Education

City holds massive ‘I WILL GRADUATE’ day for students

By ARIAMA C. LONG

Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

“I WILL GRADUATE” Day popped off without a hitch as 11,000 eager students from 179 New York City schools gathered at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to celebrate their commitment to education on Oct. 24.

I WILL GRADUATE (IWG) is a nonprofit co-founded and led by former music industry Roc-A-Fella Records executive and gospel singer Tonya Lewis Taylor. It was established in 2008. The 7-12th grade students who attended the celebration voluntarily participated in a 6-week curriculum, called ‘Get Focused, Stay Focused,’ that IWG donated to hundreds of schools. The curriculum Taylor uses addresses social and mental health issues, provides entrepreneurial workshops, and highlights gun violence awareness. IWG also has a robust music and recording studio program.

Taylor was born in Canarsie, raised in East Flatbush in Brooklyn. She said her parents were hard-working working class people. During her upbringing, hardship, gang violence, poverty, and drugs flooded her community and neighboring districts. “I think growing up I learned to make decisions about what I wanted my life to be,” said Taylor. “I made the decision that I wanted to rise above and I went on a journey to structure my life, and it was a group like mine that came to my high school that got me to start thinking.”

Her organization, along with a coalition of elected officials and hip hop heads, aims to combat low graduation rates in the city’s public school system and connect Black and Brown youth to critical resources.

Recent National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) data indicates pandemic learning loss has been pretty severe nationwide. In New York City, 18% of the city’s 4th graders were proficient in math, compared with 24% in 2019. The data said the scores have not been this low for nearly 20 years, and as expected, existing disparities among Black and Hispanic students were exacerbated.

“It’s no surprise that scores have dropped. They are really reflective of what has happened during the pandemic,” said Schools Chancellor David Banks at the event. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.” Banks said that he’s committed to closing the racial disparities in the city’s education system that existed prior to the pandemic, making sure children learn how to read by the 3rd grade, and that even beyond graduation students have a plethora of opportunities to pursue.

About 11% of Black and Hispanic students scored as proficient in 4th grade math compared with 39% of white students and 48% of Asian American students in the same grade, said NAEP. Reading scores in the city remained below national and state averages across the board.

“It’s about over-resourcing,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso about the drop in scores, “we see a tick down in education, we should be putting out mental health professionals, advisors, and teachers. Investing the same way we do with everything else in our children. I do that by supporting I Will Graduate and their programming.”

Attendees included Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, NLE Choppa, Sean “Arnstar” Kirkland, Fivio Foreign, and Life Camp Founder Erica Ford as well as countless others.

Williams praised the IWG program for generating genuine excitement and energy around education in such a dire time. On stage, he spoke to the students about his own struggles at Brooklyn Tech High School after his Tourette’s Syndrome diagnosis in 9th grade. He said without summer school, night study, and the dedication of his 5th grade teacher Jenni Net, he would absolutely not be an elected official today.

“There was a bit of struggle for most of my schooling,” said Williams. “I don’t think people thought that I’d be a citywide elected official.”

A Harlem native, Arnstar is best known for his role on the TV gameshow “Wild N’ Out” and as rapper Lil’ Mama’s brother. He said he got his start in activism after losing his father to gun violence. He’s one of the performers for the students benefit concert and has been participating in the program since 2018. “I will graduate, it’s an affirmation, it’s a plan of action,” said Arnstar, “And so being successful and having films and music that’s going viral, it’s only right that I let the kids know that they’re next.”

I WILL GRADUATE ceremony to celebrate students on Monday, Oct. 24 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn (Ariama C. Long)

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about culture and politics in New York City 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

Fellowship named in honor of Dr. Sadie T.M. Alexander at the New School

By HERB BOYD

Special to the AmNews

During her extraordinarily productive life, Dr. Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander accomplished a number of incomparable breakthroughs: the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in economics in the U.S.; the first Black woman enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law; the first Black woman to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; and one of the founders of Delta Sigma Theta, as well as its first president, among other pioneering advances. This was just an iota of information about her formidable past that was shared with an audience on Thursday evening at the New School for Social Research by Dr. Nina Banks, who was there to recount her legacy as part of establishing a fellowship at the school to honor Dr. Alexander.

Given her outstanding achievements in the field of economics, Dr. Banks, an associate professor of economics at Bucknell University who is working on a biography and speeches of Dr. Alexander, is eminently qualified for the occasion, a point noted by Dean William Milberg in his introduction. Her nearly hour-long lecture, accompanied by a montage of photos, was entitled “Fascism and Race,” and focused on how Dr. Alexander’s research and analysis revealed the connection between these societal vectors.

She began with a brief outline of Dr. Alexander’s odyssey, noting that she was born Jan. 2, 1898, in Philadelphia and was the product and a member of a distinguished family, including her husband Judge Raymond Pace Alexander. Her grandfather was Bishop Benjamin Tucker Tanner, a leader in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, her uncle was the famous painter Henry O. Tanner, and another uncle, Nathan F. Mossell, was the first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania medical school and later a founder of the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Training School for Nurses in 1895. Notable among the relatives in attendance was Dr. Alexander’s daughter, Dr. Rae Alexander Minter, whose cogent comments during the Q&A segment added insight and gravitas.

Dr. Banks then immediately cut to the chase, citing the rise of Nazism in Germany, “whose policies were already in place in the United States,” according to Dr. Alexander, she observed. She devoted considerable time to chronicling Dr. Alexander’s pursuit of fascism even showing a photo of Father Coughlin, a despicable racist and anti-Semite on the screen during her outline. To this end, she discussed several characteristics of fascism—racial myths, nativism, propaganda, criminality, hierarchy, unreality, sexual anxiety, etc. all cited in one of Dr. Alexander’s speeches. One of Dr. Alexander’s speeches that was of particular resonance dealt with the genocidal steps to exterminate Jews, savagely denying their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. “The right of all individuals to earn a decent living must be achieved if we here at home and throughout the world are to have the kind of life we call a democracy,” she said.

This outlook was consistent with the conditions Black Americans faced, a case of “intensified racism,” as Dr. Alexander defined social and political affairs in the 1930s. And they would continue through the postWorld War II period, in which Dr. Alexander would be part of President Truman’s 15-person Committee on civil rights, popularly known as “To Secure These Rights.” Even then, aspects of fascism and totalitarianism were on her mind as well as race and segregation when she noted, “The separation of children in public schools, the building of Black and white army, in which Puerto Ricans are placed on the basis of their skin and the texture of their hair, while all native born citizens with one drop of Negro blood on their birth certificates are placed in the Black army, creates in a democracy the totalitarian concept of ‘my race’ and causes men and women who might otherwise have maintained the equalitarian morality of their forebears to look down on fellowmen, who differ in physical appearance but not in ability nor in human dignity by which all men are endowed by their creator.”

It was on such a note that Dr. Banks ended her highly informative presentation—and a speech that is certain to be found in her collection, an endeavor that required her to comb through more than 80 boxes of memorabilia. Right to the end of her eventful life, Dr. Banks said, there was no compromise on democracy, and several years before her death on Nov. 1, 1989, she was just as outspoken as ever during her acceptance speech of the Award of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. She told the chair and the officers of the society, “I wish to express my appreciation for your affording me the opportunity to join in celebrating 200 years of dedication to your purpose, not only to abolish slavery but to relieve Negroes unlawfully held in bondage and to improve the condition of the African race.” She not only improved the conditions of her race but to the general social, political, and certainly the economic affairs, where through the collective in her name her legacy is ensured.

and promote safety.”

When asked about action items, Adams mentioned modernizing court systems, with more centralized hubs for information and discovery, as well as reducing the arduous time spent by defense lawyers and prosecutors “for just a 30 second appearance in front of a judge.” His chief counsel, Brendan McGuire, added the desire to develop more immediate mental health resources for those in the criminal justice system.

“There’s some successful models on that,” he said. “And so one model there is, which has been one phrase that has been used, is a ‘Care Van’ where you have resources outside, mobile resources outside of a courthouse where [immediate] treatment and other options can be provided to those who need it.”

Adams credited Siegel for inspiring the summit and helping him assemble such a cast. The renowned attorney, who is a past contributor to the Amsterdam News, served as the New York Civil Liberties Union’s executive director between 1985-2000. The Mayor’s Office wasn’t shy to namedrop his past role in the initial announcement. But Siegel’s former employer distanced itself from his participation in the summit and stated concerns with the Adams administration’s handling of policing and criminalization, according to an NYCLU spokesperson.

Public safety continues to concern New Yorkers, especially given a recent surge in major index crimes like robbery, burglary and grand larceny. According to NYPD statistics, violent crime is down as of late, but high-profile incidents keep the city on alert.

“Crime is up 40 percent,” Brooklyn’s Charles Barron told the Amsterdam News. “The police department have an $11 billion budget, and a $85 million overtime budget. They brought back another version of the Street Crimes Unit, but crime was down in 2021 without it. The issue is poverty. We need the mayor to create a multi-billion dollar anti-poverty policy which includes jobs, housing and mental health.”

A day after the summit the typical Monday bustle in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn was violently disrupted when two young men started arguing and shooting. A 70-year-old woman was shot in the thigh outside Super FoodTown. Shocked onlookers voiced their horror and their disgust, as investigators swamped the neighborhood, put up yellow police tape, canvassed the stunned observers and business owners, and released a video of two suspects. No one had been caught by press time. A few hours later across the city a 19-yearold 8-month pregnant woman was shot in the leg sitting in a car in Washington Heights. The next day as school was letting out, a 14-yearold boy was shot outside Tottenville High School, Staten Island. Thankfully none of the above injuries were life threatening, but the torment of New Yorkers is that this steady wave of violence is ongoing.

“We’ve been round this block too many times before,” said activist A.T. Mitchell. Mitchell, Mayor Adams’ NYC gun violence prevention czar, has spent decades fighting gun violence in Brooklyn and nationwide and internationally. “Unfortunately these sporadic shootings are part of this disease which is raising its ugly head. We as a city are trying to get ahead of it. There are too many guns making their way into the inner city, and getting into the hands of people making bad choices and the wrong decisions. No one is exempt or immune to this violence sadly.”

Last week Mayor Adams told the Amsterdam News that media focus and front page headlines are creating a more dangerous Gotham perception than the actual Big Apple reality.

“We’re fighting a perception issue,” Adams said.“On average we have less than six felony crimes a day…On our subway system, we have 3.5 million riders a day. For the most part, your ride is uneventful, you’re not a victim of a crime.”

He insisted, “We have a greater presence of police that are riding trains visibly present.”

Police officers were in the station duringing at least two of the violent incidents.

“The statistics may show no significant or discernable pattern of increased violence; however, safety has always been about perception,” Marq Claxton, director, Black Law Enforcement Alliance, told the AmNews. “As is the case in New York, the government has to account for the perception and use the meta-data to develop effective anti-violence strategies that provide immediate relief. This trend of violence feels different. It feels closer and more arbitrary. Many hardened New Yorkers are expressing feelings of increased physical vulnerability. Many socioeconomic factors lead to increased violence and re-socializing after a pandemic presents challenges, but New Yorkers’ patience with more progressive initiatives and programs is becoming thinner. What has increased the level of anxiety is that many of these victims are the most vulnerable, the very young and the very old. If the children and elders are falling victims to violence, the sense is that no one is truly safe.”

“We are working tirelessly to confront this public health crisis. That is what the two-day Criminal Justice Summit at Gracie Mansion was about this past weekend,” said Mitchell, who is also CEO and co-founder of the community advocacy organization Man Up, Inc. “We are working around the clock, putting our heads together from different branches of government, community-based groups, civil liberties and rights organizations—to try and figure out this epidemic.”

Asked if the weekend justice summit was more than just an exercise in getting together, Mitchell seemed to be pleasantly surprised about the contents of the gathering,

“It was very refreshing seeing all these people from different walks of life and professions; some on the opposite sides, coming together on the common goal of increasing public safety.”

“Murders and shootings are down compared to the national average,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said this past weekend.

But with shootings and stabbings up this year, and with 23 people pushed onto the tracks and nine people killed in the subway system, this weekend Adams, Hochul, and Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced that they will be flooding the MTA subway system with hundreds of visible cops.

Communities United for Police Reform spokesperson Sala Cyril said that Black and brown New Yorkers “know all too well that the mayor and governor’s surveillance and broken windows policing tactics do not keep our communities safe. Spending more resources to inundate our subway system with police will not address violence in our subways— it will only lead to increased criminalization and harassment of New Yorkers who the mayor and governor claim to be protecting.”

Cyril added, “Solutions to address violence in our subways and throughout the city will come from investing in our communities and addressing the long-term systemic needs of our city. New Yorkers need resources put into our crumbling subway infrastructure to ensure we have better, more accessible, and frequent transportation service. The mayor and governor must invest in creating affordable, permanent housing to ensure all New Yorkers have access to safe places to live with dignity, and invest in comprehensive, accessible mental health services.”

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

AG James

Continued from page 3

AmNews: I imagine there’s a particular clout and pressure that comes along with being the first woman of color to hold a statewide office and the first state AG. Do you think your time in office has been praised or vilified because of your gender and race?

James: Like any job, being the first Black woman attorney general of New York comes with its share of praise and criticism. But I am not concerned with what the naysayers have to say. I am more focused on delivering for New Yorkers, defending our common-sense gun laws, getting guns off our streets, keeping tenants in their homes, and holding predatory companies accountable. I am focused on doing the job I was elected to do to the best of my ability. characterize your run for governor as being too ambitious, or at least ambitious for a Black woman. Would you say that’s accurate? Why or why not?

James: Let me emphasize something for your readers, especially young Black girls: there is no role too ambitious for a Black woman. If someone ever dares to tell you otherwise, they are intimidated by your potential because they know you are capable of extraordinary success. At different points in my career, I have been told to wait my turn or was discouraged from pursuing certain roles and issues, but I didn’t let them stop me.

I had unfinished business as attorney general and I needed to honor that commitment first and foremost. New Yorkers deserve loyalty and transparency from their elected officials and that is the standard I hold myself to. other run for governor of New York, or perhaps another state/federal office in the future?

James: Right now, I am committed to serving the people of New York as attorney general. There are many critical issues my office is working on, and I am determined to see them through. My office is working every day to make good on the promise to serve and protect New Yorkers.

AmNews: October 1 marked Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Many women in politics in the city have spoken out about their own experiences with domestic violence, and according to studies, over 40% of Black women experience physical violence with an intimate partner. Would you like to speak to your own experiences with domestic violence, if any, and how your office can best address intimate partner abuse that affects Black women and Black men at disproportionately high rates?

James: Domestic violence is unfortunately a far too prevalent issue, especially for women of color. Things got worse especially during the early months of the pandemic. Stay-athome mandates and social isolation turned homes into torture chambers for many women. It is important to understand that gender-based violence is not just a women’s issue. It is a societal issue. Addressing domestic violence requires a holistic approach, from education to counseling to privacy rights to housing and to legislation.

My office is working to support robust programs to inform New Yorkers of their rights and resources. Throughout the pandemic, we have worked to direct domestic violence victims towards critical resources, such as 24-hour help hotlines and domestic violence shelters. At the onset of the pandemic, my office called for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which allows the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute violent crimes against women.

The Act was reauthorized and signed into law earlier this year. It expands jurisdiction to include protections for women in tribal communities, increases funding to legal services for victims, supports programs that help survivors. Survivors deserve to be believed, deserve to be respected, and deserve to have the opportunity to tell their stories no matter where or how they are experiencing violence.

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about culture and politics in New York City 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