An Open Letter to AG Letitia James:
AG James Must Recuse Herself
James at Stonewall 50 World Pride in 2019
March 19th 2022
IN THE MATTER OF: Lopez v Hochul et al. Index No. 781- 22
Open Letter To Opposing Counsel, New York State Attorney General Letitia James: A.G. James Must Recuse Herself.
Dear Attorney General James,
I am sending this letter to you as opposing counsel in Lopez v Hochul, but also, as one of the staunchest allies of the TLGBQ+ Community. This letter is meant to convince you to recuse yourself of the Lopez v Hochul et al.
Your reason for recusing yourself? What are these conflicts of interest, you ask? Well, the first being the easiest: You must recuse yourself, Madam Attorney General because after reading this letter, you’re going to sign a petition in support of halting construction at Gansevoort Peninsula. The petition (attached) cites figures such as Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P Johnson, and their connection to
this location, as reasons it must be protected under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and New York State Historic Preservation Act of 1980, respectively. Once you sign the petition, you can no longer represent Governor Hochul or any other state agency in this matter.
The second conflict of interest to speak of is the fact that from a social, familial perspective, we are too close for your office to be objective in defending the Governor. Carter-here! My grandfather was like a second father to you, right? At one time weren’t you even our (Carter) family attorney? There is certainly a conflict here, with regards to your level of closeness to grandpa and the Carter-Clan. These conflicts only recently became apparent to me. After giving the matter some thought while preparing for court on Monday, I realized that in any other situation (if you were not indeed the Attorney General) you, Letitia James, would have been the first elected official I would have turned to for help, and to sign this petition.
Grandpa Carter and James
The whole TLGBQ+ community knows where your heart lies: with us. Certainly, your decades of work defending Black and Brown TLGBQ+ issues while on NYC Council; supporting organizations such as POCC, and GMAD, as well as your unwavering support for my personal transition as a teenager, after grandpa introduced me to you as his granddaughter, present multiple conflicts of interest. Whether they be legal, moral, or ethical in nature, you are certainly convicted in this matter. I mean, you wrote grandpa’s obituary for crying out loud, and you rarely miss a Pride event (remember that time…?). What would grandpa say, ma’am, if he knew you were aiding attempts to erase Black and Brown TLGBQ history? He would not be happy. I’ll tell you that.
You, of all people, know how hard grandpa fought for Black-Power, and for community control and access to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. If he were still with us, I imagine he’d call you over to his ‘office’ on Auburn Place in Fort Greene Brooklyn, for a chat, and he would convince you to sign this petition, and then to step aside as opposing counsel. He’d tell you to join the community, where your roots are strongest; where you belong.
Lopez v Hochul was filed as an article 78 Proceeding in Albany Supreme Court (as an OSC) and is asking a judge to set aside the state’s decision to ignore and erase certain vital American TLGBQ+ history, along the waterfront within Hudson River Park.
Current plans for the development of the area were dreamed up by conservative (cis white men) up in Albany in 1999 as part of the Hudson River Park Act. These plans completely ignore the area’s well-documented Black, TGNC history (and the state's legal obligation to preserve it). Neither the public nor members of the TGNC community were ever provided a fair opportunity to participate in the public input process which the state (via the Hudson River Park Trust) utilized to approve these plans. The idea that minority groups and communities were provided an opportunity to have our voices heard, whether it be in the 90s, or when the plans for the area were green-lit once more several years ago, is absurd, and you know it. These plans for Hudson River Park, between Christopher Street and Gansevoort Peninsula are the result of GOP leadership, from a bygone era, and are intended to erase Black, Brown, TLGBQ+ history, not uplift or preserve it. TGNC individuals were not even granted special protections under New York State’s Human Rights Law until 2019 (the AG’s Office wants the court to believe that TGNC people were considered and consulted in the 90s? Seriously?).
From a historical perspective, there is no doubt that these individuals and communities which were once forced to the margins of the West Village (calling the Piers home) such as members of the TGNC community and Ballroom have had real and lasting impacts on humanity, history, art, culture, and the law. Plans for the area which ignore these facts, individuals, and history, contradict the legislative intent behind state and federal historic preservation law and are unlawful. Hence the lawsuit.
At one time this area was the safest place in America, for certain members of the TLGBQ+ community. For decades before the passage of the Hudson River Park Act, members of the TLGBQ+ community would travel from far and wide, from different boroughs and other states in the Union, just to get here, ‘the Piers'. From Christopher Street, headed West towards the water, they would walk. Across the highway (the water always in sight), smiles and greetings all the way, they’d walk, till they were “home”. They did this for generations, years before cell phones and the internet, and now new generations of TLGBQ folk continue this tradition today. The walk Westward on Christopher Street, towards “home”. Enter Paris is Burning, and the award-winning POSE on FX.
As Sylvia Rivera’s adopted daughter I have won multiple landmark cases on behalf of TGNC individuals, including Jean Doe v Bell (2002) Lopez v Mattingly (2007); Lopez v DHS (2021). These cases have helped create a better world for TGNC individuals. These cases were not possible without the history bestowed on me through this place: the Piers. This place gave me a connection to my ancestors that blood cannot. I intend to win this case as well, by simply declaring this history. No legal gymnastics. No fancy lawyering. Just the facts.
In 2012 the organization I now run called STARR convinced a senior ADA at the New York County District Attorney’s Office (Warren Murray) to re-open the cold case investigation into the death of Marsha P Johnson, which led to the documentary film The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson. It is through this advocacy work, that I later learned that Marsha P Johnson perished after entering the Hudson River near or at what is now called Gansevoort Peninsula on or about July 5th, 1992.
Veterans of the Stonewall uprising such as Jim Fourat, as well as award-winning director and filmmaker David France (behind the film Death and Life..), have joined the TGNC community in calling on officials for more recognition and study of this history for years. FIERCE NYC was formed by Sylvia Rivera in the early 2000s, as a way for TLGBQ youth to defend their own history, within Hudson River Park, and the West Village. I was one of those youths.
This lawsuit and public petition below, are meant to put the control of the development of the space into the hands of the community and to allow for the further study and preservation of what is considered the most important piece of real estate in America, relating to Black and Brown TLGBQ+ history and culture.
Knowing you, Attorney General James (auntie), the way I do, I am confident that you will take the extraordinary step of signing this petition, and, recognizing that you cannot reconcile your numerous conflicts of interest in this matter, your office will and must recuse itself in the matter Lopez v Hochul, immediately.
https://tinyurl.com/starrpetition
Yours Truly
Mariah Lopez
PETITIONER PRO SE
PS. Here’s the obituary you wrote for grandpa back in 2011
https://patch.com/new-york/fortgreene/edward-carter-1933-2011