IN THE NEWS
A WSR Conversation with candidate Edafe Okporo
I didn’t grow up thinking I was going to be a politician, far from it. But, the Democratic Party has shown it is not meeting the moment.
By Gus Saltonstall, West Side Rag
No child should face a judge alone
Last month, the unthinkable was reported: a 4-year-old girl – an asylum seeker – sat in a New York courtroom with no lawyer, no parent and no one to speak on her behalf. She was one of many children facing immigration court alone in our city. The cruelty is not abstract. It’s here, now, in New York.
Where is the outrage from City Hall? Where are the emergency funds to ensure universal legal representation for children in immigration court?
Instead, we get 30- and 60-day shelter limits. We get bureaucratic cruelty wrapped in sanitized press releases
By Edafe Okporo, in City & State
Edafe Okporo gains traction in local District 7 race
Okporo said he believes that Mayor Eric Adams is “making our communities unsafe,” creating a fear among migrants that has threatened their sense of community.
“It’s triggering for me, because I am a migrant myself,” Okporo said, referencing Adams. “I came to New York City, and I was able to find a life here because the community welcomed [me], and I feel like it’s on New York for us to stop creating policies of fear for people that are coming here to try and create a life for themselves.”
Fighting against this fear remains an integral part of his advocacy and platform, Okporo said, and the resilience of Black Americans is “the thing that keeps [him] going.”
By TSEHAI ALFRED
Broadway Democrats hosts candidate forum for district 7 city council race
“In an interview with Spectator after the forum, Okporo said that the use of “eminent domain has led to a lot of displacement of a lot of Black and brown people in the community.” He said he aims to renegotiate the Community Benefits Agreement, a 50-page document signed in 2009, in which the University promises the community $180 million in benefits over 36 years. He hopes to hold Columbia accountable for its impacts on surrounding neighborhoods.”
By Evin Schwartz
Eric Adams’ State of the City address portrays him as a “people’s mayor.” But the people may disagree.
Edafe Okporo, a City Council District 7 Candidate, railed against Adams over public safety and affordability issues. “In the last three years, Mayor Adams has increased the budget for the NYPD, but not for community safety like mental health and mobile intensive vans that work. We need to actually make New York affordable for families,” said Okporo at the protest.
By Ariama C. Long
LGBTQ Advocates Work to Expand Access, Prepare Communities for Upcoming Anti-LGBTQ Agenda in Washington
“I lost my country, Nigeria, because I stood against a law that was criminalizing [LGBTQ] people like me,” Okporo continued. “I know, if elected to City Council, I will be fighting for New Yorkers.”
By Lana Leonard
Manhattan Council race heats up with entrance of refugee turned migrant advocate
“I am the example of what New York stands for: that somebody can come here and create a life for themselves,” Okporo told Gothamist in an interview ahead of his announcement Wednesday
By Giulia Heyward
Edafe Okporo, a Gay Nigerian Refugee, Could Be the First Former Asylum Seeker Elected to the NYC Council
“When we take opportunities from the most marginalized people in our society, we’re taking opportunities from all of us,” he says. “If migrants come in as dishwashers or restaurant workers, their children will get to be doctors. That is, we integrate as New Yorkers. What the mayor and other members of the City Council are trying to do is to strip us of who we are: a melting pot.”
By NICO LANG
NYC Council candidate advocates for LGBTQ refugees
They say representation is one of the best ways to lift up issues. We don’t have anyone in city hall right now who has an understanding of what it is to come to America and build a life in New York City. I hope to bring that diversity and perspective to city council,”
By Erkki Forster
LGBTQ+ Rights and Immigration Activist Edafe Okporo to Be Honored with American Heritage Award
The American Immigration Council will honor global LGBTQ+ rights activist and founder of Refuge America, Edafe Okporo, with its American Heritage Award on Friday, June 17 at the Javits Center in New York.
The award recognizes the talents, contributions, and accomplishments of immigrants and their advocates and will be presented during an interactive arts celebration that highlights notable immigrants, national heroes, and unsung heroes like immigration lawyers.
Guilty Until Proven Innocent: A Gay Refugee's Confrontation With America
In his insightful memoir, “Asylum,” the Nigerian refugee and activist Edafe Okporo paints a disturbing picture of exactly how dangerous being gay in Nigeria can be… a disquieting account that humanizes a nameless, faceless multitude entangled in an issue with no clear end in sight.”
By NYT Book Review
Nigerian refugee creates N.Y.C. shelter for asylum-seekers
Before Edafe Okporo helped found New York City's first and only shelter for asylum-seekers and refugees, he was wandering the streets of Elizabeth, New Jersey, a refugee with nowhere to go. Although he was homeless, Okporo was happy to be in the United States. "Everything just changed when I stepped my feet into this country," said Okporo, 30, an LGBTQ activist who fled his homeland, Nigeria, in 2016, "because there is an opportunity to dream of a better future, to have a path here as a gay man.
By Julie Compton, NBC News