- Born in Flushing, NY, on April 20, 1988.
My mom emigrated to this country when she was younger, with her family at age 15, my father, later at 25. Both of them arrived from Guyana. My mother was a legal secretary, here, and my father was a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Guyana. He later took jobs he was overqualified for just so he could have an income, and slowly but surely moved up, later working at SGI, and then IBM. He always said he was a "systems engineer" -- and that's really why it's important, because he inadvertently instilled the ability to view things from this perspective, into me, while bringing me up. My mother instilled in me creativity. She also taught me to explain things as if explaining it to an alien or martian... that stuck with me and helps me break down complex ideas in engineering to simple explanations for clients, and would help me connect with voters as well as write and sponsor good legislation.
Trust me as a family we had our fair share of conflicts and culture shock growing up as well. I had a more American Identity, whereas even though my father assimilated he was a Guyanese Muslim American -- he still felt like his "American-ness" was being questioned, as if he was less American than anyone else. I guess growing up I still want to see the American dream be true -- otherwise why leave a tropical South American paradise? It's got amazing weather and actual Amazon rain forests. The reason was bad policy. A place rich in natural resources was falling apart because of bad policy, lack of infrastructure, and, at the time, rampant white collar crime and corruption. I learned from that...
- I support a strong Made In America economy. I support the American Makerspace Movement -- A makerspace in each town like libraries. Imagine checking out tools like you check out books at the library. Some things that can't be checked out would be on premises only for safety and practicality, like how we had shop class in schools... It would allow the general public to access basic means of production, and spur entrepreneurship.
- I support a strong American Education system. I would want to make sure we provide freedom of information, the press, the internet etc, all so that we can build a strong informational infrastructure, and perhaps even EMP resistant, along with working to increase the availability of research and sba/sbir contracts for stem and women and minority owned businesses to support this. I would support increased funding for all schools, with priority to under-served school districts in the south shore, as well as an implementation program to ensure we use the insights gleaned from the latest research that we already fund.
- In
my district 18.5% of the population is at or below poverty. That's more
than 1 of every 6 people, and unacceptable.
In 2008 Nassau county was mentioned in Forbes as one of the affluent areas of Long Island. I remember, as a high school student back in 05 and 06 from New Hyde Park, working as a cashier at Staples (shoutout store 646) in Manhasset, overhearing people saying Nassau County was the 3rd richest county in America. I worked for 7.25 an hour. I'd set up your printer and cables, show you how to hook it up to your computer and everything. I remember bringing home about 250 a week after taxes. The wages stayed the same and in 2009 the fair market rent was 1581 a month for a 2 bedroom apartment. You need at least 2 parents to work together to barely afford rent and food. I wonder how a single parent could survive. In 2019 the fair market rent in the nassau suffolk area is $1907 per month but the minimum wage is only 11.10.
Capitalism treats Labor as a
commodity, therefore we see the rush to the bottom, in which products,
or in this case, people, cut to the lowest sale price possible.
Government is supposed to regulate and establish a floor that rises to
match the inflation of the cost of goods. Otherwise we are devaluing the
labor of the American people as well as the USD itself. I don't short
the USD I support our economy.
Thus, considering both the poverty level, and inequities between working a job 40 hours a week anywhere at whatever the minimum wage is because of capitalism's inevitable nature, (new businesses typically can't pay high wages they need to undercut competition to gain new sales) and that a human cannot afford to exist in this county or in a nearby county, I propose the following:
A Rent Control to the effect of, or a tax break for landlords that is not valid, unless:
The monthly rent = 33% of the local monthly full time minimum wage.
This is based on the 40x rule, where the renter must have an annual income
greater than or equal to 40 times the monthly rent.
- Reinstating SEC regulations like Glass Steagall. Preserving Net Neutrality.
I got inspired to run after coding for Bernie's connect.berniesanders.com app in 2016, and seeing fellow college underclassmen AOC run in Queens, after several friends and colleagues recommended me somewhat jokingly but also seriously after political discussions -- one of those "well if you know better then you should go there and show people how to do better" moments.
NY-4 is essentially Nassau County central and south shore, and our south
shore will be hit by climate change first, yet we don't have anyone from NY-4 cosponsoring the Green New Deal or other legislation to actually address the problem. I would like to change that.
I align with anything that promotes life and my people, and I understand
that being a Congressional Representative is first and foremost about representing the people.
so here I am.
Alot of candidates stand on a soap box and tell you what to think or how to live.
I'm here to listen.
