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Challenger Community News • t hec hallengernews.com •October 7, 2021
NBA Great, Buffalo’s Own Cliff Robinson, Remembered
AREA BRIEFS Senate Confirms Trini Ross As US Attorney For Western District Of New York First African-American Female To Serve In The Position.
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rini Ross has been confirmed by the Senate as the new US Attorney for Western District of New York. Ms. Ross, who has 23 years as a prosecutor, Ms. Ross received her J.D., cum laude, from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Law in 1992, her M.A. from Rutgers University in 1990, and her B.A. in Sociology from the State University of New York at Fredonia in 1988. Trini Ross The Western New York native was nominated by President Joe Biden earlier this year. She will be the first African American female to serve in the position.
Walton Campaign “Day of Action” to Feature Former State Senator Nina Turner Former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner will be joining a day of action rally hosted by the Working Families Party in support of India Walton at MLK Park Saturday October 9 at 2pm. Other confirmed guests include WFP Executive Director Maurice Mitchell, State Sen. Jabari Brisport, State AM Jon Rivera, Zephyr Teachout, Rochester Councilmember Mary Lupien, Incoming Rochester Councilmembers Kim Smith and Stanley Martin, Incoming NYC Councilmember Sha-
October 2 Proclaimed Pastor Tim Newkirk Day. Cliff Robinson Day October 3
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ormer Portland Trail Blazers All-Star Cliff Robinson died last August at the age of 53 after a yearlong battle with lymphoma. Buffalo born and raised, Robinson, who was a star at Riverside High School, went on to become known as an NBA player that played 18 years in the League. He scored more points than some of the NBA’s 50 greatest players including Magic Johnson, Isaiah Thom- 2021 TRAILBLAZER AWARDS: Among those receiving 2021 as, Kevin McHale and Scot- Trailblazer Awards presented during the two-Day Cliff Robinson tie Pippen. He currently ranks Remembrance event were: Cedric Holloway/Omega Mentors, 54th on the NBA ”All-Time” Pastor James Giles, Michael Wright (aka DJ Slick Mike), Stevie scoring list. Johnson, Howard Johnson, and Marsha McWilson. Pictured from Last weekend Oct. 2 and 3 left to right: Dewitt Lee, Michael King, Michael Wright (aka DJ Slick an event was held to remem- Mike), Stevie Johnson,Legislator Howard Johnson, Pastor Tim ber the beloved athlete at Newkirk, and renowned vocalist Marsha McWilson. Street Legacy the Johnnie B. Wiley Athletic Photos by Darvin Adams Sports Pavilion on Jefferson Avenue. It was sponsored by Pastor Tim Newkirk and GYC Ministries . On Saturday Mayor Brown presented Pastor Newkirk with a proclamation declaring October 2 Pastor Newkirk Day in the City of Buffalo. He also received a proclamation from Erie County Legislators Howard Johnson and April Baskin. Common Council Darius Pridgen, on behalf of the entire Council, also honored Pastor Newkirk for his achievements and work in the community. In addition, the mayor proclaimed Sunday October 3 Cliff Robinson Day in the City of Buffalo. -Beyond BasketballCliff Robinson's greatness extended far beyond the basketball court. A statement released by his family after his passing in 2020 read in part: “In this day, where the call for social justice and reform are being demanded loud and Continued Page 10
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, PhD
Bennett High school Grad, Daughter of UB Professor, Named McArthur Fellow Nina Turner
hana Hanif. Keep up with the India Walton Campaign at indiawalton.com
City’s Playstreets Program Mayor Byron W. Brown urges Buffalo youth to join in the fun and activity of the Fall 2021 PlayStreets program will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays through December 2. “ The Buffalo Police Athletic League team offers free and fun experience that engages youth in a variety of physical fitness and nutrition activities, and every child receives a free fitness equipment kit to inspire them to stay healthy, active and fit,” Brown said. This week’s session is taking place Thursday, October 7, from 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m FARM-TO-FORK FALL FUNDRAISER
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, PhD, a graduate of Bennett High School and currently a professor in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University, has been named a 2021 MacArthur Fellow. Regarded as one of the nation’s most prestigious awards for intellectual and artistic achievement the award, commonly known as the “genius grant,” carries a $625,000 stipend, paid in quarterly installments over five years with no strings attached on how Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, PhD recipients can spend the money. She is the daughter of Dr. Henry Louis Taylor Jr PhD, Director of the Center for Urban Studies at the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning; Keeanga-Yamatta is the daughter of Dr. Dr. Henry Louis Taylor Jr PhD, Director of the Center for Urban Studies at the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning. A historian and writer, she is author of Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership, a semi-finalist for a National Book Award for nonfiction and a 2020 finalist for the Pulitzer in History. Taylor’s book From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, won the Lannan Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book in 2016. She is also editor of How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective, which won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ nonfiction in 2018. She is a contributing writer and columnist for The New Yorker. Her essays have been published in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Paris Review, and Jacobin, among other media outlets.
Elijah Muhammad Elijah Muhammad, the most prominent leader of the Nation of Islam (NOI), was born Elijah Poole in Sandersville, Georgia, on October 7, 1897. He was the son of sharecropper and Baptist minister Wallace Poole and his wife, Mariah. During his childhood in the racially segregated South, Poole received his basic education at a public school but soon dropped out to help his family earn a living in the fields. After his marriage to Clara Evans in 1919, he joined the “Great Migration” of African Americans to the North in 1923 which led him to Detroit, Michigan. Like many of his fellow migrants, Poole found a job in the automobile industry until the Depression forced his family to go on relief for two years. During his unemployment, Poole met Wallace Fard, the founder of the Nation of Islam who preached a gospel of Back Islam and racial supremacy. Poole joined the organization in 1931, changed his name to Elijah Muhammad and soon became such a devoted disciple that Fard made him Chief Minister of Islam. When Fard left the United States, Elijah Muhammad rose to power. “Our history did not begin in chains. It will not end in chains.”
