Silvia's Peace

I come on behalf of Silvia asking for support. My friend Silvia is such a hard-working, compassionate and giving soul, a NYC artist. Since COVID-19 impacted all of our lives and social distancing became a mandate, Silvia’s income was depleted like so many others. She was not entitled to any stimulus money or unemployment support. She has not been able to pay rent where she has done so consistently for the past six years, which has upset her as she takes pride in having her affairs in order. Even worse, her inability to pay now during the pandemic has created a violent and dangerous living environment between her and the owner of the apartment. She believed that over the past six years, they had established a solid relationship, but has seen in the midst of this adversity that there wasn’t much substance. Since April 13th, she has been constantly harassed for rent money that she does not have, as there is NO source of income.  She has been followed to the store to see if she has money for “groceries” but not for “rent”. She is constantly subjected to hearing the owner and his family use racial slurs as it relates to the Black Lives Matter and protests happening now. Most importantly, she does not feel safe and records when engaging in conversations with her fellow tenants as a means of protection. And so she seeks a proactive way to resolve this conflict-which up until now has seemed to be impossible.  

The landlord and wife started a confrontation with Silvia about rent money which resulted in Silvia calling the police. She hoped that they would help mediate the living situation and prevent violence from becoming a result of an already highly tense and racially insensitive environment. They spoke to the couple and explained that no one can be evicted in New York City right now.  When Silvia mentioned the racial slurs that she is subjected to, the police did not address this at all and redirected energy into telling both parties separately to “avoid each other”. It should be mentioned that the other tenants and the police officers were of the same ethnicity and the officers biasly placated to the tenants instead of expressing that racist language should not be used.  I asked the police to have Silvia and the tenants come to some agreement in front of the police and each other so that everyone would be on the same page-as best as possible, considering. The wife left the conversation and said that she was not interested. The husband complied and they both agreed to not engage with each other. However, not much has changed. Silvia still feels unsafe, is still subjected to racial slurs, and is still harassed about rent.

Silvia understands that we’re all going through right now but if you can lend any type of financial/ legal support, it would be greatly appreciated. This will support her in starting anew, safely, and without these worries.  She is asking for 9, 825 dollars to secure a new apartment. We thank you in advance for every thought, word, gift and prayer.

https://youtu.be/90jOix2sfLI