Biden assailed again for comments

By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews

The moment President Biden said, “I may be a white boy, but I’m not stupid” during a Black History Month celebration on Monday in the East Room of the White House, right-wingers had fresh fodder to assail him, and Fox News was quickly out of the chute with comments from conservative lawmakers, declaring the president was both a white boy and stupid.

Biden’s remarks came as he was speaking about the power of the Divine Nine, a group of Black fraternities and sororities. His attempt at a racial joke was laughed at by those in attendance, including the presidents of the Divine Nine. “I know where the power is,” he added. “You think I’m joking. I learned a long time ago about the Divine Nine.”

These words followed what appeared to be a slap at Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and his recent action to cancel an AP history course from the College Board and remove Black progressive writers and intellectuals from the curriculum. “It’s important to say from the White House for the entire country to hear: History matters. History matters and Black history matters. I can’t just choose to learn what we want to know,”

Biden said.

“We learn what we should know,” the president continued. “We have to learn everything—the good, the bad, the truth, and who we are as a nation.”

Perhaps one of the things Biden has to learn is keep his comments free of being misconstrued, although even his scripted best intentions are ammunition for his adversaries. Two weeks ago, the word “boy” was part of his comment in reference to Maryland’s Black governor, Wes Moore.

Once he officially declares for reelection, we are certain to hear his opponents recount a litany of his gaffes and off-the-cuff remarks. He can counter some of these attacks by noting the many good things his administration has achieved—none more approved and applauded by Black voters than hosting a White House screening of the film “Till.”

‘Public land for public good,’ say housing advocates

By ARIAMA C. LONG

Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

Passionate Black and brown housing advocates from across New York City rallied at City Hall last Thursday to demand the passage of “social housing” bills that would address the city’s housing crisis.

Albert Scott Jr., a lifelong East New York resident in Brooklyn who heads the East New York Community Land Trust (CLT) organization, was beside himself with the turnout for the rally and subsequent hearing. His group has been working towards legislation that would protect Black & brown tenants and homeowners for years, putting an emphasis on community-first land development as opposed to a strictly forprofit-model that creates racial and economic displacement.

He said the pandemic contributed to a shift in mindset that propelled the movement forward where previously he had been shouting into the void about the impending housing crisis. “Since most people were just one or two paychecks away from not being in their homes during the pandemic, people felt it,” said Scott. “It activated this activism shift.”

Scott and advocates were joined by bill sponsors Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, City Comptroller Brad Lander, and Councilmembers Pierina Sanchez, Gale Brewer, Carlina Rivera, Lincoln Restler, Sandy Nurse, and Charles Barron among others. Afterwards, the council’s Committee on Housing & Buildings held an oversight hearing and heard testimony on the council bills.

“It’s been decades and decades that the corporate model of making as much money as humanly possible has brought us to this point,” said Williams. “We cannot fix the problem while keeping the model the same. Period.”

The seven social housing bills and resolutions would establish a city land bank, ensure that public land is prioritized for non-profit developers and CLTs under the Public Land for Public Good bill, allow tenants or nonprofits an opportunity to buy buildings first with the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) and Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA), implement a feasibility study for a social housing agency, create more social housing in communities of color, and end the city’s tax lien sale. Additionally, the package of bills would further the creation of a Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP) and the Good Cause Eviction bill. Sanchez, who chairs the council’s committee for housing and buildings, said the “dire housing crisis” is completely unequal and concentrated in low-income communities of color that also intersect with people living with disabilities and the LGBTQIA+ community. Sanchez and others were all largely in support of Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adam’s future plan to build over 800,000 thousand houses, reduce red tape, and enable market rate production across the city and state. Sanchez questioned who the new housing was meant for since historically, marginalized communities have been left out.

“This pain that is felt differentially is widely documented. It’s a function of the history of our great nation. Government and private sector policies like redlining devalued certain communities,” said Sanchez.

The bills aim to expand current housing policy in a manner that builds intergenerational wealth for Black and brown families, includes solutions for our most vulnerable, expands equity within housing, and ultimately prioritizes communities over profit, she added.

Lander, who is continuing his housing advocacy from when he was a council member, testified that median asking rents are nearing $3,500 a month with less than a 1% vacancy rate for units under $1,500 a month. He said the city is losing not only Black homeownership because of inaffordibilty, but younger generations across the board that don’t see a path to owning or even affording an apartment.

Williams said that it is time to create alternatives, like housing owned by communities of tenants rather than corporations, as a path forward.

Barron recently championed a “100% affordable housing” project that was approved by the city council to be constructed in his district in Brooklyn. The project, dubbed Urban Village, includes 11 mixeduse buildings across 10 acres near the East New York waterfront. Over 60% of rental units are reserved for low-income residents and the homeownership units are reserved for low-income households. According to a YIMBY report, the average household income in the immediate area is around $56,000 and the median household income at $39,163.

The East New York community sends a clear message to developers and anyone else who comes to the neighborhood, Barron said.

“We define affordability,” he said. “It has to be affordable to us. You cannot come into my neighborhood saying you’re going to build something and we have to make $100,000 to get in.”

He said that this and four other coming projects is an example of community development that centers the community and stops gentrification. Part of the problem, he said, is council members who also don’t vote on housing projects with the “welfare of the people” in mind.

“These council members sit and talk all this stuff at these rallies but they go behind the scenes and vote on projects 35%, 25% affordable,” said Barron.

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

Montclair makes history during Black History Month

In Montclair, New Jersey, the future’s looking bright with a significant change to local Black history: As this year’s Black History Month began, a local grassroots group celebrated a major milestone in their efforts to save 369 Claremont Avenue, the property known as the James Howe House—the first townhouse owned by a formerly enslaved Black person.

“We have the keys!” Friends of the Howe House shouted at a news conference on Feb. 13 in front of the house.

The house has so much importance in Black history, according to Friends of the Howe House: “One of the oldest structures in Montclair, dating to the Revolutionary era, this house helps tell the story of freedom and slavery, the development of a Black community, and also the founding of Montclair as a town. James Howe worked as an enslaved man for Major Nathanial Crane in the early 1800s. After over a decade of servitude, Crane manumitted [freed] Howe, ending his enslavement. In his 1831 Testament and Last Will, Crane left Howe the house, $400, and approximately six acres of land. Howe used the home and the property to support his family and there is evidence to suggest that a small Black community developed around the James Howe House.”

The group continued: “The James Howe House creates an opportunity to study and discuss the history of Montclair’s vibrant Black community, and lift up the truth of racial injustice in the 19th century and today. In many ways, the James Howe House raises more questions than it answers and only research into the social history of Montclair will answer these questions. This work is difficult and necessary because, until recently, archivists and historians have not prioritized documenting and preserving the history of Black people in the United States, including Montclair. Preserving the James Howe House keeps Howe’s story alive, and allows it to inform the work for racial justice that is immediate and ongoing.”

Community members were worried that the property might face issues or even demolition when the property went up for sale in 2022. Instead, they worked together to raise the money to purchase the property for preservation.

The group said it had reached a deal to purchase the house in late December 2022. That deal was officially finalized this month.

“The hard work you and others have contributed has paid off: We finally got the keys to the Howe House this week,” said an email from Friends of the Howe House to its supporters.

But these are just the first few days of a new future for the historic property, the group added.

“As you know buying the house is just the beginning: we now have to secure its future,” the Friends of the Howe House stated. “We’ve got some important events coming up aimed at raising awareness and muchneeded funds—and we’d love you to get involved.”

NJ institution works hard to bring an end to racial wealth gap in America

A New Jersey institution is attacking the racial wealth gap and establishing new opportunities for Blackowned businesses and homes throughout various communities. See