Former President Jimmy Carter dies at 100
Carter leaves a profound legacy among marginalized people, including those in New York City.
By Carolyn Gevinski
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, 2014. Place: Austin, Texas Date: 2014 Credit: LBJ Library https://www.cartercenter.org/news/photos/index.html
Former President Jimmy Carter died at age 100 this past Sunday, while in hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia.
Carter, who is remembered for his international humanitarian work, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his "untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
While in office, the former president faced unpopularity due to economic recession and the Iran hostage crisis. Following his four-year term, he lost the 1980 election in a landslide to Republican Ronald Reagan. However, Carter’s presidency was marked by his signing of The Camp David Accords, along with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in September 1978, which “established a framework for a historic peace treaty concluded between Israel and Egypt in March 1979.”
The Carter Center, a nonprofit based in Georgia, has advanced major humanitarian accomplishments, including leading a coalition that reduced incidence of Guinea worm disease by 99.99 percent, furthering avenues to peace in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Liberia, and other regions, helping establish a village-based health care delivery system in thousands of communities in Africa, and advancing efforts to improve mental health care and diminish stigma.
South Bronx Tenements
Not only was Carter considered an international champion of peace, but he is also remembered locally for his historic contributions to New York City housing and culture.
In early 1980, Carter signed the Refugee Act of 1980, which allowed some 300,000 Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees fleeing the aftermath of the Vietnam War asylum in the United States. Many migrants settled in New York City, contributing to the vast cultural diversity we know today.
In 1977, Carter made a surprise stop in the South Bronx, while in New York on United Nations affairs. He visited burned tenements and got out of his limousine to walk the rubble-struin streets and speak with people.
Upon Carter’s return to the hotel he was staying at, he called the devastation he witnessed “sobering,” but commended the efforts of local tenant groups.
“I'm encouraged in some ways by the strong effort of tenant groups to rebuild,” said Carter, according to The New York Times Archive.
Following his presidency, Carter returned to the scene in 1984 to help volunteers at Habitat for Humanity convert a building on East 6th Street now known as Mascot Flats into apartments. Carter himself contributed as a carpenter and lived with the other builders during the construction.
The former president and his wife Rosalynn eventually built thousands of homes across America with Habitat for Humanity, including in New York City.
“We cannot overstate our appreciation for just how much Habitat for Humanity and the people we’ve served around the world have benefited from the support of President and Mrs. Carter, may they both rest in peace,” wrote Habitat NYC and Westchester CEO Sabrina Lippman in a statement following Carter’s death on Sunday.
LGBTQ+ Advocacy
Notably, Carter’s administration was also the first to invite lesbian and gay rights activists to the White House.
While he wasn’t an outright LGBTQ+ advocate, Carter supported the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that the Constitution guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry. "I believe Jesus would approve gay marriage. That's just my own personal opinion," he said in a HuffPost Live interview.
Carolyn Gevinski is a co-founder and co-editor-in-chief at Grassroots. She can be reached at carolyn@grassrootsmagazinenyc.com