Brittany Ramos DeBarros

Brittany Ramos DeBarros was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She served in the U.S. Army from 2011 to 2019. Ramos DeBarros earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Miami in 2011.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My name is Brittany Ramos DeBarros,I'm an Afro-Latina organizer, Army combat veteran, and proud Staten Islander running to fight for NY-11 in Congress.

I grew up in a patriotic military family. From a young age my parents instilled a deep commitment to service and justice. I really believed in the values I was taught this country is supposed to uphold but being biracial, I could see that the America my white family lived in was different than what my Black and Puerto Rican family experienced.

I wanted to make something of myself, needed a way to pay for college and got an Army scholarship when I was 18. I became a platoon leader responsible for 40 lives and was deployed to war in Afghanistan.

All my life I’ve seen the way our politics and our economy are rigged against us. I know what it’s like to be spoken for and not belong. I don't want to live in a world of lies, violence, and greed. Our truths matter, our lives matter, and fighting for our freedom and future matters.

I built my home in Staten Island after the war and this place embraced me. As a part of the community I’ve seen the way we're stigmatized, forgotten and told to be grateful for the crumbs we're handed by a revolving door of leaders who have continuously failed us. I'm running because I believe that we deserve more than we've been told we have to accept and because I want to prove that if we come together and fight for it, we can have it.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

I think NY-11 is a very unique district. There are a lot of people who have been left behind by the political establishment that always courts the margins in the center while we have hundreds of thousands of constituents who don't turn out because they aren’t inspired. Red or blue, it keeps being the same thing. My life, my struggles, keep being the same. The reason I hope people get excited about my campaign is because I am carrying a torch, but it's not really about me. It’s about those of us who have been told that we don't deserve to have power in this system: the mothers, the workers, the first responders, the nurses, the people who have been written off. It’s about what we can have when we really believe in each other.I think what people really want is health care. Staten Island lost 275 people on 9/11, and we still carry that. A lot of families here still carry the grief of that. And yet, we've lost more than 1,500 in this pandemic alone. That's not even counting all of the systemic reasons that people are suffering and struggling that existed before the pandemic. The South Shore is still recovering from Hurricane Sandy because the government abandoned us. The policies that I support are popular, they're practical, they're what we need. I think that that's what leadership is, is actually meeting people with what they need, and putting that service and that concrete care for the community before all else.The lie of scarcity in America is exactly that: a lie. There's enough to go around if we have people who have the courage and integrity to invest in that kind of care. A lot of that analysis and understanding of these systems that I hold now came out of deploying to war. I was responsible for lives right out of college, and I saw contractors running around making hundreds of thousands of dollars. That raised questions to me. The more I learned, the more I could see that this was a fundamental, systemic issue. Members of Congress receive significant campaign contributions from the defense industry while 40,000 veterans go homeless and thousands of active-duty military families rely on food stamps. That needs to change.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Care not criminalization: We need real care and help but instead, for generations we’ve been met with more violence and punishment that doesn’t address the roots of our issues or make us safer. Great leaders like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reminded us decades ago that “violence begets violence” so it’s no surprise the data shows our out-dated systems of punishment and penalization don’t make us safer. They just turn desperate people into criminals and expand government overreach while lining the pockets of corporate profiteers. It doesn’t have to be this way. We need leaders with the humility and courage to admit when our strategies aren’t working and prioritize practical, evidence-based solutions that better our neighborhoods.

Climate and Security: I believe we must take a comprehensive approach to national security that leverages proactive cooperation and diplomacy to address the full scope of the dangers we face. No longer can we fail to acknowledge the realities of climate change- the largest national security threat facing our generation today.

Jobs and Housing for all: We need to address the very foundation that our country is built upon. Every affordable housing project we fund is also a jobs program. The American people are ready to improve their lives to the tune of good paying, union jobs, fully funded housing, utilities and guaranteed human rights.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

As you may have assumed from my slogan, “Unbossed, Unbought, Unafraid,” I have tremendous respect and admiration for Shirley Chisholm. I am following her example, with a commitment to social justice and radical change directed at helping to uplift the forgotten members of the working class. She broke glass ceilings galore and it is through her tireless work that it is possible for an Afro-Latina candidate like myself to succeed in politics. I endeavor to continue the legacy that she created.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

As an Afro-Latina combat veteran who grew up in a working-class family that struggled to make ends meet, I know that the struggle is real. As someone who stood up to corporate corruption while in uniform, who risked my future and freedom to call out a wrong-doing when it was happening, I will be taking the lived experiences of my family, my youth, my service, and my organizing prowess with me every day into the Halls of Power in order to create real, lasting change for all people.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

It is essential that we elect leaders that plan to reverse the Trump legacy. To do that, we must provide aid to all who have suffered from our multiple overlapping national crisis. We must remain firm in our commitment to Black lives, we must ensure that events such as the insurrection of 1/6/21 never happen again, and we must pass universal healthcare so that our people can survive the next crisis. By electing leaders that truly represent working class interests, we can create the institutional changes that will strengthen our democracy.

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