For the roughly 100 people in attendance at the powerful rally to support New York State Attorney General Letitia James held at St. Catherine’s Church on November 22, the fact that the charges against her were dropped the next day came as no surprise. Aisha Cook, president of the New Rochelle chapter of the NAACP, who led the event, said “I’ve been telling everyone the judge saw us!”  The full video of the program can be seen here.

Organized by the Westchester chapters of the NAACP, the rally featured one inspiring speaker after another. The first was Janice Griffith, president of the White Plains/Greenburgh NAACP chapter (8:45), who quoted Malcom X’s speech from 63 years ago: “The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.” And then Griffith added, “and also, the most underestimated,” to shouts of approval from the audience.

Griffith was followed by New Rochelle Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert (14:45), who spoke of the personal support she has received from James, as well as James’s importance as a role model. She also thanked the various NAACP chapters for bringing so many people  together for this event. Ramos-Herbert was followed by a host of elected officials, including State Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (26:38), State Senator Shelley Mayer (33:00), State Assembly member Steve Otis (35:48), Ken Jenkins (38:50), and US Congress member George Latimer (18:00). All praised AG James for her hard work, her commitment to the truth, and her fearlessness in the face of persecution, and encouraged the attendees to keep on protesting the growing injustice in government.

Speakers at rally for Tish James (clockwise from upper left): Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins, New Rochelle NAACP President Aisha Cook, State Senator Shelley Mayer, New Rochelle Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert, State Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins

Stewart-Cousins was eloquent in her description of people like herself, AG James, President Obama, County Executive Jenkins, and Governor Hochul, all of whom, she said, are playing historic roles. And she noted that the current administration in Washington is clearly uncomfortable with Blacks and women having “too many seats at the table.” 

The elected officials were followed by Tiffany Hamilton, CEO of the White Plains YWCA (45:30), who spoke about how this moment in history is shaped by race and gender – and how women have always stood on the front lines, where “we are expected to show strength but are rarely protected.”

Each of the chapter presidents was introduced and spoke briefly about the importance of the event in bringing people together so theyknow theyare not alone in theirconcerns. After a closing prayer, the group marched to City Hall, chanting “Hands Off Tish James!”