12 minute read
Religion & Spirituality
By DEACON MAURICE REID
Special to the AmNews
On Sunday, Sept. 12, the Rev. Rashad Raymond Moore and the congregation of the First Baptist Church of Crown Heights celebrated its Homecoming Service as it held its first in-person service in more than 17 months. More than 250 members, elected officials and friends of First Baptist raised their voices in joyful praise as they gave thanks to the Creator for allowing them to be back in the house of the Lord. The Congregants expressed their joy that “We have come this far by faith” and by sharing Psalm 122:1, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let Us go to the house of the Lord.’”
The Homecoming Celebration included the glorious sounds of the choir and a performance by the Dance Ministry. The highlight of the service was the sermon on “Resetting the Room” by the Rev. Moore as he encouraged the congregation to appreciate the moment, “reset the room,” and demonstrate a new attitude of thanksgiving and appreciation. The Homecoming Service was followed by an outdoor “Masks and Mingle” celebration in front of the church.
(Lem Peterkin photos)
Celebrating the life of Shanice Young
By AUTODIDACT 17 Special to the AmNews
Family, friends & the Harlem community in general attended three days of memorial services for domestic violence victim Shanice L. Young, 31, and her unborn daughter, Soleil, who were murdered Sept. 12 in Harlem as she returned home from her own baby shower. The heartbreaking deaths have “moved the city.”
A private ceremony was held Sept. 22 with family and close friends. The following day, a horse-drawn carriage carrying Shanice’s casket was chaperoned by several dozen sympathizers, headed south on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. from 125th St. to Canaan Baptist Church (132 W.116th St.). The all-white casket was placed inside, front-center while Apostle Dr. Staci Ramos emphasized that the heavy-hearted ceremony was a “celebration of life,” while attempting to raise the full capacity attendees’ spirits, which included Shanice’s two young daughters––Shaniyah and Kimora, relatives, childhood friends, schoolmates and co-workers.
Dr. Ramos delved into various Bible verses seeking to find understanding on “Why God allowed this to happen” to the young, pregnant mother. “Someone who was loving and so full of life,” to be a “victim of such senseless violence.” She acknowledged that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office funded the funeral, while Mrs. Hazel Duke provided the flowers.
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams advised, “We gotta stick by the family,” before speaking against domestic violence. Then offered his “prayers to the family, Shanice and unborn child. My heart’s with you, the community is with you. Shanice has moved a city! This tragedy will never fade.”
One of Shanice’s sisters said: “She brought all of us together. She would be so pleased. To know me is to know Shanice.”
A lady who described herself as “Shanice’s second mother,” warned against domestic violence and “holding it back from family and friends.” She urged not to hesitate speaking up “before it’s too late.”
Shanice’s best friend Matania concluded the evening sharing fond memories.
Reportedly, Shanice’s father, Thurman Young, who attended Thursday’s memorial, revealed that her alleged killer, Justin Soriano, was the father of her unborn child, adding that she was victimized by domestic violence––having three orders of protection against him since they had split a couple months ago.
“He’s Satan,” Thurman noted. “Say that’s the one word I used to describe him. I don’t want him to see the light of day. I could sleep now knowing that [guy is in custody].”
Adding that the second-degree murder charge wasn’t sufficient: “Is that all? He should be charged with two murder counts. That baby inside her was a person. That baby was going to live.”
Shanice’s relative, Diedra Thomas, said: “You never know what it’s like, until it happens to you. There are two children that is the motivation and the concern to ensure that they make it. It’s about them, period. And that’s all that I’m here for, to ensure they beat the odds. They don’t have their mother and the way that it was done is horrific.”
On Sept. 14, New York Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin marched with a group to a candle-lit vigil at the site where Young was murdered: “My heart goes out to the family and friends of Shanice Young for this senseless loss. She was due to have her child in five days. I will do everything I can as lieutenant governor to help end gun violence. What we’re dealing with right now in Harlem is a national catastrophe,” he said.
The NYPD arrested Soriano on Sept. 16 at Carlisle Place in the Bronx and charged him at Harlem’s 32nd Precinct with second-degree murder, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon, and acting in a manner injurious to a child. Further charges are pending. During his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, no bail was offered.
Shanice’s funeral was conducted Friday morning at Harlem’s Unity Funeral Home, in English and Spanish to accommodate her joint heritage.
By ARIAMA C. LONG
Report for America Corps Member, Amsterdam News Staff
A “technical issue” at the Internal Revenue Service caused a delay in the promised monthly delivery of Child Tax Credits this month, but that’s far from the only COVID-related tax reform that’s affecting disadvantaged taxpayers. There’s also been a sharp rise in letters from the IRS being sent out saying many who qualified for stimulus payments owe back taxes because of a complicated process called a “math error.”
Tax experts said this is among the many issues currently overwhelming the underfunded and understaffed institution, which inevitably the average taxpayer has to pay for.
The Tax Foundation’s senior policy analyst Garrett Watson said that it’s been an incredibly stressed two years for the IRS because of the short staffing and economic relief that’s been brought into the tax code to battle the COVID19 crisis.
“It’s led to a combination of things, including making it harder for taxpayers to reach the IRS if they end up having notices or questions about potential errors in their returns and just getting returns processed more generally,” said Watson. “There’s been delays as well.”
The IRS said that they have now “resolved” the technical issue, which they estimated caused about 2% or less of child tax credit recipients not to get their September payments. The impacted group primarily included taxpayers who recently made an update on their bank account or address on the IRS Child Tax Credit Update Portal and affected payments to married filing jointly taxpayers where only one spouse made a bank or address change, said the IRS.
“We know people depend on receiving these payments on time and we apologize for the delay,” said the IRS in a statement.
Watson said the vaccination process and general reopenings from last year have been helping, but it’s essentially a giant “backlog” that needs processing. He also said IRS resourcing and enforcement, meaning decreasing the audit rate and having more agents to answer questions, needs to be addressed.
“For taxpayers themselves, but even for preparers who are working on their behalf. It’s even hard for them to get a hold of anyone or to go through the written correspondence, especially if there’s a math error,” said Watson.
The National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA) section of the IRS posted in a blog about the surge in “math errors” related to the disbursement of Economic Stimulus Payments vs the Recovery Rebate Credit since the pandemic disrupted the usual tax season.
Last year there were about 628,997 IRS math error corrections made, said the NTA.
The Wall Street Journal reported that as of the beginning of September 2021 about 11 million IRS math error notices, which looks like a first and final bill demanding money, have been sent out, which is astronomical compared to the average 3 million notices.
These notices give a 60-day time period for taxpayers to dispute the charges, made increasingly harder because of understaffing and an overloaded automated system.
“Unfortunately, because the math error notices do not clearly articulate what was adjusted and why, taxpayers are often left confused as to what changes have been made” or if they agree in the first place, wrote the NTA.
Also, the language of “rebate credit” or “stimulus payment” often left people confused as to why they would have to pay back freely given money related to the pandemic at all, wrote the NTA in a second blog post.
Watson said the demographic of taxpayers that are usually hit with these bills are people not connected to the tax system, disproportionately low-income households, families with children with low salary jobs that don’t always necessitate filing a return, and people who don’t have access to the internet or adequate help to file a return.
It’s the folks the IRS knows the least information about, said Watson, and they are more likely to make mistakes because this would be the first time filing for child tax payments, rebate credits or stimulus payments.
“Having some sort of safe harbor for taxpayers trying to do the right thing makes a lot of sense,” said Watson. “Especially if there’s established evidence that they’re working and trying to correspond to do the right thing and correct this stuff. It doesn’t make sense to penalize them further just because the IRS is overwhelmed.”
Watson said that if the reconciliation package being argued over in Congress presently passes it would add even more tax changes on top of all the issues the IRS is dealing with.
“The Build Back Better Act will restore the American dream for everyday individuals across our nation by creating millions of good-paying jobs, lifting children out of poverty and cutting taxes for working-class families,” said Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and Congressmember Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8) in a statement.
Jeffries and colleagues in Congress are trying to get the “Build Back Better” bill passed along with the $1 trillion infrastructure bill and a debt ceiling increase in, before government funding runs out this Thursday, Sept. 30, reported PBS Newshour.
The bill could provide the IRS with much needed aid so that the burden stops falling on American taxpayers.
“On top of being the largest middle-class tax cut in American history, House Democrats are fighting to ensure that the bill provides upwards of $3 billion to the IRS to help reverse years of underfunding and understaffing. These critical investments will help close more than $7 trillion of tax gap and make sure the wealthy pay their fair share,” said Jeffries.
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://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w located. On Sept. 4 an additional search was conducted in the LaSalle Peru area by members of the Illinois Search and Rescue Council along with other search agencies in the area. Day’s body was recovered floating near the south bank of the Illinois River.
Day was a graduate student at Illinois State University pursuing his master’s degree in speech pathology. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the historically Black Alabama A&M University.
In a statement released by Day’s family, efforts are now focusing on what happened to him.
“At this moment there are more questions than answers surrounding Jelani’s disappearance and death, and that is where we will focus our energy,” the family said. “As of this moment, we do not know what happened to Jelani and we will not stop until we do. Thank you to every single person who has thought about, prayed for, talked about and searched for Jelani. The love you’ve shown our family has sustained us and we will definitely need you even more in the days to come.”
A public memorial service for Day is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 9 in Danville, Ill.The family has set up a GoFundMe (www.gofundme.com/f/ find-jelani-day) for support. Anyone with information on Day’s death is asked to call police.
In another case of a missing Black man, 24-yearold geologist Daniel Robinson of Buckeye, Arizona has been missing since June 23 when he left his job site. Police say his vehicle was found with his keys, wallet and cell phone left behind.
Robinson is a field geologist and oversees many sites located in remote desert locations, often working in extreme conditions and traveling long distances to work on projects.
At a press conference last weekend, Robinson’s family say police aren’t doing enough to look for him, hoping to get the treatment given to Petito, who had police departments from three states and the FBI involved in her case.
Robinson’s father, David, said police cancelled a helicopter search to look for Robinson and he was told because his son “is a grown man” he has the right to leave when he wants. Petito is just two years younger than Daniel.
Local police say the condition of Robinson’s vehicle points to an accident where his 2017 Jeep Renegade rolled off of a cliff. They don’t believe foul play is involved.
David traveled from South Carolina to conduct his own search with the help of drones, volunteers, search dogs and social media.
“If the [police] stepped up to the plate, I wouldn’t be standing here now,” David said at the press conference. “After waiting for Buckeye police department to do more searches for my son, I knew I had to do something because time was crucial. I couldn’t go another day allowing the desert to separate me from being there for my son.”
Robinson’s mother, Melissa Edmonds, said the pain of her son missing has been unbearable.
“It took me three months to look at my son’s picture. I’d just seen his car. It took me three months to look at his car,” she said. “You thought you felt pain, try looking for your child and not knowing where he is. He might be a man to you but he’s still my baby and we’re going to find him. I know it in my heart.”
Robinson’s family has started a GoFundMe (www.gofundme.com/f/ sebxxc-help-find-daniel), which has raised over $130,000 as of Tuesday. Anyone with information or who has seen Robinson is being asked to contact police or go to pleasehelpfinddaniel.com.
