Putting the Grieving Families Act into perspective. Someone Died.
For us, it was Elijah.
Let’s please put the Grieving Families Act into perspective. Someone died.
Counter to what some of the most conservative amongst us suggest, it is not a giveaway to lawyers bringing suit. Someone died.
For us, it was Elijah.
In 2017, my three-year-old baby cousin Elijah Silvera was given a grilled-cheese sandwich at his pre-school, despite them knowing he had a severe allergy to dairy. They had documents from his doctor, the Department of Education, and his parents that highlighted his allergy to dairy. They had documents from his Individual Education Plan with handwritten notes in big letters across, “NO MILK!” Still, they gave him a grilled cheese sandwich, and he went into anaphylactic shock, they did not call 9–1–1, and he died. He was three years old! Three. Years. Old.
What does New York’s current state law say the life of a Black boy from Harlem is worth? What is Elijah’s life worth? Want to know? Approximately $13,000 a year. That’s what folks are arguing current law suggests — that in the State of New York, Elijah’s life, had he lived (and in death), is worth less than Governor Hochul’s salary during her term.
That’s not a slap on the wrist. That’s business as usual.
If insurance premiums need to rise to keep people alive, let them rise. Valuing someone’s life at $13,000 a year isn’t going to change anything! And more and more people will die. No, more and more people of color, low-income, and marginalized people will die.
Governor Hochul says she’s a champion of the most marginalized communities. If so, please sign this bill.
Signing the Grieving Families Act is a way to say Elijah’s life was worth more than $13,000 a year. It’s a way of saying that families, and in this instance, my family, live with the grief every day knowing that Elijah’s light — his bright and beautiful life — was snuffed out because someone didn’t take his concern, his need, seriously. For them, their insurance company would cover any neglect resulting in a three-year old boy losing his life, and their premium will remain the manageable cost of doing business.
Governor, the Grieving Families Act is a way of saying Elijah’s life at three years old is just as valuable as Caitlin or William’s life was at three years old. It’s a way of saying the pain and suffering we feel and live with daily matters just as much to our government as it would matter to you had you endured this unfortunate reality with your children.
It’s a way of saying that New York is not a racist and classist state, a state that says a Black boy from Harlem’s life is worth less than a White girl’s from Buffalo.
It’s a way of saying that we, as a state, you as our Governor, and we, as human beings, believe all New Yorkers’ lives matter.
The Grieving Families Act is designed to keep people alive. It’s an effort to enshrine the fear of God into law in order to prevent organizations and entities from continuing to be careless and reckless with people’s lives. Opponents of this bill are arguing for the continued neglect. Without consequences nothing will change and people (poor, black, brown, and marginalized people) will continue to die.
This is a bill about one thing — keeping people alive.
NOTE: Where am I getting $13,000 a year from? That’s the actual number suggested by defense attorneys based on the notion that Elijah is Black, from Harlem, and (had he not died) would have a life expectancy into his 70s.
