New York Amsterdam News Issue- April 25 - May 1, 2024

RAIN WITH A CHANCE OF MOSQUITO-BORNE DISEASES

EDITORIAL

Executive & Investigative Editor – Damaso Reyes

Damaso.Reyes@AmsterdamNews.com

Managing Editor – Kristin Fayne-Mulroy KFM@AmsterdamNews.com

News Editor – Aaron Foley

Aaron.Foley@AmsterdamNews.com

Digital Editor - Josh Barker

Josh.Barker@AmsterdamNews.com

STAFF WRITERS

Karen Juanita Carrillo

Karen.Carrillo@AmsterdamNews.com

Shannon Chaffers

Shannon.Chaffers@amsterdamnews.com

Ariama C. Long

Ariama.Long@AmsterdamNews.com

Tandy Lau

Tandy.Lau@AmsterdamNews.com

Helina Selemon

Helina.Selemon@AmsterdamNews.com

DISPLAY & DIGITAL ADVERTISING CONSULTANT

AFRICA MARKS EARTH DAY WITH A CAMPAIGN AGAINST PLASTICS

(GIN)—This week, Earth Day will be marked around the world with demonstrations, conferences and awards for environmental activists and Africa will be part of the program.

The theme is “Planet vs Plastics,” bringing attention to the serious issue of plastic pollution and how it harms nature.

Earth Day was first organized in 1970 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, who was inspired by student protests against the Vietnam War. The idea was to combine the energy of student protests with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution.

It has since evolved into the planet’s largest civic event, according to the Earth Day website.

This week, volunteers with Sustainable Vibes, a Nigerian environmental group, picked up plastic left on the street and cleared gutters.

“We don’t have to wait for days like World Earth Day to become more conscious of our environment,” said activist Sonia Ugwunna.

In Kenya, a local start-up in the coastal city of Mombasa was turning plastic pollution into something useful.

Twende Green Ecocycle (TGE) buys plastic waste, collects plastic on beaches and recycles it into sustainable school furniture.

“In Mombasa alone, over 80 tons of waste is dumped every day,” said Churchill Muriuki, TGE’s co-founder. “Of this, 20% is plastic of which only 5% is recycled. So 95% ends up in the beautiful ocean and ends up polluting the marine life.”

After collection, the plastic is shredded and washed before being compressed under high heat to make relatively cheap school desks and chairs that do not chip compared to traditional wooden furniture.

On April 22, Uganda joined the rest of the world to celebrate Earth Day with a pledge to combat plastic pollution.

Right now, a large percentage of plastic products end up contaminating drainage channels which is creating floods in some areas, said Alfred Okot Okidi, the environ2340 Frederick Douglass

William "Bill" Atkins (212) 932-7429

William.Atkins@AmsterdamNews.com

DIGITAL, BRANDED

CIRCULATION

Nigeria produces more than 2 million tons of plastic waste a year, according to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature.

The government has introduced measures aimed at restricting the use of singleuse plastics, a bold step that aligns with the East African nation’s broader agenda of fostering sustainability and preserving its rich natural heritage.

Bolivia’s African roots and presence: A dialogue with a scholar

By JESÚS CHUCHO GARCIA Special to the AmNews

Translated by KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

The African presence in today’s Republic of Bolivia is very small compared to Colombia, Venezuela, or Brazil, but its tradition of defiance has been massive. As in all of the Americas, this African presence was the result of the horrific Transatlantic slave trade. One of the scholars of this history is Juan Angola Maconde. He is one of those people in the Americas who has two ethnic ancestral names: one is Angola, which comes from the name for the ancient leader of the Ndongo kingdom, the Ngola Kiluanje, from what is now the Republic of Angola; and Makonde, his second surname, derives from the Makonde ethnic group who are from the East African coast, from between Tanzania and Mozambique.

AmNews: Where were you born, and why do you have two surnames?

Juan Angola Maconde: I was born in the former Hacienda Dorado Chico, now known as the Comunidad Dorado Chico. It’s the ancestral Canton of La Concordia Arapata, in the city of Coripata, Nor Yungas province. My surname, Angola, is “toponymic.” That means it tells the geographical area where the ancestors of my ancestors came from. And the name Maconde is the same. It’s the name of an ethnic group that specializes in wood carving, they are located between Tanzania and Mozambique.

AmNews: When did you seriously begin studying from a historical perspective?

J.A.M.: I have been studying the African presence in Bolivia since 1996, when I wrote a research paper entitled: “Collecting contemporary Afro Bolivian oral history.” That research had forced me to return to the community, where I “re-learned” what I had alienated myself from in the official educational system that denies our African presence; I went back to listen to our grandmothers and grandfathers, the guardians of the culture. This research and the act of retelling my community’s story as a historical subject led me to

publish my first book: “Raíces de un pueblo, cultura afroboliviana” (Roots of a People, Afro Bolivian Culture) in 2000.

I had the opportunity to get to know this Afro Bolivian activist in the middle of the 1990s, when I participated in a conference organized by the activist Monica Rey in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. We started a friendship that led us to join forces with the African American professor Sheila Walker, and produce a beautiful text called “Conocimiento desde adentro: los afrosudamericanos hablan de sus pueblos y sus historias (Knowledge from

Cover of Juan Angola Maconde’s book, “Raíces de un pueblo, cultura afroboliviana” (Roots of a People, Afro Bolivian Culture).

Map prepared by Juan Angola Maconde.

Gov. Hochul’s budget is in—here’s what NYC got

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

Governor Kathy Hochul has announced the state’s $237 billion enacted budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 about three weeks after the deadline. A number of pressing issues, like housing, have been addressed, albeit to mixed reviews.

“We are delivering a common-sense agenda that makes New York safer and more affordable,” Hochul said in a statement. “I promised to fight for New Yorkers and tackle the thorny issues, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.”

Despite setbacks, and an unusual instance of the state’s bill drafting system being hacked, Hochul was proud of finishing the budget. She said it made record investments into fighting crime, fixing the mental health system, and building more housing for New Yorkers without raising income taxes.

“New Yorkers have struggled as our state faces unprecedented crises—including an acute housing shortage, an influx of asylumseekers, and skyrocketing hate crimes. New York’s 2024-25 Budget meets the moment,

bringing robust relief and realistic solutions—all without raising taxes,” said Assembly Majority Whip Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn in a statement.

Here’s a breakdown of what New York City gets:

Mixed bag on the “historic” housing deal

The housing crisis in the state budget was

a huge point of contention according to state lawmakers, but the state managed to strike some kind of balance between housing development and tenant protections. The plan includes a new 485-x tax incentive, which builds on the 421-a tax incentive to construct affordable housing; a change to the outdated 12 Floor Area Ratio (FAR) density cap; incen-

tives to convert unused office space into affordable housing; a new 421-p tax incentive to construct housing outside New York City to spur housing production; a mandatory $650 million in discretionary funding going to pro-housing communities; a version of the “good cause eviction” legislation for tenants with lots more exemptions than advocates are comfortable with; and protections for homeowners from deed theft.

“If lawmakers, tenants, and people experiencing homelessness from upstate and downstate think this housing deal is bad, it doesn’t make it a good compromise—it makes it bad policy,” Joseph Loonam, VOCAL-NY Housing Campaign Coordinator, said in a statement.

Mayoral control has shifted to accountability

The extension of Mayor Eric Adams’ control of New York City schools for the next two years was another sticking point during budget debates. It was initially taken out but has been put back in with some language modification to focus more on accountability and less on control, based on the newly

Columbia University protest for Palestine is also protest for Harlem says student movement

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

Pro-Palestinian Columbia University student protesters instituted a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the West Lawn of the campus just a day after an NYPD sweep on the corresponding East Lawn led to more than a hundred trespassing arrests on Thursday, April 18, in demonstrations that are resonating beyond New York City and have since garnered scrutiny all the way up to the White House.

Yet despite the gated checkpoints and police presence surrounding the campus, university life went on as several news organizations, including the AmNews, were permitted to enter last Friday to cover the protests. Students scanned themselves in while pausing to snap photos of the blooming cherry blossom trees on College Walk. Tardy scholars dashed across campus in hopes of making class on time. And across from the encampment, soon-to-be graduates practiced their powder blue-robbed strut to a silent tune of “Pomp and Circumstance.”

Even the protest zone itself was a far cry from anarchy and lawlessness. Student demonstrators erected their own checkpoint and asked for IDs to those entering. Reporters were directed to a makeshift press box, made from duct-taping a rectangle to the grass, where students shared their stories. A stockpile of food, drinks and blankets continued to grow throughout the afternoon thanks to do-

nations from sympathetic classmates, faculty and local community members.

One of the arrested students, an undergraduate who asked to be identified by their first name Jamie, told the AmNews that Thursday’s sweep was nothing but “a minute piece of the entire liberation movement.”

“Ultimately, us Ivy League students will be fine…but at the end of the day, this is for Palestine,” they said. “Something that really made us so proud is that we heard that

Gazans were speaking about the ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment.’ And that is enough. If the school chooses to suspend us, the school wants to send NYPD on us, we know that Gaza is proud of us.”

The students’ defiance stems from five specific demands made by the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition to the school, ranging from financial divestment from companies with Zionist ties to severing study-abroad relationships with Is-

raeli academic institutions, along with calling for a permanent ceasefire as the death toll in Gaza now tops 34,000 people.

To be clear, Columbia does not publicly share its full investment portfolio, which protesters said they need easier access to in order to identify what exactly they want it to divest from. A school spokesperson said the university welcomes “an opportunity to discuss the topic of transparency with our community, and to hear where additional information would be impactful.” Currently, an established process is available for students and staff to request information about university holdings.

But the demonstrators said they are also fighting for Harlem, specifically calling for the school to end expansion uptown and provide reparations and supportive housing for local residents in what they call an “end to all interlocking systems of oppression through collective action and solidarity with oppressed people worldwide.” Columbia is one of the city’s largest residential landlords and frequently accused of gentrifying its neighboring communities, many which boast significant Black and brown populations.

On Saturday, suspended students marched from Washington Heights to Morningside Heights, where the main campus is located, to underscore the connection between uptown and the Middle East, according to student paper Columbia Spectator.

The student organizers said the movement

Governor Hochul announced a conceptual agreement with legislative leaders on key priorities in the Fiscal Year 2025 New York State Budget on April 15 in Albany, NY.

(Photo courtesy of Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)

The Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Columbia University’s West Lawn. (Tandy Lau photo)

The march against displacement in Harlem and Palestine

By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews

First I heard the drumming, then the chants of “Viva, viva Palestina!” from a long line of protesters marching down 146th Street on Saturday right under my window. I’d taken a day off from covering the demonstrations at Columbia University, but now they were on my block. The protests, like the war between Israel and Hamas, had spread beyond the campus into neighborhoods where Columbia had its version of occupied territory. I grabbed my

camera and hurried downstairs to join the march, which went around the corner to the 145th Street subway station.

The crowd of protesters entered the station to board the train and before I could pay my fare, one of the marshals paid my way, letting me ride with them to 125th Street, where we disembarked. We walked up 124th Street to Broadway and onto the Columbia University campus.

“We started the march up on 175th Street,” said Fatema, who walked with me. “The idea was to protest the area that Colum-

bia is trying to expand into over the next decade or so. We called it the March Against Displacement from Harlem to Palestine, and it was endorsed by Defend Harlem, among other Palestine-oriented groups from all over the city.”

On reaching the university, the massive crowd was contained within barriers as it had been during my previous visits.

“The people united can never be defeated,” chanters shouted in unison as a brigade of officers lined up along the street.

A flier distributed by the protesters declared that over the last

seven months, “Israel had murdered over 42,000 Palestinians and injured more than 80,000 Palestinians.” A list of demands followed, including “We demand that Columbia call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and denounce the ongoing genocide against Palestinians” and “We demand that Columbia stop displacing communities in Harlem and Palestine.” It further demanded that Columbia divest from Israeli apartheid and all companies that profit from violence committed against Palestinians. The list concluded with the demand that Columbia stop cen-

soring and intimidating students who are advocating for Palestinian liberation.

Over the last week or so, many students have been arrested and at least three of them suspended, including the daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar. As darkness arrived, I departed, leaving Fatema and her cohort there to continue the rally.

Regardless of the threat of doxxing and being suspended, the students were defiant in exercising their constitutional rights. “Viva, viva Palestina” echoed down the streets as I worked my way back home.

Hate Crimes Modernization Act passes state budget

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

Faking a bomb threat against a synagogue does not constitute a hate crime in New York state, nor does gang assault or first degree murder, according to a bill that passed the FY25 state budget on April 19.

The Hate Crimes Modernization Act, introduced by Assemblymember Grace Lee and State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal last fall, added 23 new offenses to the hate crime statute, including three counts of falsifying a report—the typical charge for fake bomb threats.

“When the hate crime statute was established over 20 years ago, since then, we have seen a growing number of hate crimes committed in a diversity of ways I believe that the hate crime statute did not originally imagine,” Lee said in a phone interview. The legislation specifically addressed the outdated nature of the 2000 Hate Crimes Act, which previously only qualified 66 offenses as potential hate crimes. Lee said the original Hate Crimes Modernization Act added 31 new offenses to the statute, but those were shaved down during the session. First degree murder, first and second degree gang assault, and forc -

ible touching were among those that were cut.

Hate crimes refer to general offenses motivated by bias against the victim’s identity. And these incidents are up in the city, even without the statute’s expansion, with an 8.1% rise in reports to the NYPD this year. The bill’s sponsors specifically pointed to rises in anti-Asian incidents during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Islamophobic and antisemitic harassment after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel. But the bill also opens the door for Black Americans, who historically underreport hate incidents.

“As we witness an unprecedented rise in bias-motivated

crimes against Jewish, Muslim, Asian American, and LGBTQ people, it’s of the utmost importance that New York closes the dozens of loopholes in our hate crime statute to send an urgent message that hatred won’t be tolerated in our state,” Hoylman-Sigal said in a statement.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg championed the bill during the fall, and was specifically baffled by the exclusion of gang assault from the statute, despite the inclusion of regular assault. In short, the same biased-based attack could not be charged as a hate crime if multiple people assault the victim instead of a single perpetrator.

“Nothing is more important than protecting New Yorkers, and this legislation represents meaningful change—better equipping us with the necessary tools to hold those accountable who target marginalized communities,” Bragg told the Amsterdam News in an email.

Last month, both Rev. Al Sharpton and Dr. Hazel Dukes signed a letter to State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Steward Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, asking them to support the bill. Dukes told the Amsterdam News that she hoped the legislation would unify New Yorkers.

See HATE CRIMES on page 25

Earth Day sparks increased access to clean energy, Biden allocates

$7 billion to ‘Solar for All’

By ASHLEIGH FIELDS

Global leaders and progressive officials observed Earth Day at Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Va., on historic grounds that hold the stories of the many populations that inhabited them.

Indigenous Americans and freed slaves once cultivated the land there, known as “Batestown,” before federal development under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration Program.

This year, in honor of the April 22 holiday, President Joe Biden announced pioneering efforts to help solve the climate crisis.

“On this day 54 years ago,

with literally toxic rivers burning, air filled with pollution, millions of Americans from every age and background rallied together to stand for our environment and for future generations,” Biden said in his opening remarks.

“The United States can and must lead the world in transforming our energy systems away from fossil fuels,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at the event. “The Solar for All program—that I successfully championed—will not only combat the existential threat of climate change by making solar energy available to working class families, it will also substantially lower the electric

bills of Americans and create thousands of good-paying jobs. This is a win for the environment, a win for consumers, and a win for the economy.”

Just last week, Biden initiated efforts to preserve 13 million acres of Western Arctic land. On Monday, he declared $7 billion in awards through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Solar for All Program. According to the White House, funds will be dispersed to 900,000 households for rooftop solar paneling, decreasing homeowners’ utility bills by $400 a year.

Biden said the investment would “cut more than 5 million

President Joe Biden speaks at Prince William Forest Park in Triangle on Earth Day, announcing $7 billion in federal grants to provide residential solar projects serving low- and middle-income communities and expanding his American Climate Corps green jobs training program. With Biden are (from left) Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Za’Nyia Kelly of the Michigan Healthy Climate Corps; and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. (AP photo)

From Harlem to Highbridge, Silent Voices United’s Tiffany Fulton speaks for the community

Black

New Yorker

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

Tiffany Fulton often goes by “Harlem Holiday” as a self-published author, crafting fictional narratives during the moments he has time off from her advocacy work. She stands tall in her full identity as a founder of Silent Voices United, Inc., which frequently leads the charge for social movements uptown.

“An average day for me is on my computer sending out letters and trying to have a voice…and to be able to sit down with my elected officials to hear the community’s concerns and to be fair with us,” said Fulton.

Surviving sexual assault in her adolescence fueled Fulton’s advocacy. Her start came while enrolled at City College. What started as a research assignment on child abuse laws became a lifelong passion: Silent Voices United, Inc. Fulton officially started the organization in 2008.

“We fight for those with no voice,” she said. “So as a child at 10 years old, I really didn’t have a voice. So since then, you know, I guess I’ve been on this mission, for justice for all, justice for those people with no voice. And I’ve been going ever since.”

THE URBAN AGENDA

By David R. Jones, Esq

Nothing to Celebrate About Albany’s Housing Plan

New York State has long been an affordable housing champion and innovator. We built one of the first public housing developments in the United States—the First Houses— on the Lower East Side in the 1930s and pioneered a unique, statewide limitedequity homeownership program, known as Mitchell-Lama, in the 1950s.

Unfortunately, the housing package included in the recently passed FY25 state budget does not live up to the State’s storied housing innovation legacy. It all but excludes the people who these previous housing programs centered: low- and moderate-income New Yorkers struggling with their housing costs. As homelessness reaches historic heights and the vast majority of tenants struggle with high rent burdens, the main beneficiaries of this housing deal are the already wealthy developers that will receive massive tax benefits to build luxury apartments most New Yorkers will never be able to afford.

The centerpiece of the housing deal is a revamped tax exemption program for housing construction that used to be called 421a but is now called 485x. The Community Service Society of New York (CSS) has long criticized the 421a program because, at nearly $2 billion in uncollected tax revenue, it is at once the city’s most costly housing program and yet it has provided alarmingly little truly affordable housing.

for a four-person household was $124,400. In an upcoming report, entitled “AMI in NYC: Visualizing Inequality and Unaffordability with Area Median Income,” CSS will show that New York City’s real median income is closer to 71 percent of AMI, or $90,241 for a NYC family of three.

Not surprisingly, our report found significant economic disparities persist between racial groups, with Black and Latino households earning 48 percent and 49 percent of AMI respectively, compared with Asian households (74 percent of AMI) and White households (91 percent of AMI). In other words, everyday New Yorkers will pay for the construction of new luxury buildings for the next 40 years, while being economically excluded from both the market and affordable units that will be built.

While failing to facilitate new production of homes targeted to New Yorkers’ real incomes, the housing package also does not protect affordable housing that already exists. Albany has offered $215 million in public housing capital, $685 million less than what was needed to fund the first year of a capital plan that could actually improve living conditions in New York City Housing Authority’s apartments, and other public housing developments across the state. While we celebrated Albany’s support of the Preservation Trust model, it cannot be a replacement for capital funding from the state.

But her work continues to expand. When she moved to Highbridge, Fulton witnessed how endemic youth HIV infections were in the Bronx neighborhood. So she started peer-to-peer advocacy, deploying her son to educate other youngsters on safe sex and STI prevention. Now back in Harlem, Fulton is on the frontlines of fights for affordable housing and against illegal smoke shops. And she’s currently working on getting thousands of brand new books out to the community.

Fulton attributes her tireless work to word of mouth.

“The chain reaction when people see you work or how hard you work for them, and they are so grateful and so thankful—next thing you know, they’re telling somebody what you did for them, and then now I’m helping somebody with something else,” said Fulton.

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

After 421a expired in 2022, CSS along with housing advocates from across the state have called for Albany lawmakers to steer public funding toward social housing construction, which would guarantee permanent affordability and feature better income targeting. Instead, 485x will provide developers with the same tax breaks with less focus on targeting those most in need. Area median income is the measure provided by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to help determine who is eligible for affordable housing. 485x gives up to 40 years of tax exemptions if developers set aside 20 to 25 percent of newly built units for households earning below 80 percent of Area Median Income (AMI)—$111,840 for a NYC family of three—or 60 percent of AMI—$83,880 for a NYC family of three—in large developments located in certain high-cost neighborhoods.

On face value, 485x will be a bigger strain on public coffers than its predecessor. It will exclude buildings from tax collection for longer periods of time than 421a, meaning the rest of us will have to cover the difference. Further, as the NYU Furman Center noted in a recent Daily News article, 485x fails to account for the astonishing growth in AMI over the past few years due to inflation and other factors. In 2024, the 80 percent AMI threshold

Moreover, this housing package will do little to keep low and moderate-income New Yorkers in their homes. It does not include a penny for the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP), a proposed rental housing assistance program championed by the State Senate and Assembly, housing and homeless advocates, and even landlords.

Finally, while the package vaguely gestures toward tenant protections, the “Good Cause” provision it includes will be the weakest in the country. Its many carveouts exclude 87 percent of tenants who should be covered. What’s worse is that the Governor and legislators conceded to the real estate lobby, rolling back hardwon protections for rent stabilized tenants won in 2019. This rollback will increase displacement pressure on the 250,000 rent stabilized households who have lived in their apartments for a long time, the majority of whom are senior citizens.

In short, there is very little to celebrate in this year’s housing deal. Besides draining public resources without creating any deeply affordable units for those most impacted by our current housing crisis, it fails to protect our existing affordable housing, or to keep New Yorkers from being evicted or displaced.

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.

Tiffany Fulton (Contributed by Tiffany Fulton)

Health

A climate change forecast: rain with a chance of mosquito-borne diseases

By ROXANNE L. SCOTT Special to the AmNews

Decades before Elizabeth Blaney, now 84, moved to St. Albans, the neighborhood was shaded yellow on maps made by the federal government. The color yellow could mean there was a high number of immigrants—or that there was a possibility of Black people moving into the neighborhood.

But being coded yellow also meant environmental threats existed. In St. Albans in the 1930s and ’40s, that meant being in lowlying land or having few to no sewers or poor transportation options.

Blaney moved to St. Albans about three decades after those maps, made by a government agency called the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, were created. She didn’t have a car in the suburban neighborhood, but she was able to walk her children to the nearby elementary school. She could also walk to the grocery store and church, and she formed relationships with neighbors she’s still friends with today.

However, the aspects of the neighborhood that were first deemed detrimental by those federal maps—long before Blaney arrived—still persist. Today, St. Albans still sits in low-lying land. There are still sewer problems and these infrastructure problems are exacerbated by flooding and the even-more-intense rain that is expected to fall on the city now and in the coming years. Residents have long been vocal at their community board meetings about the issues that affect St. Albans. And now there’s another one that residents may have to add to the list: mosquitoes.

Blaney has heeded advice from the city when it comes to protecting herself from mosquito-borne disease. To prevent standing water, which attracts mosquitoes, she pours out any containers and flower pots that catch water when it rains. She lights candles to keep insects away. She uses sprays to protect herself.

But Blaney and her neighbors say they can’t do much once heavy rains, or even not-so-

heavy rains, fall from the sky and leave gray water that ultimately lands in their rocky and cratered alleyways, which turns soil spongy. Neighbors say the rainfall creates “ponding” that sometimes sits there for days.

Ponding can breed mosquitoes—a vector that carries diseases such as the West Nile virus. In New York City, mosquito season lasts from about April to October, but the hotter summers and warmer springs and falls due to climate change can encourage mosquitoes to breed for longer periods of time and lead to a rise in other infectious diseases.

“I think the climate issue is a factor here when it comes to the kind of weather we’re seeing, and the kinds of rainfalls we’re seeing as well,” said Blaney. “I think it’s more of it than we usually see.”

Blaney is banding together with neighbors to come up with a fix to ponding. On the five blocks her block association is targeting, she estimates that about 300 homes are affected. New York City residents are urged to report chronic standing water to 311, but the terms etched into the deeds of some St. Albans residents—documents written decades ago that didn’t have in mind the changing cli-

mate caused by humans—state that property owners are responsible for maintaining their sections of the alleyways.

The city health department says it’s up to homeowners to remove standing water from their properties, but with more frequent and intense rain, hotter summers, and milder winters due to climate change, a private property matter such as standing water in an alleyway can become a public health hazard.

Neighborhoods of color are on the frontlines of the effects of climate change and environmental hazards, including flooding, extreme heat, and poor air quality. Black neighborhoods such as St. Albans and other parts of southeast Queens, as well as sections of central Brooklyn, upper Manhattan, and the Bronx get hotter than other parts of the city.

The city is no stranger to catastrophic weather disasters that have cost lives. Superstorm Sandy in 2012 killed more than 40 people. When Hurricane Ida hit the city nearly a decade later, more than a dozen people died—mostly residents of color. The city has plans in place to protect residents, but the creeping everyday effects of environmental hazards and climate, such as sewer backups, heat waves, heavy rain, and drought, also cause insurmountable harm. Large-scale solutions, such as surge walls, can cost billions of dollars and years to get done. Meanwhile, Blaney and her neighbors are hoping to raise $300,000 to repave their alleyway as soon as they can.

The impact of redlining

Blaney moved to her brick St. Albans rowhouse one year before the federal government outlawed redlined maps under the 1968 Fair Housing Act. Before then, maps color-coded homes that make up her neighborhood as “declining.” Along with describing detrimental factors such as the neighborhood sitting on low land, being high in foreclosures, having the railroad nearby and poor transportation services, redlining documents explicitly said that St. Albans was at risk of “negro encroachment north of the borough.”

The legacy of redlining, which began nearly a century ago, still affects health outcomes today, including those related to the warming planet. According to the city’s recently released study on environmental justice, two-thirds of New Yorkers who live neighborhoods that were historically redlined are classified by the city as “environmental justice” areas today. Redlined neighborhoods have an increased risk of flooding.

Elizabeth Blaney in front of her St. Albans home. She’s lived in the neighborhood since the 1960’s. (Roxanne Scott photos)

Ponding in St. Albans alleyways after three days of rain in early April 2024.

Because of redlining, inequitable zoning policies, and the disinvestment that followed, neighborhoods became further segregated and ended up with perpetual sewer backups, fewer parks, and many abandoned homes. Even before the federal government drew these maps, Black residents in southeast Queens voiced concerns about receiving inferior services compared to the northern part of the borough. Surrounding neighborhoods such as South Jamaica, which today ranks among the top neighborhoods with the highest complaints of confirmed sewer backups, formed a group as far back as 1926 and complained at one of its first community meetings about the failing sewage system and rundown roads.

The area where Blaney now lives was shaded not red on redlining maps but yellow, which indicated the neighborhood was “definitely declining.” Queens was less redlined compared to other boroughs but racist practices in the 1960s and ’70s, including racial covenants and blockbusting, scared many white residents and caused them to leave the area.

Today, anyone strolling down some of the blocks between Francis Lewis and Farmers Boulevard in St. Albans can see that the streets are lined with homes with stained glass windows and porches lined with colorful buckets of bright daffodils. But even though the majority Black neighborhood has a median income close to $100,000 and a high percentage of homeowners compared to the rest of the city, this socio-economic status may not protect them from adverse health effects from the environment.

In New York City, Black neighborhoods are more at risk for extreme heat. St. Albans is one of the neighborhoods that ranks the highest on the city’s heat vulnerability index, a tool that measures adverse health risks, including death. Lack of trees, and other factors such as high surface temperatures, can lead to the urban heat island effect that traps heat in neighborhoods, making them feel even hotter.

In the summertime, Blaney and her neighbors want nothing more than to enjoy an evening in their backyards, but with or without ponding, mosquitoes get in the way.

“We feel them biting us,” said Blaney. ‘We can’t even sit outside.”

Crows falling from the sky: West Nile virus makes a home in the world’s borough

The West Nile Virus was first detected in North America in Flushing, less than 10 miles from where Blaney lives, in 1999. “There were these…large die-offs of crows happening around the city,” Denis Nash, an epidemiologist at the CUNY School of Public Health, recalled in an interview. Back then, he was part of a training program with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to learn how to investigate disease outbreaks. The virus can spread between infected birds and mosquitoes. Humans who contract West Nile Virus mostly get it by being bitten by a mosquito. There are about 50

types of the blood-sucking arthropods in New York City, but the virus is primarily transmitted through the Culex species. Back then, Nash wasn’t prepared for the disease and neither was the city. “By the time this outbreak started in 1999,” he said, “there was no one at the health department that I could go to, or that we could go to, for help.”

Since landing in New York, the virus has spread throughout the continental United States. There have been more than 50,000 cases and nearly 3,000 people have died across the country, although dying from the disease is rare and only about 1 out of 150 people get seriously ill, according to the CDC. Those who do become ill may experience muscle weakness, tremors, or paralysis, or fall into a coma. Mild to moderate symptoms include a fever, headache, vomiting, or a rash. People who are 50 years or older are the most likely to get ill.

Because of the number of elders in St. Albans and surrounding neighborhoods, residents have long called for more health

facilities, including a 24-hour hospital. In Blaney’s ZIP code, about 40 percent of residents are over the age of 50, according to U.S. Census data.There are currently no vaccines for the virus, although the CDC wants to move toward deploying one. The agency also acknowledges that current measures to control the virus are not enough to reduce cases.

While most people who get infected are asymptomatic, New Yorkers are still affected by the virus. Since 1999, there have been more than 13,000 undiagnosed cases of West Nile fever in New York City, according to the health department, and that might be an underestimate.

Mosquitoes start their life cycles in water. Some lay their eggs in standing water, which provides nutrients to their babies to grow before they grow up and buzz off into the sunset to live their lives on land. Warmer temperatures can make a cozy breeding ground for mosquitoes and allow them to grow faster. St. Albans boasts trees, including cherry blossoms, Bradford pears, and

honey locusts—the leaves that fall from them and land in standing water can also attract mosquitoes.

Waheed Bajwa, who heads New York City’s Office of Vector Surveillance and Control, said he doesn’t expect mosquito-borne diseases to be a large-scale threat in the near future, but that climate change has affected the breeding patterns of, and transmission of disease by, mosquitoes.

“Climate change is altering weather, and weather is creating more favorable conditions for mosquito breeding and also for disease transmission,” Bajwa said. “We can expect a longer mosquito season and… higher mosquito population during the season, and also higher numbers of hibernating mosquitoes during the wintertime.” He added that the city has a robust program to keep a large outbreak at bay.

A clear and imminent threat?

Although other experts agree that a largescale outbreak isn’t an immediate hazard in New York City, many say the country is unprepared for a potential surge in infections from these types of mosquito-borne diseases. How the warming climate potentially affects infectious diseases, such as West Nile Virus, has been a topic of interest for researchers.

According to Alexander Keyel, a scientist at the New York State Department of Health Wadsworth Center and one of the authors of a study that predicted models of vectorborne diseases in New York and Connecticut, was surprised that future models would increase the spread of West Nile Virus upstate and possibly decrease it in NYC. However, he said these models can change with the climate and that NYC isn’t in the clear when it comes to mosquito-borne diseases. “There are other diseases that climate change likely will make worse for New York City,” he said. Those other diseases to keep an eye on in the city include malaria, “and we need to have a better sense of where some of the Anopheles mosquitoes that spread malaria See CLIMATE CHANGE on page 16

Go With The Flo

FLO ANTHONY Nature lovers, Black Birders Week is coming!

You read it here several months ago that Ashanti is pregnant and that she and her longtime off and on boyfriend Nelly are engaged. Well now, it’s official. Last Wednesday, Ashanti told Essence Magazine, “This new year of my life is such a blessing full of love, hope, and anticipation,” and then confirmed that she is engaged and pregnant. Continued Ashanti, “Motherhood is something that I have looked forward to, and sharing this with my family, fiance, and loyal fans, who have been so supportive of my career, is an amazing experience.” This will be Ashanti’s first child. Nelly has a daughter and son from his former relationship with Channetta Valentine. He also adopted his nephew and niece following the 2005 death of his sister, who died of leukemia at 31 years old. The blended family was the subject of the 2014 -15 BET reality TV show “Nellyville”.......

The inductees for the 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame were announced during the April 21 episode of “American Idol.” They included Mary J. Blige, A Tribe Called Quest, Kool & The Gang, Dionne Warwick, Suzanne de Passe and Norman Whitfield. According to multiple reports, the ceremony will be streamed live on Disney+ on October 19. It will air later on ABC and also be available on Hulu........

Award-winning Migos rapper Quavo has partnered with celebrated restaurateurs Vinny and Kelan Watson, best known for Sovereign Sweets in Atlanta to open the Peachtree City’s newest experience, V12 Restaurant and Sports Bar. The gorgeous venue is located in Downtown Atlanta, across from the historic landmark The Varsity. Quavo posted on Instagram, “We are finally here. The top-secret project is almost finished. Yeah. V12. We live.”.......

Headquartered in Chicago, Central City Productions is producing the 9th Annual Black Music Honors. The evening will be taped live at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta, Georgia on May 18. The ceremony will be co-hosted by singer/ actress LeToya Luckett with comedian DeRay Davis. Black Music Honors is an annual event that celebrates achievements and exceptional contributions of urban music. This year’s lineup of honorees includes Johnny Gill, Bootsy Collins, Hezekiah Walker, and Patrice Rushen....

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

Heading outside, looking up in the sky for New York City’s diverse array of birds, and observing how they survive the urban environment is a special way for people to physically and mentally connect with the natural world. Yet the freedom that comes with taking part in nature-related activities is not always presented to Black people.

That’s why the BlackAFinSTEM Collective created Black Birders Week, now in its fifth year. This year’s activities run from May 26 through June 1. Following this week’s Earth Day and Earth Week events, Black Birders Week is the next major naturalist event to look forward to. It has become an annual opportunity for Black nature lovers in the city to connect.

This year, the week’s theme is “Wings of Justice: Soaring for Change.” Collective members say they want to shine a brighter light on the intersections of environmental justice, birding, and the Black community.

The week’s theme is also a callback to 2020, the year Black Birders Week started.

At that time, when most people were sequestered in their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, opportunities to head outside for some fresh air had become cherished. But two harrowing incidents that took place within hours of each other on May 25 that year—a white woman threatened to falsely report birdwatcher Christian Cooper for assaulting her in Central Park merely because Cooper

had asked her to leash her dog, while Minneapolis police officers tortured and murdered George Floyd hundreds of miles away—demonstrated why Black communities have tended to retreat from regular encounters with nature. Both cases revealed that day that Black people had to be cautious when trying to enjoy outdoor spaces, and that Black people had to deal with life-threatening racism and were challenged to prove their right to access nature.

Justice through birding

“We’re thinking more about the justice elements to #BlackBirdersWeek,” explains Nicole R. Jackson, a Black Birders Week planning team co-chair. “We feel like that kind of fell to the wayside after 2020 and people were just more focused on the birds and birding, but not the people doing those things. We really wanted to kind of circle back to that message around justice and what that looks like through birding and through connecting with nature in the Black community.”

As the research organization Center for American Progress points out, Black people have not traditionally been allowed to access nature. “Historically, the United States has systematically segregated and excluded people of color from public lands and other natural places. Black people have experienced segregation from the Civilian Conservation Corps to the National Park System; the nation’s public lands, beaches, and other natural areas have also been venues in which communities of color have

been the subject of legalized and institutionalized racism. The legacies of this exclusion persist in many forms, including in the continued underrepresentation of people of color in hiring at natural resource agencies as well as in the histories of different groups represented by national parks and public lands. It also affects visitation to national parks and other public lands and participation in outdoor recreation, as well as causes people of color to feel unwelcome or in danger in nature.”

Not seeing each other in national parks, out camping, on a hiking trail, or out rock-climbing limits our selfvisions. It also reinforces the idea to other people that nature is no space for Black people.

With nationwide virtual and in-person events, Black Birders Week plans to highlight the importance of building relationships with other nature lovers around environmental topics nationwide. The grassroots initiative will have talks and community panel discussions that look at how Black people are impacted when they are encouraged to get out and birdwatch, and they will examine what nature conservation looks like in Black spaces and neighborhoods.

Virtual events like the roll call of introductions, an art contest, educational talks about environmental activists, and bird activities will be free and will take place on the @BlackAFInSTEM social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook. There will also be more in-person events announced on the BlackAFinSTEM webpage.

Brooklyn Borough Pres. Reynoso hosts a ‘Brooklyn Community Baby Shower’

Contributed Press Release

On Saturday, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso hosted a Brooklyn Community Baby Shower for 100 new and expecting mothers. The daylong celebration took place at the New York City Housing Authority’s Van Dyke Community Center in Brownsville and was chock-full of games, arts and crafts, giveaways, and information about pregnancy and postpartum care. Since the be -

ginning of his administration, Borough President Reynoso has advanced an historic maternal health agenda, giving the entirety of his first-year capital funding to Brooklyn’s three public hospitals for maternal health improvements and launching a variety of initiatives, including his Maternal Health Task Force, “Born in Brooklyn” baby boxes, and a multilingual, multimedia public health education campaign.

“When I became Borough

President, I promised Brooklyn that addressing disparities in maternal health care for Black women would be a top priority,” said Reynoso. “For too long, our systems have deprived new and expecting parents of the essentials that they need to start a family. Community baby showers like this are part of a new way forward that Brooklyn is building for growing families. By celebrating the exciting journey of parenthood for new parents and providing resources to raise

our newest Brooklynites, we’re proving that we can help close the gaps in maternal healthcare through community, celebration, and love— the Brooklyn way. Congratulations to all the new Brooklyn families, and a huge thank you to the many partners who joined us to make this joyous day possible.”

The celebration kicked off with games and arts & crafts, followed by remarks by Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, and included two workshops:

a Safe Sleep Workshop by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and a Postpartum Mental Health Workshop by Brooklyn Parent Support. More than a dozen organizations tabled at the event, providing information, resources, and supplies to new families. Attendees left with diaper bags full of diapers, baby wipes, baby blankets, postpartum pads, and baby books, as well as a supply box containing a baby bottle, cocoa butter, baby wipes, and more.

(Photos courtesy of the office of the Brooklyn Borough President)

Union Matters

Workers decry violence in retail workplaces

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

Members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) held a press conference on April 17 to call for better safety protocols in retail stores.

The collective called for passage of the Retail Worker Safety Act, a bill sponsored by New York State Senator Jessica Ramos that would require store owners to implement violence prevention programs at their retail locations; trainings to help store employees understand how to quell workplace violence; and would mandate stores to install panic buttons for use when violence erupts.

RWDSU members wanted to see the bill passed in the 2024 budget, but it didn’t make it through. The Retail Worker Safety Act, which is co-sponsored by State Senators Jabari Brisport, Iwen Chu, Cordell Cleare, and Jeremy A. Cooney, is currently still in committee.

The bill is needed, said Michael McKennan, an operations technician at H&M in Harlem who said he also occasionally works at H&M’s stores on 34th and 42nd Streets. Workers at major retail stores like H&M, on prominent streets, are unprotected from occasional violence, claimed McKennan. “[W]hy should we have to apply or have to ask or wait for someone to get hurt or injured––maybe a customer, myself, or a coworker––before

[a plan is put in place]? It’s not like these companies don’t know this.” Having dealt with customers who have spit on him and who have taken a swing at him, McKennan said there should be a company policy specifying how to deal with workplace violence. “I don’t want to have to fight for something that’s rightfully mine,” he said. “God gave me the knowledge and wisdom to protect myself, but at the same time, the companies are responsible for me [while I’m at work]. And I don’t want them telling my family, ‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ I don’t want to hear that. Not just about me, about anybody: ‘Oh, well, we’re sorry.’ Yes. You’re sorry because you don’t do what you’re supposed to do. And you’re sorry because your concern is only pertaining to you and not to us––and it shows, statistically.”

Bear Spiegel, who works at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square, said that it is mainly because his store recently unionized that workers have gotten training on how to deal with security and de-escalation issues. “Being in Union Square, we are a destination point for locals and tourists alike, so we get people from all walks of life, which is generally fantastic. But we also will often get people who are combative, who may be unstable and we as workers are the first line of people who have to deal with that before managers or security becomes involved,” Spiegel said. “Booksellers and cafe workers, we get harassed basically every day. It’s mainly verbal harassment, but it has gotten physical on a number of occasions.”

Lorraine Williams works as a deli clerk at an ACME Grocery Store in

Westchester and as tech support at Bloomingdales in the city. She said she has never been given any real training about what to do to deal with violence. She said that, at the most, retail workers are asked to watch a short video that shows what it’s like to be in the midst of a store when there is an active shooter. “You watch the film. …There’s no one training [you]. There’s no one that [you] can ask questions [to]. They just expect you to watch the film and just learn how to protect yourself in a situation if there’s an active shooter that comes on the premises.”

How to be safe in the workplace

Jerome Bridges, the scan coordinator at the Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo, was working on May 14, 2022, when a mass shooter arrived and killed 10 Black customers. Bridges described being initially uncertain about what he was hearing—he thought it was firecrackers or a car backfiring. Once that same noise entered the store, he along with others ran for cover.

He tried to run to his office, but someone else had already taken the spot. “So, I ran to the conference room. I grabbed my produce manager at the time, my night ops manager, a cashier, and about six customers and I barricaded us in with a door. You could still hear him shooting inside the store. Come to find out he was shoot-

ing at the dairy case where people were hiding. As he was shooting, he was going down the wall shooting at the stuff behind the wall, so I’m guessing he knew where the rooms were at in the back part of the building.”

Bridges still has nightmares from that day, and said he and his fellow employees were not prepared to deal with that kind of mass violence. Now management has a blue light system, a signal that lets everyone know if there is an active shooter in the store. And managers and security personnel have access to technology that allows them to signal emergency services if needed. “Basically,” Bridges said, “we need proper training and a proper evacuation method to get all customers safely out the store.”

RWDSU did a survey of its union members and found that 80% of them are worried about an active shooter in their stores, 72% think they’d feel safer if they had regular training on how to be safe in the workplace, and 88% of workers want a silent panic button installed to help them deal with emergency situations.

“Nobody wants to go to work expecting to be assaulted by a customer or experience an active shooter,” said Edwin Quezada, who works as produce manager at a Long Island Stop & Shop. “But they should know what to do if the unthinkable happens.”

Autoworkers union celebrates breakthrough win in Tennessee and takes aim at more plants in the South

By DAVID KOENIG AP Business Writer

DALLAS — The United Auto Workers’ overwhelming election victory at a Volkswagen (VW) plant in Tennessee is giving the union hope that it can make broader inroads in the South, the least unionized region of the country.

The UAW won a stunning 73% of the vote at VW after losing elections in 2014 and 2019. It was the union’s first win in a Southern assembly plant owned by a foreign automaker.

Union President Shawn Fain said the pundits all told him that

the UAW couldn’t win in the South.

“But you all said, ‘Watch this,’” he told a cheering group of VW organizers at a union hall in Chattanooga on Friday night when the UAW victory was clear. “You guys are leading the way. We’re going to carry this fight on to Mercedes and everywhere else.”

However, the UAW is likely to face a tougher test as it tries to represent workers at two Mercedes-Benz plants in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. A five-day election is scheduled to start May 13, where the union’s campaign has already become heated.

The UAW has accused the German carmaker of violating U.S.

and German labor laws with aggressive anti-union tactics, which the company denies.

“They are going to have a much harder road in work sites where they are going to face aggressive management resistance and even community resistance than they faced in Chattanooga,” said Harry Katz, a labor-relations professor at Cornell University. “VW management did not aggressively seek to avoid unionization. Mercedes is going to be a good test. It’s the deeper South.”

Late last year, the UAW announced a drive to represent nearly 150,000 workers at non-union factories largely in the South. The

union is targeting U.S. plants run by Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Subaru, Mazda, Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW, and Volvo, along with factories operated by electric-vehicle makers Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid.

The union’s last defeat at VW in Chattanooga came at a low-water mark—in the middle of a federal investigation into bribery and embezzlement under a previous president.

Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University in Detroit who studies the UAW, said the union flipped the script by installing new leadership, touting the rich contracts it won last year from Detroit automakers after strikes at

targeted factories, and exploiting a climate that is now more favorable to unions. He said the union was also adept at translating signed pro-union authorization cards into votes—partly by pushing for a quick election.

“Now the public and media eyes are going to be on Chattanooga and how quickly the UAW can translate this into a contract,” he said. If the union can’t quickly get a good contract, it risks losing some of the momentum it gained with Friday’s election win, he said.

Unions in other industries are already moving ahead with

RWDSU members urged passage of State Senator Jessica Ramos’ Retail Worker Safety Act in the 2024 budget, but it didn’t make it. They are still pressing state legislators to work on the bill. (RWDSU photo)

Why should Black and brown communities care about clean energy? It’s too expensive not to, advocates say

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

Black and brown neighborhoods with aging infrastructure in schools, churches, and residential buildings could be at greater risk of footing the bill for energy costs if they’re not ‘at the table’ making future decisions on the rising impacts of climate change.

At present, New York State’s climate goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% by 2030, have 70% renewable electricity by 2030, and rely on a zero-emission electricity system by 2040 have been somewhat delayed. That’s mostly because the state’s having issues getting offshore wind and onshore renewable projects started.

“We need to pay attention closely in this energy conversation,” said former U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, who previously chaired the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “We need to make sure this energy transition is affordable, or the bill will come due to the poor and the middle class.”

Prior to the pandemic, it was extensively documented that a third of households in the U.S. were struggling to pay their energy bills, forgoing food, medicine, and other necessities to make up for heating and cooling costs. Black and Latino households

disproportionately paid more than their white counterparts for energy. According to a 2023 LendingTree analysis of census data, those numbers still hold true for most racial minorities. That survey also deduced that nearly half of households identifying as two or more races are most likely to say they had to reduce or skip basic expenses

to pay their bills. At least 44% of Hispanic/ Latino households couldn’t pay part or all of their energy bills; 38% of Black households reported the same.

Record-breaking temperatures in the summer, torrential levels of rain, and worsening weather patterns and natural disasters have only compounded the problem. For

many, this makes clean and affordable energy a pressing civil rights issue from which more Black and brown voices should be heard.

Reverend Malcolm T. Byrd is the chief operating officer (COO) of the National Action Network (NAN) and senior pastor at Mother African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion See CLEAN ENERGY on page 29

Photos of Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, located on 140 W 137th St in Harlem. (Photos contributed by Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church)

A gagged, foulmouthed defendant

Finally, the vociferous, foul mouth of Trump is muffled, and we are waiting to learn whether the 10 posts on social media violate the gag order, which forbids his comments about witnesses, jurors, and others involved in the trial.

For the next six weeks or so, Trump might, to some extent, be harnessed in a courtroom while the hush-money trial unfolds and he has to endure testimony from witnesses and charges from prosecutors.

How the outspoken, mean-spirited man will behave through all of this without an outburst is unpredictable, but it’s a good bet he will not sit quietly through these proceedings.

Hints of his behavior surfaced over the last several weeks with a barrage of derogatory statements about adult film star Stormy Daniels and his former attorney Michael Cohen. Prosecutors in the case have asked Judge Juan Merchan to fine Trump and hold him in contempt of court.

The first day of the trial opened on Monday with opening statements from the prosecutors and Trump’s defense, and it’s a shame that New York law doesn’t allow it to be televised, although that would probably only provoke Trump to command the airwaves.

There are sure to be opportunities for him to continue to appeal to his constituents, insisting that “what’s going on is a disgrace to our country, and it’s all Biden’s fault, and everybody knows it,” as he ranted during one speech.

The trial takes place in uncharted territory since he’s the first former president to face a criminal trial. Many of those opposed to his views and quest hope that it ends with more unprecedented facts: a conviction and incarceration.

Good behavior no longer matters at Bedford Hills Correctional

By SARA G. KIELLY

As the cell doors opened at about noon on Thursday, February 22, 2024, the women of the Earned Housing Unit (EHU) at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility were called into the bay room for a mandatory meeting with Superintendent Eileen Gonzalez-Russell. Once everyone was gathered, the superintendent told us that the EHU would cease to exist at the end of the meeting, and we were deemed general population effective immediately. The news hit us hard. Every one of us had spent years striving to earn a spot on this unit, which allows incarcerated individuals extra privileges and a quieter, cleaner, more pleasant community living situation. Now everything we had worked for was being taken away—with no notice, and no reason beyond “we need the space.”

The “facility need” for extra space was said as if the facility were overcrowded and that the EHU had the only available rooms. However, this is not true and there was a clear undercurrent that spoke of punishment for interpersonal conflicts and complaints on the unit in the last six months by a handful of problematic individuals who refused to follow the proper chain of command to resolve disputes. “Now that you don’t have to worry about tickets getting you moved off the unit, do what you gotta do,” added the superintendent.

The following night, I sat with a fellow EHU resident as she broke down crying. Up until now, the EHU was a palpable representation of the woman

she had struggled to become, and an opportunity that helped her start learning how to integrate back into the community at large upon release. But within one day of the announcement, the unit had turned toxic with catty arguments and confrontations. And now, she could not help but wonder if the administration cared about the journey she walked, or how it felt to be treated as if your rehabilitation is worthless.

In January 2024, Daniel F. Martuscello III, acting commissioner of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, released a statewide memorandum announcing a “Season of Nonviolence.” The email, sent to every incarcerated individual in the New York State prison system, explained that the “Season of Nonviolence” — which marks the 64 days between the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi—was the perfect opportunity for I/Is to find compassion for each other and foster internal growth. So when the executive administration at Bedford Hills announced less than a month later that they considered everything we as Bedford Hills EHU residents

have worked for was worthless, my heart broke. I could not fathom how Superintendent Russell could shut down the EHU without a memo or written notice from Commissioner Martuscello. Programs such as the EHU and initiatives such as the “Season of Nonviolence” give I/Is an opportunity for growth and change, and the wanton removal of these programs is counterintuitive and a direct contradiction of the department’s mandate for rehabilitation. In fact, several of Russell’s own rank-and-file security staff, including a lieutenant, said they do not support the closure of the EHU and have called for her to reverse course.

Rebecca Solnit wrote an article titled “Why Did We Stop Believing That People Can Change?” in the New York Times, which argues that we must believe in and support each other, because “we are all being carried along on a river of change.” I cannot help but feel as though the “river of change” has not only dried up at Bedford Hills, but that the drought is due to a dam built by the administration with the intent of blocking those of us incarcerated here from the waters of our wholehearted efforts to change.

The question that remains is if the administration is willing to join us in a season of growth. The women in Superintendent Russell’s custody must be seen as human beings deserving of a better lot in life. The Bedford Hills EHU, as well as every other rehabilitative program, should be supported without question. I am calling on the New York State Department of Corrections to be willing, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so saliently put it on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, to judge those in their custody both at Bedford Hills and beyond by “the content of their character” — rather than judging and condemning us based on the label of a throwaway convict not deserving of hope. There may be “no honor amongst thieves,” but in the end, honor comes from respect, and respect should be taught with the heart rather than the rod.

Sara Kielly is an investigative journalist, poet, and jailhouse lawyer whose work has appeared in Slate, Spotlong Review, the New York Daily News, National Lawyers Guild newsletter, Guild Notes, and she has regularly contributed to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project publication, In Solidarity.

A guard tower stands near the entrance to the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Can Biden take the presidency? An analysis

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

Joe Biden’s presidency has no theme. He has been less a leader and more a human weathervane who shifts daily with the political winds. Everything is driven by ulterior political motives to court popularity and to win reelection—even setting aside a seat on the United States Supreme Court for a Black woman insinuating the appointment was not based on merit.

But Mr. Biden exhibits admirable redeeming features. His entire life has been devoted to public service. His personal and family hardships have been overwhelming. He eschews the narcissism and pomposity that marks political figures. He resisted exploiting the Super Bowl to advance his reelection chances. He has not, however, avoided the ravages of time. At age 81, Mr. Biden is at risk of aging 10 years in one.

Mr. Biden’s constitutional insincerity is pronounced. As senator, he vowed to champion the impeachment of President George W. Bush if he attacked Iran without a congressional declaration of war as required by Article I, section 8, clause 11. But as president, Mr. Biden has claimed the power to initiate war on his say-so alone, whether against China, Russia, Iran, the Houthis, or otherwise. To borrow from Shakespeare, upon what meat doth this our President feed that he has grown so great?

President Biden’s habitual market interventions are ill-conceived, for example, the billions expended to promote semiconductor chip production. He has forgotten Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations,” which was gospel to the Founding Fathers: “What is the species of domestic industry which his capital can employ, and of which the produce is likely to be of the greatest value, every individual, it is evident, can, in his local situation, judge much better than any statesman or lawgiver can do for him. The statesman, who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals,

would not only load himself with a most unnecessary attention, but assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowhere be so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it.”

President Biden’s economic follies can be understood. He is a professional politician who has never met a payroll and is clueless about free market incentives. He cannot make the waves go back. Biden is at least semi-senescent. He looks mummified. He is 81 years old and anemic. Special Counsel Robert K. Hur recently remarked on Biden’s serial memory lapses. His grip on reality lessens by the day. Biden on immigration has been a fiasco. It has even led to the impeachment of the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. Illegal immigration has spiked to alarming levels. Some studies show immigrants are more likely to commit serious crimes than citizens. Others show immigrants are an economic deadweight, not an economic asset. And still others show the government spends more per capita on illegal migrants than on citizens. Finally, a porous border invites terrorists like members of Hezbollah to infiltrate and perpetrate a bloody sequel to 9/11. President Biden is rolling dice with our lives.

Immigrants have invaded the country sans Molotov cocktails and AK-47s. States have a right to fight back in self-defense. At least half the States support Texas’s endeavor to police the border without regard to the U.S. Border Patrol. A second civil war may be approaching.

The U.S. has contributed over $75 billion to Ukraine’s war effort against Russia with no light at the end of the tunnel. Mr. Biden is clueless about what “victory” should look like. His ulterior motive is to overthrow Russian President Vladimir Putin. But

Go see ‘The Wiz’!

what then? There are no George Washingtons, Thomas Jeffersons, James Madisons, or John Adamses in Russia. There never has been. There never will be. True or false, Russians believe they need a dictator to avoid incessant intramural strife and conflict. Biden is making the American people pay for his fool’s errand in Ukraine. Its fate is irrelevant to the national security of the United States. If it were otherwise, President Biden would have asked Congress for a declaration of war against Russia. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a wild card. He could attract voters from Biden to hand victory to Trump.

The United States’ ill-executed withdrawal from Afghanistan after squandering more than $300 million every day for 20 successive years of failure enabled the Taliban’s return to power and capture of American weapons. But no one has paid a political price for this stupendous, criminal blunder that returned a second edition of Taliban grislier than the first.

What about Hunter Biden, including the infamous laptop which 51 former intelligence officials falsely and recklessly disparaged as “Russian disinformation?”

Add to that the tax fraud and firearm charges and notorious influence peddling. Americans are asking, “are we seeing a dual system of justice at work?”

Biden’s running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, is more a liability than an asset. She has no accomplishments worth mentioning. As Democrat Walter Mondale said of Gary Hart, “Where’s the beef?”

President Biden is spending the nation into ruination. The national debt has soared past $34 trillion, to be saddled on the backs of our posterity. Annual budget deficits exceed $1 trillion as far as the eye can see. The federal government is crowding out private borrowing. Interest rates are climbing—especially for home mortgages.

President Biden should remember that elections are about the future, not the past, and the future looks bleak by any military, economic, medical, educational, or social yardstick.

CHRISTINA GREER, PH.D.

Anyone who knows me knows just how much I love the theater. Anyone who knows me also knows I am a very harsh theater critic. When I leave the theater, I have thoughts about the acting, the costumes, the lighting, the sound, and the overall quality of the production. I even have thoughts about certain theaters and how they maintain temperature control, the size of their seats, and the number of stalls available for women in the restroom as everyone heads there during brief intermission.

I must say, I saw “The Wiz” on Broadway and it did not disappoint.

It is always so nice to see so many African Americans enjoying the theater. I have been to shows on and off Broadway where I am literally counting the number of chocolate chips in the cookie. “The Wiz” was pure joy and packed with inside jokes that welcomed the audience into the fold.

Wiz” the movie when she saw it as a child. I reassured her this production was great family fun. There was so much talent on the stage, from the singing and dancing, combination of original and classic songs, and costumes that were a nod to everything from New Orleans and Motown.

“The Wiz” was pure joy and packed with inside jokes that welcomed the audience into the fold.

Whether it is your first time at the theater or you enjoy a show on a weekly basis, the production made sure you could laugh, move your feet, and—if you are familiar with the previous productions of “The Wiz”—enjoy some classics.

A friend asked if the production was scary. She has three elementary-school–aged daughters and I thought she was inquiring about whether the show would be appropriate for them. I thought the show was appropriate for age 6 and up (my personal opinion). However, she was inquiring because she was scarred by “The

I went to the show with a dear friend who is Ghanaian and her sixth-grade daughter who noticed the Afro beats in one of the numbers. It is always a great time at the theater when people can see themselves and various parts of the diaspora in one well-executed production. Get tickets before they sell out. There might be sticker shock for some, but “The Wiz” is truly an experience for family and friends to enjoy. I smiled and laughed and even teared up during the show. The central cast was stellar. Obviously, Debra Cox and Wayne Brady did not disappoint, and neither did the chorus singers. Black talent and excellence were on full display during the entire two-and-a-half-hour show.

“The Wiz” is playing at the Marquis Theater (210 W. 46th Street) and runs through August 18, 2024.

Christina Greer, PhD, 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 FAQNYC and host of The Blackest Questions podcast at TheGrio; and a 2023–24 Moynihan Public Scholars Fellow at CCNY.

Caribbean Update

Reparations movement picking up steam

BY BERT WILKINSON

Special to the AmNews

There were two interesting developments in the past week related to efforts by Caribbean governments to make former European slave-trading nations pay for their atrocities, in the form of a British church apologizing for its role and the descendants of indentured East Indians in Suriname demanding an apology from the Netherlands.

The not-so-well-known United Reformed Church in the United Kingdom formally apologized to Jamaica and the region for in role in the Transatlantic slave trade from 1501 to 1867, accepting that it had indeed benefitted from slavery through generous donations from the plantocracy in the region, among other avenues.

“We, the general assembly of the United Reformed Church, mindful of our own history and that of our antecedent bodies, apologize for our role in transatlantic slavery and the scars that continue to blight our society, our church, and the lives of Black people in our midst and around the globe today. We have heard the pain of sisters and brothers who have been hurt and are still being hurt by these legacies, including the continuing scourge of racism,” said Rev.

Tessa Robinson.

“We recognise our failure to honor the efforts of our abolitionist forebears by permitting the legacies of transatlantic slavery to continue shaping our world. We offer our apology to God and to our sisters and brothers in Africa, the Caribbean, and their descendants for all that has created and still perpetuates such deep hurt which originated from the horror of slavery. We repent of the hurt we have caused, our reluctance to face up to the sins of the past, and our silence in the face of racism and injustice today,” she added.

The apology came just days after a number of Indo representative groups and leaders in Suriname demanded an apology from the Dutch for their role in bringing Indian peasants from India to replace Africans after emancipation in the 1830s.

The groups argued that the conditions under which the Indians worked were horrible, brutal, and inhuman, and have already dispatched a formal demand letter to King Willem-Alexander, complaining of “deep indignation” for indentureship, saying that they “were made coolies” — unskilled laborers working for less than peppercorn wages under conditions in what was clearly a new form of slavery in this part of the world.

“The Dutch have said that they are willing to talk about payments for slavery by way of the umbrella Caribbean Reparations Commission that was established by governments nearly a decade ago.”

“It is high time for a just recognition and apology towards the Hindustani descendants of those who were made coolies. This action should come directly from you as a symbol of sincere regret and recognition of the immense harm done under the supervision and responsibility of your ancestors to countless individuals and generations. This dark passage from Dutch history can no longer be ignored.”

The Dutch have twice apologized for the African slave trade

through then Prime Minister Mark Rutte back in late 2022 and through the King last year. Indians want the apology on or before the first anniversary of the arrival of indentured labor to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nation in June. So far, there have been no demands for financial reparations but the Dutch have said that they are willing to talk about payments for slavery by way of the umbrella Caribbean Reparations Commission that was established by governments nearly a decade

Good news for Palestinians in the U.S.

Amid the daily news from Gaza and Palestine and the lives lost, there is finally some good news for Palestinians in the U.S. covered by Deferred Enforced Departure (DED).

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently posted a Federal Register notice establishing procedures for DED Palestinians to apply for Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), aka work permits. Those work permits will be valid through Aug. 13, 2025.

The April 15 notice describes

eligible Palestinians and acceptable documentation, such as a Palestinian Authority passport or identification card.

USCIS has reiterated that “it adjudicates each EAD application fairly, humanely, and efficiently on a case-by-case basis to determine if they meet all standards and eligibility criteria.” Over the past year, USCIS has reduced EAD processing times overall and streamlined adjudication processing.

The news comes almost two months after President Biden issued a memorandum about DED for Palestinians on Feb. 14, 2024, deferring the removal of certain Palestinians present in the United States at the time of the announcement through Aug. 13, 2025. The memorandum directed the Department of Home -

land Security to take appropriate measures to authorize employment for Palestinians eligible for DED and to consider suspending certain regulatory requirements for Palestinian F-1 non-immigrant students. There is no application for DED. Palestinians are covered under DED based on the terms described in the president’s directive. Eligible Palestinians can apply for an EAD by filing Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization with USCIS. The cost is $470 if filing online and $520 for a paper filing.

Individuals who wish to travel outside of the United States based on DED must file Form I-131, Application for Travel Document with the USCIS. The cost is $630.

Remember that when submit-

ago. Demand letters for payments have already been sent to various European capitals with a request for a summit on the issue as well.

In the meantime, local pastor Bruce Fletcher, who also serves as the chief executive officer of Operation Save Jamaica and convener of the Churches Reparations Action Forum (CRAF), is of the view that the region needs to be more militant on racial and ethnic issues. There is also need for repair given the centuries of hurt and the lingering effects of slavery to this day.

“I am reminded that the Scriptures speak to the fact that judgment must begin in the house of the Lord. We also bear in mind that the Church is called to be salt and light in the Earth. It is interesting to note that the two accounts given in the book of Acts where the leaders of the Church came together to address matters in the Church, had to do with racial and ethnic issues. One is found in Acts 6 and the other in Acts chapter 15. Therefore, we, in the 21st century, must do no less,” he said, according to a report in the newspaper the Jamaica Gleaner. The protestant church is basically a union of the Presbyterian Church of England and the Congregational Church in England and Wales.

ting applications, photos must be “unmounted” and “unretouched.” Unretouched means the photos must not be edited or digitally enhanced. The submission of any mounted or retouched images will delay the processing of an application and may prompt USCIS to require an applicant to appear at an Applicant Support Center to verify their identity.

EAD cards will be mailed via U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Priority Mail. The time it will take to receive an EAD card may vary, depending on USPS delivery times. Allow a total of 30 days from approval before inquiring with USCIS and use the Case Status Online and your USPS tracking number for EAD card delivery time. Anyone who has not received their EAD card within this

time frame should visit the e-Request - Self Service Tools at uscis. gov for instructions about how to submit an inquiry.

Palestinians who entered the United States after Feb. 14, 2024, are not eligible for DED and therefore cannot apply for an EAD.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration threw another bone to Palestinian students: Palestinians on F-1 non-immigrant student visas may now also request employment authorization, work an increased number of hours while school is in session, and reduce their courseload while continuing to maintain F-1 status through the DED period.

Felicia J. Persaud is the publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, a daily news outlet focusing on Black immigrant issues.

Masjid Malcolm Slabazz held their Annual “Jail Ain’t No Good” parade in Harlem. Members of the Masjid, community leaders, and friends all gather to show support for unity in the community through the theme “Respect for Yourself and Your Family.” Newly elected Councilmember Yusef Salaam spoke at the rally. Iesha Sekou Street Corner Resources was in attendance.

(Bill Moore photos)

Climate change

Continued from page 7

are, and how competent they are,” he said. While officials in New York City remain confident about its measures to control the spread of mosquito-borne diseases, other parts of the country show the impact of getting caught flatfooted. In 2021, the largest outbreak of the virus in the country occurred in Arizona: More than 100 people died and more than 1,700 cases were reported in Maricopa County.

Last year, Florida saw high-profile malaria cases that caused concern in the state. The cases were the first to be transmitted within the United States in two decades. Because Florida is accustomed to mosquito-borne disease, it has the infrastructure to react quickly to an outbreak. But Sadie Ryan, a medical geographer at the University of Florida, said other states may not have the resources to allocate to a rapid response to an outbreak of arboviruses, including malaria, dengue, and the West Nile virus.

The U.S. is planning for the next possible pandemic, including vector-borne diseases such as the West Nile virus, and announced a strategy this month to work with other countries to respond to infectious diseases.

Ryan is concerned about a new species of malaria-spreading mosquito on the scene— a type of Anopheles mosquito that has left its range of India and the Middle East across Africa and kept moving to places such as Ghana and Nigeria over the past decade. “A lot of the Americas are very suitable for it,” Ryan said, adding that the mosquito is happy to establish itself in urban environments. According to the World Health Organization, the species is resistant to many insecticides currently used.

Illegal dumping has entered the chat

Residents in southeast Queens have long grappled with illegal dumping, which, along with being an eyesore, creates garbage that piles up and is also a health hazard, attracting vermin, including mosquitoes. In-between homes with landscaped lawns are abandoned houses with piled-up bottles, cans, mattresses, and tarps that attract standing water and other issues.

And they aren’t alone: A preliminary study in Baltimore found higher rates of West Nile Virus-infected mosquitoes in neighborhoods of color already struggling with environmental justice issues.

Shannon LaDeau, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, collaborated with the University of Maryland on the study and has also previously looked at the connection between disinvested neighborhoods and mosquitoes. She said mosquitoes are an easy entryway to think about the unhealthy consequences of illegal dumping.

Dumps of trash that include containers, such as purses, chip bags, or discarded cups, can hold water between rain, which can be a holding site for mosquito eggs between wet times. “Especially with ponding, that comes and goes, a lot of times, those containers hold

HEALTH

the water in between,” she said. Wild grass that can grow on the lots of abandoned homes can also breed mosquitoes.

Public messaging about emptying standing water in containers in yards can fall flat if residents are dealing with larger infrastructure issues such as dumping and abandoned homes, according to Sarah Rothman, a PhD student who also worked on the Baltimore

leyways, according to residents. “I have had neighbors who dumped the couch behind my garage and I have to go knock on their door and tell them to move it,” said St. Albans resident Vivolyn Dean-Brown, 60.

Last year, the city budgeted $7.5 million for its precision cleaning initiative, which includes removing illegally dumped trash. Dumping and its inequitable impacts are

study and is studying the relationship between mosquitoes, plants, and income for her dissertation. “You can tell residents all day to check their properties, do source reduction, dump out their containers, but if they live next to an illegal dumping ground, that is not enough. That’s not going to be an appropriate strategy,” she said.

In Queens, dumping happens sometimes in broad daylight in public spaces such as the Hollis LIRR train station and also more hidden, private places such as neighbors’ al-

In 2023, there were more than 1,100 mosquito pools where West Nile Virus activity was detected in New York City and a majority of those were in Queens.

For a few residents in St. Albans, the effect of heavy rains is more than just ponding and the nuisance of mosquitoes. Dean-Brown moved to St. Albans in the early 1980s. Nowadays, the flooding behind her home in the alleyway creeps into her garage. The water also builds in her backyard and seeps into her basement, causing flooding and mold growth in her garage.

Last fall, her basement flooded during intense rain. She and her husband frantically used Tupperware containers and buckets to pour water into the bathtub and toilet to prevent the water from rising. “My husband had to call in from work that day to help with the bailing out,” she said. “It’s costly.”

Dean-Brown has joined her local block association, along with Blaney, to help inform residents about the dangers of flooding in the alleyways. “The entire neighborhood will benefit with the alleyway being fixed—if they’re getting flooded, their flood will also stop,” she said.

Dean-Brown, Blaney, and other neighbors are organizing a fundraiser, as reported in the Queens Chronicle, to raise $300,000 to re-pave five alleyways in the neighborhood.

City resources for mitigation

not unique to Queens. Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice settled a lawsuit with the city of Houston over how it handles illegal dumping. Residents were vocal about environmental racism and have long complained that the city disregarded dumping in Black and Latino neighborhoods.

Combatting a nuisance

As early as June, New York City’s health department has used sprays from trucks to protect against mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus. Residents are encouraged to stay indoors when spraying occurs in their neighborhoods. The department also sprays larvicide over marshes, wetlands, and other natural areas from low-swooping helicopters to kill baby mosquitoes. According to the department, it alerts communities where spraying happens at least 24 hours in advance. Spraying pesticides, which the city states are safe to use, can help keep West Nile Virus and other diseases under control. But for many residents, environmental and infrastructure fixes are also needed.

Unlike other cities and counties, New York City’s health department does not provide free mitigation tools to alleviate mosquitoes such as mosquito dunks, minnows, or magnets, a department spokesperson told the Amsterdam News. The department didn’t answer specifically whether it looks for mosquitoes at dumping sites, but did say it keeps an eye on mosquito whereabouts and habits based on past activity, as well as where illnesses have been found.

Plans to protect New Yorkers from future storm surges and other disasters are essential. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has proposed a $52 billion plan for a series of sea barriers across the city, but residents and advocates say small-scale remediation, such as further reducing dumping and expanding government programs to help homeowners make fixes to homes in flood-prone areas, are also necessary to deal with rain.

Blaney and her neighbors aren’t waiting around for government help when it comes to the issue of ponding, although they also realize that there are some things that are just out of their hands. The everyday weather and human-accelerated climate change is one of those things. In the meantime, she and her neighbors have to deal with the buzzing bother of mosquitoes. When the rain dampens yet another opportunity to enjoy a day outside, she said there’s nothing else to do but wait for a sunny day. “I just let nature take its course.”

This story was made possible by grants from the Journalism & Women Symposium health fellowship supported by the Commonwealth Fund, as well as the Alicia Patterson Foundation.

One of the uneven alleyways in St. Albans resident Elizabeth Blaney and her neighbors are raising money to re-pave due to ponding that sits after it rains. (Roxanne Scott photos)

Illegal dumping is more than a nuisance, it can create a breeding ground for disease carrying mosquitos.

Arts & Entertainment

NY African Film Fest returns to Film at Lincoln Center May 8

By NADINE MATTHEWS Special to the AmNews

The 31st edition of the annual New York African Film Festival (NYAFF), one of the first African festivals in the U.S., is back. Founded by Mahen Bonetti out of her love for film and desire to let the public see African lives through a more com prehensive lens, the festival has now grown to be a cultural staple for film lovers everywhere. It remains the only African festival founded by a woman.

The festival will run at Film at Lincoln Center (FLC) with some screenings at Maysles Documentary Center May 8 through May 14. Over 50 films—from Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo—and 20 other nations will be presented. As in past years, this festival, whose theme is “Convergence of Time,” concludes at the Brooklyn Academy of Music–Film Africa. According to the release for the festival, the theme refers to an exploration of “the intersection of historical and contemporary roles played by individuals representing Africa and its diaspora in art. The festival invites audiences to delve into the convergence of archival and modern experimentalism, transcending both space and time.” For the first time, there will be a live dance performance accompanying one of the films, “Making Men,” a short examining masculinity. A panel discussion will follow the screening and performance.

One of the must-see films is the short “Jeanne,” about the relationship between 19th-century French poet Charles Baudelaire and Jeanne Duval, his girlfriend. Duval was catapulted into fame by an 1862 portrait of her by Edouard Manet, modern art icon and Baudelaire’s friend. “Jeanne” provides a fascinating look at some of the dynamics that often surface in interracial relationships between whites and Blacks. The Shorts program will also feature “Love Taps,” directed by Derrick Woodyard and executive produced by Spike Lee, which offers another comment on masculinity.

Beginning May 9, a digital art exhibit by Zainab Aliyu, “A litany for past suns labeled rituals / A star lit any and all possible futures,” will run in the Amphitheater at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center approximately half an hour before the first festival screening each day. The exhibit is inspired by Nikki Giovanni’s “A Litany for Peppe”

(1970) and Audre Lorde’s “A Litany for Survival” (1978), two thematically similar poems by African American women writers. As the title suggests, the piece is structured as a litany, a repetitive and rhythmic form often used in ceremonial settings.

Opening Night features the North American premiere of “Over the Bridge” by acclaimed Nigerian director Tolu Ajayi. Per the press release, the suspense drama film is centered around “corruption in Lagos where Folarin, a successful investment banker whose company is contracted by the government to oversee a high-profile project, searches for answers when the project goes awry, which leads him to a remote fishing village to put the pieces of the mystery together.”

Other North American premieres screening in this year’s festival include Matthew Leutwyler’s “Fight Like a Girl,” depicting the true story of a young Congolese woman (Ama Qamata from the hit Netflix series “Blood and Water”) who finds liberation after joining an all-women’s boxing club in Goma, led by an exchild-soldier coach; and Oyiza Adaba’s

biographical documentary “DELA: The Making of El Anatsui,” which delves into the life of El Anatsui, the world-renowned Ghanaian sculptor, and triumphantly acknowledges the importance of Africa’s rich artistic and cultural heritage.

U.S. premieres include Clive Will’s taut drama “Time Spent with Cats Is Never Wasted,” and Perivi Katjavivi’s crime thriller “Under the Hanging Tree,” set in presentday Namibia with reference to its history of genocide. There is also Yajaira De La Espada’s documentary “Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense” about Tanzania’s first president, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, and the recent presidency of Dr. John Pombe Magufuli.

Damien Hauser’s coming-of-age heart tugger “After The Long Rains” and four other films will see their New York premieres. They include Uche Aguh’s musical romance “Dynamite,” “This Is Lagos,” a dark comedy by Kenneth Gyang, “The Rhythm and the Blues,” the true-life story of legendary bluesman Eddie Taylor starring actor and musician Leon, and the highly anticipated documentary by Osvalde Lewat, “MK: Mandela’s Secret Army.”

which will screen for the 30th anniversary of South African Freedom Day.

The Closing Night film is “Dilli Dark” by Indian director Dibakar Das Roy who makes his feature film debut with this dark satire that centers around a Nigerian business student transplant to New Delhi. The film, which references the history of African presence in India dating back to the 13th century, stars Samuel Abiola Robinson, a Black Nigerian actor known as much for his Malayalam films as those from Nollywood. According to statements by the film’s director, the film’s theme is acceptance.

Tickets are on sale now. Ticket prices are $17 for the general public; $14 for students, seniors, and persons with disabilities; and $12 for FLC Members. See more and save with a 3+ Film Package ($15 for general public; $12 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $10 for FLC Members), the $99 All-Access Pass, or the $79 Student All-Access Pass. Contact info@ africanfilmny.org for information about attending the Opening Night Party, and visit africanfilmny.org for more info.

Stills from “Mirah” “After the Long Rains,” “Fight Like a Girl,” “Dynamite,” and “Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense” (Photo courtesy of NYAFF)

‘We Grown Now’—Not a perfect film, but close enough

By MAGRIRA

Special to the AmNews

“We Grown Now,” written and directed by Minhal Baig, emerges as a cinematic rarity, defying Hollywood norms by presenting African American characters as intricately nuanced and relatably ordinary individuals amidst a landscape typically dominated by violent narratives and stereotypical portrayals. In this refreshing departure, Baig crafts a compelling narrative that invites audiences into the world of two endearing 10-year-old boys, Malik (Blake Cameron James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez), whose charm effortlessly guides viewers through a journey of nostalgia.

Set against the backdrop of 1992 Cabrini-Green, Baig’s film showcases the innocence of childhood friendship and the simplicity of everyday life, deftly steering clear of sensationalism. Through heartfelt storytelling and authentic performances, Baig captures the essence of youth and the universal experiences that shape us, delivering a film that resonates long after the credits roll.

Malik and Eric, best friends, live in the tower building where elevators rarely work, and it’s easy to find an abandoned apartment to hang out in. Flat on their backs, staring at stained and cracked ceilings, they dare to dream (manifest). Malik is the one who dreams more vividly and is able to help Eric occasionally step into that world as well. He lives with his hard-working and

loving mother (Jurnee Smollett), grandmother (S. Epatha Merkerson), and little sister (Madisyn Barnes). Nothing dramatic, just life, which is one of the things that makes this film so very special.

Eric lives with his older sister (Avery Holliday) and their widowed father (Lil Rel Howery) and is most likely suffering from the trauma of losing his mother, although

this is never discussed. His friendship with Malik is one of the most daring and honest parts of the film and what makes “We Grown Now” so special.

It’s easy to want to follow their lives as they wander Cabrini, go to school and, one day, ditch class to go to the Art Institute of Chicago, where they explore paintings. When they sprint through the museum,

the other patrons are frozen, and we just focus on the boys’ joy. This is just one of the many scenes of normal behavior that Baig brings to life, and it might sound simple, but it’s not at all. At one point, one of the artworks catches their eye. It was painted in 1935 by Walter Ellison (“Train Station”) and shows a segregated terminal. This is the third feature film that Baig has directed. Her first was “Hala” (2019), about a Pakistani American teenager trying to carve out her life between that of her parents’ and her own desires.

Because Baig approaches every single frame with heart, we are 100% invested in Malik and Eric and feel an absence, of sorts, when we are pulled away from their private world.

The craftsmanship behind the camera is top-notch with sound design that proves very impactful. Simple, but it helps give the audience a place and time.

Of course, there is drama. It’s set in Cabrini-Green, in 1992, but Baig has already draped the entire film in a layer of suspense and tension; when something BIG finally explodes, it doesn’t rip the viewer apart. Instead, it helps us understand the nature of life and how things must change in order to have true growth.

At one point, the real world does catastrophically pierce the boys’ bubble when a near-army of police descend on the complex in the wake of a shooting, ransacking homes, and turning residents into suspects.

While not a perfect film, it is close enough—10 out of 10.

Stills from “We Grown Now.” (Photos courtesy of Sony Picture Classics)

Leonardo Brito stars in Ballet Hispanico work inspired by little-known art world figure

By NADINE MATTHEWS Special to the AmNews

On April 25, the dance company Ballet Hispanico returns for its season at City Center with performances that will run through April 27. This year, the company will celebrate Eduardo Vilaro’s 15th season as artistic director. Featured on all programs, except the Family Matinee, on all three days will be Vilaro’s newest work, the World Premiere of “Buscando a Juan.” The piece was inspired by the Metropolitan Museum’s exhibition, “Juan de Pareja, Afro-Hispanic Painter,” which ran last spring and summer.

Although mostly known as the subject of Diego Velasquez’s 1650 portrait “Juan de Pareja,” de Pareja became a skilled painter in his own right.

Tasked with interpreting the life of this historical figure is dancer Leonardo Brito. He has been based in New York City for the past eight years, and can be considered a true New Yorker at this point, but Brito was born and raised close to Rio de Janeiro. In a recent interview with the Amsterdam News, Brito said that what he loves most about his hometown is “the nature all around us. It’s just stunning. Also the culture. There is music and dance everywhere. All of that combined is just really a dream.”

Brito’s first memory of dance was his exposure to the artform of capoeira—originally a form of martial arts disguised as dance, it has evolved into a combination of the two, incorporating elements of spirituality as well. “My dad introduced me,” Brito recalled. “I remember at the age of 3 and 4, I have photos of me all dressed up in my capoeira uniform. My dad would just go and we would watch.”

His first actual foray into dance came as something of a fluke. “There was a program in my hometown, founded by two very hardworking women who really just wanted to give [an] opportunity for neighborhood kids,” he said. “One day, the dancers were performing at a street party. I was with my grandma and my mouth was hanging open. I couldn’t take my eyes off of them.”

Staff from the program noticed and offered Brito dance classes. He was on his way to not just a whole new skill he loved, but a life he had never dreamed of. “I grew up very poor in Brazil. And as soon as I saw that dance was like taking me places—I was able to travel all over, for example, I think that’s when I was really like, ‘Okay, I think I should commit to this because I think I’m good at it and I’m seeing a future I didn’t know existed for me before.’”

Unlike many other young men who decide to go into ballet, Brito, who has also danced with the Mariinsky Ballet, Dance Theater of Florida, and Alvin Ailey; modeled; and appeared on the FX series “Pose,” found his family eagerly supportive of his decision to pursue it. “I didn’t grow up with my mom or dad—it was Grandma taking care of

her grandson and granddaughter, and she wanted us to be busy, so she supported us.”

In fact, Brito’s community came together to support his endeavors. “It was hard financially, so people in the neighborhood would buy me shoes, another person buying me costumes, another buying bus tickets so I could get to class.”

Another program in his hometown, the Brazilian Congress of Modern Dance, sponsored Brito’s trip to New York to train at the Ailey School for a month, during which time he got chosen to receive a scholarship to train at the school. He was offered a few scholarships, but chose to train with Ailey.

As he evolves as a dancer, Brito has taken care to expose himself and train in diverse dance forms. “I’ve taken jazz, tap, contemporary, and have gotten my certificate in capoeira,” he said. “I try to be as versatile as I can.”

About Ballet Hispanico, where he has now been for five years, Brito said, “There’s something so special about a place where you feel like you are understood and valued and celebrated.”

For ballet dancers, there is often pressure to fit European standards physically in addition to being technically proficient. Companies like Ballet Hispanico offer an environment without such stresses. “When I started in ballet, I was stuck in the Russian esthetic and I was trying to change my body and all these crazy things,” Brito said. “With Ballet Hispanico, for instance, I can use my capoeira, which is awesome. I’m asked to do some capoeira, I’m asked to do a little bit of samba. It’s a celebration for us to be able to tell the stories we tell.”

Brito called it “liberating” to portray the character of Juan de Pareja “for me as a Black man who really hustled and who was liberat ed because of art, because of dance, who was given a future I didn’t even know there was a possibility of finding. Juan de Pareja also got free through his art and it’s special to be able to bring that story to the stage.”

Visit https://www.nycitycenter.org/ events-tickets/ for more details.

Leonardo Brito rehearsing “Buscando a Juan.” (Paula Lobo photo)

Ballet Hispanico dancer Leonardo Brito (Rachel Neville photo)

HOROSCOPES BY KNOWYOURNUMB3RS

Dec 22

Jan 21

By SUPREME GODDESS KYA

Jan 22

Feb 19

WWW.KYAFRENCH.COM | CONSULTATIONS 866-331-5088

Things that have been long overdue are showing up at your doorstep and on the frontline. Silence is your best friend to remain focused on your mission and vision; leave the distractions alone. Ask for what you need to know as information is flying and soaring everywhere, like birds in the sky. What is for you will be revealed. Finance, romance, work, and home get a jumpstart this week. From April 28 around 5:37 a.m. until April 30 around 11:01 a.m., be still for a minute: the Uranus and Jupiter conjunction in Taurus comes with a reward for its fellow earth signs.

Control your mind and emotions before you create a disaster. Look into the fabric of what is being presented to you. Try rock climbing for practice before climbing up the mountain. In anything you do there are ups and downs, just like a river travels. You learn the lessons for growth and opportunities ahead. At the end of April and beginning of May, it’s time to step your game up a bit to advance to the next level. From April 30 around 11:20 a.m. until May 2 around 2:44 p.m., some folks will remain while others remove themselves to adventure elsewhere. New ways means doing things differently.

Things are cooking, brewing up, and about to sizzle over; you may want to turn the heat down a bit. No need for things to leak out when you can showcase what you are doing or have to offer. Fighting with yourself mentally does the mind, body, and soul no good. Simply make it happen. The evening of May 1 around 6:45 p.m., you dream it, you see it, you believe it and you are in a receiving state of mind to see the end result. Now apply the footwork in the progress until fulfillment. It’s a prime time for action; procrastination only prolongs what needs to be done.

Feb 20

Mar 20

Mar 21

Apr 21

Taurus

Apr 22

May 21

Home, family, pregnancy, graduation, school, separation, and learning something new is part of your weekly forecast. The signs, symbols, messages you will receive all make sense now. From April 25 around 9:37 p.m. until April 28 around 5:05 a.m., that “Aha moment” comes in a waterfall effect as a refresher of what’s been building up. There goes the reboot with an awkward twist with sudden deja vu to make it make sense. Make a decision and stick to it.

Stick to the facts, figures, and history to build forward motion on a project. Incorporate new concepts to make a plan solid, strategically moving on purpose, and aligning with the mission and vision. After you lay out the blueprint, step away for a minute or a day, then return and review the steps over a few times to gain more insight. From April 28 around 5:37 a.m. until April 30 around 11:01 a.m., the roundabout leads you in various directions and some lead you right back where you started after putting in the work. Be sure of the direction you are going in to avoid mishaps. Think before acting, and think before you react to someone because things always reveal themselves in divine timing.

Pump your breaks and sit quietly and concentrate on what you are working towards. It’s all fun and games going off in your head. Write things down to keep you sharp and on task, it’ll be less surprising than receiving the short end of the stick. Trick’s on you huh? How did that make you feel? From April 30 around 11:20 a.m. until May 2 around 2:44 p.m., it’s time to get on your A game as Jupiter is on its way to you to reward you. Stay in preparation and hold on, as the air blows you here, there, north and south. That’s just how things work.

Gemini

May 22

June 21

June 22

July 23

Leo

July 24

Aug 23

Aug 24

Sept 23

Sept 24

Oct 23

Oct 24

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Dec 21

Rebirth of A New Nation: How focused are you on your agenda? It’s a week of double dipping with double vision, to take notes as if you are in the first row in the classroom. Mercury stations direct at 15 degrees on April 25, 2024, which indicates the replay is in effect, like in the end of the movie “They Cloned Tyrone.” Are you seeing double who, double what, double where, double when, double the money, double numb3rs? 2020 (2+0+2+0=4) was numerically a four year to have 2020 vision; now 2024 (2+0+2+4=8) is double the vision. Double the energy, double cause and effect, double the superpower, and double the super focus. It’s time to up your ante. The slow and steady Uranus and Jupiter conjunction on April 20, 2024 is making folks feel anxious, and the full moon in Scorpio at 4 degrees on April 23, 2024 intensifies the initiative of change, evolution, and growth. No need to resist the change, go with the ebbs and flow of the awkward resistance to gain your strength with a new perspective and attitude about life. This cycle is the phoenix rising from the ashes, experiencing sudden truth and relations. “In the ashes of bitter tragedy, lie the seeds of astonishing rebirth.” —Stewart Stafford

The Jacksons have a song titled “Can You Feel It.” Walking to the beat, like dancing, is more in alignment with what you need to do. Build the foundation and make it plain, not complicated. On the evening of May 1 around 6:45 p.m., when you see the vision, the rest is coming soon; just play your role and allow the rest to fall in position. Be in compliance with your own agenda to see it through. When you force something or someone, it doesn’t end well. Lastly, lucky in love, money, and work is your reality this cycle week.

It’s time to fine tune to the next level. Work in silence on some things since certain information you don’t want to leak out is suddenly out. That will surely give people something to talk about. It’s best when you give people something to talk about; then they can ask questions. From April 25 around 9:37 p.m. until April 28 around 5:05 a.m., you have been warned and put on notice about some things and when it hits the air no need to react or respond. The feeling of knowing is more reliable and respected when it’s straight from the source. At the end of the day you and God have a bond. Seek within and you will discover.

It’s interesting how a plan works out as you imagine and sometimes even better, even through the stumbling blocks. Everything was part of the plan to learn and be around people who can guide you and inspire you, as most moments are teachable. From April 28 around 5:37 a.m. until April 30 around 11:01 a.m., the information given depends on how it applies to you. Life gets a bit thirsty with all the sun and no rain to wash away the funk and debris, or to replenish to harvest again. Keep working on the goals you set for yourself to climb and maintain to new heights. Hold on. Something grand is in its way.

Abrupt changes are occurring, similar to a new paradigm happening or learning everything new. Think about what has been set in place globally for the last 40 years. Has anything stayed the same? Have you changed? From April 30 around 11:20 a.m. until May 2 around 2:44 p.m., things are wrapped up by the end of the year as far as your plans of where you want to progress in life. What are your short- and longterm goals to lead you to your destination? The Alpha and the Omega are always in harmony like the changes of the season.

A mastermind agenda needs to be in place to progress forward. Get out in the world to meet and greet different people who don’t do your kind of work. You will see similarity in what you do being done differently. The foundation is the same; it’s how you function. Review and reflect on what made you change your life to be where you are today. On the evening of May 1 around 6:45 p.m., every living being has a reason for why they do what they do. What do you feel your why, mission, vision, and purpose is for? Free is nice to a certain point until you figure out why it’s free. Not all things are free. Some come with attachments, habits etc.

The plan is coming together after weeding out the distractions to remain focused. You are now cooking with gas, the bus is loaded, the fluids are replenished, the engine is checked out, and the inspection checkoff list is approved and completed. What route you take from here on out is the experience of what has been initiated as early last October. From April 25 around 9:37 p.m. until April 28 around 5:05 a.m., finance is a plus, and the staff is needed to assist in doing the work for the payout. Remember the reason and cause for why you are doing what you do, as each step taken either furthers or delays your mission in life. It’s okay to be rerouted because you will still get there.

Sweet Catch BK’s expands menu beyond seafood

By BRENIKA BANKS Special to the AmNews

As Sweet Catch BK approaches its second year in operation, the possibilities for the Southern-inspired seafood restaurant continue to soar. On the heels of a successful “Dope Black Women” community event earlier this month, the establishment, owned by Kawana Jefferson, has upgraded its menu with new dishes inviting guests who typically aren’t seafood consumers.

The three new menu items are jerk short ribs and braised lamb shank with pomegranate red wine sauce and butter beans, both accompanied by truffle mashed po-

tatoes and roasted carrots, as well as Sweet Catch moules frites— mussels in a coconut curry broth served with french fries.

It was only a matter of time before Sweet Catch catered to meat lovers. “I make all the magic happen here,” said brand general manager Nucomme. It was her mission to create a well-rounded menu for new and returning customers.

“I added [the new items] because [people] need meat, just like if you go to a steakhouse, there’s a seafood component,” Nucomme added. “So, if you go to a steakhouse, you’re able to get a nice piece of fish, you’re able to have oysters because they all

have a sympatico relationship.”

Since the restaurant is located in the heart of Little Haiti, Nucomme felt the brand might “be a miss” if Sweet Catch didn’t incorporate some Caribbean flare, such as jerk flavors, into their menu.

“There’s nothing like having a good piece of meat that’s cooked low and slow with a nice, delicious sauce,” said Nucomme.

“Adding the jerk element to the short ribs, it’s a nod to the neighborhood we’re in.”

“This is delicious,” said Orlande Fleury, a journalist for Caribbean Life newspaper, after her first bite. “The lamb is very well cooked, very well-seasoned.” The

word she used to describe the taste of the meat and its plated presentation was opulent.

“It’s very textured, it’s flavorful,” she continued. “The mashed potatoes tasted very light.” She praised the new meal for tasting like a home-cooked dish instead of fare from a fast-food franchise.

Fleury cited the meal as sophisticated, money well spent, and fine dining. “It’s very well made. It’s giving top notch.”

Nucomme strongly believes butter beans, roasted carrots, and truffle mashed potato sides pair well with the new meat dishes.

According to the general manager, butter beans go well with spicy meat, such as their new jerk short

ribs. “Roasted carrots are really nice; they bring out the sweetness,” said Nucomme. She vocalized the roasted carrots are also braised shortly before being plated and served. Their sweet component with the spicy jerked meat is a “perfect match.” “And with the braised lamb shank, we’re using a little pomegranate apple cider sauce to braise it in; it’s very delicious,” the general manager said proudly. The lamb is one of her favorite additions on Sweet’s menu. The restaurant anticipates drawing in a newer crowd beyond their seafood. There is praise for the new braise.

For more information, please visit www.sweetcatchbk.com

A shot of Sweet Catch BK’s lobby before guests arrived for dinner. (Brenika Banks photos)

Sweet Catch BK’s famous side: Aunt Doll’s Mac N Cheese.

Sweet Catch BK’s House Cornbread with chipotle honey butter and herb oil.

General manager Nucomme of Sweet Catch BK.

Braised Lamb Shank with Pomegranate Red Wine Sauce with Butter Beans, accompanied by Truffle Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Carrots.

Blackened Salmon with Truffle Mashed Potatoes and asparagus.

Caribbean Life newspaper journalist Orlande Fleury enjoying her braised lamb dinner and Rosé Pinot Noir.

Thomas Downing Broiled Oyster.

Song cycle, photos connect enslaved labor, cotton to power at 92Y

By NADINE MATTHEWS Special to the AmNews

There’s a reason the phrase “King Cotton” exists. According to Historian Sven Beckert in a 2014 article for The Atlantic, by the dawn of the Civil War, cotton production by enslaved people in America “by multiple measures—the sheer numbers employed, the value of output, profitability—the cotton empire had no parallel.” He went on to say, “In 1862, fully 20 million people worldwide...were involved in the cultivation of cotton or the production of cotton cloth...onetenth of all British capital was invested in it, and close to one-half of all exports consisted of cotton yarn and cloth. Whole regions of Europe and the United States had come to depend on a predictable supply of cheap cotton.” In light of this and in light of the numerous films made about slavery, it is interesting that, blaxploitation comedy Cotton Comes To Harlem notwithstanding, no one has created a serious vehicle with the commodity of cotton at its center—until now.

Last week the song cycle (a group of songs that are designed to be performed together that usually have a theme but not a traditional plot) called “COTTON” was performed at the 92nd Street Y. Starring opera icon Denyce Graves (Carmen, Samson

et Dalila) and Drama Desk nominee Justin Austin (Hamlet, Fire Shut Up in My Bones), the production was inspired by images shot by celebrated photographer, painter, printmaker, and lithographer John Dowell, whose artwork is represented in the permanent collections of over 70 museum and public collections.

Dowell’s haunting images of South Carolina cotton fields captured in his 2018 exhibit “Cotton: The Soft, Dangerous Beauty of the Past,” loom over the entire production. The work was composed by the prolific Damien Geter and performed by Graves with exciting rising star baritone Justin Austin, with original poems by a number of contemporary poets.

Taking place in the wood-paneled Kaufmann Concert Hall, the program was a multidisciplinary display of video, still images, and live voice. There was live piano accompaniment by Laura Ward, who also co-founded Lyric Fest, who originally commissioned the production. The program began with a John Dowell voiceover prologue, along with a carousel of his images projected onto a triptych screen made of a grayish mesh that encompassed the entire length of the stage, and almost the entire height. He discusses his relationship with the images he shot, his narration often eliciting laughter from the

packed audience.

Following Dowell was a succession of poets performing work they created in response to his

photographs: Nikki Giovanni, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Afaa Michael Weaver, Lauren Alleyne, Charlotte Blake Alston, Glenis Redmond, Alora Young, and Trapeta Mayson were performed against the backdrop of Dowell’s stunning imagery, many of them overlaid with, or overlaying, other images such as contemporary urban landscapes, abstract images, or woodcut illustrations of Black women apparently from the antebellum period.

These images of the women outfitted in white dresses and head wraps gave them an angelic, ephemeral appearance that evoked an inherent humanity, heroism, femininity, and, of course, resilience. They are similar in technique to the work of Elizabeth Catlett though less “grounded” and more airy and ethereal in feel. Video was paused at the conclusion of each poem and Graves and Austin took turns following with a performance in song.

There was an interesting juxtaposition between the performances of the poets, Graves, and Austin. The poets were recorded performing in everyday

clothing, infusing their performances with rhythms, beats, and gesticulations of jazz, R&B, hiphop, and other forms associated with spoken word poetry. After each poet’s performance, the videos were poised so Austin and Graves, outfitted in formal suits (she in all white, and he in all black), performed using the same text as their librettos, bathing their words in a delicate, determined, soaring spirituality. One of the recurring images across different poems is a street sign for Wall St. Of course Wall Street was once the site of a slave market. But the image, overlayed by images of cotton, directly connects the importance of enslaved labor with the modern world economy and the wealth and economic domination of cities like New York and nations like the U.S. and England. Though cotton is a ready metonym for slavery and all its horrors, what is often not connected is the astronomical economic value, and thus, global power, attached to the labor itself, which Dowell does in his photography and by extension, what the “COTTON” production reminds us of as well.

John Dowell’s images projected onscreen (Joseph Sinott photo)

(L-R) Pianist Laura Ward, Denyce Graves, Justin Austin at “COTTON” Performance. (Joseph Sinott photo)

‘Mary Jane’ is touching, moving, theater

By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews

With “Mary Jane,” Amy Herzog has written one of the most moving plays you will see on Broadway this season. Playing at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (W. 47th Street), this Manhattan Theatre Club drama beautifully, tenderly, and powerfully reveals the trauma that women can endure when they have severely ill children.

Imagine if your child was unable to speak to you, unable to sit up, or had to be attached to medical equipment while in their stroller. Imagine needing nurses in your home to take care of your child and not being able to have a “normal daily existence” out in the world, at a job or anywhere else, because you are always tending to your children at home or in the hospital. That is the life that Mary Jane has known for two years with her son Alex. Rachel McAdams is dynamic in this intense role. She handles this character’s pain with a sense of respect and dignity, and beautifully embodies a mother’s love for and dedication to her sick child. You also see that there is a community of families out there who try

to help one another.

This play will touch you on many levels, through the sheer trauma that these women go through and their steadfastness when it comes to helping and advocating for their children. They see the beauty in their babies, but also admit to the toll they feel on their lives. McAdams is part of a cast of five women

who are versatile, distinct, and touching as they each play dual roles. April Matthis, as both Alex’s nurse Sherry and Dr. Toros, plays these characters with marvelous care, concern, and heart. Brenda Wehle is memorable as both Ruthie, the building super who has a great deal of empathy for Mary Jane, and Tenkei, a nun at the hospital who comforts

Women are warriors in ‘Suffs’ on Broadway

By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews

Women are wonderful! Women are warriors! Women can do it all, and they do in the Broadway musical “Suffs,” in an all-female- and nonbinary-cast musical about women fighting for the right to vote in the U.S. Shaina Taub proves herself a force to be reckoned with as the quadruple genius behind and in the show. She wrote the book, music, and lyrics, and she stars as Alice Paul, head of the National Woman's Party. This young lady has created a musical theater experience where every song is a showstopper. She lets the audience see how the women’s movement had two sides: the older approach of trying to be lady-like and peacefully beg men—especially President Woodrow Wilson—for the right to vote, and the younger approach where women stand up and demand their right to vote through marches and protests. Another part of the women's movement, which Taub vividly and candidly includes, is the movement's exclusion of the right to vote for Black women and men.

This musical presents a side of history that some people may not be comfortable with, but it happened. I’m thrilled that Taub not only highlighted the exclusion that Black women felt, but also how they were treated when they attended marches or conventions for the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). It’s important that people realize Black women like Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell were there. Wells was very focused in her frustra-

tion with not being part of the group that would benefit from women having the right to vote when a constitutional amendment would finally go into place. Wells and Terrell were also concerned about the lynchings of Black people, a regular horror of life in those times. When Wells is told by Alice Paul to wait, she declares her anger at those words. This musical shows the chauvinism that so dominated this country. It shows how women were relegated to being wives and mothers, and not thought to be able to process political situations, which was something for the men to handle. We see the group of younger women, the National Woman’s Party, taking the task in hand and suffering physical abuse by men, being imprisoned, but also still going on with the fight.

“Suffs” stands for what these women were called—“suffragists”—and they suffered a great deal for a cause that was close to every woman’s heart. They were not just fighting for the right to vote for themselves, but for their

mothers and grandmothers, who did not have that freedom, as well as for future generations. It was important to these women to make this stand for women’s rights no matter the personal cost.

Just as every number was a showstopper, this musical features an all-star cast who put everything on the line and made you feel every moment of the anger, cruelty, frustration, joy, and sisterhood that these women felt. Nikki M. James is superb as Ida B. Wells! She brings a level of outrage, boldness, and conviction to this role that you feel with every moment she takes the stage! Her character is someone fighting a fight that she will not benefit from, as other women tell her there is a greater good that does not include her or Blacks at this moment.

Anastacia McCleskey is sterling in the role of Mary Church Terrell, the educator trying to voice her needs as a Black woman to have the right to vote in a calmer manner than Wells. She does not like how the Black

Mary Jane while Alex is in surgery. Lily Santiago is engrossing as Amelia and Kat. Amelia is Sherry’s niece, a college student who is shy, sensitive, and caring. In the role of Kat, a music therapist, she is gentle and kind as she plays music to soothe Alex after a procedure.

Susan Pourfar is incredibly touching in her roles as Brianna and Chaya, both mothers of children who are experiencing severe illnesses. Brianna is new to this life and receives detailed tips from Mary Jane about how to get assistance and benefits for her son Seth. As Chaya, she is a mother of seven children, with one daughter who is severely ill and causes her to be in the hospital for months at a time.

Direction by Anne Kauffman is superb. You will know you have experienced something that is, sadly, a reality for many parents. The set design by Lael Jellinek is fantastic and detailed. Costume design by Brenda Abbandandolo, lighting design by Ben Stanton, and sound design by Leah Gelpe add to the intensity of this truly stunning play.

“Mary Jane” is touching, moving, deep theater. For more info, visit www.manhattantheatreclub.com.

women that go to the NAWSA convention are treated, but she wants to be in the room and contribute regardless.

Laila Erica Drew is lovely as Phyllis Terrell, Mary’s daughter. Ally Bonino plays Lucy Burns, Alice’s best friend and a sister in the movement. Burns is marvelous as she maneuvers her friendship with Alice and her commitment to the movement. Jenn Colella is charming as Carrie Chapman Catt, the president of NAWSA who wants to approach men with patience and courtesy. Hannah Cruz is absolutely amazing as Inez Milholland, who was the face of the movement and gets overly invested in the cause—you will see what I mean when you see the musical. Kim Blanck is feisty and a great comic relief as Ruza Wenclawska. Nadia Dandashi is memorable as Doris Stevens, the naïve secretary for the National Woman’s Party who comes into the movement as a girl but gets exposed to incredible life lessons. Grace McLean is phenomenal as President Woodrow Wilson; she pulls off the role with absolute ease. Tsilala Brock does a tremendous job as Wilson's Chief of Staff Dudley Malone, who eventually believes the message of the women’s movement. Brock plays the role with tenderness and compassion, beautifully done! Emily Skinner is delightful as Alva Belmont/Phoebe Burn. Jaygee Macapugay is engaging as Mollie Hay.

What I truly appreciate about this musical is how meaningful, powerful, and sometimes amusing the songs are. This cast is stupendous in their delivery of every

(L-R) Hannah Cruz (center) and the Suffs Company in a scene from “Suffs,” playing at the Music Box Theatre. (Joan Marcus photo)

(L-R): April Matthis and Rachel McAdams in scene from “Mary Jane” playing at Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (Matthew Murphy photo)

Adderley Brothers get top billing at FAMU

The prodigal son recently returned home to Florida A&M University (FAMU). My pilgrimage from New York wasn’t for the annual feverish-exhilaration of homecoming or a big football game rivalry, no, this first visit in more than 50 years was much more significant: It was the naming ceremony of The Julian “Cannonball” Adderley and Nathaniel “Nat” Adderley Music Institute in the Foster-Tanner Music Building.

Kind of ironic after all these years, it was jazz, that improvisational lady, who necessitated my return. The naming ceremony happened on a sunny spring day during “Jazz Appreciation Month” outdoors in front of the newly named building. A host of students, staff, and guests attended the ceremony.

Band arranger and FAMU Department of Music Chairman Lindsey B. Sarjeant stated, “Cannonball and Nat always credited FAMU for their musical development. Not only are we preserving their legacy here at FAMU, we are building a program to help prepare our students for successful careers as professional musicians and entrepreneurs just like the Adderley brothers.” Sarjeant was also instrumental in a project that renamed Cascades Park Amphitheater the Adderley Amphitheater at Cascades Park.

During his greeting, FAMU President Larry Robinson said, “Long before we came up with this slogan recently, I think the Adderley brothers indicated in a concrete sense that you can indeed get anywhere from Florida A&M University. They were doing it at a time when it wasn’t easy for African Americans, it didn’t matter what type of position you had whether you were a musician, lawyer, or physician, it was tough times. But they did it anyway. Their names will be a part of the FAMU story forever.”

The FAMU Student Jazz Combo, also known by insiders as the Room 104 group, performed during intervals. Their rendition of the Adderley’s tune “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” and Lee Morgan’s “Sidewinder” were exceptional, swinging hard in the tradition of true hard boppers.

“My father was a student at FAMU high school [now known as Florida A&M University Developmental Research School]. This was their home, they would be incredibly honored for this distinction, as well as our entire family,” said Nat Adderley’s daughter Ann Adderley during her remarks.

The university’s board of trustees approved Julian “Cannonball” and Nat Adderley Music Institute as the program’s new name during a meeting held late last year. It marked the first time FAMU named an academic program after specific individuals. Music Industry Studies Director Darryl Tookes was significantly involved in advocating for the institute’s new name to become a reality.

“The Adderley’s name is synonymous with musical excellence and social progress,” Tookes noted. “Their name brings a global vision to our music program that will help change the world, especially from a musical perspective.”

The Adderley brothers moved to Tallahassee in the 1940s when their parents began teaching at FAMU. Following graduation from FAMU High School, they attended the university, where Cannonball studied band education and Nat chose sociology with a minor in music. They were both members of the yet-to-become-worldrenowned Marching 100 band with Cannonball, the elder brother, playing the alto saxophone and Nat on cornet.

Cannonball’s reputation soared as a member of Miles Davis’ famous sextet that recorded the influential album “Kind of Blue” (Columbia 1959). The best-selling album in jazz history also featured John Coltrane, Wynton Kelly, and Jimmy Cobb. The brothers joined forces under the Cannonball Adderley Quintet, and their unique blend of blues and soul shook the jazz establishment for the better. Their compositions like “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” “This Here,” “Work Song,” “The Jive Samba,” and “Walk Tall” are now jazz standards.

“We are so excited to honor the Adderley family in this way,” said Valencia E. Matthes, dean of the College of Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities during her closing remarks. “When we honor the Adderley’s, we are honoring FAMU.”

Following the unveiling of the official plaque of the Julian “Cannonball” Adderley and Nathaniel “Nat” Adderley Music Institute, a reception ensued with a tribute

concert at Lee Hall featuring special guest Nat Adderley, Jr., who flew in from New Jersey with his wife Alison, a FAMU alumna. Nat simply remarked, “I speak through my keyboards.”

Lee Hall Auditorium was the only building that was still recognizable to me on the inside, even with its renovated expansions and flat screens on each side of the stage. The sound was equivalent to that of Carnegie Hall. The FAMU Jazz Ensemble was simply magnificent, swinging on eight cylinders with a repertoire that continued to swing from the opening number “The Heat is On,” to “Stormy Weather” with the vocal stylings of student Zoie Mulkey, Horace Silver’s “Jody Grind,” Nat Adderley’s “One for Daddy-O,” and “The Old Country” featuring Nat with professor Tookes on vocals.

The prof was extremely entertaining with a captivating stage presence with humor (he is a noted singer, pianist, and composer, having worked with Quincy Jones, Leonard Bernstein, Roberta Flack, Sting, Bobby McFerrin, Luther Vandross, and Michael Jackson). Nat, Jr. also performed with special guests from the music faculty including; Brian Hall, Lindsay Sarjeant, George Fonten-

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers.”

Like the other architecturally designed buildings, Coleman Library was completely renovated; no surprise there. It brought back memories of days working in the then-small library, running down to the stacks retrieving books at students’ request. Ms. Morris, the librarian, was always waiting for me at the top of the stairs, exclaiming, “Mr. Scott, your job is to bring the books upstairs as fast as possible, not try to read them all.”

The last evening of my visit, as my buddy Tootie and I walked to the parking lot after the fine music by the FAMU Jazz Ensemble at Lee Hall, I was still walking on air. That ensemble is ready for New York City’s Dizzy’s jazz club. As we walked on what used to be The Set—shhh, I could hear voices.

ette, Joe Goldberg, Robert Griffin, and Dr. Longineu Parsons. Nat, Jr. has been playing everything from R&B to funk and jazz since the early days with his brother in Tallahassee—not to mention his decade with Luther Vandross and all those hits.

It was important for me to arrive on campus a few days prior to the naming ceremony to witness the many new developments that transpired in my absence. Upon stepping off the prop plane at the Tallahassee airport, joyful thoughts of yesterday’s FAMU danced in my memory bank as I attempted to merge new campus configurations shared by fellow alumni. Walking through the airport, I quickly stopped in my tracks at the sight of the FAMU waiting room (orange and green), very impressive and comfortable. Okay, now I’m hyped!

I thought to myself.

My campus tour, guided by longtime friend, fellow FAMUIAN, and resident of Tallahassee, proved to be much more astonishing than I could have ever conceived.

My little countrified smalltown campus with its few international students had blossomed into a booming Black metropolis, an intellectual reservoir that runs as deep as Langston Hughes’ poem,

Was that Joel Elder shouting, “Hey, where you going man? I’m waiting for my girl to come out of Wheatley Hall, come on we going to HiFi." Or maybe Jerome calling out from the cafeteria on a Sunday afternoon, “Come on man, we all going into town to Morrison’s for dinner.” And there were those nights we all piled into someone’s room with a record player and listened to John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, and Lee Morgan. Speedy told us his sister in Brooklyn was close friends with Morgan, so he immediately became our favorite jazz musician. My knowledge of jazz escalated at A&M, it was an incubator for all of us. The Marching 100 knocked me out; coming from New York City, I had never seen a live marching band before. I still get chills whenever I think about that band.

Often, while leisurely making our way to Sampson hall (freshman dorm), laughing with a devil may care attitude, not knowing where we would land but feeling certain that we were in the right place to make it happen. As the great orator Cannonball stated on his composition “Walk Tall”: “There are times when things don’t lay the way they supposed to lay but regardless, you suppose to hold your head up and walk tall, walk tall.”

And that is the lesson we learned at FAMU: Always be proud and walk tall regardless of any situation. FAMU shaped my moral being. Just as the Julian “Cannonball” Adderley and Nathaniel “Nat” Adderly Music Institute will be an inspiration to music students around the world.

The Adderley Brothers: Saxophonist Cannonball and brother Nat on cornet. (Photo courtesy of Florida A&M University)

Bolivia

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within: Afro South Americans speak of their people and history),” the first edition of which was published in Bolivia in 2010.

In this text, I talk about the origins of Afro Bolivian people, their traditions, their cultures, and their historical and contemporary struggles. The Afro Bolivian diaspora can be found throughout Bolivia, but especially in Las Yungas, La Paz, Santa Cruz,

Earth Day

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metric tons of carbon pollution annually.” He’s inviting other citizens to join his cause through the newly launched ClimateCorps program. Enrollment is open to all but geared toward training the younger generation in clean energy jobs.

The EPA investments add to Biden’s ongoing support for sustainable energy initiatives. During his speech, Biden shared sentimental connections to Earth Day when he introduced the first climate bill in the Senate and served alongside Gaylord Nelson (D-WI), the official credited for creating Earth Day.

“All these years later, as president, I was able to sign into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the most significant [climate] investment ever anywhere in the history of the world, and we’re just getting started,” Biden said proudly.

Through federal programs, the IRA makes billions available in loan distributions to encourage business owners and families to use clean energy sources. The legislation is projected to cut 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions for the country by 2030 and save up to $1,000 in energy costs for the average American.

“Last year was the Earth’s hottest year on record, and over the last two years, natural disasters and extreme weather in America have caused $270 billion in damages,” Biden said. “The impacts

and a province called Inquisivi. The prefix Inquisivi comes from the west-central African name of the Nkisi, which are objects that serve as spiritual protectors of traditional families of the Congo.

In Bolivia, there is the tradition of El Rey Congo, located in Las Yungas, a traditionally Afro Bolivian area. The late legislator, Jorge Medina Barra, fought for the recognition of this tradition and the origin of the ancient Congo Día Ntotela in Bolivia, as well as the traditional Afro Bolivian Saya dance, which was internationally rec-

we’re seeing, due to decades in the making because of inaction, are only going to get worse, more frequent, ferocious, and costly.”

His fears resonate with Democratic progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), who introduced the Green New Deal in Congress several years ago. The policy, which passed in the House of Representatives but failed in the Senate, urges government agencies to stimulate economic recovery, eradicate poverty, and reduce carbon emissions and ecosystem degradation through affordable housing projects.

Although legislators did not move forward with the bill, Ocasio-Cortez and Markey have been passionately pursuing viable alternatives to solve the growing issue at hand.

“Over just the past few months, President Biden has paused new natural gas exports, vastly expanded the conservation of our public lands in Alaska, and has overseen tens of billions of dollars in climate investments across the United States,” Ocasio-Cortez said at the event.

These efforts, propelled by the administration, signal larger investments to come as Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris welcome environmental activists to the White House this week for a water summit. The two have indicated a national goal to protect, restore, and reconnect 8 million acres of wetlands and 100,000 miles of the nation’s rivers and streams.

ognized as part of our national heritage in 2011, as was the Diabladas of Oruro dance, which takes place in a location where thousands of Africans were enslaved and exploited in the gold mines.

AmNews: What is the status of Afro Bolivians today?

J.A.M.: Currently, Afro Bolivians are relegated to the “social basement.” They face structural racism due to the existing colonial mentality of Bolivian society. The population and housing census was conducted on March 23 of this year; the results won’t

Hate crimes

Continued from page 4

“New York State is a melting pot, so we have to be cognizant of all the people who have come to this place seeking freedom that other countries don’t give to them [but] we’re not perfect,” she said. “We’re not perfect right now in the United States of America. We still have a lot of work to do.”

To be clear, hate crimes are not the end-all/be-all for justice. Last year, Bragg’s office told the AmNews that they pursued hate crime charges against a man who allegedly hurled anti-Chinese slurs at his victim during a stabbing. Those never stuck, but the defendant was convicted for assault and attempted assault, and sentenced to eight years in state prison. But Lee believes iden -

be made public until November. But we know that there are an estimated 25,000 Afro Bolivians.

Part of the Afro Bolivian agenda for the next few years is: We hope to establish a headquarters and an Afro Bolivian Memorial Museum. We want to have an Afro Secretariat to help improve our representation and allow us to demand more access to power. As far as the issue of education is concerned, we are certain to fight for the visibility of the Afro Bolivian people in regionalized educational curricula.

tifying and subsequently prosecuting hate goes beyond the individual.

“Hate crimes have an incredibly corrosive effect on communities, and by failing to recognize hate crimes as failing to hold people accountable to hate crimes, it normalizes acts of hate, and it fails to recognize the experiences of victims,” she said. “Hate crimes not only impact the particular victim, but [have] a ripple effect throughout an entire community. When someone is targeted for their identity, others with the similar identity [will] also feel that impact and it has an incredibly chilling effect.”

Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who 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

Faith Ringgold, a peerless artist and activist

By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews

A full-page obituary in the New York Times refutes any notion that Faith Ringgold can be considered among the unheralded. Her colorful quilts and engrossing children’s books were just the most declarative of her renown and reputation as an artist and activist. Ringgold, born in Harlem, died April 12 at her home in Englewood, N.J. She was 93.

Few of her creations soared as commandingly as the cover of her book “Tar Beach,” capturing a picturesque family gathering on the rooftop of a Harlem apartment building. This vibrant depiction drew its inspiration from one of her magnificent quilts, it’s a veritable wonderland of her protagonist’s dream.

No matter the format or genre, Ringgold’s imagination was boundless and capable of materializing in marvelous paintings, soft sculptures, masks, textiles, and even embraceable dolls. She was often as busy as she was multifaceted.

Born Faith Willi Jones on Oct. 8, 1930, or 1934, she was the youngest child of Andrew Louis Jones and Willi (Posey) Jones. Her father was a truck driver for the New York City sanitation

department; he left the family when Ringgold was still a child, though he stayed in touch with her. Her mother was a seamstress, a fashion designer, and an atelier all of which may have been Ringgold’s artistic seedbeds.

Ringgold thrived as an artist and designer and was able to acquire a home in the then-fashionable Sugar Hill in Harlem, living cheek-by-jowl with some of Black America’s most distinguished citizens. She suffered from asthma as a child which limited her activities but offered a portal to reading, painting, and creating her playthings. Her parents recognized this interest and provided the equipment to develop her talent.

After graduation from George Washington High School, she eloped with her childhood sweetheart, Robert Earl Wallace with whom she had two daughters, Michele and Barbara. Upon discovering her husband’s addiction to heroin, they separated in 1954. He died of an overdose of heroin in 1961. In 1955, she earned a bachelor’s degree in art and education from the City College of New York and a master’s degree from the college four years later. She married Burdette Ringgold in 1962.

While establishing herself in the artistic realm, she taught art in the

New York public school system from 1955 to 1973. In the beginning, her paintings concentrated on landscapes that would soon give way to the subjects that brought her widespread acclaim. Much of her change in perspective was the result of her immersion in the political turbulence of the 1960s that followed the Civil Rights Movement, particularly the cadre of revolutionary writers and poets of the era—Amiri Baraka and James Baldwin. This influence was intensified by her love and appreciation of jazz and the blues.

Among her productions of the period was her focus on the strength and fortitude of the Black family, which she captured in artistic creations entitled the “American People Series.” Most captivating in this series was the theme of violence and resistance forged in the fight against racism and discrimination.

In “Black New York Artists of the 20th Century: Selections from the Schomburg Center Collections,” her “Black Art Poster, 1969” is featured with paintings by actor Billy Dee Williams and Houston Conwill. Emily Cousins, in her profile of Ringgold in “Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia,” edited by Darlene Clark Hine, places Ringgold within a

global context, noting her protest about the exclusion of Black women artists in international exhibits. She concludes her entry by citing one of Ringgold’s most famous performance pieces, “The Wake and Resurrection of the Bicentennial Negro.” The piece is “about a young man who dies of an overdose and his wife who dies of grief,” Cousins wrote. That theme possibly resonates from the death of her first husband and her brother from overdoses of heroin.

She established the Anyone Can Fly Foundation in 1999, which promotes the work of artists of the African diaspora from the 18th century onward.

Among her several retrospectives was one at the New Museum in Manhattan in 2022. The exhibit filled three floors and “makes clear that what consigned Ringgold to an outlier track half a century ago puts her front and center now,” wrote Holland Cotter in the New York Times. That same show was later mounted at the Musee Picasso in Paris.

Space here does not allow the listing of her many awards as well as honorary doctorates. To gather a fuller understanding of her phenomenal odyssey among us her 1995 memoir, “We Flew Over the Bridge,” is highly recommended.

ACTIVITIES

Her memoir is a good place to begin a study of her highly eventful life and legacy.

DISCUSSION

We can never know for certain how the death of her brother, a vital pillar in her artistic development, affected her.

PLACE IN CONTEXT

There is some confusion among writers about her birth, but she came of age a generation after her birth in the 1930s.

CLASSROOM IN THE THIS WEEK

IN BLACK HISTORY

April 22, 1922: Extraordinary bassist and composer, Charles Mingus, was born in Nogales, Arizona. He died in 1979.

April 23, 2023: Attorney Alton Maddox, “lawyer at war,” died in the Bronx, NY. He was 77.

April 25, 1944: The United Negro College Fund was founded.

Artist Faith Ringgold talks about her artwork in front of her painting, “Die (1967)” during a press preview of her exhibition, “American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold’s Paintings of the 1960s” at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington. Ringgold, an award-winning author and artist who broke down barriers for Black female artists and became famous for her richly colored and detailed quilts combining painting, textiles and storytelling, died April 12, 2024, at her home in Englewood, N.J. She was 93. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Autoworkers

Continued from page 10

organizing campaigns in the South and trying to learn from the UAW’s playbook.

The Association of Flight Attendants, which has tried and failed to win over cabin crews at Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, hopes to collect enough signatures to force another election at Delta by year’s end. The union’s president, Sara Nelson, said she was not surprised at the UAW win after strikes that led to record contracts last year.

“I’ve been talking about this for a long time — that strikes and taking on the boss is going to spur organizing, and that’s exactly what we saw here,” Nelson said.

Nelson is trying to secure an industryleading contract at United Airlines that she can use to court Delta crews. In the meantime, crews at startup Breeze Airways, many of whom live in the South, will vote next month whether to join her union.

The White House issued a statement from President Joe Biden congratulating the UAW. Biden—who joined a UAW picket line in Michigan during the union’s strike against Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis plants last year— praised the success of unions representing autoworkers, Hollywood actors and writers, health care workers, and others

in gaining better contracts.

“Together, these union wins have helped raise wages and demonstrate once again that the middle class built America and that unions are still building and expanding the middle class for all workers,” Biden said.

Biden criticized six Southern Republican governors, including Bill Lee of Tennessee, who told auto workers this week that voting for union representation would jeopardize jobs.

Sharon Block, a law professor at Harvard University who worked for the Biden administration on labor and other issues, said the governors’ warning rang hollow after nonunion Tesla revealed

that it plans to lay off 10% of its workers after disappointing sales results. She said VW workers saw the governors’ open letter as “an empty threat and a cynical ploy,” and they ignored it.

“Workers for a long time have been told that you can’t organize in the South. And many workers, even not in the South, may work in industries where they’ve been told for a long time you can’t organize,” Block said. “What the UAW showed last night is that we need to go and rethink all those negative statements.”

Associated Press writer Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report.

Suffs

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number. Now, I’ve said that the book, music, and lyrics are fantastic, but so are all the elements of this musical. The direction by Leigh Silverman is extraordinary. Scenic design by Riccardo Hernandez is phenomenal. Mayte Natalio delivers amazing choreography. Paul Tazewell’s costume design is exquisite. Lighting design by Lap Chi Chu and sound design by Jason Crystal are marvelous. The orchestrations by Michael Starobin, along with the musical supervision and music direction of Andrea Grody is something you will feel in your soul!

“Suffs” tells an important story and it does it in such an engaging, gripping, captivating way, you can’t help but be mesmerized. This is a musical that salutes the power, perseverance, and commitment of women in this country that was needed in the early 1900s to get the vote and it also reflects the need for women to keep fighting to be seen on a more equal basis in all areas with men. Sadly, women are still fighting to be seen as equals, especially Black women! You have to put it on your agenda to immediately go and see “Suffs” at the Music Box Theatre on West 45th Street and take a young girl with you! You will both feel empowered! One more thing to get your juices flowing and for you to know this musical truly is special: former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton made her producing debut with this musical! Other producers include Jill Furman, Rachel Sussman, and Malala Yousafzai. For more info, visit www.suffsmusical.com.

NO HIDDEN FEES. NO HIDDEN ANYTHING. FREEDOM CALLS.

Volkswagen automobile plant employee Vicky Holloway becomes emotional as she celebrates after employees voted to join the UAW union in Chattanooga, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Education A Nigerian chess champion plays the royal game for 60 hours—a new global chess record

By CHINEU ASADU and JOHN MINCHILLO Associated Press

NEW YORK — A Nigerian chess champion and child education advocate played chess nonstop for 60 hours in New York City’s Times Square to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.

Tunde Onakoya, 29, hopes to raise $1 million for children’s education across Africa through the record attempt that began on Wednesday.

He had set out to play the royal game for 58 hours but continued until he reached 60 hours at about 12:40 a.m. Saturday, surpassing the current chess marathon record of 56 hours, 9 minutes and 37 seconds, achieved in 2018 by Norwegians Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad.

The Guinness World Records organization has yet to publicly comment about Onakoya’s attempt. It sometimes takes weeks for the organization to confirm any new record.

Onakoya played against Shawn Martinez, an American chess champion, in line with Guinness World Record guidelines that any attempt to break the record must be made by two players who would play continuously for the entire duration.

Support had been growing online and at the scene, where a blend of African music kept onlookers and supporters entertained amid cheers and applause. Among the dozens who cheered Onakoya on at the scene was Nigerian music star Davido.

The record attempt is “for the dreams of millions of children across Africa without access to education,” said Onakoya, who founded Chess in Slums Africa in 2018. The organization wants to support the education of at least 1 million children in slums across the continent.

“My energy is at 100% right now because my people are here supporting me with music,” Onakoya said Thursday evening after the players crossed the 24hour mark.

On Onakoya’s menu: Lots of water and jollof rice, one of West Africa’s bestknown dishes.

For every hour of game played, Onakoya and his opponent only got a break of five minutes. The breaks were sometimes grouped together, and Onakoya used them to catch up with Nigerians and New Yorkers cheering him on. He even joined in with their dancing sometimes.

A total of $22,000 was raised within the first 20 hours of the attempt, said Taiwo Adeyemi, Onakoya’s manager.

“The support has been overwhelming from Nigerians in the U.S., global leaders, celebrities and hundreds of passersby,” he said.

Onakoya’s attempt was closely followed in Nigeria, where he regularly organizes chess competitions for young people living on the streets.

More than 10 million school-age children are not in school in the West African country—one of the world’s highest rates.

Among those who have publicly supported him are celebrities and public office holders, including Nigeria’s former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who wrote to Onakoya on the social media platform X, “Remember your own powerful words: ‘It is possible to do great things from a small place.’”

Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria.

Tunde Onakoya, a Nigerian chess champion and child education advocate, plays a chess game in Times Square, Friday, April 19, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Budget

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published state Department of Education (DOE) report and demands of reform during the state’s series of public hearings. Adams was thrilled.

“With the inclusion of mayoral accountability in the state budget, our administration has now secured every single one of our legislative priorities in the budget. Every. Single. One.,” said Adams in a statement. “In the 22 years since mayoral accountability was implemented, New York City’s public schools have transformed—increasing our students’ reading scores, math scores, and graduation rates; reducing the racial disparity gap; allowing the implementation of critical initiatives like ‘NYC Reads’ and universal dyslexia screenings, and ensuring a seamless and timely coordination with partners to welcome, enroll, and support thousands of newly-arriving students and their families on a citywide scale.”

United Federation of Teachers (UFT) President Michael Mulgrew added that the state budget finally gives schools adequate funding to reduce overgrown class sizes as well as improve the recruitment and retention of teachers. “While more work needs to be done on mayoral control,” said Mulgres in a statement,

Clean energy

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Church in Harlem. On a NAN panel about clean energy held on April 11, Rev. Byrd said it costs a staggering $6,000 every ten days to heat the old church with fuel oil.

Founded in 1796 and chartered in 1799 by Black abolitionists, Byrd’s church is recognized as the oldest Black church in New York State. It was an anti-slavery religious institution that served as a hub on the Underground Railroad trail that helped enslaved Blacks find freedom in the North. Mother AME’s current structure, which sits on West 137th Street, is a Neo-Gothic-style cathedral completed in 1925 and landmarked in 1993.

“Have you considered the conversion costs to go from oil to gas?” asked Byrd. “Have you considered the fact that in order to remove these aging boilers and burners in these large historic African-American churches, you have to also deal with things such as asbestos and other things that you have to address before you can even get someone in to lay the new piping for the gas? So why should we care about it? Why should we care about clean energy and why should we devote our time and our effort to ensure that our homes, our religious spaces, and our community centers have clean energy? Because we are

“the introduction of independent leadership to the Panel for Educational Policy provides more checks and balances in school governance.”

SUNY Downstate Hospital safe for now

State electeds have been fighting back against the recent onslaught of hospital closures and seem pleased with the allocations made in the budget towards health care, particularly investments in keeping State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Health Science Center open in Brooklyn. The state budget is putting $7.5 billion into the healthcare system over the next three years, with $350 million in funding for hospital Medicaid repayment rates and $800 million for financially distressed hospitals. It also secures up to $400 million for SUNY’s Downstate operating costs through at least April 1, 2025.

“I am especially pleased that Central Brooklyn was heard, and that this budget rejects the SUNY-Downstate closure plan,” said Senator Zellnor Y. Myrie, one of the hospital’s biggest supporters. “For the past four months, central Brooklyn, along with allies from across the city and state, made it clear that this community opposes any plan to close SUNY-Downstate Medical Center and reduce access to healthcare where we need it most. Because the community fought back from day one, we will now have a year-long process to better de-

wasting a lot of money as a people.”

The panelists discussed how natural gas in combination with renewables can lower emissions, create job opportunities, and address energy disparities among Black, brown, and low-income Americans.

“It’s about clean energy. It’s about affordable energy,” Byrd said with emotion. “It’s about us being able as a people to keep the landmarks in our communities, to let future generations know, this church was paid for by a grandmother that fried chicken and fried fish and did what she had to do to give us this institution. And we are not going to sell it, we are not going to lose it, because we cannot afford the oil prices.”

Harlem’s state Senator Cordell Cleare has been championing the New York Home Energy Affordable Transition (NY Heat) Act or Bill S2016A, which aims to align utility regulation with state climate justice goals, reduce gas emissions, and repeal certain provisions of the public service law relating to gas service and sale. The bill passed in the Senate again this year, but was not included in the recently enacted state budget.

“Our communities have long been plagued with inequities and unhealthy conditions due to the environment,”

Cleare said. “This is a new area, a blossoming industry. And anytime there’s an opportunity for economic gains in our

termine Downstate’s future.”

The plan is to also create an advisory board for SUNY Downstate consisting of experts, workers, and community leaders that will conduct mandatory public hearings with public notice, Myrie said. Additionally, the advisory board will be required to examine healthcare delivery service trends and financials for SUNY Downstate hospital and campus, the efficiency of operations and quality of healthcare services at Downstate, and training needs for students. They will also be obligated to build infrastructure around capital and community healthcare service needs, outcomes, and disparities.

Immigration funding “falls short”

The state budget commits $2.4 billion for migrant services and assistance to help New York City manage the current influx. This includes a $64.2 million restoration for legal services funding, $324 million for the Supplemental Empire State Child Credit Payment for lower and middle income families, and $9.8 million for Adult Literacy Education (ALE). Even though that’s more of an investment than last year, groups like the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) are upset that the Housing Voucher Access Program (HAVP), Coverage for All (C4A) healthcare coverage, Language Access Expansion, and legal representation initiatives were excluded from the budget.

community—in terms of workforce and businesses—yes, we got to get in the door.”

Renewable Heat Now, an environmentalist coalition, was also pretty disappointed that the NY Heat Act was “blocked” in the state budget this year. “Despite support from Governor Hochul, the State Senate, and 76 Assembly co-sponsors…the Assembly leadership sided with fracking companies like National Fuel Gas, who have given thousands of dollars to lawmakers with one hand while funding a massive misinformation campaign of climate denial with the other,” said the coalition in a statement.

Renewable Heat Now maintained that

“We applaud these inclusions but believe Albany could have gone further to secure the futures of New York families,” said NYIC President and CEO Murad Awawdeh. “At a time when working families and immigrant New Yorkers are struggling to make ends meet, the budget falls short. Despite the recent spike in demand for vital immigration legal services, the State made the decision to keep legal services funding at nearly the same level as last year, failing to fulfill the mounting needs of legal service providers or the people they serve.”

Sammy’s Law is in

The state budget includes provisions for Sammy’s Law, which allows New York City to lower the speed limit from 25 to 20 miles per hour (mph). The bill is named after Sammy Cohen Eckstein, a 12-yearold boy who was fatally struck by a speeding driver in Brooklyn in 2013 just a few blocks from his home. His mother, Amy Cohen, has been a steadfast safe streets advocate behind the legislation ever since.

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

the NY HEAT Act would help limit utility bills to 6% of household income and save energy-burdened households an average of $136 a month.

Cleare said there’s still an opportunity until June for the NY Heat Act to pass as a law in the Assembly and be signed by the Governor later on.

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

Religion & Spirituality

William

Strickland, Civil Rights and Black Power activist, passes at 87

By PETER BLACKMER Special to the AmNews

William “Bill” Strickland, an incisive scholar, beloved teacher, and decades-long fighter in the struggle for Black liberation, died April 10 at home in Amherst, MA at the age of 87. He was a former professor in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he taught for 40 years before retiring in 2013.

For more than 60 years, Strickland dedicated his life to advancing civil rights, human rights, and political power for communities throughout the African Diaspora. He had extensive activity and communication with activists in the United States, the Caribbean—particularly Cuba—and the African continent.

A prolific speaker and writer, he shared his incisive critiques of American racism, capitalism, and imperialism in the pages of The Black Scholar, The Black World, Freedomways, Essence, and Souls, among many other popular and academic outlets. He also served as a consultant for the landmark docuseries on the Civil Rights Movement, “Eyes on the Prize” (1990), the PBS documentary “Malcolm X: Make It Plain” (1994), and he took special pride in his companion text to the series he co-edited with Cheryll Y. Greene.

Born William Lamar Strickland on January 4, 1937 in Roxbury, MA, he was raised by his mother, Mittie Louise Strickland (née Norman), a union worker who had moved north from Georgia during the Great Migration. He graduated in the class of 1954 from the prestigious Boys Latin (now Boston Latin) before enrolling in Harvard University, where he majored in Psychology. Strickland paused his studies to join the U.S. Marine Corps from 1956-59, serving stints in London and Vietnam, before returning to Harvard to complete his undergraduate degree.

Like many of his generation, Strickland’s entrance to the Civil Rights Movement came through his involvement with the NAACP Youth Council as a high school student in the early 1950s. Growing up in Roxbury, he became acquainted with Malcolm Little (later Malcolm X) through his older

Dr. William Strickland, during a Library of Congress interview (Image courtesy of the Library of Congress)

cousin Leslie Edman, a friend of Malcolm’s who also served time with him in Charlestown State Prison.

While his service in the Marines taught him about “dimensions of white America that I never would have learned otherwise,” it was his introduction to the works of Richard Wright and James Baldwin at Harvard that helped awaken his political consciousness. As an undergraduate, he enrolled in graduate classes alongside scholar C. Eric Lincoln and Urban League executive director Whitney Young and joined the Boston chapter of the Northern Student Movement (NSM)—a northern counterpart to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee—alongside legendary Boston activist Mel King. It was also at Harvard where he reconnected with Malcolm X in 1961 and formed a close friendship that lasted until Malcolm’s assassination in 1965.

Strickland was named executive director of the NSM in September 1963 and helped steer the national interracial organization into the mainstream of the emergent Black Power Movement. “It is becoming increasingly evident,” he declared that fall, “that ‘civil rights’ is no longer either an adequate term or an accurate description of the quest for full freedom which is now chal-

lenging our society.”

Working out of the NSM national office in New York, Strickland worked with Malcolm X on rent strikes, school boycotts, campaigns against police brutality, and broader struggles for Black liberation alongside activists like James Baldwin, Herbert Callender, Jesse Gray, John Lewis, and Bayard Rustin. When Malcolm X formed the Organization of Afro-American Unity in 1964, Strickland was a founding member as a student representative.

At the invitation of Mississippi-based civil rights organizer Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, Strickland also went south to support the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) with its challenge to the Democratic National Convention in 1964.

That December, Strickland helped organize a Harlem rally in support of the MFDP challenge and fostered a historic introduction between Malcolm and Mrs. Hamer. It was a contribution that Strickland remained proud of throughout his years.

After the NSM dissolved in 1966, Strickland taught as a visiting lecturer in Black History at Columbia University, filling in for renowned historian Eric Foner. While teaching at Columbia, he also served as a member of the advisory board for the

groundbreaking television documentary series “Black Heritage,” spearheaded by Dr. John Henrik Clarke.

Following the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Strickland headed to Atlanta where he co-founded the first independent Black think tank, the Institute of the Black World, with Dr. Vincent Harding in 1969.

In 1973, Strickland joined the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he taught political science for 40 years and served as the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Papers and where he combined his razor-sharp intellect, personal reflections on the Movement, and caustic humor to create transformative learning experiences for his students, within and beyond the classroom.

Strickland also remained engaged in political work throughout his years at UMass. In the 1980s, he renewed a relationship with Civil Rights Movement veteran, Jesse Jackson, and served as the New England Coordinator for Jackson’s presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988.

After retiring in 2013, Strickland split his time between Amherst and Ibiza, Spain, where he had a close community of dear friends. He continued to speak at conferences, symposia and events, dedicated to passing on stories, lessons, and legacies from the Black Freedom Movement to younger generations. He spent much of his time over the last several years in Amherst with his devoted friend and steadfast caregiver Edward Cage by his side.

Prof. Strickland leaves to cherish his memory his first cousins Earnestine “Perri” Norman, Dorothy Craig, Gwendolyn Smith, Arthur Norman, and Keith Norman; second cousins Amy Simpson and Gregory Berry; ex-wife Leslie Lowery; and countless friends, colleagues, comrades, and students around the world who carry forth his legacy in the ongoing struggle of Black liberation.

In lieu of flowers, his close friends Edward Cage and Amilcar Shabazz encourage those who wish to honor Bill Strickland’s legacy to donate to Amherst Media in his memory. A symposium and celebration of life is being planned for fall 2024 and a lecture series fund is being established in his name.

Joseph J. Thomas, trailblazing retail executive, has passed

Joseph J. Thomas, a trailblazing retail executive, has died at the age of 85 at NYU Langone Hospital.

A viewing and funeral mass took place on Tuesday, April 23 starting at 9:00 a.m. at Cathedral Basilica of St. James (250 Cathedral Place, Brooklyn). In lieu of flowers a donation can be made to the J.J. Thomas Memorial Scholarship Fund, High School of Fashion, 225 W. 24th St. NYC 10011.

Mr. Thomas worked for Bloomingdale’s for 43 years. He was a buyer, before rising to become the store’s operating vice president for diversity and community service.

Mr. Thomas was Bloomingdale’s first Black buyer and the company’s first Black corporate, operating vice president. He supported the careers of numerous Black professionals at Bloomingdale’s, in the industry at large and as a board member and president of the Black Retail Action Group (BRAG), the oldest active retail and fashion organization devoted to Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) equity and inclusion

This year, the High School of Fashion Industries in New York, renamed its annual career fair the JJ Thomas Career Day in recognition of his impact and devotion to

the school. The Black Retail Action Group named an award after him: The JJ Thomas Innovators Award for new businesses.

Born April 26, 1938 in Opelousas, Louisiana, Mr. Thomas served in the Army before joining Bloomingdale’s in 1965 at the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

Five years later, he joined BRAG and was appointed to the board of directors in 1974. He became president and served until 1995. During his tenure, the organization raised thousands of dollars from retailers, and awarded college scholarships to hundreds of Black students from around the country.

In 2005, he wed Halcyone Bullen.

Mr. Thomas remained with Bloomingdale’s until his retirement in 2008 and retired from the BRAG board two years later, moving to the advisory board. He was never without his camera. With it, he captured a lot of the history and memories of diversity groundbreakers in the industry. Many of his photographs date back to the ‘70s—a time when African Americans were just starting to be included in the industry at management and executive levels.

Mr. Thomas lived in Brooklyn Heights, New York. He is survived by his wife, stepson Jamal Lanham, sister Elizabeth Lazard, and a host of nieces and nephews. (Photo courtesy of the family)

Children of Flint water crisis make change as young environmental and health activists

By TAMMY WEBBER Associated Press

Their childhood memories are vivid: warnings against drinking or cooking with tap water, enduring long lines for cases of water, washing from buckets filled with heated, bottled water.

But the children of the Flint water crisis—set in motion April 25, 2014, when the city began drawing water from the Flint River—have turned their trauma into advocacy.

They know Flint still struggles: its population has fallen by about 20,000 in the past decade, leaving abandoned houses frequently targeted by arsonists. More than twothirds of children live in poverty, and many struggle in school.

But young activists say they want to help make a difference, change how their city is perceived by outsiders—and defy expectations.

“One of the biggest issues about growing up in Flint is that people had already decided and predetermined who we were,” said 22-yearold Cruz Duhart, a member of the Flint Public Health Youth Academy.

“They had ideas about our IQ, about behavioral things, but they never really stopped to speak to us and how we thought about it and the type of traumas that we were going through.”

Sima Gutierrez collects water samples from residents’ homes and takes them to the Flint Community Water Lab, where more than 60 high school and college interns have provided free testing for thousands of residents since 2020.

She helps plan public awareness campaigns about topics like gun violence and how racism affects public health as a member of the Flint Public Health Youth Academy.

Protest

Continued from page 3

draws from the Protests of 1968, which similarly addressed both international conflict and local conditions of the neighboring Black and brown population, as the uprising denounced American involvement in Vietnam while rallying against a segregated gym on campus.

Beyond Palestine and Harlem, the protesters also asked for no policing on campus. Columbia is

“I wanted to be surrounded by people who weren’t going to cover up the whole fact that people are still having problems ... to share my life (with) anybody else who’s going through what I’m going through,” said Sima, 16.

A decade ago, she complained about stomach pains when she drank water, but her mom believed it helped her daughter’s body flush medication she took for an autoimmune disorder that was causing her hair to fall out in patches and leaving her skin splotchy.

Sima and three of her sisters were found to have elevated lead levels and have been diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; she also has a learning difficulty, her mother said.

Residents had been assured the water was safe when many complained of skin rashes and discolored, smelly and foul-tasting water after the city disconnected from Detroit-supplied water to save money.

But a year and a half later, a water expert found high lead levels in the tap water, caused by the city’s failure to add anti-corrosion chemicals, which state environmental officials said was unnecessary.

A physician also discovered that levels in kids’ blood had doubled.

The potent neurotoxin can damage children’s brains and nervous systems and affect learning, behavior, hearing and speech. There is no safe childhood exposure level, and problems can manifest years later.

Data collected over a decade now show that Flint children have higher rates of ADHD, behavioral and mental health problems, and more difficulty learning than those assessed before the water crisis, said Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the

private property and traditionally does not allow NYPD onsite unless a crime is committed. But Thursday’s sweep came at the behest of university president Minouche Shafik after the students refused to leave. They were largely issued trespassing summons, according to police. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter Isra Hirsi, a Barnard College student, was among those arrested. The Democratic Congresswoman gushed over X, formerly known as Twitter, as a proud mom.

“She has always led with courage and compassion, from orga-

Sima Gutierrez, right, observes as a teammate examines water at the Flint Community Water Lab in Flint, Mich. The lab, with more than 60 high school and college interns, has provided free water testing for thousands of residents since 2020. (AP Photo/ Carlos Osorio)

pediatrician who flagged rising lead levels in Flint kids’ blood. She said issues such as nutrition, poverty, unemployment and systemic inequalities also could be factors.

But Flint kids are resilient, she said, and have made important contributions to the city’s recovery. The Flint Youth Justice League, an advisory board to her Pediatric Public Health Initiative, for example, has offered advice on programs to reduce poverty and connect residents to public services.

“Our young people are amazing,” said Hanna-Attisha. “They are not okay with the status quo and they are demanding that we do better for them and for generations to come.”

Asia Donald remembers feeling helpless and bewildered when her little sister developed rashes and her mom boiled pot after pot of bottled water for baths.

But a couple years later, she was guiding kids from Newark, New Jersey, as they experienced their own water crisis. Over Zoom meetings, the kids from Flint explained parts per billion, how to

nizing a statewide school walkout on the 20th anniversary of Columbine at the age of 15, to leading the biggest youth climate rally at our nation’s Capitol at 16, and now pushing her school to stand against genocide,” wrote Rep. Omar (MN-5). “Stepping up to change what you can’t tolerate is why we as a country have the right to speech, assembly, and petition enshrined in our constitution.”

Following the arrests, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell told reporters that “the students that were arrested were peaceful” and “offered no resis-

test water for lead and how they’d coped with fears.

“They felt the exact same way that I felt when I was ... going through it,” said Asia, 20, one of 18 interns at the Flint Public Health Youth Academy.

They’re paid a monthly stipend to run the academy—writing grants, creating budgets, analyzing data, running meetings and creating public awareness campaigns. They have a biweekly talk show on YouTube, where they’ve discussed everything from mental health to COVID.

Dr. Kent Key, a public health researcher with the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in Flint, started the academy after studying health disparities in African American communities as part of his doctoral dissertation.

“I felt like everyone had written Flint youth off,” he said. “I did not want (the water crisis) to be a sentence of doom and gloom ... I wanted it to be a catapult to launch the next generation of public health professionals.”

tance whatsoever” although he did recite several insults hurled at his officers by protesters. On Monday, April 22, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Public Information Tarik Sheppard maintained there were “no credible threats to any group or individual coming from this protest.” Yet the Strategic Response Group, the department’s militarized protest unit, was deployed. Shafik also announced that this past Monday’s classes were relegated to online and a university official advised faculty to provide “the option of remote learning—

One of the academy’s frequent partners is Young, Gifted & Green. Flint resident Dionna Brown, national director of the organization’s youth environmental justice program, plans a two-week summer environmental justice camp in Flint every year. Teens learn about policy, climate justice, sustainability and housing disparities.

Brown became interested in advocacy during a class on environmental inequality at Howard University. Now she plans to become an environmental justice attorney.

“I tell people all the time: I’m a child of the Flint water crisis,” said Brown, who was 14 when it began. “I love my city. And we put the world on notice that you cannot just poison a city and we’ll forget about it.”

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/ climate-and-environment.

and when possible, assessment —to students who are seeking academic accommodations due to campus activity for either religious reasons or approved disability accommodation reasons.”

Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who 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

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TANJI, Defts. - Index # 850056/2023. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated January 30, 2024, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on Thursday, May 2, 2024, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 0.00986400000% tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as 57TH STREET VACATION SUITES located at 102 West 57th Street, New York, NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $26,554.59 plus costs and interest as of October 25, 2023. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Matthew D. Hunter III, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY.

Supreme Court - New York County - Hilton Resorts Corp., Pltf. v. Any unknown heirs to the Estate of Nick Fravala, next of kin, devisees, legatees, distributees, grantees, assignees, creditors, lienors, trustees, executors, administrators or successors in interest, as well as the respective heirs at law, next of kin, devisees, legatees, distributees, grantees, assignees, lienors, trustees, executors, administrators or successors in interest of the aforesaid classes of persons, if they or any of them be dead, all of whom and whose names and places of residence are unknown to the plaintiff, et al., Deft. - Index # 850212/2016. The foregoing supplemental summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Honorable FRANCIS KAHN, III, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, dated the 17th day of October 2023 and duly entered the 16th day of November 2023 in the office of the Clerk of the County of New York, State of New York.

Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY, 5165868513.

TO THE ABOVE-NAMED DEFENDANTS:

YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your answer, or, if the Complaint is not served with this Summons, to serve a notice of appearance, on the Plaintiff's attorney, within twenty (20) days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within thirty (30) days after completion of service where service is made in any other manner than by personal delivery within the State) In case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint.

NOTICE OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT

THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is for the foreclosure of: An undivided 0.00986400000% tenants in common interest of 57th Street Vacation Suites located at 102 West 57th Street NY, NY. Block: 1009 Lot: 37. Mortgage bearing the date of November 19, 2015, executed by Nick Fravala to Hilton Resorts Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, to secure the sum of $50,915.00, and interest and recorded in the Office of the Clerk of New York County on March 22, 2016, in CRFN 2016000101557. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the Mortgaged Premises as described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above. YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT.

This Is Your Moment Productions LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 8/10/23. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail a copy to: 234-18 118th Street, Cambria Heights, NY, 11411. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Notice of formation

Notice of Formation of 322W80 TRUE HOUSE LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/19/24. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 322 W 80th St., NY, NY 10024. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Engel & Davis, LLP, 620 Fifth Ave., Ste. 200, NY, NY 10020. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY. NAME: OUR NYC HOME, LLC. Articles of Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 04/21/2023, office location Bronx County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of the process to the LLC, 4632 Third Avenue, Bronx, NY 10458. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

Notice of Qualification of OTG CONCESSIONS MANAGEMENT, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/11/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 05/31/17. Princ. office of LLC: 352 Park Ave. S., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10010. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 820 N. French St., 10th Fl., Wilmington, DE 19801. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of DD SACK WERN DEVELOPER LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/11/24. Office location: NY County. Princ. 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.

Notice of Formation of CERTIFIED ORNAMENTAL, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/07/24. Office location: NY County. 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., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of LUMI STUDIOS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy.

Notice of Formation of URBAN DECAY COSMETICS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/18/24. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 10 Hudson Yards, NY, NY 10001. 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., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of LONG YEARS AGO LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/19/24. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 1 Columbus Pl., N29B, NY, NY 10019. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

GBM Capital LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 3/5/24. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail a copy to: 405 E 54th St., #12D, New York, NY 10022. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of VERY BEST FEATURE, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/21/24. Office location: NY County. 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., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: A show that will be based off a theatrical production.

Qualification of MACCABEE VENTURES FUND

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/22/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/23/24. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY122072543. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form.filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of ESSENCE SELTZER, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/26/24. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 6 Greene St., Ste. 600, NY, NY 10013. 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., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of SPRING US ESTATES LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/28/24. Office location: NY County. 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., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of BREAKTHRU BEVERAGE GROUP, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/28/24. Office location: NY County.

Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Ashley Beale Nutrition, PLLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 3/14/2024. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail a copy to: 33 Park View Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07302. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

The Residual Effect LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 02/13/2024. Office location: Bronx County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail a copy to: 416 E. 134th Street, Bronx, NY 10454. Purpose: Any lawful act.

LLC:

Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: To provide services related to security deposits to renters and owners and operators of property.

QUE RICO RESTAURANT LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 01/25/24. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail a copy to: 221 E 23 St, NY, NY 10010.

Purpose: Any lawful act.

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT: NEW YORK COUNTY. NYCTL 2021A TRUST AND THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON AS COLLATERAL AGENT AND CUSTODIAN FOR THE NYCTL 2021-A TRUST, Pltf. vs. ROBERT S. COBURN et al, Defts. Index #156989/2022. Pursuant to judgment of foreclosure and sale entered December 20, 2023, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on May 15, 2024 at 2:15 p.m. prem. k/a 9 West 20 th Street, Unit #2, New York, NY a/k/a Block 00822 Lot 1202 Approx. amt. of judgment is $146,114.72 plus costs and interest. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed judgment and terms of sale and the right of the United States of America to redeem within 120 days from the date of sale as provided by law. ELAINE SHAY, Referee. THE DELLO-IACONO LAW GROUP, P.C., Attys. for Pltf., 312 Larkfield Road, Lower Level, East Northport, NY. File No. 22-000002 #101089

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK

U.S. Bank Trust, N.A., as Trustee for LSF9 Master Participation Trust, Plaintiff

AGAINST

Llewellyn C. Werner a/k/a

Llewellyn Werner Individually and as the sole member of Hawkes AP, LLC; et al., Defendant(s)

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered December 7, 2022 I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse in Room 130, located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on May 15, 2024 at 2:15PM, premises known as 160 West 66th Street Unit 46-G a/k/a 160 West 66th Street, Apartment 46G, New York, NY 10023. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County, City and State of New York, Block 1137 Lot 1272. Approximate amount of judgment $2,290,728.13 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #810045/2010. The auction will be conducted pursuant to the COVID-19 Policies Concerning Public Auctions of Foreclosed Property established by the First Judicial District.

Edward H. Lehner, Esq., Referee LOGS Legal Group LLP f/k/a Shapiro, DiCaro & Barak, LLC

Attorney(s) for the Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (877) 430-4792

Dated: January 11, 2024

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT: NEW YORK COUNTY. NYCTL 2021A TRUST AND THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON AS COLLATERAL AGENT AND CUSTODIAN FOR THE NYCTL 2021-A TRUST, Pltf. vs. CHINESE AMERICAN TRADING CO., et al, Defts. Index #156803/2022. Pursuant to judgment of foreclosure and sale entered December 19, 2023, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on May 15, 2024 at 2:15 p.m. prem. k/a 201 West 72nd Street, Unit 10F, New York, NY 10022 a/k/a Block 01164, Lot 01137 Approx. amt. of judgment is $54,142.31 plus costs and interest. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed judgment and terms of. PAUL SKLAR Referee. THE DELLO-IACONO LAW GROUP, P.C., Attys. for Pltf., 312 Larkfield Road, Lower Level, East Northport, NY. File No. 22000024- #101136

NOTICE OF SALE

In pursuance and by virtue of a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly granted and entered in an action entitled NYCTL 2021-A Trust and The Bank of New York Mellon as Collateral Agent and Custodian for the NYCTL 2021-A Trust v. 187 Street Mazal LLC, et al., bearing Index No. 157338/2022 on or about December 19, 2023, by the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, I, the Referee, duly appointed in this action for such purpose, will expose for sale and sell at public auction to the highest bidder on May 22, 2024 at 2:15 p.m., at the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, Room 130, New York, New York 10007, the liened premises designated as Block 2170, Lot 30, in the City of New York, County of New York and Borough of Manhattan, State of New York and known as 661 West 187th Street, New York, New York 10033, directed in and by said judgment to be sold. The sale will be conducted pursuant to the Court’s Auction Rules and any COVID Restrictions. The approximate amount of the judgment is $48,694.86 plus interest and other charges, and the property is being sold subject to the terms and conditions stated in the judgment, any prior encumbrances and the terms of sale which shall be available at the time of sale.

Dated: April 25, 2024

New York, New York

Paul Sklar, Esq. Referee 551 5th Avenue, Suite 2200 New York, New York 101760001 (917) 697-7073

David P. Stich, Esq. Attorney for Plaintiff 521 Fifth Avenue, 17th Floor New York,

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF New York, NYCTL 2021A Trust, and The Bank of New York Mellon as Collateral Agent and Custodian for the NYCTL 2021-A Trust, Plaintiff, vs. Tindaya Properties of New York II Corp., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion dated December 18, 2023 and duly entered on December 20, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on May 8, 2024 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 60 Riverside Boulevard, Unit 3602, New York, NY 10069. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, Block 1171 and Lot 4447 together with an undivided 0.7128 percent interest in the Common Elements. Approximate amount of judgment is $358,849.98 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #158815/2022.

Paul Sklar, Esq., Referee Bronster, LLP, 156 West 56th Street, Suite 703, New York, New York 10019, Attorneys for Plaintiff

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT: NEW YORK COUNTY. U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR THE REGISTERED HOLDERS OF WELLS FARGO COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE SECURITIES, INC., MULTIFAMILY MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2020-SB80, Pltf. vs. 121 WEST 116TH OWNER, LLC, et al, Defts. Index #850007/2023. Pursuant to judgment of foreclosure and sale entered Feb. 9, 2024, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on May 29, 2024 at 2:15 p.m. premises k/a Block 1901, Lot 21. Approximate amount of judgment is $5,342,683.76 plus costs and interest. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed judgment and terms of sale. CHRISTY M. DEMELFI, Referee. BALLARD SPAHR, LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 1675 Broadway, 19 th Floor, New York, NY 10019 - #101293

Notice of Formation of DD 82ND STREET PARTICIPANTS

LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/06/24. Office location: NY

County. Princ. 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 Jeffrey Levine at the princ. office of the LLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT- COUNTY OF NEW YORK

ELIZON MASTER PARTICIPATION TRUST I, U.S. BANK TRUST NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS OWNER TRUSTEE, Plaintiff, AGAINST SHEHARBANO ALI, et al. Defendant(s)

Pursuant to a judgment of foreclosure and sale duly entered on March 6, 2024.

I, the undersigned Referee, will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre St, New York, NY 10007 on May 8, 2024 at 2:15 PM premises known as 303 East 43rd St 9A, New York, NY 10017.

Please take notice that this foreclosure auction shall be conducted in compliance with the Foreclosure Auction Rules for the First Judicial District, New York County, and the COVID 19 Health Emergency Rules, including proper use of masks and social distancing.

All that certain plot piece or parcel 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. Block 1336 and Lot 1023.

Approximate amount of judgment $1,480,531.27 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment. Index #850131/2015.

Elaine Shay, Esq. , Referee, Aldridge Pite, LLP - Attorneys for Plaintiff - 40 Marcus Drive, Suite 200, Melville, NY 11747

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK.

ONESTONE LENDING LLC, Plaintiff -against- ALTA OPERATIONS, LLC, et al Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated November 17, 2023 and entered on November 27, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, NY on May 8, 2024 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County and State of New York, known as The Tower Unit 10A in the building known as "One Riverside Park Condominium" together with an undivided 0.3653% interest in the common elements.

Block: 1171 Lot: 2508. Said premises known as 50 RIVERSIDE BOULEVARD, UNIT 10A, NEW YORK, NY 10069. Approximate amount of lien $1,027,596.74 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 850198/2020. JERRY MEROLA, ESQ., Referee. The Camporeale Law Group PLLC, Attorney(s) for Plaintiff, 585 Stewart Avenue, 770, Garden City, NY 11530

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF New York , Home Loan Investment Bank, F.S.B. F/K/A Ocean Bank, F.S.B. , Plaintiff, vs . Jocely Padilha , ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to an Amended Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on July 21, 2022 and a Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on January 5, 2024 , I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse, Room 130, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on May 8, 2024 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 210 East 47th Street, Unit No. 2C, New York, NY 10017 - all that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, Block 1320 and Lot 1408 together with an undivided 1.212 percent interest in the Common Elements (“the Premises”). Approximate amount of judgment is $280,884.71 plus interest and costs. The Premises is being sold subject to the lien of the portion of the first mortgage of Specialized Loan Servicing, LLC that is not subordinated to Plaintiff’s lien pursuant to the Order of the Court dated November 5, 2021. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850158/2019. Referee will not accept any cash payment(s) for any deposit or portion of the purchase price. COVID-19 safety protocols will be followed at the foreclosure sale.

Notice of Qualification of COFFEE AND TV LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/05/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 02/22/24. Princ. office of LLC: 1285 Ave. of

Notice of Formation of DD ST. NICHOLAS LLC Arts. of Org.

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.

Notice of Formation of DD ATLANTIC PARTICIPANTS LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/06/24. Office location: NY

County. Princ. 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 Jeffrey Levine at the princ. office of the LLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Bruce N. Lederman, Esq., Referee

Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., Jackie Halpern Weinstein, Esq., One Battery Park Plaza, 18th Floor, New York, New York 10004, Attorneys for Plaintiff

Notice of Qualification of AMO DYNAMIC RISK PREMIA ONSHORE FUND, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/11/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/24/24. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of DE, Dept. of State, Div. of Corps., John Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

New York, NY, 10027. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Application for Authority of Curated Planet, LLC filed with the Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/15/2024. The fict. name under which the LLC will do business in NY is Your Tour, LLC. Formed in DE on 1/26/2018. Office loc.: NY County. SSNY is designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The address SSNY shall mail copy of process to 400 E. 70th St., #2002, New York, NY 10021. The office address required to be maintained in DE is 838 Walker Rd., Ste. 21-2, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Formation filed with the Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME

COURT COUNTY OF NEW

YORK US Bank National Association as Trustee for CMSI REMIC Series 2007-03REMIC Pass-Through Certificates Series 2007-03, Plaintiff

AGAINST Chaya Gottesman

a/k/a Chayala C Gottesman

a/k/a Clare C Gottesman, et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered February 9, 2022, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse in Room 130, located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on May 22, 2024 at 2:15PM, premises known as 127 West 82nd Street, Unit 1B, New York, NY 10024. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, BLOCK: 1213, LOT: 1159. Approximate amount of judgment $873,418.90 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850006/2018. The aforementioned auction will be conducted in accordance with the NEW YORK County COVID-19 Protocols located on the Office of Court Administration (OCA) website (https:// ww2.nycourts.gov/Admin/oca. shtml) and as such all persons must comply with social distancing, wearing masks and screening practices in effect at the time of this foreclosure sale.

Joseph Buono, Esq., Referee Frenkel Lambert Weiss Weisman & Gordon, LLP 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, NY 11706 01-086495-F00 79168

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF New York , U.S. BANK TRUST NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, NOT IN ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY BUT SOLELY AS OWNER TRUSTEE FOR VRMTG ASSET TRUST, Plaintiff, vs . Lindsay Frimodt, if living, and if she be dead, any and all persons unknown to Plaintiff, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to an Amended Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on March 28, 2024, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on May 22, 2024 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 72 East 3rd Street, Apt. 5D, New York, NY 10003 a/k/a 72-74 East 3rd Street, Apt. 5D, New York, NY 10003. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County, City and State of New York, Block 444 and Lot 1018 together with a 4.75 percent undivided interest in the common elements. Approximate amount of judgment is $339,431.59 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850114/2019. Cash will not be accepted. COVID-19 safety protocols will be followed at the foreclosure sale.

Doron Leiby, Esq., Referee

Knuckles & Manfro, LLP, 120 White Plains Road, Suite 215, Tarrytown, New York 10591, Attorneys for Plaintiff

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF New York, Wilmington Trust, National Association, not in its individual capacity, but solely as Trustee for MFRA Trust 2014-2, Plaintiff, vs. Antonios Gabriel a/k/a Anthony Gabriel, Defendant(s).

Supreme Court – New York County – Hilton Resorts Corp., Pltf. v. Any unknown heirs to the to the Estate of SID HAMLER, JR., next of kin, devisees, legatees, distributees, grantees, assignees, creditors, lienors, trustees, executors, administrators or successors in interest, as well as the respective heirs at law, next of kin, devisees, legatees, distributees, grantees, assignees, lienors, trustees, executors, administrators or successors in interest of the aforesaid classes of persons, if they or any of them be dead, all of whom and whose names and places of residence are unknown to the plaintiff, et al., Deft. – Index # 850122/2017. The foregoing supplemental summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Honorable FRANCIS KAHN, III, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, dated the 26th day of October, 2023 and duly entered the 27th day of October, 2023 in the office of the Clerk of the County of New York, State of New York. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY, 5165868513.

TO THE ABOVE-NAMED DEFENDANTS:

YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your answer, or, if the Complaint is not served with this Summons, to serve a notice of appearance, on the Plaintiff’s attorney, within twenty (20) days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within thirty (30) days after completion of service where service is made in any other manner than by personal delivery within the State) In case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint.

NOTICE OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT

THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is for the foreclosure of: An undivided .009864% tenants in common interest of 57th Street Vacation Suites located at 102 West 57th Street NY, NY. Block: 1009 Lot: 37. Mortgage bearing the date of May 2, 2009, executed by Sid Hamler Jr. to Hilton Resorts Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, to secure the sum of $30,510.00, and interest and recorded in the Office of the Clerk of New York County on August 17, 2009, in CRFN 2009000258365. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the Mortgaged Premises as described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above.

YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT.

Supreme Court – New York County – Hilton Resorts Corp., Pltf. v. Any unknown heirs to the to the Estates of MELVIN S. JANIS and SHARON F. JANIS, next of kin, devisees, legatees, distributees, grantees, assignees, creditors, lienors, trustees, executors, administrators or successors in interest, as well as the respective heirs at law, next of kin, devisees, legatees, distributees, grantees, assignees, lienors, trustees, executors, administrators or successors in interest of the aforesaid classes of persons, if they or any of them be dead, all of whom and whose names and places of residence are unknown to the plaintiff, MICHAEL S. BROOKS, NYC TRANSIT ADJUDICATION BUREAU, and NYC DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE, PARKING VIOLATIONS BUREAU, Defts. – Index # 850185/2021. The foregoing supplemental summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Honorable FRANCIS KAHN, III, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, dated the 17th day of October, 2023 and duly entered the 18th day of October, 2023 in the office of the Clerk of the County of New York, State of New York. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY, 5165868513.

TO THE ABOVE-NAMED DEFENDANTS:

NOTICE OF SALE

WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE REGISTERED HOLDERS OF JPMBB COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE SECURITIES TRUST 2014-C24, COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2014-C24, BY AND THROUGH ITS SPECIAL SERVICER, LNR PARTNERS, LLC, Plaintiff v. IRONWOOD REALTY CORPORATION, BEN ASHKENAZY, NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION AND FINANCE, NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE, ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BOARD OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, THE CITY OF NEW YORK, and PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Defendants, Index No. 850274/2021 . Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision and Order on Motion dated December 1, 2023, and duly entered in the above-entitled action and filed in the Office of the New York County Clerk on February 6, 2024 (the “Judgment”), I the undersigned Referee in said Judgment named, will sell at public auction to the highest bidder at Room 130 of the Courthouse, located at 60 Centre Street, New York, New York, the premises directed by said Judgment to be sold. The premises will be offered for sale, as one parcel, on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at 2:15 p.m. The premises therein described are located at 635 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10022, also known as Block 1374, Lot 21 on the Tax Map for the County of New York, together with the buildings, improvements, fixtures, machinery, equipment, personalty and other rights or interests of any kind or nature located thereon, and more particularly described in the Judgment. The premises will be sold subject to the provisions of the filed Judgment, Index No. 850274/2021 , and the Terms of Sale, all of which are available from plaintiff’s counsel upon request.

The approximate amount of the Judgment, for the property referred to therein, is $99,758,265.13, plus interest and costs, as provided in the Judgment. The successful bidder will be required to deposit 10% of the bid by certified or official bank check, unendorsed, made payable to the Referee.

Matthew D. Hunter III, Esq., Referee ( 718) 309-1660

Herrick, Feinstein LLP, Attorneys for Plaintiff, Two Park Avenue, New York, New York 10016, (212) 592-1461, Attention: Scott T. Tross, Esq.

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF New York , Wilmington Trust, National Association, as Trustee, for the benefit of the Holders of CD 2016-CD2 Mortgage Trust Commercial Mortgage Pass Through Certificates, Series 2016-CD2; Wilmington Trust, National Association, as Trustee, for the benefit of the Registered Holders of JPMDB Commercial MortgagE SECURITIES trust 2017-c5 commercial mortgage pass through certificates, series 2017-c5; deutsche bank trust company americas, as trustee, on behalf of the registered holders of citigroup Commercial mortgage trust 2017-p7, commercial mortgage Pass-through certificates, series 2017-p7; and wells fargo bank national association, as trustee, on behalf of the registered holders of cd2017-cd3 mortgage trust commercial mortgage pass-through certificates, series 2017-cd3, Plaintiffs, vs . Elmwood NYT Owner, LLC , ET AL., Defendant(s).

Notice is hereby given that a license, serial #NA-0340-24112929 for beer, wine & liquor has been applied for by the undersigned to sell beer, wine & liquor at retail in a restaurant under the ABC Law at 1076 1st Ave., NYC 10022 for on-premises consumption; Noah-Serena 10-12 Inc.

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on May 26, 2023 and an amended Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on June 27, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse, Courtroom 130, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on May 22, 2024 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 77 West 55th Street, Unit 15G, New York, NY 10019. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County, City and State of New York, Block 1271 and Lot 1507 together with an undivided 0.5147 percent interest in the Common Elements. Approximate amount of judgment is $995,652.99 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850250/2019. COVID-19 safety protocols will be followed at the foreclosure sale.

YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your answer, or, if the Complaint is not served with this Summons, to serve a notice of appearance, on the Plaintiff’s attorney, within twenty (20) days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within thirty (30) days after completion of service where service is made in any other manner than by personal delivery within the State) In case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint.

NOTICE OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT

THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is for the foreclosure of: An undivided 15,000/28,402,100 tenants in common interest of HNY Club Suites located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas NY, NY. Block: 1006 Lot: 1302. Mortgage bearing the date of July 25, 2019, executed by Melvin S. Janis, Sharon F. Janis and Michael S. Brooks to Hilton Resorts Corporation, a Delaware Corporation, to secure the sum of $56,469.32, and interest and recorded in the Office of the Clerk of New York County on October 25, 2019, in CRFN 2019000348437. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the Mortgaged Premises as described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above. YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT.

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered on January 10, 2024 , I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on May 29, 2024 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 229 West 43rd Street, Retail Unit, New York, NY 10036. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, Block 1015 and Lot 1001, as well as all personal property of Borrower as identified in the Mortgage, but excluding any funds held by Plaintiff in any reserve, escrow, or suspense fund, excluding any funds held by Plaintiff in any cash management account, and excluding any funds held by or on behalf of Klaus Kretchmann in his capacity as court-appointed receiver (or any property manager or other agent acting on behalf of the receiver) in that certain foreclosure case pending in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, in Index No. 850176/2020.” Approximate amount of judgment is $344,079,071.86 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850176/2020. COVID-19 safety protocols will be followed at the foreclosure sale. Thomas Kleinberger, Esq., Referee Polsinelli PC, Aaron C. Jackson, Esq., Aaron P. Davis, Esq., 600 Third Avenue, 42nd Floor, New York, New York 10016, Attorneys for Plaintiffs

Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 02/03/2024. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail a copy to: 250 West 50th St, New York, NY 10019. Purpose: Any lawful act. Matousek LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on March 1, 2024. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail a copy to: 304 E 41st

F. Buono, Esq., Referee

Jenko Consulting LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 1/22/2024. Office: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail copy to: 217 E 33rd St, Apt 6FE, New York, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice is hereby given that a license, serial #NA-0240-24112543 for beer & wine has been applied for by the undersigned to sell beer & wine at retail in a restaurant under the ABC Law at 6 Ave. B., NYC 10009 for on-premises consumption; CCG G-s 3 LLC

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK

International

Continued from page 2

ment ministry of Uganda’s permanent secretary.

poor women with support and income.

Music and Dramatic Arts, and worked at the acclaimed American Repertory Theater.

15 Barton Road LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/15/23. Office location: Westchester County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail a copy to: 54 N Broadway, Yonkers, NY 10701. Purpose: Any lawful act.

may be served & shall mail a copy to: 1266 Olmstead Ave. Apt. 3E, Bronx, NY 10462. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF New York, PS Funding, Inc., Plaintiff, vs. 236 West E&P LLC, Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on November 28, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse, Courtroom 130, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on May 15, 2024 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 235 West 136th Street, New York, NY 10030. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, Block 1942 and Lot 116. Approximate amount of judgment is $1,849,325.16 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 850143/2021. COVID-19 safety protocols will be followed at the foreclosure sale.

Georgia Papazis, Esq., Referee Chartwell Law, One Battery Park Plaza, Suite 710, New York, New York 10004, Attorneys for Plaintiff

MASPETH FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff -against- CALIMERO, LTD., et al Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated August 23, 2023 and entered on October 6, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, NY on May 29, 2024 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the City, County and State of New York, bounded and described as follows: BEGINNING at a point on the southerly side of 84th Street, distant 123 feet easterly from the southeasterly corner of Avenue A and 84th Street; being a plot 102 feet 2 inches by 25 feet by 102 feet 2 inches by 25 feet. Section: 5 Block: 1580 Lot: 47 Said premises known as 504 EAST 84TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10028

Approximate amount of lien $716,258.71 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 850247/2022. SCOTT SILLER, ESQ., Referee

In Ghana, the Church of Pentecost has been campaigning for plastic waste management, calling it an employment opportunity and a source of income.

“Let’s see if some business entrepreneurs will come on board and take charge of the plastics which others will collect for a fee. By doing so, we keep the streets and environment clean,” said Apostle Eric Kwabena Nyamekye. Several countries, however, have been singled out for doing less than their fair share. Eritrea, to name one, fares worst in the world in plastic waste management, according to Down To Earth, a publication focused on the politics of development and the environment with help from the New Delhi-based group Science and the Environment.

A book written about Ceesay is still on sale. “One Plastic Bag” can be obtained through Amazon.

TWO AFRICAN STUDENTS OF THEATER WIN MAJOR SOROS AWARD

(GIN)—Winners of a generous prize from the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships this year include Zimbabweborn Ruva Chigwedere and Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. from Sierra Leone. Both are in graduate theater programs in their respective schools.

The fellowship winners are

As president of Black Community and Student Theater at Harvard, she worked to ensure institutional memory. For her undergraduate thesis, Ruva wrote “For Daughters of Ezili; A Meditation on Black Women, Subjectivity, and Romantic Love.”

Chigwedere graduated with a joint degree in theater, dance, media, history and literature. She was the granddaughter of the late Aeneas Soko Chigwedere, governor of Mashonaland East, as well as a historian and former education

In 2016, he studied audio storytelling at the Transom Story Workshop after which he interned at National Public Radio and Gimlet Media, a national podcast production studio. There he co-produced “Uncivil,” a Peabody Award-winning podcast that told the story of the American Civil War from the perspective of marginalized people.

Around 97% of plastic waste created in Eritrea is mismanaged, according to the group which calculates the date when the amount of plastic waste outweighs the world’s ability to manage it, with environmental pollution occurring as a result.

Countries whose waste management capacity is fully exhausted include Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya, the U.K., the U.S., and Brazil. In these places, plastic waste finds its way into the natural environment.

One remarkable success story, however, is that of Isatou Ceesay, a Gambian activist and social entrepreneur, popularly referred to as the Queen of Recycling. She initiated a movement called One Plastic Bag in The Gambia. Through this movement, she educated women in her country to recycle plastic waste into sellable products that earned them income.

“We plucked plastic bags from trash piles and took them home together with my four friends. We washed the bags, dried them, cut them into strips, and crocheted them into bags.”

The Gambian Women’s Initiative has grown and now empowers marginalized

children of immigrants, pursuing graduate studies in the U.S. The program draws more than 1,800 applications annually for just 30 awards.

Each of the recipients was chosen for their potential to make significant contributions to the U.S. and will receive up to $90,000 in funding over two years.

The winner from Zimbabwe, Ruva Chigwedere, was born in Harare and is a Mwenewazvo of the Tsoko-Mukanya totem in the Shona culture. Before joining her parents in the U.S. at age four, Ruva lived on her grandparents’ farm in Marondera, Zimbabwe.

At Harvard College, Chigwedere studied Shona language and did coursework on the Black diaspora. She performed with the Kuumba Singers of Harvard College and Harvard College Opera, trained at the London Academy of

minister whose career was stymied by the political situation in Zimbabwe.

She is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in acting at the University of California, San Diego and hopes to work in theater, TV and film.

Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone to Aminata Sumah and Saidu Tejan-Thomas. After the Sierra Leonean civil war in 2001, he migrated to the U.S., just as the U.S. was on the brink of its own war.

After earning a degree in public relations, Saidu cofounded an organization called Good Clear Sound to help others write and perform their work. He appeared in various theatrical productions and trained under Dr. Tawnya PettifordWates in the African methodology of Ritual Poetic Drama.

Saidu is committed to amplifying the voices of Black and brown people.

In 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, Saidu cocreated “Resistance,” a show about people refusing to accept things as they are. He documented the stories of everyday Americans fighting for justice—a teacher turned agitator, a designer turned politician, a student turned movement leader.

“Resistance” was the recipient of a Columbia University Dart Award. His work has been featured by The New York Times, This American Life, among others.

He is currently studying acting at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio. His MFA will go towards developing a practice that combines journalism and theater to support communities through the arts.

Daisy Soros, co-founder of the program, declared: “As we welcome these impressive new Fellows to our community, I am filled with pride and hope for the bright futures they will have professionally and as they give back to our country. Their stories demonstrate the strength and vitality inherent in the immigrant identity—they aren’t afraid to take risks and think big. Congratulations to the new Fellows!”

Ruva Chigwedere (GIN photo) Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr. (GIN photo)

DJ Stewart and Tyrone Taylor are boosting the Mets

By JUSTIN PETRILLE MLBbro Special to the AmNews

LOS ANGELES—While New York loves to highlight its biggest and flashiest stars, Tyrone Taylor and DJ Stewart, relative unknowns, have been unsung heroes for the Mets, which were 12-11 and had won eight of their previous 12 games before facing the San Francisco Giants on the road yesterday afternoon.

The game ended a six-game West Coast road trip for the Mets. They went 2-1 versus the Los Angeles Dodgers and looked to take the series finale against the Giants after dropping the first two of their three-game series. Outfielders Taylor and Stewart have been key to the Mets’ turnaround after they began the season 0-5. Taylor is in his first season with the team and Stewart his second.

The 30-year-old Taylor was drafted by the Brewers in the second round of the 2012 MLB draft out of Torrance High School in Southern California. He made his MLB debut for them in 2019 and remained with the organization until the 2023 season before being traded to the Mets last December. During his time in Milwaukee, he

(L-R) DJ Stewart (No. 29) and Tyrone Taylor (No. 15) have helped elevate the

had a slashline of .239/.294/.451.

While Taylor has not been an everyday starter for the team and is more of a utility man, he is certainly making the most of his chances when given the opportunity. As of yesterday, he’s only played two complete games in his last 10 big league appearances, but in that stretch, Taylor is batting .421, with one homer, seven RBI, two runs scored, and an OPS of .979.

Prior to the Mets meeting the

Giants yesterday, in 17 games played and 44 at-bats, Taylor was batting .318, had an on-base percentage of .354 and an OPS of .786 with one homerun and 10 RBI.

While DJ Stewart’s batting average was lagging under .200 (.190), he had three homers, 11 RBI and an OPS of .816. The 30-year-old played high school ball in Jacksonville, Florida, and then spent two years playing college baseball for Florida State. He was drafted

by the Orioles with the 25th overall pick in 2015 and made his debut with the team in 2018. His final season in Baltimore was in 2022, where he slashed .213/.327/.400.

Stewart signed a minor league contract with the Mets in February of 2023 and was added to their major league roster on July 4. In 58 games, he had 11 home runs, 26 RBI and batted of .244 His play earned him a one-year deal for 2024.

With Taylor and Stewart making unheralded but important contributions, the Mets have fought their way above .500. Although they made the playoffs in 2022, New York finished well below expectations last season, going 75-87 and missing the postseason. Last year proved they will need more than stars to be competitive. Taylor and Stewart are role players that can help them be in the mix for a playoff spot this season.

Aaron Judge shrugs off the boos and eyes the bigger picture

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor

When the Yankees hosted the Oakland A’s in the Bronx last night in the third game of a four-game series, 2022 American League MVP Aaron Judge, one of the best baseball players in the world, carried atypical numbers to the plate that were more in line with those of a deer in the headlights rookie.

Before the evening’s first pitch, the Yankees center fielder was batting a disquieting .180 in 89 at-bats in 24 games with three home runs, 11 RBI, and a team-high 31 strikeouts. Somewhat surprisingly, he was booed by the fans at Yankee Stadium last Saturday while going 0-4 with four strikeouts, including making the game’s next-to-last out, in his team’s 2-0, 10-inning loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. Judge empathized with the fans’ reaction. “I’ve heard worse

and I’d probably be doing the same thing in their situation,” he acknowledged.

The five-time All-Star expressed a broader view of the season and his current batting troubles. “I’ve had seasons where I’ve started off worse than this through my career,” he said. “I’ve had seasons where you start off hot and you always hit a rough patch where you hit about .150 in the whole month but it kind of gets mixed in there with the other 500 atbats. It’s just you got to keep working, keep improving and you’ll get out of it.”

The Yankees were 16-8 after starter Marcus Stroman picked up his second win of the season on Tuesday, logging 5.1 innings, giving up seven hits, three runs, and striking out nine in a 4-3 win over the A’s. They were in first place in the American League East, a half game ahead of the 15-8 Baltimore Orioles

when yesterday’s MLB schedule began.

In the midst of Judge fighting through an early season funk, right fielder Juan Soto, designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, and shortstop Anthony Volpe have mitigated his low production. When the Yankees took the field last night, Soto led them with 20 RBI and 29 hits. Stanton topped the team with 5 home runs and was third with 12 RBI. Rizzo had 21 hits and 10 RBI, and Volpe was second on the Yankees with 25 hits and his six stolen bases were the most on the club. Additionally, third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera was having a solid campaign with 20 hits and 14 RBI.

The Yankees begin a seven-game road trip tomorrow. They are scheduled for three against the Milwaukee Brewers and four versus the Baltimore Orioles.

Yankees slugger Aaron Judge has been the target of boos by the home crowd due to his slow start to this MLB season. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Mets in the National League. (AP Photos/Ashley Landis/Mike Stewart)

Figure Skating in Harlem continues to reach for the stars

By LOIS ELFMAN

It was another animated and emotional event for Figure Skating in Harlem (FSH), which held its Reaching for the Stars Gala on April 17. Hosted by Vladimir Duthiers of CBS News, the honorees, guests and alumni were joined by U.S. Olympic skaters, including four from the 2022 team event, who earlier this year were officially recognized as gold medalists after a two-year delay. The evening’s honorees were Tina Davis, Daria Forde, Alicia Hall Moran, and Cynthia

Romano. Davis is the head of enterprise marketing and brand engagement at Citi and a member of FSH’s board. Romano, a former figure skater, is the senior managing director at FTI Consulting.

An accomplished singer and actress, Hall Moran is a long-time skater and FSH supporter. This year she was a twice-weekly volunteer skating instructor. “The ability to pop onto the ice as a Black woman fully engaged in her Blackness and stand in her Harlem neighborhood on ice with girls of color studying a sport and an artform feels very natural to me,” she said. Forde, a 2020 computer science graduate

from Barnard College, said FSH instilled confidence in her. “It means so much to me to be honored by a program that was pivotal with my trajectory and allowed me to see what it looked like to be a part of a true community,” said Forde. “Being in that environment at such a young age allowed me to know that I can enter whatever environment I want to and succeed.”

It’s been an eventful year for FSH. The performance team skated in the exhibition at the 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Columbus, Ohio.

During career week, a group of students went to Estee Lauder headquarters where

they learned how to make and market products. The most remarkable experience was a trip last summer to South Africa for 11 girls, which FSH founder/ CEO Sharon Cohen said was “magical.”

High school junior Zayda Rojas, a member of FSH for 10 years, described the trip as life changing and an opportunity to travel to the place of their ancestors.

“I could see different cultures, how they interacted, the foods that they ate,” she said. “I felt loved and I felt nourished by the people. They were very welcoming and inclusive. I learned a lot about them and a lot about myself.”

Columbia alum Kaitlyn Davis begins her pro career with the Liberty

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

After hearing her name called in last week’s WNBA Draft, Kaitlyn Davis saw her world move very fast. Picked in the third round by the New York Liberty, Davis is headed to Mexico to begin her professional career instead of preparing for training camp. The plan is for her to get exposure to pro basketball, gain skills, and then come to New York in early 2025 to begin working with the Liberty’s staff.

Davis, who played at the University of Southern California this year as a graduate student, earned her bachelor’s degree at Columbia University, playing thre`e seasons (the Ivy League sat out the 2020-21 season) and earning First-Team All Ivy honors senior year. She and best friend, Abbey Hsu, who is graduating this spring, are the first-ever WNBA Draft picks from Columbia.

“It was a crazy moment that I’m supergrateful for,” said Davis, who watched the draft with friends. “My next journey is quickly upon me.”

She said “I told you so” to people who don’t hold ballers from the Ivy League in high regard. “I knew we were hoopers,” Davis said. “For me, as a player that’s coming from the Ivy League, it’s definitely encouraging and validating to see the re-

spect that we’ve gotten this year.”

Davis will finish her master’s degree in entrepreneurship and innovation remotely. An early goal for pro hoops is to become more confident with her shot. Having adjusted extremely well in her transition from Columbia to USC, she is used to adapting to a new team. “I’m obviously putting an emphasis on being shot-ready,” Davis said.

Growing up in Connecticut, Davis went to both Liberty and Connecticut Sun games as well as those of the University of Connecticut. She named Breanna Stewart as a player who has had an impact on her. “I hope to be able to play with her,” she said.

Davis also offered words of admiration for both her coach at Columbia, Megan Griffith, and her coach at USC this past season, Lindsay Gottlieb.

Gottlieb has given her players a spotlight, including some who might not be obvious to attract it. She is also willing to help her players be pro ready and have opportunities.

Griffith taught her how to consistently work toward a long-term goal despite possible setbacks.

“Coach G has been transformational in my life,” Davis said of Griffith. “It was a lot of life skills we were taught at Columbia. On the court, she’s a phenomenal coach.”

Former Columbia University standout Kaitlyn Davis played her final year of college basketball at USC. (Katie Chin/USC Athletics)

Special to the AmNews

Olympians Nathan Chen, Evan Bates, Madison Chock, Alexa Knierim and Chris Knierim with Figure Skating in Harlem girls.

This year’s Figure Skating in Harlem graduating seniors (Lois Elfman photos)

Garcia stuns the fight game with statement win over Haney

By DERREL JOHNSON Special to the AmNews

Ryan Garcia didn’t appear to be in a balanced mental and physical state on heading into his fight with Devin Haney at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn this past Saturday night. His actions—casually dismissing the previously undefeated Haney as an inferior opponent, posting controversial written and video social media messages, and boasting about staying out until after midnight drinking alcohol during his training camp—led many to conclude that the 25-year-old native of Victorville, Calif., who is of Mexican descent, was self-sabotaging his chances to dethrone Haney as the WBC super lightweight world champion.

When Garcia missed the 140-pound weight limit the day before the fight by 3.2 pounds, the opportunity to take Haney’s title was contractually waived. The number on the scale also caused Garcia to pay the champ $1.5 million, honoring an agreement he made at a press conference early last week that he would hand over $500,000 for every pound he was overweight.

WBC super lightweight champion Devin Haney will face Ryan Garcia this Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. (Golden Boy/Cris Esqueda photo)

It seemed that Haney, also 25, who was born in San Francisco and raised in Oakland until moving to Las Vegas at age 14 to live with his father and trainer, Bill Haney, would further cement his status as one of the sport’s best with a victory over Garcia. Instead, the boxing world was stunned when Garcia (25-1, 20 KOs) dropped Haney (31-1, 15 KOs) three times in the 12-

round bout on his way to a majority 115109, 114-110, 112-112 decision.

Haney, who hadn’t been knocked down in his previous 31 fights, was repeatedly rocked by Garcia’s powerful left hook, wobbled in the first round, and got floored in

the seventh. He hit the canvas again in the 10th and 11th rounds from crushing blows as Garcia pressured him around the ring.

Bill Haney offered perhaps the best explanation after the fight: “He got hit with a shot early and I don’t think that he naturally kind of recovered,” he said.

“He got wobbled bad. I’m surprised he has such [a] good heart and recovery,” Garcia said in response to a question from the Amsterdam News. “I cracked him in that first round. I thought it was over. I thought, ‘I won, easy work.’ And then he came out firing in the second, even hurt me with a hook. I was like, ‘Damn, maybe you do got a little power.’”

Haney, who retained his title due to Garcia failing to make weight, reflected on the defeat with both pride and unrealized expectations. “I’m disappointed about my performance,” he said. “But I showed I’m a true champion and I can fight after being knocked down and hurt.”

He later posted on one of his social media accounts: “Alhamdulillah Allah is the perfect planner he makes no mistakes…fought like a true champion. Got up off the canvas & kept fighting. I am 100% ok & would love to do it again while we both make weight.”

Garcia is agreeable to another meeting as well. “Yes, let’s run it back,” he said before leaving the ring.

LIU women’s softball counts its wins on and off the field

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

It’s been an interesting couple of years for the women of Long Island University’s softball team. The LIU Sharks are again having a winning season and are looking to repeat as Northeast Conference champions and earn a trip to the NCAA Division I Softball Tournament.

“I’ve learned so many life lessons that I believe will really prepare me for after I’m done here at LIU,” said sophomore Nyae’ Dick, who grew up playing multiple sports, focusing on softball in high school. The science high school she attended did not have a softball team, so she played travel ball. In addition to sports, she focused on her studies, doing dual enrollment—attending high school and a community college simultaneously. By the time she received her high school diploma, Dick had also earned an associate degree, so she was able to enter LIU as a junior academically.

“That has allowed me to graduate with my bachelor’s degree this May,” she said. “I’ll be starting my master’s in exercise science this fall.”

As they hone their skills on the field, the players have also exercised their voices off it. When the university sought

to relocate the team to its LIU Post campus on Long Island, members of the team filed a Title IX lawsuit. LIU has agreed to keep the team based in Brooklyn, at least until the conclusion of the 2025 softball season.

Dick admitted the lawsuit was stressful, but edifying. “I learned what it means to have courage and be resilient in the fight for what you believe is right,” she said.

With their location settled for now, the

team still has a slate of games to play. The Sharks are in the thick of conference action, with the NEC Tournament beginning on May 9.

“I love the competitiveness [of softball], the teamwork, and the feeling of winning games together and cheering my teammates on,” said junior Jazmine Cuffie, who grew up on Long Island and started playing softball at age 10. “Everyone on this team competes and works hard together.”

Cuffie is studying childhood education and plans to become a fourth-grade teacher. Her father is a role model: He has been a teacher for 20 years and was also a collegiate athlete.

“I’m hoping to make improvements as an individual and as a team,” said Cuffie, who is graduating in December, making this her final season. “My goal is to get to the championship of the NEC, win, and go to regionals.”

LIU outfielder Nyae’ Dick. (LIU Athletics photos)

LIU first basewoman Jazmine Cuffie.

After a stunning Game 2 win, the Knicks seek positive results in Philly Sports

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor

In the long, 78-year history of the New York Knicks franchise, few moments and few games exceed the drama, shock and euphoria that the final 47.1 seconds of Game 2 of their opening round, best-ofseven, Eastern Conference playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden on Monday night engendered.

Trailing 101-96, the Knicks appeared headed for a loss and destined to go to Philadelphia tied 1-1 after taking Game 1 on Saturday at the Garden 111-104. Instead, by the time the humongous overhead scoreboard hovering above the court showed the game had officially ended with the Knicks winning 104-101, the building literally vibrated from the crowd’s collective thunderous shouts of exhilaration. Now they head to Philadelphia up 2-0 before Game 3 tonight (7:30 p.m.). Let’s recap how the tables turned: A 23-foot, 3-pointer from near the left corner in front of the 76ers bench by Jalen Brunson with

27.1 seconds remaining; a steal by Josh Hart at 16.1, muscling the ball from the 76ers fallen Tyrese Maxey, who was lying on his back on the 76ers ensuing in-bound pass by Kyle Lowry, leading to a go-ahead 25-foot, 3-pointer by Donte DiVincenzo from behind the top of circle with 13 seconds left; two ice-cold, pressurized foul shots by OG Anunoby at 6.1 seconds; and a missed, potential game tying 3-point attempt by 76ers center Joel Embiid as time expired. Instant classic!

“We don’t give up. I think there are a lot of teams that probably would have given up in that situation,” said Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein, who had a critical offensive rebound to give DiVincenzo another chance to put the Knicks up after his first 3-point try was off target seconds before his decisive basket.

“It starts with Thibs (head coach Tom Thibodeau). He always believes no game is ever safe, so he instills it in us. It starts with him and the whole team had a belief that we could come back and it worked out.”

Thibodeau, who was a Knicks

assistant from 1996-2003, placed Game 2 among the most memorable he has been a part of.

“Well, there have been some pretty wild finishes but that was right up there with the best of them,” he recalled. “That just shows you what the playoffs is all about. Oftentimes it’s a hustle play here, a hustle play there, just find a way to win…We got a lot of contributions from different people.”

With All-Star guard Jalen Brusnon laboring to counter the 76ers, physical, swarming defensive scheme being employed against him, shooting just 16-55 combined in Games 1 and 2, no Knick has embodied their will to win more than Josh Hart. The guard-forward has been tenacious and relentless on both ends of the court, posting team highs of 22 points and 13 rebounds in Game 1 followed by an indelible 21 points and 15 boards on Monday.

“He gives the team toughness, real toughness,” Thibodeau said of Hart. “It’s a big part of the fabric of this team.”

Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia at 1:00 p.m.

(Bill Moore photos)

LeBron and the Lakers strain to solve the Nuggets’ dominance

By DERREL JOHNSON Special to the AmNews

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Denver Nuggets 126-108 on December 16, 2022. Since then, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Lakers have lost 10 games in a row to Denver, including a 4-0 sweep in last year’s Western Conference Finals and two defeats in the opening round of this year’s playoffs.

The Lakers came close to ending the losing streak on Monday in Game 2 of their best-of-seven series, as they led by 20 points in the third quarter. But Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray nailed a fadeaway jumper over Davis as time expired, with the Lakers big man falling in front of the Nuggets bench as teammates mobbed Murray in celebration. The 101-99 win added to the unsolved puzzle the Lakers have in front of them that is the Nuggets. It starts with the Nuggets’ twotime league MVP and last season’s

Finals MVP Nikola Jokic, who punished the Lakers with 27 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in Game 2. “Obviously, the only game that matters now is Game 3 and how

we can get better,” said James after Game 2. “How we can figure this team out. So Game 3 is where my mindset is.”

James was also highly critical of

the officiating, arguing questionable calls that went in favor of the Nuggets as well as non-calls impacted the outcome.

“I don’t understand what’s going on in the replay center, to be honest,” a frustrated James said. ”(D’Angelo Russell) clearly gets hit in the face on a drive. What the f--k do we have a replay center for… [?] Makes no sense to me. It bothers me.”

James was referencing a call in the third quarter when Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. was called for a foul on Russell, which was then overturned on a challenge by Nuggets head coach Michael Malone. “We’ve shown that we’re more than capable,” Anthony Davis said, after scoring 32 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. “We have stretches where we just don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor. And those are the ones that cost us.”

“Remember this feeling as we take it back home to L.A.,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said as a way of motivating the team before game three tonight. “We got to give them that same feeling in Game 3. That needs to be the sole focus. The recovery process has to start now, us filling our cups back up. But Game 3, it’s all about Game 3 right now.”

The recent history between the two teams indicates the Lakers won’t defeat the Nuggets in four of the next five games to win the series. But that’s why the games are played. Game 3 is tonight (10:00 p.m. EST) in Los Angeles and Game 4 is Saturday night in L.A. (8:30 p.m. EST)

The Knicks’ Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo rise up for jumpers in their team’s dramatic 104-101 victory over Joel Embiid (No. 21) and the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James drives past Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic during Game 2 on Monday night of their NBA firstround playoff series. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)