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Feature: Black History Month spotlight: Fearless. Who is Tish James?
1 Who is Letitia James?
James was born on October 18, 1958, and grew up in Brooklyn. Known as “Tish,” she graduated from Lehman College and Howard University School of Law before launching her career as a public defender at The Legal Aid Society. Legal Aid is the largest, most influential social justice law firm in New York City. She serves as Attorney General, and has been in office since January 1, 2019. “With decades of work, she is an experienced attorney and public servant with a long record of accomplishments,” reads her bio.
Her Twitter handle is: @TishJames
“Tish” is a fairly common nickname for Patricia or Leticia.
a public defender 国選弁護人 a lawyer who represents indigent defendants at public expense (公費で貧しい被告人の代理人となる弁護士) social justice 社会正義、社会的公正
Attorney General司法長官 be in office 役職につく、在職している
attorney —–弁護士 (法務専門家・lawyer の専門性を高めた人・弁護士として開業資格がある人・訴訟を行う・または弁護するときに法廷での代理人)
public servant 公務員
現在彼女は司法長官ですが、2019年1月1日からこの役職についています。「何十年もの経験を持つ法務専門家であり、皆さんのために働く公務員として長い実績があります。」とプロフィールに書かれています。 ツイッターのハンドルネームは@TishJames です。
＊Lehman College ニューヨーク市立大学リーマン校 (Lehman College of The City University of New York) は、ニューヨーク市ブロンクス区にある公立総合大学である。ニューヨーク市立大学システムの一つ。1931年にニューヨーク市立大学ハンター校のブロンクス・キャンパスとして創立されたのが起源。1968年に独立しニューヨーク市立大学リーマン校となる。(出典Wikipedia)
＊ハワード大学（ハワードだいがく、Howard University）は、ワシントンD.C.に所在するアメリカ合衆国の私立大学。1867年創立。全米屈指の名門歴史的黒人大学である。黒人がアイビーリーグに入学出来なかった時代における「黒人のハーバード」であり、現在でも全米最高峰の黒人大学であるが、白人系やアジア系の学生も入学できる。多くのアメリカの黒人パワーエリートを輩出した。カマラ・ハリス米国副大統領の出身校としても知られる。(出典Wikipedia)
＊Howard University’s student body is currently 72% black of African-American.
If you visit this webpage you can scroll down and see their demographics. https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/howard-university/student-life/diversity/#overall_diversity
2 Fearless
According to Bloomberg News, she scored a series of legal victories over the Donald Trump administration, including housing discrimination. We admire her bravery for pursuing cases against some of America’s most prominent and powerful public figures. “She’s fearless.” She’s made headlines and garnered attention as a Social Justice Democrat. Her reports and investigations into Cuomo and Trump have solidified her reputation for holding the powerful accountable.
legal victory over ～に対する法的勝利 housing discrimination 住宅差別 －－－“Every New Yorker deserves equal opportunities in housing, regardless of gender, race, nationality, or their faith. Today and every day, I stand with all communities against hate and discrimination, which will not be tolerated in New York state.” make headlinesメディアで大きく報道される；新聞で大見出しとしてとりあげらる solidify 固める hold accountable 責任を負う, 責任を持つ holding the powerful accountable 強力な説明責任を持つ（このフレーズではaccountabilityではない,cf. hold accountable）
2 Allegations against Governor Andrew Cuomo that led to his resignation
On August 3, 2021 James announced that an independent investigation found New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is by the way son of former long-time New York Governor Mario Cuomo, sexually harassed 11 current and former staffers. James also accused governor Cuomo of cultivating a “toxic workplace,” making employees afraid of speaking out. This toxic workplace made employees fearful of coming forward with complaints about misconduct, and that enabled harassment to occur. The furor and bombardment by the press forced Cuomo into submission. When Cuomo announced he was quitting, he blamed the investigation and the media for paralyzing the governor’s office, saying “the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing.” He never confronted the workplace problems that were exposed — no pun intended.
Hochul said, “No one will ever describe my administration as a toxic work environment.”
misconduct 不正行為、The furor and bombardment by the press マスメディアによる大騒ぎと砲撃 submission 【名】 降伏、服従 force someone into submission （人）を力ずくで屈服させる confront 向い合う No pun intended. しゃれのつもりではなかったのです。
Links:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/23/politics/kathy-hochul-new-york-governor/index.html
https://www.the-sun.com/news/2430286/letitia-james-new-york-attorney-general-cuomo/
https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2021/08/12/meet-new-boss-hochul-becomes-governor-cuomo-resign/
Notes: Thoughts on Andrew Cuomo [音声はありません。]
Cuomo resigned last year after dealing with multiple controversies, including accusations that he sexually harassed multiple women who worked for him.
“New York tough means New York loving, and I love New York and I love you,” Cuomo said at the time. “I would never want to be unhelpful in any way, and I think given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing, and therefore, that’s what I’ll do.” Those are nice words, but facts speak louder. And if your only source of information is CNN then you could be excused for missing some really important stuff:
In Kathy Hochul’s first remarks as the governor-in-waiting, on August 11, she stiff-armed Cuomo, promising to ditch any of his aides “named as doing anything unethical” in state Attorney General Letitia James’ report as part of her efforts to remake a notoriously noxious executive chamber. Hochul said, “No one will ever describe my administration as a toxic work environment.” Hochul’s ascent coincides with the final act of Cuomo’s decade-long run in charge of New York state, a period in which he ruthlessly consolidated power and become a national political star. During the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, his daily televised briefings won him the adoration of Democrats across the country, who held Cuomo up as the fact-driven antithesis of then-President Donald Trump. But he burned out spectacularly in the months that followed, when a closer look at his handling of the crisis revealed questionable decision-making — most notably his administration’s decision to send Covid-19 patients back to nursing homes — and put a spotlight on his misuse of state money to write a book, his personal memoir, about his experiences. noxious 有害な, 健康に悪い ( harmful ) 不快な stiff-arm タックルを腕で防ぐ executive chamber重役室 ruthlessly情け容赦なく consolidate 統合する、固める、強化する spectacularly見事に
Andrew Cuomo is the son of previous Governor Mario Cuomo who served for three full terms in the 1983 and 1994! Bascially here’s a guy who was born into New York political royalty. One of the longest-serving Govenor’s in modern history. When Andrew served, he didn’t have anything special to his governorship until Covid came around. Andrew Cuomo was an obstructionist who did everything in his power to block NYC Mayor DiBlasio’s progress — Cuomo’s jealousy and some vague personal feud was out in the open. It was known publicly. Cuomo’s political ascent as well as his brother Chris’s job at CNN is the kind of nepotism that unfortunately New York is famous for. By 2021 it was obvious how the two brothers colluded and were exposed staging fake Covid news. Their father must be rolling in his grave. And so that’s the real reason why New Yorkers are happy to see the new mayor Eric Adams and an Attorney General like Tish James run for Governor — people want true public servants who understand adversity and want to make things better, not just become richer and more famous like the Cuomo brothers. obstructionist妨害する人 feud 確執,不和 nepotism ネポティズム 縁故主義ともいう。 地縁、血縁、仲間など縁故者を身びいきする。colluded結託する,共謀する be rolling in one’s grave 墓の中で怒り狂っている
