Councilwoman Helen Gym of Philadelphia City Council from the At-Large district

  7/09/2019    

Councilwoman Helen Gym                                                

c/o Philadelphia City Hall

1401 John F. Kennedy Blvd., Room 592

Philadelphia, PA  19107

Dear Councilwoman Gym,

My name is Matt Winick, an Asian American from Ann Arbor, Michigan and I have a strong interest in learning history including social justice. In these subjects, I like to learn the need to make civil rights stronger to reduce discrimination, protect the environment from pollution, and many others.  Councilwoman Gym, the main reason I’m writing you a letter is to explain how I find your work as current member of the Philadelphia City Council from the At-Large District and as an Asian American advocate to be very inspiring to me.

In January 2016, I was amazed on how you made history on becoming the first Asian American woman to become a member of the Philadelphia City Council from the At-Large District. In your current role as member of the Philadelphia City Council from the At-Large District, I truly appreciate on how you are a strong supporter of civil rights by advocating for people with disabilities’ rights, working with Mayor Kenney including both political parties in the Philadelphia City Council to expand laws to combat against hate-crime to help protect minorities including people who are different, and supporting funds to help women including minorities businesses to compete in the economy.  On the economy, I liked on how you support expanding on job training programs to help train youth including workers to develop work-skills and work with other city council members to increase the minimum wage to help assist minimum wage workers afford to live.  Funding special education to help students with disabilities get accommodations they need like extra time on exams or have educational software including recorder to help improve on comprehension to improve learning, expanding after school programs to provide students with help on their assignments from tutors, and pushing for more training services to help train school officials to prepare for school is common sense for education reform.  On social justice causes, I really like your commitment to improve social justice like establish a city’s first legal defense funds for tenants who are facing eviction,  advocate with support for immigration reform to help protect immigrants, refugees, and dreamers from being oppressed, and heavily express the need to reduce racial profiling to help protect minorities including immigrants from being oppressed.  Also I like on how you use your role as an Asian American to help create Asian American Pacific Islander Bullying Prevention Task Force to help protect Asian Americans from being bullied due to race, push for funds to help repair the Asian American communities, support Asian American with disabilities’ rights, and express the need for more educational awareness for the need to educate people about Asian American Pacific Islander.

Councilwoman Gym, I have autism with a learning disability. Having a disability is hard for me because I have trouble comprehending on learning different advance subjects, sometimes I struggle to communicate my thoughts, and get teased.  Your commitment to be a strong supporter of Civil Rights including people with disabilities’ rights really inspires me to work hard on my disability.  Also being an Asian American with a disability is difficult for me when some Asians including some Asian Americans tease me about having a disability, not meeting their standards, and how I don’t belong in their ethnicity.  Your continuous strong supporter of Asian Americans including Asian Americans with disabilities’ rights helps give me some motivation to continue to be confident as an Asian American.  Your role as current member of the Philadelphia City Council from the At-Large District gives me some motivation to continue to learn history including social justice.  My future goal is to someday work in these areas to help emphasize the need to make Civil Rights stronger to reduce discrimination, protect the environment from pollution, improve social justice to make communities safer, and many others. Also being an Asian American with a disability is difficult for me when some Asian Americans including some Asians including some Asian Americans get judgmental about me having a disability, not meeting their standards,  and express that I shouldn’t belong with them.  Your continuous advocacy along with support for Asian Americans’ rights including Asian American with disabilities’ rights helps give me some motivation to try to continue to be an Asian American when I face challenges.  Also I visited Philadelphia to see some sites like Betsy Ross house to learn how she made the American Flag, see Ben franklin’s workshop to learn about his life, see the National Constitutional Museum to learn about the history along with the meaning of the U.S. Constitution, and many others.  

I strongly believe that you are making a great difference for society, social justice, and even the Asian American community. I’m amazed on how you made history on becoming the first Asian American to become a member of the Philadelphia City Council. I’m very proud on how you are working hard to support civil rights, improve social justice, help the Asian American communities, and many others. You have inspired me to work hard on my disability, continue to learn history including social justice, and try my best to be confident about being an Asian American when I face difficulties. Thanks for taking the time to read my letter, working hard to make a great difference, and inspiring me. I wish you the best for the future.

 

Sincerely,

 

Matt Winick