Vol 2/ Issue 12 Black Westchester July 15, 2019

VOLUME 2 / ISSUE 12

JULY 15, 2019

Unapologetically Delivering News To Communities Of Color in Westchester & Surrounding Areas

COMPLIMENTARY

BLACK WESTCHESTER

THE YEAR OF THE WOMAN CONTINUES

A SURGE OF WESTCHESTER WOMEN RAN FOR OFFICE AND WON PAGE 14

FEATURES YONKERS: TASHA DIAZ BECOMES NEW COUNCILWOMAN IN DISTRICT 3 & SHANAE WILLIAMS WIN REELECTION IN DISTRICT 1

PAGE 15

MAYOR THOMAS ESCAPES JAILTIME AND LIVES TO RUN AGAIN

PAGE 7

SHAWYN PATTERSON-HOWARD MAKES HISTORY AS FIRST ELECTED FEMALE MAYOR OF MOUNT VERNON

PAGE 14

YADIRA RAMOSHERBERT - NEW ROCHELLE COUNCIL

GINA JACKSON GREENBURGH TOWN COUNCIL

JUDGE MELISSA LOEHR - COUNTY COURT JUDGE

SIX BLACK WOMEN DIE IN POLICE CUSTODY JULY 2015 “WHAT TO THE SLAVE IS THE FOURTH OF JULY?” - FREDERICK DOUGLASS

PAGE 9

SAY THEIR NAME PAGE 14

PAGE 13

BW AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT RON BAILEY PAGE 17

US WOMENS SOCCER TEAM DOMINATES AND COKO EMERGES PAGE 21

The most publicized of the women who died in police custoday in Juy 2015 was Sandra Bland was found dead in her cell in a Texas jail, three days after her arrest following a routine traffic stop... continues on page 16 #SayHerName

PAGE 21

The last of the six Black Women who died in police custody in July 2015 was 42-year-old Mount Vernon mother or eight Raynette Turner who was found dead in a MVPD holding cell, Monday July 25th... continues on page 16 #SayHerName

MCCONNELL, #NOTMYARIEL WHITE TWITTER HARRIS SOARS, TRUMP & ANGRY ABOUT DISNEY CASTING BIDEN BIDES REPARATIONS A BLACK LITTLE MERMAID

BY CHARLES STERN PAGE 22

PAGE 25

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2 BLACK WESTCHESTER

NEWS WITH THE BLACK POINT OF VIEW

JULY 15, 2019

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JULY 15, 2019

BLACKWESTCHESTER.COM

BLACK WESTCHESTER 3

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4 BLACK WESTCHESTER

BLACKWESTCHESTER.COM

JULY 15, 2019

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JULY 15, 2019

NEWS WITH THE BLACK POINT OF VIEW

BLACK WESTCHESTER 5

FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK Founded in 2014 by DAMON K. JONES AJ WOODSON Published by URBANSOUL MEDIA GROUP 455 Tarrytown Rd., Suite 1318 White Plains, NY 10607 (914) 979-2093 www.BlackWestchester.com

Email:

BlackWestchesterMag@gmail.com

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Twitter: @BlkWestchesterM Instagram: @BlackWestchester Facebook: /BlackWestchesterMagazine

Publisher DAMON K. JONES @DamonKJones

Editor-In-Chief AJ WOODSON

@BWEditorInChief

Mistress Of Information Brenda L. Crump News Reporters/ Writers AJ Woodson Damon K. Jones

Dr. Cedrick Batchateu, Pharm.D. A’tif K. Coleman

As Publisher of Black Westchester Magazine (BW), I would like to thank everyone for their support of our efforts to bring information to the people of Westchester County. As we embark on a new chapter for BW, we hope to continue to empower the reader on issues in their communities.

Independent media like BW has become more than a mere institution; instead, the independent media acts as a direct participant in the traditional three-branch system of governance.

What many fail to realize is that independent media serves a fundamental role in making democracies run efficiently, even though there are frequent clashes. Independent media system thus often “reflects the political philosophy in which Democracy indeed functions”.

This being said, BW will not be disregarded as a trivial player in the responsibilities of being a check and balance system in the political process of the Black Communities of Westchester.

BW’s purpose is not only to address the political process that affects the everyday lives of communities of colour in Westchester County. BW’s mission has also been to shine a light on the brilliant culture, morals, values and elegant lifestyle of Black people. It’s time to change the narrative on how Black people are perceived in media.

As Publisher of BW, our doors are open to the public. From the publication, the website, our radio show and now the newspaper; our doors are open to the people. We do not do this for any grander position or status; we do it for the people.

A FEW WORDS FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Welcome to the July 15, 2019 Issue of Black Westchester.

This issue is dedicated to the Westchester Women who ran and won Shawyn Patterson-Howard (page 14) who is one step closer to making history as the first female elected to serves as Mayor of the City of Mount Vernon and Tasha Diaz, Shanae Williams, Yadira Ramos-Herbert, Gina Jackson and Judge Melissa Loehr who each won the Democratic Primary (page 15).

Also, the six African-American Women who died in police custody July 2015 #SayHerName (page 16) the most publicized being Sandra Bland and the last of the six being Mount Vernon’s Raynette Turner, we also uplift the fifth anniversary of the death of Eric Garner (page 8). Even though each of the aforementioned has fallen from the media cycle we wanted to keep all their names alive and make sure everyone doesn’t forget.

Look out next month for our two year anniversary issue of the newspaper. We are also celebrating the five year anniversary of BlackWestchester.com and the People Before Politics Radio Show. to advertise and get you congratulatory ads in the August 15th issue or to sponsor the anniversary of PBP Radio hit us at AdvertiseWithBW@gmail.com Send us your feedback and let us know what you think of this issue and let us know subjects/topics you would like to see us cover in the future by sending an email to BlackWestchesterMag@ gmail.com.

Peace and Blessings

Photographers AJ Woodson Graphic Designers AJ Woodson Paula S. Woodson/ PS Visually Speakin’ For Advertising Rates AdvertiseWithBW@gmail.com Letters To The Editor BWEditorInChief@gmail.com

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6 BLACK WESTCHESTER

BW NEWS

JULY 15, 2019

CENTRAL AVENUE REPAVING PROJECT TO BE COMPLETE WITH FUNDS SECURED BY SENATOR SHELLEY MAYER

Yonkers City Council Majority Leader Michael Sabatino; Yonkers City Council Minority Leader Mike Breen; Yonkers City Council President Mike Khader; Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano; Yonkers City Councilmember Shanae Williams; NYS DOT Regional Director Lance MacMillan; Yonkers Commissioner of DPW Thomas Meier; Symra Brandon, representative from the office of Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins; Assemblymember Nader Sayegh; Yonkers City Councilmember Anthony Merante; and Westchester County Legislator David Tubiolo

YONKERS – On Wednesday, July 17th, officials gathered at Andrus Park to celebrate the repaving of Central Park Avenue in Yonkers with funds secured by State Senator Shelley Mayer. Senator Mayer, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, officials from the NYS Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), and other elected officials representing the City of Yonkers gathered to celebrate the repaving and provide the details of the project.

In 2017, Senator Mayer, then Assemblymember, secured $1 million to repave a section of Central Avenue in Yonkers beginning just north of the NYS Thruway overpass northward to Stokes Road. Work on the Central Avenue Repaving Project began on June 3rd. Repaving consists of removing the existing surface and replacing it with new asphalt from curb to curb. Milling and paving are done from 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM, Monday through Thursday, weather permitting, and should be completed by July 19th. Additionally, the pedestrian sidewalk ramps will be improved with new or enhanced pedestrian signage. The entire project is set to be completed by mid-August.

State Senator Shelley Mayer, Senate District 37, said, “I am proud to have secured $1 million in funding to repave a section of Central Avenue. Thank you to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie for supporting this effort when I was in the Assembly, and to Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins for her continued commitment to our communities. Maintaining our local roads and highways is pivotal to the success of our communities and small businesses. Central Avenue is a major arterial roadway for Yonkers and Westchester residents and it is critical that we invest in improvements and repaving efforts. Thank you to Governor Andrew Cuomo for continued infrastructure investments,

and to the NYS Department of Transportation and Mayor Mike Spano for being strong partners in completing this project.”

NYS Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said, “Under Governor Cuomo’s leadership, New York State is making historic infrastructure investments, enhancing the sustainability of our roadways and spurring economic development in local communities. This project will help create a long-term transportation solution for both motorists and pedestrians in the City of Yonkers, improving the driving surface while accentuating safety for all users of the road.”

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano said, “Central Avenue is a major thoroughfare in Yonkers and lower Westchester – the quality of this road is essential to the area’s quality of life and economy. Special thanks to Senator Shelley Mayer for securing the funds necessary to repave the road and improve traffic conditions.”

Yonkers City Council President Mike Khader said, “As Council President, my office receives dozens of calls per week of residents complaining about potholes and bumpy roads, so this initiative, though something relatively simple, is very exciting and will surely improve quality of life for Yonkers residents. Thank you to Senator Mayer for securing the money for this project. I am sure residents are looking forward to smoother rides on Central Avenue!”

Assemblymember Nader Sayegh, District 90, said, “Central Park Avenue is a major economic thoroughfare that has served the people of Yonkers and Westchester County for over half a century. Extreme weather conditions over the years have caused extensive deterioration to our roads, resulting in severe damage, like potholes which have caused extensive accidents and has wreaked havoc on our vehicles.

Thanks to Senator Shelley Mayer’s tireless advocacy, this vital economic corridor can continue to safely accommodate the hundreds of thousands of drivers that travel this widely used route annually.”

Westchester County Legislator David Tubiolo, District 14, said, “Infrastructure is one of the primary responsibilities of government, being necessary for our commerce, convenience, transportation and overall well-being of society. Thank you to Senator Shelley Mayer for not only her efforts, but for delivering this much needed funding for this capital project. I’m happy and proud to have her as our partner and representative for Yonkers and Westchester.”

Yonkers City Council Majority Leader Michael Sabatino, District 3, said, “I want to thank Senator Mayer for securing these funds for this State road. There are many roads in our city of Yonkers that are not local roads and the funds need to be secured from the state level. This will greatly improve the quality of life for those who live and shop along Central Avenue. “

Yonkers City Council Minority Leader Mike Breen, District 5, said, “I’m glad to see the State DOT finally addressing Central Park Ave. CPA is an economic engine for Yonkers providing shopping opportunities for consumers in the tristate area, jobs and taxes for our community. I appreciate very much Sen. Mayer getting DOT to start fixing this mega road. I hope this process will continue up and down CPA on a more regular basis.”

Yonkers City Councilmember Anthony Merante, District 6, said, “Our residents and visitors can see, and feel for that matter, there tax dollars at work as they drive along this stretch of Central Park Avenue.”

YONKERS POLICE COMMISSIONER CHARLES GARDNER RETIRES

BY AJ WOODSON “Happy Retirement to Yonkers Police Commissioner Charles Gardner. I must say he was one of the good guys working in a system that is reluctant to change. It was a pleasure working with you” - Damon K. Jones YONKERS - Yonkers Police Department Commissioner Charles Gardner will be retiring, Wednesday July 24, 2019.

Charles Gardner was appointed Police Commissioner of the City of Yonkers on January 1st, 2012. As a 40-year member of the Yonkers Police Department, Commissioner Gardner rose through the ranks advancing through a series of progressively responsible positions in numerous commands and divisions. During his career he also served as the commanding officer in all three of the department’s bureaus which included the Support Services Bureau, Investigations Bureau and Field Services Bureau.

Deputy Chief John Mueller is stepping up to be the new city police commissioner. Mueller will begin serving as acting commissioner July 25th, pending confirmation from Yonkers City Council to be full-time commissioner. He is set to replace outgoing Commissioner Charles Gardner, whose retirement was announced July 11th.

YPD held a Ceremonial Walk-Out Farewell to Commissioner Gardner after 40 years of dedicated service at the Robert W. Cacace Justice Center, Thursday, July 18th.

Commissioner Gardner was born and raised in Yonkers where he attended local schools. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Iona College and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Marist College. He also attended numerous law enforcement related courses including the Leadership Program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Program at Princeton University, The US Department of Homeland Security Executive Leaders Program at the US Naval Postgraduate School and the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services Executive Development Program.

He is the recipient of 14 awards and certificates including the Meritorious Service award from the Police Columbia Association, 2010 Police Officer of the Year award from the Yonkers Exchange Club and the honor of being chosen as the 2012 Boss of the Year from the New York State Shields Organization and the YMCA’s Safer Communities award in 2015.

BW Salute Charles Gardner for his years of service!

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JULY 15, 2019

BW POLITICALLY SPEAKING

BLACK WESTCHESTER

7

MOUNT VERNON POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

MAYOR THOMAS ESCAPES JAIL TIME AND LIVES TO RUN AGAIN

BY AJ WOODSON

MOUNT VERNON -- On Monday, July 8, Mount Vernon Mayor Richard W. Thomas shocked the world when he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree attempted grand larceny and second-degree offering a false statement for filing. He will also resign from office as of Monday, Sept. 30.

“The road to redemption is riddled with twists, turns, tight straits, and the reality is 13 million Americans get caught up in the misdemeanor system, where it’s very difficult to defend yourself, especially when you’re poor,” Mayor Thomas said. “Thank you to the people of Mount Vernon for standing up to dirty politics.”

While the New York State Attorney General Letitia ‘Tish’ James and Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli took a victory lap in the form or a joint press release, it’s hard not to see how this is actually a victory for Mayor Thomas.

“By using campaign funds to line his own pockets, Thomas broke the law, and violated public trust,” said Attorney General Letitia James. “New Yorkers put their faith in our public servants, and Thomas’ gross violation of that faith constitutes the utmost disloyalty to those he was sworn to serve. My office will continue to root out public corruption, uphold the integrity of public office, and bring bad actors to justice at every level of government throughout New York.”

“Mayor Thomas admitted to knowingly misusing campaign donations to fund his lifestyle instead of funding his campaign,” said State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. “Thanks to my partnership with Attorney General Letitia James, his scheme was exposed and he has now admitted his guilt. I will continue to work with Attorney General James to root out public corruption across the state.”

That all sounds good and makes for great soundbites but Mayor Richard Thomas who maintained his innocence up until Monday literally escaped jail time and probation by being allowed to plead to two misdemeanors, with something like six felonies dismissed that would have landed him in jail for several years, was given 82

days to resign instead of immediately. He avoided indictment by the grand jury that indicted Mount Vernon Corporation Counsel Lawrence Porcari for using city water department funds to pay for his criminal-defense legal bills. More importantly, Mayor Thomas lives to run in the next mayoral race if he so chooses. How is this not a victory for the embattled Mayor? If you ask me this whole thing has him coming off like a martyr, which will play well over four years.

On Monday, Mayor Thomas admitted that he stole $12,900 from his campaign committee in 2015 and failed to report the receipt of $4,000 and falsely claimed that a $2,500 payment was a reimbursement. According to the criminal complaint, prior to Thomas filing his 2017 annual statement of financial disclosure with the city, he learned of the existence of the Attorney General’s investigation.

Mount Vernon’s youngest mayor in the history of the city, was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge. He’ll avoid probation if he stays out of trouble and does not seek any public office or public service job during that time. He also has to step down.

“He has until Sept. 30 to resign and I just hope that during that time he’ll focus on the positive things that need to be done,” Democratic mayoral nominee Shawyn Patterson-Howard told CBS News.

Patterson-Howard defeated Mayor Thomas two weeks ago in the Democratic primary for his seat in 2020 and is one step closer to making history as the first elected female to serve as mayor of Mount Vernon. Thomas, whom she’s known since he was 14, was disputing the results.

City Council President Andre Wallace will take over when Thomas steps down fulfilling the remainder of Mayor Thomas’ term which ends on December 31st.

Again while the NYS AG and Comptroller are taking a victory lap, I think they missed their mark for what they claim their mission was and I can not help to see this as a victory to Richard Thomas, not their fight to root out corruption.

“Mount Vernon is open for criminal Business,” Former Corporation Counsel Lauren Raysor shares with Black Westchester. “This is the only City in which the Mayor Pleads guilty, the Corporation Council is under indictment, the building Commissioner was arrested and has open cases in other jurisdictions, the Deputy Police Commissioner was arrested, the Mayor’s brother was arrested and convicted for running guns out of the Fire Department, the Mayor’s other brother was arrested for Domestic Violence initially and a driving infraction, another brother assaults a member of City Council, the sister was arrested for assaulting someone, another employee in the parking bureau (federal crime for stealing for a tummy tuck) was arrested and indicted.

Oh I forgot, Misappropriation accusations within the water department resulting higher water rates. Not a suspension yet. And they all keep their jobs and high salaries.

The City Council voted unanimously to swear in Council President ”Wallace to the postition of Acting Mayor, interupting the charter that when Thomas pled guilty he vacted his office. Both Thomas refused to step aside so the city of Mount Vernon is now the Tale of Two Mayors with city workers not sure who they should report to.

Wallace re-appointed Shawn Harris as Police Commissioner, Monday Ju;y 15th.

When Harris went to report to work the next day he was taking into custody and charges with felony trespassing and held for over 9 hours and released with a desk appearence ticket despite the fact the Westchester DA adviced MVPD not to charge Harris

Where does that leave the city of Mount Vernon and what next in this circus we call Mount Vernon politics, only God knows, but as always Black Westchester will let you know as it unfolds. One thing is for sure this story is far from over and that’s real talk!

RICHARD THOMAS: A YOUNG PROMISING POLITICIAN’S DESCENT INTO CORRUPTION

BY A’TIF K. COLEMAN

When Richard Thomas took office as City Councilman of Mount Vernon in 2012 at the young age of 32, he was the man; a role model, a shining example of a young

and successful black rising star in politics. As fast as he rose, however, just as swiftly did he fall. Six years later, Thomas no longer the forceful individual he once was, but a joke of sorts. After being elected as Mayor in 2016, he was indicted on six felonies of grand larceny and obstruction in 2018.

After multiple hearings and delays, the mayor entered into plea deal with the New York State Attorney Tish James. Mayor Thomas admitted in Judge Barry Warhit courtroom on Monday July 8, 2019 he stole campaign funds intended to pay for campaign workers, and any other campaign related items, on a personal trip to Mexico and a Chanel purse and other illegal items.

In that plea, the six count felonies were condensed to two misdemeanors, he was forced to resigned as mayor of Mount Vernon, pay a $13,000 fine and is banned from public office for ONE year.

The rising Democratic star had been an extremely popular mayor with an ambitious agenda to transform the city into a major urban center when he stunned residents yesterday by admitting to theft of campaign dollars. His downfall was swift and he will be replaced.

Throughout his entire career as the mayor of Mt. Vernon, and after his resignation, Thomas has battled allegations of unscrupulous activity and been on the defense. He caught major heat back in 2018, when the City Council sued Thomas and requested a restraining order because of his actions regarding the illegal eviction of Kela Tennis Court. He sent city workers to the tennis center at 1am without a court order or judge approval to padlock the gates, deflated the bubble with hand held axe -- leaving the council no other choice but to file for a #TRO temporary restraining order banning him from the property.

His reputation contradicts itself, named one of the city’s worst mayors by many residents and city officials, yet still worthy of hollers, handshakes and cheers of encouragement from supporters as he left the courthouse Monday morning. The pin-stripe suits, three-quarter-length coats, his “swagger,” he was the “New” mayor.

Thomas’ political career inspired Mount Vernon Knights

early in his council tenure; when there was signs of life in the city.

Despite being indicted of campaign finance crimes — and for obstruction of justice — remnants of his popularity, and sometimes disgrace, survive in the streets of Mount Vernon. Although, he lost last months primary election, he was strong a second to Shawn Patterson-Howard.

Thomas thought he was anointed by God to run the city.

But the NYS Attorney General’s office thought, and ultimately proved he stole money from his supporters to pay for everything from trips to pocketbooks and a dinner at a lavish restaurant.

While Thomas enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, he watched the city erode for the people of the Vern. The mayor cheated the system.

Richard Thomas didn’t lead the city; he looted the city with his pay to play schemes, and allegations he and longtime friend and city Corporation Counsel Lawrence Pocari stole over a quarter of a million dollars from the Mount Vernon Water Dept.

City Council President Andre Wallace alerted authorities which sparked an investigation. A grand jury did not indict the mayor, but indicted Porcari.

While corruption and incompetence are not exclusive to the last decade in Mount Vernon, what happened on the watch of Thomas and four of the current members of the Mount Vernon City Council is stunning. The council “one of the most divisive and ineffective legislative bodies” in the city’s history. Ineffective by not condemning the illegal actions of Mayor Thomas.

Thomas’ tenure was not without success. City Comptroller Deborah Reynolds, claims the Thomas administration took the city from a multi-million dollar surplus to a million dollar defect.

But questions about Thomas private business affairs surfaced and began to interfere with his ability to run the city.

At one time, Thomas led a life of success, of leading polls, winning games and landing on top. As a boy, Thomas attended all of Mount Vernon Public Schools where he excelled in football and student government before beginning his tenure at NYU Stern.

After college, Thomas set off for Albany to join former Governor David Patterson as his intern... (continues on page 7)

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8 BLACK WESTCHESTER

NEWS ACROSS THE NATION

JULY 15, 2019

DOJ DECLINES TO BRING CIVIL RIGHTS CHARGES AGAINST OFFICER PANTALEO ON 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF ERIC GARNER’S DEATH

BY AJ WOODSON

While this country is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, we will not allow this country forget the five year anniversary of the NYPD literally choking the life out of Eric Garner in Staten Island on July 17, 2014. To add insult to injury the day before this anniversary the Department of Justice declined to bring civil rights charges against New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo

One small step for a man one giant leap for mankind were the famous words astronaut Neil Armstrong allegedly uttered on July 20, 1969 as he put his left foot on the lunar surface. The DOJ’s decision on July 16th was One more step in the wrong direction for the Garner family and One Giant Step back in the fight for justice in the killing of Black males by law enforcement in America.

As the life was being choke out of Eric Garner, his last words, I Can’t Breathe could be heard 11 times. The day before the fifth anniversary of the summary execution of the 43-year-old father of six, his family finds it hard to breathe as they hear on social media that federal prosecutors will not file civil rights charges against the NYPD officer who played judge, jury and executioner in front of beauty supply store located at 202 Bay Street in Staten Island.

“We’re here with heavy hearts because the DOJ has failed us, although we looked for better from them,” Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, said Tuesday, July 16th. “Five years ago, my son said, ‘I can’t breathe’ 11 times, and today, we can’t breathe because they have let us down.”

While the country is celebrating the words one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind, it is one step further from justice for the Garner family.

The decision, announced Tuesday by Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue, marks the end of a civil rights investigation into an episode – much of it captured on video – that helped turn a national spotlight on how police officers use force, especially against Black and Brown people.

“Like many of you, I have watched that video many times, and each time I’ve watched it, I’m left with the same reaction: that the death of Eric Garner was a tragedy,” Donoghue said. “The job of a federal prosecutor, however, is not to let our emotions dictate our decisions. Our job is to review the evidence gathered during the investigation, like the video, to assess whether we can prove that a federal crime was committed.”

Authorities spent years investigating Garner’s death in an examination that proved contentious both inside and outside the Justice Department.

Attorneys in the department’s Civil Rights Division long advocated for bringing a criminal charge, while prosecutors in Brooklyn recommended against it.

Donoghue said Attorney General William Barr broke the logjam, deciding in recent days that Justice would not bring a federal civil rights prosecution against officer Daniel Pantaleo.

“The video and the other evidence gathered in the investigation does not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that officer Pantaleo acted willfully in violation of federal law,” Donoghue said.

BW was not surprised by the DOJ’s decision, police violence, blatant disregard for Black Lives and the oppression of Black People has been the modus operandi for centuries in the home of the slave and land of the supposedly free. What happened to Garner is tied to, and enabled by, America’s racist past and present.

BW will never forget - or allow this country to forget - all the victims who came before Garner. We will continue to call on his legacy and the legacy of too many other black men, women and children to name. We will not forget the justice they were denied when there is inevitably another victim. We are not surprised anymore when justice is denied, when America contradicts its stated values, when promises from the U.S. government — even our progressive leaders — are proved empty.

We are left again with a plethora of burning questions. Who’s free in this land? This land may be your land — but is it mine land, like the 1940 Woodie Guthurie famous folk song suggests? These politicians may represent you — but do they represent me and all those who look like me?

Jelani Cobb recently wrote in The New Yorker, regarding segregation and schools: “It is clear that the notion of segregation as a discrete phenomenon, an evil that could be flipped, like a switch, from on to off, by judicial edict, was deeply naive.” The same is true for judicial switches for state-sanctioned violence against African-American men. You can’t legislate away the fact that we’ve been brought up in a culture that imbues us all with implicit bias. It is that bias which makes laws that bar chokeholds, or discourage officers from shooting unarmed people, ineffective – especially when it comes to black men.

To stop homicides like that of Eric Garner – or the NYPD chokehold deaths of Michael Stewart in 1983, and Anthony Baez in 1994 – we can’t just ban chokeholds. The NYPD already did that years ago. We

need a culture change to stop them, a change in thinking about what motivates excessive force, and education around how implicit bias affects us all.

How the nuisance of selling untaxed tobacco becomes a death sentence is a riddle answered by implicit bias. Instead of seeing Garner as an individual, a father, a human being voicing his frustration at being targeted – which happened repeatedly, according to Garner in the video of the incident and statements by Garner’s widow after his death – police responded to Garner as a threat. Despite the fact that Garner did not fight back, the police seemed more focused on piling on Garner, ignoring his many cries of “I can’t breathe.” The officers chose to escalate their response – and the keyword is choice, as Garner did not physically attack them – responding to his words with a violent arrest that ultimately killed him.

One of the most egregious things about all this is the only person who saw any jail time was 22-year-old Ramsey Orta, the man who shot the infamous cellphone video capturing the deadly chokehold that ended Eric Garner’s life, but none of the individuals who took his life, talk about irony?

The DOJ decision is one more example that Black Lives do not Matter, when taken at the hands of law enforcement and how Lady Justice peeks out from under her blindfold. When justice can be influenced by the rich, or pressured by the powerful, then justice is no longer blind. The scales Lady Justice holds are useless if law enforcement can kill Black People with impunity. The DOJ decision is one giant leap away from there being any real justice in the killing of Black Males by law enforcement.

As thousands of people have been celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Eagle module from Apollo 11 landing on the moon where Neil Armstrong made history by becoming the first person to walk on the moon, here on Earth, in Staten Island Gwen Carr is still fighting for justice for her son’s murder. Gwen Carr, like Kenneth Chamberain Jr of White Plains, Stan Ridley of Mount Vernon and many other family members of victims of police criminality are still fighting to see the family members killer go to jail.

BW stands with Gwen Carr and all the others in their fight for justice. As data beamed back from numerous missions suggest that no place on the moon would be a pleasant place to live, at least compared with Earth, one can only imagine if a Black Man can find the justice there, that he cannot seems to get here in America, here on Earth. It couldnt be worst for Black People!

While the world celebrates the anniversary of the moon landing we will not let them forget about the anniversary of the murder of Eric Garner!

RICHARD THOMAS...

(CONT FROM PAGE 7)

He also hooked up with Joseph Spiezio and long time garbage hauler in Westchester County.

Rich and Joe became buddies while Richie was an intern for then Gov. David Patterson. Speizio was working on projects in Yonkers and Poughkeepsie. He bought a building across from City Hall, and became a favored of the mayor.

With his old friend Joe Speizio at his side, Thomas came back to Mount Vernon and set his sights on becoming mayor, which he did in 2016 when he beat out Former Mayor Ernest Davis by a landslide. This feat made Thomas Mt. Vernon’s youngest mayor ever.

There was a feeling of renewal within city that fit well with the spunk Thomas brought to office as his predecessor Ernie Davis departed. And many, in the Vern seemed inspired by Thomas passion for our city.

He then hired Speizio who has no law enforcement experience as the Deputy Police Commissioner of Mount Vernon. Earlier this year, Joe was caught in New Rochelle driving a city owned SUV with a suspended license. He was also caught using his lights and sirens to bypass traffic.

Affectionately known as “Richie” he was a ordinary man to some people doing extraordinary things, tearing down zombie houses, giving out food and clothing to the needy, repairing our youth baseball program and live streaming government meetings. Thomas, is known for fixing up parks, paving roads at a record rate, and fixing the street lights.

But where some saw a rising star, others saw a young man with a nice smile and a fixation on image, who rose to power almost haphazardly, after just getting out of college.

Thomas developed his “new regime” image quickly, living a lavish life with celebrities such as Fatboy, P Diddy and Dennis Rodman along with a deep entourage and security detail, the finest clothes and top-dollar SUV.

The manner in which the downfall of Thomas played out is one fit for theater.

Sure, he’s not the only politician to engage in such dirty politics but the degree to which Thomas lied, and bribed his years though office is certainly not the norm. In fact, there is now evidence that his unlawful ways began before he took office, when he was a candidate for mayor. According to a licensed psychologist, corruption is fueled in part by the ability to get away with things continuously.

A retired resident I spoke with says “I personally felt that he liked the power of being mayor, and he had delusions of grandeur, which unfortunately ultimately got him into trouble.”

You have to wonder how politicians like Thomas and Patrick Cannon of North Carolina could fathom sustaining such criminal behavior. How, in a position of power, did they believe that they would not get caught eventually, when it only takes one person or one small discrepancy to undo all that’s already been done?

Mayor Thomas believes he is larger than life. After while, he was no longer an elected official, but a king of the land in which he ruled. The power and authority they seek to gain does not fill the void that he has been trying to fill.

The swift rise and the tragic fall of Thomas will play out over and over again as greed continues to blind and compromise the moral values of some power seekers.

Thomas is set to officially resign and leave office September 30, 2019 Council President Andre Wallace will take over as Acting Mayor until January 2020. City Council will vote to appoint someone to fulfill Andre’s seat.

He has refused to resign until September 30th, 2019 which is raising the specter of a vicious fight with the City Council.

Council will hold a public meeting Wednesday night at 7pm inside City Hall.

They will have a election expert on deck for residents seeking answers to questions they may have regarding the elections and the mayor on board until Sept 30th.

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JULY 15, 2019

BW BLACK HISTORY

BLACK WESTCHESTER 9

“WHAT TO THE SLAVE IS THE FOURTH OF JULY?” - FREDERICK DOUGLASS (JULY 5, 1852)

unmeaning. I trust, however, that mine will not be so considered. Should I seem at ease, my appearance would much misrepresent me. The little experience I have had in addressing public meetings, in country schoolhouses, avails me nothing on the present occasion.

The papers and placards say, that I am to deliver a 4th [of] July oration. This certainly sounds large, and out of the common way, for it is true that I have often had the privilege to speak in this beautiful Hall, and to address many who now honor me with their presence. But neither their familiar faces, nor the perfect gage I think I have of Corinthian Hall, seems to free me from embarrassment.

The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable — and the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the former, are by no means slight. That I am here to-day is, to me, a matter of astonishment as well as of gratitude. You will not, therefore, be surprised, if in what I have to say I evince no elaborate preparation, nor grace my speech with any high sounding exordium. With little experience and with less learning, I have been able to throw my thoughts hastily and imperfectly together; and trusting to your patient and generous indulgence, I will proceed to lay them before you.

This, for the purpose of this celebration, is the 4th of July. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom. This, to you, is what the Passover was to the emancipated people of God. It carries your minds back to the day, and to the act of your great deliverance; and to the signs, and to the wonders, associated with that act, and that day. This celebration also marks the beginning of another year of your national life; and reminds you that the Republic of America is now 76 years old. I am glad, fellow-citizens, that your nation is so young. Seventy-six years, though a good old age for a man, is but a mere speck in the life of a nation.

Three score years and ten is the allotted time for individual men; but nations number their years by thousands. According to this fact, you are, even now, only in the beginning of your national career, still lingering in the period of childhood. I repeat, I am glad this is so. There is hope in the thought, and hope is much needed, under the dark clouds which lower above the horizon. The eye of the reformer is met with angry flashes, portending disastrous times; but his heart may well beat lighter at the thought that America is young, and that she is still in the impressible stage of her existence.

May he not hope that high lessons of wisdom, of justice and of truth, will yet give direction to her destiny? Were the nation older, the patriot’s heart might be sadder, and the reformer’s brow heavier. Its future might be shrouded in gloom, and the hope of its prophets go out in sorrow. There is consolation in the thought that America is young. Great streams are not easily turned from channels, worn deep in the course of ages. They may sometimes rise in quiet and stately majesty, and inundate the land, refreshing and fertilizing the earth with their mysterious properties. They may also rise in wrath and fury, and bear away, on their angry waves, the accumulated wealth of years of toil and hardship. They, however, gradually flow back to the same old channel, and flow on as serenely as ever. But, while the river may not be turned aside, it may dry up, and leave nothing behind but the withered branch, and the unsightly rock, to howl in the abyss-sweeping wind, the sad tale of departed glory. As with rivers so with nations.

Fellow-citizens, I shall not presume to dwell at length on the associations that cluster about this day. The simple story of it is that, 76 years ago, the people of this country were British subjects. The style and title of your “sovereign people” (in which you now glory) was not then born. You were under the British Crown. Your fathers esteemed the English Government as the home government; and England as the fatherland. This home government, you know, although a considerable distance from your home, did, in the exercise of its parental prerogatives, impose upon its colonial children, such restraints, burdens and limitations, as, in its mature judgment, it deemed wise, right and proper.

But, your fathers, who had not adopted the fashionable idea of this day, of the infallibility of government, and the absolute character of its acts, presumed to differ from the home government in respect to the wisdom and the justice of some of those burdens and restraints. They went so far in their excitement as to pronounce the measures of government unjust, unreasonable, and oppressive, and altogether such as ought not to be quietly submitted to. I scarcely need say, fellow-citizens, that my opinion of those measures fully accords with that of your fathers. Such a declaration of agreement on my part would not be worth much to anybody. It would, certainly, prove nothing, as to what part I might have taken, had I lived during the great controversy of 1776. To say now that America was right, and England wrong, is exceedingly easy. Everybody can say it; the dastard, not less than the noble brave, can flippantly discant on the tyranny of England towards the American Colonies. It is fashionable to do so; but there was a time when to pronounce against England, and in favor of the cause of the colonies, tried men’s souls. They who did so were accounted in their day, plotters of mischief, agitators and rebels, dangerous men. To side with the right, against the wrong, with the weak against the strong, and with the oppressed against the oppressor! here lies the merit, and the one which, of all others, seems unfashionable in our day. The cause of liberty may be stabbed by the men who glory in the deeds of your fathers. But, to proceed.

Feeling themselves harshly and unjustly treated by the home government, your fathers, like men of honesty, and men of spirit, earnestly sought redress. They petitioned and remonstrated; they did so in a decorous, respectful, and loyal manner.

Their conduct was wholly unexceptionable. This, however, did not answer the purpose.

They saw themselves treated with sovereign indifference, coldness and scorn. Yet

Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I do this day. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech.

The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. I know that apologies of this sort are generally considered flat and

they persevered. They were not the men to look back.

As the sheet anchor takes a firmer hold, when the ship is tossed by the storm, so did the cause of your fathers grow stronger, as it breasted the chilling blasts of kingly displeasure. The greatest and best of British statesmen admitted its justice, and the loftiest eloquence of the British Senate came to its support. But, with that blindness which seems to be the unvarying characteristic of tyrants, since Pharaoh and his hosts were drowned in the Red Sea, the British Government persisted in the exactions complained of.

The madness of this course, we believe, is admitted now, even by England; but we fear the lesson is wholly lost on our present ruler.

Oppression makes a wise man mad. Your fathers were wise men, and if they did not go mad, they became restive under this treatment. They felt themselves the victims of grievous wrongs, wholly incurable in their colonial capacity. With brave men there is always a remedy for oppression. Just here, the idea of a total separation of the colonies from the crown was born! It was a startling idea, much more so, than we, at this distance of time, regard it. The timid and the prudent (as has been intimated) of that day, were, of course, shocked and alarmed by it.

Such people lived then, had lived before, and will, probably, ever have a place on this planet; and their course, in respect to any great change, (no matter how great the good to be attained, or the wrong to be redressed by it), may be calculated with as much precision as can be the course of the stars. They hate all changes, but silver, gold and copper change! Of this sort of change they are always strongly in favor.

These people were called Tories in the days of your fathers; and the appellation, probably, conveyed the same idea that is meant by a more modern, though a somewhat less euphonious term, which we often find in our papers, applied to some of our old politicians.

Their opposition to the then dangerous thought was earnest and powerful; but, amid all their terror and affrighted vociferations against it, the alarming and revolutionary idea moved on, and the country with it.

On the 2d of July, 1776, the old Continental Congress, to the dismay of the lovers of ease, and the worshipers of property, clothed that dreadful idea with all the authority of national sanction. They did so in the form of a resolution; and as we seldom hit upon resolutions, drawn up in our day whose transparency is at all equal to this, it may refresh your minds and help my story if I read it. “Resolved, That these united colonies are, and of right, ought to be free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown; and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved.”

Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nation’s history — the very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny.

Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.

From the round top of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds may be seen. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. Cling to this day — cling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight.

The coming into being of a nation, in any circumstances, is an interesting event. But, besides general considerations, there were peculiar circumstances which make the advent of this republic an event of special attractiveness.

The whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublime. The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. The country was poor in the munitions of war. The population was weak and scattered, and the country a wilderness unsubdued. There were then no means of concert and combination, such as exist now. Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline. From the Potomac to the Delaware was a journey of many days. Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed.

Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men too — great enough to give fame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory.

They loved their country better than their own private interests; and, though this is not the highest form of human excellence, all will concede that it is a rare virtue, and that when it is exhibited, it ought to command respect. He who will, intelligently, lay down his life for his country, is a man whom it is not in human nature to despise. Your fathers staked their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, on the cause of their country. In their admiration of liberty, they lost sight of all other interests.

(To read entire speech go to https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july/)

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10 BLACK WESTCHESTER

BLACKWESTCHESTER.COM

JULY 15, 2019

Opportunity – Marketing The Wall Street Journal called WVOX and WVIP "America's Great Community Stations!" And now as the last remaining, true community stations in Westchester ... we're adding to our Marketing and Advertising Departments with Immediate Openings for highly-motivated and dynamic Advertising Account Executives ... perfect opportunities for personable, confident and articulate individuals who know and love Westchester as we do ... where you make your own hours ... as a full or part time Advertising and Marketing Executive.

Call our station President David O'Shaughnessy and come in for a tour of our modern studios in New Rochelle. Hudson Westchester Radio Inc. is an equal opportunity employer.

David O’Shaughnessy 914-636-1460 David@WVOX.com

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JULY 15, 2019

BLACKWESTCHESTER.COM

BLACK WESTCHESTER11

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12 BLACK WESTCHESTER

JULY 15, 2019

NEWS WITH THE BLACK POINT OF VIEW

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-8 30pm : 6 S SDAY THUR JULY 11 Sammy Rae and The Friends

JULY 18 Alexis Morrast

JULY 25 Charley Crockett AUGUST 1 Phony Ppl AUGUST 8 Chris Bergson Band Featuring Ellis Hooks AUGUST 15 The Rad Trads AUGUST 22 Endea Owens

SEPTEMBER 5 Ellis Hooks

AUGUST 29 Tuba Skinny SEPTEMBER 12 Keyon Harrold

5 City Place White Plains, NY 10601

SHOPATCITYCENTER.COM/MUSIC

Events subject to change without notice.

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19

2, 20

ER 1 TEMB

JULY 15, 2019

BLACKWESTCHESTER.COM

BLACK WESTCHESTER13

Work with Historic Hudson Valley!

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• Human Resources Manager

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14

BLACK WESTCHESTER

BW LOCAL POLITICS

JULY 15, 2019

COVER STORIES BW COVER STORY

SHAWYN PATTERSON-HOWARD MAKES HISTORY WITH WIN IN DEM PRIMARY

BY AJ WOODSON

Shawyn Patterson-Howard outside the BOE after absentee votes were counted [Facebook]

SPH WILL BE FIRST ELECTED FEMALE TO SERVE AS MAYOR AND CITY MAY SEE ITS FIRST ALL-FEMALE BOARD OF ESTIMATES IN 2020

In a hotly-contested race where it was 96 degrees in the shade, full of fake robocalls, letters, email blasts, and Facebook posts, accusations and frivolous attacks amongst the candidates and their supporters, Shawyn Patterson-Howard is one step closer to officially become the first female elected to serve as Mayor of the city of Mount Vernon, Tuesday, June 25th.

In addition, with Councilwomen Janice Duarte and Delia M. Farquharson up next, to serve as City Council President, SPH’s historic win could give the city it’s first all-female Board of Estimates (Mayor, Council President, and Comptroller).

According to unofficial results from the Westchester Board of Elections, with all districts reporting on Primary night, Patterson-Howard had 2,355votes (33 percent) to Mayor Richard W. Thomas’ 2,151 votes (30 percent), a margin of 204 votes, with former police commissioner Clyde Isley and City Council President Andre Wallace trailing by a wide margin. Thomas surprised many that he came in second and got 30% of the vote with his corruption case pending. However, Mayor Thomas has yet to concede and Black Westchester has been told the mayor – whose corruption trial starts July 8th – may be requesting a recount.

While SPH will face a Conservative Party challenge in the General Election in November, in the heavily Democratic city of Mount Vernon SPH’s primary win, should allow her to ease on down the yellow brick road to officially become the city’s first female Mayor.

But in the city of Mount Vernon where they do not do anything the easy way, Thomas did, in fact, call for a recall delaying results for another week or so. But wait there’s more, Mayor Thomas claimed that that recent Democratic primary election was rigged and is calling for a new election to be held.

Thomas, 204 votes down in the Democratic Primary, filed a lawsuit against the Westchester County Board of Elections and his primary challengers. Board of Elections officials said the lawsuit is without merit. The BOE informed Black Westchester that there is no way he can win this race, based on

on the voter turnout, but that would not stop Thomas from fighting. On Wednesday morning, July 3rd, Mayor Thomas announced on Good Morning Westchester on WVOX with Bob Marrone - that he was given access to the voting records from the election - a move that many considered another distraction tactic.

Later in the afternoon, in the presence of Patterson-Howard, her campaign staff and members of Thomas’ campaign, the count of the remaining 113 ballots at the Westchester Board of Elections gave SPH five more votes in total ballots to extend her lead. Now that all ballots were accounted for, the election will be re-canvassed and certified on a July 15th.

In his lawsuit, Thomas insists he’s the real winner because he received the most valid signatures. He’s questioning how the ballots were cast and canvassed, and if the voting machines operated properly.

Patterson-Howard said in a statement, “The people of Mount Vernon have spoken. They want to move forward. The healing process must begin immediately. There is so much to do between now and the general election.”

A court date has been set for July 17. That’s two days after the county will certify the election and likely declare Patterson-Howard the winner.

But trust me that will not be the end of the story an election in Mount Vernon I like everything else in the city, the gift that keeps giving for anyone who does the news... so stay tuned!

That said, despite nothing short of an act of God, no hail mary, distraction and division tactics or frivolous lawsuit from the mayor’s playbook will prevent the former Mount Vernon Planning Commissioner from being sworn in as the first elected female Mayor of Mount Vernon. The voters of Mt. Vernon have spoken and they said its time for a woman to run the city and bring back some civility to City Hall.

In the first year of a late June Primary, there is much more time until the General Election and November and the SPH taking office in January, so what’s next?

SPH will use the next several months to continue speaking with Comptroller Deborah Reynolds and the city council to get details of the city’s financial situation and other issues.

“We don’t want to wait so we’re going to ramp up and begin to work together so on Jan. 1 we are prepared to do the work of the people,” she told New 12.

Although named in the Thomas lawsuit, Patterson-Howard said that issue is between the current mayor and the board. She did say she did not believe there were “mass” irregularities on primary day because the candidates would have known about it and the city clerk would have been notified. That’s not her priority, she is more concerned with focusing on the future and moving the city forward.

“We’re just excited, we’re future-focused, we’re focused on moving forward together,” SPH said outside the Board of Elections after the final count. “That’s something that we haven’t seen in Mount Vernon in a while, that’s the spirit of community of co-operation and unity we want to usher in. And that’s what we want to lead in, we asked people to believe again and now we’re asking the people to help us move forward together...

Mount Vernon needs to heal, we need to unify, we need to focus on future opportunities that we have. I’ve had incredible conversations around the state, county and the region recently with people that are looking forward to moving forward with Mount Vernon. So we want to take advantage of those opportunities. Right now we’re focused on November and we’re focused even more on January when we’re fully moving from campaigning to governing. It truly about governing and it’s about doing the will and the work of the people. The people have already spoken and that’s what we’re focusing on.”

As I wrote four years ago after Mayor Thomas won the primary, no one person can fix everything that needs to be fixed and change the city by themselves. SPH has plans but she will need the residents to join her and help her move the city forward. We have to stop looking for one person to save our cities, it will take all of us.

During the campaign, she galvanized many voters in Mount Vernon and ran a great race. While she inspires some to believe again and gave others hope, she will need the residents to be the change they want to see.

“This campaign has been powered by the people, and I want to thank everyone who volunteered,” she wrote on Facebook election night. “We are deeply grateful for all who endured the harsh winter weather to collect signatures on petitions, to knock on doors and speak on behalf of the campaign, to distribute literature, and to galvanize voters back when I was unknown to many in Mount Vernon. Thank you for your continued support through our historic election.”

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JULY 15, 2019

BLACKWESTCHESTER.COM

BLACK WESTCHESTER 15

BW COVER STORY

WESTCHESTER WOMEN WHO RAN FOR OFFICE AND WON

BY AJ WOODSON

TASHA DIAZ

YONKERS CITY COUNCIL - DISTRICT 3 SHANAE WILLIAMS YADIRA RAMOS-HERBERT Yonkers – Political newcomer Tasha Diaz overwhelming wins the 2019 Democratic Primary for Yonkers City Council District 3, decisively defeating the party nominee former City Councilman Dennis Robertson and another newcomer Olasubomi Macauley.

Diaz garnered 774 votes (51%) to Robertson’s 473 votes (18%) and Macaulay’s 270 votes (18%) for the privilege to serve District 3 in the Yonkers City Council proving the people were ready for someone new and not another recycled politician.

“I want to thank Black Westchester and People Before Politics Radio, AJ Woodson, Damon K. Jones, Dr. Bob and the Honorable Lorraine Lopez for their endorsement,” Diaz shares with Black Westchester. “I truly want to thank all who volunteered, campaigned and voted for me to serve the 3rd District of Yonkers in the City Council. I could not have done it without all of you, I am both humbled and honored and look forward to serving my district!”

Tasha Diaz – a People Before Politics Radio Show co-host – is well known for her position as the Jefferson Terrace Tenants’ Association President but also because of the community outreach programs, she has started over the years. She has worked with vendors to provide food to the homeless and hungry in Yonkers and the surrounding cities. Most recently, she partnered with FedEx to provide over 300 toys to underserved kids.

The proud wife of 20 years, mother of two, President of the Jefferson Terrace Tenants Association, Community Activist, Secretary for the Yonkers Democratic Committee and she is on the Women’s Advisory Board for Westchester County representing the 17th Legislative District as well as on the committee for ACDY - the Dominican Cultural Association of Yonkers.

But those are just titles, that is not what makes her an unsung shero. She feeds the seniors in her area, throws coat and toys drives, registering residents to vote and not only is she the president of the tenants associations fighting for the rights of those who live in her building, but she has empowered others and helped them start tenant associations in their buildings.

“I want the community to be better for the kids growing up as well as for my kids because they are our future,” Tasha shares. “The community is what drives me.

I see that there is a lot of work that needs to be done and and feel like I’ve seen the community from a then and now and it’s not getting any better. I have hope that it will prosper with the right attention.”

Mrs. Diaz is far from the first and she won’t be the last to go out of her way to help make her community, but like those before her, it’s a calling.

It’s what she was taught by her grandmother, Mary Blagmon who she took care of until she passed on July of 2015.

“My grandmother Mary Blagmon is the one that got me started with community work,” Tasha shares. “What motivates me are my family, my loving husband, and especially my kids, my mom, and my younger sister, but most of all my grandmother, she always told me that I was cut from a different cloth. I was put here for a purpose and that purpose is to take care of/ and help people. My grandmother taught me all I know about how to be a wife, mother, and leader.”

BW Salutes Tasha Diaz

YONKERS CITY COUNCIL NEW ROCHELLE COUNCIL

Along with Tasha, in Yonkers Councilwoman Shanae V. Williams defeated Democratic nominee Terrance Miller 57% to 43% for re-election in District 1.

Williams was also endorsed by Black Westchester and called right after the results came in to thank us for our support.

Like Tasha she defeated the party nominee and will now continue to serve the residents of Yonkers District 1.

Born in Jamaica and immigrated to Yonkers as a child, Shanae is the younger of two siblings.

Appointed to the seat Jan 2018 she has shown she understands the issues and needs of her community and is ready to continue to work hard to find good solutions to enhance the quality of life of her constituents

Yadira Ramos-Herbert won the right to succeed Councilman Jared Rice - who did not run for re-election- to serve New Rochelle’s District 3 as their new councilwoman.

Yadira was endorsed by Black Westchester, Councilman Rice, Mayor Noam Bransom and nominated by the New Rochelle Democratic Committee.

Yadira is a mom, wife, attorney, District 3 homeowner and volunteer ready to use her skills and experience to advocate for her community!

Less than a year after marrying, her & her husband Jeff purchased on home on Prince Street in New Rochelle. Their family grew with the births of their two children who they have enjoyed raising in the heart of the Lincoln Avenue Corridor.

MELISSA LOEHR GINA JACKSON

COUNTY COURT JUDGE GREENBURGH COUNCIL

Peekskill City Court Judge Melissa Loehr was the number one vote getter - 17,611 votes obtaining 35% of the vote - among the four candidates for Westchester County Court Judge running for two seats.

Endorsed by Black Westchester, Melissa Loehr made history in 2016 by being appointed the first female city court judge in the city of Peekskill.

Judge Loehr is a former public attorney, a member of the city of Peekskill’s Ethics Committee and a legal aid attorney in the Bronx,

Judge Loehr is the daughter of State Supreme Court Judge Gerald Loehr, and has been politically active in the past.

She is a talented progressive Judge that will use her skills Countywide.

BW congatualtes Judge Loehr.

The Greenburgh Democratic Committee on Vacancies filed their official affidavit with the Westchester Board of Elections on Friday, April 12th approving Gina Jackson to fill the opening on the June 25, 2019 Democratic Primary Ballot.

The opening was created due to the unfortunate death of the Honorable Kevin Morgan who served admirably on the Greenburgh Town Council for over 11 years. Gina went on the win the 2019 Demoocratic Primary with 41% of the vote.

Gina’s mission is to give back to the community that has attributed so much to her development. She is a proud product of the Greenburgh Central School District, a lifelong patron of the Greenburgh Public Library and a continual supporter of programs offered by the Theodore D. Young Community Center (TDYCC).

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16 BLACK WESTCHESTER

SAY HER NAME!!!

JULY 15, 2019

Raynette Turner of Mount Vernon was the sixth African-American female to die in police custody, nationwide in the month of July 2015, the most publicized being Sandra Bland. The four others included Kindra Chapman - who was just 18 and had been in an Alabama jail for less than two hours when she was found hanging from a bedsheet in her cell July 14th, Joyce Curnell; a 50-year-old South Carolina was found dead on July 23 at the Charleston County Correctional Facility. Curnell, like Turner had gone to the hospital because of a medical issue before being sent to jail. She was also arrested for shoplifting. Ralkina Jones. the 37-year-old Cleveland mother, who reportedly had health issues including a brain aneurysm and a heart murmur and Alexis McGovern of Missouri (not pictured), 28, was found lifeless in her bed at the St. Louis County Jail after being confined to a medical Infirmary on July 17.

Raynette Turner, Joyce Curnell, Sandra Bland. Bottom: Ralkina Jones, Kindra Chapman.

SIX AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN DIE IN POLICE CUSTODY JULY 2015

SAY THEIR NAME

BY AJ WOODSON

Sandra Bland’s death is probably the most prominent, since not only was it the first of the six African-American females who died in police custody in the month of July 2015, but it is also the one with the murkiest details, garnering the most suspicion. Bland’s death, which sparked national debate over police treatment of African-Americans.

On July 10, 2015, Sandra Bland, a politically active 28-year-old black woman from Chicago was pulled over by a Texas trooper arrested for reportedly after failing to signal a lane change. The civil rights activist from the Chicago area was eventually booked at a Waller County, Texas, jail. Three days later, Sandra was found hanging from a noose in her jail cell. Though ruled a suicide, her death sparked allegations of racially-motivated police murder and Sandra became a poster child for activists nationwide, leaving millions to question, “What really happened to Sandra Bland?”

The 28-year-old Bland was in Texas to start work at Prairie View A&M University, her alma mater, when she was pulled over by state trooper Brian Encinia on July 10, 2015. A shouting match and struggle between the two ensued.

Filmmakers Kate Davis and David Heilbroner trailed Bland’s family for two years as they tried to find out why she was allegedly found hanged from a plastic trash can liner at the jail in Hempstead, a small city northwest of Houston. The documentary, which premiered Monday, December 3, 2018 on HBO was filmed primarily in Texas and the Chicago area, where family members recalled Bland’s childhood in Villa Park and visited the Willow Springs cemetery where she is buried.

The documentary includes footage of their tense encounter; Bland’s interactions at the Waller County jail after she was arrested on a charge of assaulting a public servant; and the scene inside cell 95 after her death. Texas authorities determined Bland’s death to be a suicide — a ruling her family has disputed amid unanswered questions about Bland’s three days in custody.

The day after Bland’s death, her family called Chicago attorney Cannon Lambert for help. He said he traveled to Texas days later to gather evidence, but he took issue with information provided by officials.

“The lead investigator for the Texas Rangers, Shane Ellison, had told us that specifically, Sandy made upwards of 21 phone calls, yet they tell us they don’t know what phones she used to make these 21 calls. That doesn’t make sense to me,” Lambert said.

Cellphone footage unearthed nearly four years after her death shows her view of arrest and prompts call for new investigation into Bland’s death in police custody

Cellphone footage realeased in 2018 showing the arrest of Sandra Bland, prompted calls for a new investigation into her death. The 39-second clip, unearthed by DallasFort Worth news channel WFAA, shows the altercation between Bland and former state trooper Brian Encinia during a traffic stop. It is the first video to show part of the incident from Bland’s point of view after police dashboard video was released shortly after Bland’s death.

It shows Encinia leaning into Bland’s vehicle and taking out his Taser shortly after he had pulled her over for allegedly failing to indicate a change of lanes. As Encinia unholsters his Taser, its lights flash on, and he points it at Bland and he shouts: “Get out of the car! I will light you up. Get out!”

Bland leaves her car and continues to record the trooper as he orders her on to the sidewalk. The Taser remains pointed at her and he shouts again, telling her to get off her phone. Bland replies: “I’m not on the phone. I have a right to record. This is my property.” The video ends shortly after as the camera faces the floor.

Bland’s family have long remained suspicious of the circumstances, and the newly released footage prompted calls for a new investigation. The Bland family lawyer, Cannon Lambert, who settled a lawsuit against authorities implicated during the incident for $1.9m, said he had not seen the footage until it was obtained by local news. But the Texas department of public safety stated the footage had been released as a part of the legal discovery process during litigation.

Texas state representative Garnet Coleman, a Democrat, said: “It is troubling that a crucial piece of evidence was withheld from Sandra Bland’s family and legal team in their pursuit of justice.”

Encinia, who was fired after the incident commanded national attention, was initially indicted for perjury after he claimed he feared for his safety after stopping Bland’s vehicle. However, the charges against him were dropped after Encinia agreed to never work in law enforcement again.

“The video makes it abundantly clear there was nothing [Sandra] was doing in that car that put him at risk at all,” Lambert said.

Raynette Turner, was found dead in a in a Mount Vernon City jail cell, Monday, July 27, 2015, while awaiting arraignment on a shoplifting charge. Turner was taken by TransCare ambulance to Montefiore Mount Vernon hospital between 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Sunday after complaining that she did not feel well, police said. She was treated for hypertension high blood pressure and returned to the cell by ambulance shortly after 10 p.m., they said.

Her death made national headlines and sparked concerned from both residents and local activists about the racial bias in how White and Blacks are arrested by the MVPD. A retired sergeant of the MVPD contacted BW after the death of Raynette Turner to address this matter.

“When I was looking at this story regarding the young lady who died in the cell block, I first asked myself, ‘what was she arrested for?’ ” the former MVPD Sgt., who asked to remain anonymous, told BW. “When I found out why she was arrested, my next question was “why wasn’t she given a D.A.T.’ She should have gotten a desk appearance ticket and when she went to the hospital the first time, that was a good time to give her a desk appearance ticket. Because me as a supervisor, I got to tie up two police officers at the hospital to watch her.

Usually, when you send somebody to the hospital, it’s for a few hours minimum, and logistically I wouldn’t want to take two cops off the street, to watch her for such a minor infraction.”

When discussing racial bias in how blacks and whites are arrested, he recalled several situations when he was on the force.

“Why was she sitting there all weekend for such a minor offense?” he asked. “I used to clash with other supervisors about the way they treated white people that get arrested and black people that get arrested. There have been quite few white people who get arrested for having drugs in the car, and they’ll be given a desk appearance ticket, or given a little bit of bail ,and be gone before the officer’s finished writing the report.”

If Raynette Turner was given a desk appearance ticket to return to court on Monday, and God forbid she died in home in bed, or at the hospital, we would not be having this conversation. BW is in no way insinuating that Turner might not have still died at home, or in the hospital, were she was given a desk appearance ticket and sent on her way, but simply stating the there is racial bias in arresting practices when it comes to blacks and whites. That is not a Mount Vernon thing, or a Westchester thing, but a systemic problem nationwide.

Raynette Turner’s death while a first for the City of Mount Vernon is added to a . long list of black women who have had deadly confrontations with police. According to Kate Abbey-Lambertz at the Huffington Post, these are some of the women on that list: Tanisha Anderson, a 37-year-old woman struggling with mental illness who died after Cleveland police slammed her head into the pavement outside of her family’s home in 2014.

Miriam Carey was a 34-year-old dental hygienist who made a wrong turn near the White House and was fatally shot by federal law enforcement officers in 2013.

Yvette Smith was a 47-year-old woman who was shot and killed by Texas police officers as she opened the door to her home for police in 2014.

Natasha McKenna was 37 years old when she was restrained by Virginia police, shackled at the legs and shot with a stun gun four times earlier this year. She stopped breathing and died at a hospital several days later.

Rekia Boyd was a 22-year-old woman living in Chicago when she was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer.

Mya Hall was a 27-year-old transgender woman who was shot and killed by National Security Agency guards after crashing a car into a government facility.

Shelly Frey was a 27-year-old mother of two who was shot by Wal-Mart security who accused her of shoplifting.

Darnisha Harris was only a teenager when Louisiana law enforcement officials fired two shots into the car she was driving in 2012.

Malissa Williams, 30, died after Cleveland police fired 137 times into the car that she was riding in with Timothy Russell.

Alesia Thomas was 35 when she was kicked to death by a Los Angeles Police officer.

Shantel Davis was 23 when she was shot and killed by plainclothes New York Police officers in Brooklyn in 2012.

Shereese Francis, 29, had mental illness and died after NYPD officers arrived at her home to help her family transport her to a local hospital. Four officers pressed on her back to handcuff her, and lawyers for the family later sued, saying they suffocated Francis.

Aiyana Stanley-Jones was only 7 when Detroit police officers barged into her family’s home with their guns drawn, shooting her in the head.

Tarika Wilson, 26, was killed and her 14-month-old son was wounded in 2008 after Ohio police opened fire in her home.

Kathryn Johnson was 92 years old when she was shot and killed by Atlanta police officers in a botched 2006 raid.

Alberta Spruill was 57 when she died after NYPD officers mistakenly threw a stun grenade into her home.

Kendra James was 21 when she was killed by Portland police officers in 2003.

This is no means an exhaustive or detailed list, but it’s one filled with names that, by and large, have not incited widespread outrage over police actions. “Their funerals aren’t the site of activism, their mothers don’t get invited to the State of the Union or the White House as a symbol of commitment to eliminating this problem,” Kimberlé Crenshaw, a law professor and executive director of the African-American Policy Forum, informs. “That element of erasure sends a message that these losses of life don’t matter.”

That may be the case, but today I ask everyone reading this to join me and Say Her Name, as we remember the tragic death of Mount Vernon’s mother of eight, Raynette Turner and the other Black Women killed in police custody in July 2015! They may have been dropped from the media cycle but BW remembers! REAL TALK

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JULY 15, 2019

BW AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT

BLACK WESTCHESTER 17

RON BAILEY - NO BLACK HEROES

BY AJ WOODSON

The life of an African-American police officer at risk for confronting racism.

Ever wonder what it is like to be a black police officer in America,

and how many they serve their communities that in many ways, hate them? Did you know that African-American officers must endure the hatred of those in policing who won’t accept them?

Highly decorated officer William ‘Ron’ Bailey gives a front row seat view of the aforementioned questions in his book - No Black Heroes: The true story of a black police officer’s struggle with racism, corruption and crime.

”My memoir No Black Heroes is about my 30 year struggle as an African-American police officer,” Ron Bailey shares with Black Westchester. “It details the adverse conditions an officer will face for exposing racism, and corruption. No Black Heroes exposes those in command positions who took steps to ensure my harm, including my family, for revealing the hatred and dishonesty tolerated in our police departments. And you best believe, it was my faith that saw me through those turbulent and dangerous times.”

“For those who may wonder if my book is absolutely true; I’ve posted a few documents, articles, and videos in the Gallery on my website,” Bailey continues. “They have been provided in support of the accounts in my book. This is my life’s story. I can assure you it will seem hard to believe, but this is how things really are in police departments nationally.

No Black Heroes can be purchased on Amazon. Learn what black officers must do to “Serve and Protect!

“What you read in my book will amaze you, but is absolutely true backed by documents, news reports, files, and court cases.”

For more information on Ron Bailey and his book, No Black Heroes, check out his website, www.Ronbailey1.com

DRESSED IN DREAMS: TANISHA C. FORD WRITES A LOVE LETTER TO FASHION AND BLACK WOMANHOOD

BY AJ WOODSON

Tanisha C. Ford, a professor of history and Africana Studies, follows up 2015’s Liberated Threads with this thoughtful memoir in which “clothes are never just garments.” She traces her journey from industrial Fort Wayne, Ind., through boarding school on the East Coast (where she had to balance the baggy jeans she loved and the Mary Janes the preppy kids were wearing) and a year of college in Atlanta (where the lure of knee-high boots eventually surrendered to the desire to move back to Indiana, where her young son was living with her parents), to a protest of the death of Michael Brown (where hoodies, which were utilitarian for

the factory the factory workers of Fort Wayne and fashionable for their

kids, became political) and a Louis Vuitton store on Fifth Avenue in New York. The dashiki runs through it all, beginning as a symbol of her parents’ individualism in the 1970s and continuing as a shorthand for their dreams for her. Ford sprinkles in the history and politics of the styles she highlights as well as a deep affection for her mother, the first style icon she knew. Her knowledge of fashion and her love for the women who influenced her style makes this appealing for anyone who’s ever loved a piece of clothing.

“I never thought I’d write another book on fashion, for fear of being pigeonholed as ‘the fashion lady,’” Ford shared. Her hesitance is understandable, as previously, she’d authored 2015’s Liberated Threads: Black Women, Style, and the Global Politics of Soul and co-authored this year’s lauded retrospective monograph of Black Arts Movement fashion photographer Kwame Brathwaite, Black Is Beautiful for Aperture.

But when the opportunity arose for her to write for a broader audience, it was actually Ford’s academic roots that led her to a deeply intimate exploration of style, as she researched what that project might look like.

Dressed In Dreams - One of Essence’s “10 Books We’re Dying To Toss Into Our Summer Totes” and One of The Philadelphia Inquirer’s “Big Summer Books for 2019” was released on June 25, 2019 is available on Amazon. For more info check Tanisha C. Ford and her book, check her website http://www.tanishacford.com/

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18BLACK WESTCHESTER

NEWS WITH THE BLACK POINT OF VIEW

JULY 15, 2019

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JULY 15, 2019

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

BLACK WESTCHESTER

19

GENESIS 7 AND BETTER DIABETES MANAGEMENT

BY DR. CEDRICK BATCHATEU, PHARM.D.

An epidemic is defined as a widespread occurrence of a disease in a community at a particular time. It is with this definition in mind that we say that diabetes has reached epidemic levels in the United States. A 2017 CDC report found that more than 100 million Americans have diabetes or prediabetes. More than 1 in 4 Americans either have diabetes or are likely to get it. This means that 30.3 million Americans are diabetic, while 84.1 million have prediabetes, a condition that often leads to type 2 diabetes.

Statistically speaking, 1 in 3 US adults are projected to have diabetes by the year 2050.

Type 2 diabetes was once thought to be a disease of the west, but we see it exploding in poorer countries. One theory links it’s spread with the introduction of the Western diet. Type 2 diabetes typically affects adults, while Type 1 affects children. But now, we see a greater prevalence of children diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

To better understand the disease of diabetes, we must understand how food affects blood sugar in the body. Normally, when we eat, the food is broken down into simple sugars, we call them glucose. This is the smallest unit of carbohydrates. Glucose, a simple sugar, is absorbed into the bloodstream, where it is received into the cells and used for energy. The hormone that carries sugar into the cells, is called insulin, and this hormone is made in the pancreas. Excessive sugar present in the blood is called hyperglycemia. Sugar does not belong in the blood, hyperglycemia can lead to oxidative damage, and damages to kidneys, heart, nerves, retinal and vascular organs.

Type 2 diabetes reflects the body’s (pancreas) inability to quickly and efficiently remove the sugar that is found in the blood. In its early stages, the pancreas will produce more of the insulin hormone to remove the same amount of sugar that it once did under healthy metabolic conditions. This reflects a gradual decrease in sensitivity to insulin. Over time, insulin sensitivity decreases further, and so the body is no longer able to produce enough insulin to remove blood sugar and store it inside cells. This is where prescription drugs come in, doctors prescribe drugs such as Metformin, Januvia, Glimepiride, and others. Although they have different mechanisms of action, they ultimately work to remove sugar from the blood. Some drug classes increase the release of insulin by the pancreas, others block the release of sugar from the liver, while others reduce appetite.

When a patient presents before their health care practitioners, symptoms that they look for include, high blood sugar, frequent thirst, fruity breath, sweet-smelling urine, fatigue, weight loss. These symptoms are ways the body tries to cope with increased sugar in the blood. It increases the thirst sensation because it is trying to dilute the blood. The fruity breath is a sign of sugar’s presence, sweet-smelling urine is the body’s way of getting rid of excess sugar that remained unabsorbed. The frequent fatigue is due to the cells not receiving adequate glucose for energy. Practitioners will usually measure a patient’s blood sugar to diagnose. 3 common tests are used to measure blood sugar, these are; fasting blood glucose, oral glucose tolerance test, and hemoglobin A1c. Of the three, the only one requiring a doctor’s supervision is the Hemoglobin A1c test, the other 2 can be done at home or with professional guidance.

Despite all the diagnostic tests and drug treatments available, Type 2 diabetes continues to grow among Americans. The reason is both simple and complex. Simple because we are not addressing the root causes of blood sugar imbalances, complex because it is often multi-factorial. As Americans, we tend to react only after diagnosis, and not before. Urgency is manifest only after the disease has begun. Secondly, the convenience of managing the symptoms can appeal much more than the sacrifices required to change our diets and lifestyles. Nevertheless, simply managing symptoms with drugs can also have side-effects, such as weight gain, bloated stomach, metallic taste in the mouth, as common with Metformin.

On our website, www.drced.com, we have a protocol known as Genesis 7.

This addresses what we believe are multi-factorial root causes chronic illness. The approach may vary depending on the disease, but the underlying principle of the 7 steps remain the same. These 7 steps are:

Remove bad foods (2) Cleanse the system (3) Hydrate the body (4) Balance pH (5) Nourish body (6) Build it up (7) Stress and rest

dilute the blood with water. This is evidenced by common symptoms manifested in uncontrolled diabetics, excessive thirst, fruity breath, sweet-smelling urine. Making sure your kidneys, and liver are healthy and working well key can mitigate the damage of diabetes. The ability to cleanse, urinate and even have consistent bowel movements also plays an important role in overall glycemic control. Exercising and sweating help cleanse the blood via the skin, and allow lymph to drain.

STEP 3. As mentioned, water helps to dilute the blood and maintain fluid dynamics and while blood is pumped throughout the body. Getting enough water is essential especially when hyperglycemia is present. The body causes thirst as a sign to get more water into the system, this is to dilute the blood and even get rid of sugar via urination.

We recommended a goal of drinking half of your weight in ounces each day for proper hydration. For example, a 180-pound person would drink 90 ounces throughout the day.

STEP 4. The pH scale is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of water-soluble substances. A healthy body is always slightly alkaline, the blood itself has a pH of about 7.4. This creates an environment that is beneficial for the growth and proper function of cells, organs and the body as a whole. The key is that what we consume and the environment we find ourselves in can also affect the pH of the body. Unlike an alkaline environment (pH greater than 7), an acidic environment (pH less than 7) creates a toxic, mineral-poor environment, where cells starve and parasites grow. Common sources of acidity in the body come from foods (grains, sweeteners, alcohol, etc…), chemicals (make-up, deodorants, perfumes, heavy metals) and stress (family, work, social). It is very important to identify these sources of acidity in your life and work towards minimizing their impact on your health.

STEP 5. A healthy diet is one full of live foods (greens) and low in dead foods (processed and refined). The goal is to make sure the body is getting all the essential nutrients every day. Understanding the role of food, the types of nutrients and their impact is key. Reduce your daily carb intake means less sugar gets released in the blood. I am an advocate of the keto diet which consists of low carbs, moderate protein, and high-fat consumption. The quality of the carbs also makes a difference, try to avoid refined carbs such as breads, cookies, and replace with starchy forms of carbohydrates. Ketogenic diets have shown to be more successful than a typical low-carb diet because it includes the consumption of protein and healthy fats.

STEP 6. Exercise can revitalize the body and help maintain the integrity of its organs.

Research shows that moderate levels of physical exercise can benefit the body in different ways. In addition to helping prevent the rise of diabetes, exercise can play a role in positively affecting blood pressure, mortality, and even improving blood sugar control. Keeping your blood glucose at a healthy level will prevent future complications. Exercise leads to muscles taking up glucose from the blood even in the absence of insulin, this reduces your blood glucose level. Theoretically, exercising reduces your insulin resistance. 3 types of exercises can be employed, flexibility (stretching, yoga), aerobic (walking, running, dancing) and anaerobic (weightlifting, sprinting). Setting a workout plan that includes a good balance of all three is recommended.

STEP 7. The rise of modern technology may have contributed to the rise in insomnia and sleep loss. Sleep loss can affect the body’s ability to heal, proper metabolic function and energy metabolism. Among the ways it is destructive to the body, it can also increase insulin resistance. We recommended that you increase the number of hours of sleep to 7-8 hours a night for an adult, 9-10 hours for teenagers. Techniques such as reducing blue light exposure at night (from phones), avoiding late-night eating, getting to bed at the same time each night can prove helpful. Consistency each night is key to getting the body’s circadian rhythm normalized. In addition to getting a good night’s sleep, properly managing chronic forms of stress can also prove helpful. Some stress can be beneficial because the body produces chemicals and hormones to help you rise to the challenge. However, chronic and more permanent forms of stress can prove harmful to health. They are linked to increasing sugar imbalance, beta-cell dysfunction, and reducing the effects of insulin. Research has shown that STEP 1. The goal here is to identify which foods are beneficial and which are harmful to reducing these chronic forms of stress can improve blood sugar management in diayou. Research has shown us that when it comes to diabetes, low-carb diets are more betics. beneficial than high-carb diets. Considering the typical western diet is full of refined products, sugary drinks, added sweeteners; reducing them is the logical first step. Many On our website, our goal is to promote better health by offering natural solutions for people are gluten intolerant to various degrees, this means the body is unable to break improved conditions. If you would like to try our program, Genesis 7, visit us at www. down (digest) gluten protein. The protein will gradually damage our intestinal tract, the drced.com. If you’re looking for a wellness coach or a diabetes speaker to present on villi responsible for absorbing nutrients from food. The destruction of the villi gradually this and other topics, please contact us. reduces the body’s ability to absorb key nutrients from the foods that we eat. Addressing the sugar issue is also vital, it is recommended to find alternatives to the sugar-filled Dr. Cedrick Batchateu, Pharm.D. beverages we consume each day. Even carbonated beverages can slow down the di- Wellness Speaker and Coach 914 355 6796 gestion of food, impacting the blood sugar balance.1 www.drced.com STEP 2. Keeping your channels of elimination working efficiently is key to balancing contact@drced.com blood sugar, these channels are the blood, colon, kidneys, liver, lungs, lymph, and skin.

As you know, the presence of excess sugar in the blood can lead to oxidative damage Dr Cedrick Batchateu, Pharm.D., is a wellness advocate and public speaker whose to major arteries, and organs over time. This hyperglycemic state reduces the flow of nutritional approach to chronic health has helped many reach their desired health and blood throughout the body. The body will do its part to remove as much sugar and even wellness goals.

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20 BLACK WESTCHESTER

NEWS WITH THE BLACK POINT OF VIEW

JULY 15, 2019

STATE OFFICIALS FAILED TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE OF MT VERNON FROM AN CORRUPT OPPRESSIVE GOVERNMENT

BY DAMON K. JONES

The recent unjust arrest of duly sworn

Mount Vernon Police Commissioner, Shawn Harris while reporting to work should shock the conscious of residents and elected officials throughout Westchester County.

It was a smart move by the Westchester District Attorney’s office not to peruse criminal charges against Commissioner Harris who was duly sworn in as Commissioner. The District Attorney’s Office has failed for three years to bring any charges against former Mount Vernon Deputy Police Commissioner, Joseph Spiezio, who had multiple complaints and reports directly to the District Attorneys of alleged threatening elected officials and residents; police reports are alleged to be altered, and homicide investigations obstructed. To entertain any criminal charges against Harris would Gov. Cuomo with Democratic nominee for New York State Attorney Genera Letitia “Tish” James be unlawful in itself after not bringing at the Celebrate Israel Parade on Fifth Ave, in New York City July 2018 [Black Westchester] charges against Spiezio.

I get it; everyone wants this to go away. Unfortunately for the people, these same elected officials fail to realize that January 1, 2020, will change who Mayor, but January 1, 2020, will never reverse the lasting physiological and mental effects of many residents Mount Vernon. Local, county, state elected officials, and city leaders were complicit in silence for the last three years.

The continued antics of city officials have now put a national spotlight on the failed ethical and legal accountability of elected officials from county and state to put an end to the political madness.

Many criminal justice professionals have questioned the decision of the New York State Attorney General’s Office even to conceive a plea deal that will allow an admitted criminal to stay in their elected position. It is no secret that our jails are filled with Black youth that has been vigorously prosecuted and convicted on much less than what the AG office indicted the Mayor. However, this is politics at its best. Regardless of the offense to the people, this elite social club will say one thing about the accountability of other elected officials to get elected but does another when the opportunity arises to make their word bond.

What we have now is more chaos, a plea deal that violates the city charter and a city council at wits to protect the laws of the city, clean up the remaining corruption in an attempt to have a normally functioning government and to protect its finances.

The agreed plea deal of the Attorney General’s Office has disregarded the sacrifices of residents of Mount Vernon who have suffered documented harassment, retaliation suspension, dismissals, personal threats to their lives and family safety; to see a two-and-a-half-year investigation, human resources, tax dollars pleaded away with a slap on the wrist. The question remains, even

with a so-called progressive government; who do black people look to for justice? Many Mount Vernon residents turned to the District Attorney, Attorney General office only to be politically pacified.

So, what is the point for any elected official in New York State to stand up against corruption, work with the Attorney General’s Office to get the city top lawyer indicted, put their lives and families living on the line for protecting the city; and this is the thanks they will get? Makes us question what the real ethic values at the state level are when they refuse to denounce and hold accountable ethics and moral violations of their own on a city level.

Governor Cuomo and other state Democrats were quick to denounce other elected officials like Former AG Eric Schneiderman who was only accused of a crime but have remained silent on a Mayor that had pleaded guilty. Why should Mount Vernon be any different?

When questioned about Thomas, the Governor had the unmitigated gall to say he was unfamiliar with the issues in Mount Vernon. Does the Governor think the readers of these news outlets are that stupid? He lives in Chappaqua, the last time I checked, it is in Westchester. To add injury to the insult of the people of Mount Vernon, it is on record of the Mount Vernon City Councilwoman, Lisa Copeland said she hand-delivered a letter to his office almost two years ago.

Black people have been disrespected the political process so much that we cannot even see the bigger picture when we are disrespected. We cannot or refuse to see when the levels of government failed.

We have arrived at a point where the challenges against public corruption — harassment, retaliation, and abuse of elected office —require changes not only to city policy but also proper oversight to basic public management systems of state authorities.

NEW YORK POST EDITORIAL BOARD CALLS FOR GOV. CUOMO TO REMOVE MOUNT VERNON MAYOR

Gov. Andrew Cuomo; Mt Vernon Mayor Richard Thomas Getty; Rashid Umar Abbasi

Someone needs to end the Third World-like political chaos that’s descended on the state’s eighth-largest city.

In a July 19, 2019 editorial, the New York Post Editorial Board called for Governor Andrew Cuomo to remove Mount Vernon’ youngest mayor in the history of the city, Richard W. Thomas, referring to him as Mount Vernon Mayor (or maybe not!) Richard Thomas?

Just like in 2015 when he made history as the youngest elected mayor in the city of Mount Vernon, his plea bargain and refusal to leave office after the City Council intrpretting the City Charter deemed his position vacant after he plead guily is making national news.

The City Council, citing the city’s charter, decided his guilty plea immediately disqualified him from serving, and then named Council President Andre Wallace to serve as acting mayor. Thomas called that move illegal, with support from the city’s corporation counsel, Lawrence Porcari — who himself has been indicted for allegedly steering $365,000 from the Water Board to pay Thomas’ criminal defense team. Meanwhile, Mayor(?) Wallace reinstated the former police commissioner — who, with an OK from Mayor(?)Thomas, was promptly arrested for trespassing, the NY Post write in the editorial.

The editorial also speaks about NY State Attorney General calling his crimes a “gross violation” and a “disloyalty to those he was sworn to serve,” and how it was odd that she didn’t demand he leave office immediately, but it’s too late to change that.

Like many residents having been saying, the NY Post wrote that Gov. Cuomo can clean up the mess by exercising his legal authority to suspend Mayor(?) Thomas and so allow Mayor(?) Wallace to lose his question mark. (A new mayor will be elected in November, anyway.)

We know Cuomo has the authority, the question is will he use it?

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JULY 15, 2019

SPORTS NEWS

BLACK WESTCHESTER

21

HISTORY HEADLINES: JULY 5, 1975 ARTHUR ASHE BECOMES THE FIRST BLACK MAN TO WIN WIMBLEDON

BY AJ WOODSON

On July 5, 1975, marks the day that 31-year-old Arthur Ashe became the first Black Man to win Wimbledon, defeating heavily favored No. 6 seed Jimmy Connors (pictued with Ashe is picture) in a shocking upset, to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon. Ashe accomplished a great many firsts in his tennis career. He destroyed his opponents in his march toward the title match.

Yet The New York Times reported: “Before a stunned center-court court crowd, Ashe won, 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. […] Ashe confounded him. He threw ‘junk’ at Jimmy, he chipped and dinked, mostly to the backhand. He tossed up lobs. He served solidly all the way through, and his forehand volley, admittedly his weakness, was a tower of strength at the infighting around the net.”

A key to Ashe’s victory was his demeanor. The Times article peppered a description of the match with observations of Ashe’s methodical manner:

On the changeovers Ashe sat still, eyes closed, meditating, relaxing for the task ahead. Outwardly unemotional, Ashe pressed on with the plan.

Deliberate and careful, Ashe stuck to the battle plan. This unemotional, steady demeanor served Ashe well in much larger battles.

Ashe was the first African-American to win the National Junior Indoor tennis title and the first to be selected to the United States Davis Cup team.

In 1968, Ashe became the first black man to win the U.S. Open. Two years later, he won the Australian Open for his second Grand Slam title.

Ashe retired from tennis in 1980 after suffering a heart attack. He published the three-volume book A Hard Road to Glory in 1988 detailing the struggle of black athletes in America. Ashe died of AIDS-related complications on Feb. 6, 1993. He contracted the disease from a blood transfusion following double-bypass surgery. In 1997, the U.S. Open’s new home court was named Arthur Ashe Stadium.

But Ashe is one of those rare legendary athletes who may best be known for his exploits off the court. Ashe spent much of his life fighting for change in South Africa, where the apartheid government refused to grant him a visa to play. In 1973, he was allowed to play and did so despite boycotts against South African sports. He believed that his presence could break down stereotypes, but in 1977, he realized that his approach wasn’t working and joined the boycott.

Dedicated to the cause, Ashe was arrested in 1985 for protesting outside South Africa’s embassy in Washington. When Nelson Mandela was released from prison in 1990, he was asked if he wanted to meet anybody in the United States. He responded, “How about Arthur Ashe?”

US WOMENS SOCCER TEAM COKO - THE ORIGIN STORY DOMINATES THE WORLD CUP OF A TENNIS SUPERSTAR

The United States Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) claimed its fourth Women’s World Cup title on Sunday, July 7th,beating the Netherlands, 2-0, in Lyon, France, to repeat as world champions.

The US Women’s Soccer Team is the most successful in international women’s soccer, winning four Women’s World Cup titles (including the first Women’s World Cup in 1991), four Olympic gold medals (including the first Olympic women’s soccer tournament in 1996) and eight CONCACAF Gold Cups. It medaled in every World Cup and Olympic tournament in women’s soccer history from 1991 to 2015. Their home soccer jersey has become the number one best-selling soccer jersey, men’s or women’s, ever sold on Nike.com in a single season.

From the outset of the tournament, the US team was favored to win. In their first match against Thailand, they won 13-0, scoring, as some have pointed out, more goals in one game than the men’s team has scored in every World Cup since 2006 combined.

Roaring crowds of enthusiastic fans packed Lower Manhattan Wednesday, July 10th to celebrate the World Cup champion U.S. Women’s National Team as they passed through the Canyon of Heroes.

The US Women’s National Team sealed the deal with its fourth stunning victory Sunday at the World Cup, but the players are still fighting another battle back home.

The soccer team’s 2-0 victory against the Netherlands proved that the US women are still at the top of the game — and, the athletes say, that they should be paid as equal to men.

“At this moment of tremendous pride for America, the sad equation remains all too clear, and Americans won’t stand for it anymore. These athletes generate more revenue and garner higher TV ratings but get paid less simply because they are women,” said Molly Levinson, spokeswoman for the USWNT players in their equal pay lawsuit.

“It is time for the Federation to correct this disparity once and for all.”

While Serena was unsuccessfully working to win her eighth title at the age of 37 and Roger Federer also 37 was focusing on winning his ninth title, while Novak Djokovic (32) had designs on defending his crown and 32-year-old Andy Murray was working his way back from a near career ending hip injury with his mixed doubles partner Serena Williams, we just witnessed 15-year-old Coco Gauff’s superstar origin story at Wimbledon at the All England Club.

In the middle of the sports world speculating and waiting to see where NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard would be taking his talents in the off season, the Fourth of July weekend saw the arrival of a new American sports hero and the origin story of a tennis superstar.

Even for those who are not diehard tennis fans, Coko’s performance at Wimbledon on Friday, July 5th is going to make her hard to forget. The 15-year-old phenom was already made a name for herself in the tennis world after taking down her idol, five-time champion Venus Williams in the first-round but she undeniably wedged herself into the consciousness of sports fans with an absolutely legendary third round match against Polona Hercog. Watching Coko battle back from two match points down in the second set against the 29-year-old Slovenian, on Centre Court was nothing less than amazing.

Even Serena Williams who was died her 24th Grand Slam Title by Simona Halep, says she’s a ‘big fan’ of 15-year-old ‘Coco’ Gauff “Coko is ‘capable and ready’ for Wimbledon glory,” Serena said after Coko beat her sister Venus. “I think there are some 15-yearolds, like me, who wouldn’t know what to do at Wimbledon,” Williams said, according to Wtatennis.com. “Then you have a 15-year-old like Coco who knows what to do. I think she’s definitely on a different level, so I think she’s totally capable and ready, to be honest.”

While other 15-years-olds were trying to figure out what to do on their summer vacations, with power, patience and extraodinary stamina, Coko hijacked the first week of Wimbleton, goes viral on Twitter and gets an invite to a Beyonce concert and THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING! We just witnessed the origin story of our next favorite sports superhero, and the story is far from over.

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22 BLACK WESTCHESTER

REAL TALK FOR THE COMMUNITY

JULY 15, 2019

TRUMP, MCCONNELL, REPARATIONS AND WHITE PRIVLEDGE Reparations has become a talking point on the 2020 campaign trail among the Democratic candidates, but this is not a new idea, Blacks In America have been calling for and waiting on their 40 acres and a mule way before Spike Lee made that the name of his company. The Movement for Black Lives wrote on their website; “We demand reparations for past and continuing harms. The government, responsible corporations and other institutions that have profited off of the harm they have inflicted on Black people — from colonialism to slavery through food and housing redlining, mass incarceration, and surveillance — must repair the harm done.” But how can black people reasonable expect reparations from a country that is in denial of the effects of Slavery, the Original Sin of this country? When you have a president who gives white supremacist a free pass to be who they really are, with no push back and many others in power who are decendants of slave owners and feel that was the past, Black People should just get over it, We Gave You A Black President whatelse do you want? The discuss on reparations needs to be more than just a campaign soundbite.

“I don’t think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago for whom none us currently living are responsible is a good idea. We’ve tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war, by passing landmark civil rights legislation. We elected an African American president.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said reparations are a no-go on Tuesday, June 18th, citing the election of former president Barack Obama as one way the nation has dealt with its “original sin of slavery.” McConnell said he doesn’t support reparations because “none of us currently living are responsible.” He also noted passage of the Civil Rights Act.

Why should we be surprised that this White Senator of Scot-Irish and English descent is opposes paying government reparations to the descendants of American slaves, when he himself has a family history deeply entwined in the issue: Two of his great-great-grandfathers were slave owners, U.S. census records show.

The two great-great-grandfathers, James McConnell and Richard Daley, owned a total of at least 14 slaves in Limestone County, Alabama — all but two of them female, according to the county “Slave Schedules” in the 1850 and 1860 censuses.

The details about McConnell’s ancestors, discovered by NBC News through a search of ancestry and census records, came in the wake of recent hearings on reparations before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Asked about the reparations issue, McConnell, R-Ky., said he was opposed to the idea, arguing it would be hard to figure out whom to compensate.

DONALD TRUMP A MAN WITH A KLAN

“You know, they have a word – it’s sort of became old-fashioned – it’s called a nationalist. And I say, really, we’re not supposed to use that word. You know what I am? I’m a nationalist, okay? I’m a nationalist.

Nationalist. Nothing wrong. Use that word. Use that word.”

Donald Trump said at a rally in Houston Monday. October 29, 2018 President Donald Trump - whose water McConnell often carries - said in an interview on Monday, June 24th, that he thinks the concept of the federal government giving reparations to the descendants of slaves is “unusual” and “interesting” but he doesn’t “see it happening.”

“I think it’s a very unusual thing,” Trump told The Hill when asked about the idea of trying to rectify the enduring effects of slavery’s legacy. “It’s been a very interesting debate. I don’t see it happening, no.”

Trump’s father Fred was arrested in New York City in 1927, when a group of Klansmen got into a brawl with police officers during a Memorial Day parade in Queens. There is a document trail, and the names, dates, and addresses match up. The New York Times published a story about the riot and the seven men who were arrested; Fred Trump is mentioned by name. His address is given at 175-24 Devonshire Road, Jamaica, New York City, and the federal census of 1930 shows that Fred Trump resided at that address.

The newspaper does not identify him as a Klan member, or clarify whether he was wearing a Klan robe—as were many of the demonstrators―but he did get arrested, and all seven men were represented by the same attorneys.

That being said at the very least having a Klan sympathizer for a father would seem to be highly pertinent in explaining his behavior toward AfricanAmericans, Immigrants from Shithole Countries and basically anyone else who isnt white and thinks like he does. But Trump is not racist, he doesnt have a racist bone in his body. Trump said ‘He is the least racist person we know!’

I’m not saying you are a racist, racist are saying you are racist. People like David Duke, the former Klan Grand Wizard, who had said that Trump was “the best of the lot,” says trump is a White Nationalist and they is nothing wrong with that.

While Davis Duke failed in his bid for President of the United States in the 1988 election, his movement has come out of the shadows into the forefront with the stolen election of Donald Trump

Sen. Mitch McConnell‘s suggestion that the election of Barack Obama has satisfied America’s appetite for reparations is more than problematic.

To suggest that the benevolence of America’s racist culture allowed a Black man to become the first Black president, prompts a discussion on privilege.

When we can look white privilege in the face and negotiate it, we can look towards more reconciliatory language. We think that this discussion is about racism, and it is; however, if we were to look deeper into the pupils of white privilege, we would discover that the real discussion is about classism. In his essay, “The Souls Of White Folk,” I read where W.E.B. DuBois said, “My poor, un-white thing!

Weep not nor rage, Rev. Curtis O. Robinson, Sr wrote in the PostNewsGroup.com.

While David Duke failed in his bid for President of the United States in the 1988 election, his movement has come out of the shadows into the forefront with the stolen election of Donald Trump.

So while several 2020 Democratic presidential candidates are embracing reparations for the descendants of slaves in their campaign speeches that is just the beginning or a much needed conversation this countryshould be having and African Americans need to discuss what that looks like to them. But until those who benefit from White Privledge can admit the affects of slavery among African-Americans, until this country addresses their Original Sin, not amount of money from the government, no reperations - defined as some type of direct payment to former slaves and their descendants - will make life easier for Africans in America, REAL TALK!

THE SQUAD PUSHES BACK AGAINST TRUMP’S RACIST TWEETS

I don’t have a Racist bone in my body! Trump tweeted, prompting Ocasio-Cortez to respond with a tweet of her own.

“You’re right, Mr. President — you don’t have a racist bone in your body. You have a racist mind in your head, and a racist heart in your chest. That’s why you violate the rights of children and tell the Congresswoman who represents your home borough, to ‘go back to my country,’ ” she tweeted, referring to herself, a New York native.

The president’s tweet is just one more example of the racist attitude and sense of white privledge entitlement, which included telling four newly elected female members of congress if they don’t like this country they can go back where they came from.

Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who appeared to be the president’s primary target, also responded on Twitter; “True patriotism is not about blindly supporting a single Administration. True patriotism is about fighting for our country and its dignity. True patriotism means making sure people of our country and our Constitution are uplifted and protected,” she wrote.

What this president fails to realize not agreeing with him does not make you a traitor to the country or un-American, but its a right given to us all in the constitution.

The make American Great Again concept Trump brags about is about going back to a time where white man could or say what they want to whoever they wanted to with impunity. Its about the Fear Of A Brown Planet and the fear of the browning of America, REAL TALK! Black Westchester salutes The Squad for stepping up and speaking out!!!

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JULY 15, 2019

ADVERTISE IN OUR ANNIVERSARY ISSUE

BLACK WESTCHESTER 23

AUGUST 2019 IS THE FIVE YEAR ANIVERSARY OF PEOPLE BEFORE POLITICS RADIO (PBP RADIO) AND BLACKWESTCHESTER.COM (BW) AND THE TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF BLACK WESTCHESTER NEWSPAPER Deadline to advertise and get your congratulatory ads in our Anniversary issue is Saturday, August 3, 2019 and we will be celebrating the 5 year anniversy of PBP Radio over 5 show from Sunday, July 28th - August 5th contact us to sponsor our anniversary shows at AdvertiseWithBW@gmail.com or make a donation at www.PayPal.Me/BlackWestchesterMag About Black Westchester: BlackWestchester.com is a magazine (website) and print newspaper for people of color for Westchester and the Tri-State area of New York at every economic level. Black Westchester is committed to being a platform to profile life, culture, economics, politics, sports and entertainment and those who are representing vision in these marketplaces and who can both encourage and provide role models to other men and women. Black Westchester, through its online magazine, print newspaper, weekly talk radio show, and editorial content, will be a vessel of community information throughout Westchester and the Tri-State area of New York. Our mission is to promote the concept of “community” through media.

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The Black Westchester Newspaper is a monthly newspaper, 25,000 distributed monthly throughout Westchester and Surrounding areas with a heavy concentration in Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Yonkers, Elmsford, White Plains, Greenburgh, Peekskill, Tarrytown, NE Bronx, Harlem, Stamford, CT with a slightly smaller presence elsewhere in the county and surrounding areas.

Black Westchester is the best vehicle to reach communities of color throughout the county, but not limited to just communities of color, we have a large non-African-American readership as well.

Black Westchester and the People Before Politics Radio Show started in July and August of 2014 respectively and the print edition started on our three year anniversary in August 2017. In such a small amount of time, Black Westchester has heavily influenced the county, public policy, and the elected officials while informing the public in a way that was missing, filling a necessary void.

Larger news outlets such as The Journal News (Lohud), News 12 Westchester and Fios1 News, The New York Post, ABC News and others also follow us and have quoted us for breaking stories that they, in turn, did follow up stories on.

Black Westchester is the voice of the voiceless and has covered many stories that other news outlets often overlooked and in turn followed our lead and reported later.

Black Enterprise Magazine reported, “Black buying power currently stands at over $1.1 Trillion dollars annually and is on the road to hit about $1.5 Trillion by 2021.

These figures have also been documented by the Huffington Post, The Atlantic, MediaPost.com, Fortune Magazine, and many other respected media outlets.

This collective buying power means that nearly $2 Trillion dollars will be flowing through Black American annually very soon, making us a centerpiece for various researchers, marketers, advertisers and other campaigns designed to influence black spending patterns.

With that said, for businesses who do business and want to do businesses with communities of color in the Westchester County and surrounding areas, advertising with Black Westchester, not only makes dollars but also makes perfect sense. We are the voice of the Black Community.

Sponsorship and advertising are also available of our weekly talk radio show People Before Politics Radio, where we have been bringing you Real Talk For The Community since 2014.

Contact us today to advertise in our Two-Year Anniversary issue or to sponsor of donate to the 5-Week, Five-Year Anniversary celebration of PBP RADIO! We are proud of what we have been able to accomplish so far and we could not have done it without each and everyone of you. Also you can now get Black Westchester Newspaper delivered to your house for $25 a year (12 months). Join the hundreds of people who recieve Black Westchester at their home or office each month!

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24 BLACK WESTCHESTER

REDBLUETALK

JULY 15, 2019

HARRIS SOARS, BIDEN BIDES BY

CHARLES Former Vice President Joe Biden and Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) at the Democratic primary debate hosted by NBC News at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Art, Thursday, June 27, 2019, in Miami

“That Little Girl Was Me.” With those five words Senator Harris finally engaged the 2020 presidential primary into second gear. I believe her June debate with VP Joe Biden was about neither busing, nor school desegregation.

It was about relevance and readiness to lead. It was about contesting who will inherit the Obama coalition of voters. I wish there truly was an appetite for a national debate on school desegregation, but there isn’t. There is a hunger for sincerity and reconciliation. In both of the June debates, women soared, and set the bar for 2020.

Replay Biden’s response to Harris very slowly, and you’ll catch an almost unbelievable admission. He leaned on state’s rights, and left no uncertainty about it. He believed that it was up to local school boards in de facto segregated school systems to impose busing. He had to work with segregationist US Senators to get anything done, and still remain elected.

That state’s rights thing was a way for liberals in northern states to address the civil rights issue of the day without a risk of having to send their own constituents’ kids to desegregated schools.

STERN

stammering answers, Joe Biden is too. The problem is if a winner emerges from these primary debates narrowly defined by an endless pressure from the party’s left wing, then the general election results could be tragic.

The Presidential general election is 50 separate state races, and thanks to the ridiculous electoral college, each race is winner takes all, either Republican or Democrat. The general election contest really matters in 17 competitive states. The so-called swing states are: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

In reality, many local school boards did nothing, or actively forestalled progress.

In New Rochelle, a federal judge had to force the district to desegregate its schools in 1961. A federal consent decree desegregated Mount Vernon’s schools years later, and in Yonkers the federal court imposed desegregation in 1985.

Sen. Kamala Harris humanized the busing experience, and didn’t need to go into the thorny questions Democrats have 183 electoral votes locked up in states like New York and California. It takes 270 to win, so they’ll need 87 more. Is there a path for about who benefitted from busing, and whether it worked then or now. It Kamala Harris in the 17 states that matter? doesn’t matter, the crowd loved it.

The answer depends on her positioning at the end of a long, wicked

Her success with that exchange suggests there is an appetite for primary. If it pulls her too far left with matters like Medicare-for-all, free something among the Democratic base that Mr. Biden is not delivering. public college and immigration, she could struggle. Meanwhile, Biden has Biden’s successful alliance with President Obama was a two-way street, but been through this war of the swing states, successfully, but that was 2012, Harris is now, finally, reminding us that maybe the Obama-Biden brand of and this is now. political strategy isn’t the only one. Shoving through the Affordable Care Act, As for the other contestants: Sanders and Warren have both have and asking the middle class to pay for it is up for scrutiny. Everything he’s finally convinced the world that income inequality really is killing America. accomplished for the last 40 years is up for consideration. That’s how it’s Buttigieg seems like an earnest fellow, but there are problems in that city of supposed to work. his, and he admits to having no clue. Corey Booker, regrettably, did not stand

The liability of all this high-minded debate is that Democrats may have out with any policy prescription, although his “baby bucks” idea is intriguing, a struggle beating Donald Trump. The stakes are extraordinary because our and he found a lovely girlfriend on the campaign trail. The rest are just Presidency has been occupied by a populist autocrat who happens to admire auditioning for cabinet posts. Next debate, July 30 and 31. the world’s worst Communist dictators. No amount of obstruction of justice will be enough for impeachment because the Republican Senators are lieutenants for Trump. The only way out of this box is an election victory. Charles Stern is the producer of RedBlueTalk, videos that discuss Kamala Harris is eminently qualified to lead. Notwithstanding his stilted, how politics and government impact peoples’ lives. @redbluetalk

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JULY 15, 2019

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

BLACK WESTCHESTER

25

#NOTMYARIEL: WHITE TWITTER LOSES THEIR MIND ABOUT DISNEY CASTING A BLACK LITTLE MERMAID

BY AJ WOODSON

Bailey tweeted love after the casting from the Chloe and Halle shared account, writing “dream come true” with mermaid and wave emojis.

There was great excitement among people of color about Bailey becoming Disney’s second Black Princess (in 1997, millions of Black Girls watched in awe as Brandy Norwood played iconic princess Cinderella in the television movie version). Now more than 20 years later, and 10 years after adding its first and only Black Princess to its roster, Disney is about to do it again.

Disney announced on Wednesday, July 3rd that they cast 19-year-

As the nation celebrated the national holiday

that has nothing to do with us, the Caucasian outrage machine cranked up to address an egregious injustice that threatens the happiness and well-being of people everywhere. We not about Betsy Ross Nike Sneakers, or even reality, but a fictional fish-girl. REALLY!

Singer-actress Halle Bailey, part of the R&B duo Chloe x Halle (pictured above), has been cast as Ariel in Disney’s upcoming live-action reimagining of “The Little Mermaid.”

Director Rob Marshall said in a Disney release that Bailey was the one to play the part following an “extensive search.”

“It was abundantly clear that Halle possesses that rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence, and substance — plus a glorious singing voice — all intrinsic qualities necessary to play this iconic role,” said Marshall.

old Halle Bailey as Ariel in The Little Mermaid, one of Disney’s most beloved film. Bailey will play the rebellious mermaid who is desperate to escape her contrained life under the sea to live above the water with the humans.

Bailey’s casting is another example of Black Girl Magic and is an inspiration to many young girls.

Bailey’s casting in the role brought joy from the Twitter-sphere. “Spider-Man: Far From Home” star Zendaya tweeted her support, writing, Yeeeeessss!! Here for thiiiissss!!” The tweet prompted Bailey to respond, “I LOVE YOU! Thank you.”

Jelani Alladin, who originated the role of Kristoff in the “Frozen” Broadway musical, tweeted praise to the filmmakers “for this EXCEPTIONAL CASTING of Ariel!!! The world NEEDS THIS! CONGRATS HALLE!!!”

“This girl can 100% be Ariel,” tweeted Oakland radio personality Don Corleone. “And if y’all are mad about it.... Complain to your granny, because the rest of us don’t wanna hear it.”

Despite the excitement amongst US, the news caused a meltdown in on social media platforms because a black person had once again stolen a job from the marginalized group of unmelanated Americans. The hashtag #NotMyAriel immediately began trending on White Twitter.

Of course, this display of fragility was to be expected in the Trump’s Make America Great Again Era because, in a country and a system where whiteness is the default, rewarding anyone who doesn’t fit into the traditional idea of “normal” is a perceived insult. It feels like robbery. It feels like oppression.

In their minds, Disney didn’t make a business decision based on talent, ability and the fact that Halle Bailey can bring her already-built fan base to the box office. The woebegone whites automatically assumed that the movie studio chose a black actress because of political correctness, pandering and the dreaded idea of diversity, The Root.com reports.

If white actors can play Jesus, Moses (two times), Michael Jackson, Othello, Simba, Tonto, the Prince of Persia and Ramses - and to many other examples to list here - then why can’t the fish girl be black? Even though a few people might be salty about Disney’s casting, there is, indeed, a bright side: Finally, they’ll have some seasoning.

R. KELLY ARRESTED IN CHICAGO ON FEDERAL SEX CRIME CHARGES

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

R. Kelly Photographer: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Chicago (AP) -- Singer R. Kelly was arrested in Chicago Thursday after he was indicted on 13 federal counts including sex crimes, a U.S. Attorney’s office spokesman said.

Joseph Fitzpatrick said the R&B singer was taken into custody about 7 p.m. local time and was being held by federal authorities.

He was arrested after a 13-count federal indictment was handed down earlier Thursday in federal court for the Northern District of Illinois.

“The counts include child porn, enticement of a minor and obstruction of justice,” Fitzpatrick said, adding that further details would be released later Friday.

The arrest was the second time this year that Kelly has been taken into custody in Chicago on sex charges. The 52-year-old Grammy winner, whose real name is Robert Kelly, was arrested in February on 10 counts in Illinois involving four women, three of whom were minors when the alleged abuse occurred. He pleaded not guilty to those charges and was released on bail.

Then on May 30, Cook County prosecutors added 11 more sexrelated counts to the charges against the R&B singer involving one of the women who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was underage.

Kelly’s attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment on the federal indictment handed down Thursday. Fitzpatrick said Kelly’s arraignment date and time had not yet been set.

LASHANA LYNCH - THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO PLAY 007 IN ‘BOND 25’ According to an insider, the upcoming Bond 25 will see Craig’s secret agent retiring to the Caribbean, with black British actress Lashana Lynch playing a younger spy who takes over his iconic ‘007’ codename. “There is a pivotal scene at the start of the film where M says ‘Come in 007’, and in walks Lashana who is black, beautiful and a woman,” they told the Daily Mail. “It’s a popcorn-dropping moment.

Bond is still Bond but he’s been replaced as 007 by this stunning woman.”

“Bond, of course, is sexually attracted to the new female 007 and tries his usual seduction tricks, but is baffled when they don’t work on a brilliant, young black woman who basically rolls her eyes at him and has no interest in jumping

into his bed. Well, certainly not at the beginning.”

The insider added that the term “Bond girls,” a phrase coined to describe the female characters of the franchise, has been replaced by “Bond women.”

“There’s been a lot of talk about whether or not Bond is relevant now because of who he is and the way he treats women,” said Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the writer of pop culture phenomenon Fleabag and cult spy series Killing Eve, who was brought in to tighten up the script on Bond 25. “I think he’s absolutely relevant now. [The franchise] has just got to grow.

BW salutes actress Lashana Lynch who makes history as the first Black Person & Female to play 007 in Bond 25. Her Majesty’s Secret Service will never be the same!

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26BLACK WESTCHESTER

JULY 15, 2019

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JULY 15, 2019