Protesters Confront House Speaker Ryan
Public Advocate Letitia James, center, joined protesters during U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan’s visit to a charter school in Harlem on Tuesday. They blasted the speaker for engineering the passage of the Republican health-care plan, which would starve public hospitals and force millions of Americans to drop their health insurance coverage. Photo: Clarence Elie-Rivera.
By ALFREDO ALVARADO
Angry activists lined the corner of W. 118 Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem and waited for the Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan to tell him what they think of his support of the GOP’s new health-care plan, which threatens to leave a million New Yorkers uninsured.
Instead of coming uptown to visit the city’s cash-strapped Harlem Hospital Center, which could lose millions in Medicaid funding, Ryan came instead to visit the Success Academy charter school. The school is part of the charter school empire run by Eva Moskowitz.
“What this says to me is that he supports the privatization of public schools,” said Public Advocate Letitia James, who was at the protest in front of the school along with activists from Make the Road New, the New York Immigrant Coalition and District Council 37.
“This is a dog and pony show for the charter school investors,” James added.
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