07/14/2025
“Ain’t I a Woman?”:
A Call to Protect Black Women, Democracy, and the Soul of Mount Vernon
Dear Mount Vernon,
We are at a critical crossroads, not just as a city, but as a community of conscience. For too long, Black women have stood on the front lines of service, sacrifice, and strength only to be left vulnerable when they need our protection the most.
Now, one day after we marked the 10-year anniversary of Sandra Bland who was stopped for a minor traffic infraction and died alone in a Texas jail, we must ask ourselves: Have we learned anything?
We must protect Black women! Not just in words, but in action.
And here in Mount Vernon, that begins with standing up for all our Black women, including our trailblazing Mayor, Shawyn Patterson-Howard. As the first black woman elected mayor in Westchester County, and only the second in New York State history, she is a mother, a pastor, and a tireless public servant.
Her life has been devoted to uplifting others, from comforting AIDS patients in her youth, those once neglected by society, to housing the homeless at the YMCA in Yonkers as its previous executive director, to starting to rebuild the systems of Mount Vernon today.
Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard’s achievements speak not only to her leadership, but to a deeply rooted commitment to transformative justice. Under her guidance, Mount Vernon is witnessing a rebirth—not just in spirit, but in infrastructure. A brand-new youth facility is rising on MacQuesten Parkway to serve a historically underserved corridor. At the Doles Center, nearly $3 million is being invested to create a modern Youth Center that will empower our city’s next generation. The Fourth Street Playground has will be redesigned to welcome families and nurture safe spaces for children.
Citywide, parks and green spaces are being revitalized, reconnecting neighborhoods long separated by disinvestment. The once-neglected Armory is slated to be rebuilt and reimagined as a vibrant hub for seniors and civic life. In place of a shuttered Bed Bath & Beyond, a Fun City family entertainment center is bringing joy and economic activity back to the community.
Meanwhile, the opening of a Floor & Décor store is transforming a former Stop & Shop site into a space for job creation and neighborhood revitalization.
But perhaps no single project speaks more to the long-overdue reckoning with injustice than the $160 million in sewer infrastructure upgrades, secured in partnership with Governor Kathy Hochul. For generations, our city’s Black and brown communities have lived with flooded basements, sewage backups, and dangerous neglect—hallmarks of environmental racism. Now, thanks to two women who understand the urgency of investing in equity and the power of partnering with Black women, that neglect is being addressed.
This is what real leadership and real change looks like.
These are not cosmetic improvements. They are tangible responses to systemic failures, and they reflect a broader truth: Black women have long been the soul of the Democratic Party, the conscience of this country, and the architects of progress when others have faltered. From the voting booth to the front lines of social movements, it is Black women who have lifted this nation when it stumbled and corrected its course when it strayed.
More than 170 years ago, Sojourner Truth posed a question to a divided country:
“Ain’t I a woman?”
That question still reverberates in our institutions, our policies, and our silence. When we fail to protect Black women, we are not merely failing them, we are betraying the very ideals of democracy, justice, and shared humanity.
And yet… old poisons remain. Misogyny still stalks our politics. Racism still lurks in our institutions. The double burden of being Black and woman still bears down hardest on her.
Let’s be honest: this isn’t mere political opposition—it’s political exploitation.
A white man recently moved to Mount Vernon, NY from Seattle—someone unfamiliar with the heart of our city and has filed a baseless lawsuit, weaponizing the sexual assault of a 12-year-old Black girl for political gain, and dragging our mayor into it. This isn’t strategy. It’s savagery. And when we sit quietly by, we become its accomplice. We are no longer acting like a community.
We watched a Black woman die in police custody here. We saw another thrown into a cinderblock wall. There was no uproar. No alarm. No demand for justice.
When Mount Vernon NAACP President Kathie Brewington recently said, “Black women are not protected,” she wasn’t exaggerating. That painful truth is still staring at us—and we can't look away.
Mount Vernon, we used to stand together. Outsiders didn’t get to smear our residents. Differences could wait. We defended our own. Now, whispers and headlines have replaced loyalty and love. Where has our pride gone? Where is our courage?
Mayor Shawyn may not be perfect—no leader is. But we gave men over a century to run our city into dysfunction. Can’t we give a Black woman a chance to lead us toward healing?
As we remember Sandra Bland—who, if alive, would be 38 today, we must see the connections: her story and ours. She was bright, ambitious, full of promise. And we lost her to injustice. Now, in our own city, a different kind of lynching is taking place. Let’s be crystal clear:
Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard did not request this letter. She did not write it. We wrote it because we had to. Enough is enough.
If we don’t stand up now, we’ll lose our identity, our legacy, and our soul.
Mount Vernon is on the rise—but only if we rise together.
Let this be our turning point. Let us be remembered as the city that protected its daughters, uplifted its Black voices, and honored those brave enough to lead.
Also, be clear: we will not apologize for this tone, and there is more to come. But it will come through action.
In love, in truth, and in resistance,
The Rise Up Mount Vernon Team
