Samuel Nemir Olivares Full Interview by Anti-Eviction Map published on 2020-10-15T17:44:23Z In this interview, Samuel Nemir Olivares, District Leader for NY Assembly District 53 and co-founder of Bushwick Ayuda Mutua (BAM), talks about mutual aid efforts to support neighbors and fellow community members in Bushwick, Brooklyn. He reflects on his organizing work at the intersection of housing, food access, and education- before and during the COVID-19 pandemic- and he shares how the current health emergency magnifies the eviction crisis that residents have been fighting for decades. Samuel tells us about the logistical and operational details of the huge collective that BAM has become, emerging very quickly at the beginning of Covid-19. According to him though, mutual aid practices have “been at the DNA of the community” for decades, as neighbors in Bushwick have cared for one another during times of government disinvestment and neglect. In his work as District Leader, as a member of BAM, as a housing rights activist, Samuel calls on NYC elected officials to prioritize housing as a human right that is absolutely essential for all residents in order to survive the COVID-19 pandemic. This interview is part of the COVID-19 mutual aid oral history project, which is a collaboration between Cities For People, Not For Profit and the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project (AEMP).
