New York Amsterdam News Issue Dec. 26, 2024 - Jan. 2, 2025 by AmsterdamNews

BEST OF 2024 PART I

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BEST OF 2024 PART I

Dear Readers,

Welcome to Part 1 of our Best of 2024 review! It can be hard to keep up with everything that’s going on and 2024 has been jam packed full of news. So in this issue we are giving you the chance to read (or re-read) what we consider some of our best journalism. Enjoy!

Damaso Reyes Executive Editor

Our New Harlem Renaissance: AmNews wins awards and recognition

AmNews Staff Reports

The New York Amsterdam News continued its winning streak in Chicago this month at the 2024 convention of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), winning an award for our series on the impact of bail reform. Ex-ecutive and Investigative Editor Damaso Reyes, who reported and penned the series, also received the NABJ’s prestigious Ida B. Wells Award. The award “recognizes an individual who has provided dis-tinguished leadership in increas-ing access and opportunities for Black journalists and improving the coverage of communities of color in American media.”

“Time and time and time again, when no one else would give me an opportunity, the Black press was there. When no one else would give me an opportunity to tell stories about my commu-nity, the Black press was there,” Reyes said during his acceptance speech.

“I am thrilled that our peers in the Black press are recognizing the transformative work we are doing and the impact our journalism is having,” said Elinor R. Tatum, publisher and editor-in-chief of the AmNews

“These recognitions are testa-ment to the transformative work every member of our newsroom and business department is doing to provide the community we serve with the racial justice jour-nalism they need to be informed and active participants in our democracy,” said AmNews President and Chief Revenue Officer Siobhan “Sam” Bennett.

The 2024 ABJ honors are just the latest in a string of recognition for the paper. Earlier in the summer, the BlackLight investigative unit of the AmNews won a Deadline Club award for Digital Video Re-porting for “Be-Loved,” our first documentary film, which explores the life and impact of a Harlem-based credible mes-

senger fight-ing to reduce gun violence in his community.

“This is such a raw and open discussion about gun violence and generational trauma that had us glued to the screen,” the judges wrote. “The perspective in this short documentary is often underrepresented when it comes to violence in communities that are neglected by elected officials. The journalists made the most of incredible access to this commu-nity and the multiple voices that propelled the story. ‘Be-loved’ is someone we won’t forget.”

AmNews Science Reporter Helina Selemon won a Solutions Journalism Network award for her reporting on the links between cli-mate change and excess heat and gun violence.

“We loved this story for the way it brought to life a big issue with a surprising link to climate change,” the judges said. “The article found evidence for the link between gun violence and rising temper-atures, using data and insights to make that link, presented visual ly in graphs and charts. It had a human element[,] too, with dif-ferent people and voices. It could have just focused on the evidence and the issues but instead it moved the story toward solutions, ticking all the pillars of solutions journal-ism. It had wide reader appeal and was an exemplary piece of solu-tions journalism.”

The AmNews is also winning for more than just our journalism. Tatum was recognized by Editor & Publisher as one of its “15 over 50,” which recognizes news lead-ers for “their strong leadership skills, transformational mind-sets, commitment to journalistic and publishing excellence[,] and ability to lead during challenging times.”

They also named Reyes and Dig-ital Editor Josh Barker to its 2024 class of “Editors Extraordinaire” and named the newspaper as part of

its group of “News Media to Watch,” noting that the “Amsterdam News is all about listening to its community. In 2023, [the] Am-sterdam News hosted community events and collaborations, result-ing in a 30% increase in print cir-culation from one partnership alone. To better communicate, the publication reconceived the 114-year-old legacy print newspa-per with gorgeous internally de-signed front covers and long-form investigative journalism from its BlackLight investigative unit.”

News Editor Aaron Foley was selected as a 2024 Maynard 200 fellow and will receive “two weeks of customized workshops, hands-on coaching[,] and peer network-ing sessions in March and July. The in-person training weeks are followed by a year-long, one-on-one mentorship phase, where-in each Fellow is paired with an industry expert for dedicated coaching.”

Tatum was invited to speak at the Borealis’ Racial Equity in Jour-nalism (REJ) Fund’s Kaleidoscope Live event, where she talked about the vital role the Black press plays in our society. Alicia Bell, direc-tor of the REJ Fund, also spoke warmly of the AmNews during the Knight Media Forum earlier this year. “What I saw from the Amster-dam News was a dedication to cre-ativity,” she said, referencing our collaboration for a special issue “Black Future News.”

ProPublica also selected the AmNews as one of three partners for its Local Reporting Network. The partnership provides three years of funding for the paper to hire a data investigative report-er who will work on the Beyond the Barrel of the Gun and Black to Nature reporting projects.

All of these awards, recognitions, and partnerships show that the 114-year-old newspaper is set to thrive in the digital age.

Deed theft cases threaten to deplete NY’s Black generational wealth

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

Deed theft cases continue to plague New York City’s Black community as many longneglected neighborhoods slowly transform into trendy districts.

Homeowners say they’re finding themselves having to fend off rapacious developers who might first ask if an owner’s willing to sell, but later insist that it’s now time for them to sell.

AmNews readers have been coming forward to detail the continued harassment, badgering, and mental torture they face while trying to fight off real estate speculators eager to take their homes.

Carmella Charrington said her father’s Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, home at 212 Jefferson Avenue was sold out from under him by an out-of-state conservator. Her father, Allman Charrington, has been a partial owner of the house with his sister since the 1980s.

“My father has a conservator,” Carmella said, explaining he had someone appointed by a court to help him take care of his finances. She and her sister filed to be declared his legal guardians, but the court would not allow it.

Meanwhile, she claims their father’s Georgia-based conservator began liquidating his assets—including his Jefferson Avenue home.

“My father’s conservator allowed plaintiffs to file documents: There were plaintiffs who went to court and submitted whatever documents, whatever fake index, to make it look proper to say that they were going to sell this property,” she said. “That’s how it ended up being sold—because my father’s conservator signed off...If you look at the deed, they just signed off with a whole bunch of people saying they were heirs of the property, and this had never even [gone] in front of a probate court at all.”

Carmella claims the 12 people listed alongside the name for her father’s conservator on the January 12, 2024, sale transaction did not go to probate court to prove they had legitimate rights to the property— yet they are listed as sellers of the property in a deal that records the transfer of 212 Jefferson Avenue to the Long Island Citybased company 227 Group LLC for a total of $1.4 million.

The owners of 227 Group LLC are Etai Vardi and the brothers Elliot and Joseph Ambalo. These three have become infamous property flippers who were profiled by The City just last year as “Speculator Bros Ripping Off Heirs and Evicting Tenants Across NYC.” Allegations are that they use their company to contact distant heirs of deceased property owners and get them to claim a partial ownership status, which they can then sell to the Ambalos and Vardi.

The suspicion of fraudulent activity during the sale of 212 Jefferson Avenue prompted an examination in court. Carmella said she has also brought her case to

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who recently disclosed that her office can now prosecute anyone who fraudulently steals a property owner’s home title or deed. These kinds of crimes now qualify as larceny and could lead to prison time for perpetrators.

Even though the case has not been decided yet, Carmella and her family say they were terrorized on January 24 this year when their home was broken into in broad daylight by speculators wielding hammers and chisels who used a range of tools to chip away at the front door with New York

you think that [it’s the truth].” Charrington and other owners have formed a coalition they’ve named Hands Off of Bed Stuy/ East New York Land Trust that aims to help owners join together to support each other.

Rachel Cyprien, who is among those who have joined the coalition, has been in a battle to get back the title to the multifamily home she purchased in Canarsie, Brooklyn, in 1998 with her father, Mecene Cyprien. Cyprien was a few months behind on her mortgage, in a deep depression and suffering from insomnia after the breakup of a 10-year relationship. A trusted friend told her she should contact Francklin Etienne, who was in the business of helping people when they faced the possibility of a foreclosure.

But instead of helping, Cyprien claims Etienne worked with a now-disbarred attorney, Andrien J. Wooley, to convince her to put her property in Etienne’s name while he supposedly worked to pay off the house debt. Although she initially agreed to do so and gave mortgage payments totaling $25,000 to Etienne for some nine months, Cyprien ultimately thought better of the plan and told Etienne she no longer wanted to do it. She stopped giving him the funds to pay her mortgage, but has not been able to get the deed to her property back. Cyprien is currently suing Wooley and Etienne in Brooklyn’s Supreme Court. Cyprien was in attendance when AG James held a community event this past June at Bed-Stuy’s Restoration Plaza to educate homeowners about deed theft ploys.

“It was standing room only,” Cyprien said.

“There were so many people in there!

“You know, no one talks about this; I know I didn’t talk. Here I am, an educated—fairly educated—Black woman. I’m a broker, right? And still I was embarrassed— too embarrassed to talk about what was happening to me. But when they had this, so many people came out, and what astonished me out of everything was the fact that out of everyone in there––the room was full, filled to capacity––everyone was Black.

Latisha James was saying this is happening to Black and Brown people, but I didn’t see any Brown people in there. What I saw were Black people.

City police standing by and watching from the sidewalk. The speculators had told the police that they owned the property, so even though they could hear Carmella and her father screaming inside the house, the police somehow believed the speculators were doing nothing wrong.

Since she started fighting to keep the property, Carmella Charrington has begun working with other property owners suffering some of the same problems. “The system is failing us,” she said. “If you don’t know, and if these people are coming to you and they’re telling you your property’s sold,

“The room was filled with Black people whose homes are being taken away or were taken away already. It’s really disgusting. And this woman who’s from my alma mater, Medgar Evers, spoke. She said the worst part about all of this is the amount of money—the generational wealth—we’ve lost. I mean it adds up to billions.”

New Yorkers who believe they may be a victim of deed theft can contact the attorney general by phone at 800-771-7755, by emailing deedtheft@ag.ny.gov, or by filing a confidential complaint. Homeowners who need free housing counseling and legal assistance can contact the Homeowner Protection Program at HOPP online or call 855-466-3456 to get help.

Speculators breaking in the front door of 212 Jefferson Avenue while cops watch from sidewalk (Screenshot from Carmella Charrington video)

The Charrington home at 212 Jefferson Ave in Brooklyn. (Carmella Charrington photo)

Excitement. Hope. Grief. Betrayal. We followed one Black woman political strategist before and after the 2024 Presidential Election.

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff

New York for Harris, a grassroots and civic engagement group founded by Ny Whitaker, was out in full force for Vice President Kamala Harris in the final four days leading up to the 2024 presidential election. Whitaker shared with AmNews her journey in those last moments of campaigning, her heartbreak over the post-election results, and what she plans to do next.

Whitaker’s group had been supporting President Joe Biden since 2019, making the pivot to digital advocacy, virtual meetings, textbanking, and phone banking to get the vote out instead of more traditional in-person methods during the COVID-19 lockdowns. She was already avidly campaigning on his behalf when he made the decision to drop out of the presidential race against then-former President Donald Trump and hand the baton off to Harris.

But Whitaker didn’t mind having to pivot and steer her campaign efforts toward Harris — this time, with all the raw excitement and momentum at being a part of a historic moment that many other Blackled organizations throughout the city, state, and country also felt.

“As a Black woman, [I’m] ready to go into gladiator mode,” Whitaker said at the time. An East Harlem native, Whitaker is a former White House senior advisor, founder of the New York for Biden+Harris presidential campaign group, and founder and chief strategist at PROJECT NYNE PRODUCTIONS.

Her group planned rolling weekly phone and text banks, forums about abortion access and women candidates, fun fundraising events, virtual e-banks, and pop-up educational series locally and statewide. They hosted a debate watch party, registered voters, and blasted social media. And most importantly, they recruited hundreds of volunteers to door knock and mobilize voters for Harris in mostly Republican districts and states — a tactic that many other worker unions and Democratic party organizers had committed to in New York City and State.

The weekend before the election was no different. In fact, the tension of the last three and a half months seemingly ratcheted up another impossibly high notch as hundreds of people once again gathered in the wee hours of the morning in Manhattan, or other counties, to get on buses and spend eight hours canvassing in the nearby swing state of Pennsylvania. On Nov. 2, one of Whitaker’s volunteer groups met at the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building in Harlem. “Nothing beats direct contact,” said Whitaker at the site. “This is what democracy looks like.”

From that location alone, four buses were leaving for four different cities in

plane to the island as the official declaration for Trump came in. She felt exhausted, she said, and was already trying to focus on self-care as opposed to the crushing disappointment at the post election results.

“I think that people are in mourning. That’s the best term that I could use,” said Whitaker over the phone. “People are in mourning and this is a day of reckoning for America. If the polls are correct, 62% of white women voted for him for a third time straight and I think it’s important for people to focus on that data point.”

Pennsylvania. Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine spoke a few words of encouragement, before volunteers separated into lines and filed onto their buses. One of the buses was a bilingual cohort, specifically gathered to reach out to Spanishspeaking residents.

Margarita Soto, a bus captain, recalled having deep conversations with Hispanic and Latino communities in Reading and Hazleton, Pennsylvania. In her time canvassing, she also found that Catholic and Evangelical Latinos were very conservative and Republican-leaning. They consider “a vote for Trump a vote for Christianity,” while others simply recognized Trump’s brand and name, she said.

“They’ve been there in those communities for, like, 20 to 30 years. They have turned those towns around, these were towns that were dying. These are working people with two or three jobs just trying to get ahead,”she said. “It’s all about affordability of life [for them]. So can I afford my home? Can I afford the food? Can my kids be healthy? Can we have healthcare and can we get a good education?”

At that time on Saturday, there was a feeling that Trump had offended Puerto Rican voters at his rally at Madison Square Garden where speakers had made racist and disparaging remarks about the island the week prior and therefore was on rocky footing with the entire Hispanic voter bloc.

In reality, the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections discussed the possibility that Trump would make inroads among Black and Latino voters. Polling data from early in April 2024 had noted a shift in party voting trends among Black and Latino voters, especially along gender lines. A small chunk of both groups identified as Republican, Republican-leaning, or independent, because of issues like LGBTQ rights, abortion, homelessness, and crime.

“There’s way more variation — Puerto Ricans being actual American citizens versus Cubans versus Mexicans versus first-, second-, third-generation,” Dr. Tasha Philpot, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, told AmNews in a previous interview. “Each of those groups is very different in terms of their outlook toward politics, especially if they’re phenotypically white versus phenotypically Black.”

In all, Whitaker had 96 buses leave with volunteers that weekend. The work continued with a phone bank marathon she ran from noon to 9 p.m. everyday until the polls closed on Tuesday.

On Nov. 5, Election Day had finally arrived. In the city, voter turnout during early voting had been at an historic high and held promise, but also uncertainty.

There was never an expectation that the presidential race would be called right away for Harris or Trump on election night. Whitaker’s group was prepared to begin “ballot chasing,” or follow up with people who requested an absentee ballot but didn’t vote yet, and “curing” early vote ballots, which means that a ballot had an error that needed correcting. Whitaker, who’s on the advisory board of the New York Democratic Lawyers Council, was prepared for a knock down and dragged-out legal fight. What she wasn’t prepared for was that the race would be called hours after the polls closed, early on Wednesday, Nov. 6, with Trump declared the winner for the electoral vote and, later, the popular vote.

What she wasn’t prepared for was who the polls revealed voted for Trump.

Later on that. morning, when AmNews caught up with Whitaker, she was on her way to the SOMOS conference held annually in Puerto Rico, where city and state electeds as well as political affiliates flock after the election is over. She was on the

According to the Associated Press (AP) VoteCast, a survey of the American electorate conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, 53% of white women voted for Trump in 2024, while 89% of Black women voted for Harris. Latina women were more evenly split with 59% voting for Harris and 39% voting for Trump this year. Meanwhile, Latino and White men voted mostly for Trump as well.

Dr. Nadia E. Brown, a professor of government at Georgetown University, said that based on historical trends, this was not a great year for an incumbent or the incumbent party to win and that people were upset with the state of the nation’s leadership, whether that be the increase in asylum seekers or the administration’s handling of Gaza. She said that young Latino men and a percentage of Black men felt unheard by the Democratic party, while Black women organizers felt “betrayed” by other women voters who didn’t choose Harris.

“What happened in 2016, it doesn’t help that it happened again in less than a decade. And this understanding that white women ‘had to get their white women together,’ that there was no amount of work that Black women could do to make it better. The frustration is that there’s this fastidious viewpoint of Black women as magical negroes,” said Brown, “who do all this work, show up, and without seeing their kids, must lead from an altruistic place of making America better but get little partnership in return. And have to do it again with a smile. That’s the thing. It’s the doing it again.”

“Race and gender were on the ballot and people chose to vote for Trump and the GOP anyway,” said Whitaker.

In the end, Whitaker was satisfied that her grassroots group ‘left it all on the line’ for Harris. They had a total of 210,000 volunteers doing 2,000 door knocks a minute, which was unprecedented for them. She was proud of New York Democrats winning House seats that were previously Republican and getting the state’s Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) ballot measure passed, even though Harris won the state by 12 points when Biden had won by 30 points.

After Harris gave her concession speech on Wednesday afternoon, Whitaker simply said that the “work begins anew.”

Political Strategist Ny Whitaker (center, in black) with her lead volunteers in front of the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building in Harlem on Nov. 2. (Ariama C. Long photo)

The NYPD gang database took his future. Kraig Lewis remains determined to give back

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

The biggest gang bust in New York City history happened in Connecticut, at least for Kraig Lewis. Back in April 2016, SWAT teams came knocking as he was on the doorstep of completing his MBA program at the University of Bridgeport.

Lewis never graduated. Instead, he ended up prosecuted as one of the “Bronx 120” under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970 (RICO). He ultimately pled guilty and spent two years in federal prison despite no prior record or physical evidence against him. After coming home, Lewis learned of his inclusion on the NYPD gang database. Yet, he was never actually accused of gang participation.

“You don’t necessarily have to be John Gotti [to face a RICO charge]. The gang database [is] surveilling different neighborhoods,” said Lewis. “My neighborhood, for instance, Eastchester Gardens, the gang database is going to stigmatize it… you could be a musician representing your neighborhood and not commit a crime, but since you’re on that database and you’re representing this neighborhood through your music, you’re more subjected to be arrested.”

His story starts in the northeastern Bronx as the son of a nurse and an engineer. What the law enforcement saw as a deadly battleground between rival gangs, Lewis called home. Naturally, he hung out with other young men around the neighborhood. And he made music about it. That was likely enough for the NYPD to enter him in the gang database. But vocationally, Lewis eyed a future in law and boasted grades at Mount Saint Michael Academy to back up such aspirations.

Finding a job after prison was tough. Finishing graduate school was no longer financially tenable. Lewis painfully came to grips with never becoming a lawyer and instead focused on music. His lyrics were used against him so he rebranded his stage name from KayMurda to Bbo Flock and pivoted away from promoting violence.

But as he was figuring out his own life, he provided others with answers. Lewis ended up working in the anti-gun violence world through a group named Release the Grip. There, he helped youngsters broker peace. And in the process, he also helped rehabilitate himself. He left such an impression that students depicted him on a mural. Then layoffs happened. So Lewis returned to music.

Legal Aid Society later picked him up as an organizer. The role soon fashioned Lewis as a prominent champion against the NYPD gang database. Even today, the police tool remains and a probe confirmed 99% of entrants are Black or Brown. Those on the

database are not informed when they are entered without filing a public records request and little is known about the NYPD’s formalized methodology for determining what qualifies as gang participation.

For a while, Lewis found himself center stage empowering youngsters against racial profiling through the country’s oldest public defense organization.

“I was all over New York doing the classes, teaching them about the gang database, Know Your Rights [and] youth mobilization, and what that looks like to get a group of youth together and fight for change,” said Lewis. “You know, go to City Hall conferences, come up with a plan, speak at the press conferences. And that

Black New Yorker

also rehabilitated me.”

Then, his work with Legal Aid also fell through. Today, Lewis continues mentoring youngsters and advocating against the gang database in a more unofficial capacity. He also runs a radio show where he platforms young artists, hoping to steer them towards a better future.

And through it all, he continues to pursue his own musical career. While some of Lewis’s contemporaries ended up with similar plights, others made it big time. He laughs, recounting a time when a then-unknown Cardi B appeared on his music video. Still a young man, but with a lifetime worth of experiences, he stays hopeful.

“If you see someone with some potential,

and you see them in a bad spot, just don’t give up on them,” said Lewis. “I’m hanging [in there] to have a Kraig Lewis success story down the line. It might not be right now, it might not be next year, but I’m not going to stop working towards that. And anyone that needs to hear from me, I’m open to speaking, and I’m open to helping, and I’m not looking for pay to help.”

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.

Kraig Lewis hands out Christmas gifts. (Photo courtesy of Kraig Lewis)

‘Just Action’ says we can change race-based housing policies

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

Richard Rothstein’s 2017 book

“The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America” was an exacting look at how U.S. government policies created and then maintained housing discrimination. A research associate at the Economic Policy Institute and a fellow at the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Rothstein wrote about how state-sanctioned redlining had separated and effectively devalued the residences and lives of Black people. His book was a major success and was longlisted for the National Book Award for nonfiction. But Rothstein explained that wherever he went to give lectures about “The Color of Law,” he was constantly asked what can be done about the situation now?

Last year he came out with a new book, “Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law,” which he hopes answers that question. Written by Rothstein and his daughter, Leah Rothstein, who is a housing policy expert, “Just Action” strongly urges readers to understand the housing policies that continue to circumscribe the neighborhoods we live in today.

The book encourages readers to recognize unjust laws and simply not obey them, in the same manner that President Abraham Lincoln declared he would not abide by the 1857 Dred Scott case ruling. When the Supreme Court found that African Americans could not be accepted as U.S. citizens and said that slavery should not be legally overturned in the Dred Scott case, “Lincoln urged Americans not to obey it,” the Rothsteins write in their book. “He [Lincoln] said he expected the decision to be overturned in rulings that followed the dissenters’ arguments and therefore it should not now be respected. Implicit in his prediction was that a future court could repudiate Dred Scott only if it considered new cases that arose in defiance of the earlier decision.”

Richard Rothstein recently spoke with the Amsterdam News about “Just Action.” The following has been lightly edited for clarity.

Amsterdam News: Between you and your daughter, have you guys been approached or have you been able to speak with any legislators about efforts to change U.S. housing laws?

Rothstein: No. The theme of “Just

Action” is not that these are policy ideas for legislators. Our view is that there is no political support today for the kinds of reforms that are necessary to redress segregation. What “Just Action” is about is the kinds of policies and reforms and programs that can be enacted at a local level if people just band together to press for them.

So, the book “Just Action” is not addressed to legislators. It’s addressed to the 20 million people who took part in Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020 and who went home and put Black Lives Matter signs on their lawns but did nothing further because they didn’t know what to do.

“Just Action” describes program after program in a local community that can make a significant difference in the redress of segregation if only those people who claim, and I think legitimately claim, that they think Black Lives Matter.

AmNews: It’s very cool that you’re talking about a lot of community groups that are doing good work… reparative work. But once we have enough groups doing that kind of work, just to sort of take the other side, would that be a way of saying that well then there’s no need for African American reparations in this country?

Rothstein: Well, we talk about remedies for unconstitutional violations of African Americans’ rights in the housing field and of course it’s going to be a long process. I don’t think that even if people read “Just Action” and everybody who reads it joins a group to press for one or the other of the policies and programs we’ve described, that this is going to happen overnight. What we’re looking for and what we’re recommending in “Just Action” is beginning, starting somewhere.

I’ll give you an example: One of the things that we argue in “Just Action” is that although the segregation of this country and the racial inequality that resulted from it was primarily driven by federal policy that was unconstitutional, … it’s local programs and policies that maintain and reinforce and sustain it. One example I notice that New York City is grappling with now is our property assessment system. African Americans in every city in the country pay higher property taxes than whites

do for homes of the same value. One reason for that is that most cities, New York included, do not do a physical reassessment of properties every year. They do one separated by long periods and then adjust them for inflation, assuming that all properties appreciate in value at the same rate. But that’s not what really happens: What happens is that properties in white neighborhoods appreciate more rapidly than properties in Black neighborhoods. The result is that the assessed value in white neighborhoods becomes farther below the real market value of those homes than the assessed value in Black neighborhoods. The result is that African Americans pay higher property taxes; they pay a bigger burden of the costs for schools and libraries and fire departments and all the other things that are supported by property taxes. They pay more than whites do for homes of similar value. This is a purely local issue. The reason it exists is because of federal policy that created that segregation. But the federal government has nothing to do with property assessments. This is just one example of the many, many local issues that have to be addressed and they will only be addressed if people mobilize to demand reform in the system. Property assessors in cities all over the country acknowledge that it’s a discriminatory system, there’s no mystery about it. But they’re not under any pressure to reform it and reforming it would save African

Americans an enormous amount of money by lowering their property taxes.

AmNews: Do you really believe that there are that many people who want to create that change?

Rothstein: I do believe that. Twenty million people participated in Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020. They weren’t all African Americans, in fact the majority of them were white. They were both suburban and urban. They were, as I say, white and Black and people of other ethnicities. They were low income and middle class. That indicates that there’s an enormous appetite to do something about racial inequality in this country. I know all the media keeps on focusing on the reaction against racial equality and that certainly exists, but we’re a deeply divided country and the number of people in cities all over this country who support racial equality is large enough to make a real difference if they only mobilize and know what to do. This book, “Just Action,” gives many, many examples, some small, some large, but all at a local level [of actions] that can make a real difference in redressing segregation.

AmNews: So how does gentrification play within your vision of changing housing segregation? Is it a boon or does it hurt communities?

Rothstein: We devoted a good bit of space in “Just Action” to gentrification and what local policies can do to mitigate its harms. For example, we could have inclusionary zoning programs that permitted the residents of communities that are gentrifying to remain because the new housing that’s being built in those communities includes units and homes that are affordable to the existing residents of that community. We talk a great deal about land trusts. …. A land trust is something usually run by a non-profit organization to which vacant land is donated. The land trust then builds homes both for sale and rental, but keeps ownership of the land underneath the homes. So, when the people who buy those homes buy them initially, it’s at much lower than market rates because they’re not paying for the cost of the land, the biggest thing that is driving high housing costs. And then when they resell those homes, they resell them at a price that does not in-

clude the cost of the land. So, another family who buys that home can afford it as well. Those are just two policies and there are many others … to combat gentrification, not to prevent it. We can’t prevent it: The market will always gentrify neighborhoods and urban areas, but it can prevent the massive displacement of existing residents so that communities become healthier and still have homes for the residents who have lived there for many years.

AmNews: Finally, you talk about the Supreme Court and pretty much fighting against some of its rulings. … taking a stand against some of the anti-race conscious remedies that the Supreme Court is now putting out.

Rothstein: Yes, we do discuss this. We have today a rogue Supreme Court that ignores the Constitution and simply implements its own racially bigoted preferences when it comes to policy. Conservatives, right wing Republicans have no hesitation in defying Supreme Court rulings. They don’t have any hesitation to do that. The only people who seem to bow down to unconstitutional Supreme Court rulings that preserve racial inequality are liberals. In the 1960s in the Civil Rights Movement, people didn’t ask, well, is it legal to desegregate a restaurant? Should we not sit-in at a lunch counter because it’s illegal to do so? No, they challenged unconstitutional laws and unconstitutional rulings in order to make the civil rights advances that we made in the 1960s. We need the same kind of courage today on the part of activists who are trying to redress the racial inequality that was created unconstitutionally and that now is being preserved unconstitutionally by the Supreme Court. … In the case of racial inequality, we need to not allow them to destroy the democratic rules of this society. This constitution is written to have three equal parts of government, legislative, executive, judicial. What we’ve done—and there’s nothing in the constitution that authorizes this—is we’ve let the Supreme Court have the last word on everything. And that is not what the constitution provides. It’s something that has evolved by really the cowardice of public officials.

Now I’m not saying we violate every ruling of the Supreme Court, but when they make extremely unconstitutional rulings in the case of race, as Lincoln said they did in the Dred Scott decision, we need to not give it the respect that the Supreme Court thinks it’s entitled to.

AT THE WHITNEY EDGES OF AILEY

FINAL WEEKS THROUGH FEB 9

America’s safety net is failing gun violence survivors as they struggle to return to work

By SHANNON CHAFFERS Report for America Corps Member

“You have to pay rent, you have to clothe yourself, you still might want to go to a movie. You don’t have money to do any of these things, so it’s like they pigeonhole you back into what you’re known to do. And what I was known to do is sell drugs.”

As Kareem Nelson, 50, navigated his wheelchair through a Harlem park close to where he was born, he reflected on the financial challenges he faced after being shot and paralyzed at 20 years old. After a oneyear rehab process, he was unemployed and soon found himself back in the same position he was in before his injury.

“As a young adult coming back to [your] community in a wheelchair, it [makes] it hard for you to work. It makes it hard for you to get right back into society and be productive,” he said.

Growing up during the crack epidemic in the 1980s, Nelson started selling drugs at 12 years old, a decision he attributes to low self-esteem and a desire to fit in with his peers. By the time of his injury, he had moved to Baltimore. A dispute with another man there led to him being shot.

After his injury, Nelson was awarded Social Security disability benefits, which became his main source of income from public programs. With no work history at the time, though, he received just $583 a month, which was not enough to cover his expenses.

“No one person can live off of $583 a month. That is impossible,” he said.

The struggles Nelson faced in establishing financial stability while coming to terms with his disability are still common among gun violence survivors with limited resources. Inadequacies in the victims assistance and disability programs designed to mitigate these challenges have hindered their accessibility and effectiveness.

“There is no [existing] program that can assist a survivor with all of the needs that they may have in the aftermath of being a victim of gun violence,” explained Kimmi Herring, associate vice president of community pro-

be dealing with a lot of functional disability, and violence appears to be at least a partial driver of why this might be happening,” explained study co-author Daniel Semenza, a professor at Rutgers University.

The impact of this violence goes beyond direct victims. A follow-up study that surveyed Black Americans found that among Black men, hearing or witnessing shootings is linked to higher rates of functional disability, while Black women who have been directly threatened with firearm violence are more likely to have poorer functional health.

“Not only are more people sustaining gunshot injuries, but surviving, [which] is resulting in some of these functional disabilities. They’re also living in communities where it’s happening, and they hear about it, and that is shaping their everyday behaviors,” Semenza explained.

Joseph Richardson, a professor at the University of Maryland who studies community gun violence, said a variety of factors drive gun violence in these communities, including concentrated poverty, high unemployment, and easy access to guns. He has witnessed first-hand how a lack of resources for recovery can set gun violence survivors up to struggle both mentally and physically after their injury.

“More than likely…they’ll be discharged back to the same communities where they were injured, without ever having any resources or plan for how to reintegrate back into their community, knowing that they are suffering from physical injuries, some of which may be permanent, and also suffering from the psychological effects of being injured,” he said.

The challenge of returning to work

grams at Safe Horizon, a New York City-based victim assistance organization. Unable to work temporarily or permanently, survivors can struggle financially as they try to cobble together money from a variety of programs. If they are denied by these programs, or, like Nelson, can’t make ends meet even if they are accepted, they may begin or resume participating in illicit markets for income, putting them at heightened risk for reinjury. Research has shown that survivors of gun violence are more likely to experience a subsequent injury and to be arrested on a violence or weapons-related charge compared to the general population. Across the country, Black and Brown Americans, who are disproportionately concen-

trated in under-resourced neighborhoods with high rates of violence, bear the greatest burden of this struggle. Gun violence has been the leading cause of death and disability for young Black men for decades, and is currently the second leading cause of death for young Black women.

A 2021 study of four cities—New York City, Newark, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia—found that communities with high rates of shootings have higher rates of functional disability among young men, defined as acquired difficulty in performing everyday tasks needed for independent living. Nonfatal shootings, in particular, were linked to higher rates of functional disability among young men.

“This is a population that really shouldn’t

Gun violence survivors who were working before being injured often face financial instability, because returning to their jobs poses both a physical and mental challenge, and sometimes simply might not be possible. Their recovery can involve adjusting to temporary or permanent physical disabilities such as paralysis; chronic pain; or difficulty walking, standing, or lifting.

In general, people with disabilities face significantly higher unemployment rates, with the gap historically sitting at 40%. They also struggle with holding onto employment or working the same hours as before their injury, and can face workplace discrimination.

“We had people who worked in warehouses, or worked for an airline, or [someone who] was a firefighter, and they couldn’t go back to those jobs because it wasn’t physically accessible for them,” said Candace Coleman, community strategy specialist at Access Living, a disability resource center in Chicago that recently conducted more than

Kareem Nelson struggled financially after being shot and paralyzed. The $583 per month he received in disability benefits did not cover his expenses. (PhotobyShannonChaffers)

150 interviews with gun violence survivors in that city about their experiences post-injury.

“Once I recovered, [I thought] I should be able to go back and make a life for myself,” said Andre Johnson, 42, who participated in Access Living’s study. He was 22 years old when he was shot and his friend killed in a carjacking incident in his hometown of Chicago. At the time, Johnson was in college studying engineering while working at a local electronics company. One of the bullets struck his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed. After a recovery and rehab process that lasted about one year, Johnson prepared to get back to where he left off.

“The goal was that: to finish school, and go back into the work that I was doing, because fortunately, it was indoors, so I just spent a lot of time on my computer,” he said.

But the journey was not as smooth as he had envisioned. It took seven years before he felt healthy and capable enough to return to school full time. The process involved navigating various challenges, including finding a supportive living facility that allowed him to live independently, and balancing mental health care with his coursework. After years of persistence, which included spending 10hour days at college to take afternoon and evening classes, Johnson completed his engineering degree in 2016.

After graduating, Johnson sought work in the technology sector, but rejoining the workforce proved challenging. He had to turn down one job offer because he didn’t have a reliable way of traveling to their offices.

Oftentimes, the health insurance people with disabilities receive through their work fails to cover all of their medical needs.

“One big thing people don’t realize is that even though you can recover [and] be able to work, there’s still an additional cost with disability. You can work the same job, but your [spending] still could be 20 percent more than an able-bodied individual,” he said.

Even survivors who have suffered more moderate injuries also face challenges returning to work. Michael Vella, a trauma surgeon at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center, co-authored a 2019 study that examined the patient-reported outcomes of 183 gun violence survivors in Philadelphia, and found that unemployment among this group increased by 14.3%.

“It’s a correlation, not a causation, so there may be other factors,” he said, “but if we just assume that it is from the gunshot injury, you have to assume it’s from functional limitations due to chronic pain—or probably just as important, the mental health aspect of it.”

Vella said one of the study’s most surprising findings was that almost a third of the patients who were sent home from the emergency room with minor injuries screened positive for PTSD.

“That’s really one of the big implications…that you can have a moderate physical injury, but a major impairment,” he said.

While difficulties working can present immediately after injury, they can also manifest later in a survivor’s life.

“People that I’m representing will have tried

to return to the workforce, and maybe have been successful for a number of years. Then, eventually at some point, the gunshot wounds have maybe hastened something physically going on, [such as] you have worsening arthritic issues, maybe you’ve had to now start using a cane to be able to walk,” said Ashley Sappenfield, a Social Security disability attorney who has represented gun violence survivors.

Andre

Johnson overcame various challenges in resuming his education and career after surviving a shooting in 2004 that left him with a spinal cord injury. In 2017, he founded Live Equipd, a company that helps health organizations acquire necessary equipment for patients with neurological disabilities. (PhotocourtesyofAndreJohnson)

for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries administer shortterm national, publicly funded disability programs to replace workers’ wages. Some countries have multiple temporary programs of varying lengths, giving recipients more time to recover before they consider applying for a long-term disability program.

“The U.S. doesn’t have such publicly funded

at $798 per week. Job protections are also not provided by TDI, meaning if someone is fired while on that insurance, they have little legal recourse.

“It’s not a workable system for people,” said Moriah Engelberg, a campaign organizer at A Better Balance (ABB), a legal advocacy organization. “If you find yourself in any kind of health crisis, you can lose your job,

Piecemeal programs

After being shot, Johnson was approved for Social Security disability benefits and crime victim compensation—two of the programs that gun violence survivors turn to in the wake of their injury. In addition, just before his injury, Johnson had purchased a new life insurance policy, which he said became a key source of financial support.

“[Having] that particular insurance over those years, as I was going to the hospital, everything, it provided a kind of a safety net,” he said. “The combination of all of those things made the transition when you acquire disability much easier [for me] than in some cases.”

Indeed, gun violence survivors who must rely solely on the public programs for financial assistance often encounter an insufficient support system, a reality that advocates say results from the nation’s lack of an adequate safety net.

“[The U.S.’s] broad divestment from the well-being of whole communities… means any of us who depend on having a good social service infrastructure find ourselves with less than we need,” said Danielle Sered, executive director of Common Justice, a New York-based organization that develops solutions to violence.

For example, many other Organization

disability systems,” said Na Yin, a professor at Baruch College and co-director of the New York Retirement and Disability Research Center.

Instead, the existence and quality of shortterm disability programs vary by state. New York is one of just 14 states that has implemented, or will soon implement, a temporary disability or medical leave program. All of the states’ programs last one year or less, and many rely on private sector provisions.

“After one year, you either go back to work, or if you can’t, [you] consider [Social Security]. It’s a big jump from a one-year recovery from an injury to permanent long-term [disability]. There’s nothing in between,” Yin said.

New York’s temporary disability program is known as Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI). State law requires most employers to provide employees with disability benefits coverage for off-the-job injuries if they have been working full-time for at least four weeks, or part-time for at least 25 days.

Compared to other states, however, the benefits are very low. The program only replaces 50% of a worker’s average weekly wage for up to six months, and the maximum amount is capped at $170 per week—a figure that has not risen since 1989. Hawaii, the state with the next lowest cap, provides a maximum more than four times higher,

lose your health insurance, and then only get $170 a week for compensation.”

The program is so out of date that many people don’t know it exists.

“It’s not something that is really talked about. I worked in social services for four and a half years, and I had never heard about TDI,” Engelberg said.

ABB has fought to raise the benefit, and is currently working to pass a bill that would make TDI benefits equivalent to New York’s Paid Family Leave program, which was created in 2016. The legislation would add job protections to TDI; allow for intermittent leave; and, over four years, increase the wage replacement level to 67%, and the cap to 67% of the statewide average weekly wage (an amount currently equal to just over $1,150).

Assembleymember Michelle Solages, one of the bill’s sponsors, is optimistic that the bill will be passed during the next legislative session, which starts in January.

“I’m very positive about its passage in the next session. We did a lot of work and we gained a lot of ground last session, and this is going to be my top priority,” she said.

For now, without an adequate temporary disability program, gun violence survivors in New York have used another program

RETURN TO WORK continued on page 10

Temporary Disability Insurance

Social

Financial Resources for Gun Violence Survivors in N.Y.

Social Security Disability Insurance

Supplemental Security Income

Programs that gun violence survivors may be eligible for if they cannot return to work after their injury

New York law requires most employers to provide employees with disability benefits coverage for o the job injuries.

Federal and state funded program that o ers financial assistance to eligible victims of violent crime. The funds can be used to make up for lost wages.

Federal insurance program that provides benefits to eligible applicants with physical or mental disabilities that prevent them from doing substantial work.

Federal needs-based program for those who have limited income and resources, and have physical or mental disabilities that prevent them from doing substantial work.

Public Assistance Programs

Assistance Programs

Federal, state, and county-funded programs for needy individuals and families. Programs include cash benefits (Family Assistance, Safety Net Assistance), or benefits to pay for necessities like food (SNAP benefits)

Return to work

Continued from page 17

Continued from page 9

to make up for lost wages: victim compensation.

Unlike short-term disability, every state has a victim compensation program, which offers financial assistance only to “innocent” victims of violent crime. These programs are financed through a mix of federal and state funds, and eligibility requirements and benefits can differ by state.

A portion of victim compensation funds can be used to make up for lost wages. Because New York’s Office of Victim Services (OVS), the agency that administers victim compensation, is designated as the payer of last resort, those applying for lost wages compensation must first apply for TDI. The maximum OVS amount is much higher than TDI: $600 per week. The actual amount a person receives depends on their previous

50% of your average weekly wage

Maximum benefit:

$170/week, 26 weeks

Maximum benefit:

$600/week, $30,000 total

Average benefit: $1,537/month

Maximum benefit: $3,822/month

Eligibility for Medicare after two years

Average benefit: $697.89 per month

Maximum payment: $943 per month

Eligibility for Medicaid

Median cash benefit for cases with children: $575/month

Median cash benefit for cases without children: $380/month

Average SNAP benefit: $218/month per person

Must be employed or have been recently employed

Must not have been injured in commission of an illegal act

Must be innocent victim of a crime (i.e. must not have contributed to the crime)

Must have already applied for TDI

Must have su icient work history

Must have disability that prevents work for at least one year or will result in death

Must not have been injured in commission of a felony

Must make less than $1,971 a month, own less than $2,000 in assets

Must have disability that prevents work for at least one year or will result in death

Must have limited income (varies by household circumstances)

Must fulfill work requirements or obtain medical exemption

salary, and the amount they are receiving through TDI.

“If someone brought home $500 a week, [OVS] is going to look at the $170 [from TDI], and the difference of that would be $330, so that’s what they would consider: Are they going to pay you that $330?,” Herring said.

Once someone’s TDI benefits expire, OVS will also make up the difference, at up to a maximum total of $30,000.

Barriers to access

Like TDI, victim compensation has drawn criticism for its lack of accessibility. A 2022 report by Common Justice found that in New York, the funds are underused, especially in communities of color.

“There’s not enough public awareness of the availability of these funds, partly because very often, the way people learn about them is through the police,” Sered said. “If they don’t call the police, they don’t learn about it. Or if they do call the

police and the police don’t regard them as a worthy victim, or if their injuries aren’t immediately visible, or are actually more related to posttraumatic stress...they’re often not informed of these funds.”

After publishing the report, Common Justice campaigned for a new state law that goes into effect in December 2025, and eliminates the requirement that applicants report their crime to police to qualify for victim compensation.

“OVS has made a concerted effort to address disparities and inequities in marginalized communities, particularly those affected by gun violence and communities of color,” wrote OVS spokesperson Janine Kava in a statement.

These efforts have included providing funding to community-based organizations in high gun violence neighborhoods and working with street outreach programs, victims’ advocates, and Common Justice to raise awareness about the avail-

ability of victim compensation and expand access to the program.

The application process for these programs can also be a barrier for survivors. Applying for TDI requires information from the claimant, their employer, and their doctor.

According to the Workers’ Compensation Board, which oversees TDI, claimants should receive a decision on their application within 18 days of submission. However, Engelberg said that ABB’s helpline has received calls from claimants who have not received a decision within that time frame. She said that delays can often arise when the claimant’s employer doesn’t tell them to submit their application form directly to the employer’s insurance carrier. The claimant submits it to their employer instead, and it can take months for them to realize that the employer failed to submit the form on their behalf.

“None of this is easy or obvious for someone who is not particu-

New York Workersʼ Compensation Board (WCB)

New York O ice of Victim Services (OVS)

(OVS)

(SSA)

New York O ice of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) and local departments of social services

larly savvy,” she wrote by email. Andrea Cyr, a spokesperson for the Workers’ Compensation Board, wrote in a statement that the board “strives to make the application process for disability benefits more clear and easier to use for employees and employers.”

In the past year, she said, the board has standardized and simplified the TDI application form, which now clarifies that an employer’s failure to complete their section of the form is not a basis for the insurance carrier to deny the claim. It also notifies claimants that if the employer fails to complete and return its part of the form within three business days, the employee can bypass them and send their application directly to the insurance carrier.

While awaiting TDI benefits, a person can apply for an emergency award of up to $2,500 from OVS— but they must wait to receive a decision on their TDI claim before

New York O ice of Victim Services

applying for lost wages compensation. Getting approved for victim compensation can also involve frustrating bureaucratic hurdles, and the wait time to receive a decision was almost four months in fiscal year 2023.

“I’ve worked with many survivors who find themselves extremely frustrated, not only from the incident itself, but now this benefit is not accessible as quickly as one might hope,” Herring said.

Kava said that since implementing workflow changes in February, OVS has reduced the average wait time to 95 days or about three months.

Sered said another drawback to victim compensation is that the program is better suited for people who have regular employment. People who were underemployed or had irregular employment have a more difficult time providing the paperwork necessary to demonstrate their loss of income.

“It’s a really important benefit, but it is mostly available to people who have consistent salary conditions, or where their income week to week is the same, and the pay stub reflects that,” she explained.

Kava said that the documentation required for lost wage claims is unique to each person’s circumstance, but individuals whose jobs don’t have a set schedule are requested to submit tax returns and complete an OVS employment questionnaire to demonstrate loss of income.

Both programs can deny claims from people whose injury they suspect was acquired in the commission of an illegal act. In general, they are unsuited for people who were making money off the books.

“Some of the participants that we work with—they’re in the streets—and some of them do not have jobs, or the job that they had is not legit. They’re suffering from the loss of income, even though it can become illegal [where] their income comes from,” said Carolyn Dixon, who works with victims of gun violence through Life Camp, a gun violence prevention organization based in Queens.

This means gun violence survivors like Nelson, who are more likely to re-engage in risky activity like drug dealing after their injury, are less likely to see financial relief that could help prevent them from doing so. If these survivors are suffering from severe injuries, they may qualify for Social Security benefits like Nelson did. If their injuries are more temporary, or they are denied Social Security benefits, the main remaining option is public assistance through their state’s welfare programs.

These programs include cash assistance and food stamps, but they can vary state to state in terms of accessibility and generosity. In New York, the median amount received for cash assistance is $380 per month for cases without children and $575 per month for cases with children, according to the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA). Emily Lundgren, a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society, explained that part of the cash benefit goes directly toward rent payment, in what is known as “shelter allowance.” The recipient can use the remaining portion for any other expenses. For example,

Nelson watches a basketball game in Harlem park. His organization, Wheelchairs Against Guns, hosts basketball tournaments at this court (PhotobyShannonChaffers)

an individual in New York City with no other income is entitled to a maximum of $215 in shelter allowance and $183.10 for other expenses. These grant amounts are set by state law, and haven’t risen for over 10 years. Advocates say they fail to meet cost of living needs, especially in New York City.

“I’ve lived here for a long time, and I’ve never known a place where $215 would cut it [for rent]. In addition to that, $183.10 is very little to survive on for a whole month in this city,” Lundgren said.

These programs have also been criticized for a convoluted application process. In New York City, this process has resulted in many applicants experiencing delays or being denied despite qualifying for help. In addition, those who do qualify for public assistance must fulfill work requirements, or be approved for a medical exemption, adding

support program, Safety, Emotion, Loss, and Future (SELF), speaking to the challenges that survivors face in regaining a sense of safety, adjusting to new emotions and loss, and maintaining a focus on the future.

“[It] allows for individuals who are returning to work to establish or reestablish norms, in terms of being able to not be fidgeting when they hear a loud noise, or being able to establish a relationship with a stranger,” Williams said. “You have to learn how to trust again, you have to learn how to be safe again.”

KAVI’s Social Work Coordinator Nathan Aguilar facilitates some of these groups, which meet virtually once a week for 10 weeks and are tailored to participants of similar age, gender, or experience.

“I’m always amazed at how open people are about sharing their experiences, how trusting and how vulnerable people can be when you establish a place [where] they feel safe, where values are respected,” he said.

Interested participants are also matched with a caseworker as they seek employment or education opportunities. Williams emphasized that the process can help people in their recovery by giving them a sense of self-sufficiency.

“Employment and educational opportunities for victims of gun violence add to their healing,” he said. “Yes, there’s the physical portion of the healing, but the mental and emotional portion of the healing is only aided by them gaining a sense of efficacy in themselves. As they achieve more, as they do more, they’re more likely to heal from their traumatic experience.”

Nelson’s experiences attest to this reality, although it took him many years—and another near-death experience—to get to a place of healing. One night, almost two decades after he was first shot, Nelson found himself in a life-threatening situation once again.

“Having to beg for my life that night showed me what life was,” he said. “That was my rock bottom. And that day, I vowed never to deal with the streets [again].”

After the incident, Nelson resolved to create an organization, Wheelchairs Against Guns. Through community events and workshops at New York City schools, he and his staff try to prevent gun violence by teaching young people skills he wished he had had as a child.

an additional hurdle to the process for applicants with disabilities.

OTDA declined to comment.

Returning to work: Community programs provide support

In the absence of government support, some community organizations have started their own programs to help survivors in the wake of their injuries.

Kings Against Violence Initiative (KAVI), a violence prevention organization in Brooklyn, reaches out to survivors through their hospital-based violence intervention program at Kings County Hospital, and their community outreach program in Bedford-Stuyvesant. KAVI’s co-executive director Ramik Williams said that in addition to helping survivors apply for the financial assistance programs, the organization also runs a survivor

“I found my purpose, and that purpose was to [teach] kids tools that I didn’t have growing up. Conflict resolution, critical thinking, how to build and maintain positive self-esteem, and financial literacy…if I had those tools, my decisions would have been different.”

Shannon Chaffers is a Report for America corps member who writes about gun violence 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.

Next week, we will explore gun violence survivors’ experiences with the Social Security disability system.

Opinion

Some comeuppance for

Giuliani

Mired in bankruptcy, Rudy Giuliani suffered another financial blow on Tuesday after the New York State Appellate Court disbarred him. The disbarment of New York City’s former mayor and erstwhile personal attorney of Trump came mainly for his role supporting Trump in the interference with the 2020 election.

Black New Yorkers and elsewhere, if not cheering this setback, probably have little sympathy for his predicament; many would like to see him behind bars. His most recent troubles stem from his defamation of two African American Georgia election workers—Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss—with baseless claims of fraud. They sued him for $150 million. There was a time when Rudy was riding high after being deemed “America’s Mayor” for his presence and management of the city after 9/11. Even that conduct was not widely heralded, though, among those New Yorkers who remember his most egregious actions, particularly when he sided with off-duty police officers in 1992 in defiance of Mayor David Dinkins’s plan to make the Civilian Complaint Review Board independent of the police.

When he defeated Dinkins and became mayor, Giulani accused Rev. Sharpton, who in 1995 joined picketers outside Freddy’s Clothing Store on 125th Street, as an “outside agitator.” That was akin to his reportedly calling Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis a “ho.”

As we often say in the Black community, “What goes around, comes around,” and it’s time for Giuliani to get some comeuppance for all of his misdeeds. Perhaps this current event augurs well for the ongoing counts against the man he once represented—who he claims still owes him money. Giuliani said he wasn’t surprised by the disbarment, nor are we. It’s not because the system is corrupt, as he charges, but because sometimes the system gets things right.

Embracing an urban oasis

By MOUHAMADOU DIENG

This summer, heat waves with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees were recorded at various times in New York City during the month of July. Currently, New York City remains in a drought watch. Cases of extreme weather are projected to become more frequent with data indicating an upwards of eight extreme heat events per summer by the year 2050. Extreme heat events are particularly dangerous as New York City is affected by the urban heat island effect, which is caused by an abundance of heat-absorbent surfaces found in cities. Low-income neighborhoods that are disproportionately affected by New York City will continue to be more built up, and thus will have more absorbent and impervious surfaces. Trees and green spaces are effective at combating the urban heat island effect. Community gardens are a particular green space in neighborhoods that positively impact both cooling, and can also provide food security and accessible public space, yet these spaces are at risk.

Reaching out to the local government to advocate for dedicated funding for community gardens, and to preserve them. Critical Environmental Area designations are an important step for community gardens protection against the threat of development.

Much like requirements in Local Law 94, new construction in neighborhoods of a certain density should include space for community gardens. This could be an incentive for producing and preserving community gardens.

R. Tatum: Publisher and Editor in Chief

There are over 550 community gardens in New York City, with approximately 26 located in Central Harlem. These gardens provide critical resources, serving as urban farming hubs and community gathering spaces. Community gardens are a resource often neglected by city funding leading to less green space access, hotter environments, and food insecurity. The current administration has continuously attempted to slash budgets to our parks and community gardens. The most recent budget did not meet the 1% commitment that Mayor Eric Adams promised to dedicate to parks in his campaign. He said, “The goal is to get to that 1%. We’re getting there. I’m confident that we are.” Community gardens can help spread intergenerational knowledge of dealing with land and the climate

crisis. In order for these gardens to succeed, their stewards need to be well supported.

Stewardship, defined as the care and management of resources for the public good, plays a crucial role in community gardens which rely on individuals who contribute their time in a volunteer position with upkeep and maintenance. Without the proper funding, these gardens are unable to properly staff and keep gardens open long term. As funding cuts continue to increase, stewards are struggling to keep their gardens operating. In the last year, community composting groups faced $7.1 million in budget cuts. Despite the restoration of these funds earlier this year, some community groups still suffered. In an article about these budget cuts, Anneliese Zausner-Mannes of Big Reuse said, “They’ve broken down infrastructure… We had to let go of people at the end of the calendar year. Then there was another wave … You can’t just expect someone to sit and wait for six months, not have a job and then jump back

without reservation. I mean, it’s terrifying.” We interviewed a few stewards of community gardens in Harlem who expressed similar sentiments. Many stewards likened running a community garden to a second full-time job. One steward recounted that stewards and volunteers “have to chase every opportunity for bundling funds... and it takes a lot of work.” These limited funds result in competition as some “become very attached to their gardens.” Our community gardens cannot operate efficiently without dedicated efforts of stewards who invest significant time and energy to sustain these gardens. Here’s what more can be done to support community gardens: More community awareness and involvement in environmental initiatives - there is power in numbers! A lesson can be learned from the Seattle-based project, Measuring Urban Agriculture, which helps bring agency to community gardens helping them measure the tools and means necessary to run a community garden.

Recently, the Elizabeth St. Garden Nolita has been the subject of closure by the city to build affordable housing. However, there is a large outcry coming from the people across the city, calling for hands off of this cherished community garden. Valuable public space is a need that should not be easily eliminated. Executive Order 43, recently put in place by Mayor Eric Adams, puts pressure on community garden sites as potential for housing development. The need for housing is imminent and pressing, but it does not mean that valuable community spaces should not be preserved. Our local government must continue to support our public green amenities. The climate crisis is bearing down on us, and the ones who are most impacted are the ones we leave behind in our most vulnerable neighborhoods. There is an obligation to support these people for a future that is more environmentally just. Understanding the necessity for affordable, social and just housing as a core of our city’s present need is important; understanding the need of green spaces that help us reduce urban heat island effect is a pressing need for the survival of our city.

Mouhamadou Dieng is a designer with a focus on impactful and community-oriented architecture. He is currently a fifth-year bachelor of architecture candidate at the Spitzer School of Architecture.

Elinor

Damaso Reyes: Executive & Investigative Editor

Mouhamadou Dieng

Defying doubts: overcoming imposter syndrome as a Black woman

By COUNCILMEMBER DR. NANTASHA WILLIAMS

The air buzzes with anticipation as graduation season sweeps across the nation. Proud families gather, cameras at the ready, to capture the triumphant smiles of graduates donning caps and gowns—images of effortless accomplishment. But for me, this year held a deeper truth. Graduation wasn’t just a culmination but a testament to the ongoing battles we face, not just in academia but within ourselves.

As a councilwoman, I tirelessly advocate for my constituents, seeking to effect real change in my community. But beyond the bustling chambers and community meetings lies a quieter victory: the recent completion of my doctorate. In my dissertation, “Black Women and Social Movements: A Narrative Analysis,” I aimed to rectify a historical oversight: Black women’s contributions to social justice movements have been largely undocumented, their voices erased from the narrative. My research explored their experiences and resilience, highlighting the power they bring to the fight for equality—a journey achieved while navigating the relentless demands of public service, the rigorous world of academia, and the process of understanding my cognitive strengths.

Fueled by a thirst for knowledge, I began my doctoral studies in 2018. Little did I know that a global pandemic would upend the world just months later. The crowded halls of academia gave way to the quiet hum of virtual classrooms, yet my intellectual fire remained undimmed.

In 2020, my academic pursuit was joined by an exciting new challenge: a calling to serve my community as an elected government official. Hitting the campaign trail was an exhilarating whirlwind. I made connections with residents, learning their concerns and aspirations. I spent early mornings on strategizing campaign tactics, and dedicated stolen moments between meetings to reviewing course material. Weekends, once a time for relaxation, became a race against the clock as I balanced voter outreach with looming research deadlines.

Earning the trust of my constituents and securing a Council seat the following year was an unforgettable honor. However, the victory was quickly followed by a daunting reality of balancing coursework demands, the responsibilities of a councilwoman, and the explosion of my personal life. Suddenly, I received an ADHD diag-

nosis. While validating my experiences, navigating its complexities coincided with the challenges of unhealthy relationships and offered unwelcome distractions from my coursework. Systemic inequalities made it even harder to get the help I needed. Finding a therapist who understood ADHD and the specific challenges Black women face felt like searching for a unicorn. The stigma about mental health didn’t help, either. Every time I considered reaching out for help, a voice in my head whispered, “You should be able to handle this on your own.” With each new hurdle, the feeling of self-doubt grew louder, threatening to drown out everything else. Yet, through it all, the stories I followed in my dissertation became a constant source of strength, inspiring me to persevere to the end of my doctoral program.

Throughout my study, I had the privilege of interviewing three prominent Black women activists. With each encounter, I delved into the narratives of these remarkable women, gaining profound insights into their experiences and contributions to social justice movements. Some veterans of movements for decades, and others were starting their journeys. Each woman spoke with a refreshing layer of raw honesty—discussing the sting of underestimation, the micro-aggressions that chipped away at their confidence, and the moments when they questioned if their voices even mattered. And yet, they persevered. Their unwavering resilience became a guiding light throughout my doctoral journey; a true testament to the power of perseverance in the face of adversity.

Intriguingly, my study found that pain served as a powerful motivator for these Black women to engage in activism. It wasn’t just the pain of personal hardship, but the collective pain of witnessing injustice against their communities, social rejection, and racial battle fatigue. However, this pain wasn’t despair. They redefined it and fueled a wellspring of strength and determination to fight for change. Their stories became a testament to the transformative power of struggle— a powerful echo resonating within my own experience.

Like them, I, too, faced skepticism in academia—subtle jabs questioning my ability to juggle the council chambers with doctoral pursuits; the pressure to excel in both worlds, compounded by the ever-present fog of life’s chaos, juggling constituent meetings and dissertation research, left me feeling like I was constantly treading

water. But within the women’s voices, I heard a calling, a divine purpose that resonated deeply with my own. Each spoke of drawing strength from the challenges they endured. These burdens served as a transformative fire, fueling their fight for a just world—a torch we now share.

The work became more than finishing a dissertation; it became about adding my voice to theirs, amplifying the stories of Black women fighting for justice everywhere. It became about proving, not just to the academic skeptics but to the little girl in me who once felt unseen, that our voices deserve to be heard.

Yes, there were moments of doubt, and nights fueled by coffee and sheer willpower. But there were also moments of profound connection, a realization that the fire for justice burns bright in the hearts of countless Black women. Those who defied societal norms and raised their voices even when they trembled. The mothers who marched for their children’s futures, the educators who nurtured young minds, the activists who dared to dream of a more just world. That’s the fire I cling to. It’s the fire that pushes me to continue to fight for justice.

As I look back on this journey of success, I realize that this is not entirely my own. It’s a continuation of the struggle and triumph of those who came before you. The resilience that courses through our veins is a gift—a legacy passed down from generations of Black women who refused to surrender. Every step we take, every hurdle we clear, is a testament to their sacrifices and victories. We are the echoes of their dreams, the living embodiment of a future they fought to bring about.

To the graduates, on that momentous day when you cross that stage, let this truth resonate within you: You carry the torch of warriors, the legacy of thinkers, the untamed spirit of dreamers. You are not alone. You are a vital thread in this powerful continuum. Stand tall, speak out, and let your light shine. Because in your success, we all rise. And let us all remember to trust the power within ourselves as we dare to do the impossible, for it is in those moments of courage that we find our own voices and the strength to keep fighting.

Dr. Nantasha Williams represents City Council District 27 and the communities of Cambria Heights, Hollis, Jamaica, St. Albans, Queens Village, Addisleigh Park, and Springfield Gardens.

Happy new year!

CHRISTINA GREER, PH.D.

Whew, what a year it’s been … but we made it so far, and we are almost across the finish line. Lots of my friends are saying good riddance to 2024. They have lost loved ones, had challenging job situations, worked tirelessly on campaigns only for their candidate to come up short, spent copious amounts of time worried about the future, and have overall felt like this year was a Dumpster fire.

I will admit that this year had several trying moments, but I am also attempting to focus on the more positive aspects of 2024 in that this year, I made time to go birding, I traveled with friends and family, I saw lots of theater and Knicks games, I hosted friends in my home, I published a short book, and I drank lots of champagne just to celebrate being alive.

Each late December, I complete a “Lookback” form that helps jog my memory so I can appreciate all of the highs and lows of the year. It’s a fantastic way to help me remember certain accomplishments or memories I may have forgotten, and it is a truly helpful way for me to plan for the incoming year.

Some of the items on the Lookback form really help ground me. Here are some things to think about as 2025 approaches: Looking back, what are you proud of from 2024? What do you wish you had done differently in 2024? Describe one moment from the past year that characterizes your year. Write a narrative that describes your ideal vision for life in the year 2025: What action

steps will help turn your vision into reality?

I have been answering these questions each year for well over a decade and it has been so helpful as I reflect on challenging work situations or transitions in my personal life. As a professor, one of the things I enjoy most about completing the form is giving myself a grade for the following items, providing evidence why, and writing down what I will do to move forward — either to stay the course or make changes. The categories where I evaluate myself and my life are Work Life, Free Time, Humble Abode, Friendships, Romantic Interactions, Familial Interactions, Health and Wellness, State of Mind, Impact on Society, Cultural Experiences, and Creativity.

Some of my friends find this reflection too daunting and overwhelming. However, others have found it to be a nice reminder of the things we have accomplished and the areas where we can possibly make some adjustments. I hope you will find some quiet moments at the close of 2024 to think about your vision for 2025. We have a strong hand in creating the life and the world we would like to see, brick by brick.

Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of the books “How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams” and “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; and co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.

Caribbean Update

Caribbean nations reject Trump’s deportee resettlement plan

By BERT WILKINSON Special to the AmNews

At least three Caribbean Community (Caricom) nations have outrightly rejected a proposal or feelers from the Trump transition team down in Florida to become thirdparty resettlement nations for some of the millions of immigrants his administration plans to deport from late next month.

The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), and Grenada have said no to any firm proposals, or hints of any, to be recipient nations for thousands of immigrants on the list to be sent back to home countries or to others in the event that their native nations refuse to accept them.

Bahamian Prime Minister Phillip Davis was among the most forthright of leaders rejecting the idea from the Mar-a-Lago transition headquarters in recent weeks, with governments saying they have no plans to entertain such a politically and infrastructurally unworkable, if not bizarre, proposal ,so planners had better begin to look elsewhere for deportee havens.

Apparently, the transition team is well aware that some nations that are slated to receive large influxes of deportees might resist U.S. pressure to accept them, while others may refuse

to accept them altogether, hence the team shopping around for third-party countries to take them in.

U.S. television network NBC News had almost exclusively reported on the idea in the first week of this month, prompting rejections from the three nations. It is unclear whether any other member of the

15-nation Caricom trade bloc or any of its associate countries had also received the proposal or the political feeler from the transition team.

For PM Davis of the Bahamas, the entire proposal is unworkable and has been rejected. “This matter was presented to the government of the Bahamas, but was reviewed and

firmly rejected by the prime minister,” Davis said in a statement on behalf of his mini-archipelago nation just off Florida. “The Bahamas simply does not have the resources to accommodate such a request. Since the prime minister’s rejection of this proposal, there has been no further engagement or discussions with the Trump transition team or any other entity regarding this matter. The government of the Bahamas remains committed to its position.”

In reacting to the media reports, TCI Governor Dileeni Daniel Selvaratnam said the administration there had not been officially contacted, but urged American officials to discard any notion that deportation could be an even remote possibility. “Our position, as outlined by the minister of immigration, is unequivocal: The Turks and Caicos Islands will not accept deportees from the U.S. or any other nation unless they are our citizens,” she said. “This clear position is rooted in our sovereignty, the protection of our borders, and the welfare of the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Any suggestion to the contrary is unfounded. The Turks and Caicos Islands will continue to prioritize the interests and security of our nation above all else.”

Immigration Minister Chuck Musgrove, meanwhile, was even tough-

er in his response to any notion of the TCI as a deportee resettlement haven, noting that “the government of the TCI categorically states that we will not, under any circumstances, accept deportees from the U.S. or any other nation who are not citizens of the TCI. Our country’s immigration policies are clear and firmly rooted in the principles of sovereignty, the protection of our borders, and the welfare of our people,” he said. Down south to Grenada, which the U.S. invaded back in 1983, authorities also said they were aware of media reports about this, but had also not engaged with Trump’s team on the issue.

“The office of the prime minister advises that the government of Grenada has not engaged in any discussion regarding the deportation of migrants to Grenada. Furthermore, no proposal has been presented regarding this matter. This clarification comes amid concerns raised surrounding an NBC news article claiming that the incoming Trump administration plans to deport some migrants to some countries other than their own.”

Trump and his incoming administration have promised to embark on the largest deportation exercise in American history immediately after being sworn in on January 20.

How about a collective pardon for the most vulnerable immigrants, President Biden?

FELICIA PERSAUD

In 2021, more than 187 organizations — including the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch — wrote to the Biden administration urging President Joe Biden to exercise his pardon power to address immigration consequences. Their call was twofold: first, to pardon immigrants with deportable convictions to spare them from removal, and second, to ensure that clemency recipients also receive protection from immigration detention or deportation.

Now, as Biden nears the end of his presidency and has exercised his pardon power to include his

son and 1,500 others, it is the perfect moment to revisit this plea: Biden should extend this power to collectively pardon noncriminal undocumented immigrants, DREAMers, and those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) — individuals who have spent years contributing to this country, paying taxes, and building lives, but who now face the threat of being deported under a Donald Trumpeto administration.

In a historical parallel, former President Jimmy Carter’s first official act was to grant a blanket pardon to individuals who evaded the Vietnam War draft, framing it as a step toward healing the nation’s wounds. While controversial, Carter’s action was a bold assertion of presidential mercy. It is now time for Biden to channel Carter’s boldness and offer a similar pardon to millions of immigrants at risk.

Boston immigration attorney Matt Cameron noted that the U.S. Constitution allows the president to pardon “Offenses against the United States,” which could encompass civil violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act. On his podcast, Opening Arguments, Cameron asserted, “It has never been used that way, but I agree that it should be.” He also highlighted that a mass pardon could provide immigrants with a clear pathway to citizenship.

“There’s also a major side benefit to this blanket pardon: Penalties for periods of unlawful presence would not be applied, which would immediately help every undocumented person married to a U.S. citizen,” Cameron explained. “This could bypass the need for the grueling 10-year wait outside the U.S. or the uncertain hardship waiver process.”

Legal scholars Peter L. Markowitz and Lindsey Nash echoed this sentiment in the NYU Law Review years earlier, in 2018. They wrote, “While direct categorical application of the pardon power to civil immigration offenses has no immediate precedent in history, it accords with the very purpose for which [p]residents have, for centuries, issued categorical pardons: to use their inherent power of mercy and duty to promote the national interest to alleviate the toll of harsh laws on politically unpopular groups.”

The scholars further argued that the pardon power was enshrined by the framers of the Constitution as a necessary check against overly harsh laws enacted by Congress. “The pardon power serves as an essential backstop to avert unduly harsh negative consequences of legislative enactments,” they wrote.

As harsh immigration laws continue to devastate families and traditional policy mechanisms remain stalled, Biden has a rare opportunity to act. By granting a collective pardon, he could protect millions from the looming threat of deportation under a Trumpeto presidency and cement his legacy as a champion of justice and compassion.

It is time for Joe Biden to wield his power to save immigrants from the Grinch threatening to steal their futures, while solidifying his place in history with a lasting act of mercy.

Felicia J. Persaud is the publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, a daily news outlet focused on positive news about Black immigrant communities from the Caribbean and Latin America.

Her Excellency Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnam, governor of Turks and Caicos Islands (Image licensed under United Kingdom Open Government Licence v3.0)

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

The role of women had frontrow visibility when this year’s Africa Day, an observance marking the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) May 25, 1963, was celebrated at the United Nations last Friday, during an event hosted by the African Renaissance and Diaspora Network (ARDN). A series of speakers focused on current and impending visions for the continent. Attendees reflected on the prospects for success for continental and diasporan African women.

“On a Friday afternoon before Memorial [Day] weekend in the United States, it’s amazing to see so many of you come and be present in this room today,” Djibril Diallo, president and CEO of the ARDN, told the crowd in opening greetings. “This is the United Nations headquarters. We have 690 participants in person…[for] this global commemoration of Africa at the United Nations. I wanted to make sure that we say a big ‘thank you,’ a warm ‘thank you,’ for your making the effort to come here.”

Among those delivering remarks were Diamane Diome, Senegal’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations; Saturnin Epie, United Nations Population Fund; U.N. Assistant Sec-General and Acting Executive Director of U.N.-Habitat Michal Mlynár; Xinhua News Agency journalist Martin Jiangang Wang; and photographer Chester Higgins Jr.

A youth panel of three young people were featured speakers, discussing African development issues and the importance of education, particularly as it relates to agriculture.

“Africa, according to Bloomberg, has the highest ratio of food importation to food consumption in the world,” ARDN board member Dr. Gordon Tapper noted in his introduction of the three young speakers. “They’re bringing in too much, importing too much food, and that is something that needs to be addressed: It is not sustainable; we can do better. …the African Union has established a theme for Africa Day 2024 as ‘Educating an Africa fit for the 21st cen-

International News

U.N. event celebrates Africa Day 2024

tury.’ [This means] educating an Africa for Africa––not [for someone who will] migrate to Canada, United Kingdom, France, or the United States. Africa for Africa.”

“Self-sufficiency in Africa is not a distant dream,” said Wantoe Wantoe, one of the youth panelists, representing Ethiopia. “It is a tangible goal that many of our nations are actively pursuing. We are striving to transition from dependency on foreign aid and to model a world where we are selfreliant, self-sufficient, and capable of feeding ourselves.”

As the continent marches toward self-sufficiency, the youth advocated for members of African nations to be granted a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council.

Lyzianah Emakoua, who is originally from Cameroon, called “the African Union 2063 Vision agenda…a vision for a prosperous, peacefully integrated continent driven by citizens. However, climate change poses a significant threat to achieving this vision. While African countries have contributed only 2 to 3 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions, we are still at the front line of the crisis. Women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate change, yet they remain underrepresented in the climate and agricultural decision-making processes.”

New York-born/Mali-raised Oumou Haidara said she believes colonialism remains the biggest act of terror ever imposed on the continent. Import trades, which keep African nations at the mercy of former colonial rulers who are now supposedly trading partners, are impoverishing local people, she said. “[We are importing] everything that Mali already makes. Why are we having those exported in? We don’t need those. We don’t need to be exporting anything that we can make ourselves,” she said.

Some of the elders in attendance at the U.N.’s Africa Day celebrations were political scientist professor Dr. Leonard Jeffries and his wife, art historian Dr. Rosalind Jeffries. He told the audience that it is vital to celebrate the individuals who helped estab-

lish the OAU and those who have worked to restore pride in the cultures and legacies of Africa: “I do want to call out that you cannot talk about Africa in any way without understanding the work of the great Cheikh Anta Diop. You have to understand—the legacy that we stand on is an enormous legacy. It’s not a game that we’re playing; it’s the reality. Without great African leadership, male and female, inspiring the youth, we cannot expect to make the moves that we need to make.”

Dr. Rosalind Jeffries added that working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art allowed her to witness a sign being placed that acknowledged the African origins

of civilization. “[That] means that the public schools throughout the world have a right to talk about the African origin of civilization, and the work that the mothers, the grandmothers, the aunts [do] in raising your children, [and] how important that is for developing nationhood,” she said.

The ARDN’s Diallo framed the Africa Day celebration as an opportunity to “increase public awareness of the crucial role that women play in agriculture and [in] the economic and social dimensions of African countries and the African diaspora.” With women playing such a vital role, their limited access to land, water, seeds, fertilizers, markets, credit, and other

financial services hurts people of African descent, Diallo said. Africa and its descendants won’t thrive in the 21st century nor will the continent reach its Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030 or the African Union’s Agenda 2063 goals if African-descendant women are not adequately supported. One way Black women can be centered is by raising awareness of campaigns to end gender-based violence. The ARDN placed copies of its signature Red Card campaign pledge cards throughout the event meeting room, while Diallo led attendees in a pledge to have “zero tolerance for gender-based violence.”

Young people Lyzianah Emakoua, Wantoe Wantoe, and Oumou Haidara lead panel discussion on the importance of education and the independence of Africa. (Karen Juanita Carrillo photos)

(T) Dr. Leonard Jeffries and (B) Dr. Rosalind Jeffries at U.N.’s Africa Day celebrations.

Arts & Entertainment

Jazz Notes: Our annual New Year’s Eve roundup

Happy spirits might be awakened as the New Year opens in the landmark historic building where Brooklyn’s Brownstone Jazz (107 Macon Street) is located, as the venue will present their annual New Year’s Eve Swing. Dress in roaring 1920s jazz age or anything hip (9 p.m.-1 a.m.). The evening will be ablaze with the Brownstone Jazz All-Stars featuring bassist Eric Lemons, saxophonist and flautist David L. Jones, drummer Craig Holiday Haynes, pianist Terry Burrus (tentative), and vocalist Starlene Bey.

The two-floor house of festivities will include a full traditional NYE dinner champagne toast and party favors. Purchase early before Christmas, as prices increased thereafter, No cash door.

For info visit www.ticketweb.com.

Minton’s Playhouse is Harlem’s famous home of bebop, where the house band of Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Charlie Christian, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie cultivated their own sound that captivated the world. The storied jazz club will ring in the New Year under the watchful eyes of legends past with two shows ($50 per person) at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., with a champagne toast at midnight. Food is separate and a la carte. Musicians TBA, and a DJ will be hittin’ the stacks after midnight.

Minton’s is located at 206-210 West 118th Street, NYC. For more information and reservations, visit mintonsnyc.com or call 646-529-3397.

Bill’s Place, Harlem’s only remaining speakeasy that still emits whispers of Billie Holiday’s performances on the tiny stage, will carry on with Bill Saxton & the Harlem All-Stars along with special guests and holiday southern hors d’oeuvres. Bill’s Place is located at 148 West 133rd Street, for more information visit billsplaceharlem.com or call (212) 281-0777.

Just minutes away from the city, you can celebrate at Alvin & Friends in New Rochelle. The famed southern cuisine restaurant will ring in the New Year with the Leslie Pintchik Trio featuring bassist Scott Hardy, and drummer Michael Sarin with pianist and composer Pintchik. The festivities will be in full swing from 5 p.m.-11 p.m., with a four-course menu and live music for $125 per person. Alvin & Friends is located at 14 Memorial Hwy, New Rochelle, NY.

For reservations call (914) 654-6549 or visit www.alvinandfriendsrestaurant.com.

For New Year’s at Dizzy’s Club (10 Columbus Circle), enjoy the panoramic view and swinging music of bassist and bandleader Carlos Henriquez leading his nonet. Treat yourself to a delicious holiday menu, and a spirited set featuring tracks from Carlos’s

2023 release, “A Nuyorican Tale.”

The festive occasion begins at 7:30 p.m. which includes cover, food, nonalcoholic beverages, & gratuity for $335. (The 11 p.m. set includes a champagne toast for $425).

For reservations visit jazz.org.

Manhattan’s Upper West Side jazz club,

Smoke, will swing into the New Year with a very special group, the Countdown AllStars, with vocalist Jazzmeia Horn, alto saxophonist Vincent Herring, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, bassist Yasushi Nakamura, and drummer Johnathan Blake. Here you have a core of musicians, who bring together vibrant colors of blues, soul, jazz, and all that makes for a night of merriment.

The first set at 7 p.m. includes four-course prix-fixe dinner and one set of music. $250 ticket (+ tax & tip) and the big countdown set at 9:30 p.m. includes four-course prixfixe dinner and two sets of music for $350 ticket (+ tax & tip), also includes a prosecco champagne midnight toast, hats, and noise makers! For reservations visit tickets. smokejazz.com.

For those merry party seekers looking to party outside of The Big Apple, or for those within proximity of Baltimore, you can find a high-spirited celebration at the celebrated Keystone Korner (1350 Lancaster Street), where the soulful sounds of Pieces of a Dream will be in effect. The festivities will include two sets at 6 p.m. ($125-$135 plus fees) and 9:30 p.m. ($140-$150 plus fees). Ticket packages include a four-course meal consisting of an appetizer, entrée, dessert, and nonalcoholic drinks, as well as a champagne toast at midnight.

Pieces of a Dream has captivated audiences for over 40 years, with their trademark infectious grooves and catchy riffs. As they swing into this new year, their legacy continues with a repertoire of earlier hit songs, as well as new material for yet another generation of fans. The original group was formed in Philadelphia in 1976 by bassist Cedric Napoleon, drummer Curtis Harmon, and keyboardist James Lloyd who were all teenagers at the time.

The group that was labeled “tough act to follow” by the iconic Count Basie, continues to be led by original member and cofounder drummer Curtis Harmon along with a mixed group of vocalists and instrumentalists such as: James Lloyd (keyboards), Tony Watson (saxophone), Elec Simon (percussion), Stacey Richardson (vocals) Carolyn Brewer (keyboards & vocals), John Hall (bass). Keystone Korner is located at 1350 Lancaster Street, Baltimore, MD. Call 410-946-6726 or visit keystonekornerbaltimore.com.

May this new year bring health and prosperity, and perseverance to carry on through any type of turbulent societal weather ahead. Family is life, joy, and peace! Thank you so much for reading my column and one of the oldest Black newspapers in America. Let’s all make 2025 swing!

AmNews Food Talking SCHOP! Hoppin’ John: A 2025 renaissance

KYSHA HARRIS FOOD EDITOR, @SCHOPNYC

Whatever you did or did not receive under the tree this year, I want you to breathe into knowing you ARE the gift … (take a beat and inhale that) … always and forever. Keep busting out of the thin wrapping paper we call “our bubble” every day like a jack-in-the-box and surprise yourself at what you can do. You are amazing!

Now that my 2025 mantra is out of the way, I can revisit a recipe shared annually in this, my last article of the year. In reviewing my archives, it has been eight years almost to the day since it was first published. With all that has occurred since 2016 (insert life here) and all that is about to happen, we can all cook in a little luck for 2025.

That’s right! For the first time in a spell, I present Hoppin’ John: The Renaissance! I have updated the following recipe for myriad reasons, the most egregious of

which is, where is the damn celery, Kysha ?! Though what has remained is my recommendation for you to cook this with your heart and taste buds. Add more of an ingredient if the spirit moves you. It’s your luck at the end of the day. Get into it!

We all know Hoppin’ John is incomplete without his sister, Them Greens. I know you have a recipe for her. Pull her together in the process so they can play nice in your mouth and usher in the best new year ever.

I will see you on the other side. Until then, Happy New Year to all!

Happy eating and thanks for reading!

Kysha Harris is a chef, food writer and editor, culinary producer, consultant and owner of SCHOP!, a personalized food service in NYC for over 22 years. Follow her on Instagram,@SCHOPnyc and on Facebook, @SCHOPnyc.

Questions, comments, requests, feedback, invitations! Email us at AmNewsFOOD@SCHOPnyc.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook @NYAmNewsFOOD.

Hoppin’ John: The Renaissance!

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups onion, diced

2 cups celery, diced

Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)

3 large cloves garlic, chopped

1 pound smoked meat product -

Preparation:

turkey wing, ham hock, or thick ham steak cut in half-inch pieces

1 pound dried black-eyed peas, rinsed and picked over 4 cups low sodium chicken stock, plus more if needed 2 bay leaves

2-3 stems of fresh thyme cooked long grain rice prepared with chicken broth and butter chopped scallion hot sauce of choice

1. Heat a large soup pot over medium heat. Once hot, add olive oil, onion, and celery. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté for four minutes until onions are translucent. Add garlic and crushed red pepper and sauté for one minute until fragrant. Add the smoked meat product, black-eyed peas, stock, bay leaf and thyme. Bring the pot to a boil.

2. Once the pot comes to a boil, taste for seasoning. Keep in mind the flavor will concentrate as it cooks so do not over salt. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the peas are creamy and tender. If the liquid evaporates, add more boiling water or stock, so as not to drop the temperature of the pot.

3. Remove bay leaves and thyme stems and discard. If using a bone-in smoked meat product, remove it from the pot, remove the meat from the bone, chop into bite sized pieces if needed and add the meat back to the pot. Taste and readjust seasonings.

4. Serve over cooked rice and garnish with scallions and hot sauce.

1. Hoppin’ John and Them Greens ingredients are gathered.

2. Hoppin’ John aromatics and smoked meat in the pot.

3. Hoppin’ John and Them Greens: Siblings In Luck.

4. Hoppin’ John and Them Greens are always included in a SCHOP! client NYE menu. (Kysha Harris photos)

Hello, boys! ‘GYPSY’ is Broadway at its best

By LINDA ARMSTRONG

Special to the AmNews

Audra McDonald plays Rose with her entire being— she is magnificent in “Gypsy” at the Majestic! Every song, every facial gesture, every moment will move you. She presents Rose as a woman passionate about the success of her children and determined to push them whether they want it or not — she is a woman who was born at the wrong time and now tries to live through the success of her children. McDonald plays her with an energy, passion, and frustration that the entire audience can feel.

As I sat in the audience at the Majestic Theatre (W. 44th Street) and watched this record-holding sixtime Tony Award-winning actress perform, I thought, “Audra has ‘Audrafied’ Rose. Her distinctive, gorgeous voice gave me chills every time she sang. Her vocal instrument is a breath of fresh air that flirts with the audience. It is glorious.”

From the first number she has with Danny Burstein, who plays Herbie, her character’s love interest and the children’s agent; a man who is attracted to her and loves children, you can feel the energy between them. Burstein is completely charming and vulnerable in the role of Herbie. They complement each other so well.

Playing her daughters as adults, Joy Woods is stunning in the role of Louise and Jordan Tyson shines brightly as Baby June.

The vocal and acting chops of these four people are astronomical. When you think of a Broadway musical that has been non-traditionally cast with a Black star playing a role that depicts a white

woman, it demonstrates how society is making room for and giving opportunity to people of color because they have the ability to do the job superbly. You have McDonald as the lead playing Rose, and she delivers a spectacular performance in the role. What genius it was to cast this gifted, glorious, seasoned actress — the audience absolutely loves her, as they should.

This musical comes together with such humor, power, and humanity that one of the thoughts that came to my mind as I experienced it was “Thank you, George C. Wolfe,” the director, who had the vision to make this “Gypsy” one to go down in history. It is one of the best Broadway productions to come along in a long time. You will walk out of it knowing that you have seen history being made. You have felt the power of an Audra McDonald performance and you will forever have that moving memory locked away in your heart.

This musical is packed with beloved, fun, and dazzling numbers, including “Have an Egg Roll, Mr. Goldstone,” “If Momma Was Married,” “All I Need is the Girl,” “You Gotta Get a Gimmick,” and “Let Me Entertain You.” Of course, there are the showstopper numbers, including “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” which McDonald delivers with such disturbing intensity and power that you are left speechless. When Rose ends with “Rose’s Turn,” you have never seen this song delivered with the humanity, disappointment, and regret that McDonald displays. Superb! Brava, diva! I often found myself in tears as I experienced McDonald’s heartwrenching delivery of a woman who simply wanted to be seen.

The cast truly delivers with Mc-

Danny Burstein, Joy Woods, and Audra McDonald in scene from “GYPSY” at Majestic Theatre. (Julieta Cervantes photo)

Hallmark Channel meets Boys & Girls Club of Harlem; Oprah Winfrey hosts surprise birthday party for Gayle King

Donald and the other three featured actors to give audiences a “Gypsy” they will never forget. (Did someone say seventh Tony nomination for McDonald?)

Of course, the musical suggested by the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, a real-life person who was a stripper and so much more, has an engaging and captivating book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreography by Camille A. Brown, with music direction and supervision by Andy Einhorn. There are also additional orchestrations and arrangements by Daryl Waters.

Members of the company include Kevin Csolak, Lesli Margherita, Lili Thomas, Mylinda Hull, Jacob Ming-Trent, Kyleigh Denae Vickers, Marley Lianne Gomes, Jade Smith, Natalie Wachen, Tryphena Wade, Shanel Bailey, Jace Bently, Brandon Burks, Hunter Capellán, Tony d’Alelio, Summer Rae Daney, Kellie Jean Hoagland, Sasha Hutchings, Aliah James, Brittney Johnson, Zachary Daniel Jones, Ethan Joseph, Andrew Kober, Krystal Mackie, James McMenamin, Cole Newburg, Joe Osheroff, Majo Rivero, Ken Robinson, Sally Shaw, Thomas Silcott, Brendan Sheehan, Jayden Theophile, Jordan Wynn, and Iain Young.

The creatives behind this flawless production include Santo Loquasto, scenic design; Toni-Leslie James, costume design; Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, lighting design; Scott Lehrer, sound design; Mia Neal, hair and wig design; and Michael Clifton, makeup design.

As long as McDonald is on that stage, “Everything is Coming Up Roses.”

For tickets, visit https://gypsybway.com.

On Dec.10, Hallmark Channel Christmas movies superstar Lacey Chabert was joined by Raising Cane’s co-founder Todd Graves and “Real Housewives” stars Dorinda Medley and Dolores Catania, Jesse Solomon from “Summer House” and more in New York City! Santa’s sleigh brought an early Christmas to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harlem. Lacey and Todd joined together to host the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem in a Cane’s-themed winter wonderland in the middle of Times Square. Located just across from Raising Cane’s global flagship, the duo hosted the event at Military Island through a complete takeover featuring giant candy canes, presents, carolers, santa, Christmas trees, and festive decor that rivaled even the brightest lights in the city.......

On Dec. 13, media mogul Oprah Winfrey breezed into New York City to throw her BFF Gayle King a surprise party to celebrate the “CBS Mornings” cohost’s upcoming 70th birthday. Oprah’s top-secret plans were almost ruined when Gayle told her she was already booked to attend VicePresident Kamala Harris’s holiday party at the White House. Oprah told the crowd at the posh restaurant Ci Siamo in Midtown Manhattan that she thought she was going to have to call “Kamala” and get her to cancel Gayle’s invitation, but convinced Gayle there was a mandatory board meeting. Gayle was so shocked when she walked in and saw her son, Will, and daughter, Kirby, that she threw her

purse in surprise. The notable crowd attending the party included Niecy Nash-Betts, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, Robert Kraft, Robert De Niro and his girlfriend, Tiffany, Sherri Shepherd, Adrienne Lopez, Jawn Murray, Angela Bassett, Ava DuVernay, Michael Rubin, Drew Barrymore, Brooke Shields, and more. Guests were greeted with tequila shots as they entered the elevator and champagne, and sumptuous food was served all night long.....

Hot New Couple Alert! Tongues are wagging all over the blogosphere that Papoose has moved on from Remy Ma and is now making time with boxing champion Claressa Shields. Footage of the Brooklyn rapper and two-time Olympic gold medalist recently resurfaced. In the video, Papoose is standing next to Shields back in July, prior to her fight against heavyweight contender Vanessa Joanisse. Meanwhile, the WBA (World Boxing Association) recently presented an honorary championship belt to Shields at the 2024 WBA convention at the Hotel Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida. A movie about Shields’s life, “The Fire Inside,” hits theaters Christmas Day.....

Word on the curb is that A$AP Rocky and Rihanna have been hanging around 116th Street in Harlem. The lovebirds posed for a video telling a young lady they had to speak to her because her green shoes were so “fly,” a week ago. The following week the billionairess and Gucci ambassador dined at Melba’s. They took a photo with owner Melba Wilson’s son and “showed love to the staff.” Wilson posted on Instagram, “Y’all made everyone’s day magical. Grateful for moments like these that remind us why we do what we do.” .......

FLO ANTHONY

2024: The Year In Review in Black Theater, Part 1

By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews

Black theater in 2024 was absolutely breathtaking! This year marked the return of the classic musical “The Wiz” to Broadway with a different sort of look, but songs that everyone rushed to the theater to hear. This season we saw new productions like “Sally & Tom” from Suzan-Lori Parks, and revivals like “Fabulation or the Re-Education of Undine” from Lynn Nottage. We saw the Alicia Keys musical “Hell’s Kitchen” first occur at the Public Theater and quickly move to Broadway. We saw a revival of “Home” on Broadway. Audiences were stunned

and thrilled to see “Sunset Baby” by Dominique Morisseau. The year was exciting throughout, with new works and new takes on classics, some that people can still go to see right now, like “A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical,” “Romeo + Juliet,” and “Gypsy.”

We started off January with “Hell’s Kitchen,” the Alicia Keys musical, loosely based on her life growing up in Hell’s Kitchen with her mother and set to her music. The musical was so magnificent, in fact, that it now has a place on Broadway and is currently going strong at the Shubert Theatre on W 44th Street. “Hell’s Kitchen” stars an impressive cast that includes Maleah Joi Moon, Shoshana Bean,

Brandon Victor Dixon, Kecia Lewis, Vanessa Ferguson, Jackie Leon, Chris Lee, Nyseli Vega, Chad Carstarphen, Lamont Walker II, and Jakeim Hart. The production also features amazing choreography by Camille A. Brown.

February came in with sadness as the theater community mourned the passing of three-time Tony Award winner Hinton Battle at age 67. Veterans in the industry shared their thoughts on this marvelous man, including George Faison, Adrian Bailey, Ken Hanson, and Jackie Jeffries. The public was introduced to theater documentary filmmaker Juney Smith who, through his partnership with Glynn Turman and Turman’s company

Backyard Ventures Inc, produces documentary films on Black performing artists and Black arts institutions. He has created 22 narratives and 15 documentary films, including “King of Stage: The Story of Woodie King Jr.,” “King Arthur & The Count,” “Women of Theatre, New York: A Supreme Love,” and “A Spectrum of Theatre: The Story of Carl Clay.” New York City Center (NYCC) pulled out all the stops in presenting George C. Wolfe’s “Jelly’s Last Jam” with an all-star cast. The show was superbly executed and starred Billy Porter, Joaquina Kalukango, John Clay III, Nicholas Christopher, Leslie See 2024 BLACK THEATER continued on next page

A scene from “The Wiz” at the Marquis Theatre (L-R) Kyle Ramar Freeman, Nichelle Lewis, Phillip Johnson Richardson and Avery Wilson. (Jeremy Daniel photo)

A scene from “Hell’s Kitchen” playing at the Shubert Theatre—The cast — (Center) Maleah Joi Moon. (Marc J. Franklin photo)

Uggams, Tiffany Mann, Okierete Onoadowen, the original Hunnies — Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, Stephanie Pope Lofgren, and Allison M. Williams — and was marvelously directed by Robert O’Hara.

March came in like a lion as audiences had the opportunity to watch the very powerful Dominique Morisseau play “Sunset Baby” at Signature Theatre. This play showed for audiences the strained relationship between a woman, Nina, and her father, Kenyatta, who had been in prison for years for standing up for Black rights. When reunited with her father, she has a lot of anger and mixed feelings. She has had to make it on her own; her boyfriend Damon knows how to hustle to survive even more than she does. This play truly made the audience question: When it comes to your dedication to a cause, how much is too much?

This production was brilliantly and movingly acted by three very gifted thespians in Russell Hornsby, Moses Ingram, and Alphonse Nicholson. Add to that the riveting, mesmerizing direction of Steve H. Broadnax, and you had a play that would impact you in many stunning ways.

“The Notebook” came to Broadway at the Schoenfeld Theatre as a romantic musical, and was a total tearjerker, so moving and outstandingly executed. It told the story of a couple, Allie and Noah, and their decades-long love, which is jeopardized by her having Alzheimer’s. It was one of the most beautifully, non-traditionally cast musicals I have seen on Broadway in years. The couples were incredibly cast and were mainly people of color. The lead members of the cast were headed by Dorian Harewood who played Older Noah, Ryan Vasquez as Middle Noah, and John Cardoza as Young Noah. Older Allie was captivatingly portrayed by MaryAnn Plunkett; Middle Allie and Young Allie were performed by African Americans Joy Woods and Jordan Tyson, respectively.

The Gallery Players in Brooklyn presented a fantastic, powerful production of August Wilson’s “Fences,” which tells the story of Troy Maxson, a former baseball player, and his relationship with his wife Rose, his son Cory, his brother Gabriel, and his friends Bono and Lyons. The all-Black cast was absolutely phenomenal and showcased the talents of Reggie Wilson as Troy, Gina-Simone Pemberton as Rose, Jamar Arthur as Cory, Adrian Phillips as Gabriel, Brandon Agnew as Bono, Isaiah Joseph as Lyons, and Anaia Barton as Raynell.

In April we were all easin’ on down the road as “The Wiz” played on Broadway at the Marquis Theater. The musical had such a talented cast. Nichelle Lewis made a lovely Broadway debut as Dorothy, Avery Wilson was amazing as Scarecrow, Phillip Johnson Richardson was remarkable as Tinman, and Kyle Ramar Freeman was splendid as Lion. They were joined on stage by Deborah Cox as Glinda and Wayne Brady as The Wiz. Allyson Kaye Daniel did a remarkable job playing the dual roles of Aunt Em and Evillene.

In May, the Public Theater presented a unique telling of the story of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings with Suzan-Lori Parks’ drama, “Sally & Tom.” Presenting a play within a play, Parks showed very clearly that although Sally Hemmings had six children for Thomas Jefferson, it was by no means a love affair. She was enslaved, and she had

Scene from “The Notebook” (L-R) John Cardoza, Dorian Harewood and Ryan Vasquez. (Julieta Cervantes photo)

Scene from “Sunset Baby” (L-R) Moses Ingram and Russell Hornsby. (Marc J. Franklin photo)

no choice. The production featured a mainly Black cast and was quite memorable. You never heard the story of Sally and Tom like this rendition. The remarkable cast included Sheria Irving, Alano Miller, Leland Fowler, Kristolyn Lloyd, Gabriel Ebert, and Daniel Petzold. Parks created a work that needed to happen to tell the story of this relationship from a very different point of view. The story was delivered with tremendous power through the brilliant direction of Steve H. Broadnax III.

Lynn Nottage’s “Fabulation or the ReEducation of Undine” played at the Billie Holiday Theatre in Brooklyn. Lynn Nottage always creates work that teaches us, as Black people, lessons that hit hard but have to be learned. With her production of “Fabulation or the Re-Education of Undine,” she taught that we should never forget where we came from when we are successful: Don’t be that Black person who has financial success, treats people like garbage, and gloats in your own sense of importance, because it can all be taken away at any moment. The cast was splendid and showcased the talents of Felicia Curry, Mariyea, Kimberlee Walker, Tito Livas, Evander Duck Jr., Sharon Hope, Roland Lane, and Alex Gibson. The production was poignantly directed by Martavius Parrish.

For too brief a shining moment, “Syncing Ink” played in Harlem at the Apollo Stages Victoria Theater. This play, the creation of Nsangou Njikam, told the story of the West African Yoruba culture and hip-hop, and how spoken word has always been a way for our people to have a voice. Njikam starred in the production with a very capable cast that included Kara Young, Elisha Lawson, Nuri Hazzard, McKenzie Frye, and Adesola Osakalumi. The production was engagingly directed by Awoye Timpo.

In June, a masterpiece of the late Samm-Art Williams was back on Broadway after 40 years. “Home” by Williams played at the Todd Haimes Theatre on West 42nd Street. In this heartfelt drama, Williams told the story of Cephus Miles, a Black farmer in North Carolina, who was taught by his family “thou shalt not kill,” and he believed in that. He refused to fight in the Vietnam War and was placed in prison because of that decision. He ended up losing everything that was dear to him, even his family’s farm. Through all the loss and trauma he faced, he was still able to find peace when he returned to his roots. This play was incredibly moving and made one experience so many emotions. Three actors on stage embodied more than 40 characters; those thespians, making their Roundabout Theatre Company debuts, included Tory Kittles, Brittany Inge, and Stori Ayers. At the Tony Awards, Black perform -

ers and creatives were richly acknowledged. Maleah Joi Moon received the Tony for best performance by an actress in a leading role, a Drama Desk Award for lead performance in a musical, and a Theatre World Award for her stage debut as Ali in “Hell’s Kitchen.” Kecia Lewis won the Tony for best performance by an actress in a featured role as Miss Liza Jane. Kara Young won best performance by an actress in a featured role in a play for “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through The Cotton Patch,” playing Lutiebelle GussieMae Jenkins. Dede Ayita received the Tony for best costume design of a play for “Appropriate” and “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.” Branden Jacobs-Jenkins won best revival of a play for “Appropriate.” This year the Tony’s gave special honors to some outstanding people: George C. Wolfe received the Lifetime Achievement Award in theater, Nikiya Mathis won a Special

See 2024 BLACK THEATER continued on next page

A scene from “The World According to Micki Grant” at the WP Theatre (L-R) April Armstrong, Matelyn Alicia, Patrice Bell and Brian Davis. (Gerry Goodstein photo)

A scene from “Syncing Ink” (L-R) Kara Young and Nsangou Njikam. (Rebecca J. Mickelson photo)

A scene of the cast from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” playing at Richard Rodgers Amphitheatre in Marcus Garvey Park. (Richard Termine photo)

The cast of “Home” playing at the Todd Haimes Theatre (L-R) Stori Ayers, Tory Kittles and Brittany Inge (Andre D. Wagner photo)

Tony for Wig and Hair for “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” and Billy Porter received the Isabelle Stevenson Award. Yes, African Americans were marvelously acknowledged for their phenomenal talent and the gifts they bring to theater and people’s lives.

An extraordinary production graced the stage presented by New Federal Theatre, titled “The World According to Micki Grant.” The production concept, adaptation, and direction were the genius of Nora Cole. The production gave a vivid history of Grant from childhood to adulthood and all of her accomplishments in the theater. Presented by New Federal Theatre, the production showcased the talents of this actress, book writer, music, and lyrics creator. Four actors played multiple roles and told Grant’s story with love and respect. The ensemble included Matelyn Alicia, April Armstrong, Patrice Bell, and Brian Davis.

The Drama Desk Awards had accolades for African American performers. While Maleah Joi Moon won for lead performance in a musical for her role as Ali in “Hell’s Kitchen,” as mentioned earlier, Kecia Lewis also won for outstanding featured performance in a musical for “Hell’s Kitchen.” Again, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins won for best revival of a play for “Appropriate.” Kara Young won the Drama Desk for outstanding featured actress in a play for “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through The Cotton Patch.” Paul Tazewell won for costume design of a musical for “SUFFS.” Nikiya Mathis won outstanding wig and hair for “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.” For her decades of dedication to theater as a press agent, Broadway producer, and entrepreneur, Lady Irene Gandy received a special award from Drama Desk.

In July “CATS: The Jellicle Ball” had audiences purring for more! The musical, presented at the Perelman Performing Arts Center on Fulton Street in Manhattan, was an exciting evening in the theater. Its cast was mainly people of color, and they all did their thing. It starred Andre De Shields and had a host of featured performers including Antwayn Hopper, Dudney Joseph Jr., “Tempress” Chastity Moore, Sydney James Harcourt, and Robert “Silk” Mason. The ensemble members were amazing and included Xavier Reyes, Baby, Primo, Emma Sofia, Teddy Wilson Jr., Nora Schell, Jonathan Burke, Dava Huesca, Garnet Williams, Junior LaBeija, Shereen Pimentel, Emma Sofia, Kendall Grayson Stroud, Tara Lashan Clinkscales, Phumzile Sojola, Shelby Griswold, and the DJ Capital Kaos. An absolutely magnificent production of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” presented by the Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH), played at the Richard Rodgers Amphitheatre in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. As always, CTH approached Shakespeare’s work with their own unique, amazing, jazzfilled, funny flair. This production had stupendous direction by Carl Cofield, and this cast was amazing. The story of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” contained a play within a play, with fairies, potions, magic, and romance. The cast delivered captivating, entertaining, and joyous performances that included jazz, singing, dance, and frolicking. The cast, which performed as a phenomenal ensemble, included Ra’Mya Aikens, Hiram Delgado, Noah Michal, Brandon Carter, Victor Williams, Jesmille Darbouze, Allen Gilmore, Mykal Kilgore, León Tak, Carson Elrod, Olivia London, and Deidre Staples. The production also featured a stunning dance ensemble, whose members included Taylor Collier, LaTrea Rembert, Tracy Dunbar; Taylor Daniels, Stemarciae Bain, Taylor Mackenzie Smith, Victor Lewis Jr., and Nisani Lopez.

Continued from page 22

A scene from CATS “The Jellicle Ball” of the company lead by Andre De Shields. (Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman photo)

Rehabilitation Through the Arts remains multi-act story following ‘Sing Sing’ fame

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

Throughout the film “Sing Sing,” characters “trust the process,” whether towards putting together a comedy production or challenging a wrongful conviction. Doubts are met with patience, even if the system gives Black and Brown men incarcerated in New York State little reason for faith.

“It’s just trusting that if we do everything as it aligns itself, it’s going to turn out right,” said Sean Dino Johnson, who plays himself in the film. “Working in the theater, we tend to want to just catch it when we catch it. And sometimes it’s not meant for you to catch that. You might be practicing [and] rehearsing, and then the day before the show is chaotic.

“And [it’s] like that with our lives, too. We’re so busy saying it’s not gonna work, but if we just relax and trust in the hard work that we put in, something magical just happens. And that’s the process.”

Now, Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), the real-life program featured in the movie, will also “trust the process” as last month’s nationwide release of “Sing Sing” brings unprecedented momentum. As the film depicts, the nonprofit organizes stage plays in New York State prisons starring the very people incarcerated there, including Johnson, who was held at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, where the program began.

Charles Moore, RTA’s director of programs and operations, says people as far as Japan and the United Kingdom line up to volunteer or pitch in following the film’s release. But RTA remains a plucky New York-based operation housed on the SUNY Purchase campus and reliant on teaching artists commuting to remote prison towns — with travel sometimes almost as long as the classes themselves.

“We would like to grow, but sometimes growth could be dangerous,” said Moore. “As long as we grow slowly and smartly, we’ll be alright. You can’t have this film come out and say, ‘Oh my god, this is our opportunity, here’s all this money [to] be in 50 states.’”

The organization’s first major grant showed Moore the pitfalls of success. The bigger the budget, the more money needs to be raised the following year. Still, many communities can benefit from a prison arts program, and the ambition is certainly there.

John “Divine G” Whitfield — a founding member of RTA who served as an executive producer for “Sing Sing” and is played by Colman Domingo as the lead protagonist in the film — is excited at the prospect.

“When we came into the program, that was our mission of expansion,” said Whitfield. “We wanted to share it, because if it was helping us, we knew it could help other people. This movie is giving us what we’ve been always trying to do, but now we get ready to take it to a whole new level. I think pretty big. Everybody [tells] me to reel it in a little bit…this is a step by step process [but] I believe we need to

take something as good as this and share it with the world.”

Behind the Curtain

The nonprofit continues to expand at a healthy pace, now operating core programming in eight medium-to-maximum security prisons across the state — six men’s facilities and two women’s.

Beyond theater, courses in other medi -

ums like dance, music composition, and visual arts are offered.

Last spring, RTA launched a reentry program called Reimagining Myself, which was recently enlisted out-of-state by the Sierra Conservation Center, a California state prison. It is also offered at the Greene and Otisville correctional facilities here in New York. Jermaine Archer, RTA board member and alumnus, believes post-release programming was necessary.

“We provide resources for people to become their best self, and we realize what happens when they walk out of prison, we don’t have that community,” he said. “I can yell across the aisle to someone else, and we can talk about the experience. And I had someone there 24 hours a day that could connect with me on these things, with shared experiences.

“When you come home, you’re in the rat race in the subways [and] the grocery store, it’s people all in your space, and people have those freakout moments. And we realized we needed more than just an alumni base.”

In fact, plays only represent a small portion of RTA drama programming. Acting workshops occur multiple times a week and will never make it in front of an outside audience. Course exercises focus on tying improv and character study with

“Of Mice and Men” RTA production in Sing Sing Correctional Facility. (Photos courtesy of RTA)

“The Odd Couple” RTA production in Fishkill Correctional Facility.

personal development, rather than hitting the stage. The actual rehabilitation starts there.

“[Most of] RTA’s work [are] these little magical reckonings that happen in back classrooms and facilities that no one but the 12 members of that classroom and the teaching artists will ever see,” said teaching artist Margaret Ables. “It’s not the day that ‘12 Angry Men’ goes up at Sing Sing, and everybody comes and applauds. It’s the constant transformation that’s happening, 12 men or women at a time, [at] 6 p.m. [in the] back of [a] Green Haven classroom.”

The “Sing Sing” cast boasts many alumni who play themselves, including Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, who costars alongside the lead man Domingo. Both performances garnered early Oscar buzz, according to award odds aggregator GoldDerby. But there is no RTA prison-toHollywood pipeline.

“Even when we take this film into the facilities for our participants to see, we don’t want them to get the misillusion that they’re going to be the next person to be in a film like this and [that] RTA is about producing big-time actors,” said Moore. “This is a dream come true for Clarence [Maclin]. We never knew that such a great film would be written about RTA and it would have the impact that it’s having.

“We do not promise any of our participants that you’re going to become an actor, a visual artist, or professional dancer. But what we can offer you is an opportunity to improve your life skills and give you a couple tools that will help you make it through this incarceration, and hopefully make you successful as a tax-paying citizen upon your release.”

Fewer than 3% of RTA participants return to prison after release. Comparatively, the state’s overall three-year recidivism rate stands at around 19%, the lowest in four decades. And while arguments and disagreements are expected in such an emotionally-charged environment, not a single physical fight has broken out in RTA programming throughout its history.

“These creative outlets provide incarcerated individuals with the opportunity to reflect on their life experiences and thoughtfully discuss and share those reflections through their work,” said a spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. “By engaging in these collaborative art projects, incarcerated individuals acquire valuable skills and self-awareness, fostering personal growth; which is essential for their successful reentry to the community and helps reduce recidivism.”

Rehabilitating Through the Arts

Moore participated in RTA himself, usually as a perennial supporting cast member. But he says his role didn’t matter

— for him, boosting his self-esteem and confidence came first. Ultimately, he was hired by RTA post-release, the first alumnus to work full-time on the nonprofit side.

Both Archer and Moore recall first encountering the program as audience members and mistaking the cast as professional actors before bumping into them later in the yard. They initially wondered what the thespians did to get themselves locked up.

A close friend compelled Archer to interview in his place for the program after being transferred to another facility the year he got off RTA’s waitlist. Archer was reluctant, but wanted to fill his time. Similar to Maclin’s portrayal in the film, the Brooklynite was a known troublemaker. And it was Maclin who vouched for him given their similar backgrounds.

“As a matter of public safety, RTA allowed me to release my inner bozo and allowed me, in prison, to have the childhood that I never had,” said Archer. “I was able to be a child again. I was able to have fun. We used to roll around on the floor. We used to dance. We used to do a bunch of foolish stuff that you can’t do in a maximum security prison, the projects, in the hood.”

“It allowed us to understand, this is the life I probably should have had all this time.”

Despite his early reservations for singing and dancing, Archer found himself playing Riff in “West Side Story” for his first role. Yet he felt himself the most portraying characters who weren’t gangsters. Playing George from John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” allowed him to explore a man burdened with a dear friend holding him back. It was too real.

Archer came home in 2020 after serving 22 years. He now works on a criminal justice grant-making team and sits on the RTA board. While his fellow alumni hail Archer as a magnetic presence, he never auditioned for “Sing Sing.” He spent the time challenging his conviction. It was vacated this past July.

Humble Origins of RTA

Rehabilitation Through the Arts dates back to the mid-’90s and was initially known as The Theater Workshop, recall Johnson and Whitfield, two of the founding members. In fact, the program wasn’t initially intended for rehabilitation; the guys just wanted to put on a play.

Whitfield hopped at the opportunity as a former High School of Performing Arts student with a penchant for ballet, breakdancing, and martial arts choreography. Johnson needed more convincing, initially picturing himself in a leotard outrageously reciting Shakespeare while held in a maximum-security prison.

In reality, the program kicked off with script reading. Early on, participants cliqued up, with some groups refusing to intermingle due to longstanding prison

history.

“Everybody just sticks to their own, so we start giving out scripts and we start reading,” said Johnson. “Next thing you know, everyone just got so lost into the material, reading the scripts and acting it out. We enjoyed it, we all learned something about ourselves. We learned some things about other people. And we also learned that we all had a lot in common.

“That was the beginning of the RTA community.”

Through theater, a diverse group held at Sing Sing gathered to put on a performance for the ages and left an impression on everyone from the prison population to the corrections officers. Something special was happening.

As shown in the film, Whitfield knew the ins-and-outs of creating a prison program thanks to his experience in grievance work and as a jailhouse lawyer. They turned to founder Katherine Vockins. Soon bylaws and mission statements were drafted.

Before the program, Johnson rarely spoke more than two words in 10 minutes. Now he works as a marketing director and sits on the RTA board. Whitfield credits the program’s creative writing courses for his success as a novelist. He has since won five national writing competitions.

“Sing Sing” is an extension of RTA’s mission to create change through the arts. Putting back on prison greens for the movie was tough for Johnson. But he says he needed to show the public how humanity exists behind bars. Whitfield, who makes a cameo in the film, hopes audience members take away a simple message:

“Love is the power,” said Whitfield. “I think because we had that element of love

within us that circulated through us when we interacted with each other, when we envisioned this program, when we put it on its feet and got it moving. The motivating force behind it all was love.”

The cast of “Sing Sing.”

John “Divine G” Whitfield (Dominic Leon photos)

The passing of icons: Frankie Beverly, Dan Morgenstern, Sergio Mendes

Due to the proximity of such prominent contributors to American music passing in recent weeks, this column is dedicated to the iconic contributions of Frankie Beverly, Dan Morgenstern, and Sergio Mendes. Their contributions, whether through music or words, transcend boundaries of genre, connecting music as a whole. It came as a total shock to awaken that morning to a text that read “this is a hard one Frankie Beverly,” with the sad face and prayer emojis. To confirm beyond a doubt, I googled Frankie Beverly, and there it was: “dies at age 77 on September 10.”

Beverly’s was one of the few R&B groups that still maintained an actual band similar to Kool and the Gang in the mode of Sly & the Family Stone. Frankie Beverly and Maze: you knew the band’s sound after a few funky bars, and its frontman’s high-spirited baritone vocals could be acknowledged in one beat that was the distinctive sound of one of America’s most influential R&B groups.

Although the guitarist, producer, and songwriter Beverly and the seven, then later eight-piece band Maze were never affiliated with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s The Sound of Philadelphia label (TSOP), their Philly sound was just as innate. It enthralled the world. Their soulfulness tantalized the heart and made us swoon. Maze was just as smooth and hard hittin as MFSB, TSOP’s studio band.

From 1977 to 1993, the songwriter and Maze unleashed a string of R&B hits: “Golden Time of Day,” “We Are One,” “Joy and Pain,” “Happy Feelin’s,” “Southern Girl,” and “Before I Let Go.” Beverly’s songs are cemented in Black community celebrations; they are anthems, such as his 1981 song “Before I Let Go,” which immediately beckons folks to the dance floor whether they are at a cookout, community room, or house party. That song is multigenerational: elders to teens take to the floor for that communal “electric slide,”

and it doesn’t matter if your cousin or uncle steps on your foot — no, at that moment it’s all about family or good friends enjoying the groove that was about “Happy Feelings” during that “Golden Time of Day.”

Who would’ve known his beautiful ballad “We Are One” could become an anthem or that his midtempo “Joy and Pain” would charm the world? His music has a stimulating warm groove that brings comfort and joy to listeners, a healing groove that brings people together.

Beverly, finished his farewell “I Wanna Thank You” tour in his hometown of Philadelphia in July. That same month, the Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans included a special tribute to Beverly and Maze, who closed out the event for its first 15 years. Maze will continue touring with vocalist Tony Lindsay.

Beverly’s family said the singer “lived his life with pure soul as one would say, and for us, no one did it better. He lived for his music, family, and friends.”

Dan Morgenstern, an esteemed jazz writer, keeper of jazz history and its musical tradition, who won eight Grammys for his prolific liner notes, died on Sept. 7 in Manhattan. He was 94.

Some months prior to Morgenstern’s passing I had the opportunity to speak with him briefly during the Jazz Gallery’s annual gala where he was presented with the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award. Despite his huge presence in the jazz world, he would take time to speak with aspiring writers or musicians.

“The late Dan Morgenstern was my jazz journalist compass for four decades, pointing me in the right direction as a young writer, with his encyclopedic knowledge, vast connections, and deep humanity,” stated freelance writer Eugene Holley Jr. “To paraphrase Duke Ellington, I will miss him madly!”

Morgenstern was one of the last jazz scholars to have known the giants of jazz he wrote about as both a friend and a chronicler, from Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, and Roy Eldridge to Oran “Hot Lips” Page. “I don’t like the word ‘critic’ very much. I look at myself more as an advocate for the music than as a critic,” he wrote in “Living With Jazz.” “My most enthusiastic early readers were my musician friends, and one thing

led to another. What has served me best, I hope, is that I learned about the music not from books but from the people who created it.”

His two authored books, “Jazz People” (1976) and “Living with Jazz” (2004), the latter a reader edited by Sheldon Meyer, both won ASCAP’s Deems Taylor Award, and in 2007 he received the A.B. Spellman Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The record producer and historian became known as an advocate for musicians and works he considered were overlooked, such as the avant-gardist Ornette Coleman and the late recordings of blues singer

and made this information available in various ways,” said Hank O’Neal, a close friend of Dan’s. “I often told him he had to hang in there until science came up with a way to download his brain. He almost made it.”

The Brazilian-born pianist and composer Sergio Mendes, who intensified world sounds in the 1960s with his bossa nova music of Brasil 66, which turned memorable songs like “Fool on the Hill,” “So Many Stars,” and “Mas Que Nada” into restructured bossa nova hits, and recorded albums with Cannonball Adderley and Herbie Mann, died on Sept. 5 in Los Angeles. He was 83. Early in his career, Mendes played with fellow Brazilian guitarist, composer, and songwriter Antônio Carlos Jobim, who was regarded as a mentor. Mendes formed the Sexteto bossa Rio and recorded “Dance Moderno” in 1961. He moved to the U.S. in 1964 and cut two albums under the group name Sergio Mendes & Brasil ‘65 with Capitol Records and Atlantic Records.

After signing with A&M Records, it was agreed he would record albums under the name “Sergio Mendes and Brasil ‘66.” The group soared with their first single, “Mas Que Nada,” written by Jorge Ben. The original vocalists of Brasil ‘66 were Lani Hall and Bibi Vogel. The group’s best selling album was “Look Around” (1966 A&M).

Bessie Smith. Morgenstern enjoyed positions as editor at three celebrated jazz magazines: Metronome, Jazz (later Jazz & Pop) and DownBeat; wrote album and concert reviews for the New York Post and Chicago Sun-Times; and directed the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University at Newark (1976). Under his leadership, the Institute became an essential resource for scholars and musicians. He retired in 2012.

“Dan (Morgenstern) was a living Encyclopedia of Jazz and while alive, its ultimate historian. To create his thousands of published works, he first gathered the facts, and combined the result with what he already had stored in his mind

The pianist and arranger continued as an influence in popular music for more than six decades, releasing over 35 albums and winning three Grammys, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2012 for best original song (as cowriter of “Real in Rio,” from the animated film “Rio”).

The Mendes bossa nova sound was an effect of Brazil’s dance music style known as samba, which has roots in Africa. Bossa nova means “new wave” which referred to a new way of singing and playing samba that began on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro in the late 1950s as jazz grew in popularity. The subtle drums often accompanied by a melodic conga, keyboard arrangements, and those alluring vocals introduced a new rhythmic flow that swayed the body. Mendes never tried to fit in; he infused jazz and pop music into his native musical tradition.

Maze featuring Frankie Beverly performs at the Essence Music Festival in the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, Sunday, July 5, 2009. Maze has closed out the annual festival since its inception in 1994.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Neighborhood Navigators pave in-roads in Harlem

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

A moral compass guides the Neighborhood Navigators’ expedition across Harlem. Lenny Ortiz and Alex Brass spend the workday between Lenox and Lexington from 116th to 125th Street, building relationships with New Yorkers experiencing homelessness, addiction, and mental health disorders with the ultimate goal of connecting them with housing and social services.

“It’s really about meeting people where they’re at [and] working at their pace,” Brass said. “I try not to be pushy at all. At the same time, I want to encourage them, help give them hope. A lot of these people have dealt with very extreme trauma throughout their life, so just being there to listen to them if they want to share, because a lot of people don’t have anyone to talk to. So just being that listening seems to really go a long way for them.”

Neighborhood Navigators stems from the Manhattan District Attorney’s $6 million invest-ment toward nonprofit the Bridge to establish outreach programs in four focus neighbor-hoods staffed by “peers” with similar life experiences. The initiative will run for roughly three years and officially kicked off this past February. Ortiz and Brass started in June and make up the Harlem team.

So far, their engagement led to placement of five people into safe haven, “low-barrier” transitional housing services tailored to those “resistant” to staying in the city’s general shelter system. But others have been connected to services, provided with safe-use kits, and helped with obtaining Medicaid cards — as well as given compassion and companionship. In sum, the Navigators have interacted with more than 100 people.

Each case requires a personal touch. Some individuals are open to seeking housing and treatment. Others take extended efforts. And there are some people who can’t be reached. But generally, breakthroughs require multiple interactions.

Last Friday, Ortiz and Brass encountered a man sleeping on the sidewalk outside the Bridge’s office on the southeast corner of 125th and Lenox. The individual woke up after the Navigators checked on him and recognized him as a previous client. After a round of fist bumps, Ortiz took him to a bodega to grab a beverage. Thanks to their previous engage-ment, the Navigators knew that he uses crack, and handed the man the appropriate safe use kit.

As the Navigators made their way across 125th Street, they scanned for others in distress. They came across a man struggling to stand outside of the Metro North. He wasn’t a previous client. The Navigators approached him and realized there wasn’t much they could do. But contact was made.

Moving eastward, Brass looked out for a specific client who said he was ready for detox. The Navigators have met with him more than 10 times. They initially struggled to find the

client and didn’t have a phone to reach him. But they eventually bumped into him. He told Brass he wasn’t able to make it to detox, but expressed a strong desire to recover. He was tired. Brass was optimistic, Ortiz skeptical.

In fact, Brass generally serves as the duo’s idealist. The streetwise Ortiz is the realist. While both enlisted with the Bridge as Neighborhood Navigators due to their personal ex-perience with drug use, they boast complementary backgrounds.

Ortiz hails from the catchment area as a son of Spanish Harlem. He’s a former Army veteran, who insists on standing on the right due to hearing loss sustained from military service.

“I did a lot of damage, and I hurt a lot of people, and I always want to help people,” Ortiz said. “Now that I’m in a position to really give assistance, [I’m] giving back to the communi-ty where I did the most damage. When people see me in the area that knew me when I was in active addiction, they say, ‘well, if he could do it, maybe I could do so.’ Since they already know me, the connection’s already there so I can engage with them much better.”

Brass on the other hand comes from a selfadmittedly “privileged” Upper West Side upbringing, where he once approached addiction and homelessness with stigma-callous in-difference. Two years after college, he sustained an addiction. Narcan ultimately saved his life after an overdose.

“This was last August, and after that, I started getting increasingly involved in advocacy, where I became increasingly sensitive to the suffering that was going on to the point where it was almost too much for me,” Brass said.

“I felt like I wasn’t doing enough. Thankfully, I came across this opportunity, which has created such a large amount of purpose and meaning for me.”

A third Navigator will join them to round out the team, according to the program’s director Rocio Santos.

Navigating a neighborhood also means constant change. Some clients don’t have a method of contact and others end up losing their phones while living on the street. A recent shooting in East Harlem meant a greater police presence in the area, scattering clients the Navigators have meticulously built relationships with. Ortiz said they also need to gain the trust of local drug dealers to ensure they don’t suspect competition while other harm reduction organizations like OnPoint NYC, the country’s first safe injection site, also operate in the area, opening the door to collaboration.

To be clear, similar outreach is conducted through the NYC Department of Homeless Ser-vices, which also has staff with lived experiences (although it’s not mandated). While $6 million is a pretty penny, the funding—which comes from forfeiture money seized in whitecollar crime convictions by the Manhattan District Attorney — is a drop in the bucket com-pared to the $171 million in additional funding by the city towards street outreach and “low-barrier” shelter programs this current fiscal year.

But D.A. Alvin Bragg cannot fathom a world where there are enough mental health resources and says the Neighborhood Navigators are unique since they tie into his Court

Navigators program, which similarly engages with in-need individuals at arraignment parts to holistically tackle the problem.

“This is work that we’ll see the benefit of over time,” said Bragg over the phone. “And it’s got to complement other work in the hub we’re based at…it’s part of a public safety toolkit.”

He adds that numbers don’t tell the full story for the Navigators’ work. But neither can they fully depict the extent of convictions. On the baseline, unique interactions with unique individuals and connection to services will gauge the program’s success.

But what of the Navigators’ own mental health? They say not taking the work home is a challenge, especially since the two often go beyond work hours, accompanying clients to housing court or visiting them at the hospital.

The two talk about staying physically active.

Brass even mentions they discussed rockclimbing together, although Ortiz isn’t as fond of the suggestion. But that might not be the point. As they help others with mental health on the clock, they’ve kept each other grounded through their own blossoming friendship.

“We’re a great team,” said Ortiz. “I enjoy working with the brother.”

Harlem’s Neighborhood Navigators Lenny Ortiz (left) and Alex Brass (right) on the 116th Street. (Tandy Lau photo)

Health

Protecting the maternal health of the Black community

By HEATHER M. BUTTS, JD, MPH, MA Special to the AmNews

The Fund for Public Health NYC and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently held a discussion about “Protecting the Health of Black Women and Birthing People and their Babies” at the Trinity Commons of the Trinity Church Wall Street Campus. The conversation introduced the Maternal Home Collaborative Model to the audience, which aims to improve Black maternal health and reduce preventable maternal deaths through a variety of support networks and resources. Featured speakers included Dr. Chelsea Clinton, NYC First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan, and Health Department leaders Dr. Michelle Morse and Dr. Leslie Hayes.

Wright began the event with a discussion about safety for Black women giving birth in New York City: “As we look at the data and we look at our own experiences, one of the things that we want to do is make NYC the safest, best place for a Black woman to have babies in the country.”

Wright introduced Vasan, who spoke about the “unacceptable” nature of poor maternal outcomes. “When we can generate the will, the focus, and urgency, and agree…that certain outcomes are just unacceptable, then we can marshal our resources to make it happen,” Vasan said. Vasan also discussed the importance of social and structural issues such as housing, wealth and income, and accountability to individuals from birth: “How people are treated at birth, into life, and into educational and professional environments ready to start their own family, really, really matters. These experiences matter. How we align ourselves on a common vision, a common agenda to save lives, matters. We must all agree that the status quo is unacceptable and we must marshal our resources to change it, and we can’t do it without you. It will take all of us together, across industries, agencies, communities, sharing ideas and resources to create healthier and safer pregnancies and childbirth for all.”

Clinton spoke about the challenges faced by all New York City around maternal health. “This city I’m very proud to call home, and yet we know it’s not all that it could be to all…for those of us that are proud New Yorkers, we want to believe that this is the best place on Earth and it could

be, but it isn’t always for our Black and brown birthing people.”

Clinton referenced wraparound health services that are not available to all. “We know what it takes to build wraparound services, we know what it takes to…ensure that every birthing person has access to a doula, a midwife; to all the care that she believes she needs and her providers believe that she needs. I find that especially challenging here in 2024 during Women’s History Month because we have continually failed to live up to the promise of what [it should mean] to live in the greatest place on Earth.”

Speaking specifically about preventable maternal deaths, Clinton said that “it’s just unacceptable that we aren’t moving with urgency. . .purpose and deliberation.” She ended with a view toward the future: “While certainly cutting maternal health by 10% is ambitious…we cannot mistake progress

for success. We need…to set the next horizon…we’re very proud to be here.”

Clinton, Vasan, and Wright all thanked Morse and Hayes for their contributions to this work. Both leaders spoke about solutions, with Morse laying the foundation for such solutions through an overview of the NYC Health Department’s Maternal Home Collaborative, a pilot initiative where Black birthing people in New York City generally and Brooklyn specifically have access to care that will address and reduce risks before, during, and after pregnancy/birth. The numbers, according to both Hayes and Morse, are clear:

• Black women and birthing people in NYC are four times more likely to die from a pregnancy-associated death than their white counterparts

• 72% of pregnancy-associated deaths among Black women and birthing people are preventable.

The goal of the program is to reduce pregnancy-associated mortality among Black women by 10% by 2030.

In an interview with the AmNews at the end of the event, Hayes spoke about the importance of the event and the call to action. “It’s great to…look at how we can make things better for Black birthing people. The Maternal Home Collaborative is one of those models that we can really use to make that happen,” she said. “Unless you are in a healthy state as far as your mind is concerned, how do you then deal with pregnancy [and] birthing? I’m glad we’re here, I’m glad we have the call to action, and we’re going to move forward and make changes here in New York City.”

To learn more about the Maternal Home Collaborative, visit www.fphnyc.org/mhcm or call 311.

A doctor uses a hand-held Doppler probe on a pregnant woman to measure the heartbeat of her fetus, in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/ Rogelio V. Solis, File)

Obstacles remain as women seek more leadership roles in America’s Black church

By DARREN SANDS Associated Press

No woman had ever preached the keynote sermon at the Joint National Baptist Convention, a gathering of four historically Black Baptist denominations representing millions of people.

That changed in January when the Rev. Gina Stewart took the convention stage in Memphis, Tennessee—the Southern city home to Christ Missionary Baptist Church where she serves as senior pastor—and delivered a rousing message, asserting that Jesus not only included women in his ministry, but also identified with their suffering.

But what happened next put a spotlight on the obstacles women in Christian ministry continue to face as they carve out leadership space within the patriarchal culture of the Black church in America. Several women pastors told The Associated Press that it should serve as the breaking point.

“This is an example of no matter how high you rise as a woman, you’re going to meet patriarchy at the top of the hill,” said Martha Simmons, founder of Women of Color in Ministry Project, which helps women navigate the process of getting ordained. “The next Norton Anthology of African American preaching is probably 20 years away, but that sermon will be in there.”

Despite the enthusiastic reception for Stewart, the original recording of her his-

toric sermon disappeared from the convention’s Facebook page, setting off a social media firestorm—driven mostly by women—protesting its removal. A recording of the sermon later appeared, but it was followed by accusations the convention edited her closing remarks, which challenges the four allied denominations to support women in ministry.

Jerry Young, president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, did not reply to requests from The Associated Press for comment. He said at another January meeting that he believed the Facebook page had been hacked and he planned to involve the FBI.

“I still don’t know what happened with the sermon, but what is clear is that this was a form of erasure,” Stewart said. “I was just as shocked, stunned and surprised as everyone else.”

It is symptomatic of a larger problem, according to several Black women pastors interviewed by the AP. They emphasized how they were worn down by the physical and psychological toll of working in a male-dominated culture.

In some denominations, women have made progress. The African Methodist Episcopal Church estimates that one-fourth of its total staff are women, including 1,052 ordained ministers.

In the Black church as a whole, male pastors predominate, though there’s no com-

prehensive gender breakdown. Simmons estimates that less than one in 10 Black Protestant congregations are led by a woman, even as more Black women are attending seminary.

The conditions aren’t new, but the public discourse over women’s equality in ministry has rapidly gained ground due in large part to the bullhorn social media provides, said

Courtney Pace, scholar-in-residence with Memphis-based Equity for Women in the Church. Pace noted how Facebook afforded Eboni Marshall Turman a venue to publicly share her grievances before filing a gender discrimination lawsuit in December against Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York. The late theologian and civil rights activist

Rev. Gina Stewart preaches during church service at Rankin Chapel, Sunday, April 7, 2024, in Washington. “I would hope that we can knock down some of those barriers so that their journey would be just a little bit easier,” said Stewart. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams photo)

See BLACK CHURCH on page 31

Harlem Hoops for Democracy: Eagle Academy basketball duo inspires student-led voter registration drive

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff

The Harlem Eagle Academy for Young Men, a predominantly Black and Brown allboys school, held a nonpartisan voter registration drive on campus last week with the goal of increasing voter turnout among parents and eligible students in this year’s critical presidential election.

From the outside, the academy appeared serene and quiet on Thursday afternoon, betraying the flurry of activity within. Inside, students and basketball players from sixth grade all the way to seniors, dressed in neat blue suit and tie combos, milled about on every floor. Some were in the lobby, ushering parents to voter registration tables and then into the cafeteria to enjoy a spread of chicken dishes and sides—a small reward for showing up and being involved.

The school made a concerted effort to include voter education for its students, especially for those 16 and older who are allowed to pre-register to vote. New York state law, passed by former Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2019, pre-registers 16- and 17-year-olds with the Board of Elections (BOE) or Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) so they can automatically vote when they turn 18. This was seen as an essential step in increasing voter turnout among young people during midterm and general elections; many felt disenfranchised and disillusioned with the state of U.S. politics.

“I got registered earlier this month,” said Nile Edwards, 17. “In school, we had an event and they had the whole senior class tell us why it’s important for young men to vote. I think it’s important for people of my age to get more into politics and U.S. history. Whenever I turn 18, I’m already in the system so I can vote right away.”

Younger students in the second floor office were hard at work staffing the phones and calling parents in an effort to get them to register to vote. Instructional Coach Jacqueline Andrade helped supervise the phone bank. “I’m excited to see our young men getting involved in the voting system and actually making these calls,” Andrade said. “Alerting adults, parents, young men and women of age to go out and express their decision [is] so important. Whatever they vote for…, it’s important to exercise that right.”

“Our school not only stands as an eagle, but Eagle Harlem,” said Boubacar “Boobie” Balde, 16, “It’s very important for us to go out into the community.”

Edwards, who is varsity basketball team captain as well as a founding member of the National Honor Society at Harlem Eagle Academy, and Balde, who is varsity basketball team

co-captain and a member of Teaching a Generation (T.A.G), are the duo behind the student-athlete voter drive at Harlem Eagle, playing to their principles of discipline, education, and basketball.

The two have been friends and teammates for years. They initially met as sixth graders at Harlem Eagle. Balde left that year and Edwards left the school in eighth grade. Both reunited in high school, encouraged by their coaches and Principal Ahmed Edwards (no relation to Nile).

Balde said that coming back to Harlem Eagle helped him transition from a “very dark spot” in his life and make a pivotal change into who he is now. Edwards concurred, saying that his school environment before Harlem Eagle was depressing and made him feel like he was failing.

They said that basketball helps them be competitive, but also inspires them to work hard and stay motivated in their real lives to tackle larger issues. They agree that right now, there is little more important than what’s going on with the country as current Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman of color to hold that office, and former President Donald Trump go headto-head for the U.S. presidency.

“What we really need is to be educated on voting,” said Balde about younger voters.

“Whoever’s elected into office will affect the way we live in the future, so if we don’t know who we’re allowing in office, it may harm us or positively affect us, depending on the decision they make behind the table. We just want to push people out there to go and vote so we can have leaders in office [who] will help people like us: Black and Brown people.”

This is the fifth Eagle Academy school after its founder, Schools Chancellor David Banks, who’s slated to resign from his position in December, opened the first one in the Bronx back in 2004. Banks’s Eagle Academy Foundation has schools in Brownsville in Brooklyn, South Jamaica in Queens, and Newark, N.J. The Harlem Eagle Academy is also called the Percy E. Sutton Educational Complex, after the first Black man to be elected Manhattan borough president. The school was named after Sutton’s death in 2010 by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg as a memorial.

“To see these guys taking a leadership role— that just tells me that something’s working— that the seeds we planted in the first two years they were here are now coming to fruition,” said Edwards. “A lot of the culture I’m learning, I learn from them, so I’m just as much a student in this game as they are in terms of the academics. They’re doing a lot of teaching

as well…for me as a school leader, that’s what it’s about. It’s about opening up a space where students can take agency [for] the voter registration drive. This is them.”

Upstairs in the school’s gym, affectionately referred to as “the cage” because of its claustrophobic size and shape, other players were practicing basketball drills with Athletic Director Coach Jermel Collins-Day and Assistant Coach Moustapha Mbaye.

“It gives them a voice,” said Collins-Day about politics and sports. “When you’re playing basketball, that gives you an opportunity to show all the work you’ve been putting in, and I think that goes hand-in-hand with politics: making sure you do your research on who you’re voting on, and then when it’s time to vote, make your choice.”

Collins-Day and Mbaye said that as mentors and father figures, it is critical to remind their athletes, especially as young Black men, that they have choices in sports and outside of it. “They just need exposure,” said Mbaye. “To let them know what’s out there is extremely important.”

The Department of Education (DOE) said it is currently engaged in voter education and activation efforts in other neighborhoods with historically low voter turnouts. The hope is to have an impact on this election and on New York City’s future as more students reach voting age.

“We believe that civic education and engagement are critical to ensuring our students graduate with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to be active participants in the democratic process and in their communities,” said Nicole Brownstein, NYC Public Schools first deputy Press secretary. “Through our Civics for All program, over 85,000 students have registered to vote over the last five years, and we are optimistic that this will have a tremendous impact on voter turnout for this upcoming election.”

Harlem Eagle Academy for Young Men Varsity Basketball Team members (left to right): Boubacar “Boobie” Balde, Nile Edwards, with Athletic Director Coach Jermel Collins-Day, Assistant coach Moustapha Mbaye, and other players in the school’s gym on Thursday, Sept. 26 (Andy Harris photos)

Harlem Eagle Academy students volunteer to register parents to vote

Harlem Eagle Academy student participates in phone drive to call parents and remind them to register to vote on Thursday, Sept. 26, at 6 Edgecombe Avenue

Black Church

Continued from page 29

Prathia Hall underscores this dynamic, said Pace, who wrote “Freedom Faith: The Womanist Vision of Prathia Hall.” In the book, she details how Hall was a key inspiration for Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

“The kind of thing that happened to Gina Stewart happened a lot to Prathia Hall,” Pace said. “When she was doing her work, we did not have social media, or cell phones with voice recorders and cameras in every hand. So who knows what the response to Prathia would have been with an empowered public like we have today.”

Hall was born in Philadelphia in 1940, the daughter of a Baptist preacher. As a youth, she took part in local speech competitions where she melded folk religion and liberation theology.

But not all of Hall’s relationships within the insular preaching fraternity of the National Baptist Convention were as collegial as her relationship with King, whom she said in later years did more with “I have a dream” than she could have.

Many theologically conservative Christian churches, including some Black Protestant denominations, prohibit women from preaching. They frequently cite certain biblical passages, including one they interpret as saying women ought to “be silent” in churches. Even in denominations without explicit bans, women with leader-

ship aspirations often must contend with a patriarchal culture.

Last month, the audience was dotted with young Black women at an event hosted at the Howard Divinity School in Washington. A group convened a panel about the evolution of Black women’s role in the church.

Inside the cavernous Dunbarton Chapel that Howard Divinity shares with the Howard School of Law, a half-dozen Black women representing a range of independent churches and Black Protestant denominations spoke about persevering through instability and transition.

Their current duties, some of the women said, left them exhausted and unable to grieve the members they lost to COVID-19.

One speaker was Rev. Lyvonne Briggs. In 2019, she was being overworked and underpaid as an assistant pastor of a large Baptist church in California. Her marriage dissolved.

She restarted her life in Atlanta. During the lockdown one Sunday morning in her apartment, Briggs went live on Instagram and held a self-styled worship space for 25 people to share their experiences. It became known as The Proverbial Experience, which Briggs describes as an “African-centered, womanist series of spiritual gatherings to nourish the soul.”

In two years, Briggs grew her church into a digital community of 3,000. She also wrote “Sensual Faith: The Spiritual Art of Coming Back to Your Body,” a treatise on liberation from the sexual politics and ob-

jectification of Black women’s bodies in the church setting.

“I don’t ascribe to this idea that the Black church is dead,” Briggs told the AP. “But I do acknowledge and promote that we have to eulogize what it used to be so that we can birth something new.”

One preacher who fashions himself an expert on the topic of women’s role in the church, Walter Gardner of the Newark Church of Christ in Newark, N.J, sent a video link of one of his lectures when queried by the AP about his beliefs. At the end of one session, Gardner suggested that women, overall, ignore Scripture and are incapable of being taught.

That’s a mindset Gina Stewart would like to change, on behalf of future generations of Black women.

“I would hope that we can knock down some of those barriers so that their journey would be just a little bit easier,” said Stewart, who has continued to charge forward.

In a given week, her preaching schedule can take her to multiple cities. As an example, she traveled to Washington earlier this month after accepting a sought-after invitation to preach at Howard University’s Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel.

Stewart’s goals mesh with those of Eboni Marshall Turman, who gave the Martin Luther King Jr. Crown Forum lecture in February at Martin Luther King’s alma mater, Morehouse College. In December, after not being named a finalist, she had sued Abys-

sinian Baptist Church and its pulpit search committee for gender discrimination over its hiring process for its next senior pastor, an assertion the church and the committee disputed. No woman has ever held the post.

A former Abyssinian assistant minister, the Rev. Rashad Raymond Moore, said in an email to The Associated Press that of the several dozen applicants for the senior pastor job, “none were more exciting, promising and refreshing than Eboni Marshall Turman.”

Added Moore, who now is pastor of New York City’s First Baptist Church of Crown Heights, “Pastoral searches in Black congregations, historically socially conservative, are often mired in the politics of discrimination, including biases based on gender, sexual orientation, marital status and age.” Marshall Turman, a Yale Divinity School professor, offered pointed critiques in her first book at what she deemed the inherent patriarchy of Morehouse’s social gospel justice tradition. She adapted her recent lecture’s title from the last speech ever given by King, the all-male college’s most famous alum.

The title was blunt: “I’m Not Fearing Any Man.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Religion & Spirituality

Religion & Spirituality The Truth Will Set Us Free

Hope in Hot-Mess Times

The Truth Will Set Us Free

One of the ideas I discuss in my book, “Fierce Love” is truth. Many of us have been taught that love means being nice. That being nice means being polite and not being offensive. That not being offensive means blurring the truth about injuries, frustrations, and the unkindness we endure. Love defined in this way means cloaking much of what we feel in lies.

14 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time, I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall ex ecute justice and righteousness in the land.16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

One of the ideas I discuss my book, “Fierce Love” is truth. Many of have been taught that means being nice. That being nice means polite and not being offensive. That not being offen sive means blurring the truth about injuries, frustrations, and the unkindness we endure. Love defined in this way means cloaking much of what we feel in lies.

That is not true.

Jeremiah 33.14-16 NRSVUE

That is not true.

Love means being honest; love carries the weight of candor to build intimacy and trust. In other words, love — true love — must handle the truth because the truth frees us to love.

This holiday season, I want to encourage truth-filled interactions. I don’t mean hurling violent words at each other, words stored up at times for generations. But I do mean being honest with each other as if these are our last moments , because we never know how much time is left in our lives. I mean being honest and vulnerable. Making

Before those words above, the picture Jeremiah paints in this 33rd chapter of his prophecy looks like the destruction and devastation I see in my social media feeds. It looks like Gaza. It looks like Congo or Sudan. It looks like Haiti or Ukraine. It looks like California after fires and it looks like the Carolinas after storms. Where there has been dancing and laughter, now there is weeping and mourning. Where there used to be children playing in the streets, now they are climbing over the rubble, trying to find food, or remnants of their loved ones. Gone are live-

stock and pets, gone are the fruits of the earth and the fruit of the wine.

amends. I had powerful experiences with each of my parents as they were dying long deaths. We don’t have to wait until death is near to curate loving truth. We can do that right now.

with each of my parents as they were dying long deaths. We don’t have to wait until death is near to curate loving truth. We can do that right now.

Here is an excerpt from my book, on the loving truth-telling I had with my amazing mom, as she was dying. It’s redacted from a story about a childhood wounding.

Dying

There is no proof of life; the stench of is strong in the air. And as was true for many ancient peoples, these people believe the only answer to “why?” is that they have displeased God and that God has punished them. They believed that when good things happened, God was responsible, as a reward for their goodness. AND when trouble came, God was responsible, giving them what they deserved.

On April 12, the day after her (80th) birthday (party), Mom had another crisis and was hospitalized; this time my dad signed a do not resuscitate order; they were both suffering from her suffering. This meant she was in hospice, this meant her days were numbered. I traveled from New York to Chicago to spend time in her hospital room, reading, watching her sleep, unless she was watching me.

Sadly, this theology permeates much of our modern understanding. And to be honest, I don’t believe that. If it were true, so many people doing despicable things, and causing harm to communities and the planet, would not be flourishing. They would be the ones searching for food on garbage heaps and they are not. If that theology were true, amazing humans doing incredibly loving things for their communities would not be struggling to make ends meet. Do you see what I mean? It is difficult to make a direct correlation between good people getting good things, and bad people getting bad things.

Mom, what are you doing? I’m watching you. Why aren’t you sleeping? I don’t want to miss seeing your face. You know my face. I want to memorize it, you’re beautiful. You are too, mommy. Do you know how much I love you? I do; do you know how much I love you? Yes, but I love you more.

The issue I am raising is theodicy: Does a good God allow bad things to happen to good people? Does a good God allow good things to happen to bad people? I’ve got lots of thoughts on this topic that I’ll continue to share in this space, some of it shaped by a book by Rabbi Harold Kushner, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.”

Our words were in a loop, tumbling out over and over again. This was what it was like, to be with her, to watch her watching me, to catch her face in the eerie blue glow of her room, to pull out the sofa bed and make it up again. To hear her cough, to use the tool to suck the phlegm out of her mouth. To fight with doctors and nurses about feeding her, hydrating her, keeping her comfortable.

This is what it was like, to face the truth. Mom was dying, really, finally. Right before our eyes. She had been dying for a long time, but now? Now if you looked closely, you could see her leaving. There was something different about her eyes. They were receding, closing just a little bit at a time. They were knowing eyes, searching eyes, looking deeply into my soul, looking for something, saying something she was thinking but not saying. I’m hurting. I hurt you. I love you. I’m sorry I smoked. I don’t want to die. I’m afraid. I love you more, more than I can say.

For now, with Chaldean/Babylonian conquest, captivity and exile in the background, with desolation and the absence of human and animal life thriving, no matter how they got there, Jeremiah reminds these people of God’s covenant-keeping faithfulness. God will restore, God will repair, God will reclaim the people. God is a promisekeeper, Jeremiah is saying. And as sure as day follows night, humans should not doubt God’s intention, power and ability to not only repair what’s broken BUT to raise up people to partner with God to fix these broken things and make sure it stays fixed.

Living

Mommy was dying, leaving us, leaving me. And while she was dying, she was giving me something to live with. She was birthing me some more, liberating me, pushing me that last little bit out of her. She willed herself to live until

Jeremiah writes to give hope to the people, even amid their sorrow. How do we hope in hot-mess times? I think it is about learning how to see. Learning how to see in the distance, in the future; to be far-sighted enough to see the moral arc of the universe bending toward justice. To see and to imagine that God is faithful and has what C.S.

Lewis calls an “unbounded now,” an eternal kind of time, to keep God’s promises. I think hope is also about hindsight. To be able to turn around and look over our shoulders — like a Sankofa — and see what God has been up to. See God healing broken systems, see God working with humans to ensure human rights. See God in the protests, in the community organizing, in the discovery of medications that cure diseases.

Hope is learning how to see. To see a Holy Partner at work in the world, moving against injustice with love, equipping authors, artists and activists; parents, poets and preachers to work with the power of Spirit to bring dead places back to life. To end wars and enmity. To cause justice to roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

something — each of us needed something — but I know best what I yearned for. It was her blessing, her understanding, her permission to be fully myself, to be a grown woman. It was her gentle nudge for me to finish becoming me. I needed her to hold the (childhood) hurt with me, so we could let it go. It was absolution for both of us, for any sorrow, any failure. It was getting it straight between us, getting the feeling out of each of us. While plugged into noisy machines that made her life possible, mom plugged me into her, for a little while, reconnecting to me as though through an umbilical cord, sharing air, time, truth. When she birthed me the first time, I came through her, picking up some of her biomes, and now she gave me more to keep me well. More than immune system boosters, she gave me super saturated love, a love transfusion. She spoke words of admiration, words of understanding and grace. She helped me see myself like she saw me. It was a healing, the liberating power of truth in the space between my mother and me. Every time mom said, “I love you more,” she was telling me the truth. She loved me fiercely, but she should have known, wish she’d known, yet didn’t know about what happened to me when I was a girl…Each time she said, “I love you more,” along with it were paragraphs about what she hoped for me. Here is the truth precious: Be you, Jac. You’re not too shiny, too strong. You didn’t deserve what happened to you and you didn’t cause it by being you. It was not your fault.

Civil rights theologian, mystic and minister Howard Thurman wrote: Look well to the growing edge! All around us worlds are dying, and new worlds are being born; all around us life is dying, and life is being born. The fruit ripens on the tree, the roots are silently at work in the darkness of the earth against a time when there shall be new leaves, fresh blossoms, green fruit. Such is the growing edge! It is the extra breath from the exhausted lung, the one more thing to try when all else has failed, the upward reach of life when weariness closes in upon all endeavor. This is the basis of hope in moments of despair, incentive to carry on when times are out of joint and men have lost their reason, the source of confidence when worlds crash and dreams whiten into ash. The birth of the child — life’s most dramatic answer to death — this is the growing edge incarnate. Look well to the growing edge!

This is a rough friends. BUT see that growing edge incarnate? Hope is there.

For more thoughts on hope, listen to my podcast, Love.Period. https://cac. org/podcasts/hope-is-the-thing/

she gave it all to me. She knew I needed something — each of us needed something — but I know best what I yearned for. It was her blessing, her understanding, her permission to be fully myself, to be a grown woman. It was her gentle nudge for me to finish becoming me. I needed her to hold the (childhood) hurt with me, so we could let it go. It was absolution for both of us, for any sorrow, any failure. It was getting it straight between us, getting the feeling out of each of us. While plugged into noisy machines that made her life possible, mom plugged me into her, for a little while, reconnecting to me as though through an umbilical cord, sharing air, time, truth. When she birthed me the first time, I came through her, picking up some of her biomes, and now she gave me more to keep me well. More than immune system boosters, she gave me super saturated love, a love transfusion. She spoke words of admiration, words of understanding and grace. She helped me see myself like she saw me. It was a healing, the liberating power of truth in the space between my mother and me. Every time mom said, “I love you more,” she was telling me the truth. She loved me fiercely, but she should have known, wish she’d known, yet didn’t know about what happened to me when I was a girl…Each time she said, “I love you more,” along with it were paragraphs about what she hoped for me. Here is the truth precious: Be you, Jac. You’re not too shiny, too strong. You didn’t deserve what happened to you and you didn’t cause it by being you. It was not your fault. Mommy and I had more than one of those moments over the eight years she was living and dying at the same time. We are all, loves, are living and dying at the same time. Is there a truth you need to hear or tell? A love-filled truth-telling — speaking the truth in love — might set you free and liberate your loved ones as well. It might be hard, but it might also be amazing!

Mommy and I had more than one of those moments over the eight years she was living and dying at the same time. We are all, loves, are living and dying at the same time. Is there a truth you need to hear or tell? A love-filled truth-telling — speaking the truth in love — might set you free and liberate your loved ones as well. It might be hard, but it might also be amazing!

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis is senior minister and public theologian at Middle Church in New York. Celebrated internationally for her dynamic preaching and commitment to building a just society with fierce love, Dr. Lewis champions racial, economic, and gender/sexuality justice. The author of several books, including “Fierce Love” and the “Just Love Story Bible,” her work has been featured on NBC, CBS, PBS, MSNBC, NPR and in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Ebony and Essence magazines.

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis is senior minister public theologian at Middle Church in New York. Celebrated internationally for her dynamic preaching and commitment to building a just society with fierce Dr. Lewis champions racial, economic, and gender/sexuality justice. The author of several books, including “Fierce Love” and the “Just Love Story Bible,” her work

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NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT. NEW YORK COUNTY. USALLIANCE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION BY MERGER WITH NEW YOTK METRO FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, Pltf. vs., UNKNOWN HEIRS AT LAW OF JAMES MCCASKILL A/K/A JAMES MC CASKILL, HIS NEXT OF KIN, DISTRIBUTEES, EXECUTORS, ADMINISTRATORS, TRUSTEES, DEVISEES, LEGATEES, ASSIGNEES, LIENORS, CEDITORS, AND SUCCESSORS IN INTEREST, AND GENERALLY ALL PERSONS HAVING OR CLAIMING, UNDER, BY OR THROUGH SAID DEFENDANT WHO MAY BE DECEASED, BYPURCHASE, INHERITANCE, LIEN OR OTHERWISE, ANY RIGHT TITTLE OR INTEREST IN AND TO THE PREMISED DESCRIBED IN THE COMPLAINT HEREIN, ALL OF WHOM AND WHOSE NAMES AND PLACES OF RESIDENCE ARE UNKNOWN TO THE PLAINTIFF AND CANNOT AFTER DILIGENT INAUIRY BE ASCERTAINED, et al Deft. Index #850257/2022. Pursuant to judgment of foreclosure and sale entered August 12, 2024, I will sell at public auction on January 8, 2024 at 2:15 p.m. prem. k/a 61 West 126 th Street, New York, NY a/k/a Block 1724, Lot 11. Approximate amount of judgment is $180,402.81 plus cost 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. CHRISTY M. DEMELFI, Referee., Attys. for Pltf., 165 Eileen Way, Ste. 101, Syosset, NY. #101714

Notice of Qualification of ALVAREZ & MARSAL FORENSIC TECHNOLOGY SERVICES, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/21/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/13/16. 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, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of DE, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that a license, number (Pending) for (Beer, Cider, And Wine) has been applied for by the undersigned to sell (Beer, Cider, And Wine) at retail in a (Restaurant) under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 62 Greenwich , New York, NY 10011, New York County for on premises consumption. DeMolinari Greenwich, Inc., St. George

SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS–SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, COUNTY OF NEW YORK– M & T BANK, Plaintiff, -againstSAMUEL E. BASS if he be living and if he be dead, the respective heirsat-law, next-of-kin, distributes, executors, administrators, trustees, devisees, legatees, assignees, lienors, creditors and successors in interest and generally all persons having or claiming under, by or through said defendant who may be deceased, by purchase, inheritance, lien or inheritance, lien or otherwise any right, title or interest in or to the real property described in the complaint; BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE COPLEY CONDOMINIUM AND CLUB; NORTHEAST ALLIANCE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION N/K/A AFFINITY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, Defendants - Index No.: 850040/2024

Plaintiff Designates New York County as the Place of Trial. The Basis of Venue is that the subject action is situated in New York County. 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(s) within 20 days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within 30 days after the service is complete if this Summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York); and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint. That this Supplemental Summons is being filed pursuant to an order of the court dated October 18, 2024. NOTICE-YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME – If you do not respond to this summons and complaint by serving a copy of the answer on the attorney for the mortgage company who filed this foreclosure proceeding against you and filing the answer with the court, a default judgment may be entered and you can lose your home. Speak to an attorney or go to the court where your case is pending for further information on how to answer the summons and protect your property. Sending a payment to the mortgage company will not stop the foreclosure action. YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (M & T BANK) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT. The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an order of the Honorable Francis A. Kahn III, J.S.C. Dated: October 18, 2024 Filed: October 21, 2024. The object of this action is to foreclose a mortgage and covering the premises known as 2000 Broadway 26C, New York, NY 10023. Dated: November 8, 2024 Filed: November 8, 2024 Greenspoon Marder LLP, Attorney for Plaintiff, By: Raspreet Bhatia, Esq., 590 Madison Avenue, Suite 1800, New York, NY 10022 P: (212) 524-5000 F: (212) 524-5050 No Service by fax) Service purposes only: Trade Centre South 100 W. Cypress Creek Road, Suite 700, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309 P: (888) 491-1120 F: (954) 343-6982

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF New York , Sutherland Asset I-AT2, LLC , Plaintiff, vs . 167th Street CF Unit LLC, ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on July 31, 2024 , I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on January 8, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 446-448 West 167th Street, Unit CF, New York, NY. 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 2111 and Lot 1101 together with an undivided 8.6537 percent interest in the Common Elements. Approximate amount of judgment is $4,331,008.67 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 850177/2022. The Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale has been assigned, and the ultimate assignee is LBC3 Trust. LBC3 Trust will be the de facto plaintiff and credit bidding at the sale. Paul Sklar, Esq., Referee McCarter & English, LLP, 250 West 55th Street, 13th Floor, New York, New York 10019, Attorneys for Plaintiff

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK.

BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE ALTAVISTA CONDOMINIUM, acting on behalf of the unit owners of THE ALTAVISTA CONDOMINIUM, Plaintiff -against- JOHN ANDREW LUMPKIN, et al. Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated August 2, 2024 and entered on August 6, 2024, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, NY 10007, on Wednesday on January 22, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, known as Unit No. 20 in the building designated as "The Altavista condominium" together with an undivided 3.6214% interest in the Common Elements.

Section: 2 Block: 621 lot: 1120 Said premises known as 92 PERRY STREET, CONDOMINIUM UNIT 20, NEW YORK, NY

Approximate amount of lien $50,354.13, through April 11, 2024, plus interest fees & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale.

Index Number 158019/2023.

ROBERTA E. ASHKIN, ESQ., Referee Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10018

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK, 2 Cap Investments, LLC , Plaintiff, vs. Frog Investments, LLC, ET AL ., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on August 9, 2024, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on January 29, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 321 West 110th Street, No. 7A a/k/a 321 Cathedral Parkway, Unit No. 7A, New York, NY 10026. 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 1423 and Lot 1846. Approximate amount of judgment is $2,931,375.00 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale Index #850074/2022.

Allison M. Furman, Esq., Referee

Underweiser & Underweiser LLP, One Barker Avenue, Second Floor, White Plains, New York 10601, Attorneys for Plaintiff.

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT- COUNTY OF NEW YORK

U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (SUCCESSOR TO BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., SUCCESSOR BY MERGER TO LASALLE BANK N.A.), AS TRUSTEE, ON BEHALF OF THE HOLDERS OF THE THORNBURG MORTGAGE SECURITIES TRUST 2008-1 MORTGAGE LOAN PASSTHROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2008-1 , Plaintiff, AGAINST

ALMI FUNDING LLS SERIES 517 W46 LLC, LT CW 105, LLC, NK CW 105, LLC, BOARD OF MANAGERS OF CLINTON WEST CONDOMINIUM , et al. Defendant(s)

Pursuant to a judgment of foreclosure and sale duly entered on November 9, 2021.

I, the undersigned Referee, will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre St, New York, NY 10007 on January 8, 2025 at 2:15 PM premises known as 517 W 46th Street 105, New York, NY 10036.

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

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK CITIBANK, N.A., Plaintiff AGAINST THOMAS N. PIEPER, CAROL ANN FOLEY, Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered August 1, 2024, 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 January 22, 2025 at 2:15PM, premises known as 250 South End Avenue, Unit 4D, New York, NY 10280. 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: 16, Lot: 2222. Approximate amount of judgment $28,099.34 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850158/2023. 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. Scott H. Siller, Esq., Referee Frenkel Lambert Weiss Weisman & Gordon, LLP 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, NY 11706 01-095756-F00 82425

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. Section 4, Block 1075 and Lot 1212.

Approximate amount of judgment $1,367,788.16 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment. Index #850101/2019.

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

Notice of Formation of 37 GROUP LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of New York SSNY on 11/15/2024. Office located in NEW YORK. SSNY has been designated for service of process. SSNY shall mail copy of any process served against the LLC to: 11 W 36TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10018, USA. Purpose: any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of Concentric Chemists LLC. Filed with SSNY on 1/29/24. Office: New York Co. SSNY designated as agent for process & shall mail to: 52 Morton St, 1, NY, NY 10014. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

AMENDED NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY

OF New York, U.S. Bank National Association as Legal Title Trustee for Truman 2016 SC6 Title Trust, Plaintiff, vs. Moshe Rahimi, Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on February 15, 2024 and a Decision + Order on Motion duly entered August 1, 2024, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at Room 116 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on January 15, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 635 West 42nd Street a/k/a 627635 West 42nd Street, Unit 15J, 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 1090 and Lot 1351 together with an undivided 0.12612 percent interest in the Common Elements. Approximate amount of judgment is $570,028.95 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850111/2020. Paul R. Sklar, Esq., Referee

The previous Notice of Sale having listed a different courtroom.

Friedman Vartolo LLP, 85 Broad Street, Suite 501, New York, New York 10004, Attorneys for Plaintiff Firm File No.: 201235-1

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF BRONX

US Bank National Association, as Trustee for Credit Suisse First Boston Mortgage Securities Corp., CSAB Mortgage-Backed Trust 2006-4, CSAB Mortgage-Backed Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2006-4, Plaintiff AGAINST Martina R. Garcia; et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered May 8, 2018, and Amended April 18, 2024, and Amended August 23, 2024, I, the undersigned Referee, will sell at public auction at the Bronx County Courthouse, 851 Grand Concourse, Room 711, Bronx, New York on January 13, 2025 at 2:15PM, premises known as 1500 Vyse Avenue, Bronx, NY 10460. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough and County of Bronx, City and State of NY, Block 2995 Lot 120. Approximate amount of judgment $857,204.83 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index# 381047/2011E. The auction will be conducted pursuant to the COVID-19 Policies Concerning Public Auctions of Foreclosed Property established by the 12th Judicial District. Only cash or certified funds payable to the Referee will be accepted as a deposit in the amount of ten percent of the purchase price.

Leticia Arzu, 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: November 15, 2024 For sale information, please visit www.Auction.com or call (800) 280-2832 82353

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK. THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON FKA THE BANK OF NEW YORK AS TRUSTEE FOR THE CERTIFICATEHOLDERS OF THE CWALT, INC., ALTERNATIVE LOAN TRUST 2007-HY3 MORTGAGE PASSTHROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2007-HY3, Plaintiff -against- BRUCE HUBERMAN, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated August 1, 2024 and entered on August 6, 2024, 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 January 8, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City and State of New York, known as Unit No. 16B in the condominium known as "The Gatsby Condominium" together with an undivided 2.16% interest in the common elements. Block: 1602 Lot: 1058

Said premises known as 65 EAST 96TH STREET, UNIT NO. 16B, NEW YORK, NY 10128

Approximate amount of lien $2,277,363.83 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 850271/2022. MARK L. MCKEW, ESQ., Referee

Pincus Law Group, PLLC Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 425 RXR Plaza, Uniondale, NY 11556

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK.

JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., Plaintiff -against- DENNY MARTIN M.D. P.C., et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated July 26, 2024 and entered on July 31, 2024, 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 January 15, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, State of New York, known as Unit No. 2A in the condominium known as "The Ruppert Yorkville Towers Condominium" together with a 0.097375% undivided interest in the common elements. Block: 1537 Lot: 2089 Said premises known as 1641 3RD AVENUE, APT 2A, NEW YORK, NY 10128

Approximate amount of lien $1,654,551.66 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale.

Index Number 850143/2022. CLARK WHITSETT, ESQ., Referee

Buonamici & LaRaus, LLP

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 222 Bloomingdale Road, White Plains, NY 10605

Notice is hereby given that Application ID Number NA-034324-146153 for a On-Premises Hotel license has been applied for by the undersigned to permit the sale of beer, wine and liquor at retail in a hotel under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at the Faena New York located at 500 W. 18 th Street, New York in New York County for on-premises consumption. 76 Eleventh Hotel LLC and Faena Hotels & Resorts (Maryland), LLC, 500 W. 18 th Street, New York, NY 10011.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK U.S. Bank National Association, not in its individual capacity but solely as trustee for the RMAC Trust, Series 2018 G-CTT, Plaintiff AGAINST Latasha O'Bryant; et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered August 31, 2023 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 January 8, 2025 at 2:15PM, premises known as 297 West 137th Street, Unit No. 2574D a/k/a 2574D, Frederick Douglas Boulevard, New York, NY 10030. 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 NY, Block 2023 Lot 1114. Approximate amount of judgment $442,512.46 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index# 850120/2019. The auction will be conducted pursuant to the COVID-19 Policies Concerning Public Auctions of Foreclosed Property established by the 1st Judicial District. Jeffrey R. Miller, 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: September 23, 2024 For sale information, please visit www. Auction.com or call (800) 2802832 81742

Notice of Formation of BLUE & WHITE BROADWAY CLUB, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/03/24. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 545 Madison Ave., 6th Fl., NY, NY 10022. 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 SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF New York , NYCTL 1998-2

TRust and the Bank of New York Mellon as Collateral Agent and Custodian , Plaintiff, vs . Larisa Mikhailova , ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion dated March 13, 2024 and entered on May 1, 2024 , 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 January 8, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., 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 862 and Lot 1274.

Said premises may also be known as 325 5 Avenue, Unit No. S72, New York, NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $2,755.56 plus interest and costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index #157999/2020.

Sofia Balile, Esq., Referee

The Law Office of Thomas P. Malone, PLLC, 60 East 42nd Street, Suite 553, New York, New York 10165, Attorneys for Plaintiff

NOTICE OF SALE

Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, Index No. 850623/2023

Newtek Small Business Finance, LLC, Plaintiff, v. DBMS Consulting, Inc., et. al., Defendants.

TAKE NOTICE that pursuant to the Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated August 27, 2024, the undersigned referee will sell at public auction on January 29, 2025 at 2:15pm in Room 130 at 60 Centre Street, NY, NY, the property located at 164 West 83 rd Street, Units CF1 and CF2, New York, NY 10024 (Block 1213, Lots 1303 and 1304).

The approximate amount of Plaintiff’s lien is $2,015,909 plus interest and costs. The premises will be sold in two parcels and subject to provisions of the judgment and terms of sale.

Matthew Hunter, Esq., Referee

Law Offices of Tae H. Whang, LLC, Attorneys for Plaintiff, 185 Bridge Plaza North, Suite 201, Fort Lee, NJ 07024, Tel. (201) 461-0300.

Notice of Formation of RJMD HOLDINGS II LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/19/24. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 201 W. 79th St., NY, NY 10024. 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.

6 Hillside, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on Nov. 1, 2024. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 700 Columbus Avenue, Unit 20027, New York, NY 10025. Purpose: Any lawful act.

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK. NYCTL 1998-2 TRUST AND THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON, AS COLLATERAL AGENT AND CUSTODIAN, Plaintiffs -against- CONOR J. CAMPBELL, KRISTIN C. WALKER, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered herein on July 30, 2024, 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 January 22, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, known and designated as Block 858 and Lot 1039 on the New York County Tax Assessment Map.

Said premises known as 31 EAST 28TH STREET, UNIT SU-16, NEW YORK, NY 10016

Approximate amount of lien $2,647.19 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 150481/2023. MATTHEW D. HUNTER, III, ESQ., Referee

Phillips Lytle LLP Attorney(s) for Plaintiffs 28 East Main Street, Suite 1400, Rochester, NY 14614

NOTICE OF SALE

WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE REGISTERED HOLDERS OF WELLS FARGO COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE TRUST 2016-C34, COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2016-C34, BY AND THROUGH ITS SPECIAL SERVICER, LNR PARTNERS, LLC, Plaintiff v. 153 ELIZABETH STREET, LLC, 153 ELIZABETH HOTEL LLC, 30 KENMARE MASTER, LLC, EDMOND LI, 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. 850275/2021. Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision & Order on Motion dated August 12, 2024, and duly entered in the above-entitled action and filed in the Office of the New York County Clerk on August 12, 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, January 22, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. The premises therein described are located at 153 Elizabeth Street, New York, New York 10023, also known as Block 479, Lot 29 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. 850275/2021, 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 $35,767,489.10, 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.

Scott H. Siller , Esq., Referee ( 516) 644-6769

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

Savoir-Faire Projects LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/26/2024. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 166 East 61st Street,10F, New York, NY 10065. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Sensible Pet Care Services LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/18/2024. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 105 West 125th St Front 1 #1225, New York Purpose: Any lawful act.

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK THE BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE AMERICAN FELT CONDOMINIUM, Plaintiff against GRIFFON REX LLC, Defendant. Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion, dated August 15, 2024, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, New York 10007 on the 22nd day of January, 2025 at 2:15 PM premises lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, known as the Commercial Unit in the condominium Known as "The American Felt Condominium". Together with an undivided 3.9% interest in the common elements. This Unit is also designated as Tax Lot 1001 in Block 558. Said premises known as 114 East 13th Street, the Commercial Unit, New York, New York 10003 Approximate amount of lien $50,418.07 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed judgment and terms of sale. Index Number 150137/24. SCOTT H. SILLER, ESQ., Referee. Axelrod, Fingerhut & Dennis Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 260 MADISON AVENUE, 15th Flr. New York, NY 10016-2404

Notice of Formation of NFF NEW MARKETS FUND XLVIII, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/26/24. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 5 Hanover Sq., 9th Fl., NY, NY 10004. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Nonprofit Finance Fund at the princ. office of the LLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK Freedom Mortgage Corporation, Plaintiff AGAINST The Estate of Melanie Silvera a/k/a Melanie Grace Silvera, et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered August 16, 2024, 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 January 22, 2025 at 2:15PM, premises known as 21 South End Avenue, Unit #435, New York, NY 10280. 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: 16, Lot: 6073. Approximate amount of judgment $570,477.89 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850553/2023. 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. For sale information, please visit Auction.com at www.Auction. com or call (800) 280-2832. Tom Kleinberger, Esq, Referee Frenkel Lambert Weiss Weisman & Gordon, LLP 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, NY 11706 01-098657-F00 82254

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK.

NYCTL 1998-2 TRUST AND THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON, AS COLLATERAL AGENT AND CUSTODIAN,

Plaintiffs -against- BO HONG REALTY, INC., et al Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered herein on July 29, 2024, 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 January 15, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, known and designated as Block 1535 and Lot 27 on the New York County Assessment Map. Said premises known as 1737 2ND AVENUE, NEW YORK, NY 10128

Approximate amount of lien

$6,668.73 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale.

Index Number 160227/2022.

CLARK A. WHITSETT, ESQ., Referee

Phillips Lytle LLP

Attorney(s) for Plaintiffs

28 East Main Street, Suite 1400, Rochester, NY 14614

AMENDED NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY

OF New York, Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, Not in its Individual Capacity but Solely as Trustee of MFA 2021-INV2 Trust, Plaintiff, vs. 414 East 115 LLC, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on August 6, 2024, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at Room 116 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on January 15, 2025 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 414 East 115th Street, New York, NY 10029. 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 1708 and Lot 142. Approximate amount of judgment is $1,800,390.76 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850427/2023. Tom Kleinberger, Esq., Referee

The previous Notice of Sale having listed a different courtroom.

Friedman Vartolo LLP, 85 Broad Street, Suite 501, New York, New York 10004, Attorneys for Plaintiff Firm File No.: 224262-2

The Human Resource Consortium LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 8/26/24. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: J.W. McCrory, 1900 SE 15th St, Ft Lauderdale, FL 33316. Purpose: Any lawful act.

The Welliverse LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/29/2024. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 280 Park Avenue South, 9H, NY, NY 10010. Purpose: Any lawful act.

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT – NEW YORK COUNTY BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE 610 PARK AVENUE CONDOMINIUM, Plaintiff -against16EF APARTMENT, LLC and MARA ENTERPRISES, et al Defendant(s). INDEX NO. 151261/2023

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered herein and dated September 29, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at a public auction located in Room 116 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, New York on January 29, 2025 at 2:15 p.m. E.T., premises situate, all that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City and State of New York, Block: 1379, Lot: 1189. Said premises known as 610 Park Avenue, PH16E, New York, New York 10065. The approximate amount of the judgment is $171,820.02 plus post-judgment interest & costs. The premises will be sold subject to provisions of the filed Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion and Sale and Terms of Sale.

CHRISTY M. DEMELFI, ESQ., Referee

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, LLP

Attn: Benjamin O. Gilbert bogilbert@sheppardmullin.com

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112 (212) 896-0682

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. JOE C. PLUNKETT III and BARBARA G. PLUNKETT, Defts. - Index # 850205/2021. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated October 3, 2023, I will sell at public auction in Room 116 of the New York County Courthouse located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on Thursday, January 16, 2025, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 0.0519144314871446% tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as Phase 1 HNY CLUB SUITES located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $58,015.75 plus costs and interest as of August 11, 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.

The Marketing Closet LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/16/2024. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 7014 13th Ave Ste 202, Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Cartiga LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 03/05/2024 Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 42 South Broadway, Floor 12, STE 12300, New York, NY 10004. Purpose: Any lawful act.

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF New York , CAPITAL ONE, N.A., Plaintiff, vs. KENNETH D. LAUB, ET AL., Defendant (s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered on October 11, 2022, 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 January 29, 2025, at 2:15 PM, premises known as 163 EAST 64TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10065. 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: 1399, Lot: 25. Approximate amount of judgment is $10,653,559.26 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 159315/2017. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee, the Mortgagee's attorney, or the Referee.

DORON LEIBY, Esq., Referee

Roach & Lin, P.C., 6851 Jericho Turnpike, Suite 185, Syosset, New York 11791, Attorneys for Plaintiff

Hollywood Gyms West LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/12/2024. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: LEGALCORP SOLUTIONS, LLC 11 BRODWAY SUITE 615, NEW YORK, NY 10004. Purpose: Any lawful act.

O&E Enrichment2 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/5/2024. Office location: Bronx County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 335 Concord Avenue, Bronx, NY 10454. Purpose: Any lawful act.

CLYDEWARE LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/11/2024. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: LLC, LEGALCORP SOLUTIONS, LLC 11 BROADWAY SUITE 615, NEW YORK, NY 10004. Purpose: Any lawful act.

7 CHILDCARE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/13/24. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: LLC, LEGALCORP SOLUTIONS, LLC 11 BROADWAY SUTIE 615, NEW YORK, NY 10004 Purpose: Any lawful act.

BilinguaLit Compass L.L.C. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/12/2024. Office location: Bronx County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 2234 Wilson Avenue, Bronx, New York 10469. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Madison & Hart LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 9/16/2024. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 228 Park Ave S #112800, New York, NY 10003. Purpose: Any lawful act.

MICRO PRO ASSOCIATES

LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 09/24/24. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/o Foster Garvey, P.C., 100 Wall Street, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10005. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of MOLLY LIPPERT LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/18/2024. Office Location: NEW YORK County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served against LLC to: THE LLC 1435 YORK AVE APT 7E, NEW YORK, NY, 10075, USA. Reg. Ag.: UNITED STATES CORPORATION AGENTS, INC. 7014 13TH AVENUE SUITE 202, BROOKLYN, NY, 11228, USA. Purpose: any lawful act

KEN & RITA REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/10/24. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/o Rita Warner, 15 West 81st Street, New York, NY 10024. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice of Filing of Application for Authority of Foreign LLC. South Dayton GLS-NY Solar LLC (LLC) filed App. Of Auth. With Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/12/2024. Jurisdiction of Organization: Vermont. Date of Organization: 5/2/2024. Office location: New York County. Principal business location: c/o CT Corporation, 28 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10005 . SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process may be served and SSNY shall mail process to c/o CT Corporation, 28 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10005. Address of office required to be maintained in the jurisdiction of formation is 121 South Pinnacle Ridge Road, Waterbury, VT 05676. The name and address of the authorized official in its jurisdiction of organization where a copy of its articles or organization is filed is: c/o Secretary of the State, 128 State Street, Montpelier, VT 05633. Purpose: any business permitted under law.

Notice of Qualification of TTF, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/26/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/08/23. NYS fictitious name: TTF FAMILY LLC. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 107 Greenwich St., NY, NY 10006. DE addr. of LLC: Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice is hereby given that a license, serial #NA-0370-24146487 for beer, wine & liquor has been applied for by the undersigned to sell beer, wine & liquor at retail in a bar under the ABC Law at 109 E. 116th St., NYC 10029 for on-premises consumption; Agave Azul CNT Corp.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Real Estate Request For Proposals

RFP No. EZ112024: Opportunity to lease an in-line retail unit at NYCT’s Mets-Willets Point Station (Flushing Line, #7 Train), Queens, New York. For information on this RFP, please go to https://new.mta.info/agency/ real-estate/

Notice of Formation of Motivate Through Play OT PLLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/26/2024. Office Location: New York County. SSNY designated for service of process. SSNY shall mail process to: 767 Broadway #1451, New York, NY 10003. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice of Qualification of GUZMAN ADVISORY HOLDINGS, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/22/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/21/24. Princ. office of LLC: 405 Lexington Ave., 8th Fl., NY, NY 10174. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Combat sports provided fans a memorable 2024 SPORTS

By DERREL JOHNSON Special to the AmNews

Combat sports, notably MMA, provided memorable matches in 2024. The fight between Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia was perhaps the most bizarre because of the shocking result and the added twist: Garcia missed the 140-pound weight limit the day before the fight by a whopping 3.2 pounds, negating his opportunity to win Haney’s WBC super lightweight championship but also resulting in Garcia paying the champ $1.5 million for the fight to proceed.

On April 20, Garcia stunned the boxing world by repeatedly dropping Haney, who had not been knocked down in his previous 31 fights. Garcia floored him in the 7th,10th, and 11th rounds on his way to a 115-109, 114-110, 112-112 victory at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. On May 1, it was announced that Garcia tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug Ostarine. On June 20, the New York State Athletic Commission changed the result to a no-contest and suspended Garcia for a year. Haney has not returned to the ring since.

On May 18, Oleksandr Usyk became the first undisputed heavyweight world champion since Lennox Lewis won a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield in 1999. Usyk defeated Tyson Fury 115-112, 113-114, 114-113 by split decision, with Fury receiving a standing eight count in the tenth round that proved to be the deciding factor. The much-anticipated rematch occurred on Dec. 21.

Mexican boxing superstar Canelo Álvarez fought twice in 2024, defeating fellow Mexican Jaime Munguía on May 4 and Puerto Rican pugilist Edgar Berlanga on Sept. 14, handing both the first loss of their careers. Canelo enters 2025 as the unified WBC, WBA, and WBO super middleweight champion. American boxing superstar Gervonta Davis fought once in 2024, earning an eighth-round knockout of Frank Martin on June 15.

In mixed martial arts, UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones returned to the octagon on November 16 and further cemented his GOAT status with a win over Stipe Miocic in the main event of UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden. It was the first defense of his heavyweight title and he sealed the victory with a spinning back kick toward the end of the third round in only his second match as a heavyweight.

“Bruce Lee [said] that he doesn’t fear the man that knows 10,000 kicks, but the man who has worked one kick 10,000 times,” Jones said of the work he put in perfecting the kick that ended the match.

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou returned to MMA

competition for the first time since January 2022 when he took on Renan Ferreira on October 19. The Cameroonian defeated the 6’8” Brazilian Renan Ferreira by knockout in under 4 minutes of the first round to become the first-ev -

er Professional Fighters League (PFL) Super Fights heavyweight champion. Ngannou suffered a tragedy outside of the sports world when his 15-monthold son, Kobe, died due to a brain malformation in April.

WBA lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis (right) (Esther Lin/Premier Boxing Champions photo)

Although UFC leadership would lead you to believe that Jones taking on UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall is the fight everyone wants to see, it is Jones versus Ngannou. However, with both champions under contract with different companies, it is a dream fight we may never see and Jones versus Aspinall could happen sometime in 2025.

In the boxing world, 2025 will get off to a great start with major fights scheduled in the first 60 days of the year. WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis (30-0, 28 KOs) will defend his title against Lamont Roach Jr. (25-1-1, 10 KOs) in a 12-round bout scheduled for March 1 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. At a press conference earlier this month, Davis predicted a knockout victory. Davis fighting Roach is not an awful fight, and he did try to schedule one with Vasiliy Lomachenko, who may soon retire.

Still, a matchup versus the undefeated WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson (22-0, 10 KOs), who will defend his title on the undercard a week before against Floyd Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs), would be more compelling. Stevenson is fighting on the undercard of the rematch between Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) and Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) in Saudi Arabia. Undisputed light heavyweight champion Beterbiev edged out a 115-113, 116-112, and 114-114 win in the first contest.

Professional Fighters League Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou (left). (Photo courtesy of PFL)

Collegiate and high school athletes elevate NIL in 2024

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor

Before college athletes had the right to profit from their names, images, and likenesses, commonly referred to as NIL, administrators, coaches, apparel company executives, and numerous other figures associated with what was deceptively misclassified as amateur athletics benefited handsomely from the labor of young men and women in their teens and early 20s driving multibillion-dollar revenue.

The athletes themselves were precluded from the free-market, neo-capitalist system that was inextricably dependent on their literal sweat equity that produced generational wealth for many. All changed on July 21, 2021, when the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), after years of legal action, began to allow student-athletes to monetize their NIL without relinquishing their amateur status.

The NCAA leadership, at the

time headed by its now former president Mark Emmert, did so kicking and screaming as their stranglehold on the agency of student-athletes was loosened. The economic emancipation was achieved after decades of antitrust class action lawsuits filed against the NCAA, most prominently O’Bannon v. NCAA, decided on Sept. 30, 2015, and the death knell landmark NCAA v. Alston case, in which the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous 9-0 ruling on June 21, 2021. The former related directly to NIL and the latter to compensation to collegiate athletes. As we begin to reflect on 2024, it could aptly be dubbed “The Year of NIL.”

Travis Hunter, who was named the 2024 Heisman Trophy winner on Dec. 14 after an unparalleled season as college football’s best wide receiver and defensive back, playing for the University

African Americans in MLB continued to decline in 2024

By RUDY ROBINSON Special to the AmNews

The 2024 World Series showcased some of the best African American players in the game today: American League MVP Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Mookie Betts of the Major League Baseball champion Los Angeles Dodgers. However, they are a small number of the sport’s declining African American stars.

Opening Day in 2024 saw Black players making up 6% of MLB rosters. “The 2023 Racial and Gender Report Card,” a study by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida examining MLB, stated that the percentage was 6.2% in 2023, which was down one point from 7.2% in 2022. However, there is hope on the horizon. In the 2022 MLB draft, four of the first five players selected were African American, including the No. 2 overall pick Druw Jones, son of former 10-time Gold Glove outfielder Andruw Jones.

There are also established players such as Masyn Wynn, a shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals; Michael Harris II, an outfielder for the Atlanta Braves and 2022 National League Rookie of the Year;

and Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene, a 2024 All-Star. All are 25 or younger. Byron Buxton, 30, an outfielder for the Minnesota Twins — the No. 2 pick in 2012, and 27-year-old Ke’Bryan Hayes, a third baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates, are also impact players.

Concerns about the lack of African American ballplayers have merit. Name Image and Likeness (NIL) deals that have been lucrative for many college athletes in basketball and football are not available for baseball players because of their lack of brand recognition. Most sports fans know the names Shedeur Sanders, the quarterback for the University of Colorado, and high school basketball star AJ Dybantsa, both of whom have multi-million-dollar NIL contracts, but could not identify the top Black baseball prospects or prospects in general attending college and or high school. There is also the swag effect. For many Black youth, baseball just isn’t a cool sport. They don’t see it as having a connection to urban culture. Less exposure and a lack of popularity of baseball lends itself to the sport being less desirable to

High school basketball sensation AJ Dybantsa. (Nate Edwards/ byucougars.com photo)

Los Angeles Dodgers infielder/ outfielder Mookie Betts. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez)

See COLLEGIATE

Women’s sports gain increased respect and status in 2024

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

Rugby player Ilona Maher, who garnered attention during the 2024 Paris Games for being ferocious in helping lead the U.S. women’s rugby sevens team to its first-ever Olympic medal and wearing bright red lipstick on the pitch while doing it, showed her range beyond the athletic arena by being the runner-up on this season’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

The 28-year-old Maher became one of 2024’s symbols of the diversity of female athletes. She has been widely embraced as a voice for body positivity and under-

Collegiate

Continued from page 38

standing that women can be both strong and feminine.

Respect for women’s sports shone brightly during the Olympic Games, whether it was the U.S. garnering first-ever medals, like rugby, returning to the medal podium, like soccer, or continuing dominance in track and field.

“People hadn’t paid attention to women’s rugby before in the U.S.,” said Martine Charles, president and CEO of Marc Global Communications. Charles noted Michele Kang’s $4 million commitment to the USA Rugby women’s sevens team. Kang also pledged $30 million over the next five years to advance the women’s and girls’

of Colorado, purchased a fivebedroom house for his mother, Ferrante Edmonds, in Savannah, Ga., in March from his NIL riches. Over the past month, it has been widely reported that 17-year-old high school basketball sensation AJ Dybantsa from Brockton, Mass., a senior playing for Utah Prep in Hurricane, Utah, has signed NIL deals valued at over $7 million with Red Bull, Nike, and other brands. Last week, the 6-9 forward announced he will be attending BYU next year; he is the projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. The lines between amateur and professional athletics are no longer blurred.

programs of U.S. Soccer.

Female athletes have gone from being the butt of jokes to the ones having the last laugh. It was hilarious when Caitlin Clark handed Michael Che that apron on “Saturday Night Live” and told him to grow some respect. Many WNBA games across the country sold out as fans embraced this incredible league filled with basketball talent. The WNBA is growing. Next year, we will see the launch of the Golden State Valkyries, and teams in Toronto and Portland will tip off in 2026.

“The thing that has also been interesting is the expansion of the number of pro leagues for women,”

AA MLB decline

Continued from page 38

African American youth. This has led to many Black youth gravitating to basketball and football. That 23 is the average age when a player reaches the MLB whereas NFL and NBA players typically ascend to those leagues at an earlier age is also a consideration that is key

said Charles. “That has been interesting in terms of looking at real change and opportunity.”

Two new professional leagues debuted in 2024 — the Professional Women’s Hockey League and Pro Volleyball Federation, both of which recently held their drafts — and January 2025 will see the launch of Unrivaled, a 3x3 basketball league founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier. The league’s six teams will play in Miami, and New York Liberty legend Teresa Weatherspoon will coach Vinyl BC.

“When you look at the growth and fandom that we’re actually capturing and seeing in wom-

to which sports aspiring Black athletes pursue.

Major League Baseball has projects in place such as the Dream Series, a developmental event held during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend in Tempe, Az., designed to grow the skills of Black pitchers and catchers — two positions with a dearth of AfricanAmericans, and the Andre Dawson Classic, an annual round-robin

en’s sports for the first time, it has been a phenomenal, tremendous, amazing transformative year,” said Charles. “Part of sports has always been a marriage of sports and culture, and you see that more and more.”

University of South Carolina head basketball coach Dawn Staley, one of the world’s most prominent advocates for not only women’s sports, but social justice and equity, guided the program to a remarkable 38-0 record and NCAA Division I national championship. It was the third title for the Gamecocks in its program’s history. Staley also won her third straight Naismith Coach of the Year Award.

tournament taking place Feb. 21–23 at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Fla., highlighting HBCU baseball programs. Dawson, a Hall of Famer, said to MLB.com, “I think the quality of talent is starting to get a lot better, thanks to the initiatives. That’s one of the reasons why we’re starting to get a better quality of player.” That’s correct. We just need more of them.

2024 track and field Olympic gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

University of South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

New York Amsterdam News Issue Dec. 26, 2024 - Jan. 2, 2025

BEST OF 2024 PART I

DIRECTORY

BEST OF 2024 PART I

Dear Readers,

Our New Harlem Renaissance: AmNews wins awards and recognition

AmNews Staff Reports

Deed theft cases threaten to deplete NY’s Black generational wealth

Excitement. Hope. Grief. Betrayal. We followed one Black woman political strategist before and after the 2024 Presidential Election.

The NYPD gang database took his future. Kraig Lewis remains determined to give back

Black New Yorker

‘Just Action’ says we can change race-based housing policies

AT THE WHITNEY EDGES OF AILEY

America’s safety net is failing gun violence survivors as they struggle to return to work

Piecemeal programs

Financial Resources for Gun Violence Survivors in N.Y.

Financial Resources for Gun Violence Survivors in N.Y.

Programs that gun violence survivors may be eligible for if they cannot return to work after their injury

Public Assistance Programs

Return to work

Barriers to access

Barriers to access

Nelson watches a basketball game in Harlem park. His organization, Wheelchairs Against Guns, hosts basketball tournaments at this court (PhotobyShannonChaffers)

Returning to work: Community programs provide support

Opinion

Some comeuppance for

Giuliani

Embracing an urban oasis

Defying doubts: overcoming imposter syndrome as a Black woman

Happy new year!

Caribbean Update

Caribbean nations reject Trump’s deportee resettlement plan

How about a collective pardon for the most vulnerable immigrants, President Biden?

FELICIA PERSAUD

International News

U.N. event celebrates Africa Day 2024

Arts & Entertainment

Jazz Notes: Our annual New Year’s Eve roundup

AmNews Food Talking SCHOP! Hoppin’ John: A 2025 renaissance

Hoppin’ John: The Renaissance!

Hello, boys! ‘GYPSY’ is Broadway at its best

Hallmark Channel meets Boys & Girls Club of Harlem; Oprah Winfrey hosts surprise birthday party for Gayle King

2024: The Year In Review in Black Theater, Part 1

Rehabilitation Through the Arts remains multi-act story following ‘Sing Sing’ fame

Rehabilitating Through the Arts

Humble Origins of RTA

The passing of icons: Frankie Beverly, Dan Morgenstern, Sergio Mendes

Neighborhood Navigators pave in-roads in Harlem

Health

Protecting the maternal health of the Black community

Obstacles remain as women seek more leadership roles in America’s Black church

Harlem Hoops for Democracy: Eagle Academy basketball duo inspires student-led voter registration drive

Black Church

Religion & Spirituality

Religion & Spirituality The Truth Will Set Us Free

Hope in Hot-Mess Times

The Truth Will Set Us Free

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Combat sports provided fans a memorable 2024 SPORTS

Collegiate and high school athletes elevate NIL in 2024

African Americans in MLB continued to decline in 2024

Women’s sports gain increased respect and status in 2024

Collegiate

AA MLB decline

Sports Sports