Many people have asked me why I want to be the next Local 1000 President, and the simple answer is that I want to honor my mother, a single mother who worked tremendously hard to provide for me against all of the odds in a poverty-stricken, crime- and drug-infested environment that lacked jobs, hope and long-term happiness. Often, people in my community adopted a defeatist attitude: they did not fight to get a job or honorably serve this country in the military; they did not go to college or learn a viable trade; and they did not exercise their right to vote to change our living conditions. They simply gave up on life and on themselves.

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Some of these people, looking only to enrich themselves, consistently took advantage of my mother’s lack of education and naiveté in her willingness to believe in the goodness in all people. More significantly, the primary reason for their deceitful treatment of my mother was due to her mental illness. She was diagnosed in her early twenties as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. Because of her mental illness, my mother was vulnerable and frequently became the victim of broken promises concerning living arrangements and financial matters, which often caused us to move from place to place. Deceptive and cunning individuals would first gain my mother’s respect and trust, then borrow substantial sums of money or monthly rent, which they would never repay. Sometimes, they would simply evict us after getting my mother’s hard-earned rent money.

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After repeatedly seeing these same broken financial promises, I promised my mother I would always fight against injustice, insincerity, and broken promises and that I would help protect the innocent. I believe in my heart that our Union needs honesty and transparency, sincere integrity, and vision to ensure long-term visibility for our represented members. This is why I want to be the next Local 1000 President.