8 • March 31, 2022 - April 6, 2022
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS G O W I T H T H
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does not condone violence of any form. Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment ANTHONY of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world.” In The entire world is still in shock other Oscars news, Questlove also after watching Will Smith walk won Best Documentary for his dion the stage at the 94th Academy rectorial debut of “Summer of Awards on March 27, and smack Soul,” the Hulu film about the 1969 Chris Rock in the face, after the co- Harlem Cultural Festival. median joked about seeing Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, in a posA much calmer Will Smith presentsible “G.I. Jane 2.” Jada suffers from ed an award to his “King Richard” coalopecia, which attacks hair folli- star Aunjanue Ellis at the 15th annual cles resulting in bald spots and hair Essence Black Women in Hollyloss. When Smith sat back down, he wood Awards Luncheon at the Bevyelled, “Keep my wife’s name out of erly Wilshire, a Four Seasons Hotel, your f****** mouth” at Rock. A source on March 24 in Beverly Hills. Other told People that Smith was still angry honorees included Nia Long, Quinta about Rock’s joke about Jada at the Brunson and Chante Adams. Oscars in 2016. “When Chris hosted the Oscars in 2016, Jada was boycotMarvel actor Anthony Mackie, ting because of #OscarsSoWhite. In who plays Sam Wilson, a Louisianahis opening monologue, he made born Air Force veteran who doubles fun of her, saying she can’t boycott as superhero the Falcon, recently something she wasn’t invited to,” ex- closed a deal to purchase 20 acres on plained the insider. Chris said, “Jada the Interstate 10 Service Road in his boycotting the Oscars is like me boy- hometown of New Orleans. Accordcotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t ing to multiple reports, Mackie plans invited.” Meanwhile, following the to create a full-fledged movie studio, slap, Bradley Cooper, Tyler Perry called East Studios LLC, at the site as and Denzel Washington could all be well as on adjoining land he hopes seen talking to Will. The shocking in- to purchase. Mackie’s newest vencident didn’t stop Will from celebrat- ture could be a huge boost to revitaling his win for Best Actor for his role ize New Orleans East, which has been asVenus and SerenaWilliams’ father, in economic decline since the 1970s. Richard Williams, in “King Richard.” He was later spotted dancing with The American Sports Accountabilthe Oscar statuette to “Gettin’ Jiggy ity Project (ASAP) released a series of Wit It” at the Vanity Fair Oscar party. radio advertisements featuring the The former “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” voice of Al B. Sure!The ads echo ASAP’s also posted on Instagram, “You can’t calls for the NBA to hold Phoenix Suns take people from Philadelphia [his majority owner Robert Sarver achometown] and Baltimore [Jada’s countable for reports that he has foshometown] anywhere,” and told tered an abusive and toxic workplace sources Washington advised him, environment spanning nearly two de“Remember the devil calls when you cades, including numerous accounts are at your highest point.” Rock is not of racist and misogynistic language. pressing charges against Smith. The Says Al B. Sure!: “We believe the accomedian “declined to file a police counts of his victims, and that hate has report,” said the LAPD. The Academy no home in America’s sports. It’s time of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the NBA to hold Robert Sarver acissued a statement: “The Academy countable for his shameless actions.”
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Oscar nominee Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith arrive on the red carpet of the 94th Oscars at the Dolby Theatre at the Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, on Sunday, March 27, 2022. (Matt Sayles / A.M.P.A.S. photo)
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Hazel Dukes: 90 and not slowing down
Dr. Marcella Maxwell and Hazel Dukes. (Elinor Tatum photo)
By CYRIL JOSH BARKER Amsterdam News Staff Activist and NAACP New York State Conference President Hazel N. Dukes turned 90 on March 17. The longtime local leader has built a legacy of fighting for civil rights spanning more than 70 years and continues to improve conditions for the Black community. A native of Montgomery, Ala., Dukes moved to New York in the mid-’50s becoming a community organizer in Nassau County. She is a member of the NAACP National Board of Directors, a member of the NAACP Executive Committee as well as an active member of various NAACP board sub-committees. Along with her dedicated work with the NAACP, Dukes is a former president of the Metro-Manhattan Links Chapter, in 2010 was appointed the National Links NGO Representative and is a former trustee of the State University of New York and Stillman College. She is a member of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., and National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, INC. Dukes is also a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Northern Manhattan Alumnae Chapter. In an interview with the AmNews, Dukes says that even though she’s 90, what keeps her feeling less than her age is spending time with youth. “I feel like I’m 26,” she said enthusiastically. “I really love interacting with young people
to see what their thinking is of this world we’re living in and tell them the story of who they are and what they have inherited as a legacy. That keeps me going and I feel great.” Dukes credits her late father, who was a Pullman porter, along with civil rights leader and union organizer E.D. Nixon with getting her involved in activism. The two men were close friends and Dukes would listen as they discussed how Pullman porters were treated and issues impacting African Americans at the time. However, it was an incident she remembers vividly when she was a child involving her grandmother when a white man referred to her as “auntie” that had a lasting impact. “He said, ‘Hey auntie, how are you doing today?’ and my grandmother said, ‘Don’t you dare call me auntie. I don’t look like your auntie and I’m not your auntie, get on away from her,’” Dukes said. “I came from a family that didn’t take any disrespect. Although they knew they were ‘negroes,’ they didn’t let people disrespect them.” Her family moved to New York to Nassau County, Long Island in 1955. While history highlights rampant segregation and racism in the South at the time, Dukes faced racism in the North. She recalls seeing an apartment and being denied due to her race and having her money sent back to her. There was also discrimination in the community of Levittown at the time, which did not allow Blacks to move in. Dukes
became the first African Americans to live in Roslyn Gardens apartments in Nassau County. Soon after, other Blacks moved into the complex creating a solid population of middle class African Americans living in the area. Not only getting a front row to history, Dukes has also played a significant role in shaping history. From participating in the Civil Rights Movement, to seeing America inaugurate its first Black president and first Black women U.S. vice president to now witnessing the nomination of the first Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court, Dukes said her role is one of the things she’s most proud of. “There are several highlights for me,” she said. “I cast Electoral College votes here in New York for Presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. I’ve been the NGO representative at the United Nations. I was on the committee with Bill Lynch and Mayor David Dinkins that brought Nelson and Winnie Mandela to New York City.” Dukes’ name is synonymous with the NAACP. She was introduced to the civil rights organization during her first year of college at Alabama State University. Dukes was elected president of the NAACP New York State Conference in 1975 and served almost 50 years. She was mentored by the late politician and activist C. Delores Tucker and former NAACP President Magnolia Macmillan. See DUKES on page 32
