Chi Ossé
City Council District 36: Chi Ossé:
Neighborhoods: Bedford Stuyvesant, Crown Heights
What’s At Stake:
Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights have long been dominated by machine politics, with establishment candidates often elected by virtue of low voter turnout. A large chunk of the district overlaps with that of State Senator Jabari Brisport, who was elected on a groundswell of progressive voices in the neighborhood. Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights are hungry for progressive innovation and representation and yearn for a strong voice in the City Council. The area is home to a growing queer community including many professionals, artists and gig workers (and several of Brooklyn’s favorite drag artists).
Who is Chi:
Chi grew up in Crown Heights. He has been an active figure in the Black Lives Matter movement and is the founder of the activist collective Warriors in the Garden. As the son of a prominent hip-hop attorney, Chi understands the community as a vibrant cultural epicenter, and has worked for years in NYC’s gig-entertainment economy himself. Chi promises to use the institutional power of government to help enact policies fought for by the movements he serves.
By the issues:
Chi’s campaign is based on the tenets that housing is a human right, that public safety has been failing the residents of the 36th district, and that vulnerable families need access to affordable healthcare, among other issues important for these communities that lie at the heart of a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn. Chi is committed to practical solutions like free CUNY tuition, good-paying union jobs, workers’ rights, partnership with small businesses and more. Check out more of Chi’s platform HERE.
Endorsements:
Working Families Party, CUFFH Action, Black Lives Matter PAC, LiUNA! NY, Ilana Glazer, Voters for Animal Rights and many others. Check out a list of Chi’s endorsements HERE.
Election:
6/22/21