AMINAH!

As part of this new column, I’ll like to celebrate people in our community for their work and who haven’t been recognized as much as they should.

I would like to begin with Aminah Johnson. She is one such person —  although she has been recognized as a staple in the community for several decades, she has recently been missed by many. 

Allow me to explain.

In the past 15 years, she has dedicated herself to PUSH Buffalo, the West Side, and the greater community. 

Aminah was a Founding Member of PUSH and the organization’s first employee.

She was drawn to her passion for tenant advocacy after 7 years of being a Community Outreach Coordinator. She naturally was able to create the Tenant Advocacy Department and authored her own job description based on the needs of people she met every single day. She has performed in this capacity for over 7 years. She had never been issued a verbal warning or written up in all her years there. She would have retired from PUSH Buffalo in June 2022. 

Unfortunately, for STILL not clear reasons, she was terminated by PUSH Buffalo on August 21, 2020! Although she has surmised that she was terminated for the same things she has advocated for when helping others and for which PUSH Buffalo itself purports:

Engagement and Transparency. 

She believes she was terminated because her name was on an email with six other individuals requesting to attend the meeting with the Board of Directors of PUSH. This action was done as a group decision of and by the Organizing Team. She or they did not mean any harm toward the agency or any individuals. It was a simple request they did not feel was out of bounds or reach for their position in the agency.

She believes this joint decision was mistakenly viewed as an attack and subsequently cost her her career.

But that’s not all she lost …

For the rest of Aminah Johnson’s story, please go to the Latino Village Facebook page where I’ll post the rest of the story.