suffer the consequences. 

And this would not be the first time.  

“I’ve been doing the work before,” Ms. Joseph elaborates, “especially with whenever there's turmoil in the country. You know we’re Haitian Americans, so right now there's turmoil. There's a huge influx of migrants because there's political instability in their homeland, so they're looking for refuge. When people are like ‘oh my god!’, I say this is not new. We’ve seen this before. This is a cycle. Every ten years there's always a huge migration, immigration that comes because they’re looking for a better life.” 

This is simply more proof of how advocacy is continuous in its venture for justice and balance. 

So, when you stop to ask yourself the question of whether or not it really matters, let me answer that for you: It does.

We can conclude with the notion that nobody is allowed to hinder the change that is owed to you as a member of your community. Only you can keep the city running. Only you can keep it alive.