Bronx, NY — On October 29th, fire broke out in the Bronx, killing 11-year-old Zion Maine. Since the time of the release of this statement, three more members of the Maine family succumbed to injury, and died in the hospital.

Andre Easton, public school teacher, father of three, and congressional candidate for NY-15, released the following statement on October 30th:

“In the Bronx, capitalism doesn’t just keep us poor. It starts fires in our buildings, it injures our neighbors, and sometimes, it kills us.

“Eleven-year-old Zion Maine should have been in school today. Instead, he died after an e-bike battery caught fire overnight in his family’s apartment at the Patterson Houses in Mott Haven. His father, his father’s partner, and two teenagers in the family remain hospitalized in critical condition.

“Zion’s relatives say the e-bike was a gift from a friend to Zion’s father, meant to help him find more work and build a better life for his family. But instead, a preventable tragedy took his son’s life.

“The fire was the 401st e-bike battery fire in our city this year, more than in all of last year. Six people have died in these fires in 2026 alone.

“These tragedies have a cause. This cause has a name: capitalism, a system where the wealth we create through our labor is stolen from us and instead lines the pockets of an ever-smaller minority of billionaires.

“This tragedy calls for serious regulations on e-bike batteries. But we must go several steps further. E-bikes are the backbone of the gig economy. DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub have built billion-dollar businesses on the backs of delivery workers, many of them our neighbors right here in the Bronx.

“Our families are in crisis, and for many in the Bronx, gig work is the only way we can make ends meet. For one in three Bronx families, half of every paycheck goes straight to rent. Our grocery and Con Ed bills are through the roof, while our wages stay the same.

“Instead of being spent on affordable, publicly owned housing or on infrastructure that can provide high-paying jobs to our communities, our tax dollars pay for Trump’s war on Iran and Israel’s genocide in Gaza. And billions more go to ICE to terrorize, kidnap, and shoot our neighbors right here in our streets.

“It doesn’t have to be this way. As the richest country in the world, we have the resources to tackle our problems at the root, starting with a nationwide jobs guarantee. There is more than enough work to be done in the Bronx alone: repairing and modernizing every public housing unit, fixing our outdated transit system, building new homes, and cleaning up our streets, parks, and public spaces. Public works on this scale can put everyone to work in well-paying jobs, starting now.

“That work includes building new public housing to the highest fire-safety standards, with rent capped at 20% of income, so no family has to choose between a safe home and making rent each month.

“Good jobs also mean fair pay and real security. We must raise the minimum wage to $30 an hour for every worker, whatever their immigration status and whether or not they’re labeled an “independent contractor.” And we must guarantee free healthcare for all, with or without a job, so our families can stay healthy and free from medical debt. Keeping workers and their neighbors safe also means taking on dangerous e-bike batteries. Delivery companies should cover the full cost of certified bikes and batteries for every worker, in every city.

“Uncertified batteries should be banned nationwide, with a mandatory federal safety standard and real enforcement behind it. And public housing repairs need full funding, including safe charging stations and fire-safety upgrades at every NYCHA development.

“Zion’s death is the latest in the Bronx’s long history of deadly building fires. First came landlords who burned down their own buildings to collect insurance money. Then came fires fueled by neglect and disinvestment, like the tragedy at Twin Parks that took 17 lives. Now, it’s e-bike batteries.

“Through it all, Bronx families have lived with the constant fear that they could be next. We know what will finally put out the fires.

“We’re ready for a whole new system, one that gives us the political and economic power to direct our resources toward what our communities actually need.

“The Bronx is ready for socialism.”