RADICAL LANGUAGE JUSTICE IN NYC

For New Yorkers who speak a language other than English, the availability of translation services and materials is a matter of life and death — especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccine and testing sites, and contact tracing services lack adequate translation services and materials, putting frontline workers who don’t speak English further at risk. Some of the most linguistically diverse neighborhoods in Brooklyn, including Kensington, had the highest number of COVID-19 cases. Language inaccessibility does not just pervade the healthcare system: from voter registration hotlines lacking advertised translation services, to the failures of remote learning for multilingual and English language learners, New York City urgently needs radical language justice. 

The premise for radical language justice in our city is simple: no one will be abandoned, no one is left behind in their share of fair and equitable care. Immigration status and language ability should not be barriers to accessing critical city services and support — yet, despite Local Law 30, Local Law 73, Executive Order 120, and Executive Order 26, the majority of non-English speaking New Yorkers do not receive the services agencies are mandated to provide. In Shahana’s role as Director of Organizing and Community Engagement in the office of Council Member Brad Lander, she helped Bangla-speaking families fill out requests for remote learning devices, and interfacing between school administration and families who needed to communicate with one another. Her work supporting non-English speaking families during this crisis made it even more clear that this translation work must be embedded in the way we co-design, develop, and fund programs.