Democratic candidate for the office of public advocate in the city of New York: Sidique Wai. SJ Dodgson. MJoTA 2013 v7n2 p0804
The single candidate from the continent of Africa who threw his hat into the ring for public advocate is being ignored in newspaper accounts, round tables, town hall meetings, endorsements. Mr Sidique Wai. What is going on?
Mr Wai told me on Sep 3 2012, during the West Indian Day Parade, that he was running for the position during 2013.
He filed his papers on Feb 1st, and during a fund raiser in the Bronx for the orphans cared for by the daughter of Rwanda Marie Claudine Mukamabano, we all celebrated enthusiastically.
Uncle Sidique is in the race, he has never left it, he has had a series of fund-raisers and has a presence in social media, and an active campaign team. And yet he remains invisible.
I was looking at endorsements for the office of the mayor of New York City in an attempt to try to decide who to endorse as publisher of the MJoTA sites. I cannot decide.
Of the Democratic candidates, one is clearly on the side of the rich folks who bring wealth and jobs to New York City; one is clearly in the side of the middle class who do most of the work; and the third is clearly in the side of the poor and the immigrants, who do the sludge work so the rich can stay rich and the middle class can remain solidly bourgeois. So I am staying out of that.
Looking over the endorsements for a politically involved and savvy group, the Three Parks Independent Democrats, I saw that they listed the Democratic candidates for all political offices and endorsed a candidate someone for each, including public advocate. On May 9. Fully 3 months after Uncle Sidique declared his candidacy, and at least 2 months after he showed up on the official New York City financial disclosure site as a candidate for public advocate. His name was not mentioned, and another candidate was endorsed by the group.
An article in the Wall Street Journal in July 26 talks about 4 candidates for public advocate, but does not mention Sidique Wai.
Not only should Mr Wai be mentioned, because he is a bona fide candidate, but he is the best candidate for the position.
Sidique Wai's background makes him uniquely qualified for the position of public advocate.
He has a long history as community leader in New York, as right-hand-man on African concerns to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, as the brother of the man who had a long career in the United Nations who had a good shot at becoming president of Sierra Leone if death had not suddenly intervened (I was in Sierra Leone with Sidique Wai's family when Uncle Alfred died, and all of Sierra Leone stopped to grieve).
Mr
Wai is a prince in his native Sierra Leone, he is also the father of
murdered sons, and the son of a mother who died in child-birth. He is an
immigrant, a professional, a social worker and a friend of ambassadors, and national
leaders.
Mr
Wai understands the poor and immigrant, he understands the middle
class, and he understands the rich in ways that the other candidates
cannot imagine.
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Picture: above, Mr Sidique Wai with his niece, Mrs Zainab Wai-Lansana. Mrs Wai-Lansana is a health worker in King's County College, and a Sierra Leonean community activist. (She is also a terrific cook and a dear friend of Dr Susanna.)
Picture below, Mr Wai addresses Fordham University on the 50th anniversary of the independence of Sierra Leone from the UK.
Bottom picture, Mr Wai shares a joke with NYC Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly during the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn, 2012.
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Son of Sierra Leone, Sidique Wai, advocates for all in New York. MJoTA v7n1 p0201 click here
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From the public advocate page of NYC government:
"The job of the Public Advocate is, most fundamentally, that of a
watchdog, ensuring that all New Yorkers receive the City services they
deserve and have a voice in shaping the policies of their government.
As
an ex-officio member of all Council committees with the power to
introduce legislation, the Public Advocate is an important participant
in the legislative process. Through the office's powers of appointment,
the Public Advocate also influences City planning, the budget process,
and the management of retirement funds."
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And yet he is invisible in the press and to well-meaning groups who are seeking to determine who is who.
Is this the mirror image of racial profiling? Why is he ignored?
Why
is Mr Wai, this man of great stature, or great importance to both the
city of New York and the police commissioner, the invisible African?
Let us turn this around.
Tell everyone you know that Mr Wai is running for public advocate.
Tell them at church, in the mosque, at temple, at meeting, at the shops, on the internet through Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter.
Mr Sidique Wai has given his life, his whole life, to community service. Help him serve everyone in New York City by nominating him as the Democratic candidate for public advocate of New York City.
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