New York Amsterdam News Issue #7 Feb.16-22, 2023

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INDEX

Arts & Entertainment Page 13

» Books Page 25

» Jazz Page 27

» Theater Page 16

Caribbean Update ......................... Page 12

Classified Page 33

Editorial/Opinion Pages 10,11

Education Page 9

Go with the Flo Page 6

Health Page 30

In the Classroom Page 28

Nightlife Page 7

Religion & Spirituality Page 32

Sports Page 40

Union Matters Page 8

International News

UPTICK IN VIOLENCE AS NIGERIAN ELECTION NEARS

(GIN) — Election Day is around the corner in Nigeria and it’s approaching with new and troubling reports of violent attacks on candidates and their supporters.

Over the weekend, supporters of candidate Peter Obi reported being threatened by vandals carrying machetes and other weapons as the supporters were making their way to a rally in Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos.

Obi, a businessman and former governor of Anambra state, urged followers to go out on Feb. 25 and vote for the Labor Party. “Stand there till they count the vote. Once we win the election, that is the beginning of a new Nigeria.”

At the rally, Obi pledged to reform the police to make it more pro-

fessional, end the oil thefts that have hobbled production in the Niger Delta, and improve security to allow farmers to boost agriculture output.

In Lagos on Friday, two men were caught in a viral clip threatening residents and traders to make them vote for the ruling APC in the general elections or risk eviction from their communities.

In the Delta state, three police officers were killed when gunmen ambushed the advance security team of Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa, the vice presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The Nigerian military has denied a charge by the governing party that it is planning to disrupt the upcoming presidential election. An official from the APC party had said that generals held a secret meeting last

week with the rival PDP presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar.

The allegations are “wicked” and “malicious,” said a spokesperson for Nigeria’s Defense Headquarters Brigadier General Tukur Gusau. “The Armed Forces of Nigeria will never be part of any plot to truncate our hard-earned democracy.”

The International Crisis Group commented: “Amid widespread insecurity, there has been an uptick in election violence, which could escalate further during and after the polls.”

They blamed intense acrimony, especially among the three major parties, that has raised tensions across the country. The ethnic, religious, and regional identities of the candidates, and bombast from the front-runners, have polarized the electorate. Failure to

prosecute perpetrators of election violence is emboldening them to commit more such acts.

“Why does it matter? A peaceful election is crucial to the country’s cohesion and to its credibility in discouraging unconstitutional seizures of power elsewhere in Africa. A violent or disputed vote could aggravate Nigeria’s governance challenges and diminish its stature as a democratic leader on the continent,” said the spokesperson.

Brazil’s Black movement wants Lula and Biden to reimplement JAPER

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

Organizations from Brazil’s Black movement sent a letter to be presented to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and U.S. President Joe Biden when they met at the White House on Feb. 10.

The letter called for a resumption of the U.S.-Brazil Joint Action Plan to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Discrimination (JAPER), a pact signed between the two countries in March 2008 that promised to create programs to target racism and promote human rights through educational and legal frameworks, labor programs, and laws designed to prevent gender violence.

Some 10 organizations signed the document and had it circulated on Feb. 8, two days before Lula’s scheduled official visit to the White House.

“Brazil and the United States have gone through drastic transformations since JAPER was signed 15 years ago,” stated the letter, which was posted on the website of the Washington Brazil Office (WBO), a civil society group. “Though both countries have made significant progress in the fight against racism, we are far from reaching the day when racial discrimination will no longer be an issue of major concern.”

JAPER as an “important mechanism” for cooperation in the fight against racism, but was limited due to the “lack of interest” of the Trump and Bolsonaro administra-

tions in implementing its actions. “Therefore, we call on the authorities in Brazil and the United States to take back JAPER and make use of its full potential by considering the broad participation of civil society organizations in the design and implementation of the plan; and in the creation of an objective implementation strategy that encompasses deadlines, priorities, review phases, and the allocation of financial resources for the plan’s activities.”

The letter’s authors argued that “Black people continue to be deprived of the full exercise of their political, economic, social, and cultural rights. And violence still claims the lives of Black men, women, and children. According to data from the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA), 77% of the victims of murders in Brazil are Black but [they] represent 56% of the total population. In the United States, the number of people killed by the police hit a record in the year 2022, [when there was] a disproportionate rate of murders of Black people, as illustrated by emblematic cases such as the murder of George Floyd in 2020.”

The letter was signed by the Centro de Estudos das Relações de Trabalho e Desigualdades (CEERT/ Center for the Study of Labor Relations and Discrimination); Coletivo de Entidades Negras (CEN/ Collective of Black Groups); Coordenação Nacional de Articulação de Quilombos (CONAQ/National Coordination of Articulation of Quilombos); Geledés – Instituto

da Mulher Negra (Black Women’s Institute); Instituto de Referência Negra (Institute of Black Reference) – Peregum; Instituto Maria e João Aleixo (IMJA/Maria and João Aleixo Institute); Instituto Cultural Steve Biko (ICSB/Steve Biko Cultural Institute); Laboratório de dados e narrativas sobre favelas (LABJACA/Data and Narrative Lab on Favelas); ODARA – Instituto da Mulher Negra (Black Woman's Institute); and União de Núcleos de Educação Popular para Negras/os e Classe Trabalhadora (UNEafro/ Union of Nuclei of Popular Education for Blacks and Working Class).

Restarting JAPER and employing it with the necessary funding and management will advance racial equity goals in both Brazil and the U.S., according to Black movement organizations.

Ensuring that JAPER was on the agenda during Lula’s visit with Biden was a central reason that Anielle Franco, Brazil’s Minister of Racial Equality, came along for the Brazilian president’s trip to the U.S. While in Washington, D.C., Franco met with Desirée Cormier Smith, the U.S. State Department’s Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice, to talk about how JAPER could be re-implemented. She also paid a visit to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, specifically because there is currently an effort to build a museum of Afro Brazilian history by Lula’s administration.

Lula did speak up about how important it is for both nations to tackle race issues when he sat down with Biden: “[W]e can work together—we should work together—…to fight inequality, the racial issue,” he said.

Racism has marginalized many of Brazil’s Black youth, Lula added. “[T]hey are victims of the lack of government intervention and [lack of] support from the state.”

Lula’s support for reinstating JAPER is seen as another important move by his administration to advance Black Brazilian rights and comes as an addition to his establishment of the Ministry of Racial Equality and his recent signing of Federal Law 14.532/2023, which changed the penalty for the crime of racially insulting people.

Until now, the penalty for racial slurs was imprisonment for one to three years and a fine. The new federal law requires a two-to-five-year prison sentence and that penalty doubles if the crime is committed by two or more people.

“The leading role [played by] civil society and organized social struggle [was what] helped preserve democracy and bring these two leaders, Lula and Biden, to their respective pulpits,” said Paulo Abrão, executive director of the WBO, in a statement. “They are expected to maintain a vital role of listening and connecting with civil society and social movements in their respective countries. And it is legitimate to demand that they include social demands in [their] diplomatic dialogue.”

(GIN photo)

Why-COs: Critics question expanded police presence in schools

By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

New York City students can expect ABCs, 123s, and YCOs this spring semester. A reported increase of NYPD Youth Coordination Officers in schools—from the initial quota of 350 cops— was confirmed to the Amsterdam News by a department statement this week.

“In response to recent incidents, the NYPD is increasing the number of Youth Coordination Officers (YCOs) citywide,” said a police spokesperson by email. “These officers will be assigned to sergeants who will supervise the YCOs. Additionally, precinct administrative personnel will be utilized to patrol dismissals at designated schools and we will ensure that Transit District School Safety Teams are strategically deployed.”

Two students and a security guard were shot outside a Williamsburg charter school last

Wednesday, Feb. 8. All three are reportedly in stable condition. Another two teenagers were shot in the Brooklyn neighborhood near another school just two days before, reported NBC New York. Last month, three teens—including a 13-year-old subsequently charged with murder—were arrested for their alleged involvement in the fatal stabbing of Coney Island high school student Nyheem Wright.

On paper, the added police presence is tasked with not just responding to such violence but preventing it in the future.

YCOs date back to 2020 under the Bill de Blasio administration, while the NYPD was led by thenPolice Commissioner Dermot Shea. These officers are tasked with crime prevention, focusing on intervention long before at-risk youngsters end up in handcuffs. The program deploys cops to interact with such students, partnering with community groups and non-police agencies in the process. Shea predicted YCOs

would serve as “force multipliers” for preemptively saving lives and keeping families intact.

But three years in, critics argue there’s a lack of data or peer-reviewed research proving the program actually reduces violence.

Police Reform Organizing Project (PROP) Deputy Director Josmar Trujillo calls the increase of YCOs a “regressive step,” unmoved by the NYPD’s attempts to merge policing with community solutions and restorative justice.

“You cannot have police officers masquerading as social workers,” he said. “Police officers don’t have training to really tackle root causes. They use the identity of being seen as nicer officers to have more access to people to monitor them. At the end of the day, the role of police officers is enforcement.

“The idea that officers need to be intertwined with community solutions, to me, is a lie. A myth. Social workers are social workers. Counselors are counselors.”

First fatal shooting near Times Square ‘gun-free zone’ just one of many in New York City last week

By TANDY LAU

Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

Twenty-two-year old Idrissa

Siby was fatally shot between W. 44th Street and 8th Avenue last Thursday, Feb. 9, marking the first gun-related homicide near Times Square since the tourist destination was designated as a “gun-free zone” last October. Police were still searching for the Bronx resident’s killer as of Feb. 15.

But deadly New York City gun violence expanded far beyond the bright lights of Midtown Manhattan over the past week:

A man was fatally shot in Canarsie last Monday. He was reportedly a 20-year-old Brooklynite, although the NYPD has yet to confirm his identity.

31-year-old Marquis Lane was fatally shot in Morrisania this past Tuesday, Feb. 7.

49-year-old Jason Andrades was fatally shot last Thursday morning in the NYCHA Red Hook Houses in Brooklyn, according to the NYPD.

Last Friday, Feb. 10, mother

Michelle Smith reportedly lost her two sons—Jeremiah, 24 and Devren, 37—in a deadly shooting in the Bronx neighborhood of East Tremont. Two other men were shot but are in stable condition, according to the NYPD.

This past Saturday, 42-year-old Alfred Johnson was fatally shot in Central Harlem off 125th Street.

Also last Saturday, police found a 27-year-old man was found in Parkchester dead with a gunshot wound.

“Since day one, public safety has been our top priority, which is why the NYPD is working every day to remove guns from our streets, protect our communities, and create a safe, prosperous, and just city for all New Yorkers,” said Mayor Eric Adams in an email statement. “Unfortunately, the kinds of brazen shootings we witnessed this weekend are still all too common in our city and reducing crime in the city won’t happen overnight, but thanks to the NYPD’s efforts, both homicides and shootings continue to trend downward this year as

Student from City College of New York accepted to Public Policy and International Affairs Program

Gilles Seulio, a political science major at the City College of New York, has been accepted to attend the Public Policy and International Affairs Program (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute at the University of Washington for the summer of 2023.

PPIA is known for being a “not-for-profit” organization and an extremely competitive program to be accepted by. It advocates for increasing diversity in its graduate studies programs in public policy and international affairs

Seulio is currently a junior in CCNY’s Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. Born in Cameroon, his interest in public service began in 2008 while attending high school in Douala. Growing up, he was surrounded by violence through various protests that were caused by a transit workers’ strike. Due to the constant social issues around him, he knew that he wanted to make a change. “I wanted to understand why it happened and what could have been done to prevent it,” Seulio said.

This highly competitive fellowship is awarded to juniors majoring in political science. The program helps students in their future endeavors by preparing them to obtain a master’s or joint degree in public policy, public administration, international affairs, or a similar field.

Students may study on one of the six campuses of participating universities: Carnegie Mellon University, Princeton University, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of Washington, and the University of California, Berkeley.

During the summer, Seulio will attend the University of Washington Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy and Governance to gain a variety of skills through top-tier educational experiences and career development.

Seulio received full tuition for his PPIA Junior Summer Institute, along with grants for travel expenses, a stipend, school housing, meals, and academic materials.

In 2022, Seulio also received the Colin Powell Fellowship in Leadership and Public Service, as well as a New York Leaders Fellowship from the Moynihan Center.

they did last year, and we continue to remove illegal guns from the street every day.

“Until every New Yorker is safe, there will always still be work left to do, but we are taking some of the biggest actions in years to protect New Yorkers. We will never stop fighting to protect the residents of this city and to dam the many rivers that feed the sea of gun violence.”

Adams is referencing the most recent citywide crime statistics, which show—year-to-date—a 20.9% decrease in shooting incidents over last year. However, a decrease in gun violence in the Bronx looks very different from an increase in Midtown Manhattan.

The NYPD’s 48th Precinct, where the Smith brothers were killed, is down 57.1% in shootings compared to 2022—but there were already seven shootings by Feb. 12 last year, so three incidents, yearto-date, is a significant decrease, even if those numbers probably mean nothing to a grieving mother like Michelle Smith.

These opportunities give students the preparations they may need for careers in public service.

HBCU and Greek Sunday event

On February 26, the Abyssinian Baptist Church will celebrate its inaugural HBCU and Greek Sunday event. The 10 a.m. worship service will be dedicated to sharing the importance of historically Black institutions and the Divine 9 Greek-letter organizations in uniting and empowering Black culture.

The event will also honor the legacy of Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts (Morehouse College ’72 and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity member).

HBCU alumni, undergraduate members, and/or organization representatives are invited to take part in this special event to celebrate history, culture, and achievements. Guests are welcome to showcase their organizational colors or paraphernalia that represent their alma maters/organizations.

In memory of Butts, the steering committee will raise funds to provide educational aid to a selection of students in the Harlem community who hope to receive a higher education Participants are invited to a attend meet-and-greet reception after the service.

To register, RSVP by Monday, February 20, to Naomi Graham at ngraham@abyssinian.org. For further information or questions, contact Dr. Raschaad Hoggard at 212-862-7474, ext. 212 or 255.

Compiled

Biden again calls for ban on assault weapons

By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews

During his recent State of the Union address, President Biden called for a ban on assault weapons. He made that plea again on Tuesday in the wake of the shooting at Michigan State University where three students were killed and five others remain in critical condition.

“I’m going to say something that’s always controversial,” Biden said during comments before the National Association of Counties. “There is no rationale for assault weapons and magazines that hold 50, 70 bullets.”

The shooting is still under investigation and there is no report about what weapon the assailant, Anthony Dwayne McRae, used in the attack and possibly used in killing himself.

“Our hearts are with the students and families of Michigan State University,” Biden told Michigan Gov. Gretchen Witmer on Monday.

According to a police account, McRae

pleaded guilty in 2019 to a weapons-related charge in Lansing, some 90 miles from Detroit, where the college is located.

“It’s a family’s worst nightmare and it’s happening far too often in this country,” Biden said. “While we gather more information, there’s one thing we to know to be true. We have to do something to stop gun violence ripping apart our communities.”

“Ban assault weapons now!” Biden said during his State of the Union speech. “Ban them now! Once and for all.” He had led the fight back in 1994; that was the law for 10 years and mass shootings declined. “After we let it expire in a Republican administration,” Biden continued during his speech, “mass shootings tripled. Let’s finish the job and ban these assault weapons… Make it a bipartisan issue once again.”

Reinstating a ban is likely to be difficult with the Republicans in control of the House and not all Democrats in accord in the Senate.

Meanwhile, as the president and the

nation grapple with gun violence, the White House correspondents’ session was disrupted when one of them asked if Biden was “woke” at a Tuesday briefing.

“Let me tell you what the president cares about and what’’s important to this president,” said White House Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “The president doesn’t concern himself about what Republicans are trying to do in creating political stunts and making an issue out of the things they feel benefits them politically—not the American people, not what matters to the American people, but what benefits them for their own ability to move forward.”

The question was reminiscent of the outburst from Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, when she shouted that Biden was a liar during his State of the Union address. This was perhaps another indication of the gap between any kind of bipartisan agreement on anything between the Democrats and Republicans.

The Silencing of Queens’ Little Guyana

By ARIAMA C. LONG

AmNews Staff, Report for America Corps Member

Little Guyana, located in Richmond Hill and South Ozone in Queens and consisting of Indo-Caribbean and South Asian residents, is a gerrymandered community in New York City. For three decades, organizers have been on a crusade for the community to be adequately represented at every level of city and state government.

Every 10 years, after the census, the voting lines for the State Senate, State Assembly, U.S. House of Representatives, and City Council have to be redrawn to reflect the new count of the population. Before the state’s redistricting process was kicked off by the census count in 2020, Little Guyana was split between two senate districts, two congressional districts, four city council districts, and seven assembly districts: Districts 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, and 38.

Caribbean Equality Project Founder and Executive Director Mohamed Q. Amin said being split up is detrimental in real time. When the COVID crisis struck in 2020 and people were dying by the thousands, he said that residents were desperately calling all assembly members and city council members for help and a testing center.

“You’re on Facebook seeing all these virtual memorials happening for somebody because they didn’t have access to testing. Our South Asian Bangla community didn’t have information in their language,” said Amin. To him, this was

the definition of gerrymandering: fracturing a community based on racial identity. He said if there had been a central representative to advocate for them, the COVID crisis might not have claimed so many lives.

Recent redistricting rounds split the community into three assembly districts, but the process is still dragging on after failing to reach a cohesive decision about voting maps last year. A special master was then appointed to redraw maps. He put Little Guyana into a single assembly district for the first time in history, although they are still left without a singular city council or senate district.

This week, another series of public hearings is being held on the assembly district voting maps. It’s one of the last chances the community has to hold onto a singular district, because the map is subject to change later.

In preparation for the hearings, groups like the Caribbean Equality Project and South Queens Women’s March under the umbrella of the Asian Pacific American Voting and Organizing to Increase Civic Engagement’s (APA VOICE) Redistricting Task Force joined together last Thursday to inform the community about what’s going on and recruit people who would testify.

“I grew up here, so this issue is deeply personal to me,” said South Queens Women’s March Founder and Director Aminta Kilawan Narine. “As a child and now young adult, I have watched so many candidates from our community who have bravely attempted to run

for elected office and lost. And that’s important because when we talk about this issue of redistricting, we’re talking about the fact that our communities have historically been chopped up in so many different pieces that it practically makes it impossible for a candidate [who] comes out of our community of interest to win.”

Despite the advocates’ clear passion, this is not the easiest topic to get people involved in. Redistricting can move at a glacial pace and unexciting when it requires attending hours-long meetings. Still Amin, Narine, and other speakers stressed the importance of the process in allocating resources like healthcare, education, transportation, jobs, housing, and public safety to the community.

“Over the past two years, we have seen the power of visibility—the power of community and the power of Asian diversity. Often, in the redistricting process, our Asian American communities of interest have been neglected to the point where our communities are divided between multiple Assembly districts,” said Amin. “We have seen this throughout NYC, which makes it far more challenging for Asian Americans to have our cultural and linguistic needs taken seriously by elected officials.”

District leader Richard David’s family immigrated to the city in 1991 and he has lived in the neighborhood since 1996. His parents were working class parents with too many jobs to be politically involved, but they did want that for their kids. He became an activist, founding

6th Annual HBCU Panel Discussion and Mix & Mingle

On February 23, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women Inc., Bergen/Passaic Chapter, will partner with Bergen Community College to educate high school and incoming college students about the advantages of attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The panel discussion will include a mix & mingle for those who are registered.

Alumni from these HBCUs will be featured during the event: Delaware State University, Howard University, Hampton University, Morgan State University, Virginia State University, FAMU, Lincoln University, North Carolina Central University, UMES, Tuskegee University, and Shaw University. There will be a variety of informational tables, giveaways, and refreshments with music by DJ Pinnacle. This free event is open to the public and will be held at Bergen Community College (Tech Building Room 128) from 6 p.m.–9 p.m., with registration beginning at 5:30 p.m.

If you are an HBCU recruiter or part of an alumni association and do not see your school on the featured list, you are welcome to set up your own table. Email for further information, and with any questions or concerns, at hbcualummixer@gmail.com

Black-owned restaurant Jefferson’s Cafe has whole community talking

The Black-owned restaurant Jefferson’s Cafe in Montclair, N.J., has made its mark on the community. Joan and Jim Jefferson, the two Black owners behind Jefferson’s Cafe have gotten everyone talking about their southern-style comfort food. Their establishment has been up and running since 1985, giving them nothing but success ever since. From a menu with a large variety of items to choose from to excellent hospitality, Jefferson’s Cafe has become a town favorite and an attraction for those visiting the town.

Check out their highly rated restaurant.

Newark dentist serves the city she grew up in In Newark, N.J., Dr. Suffiyah Webb serves the city she grew up in with her practice in dentistry.

Webb works in dental health and provides body wellness to many families throughout the city of Newark at Brilliant Smiles Pediatric Dentistry. She is known for her electric personality that brightens up any room she’s in. Brilliant Smiles Pediatric Dentistry is on Halsey Street, just a few blocks away from where Webb grew up. During her journey, Webb learned to overcome challenges that stood in her way, such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on her previous practice in 2020, which completely shut down her business.

In addition to performing dental procedures for the community, Dr. Suffiyah Webb continues to keep smiles on her patients’ faces with her jolly attitude. She also finds the time to make balloon animals for her patients. “I can come here and be colorful and be myself and really put my personality on display and have a great time,” Webb told PIX11 News. She hopes to inspire the next generation of African Americans looking to get into dentistry.

Compiled by Morgan Alston.

‘Closing the Gap’ with Black fintech creator Tanya Van Court

By ARIAMA C. LONG AmNews Staff, Report for America Corps Member

Tanya Van Court is the entrepreneur and engineer behind Goalsetter, an app founded in 2016 and created to teach historically disadvantaged people to secure their financial freedom. It is one of the first Black-womanowned fintech and financial education apps in Apple’s app store.

“I had a notion that if I didn’t do this, then who would,” said Van Court. “I had all of these experiences and I felt like this was my path.” Goalsetter is a mobile banking, debit card, and investing app that focuses on educating Black and Brown kids and their families, college-bound young adults, and women through fun games and quizzes. It uses pop culture references like GIFs, memes, and partnerships with celebrities to make learning about generational and personal wealth more entertaining.

Van Court is originally from Oakland, California. Her mother was an elementary school teacher and a single mom of six children. She said that her mother was incredibly generous with her students.

“She would bring home more kids on the weekends. My oldest sister would say, ‘Mommy, we have enough,’” joked Van Court. “That was really her way of closing gaps and building bridges for the people in our community and the kids in her school who she knew needed her most.”

Unfortunately, Van Court’s mother died of a brain aneurysm when Van Court was just six years old. Her mother’s sister took in her and her siblings to raise, a decision that taught Van Court an important life lesson about sacrifice. During the summer, her aunt would make the kids write Black history reports and attend Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) camps.

THE URBAN AGENDA

By David R. Jones, Esq

Fiscal Prudence – Not Reactive Politics –Should Dictate New York Health Policy

More than one million New Yorkers remain uninsured in our state with immigrants representing the third largest group of uninsured residents. For a state that has historically been a national leader when it comes to pioneering innovative healthcare options for its residents, the fact that so many New Yorkers are without coverage is simply a disgrace.

Maybe in other states like Mississippi or Alabama this is acceptable, but not in New York.

Besides improving health care outcomes and taking the strain off a stressed out health care system, narrowing the state’s coverage gap bolsters the economic security of the newlyinsured and reduces the chances of medical debt and bankruptcy. In the face of ongoing global pandemics, increasing access to healthcare not only makes economic sense, but it makes everyone safer.

After receiving two engineering degrees from Stanford University, Van Court said she had a major job in Silicon Valley with stock options that she understood very little about. She said initially the company did well and she had stock worth millions, only to lose most of that when the tech bubble burst in the 2000s. “Nobody had ever taught me that,” said Van Court. “The African American community [has] largely have been left out of those dialogues, so that just wasn’t dinner conversation in our family.”

Shortly after the financial crash, Van Court moved to Brooklyn. From there, she built a career in Cablevision leadership, ESPN, Nickelodeon, and Discovery Education. During that time, she was determined to teach her young daughter, Gabrielle, about money in a way she hadn’t been educated about. Gabrielle eventually inspired her to strike out on her own and create a platform in the financial sector that centered on children of color. “If I could bring my baby into this ecosystem, then I could bring those babies into it, too,” she said. “That was really my drive.”

Goalsetter has partnered with several organizations with a mutual goal of getting 1 million Black and Brown kids to begin saving. They are committed to changing the narrative and bridging the wealth gap in Black and Brown communities.

For more information, check out Goalsetter in the App Store or go to the website: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/goalsetterinvest-bank/id1440624866.

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1

Last year, in her first budget as New York’s chief executive, Governor Hochul and the State Legislature extended comprehensive health coverage to undocumented immigrants over 65 - an important first step toward closing the New York’s coverage gap for uninsured immigrant residents. The 2022-23 state budget also expanded eligibility for the Essential Plan to higher income levels, eliminated the $9 monthly premium for Child Health Plus (CHP), and extended Medicaid coverage - regardless of immigration status - for people during their first year post-pregnancy. Given New York’s unconscionably high maternal mortality rate, especially for Black and brown families, this extension of post-pregnancy coverage in the first year of the life of a child was particularly significant.

The Community Service Society (CSS) and other advocates applauded the governor for expanding health coverage to undocumented adults and promoting health equity overall. At the time, the governor asked for patience as her administration searched for a solution to tackling the larger issue of extending coverage to all immigrants of all ages, something she indicated she would pursue through applying for a Section 1332 Waiver under the Affordable Care Act.

About 250,000 New Yorkers are prohibited from enrolling in public health programs such as Medicaid and the Essential Plan, or accessing coverage through Qualified Health Plans because of their immigration status.

During a post-budget press conference last year, Gov. Hochul was asked why health coverage for undocumented adults, between the ages of 19 and 64, were not part of the budget. In response, the governor acknowledged that the availability of immigrant coverage is “not ideal,” but that going forward her administration would “reach out to the federal government to ask for a Waiver,” so that New York would be able to fund health insurance for low-income undocumented immigrants through the

existing federal-funded Basic Health Plan/ Essential Plan Trust Fund.

The Trust Fund is a potent source of funding with an $8 billion surplus which increases by $2 billion each year. States such as Colorado and Washington have already taken advantage of it to obtain Section 1332 waivers to cover immigrants. Federal rules stipulate that the Trust Fund can only be used to pay for health insurance coverage. In light of the progress in last year’s budget to address healthcare affordability, there were high expectations within New York’s advocate community that the Hochul Administration would use this year’s budget to secure authority to cover immigrants and chip away at the state’s coverage gap—by seeking federal underwriting to do so. Even fiscal hawks at the Citizen’s Budget Commission and the Empire Center have encouraged this approach.

But instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to have the federal government cover the cost of health insurance for immigrants, the governor’s current budget proposal features waiver language that would actually exclude immigrants. In doing so, the state is passing up an opportunity to save more than $500 million annually on Emergency Medicaid funds spent on immigrant emergency care.

And that’s not all. Opting to fund immigrant coverage through a federal waiver would yield further savings for the state by substantially reducing the amount safety-net hospitals’ spend on uncompensated care ($1,174 per person covered each year) since more New Yorkers would have comprehensive coverage. New York City would also save $100 million a year by retiring its NYC Cares program, since the population that benefits from the program would be eligible for health insurance.

In many ways, New York’s omission of immigrant coverage in the governor’s waiver proposal is analogous to “red” states’ refusal to expand Medicaid coverage to their low-income residents, many of whom are Black and low-income.

New York should be a leader on progressive health care initiatives. And fiscal prudence, not reactive politics, should dictate health policy.

Over the 30-day budget amendment period, it is imperative that lawmakers voice their opposition to the 1332 Waiver proposal in the governor’s budget because it backtracks on her commitment last year to include immigrants. Readers can also express their opposition to the Waiver without the inclusion of immigrants directly on the State’s website which has an easy to use poll here: https://deloittesurvey.deloitte. com/Community/se/3FC11B261AF2A434 .

Expanding healthcare coverage to immigrants can be done without costing the state a dollar. What are we waiting for?

David R. Jones, Esq., is President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York (CSS), the leading voice on behalf of low-income New Yorkers for more than 175 years. The views expressed in this column are solely those of the writer. The Urban Agenda is available on CSS’s website: www.cssny.org.

Go With The Flo

FLO ANTHONY

According to sources, Rihanna and Harlem native A$AP Rocky were “surprised” she got pregnant for the second time so fast after giving birth to their son in May 2022. After Rihanna revealed her baby bump while performing at the Feb. 12 Super Bowl Halftime show in Arizona, an insider told Us Weekly, “They wanted another baby and were trying, but the pregnancy came sooner than expected.” The source added, “Rihanna and A$AP are thrilled to be parents again. They love their family and are so happy to be adding another member.” After the game, Rocky performed at Elleven Miami’s weekend pop-up at Maya Nightclub in Scottsdale, Arizona, where rappers YG, A$AP Ferg, and Tyga joined him onstage...

Court TV announced that its hit True-Crime series, “Someone They Knew With Tamron Hall,” will return for its second season on Feb. 19 at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT, with the first of 24 new episodes to be seen on Sunday nights. Meanwhile, Hall, a Daytime Emmy Awardwinning TV host, journalist, and author, was among a group of influencers, including Dapper Dan, Claire Summers of Fashion Bomb Daily, and others, who attended Bevy Smith’s new podcast series “It Gets Great Later” at the private venue Soho House in downtown New York City. Smith also hosted a private screening of the movie “80 for Brady” on Feb. 2...

Musical genius Leon Lacey scored 20 songs and conducted an all-female orchestra for Beyoncé at her recent exclusive, invitationonly concert at the launch of the Atlantis The Royal luxury resort in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Called in with less than two weeks to create his magic for Queen Bey’s private concert, Lacey said, “This project was a very quick situation. I got the call on January 2nd and then had to be in the studio here in L.A. for the rehearsal with Beyoncé around January from the 4th through the 10th, then be flown to Dubai on the 11th...between those seven days, I had 20 songs of hers to really go through and prep myself for because my job was to score all 20 songs within those seven days.”

Lacey, who recently arranged five songs for the Whitney Houston movie “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” worked tirelessly under the direction of Beyoncé, some days going without sleep, implementing changes to songs and arrangement,s leading up to what has been the biggest project of his career to date...

We hear Alicia Keys, Gabrielle Union, and other celebrity VIPS and influencers toasted to life and success at a private event in Joshua Tree, California, for Hennessy Paradis, according to Essence. The party-goers enjoyed craft cocktails and a private sunset performance by Keys, while looking out over a picturesque luxury hideaway...

Imams, family and hundreds of cops attend service for slain officer

On February 9, members of the Association of African American Imams joined other New Yorkers, along with the NYC mayor and police commissioner, at the Salaatul-janaazah for slain NYPD officer

Adeeb Fayaz, while hundreds of uniformed officers stood in formation outside the Makki Masjid Muslim Center.

Fayaz, 26, was shot in the head when attempting to buy a Honda Odyssey car he

found through a Facebook Marketplace ad. Reports say that Randy Jones, 38, allegedly planned to rob the farther of two, and ended up shooting him dead. He was charged with first degree murder a few days later.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell speaks at podium. (Iman Talib Abdur Rashid photos) Mayor Eric Adams speaks at the podium.

(Muslim American Law Enforcement Association photo)

New York City’s newest centenarian: Lamercie Ogé Petit

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

Lamercie Ogé Petit will be celebrating a milestone this March 1, 2023: She will turn 100 years old, making her one of New York City’s newest centenarians. (The city is seeing a noticeable increase in older adults who are immigrants, according to the Center for an Urban Future). Mayor Eric Adams’s office plans to deliver a mayoral certificate of recognition and Ogé Petit’s family is preparing a grand celebration to mark the occasion.

Born and raised in Haiti, Ogé Petit once operated the Port-au-Prince restaurant Printania. She came to live in Manhattan in 1963 during the height of the Civil Rights Movement and, once she was settled, helped countless relatives migrate to the U.S. as well.

Ogé Petit became a nurse’s aide and worked in that capacity at the Florence Nightingale Nursing Home until retirement.

Ogé Petit raised three children and supported two grandkids at her residence on Manhattan’s West 93rd Street, where she has lived for the past 60 years. She became a well-respected member of the Haitian community on Manhattan’s West Side and can recall famous neighbors who lived nearby: Herbie Hancock (jazz pianist), David “Fathead” Newman (saxophonist and sideman with Ray Charles’s band), Sonia Sanchez (poet), Gaye Adegbalola (member of Saffire - The Uppity Blues Women), and actor Lou Myers (“Different World” and “The Cosby Show”).

Ogé Petit’s granddaughter Ayanna Legros contacted the Amsterdam News about the upcoming milestone birthday. When we interviewed her, Ayanna worked with her father, Lionel Legros, to help Ogé Petit answer questions about her memories and her new centennial mark.

AmNews: What was the best decade of your past 100 years? And the worst?

Ogé Petit: The ’60s were my best and worst decade. I opened a bar/restaurant and purchased a taxicab. These were optimistic years because once I opened my own business in Haiti, I stopped traveling to places like Cuba, Panama, Miami, and Curacao to buy luxurious goods for resale in Port-auPrince. Unfortunately, in 1961, President Francois Duvalier decided to extend his mandate. In 1963, an attempt at kidnapping his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, became an excuse to massacre military families like the Benoit and establish severe repression throughout the country. In 1964, Duvalier became president for life. As my personal life significantly improved in the early ’60s, the political situation in Haiti worsened. The exodus of Haitians ensued. This led me to take one of the major decisions of my life: to migrate to the United States.

AmNews: In your eyes, how much has the

world changed in the last 100 years?

Ogé Petit: I have always been hopeful of the world changing for the better with time. Growing up in the rural southern city of Jacmel, Haiti; migrating to Portau-Prince; traveling to several countries and eventually settling down in the United States exposed me to major scientific and economic breakthroughs. I have witnessed technological advances that have contributed to major improvements in healthcare and the longevity of mankind. Billions of people around the world have had to migrate in search of a better life. This has in turn led to an exponential increase in cultural exchange.

As a Black woman, traveling to the United States during the Civil Rights Movement was a stressful experience. However, seeing Barack Obama, son of an African immigrant, become president of the United States four decades later gave me hope for humaneity.

AmNews: What do you think of how the lives of Haitians have changed over the years?

Ogé Petit: While many Haitians were able to come to the United States and start a new life, many poor Haitians arriving as boat people on the shores of Miami in the ’70s were mistreated, rejected, and sent back home. This was painful to watch.

AmNews: What about the changes you’ve seen in the lives of Black people in the U.S.?

Ogé Petit: When I came to the United States in 1963, many Black people were struggling for basic human rights. Access to education, healthcare, housing was limited for most. In the past 30 to 40 years, the music industry, sports, theater, education, and even politics have opened their doors to Blacks. During the Clinton years, I was able to visit the White House. As stated earlier, I witnessed to election of the first Black president, Barack Obama. What an accomplishment!!

What about the changes you have seen in the lives of your personal family members?

Ogé Petit: My family members who migrated to the United States have been able to make the best of their lives. They have gone to college, married, raised children, they now have extended families and have purchased homes. While I will be 100 in a few weeks, my young sister, Celita Ogé Rock, will be 98 years old in July.

Ogé Petit’s family said the opportunity to celebrate her with honor and dignity is a gift they will always cherish. “I am excited to celebrate my grandma and her resilience (especially during COVID-19),” Ayanna Legros told the AmNews. Felisitasyon! (Haitian Creole), Félicitations! (French), Congratulations! (English)

Flaco the owl causing a hoot after Central Park Zoo breakout

By TANDY LAU AmNews Staff, Report for America Corps Member

Super Bowl week was “superb owl” week in the Big Apple: Flaco the Eurasian eagle-owl is still on the loose after escaping from his Central Park Zoo enclosure on Feb. 2 when someone tampered with it. Not only is he becoming quite the local celebrity, the critter is also adapting swimmingly to life outside the cage.

“Several days ago, we observed him successfully hunting, catching, and consuming prey,” said a Central Park Zoo spokesperson on Feb. 12. “We have seen a rapid improvement in his flight skills and ability to confidently maneuver around the park. A major concern for everyone at the beginning was whether Flaco would be able to hunt and eat; that is no longer a concern.

“Since our recovery strategies thus far have all been based on luring him to familiar food items, we need to rethink our approach. Our main concern has always been for the well-being of the eagle owl. Our observations indicate that he seems to be comfortable in the area of the park where he has been hunting, and we don’t want to do anything to encourage him to leave this site.”

The statement also said the zoo is still seeking to recover the owl, but will loosen up on monitoring the bird of prey because Flaco’s cult-hero status means anyone with a Twitter account can probably track his movements. The NYPD is currently investigating the tampering and police said a complaint of criminal mischief was filed on the night of the owl’s escape.

Dr. Michael Schummer, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s resident ornithologist, recommended that New Yorkers give Flaco space because Eurasian eagle-owls hunt during the night and need to rest during the day.

“If you have to use a telephoto lens to take a picture of an owl, then you’re far enough away,” he said. “The general approach to owls is that if an owl looks at you for extended periods of time, you’re definitely too close. Now, of course, this isn’t a wild owl. It’s been around people quite a bit. But I think the most important thing the public can do is give this owl space, because that many people being that close to it [is] probably doing more harm than good.”

Beaks and claws are also a thing, and while Schummer says Flaco isn’t likely to snack on someone’s Yorkshire terrier or chihuahua, there’s a level of danger for police and zoo experts working to capture the owl, so giving them space is also essential.

Currently, Flaco is usually found tra-

versing Central Park. He’s even visited his fellow zoo animals since escaping. But as New Yorkers flock (pun intended) to catch a glimpse of the owl, Black New Yorker Christian Cooper was harassed by a white woman while birdwatching in Central Park just three years prior.

And while Flaco is seen hunting, Schummer says poisoned rats are usually the easiest meals in New York City for birds of prey. Numerous owls and other raptors die each year from such consumption. Barry—Central Park’s previous celebrity owl—was found with lethal doses of rodenticide after she was fatally struck by a vehicle in 2021.

Eurasian eagle-owls are not endangered—the ecological governing body International Union for Conservation of Nature deems them of “least concern.” But there’s only one Flaco, and his plight has been met with great concern.

“Everybody tries to do their best—you hope for the best outcome and it doesn’t always work out,” said Schummer. “People should be mentally prepared for it not working out. But understand that really good people are on the job, and they have professional- and academiclevel training and years of it. Everybody’s hoping for the best outcome, so give those people space to be able to do the best work they can.”

Flaco did not respond to Amsterdam News’ attempts to contact him.

Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/ amnews1

New York’s Finest saves one of New York’s Flyest when an owl was trapped on 60th and 5th avenue. Thursday, February 2, 2023. (Benny Polatseck/ Mayoral Photography Office photo)

Union Matters

No More Martyrs: Police Reform Must No Longer Be Delayed

GEORGE GRESHAM

Once again, our nation is reeling over the brutal murder of a Black person at the hands of police. The killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis on January 9, captured in excruciating detail by police body cams and CCTV, shows multiple officers beating him and bragging to each other about the injuries they had inflicted. Not once did Nichols, a 145-pound man with Crohn’s disease, fight back.

Other first responders who arrived at the scene failed to render timely aid to Nichols, who was left to bleed out for many minutes until he was finally taken to the hospital. Three days later, he was pronounced dead.

The whirlwind of grief, anger, and media and political spectacle that grips our country feels so similar. Indeed, we’ve been here many times before. Eric Garner, Breonna Taylor, Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, George Floyd, Daunte Wright, Tyre Nichols. What else is there to say that hasn’t already been said, time and again, in the wake of these and countless other deaths?

Modern technology—the rise of camera phones, body cameras, and social media—has given all of America a front-row seat to police brutality and the regularity with which it is exacted upon people of color. Yet here we are, 32 years since the attack on Rodney King shocked our nation, and police are still regularly caught on camera acting with impunity.

We must not allow ourselves to become demoralized and gradually desensitized to the graphic violence against Black people that fills our airwaves. Our rage and our demands for change must not cease.

Today’s calls for police reform are not simply about rooting out “bad apples” from law enforcement. In Tyre Nichols’s case, the fact that five police officers, all belonging to the same unit, have been charged with his murder shows the depth and breadth of the rot that lies within that police department.

Systemic, institutional change is needed. The role and function of policing in our society must be reexamined. Civilian oversight of the institutions that exist under the mantra of “protecting and serving” our communities must be radically expanded.

Here in New York City, home to the largest police department in the

nation with three times the number of full-time sworn-in officers as the second-largest PD (Chicago), we can lead the way and work to create a model for national reform.

We must invest more resources into mental health services, youth programs, Alternatives to Incarceration (ATIs), and other avenues that prevent crime without resorting to police action. We must build a stronger Civilian Complaint Review Board that is empowered to hold law enforcement accountable and whose findings cannot simply be ignored. We must pass specific laws to improve public oversight and scrutiny of police practices.

Once such piece of legislation currently under consideration in the NY City Council is the How Many Stops Act. This consists of two bills, Intro 538 and Intro 586, that would bring critical and urgent transparency to the NYPD’s daily activities.

In recent years, we have seen the reemergence of “stop-and-frisk” and “broken windows” policing, which threaten to return us to the type of failed and abusive police tactics that existed in NYC for many years. Research has shown that constant, forced interaction with law enforcement inflicts real harm on Black, Latinx, and other New Yorkers of color. The city must acknowledge this reality and require the NYPD to document a much broader range of its low-level enforcement activities. The public has a right to know “How Many Stops” are being conducted, and for what purposes. Only then will we have a full grasp of the underlying problems and be able to make informed choices about what’s necessary—not just to weed out bad cops, but to build a new framework for public safety.

Our 24/7 news cycle, which chases outrage for ratings and clicks, will soon move on from the Tyre Nichols case, if it hasn’t already by the time of this publication. But we cannot let the urgency of the moment die out—this is not just about winning justice for Tyre, but about fighting for the right of every person to live and exist peacefully in their communities. We do not need one more unwitting martyr to make our case. It’s time for police reform in New York and across the nation, now.

George Gresham is president of 1199SEIU, the nation’s largest healthcare union, representing 450,000 members in New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, and the District of Columbia.

T.E.M.P. bill could set statewide temperature standards

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

New York State legislators have introduced a new bill designed to protect workers who labor outdoors from the range of extreme temperatures we now face due to climate change.

On Feb. 10, State Sen. Jessica Ramos and State Assemblymember Latoya Joyner announced that they had introduced the Temperature Extreme Mitigation Program (T.E.M.P.) Act (S1604) in the state senate and the Temperature Stress Act of 2023 (A3321-A) in the state assembly.

During a press conference in Manhattan, the state legislators were joined by union members from Teamsters Local 804, NYCOSH, NICE: New Immigrant Community Empowerment, and La Colmena-Community Job Center to talk about how important it is to make businesses set a statewide temperature standard that will safeguard workers employed in a variety of fields, including construction, landscaping, agriculture, food service delivery, and people who work in vehicles all day long.

“We’ve got people here from all over New York state talking about how we need a temperature standard now,” one union member told the media. “This is about workers who are suffering as a result of extreme exposure to heat and extreme exposure to cold.”

This past summer, when outdoor temperatures stayed above 90 degrees between July 19 and July 25, stories surfaced of United Parcel Service (UPS) workers having to be hospitalized due to heat exhaustion. Most UPS trucks are not air-conditioned, and when workers entered the brown metal box trucks to make deliveries, a significant number of them succumbed to the high temperatures.

At the time, Teamsters Local 804, which represents UPS workers, issued a press release demanding a UPS plan of action for how it would help its workers. “UPS is projected to pull in more than $100 billion in revenue in 2022 off the backs of Teamsters, and while management sits inside drooling over those figures, we’ve got members going to the emergency room,” International Trustee and Teamsters Local 804 President Vinnie Perrone was quoted as stating. “These trucks and warehouses are infernos. UPS can afford to do the right thing and protect its workers. They need to stop making excuses and do it now.”

But, as with other large companies, there is slow progress on accommodating workers who face varying climate conditions at their jobs.

Ramos, who chairs the Senate Labor Committee, said large companies like Amazon, Uber,

and UPS have made record profits and ostensibly have the ability to take care of their workers—but are just not doing so.

“This bill would provide outlines to make sure that our workers remain hydrated, that they’re provided with AC during the summer, heat during the winter, [and] that they are afforded whistleblower protections so that in case the companies are not adhering to or complying [with] the law, they feel empowered to call the Department of Labor and report any wrongdoing against them without any fear of retaliation,” Ramos said.

“This bill is about listening to workers. Mother Nature has not been gentle with us, but workers have continued to show up. It’s time for employers to do the same,” said Joyner, who represents the Bronx’s Concourse, Highbridge, Mt. Eden, Morris Heights, and Claremont communities and chairs the Assembly Labor Committee.

“Research shows the deleterious and dangerous impact of long-term exposure to excessive temperatures, and employers are often dragging their feet in the face of this growing body of research. As a result, employees have too often been left out in the cold when they are feeling the heat, ” Joyner said. “This legislation ensures that employees have access to basic resources that can save lives, such as hydration, warmth in the winter, and access to shade when the temperature goes above 80 degrees in the summer. The Temperature Stress Act is long overdue legislation and I look forward to it being enacted this year.”

“If we can pass this bill and make it law, it may well lead to leaving more money on the table for wages and for other benefits for workers,” Ramos added. “We are taking action, we are introducing this bill, we are going to be passing this bill in the Senate, and hopefully it will be on Gov. Hochul’s desk by the end of this year for her signature.”

Last summer, when outdoor temperatures stayed at over 90 degrees between July 19 and July 25, stories surfaced of UPS workers being hospitalized due to heat exhaustion. (Karen Juanita Carrillo photo)

The missing: Black students left NYC public schools after COVID

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

In 2020, students left schools nationwide in droves. A project between Stanford University, Big Local News, and the Associated Press (AP) worked together to figure out what happened to them. Locally collected data shows that mostly Black and lowincome students left the New York City public school system in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The extensive project surveyed state-level data for all public schools, private schools in 35 states, and homeschooling in 33 states from school years 2019 to 2022 in an attempt to find the “missing kids.” It was determined that about a third of the nation’s public school decline was unexplained, meaning students may have skipped kindergarten, went into unregistered homeschooling,

are still afraid of COVID-19, are homeless, have left the country, are struggling with mental health issues, were simply absent, or left for the workforce.

The fact that students weren’t adequately tracked or inquired about after the chaos of the pan-

demic highlighted a systemic problem that also largely became a budgeting problem. Many states fund their schools based on how many students they have. A loss in enrollment meant a loss of money.

The data found that New York State had about 60,182 missing

students ages 5 to 17, although the project posits that numbers could be much higher. The numbers get more granular when homing in on New York City, as do the reasons that certain groups of students seemingly fled the school system.

Education Justice Research and Organizing Collaborative Director Matt Gonzales said that based on numbers his organization crunched, Black students specifically were exiting the school system at the highest rates while wealthy white students are increasing in numbers. This was due to “no doubt, the impacts of gentrification and increasing unaffordability of NYC, as well as the pandemic,” said Gonzales.

The Department of Education (DOE) had preliminary data and enrollment figures for the 2022 to 2023 school year available as of October 31. The final enrollment data will be available in the spring, but as of this February, there was a decrease of 1.8% in grades K to

12 instead of the almost 4% decrease in 2021 to 2022 and the year before. The number of enrolled students currently in the city’s school system is approximately 903,000, according to the DOE.

Coalition for Educational Justice Director Natasha Capers said that every year, there are at least hundreds of students in temporary housing or shelters that schools can’t account for. She said the dilemma of declining birth rates has also affected enrollment rates.

“Every year since 2016, we have seen a decline in district enrollment, but the decline appears to be reducing as we come out of the pandemic and establish efforts to increase enrollment. Over the last 15 years in New York City, we’ve also seen a falling birth rate, which has contributed to a drop in enrollment,” said the DOE.

The DOE said that recent drops in enrollment are driven by both

Black History Month theme highlights Black Resistance

By the ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LIFE AND HISTORY

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) released the following statement about the theme for Black History Month 2023.

African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms, and police killings, since our arrival upon these shores. These efforts have been to advocate for a dignified self-determined life in a just democratic society in the United States and beyond the United States’ political jurisdiction.

The 1950s and 1970s in the United States were defined by actions such as sit-ins, boycotts, walkouts, and strikes by Black people and white allies in the fight for justice against discrimination in all sectors of society, from employment to education to housing.

Black people have had to consistently push the United States to

live up to its ideals of freedom, liberty, and justice for all. Systematic oppression has sought to negate much of the dreams that our griots, like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, and our freedom fighters, like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Septima Clark, and Fannie Lou Hamer, fought to realize. Black people have sought ways to nurture and protect Black lives, and for autonomy of their physical and intellectual bodies through armed resistance, voluntary emigration, nonviolence, education, literature, sports, media, and legislation/politics. Black-led institutions and affiliations have lobbied, litigated, legislated, protested, and achieved success.

In an effort to live, and maintain and protect economic success, Black people have organized/ planned violent insurrections against those who enslaved them, such as in Haiti, and armed themselves against murderous white mobs as seen in Memphis, Tennessee (1892); Rosewood, Florida (1923); and New Orleans, Louisisana (1900). Some Black people thought that the best way to resist was to self-liberate, as seen by

the actions of those who left the plantation system, such as Henry Adams and Benjamin “Pap” Singleton, when they led a mass exodus westward in 1879, and of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, who organized emigration to Liberia.

Black faith institutions were spaces where Black communities met to organize resistance efforts, inspired folk to participate in the movements, and offered sanctuary during times of crisis. To promote awareness of the myriad of issues and activities, media outlets were developed, including radio shows, podcasts, newspapers (Chicago Defender, Chicago Bee, the Afro, the California Eagle, Omaha Star, the Crisis, etc.). Ida B. Wells used publications to contest the scourge of lynching. These outlets were pivotal in sharing the successes and challenges of resistance movements.

Cultural centers such as libraries, including George Cleveland Hall Library (Chicago), Dart Hall (Charleston, South Caroline), and social, literary, and cultural clubs, such as Jack and Jill, Phillis Wheat-

ley Literary Societies, fraternal and sororal orders, and associations (the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, National Association of Colored Women, etc.), worked to support the intellectual development of communities by collecting and preserving Black stories, sponsoring Black history and literature events, and being active in the quest for civil, social, and human rights. Black medical professionals worked with others to establish nursing schools, hospitals, and clinics to provide spaces for Black people to get quality health care, which they often did (and still do not) receive at mainstream medical institutions.

Businesses such as Binga Bank, Johnson Publishing Company, Parker House Sausage Company, Soft and Sheen, etc., were developed for economic and financial independence, and to keep funds in the community. To resist inequality and advocate for themselves, Black men and women formed labor unions based on trades and occupations—some examples include the Colored National Labor Union, Colored Mu-

sicians Club, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and Negro American Labor Council. Education, whether in elementary, secondary, or higher education institutions, has been seen as a way for Black people and communities to resist the narrative that Black people are intellectually inferior. When Carter G. Woodson founded Negro History Week (NHW) in 1926, he saw it as a way to provide a space and resources to educate students about their history. The grassroots network of Black teachers used this week not only to lionize individuals and narratives, but also to teach students about racial progress, as well as shared and collective responsibility. They developed assignments and curricula to provide students with the tools to succeed.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were developed by Northern white philanthropists, but they emerged as a space for the formation of activists, artists, business owners, educators, etc., and their continued operation has stood as a

Department of Education graphics on enrollment rates. (Contributed graphics)

Black Love is the answer!

As we march toward the end of Black History Month, we have yet to publish our support editorial, and pivoting on an article by Nicholas Powers in The Indypendent is useful for this purpose.

“Black Love: The Force that Changed America and the World” is the title of Powers’s cover story. It resonates with passion and conviction. It deserves a full account, but these two quotes will give you some idea of its potent message.

Powers notes that Black love is everywhere: “It is an unstoppable force that broke Western slavery, smashed segregation and apartheid, rewrote Islam and Christianity, rewrote the U.S. Constitution, and now challenges the prison industrial complex.”

Toward the end of the lengthy article, Powers writes, “If you follow Black Love then your politics have to be one that creates a world where everyone can live with dignity.”

If you can’t find a printed version of the paper, go online at www.indypendent.org and you are sure to appreciate Powers’s intersectionality of history and his own experiences, as well as several other articles in this edition, particularly one that is spot on in its critique of the Civilian Complaint Review Board.

Black Love caught our eye as Valentine’s Day arrived, but it, like Black History Month, should be much more than an occasional moment to celebrate. Black Love and The Indypendent should be added to your recipe for struggle and self-determination.

Coloring influence: Why Black representation in film and story matters

By RACHEL BASS

My fondest childhood memories involved reading. My mom—a painter, storyteller, and homeschooler—always took imagination seriously. She worked play and daydreaming into our daily routine with as much intention and care as math and chores.

As a child, I approached the 1980 John Patience “Tales from Fern Hollow” children’s series, about animals in a village nestled by the trees of Windy Wood, with the same seriousness as algebra.

When my mom opened other traditional children’s books to read to me and my six siblings, she colored the characters brown— literally.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, she used a simple brown pencil and re-invented the names: Snow White became Chestnut Brown, and Mary’s little lamb had “fleece as brown as wheat. And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to bleat.”

My mom—an Afro-Indian from Trinidad and Tobago—had the great storytelling wisdom that power lies in the subliminal messaging, not in the content alone. Her decisions affected my dream life, my fantasies, and the landscape of my psyche. This holds true now, 20 years later, when I imagine stories as a director and filmmaking professor.

In a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, “The Woman King” director Gina PrinceBlythewood responded to the news that the film, despite being a box-office success, was not nominated for a single Oscar category in this year’s upcoming Academy Awards.

“Why is it so hard to relate to the work of your Black peers? What is this inability of Academy voters to see Black women, and their humanity, and their heroism, as relatable to themselves?" Prince-Blythewood asked.

Her question is not only about diversity, equity, and inclusion; it is about human empathy and identification. A prominent characteristic of whiteness is the inability for many to recognize another as human, in different terms, as a member of one’s own species.

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ness in white characters.

The latest University of California-Los Angeles Hollywood Diversity Report shows that Black women remain significantly underrepresented in top theatrical and streaming films. For directors, only three out of 10 were people of color for top films in 2021, and 2.2 out of 10 were women.

This makes the mid-budget of $50 million of “The Woman King” nearly double box office gross, with a Black female director at the helm, a significant achievement.

Certainly, the problem of empathy is best addressed in a therapist’s office, not a studio boardroom. But perhaps it can be more helpful to view this issue of invisibility and erasure within a psychoanalytic framework, since the construct of a film reflects the human psyche.

To be sure, I am not a psychologist, but as a director and film professor, I have studied the intricate link between cinema and the subconscious mind for over a decade.

Psychoanalysis is useful because it stresses childhood events in the formation of the personality. Rooted in the past, it looks to childhood trauma for present healing.

D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film “Birth of a Nation” standardized the feature film and secured cinema’s place as the leader of mass entertainment. The film was the birth of Hollywood’s gold standard, and the first film screened at the White House. If viewed through psychoanalysis, the film is arguably Hollywood’s earliest memory, and that flashback to childhood is fundamentally anti-Black.

One can see the monstrous child in the film’s white men dressing up in pointed hoods, playing warrior in their murderous rage, and in its white women whose childlike innocence projects a threat onto every Black body in her vicinity.

reading, I came to realize the obvious: the subject of the dream is the dreamer.”

To Sigmund Freud, the latent content of a dream mattered more than the literal, manifest content.

Films are also a projection of the filmmaker’s psyche, using text and subtext to make them Hollywood’s dreams. The script is the manifest content, while casting and audio/ visual storytelling creates the meaning.

A film like “The Woman King” is a different dream in a history of dreams that projected white fantasies that manifested Black women as mammies, jezebels, piccanninies, and mulattoes.

Its invisibility to the Academy proves the point: It’s not Hollywood’s dream.

Hollywood must not present the same latent content in different forms. Efforts to tell different stories will address the symptoms, at best, but real inclusion will be challenging.

Hollywood needs to treat stories with Black female characters as necessary for all human beings—because they are universal. These stories must also be funded with the same hefty budgets that films with male leads receive, which historically is not the case, according to the UCLA report.

At the Hollywood Reporter’s Producer Roundtable recently, Viola Davis, who became the first black woman to receive an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony Award, said of “The Woman King” that “there was no precedent for anything. You have a movie that’s predominantly Black-female-led. There is no male lead. We’re not in G-strings rolling down poles. We’re in dirt, not looking like any sort of bastion of male desirability.”

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Whiteness in Hollywood storytelling is universal because moviegoers of color have had to perpetually exercise their capacity to experience the human story through white bodies, and identify their own human-

This, in turn, tapped into the monstrous child in the psyches of some white viewers, which revived the clan; Ku Klux Klan-ritualized processions of terror in the streets were common before screenings of the film. While Black representation in film and television has improved in the century since “Birth of a Nation,” the systemic anti-Blackness that served as the creative reservoir for the film has not been addressed.

The 2016 U.S. presidential election, racial gerrymandering, attacks on critical race theory, and murders of unarmed black people all resonate with the Jim Crow climate of 1915.

In this sense, the anti-Black psychic energy that fueled “Birth of a Nation” lives on in society, and in our stories. From a psychoanalytic lens, Hollywood’s childhood trauma has not been resolved.

In psychoanalysis, dreams are a tool for accessing repressed material. The late author Toni Morrison famously said, “As a writer

This story of Black womanhood has no place in the traumatized white child psyche. If Hollywood’s standards of the universal are based on a traumatized model, all characters are the stuff of nightmares.

The aim of psychoanalysis is healing through catharsis. Many would contend the aim of storytelling is the same. Perhaps viewing and endorsing a film like “The Woman King” is scary to members of the Academy.

Instead, this film could be seen as the exact tool Hollywood needs to experience catharsis, offering the blessing of fear within the safety of a story. Films like this offer hope for the collective psyche to heal from the past and become more human.

As I learned early in life, the color of a story’s character makes all the difference.

Rachel Bass is a two-time Directors Guild of America award-winning director, professor at DePaul University’s School of Cinematic Arts, and Public Voices Fellow through the OpEd Project

United States is inching toward World War III with China

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not represent those of the New York Amsterdam News. We continue to publish a variety of viewpoints so that we may know the opinions of others that may differ from our own.

ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS

The United States is inching toward World War III with China.

All the lights on the dashboard are flashing. The pivot to Asia proclaimed by past Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Massive arms sales to Taiwan.

The United States Taiwan Defense Command in Taiwan. The Quad with Japan, Australia, and India to encircle China.

The sale of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia and augmentation of U.S. Marine forces there. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “in-your-face” gratuitous visit to Taiwan. President Joe Biden’s repeated threats to attack China if it invades Taiwan.

Harsh economic sanctions against China indistinguishable from the United States economic strangulation of Japan before Pearl Harbor. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s summons to deny China access to artificial islands in the South China Sea the Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy, released in October 2022, naming China as the greatest threat to the United States.

Nearly two centuries of humiliation of China by the West, beginning at least with the Opium War of 1842 to make Chinese drug addiction a western profit center. The United States followed with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and a prohibition on the naturalization of Chinese immigrants.

The United States betrayed China during the post-World War I Paris Peace talks by surrendering Shandong Province to Japan. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles refused to shake the hand of Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai during the Geneva Conference to settle the future of Vietnam and gratuitously sneered that the two would only meet in a car crash.

Taiwan is the same distance from the Chinese mainland as Cuba is to the United States. During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, we were willing to initiate war if necessary to compel the Soviet Union to remove tactical nuclear weapons

from Cuba, including a blockade. Cuba had requested the missiles to deter a planned second United States invasion on the heels of the Bay of Pigs debacle. The USSR blinked and removed the nuclear weapons in exchange for a sotto voce agreement by the United States to remove Jupiter missiles from Turkey.

Today, the United States is a vastly greater existential threat to China than the Soviet Union’s presence in Cuba was to the United States in 1962. Why does anyone think China would react less strongly than the United States did in the Cuban Missile Crisis to the U.S. arming Taiwan to the teeth, repeatedly threatening war, organizing the Quad, strangling the Chinese economy, and treating the South China Sea as if it were the Gulf of Mexico? Why would the Chinese accept national security risks that the United States has shown it will not?

U.S. relations with China are combustible. Only a spark is necessary to ignite a conflagration that could lead to nuclear exchanges and threaten the species with nuclear winter and extinction.

Something similar happened before with Austrian Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. That gave birth to World War I, which witnessed 20 million deaths and 21 million wounded. World War III could be precipitated by a shoot-out over the Senkaku/ Diaoyu Islands or the Scarborough Shoal/Huangyan Island.

A war involving the U.S. and China would probably metastasize. According to the Brookings Institution’s Michael O’Hanlon: “Neither Beijing nor Washington would accept defeat in a limited engagement. Instead, the conflict probably would expand horizontally to other regions and vertically, perhaps even to include nuclear weapons threats—or their actual use. It literally could become the worst catastrophe in the history of warfare.”

In recent years, U.S. wargames have generally shown China defeating the United States. One analysis concluded: “The overarching takeaway from participants in the war game: If China invades Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific region will plunge into a broad, drawnout war that could include direct attacks on the U.S., including Hawaii and potentially the continental United States.”

If a war with China over Taiwan seems crazy, it’s because it is! We have no defense treaty with Taiwan. We have no diplomatic relations with Taiwan. It has no membership in the United Nations. It is within China’s traditional sphere of influence. It is more than 7,500 miles away from the United States. Its independence is a featherweight to our national security. If China annexed Taiwan, imitating our annexation of Hawaii in 1898, the annexation would not be an existential threat to the United States.

I can already hear the appeasement shouts of Munich, Munich, Munich from the multi-trilliondollar military-industrial-security complex. But China is not the Third Reich, President Xi Jinping is not Adolf Hitler. Taiwan is not Czechoslovakia. And the Domino Theory implicit in the cry of “Munich” was discredited by our defeat by Vietnam. It has become a semi-ally of the United States in opposing China. And Japan and South Korea are fully capable of defending themselves against a Chinese invasion.

President George Washington’s time-honored Farewell Address provides the path to extricate ourselves from a war with China over Taiwan: “The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible.”

Armstrong Williams (@ ARightSide) is manager / sole owner of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the year. www. armstrongwilliams.co | www. howardstirkholdings.com

What are you doing for Black History Month?

Every February, I try to learn something and do something that will further my knowledge of the incredible Black people who have contributed to every facet of life here in America and abroad. On my podcast gameshow, The Blackest Questions, I must often remind my listeners that Black history is American history. If we do not know about the greatness of Black people who contributed to this country, we cannot say we know or fully understand this country.

The spring semester just began and on the first day of class, I asked my students if they had ever heard of Shirley Chisholm. Only one student knew that Chisolm had run for the presidency of the United States (in 1972). None knew she was the first African American woman elected to the House of Representatives. None knew she was from the state of New York—Brooklyn, more specifically. I explained to them that it is impossible to understand the success and historic achievement of Hakeem Jeffries if we don’t first understand the pivotal role of a trailblazer like Shirley Chisholm.

Most of my students had never heard of Barbara Jordan, the second Black woman and the first Black woman from the U.S. South ever elected to Congress. How can we fully understand the ways Stacey Abrams broke barriers if we don’t understand all of the shoulders on which she stands? David Dinkins opened the door Eric Adams now walks through. Essentially, every Black person making real-live Black History today is a “descendent” of someone who chipped away

and created a foundation for them. There’s so much of our political lineage we need to know and understand, and what better time to learn than Black History Month.

What will you learn this month? I am obviously interested in Black political electeds who paved the way for increased Black political participation. Some people are more interested in sports or fashion, or arts and entertainment. Whatever you are interested in, I guarantee you there is more to learn about the ways in which Black Americans have contributed to the field.

Even though February is a short month, we can take a few minutes each day to learn about Black Americans who are contributing to making our city, country, and/or world a better place. Are you going to throw a party and have a quiz (like I do for Black History Month)? Are you going to find an organization doing the work and donate (might I suggest www.projectsouth.org, www.colorofchange. org, or www.greatblacksinwax. org)? Are you going to purchase and read a book by a Black author…or support a Blackowned bookstore?

Whatever you choose to do, large or small, do something to acknowledge and celebrate the accomplishments of all the Black people past and present.

Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; and co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC and host of The Blackest Questions podcast at TheGrio.

CHRISTINA GREER PH.D.

Caribbean Update

Haiti high on agenda of leaders meeting this week; Trudeau to attend

By BERT WILKINSON Special to the AmNews

Ever since Haiti became the last country to join the 15-unit Caribbean Community (Caricom) back in 2002, the bloc has faced stinging accusations that it does not seem to know how to handle its most populous, finance-starved, and crime-ridden member nation.

Compared to most of the other members, which are either stable and quiet idyllic tourism destinations or resource-rich mineral and oil producers like Trinidad, Guyana, and Suriname, Haiti has been a major bugbear for the grouping of mostly former British colonies as it has gone through tough and protracted periods of instability—of a kind that the bloc says it does not exactly have the resources to handle.

As Caricom leaders assem-

ble in the Bahamas for their biannual meeting this week, then, the main focus of discussions is likely to be the situation in the embattled country where gangland violence has been spiraling out of control. Nearly 100 police officers have been murdered by gang members in recent weeks; there have been hundreds of kidnappings, store lootings, and riots, all serving to paralyze life in large parts of the country. Police officers in some towns have abandoned their posts for fear of being killed as what’s left of the cabinet appeals to the international community for interventionist assistance.

Meanwhile, the bloc has been leaning on western nations like the U.S. and Canada for assistance in dealing with the situation, while Haiti’s embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry has reached out

to the group, asking for any help he can get.

Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau will be among the leaders assembling in Nassau, capital of the Bahamas, for the threeday summit. Ottawa has already pledged assistance but has signaled an intention to collaborate with the region. Last week, it sent a high-tech aircraft to fly over areas under the control of heavily armed gangs to disrupt their communications and other activities.

Other issues on the summit’s agenda include the functioning of the singlemarket trading system, but the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos, which have been overburdened with Haitian refugees, say they want a full discussion.

“There is no question as to whether Haiti will be dis-

cussed,” said spokesperson Leonard Robertson. “This has been a standard item on our agenda not only in the context of formal meetings among leaders but we have held a number of virtual meetings with Prime Minister Ariel Henry and Pierre Trudeau of Canada. Haiti has been at the front and center of the community’s interest and agenda so it will naturally form an important part of our agenda.”

Earlier this year, the bloc offered to mediate with the various factions and stakeholders, suggesting in a recent statement that it “remains willing and ready to assist in achieving this goal and in that regard had commenced sounding [out] Haitian stakeholders over the past few weeks about their willingness to attend a meeting in a Caricom country.”

Over the weekend, host Prime Minister and bloc Chair Phillip Davis won a major court battle that had previously blocked local authorities from dismantling Haitian shanty towns in prime tourism destinations like Abaco.

The Bahamas repatriated more than 5,000 Haitians last year. The Turks and Caicos, a British colony with associate membership in Caricom, recently said it was forced to intercept and turn away more than 3,000 migrants last year as Haiti’s security crisis worsened. The coast guard has intercepted hundreds of Cubans as well and sent them back home.

Jamaica and the Bahamas have already offered to participate in any multinational peacekeeping force as they await responses from other member nations.

As preparations for the

U.S. Immigration Weekly Recap

FELICIA PERSAUD IMMIGRATION KORNER

Since President’s Biden’s trickle on immigration in his State of The Union of Feb. 7, quite a lot of headlines have made U.S. immigration news—too many to simply focus on one topic this week. Here are my top five headlines making immigration news this week.

1: First Caribbean immigrant performer at the U.S. Super Bowl

The Caribbean was in the spotlight Sunday as Rihanna became only the second immigrant and first Caribbean immigrant to perform in the U.S. Super Bowl HalfTime Show. Of course, Rihanna is also one of only seven

Black women who have now performed at the U.S. football extravaganza, much to Donald Trump’s dismay. El Trumpeto could not contain his xenophobia by referring to the billionaire singer, actress, and entrepreneur as “talentless.” What a “cunumunu,” as we would say in the Caribbean. For my American friends: “idiot” or “fool.”

2: Biden’s trickle in SOTU address

U.S. President Joe Biden barely dabbled in immigration into his 2023 State of the Union. Nearly an hour into the Feb. 7 speech, Biden gave a lip-service segue to the issue by saying, “Let’s also come together on immigration and make it a bipartisan issue like it was before.”

Then he quickly pivoted to lower the bar, calling for funding and targeted legalization

bills rather than comprehensive reform.

“If we don’t pass my comprehensive immigration reform, at least pass my plan to provide the equipment and officers to secure the border and a pathway to citizenship for ‘Dreamers,’ those on temporary status, farm workers, essential workers,” he said. So much for the president who was all in for immigrants. What a waste of time, especially in the Republican-controlled Congress, where we are back to scapegoating immigrants. Good luck with that, Joe.

3: Kamala Harris touts supposed successes as immigration czar

U.S. Veep Kamala Harris cannot be seriously touting success as the “immigration czar.” After being largely MIA from the hot-button issue,

Harris announced almost $1 billion in new pledges by private companies to support communities in Central America, which is part of the Biden administration’s effort to keep migrants from fleeing toward the U.S. border.

Sadly, the pledge is merely a drop in the ocean as crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border remain high, the Biden administration struggles to find solutions to the problem, and cities like New York continue to bear the brunt of the increase in migrants seeking a better life in America.

4: Senators unveil bipartisan bill to protect Dreamers

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) seems to have reverted back to his pre-Trump self, at least temporarily. Graham has joined with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) to reintroduce the DREAM

summit heighten, retired University of the West Indies professor and regional author Mark Kirton blasted the region for its consistently lukewarm approach, saying that Haitian independence back in the early 19th century set the stage and paved the way for other enslaved colonies to achieve their own freedom from colonization.

“Our approach has been way too lukewarm,” Kirton said. “We need Caricom to have a sustained engagement. After all, Haiti is the one which first set the thinking about independence with what it did back then. We are either all brothers on one ship or not. We need a strong, sustained intervention from Caricom as Haiti is a member of the grouping. This has been severely lacking. We ought to have a more managed approach to the situation.”

Act. The Friday, Feb. 10, reintroduction came three days after President Biden called for lawmakers to find common ground on immigration reform.

The two highest-ranking members on the Judiciary Committee are re-upping legislation that would give undocumented young immigrants, or Dreamers, a pathway to legal residency. The two senators have introduced the bill for many years without success and it’s likely to die again, given the Republican control of the House.

5: TPS immigrants still living in limbo

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan who are in the U.S. under a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) order are still being kept here at the

mercy of the courts. Thankfully, on Feb. 10, a federal appeals court decided to revisit a case that could decide the fate of the more than 300,000 immigrants living in the U.S. legally on humanitarian grounds. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals voided a 2020 ruling issued by a three-judge panel in the California-based appeals court that had allowed the Trump administration to terminate the TPS of the migrants. The court granted a request by attorneys representing immigrants enrolled in the TPS programs, saying it would hear the case once more, this time ‘en banc,” or with all active judges participating. Sadly, though, it’s unclear when the 9th Circuit could rule on the case again.

Arts & Entertainment

Trugoy the Dove, one third of De La Soul, passes at 54

By JORDANNAH ELIZABETH Special to the AmNews

Sadly, it has been announced that influential lyricist Trugoy the Dove, born David Jolicoeur, of the seminal 1980s and ‘90s hip hop group De La Soul passed away earlier this week. He was 54 years old. Trugoy’s melodious lyrical style melded seamlessly with that of his musical brothers, Posdnuos and Maseo, who achieved commercial success with their 1989 debut album “3 Feet High and Rising,” creating an interesting counterpart to the “harder” hip hop music being released at the time including N.W.A’s “Straight Outta Compton” and MC Lyte’s “Lyte as a Rock.”

Trugoy’s laid back, intellectually creative, humorous, and lighthearted form of rhyming was a fertile hip-hop sound with which De La Soul found comradery and community within the 1990s hip hop collective Native Tongues, whose foundational members were A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers and De La. Queen Latifah, Monie Love, and Black Sheep would join as well.

Throughout the first half of their career, De La released five albums within a seven-year span, 1989-1996, and released four albums between 2001 and 2016. Their output was inspiring to a plethora of current artists.

“The De La tribe were the forefathers and founders of the way we see things,” expressed producer Pharrel Williams.

Pitchfork wrote of their later career, “De La Soul’s music was intricately woven from jazz and funk samples—a technique that contributed to their signature sound, but also what would bind up their songs in legal battles for years. Some have speculated that sample clearance issues were partly responsible for the group’s absence on streaming services, but it was recently announced that the trio’s catalog will be available to stream on March 3.” But the ups and downs, and trajectory of his career was not the defining principle of Trugoy’s humanity. He had a huge hand in changing the sound and temperament of hip hop, offering an airy aesthetic alternative to the pain and aggression of gangsta rap; but it was, moreso, the aesthetic that served to lighten the hearts and cleanse the understandable worries and trauma of Black life. “The Dove, befitting his name, is gentle in manners and soft in speech,” shared Melody Maker. It is this gentility that makes a man mighty amongst others, as he is able to face the world in all its harshness with love and tenderness. We send our regards to the family, the hip hop community and our Black community at large.

De La Soul in 2004. From left: Trugoy, Maseo and Posdnuos (Matti Hillig (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_La_Soul_by_foto_di_matti.jpg), „De La Soul by foto di matti“, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode)

David Jude Jolicoeur aka Dave of De La Soul at Gods of Rap 2019 in Berlin, Germany (Parkbühne Wuhlheide - Sven Volkens, sven.volkens@wikipedia.de (https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_La_Soul_-_Gods_of_Rap_Tour_2019_-_Berlin_(35_von_49). jpg), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)

Cosmopolitan NYFW stylist duo ‘slays’ their debut fashion show

By BRENIKA BANKS Special to the AmNews

New York Fashion Week (NYFW) is one of the four major fashion weeks in the world, alongside Paris, Milan, and London. This series is fashion’s biggest stage, yet not all fashionably talented designers and stylists have their fair chance to shine at the main shows.

Cosmopolitan New York Fashion Week (NYFW) held its first fashion show on Sunday, Feb. 12, at Stepping Out Studios Penthouse in midtown Manhattan during New York Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2023. Cosmopolitan NYFW showcased talented and innovative designers, including various nail/hair/makeup artists.

Fashion stylists Monique Obeze and Crystal Owens, friends and business partners for more than seven years, are the founders of Cosmopolitan NYFW. “I had a dream when we first started talking about this [five months ago],” said Owens. “I told Monique this show is going to be packed out; it happened…we did it.”

They combined their companies and created Cosmopolitan NYFW last September.

Their many years in the fashion world influenced and encouraged them to create their own fashion show separate from the main New York fashion week shows.

About 300 people were in attendance at the sold-out show, which exceeded their expectations.

“We did this on a wing and a prayer,” said Obeze. The stylist duo shared their expertise, knowledge, and perspectives they’ve acquired over the years to fuel their fashion creativity.

Owens was a stylist at numerous fashion shows and envisioned doing things differently at her own show. She expressed her dislike of how her partner, Obeze, was treated during other fashion shows. “I had just produced another person’s show for Fashion Week and there were things Crystal didn't appreciate that happened to me while producing their show,” said Obeze. She wasn’t fond of being treated as a rookie in the fashion world when she had 17 years of professional experience under her belt. Owens encouraged her friend to develop and execute their own fashion show last September.

The fashion duo strategically stayed behind the scenes for the majority of their fashion show debut. They are fully aware that people are judgmental, especially toward Black women, and smartly chose not to reveal themselves until the show’s end.

The pair didn't want to be prejudged because they are Black women in an industry that fails to give them proper respect. Both women displayed their distinctive style in

the fashion, entertainment, and beauty industry during their show.

Owens and Obeze worked feverishly for months to produce the best show possible. They searched social media to find the best designers, particularly African-inspired and Black designers, whose fashions matched their views. They also gave opportunities to Latino, European, and Asian stylists and designers, as well as models, to be showcased. “We wanted an international look, because you get the same thing on the runway when you go to the bigger shows,” said Owens.

Owens and Obeze are aware of raw, uncut talents who aren’t accepted on the bigger stages at Fashion Week. They complement each other when it comes to areas where one is more of an expert than the other. They handpicked everyone who participated in their show, from fashion designers and stylists to entertainment acts and the host: New York comedian Stephanie Jonez. Obeze met Jonez at an NYC comedy club and immediately liked her personality. Obeze admired how personable Jonez was and thought she would be perfect to host their show.

“I couldn’t believe me being from Harlem and South Jamaica Queens while fulfilling my dream of stand-up comedy would lead to being discovered at a comedy show by Monique Obeze,” said Jonez. “I truly believe the doors begin

to open when you discover your gift and keep your eye on God to lead you.”

Jonez hosted both the 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. shows. She was styled by Nafeesa Muqtasid, founder of The Straight NYC, for the later show. “I was treated like a real supermodel,” said Jonez. “The fact that she envisioned me in one of her styles was awesome.” Jonez credits Muqtasid as a true professional and a talented designer who “makes pencil skirts for queens.”

Muqtasid is a fashion designer who is also the CEO and creative director of The Straight NYC. She described working with Jonez as fun and called her sweet and considerate. “She’s a designer’s dream,” said Muqtasid. “Stephanie is an incredibly busy and hardworking comedian who is making her own dreams come true.”

Even with both having extremely busy schedules, they made time for fittings. Muqtasid said she walked away with a smile and a newfound sisterhood with Jonez. Muqtasid said how pleased she was with the professionalism and consideration of both Obeze and Owens.

“We could not have imagined the amount of love and support we received,” said Obeze. She was thrilled to receive so much support from her hometown in NYC, as well as from her family and friends in Saint Thomas, U.S.

At the show (Brenika Banks photos)

Monique Obeze and Crystal Owens receiving their flowers after the show

Crystal Owens pictured with a model after a showcase her style, Crystal Owens Style

NYFW

Continued from page 14

Virgin Islands. She was overwhelmed by how thankful people in the audience were to see themselves being represented and considered in this fashion show.

One attendee was inspired and surprised to learn that two Black women ran this show.

“Just knowing the show was hosted by Black women was an inspiration itself, especially during Black History Month,” said fashion enthusiast Yani Reyes. She was impressed by the designers’ boldness throughout the show. “Their way of thinking outside the box and showing their uniqueness through their designs spoke volumes.” She said the creators of Cosmopolitan NYFW give young Black women the drive and courage to succeed.

Owens and Obeze worked to ensure they did everything to create the show they wanted. It was important for Obeze to give opportunities to Black women after witnessing how Black women were wrongfully second-guessed and listed as the underdog. Because she and Owens knew what being doubted felt like, they worked hard to create a company that doesn’t exclude anyone while uplifting Black and African-inspired talents.

Ciara “CCVant-Garde” Smith, a serial entrepreneur and owner of Hairtastique Mobile Salon Systems Inc., felt honored for her hairstyles to be showcased during the show. Smith said she received many compliments from the owners as well as the attendees. “The Cosmopolitan NYFW show was very important for me and my career,” said Smith. “I felt that it was time for me to fully represent myself and put on an amazing show!”

The Harlem native, a licensed hairstylist for the last 20 years, discovered a love of doing hair at a young age. Smith credits faith and creativity in her heart, as well as her son, as the driving force in her continued success. “I spent so much of my life taking care of everyone and everything,” said Smith. “Now, everything I’m doing is for me and my son; everything and everybody else is secondary.”

Obeze and Owens aimed to be unique with their show by including a hairstylist and makeup artist like Smith. The duo also wanted an entertainment segment, which the bigger shows don’t usually have. One artist who performed at the Cosmopolitan NYFW was Brooklyn R&B singer Daylite.

Obeze found Daylite singing in a Brooklyn subway station. She was captivated by his voice and followed it in the station until she saw him. “I saw him dressed nice and kept

watching him until my train came,” said Obeze. She informed Daylite about the fashion show and invited him to perform.

Daylite expressed gratitude to Obeze and Owens for the opportunity to sing. “My experience at the Cosmopolitan NYFW show was great,” said Daylite. “I’m blessed and honored to be a part of it.” The singer was fascinated by how well the show was put together and said the models did a fantastic job on the runway.

Despite how challenging and hectic it is to put on a fashion show, Owens and Obeze described the results of their first show as very gratifying. “The whole execution, from beginning to the end, was amazing, even with the sleepless nights and having to play various positions,” said Owens. “We had to do what we had to do because we were invested already, and we were determined to make it.”

“When people see it’s two women, let alone two Black women, they say, ‘No! It’s not going to work out,’” said Obeze. However, the resilient duo debunked and disproved that false narrative. Their combined passion for fashion was the key element in their show’s success.

Cosmopolitan NYFW will host their second fashion show this fall. “If you thought our February 2023 show was epic, just wait until September,” said Obeze.

A shot with models (Brenika Banks photos)

Monique Obeze posing for photographers

A shot of African-inspired clothing

CTH-style “Twelfth Night” is Afrocentric and hilarious!

By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews

There is something about going to see a Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH) Shakespeare production that is like no other experience you’ll ever have. Since 1999, Ty Jones’s CTH has taken Shakespeare’s work, brought it into the modern day, and let you know this will be a Black-accentuated, unique theatrical experience filled with humor, unconventional props, high tech, amusing costumes, and very talented cast members who bring the energy, the chemistry, and the attitude.

This is currently happening at the NYU Skirball Theatre (La Guardia Place and W. 4th Street in Manhattan), where “Twelfth Night” recently opened and will play only through Feb. 19.

Before the production begins, a great deal of music—mainly Nigerian pop music—plays in the theater, which sets a mood. As you sit waiting for the production to begin, you get the vibe that this will not be your usual Shakespearean fare.

When the production begins, you meet Orsino, who is the Duke of Illyria, declaring his love for Olivia, a young wealthy countess. You also meet Viola, who has survived her ship’s capsizing and who, on her arrival in Illyria, makes plans to disguise herself as a man called Cesario to get close

to Duke Orsino. Meeting Olivia, we find that she has no attraction to Orsino but finds herself attracted to another.

Some mistaken identity and a lot of chaos occurs, where things are not what they seem. A great deal goes on with this story, and while many people probably know the tale, I won’t share more about the storyline for those who don’t. There is something marvelous in the discovery of this work, especially when it is done CTH style.

Some of the characters include

Olivia’s uncle, Sir Toby Belch; Sir Andrew Aguecheek, a suitor he has brought to her; her servant Maria; her Fool Feste; and her steward Malvolio and the duke’s servant Valentine. This production has hip-hop moves, marvelous singing, and some bring-the-funk choreography. It is a treat not to be missed.

The direction by Carl Cofield is ingenious. The cast has some of the most versatile, talented company you will be find on a stage, including Kara Young, who plays the part of Viola with such pas-

sion, humor, and grace. Young always manages to embody her characters and seamlessly show every emotion they are experiencing. She always does this with an infectious energy and joy.

William DeMeritt is delightful as Orsino; he brings a blind love and determination to his character. Christina Sajous is sexy, funny, and delightful as Olivia.

Shakespeare makes use of comic relief throughout this production, and those characters definitely seem to be having a good time on the stage as they playfully

and skillfully give voice to Shakespeare’s words. Chivas Michael and Carson Elrod as Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek are hilarious every time they take the stage. Israel Erron Ford, as Feste, not only can sing his butt off, but glides into scenes with great flair. Cassandra Lopez as Maria is full of wonderful energy and plays her character well. Allen Gilmore is quite captivating as Malvolio.

Every featured cast member on that stage contributes to the incredibly smooth storyline: J’Laney Allen, Denzel Fields, Charles Bernard Murray, Donathan Walters, and Othello Pratt, Jr.

The versatile ensemble consists of Kat Files, Dennzle Green, Alisa Gregory, Brynle Helmich, Madelyn LaLonde, Anthony Lalor, and Collin McConnell.

The creative team truly shines as well and includes scenic designer Riv Rakkulchon; costume designer Mika Eubanks; lighting designer Alan C. Edwards; composer and sound designer Frederick Kennedy; projection designer Brittany Bland and hair and makeup designer Earon Nealey.

Hurry and make plans to see this while you have the chance. And please, anytime you hear CTH is doing a production, reserve your spot—you will never be disappointed; only entertained and inspired.

For more info, visit www.cthnyc. org and www.nyuskirball.org.

(L-R) Kara Young, William DeMeritt, and Israel Erron Ford in a scene from “Twelfth Night”

The cast of “Twelfth Night in the Classical Theatre of Harlem’s production. (Richard Termine photos)

BLACK HISTORY MONTH RESISTANCE IS REVOLUTIONARY

By NAYABA ARINDE AmNews Editor

This year’s Black History Month is focusing on the age-old tradition of “Resistance” in the Black community. In the same way Black history is the world’s origin story, it is also 365/6 days of the year.

From the first invasion onto the African shores through and beyond the rebellions on the ships of the enslavers, and their plantations and later buildings, resistance has been seeped into the soil, waters, concrete, and bricks of this nation; indeed, the planet.

“Resistance is not letting anyone define who and what we are,” activist Councilmember Charles Barron told the Amsterdam News. In a time when casual racism and micro- and macro-aggressions are delivered constantly by an entitled segment of the populace, intentionally countering this behavior is also being normalized.

“Resisting is when people of African descent fight for radical systematic change as we develop independent Black leaders fighting against white supremacy,” said Barron.

February is traditionally when corporate entities, like big stores and fast food giants, wheel out their annual Black people-themed merchandise and specials.

Ordinarily detached media platforms suddenly focus on movies, special documentaries, books, and events featuring sanitized, middle America-interpretation–approved historical figures such as Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Dr. Martin Luther King, and Madam C.J. Walker.

The grassroots focus is on the likes of Nat

Turner, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Rosa Parks, J.A. Rogers, Sojourner Truth, Fannie Lou Hamer, Shirley Chisholm, Paul Robeson, Angela Davis, and Denmark Vesey.

Pushing against Euro-centric revisionist history, African-centered Black people reflect on continuing to survive the African Holocaust: the Maafa. This is what author and anthropologist Marimba Ani introduced in her 1994 book “Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior.” There, she dissected the catastrophe and devastation of 400 years of (Yurugu) European-sponsored enslavement, colonialism, imperialism, Jim Crowism, and cultural, social, and economic oppression.

Trenton-based activist Divine Allah, a Black Panther youth minister and recent city council candidate, told the Amsterdam News, “Observing resistance in Black History Month 2023 means that we must continue to push forward with no holds barred. As Dr. Khalid Abdul Muhammad said, ‘Everything goes on the battlefield.’ No one should tell anyone how to fight against the oppressor. We can’t fight pretty. The ultimate goal is our sovereignty as a people— liberation from the constant daily oppression. We’ve been in the fight since we got here. We can’t let up now—the heat is still on. Many of us don’t understand the intensity of the war, and would rather act like everything is equal, postracism and all that nonsense. But they show us every day, in every single aspect of life, that we are still under attack. No matter how many award shows, or big sports games, or any other distractions and pseudo-equal representations of comfortability, we must force through the unsophisticated illusion of inclusion.”

Bolstering self-determination worldwide since 1966 is the celebration of Dr. Maulana

Karenga’s Kwanzaa—the December-to-January celebration of seven community-affirming principles: the Nguzo Saba, which includes Kujichagulia, Nia, Umoja, and Ujima—self-determination, faith, community and economic unity, and collective work and responsibility.

In 1969, Dr. Carlos E. Russell, a professor emeritus at Brooklyn College, established Black Solidarity Day. The annual observation, held the day before a general election, was inspired by Douglas Turner Ward’s play “Day of Absence.” The play imagines a world where Black people remove themselves from work, school, and all shopping to emphasize how completely vital and necessary Black people are to every single element of everyday life.

In the same vein, Black History Month is seen by many as a time for a united community to gather, reflect, re-evaluate, strategize, and harness economic and political power.

Issues of major concern still include housing, unemployment, crime, education and medical disparities, and police violence. This month, the nation is still rocked by the violent beating death of Tyre Nichols by five or more Memphis cops. The caught-on-camera assault brought up other police killings: Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland, Breona Taylor, Rekia Boyd, Michael Brown, Sean Bell, and Eric Garner.

“We have been resilient in not resisting enough, we have not been fortified enough,” said Emarie Knight, a community activist and life coach. “We are not proactive, we are reactive. We don’t plan for collective progress— some of us do, but you need more of us to be actively involved. With issues like all this police brutality, we have to be at the table.

“I think about the grassroots movements. We have a few of them, but we need more people to be politically and socially conscious. We are not

educating our youth anymore. I give my grandson lessons in my house every week. When I was growing up, whereas most people had Martin and Jesus on the walls, my family had Haile Selassie, and when my friends came around, I had to explain thoroughly who he was and break down the history. I took that responsibility then, and even now, I see that we must be the ones to educate our children. We as a people need a three-credit course in who we are.”

Knight, a healthcare worker and holistic mind and body advocate, said that historian, author, philosopher, and orator Dr. John Henrik Clarke “was one of our greatest visionaries. He said, ‘I only debate equals, others I teach.’ I can educate you so you can become empowered in this infrastructure. We need to get involved, but we are more asleep than we were in the ’60s. Why are we not owning Fulton Street, in Bed-Stuy? Every other community has a store there. We’ve done picked up enough cabbage and cotton as generations of people to own more businesses. We must know how to be become economically savvy again. In the ’60s, grants were given to open stores, but they didn’t give people economic power and financial education, so the businesses failed, and they said, ‘Oh, well we tried, not doing that again.’ But it was designed to fail and of course, the programs eventually closed. We need to get back to doing for self. You better resist this constant oppression, otherwise you’ll always have people hovering over you.”

In 2016, Barron presented a Black History PowerPoint presentation titled “We Fought Back!” all over Brooklyn. He announced that rebellion against invaders and kidnappers has always been in the blood and history.

“We Fought Back!” tells the history of resistance and revolutions from slavery to the

A CELEBRATION OF THE MUSICAL HERITAGE OF BLACK CULTURE

Malcolm X and Black Power politics

By MAL’AKIY 17 ALLAH Special to the AmNews

By the time of his Feb. 21, 1965, execution at 39 years old, Malcolm X had profoundly affected the political platform for Black people in the land of the free. He was using politics as a means to ensure his people could attain the basic needs and rights all humans were due, and this aspect of his legacy continued to resonate for several generations more through various movements.

A number of local events will commemorate this occasion, including one this Friday at 2 p.m., “The Dead are Arising, The Life of Malcolm X—Virtual Book Party,” and another Tuesday at the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center (3940 Broadway) and Schomburg Center (515 Malcolm X Blvd.).

“We have two psychological battles that we’re fighting against white folks. We won one. They told us we should hate Malcolm X. We dumped that. Thank God,” said Black Panther Stokely Carmichael (later Dr. Kwame Ture) in 1969. “The second battle we’re now fighting is whether or not we will have the courage to decide how our movement is going to go. They don’t want us to use ‘Black Power.’ I got news for them!”

During spring 1964, after departing from the Nation of Islam, he established the Organization of Afro-American Unity [OAAU], which advocated this. The subsequent Black Power era, which emerged after Malcolm’s death, advocated for Americanized Africans to be self-determining and self-reliant rather than attempting to assimilate with the offspring of their oppressors.

“I felt the movement [NOI] was dragging its feet in many areas. It didn’t involve itself in many of the civic, civil, or political struggles that our people are confronted by,” Malcolm X said in an early 1964 interview. “All it did was stress the importance of moral reformation.“

During his speaking engagements, he would encourage Black people to have influence in the businesses, politics, and schools in their communities, which would bring about significant change and in-

still cultural as well as racial pride in Black people. This caused much fear among Caucasian-Americans and docile negroes.

After visiting Mecca and Northern Africa in early 1964, his international scope broadened and he became more familiar with the global system of white supremacy. Drawing inspiration from his Garveyite upbringing and Nation of Islam teachings, he helped many Blacks find their paths.

“More than any other person, Malcolm X was responsible for the growing consciousness and new militancy of Black people,” Julius Lester said in 1968.

Toward the end of his life, Malcolm X was focusing more on human rights for his people, rather than civil rights. This theme was also picked up by several other progressive activists who followed.

After Malcolm’s death, the OAAU pretty much fizzled out, yet his ideologies later surfaced via the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, Revolutionary Action Movement (R.A.M.), and several other self-determining organizations.

The annual May 19 pilgrimage to

Cemetery, where Malcolm and Betty are interred, is still on.

Ferncliff

Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall

& Tazewell THOMPSON Gathering Song (World Premiere–New York Philharmonic

In His Grandfather’s Footsteps...

While patrolling the same East Village streets that his namesake did more than 50 years ago, NYPD Police Officer Gregory Foster can’t help thinking of the grandfather he never met.

“There are lots of challenges out there and, as I face them, I always keep his strength in mind,” says the young cop. “I use it for motivation. I ask myself, what would he do?”

In January 1972, Patrolman Gregory Foster was assassinated along with his partner Rocco Laurie in an ambush by members of the Black Liberation Army – one the most heinous cop-killings of the second half of the 20th century. Foster and Laurie had served together in the Marines and teamed up again in the Ninth Precinct, where now every rookie who walks into the stationhouse is told of the Foster-Laurie history, and the duo are accorded the reverence they deserve.

The younger Gregory Foster would never have been able not to remember them. His grandmother wouldn’t let him.

Jacqueline Foster was determined to keep the memory of her

martyred husband alive. “She would talk about him all the time,” he says. “About how he was a man’s man, about how strong he was, how he took care of the family, how he had served both his country and his city. And how she wanted me to be just like him. ‘You wanna be that guy,’ she would tell me.”

So, eventually, Gregory Foster III set out to be that guy. He started off, like his grandfather, by joining the military. He served seven years in the Army National Guard, working in anti-terrorism, protecting hot zones like airports and transit systems. In the period following his active service in the military, he wasn’t so sure about undertaking a police career. But finally, the appeal of his heritage became too great.

On Dec. 28, 2019, Gregory Foster III graduated from the NYPD Police Academy and, wearing his grandfather’s shield, soon started serving in the Ninth Precinct and literally walking in his grandfather’s footsteps as he patrols the East Village.

Grandma Foster would have approved.

New Orleans HBCUs revive the tradition of Black-Jewish scholar relations

By TAMERRA GRIFFIN

After Dillard University President Dr. Rochelle Ford began her term last July, she visited the school’s shuttered National Center for Black-Jewish Relations, which was established in 1974 and closed in 1997, and read a book about past symposiums held on campus. She was instantly fascinated by the work being done back then.

Then she started seeing manifestations of that work pop up across campus and in the greater New Orleans area.

“As I got to know more leaders in town, I met a Jewish American family that used to do Dillard’s general counsel and external counsel work,” Ford said. “I talked to another person whose relative helped desegregate New Orleans. Then I learned about the architect who helped design

Resistance

Continued from page 17

then-current Black Lives Matter movement. Barron went deeper than the usual Amistead, Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Harriet Tubman narrative. His presentation included the Stono Rebellion, Pee Dee River Revolt, Gasper Yanger’s uprising, revolutions in Africa and the Caribbean, and resistance in America.

He also announced his proposed legislation for Columbus Day to be renamed Indigenous People’s Day as in South Dakota, California, Hawaii, and Alaska; in typical Barron fashion, the East New York-based selfproclaimed “elected revolutionary” slammed then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, as well as Black and Latino politicians who denounced the growing call to remove the Columbus statue from midtown Manhattan.

Barron, the author of “SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER: Articles and Essays on Revolution, Black Radical Politics and Leadership” charged, “What a sad embarrassing case of political opportunism. They should read their history, and they will discover that Columbus murdered, tortured, and enslaved their African ancestors.”

This week, Barron told the Amsterdam News,“Resistance is replacing Black puppets with genuine leaders not motivated by rugged individualism.”

Resistance and resistors have always been a part of the narrative when it has come to the Black community and the historical struggle against the European oppressor in the Americas, from the likes of Denmark Vesey, Madison Washington, Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman, to Fannie Lou Hamer, Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, Assata Shakur, M.OV.E, Pam Africa, Geronimo ji Jaga, Mumia abu Jamal, Mutulu Shakur, Eddie Conway, Mutulu Shakur, Sonny Abubadika Carson, to Soffiyah

the landscape and architecture of our buildings.”

Dillard, she realized, had always been involved in forging pathways to understanding between Black and Jewish communities, and she knew what she had to do. On Jan. 17, the university announced the reopening of the National Center for Black-Jewish Relations.

“If Dillard played this role in the past, it’s needed now more than ever,” Ford said. “Part of our remit is to cultivate leaders who act courageously to make the world a better place. That’s who we say we are, and we need to cultivate leaders on this issue.”

By revitalizing the center, Ford and Dillard are also honoring the tradition of a special, mutually beneficial relationship between Jewish scholars and HBCUs that was established nearly a century ago.

Bandele and Viola Plummer.

Barron said the media-accepted Black Lives Matter movement definitely represented the commercialized, acceptable version of genteel opposition, and “not our traditional way of protest and demanding our rights. It lacked vision, ideology and continuity and permanency. They organized around police brutality. It reverberated around world because it was seen to be a safer, acceptable alternative to the real work that has been done for years—and is still being done for the people where no cameras or bright lights shine. This is not scripted. It is real. That was mobilization for a moment, just like Occupy Wall Street. We need to organize not for singular issues, but for real systematic change and radical development. We are talking about revolution, not reform. We know that reform is a tactic, not a result.

“They enslaved us, they Jim Crowed us, they owe us.”

From barber shops to community gatherings, Barron said, the people have to be engaged.

“We stay in the streets, there are many organizations who meet the people every day and listen to what they are asking for—groups such as the Nation of Islam, Operation Power, Man Up, Inc., and the December 12th Movement.”

Barron concluded, “We have always faced our adversity and sought actionable solutions. It was the Black Panther Party, which I was a member of, that began the free breakfast programs that influenced 22 states in the U.S. to give free breakfasts to children. And the Black Panther health clinics led to 40 states beginning free health clinics nationwide. People shouldn’t get caught up in the fictionalized Wakanda Black Panther. They should raise one Black fist, like Tommy Smith and John Carlos.”

“Resistance in 2023 means we should do like the 20 Republicans in Congress, meaning we should fund enough Democrats so that they owe an allegiance to Black people rather than

Finding a home in Black Academia

In 1933, shortly after Hitler tightened his grip on power in Germany, he issued a Nazi mandate abolishing “non-Aryans” from civil service and academia, forcing scores of Jewish intellectuals to seek refuge in the U.S. Most were unable to leverage their reputations back home with predominantly white American colleges and universities—many of which still harbored the same antisemitism that informed the policies making it difficult for them to enter the country in the first place, although Princeton University welcomed Nobel laureate Albert Einstein into its Institute for Advanced Study with open arms.

Others found academic homes in HBCUs, whose leaders empathized with the discrimination they faced and invit-

their big-time donors, some of whom are outside of the country,” said Brian Figeroux, activist attorney and founder of News Black Voices. “We should make Hakeem Jeffries belong to us, as an example. And the people who should fund this Black revolution are the Black NBA and NFL players. The revolution of the so-called minorities is to have an effective voice in Congress. It is better than telling people just to vote. We need to have a controlling influence over our representatives.”

Every February, out comes the list of great inventors and influencers like scientists, doctors, architects, teachers, entrepreneurs, entertainers, educators, historians, and authors. Recommended reading includes Nikole Hannah-Jones’ “1619 Project,” Harriet Washington’s “Medical Apartheid,” Gloria Browne-Marshall’s “She Took Justice,” Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow” author, Charshee C.L.McIntyre’s “Criminalizing a Race, Free Blacks During Slavery,” and of course, any works of great teachers like Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan and Dr. John Henrik Clarke.

Black Excellence, Black Girl Magic, Black Boy Joy are wonderfully inspirationally buzzwords, and self-determination is the foundation of all of them.

Omowale Clay, a leading member of the human rights organization December 12th Movement, told the Amsterdam News, “Malcolm X once told us, ‘If you can name it, you can claim it.’ Malcolm was instructing Black people to learn that the power to name something also gives you the power to define it—if they name us Negro and we accept that definition, then we will become that Negro.

“Today, violence in society is defined by white people as something native to Black people.

However, we who have fought to define ourselves see racism and poverty as the root cause of violence in our community. It is poverty that has been perpetrated on our people

ed intellectuals like Ernst Borinski, Ernst Manasse, and Viktor Lowenfeld to teach at Tougaloo College, North Carolina Central University, and Hampton Institute (now Hampton College), respectively. Just as the Black academics could identify with the antisemitism that kept them locked out of other schools, the Jewish professors gained a deep understanding of the racist landscape of the country through their experiences of working at HBCUs.

According to Aaron Bloch, who heads the Center for Jewish-Multicultural Affairs at the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans and is part of the seven-person planning committee for the center at Dillard, part of the reason his organization was founded was to carry on the work started at the National Center for See HBCU on page 23

through the theft of our bodies, labor, and genius. A poverty that continues to be violently inflicted, and manifested through poor healthcare, inadequate education, high unemployment, low-paying jobs, lack of housing, and police repression.

“This is why we must define our response as resistance and reparations now.”

In that regard, Clay and the December 12th Movement are calling for the community to push for “passage of the New York State Reparations Bill during Black History Month,” he said.

“We need you to come out, get the information, spread the word, and push your elected officials to act by voting on this crucial bill. We must do it.” (February 16, 7 p.m., Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street, 718-398-1766)

With the message that “We have a nation to build,” the December 12th Movement is also organizing the 58th commemoration of the death of Malcolm X (February 21, 7 p.m., New Canaan Baptist Church, 288 Putnam Avenue, Bed-Stuy).

Dr. James McIntosh of the Committee to Eliminate Media Offensive to African People (CEMOTAP) told the Amsterdam News, “The motivation for the work I do as a doctor and as an organizer for the people is embedded in work we are tasked to do to help our community. There is nothing more important than empowering our people, and providing information and resources to enable us to be as independent and self-determining as we are meant to be.”

The WBAI “Mindfield” radio host is hosting a Zoom meeting (February 25, 347-907-0629), “How To Make Our Children Malcolm X-perts, Mind Field Eugenics Part 2, In addition, a Book Party event, “The Dead are Arising, The Life of Malcolm X,” features a panel including Tamara Payne, Prof. Gloria Browne-Marshall, Prof. Milton Allimadi, and Nana Betty Dobson.

HBCU

Continued from page 20

Black-Jewish Relations. He is thrilled to now combine forces with the university at such a critical moment.

“The Jewish community as a whole is focused on the rise of antisemitism, but in every breath, we’re talking about racism and hate in all their forms,” Bloch said. “We’re all the targets of the same people.”

Building new bridges

Bloch will be joined by Khalida Lloyd, founder of the religious nonprofit Mission Reconcile in New Orleans. Lloyd facilitates religious reconciliation programs through the lens of race. Her organization works primarily with Christian churches, but Lloyd was inspired by a partnership to revisit working across religions in her previous job between a Black young professional network in Washington, D.C. and the American Jewish Committee. She seized the opportunity to do more of that work with Dillard.

“We talk about the history of Black-Jewish relations and how it was so pivotal, but I just don’t think that relationship is present, whether it’s DC, or NOLA, or another city,” Lloyd said. “This institute that is reforming and re-catalyzing at Dillard I think is going to invite that.”

She added that while the committee doesn’t yet have specifics for the plans for the National Center for Black-Jewish Relations (the group will meet after Mardi Gras ends), she envisions a meeting center that addresses intergenerational needs along with racial and religious ones, and that there will be equal representation among the groups that show up.

“I think a lot of young Black students will learn a history that will be very formative and foundational to what they do in the world—learning what that relationship could look like,” Lloyd said. “And I hope it [also] brings a young group of Jewish community [members] so that there’s not this imbalance of knowledge sharing.”

Just down the street from Dillard at Xavier University of Louisiana, another HBCU, a group of Black scholars has been hard at work turning their education into action to address the rise of misinformation and intolerance against Jews.

Jamya Davis, Aarinii Parms-Green, and two other students in the university’s honors program are conducting field research to better understand root causes and gauge the public’s understanding of antisemitism and teach them about the history of Black-Jewish relations in America. Their research is part of a larger initiative in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security to target and prevent domestic terrorism.

Davis said that as a political science major, she was surprised by how much she had to learn about the longstanding cooperation between Black and Jewish scholars and civil rights leaders—or the contentious moments they shared. Once she did, she understood it was that much more important to eradicate antisemitic rhetoric from the Black community.

Their group has also harnessed social media to share their research with their community in engaging ways. They post “Tiny Mics” to the school’s TikTok page, short videos showing their members approaching people on the street and quizzing them about the history of Black-Jewish relations, such as the fact that Louis Armstrong wore a Star of David to honor the Jewish families who supported him throughout his career.

Davis and Green said people tended to

answer their trivia questions incorrectly, which didn’t surprise them. Part of what they hope to achieve with their project is to normalize this knowledge.

“The fact that this is not being taught as heavily as it was is really concerning to me, which makes the importance of this project heightened because we have to catch what isn’t being taught,” Davis said. “The thing we don’t know can lead to us assuming there’s nothing to know.”

Parms-Green added, “You can’t really understand someone until you know their history and they know yours.”

This article was made possible by a grant from Shine A Light, a national initiative dedicated to raising awareness of modernday antisemitism and encouraging societal change through a shared sense of communal allyship.

Professor Ernst Borinski (right) teaching at Tougaloo College, Mississippi. (Image courtesy of the Coral Gables Museum)

Books about Black health, relationships, diet

By JORDANNAH ELIZABETH Special to the AmNews

This week, Valentine’s Day has fallen amidst the early-week bustle of Black life in Harlem and beyond. It is possible that such a holiday would inspire our community to engage in more self-care. Maybe gifts of the weekend at a local spa, a day of shopping, an easy weekend brunch, or a late evening of affection in the corner of a romantic restaurant on Frederick Douglass.

You don’t have to be coupled to enjoy a special health splurge, but what may be more fruitful is that we become more conscious about our daily health regimens and relationships. The work we do now on our diets and relationships will make a huge difference next Valentine’s Day. These books offer an opportunity to become more aware of our bodies, sexuality, diets and relational health. If we invest in learning about ourselves, every facet of our lives will become healthier, organized and peaceful.

“Eating While Black: Food Shaming and Race in America” by Psyche A. Williams-Forson | University of North Carolina Press

Before we can eat better, it is important to understand the forms of oppression that have stemmed from Black

diets in North America. History is not a necessary tool to change one’s life, but for long-term effects, dismantling unhealthy generational habits and trauma about food will help heal inner wounds, as well as the work we do on our outer selves—our bodies.

“Psyche A. Williams-Forson is one of our leading thinkers about food in America.Sustainable culture—what keeps a community alive and thriving— is essential to Black peoples’ fight for access and equity, and food is central to this fight. Starkly exposing the rampant shaming and policing around how Black people eat, Williams-Forson contemplates food’s role in cultural transmission, belonging, homemaking, and survival. Black people’s relationships to food have historically been connected to extreme forms of control and scarcity—as well as to stunning creativity and ingenuity.” —University of North Carolina Press

“Black Women’s Wellness: Your I’ve Got This Guide to Health, Sex, and Phenomenal Living” by Melody T. McCloud

| Sounds True

Sounds True (ST) founder Tami Simon

interviewed OB-GYN and author Melody T. McCloud, MD on the ST podcast earlier this week. The enlightening conversation opened by highlighting the incredible historical figure Dr. Rebec -

ca Lee Crumpler, who was a trailblazing Black woman medical professional who cared for Black people right after slavery was abolished. McCloud went on to talk about the disparities Black women patients face in the modern medical sphere. “What’s troubling is that even Black women with access to medical care, with means and insurance, still will lag behind when it comes to a successful health-care outcome,” she said.

“[McCloud’s] courageous work as a GYN for women of all backgrounds, and her knowledge of her field, women as individuals, and the statistics of cultural imbalances, make ‘Black Women’s Wellness’ a must-have reference for physical, psychological, and sexual wellness, with helpful tips for success in life and love. Finally, we have a book that specifically addresses the path towards health

and happiness for our beautiful Black women.” —Jeffrey Gardere, PhD, ABPP

“Monsters in Love: Why Your Partner Sometimes Drives You Crazy—and What You Can Do About It” by Resmaa Menakem | Central Recovery Press

In “Monsters in Love,” republished as an expanded version of a vital relationship manual originally titled “Rock the Boat,” psychotherapist and healer Resmaa Menakem shares insights into the layers of relationships that are not often talked about: hatred in love relationships, the helpfulness of conflict as opposed the detrimental view our culture tends to take, and so on. There is so much to learn from this book about the pursuit of “relationship realism,” which can create a roadmap and clarity regarding the path to positive longterm connections.

“‘Monsters in Love’ challenges the idea that conflict between partners is unhealthy or something to avoid. Instead, it encourages both people to stand by what they need and who they are—but to do so with compassion rather than competitiveness or vengefulness. This is the purpose of an intimate relationship: to create an atmosphere where both people learn to grow up in their relationship by appreciating each other’s individual needs in a caring and mature way.” —Central Recovery Press

These books offer an opportunity to become more aware of our bodies, sexuality, diets and relational health.

‘Law and Order: Organized Crime’ star Danielle Moné Truitt stages ‘3: Black Girl Blues’

By NADINE MATTHEWS Special to the AmNews

Jill, Keisha, and Stephanie, now full-grown women, have been friends since elementary school. Or have they?

That is the question you’ll ask yourself when you get the chance to see actress and writer Danielle Moné Truitt’s play “3: Black Girl Blues.” In the tradition of films like “Waiting to Exhale,” “Girls Trip,” and “Soul Food,” and shows like “Girlfriends” and “Living Single,” the play’s creator Moné Truitt and writer Anthony Djaun have set out to bring us the wonder and complexity that is female friendship.

Recently, Moné Truitt performed the piece as a staged reading at the ART Gural Theater in Hell’s Kitchen, to a packed audience (including Moné Truitt’s “Law and Order: Organized Crime” co-star Christopher Meloni). She’s taking the show on the road to California this coming summer as a full-fledged production.

Like many plays, TV shows, and films, this one has been a long time in the making. Moné Truitt told Amsterdam News, “I first approached Anthony to write this

one-woman show for me in 2008 and for the last 10 years, we’ve been workshopping, rewriting.”

Backed by a spare set consisting of a chair, music stand, and side table, the Sacramento-born and -raised actress brought the three characters to earthshaking and heartbreaking life, plumbing the depths of trauma, abuse, emotional abandonment, and neglect. There is a little music—some hip-hop played for a flashback to a party scene—and minimal costume changes. Each character is differentiated by the tops she wears and what she has on her feet. Moné Truitt’s tremendous performance, though, more than made up for any scarcity of scenery or costuming.

Although each character is charismatic and funny enough to have the viewer often laughing with them, they most certainly have the blues; they each dissolve into tears at some point when they start to come face to face with the reality of traumas they have endured. Still, only one of the three starts to embrace the truth and begin the process of healing. The others shrink from it.

The trio present radically different personalities and live radically different lives.

Keisha has stayed in the ’hood, apparently not exactly by choice if we are to judge from some of her words and actions. She believes in the tragic idea of romantic love that demands loyalty in the cold face of emotional and physical neglect, infidelity, and domestic violence. She takes wanton violence against perceived romantic rivals as par for course. Said Moné Truitt, “Her flaw is that she feels she is unworthy. That’s the only reason why she stays with a man who has a baby with another woman, disrespects her, … beats a woman up in front of her child, and sleeps with her friend’s husband.”

Jill is a housewife and although, so far, the piece fails to pinpoint just how far up the ladder of success she has gone, it is abundantly clear that she perches far above Keisha in life, as well as in her own mind. “Jill wants to be accepted so much,” said Moné Truitt. “She tries to clean up other people’s messes. She’s an enabler.”

Jill’s husband Darnell sounds at least as cruel as Keisha’s part-

ner and in fact, as the details of their lives are revealed, may be the cruelest of them all. He keeps Jill cloistered from the rest of the world, on the tightest of leashes and budgets. Despite the veneer of a cushy life chock-full of suburban minutiae, Jill’s crushing loneliness is palpable. A surfeit of wine holds the pain at bay.

Although visibly successful, Stephanie has grown into a misanthrope. As we watch her reluctantly divulge the details of her personal life during her first appointment with a therapist, we see her loneliness is just as real, but of a different sort from that of her two friends. She seems to embrace her solitude. However, something sadder and more sinister may be at the root of Stephanie’s independent spirit.

Moné Truitt explained, “Stephanie is carrying around a lot of shame, so she’s going to achieve amazing things to overcompensate for the shame she feels because of things that were done to her as a child and things she’s done as an adult.” That includes a secret with the potential to do a lot of damage to Jill’s fragile emotional ecosystem.

At one point, one of the characters faces the gut-wrenching truth of how she feels about one of the others: “I hate her!” she screams. It’s jarring but not shocking, because these three characters haven’t yet come to terms with liking themselves, so it may just be inevitable that they are unable to like each other either. Follow on IG at @daniellemonetruitt.

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Danielle Moné Truitt performs during the “3: Black Girl Blues” staged reading on February 7, 2023, in New York City. (John Lamparski/Getty Images photo)

HARLEM STAGE, OHBM CONCERT, BED-STUY 2020

Reed. “They were involved in the movement while others were not. It shows they had a voice that was often neglected by the mainstream.”

Lives Matter. It became a global movement. They marched relentlessly, in protest under a yellow sun into the dark of a gray night.

The composer and drummer Max Roach was one of the most politically active jazz musicians. Along with Charles Mingus, he led a rebel festival during the Newport Jazz Festival to protest the treatment of jazz musicians. The two also co-founded one of the first artist-owned record labels, Debut Records, in 1952.

Roach consistently explored new forms of musical expression from his early days, from perfecting bebop with Kenny Clarke to his percussion ensemble M’Boom and his solo concerts demonstrating that one drum set could keep an audience mesmerized on the edge of sound. He performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and with dance companies such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dianne McIntyre Sounds in Motion, and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. He took to hip-hop, performing with Fab Five Freddy and the New York Break Dancers. For Roach, jazz had no boundaries, no limitations.

As a political activist and music warrior, his “We Insist! Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite” (Candid Records, 1961) was one of the essential jazz albums during the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. The album includes five tracks that reflect on the Proclamation and the growing African independence movements of the 1950s. Roach and vocalist Abbey Lincoln perform on all tracks, and there is a guest performance by saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. In 2022, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Roach collaborated with lyricist and vocalist Oscar Brown, Jr. for a planned performance in 1963 for the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Now, over a half century later, the album retains its defiant stance as Part IV of the Harlem Stage series Black Arts Movement: “Examined.” On February 24, Harlem Stage (150 Convent Avenue) will present tap dancer Michela Marino Lerman’s Love Movement, performing and re-imagining Roach’s revolutionary “We Insist! Freedom Now Suite” (7:30 p.m.–9 p.m.).

Lerman, winner of the 2019 Hoofer Award, was mentored by some of the masters of tap dance, including Gregory Hines, Buster Brown, Peg Leg Bates, and Marion Coles. Love Movement, Marino Lerman’s ensemble, will include tappers Orlando Hernández and Roxanne King, bassist/music director Russell Hall, vocalist Charenee Wade, saxophonist Ebban Dorsey, drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, and pianist Miki Yamanaka.

Preceding the performance poet, novelist and playwright Ishmael Reed will join Harlem Stage Associate Artistic Director and Curator in Residence Carl Hancock Rux to discuss Roach’s “We Insist! Freedom Now Suite.” Reed was a member of the Umbra Writers Workshop in the early 1960s. “Max’s album was a good example of artists responding to politics,” said

For tickets, visit the website: harlemstage. org. An additional performance has been added on February 25 at 7 p.m.

One Hundred Black Men, Inc. (OHBM) of New York will celebrate their 60th anniversary on February 22 at Jazz at Lincoln Center. This year, for the first time, OHBM will present the Diamond Legacy Benefit Concert, an all-star soul line-up with musical director and orchestral arranger Ray Chew and Friends, featuring R&B legends Jeffery Osborn, Howard Hewitt, and Ruben Studdard, at 7:30 p.m., in the Rose Room after their gala and awards presentation. For tickets, visit the website: ohbm.org.

The sun shines at midnight! Stars jumping the high seas until dawn. No sleep for the weary, just blues pushing through. The land where the American flag was stained with blood even before its 13 colonies.

From the moment our ancestors stepped from the Door of No Return, they felt impact of the right to take the ancestors, looting them from their native land, to terrorize and brutalize them in this new land, where they were the victims of an unjust government, where Black lives weren’t respected, where beautiful Black bodies could be mutilated with bullets or rope as the social structure allowed killers freedom. This has been the legal agenda for centuries: white men in blue uniforms, white men in casual clothes, white men just knowing they could and would. Time passed and years drifted by, but Black Lives Matter hadn’t gained any international talk, only whispers that shouted in the wind and holla’d in early morning and damn near all night.

In 1955, Mamie Till Bradley shouted, “Look what they did to my son, his casket has to be open, I need to let everyone see what they done to my son.” Everyone saw young Emmett Till; everyone was emotionally shattered, enraged, crazy enough to do something outrageous, but instead, the rage caught fire deep inside the pit of their souls like a raging barn fire with no access to water and no way to put it out. Beautiful, handsome Black bodies keep getting mutilated; no jail, just paid leave; no time, just so what.

Into the 21st century, Black Lives are still annihilated in the streets of Amerika [CQ/KFM], as screams and protests filled streets running with anger, broken bottles of animosity, chants of “Get back, go back, no nobody going to turn me around.”

Black power—the struggle continues. Look what he did to her son. George Floyd, everyone can see live in the moment. Look what they did to his brother, look what was done to their father, everyone can see—it’s on TV! Black Lives Matter—damn right Black

A statement had to be made that the world could see something to feel, to hold onto. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser of Washington, D.C., had a mural painted with the words “Black Lives Matter” in 50-foot-tall letters, in yellow paint, all caps, on the pavement just outside the White House, officially renamed “Black Lives Matter Plaza NW.” Her concept caught fire, yellow paint burned the streets of Black America with heavy soul and artistic deliverance in Harlem and Bed-Stuy. You know: Do or die!

The concept took on a greater impact in Brooklyn under the auspices of Billie Holiday Theater director Dr. Indira Elwaroo and theater creative director Hollis King. For them, it wasn’t a matter of painting Black Lives Matter but more importantly, to use the paint to say the names of those Black bodies who were innocently victimized; killed without any regard, no respect. Say their names, remember their names, spell their names—all 150 names. Keep them close to your hearts, keep their families in everyday prayers. All those names, those Black bodies came alive on that Brooklyn Street (Fulton Avenue) under the hands of artists, who gave their time and empathy for lives brutally eradicated.

Those names included George Junius Stinner, Jr., who at age 14 in 1944 was executed by electric chair by the state of South Carolina. There was senior citizen Eleanor Bumpurs, who was shot by a police officer with a 12gauge shotgun; and Eric Garner, brutally killed by police while in a choke hold.

Their names were painted, their souls heard the cries, the cheers brightening family’s and friends’ lives, if only for a moment. “My only regret is I wasn’t able to have the street closed off to traffic so this Black Lives mural could stand as a living memorial, but there were too many complications,” said New York City Councilmember Robert E. Cornegy (36th District). He was instrumental in organizing the BLM mural and getting city officials involved in the project.

Artists from the community and throughout the city volunteered from all ethnic groups. “Shows what community art can do for people,” said King.

Fortunately, King and Elwaroo (who is also

a writer and editor) didn’t stop with the mural. They decided to keep these names alive with a book about the mural entitled “Black Lives Matter/ Bed-Stuy 2020 Our Open Casket to the World.” This coffee-table book is required. It’s a reminder of what is reality in Amerika, it’s the resilience and creativity of black America. It’s the saxophone of John Coltrane on “Alabama” and “A Love Supreme”; it’s Pharoah Sanders playing the “Creator Has a Master Plan” and Billie Holiday giving us the blues, while Nina Simone shouts “Mississippi Goddam.”

The images photographed by King (with creative assistance from Izac Sissoko) are astounding. They capture human beings—Black folks who work every day, beautiful Black children going through a day in Brooklyn smiling, laughing, loving everything around them. Look at that ballet dancer in mid-air—what a pose, how can he do that, check the brother—so clean; you have to see this photo, Black women so beautiful in their glory, the sun melts. His photos are in the now, in the future, in spirit, in love, in real time. Life may not be easy, but it’s ours to enjoy and do all we can to do better without being hindered or harassed by the police, intimidated by fools. The book—get it !! You know the cliché: A picture is worth 1,000 words—even more when King is the photographer.

Jazz Foundation hosts free concert on Feb.18

On Saturday, Feb. 18, at Harlem Heritage Tours (104 Lenox Avenue, between 115th and 116th Streets) from 6:30–9:30 p.m., piano masters Bertha Hope and Denton Darien; saxophonist/vocalist John Satchmo Mannan; Alvin Ellington Flythe on tenor sax; Tarik Shah on bass; and many others will celebrate the music and contributions of Louis Armstrong, John

the Jazz idiom.

The concert is live and free, and supported by the New York State Jazz Literacy & Arts Society; the law firm of Lipsig, Shapey Manus and Moverman; and the Jazz Foundation of America.

Max Roach at the Three Deuces, NYC, ca. October 1947. (Photography by William P. Gottlieb; public domain)

Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Horace Silver, and others of

Horace Silver in L.A., 1989 (Dmitri Savitski photo)

Ben Fletcher, an intrepid labor organizer and activist

By HERB BOYD

Special to the AmNews

Many years ago when this column launched, one of the first profiles was of Ben Fletcher, an African American activist and worker who helped found the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Discussion last week of the legacy of Dorothy Lee Bolden and her founding of the National Domestic Workers Union, reminded me of Fletcher. A recent book by Peter Cole, “Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly” (PM Press, 2021), provides the virtually unknown and unheralded labor leader with a fresh currency of respect so vitally needed today.

The first question raised by several readers when we first examined Fletcher’s life and legacy was, “What is or was a Wobbly?” A Wobbly was a member of the IWW, which was formed in 1905 to organize workers who labored outside the skilled trades, including textiles, docks, agriculture and mining. They are better known as Wobblies, and they are just as active today as they were at the dawn of the 20th century.

Born Benjamin Harrison Fletcher on April 13, 1890, in Philadelphia, he worked as a day laborer and longshoreman, loading and unloading ships. Around 1912, he joined the Socialist Party and the IWW. He was fascinated by the various speakers for the organizations and soon was on the soapbox himself, where he enthralled listeners with his oratorical skills. It was a talent that earned him a leadership role in the IWW and at the helm of the Philadelphia branch.

For the next five years, Fletcher was an intrepid union organizer. He was a tireless and fearless visionary who co-founded Local 8 of the Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union a year after joining the IWW. That was a unique mix of ethnic groups who later went on strike for higher wages while espousing an uncompromising anticapitalist and anti-racism outlook. Within a three-year period, all but two of the docks in Philadelphia were controlled by the IWW.

Having galvanized the union in the City of Brotherly Love, Fletch-

er began traveling up and down the East Coast as a voice and spokesperson for the IWW. He barely escaped a lynching in Virginia before heading for Boston, where he found fertile ground for his ideas and a cadre willing to assist him in his mission.

It was here that Fletcher learned that he had been indicted for his organizing activities. He immediately returned to Philadelphia and, along with more than 160 union activists, was publicly indicted. In 1918, he was arrested and placed under a $10,000 bond. When the bond was reduced to $1,500, the IWW promptly paid for it.

Subsequently, Fletcher was the only Black American among those arrested. He was found guilty of treasonous activities, fined $30,000 and sentenced to 10 years in the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas. His case was a news story, particularly in the leftist publications, and prominently covered in A. Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen’s The Messenger

Fletcher served three years and then had his sentence commuted, along with several of the other Wobblies.

In 1931, Fletcher recounted many of the exciting episodes of his union organizing in an extensive interview in the Amsterdam News.

“I was preparing the longshoremen of Baltimore for a strike in 1917 for higher wages, shorter hours and better working conditions when I received instructions from headquarters to proceed to Norfolk where the dock workers were becoming restless and asking that an organizer be sent to them,” he said.

“I found the men responsive and eager for a union. But I had not been in town long before word was circulated that I represented a dangerous element set on the destruction of property and the overthrow of the Government. Then I began receiving messages of a threatening character. I would be lynched if I spread that doctrine around Norfolk, I was told. One night, friends, fearing that my life was in danger, smuggled me aboard a northbound ship to Boston.

“By this time the Government, spurred on by the lumber and copper interests of the West, had set about a deliberate plan to eradicate the IWW, which was growing

ACTIVITIES

FIND OUT MORE

As with this story, Peter Cole’s research was indispensable and his book is a fount of information about Fletcher and the times in which he lived and fought on behalf of the IWW.

DISCUSSION

Much more needs to be said about Fletcher’s early years and is probably is covered extensively in Cole’s book.

PLACE IN CONTEXT

During the nation’s first decades of the 20th century, Fletcher found his métier in the labor movement and made a meaningful contribution.

CLASSROOM IN THE THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY

rapidly in numbers, gaining control of certain important industries, and threatening the supremacy of the AF of L, which the Government consistently favored throughout the war period. It was while I was working in Boston that I received a tip that I was in line for indictment by a Federal Grand Jury. Accepting this tip as authentic[,] I returned to my home in Philadelphia, where I preferred to be placed under arrest. The next week[,] I read in the paper that indictments had been returned against 166 of us and that we were to be arrested on sight.”

After he served time in prison, Fletcher’s union activities were no longer as vigorous and determined as in the past. He remained aligned with the IWW, but not in a leadership capacity. Much of his energy was devoted to denouncing the Communist Party and what he believed were attempts to co-opt the union. On occasion, he delivered speeches on behalf of union activities, which were eventually limited by health issues. He later settled in Brooklyn with his wife, and worked as a building superintendent until his death in 1949.

Feb. 12, 1934: Bill Russell, the legendary NBA player and coach, was born in W. Monroe, La. He died in 2022.

Feb. 14, 1946: Tap dancer, actor Gregory Hines was born in New York City. He died in 2003.

Feb. 18, 1931: Renowned author Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio. She died in 2019.

Police photo of Ben Fletcher upon arrest and later imprisonment in 1918.

Continued from page 3

Trujillo also pointed out that collaboration between school staff and YCOs can erode student trust in social workers, counselors, and other campus resources, preventing at-risk youngsters from seeking them out due to concerns about mandated police reporting. He attributed the recent youth violence to the exacerbation of poverty and stress by the COVID-19 pandemic rather than the absence of police.

Former City Council member and longtime educator Inez Barron also expressed concerns about more YCOs in schools for students of color.

“We know that encounters that Black and Latino have with the NYPD can be very catastrophic and even deadly. I don’t think that they should be positioned in schools,” said Barron. “ I know they say, ‘Well, they’re there to assist with the school safety’ [but] I think that the money that’s going to be allocated for these additional 100 or so new YCOs should have been put into the Department of Education (DOE) to provide for social workers

Times Square

Continued from page 3

Meanwhile, the shooting near Times Square was the first recorded incident and homicide in the NYPD’s Midtown South Precinct this year, and one more—as of Feb. 12—compared to 2022.

More than 90% of residents in the Belmont and East Tremont neighborhood identify as Black or brown as recently as 2019, accord-

Little Guyana

Continued from page 4

the Indo-Caribbean Alliance, and has run for city council and assembly seats. He said his community has not been allowed a collective voice in government.

“We don’t have elected officials who live here,” said David. “Imagine if they did. It means you might see them at Chase Bank and all that garbage that blows up on the street—they’re going to care a little bit more about. They might actually care more about that school if their kids have to go there.”

In addition to urging community members to be more resolutely visible at public hearings, organizers are considering legal action at the city level. Lawyer Jerry Vattamala, with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, is preparing to file a lawsuit, as his predecessors have done, to sue City Council for prioritizing other neighborhoods like predominantly white Howard Beach near Rockaway and violating the city charter.

“The city charter says there’s a prioritized

[and] for other kinds of consultation and programs so that children can get to the underlying causes of what it is that [has] them act out and be violent and get on social media and bully other children.”

Anari, a high school sophomore in Staten Island and student activist whose last name is withheld due to privacy concerns, opposes additional YCOs in New York City schools based on personal experience.

“People shouldn’t be shooting people in the first place, so the city should be figuring out how to stop that from happening, not putting more police in our schools,” she said. “YCOs don’t keep students safe or prevent violence. They only come in after violence has already occurred. It’s nerve-racking to see more armed cops coming into our schools. No matter where I go, in my school or neighborhood, cops are always there.

“That’s not the case in other, whiter areas of Staten Island. We know that the safest schools and communities have the most resources, not the most cops. The city should focus on things that actually prevent violence, like more restorative justice in our schools and affordable

ing to the NYU Furman Center. Over half of the Times Square neighborhood’s residents identify as white and Times Square saw around 200,000 people on average visit each day last February.

To be clear, the city’s gun-free zones are used to enforce concealed-carry bans in vulnerable areas where crossfire and collateral damage are likely. But the Amsterdam News spoke with public safety experts last month who said registered firearms are used nominally in New York

list that the districting commission was supposed to follow and [it] didn’t. The first criterion is equal population. The second is fair and effective representation for racial and language minorities,” Vattamala said.

Under federal voting rights law, Black, Asian, Latino, and Native American communities of interests must be protected.

Vattamala said he aims to file before City Council election petitioning starts at the end of February. “We’ve been fighting for decades and we’ve gotten some success over the years, but this is unacceptable. This is taking us backward, what they did here,” said Vattamala.

More information about attending redistricting hearings is available at https:// nyirc.gov/meetings.

The next Queens County meeting will be held on Thurs., Feb. 16 at 4:00 p.m. at York College (CUNY).

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.

housing in our neighborhoods.”

Critics do acknowledge that proponents’ concerns for school safety are valid, especially after the recent shootings.

“It’s totally understandable for people to want to have solutions and we have consistently told people that police equate to public safety, so it’s understandable for people to have that reaction because they want something done,” said Trujillo. “And sometimes it feels like the long-term solutions of more counselors, mediation, restorative justice—things that don’t sound like they have immediate payoff—may seem far-fetched.

“But I would caution against people [risking] increased [profiling] and harassment and cutting off the trust of young people who are, unfortunately, a hard population to reach.”

“You would think that those measures would reduce crime, but they don’t,” said Barron. “When things are counterintuitive, and when they go against what you have held as your belief for lo these many years, it’s very difficult and challenging to have them examined in another light, but that’s certainly what we have to try to do to get them to understand.”

City shootings. The number is probably so small that data isn’t kept and readily available, given the overwhelming prevalence of illegal firearms, including “ghost guns.” It is unknown whether the weapons used in this past week’s fatal shootings were registered.

The Concealed Carry Improvement Act, which includes the gun-free zone designations, was enacted after the Bruen Supreme Court decision, which struck down a century-old state gun control law. This new

A DOE spokesperson emphasized that YCOs are exclusively NYPD employees, but welcomed the news.

“Our schools are safe havens for our students, and the safety and well-being of all of our students is our absolute top priority,” she said. “Safety is the responsibility [of] the entire community and through Project Pivot, we are partnering deeply with the community to engage our students and ensure they are engaged in safe, positive activities in and outside of school. We appreciate the NYPD for taking this step to ensure our young people are safe when traveling to and from schools, and in their communities. We will continue to work alongside our agency partners and, importantly, the members of our communities, to wrap our arms around our schools to ensure our students are safe.”

Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.

law is also facing similar legal challenges, although the same United States Supreme Court recently upheld New York’s ability to have gun-free zones during litigation.

Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.

The Caribbean Equality Project and other groups hold a meeting on redistricting on Thurs, Feb 9. (Ariama C. Long photo)

Health

Factcheck: False: Wearing masks causes people to get sick

By HEATHER M. BUTTS, JD, MPH, MA Special to the AmNews

At the beginning of COVID-19, mask-wearing was introduced with some confusion, due in part to the evolving information, and then because of the lack of availability of high-quality masks. The importance of wearing masks as the pandemic has continued is difficult to deny, but some continue to do so. The consequences of ignoring the life-saving role of mask-wearing can endanger not only you, but those around you.

Dr. Cameron Webb, J.D., M.D., a senior policy advisor for COVID-19 Equity on the White House Response Team, told the AmNews that, “in terms of the masking piece, there’s just no basis in fact that it’s causing the illnesses that we’re seeing...It’s just a dynamic epidemiologically that we have to acknowledge and say there’s more risks now. Still, I would say it’s a good reason to encourage folks to wear masks.”

Elizabeth Wrigley-Fields, Ph.D., an assistant professor of sociolo-

gy at the University of Minnesota, talked to the AmNews about masks as one of a number of tools, including air quality, ventilation, and filtration, to protect against infections. “Masks right now are an important way that we can keep ourselves and each other safe, ” she said. “Masking in a public context that everybody needs to be able to access, like grocery stores and schools, is a way that those spaces can be accessible to everyone, regardless of their level of risk.”

Webb added that “I want to disavow us of that notion that masks are somehow the boogeyman or somehow a bad thing. In a lot of countries, mask-wearing is normalized in cold and flu season and the reason is that it prevents you from getting sick. That’s one of the ways you can help do that, so I think that, again, it’s a little bit of an ideological reset for us. We don’t need to polarize masks or politicize masks or vaccines. Everybody’s just trying to stay healthy during these months, and those are some of the tools we have to do just that.”

Claim: Wearing masks causes people to get sick

Factcheck: False. Wearing masks, particularly high-quality masks correctly, can safeguard you and those around you from COVID and other respiratory illnesses.

According to the Mayo Clinic in their article Myth: Wearing a cloth mask does not protect you from getting COVID-19, “Countries that required face masks, testing, isolation, and social distancing early in the pandemic seem to have had some success slowing the disease’s spread... The overall number of droplets in the air is reduced when more people wear masks, and this reduces the risk of being exposed to COVID-19.”

Authors Kimberly M. Dickinson, MD, MPH & Theresa W. Guilbert, MD, MS, FAAP squarely tackle this myth in their ar-

ticle “Mask Mythbusters: Common Questions about Kids & Face Masks”: “No. Wearing a face mask does not weaken your immune system or increase your chances of getting sick if exposed to the COVID-19 virus. Wearing a mask, even if you do not have symptoms of COVID19, helps prevent the virus from spreading. Another benefit of wearing masks is that they may keep people from touching their mouths and faces, which is another way COVID, colds, flu and RSV, and other respiratory diseases are spread.”

While there is absolutely no evidence that wearing masks increases respiratory infections, including COVID-19, there is substantial evidence that masks, when worn properly, play an important role—along with proper vaccination—in reducing your chances of being infected.

For additional resources about COVID-19, visit www1.nyc.gov/ site/coronavirus/index.page or call 311. COVID-19 testing, masks, and vaccination resources can also be accessed on the AmNews COVID-19 page: www.amsterdamnews.com/covid/.

Wearing high-quality masks properly is an important course of action, along with being vaccinated, to prevent the spread of COVID-19. (Mediteraneo/Adobe Stock)

a decline in new admittances and an increase in students who were enrolled but left the system as “discharges.” The number of students who were discharged to school outside of the city “increased dramatically” in 2021 to 2022, most likely as a delayed effect of the pandemic. For the most part, students who left moved to other parts of the state or New Jersey and Connecticut. Those who went south mostly went to Florida.

The DOE concluded that 27.8% of Asian students were more likely to move to Long Island, while 27.9% of Black students were more likely to move down South. White and/or Arabic students were more likely to move internationally. Students in poverty were more likely to move to Pennsylvania and down South as well.

“There’s a story that people tell when Black and brown kids leave the system that can be very different than the story folks will tell if white kids leave the system,” said Capers. “White students leave and they start their own pods, and that’s seen as a natural evolution

of a failing system, versus Black and brown kids leave and go back to their home countries or to the South. In reality, people are just trying to take care of themselves.”

According to Kaliris Y. SalasRamirez, a medical lecturer who was appointed by Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine as a member of the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), significant reductions in enrollment can be due to students having caregivers who died during the COVID crisis. She added that in

her district in East Harlem, many families of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent sent their kids back to their islands.

“The DOE…use[s] those enrollment projections for schools so they can determine budgets and this year, they were really really off because they were using the last two years of enrollment trends,” said Salas-Ramirez. This “pandemic mindset” approach to budgeting is why advocates were so upset with Mayor Eric Adams’s budget last summer, she said. She

said that principals told them that their schools weren’t underenrolled.

Gonzales noted that Adams’s claim that school budget cuts were necessary as a result of enrollment declines felt “very dubious.” He said that Adams proposed slashing school budgets back in February of 2022, long before he started using the enrollment decline as a talking point.

“We didn’t see the dramatic decrease in enrollment we were expecting and then add on the buses of migrant children that were coming to our schools—about 12,000,” said Salas-Ramirez.

Capers said it’s puzzling that the DOE hasn’t figured out a better way to fully fund schools instead of relying on such a constantly fluctuating formula. The “per pupil capita” model is outdated and “inequitable,” with schools that have overcrowded class sizes and are still lacking in funding, she said.

“Like districts and schools across the county, our enrollment has been impacted by fluctuations resulting from the pandemic, as well as long-term trends in birth rates,” said First Deputy Chancellor Dan Weisberg in a

statement. “In response, Chancellor Banks and his leadership team are focused on increasing enrollment in our public schools, and these efforts are starting to show signs of progress.”

Weisberg said the DOE has been working on listening to families and school communities to make the enrollment process easier and more transparent. Above all, the DOE is trying to account for the impact on school budgets.

This year, Adams and Banks approved proposed reforms to the Fair Student Funding (FSF) formula that determines how schools get money. The proposals include an additional consideration for students in temporary housing or living in poverty, students with disabilities, English language learners, and asylumseeking students

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1

Empty school classroom (Free pexels photo download)

Religion & Spirituality

De La Soul's Trugoy returns to the essence

By MAL’AKIY 17 ALLAH Special to the AmNews

Another luminary from hiphop’s Golden Era has returned to the essence. TRUGOY The Dove (David Jude Jolicoeur), 54, of the Native Tongue’s trio known as De La Soul, died on Sunday. A cause of death was not provided, however, in recent years, he had publicly discussed his issues with congestive heart failure. In the group’s 2017 “Royalty Capes” video, he openly mentioned it.

“I’m ready just to get back to the stage. I miss that,” he said then. “I love traveling. I love being around my guys and I want that back.”

De La Soul participated in last week’s Grammy’s Hip-Hop tribute performance, minus Trugoy. The group’s 1989 debut album, “3 Feet High and Rising,” set trends by featuring conceptual skits and innovative samples, creating a blueprint that many artists soon emulated.

Jolicoeur was born in Brooklyn on Sept. 21, 1968, and relocated to Long Island as a youth. With group members Vincent Manson, aka Pasemaster Mase, and Kelvin Mercer, aka Posdnuos, he began creating music in 1988 after attending high school together in Amityville, Long Island. They signed to Tommy Boy Records. Their 1989 debut album featured production by Stesasonic’s Prince Paul and included the singles “Say No Go” and “Eye Know.” It reached No. 24 on Billboard’s 200 chart and is considered a classic.

“I think the element of that time of what was taking place in music, hip-hop, and our culture…it welcomed that and opened up minds and spirits to see and try new different things,”

Trugoy told Billboard last month. They followed up with “De La Soul Is Dead” (1991), “Buhloone Mindstate” (1993), and “Stakes Is High” (1996); 2016’s “And the Anonymous Nobody…” was their latest release. They were scheduled to perform three shows in the United Kingdom this April.

They were nominated for six Grammy Awards, winning one for best pop collaboration with vocals for “Feel Good Inc.” in 2006. “The Magic Number,” off their debut album, was featured as the outgoing track on “Spiderman: No Way Home” in 2021. Their eclectic sound, suburban demeanor, casual sense of humor, and dress code led them to be labeled as “hip-hop hippies.”

“Originally, [Me, Myself & I] was us trying to make sure we’re saying we’re not hippies,” Trugoy told Rolling Stone in 2009. “We were just being ourselves. People are now taking the song to be, ‘OK, it’s cool to be me and I don’t have to be hard —it wasn’t really about saying that, even though the video came off like that.”

Due to legal issues, they abstained from digital services, which prevented them from reaching new audiences for years. “Breakadawn” and “Stakes Is High” were some of their popular tracks.

In 2014, De La Soul released “The People” with Chuck D. At the time, Trugoy told Rolling Stone that “the lyrics are commentaries of our struggles and successes, our weaknesses and strengths…the experiences, trials and tribulations we have faced as human beings, a race and individuals,” and that “we hope [the] song will lend itself to something positive in these difficult times.”

Trugoy CJ (Bazemore photo)

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SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf v. AUDREY MARIE-ANNE ABRAHAM, JORGE ABRAHAM, Deft. - Index #850086/2021. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated December 22, 2022, I will sell at pu blic auction Outside the Portico of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, at 2:15 pm, an undivided 5,000 /28,402,100 tenant in common interest in th e timeshare known as Phase I of HNY CLUB SUITES located at 13 35 Avenue of the Americas, in the County of NY, State of NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $40,974.74 plus costs and in terest as of January 13, 2022. Sold su bject to te rms and condition s of filed Ju dgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenan ce fees and charges Paul Sklar, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Stree t, Farmingdale, NY

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf v. AMANDA SALIH, BRIAN CORNES, Deft. - Inde x #850113/2021. Pu rsuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated December 22, 2022, I will sell at pu blic au ction Outside the Portico of th e NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, at 2:15 pm, an un divided 0.00986400000% tenant in common in terest in the timeshare known as 57TH STREET VACATION SUITES located at 102 West 57th Street, New York, New York. Approximate amount of judgment is $34,601.23 plus costs and interest as of January 12, 2022 Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which in cludes annual main tenance fees and charges Paul Sklar, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitche ll, Novitz, Sanchez, Ga ston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingda le, NY

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. BRIAN JOHNSON, CARRIE JOHNSON, NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION AND FINANCE, NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT ADJUDICATION BUREAU, NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE PARKING VIOLATIONS BUREAU, NEW YORK CITY ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BOARD, Defts. - Index #850117 /2021. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated August 18, 2022, I will sell at public auction Outside the Portico of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, at 2:15 pm, an undivided 0.0450946335738578% common interest in the vacation ownership interest timeshare known as Phase II of HNY CLUB SUITES lo cated at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, in the County of NY, State of NY. Approximate amount of judg ment is $36,010.01 plus costs and interest as of Janu ary 17, 2022. Sold subject to te rms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual mainten ance fees an d charges Elaine Shay, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanche z, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. GARY D. LOWER, JESSICA M. LOWER, Defts.- Index #850259/20 21 Pu rsuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale da ted December 22, 2022, I will se ll at public au ction Outside the Portico of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Monday, March 20, 2023, at 2:15 pm, a 0.00986400000% tenant in common interest in the timeshare kn own as 57th Street Va cation Suites located at 102 W. 57th Street, in the County of NY, State of NY Approximate amount of judgment is $14,673.01 plus costs and inte rest as of May 17, 2022. Sold subject to terms and condition s of filed Judgmen t and Terms of Sale which includes annual ma intenance fees and charges Hayley Greenberg, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitche ll, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingda le, NY

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf v. STANLEY WILLIAMS, JULIA F. WILLIAMS, BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE HNY CLUB SUITES OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE PARKING VIOLATIONS BUREAU, Deft. - Inde x #850135/2021 Pursua nt to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale da ted June 14, 2022, I will sell at pu blic au ction Outside the Portico of th e NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on We dnesday, March 15, 2023, at 2:15 pm, a fractiona l interest of 5,000/28,402,100 in the timeshare known as HNY Club Suites located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, in the County of NY, State of NY Approx imate amount of judgment is $6,700.96 plus costs and interest as of August 26, 2021. So ld subject to terms and condition s of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges Hayley Greenberg, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitche ll, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf v. DANIEL NYAMEKYE-AMOATENG, Defts - Index #850178/2020. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated March 22, 2022, I will se ll at public au ction Outside the Portico of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Wed., March 8, 2023, at 2:15 pm, an undivided 0450946335738578% common interest in the vacation ownership interest timeshare known as Phase II of HNY CLUB SUITES located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, in th e County of NY, State of NY Approx imate amount of judgment is $62,766.50 plus co sts and interest as of August 4, 2021. Sold subject to terms and cond itions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which in cludes annual mainten ance fees and charges Scott H. Siller, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Stree t, Farmingdale, NY

Notice is hereby give n that a license, serial #13583 29 for beer & wine has been applied for by the undersigned to sell beer & wine at retail in a Tavern under the ABC Law at 138 Audubon Ave., New York, NY 10032 for onpremises consumption; Café 56 Corp.

filed with SSNY on 9/30/22. Office Location: NY Coun ty SSNY ha s been designat ed as agent up on whom process may be served & shall mail to: 120 W 97th St, #13J, NY, NY 10025. Purpo se. Any lawful activity

Notice of Formation of 121 GREENE STREET LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/20/22. Office lo cation: NY Coun ty SSNY de signated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o DLA Piper LLP, Attn: Bruce Saber, 1251 Ave. of the Americas, NY, NY 10020. Purpose: Any lawful activity

Notice of Qualification of ARHC SPALBNY01, LLC Appl for Auth filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/12/23. Office lo cation: NY Coun ty LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/12/23. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upo n whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corp oration Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543 DE ad dr of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert of Form file d with Secy of State, 40 1 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Own, rent, lease and ma nage commercial real estate

Notice of Formation of ATLANTIC AVENUE GP LLC Arts of Org. file d with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/31/23. Office lo cation: NY Coun ty Prin c. office of LLC: 7 Penn Plaza, Ste. 600, NY, NY 10001. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr of its princ. office Purpose: Any lawful activity

.

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. RACQUEL JULIA STONE, DAVID CARMICHAEL STONE, Defts. - Index #850043/2019 Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sa le dated March 22, 2022, I will se ll at public auction Outside the Portico of the NY Coun ty Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, at 2:15 pm, an undivided 7,000 /16,783,800 common in terest in the vacation ownership in terest timeshare known as Phase II of HNY CLUB SUITES loca ted at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, in the Coun ty of NY, State of NY Approximate amount of judgment is $55 ,433.29 plus costs and interest as of January 23, 2020. Sold subject to terms and condition s of filed Ju dg ment and Terms of Sale which includes annua l ma intenance fees and charges. Scott H. Siller, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitche ll, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingd ale, NY SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf v. TALEB AVWEROSUO TEBITE, Defts. - Index #850058/2021. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated June 28, 2021, I will se ll at public auction Outside th e Portico of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Wednesday, Ma rch 8, 2023, at 2:15 pm, an undivided 0.00986400000% common interest in the vacation owne rship interest timeshare known as 57TH STREET VACATION SUITES located at 102 West 57th Street, New York, NY, in the County of NY, State of NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $49,905.98 plus costs and in terest as of January 28, 2022. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment an d Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges Elaine Shay, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sa nchez, Gaston , & Zimet LLP, Attys. fo r Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingd ale, NY SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. AILEEN E. WARREN, ROBERT W. WARREN, BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF 57TH STREET VACATION OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC., Defts - Inde x #850181 /2021. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated Nove mber 21, 2022, I will sell at public auction Outside the Portico of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Wednesday, Ma rch 15 , 2023, at 2:15 pm, a fractional interest of 0.009864 00000% in the time share known as 57th Street Vacation Suites located at 102 We st 57th Street, in the County of NY, State of NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $20,07 9.37 plus costs and interest as of January 17, 202 2. Sold subject to terms and cond itions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges Jerr y Merola, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingd ale, NY

Ne w York Stat e

Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report

Public Comment Period Notice

In accor dance with the provisions of the National Affordable Housing Act, the State of New York is making a draft of its Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) for program year 20 22 availa ble for public comment The CAPER analyzes New Yo rk States progress in implementing its HUD-approved Ann ual Action Plan for 2022. The public is in vited to review the draft New York State CAPER and to offer comments on the documen t. The draft 2022 CAPER will be available durin g the public comment pe riod on the New Yo rk State Homes and Community Rene wal (HCR) website at www.hcr.ny.gov In ad dition, co pies can be requested by e-mail at HCRConPln@hcr.ny.go v or by calling 1-518-486-3452. The public comment pe riod will begin on Mo nday, February 27, 20 23 and en d on Monday, March 13, 2023. Written comments must be postmarked no late r than March 13, 2023 and addressed to Rachel Yerdon, NYS HCR, Hampton Plaza, 38-40 State Street, Alba ny, NY 12207. E-mail comments must be sent by that date and e-mailed to: HCRConPln@hcr.ny.go v.

Built Ahead LLC filed Articles of Organization with the NYS Depa rtment of State (SSNY) on 12/15/2022. Office location: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the Company upon whom process against it may be served, and a copy of any process shall be mailed to 7 Le xington Ave., Apt. 4B, NY, NY 10010. Purpose: any la wful business.

CHRISTIAN G CAROLLO MANAGEMENT, LLC filed Arts of Org. with th e Sect'y of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/6/2023. Office: NY County.

SSNY has be en designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o The LLC, 12 Ash Pl., Huntin gton, NY, 11743. Purpose: any lawful act.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT NEW YORK COUNTY

U.S. BANK NA, SUCCESSOR TRUSTEE TO BANK OF AMERICA, NA, SUCCESSOR IN INTEREST TO LASALLE BANK N.A. AS TRUSTEE, ON BEHALF OF THE HOLDERS OF THE WAMU MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2007-HY6, Plaintiff against BRENDA GALLANT, et al Defendant(s)

Attorney for Plaintiff(s) Fein, Su ch & Crane, LLP, 28 East Main Street Suite 1800, Rochester, NY 14614.

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered October 19, 2021, I will sell at public auction to the highe st bidder at the Portico of the New York Coun ty Courthouse, 60 Centre St, New York, NY 10007 on March 15, 2023 at 2:15 PM. Premises known as 40 Sutton Place, Unit 2D, New York, NY 10022, 40 Sutton Place, Unit 2E, New York, NY 10022 and 40 Sutton Place, Unit 2F, New York, NY 10022. Block 1370 Lot 1005 and Block 1370 Lo t 1007 and Block 1370 Lot 1006. All the certain lo t, piece or parce l of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York. Approximate Amount of Judg ment is $1,785,016.43 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index No 850284/2017.

The foreclosure sale will be conducted in accordance with 1st Judicial District's Covid 19 Policies and foreclosure auction rules. The Referee sh all enforce any rules in place regarding facial co verings and so cial distancing. Referee will only accept a certified ba nk check made payable to the referee.

Thomas Kleinberger, Esq., Referee SPSJC179

Notice of Formation of DD ATLANTIC AVENUE LLC

Arts of Org. file d with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/31/23. Office lo cation: NY Coun ty Prin c. office of LLC: 7 Penn Plaza, Ste. 600, NY, NY 10001. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the Corporation at the princ. office of the LLC Purpo se: Any lawful activity

Formation of CARNUTE LLC filed with th e Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/1/2022. Office loc.: NY County. SSNY de signated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The registered agent and address SSNY shall mail process to Corporate Service Bureau Inc., 283 Wash ington Ave., Albany, NY 12206. Purpose: Any lawful activity

GJV Enterprise LLC Arts of Org. filed with SSNY on 6/11/22. Office Location: NY Coun ty SSNY ha s been designat ed as agent up on whom process may be served & shall mail to: 208 West 119th St., Ap t 5Q, NY, NY 10026. Purpose. Any lawful activity

Good Kid En tertainment LLC

Notice is he reby give n that a license, serial number 1345934 for RW Wine, Beer and Cider Liquor License, ha s been applied for by 13 0 Saint Marks, LLC dba Crispiano, to se ll wine, beer and cider under the Alcoholic Beverage Control law at the premises located at 130 St Marks Place, New York, New York 10009.

Notice of Formation of CSA PRESERVATION MM LLC

Arts of Org. file d with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/11/23. Office lo cation: NY Coun ty Prin c. office of LLC: 116 E. 27th St., 11th Fl., NY, NY 10016. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Alban y, NY 12207. Purpose: Real estate - Development

Arts of Org. filed with SSNY on 10/12/2022. Office Loc: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served against it & shall mail to: Omar Diongue, 233 West 111th St., Apt. 3C, NY, NY 10026 Purpo se: Any lawful activity

HOVDEN LAW LLC Arts of Org. filed with SSNY on 1/23/2023. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served against it & shall mail to: Hovden Law, 250 West 15th St., Suite 6B, New York, NY 10011. Purpo se: Any lawful activity

MKSLSL LLC Arts of Org. filed with SSNY on 12/08/2022. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served against it & shall mail a copy to: Michae l Emmel, CPA, 270 Madison Avenue, 16th Floo r, New York, NY 10016. Purpo se: Any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of OTCex Derivatives Hold ing

LLC Appl for Auth filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/24/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/07/22.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upo n whom process against it may be served.

Guangstar LLC filed Arts. of Org. with the SSNY on 1/17/2023. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail to: 307 W. 111th St., Apt. 2R, NY, NY, 10026. Purpose: any lawful activity.

MERCER CM, LLC, Arts of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/09/2022. Office loc: Bronx Coun ty SSNY ha s been designat ed as agent up on whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 79 Alexander Ave Ste 33A, Bronx, NY 10454. Reg Agent: Aaron Yaghoobi an , 79 Alexander Ave Ste 33A, Bronx, NY 10454. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

Ms Laura LLC Arts of Org. filed with SSNY on 1/03/2023. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served against it & shall mail to: 228 Park Ave S., #913 865, NY, NY 10003.

Purpose: Any lawful activity

Notice of formation of Limited Liab ility Company

Name: EC Central Hudson 2 LLC (“LL C”). Articles of Organization file d with the Secretary of State of the State of New York (“SSNY”) on December 23, 2022. NY office location: New York County. The SSNY ha s been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The SSNY shall mail a copy of an y process to EC Central Hudson 2 LLC, c/o Exact Capital Group LLC, 150 East 52nd St., 14th Floor, New York, NY 10022

Purpose/character of LLC is to engage in any lawful act or activity

Notice of Formation of NYPC CROWN, LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/26/23. Office location: NY County. SSNY de signated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpo se: Any lawful activity

RADER COMMUNICATIONS LLC, Arts of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/28/2022. Office loc: NY County. SSNY ha s been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served & sh all mail process to: 250 West 94th St., Suite 15D, NY, NY 1002 5. Purpo se: Any Lawful Purpose.

Acct #: 120

SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. DE addr of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmin gton, DE 19808. Cert. of Form filed with DE Secy of State, 401 Federal St - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity

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RHG Chelsea LLC filed Arts of Org. with the SSNY on 01/12/2023. Office: New York

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Coun ty SSNY ha s been designat ed as agent of the LL C upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail to: Gary Wallach, 2 Renwich St., NY, NY, 10013. Purpose: an y lawful act.

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RHG Time Square LLC file d Arts of Org. with the SSNY on 01/12/2023. Office: New York County. SSNY has been de signated as agent of th e LLC upo n whom process against it may be served and shall mail to: Gary Wallach, 2 Renwich St., NY, NY, 10013

Purpose: any lawful act.

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Tender Mountain LLC Arts of Org. filed with SSNY on 11/28/2022. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served against it & shall ma il to: Alice Liang, 228 Park Ave S., #584754, NY, NY 10003. Purpose: Any lawful act or activity

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Notice is hereby give n that a license, serial #13578 44 for beer, wine & liquor has been applied for by th e undersigned to sell beer, wine & liquor at retail in a restaurant under the ABC Law at 3 Greenwich Ave., NYC 1001 4 for on-premises consumption; Thai Smile Restaurant Inc.

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JUMP

Black History

Continued from page 3

Continued from page 9

testament to Black investment and creative thinking in the face of the changing landscape of higher education. Furthermore, students at HBCUs were at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power Movements, and social justice movements from the 19th to 21st centuries.

Music has been used to illustrate societal issues, including white- and state-sanctioned violence (Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit”), sexual politics (Salt-N-Pepa’s “Let’s Talk About Sex”), and motivation for strength against harassment, and to experience freedom. African American spirituals, gospel, folk music, hip-hop, and rap have been used to express struggle, hope, and solidarity in the face of racial oppression.

The Black artists, writers, photographers, and musicians who participated in the Black Arts Movement, Harlem Renaissance, and Chicago Black Renaissance were the soundtrack and the visual representation of resistance movements. These individ-

uals created art that supported the resistance movements, but also provided a space for Black people to express love and joy. Creatives used poetry, fiction, short stories, plays, films, and television to counter stereotypes and imagine a present and future with Black people in it.

Sports are a world pastime, both bringing people together and separating them. Black athletes have used sports as a way to advocate for social issues and political agendas. Serena Williams, Flo Jo, Jesse Owens, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Jackie Robinson, Colin Kaepernick, Simone Biles, and many others have used their public forum to bring awareness to issues that affect society as they resisted the idea that they cannot or should not speak about political, cultural, or social issues. Black athletic activists have often suffered personal and economic consequences due to their stances, speech, and actions, but to them, it has been worth it to see changes.

Historically and today in the 21st century, Black people have worked the political angle to seek their rightful space in the coun-

try. Where race is concerned, legislative or judicial action to deal with controversial issues has often come late. The historic Executive Orders 8802 and 9346 were responses to A. Phillip Randolph and the all-Black March on Washington Movement’s threat to lead a 50,000-strong Black worker’s march into Washington, D.C. And all three of the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and Fair Housing Act were concessions to the Civil Rights and Black Power movements.

Every advance, improvement in our quality of life, and access to the levers of power to determine our destiny has been achieved through struggle. John Lewis advised, “Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

Lewis’s advice is true not just for the 21st century, but also during the antebellum period, as seen in the narratives of the enslaved, such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs, to testimoni-

als about lynchings and ongoing police violence against African Americans. With the murders of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, and thousands of other Black women, men, and trans people, new movements (#Sayhername) and organizations (Black Lives Matter) are pushing for the justice system to investigate police-involved shootings and white supremacist vigilantes.

Nearly 179 years ago, the Rev. Henry Highland Garnett proposed that the only path to freedom, justice, and equality; self-determination; and/or social transformation is resistance. In thunderous tones, Garnett shouted, “Let your motto be resistance! Resistance! RESISTANCE!”

By resisting, Black people have achieved triumphs, successes, and progress as seen in the end of chattel slavery, dismantling of Jim and Jane Crow segregation in the South, increased political representation at all levels of government, desegregation of educational institutions, passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964, opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of Af-

rican American History in D.C., and increased and diverse representation of Black experiences in media. Black resistance strategies have served as a model for every other social movement in the country, so the legacy and importance of these actions cannot be understated.

As societal and political forces escalate to limit access to and exercise of the ballot, eliminate the teaching of Black history, and push us back into the 1890s, we can only rely on our capacity to resist.

The enactment of HR 40, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and the Breathe Act, and the closure of the racial wealth gap is not the end. They too will require us to mobilize our resources—human and material—and fight for “freedom, justice, and equality”; “selfdetermination”; and/or “social transformation.”

This is a call to everyone, in and outside the academy, to study the history of Black Americans’ efforts to establish safe spaces, where Black life can be sustained, fortified, and respected.

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Stewart and Vandersloot can elevate the Liberty to title contenders

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

As the lone original WNBA franchise without a title, the New York Liberty has spent the off-season focused on building a roster that can get the job done. In the past few weeks, the team pulled off an elaborate trade that brought 2021 league MVP Jonquel Jones to New York. Last Thursday, the Liberty announced two high-profile free agent signings, 2018 WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart and two-time All-WNBA First Team honoree Courtney Vandersloot.

Clara Wu Tsai, vice chairman of BSE Global and governor, New York Liberty, described the signing of Stewart and Vandersloot as a new era for the franchise. When Joe Tsai acquired the Liberty in 2019, the team’s new leadership set about rebuilding the franchise. There were some lean times in 2019 and 2020, but the tide turned in 2021 and 2022 as the Liberty returned to the playoffs. Now, the team has signed some of the biggest names in women’s basketball.

Between them, Stewart and Vandersloot have won three WNBA titles. Although they have never played together in the WNBA—Stewart has spent her entire WNBA career with the Seattle Storm and

Vandersloot with the Chicago Sky—they have played together overseas and wished to play together stateside.

“It’s much better to be on her side than playing against her,” said Stewart of Vandersloot. “Knowing we have all the pieces to go after a championship and now it’s just getting ready for that and getting ready for the season.”

While the Storm had won two championships before Stewart’s arrival, Vandersloot was an integral part of the Sky winning its first championship. “I do know how special that first one is,” Vandersloot said. “We have the right pieces. We have the right vision.”

In addition to Stewart and Vandersloot’s connection, both have played with Jones overseas. Also, Stewart played with Liberty players Betnijah Laney and Sabrina Ionescu as part of USA Basketball, winning a World Cup last October, and she played with Stefanie Dolson at University of Connecticut, winning two NCAA titles. Vandersloot and Dolson were both on the Sky’s championship team.

“It’s a really special opportunity because I think things like this don’t happen often where you have so much talent and so many amazing players,” said Stewart. “The selflessness of all of us is what is going to help all of us succeed.”

Athletes turn in stellar performances at the 115th Millrose Games

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports

Editor

The staging of the 115th Millrose Games this past Saturday at the New Balance Track and Field Center in the Armory in Washington Heights, in Upper Manhattan, produced many outstanding performances, highlighted by American Yared Nuguse’s record-breaking showing in the famed Wanamaker Mile.

The 23-year-old former Notre Dame standout clocked 3:47:38 to establish a new American indoor men’s mile mark.

He bettered the previous record (3:49:89) set by two-time world outdoor champion Bernard Lagat in 2005 by more than 2 seconds. Nuguse now holds the second- fastest time in history behind Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha Atomsa, who blazed 3:47:01 in March 2019.

Just three weeks ago in Boston at the Terrier Classic in Boston, Nuguse shattered the American indoor record in the 3,000 meters, running 7:28:24 and overtaking Galen Rupp’s previous standard of 7:30:16, achieved in February 2013.

“I have a kind of chill, go-with-the-flow

personality,” said Nuguse after his impressive win at the Millrose in explaining his approach to racing. “That’s always who I’ve been before running and running now…Even with a race that we put a lot of pressure on, I’m still able to be like it’s still just a race. ”

In another featured event, American sprinter Christian Coleman took the men’s 60 meters in 6.47 in a highly anticipated match-up with fellow Olympian Noah Lyles. However, Lyles was disqualified after being charged with a false start.

“There’s just been a lot of talk and a lot

of chatter recently, even though I haven’t really been on social media,” said Coleman about the meeting with Lyles. “It’s hard to not hear and see everything. I feel like [it was] a hyped-up race coming in, too.”

Other stirring results included Alicia Monson breaking Karissa Schweizer’s American indoor record in the 3,000 meters, finishing in 8:25.05. Aleia Hobbs won the women’s 60 meters in 7.04 seconds. Ajee Wilson’s time of 1:24:85 earned her first place in the women’s 600 meters and Trinidadian Jereem Richards took the men’s 400-meter Millrose title in 45.84.

Men’s Wanamaker Mile winner Yared Nuguse and women’s 600-meter victor Ajee Wilson were among athletes to produce stellar performances at the 115th Millrose Games (Armorytrack.org photos)

Breanna Stewart (L) and Courtney Vandersloot (R) receive their official Liberty jerseys

Arriving at the Barclays Center (New York Liberty photos)

Ajee Wilson

Courtney Vandersloot

Breanna Stewart

Yared Nuguse

Josh Hart gives Knicks spirited play and production

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor

The video of Knicks guard Jalen Brunson’s exuberant reaction upon learning he was being reunited with former college teammate and close friend Josh Hart went viral. Heading into last night’s (Wednesday) game versus the Atlanta Hawks on the road, the rest of the Knicks should also be energized by Hart’s arrival.

He made an instant mark in his first game with his new team after being acquired last Thursday in a four-team deal. The 27-year-old Silver Spring, Maryland, native came to New York from the Portland Trailblazers in a deal that included forward Cam Reddish, shooting guard/forward Svi Mykhailiuk, guard Ryan Arcidiacono, and a protected 2023 first-round pick being traded by the Knicks.

The 6'5" Hart, the 2017 Big East Player of the Year, who won an NCAA title with Brunson at Villanova in 2016, made his Knicks debut

last Saturday at Madison Square Garden in a 126–120 win against the Utah Jazz, posting 11 points, seven rebounds, and four assists in 26 minutes, as well as flashing his 2017 Big East Co-Defensive Player of the Year credentials.

Two nights later at MSG, Hart registered a season-high 27 points off the bench in the Knicks’ 124–106 victory over the Brooklyn Nets as they raised their record to 32–27 and grabbed the No. 7 place in the Eastern Conference, just half a game behind the No. 6 seed Miami Heat, which was 32¬26 before facing the Nets in Brooklyn yesterday evening.

Brunson led the Knicks on Monday with 40 points, catalyzing his team into ending a nine-game losing streak versus the Nets.

After the win, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau noted the transcendental connection between Hart and Brunson.

“It’s pretty easy to see…The thing with Jalen and [Josh] is to go through big moments, and have the pressure of winning a National Championship together—I think

that ties you together with that group forever,” said Thibodeau.

“That bond is special and the thing I love that Josh does for the team is that it’s for the team, everything. I think there’s a lot of guys [who] score points in this league and don’t really impact winning the way Josh impacts winning. Sometimes it’s just tough plays, a hustle play, kill yourself to get back on defense, we turn it over, sprint back, steal the ball back.

“Plays like that give your team a lot of confidence,” Thibodeau added. “It’s a lot of dirty work, but it’s also the glue of your team and it helps you stick together. There’s going to be ups and downs during a game, a season, and those types of guys I think are the type that helps you build a winning culture, so we’re thrilled obviously to have him.”

The Knicks will play the Washington Wizards on the road tomorrow before beginning the All-Star break. Afterward, their next game will be February 24 at home against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Kevin Durant follows Kyrie Irving through Brooklyn's doors

By VINCENT DAVIS Special to the AmNews

There’s an extremely good chance that Kevin Durant will advance deep into this season’s NBA playoffs. Unfortunately, it won’t be with the Brooklyn Nets, who were 33–24, the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference, when they hosted the Miami Heat last night at the Barclays Center in their final game before the All-Star break.

Team owner Joe Tsai and general manager Sean Marks traded the 13-time NBA All-Star to the Phoenix Suns last Thursday,

right before the league’s trade deadline. Durant was dealt in exchange for Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder and four unprotected future first-round picks in 2023, 2025, 2027 and 2029, along with TJ Warren. The Nets also negotiated a 2028 pick exchange. Durant now joins Chris Paul, Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton, the Suns’ nucleus that lost last season in the Western Conference Finals.

Crowder, who hasn’t played all season in a mutual agreement with the Suns because he was unhappy with his decreased role, was then traded by the Nets to the Milwaukee Bucks in an extensive, multi-eam trade that also included the Indiana Pacers.

The Bucks gave up five secondround picks—two to the Nets, three to the Pacers. The Nets receive one in 2028, the other in 2029. They also receive the draft rights to guard Juan Pablo Vaulet from the Pacers. The Pacers also get forward Jordan Nwora, guard George Hill and center/forward Serge Ibaka from the Bucks, as well as a cash payment from the Nets.

The Durant-to-Phoenix deal came a week after Kyrie Irving and Markieff Morris were sent to the Dallas Mavericks for Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2027 second-round pick, an unprotected 2029 first-round pick and a 2029 second round-pick.

“It’s always difficult when you’re trading a player of that stature and that ilk— very difficult,” said Marks about Durant.

“My job as a GM, and our job as a front office, is to try and bring in that caliber of talent and so forth. So those decisions are not easy.

“They come with a lot of thought, a lot of process, a lot of systematic debriefs and discussions that go along with that,” he added “But at the same time, to be able to move Kevin to a place where he will have success was undoubtedly a selfless act on the part of Marks, the Nets.

“For us to bring back these two players (Bridges and Johnson) in that particular trade, and the draft assets—that gives us a clear pathway now to continue to rebuild, and maybe not set the reset button, so to speak, because we have a group in there that’s very competitive, and who wants to get out there and wants to compete at the highest level.”

Marks acknowledged his discontent regarding Durant wanting to be traded. “Without a doubt, Durant will be missed—his work ethic and that competitive spirit,” Marks said.

Clearly, Marks, the Nets took this trade request from Durant personally. “You do everything you possibly can in order to put together a team that you can be proud of,” he explained “and say, ‘Hey, we can be in that championship conversation.’”

The Nets are hopeful that Mikal Bridges and Dorian Finney-Smith (#28), who came to the team in the Kyrie Irving trade to the Dallas Mavericks, can keep them in playoff hunt (Bill Moore photos)

Mikal Bridges (with basketball)

(R) Dorian Finney-Smith

New Knicks acquisition Josh Hart has had an immediate effect on the team, scoring a season high 27 points on Tuesday night in a 124–108 win over Brooklyn Nets (Bill Moore photo)

HBCU Night a resounding success for the Brooklyn Nets

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

More than 2,000 local high school and middle school students got to experience the power and impact of Historically Black Colleges and Universities at the Brooklyn Nets’ HBCU Night last week. There was a college fair with representatives of 20 HBCUs and a panel discussion that featured several high profile individuals who reflected on HBCU culture and academic excellence.

“The momentum around this night, the number of lives that we’re able to impact, has grown,”

said Jackie Wilson II, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer for BSE Global, parent company of the Brooklyn Nets. Last year, there were about 1,000 students in attendance. That number more than doubled this year.

“They were eager, excited, engaged, participating in the panel, participating with the admissions officers,” said Wilson. “If we can continue to use our platform to educate and provide access to opportunities, it’s inspiring both to me and the organization.”

Caitlyn Davis, founder and CEO of HBCU Yearbook and an HBCU graduate, collaborated with the

Nets on special merch inspired by HBCUs. There was representation from all of the Divine Nine, a group of Black fraternities and sororities, who performed at halftime. Dre Martin, founder and executive director of HBCU Night, a nonprofit organization that creates awareness around HBCUs, gave a shout out to Criscia Long, senior director of entertainment at BSE Global, who oversaw the on-court presentations and performed with her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.

“It means a lot to create something for the students, and also being able to provide a resource

for the parents to be able to pass along to their kids,” said Martin. “There’s a lot of historical context and reference. I wanted to bring that intersection with the Brooklyn community, communities all over, to come to Barclays Center and enjoy this experience that’s educational and fun.”

Martin said some of the kids just came to see the Nets play, but they became engrossed in

the HBCU component. Watching them listen more and more intently as the afternoon and evening progressed was incredible, he said, and felt fulfilling.

“HBCUs provide more than just your traditional education,” said Wilson. “They provide a sense of community, a sense of self and belonging. HBCUs change the way that young Black students see themselves.”

Gasparotto and Chapple named Mabel Fairbanks Skatingly Yours Recipients

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

Last week, U.S. Figure Skating announced the recipients of this year’s Mabel Fairbanks Skatingly Yours awards. These scholarships are given to support the training and development of BIPOC figure skaters who demonstrate good sportsmanship, commitment, perseverance, and determination to be their best.

A total of six skaters will receive awards, two of whom are coached by Rohene Ward. Alexa Gasparotto, who competed in the senior women’s division at the recent 2023 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, is the singular recipient of the Elite Award of $20,000.

Nathan Chapple, who competed at the World University Games last month, received the new Notable Award of $2,000.

“It’s incredibly special that they have this opportunity,” said Ward, who competed several times at the U.S. Championships and is now a renowned coach and choreogra-

pher. “It can be life-changing and give them access to things they didn’t have before for their training.”

Gasparotto and Starr Andrews made this the first U.S. Championships in 23 years in which two Black women competed in the senior women’s division. “Even more to the story, they both have Black coaches,” said Ward. “That’s what I think Alexa needed: a Black coach. She needed someone to understand her, to know how to push her…and navigate through this process with her. That’s what Nathan needed as well.”

Chapple did not qualify for the U.S. Championships, but he was selected to represent the U.S. at the World University Games, an international multisport competition for athletes who are also college students.

After skating well in the competition, he was invited to skate in the gala exhibition.

“That was such a different experience—being around skiers, lugers, bobsledders, ski jumpers, and speed skaters,” said Ward. “We

marched with 150 U.S. athletes into the stadium for the Opening Ceremony. There’s no other experience other than the Olympics that you’re going to get to feel like that.”

It fueled Chapple’s competitive desire. “[World University Games] was my first international and such a good experience,” said Chapple, who is also going to continue his studies with a focus on computer science. “It prepared me for next season.

“Getting this [scholarship] means a lot. I have support from other people, not just at my training rink,” he continued. “It means a lot that I have people that support what I’m doing and what I want to do with the rest of my skating career. I want to keep competing internationally, hopefully on the world level.”

Rohene Ward and Nathan Chapple at the World University Games (Angie Chapple photo)

Alexa Gasparotto received the Elite Award from U.S. Figure Skating (Rohene Ward photo)

A group of high school students and their chaperone meet a representative of Delaware State University at the college fair (Brooklyn Nets photos)

Panelists (L-R) Luke Lawal, Dre Martin, Caitlyn Davis, Arize Emeagwali and Jackie Wilson

Mahomes and Chiefs win a classic Super Bowl LVII

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor

The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles delivered on the high expectations placed upon them by fans and media in what was a Super Bowl for the ages on Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. A more apt characterization is they exceeded the lofty possibilities.

Down 24–14 at halftime with palpable concerns that their unparalleled quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, would be hobbled after twisting his already damaged right ankle with 1:44 left in the second quarter on a tackle by Eagles linebacker T.J. Edwards, the Chiefs’ offense scored on every one of their offensive possessions after intermission. The last was a 27-yard field goal by Harrison Butker with 8 seconds remaining, to give them a dramatic 38–35 win in Super Bowl LVII (57).

Mahomes showed no signs of being limited by his ankle, which was first injured on January 21 in the Chiefs’ AFC divisional-round victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. He maneuvered effectively inside and outside of the pocket, and had a signature dash of 26 yards with 2:55 left in the game to move the ball to the Eagles’ 17-yard line. He carried out the masterful second half adjustments made by head coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy.

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni and his defensive staff had no answers for the Chiefs’ multiple formations, shifts, and pre-snap misdirections.

Mahomes ended with modest passing numbers by his historically great standards, primarily as a result of the Eagles

dominating time of possession for 35 minutes and 47 seconds to the Chiefs’ 24 minutes and 13 seconds.

The 27-year-old Mahomes, who last week was named the NFL’s regular season MVP, beating out the Eagles’ superlative QB Jalen Hurts, who finished second in the voting, was a highly efficient 21–27 for 182 yards

and three touchdowns without a turnover.

He was surgical in operating on an Eagles defense that had a combined 78 sacks in the regular season and playoffs, but was held sackless by a Chiefs offensive line that was impenetrable on football’s biggest stage.

“I thought guys just embraced the moment,” Mahomes reflected after being

named Super Bowl MVP for the second time in his young six-year career, the last five as a starter. “In that first half, we were playing and doing some good stuff, but I felt like the guys were getting consumed by everything around us.”

The Chiefs were understandably absorbed by the captivating display being exerted by the 24-year-old Hurts in his Super Bowl debut. Hurts imposed his will and increasingly sharpening skills on the Chiefs, adroitly using his arm and powerful legs to move the Eagles with precision. His only flaw of the game was an unforced fumble in attempting to transfer the ball from one arm to the other while under pressure from the Chiefs that was returned by linebacker Nick Bolton for a 36-yard touchdown with 9:39 to go in the second quarter to tie the game 14-14.

“I always hold myself to a very high standard in everything I do,” Hurts said. “Obviously, I try to control the things I can. I touch the ball every play, so I just try and protect it.”

The turnover was a blemish but didn’t badly scar what was a record-setting showing by Hurts. He completed 27-38 passes for 304 yards and one TD, and ran 15 times for 70 yards and three touchdowns. His 103.4 passer rating is the highest ever for a quarterback under 25 in the Super Bowl. Hurts’s three rushing scores tied him with Hall of Fame running back Terrell Davis, who had a trifecta for the Denver Broncos versus the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXII in 1998, for the most all-time.

Yet, his exceptional night ended in disappointment as Hurts’s counterpart Mahomes and the Chiefs were recipients of the most enduring accolade.

With MVP Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs form a football dynasty

By VINCENT DAVIS Special to the AmNews

Yes, the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVII on Sunday. And yes, Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs quarterback, was the game’s MVP leading them to a 38-35 victory. The Chiefs can be declared a dynasty having played in three of the NFL’s past five Super Bowl’s going 2-1. They have hosted the last five AFC championship games at Arrowhead Stadium.

Down 24-14 at halftime, Mahomes brought his team back on four consecutive scores on all of the offense’s possessions in the second half, capped by a 26-yard game winning field goal by Harrison Butker— who had missed a 42-yarder in the first quarter—with 8 seconds left. A desperate

failed Hail Mary by the Eagles ended the game, giving Mahomes his second Super Bowl win and second Super Bowl MVP.

“It feels amazing just to see the confetti,” said Butler as it flowed throughout State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

“Guys talked in the locker room [during halftime], and we just said, ‘Let’s leave it all out there. Leave it out there for 30 minutes and see what happens at the end of the day,’” said Mahomes. “I thought guys did that.” Guys did do that. Mahomes did that. The Chiefs did that.

“It took everybody to win the game,” said Mahomes, highlighting the efforts of his teammates and coaches, including head coach Andy Reid who coached the Eagles from 1999-2012 before moving on

to Kansas City, offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, himself deserving of a head coaching position, and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

Mahomes was 21-27 for 182 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. He wasn’t sacked despite the Eagles having 78 in 19 games going into the Super Bowl. Mahomes’ numbers were less than those of Eagles QB Jalen Hurts, who was spectacular in going 27-38 for 304 yards and one touchdown. Hurts had 70 yards rushing and tied former Denver Broncos running back Terrell Davis’ (1998) record of three TDs touchdowns on the ground. His one turnover was a fumble in the second quarter that was returned 36-yards for a touchdown by Chiefs linebacker Nick

Bolton, tying the game at 14-14.

“Zero sacks. Put it on an (expletive) teeshirt. Now that would make a great souvenir, especially or the members of Kansas City’s offensive line,” said Chiefs offensive tackle Orlando Brown. “We take a lot of pride up front, of being the source of energy.”

The entire Chiefs nation can take pride in once again being Super Bowl champions.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes celebrates his second Super Bowl win and second Super Bowl MVP after a classic 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday (AP/Brynn Anderson)