THE NEW BLACK WWW.AMSTERDAMNEWS.COMVIEW Vol. 113 No. 36 | September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 ©2022 The Amsterdam News | $1.00 New York City ARSENIC FEARS HIT HOUSING COMPLEX (See story on page 4) Mayor Eric Adams distributes water bottles at the New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) Jacob Riis Houses in Manhattan. Friday, September 2, 2022. (Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office) NYCHA WATERGATE Special 9/11 tribute section (See stories beginning on page 19) AM Bichotte Hermelyn talks Black and brown maternal health (See story on page 3) West Indian American Day Parade returns to Brooklyn (See story on page 8) (Bill Moore photo)(Contributed photo)Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn (Contributed photo)
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(GIN)––Energy giant Shell Global suffered a major setback in their fight for prospecting rights, overstepping the needs of rural com munities seeking to protect whales and other marine life and keeping their coastline safe from oil spills and other dangers. A panel of South African judges sided with the rural communities, fishermen, traditional healers and environmental activists against the oil giant and the South African government which granted exploration rights to Shell and a local partner over the objections of people living on the coastline. It was a rare victory in a country that has long favored development over the environment.
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THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS2 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022
“The heart of the case was about whether they have a right to be consulted or not,” he said.
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CLEANUP OF OIL OOZE IN NIGERIA’S OGONILAND DISMISSED AS ‘FAR FROM EXEMPLARY’ (GIN)––There were high hopes for a one bil lion dollar cleanup of Nigeria’s most polluted region of Ogoniland when it got off the ground in 2019. It would address the greasy rainbow sheen over the 386 mile wetlands, the contin ual ooze from dormant wellheads and active pipelines, the once-lush mangroves coated in crude, and the smells of benzene while farm lands stood charred and barren. Support from the U.N. Environmental Program (UNEP) and a funding pledge from the oil com pany Shell gave hope that some success would come from this most ambitious project. But an expose in Bloomberg News, called the project “far from being exemplary.” In fact, they say, “it is making one of the earth’s most polluted regions even dirtier.”
SOUTH AFRICANS SAVE ‘WILD COAST’ NATURE PRESERVE FROM RISKY OIL DRILLING
The company’s efforts to sell onshore assets in the country have stalled pending a decision on $1.9 billion in compensation ordered by a Nige rian court in 2020 to pay to 88 plaintiffs. Shell is the largest oil operator in Africa's larg est oil-producing region where residents face high poverty rates and a largely degraded envi ronment, owing to hundreds of spills every year.
Meanwhile, at least one Nigerian is forging ahead with a plan to grow and replant mangroves despite little or no support from the authorities. From growing mangroves in her yard, Martha Agbani saw an opportunity to plant a nursery. By late 2019 she had 100 women mangrove planters.
The Niger Delta is home to one of the larg est mangrove ecosystems in the world, one that humans lived in harmony with for centuries. They filter brackish waters, protect against coastal ero sion and provide a sheltered breeding ground for aquatic life, which in turn sustains humans.
Friends of the Earth International shared their“Wedisappointment.hadhopedthat the Ogoniland clean up would set the standard for the cleanup in the Niger Delta as a whole,” said Mike Karik po, an Ogoni attorney with the Friends of the Earth group. “But we’ve not seen any impact. There ought to be some impact on the lives and livelihoods of people whose lands and rivers were impacted by this oil.”
The ruling does not bar another company, however, from purchasing the exploration rights and begin prospecting if they were to follow the correct procedures in consulting the community.
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(GIN)––The Wagner Group, a Kremlin-affiliat ed private military contractor, is playing a central role in the rising levels of violence against civil ians across Africa––but especially in the Central African Republic and Mali, according to records newly seen by The New York Times. The Wagner Group, which has been ac cused of committing human rights atroci ties, is said to also have operations in Libya, Mozambique, Syria, Sudan and Venezuela, according to the Jerusalem Post. 2340 Frederick Douglass Boulevard New York, New York 10027 (212) 932-7400 FAX (212) 222-3842
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In a scathing review of the Ogoniland cleanup efforts, the U.N. body painted a picture of ram pant mismanagement, incompetence, waste and lack of transparency. They highlighted the hap hazard storage of oil-soaked soil that lets chem icals seep into uncontaminated grounds and creeks, the contracts awarded to firms with little environmental-cleanup experience and propos als for millions of dollars in unneeded work.
“The oil companies should be responsible for cleaning up the environment,” said Daniel Leader, a partner at the U.K. law firm Leigh Day that represents an Ogoni community in an on going case against Shell. They “have essentially deflected their legal obligations and created this para-statal that has failed to deliver.”
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Attorney John Lorenzen, one of the lawyers representing the community, denied it was an anti-oil and gas judgment.
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“We have groundwater polluted with benzene 900 times above the World Health Organization level, we have farmlands with poor yields, rivers that are barely fishable, neonatal deaths number ing thousands yearly as a result of spills,” Niger Delta activist Saatah Nubari told CNN.
South Africa’s energy ministry had backed the scheme and criticized those who opposed it as thwarting investment in the country’s de velopment.
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Shell’s liabilities in the Niger Delta have been mounting—it paid $66.4 million to the Bodo community in 2015 and $109 million last year to compensate the Ejama-Ebubu community.
Like her mother, Mrs. Agbani worked for years for the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, set up in 1990 in response to the environmental destruction of the ecologically delicate area by multinational oil companies. And like her mother, she was inspired by the work of the activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, Ogoniland’s great est hero—executed by the Nigerian government under the military dictator Sani Abacha in 1995. Mangroves protect marine habitats from harm ful nutrients and runoff that can harm seagrass, coral reefs and fisheries. The roots help filter water coming off from the land, including pol lutants, heavy metals, pesticides and agricultural runoff, another NOAA report found. Mangroves therefore maintain water quality and clarity. They also control nutrient distribution to seagrass beds and coral reefs. Without natural filters like man groves, dangerous conditions like red tide and sargassum and algal blooms can proliferate.
RUSSIAN MERCENARIES FIGHTING PUTIN’S WAR MAY HAVE ALSO KILLED HUNDREDS OF AFRICANS
Civil rights organizations and civilians cel ebrated outside the courthouse following the verdict, according to local media. According to media reports, Shell was planning to conduct a seismic survey in the “Wild Coast” ––a popular tourist area of beaches and forests––using blaring sound waves every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day for five months in their search for oil and gas deposits. It shocked local residents who enlisted the aid of environmental lawyers and ac tivists. They sued Shell Global and South Africa’s Dept. of Mineral Resources and Energy, claiming that the government had not heard the commu nity’s concerns before granting exploration rights. Judges agreed, adding that the govern ment also failed to properly notify the people living along the coast. Communities said they first heard of Shell’s plans 30 days before the seismic activity was set to begin and not all local residents got the news. A notice in English and Afrikaans lan guage newspapers did not reach remote vil lages where isiXhosa is the main language.
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“In response to the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down New York’s century-old con cealed carry law, we took swift and thoughtful action to keep New Yorkers safe,” said Gov. Hochul. “I refuse to surrender my right as governor to protect New Yorkers from gun violence or any other form of harm. In New York State, we will contin ue leading the way forward and implementing common sense gun safety legislation.” “Times Square, gun-free zone,” said Adams. “You cannot tell me this is not a feeling of being surreal in our city. We’re posting these signs, gun-free zones. And other messaging options, including mobile elec tronic signs at entry points to TimesEarlierSquare.”thisyear on June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court nixxed New York’s handgun-licens ing law in the NRA NYS chap ter v. Bruen case. The courts ruled that the state’s “proper cause” requirement violated the Second Amendment. This came after yet anoth er rash of mass shootings, one in upstate New York in Buffa lo on May 14 that targeted a Black community grocery store and the other at an elementa ry school in Uvalde on May 24. The shootings sparked more
African American Day parade set for Sept. 18
Unpacking Heat: New gun-free zones disarm concealed carriers in Times Square
“I think those officers on the scene showed great restraint,” said Adams. “They did what the system called for. They didn’t turn off their body cameras, that’s why we have footage of what happened. I am not going to tell police officers to go out, apprehend dangerous people, and then come later when they did what they were supposed to do and not say you protected the people of this city.” The disturbing incident oc curred on the intersection of West 136th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard when police were arresting 22-year-old Elvin James. The initial cell phone video, along with body camera footage show Crum and Kinsey tussling before the officer thrust his arm out. Early reporting claimed a punch was thrown, although Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell says Kinsey struck with an open hand. The smaller Crum was knocked off her feet, landed on her head and subsequently ar rested.She’s currently charged with one misdemeanor count of second degree obstruction of governmental administration, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Her lawyer could not be reached.
In a study by the University of Chicago and Harvard School of Public Health, researchers found that Black Americans who have symptoms associated with celiac disease have 90% decreased odds of receiving the appropriate follow-up for diagnosis.
When you’re expecting: AM Bichotte Hermelyn talks Black and Brown maternal health
Local community protests after detective hits young woman in Harlem on video
Local council member Kristin Richardson Jordan condemned the officer’s behavior. “We cannot ignore the sys temic problems that continue to plague our community,” she said in a statement. “Lack of com munication between the NYPD
Alongside 23 partner organizations present, with performances from Tropical Fete, the Panamanian Marching Band, and the Sunrise Band senior singing group, Sen. Myrie’s office gave away hundreds of backpacks with school supplies to fam ilies in Duringattendance.theevent, Myrie presented the Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago Consul ates with resolutions in honor of the Independence of their respective nations. Poll identifies disparities in awareness, diagnosis and treatment for celiac disease in Black Americans
A serious autoimmune condition that causes damage to the small intestine resulting in debilitating symptoms, celiac disease, if left untreated, can lead to a number of long-term health problems including infertility and some types of cancer. Celiac disease affects one in 133 Americans.
By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member Brooklyn’s Democratic Party boss and Assemblymember Rod neyse Bichotte Hermelyn shared her struggles with a previous preg nancy that inspired her to pass maternal health legislation. She, in alignment with city council and Mayor Eric Adams, continues to fight to address maternal mortal ity and morbidity rates in the city. The city’s data indicates about 30 birthing people in New York City die each year of a pregnan cy-related cause and about 3,000 women “almost die” during child birth, with the majority of cases being people of color. “Having been a statistic myself and having lost a child, it’s cer tainly an interest for me,” said Bi chotte Hermelyn. On Aug. 23, during the height of the frenzy that followed the abol ishment of Roe v. Wade, Bichotte Hermelyn introduced Mickie’s Law (A10659). A Black woman in Texas was forced to carry to term a dead fetus. She couldn’t get the fetus removed because it was con sidered an abortion. Mickie’s Law ensures mothers who encoun ter fetal deaths get the treatment they need to remove a dead fetus, especially in the event of an emer gency. Even in New York State, ex pecting mothers aren’t always guaranteed timely access to pro cedures that would remove a baby that has Bichottedied.Hermelyn, 49, is cur rently about 8 months pregnant and due to deliver in 5 weeks, she said. She’s a little nervous this time around because of how different the experience has been. Because of the mishaps and mishandling that led to the death of her first child, she’s taking extra precau tions with medications, bedrest, and a planned Caesarean (c-sec tion)Duringoperation.her first pregnancy,
By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member And By ARIAMA LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member Times Square’s newest LED signs aren’t trying to sell any thing. Last week, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams announced New York City’s most popular tourist spot would be a “gun-free zone” to counter June’s New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen decision.
By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member Mayor Eric Adams is backing the 32nd Precinct after NYPD officer Kendo Kinsey was shown on camera knocking 19-year-old Tamani Crum to the ground in Harlem last Tuesday.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 3
Adams signs legislation providing doula services across the five boroughs Mayor Eric Adams signs historic legislation to ensure New York City remains a national leader in maternal health.
The African American Day Parade, Inc. (AADP) will be back in person Sunday, Sept. 18 for the 53rd annual African American Day Parade 1 p.m. to 6 Thep.m.pre-parade show is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. Everything will also be hosted live inTheperson.annual parade will honor individuals and organizations that have made key contributions to the African American Community in the field of health as this year’s parade theme is “Good Health is Essential.” Leaders and trailblazers include honorees Sandra Lindsay: Northwell Health, Dr. Pamela Abner: Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Gary Butts: Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Michelle Henry: Weill Cornell Medical College, Bernard Robinson: Northwell Health, Nicola Buchanan: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Behfar Ehdaie: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Louis Voigt: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, David C. Banks, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, and many more guests who have made a positive impact in the community.
At a time when Black mothers are nine times more likely to die of pregnancyrelated causes than white women in New York City, these bills will promote ed ucation, increase transparency, and expand access to maternal health care for pregnant New Yorkers. The passage and signing of these bills underscore the city’s commitment to ensuring every expecting family has the resources and support needed to welcome a newborn into their lives.
“This is a critical moment for women’s health in New York City and across the country,” said Adams. “For those who choose it, motherhood can be tough— physically, medically, psychologically. I’ve seen firsthand the resilience of moth ers: my mother gave birth to six children. And the numbers are clear: Black women are nine times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than white women in New York City.”
Sen. Myrie hosts back-to-school block party
Last weekend, Sen. Zellnor Y. Myrie hosted his second annual Back-to-School Block Party. The event featured giveaways, food, games, entertainment and more.
Black Americans (63%) are significantly more likely than Hispanic Ameri cans (49%) and white Americans (47%) to have no awareness of celiac disease and/or gluten-sensitivity, suggesting potential health inequities in both diagno sis and treatment, according to a nationwide benchmark survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Beyond Celiac, the leading catalyst for a celiac dis ease cure. Other research indicates celiac disease diagnosis and treatment dis parities for Black Americans.
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By CYRIL JOSH BARKER Amsterdam News Staff
The senators highlighted that existing racial disparities and in equities in health outcomes and health care continue to be seen with the spread of MPV across the country. As of the end of July, Black and Latino people ac counted for 26% and 32% of MPV cases with known race and eth nicity information, respectively.
On Saturday, Sept. 3, NYCHA re portedly “flushed” the system at Riis Houses. The Mayor’s Office said that test results as of Monday, Sept. 5, did not detect arsenic from sample lo cations, including water tanks, that were above federal levels before. Riis Houses falls in Manhattan City Council District 2. Council member Carlina Rivera said that more than 1,700 families are with out safe drinking water current ly. Rivera said that her office and residents alerted NYCHA to con cerns about potentially unsafe water “a few weeks ago.” There were inquiries about “cloudy” and “funny smelling” water and initial responses from NYCHA were that everything was being handled. NYCHA has denied that they knew definitively about the arsenic and has said that they
Booker leads colleagues in urging CDC and HHS to monitor and address racial disparities in monkeypox virus response
Biden walks back his charges of ‘semi-fascism’
He added that the U.S. had been able to overcome challeng es because it has been “a nation of unity, of hope, of optimism, not a nation of division and violence and hatred that is being preached by some others.” His Labor Day speech didn’t go as far in its accusation of Trump as he did earlier in Philadelphia in which Trump was named as responsible for much of the “assault” on demo cratic rights. “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an ex tremism that threatens the very foun dations of our republic,” he said. A breaking news story at the time was that a Trump-appointed judge backed Trump’s request to have a special master appointed to review documents seized from his Florida home by the Justice Department. People familiar with the ruling think it will severely hamper the review of the documents and the extent to which many of the topsecret documents jeopardize na tionalBidensecurity.expressed no comments on the decision.
Public health experts have ex pressed concern over the fact that white men appear to be re ceiving a disproportionately higher share of the MPV vaccine nationally which is undermin ing efforts to safeguard commu nities that are more susceptible See JERSEY on page 2929
See NYCHA on page
Morehouse vs. Howard football game set for Sept. 17 at MetLife Stadium
By CYRIL JOSH BARKER
By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member A scary water situation is unfold ing at New York City Housing Au thority’s (NYCHA) Jacob Riis Houses, a public housing development on the Lower East Side home to 2,600 tenants. Last Friday, it was public ly announced that potentially dan gerous traces of arsenic had been found in the resident’s tap water, after locals had complained about the water for weeks.
By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews
For many activists on the left, President Biden stopped short of a political reality they believe is more than incipient when it comes to fascism in America. Even so, on Monday he dismissed any notion that he was calling Trump’s supporters extremists and threats toGOPdemocracy.members and some mod erate Democrats have charged that Biden is further dividing the nation with his comments that Make America Great Again (MAGA) is akin to “semi-fascism.” “I want to be very clear up front,” Biden said during a Labor Day speech in Milwaukee. “Not every Republican is a MAGA-Re publican. Not every Republican embraces the extreme ideology. I know because I’ve been able to work with mainstream Republi cans my whole career. “But the extreme-minded Re publicans in Congress have chosen to go backwards, full of anger, vi olence, hate and division, but to gether we can, and we must choose a different path,” he continued.
4 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
Amsterdam News Staff NBC Sports and event organiz ers Sports Eleven05 presented the inaugural HBCU New York City Football Classic, featuring Morehouse College and Howard University on Sept. 17, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford live at 3 p.m. ET on CNBC. The first edition of the HBCU New York City Football Classic renews the historic rivalry be tween Howard and Morehouse, who have faced each other on the football field 37 times dating back to 1923, with Howard holding the all-time series ad vantage, 25-10-2. The teams last met in 2015 as Howard claimed a 25-17 victory at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. The game’s halftime show will feature drumline performanc es and the battle of the bands between Morehouse’s “House of Funk” and Howard’s “Show time” marching bands. Sports Eleven05 has teamed up with HBCU Tools For School Foundation, a nonprofit orga nization whose goal is to pro vide educational resources to students attending HBCUs re gardless of social or econom ic status. The HBCU Tools for School Foundation will pay tribute to all 105 HBCU schools during the game by giving each student book scholarships and laptops.Through NBCU Academy NBC Sports will present select journalism students from both Morehouse and Howard the op portunity to cover the event for NBCSports.com.“We’repleased to present the debut of the HBCU NYC Football Classic, continuing NBC Sports’ commitment to diversity and in clusion while highlighting the extraordinary HBCU gameday experience,” said Gary Quinn, VP, Programming, NBC Sports. The HBCU NYC Football Clas sic adds to NBC Sports’ robust programming roster and com plements HBCU events includ ing the tentpole Bayou Classic partnership and this past Sep tember’s inaugural Truth and Service“FootballClassic.fans, alumni and stu dents along the east coast can re unite each year in the New York City area to enjoy the pageant ry, excitement and camaraderie associated with the HBCU foot ball experience,” said Albert Wil liams, CEO, Sports Eleven05. For ticket information con tact Ticketmaster, for suite infor mation email MetLife Stadium at suites@metlife.com and for event information call 833-NYCHBCU (692-4228).
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker led 11 colleagues in urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to track and address racial disparities in the nation’s public health response to the monkeypox virus (MPV). “Similar to the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S. monkeypox outbreak is disproportionate ly affecting Black and Latino Americans,” wrote the sena tors in a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and CDC Direc tor Dr. Rochelle Walensky. “At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, limited data/report ing on cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and tests disaggregated by race or ethnicity made it dif ficult to assess its implications across communities.”
Mayor Eric Adams distributes water bottles at the New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) Jacob Riis Houses in Manhattan. Friday, September 2, 2022. (Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.)
NYCHA WATERGATE
“Since Saturday, we have conduct ed additional, more precise testing at both the source and where water is delivered to apartments, and ev erything previously thought to be positive for arsenic has, so far, now tested negative,” said a spokesper son for the Mayor’s Office on Tues day, Sept 6. “While these results are promising, the health and safety of New Yorkers are our top priorities, which is why the mayor has ordered additional testing to be conducted to be absolutely certain the water is safe to Accordingdrink.”to the American Cancer Society, arsenic is a natural element or organic compound that can be found in rocks and soil, water, air, and in plants and animals. However, the inorganic forms of arsenic found in industrial materials and contam inated water are more “toxic” and have been linked to cancer.
He has included portraits of figures like Serena and Venus Williams, Beyoncé, Jay Z, and Queen Elizabeth II in his works. He often uses an ‘impasto art’ technique that employs thick swabs of paint to ex press confident and colorful strokes. He said he can take years to think about composing a painting sometimes before starting and months to finish one. De pending on the painting, his works can sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
“I would say I like social scenes. Things that make people happy. Things that will en tertain you. I’m more like an entertainer on canvas,” said Afolabi, who isn’t fond of labels.
Afolabi was born in southwest Nige ria. He studied at the Zaria Art School, where he was known for his rebellious “experimental style and bold color pal ette.” Afolabi said he was invited to the U.S. to attend a major art show. Around that time there was a lot of “political ten sion” in his home country and he made the decision to stay in New York City. His first solo exhibit was in Miami in 1999. He worked briefly for New York City govern ment until downsizing in the department inspired him to pursue a studio art career full time by the early 2000s.
He thinks about communicating with paint in every part of his paintings, even down to the signature which is simply his first name all lowercase. Afolabi describes each painting as if they were his children calmly playing across the hall as opposed to hanging on a wall. He even likes to visit galleries, offices, or public spaces where his works live around the city when he misses them. His latest solo show is called the “Post Pandemic Palette,” a dedication to the spirit of hope and recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown New York City.
By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member Nigerian American artist Doba Afolabi, 59, started painting right out of college about 30 years ago. Now he’s an interna tional award-winning abstract expres sionist painter represented by notable galleries worldwide. “In my paintings I don’t want like some thing static looking at you,” said Afolabi. “There should be a little bit of movement, looking away, a variance of puzzles. It’s like as if I’m singing this like music notes. Now this one up, this a little bit down, half again, half right there, and right there. And that’s some thing interesting, the essence of creativity.”
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 5
The subject matter he paints varies, but mainly focuses on water, swimming, strong Black women, African imagery, jazz, hip hop, music, history, landscapes, and occasionally, political commentary.
His next adventure is to teach art to young students at The Art of Words Community School (TAWCS) in DUMBO Brooklyn. He currently has several of his works displayed on the walls of the school at 52 Bridge Street. Ariama C. Long is a Report for Ameri ca corps member and writes about cul ture and politics in New York City for The Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing sto ries like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w
Brooklyn’s international artist Doba Afolabi
He’s been featured in global art markets such as Basel, ArtExpos, Frieze and as a contemporary artist with ArtAfrica Basel, Miami, and Dorseys galleries. He can also be found in the U.S. State Department Art in Embassies program.
BlackNewYorker
Artist Doba Afolabi poses with his paintings at The Art of Words Community School (TAWCS) gallery in DUMBO, Brooklyn (Ariama C. Long photo)
By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member
(Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)
Michael Nieves is the 12th* person to die in Rikers custody this year
“Regardless of declining staff absen teeism rates, city jails have no business operating as the City’s de facto mental health facilities. But because we fail to adequately fund mental health treat ment year after year, more than a thou sand people with serious mental illness are currently incarcerated.” The Department of Corrections re ports Nieves as the 12th person to die in custody. Others consider him the 13th, after Antonio Bradley attempted suicide at Rikers and died shortly after but not before he was granted a compassionate release. Last month, convicted neurol ogist Ricardo Cruciani was found dead in jail while awaiting his sentencing. But Campaign Zero executive director DeRay Mckesson wants folks to know an overwhelming majority of Rikers’ pop ulation are presumed innocent, until proven guilty.
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps members and writes for New York City’s The Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing sto ries like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w
“This is a painful loss. Losing a loved one who is incarcerated is traumatic, and we send our deepest condolences to Mr. Nieves’ family and all those he held dear,” he said. “A preliminary review of this in cident required we take immediate action and suspend three uniform staff mem bers. Any death in custody is a tragedy and we will be investigating the circum stances surrounding this incident.” Nieves was in DOC custody since June 8. He was held at Anna M. Cross Center on four charges including first-degree burglary and second-degree arson. Ini tially arrested in March 2019, Nieves was found mentally unfit later in the year and sent to a state health facility. But anoth er examination found him fit in Novem ber 2021, only for him to be found unfit again earlier this March. This past June, Nieves was once again found fit and sub sequently, in the custody of the Depart ment of AccordingCorrections.totheNYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), the death remains under investigation. Last week, the New York Daily News and The New York Times both reported Nieves at tempted suicide by cutting his throat, with the suspended staff failing to re spond“Thisaccordingly.isnotthefirst time that officers stood by passively during a suicide at tempt,” said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and NYC Comptroller Brad Lander in a joint statement. “While some corrections staff are working in tensely to improve health and safety on the island, others are actively under mining these efforts.”
Forty-year-old Michael Nieves was pro nounced deceased at Elmhurst Hospital last Tuesday, marking the 12th “official” death at Rikers. Department of Correc tions (DOC) Commissioner Luis Molina announced a trio of employees were sus pended over the incident.
“I think a lot of people don’t realize that Rikers is a jail…most people think Rikers is a prison, they think that it is a place that is holding people convicted of serious crimes,” he said. “And once we remind them that it is a jail, that the only trigger is a police officer—you just need one officer to arrest you. Just being arrest ed is enough to get you there.”
6 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
Mckesson, who became a national figure during the early stages of the Black Lives Matter movement, continues to fight for federal receivership over Rikers. The concept would remove government control over Rikers and appoint a thirdparty expert to oversee proceedings. He sees it as the only way of “fixing” the jail.
“We tried everything everybody else of fered and it didn’t work,” said McKesson. “And this is the only thing on the table that actually sets us up for success and success is that people don’t die. This is a low bar. And people actually live long enough to go to court, is there is no more basic demand than that, right? The re ceiver, at least, will allow people to live long enough to see their day in court.”
Learn more at bankofamerica.com/homeowner Closing costs help up to $7,500 as a lender credit.3 Down payment help up to $10,000 or 3% of the purchase price, whichever is less. Product availability and income restrictions apply.2 Down payment as low as 3% down. Income limits apply.4 What would you like the power to do? ®
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2. Additional information about the Down Payment program: Down Payment program is available with one mortgage product. Program funds can be applied toward down payment only. Borrowers cannot receive program funds as cash back in excess of earnest money deposits. Down Payment Grant program may be considered taxable income, a 1099-MISC will be issued, consult with your tax advisor. May be combined with other offers. The Bank of America Down Payment Grant program may only be applied once to an eligible mortgage/property, regardless of the number of applicants. Homebuyer education is required.
Isn’t the best time to continue building your legacy right now?
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4. Maximum income and loan amount limits apply. Fixed-rate mortgages (no cash out refinances), primary residences only. Certain property types are ineligible. Maximum loan-to-value (“LTV”) is 97%, and maximum combined LTV is 105%. For LTV >95%, any secondary financing must be from an approved Community Second Program. Homebuyer education may be required. Other restrictions apply. Credit and collateral are subject to approval. Terms and conditions apply. This is not a commitment to lend. Programs, rates, terms and conditions are subject to change without notice. Bank of America, N.A., Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.
1. Down Payment program and America’s Home Grant program: Qualified borrowers must meet eligibility requirements such as being owner-occupants and purchasing a home within a certain geographical area. Maximum income and loan amount limits apply. Minimum combined loan-to-value must be greater than or equal to 80%. The home loan must fund with Bank of America. Bank of America may change or discontinue the Bank of America Down Payment Grant program or America’s Home Grant program or any portion of either without notice. Not available with all loan products, please ask for details.
3. Additional information about the America’s Home Grant program: The America’s Home Grant program is a lender credit. Program funds can only be used for nonrecurring closing costs including title insurance, recording fees, and in certain situations, discount points may be used to lower the interest rate. The grant cannot be applied toward down payment, prepaid items or recurring costs, such as property taxes and insurance. Borrowers cannot receive program funds as cash back.
The lifeblood of Carnival is our com munity and cultural partners and we applaud them all for sticking with is to keep culture alive.” The day after Labor Day the city stated that up to 2 million people at tended the Marches in J’Ouvert, the West Indian Day Carnival Breakfast, and the Annual West Indian Day Parade on Brooklyn’s magnificent Eastern Parkway.
8 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS GO WITH THE FLO
West Indian American Day Parade returns to Brooklyn
On Friday, Oct. 7, Reel Sis ters of the Diaspora Film Festival & Lecture Series will honor renowned Brooklyn actress Mugga and awardwinning filmmakers Stacey L. Holman and Booker T. Mattison with the Reel Sis ters Trailblazer Award at the Miller Theatre. Reel Sisters is celebrating their 25th an niversary. The event will be the group’s first in-person awards ceremony since the pandemic began in 2020. Motown Gospel (a divi sion of Capitol CMG/Cap itol and Universal Music Group) announced the pre-order of “Love Evvie McKinney,” the highly an ticipated full-length album from, “The Four: Battle for Stardom on FOX” season one winner, Evvie McKin ney. Additionally, a brandnew track, “This House” is available for purchase and streaming currently. Mean while, McKinney’s single, “Just Like God,” blends to gether genres of soul, rock, R&B, and gospel to create a unique sound that beauti fully showcases McKinney’s range and vocal skills. McK inney previously shared with Billboard, “I wrote ‘Just Like God’ to express my heart: while I try never to be sur prised by what God does, I want to always remain in awe of him doing it.”
After the two-year pandem ic caused a gap in Labor Day cele brations, the board of directors of the West Indian American Day Car nival Association (WIADCA) cele brated 55 years with “CARNIVAL IS LIFE!!!!!”Inthe upcoming days they asked, “Costumes ready? Trucks ready? Floats ready? New York Carni val Week is back, presented by West Indian American Day Carnival As sociation (WIADCA) from Thursday, September 1 – Monday, September 5..Road rules are safety first, COS TUMES ONLY and Culture matters!
Go With The Flo
Tongues are wagging that Barack Obama is halfway to becoming an EGOT, which is a special group of entertain ers who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. To date there are only 17 people in this elite group, which in cludes Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend and Jennifer Hudson. The former presi dent won an Emmy Award on Sept. 3 to go with his two Grammys. Obama report edly won the Best Narrative Emmy for his work on the Netflix documentary series, “Our Great National Parks.” The five-part series, which features national parks around the world, is pro duced by Barack and Mi chelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground. The former Potus is the second president to win an Emmy. Dwight D. Eisen hower was given a spe cial Emmy Award in 1956. The late Chadwick Bose man also won an Emmy for his voice work on Sept. 3 for Outstanding Character Voiceover for the Disney+ and Marvel Studios animat ed show “What If...?” The Black Panther star’s widow, Taylor Simone Ledward Boseman, accepted the award on behalf of her de ceasedTiffanyhusband.Haddish has spoken out in response to the child sexual abuse law suit that was filed against her and comedian, Aries Spears. Haddish wrote on Instagram, “I know people have a bunch of questions. I get it. I’m right there with you. Unfortunately because there is an ongoing legal case, there’s very little that I can say right now. But, clear ly, while this sketch was in tended to be comedic, it wasn’t funny at all—and I deeply regret having agreed to act in it. I really look for ward to being able to share a lot more about this situation as soon as I can.” The law suit, which was recently filed by an anonymous woman, alleges that the “Girls Trip” star and Aries exploited the now 22-year-old Jane Doe and her now 14-year-old brother, John Doe, in two comedy sketches when they were young kids. In a state ment to Vanity Fair, Had dish’s attorney said that the plaintiff’s mother, Trizah Morris, has “been trying to assert these bogus claims against Ms. Haddish for several years.”
FLO ANTHONY (Bill Moore photos)
It’s funny how coincidenc es happen. While looking for an old file on an external hard drive I came across a gem that struck with expert timing. It was a photograph that was probably taken roughly 11 years ago. The pic was of three subjects all which share a yellow brick paved road to mega success and perhaps immortality. Funny how it lines up. As we sit days away from the start of the NFL regular season, in the photo there sits a NY Jet Superstar and two up-andcoming rappers featured in the esteemed XXL Maga zine Freshman class for the year 2010. By name let’s see how the future turned out forFirstly,them. there’s Darrelle Shavar Revis: an 11-season veteran considered one of the best cornerbacks of all time. Revis was tagged for seven Pro Bowls and was a four-time first-team AllPros due to his defensive aptitude. With his penchant for shutting down the best receiver of opposing teams, his territory on the football field was nicknamed “RevisIsland.” With a Super Bowl title added to his resume, having won in Super Bowl XLIX with the New England Patriots, his spot in the Hall of Fame is all but assured. Next, positioned in the center, there was Airmiess Joseph Asghedom whose born day of Aug. 15 took place a few weeks ago. While he WOULD have been 37 years old, we are left to ponder where he and the lives of hundreds perhaps thousands of African Amer ican youths would have advanced to. Under his pro fessional moniker Nipsey Hu$$el, he was about THAT life. As an example, he was the co-owner of a clothing line, but was compelled to open a brick-and-mortar store to move the product. The store, billed as a “smart store,” bridged the gap be tween culture and technol ogy by giving customers access to exclusive music and other content created by rappers through an app created by a software engi neer named Iddris Sandu. Just as important as what the store was, was where it was. Opening in the com mercial district of his hometown Crenshaw was important to him because he wanted to invest and provide opportunities in his neighborhood of Hyde Park. As a musician he was a legend on the streets, being able to sell mixtapes for a HUNDRED dollars a pop but his debut studio album “Victory Lap,” released in 2018 to critical acclaim and commercial success, was nominated for the Best Rap Album at the 61st Grammy Awards in 2019. The follow ing year he won two post humous Grammy Awards for the songs “Racks in the Middle” and “Higher” in the Best Rap Performance and Best Rap/Sung Performance categories, respectively. The world lost big with his pass ing.Lastly there’s Sean Ander son, a.k.a. Big Sean. Very quietly Sean has performed in sold out arenas and sold millions of records through out his career. This week he celebrated Big Sean the 10th anniversary of his “DE TROIT” mixtape. Upon its initial release, with features that includ ed J Cole, Jhene Aiko, and Chris Brown, it saw nearly a million first-day downloads causing the DatPiff.com site to crash. Complex magazine listed the mixtape in its tally of the 50 Best Albums of 2012. “DETROIT” went on to win Best Mixtape honors at the 2013 BET Hip-Hop Awards.In2020, Big Sean went on to release “DETROIT 2,” which became his third con secutive solo album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and the set’s Nipsey Husslefeaturing single, “Deep Reverence,” earned a nom ination for Best Rap Perfor mance at the 2021 Grammys The newly expanded rerelease is available on all streaming services via Def Jam Recordings. The new commemorative edition in cludes an additional bonus track, “More Thoughts” and an exclusive, limited-quan tity CD which can be found atMemories!!!DefJamShop.com.Overand out. Holla next week. Til then, enjoy the nightlife.
As summer eases on out for fall to take over, Man Up, Inc. hosted a great com munity backpack giveaway to inspire the young scholars to be readily equipped as they return to school this week. The Free the Land backpack giveaway incorporated supplies, food, culture, community goodness and inspiration at East New York Restoration Plaza on Sat urday, Aug. 27, 2022.
(Derrick Miller photos) (David Goodson photo)
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 9 OUT & ABOUT The power of the lens
Nightlife
Written by David GoodsonMAN UP inc. host Free the Land back-to-school event
Randolph organized the men hired to work as sleep ing car porters with the Pullman Palace Car Company be cause he knew they had been specifically hired to cater to the wishes of white railroad car travelers. “[George] Pull man was open about his reasons for hiring Black porters;”
Union Matters
(Amanda
By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Special to the AmNews
photo) See BLACK WORKERS on page 31
“Such support comes despite the fact that the vast ma jority of Americans aren’t in a labor union themselves.”
Unsafe work speeds, un reasonable work quotas, dangerous work, and insuf ficient breaks all contribute to the skyrocketing rate of injuries and sickness in the industry––including heart attacks, strokes, repetitive motion injuries, and irrep arable life-long joint and back pain. At Amazon, the injury rate is 54% higher than the average rate for the state’s ilarS8922),tionWarehousethefromducedworkersprotectingoritizedThefaringworkersAmazongivenresentationisindustry––andwarehousingeventhatastaggeringmisrepoftherealityhowmanyinjuriesatgounreported.Regulationsprotectinginthewarehousindustryhavelaggedbehinditsrapidgrowth.RWDSUhaslongprithechallengeofwarehousefromstressininjuriesandillnesslimitlessquotas.TheRWDSUencouragedintroductionoftheWorkerProtecAct(WWPA–A10020/modeledaftersimlegislationsignedinto law in California last year. The law would help protect workers from inhumane quotas––quotas that have caused workers lifelong in juries and outrageously, in some cases, their lives. The WWPA would require that quotas, which are often times completely unknown to workers, be transparent. And it would prevent work ers from being disciplined if they fail to meet these quotas, especially if it’s due to basic human needs like bathroom and water breaks. Research shows that many of these inju ries and illnesses are pre ventable and are the result of mismanagement that prioritizes speed and pro ductivity for profits over workers’ safety. The WWPA would create important boundaries to protect ware house industry workers from the brutal line speeds and quotas that are driv ing injuries and sickness at New York’s warehouses. The rise of e-commerce has forever changed the retail sector. Just because the work has changed doesn’t mean workers shouldn’t be protected. We will continue to fight to ensure workers and their health and safety are protected. Without the WWPA, workers will suffer. Our coalition of workers, community groups and unions took a huge step and achieved a big win for workers’ safety when the WWPA passed the NYS leg islature. This critical bill needs to be signed into law so it can start helping workers who need it now more than ever.
“Seventy-one percent of Americans now approve of labor unions,” Gallup announced in reference to its annual Work and Education survey, conducted be tween Aug. 1-23. “Although statistically similar to last year’s 68%, [labor union approval] is up from 64% before the pandemic and is the highest Gallup has re corded on this measure since 1965.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS10 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022
There’s been a growing worker union movement in 2022. Workers are turning to labor unions at traditional ly non-union companies like Trader Joe’s, Amazon, REI, Target, Chipotle, Starbucks, Apple, and more.
“Among major race and ethnicity groups,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics said when it released its annual report on unionization this past January, “Black work ers continued to have a higher union membership rate in 2021 (11.5%) than white workers (10.3%), Asian workers (7.7%), and Hispanic workers (9.0%).” Generally, the Black communi ty’s allegiance to unions comes as an inheritance from the Civil Rights Movement. Initially, when trade union organizations were created in the 1860s, white mem bers voted to exclude Black work ers. So, Blacks created their own laborBlackorganizations.womenwere the first to establish a union less than a year after the official end of African en slavement. On June 20, 1866, the Washerwomen of Jackson, Mis sissippi sent a letter to the city’s mayor, making it known that they would be establishing a set price for their laundry work. There’s little in formation on how their statement was received in Jackson, but other unions of now free Black labor ers were also quickly established.
The current unionization wave is a response to the strains many workers have dealt with during the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Having to struggle to pay for goods and services due to rising costs and stag nant wages while reflecting on ongoing conversations about the need for everyone to have a better work-life balance, has pushed workers to strike out for the pos itive features—i.e., better wages, health, and work-rule benefits—that being part of a union can bring.
Stuart Appelbaum President, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, Twitter:www.rwdsu.org@sappelbaum. Ulloa
Two of the most famous were the “Colored” National Labor Union (CNLU) where Frederick Douglass was elected president in 1872, and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP), the first all-Black labor union in the U.S., established in 1925 by A. Philip Randolph.
We need legislation to help keep Amazon warehouse workers safe More people are shop ping online, buying ev erything from toothpaste and tissues to desks and dining tables. As a result, warehouse facilities are popping up across New York at staggering num bers; Amazon alone has opened nearly 70 facilities in the state and over half of those facilities have been built since January 2021. At the same time, we have seen increased stress, pain, and resulting safety issues for warehouse workers, due to increased quotas and speeds.
Black workers, history, and building union membership
Jennifer Hasso writes in an article for Ferris State Universi ty’s online “Jim Crow Museum.” “[H]e reasoned that formerly enslaved people would best anticipate and cater to his cus tomers’ needs and would work long hours for cheap wages. By the 1920s, 20,224 African Americans were working as Pull man porters and train personnel. This was the largest catego ry of Black labor in the United States and Canada at the time.” Under Randolph, members of the BSCP were considered some of the best-paid Black workers in the country. BSCP was later chartered by the American Federation of Labor (AFL)— and the organization’s strength and ability to promote and formulate agendas (Randolph’s threat of a march on Wash ington, D.C. in 1941 pushed then-President Franklin D. Roo sevelt to issue Executive Order 8802, which banned racial discrimination by federal agencies and all unions working with the defense industry), made it vital in working with Civil Rights Movement activists. Alongside the BSCP, Randolph established the Negro American Labor Council (NALC) in 1960. The NALC was never as powerful as the BSCP, but it is recognized for having initiated the call for 1963’s famous “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.”
approved booster shots last week that target the most prevalent strain of the COVID-19 omicron variant. Hochul, a Democrat, got the boost er herself at her news conference in New York City and urged others to follow her“Weexample.dobelieve that we’re in a good place right now, especially if New Yorkers take ad vantage of these boosters,” she said.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 11
New York drops mask requirement on public transportation
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP)—New York state is drop ping its mask requirement on public trans portation thanks in part to the availability of new booster shots targeting the most common strain of COVID-19, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday. Masks will be encouraged but not re quired on buses and trains including the New York City subway system, Hochul said. Compliance with the subway mask re quirement was high early in the coro navirus pandemic but has dropped steeply in recent months. Masks will still be required in healthcare settings in cluding hospitals and nursing homes, Hochul
Federalsaid.officials
Commuter wears mask on subway (Liliana Drew Pexels photo)
As a student grows in age and in grade, their records become more difficult to access. Privacy stipulations are enforced re garding who can legally see student records.
“THAT’S OUR BLOOD DOWN THERE!” NO MORE KATRINAS!
Yes, Samuel, there is water, water ev erywhere and whether it’s in the flood ing regions of the nation or undrinkable in other places, you were spot on back in your Rime at the end of the 18tth century.
It is unthinkable for a former president to have top secret documents at his house. There is no rhyme or reason for it, and you can’t defend the indefensible.
Can you take important files home with you when you leave your job?
The yes is compounded with the embar rassment and shame that I would have felt. I am flummoxed by what is happen ing with the former president of the United States of America and classified documents. Do the words classified, and secretive mean anything to him? Obviously, the answer is no. The Department of Justice found over 11,000 government documents when they searched his Mar-a-Lago home. Is there any guilt associated with Mr. Trump over having these documents at his home? That answer in my opinion is an easy yes.
Some have reasoned that having a spe cial master is simply a delaying tactic. The truth has always been problematic for him. He casts himself as a savior, yet he is really a sinister sorcerer.
The situation in Jackson is not new, nor unexpected. As Jackson Mayor Antar Lu mumba said, “We’ve been crying out for more than two years, saying that it’s not a matter of if our [water] systems will fail but a matter of when our systems will fail.” Almost 17 years to the day of the Ka trina man-made disaster, the citizens of predominantly Black Jackson are facing the same problem which the citizens of then-predominantly Black New Orleans had. As Jelani Cobb wrote in 2005, “Ka trina can be viewed as the first of a series of crises that seem to have become a ref erendum on Black citizenship.”
By ROGER WAREHAM
Opinion
Eight years ago, though it seems like yes terday, Flint, Michigan was faced with the problem of water contaminated with lead and other toxins. Memories of that came back the other day via the situa tion in Jackson, Mississippi, and even closer to home with the alert that arse nic was found in the water of one of the NYCHA housing units. While the conditions in Mississippi have improved with the news that the water pressure has increased, allowing residents to have water to shower and to flush their toilets, there are still some concerns about whether it’s drinkable.
This can be a challenging situation especial ly if you are in college. A scenario that I have seen play out on many occasions is that the student won’t sign off on their parents seeing their grades, yet they pay the Becausebill.of the po sitions I held, I had access to a great deal of student in formation and stu dent files. Students knew that I proba bly knew what was contained in them.
Billions for Ukraine––We say billions for Jackson: ‘That’s our blood down there!’
Did I ever take student records home for review? The answer is no. Did I ever make copies of student re cords for my files or use? The answer is no. When I left a position, did I ever take any student records with me to keep at my house? The answer is no. They were not mine to keep or to muse over when I left the position.
Mr. Trump, the wheels of justice move slowly, but rest assured they are moving towards you.
James B. Ewers Jr. Ed.D., is a youth ad vocate, consultant, author and pres ident emeritus of the Teen Mentoring Committee (TMC) of Ohio.
William Barr, former U.S. attorney gen eral last week on Fox News said, “No, I can’t think of a legitimate reason why they should have been away from the government if they are classified.” He added, “I, frankly, am skeptical of the claim that [Trump] declassified ev erything.” The former president wants to have a special master to review boxes and documents taken by the FBI.
One of Trump’s lawyers equated the classi fied documents being like overdue books at the library. Does that response surprise you?
By JAMES B. EWERS JR. ED.D.
The citizens of Jackson are the victims of structural and environmental racism. And we are concerned that this latest di saster of capitalism not become a cover to force people out of Jackson as part of the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Black people around the U.S. What Black people have learned through these crises is that we must organize to take care of ourselves. We cannot depend upon anyone else to do it out of benevo lence or simply because it is the humane thing to do. We will join with other groups around the country to get aid to Jackson. But the investment needed to address the roots of the problem has to come from the federal government. We’ve got to bring that pressure to bear on Joe Biden. Two years ago President Biden said that Black people made his election possible, that we had his back and he’ll have ours. Well the time to have our backs is now. Send the aid to Jackson as quickly and extensively as you have been sending it to the Ukraine.
Barr said, “Well, I think the whole idea of a special master is a bit of a red her ring.” Additionally, he said, “At this stage since they have already gone through the documents, I think it’s a waste of time.”
If something as critical and seemingly reliable as our drinking water is sudden ly a danger to our health, what’s to be said of other features of our crumbling system?
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS12 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022
Elinor R. Tatum: Publisher and Editor in Chief Kristin Fayne-Mulroy: Managing Editor Nayaba Arinde: Editor Cyril Josh Barker: Digital Editor Damaso Reyes: Investigative Editor Siobhan "Sam" Bennett: Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Advertising Wilbert A. Tatum (1984-2009): Chairman of the Board, CEO and Publisher Emeritus Alliance for Audited
Whatever position of influence you have, you must know the parameters of theCouldposition.Ihave faced any charges if I was found to have taken records home? The answer is yes.
Attorney Roger Wareham, December 12th Movement International Secretariat. Email: D12m@aol.com website: www.D12M.com
A similar caveat pertains here in the city at the Jacob Riis Houses after test ing showed no detection of arsenic; still residents are advised against using the available water supply until addi tionalWhat’stesting.happening here and in Missis sippi are by no means anomalies; they are just symptomatic of an increasing ly widespread infrastructure problem in terrible disrepair.
Jackson is the latest crisis in that series which now includes Flint and Detroit and Newark, N.J. Clearly the referendum has voted thumbs down on Black citizenship.
A major part of my professional life was spent in higher edu cation. To be around students helping them to create their own places and spaces was truly an honor. I re alized that students trusting me was an important part of their college experience. Keeping student records and files confi dential was important to their own success and to my credibility as a college official.
‘Water, everywhere…’water,
There was a time in our edu cational system when classical poetry was part of the curricu lum, and every schoolchild knew by heart this stanza from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”—“Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where. Nor any drop to drink.” We talk a lot about the past as prologue and this stanza is very apt today when we consider the water crisis, particularly the ev er-widening reports of water unfit to drink.
In 2022, in the richest country the world has ever seen, Jackson, the capital of Mis sissippi, has no water for drinking, cook ing, bathing, flushing a toilet or fighting a fire. As of this moment, the situation is predicted to continue “indefinitely.” We are calling on President Joe Biden to ex peditiously authorize billions of dollars in emergency funds to address both the current humanitarian crisis triggered by the climate crisis induced flooding, and the implementation of long-term action steps to correct decades-long operational neglect of Jackson’s water systems.
MemberMedia
EDITORIAL
I spend a considerable amount of time around student records. Some records were more confidential which caused me to use additional dis cretion and caution. Student records contain data and infor mation that not everyone needs to see. A person whether they are related to the student or not can’t just arbitrarily come in and see a student’s record.
GREERCHRISTINAPH.D.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 13
SeptemberRemembering11th
With that being said, there are other ways that we can challenge China. We should begin focus ing on increasing our education al standards, specifically in math, science and technology. Lead ing the world on that front and renewing our interests in creat ing innovative minds and helping developing nations come of age through technology, education, and economic progress is a way to win without war. That is how we challenge and ultimately beat the world’s oldest civilization today. War and military conflict aren’t the solution. Instead, altering our strategy for a more extended play would come as a great surprise to China which likely views the U.S. as a nation only as capable as its military might. While there may be some truth to that theory, mil itary strength cannot be the only tool in our toolbox.
OPINION China Threat
China has the longest contin uous history of any country in the world. While in the West, we might think of it as a nation of people lagging behind, China’s slow and steady pace is perhaps what has permitted it to outlive all other ancient civilizations.
Without a doubt, China has become the greatest adversarial threat to the United States’ global dominance. While China’s resur gence may surprise those in the West, it comes as no surprise to the rest of Asia. China’s rich histo ry dates back to the Shang Dynas ty over 3,000 years ago making it one of the world’s four oldest civ ilizations along with Mesopota mia, Egypt and the Indus Valley.
As I see the fights still being waged in Congress about com pensation for the brave first responders who assisted vic tims that day and the subse quent weeks, it infuriates me to think that so many fami lies have lost loved ones who worked on September 11th to help the thousands of New Yorkers who were in the vicin ity of the fallen buildings. How can we as a nation not want to properly compensate our first responders?Ialsothink of all the domes tic workers and sanitation staff whose names we may never know. The people who were in the buildings early that morn ing cleaning and preparing the building for others. The labor ers who are invisible to far too many, we must remember and honor them just as forcefully as we honor all others. As a New Yorker, I don’t know how to properly honor and commemorate September 11th. It is such a large part of our city and our nation’s story. It is also one of so many trag edies, I am not sure how to hold space for it. I also think of all the tragedies across the globe that have occurred because of the American military. I think also of the inno cent people in various countries just going to work on a mundane day and having un imaginable trag edy befall them by the U.S. mili tary. I don’t want to create an op pression Olym pics, but I do want to remind myself to contextualize the brutality that America continues to in flict on innocent workers and citizens of other nations. It is a lot.So, how do you plan to com memorate September 11th? Will you focus on New York and those lost that fateful day? Will you think more globally about the interconnected vio lence we inflict upon nations? Or will you think of ways you can become an instrument of peace in an increasingly vi olent world? However you choose to remember Sep tember 11th, may your heart find peace. Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Ford ham University, the author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immi gration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream,” and the cohost of the podcast “FAQ-NYC” and host of “The Blackest Ques tions” podcast.
It is hard to believe it has been almost 21 years since the tragic events of Septem ber 11th. I don’t know if I have fully processed that day and the subsequent months that followed. I remember watch ing television in my Harlem apartment and not fully syn thesizing what was happen ing. I had just flown the day before and had returned to go to class, statistics class I recall. The remain der of the day was a blur as I tried to comprehend what had hap pened, what was currently happen ing, and what our nation would do in response to this attack. I feared America would go on the offensive with a “scorched earth” strategy and sadly my fears were realized as the U.S. mili tary invaded Iraq and Afghani stan which has resulted in war, death, destruction, and the dissolution of families across the world for over 20 years.
Armstrong Williams (@ARight Side) is manager / sole owner of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the year. www. armstrongwilliams.co | www. howardstirkholdings.com
ARMSTRONGWILLIAMS
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not rep resent those of the New York Amsterdam News. We continue to publish a variety of viewpoints so that we may know the opinions of others that may differ from our own.
China’s resurgence comes at an interesting time as the dy namics of a global superpower are somewhat up for grabs as the United States faces multiple in ternal conflicts that threaten its position as the world’s superpow er. This internal conflict couldn’t come at a more significant time for China. Some experts refer to it as the “Chinese Marshall Plan, a 21st-century silk road,” bor rowing its name from the origi nal Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program. This U.S. initiative provided aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. The plan was enacted in 1948 and pro vided $15 billion to help rebuild efforts across Europe and ulti mately helped to cement the U.S. as the world’s superpower. This was undoubtedly a momentous effort but, consider this, 1948 was only 73 years ago. This absolutely pales in comparison to even the shortest-lived Chinese dynasty and while there are starch differ ences, the point remains that our culture pales in contrast to that of the Chinese. It is that advantage of adversarial competitions that bodes well for China and its Asian neighbors are fully aware of it. The advantage of an old civiliza tion should not be underestimat ed. Its values, culture and heritage have been slowly perfected over thousands of years and are baked in every Chinese man, woman, and child. The pride in their rich cultural history and their hunger and aptitude for education is one of the main reasons China’s prog ress has been amazingly rapid. Contrast China’s rich history to America where people are spend ing time debating how many gen ders exist and it’s no surprise that we find ourselves closer and closer to a face off with this rising power. As China continues to climb, so do its global ambitions, start ing with it seeking to reclaim the territory of Taiwan, whose inde pendent political status was de termined as a result of World War II, the second phase of the Chinese Civil War and the Cold War. Despite this, China maintains that Taiwan is Chinese territory and belongs to China. This friction has caused the United States, an ally of Taiwan, to go on the offensive. Most recent ly, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, making her the most senior U.S. official to visit in 20 years which received a strong rebuke from China. Following Nancy Pelosi’s trip, the United States Navy sent two warships into the Taiwan Strait, making it the first U.S. naval tran sit in the waterway since tensions have spiked between the U.S. and China. China has since stated that it was “ready to thwart any provo cation,” which shouldn’t be taken lightly by the U.S. What happens if things between the U.S. and China do escalate? If China ulti mately decides to invade Taiwan, will the U.S. really provide direct military protection to the small island nation? Are we truly ready for escalation to a war with China which has the second-largest military in the world? Such a war would be of epic proportions, the likes of which we haven’t seen since one of the major world wars. With technological advance ments, the lethality of all attacks would make World War I and II look like child’s play.
The United States should not and cannot continue to be the sole protector of every small nation facing threats by a larger adversar ial nation; it’s not in our domestic or international interests. Mili tary conflicts would be prolonged, have a significant toll on the econ omy and would result in tens of thousands of casualties and there is simply no appetite in the U.S. for such a massive conflict.
IMMIGRATIONPERSAUDFELICIAKORNER
The administration deter mined that there are compel ling foreign policy reasons to extend DED for an addition al period for those Liberi ans presently residing in the United States who were under a grant of DED until June 30, 2022, as well as to defer en forced departure for Liberians who have been continuously present in the United States since May 20, 2017. In addi tion to updating the contin uous presence requirement, the president also deter mined that it is appropriate to include qualifying Liberi ans whose LRIF applications have been denied for reasons other than ineligibility under sections 7611(b)(1)(C) and (b) (3) of the NDAA in this DED designation.Thisincludes providing pro tection from removal to those who arrived in the United States during a time when conditions prevented them from returning safely, including through May 20, 2017, and have since estab lished family and community ties in the United States.
Africa, Caribbean moving for closer ties
“Providing protection from removal and work authori zation to these Liberians, for whom we have long autho rized TPS or DED in the United States, including while they complete the LRIF status-ad justment process, honors the historic close relationship be tween the United States and Liberia and is in the foreign policy interests of the United States,” President Biden said at the time.
14 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
The LRIF application pro cess was new and complex, resulting in some procedural and administrative challeng es. Recognizing these difficul ties, the Congress enacted a 1-year extension to the appli cation period in section 901 of the Consolidated Appropria tions Act, 2021. That legisla tion, however, did not provide for continued employment au thorization past Jan. 10, 2021. Through the Biden memo randum of Jan. 20, 2021 (Re instating Deferred Enforced Departure for Liberians), DED was subsequently reinstated through June 30, 2022, in order to permit employment autho rization for eligible Liberians while they made their applica tions for adjustment of status under the LRIF provision.
By BERT WILKINSON Special to the AmNews Caribbean Community na tions and Africa have been talking about formalizing trade and other ties for de cades, but delegates who at tended a three-day forum in Barbados last week now say there is no turning back and that direct air routes bypass ing transit through the U.S. and Europe, especially, will soon become a reality. More than 1,000 people from across the region had registered to attend the AfricaCaribbean trade investment forum last week, and of this number, more than 120 had chartered an Ethiopian Air lines plane to bring them out of the assembly point, Nigeria, non-stop to Barbados in less than seven hours. Because there are no nonstop or direct air routes be tween the Caribbean, Northern South America and Africa—despite the relative ly close proximity of the land masses—travelers must take a flight to the U.S., Canada, The Netherlands or Britain, then come all the way back down south to the continent instead of simply flying east across the Atlantic in less than seven hours. Forcing travelers to transit Europe and the U.S. is one of the worst legacies of the colonial era, several delegates told the conferences. For example, Senegalese Economy Minister Amadou Hott complained that it took him more than a day to reach the Caribbean’s most easter ly island and one of the closest across the Atlantic to Africa, because he had had to transit Europe. Delegates such as host Prime Minister Mia Mottley say this cumbersome and ex pensive travel route will soon be eliminated or minimized. Additionally, Mottley and the group of about six region al leaders who had attended the forum, say they are also ready to help Africa’s ExportImport (Exim) Bank to estab lish a branch in Barbados with the same diplomatic immuni ties and privileges as enjoyed by the umbrella Caribbean Development Bank. The bank could play a role in getting an air service going. “The reality is that we have started more serious con versations than I have seen before. As recently as Thurs day evening my minister of tourism and international transport met with a number of people from the bank and from other countries. We are trying to see how best we can create a framework that will allow for charters first, if nec essary. Barbados has indi cated that we are prepared to work with one or two Afri can countries to be able to comarket because you have to be able to sustain the traffic. So, I am hopeful that within a few months we can make a reali ty of this pipedream that has been spoken about,” PM Mot tleyNosaid.start-up date for the first charter has been noted but Exim Bank President Bene dict Oramah says that not only could financing come from his agency for an air travel ser vice, but African commercial banks might well be interest ed in setting up shop in the region. “And you have a bank like Afreximbank that says good ideas that come, we are not going to use the standard ways of assessing their credit.” Lined up, meanwhile, as possible carriers are RwandAir, Etihad Airways, Ethiopian Air ways, and Kenya Airways, says Barbadian Transport Minister Lisa Cummins. “We have al ready signed air services agree ments with Kenya and Ghana. We should be signing further air services agreements with our partners as we move for ward, and that in itself will then lend to negotiations with our commercial partners,” she said as hope for an end to in transit travel via the west soars. The forum was a follow-up to the first Africa-Caribbean summit that was held vir tually last September. Lead ers back then had vowed to ensure formal relations are es tablished, even asking the Af rican Union to help them fight former European slave trading nations for reparations. Not to be excluded from current plans are media ex changes with the Caribbe an Broadcasting Corporation receiving a mandate to liaise with African television stations to exchange programs. Afri can music and Nollywood sit coms and movies are growing in popularity in the Caribbean.
Here’s what Liberians need to know about that Deferred Enforced Departure memo and employment authorization
Caribbean Update
The U.S. Citizenship and Im migration Services (USCIS) will on Sept. 6 publish a Feder al Register notice for the exten sion and expansion of eligibility for Deferred Enforced Depar ture (DED) for Liberians. This relates to the June 27 memo randum by President Joe Biden that extends and expands DED for Liberians for 24 months. Eligible Liberian nationals covered under DED as of June 30, 2022, may remain in the United States through June 30, 2024. The president’s memo randum also defers the remov al of any Liberian national, or individual without nationali ty who last habitually resided in Liberia, who has been con tinuously physically present in the United States since May 20, 2017, and who meets DED eli gibilityTherecriteria.isno application for DED. Liberians covered under DED are authorized to work in the United States. Eligible Libe rians covered by the memoran dum may apply for an EAD by filing Form I-765, Application for Employment Authoriza tion. DHS may provide travel authorization at its discretion to those covered under Liberi an DED. Individuals who wish to travel outside of the United States may file Form I-131, Ap plication for Travel Document. The memorandum also ex tends employment authori zation for individuals covered under DED Liberia through June 30, 2024. USCIS is auto matically extending the validity of Liberian DED-related EADs through June 30, 2024, for those who already have an EAD with a Category Code of A-11 and a Card Expires date of March 30, 2020; Jan. 10, 2021; or June 30, 2022. These EADs remain valid, even though their facial expira tion date has passed. This now allows eligible Libe rians to apply for Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) that will allow them to work legally in the U.S. Since 1991, the United States has provided safe haven for Li berians who were forced to flee their country as a result of armed conflict and widespread civil strife, in part through the grant of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The armed con flict ended in 2003, and TPS for affected Liberian nation als ended effective October 1, 2007. President Bush then de ferred the enforced departure of those Liberians originally granted TPS. President Obama, in successive memoranda, ex tended that grant of DED to March 31, 2018. President Trump then determined that conditions in Liberia did not warrant a further extension of DED, but that the foreign policy interests of the United States warranted an orderly transition period for Liberian DED bene ficiaries. President Trump later extended that DED transition period through March 30, 2020. In December 2019, the Con gress enacted the Nation al Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, which in cluded, as section 7611, the Li berian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF) provision. The LRIF provision, with limited ex ceptions, makes Liberians who have been continuously pres ent in the United States since Nov. 20, 2014, as well as their spouses and children, eligible for adjustment of status to that of lawful permanent resident (LPR) or green card holder.
The NDAA gave eligible Li berian nationals until Dec. 20, 2020, to apply for this ad justment of status. After the enactment of the LRIF provi sion, President Trump further extended the DED transition period through Jan. 10, 2021, to ensure that DED benefi ciaries would continue to be eligible for employment au thorization during the LRIF application period.
The writer is publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com – The Black Immigrant Daily News.
JG: Actually, my father taught at Morehouse College for 35 years, so my sister and I used that campus as our personal playground, riding our bikes through the school, we knew all of the buildings and dorms. It was a great experience. But I didn’t realize when I got to LA how dis connected the West coast was from Black colleges. I thought it was natural to be connected to these institutions, and these powerful, di rected, and intelligent Black people. That’s why when now-President Barack Obama was running, I was like, ‘Why did they keep acting like he’s this unique?’ He’s not a unicorn.
AmNews: Listen. I want to tell you that you created an iconic character in television history not unlike Archie Bunker, or Rhoda, Martin, or Seinfield. You did that.
By MARGRIRA Special to the AmNews
AmNews: Harlem’s changing. Follow me on social media and I will show you. Yup, I am going to show you just how much.
Guy’s long list of television credits includes her recent multi-episode role in “Grey’s Anatomy,” Show time’s “Dead Like Me,” HBO’s “Amer ica Me,” BET’s “The Quad,” the CW’s “Vampire Diaries,” NBC’s “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and the CBS mini series “Queen” and “Stompin’ at the Savoy.” In 2019, she starred in the Oscar-nominated short film “My Nephew Emmett” and HBO’s short film “Irreconcilable.” Jasmine’s other film credits include “October Baby,” Spike Lee’s “School Daze,” Eddie Murphy’s “Harlem Nights,” and “Di amond Men.” A trained performer, Jasmine started as a dancer, perform ing with The Alvin Ailey Reper tory Company and appearing in “Grease” (as Rizzo), “Leader of the Pack,” “The Wiz,” and “Chi cago” (as Velma Kelly). On stage in Atlanta, she starred in the Alli ance Theatre production of Pearl Cleage’s “The Nacirema Soci ety,” Theatrical Outfit’s produc tion of Sam Shepard’s “Fool For Love” (with Kenny Leon), and she has starred in Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre productions of “Miss Evers’ Boys,” “Blues for an Alabama Sky” and “Broke-ol ogy.” She has directed produc tions of “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf,” “Brown ie Points,” and the Martin Luther King Jr. opera “I Dream.” As an author, she wrote “Evo lution of a Revolutionary” (Atria Books), about the life and times of Afeni Shakur, Black activist and mother of slain rapper Tupac Shakur. As a vocalist, Jasmine has enjoyed performing on Broadway stages in musicals and has toured the country in the one-woman show “Raisin’ Cane” with the Avery Sharpe Trio, which explores the literature, music and political cli mate of the Harlem Renaissance, the rich decade between World War I and the Great Depression.
Here is what actor/author/pro ducer/dancer (and soon-to-be
Arts & Entertainment Film/TV pg 15 | Theater pg 16 | Food pg 24 | Jazz pg 25 Pg. 18 Your Stars
AmNews: Question. Did you know that you would be stepping into television history and becom ing a cultural touchstone?
Guy is a busy woman and al though she kicked ass and took names in the aforementioned iconic series, she’s done more than just shape a single, legend ary character. In fact, she never let a single blade of grass grow under her lovely Currently,feet.she’s lending her cre ative energy to the aforemen tioned “Harlem.” Her other credits include “Vanished: Searching for My Sister,” a movie for Lifetime; she stars in a new feature film “The Lady Makers,” which is currently available on Amazon Prime; and she recently completed filming “Not Just Another Church Movie” and “A Wesley Family Christmas,” a holiday-themed feature film slated for release this winter.
JG: (laughing) Ok. I will.
JG: That’s funny. I do love chil dren’s books. I keep buying them. They’re so beautiful. Especial ly the artwork that they use. You know, I didn’t have these choices when I was growing up or when my daughter was small. She’s 23 but I keep buying children’s books.
AmNews: Jasmine Guy. It’s a sign. Step into the circle. Write your first children’s book. I will check in with you to interview you for the upcoming Christmas movie. I love those.
JG: Well, thank you, that means a lot. [said, in the perfect, Mrs. Whit ley Gilbert-Wayne voice]. I used to live in Harlem myself.
The original series, a spin-off of “The Cosby Show,” aired for six sea sons on NBC, from 1987 to 1993, followed by a healthy syndication deal. The series focused on Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) and the life of students at Hillman College, a fic tional historically Black college in Virginia. It was inspired by student life at historically Black colleges and universities.
AmNews: Wow. Your voice. It takes me back. Growing up, did you have a show or a favorite song that con nected you to happier times?
Jasmine Guy: A working icon returns to "Harlem"
Once Bonet departed, the remainder of the series primar ily focused more on Southern belle Whitley Gilbert-Wayne (Jasmine Guy) and math whiz Dwayne Cleo phus Wayne (Kadeem Hardison).
AmNews: Hey. I hope you don’t think I am weird but are you a children’s book author?
JG: Thank you. AmNews: I suspect you grew up around strong, creative people. Am I right?
Jasmine Guy (Courtesy photo)
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 15
Here’s a question: what’s not to love about the Jasmine Guy? To begin, there’s something comfort ing about the sound of Guy’s voice because the second she greeted me, I was tossed back to a differ ent time, a happier period when the television series “A Different World” ruled the airwaves.
AmNews: You didn’t know the power of the show?
JG: Let’s do it.
Jasmine Guy will again step into the role of Patricia—Quinn’s wealthy mother, who wants her daughter to settle down and let go of her dream of becoming a de signer—in Tracy Oliver’s comedy “Harlem,” which was renewed for a second season on Prime Video. The series is also executive produced by Dave Becky, Kim Lessing, Phar rell Williams, and Mimi Valdés.
JG: Of course! AmNews: Well, you are that voice for me. Your character, Mrs. Whit ley Gilbert-Wayne, takes me way back to my $750 a month, threebedroom apartment in Harlem. So you know, that’s way-way back.
A woman in demand, she now travels the country sharing her vast and diverse experiences with people from all walks of life, speaking at colleges, universities, conventions, conferences, and leading workshops on diversity, acting, and living out your dreams and aspirations, and staying true to your calling.
JG: No. I had no idea. I was such a gypsy when I got this part. And I was, you know, young, so thinking ahead, six months was a lot.
JG: No, not until the show was over did I realize just how powerful the show was, and it cut across the board. Young people. Kids going to college, and that families were able to watch the show [“A Different World”] together. On this show, we addressed a lot of important issues, and it gave parents and people a lot to talk about. Things that were not easy to talk about. It was a great ve hicle for people to talk about those heavier issues.
children’s book author) Jasmine Guy had to share about her life and career.
Jasmine Guy: I like your name. It sounds very musical.
artists and programs subject to change. Anderson Cooper © CNN, Kwame Alexander © Portia Wiggins Photography, Constance Wu © Mark Seigler, Toshi Reagon © Desdemona Burgin, Misty Copeland © MasterClass, Richard Thompson © Kevin Yatarola TICKETS AVAILABLE AT SYMPHONYSPACE.ORG KELLY RIPA LIVE WIRE IN CONVERSATION WITH ANDERSON COOPER THUR, SEP 29 | 7PM MISTY COPELAND THE WIND AT MY BACK IN CONVERSATION WITH GAYLE KING TUE, NOV 15 | 7PM KWAME ALEXANDER THE DOOR OF NO RETURN SAT, OCT 01 | 1PM CONSTANCE WU MAKING A SCENE TUE, OCT 04 | 7PM RICHARD THOMPSON ALL REQUESTS LIVE! DEC 15–17 | 8PM TOSHI REAGON IN RESIDENCE NOV 05, 10 & 19
By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews
16 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Fairytale and fantasy become a refuge for highschool student Delilah in the new off-Broadway musical “Between the Lines,” playing at the Tony Kiser Theater on West 43rd Street. This enter taining, funny and engaging musical has a creatively bril liant book by Timothy Allen McDonald, which is based on a book by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer, addictive music and lyrics by Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson, amusing choreography by Paul McGill and stunning di rection by Jeff Calhoun. “Between the Lines” is mu sical theater at its best! The musical tells the story of Del ilah, a girl whose father has left the family for a young yoga instructor, while she is left with her mother who never has time for her, and she is starting life in a new town at a new school. She is quietly suffering and trying to figure out what is hap pening in her life and how to deal with all the upheav al and feelings of abandon ment that her father’s leaving has given her. Delilah is awk ward around others, and her only peace is found when she reads books. Her favor ite book is a children’s story called “Between the Lines,” and she feels such a kinship with its hero, Prince Oliver, that she imagines that he speaks to her and that they have a Therefriendship.issucha childhood innocence about Delilah’s character and the charac ter of the Prince, who realiz es that he is a hero in a book and that he is tired of the writer having power over his life. In one scene it is shared that when the book is closed, its characters get to come to life and take a break until the book is reopened. It is abso lutely hilarious to hear the complaints of the alcohol ic Queen Maurine, her Lady in Waiting, the evil Magician Rapskullio, Princess Sera phima, an animal character Frump, a Troll, and others. This musical has you look at the characters in fairytales in a different way. Everyone re alizes that the author has all the power and they just have to go along with however they are written. As the problems in Deli lah’s world increase, her need to escape becomes more real and it leads her to seek out a way to enter the world of the fairytale characters. This is a world she wanted to escape to, but once there she realizes that she has now abandoned her mother and must leave. Delilah needs friends and she finds those in the Librar ian and in a non-binary stu dent named Jules. They help her to see that she has a very creative mind and encour age her to write stories. Deli lah goes through a great deal, and finally realizes that she must stay in reality and that the truth of the matter is that she must save herself. The ensemble cast of this musical is absolutely splen did. Arielle Jacobs is charm ing, funny and delightful as Delilah. Jake David Smith is amusing, sexy, frustrat ed and loyal as Prince Oliver. Hillary Fisher plays multiple roles with great ease as does the rest of this outstanding cast—including Vicki Lewis, Will Burton, Jerusha Cavazos, John Ramos, Sean Stack and Julia Murney. It adds to the comedy of the fairytale when characters can inhabit very different roles with such an easy flow. Understudy Aubrey Matalon played the characters of Jules/Ondine at the performance I attend ed and she was fantastic. Tobin Ost has created a fascinating set design, there are splendid costumes by Gregg Barnes, perfect light ing by Jason Lyons and sen sational sound design by Ken Travis. There is also incredible music super vision, orchestration and arrangements by Greg An thony Rassen, music su pervision and additional arrangements by Daniel Green, and music direc tion by Chris Gurr. This is a marvelous musical which should be shared with the entire family. It is only play ing through Sept. 11, so get your tickets now for this Second Stage production. Visit musical.comwww.betweenthelinesformoreinfo.
All
Arielle Jacobs and Jake David Smith in “Between the Lines” (Matthew Murphy photo)
Musical theater doesn’t get better than ‘Between the Lines’
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT (Lem Peterkin photos) 1 2 53 46 1- Ben Vereen with fans 2- Beloved "Good Times" actress Bern Nadette Stanis 3- Ben Vereen and Woody King 4- Woody King 5. Tonya Pinkins 6- Lamman Rucker
Best of the best at
The 17th biennial atre Festival (NBTF) rolled out the carpet on Aug. 1-6, 2022 in Winston-Salem, NC, transforming the city of arts and tion into a mega-performing arts center, with over 130 performances taking place across the city’s venues. Events included theater workshops, films, seminars, a teen poetry slam, and a star-studded celebrity gala.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 17
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National Black Theatre Fest
National Black The
The messages are loud and clear—like the sunrise and sunset you can see the light coming through your window. Evolution is a dangerous move when you awaken the sleeping giant within. At that moment you awaken your soul to a higher level with another assignment. A cycle goes ghost for a few days due to the information forthcoming to you that needs your at tention attached like currency. New ideas and concepts are flashing in like lightning strikes; jot them down. September 13th-14th, a new mustard seed has been de veloped to carry out the vision. Cut the distractions out of your life and sit in a dark room to find your self. Simply unplug and listen to the inside voice. Can you see yourself in the dark, and are you producing in the dark to find your way to the light? Once you find the light, gratitude is acknowledged with rewards for sticking through till the end. You accomplish a milestone, something you thought was unthinkable was thinkable. The circumstance is what it is; it doesn’t define you, instead it pushes you to succeed. September 7th, focus is key to your agenda.
You are climbing up the mountain alone or with a few people who are build ing with you. September is not an easy month—like some mothers say mama ain’t raise no fool. Know you are the source, and the power of all the divine mighty energy lies within you. It’s a frequency to hop on and stay tapped into to receive. Be clear of the memberships and folks you associated yourself with and those who come bearing gifts like the Trojan horse. September 11th-12th, remember the process, experiences, tests, trials, both good and indifferent, that help build your foundation. It’s time to go full throttle, you are a living testimony of possibilities.
18 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Rebirth of a New Nation:
When you up your ante, you up the merit to embark on a new journey in your life, awakening the spiritual being in you. Pay close attention to what is occurring within your environment as the universe communi cates to us in signs and symbols; the rest is made up. Our words allow us to express how we feel, connect, and assist one another. This is a gamechanging cycle in which your dreams play a significant role. September 13th-14th you are in transformation mode to resurrect, experiencing life elevating to the occasion.Messages, gossiping, and distraction want to consume you and your time. It’s best to follow the voice inside guiding you, or otherwise get a slap on the wrist for entertaining. This is an energetic week to claim your piece of the pie, so apply the footwork and push yourself until you are complete. Once you are done, the overwhelm is relieved. In this cycle, your actions are align ing with what you do and speak. On September 8th stick with your program, as information is flowing like water. Buckle up as you hit the bumps in the road and the unpredicted seren dipitous manifestations right in front of you. Mind what you value, because what you value can be taken away due to the lack of support you give. Apply some respect as you ask yourself what, why, when, where, who is coming into your life or what is forthcoming. September 9th-10th, what is your at titude and perspective? Being present is key. The connections, rewards, and compensation are yours for the taking once you align yourself. Allow the old to be just that and move forward with hunger in your belly. What are your dreams and goals in life that keep you committed to the journey? Mentally, spiritually, and physically, something is pulling you to a higher calling in a different direction. Break free to go harder, stronger with passion and that pioneer spark within you. Septem ber 11th-12th, make it happen, it’s either all or nothing. What’s the fight in you that pushes you forward? Recognition starts with faith to tear down walls built.
By GODDESS KYA
Haven’t you seen and heard enough people that shared their would’ve, should’ve, could’ve stories? What is the story you are going to share with your children and the generation after you? What is your current mind set, that every day you work to see it through? September 9th-10th, po sition yourself to be in the position and network you want to be in. This is a mind-blowing cycle after the development of last week’s agenda. You have angels working in the woodwork guiding you to do this and that. Not everyone is privy to the wisdom you received this cycle. The informa tion comes through the dream state, conversations, after an emotional re lease, visiting a body of water, after showering or bathing. Take heed of the resources and data on the horizon. September 11th-12th, a mystical divine intervention occurs, and your approach and attitude determine the outcome.
Do you have all the ingredients and resources and people lined up once one stage of the process is finished? Although you have a roadmap of how your plans will flow, the universe always steps in to add flavor to your concepts that change the outcomes. There was an insertion that needed to occur to piece it together. A cycle, where unusual behavior and unanticipated events test you, is helping you be more proactive and moves you to face something to address a situation. September 13th-14th, get out of your own way to continue building the foundation.
BY KNOWYOURNUMB3RS
CONSULTATIONS 866-331-5088
Maya Angelou
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Capricorn Dec 22 Jan 21 Cancer June 22 July 23 Aquarius Jan 22 Feb 19 Leo July 24 Aug 23 Pisces Feb 20 Mar 20 Virgo Aug 24 Sept 23 Aries Mar 21 Apr 21 Libra Sept 24 Oct 23 Taurus Apr 22 May 21 Scorpio Oct 24 Nov 22 Gemini May 22 June 21 Sagitarius Nov 23 Dec 21
September 8, 2022 — September 14, 2022
Vinateria
September feels like a spiritual pursuit more than anything else. Act now as your ancestors are in the background passing the G-code and cheat code to navigate your next move. Messages, news, and data are coming from all directions. Snap out of it and turn on the lights, as you’ve got work to do. September 8th apply that footwork and accept the assign ment. It’s on you, not them, to finish.
What may seem impossible makes your heart rate beat faster. Stay calm as you push through, bringing forth the enhanced new life like a mother pushing out her baby from her womb. Your commitment to your plan and going with the divine plan is due to your dedication, gratitude, and elevation in your faith to see it through, knowing the do’s and don’ts of what to do to not break the energy protection field around you. Septem ber 9th-10th, the preparation of a nice slice of the pie has your name written all over it. The process is the experience that makes it feel real.
September is a miraculous, exceptional month, one going down in history. Last Thursday kicked off the 1st of September, the day Jupiter rules. Thursday and Jupiter are associated with the number 3 and those born on the 3rd, 12th, 21st, and 30th of the month, and the sun signs Sagittarius, Pisces, Leo and Aries benefit as well. Continue your due diligence on your agenda and projects, wrapping things up for manifestation. It’s a doozy kind of a month with your ancestors assisting to help humanity. Mother Earth is making way and her grandiose style affects structure, order, a rebirth of foundations, discipline, commitment, change, organization, unfinished business, and obligations that have not been addressed. September 10th sees a full moon in Pisces at 17 degrees in conjunction with Neptune in Pisces, its natural ruler, and of course it opposes the sun sign, Virgo. Mercury retrogrades on the 9th. Watch for mixed signals and be mindful of what you say and do. Apply an artistic flair while utilizing your gifts and pursuing spiritual endeavors, as your dreams are very foretelling and flooded with data. Record the information as the revelations occur. Inside the word “revelations” is “reveal.” “Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave. I am the dream and the hope of the slave, I rise, I rise, I rise.”
HOROSCOPES
This cycle is a lesson on a lesson from the tradition of passed-down history, and it is up to you this lifetime to make use of. What are you going to do with the information and resources at your fingertips?
“He’s very kind, very caring,” she said. “I just miss him because he’s my brother. And I miss that support of him being my brother.”
Kevin Maynard did not stay in New York City. He left for Houston, to serve as a fire fighter in Keithroy’s memory. But there’s something about the “Big Apple” that he can’t let go. Maynard refuses to change his phone number and area code to keep some connection with the city. Whenever he re turns to visit his mom, he swells with pride seeing Black firefighters throughout town, followed by a wave of sadness.
Siblings remember Black firefighters who died on 9/11
“Through the years, like everything that has gone on, [the Powell family] has always been there for us,” said Joseph. “We all go to each other’s thing. So, they’ve been great. And we’ve gotten to know them.”
By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member and By ARIAMA LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member
“We started a foundation in memory of him for Haiti,” she said. “The reason we did it was also when the earthquake hap pened in Haiti, everybody was going down there. And I knew there was like a group of firefighters in FDNY who actually went toThroughHaiti.” the FF. Karl Henri Joseph Edu cational Fund, the Josephs, along with a collective of four other families—the Al phonsos, the Dominiques, the Duchate liers and the Jean Noels—were able to start a school with courses between kindergarten to grade four. She remembers Karl Joseph as a book worm—he was always studying. And Joseph was family-oriented, staying at home de spite earning enough to move out so he could financially support their parents and siblings when their mother wasn’t work ing. These days, their younger brother also serves in the FDNY, receiving a promotion just last AccordingFriday.to Vulcan Society president Dellon Morgan, many family members of the 12 firefighters moved out of New York City over the past 21 years. But Powell and Joseph, whose brothers worked together in Engine Company 207, both stayed, becom ing support systems for one another.
“Everybody was playing skully at the time, he created our own skully board—in the living room,” said Monique Powell. “Sur prised my mother let him do it, but she did. My mother was very supportive, so he was always creating stuff.” She also recalls their sibling fascination for “Mission Impossible” and subsequent attempts to remake gadgets and keys from the spy movie. It was just the two of them, so they did everything together.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 19 9/11 HONORING THE FALLEN
“You want to live your own independent life because you look just like someone and we were just alike,” continued Kevin May nard. “But now when I think about it, I wish I could go back to that point. For me, I look at a lot of stuff now that he is no longer here and I wish I didn’t really feel that way about it.”
For Leila Joseph, her brother Karl lives on through her family’s work helping young sters in their birthplace of Haiti.
Keithroy Maynard was one of the 12 Black firefighters who died during 9/11. They were in the Vulcan Society, a fraternal order for Black members of the FDNY. Another fallen firefighter, Shawn Powell, will be immortalized in a Bed-Stuy street naming this Saturday. His sister, Monique, remembers him as a decent man who split his time between the military and fire de partment. And as quite the craftsman and the creative, when the two were children.
The Vulcans went on to be known for their advocacy work in fighting discrimina tory practices in the FDNY and fundraising for the NAACP, the Urban League and the Harlem YMCA. By 1960, the Vulcan Society had 500 members. Today, the organization is going strong, though the society’s headquarters in Brook lyn is under construction. Every year the president and members invite the families of 9/11 firefighter victims to a Brooklyn me morial service to honor their sacrifice.
“Karl Joseph’s family has been very impor tant in my life in the past few years—they look after me, they make sure I’m okay,” said Powell. “They let me go with them on family functions, I speak to Leila all the time.”
Ariama C. Long and Tandy Lau are Report for America corps members and write for New York City’s The Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep them writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https:// tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w
Female Firefighter members of the Vulcan Society, and community activist Tremaine Wright (Nayaba Arinde photo) C. Long photo)
Capt. Paul Washington, former Vulcan Society president, said this year they are also doing a street renaming on a section of Monroe Street to honor fallen firefight er Shawn Powell. Washington recalls that most of the 12 that died were inside or right outside the Twin Towers when they col lapsed. “It’s up to us to keep the memory alive. They made the ultimate sacrifice,” said“WhileWashington.thecity may forget, the families don’t,” said Vulcan member and Firefight er Greg Shepherd, of Engine Company 234. “A lot of these people had kids and some of them are firefighters now. I bet you they never forgot either. For us it’s about helping the families. They’re our extended family.”
“I see the fire trucks, and I see all these brothers on these fire trucks,” said May nard. “It makes me feel sad that my broth er’s not here to enjoy some of it.”
(Ariama
This year marks 21 years since the Sep tember 11th tragedy that cut down New York City’s iconic Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. About 3,000 people were killed during the terrorist attack where four planes were hijacked, two flown into the towers and two into the Pentagon in Wash ington, D.C. Almost 10,000 people were in jured but survived that day. Out of the 343 firefighters that sacrificed their lives as first responders to the attack, 12 members of the New York City Fire De partment (FDNY)’s Black Vulcan Society were lost during rescue and recovery efforts. Their names were firefighters Gerard Bap tiste, Vernon Cherry, Tarel Coleman, Andre Fletcher, Keith Glascoe, Ronnie Henderson, William Henry, Karl Joseph, Keithroy May nard, Vernon Richard, Shawn Powell, and Leon Smith Jr. Wesley Williams, the founder of the Vulcan Society and the first Black battalion chief, established the society with more than 50 Black firefighters in 1940 because of issues of discrimination in the FDNY, as previous ly reported by the Amsterdam News.
Joining the FDNY was the first time Keithroy Maynard went his own way, re calls his twin brother Kevin. As kids, they attended the same junior high and the same high school. As adults, the pair both worked for Continental Airlines. They even finished each other’s sentences. But Keithroy, a key union organizer at LaGuar dia Airport, wanted to be a role model in his neighborhood of East Flatbush. So he became a firefighter. “One of things I didn’t like was that we were just alike, but now that my brother is no longer here, [it’s] something that I cherish.
It sounds traumatizing to relive it.
As they moved out of the tunnel into lower Manhattan on West Street, Wilson said they heard on the radio, “‘We’re under attack, we’re under attack;’ then I heard this noise like a plane flying over our head, and then my boss was saying, ‘Run, just run, run.’” They ran back to the engine, followed by a big black cloud of smoke. Wilson said she put on her mask and was immediately en gulfed. They realized the second tower had fallen, but could not move until the smoke had subsided.
20 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS 9/11 HONORING THE FALLEN September 11th—Our bravery and heroism
Blessed with a beautiful and command ing voice, Wilson often honors fallen col leagues and serenades at major events as a member of the FDNY’s ceremonial unit. Meanwhile, as the city ramps up it’s 9/11 coverage, The Vulcan Society of Black Fire fighters said that there will be a street conaming ceremony of Sgt. FDNY Firefighter Shawn Edward Powell taking place on Sat urday, Sept. 10, at 11 a.m. on Monroe Street between Marcus Garvey Boulevard and Lewis Avenue, in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn.
Wilson said that The Vulcans will hold their memorial event as they did last year at the First Quincy Community Garden, 397401 Quincy Street, Bed Stuy Street, Brook lyn on Sept. 11. The event will begin at 3pm.
a lot more strategic…and smart in the way that we respond to not only big events like that, but even the ones on a day-to-day basis to make sure the we are taking care of ourselves as firefighters, and how we re spond to different incidents. I think the de partment is working on that.”
Wilson said the record must be transparent. “So, where we all participated in the rescue and recovery effort…and the efforts afterwards, I want to make sure they are rec ognized and highlighted for their bravery.”
Twenty-one years later, Wilson said, “The city is definitely more aware of these types of attacks and that they can happen, but we shouldn’t be asleep behind the wheel, and don’t think that it can’t happen again. There is a level of preparedness that we still need to work on to make sure that we are being
On 9/11, and for months after, Wilson as sisted with the search and rescue at Ground Zero. That fateful day had begun as a normal New York morning at Engine 219. But, then something changed.
By NAYABA ARINDE Amsterdam News Editor
The journey to the World Trade Center had her engine going through the Brook lyn Battery Tunnel, and experiencing such a massive wind, that the whole engine, with 500 gallons of water, was shook, she said. They didn’t know then that the North Tower had collapsed, Wilson said. Plumes of choking gray smoke followed as they ran through the tunnel where they met people covered in the smog. Wilson thought the en trance of the tunnel had fallen in, and they would have to dig themselves out. They had to wash out the eyes of some, help others down from positions they had found them selves stranded upon, and still they were unaware of the horror that they were about to witness and play a major role in aiding victims in. “I didn’t experience fear going, I just wanted to hurry up and get there to help… Once I got out there then it came upon me,” Wilson recalled, adding that they en countered “this white smoke that looked like a blizzard, I remember this woman was having an asthma attack, and so we rinsed her face off and told her that she had to walk out the tunnel because there was nothing we could do for them.”
“We definitely highlight the 12 Black fire fighters who died on September 11, 2001,” firefighter Regina Wilson told the New York Amsterdam News. The Vulcan Society of Black Firefighters member said, “Although you hear a lot of people saying that you shouldn’t separate the ones who respond ed, it is a necessary thing to do, not only for the Black firefighters, but the women…be cause when you look at 9/11, or you think of firefighters for most people, they think of white males, and if you look at 9/11 and the majority of the tributes that were done, or a lot of the books that were published and a lot of the stories that have been told, they do not bring forth the Black people and the women who participated in that day. “So it only tells a one-sided story. And for those who don’t think that is important, or that we shouldn’t say anything about it, I think they’re totally wrong.”
“We are still healing,” said Wilson Regina Wilson. photo)
“I was like what show are they watching, that shows a plane going into a building,” Wilson said, when she heard a loud noise as her fellow firefighters were watching TV in the kitchen. Then she heard the news caster tell them what was going on. “Then the truck got called out to respond to the Trade Center.” So the men working the truck rolled out, while she and others on the engine waited to get their call. “We didn’t get over there until the second building fell.” The Amsterdam News asked what was the energy like in the firehouse when the north tower was hit. “It was definitely disbelief,” said Wilson, “and then we went into the response mode: what are we going to need; wondering about the guys who just left—are they going to be okay?; how are we going to conquer this big emergency we see in front of us; how are we going to equip our engine? We were trying to figure out how are we going to get infor mation about how our guys were doing… and then just the anticipation of going our selves…and waiting so long for that call to come. It was just nerve-wrecking…and then just the anticipation of waiting to go out to be able to help, to be a part of that rescue andAskedrecovery.”ifWilson knew at that time it was going to be as massive as it ultimately turned out to be, Wilson responded, “Yes, we could see it, and we could hear the dis patcher sending people out…all these en gines and trucks and rescue companies out to the Trade Center. And we could hear the elevation of the response—from an allhands response, from a first alarm, to a second alarm…elevating to a response level that we’ve never seen before. So we inter nally knew how big this was going to be.”
As she continues in her 24th year as a New York City smoke-eater, Wilson, who is a Vulcan and former president of the United Women’s Firefighters, continues to demand diversity, equality and inclusion in theInFDNY.July,2015, the 75-year-old Vulcan Soci ety elected Wilson, 45, as their president— their first female president. She called the Vulcans “such a wonderful organization, it’s somewhat surreal.”
Wilson told the Amsterdam News then, “The Vulcan Society wanted to help in the recruitment process and change the lack of diversity in the force.” As the 21st anniversary of 9/11 comes around again, Wilson says accuracy is key. “If you want to talk about history, let’s just make sure that the history is told with the inclusivity of everybody. So, there were firefighters that were there, there were Black firefighters there, there were women construction, there were construction people there, period, there were search and rescue people. There was a whole lot of people who participat ed, and that everybody who did their job, and those who are dying now from World Trade Center illnesses, from other places, from the FDNY, from the PD Port Author ity—they all need to be recognized. But I definitely want to make sure that Afri can Americans, Hispanics and women are highlighted because we are out of the story period, and should be brought to the forefront, because we care and love our city too, and we don’t want people to think that bravery and heroism come in one color and one gender.”
It is somewhat she said, but also, “being able to explain to people what I—what we all experienced is a part of not allowing the people who died, and the people who par ticipated in the rescue and recovery effort— for that moment or their memories—not to die…So I don’t mind telling the story or ex periencing it, if it still allows the relevancy of that day, and the people that participated in that day and days after, to be able to still to allow others to understand what we expe rienced, and not knowing if another plane was coming, or if people were on the ground shooting. Like who knows how coordinated this terrorist act was? And for all the people to participate in that day, and still be able to still move forward and help people—I don’t want anybody to forget those efforts at all.
Wilson has been on active-duty with the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) since 1999. At that time she was only the 12th Af rican American woman out of 23 women in theTheFDNY.numbers have not improved much since then in the 10,000-plus department. There’s almost 100 now. The Amsterdam News asked the FDNY for current numbers of women and Black women in the department, but did not hear back by press time. Bringing more Black women to the job is a passion Wilson advocates for. Diversity and inclusion are important, she says. It is a job of serving the city she loves and interacting with the community daily. But after only three years in the depart ment, on Sept. 11, 2001, Wilson and her Park Slope Ladder 105/Engine 219 responded to the collapse of the South Tower at the World TradeWilsonCenter.says talking about her recollection of that terrible day is a way of honoring the almost 3,000 people who lost their lives after two planes rammed into the Twin Towers, and their subsequent collapse. Sadly she states how seven members of her Brooklyn firehouse also died that day, including John Chipura, who had asked to swap his assign ments that day just before the call came in. Three hundred and 43 firefighters per ished that day, including 12 Black members of the Vulcan Society, the national Black firefighter organization, over which Wilson became president in 2015.
(Contributed
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 21 9/11 HONORING THE FALLEN
Vulcan Society members commemorate the 20th Anniversary of 9/11, at First Quincy Street Community Garden, Bed Stuy, Brooklyn in 2021 (Nayaba Arinde photos)
9/11 BLACK FIRE FIGHTERS VULCAN SOCIETY
9/11
By CAPT. PAUL WASHINGTON
OPINION
Black lives mattered on
Editor’s note: This article was originally pub lished in 2015 9/11 was hard on all New Yorkers. For those who lost family members and friends, it was devastating. As an agency of New York City, FDNY was devastated. We lost 343 good men that day. Brave men. I knew dozens of them person ally. I miss them all. However, we also know that racism is not only a permanent fixture of this country but also that it doesn’t often take a break. Therefore, it was no surprise when the 12 Black firefighters who died that day didn’t seem to get the same recognition as the white firefighters who also gave their lives. They were not featured in the mainstream media in proportion to the num bers of them who died. An early, blatant example of how Black lives didn’t matter in this tragedy was kicked off by, no surprise, then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani. On the highly anticipat ed post-9/11 episode of “Saturday Night Live,” the show opened with Giuliani appearing on the famous stage surrounded by more than two dozen first re sponders (mostly New York City firefighters) in uni form. Not one was Black. A Black, brown, yellow, red or female face was nowhere to be found. Giuliani spoke about how these were New York’s real heroes. It was a powerful message for the world to see, yet there were no Black faces for the world to see either. Diversity in the agencies being rep resented was obviously important to those respon sible for that part of the show because police, fire, EMS, etc., were all present. With that much atten tion given to one form of diversity, are we supposed to believe that the lack of racial diversity was just accidental?Onmore than one occasion, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The vast majority of white Americans are racist, either consciously or unconsciously.” He was right then, and today, 47 years after his murder, his words are still accurate. At best, the racism dis played on the stage of “Saturday Night Live” was the unconscious type, but does it really matter? The end result is the same: Black sacrifice and suffering not being given the same importance as the suffering and sacrifice of whites. It’s been that way for 400 years, and it’s not about to change. What can also never change is that we must always be there for each other when the larger communi ty chooses to ignore or downplay our plight. The Black community was there for the Vulcan Society (the organization of New York City’s Black firefight ers) after 9/11. The outpouring of support we re ceived from our people was inspiring and uplifting. In the end, that was more than enough. Today, let’s not forget what happened 14 short years ago. Let’s not forget the pain so many New Yorkers experienced then and many still experience today. Let’s not forget all those who died, not the workers or the first responders or any others. And let’s not forget to remind the world that our people also sacrificed and died that day. Capt. Paul Washington is a former president of the Vulcan Society.
22 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS 9/11 HONORING THE FALLEN
Fall getaways in the Empire State
Autumn is a glorious time for a road trip, and there are a wide variety of offer ings to choose from in the Empire State. The Harbor Hotel Collection’s Annual Apple Days returns from September 6October 16, at three AAA Four Diamond waterfront hotels: Chautauqua Harbor Hotel on Chautauqua Lake, Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel in the Finger Lakes region and 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel on the shores of the Saint Lawrence River. Apple Days celebrates apple picking season in Upstate & Western New York with seasonal amenities, such as apples and fresh cider at check-in, and special menu items featuring delicious appleinspired dishes and signature cocktails. Guests will receive a list of nearby or chards they can visit for apple picking. Now’s a great time to plan a fall road trip to all three destinations, for the entire family or just a romantic get away for two. A scenic three-hour drive through peak foliage separates Chau tauqua Lake from Watkins Glen and from Watkins Glen to 1000 Islands, with many interesting stops, natural won ders, and historic attractions in be tween. A sample road trip itinerary can be found here at road-trip-final-re-1568726568.pdftelcollection.com/pdf/doc-consumer-https://www.harborho
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 23
Taughannock Falls, NY
Travelers who visit two hotels on con secutive nights will get a portable minicooler stuffed with goodies for the drive. For more info or to make a road trip reservation, please visit HarborHo telCollection.com Greater Ithaca and Tompkins County offer miles and miles of trails for the hikers to explore. Take in breathtak ing views and over 150 waterfalls and gorges, including iconic Taughannock Falls, Buttermilk Falls and Ithaca Falls trails. In addition to hiking, travelers will enjoy the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail, established in 1983 and recognized as America’s First Wine Trail, providing an unmatched touring and tasting experi ence across Ithaca’s local wineries on the banks of Cayuga Lake. The Hotel Ithaca Hiking Package in cludes one overnight accommodations; breakfast for two; complimentary park ing; late checkout of 1 p.m.; hiking lo cation transportation with shuttle to hiking location upon request; cinch bag of hiking/outdoor supplies in cluding but not limited to sunblock, lip balm, bug spray, snacks and water (substitutions may apply). For more information or reserva tions, visit thehotelithaca.com
Travel & Resort
Fire pit at the 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel (Courtesy photos)
Cobble together a delicious end-ofsummer dessert
Berry season brings new life to desserts
1½ pound strawberries, hulled ⅓ cup Turbinado sugar ½ cup almond meal/flour 2 Tbsp vanilla extract For the topping: 1 cup all-purpose flour 1½ teaspoon baking powder 1 stick cold butter, cubed 2 cups sliced almonds ¾ cup turbinado sugar Whipped cream, to serve Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahr enheit. Put the hulled strawberries into your baking pan and toss with ⅓ cup of sugar, almond meal, and vanilla extract and set aside. To assemble your topping: put the flour and baking powder in a food pro cessor and cut in the cold butter using the pulse button. Remove mixture from the processor and stir in the sliced al monds and sugar. If mixing by hand, add the flour, baking powder, and butter to a bowl and cut in the butter. When you’ve finished combining these ingredients, it should be crumbly. Stir in the sliced almonds and sugar with a fork. Pour this blend over the strawberry mixture, covering the strawberries in an even layer. Pay close attention to edges and make sure they are covered. Set the pan on a cookie sheet that is covered with parchment paper and bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes, until the crumble topping is golden brown and some of the juices have bubbled out. This crumble is great warm or at room temperature. Let it stand for at least 15 minutes before serving. Serve with whipped cream for added indulgence.
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces ¾ cup heavy cream, plus additional for serving Instructions: Heat the oven to 375 degrees. To pre pare the berries, place in a bowl and toss with the sugar and flour. Set aside. To make the dough, mix the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder in a food processor and pulse in the butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Remove from processor and place in a bowl, add the cream and mix lightly, just until the dry ingredients are moist ened; set aside. Put the berries in an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish. Make 9 balls out of the dough and press into 2-3 inch patties. Arrange them over the top of the berries, almost completely covering the surface of the pan. Bake until the topping is brown and the juices bubble up around the crust, about 30 to 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream.
Mixed Berry Cobbler
By CHEF EILEEN BARETT Special to the AmNews
½ cup sugar 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
By CHEF EILEEN BARETT Special to the AmNews
I’ve been living my best culinary life out here in Nantucket. Access to fresh fruits and vegetables from their local farms has breathed new life into my cooking. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had the most fun creating new desserts. There is noth ing better than berries during berry season because they are at their peak! But here is a recipe that can be made any time of year.
The dough: 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon kosher salt 2 tablespoons sugar 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
Every year as the summer months draw to an end, I find myself trying to make the most out of all this delicious ripe fruit. My dinner tables are graced with fresh fruit tarts, pies, cobblers, and crumbles. I recently made this Mixed Berry Cobbler and my guests were thoroughly pleased, but they were also very curious about the difference between a crumble and a cob bler. Here’s what there is to know: crum bles and crisps are very similar. Both contain fresh fruit and are covered with a streusel topping that gets baked. Crumble toppings, however, usually do not contain oats, whereas crisp toppings do. Cobblers are a fruit dessert baked with a fluffy bis cuit-style topping. This recipe can be made with just one berry type or as many varieties as you choose.
24 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
AmNews FOOD
Strawberry Almond Crumble
(Eileen Barett photo)
The berries: 4 ½ cups fresh (blueberries, blackber ries, raspberries)
The new Collective, Some thing Else!, will take off Septem ber 6-10 at Birdland Jazz Club & Birdland Theater (315 West 44th Street) with two sets each night. The all-star collective will feature alto saxophonist Vincent Herring, tenor saxophonist James Carter, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, trum pet, guitarist Russell Malone, pi anist Dave Kikoski, bassist Essiet Essiet, and drummer Johnathan Blake.Their repertoire will include classics like “Moaning” by Bobby Timmons, “Song for my Father” and “Filthy McNasty” by Horace Silver, “Blues Walk” by Lou Don aldson and “I’m Not So Sure” by Cedar Walton along with new ar rangements from the rhythmic soul moving spirits of an earlier grooving era plus original compo sitions in the same genre.
For tickets visit the website bird landjazz.com or call 212-580-3080.
The keyboardist, singer and songwriter Bernard Wright transi tioned from this earth on May 19, 2022. Recently, a joyous funky cel ebration of his life “The Light of Bernard Wright” was held at Man hattan’s City Winery. The tribute featured many of Wright’s fellow musicians from Queens, as well as those many musicians he in fluenced over the years, like the popular jazz-pop oriented ensem ble Snarky Puppy represented by three members. Hosts for the eve ning were WBLS-FM radio per sonality Fred “Bugsy” Buggs and rapper Doug E. Fresh who were both friends and worked with Wright in his earlier years.
The alto saxophonist and com poser Cannonball Adderley made the majority of his noted albums on the Capitol and Riv erside record labels. During his early association with Miles Davis as a member of the Davis sextet, he appeared on the influen tial records “Milestones” (1958) and “Kind of Blue” (1959). He re corded one album for Blue Note Records “Somethin’ Else!” (1958). The album became a jazz col lector’s item and a rare moment where Davis appeared as a side man with pianist Hank Jones, bassist Sam Jones and drummer ArtAdderley’sBlakey. distinct sound came from his playing music from the total Black experience. His music was deeply entrenched in the jazz tradition with blues and soulful ness in every note. That jazz soul sound was a staple during the late 1950s and 60s with Horace Silver, Lou Donaldson, Hank Mobley and Stanley Turrentine, it was a period on the tail-end of the big band era and folks were still inclined to dance to a soulful tune that just happened to be jazz.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 25 SOMETHING ELSE, JAZZMEIA HORN, BERNARD WRIGHT, SHEPP, CPF
Over the years Jazzmobile, the Summerfest mecca has assem bled some of New York City’s finest concert performances from Barry Harris to Carmen McRae, Dizzy Gillespie to Sarah Vaughan and Max Roach. Most recent ly, Jazzmobile produced another great concert featuring vocalist, songwriter, and arranger Jazzme ia Horn. She was incredible and her Big Band Noble Force were in a moment of critical swinging in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park. She literally WOWED the audience. It was a performance where after ward you ask, “dam was she really that good.” Yes, she was. This was my first-time seeing Horn per form after hearing and reading all the hoopla and accolades for a few years now. Although I have listened to her two CDs. “A Social Call” (Prestige Records 2017), “Love & Liberation” (Concord Jazz 2019) and her most recent “Dear Love with Her Noble Force” (Em press legacy Records 2021) per forming material from the three albums.Sheis one of the few female singers who performs and re cords with her own big band Noble Force in the tradition of Count Basie and Jimmy Lunce ford, which means swinging is a must. The Noble Force anchor is the most sought-after baritone saxophonist Jason Marshall, who leads his group Overt Negritude, as well as having played with Roy Hargrove’s RH Factor and his big band, The Roots, Arturo O’Farrill and the hip hop band Nickel & Dime Ops. She brings a fresh element to the female singing pool. She un derstands the true concept of vo calese. Her vocal instrument can rise a few octaves. That evening her notes sailed to the clouds, re minding me of the Ella Fitzgerald TV commercial “Is it live or Me morex!” Her choice of traveled songs, as well as her original com positions like ‘Strive to be Free” are for now covering rhythmic mid-rage and blending high notes with a good sense of timing and phrasing. She is a bright comet flying across the sky, don’t let her out of your sight, you want to keep an ear on her.
Some of the many performers included singers Nona Hendryx, LaLa Cope, Cindy Mizell, Barry Johnson, Calvin Yarbrough & Alisa Peoples; keyboards Bobby Sparks and Alex Bugnon; saxophones V. Jefrrey Smith and Ed Jackson; and trumpeter JS Williams. Wright’s in spired career included his songs and recordings with such groups as Cameo, Pieces of a Dream, Bobby Brown, Lenny White, Marcus Miller and Miles Davis. “He is in a class by himself,” said Miller. Musicians performed the many songs Wright wrote over the years. “His influence on us was so profound,” noted Snarky Puppy. Wright was born and raised in Queens, New York which was an incubator for young musi cians during the 1970s and 80s. At age 13, he toured with drum mer Lenny White and he played with trumpeter Tom Browne at age 16 (both musicians are natives of Queens). “He was like a son to me,” said White. You can call it the sound of Queens but remember it was the soul of Bernard Wright that played a major role making that sound so prolific in the 1970s through the 1980s.The highlight of the Char lie Parker Jazz Festival was the legend, avant garde pioneer Archie Shepp, who during the early ’70s, made it a point of play ing the fiery hollin shouts of the raging Black Power Movement. His Impulse! albums “Things Have Got to Change” (1971), “Attica Blues” (1972) followed by “Cry Of My People” (1973) were great ex amples of those times that remain today’s most relevant struggle. As the NEA Jazz Master was es corted to the Tompkins Square Park stage it was easy to see his 85 years had slowed him down a bit. However, once seated with his trusty tenor in hand he was ready to groove, like Serena he did not disappoint. Yes his rapid riffs were slower, binding notes and flying chords were less but his big tone that roar of echoing soul in early years that made your toes curl was still totally present. His deep bluesy melody that grabs your heart was in full force. Of course, his inventive collaborators of pi anist Jason Moran and vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant brought together another dimension to the art of jazz. This trio is the closest on the bill of what Charlie Parker was about as a creative innova tor. Moran plays everything from stride piano to avant garde classi cal music and hip hop. Salvant is another young vocalist on the rise, a flying comet across the sky. She is constructing her own jazz house similar to Abbey Lincoln’s blue print. Her repertoire consists of originals and well-traveled songs that she transforms into 21st cen tury novellas. Her lyrical storytell ing is captivating. Her vocals were the perfect accompaniment for Shepp’s brash deep notes and Mo ran’s unassuming melodies. It’s surprising the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival didn’t have any of the many great NYC alto saxophon ists headlining. How is it possible to have a Charlie Parker tribute and no altos, it’s like birds singing and no birds. Musicians perform ing should at least play one Bird tune as a tribute to the jazz in novator. Or play all Parker music, many younger people aren’t really familiar with his music so it would be a plus. Just saying!!
Jazzmeia Horn at the INNtöne Jazzfestival, 2017 (Schorle (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jazzmeia_ Horn_A_Social_Call.jpg), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)
The 1980s Queens-based funk group The Jamaica Boys with former members drummer Lenny White, guitarist Spaceman Pat terson, and bassist Marcus Miller (Wright was also a member) were funking it up. The guitarist Eddie Martinez flew in from Portland to play with his Queens buddies bassist Barry Johnson and guitar ist Steve Horton all former mem bers of Twennynine, White’s (1979) group following his memorable stint with Return to Forever.
Sept. 4, 1981: Grammy Award winning singer Beyoncé Knowles was born in Houston, Texas. Sept. 4, 1908: Black writer Richard Wright was born in Roxie, Miss. He died in 1960. Sept. 4, 1957: Nine Black students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School. It prompted Gov. Orval Faubus to order the National Guard to the school.
DISCUSSION We wonder how being a communist impacted his military experience.
FIND OUT MORE The essays in “Revolu tionary Tracings” provid ed a veritable timetable of events in his life.
Esther Cooper Jackson was not profiled in this column last week but the paper did feature her obituary, with scant mention of her devoted husband, James E. Jackson Jr. Together they were a dauntless duo in the fight for freedom and to overcome politi cal and social oppression.
ACTIVITIES
James Jackson with Ho Chi Minh (Courtesy of People’s World)
PLACE IN CONTEXT
THIS WEEK INHISTORYBLACK
He was born in Richmond, Va. on Nov. 29, 1914. His father was a pharmacist and they lived in a section of the city called Jackson Ward, set aside for African Amer icans. Jackson was 16 in 1931 when he entered Virginia Union University. Three years later he graduated with a degree in chemistry. In 1937, he received a degree in pharmacy from Howard University. It was during his final year at Howard that he joined with others to found the Southern Negro Youth Congress (SNYC). One of the central con cerns the organization had was aiding the Black women in their strike against the tobacco com panies, who paid them only $5 a week. He was there as a union representing the striking work ers gradually gained national recognition.Thelabor movement in the South was certainly a key issue in 1959 when Jackson wrote that the task before them “was to under take, without further delay the job of organizing the unorganized southern workers in both indus try and agriculture with particu lar emphasis on workers in the textile and lumber industries and on the cotton plantations.” This is from an essay that’s in cluded in his book “Revolution ary Tracings in World Politics and BlackSeveralLiberation.”oftheessays in the book chronicle Jackson’s intrepid activ ism as he roamed from the South to the North and then globally. Even in the late 1930s he was part of a team of researchers assisting Gunnar Myrdal in his monumental study, which was titled “An Ameri can Dilemma” in 1944. A few years before while he was working in Nashville at Fisk University he met and they married in 1941.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS26 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022
After this period of turmoil and pressure from the government because of his political beliefs, Jackson resumed his aggressive activism both as a leader in the Communist Party and engage ment in the Civil Rights Move ment. Both he and his wife were prominent supporters of the Free Angela Davis campaign, assuring their comrade’s fight for freedom.
Jackson came of age in the turbulent 1930s and settled comfortably in the tumultuous 1960s. He lived to see the compara tively calm ’80s and ’90s.
Jackson was one of the last writ ers to interview Ho Chi Minh before his death in 1969. “One of his last political acts,” Jackson said of the great Vietnamese leader, “was to address a greeting of the Communist Party of the United States on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. He applauded the struggles of the working class, Black liberation, and peace forces in our country and expressed con fidence in the triumph of their sacred cause.” What he said of Ho are fitting words for his own re markable commitment and an ep itaph noting his passage among us.
Ten years later, after serving in the military, in 1951, when the Mc Carthy witch hunts were fully on the move, he was one of 21 Com munist Party members indicted for their revolutionary activism. Most of them were convicted and imprisoned but Jackson and five others fled and went into hiding and did not see his family for more than five years. When at last he surrendered in 1956 he and his comrades were convicted of con spiracy. A year before, as he awaited trial, Jack son charged in a speech in front of the Federal Courthouse: “I believe that my action today, in taking into court and before the bar of public opinion the question of my own indictment under the fascist-like Smith Act law, will have the sympathy and sup port of all who have a regard for justice and a concern for their own liberty.”In1956, the Supreme Court ruled in the Yates decision that the Smith Act required more than the teaching and ad vocacy of an abstract doctrine that the gov ernment should be overthrown “by force or violence.” The appeals court overturned the convictions, which in effect ruled that the gov ernment failed to prove defendants had urged people “to do something” rather than “be lieve in something.”
James Jackson, by trade a chemist, by choice a revolutionary
By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews
THEIN
But that inaccurate accusation and incident in 1951 runs ahead of our story on Jackson and his adventurous life among mem bers committed to the civil and human rights struggle.
When he died in 2007 a gaggle of daily newspapers gladly noted his passing, giving him the kind of coverage he did not receive when he was alive and an active member of the Communist Party. Unless, of course, they were re porting on his indictment for vio lating the Smith Act, and teaching classes on revolution and how to overthrow the government.
CLASSROOM
Last year, bystanders were caught in the crossfire due to a pair of Times Square shootings. In March 2021, three people in cluding a 4-year-old girl were hit by stray bullets. Three months later, a 21-year-old Marine was inadvertently shot during an argument between street vendors. According to Times Square’s official web site, upwards to 450,000 people visit on the busiest days. Adams says he was losing sleep over the possibility that some were bringing in guns, legal or not, to the tour ist“Ihub.never thought from the days of watch ing cowboy movies as a child, leave your gun at the door would become a reality in the state of New York,” he said. “And it was a challenging time when we saw the Bruen decision handed down. I remember speak ing with the governor and she immediately moved into action and stated that we were not going to wait until this terrible, terrible Supreme Court decision created a state of havoc in our city.” Ariama C. Long and Tandy Lau are Report for America corps members and write for New York City’s The Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep them writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://tinyurl. com/fcszwj8w and our residents as well as culturally rele vant training and expertise is missing. There is no reason for a resident that hasn’t commit ted a crime to be treated like a criminal. I am deeply saddened by the excessive force used by Officer Additionally,Kinsey.”Richardson Jordan recom mended an elected civilian review board independent of the CCRB should exist to handle such a case. Members would be voted in by the communities rather than picked by governing officials.
“This legislation is focused on legal guns—there’s already huge efforts to pre vent and mitigate illegal guns in the city,” said John Jay College of Criminal Justice Prof. Keith Taylor. “The complication, from the city’s perspective, is that more guns in highly populated areas, lends itself to more opportunity for accidental gun casualties to take place while a civilian is legally using their weapon to defend themselves.”
Bichotte Hermelyn recounted that she was experiencing high preterm labor where her baby was “bulging out” when two white female nurses told her that her bed was needed and that staff could either terminate the baby or she could leave. “There was no compassion, no need to retain me in the hos pital to monitor me,” said Bichotte Herme lyn. She said she was surrounded by two other Black women who were expecting and also in distress. Eventually, she went to a local safety net hospital. She said the second hos pital showed her love and support.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 27 debate and demand for political action on gun control. The Bruen ruling also nearly coincided with the massively unpopular Supreme Court decision not to codify legal abortion rights by overturning Roe v. Wade inInJune.aheated response to the Supreme Court, the city and state passed new gun laws designed to increase public safety and legal gun ownership. The state’s new law, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, requires people carrying licensed and concealed weapons to be eligible, complete a 16 hour firearms training course, and have two hours of fire practice. The Associat ed Press reported that gun carriers will have to provide a list of social media ac counts as part of the background check to weed out domestic terrorist or poten tial mass shooters.
“We’re putting a whole system in place so I have a designated place where I can pump,” said Bichotte OrganizationsHermelyn.likeMomsRising are raising awareness around ‘Black Breastfeeding Week’ to promote breastfeeding among hard work ing Black moms, who are least likely to breast feed because of the demands of their jobs or affordability.
Times Square Continued from page 3 Harlem Continued from page 3 Maternal Continued from page 3
“For those who choose it, motherhood can be tough—physically, medically, psychologically. I’ve seen firsthand the resilience of mothers: my mother gave birth to six children,” said Mayor Adams in a statement. “Today, we are making sure all expecting families have access to health care when they need it most, no matter the color of their skin, their income bracket, or where they live.” Speaker Adams said that the city is final ly taking steps to acknowledge the horrify ing lived experiences that have endangered too many lives with concrete policy actions. She said that maternal health is a “social jus tice issue” that is a matter of life or death for many women and birthing people in the city and country. She was proud that the histori cally diverse and women-majority City Coun cil prioritized this issue to reduce the severe inequities faced by Black, Latino, and indige nous people in receiving equitable care. The new bundle of laws establishes a public education program about “respectful care at birth” and a right to be free from pregnancy-re lated discrimination, improves access to data, expands doula training services, and requires a report on the prevalence of c-sections that may be tied to an increase in maternal mortality and severe“Birthmorbidity.equityis a social justice issue—and it’s one that’s especially urgent and deadly in New York City,” said Public Advocate Ju maane D. Williams, who sponsored one of the bills. “This public health crisis is both un der-acknowledged and under-addressed, but today, City Council will take invaluable and concrete steps to protect pregnant people in New York WilliamsCity.”also advocated for the federal gov ernment to pass and enact the Momnibus Act. Bichotte Hermelyn said for her current preg nancy she has a doula to advocate for her and is happy about the new laws from the city council on maternal health. Bichotte Hermelyn just got accepted into law school. In the near future, she plans on continuing her education, an externship, taking care of her newborn, and maintain ing her legislative duties whenever there’s a session. She wants to take a mixture of virtu al and in person classes, and have her hus band, Edu Hermelyn in the Mayor’s Office, assist her with breastfeeding.
Only two shootings were reported by the Midtown South Precinct this year, with both occurring several blocks south of Times Squares’ traditionally established parame ters, according to the NYPD’s CompStat da tabase. So with higher rates of gun violence around town, why focus on Times Square?
“While the Supreme Court works to make it harder to keep guns under control, Mayor Adams, Governor Hochul and the state legislature are taking steps to protect New Yorkers in sensitive areas of our city,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine in a statement. “The simple fact is the fewer guns on our street the safer every body will be, and we must continue to work to better control all guns in this country. But I’m proud of the work the mayor and state legislature have done to restrict conceal carry weapons, and to educate New York ers about a law that will undoubtedly help keep people safe.”
On Wednesday afternoon, the National Action Network rallied outside the 32nd Pre cinct to condemn the NYPD’s actions. On Friday evening, another protest was held out side the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building by police watchdog Copwatch Patrol Unit“We(CPU).want to make sure that this is not swept under the rug, we want to make sure that Det. Kinsey is held accountable for his action,” said CPU founder Jose LaSalle. “Not just losing vacation pay, we want him fired, we want him prosecuted.” “And for the mayor to come out there to say that these officers restrained himself is a dis respect to the community that they’re sup posed to serve. Because if that’s what you call restraint, then we have a problem.”
“A gun fight in Times Square when that takes place, you have innocents that can get hit all around and that’s the last thing you want. If somebody gets shot in Times Square, even if it’s an individual who is law fully defending themselves against crime taking place, that’s international news.”
Unfortunately, her son didn’t make it. The maltreatment she experienced in her first pregnancy inspired her to create the Jonah Bi chotte Cowan Law (S8525A /A2770C), which re quires hospitals to treat people in preterm labor and not send the patients away. It was signed into law by former Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2020. The law is named after the memory of her son, Jonah Bichotte Cowan. This week, Mayor Eric Adams signed seven bills into laws that addressed racial disparities in maternal health, affecting Black women and birthing people on Tuesday. Speaker Adrienne Adams and other officials were present at the signing of the legislative package.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about culture and politics in New York City for The Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consid er making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w
Kinsey’s stepmother Carmen Quinones feels like the media coverage mischaracterizes him and maintains he did not punch Crum. “Our people need to learn that everybody is not the same,” she said. “You can’t treat every body the same. And they need to respect the police. They’re the first ones you call, it’s the police department. So they’re out there trying to do their Accordingjob.”to the 32nd Precinct’s official Facebook page, the Bronx-born Kinsey is a veteran who “left the Marines on a Friday and was sworn in as a New York City police officer the following Monday.” According to ProPublica’s NYPD Files, there were three complaints holding six separate allegations made against him as a police officer, with two substantiated. Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps members and writes for New York City’s The Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-de ductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w even with top doctors at Columbia Hospi tal, Bichotte Hermelyn said she didn’t have the same kind of access, information, care, or proper treatment regardless of her socioeco nomic status as a political figure. “Racism is real,” said Bichotte Hermelyn.
In addition to Times Square, these gun free zones will be on public transit, enter tainment venues, bars and restaurants, polling sites, houses of worship, schools and colleges, daycares and summer camps, playgrounds, parks, zoos, libraries, govern ment buildings, courthouses, hospitals, and emergency or homeless shelters. Official gun free zone signs will be posted at other “sensitive locations” in the near future, said the mayor’s office.
To address the social isolation youngsters faced during the pandemic, the Department of Education hired more than 500 direct student support staff, in cluding social workers.
“The main reason it goes unde tected, the first is because teachers are not routinely trained in dyslex ia. This is a global issue, not just in the U.S. So teachers are arriving not knowing how to support these kids,” said Griggs. “And because there isn’t that automatic knowledge it be comes such a big problem that no one knows how to deal with it.” About 1-in-5 kids across races and genders end up having some degree of dyslexia, said Griggs. Commonly dyslexia is a different way of processing information leading to difficulties grasping tra ditional education. The more mild cases of dyslexia means problems with reading, writing, grammar, math, and sequential memory but not debilitatingly so. More severe presentations of dyslexia often means problems learning to read and likely requires intervention, saidThereGriggs.isalso a heavy evidenced connection between many incar cerated people and those identified as the most educationally disad vantaged population in the coun try. A joint report from the DOE and Department of Corrections noted that about “half of the individuals housed in jails do not have a high school diploma or general educa tional development (GED) certifi cate.” And, on Rikers Island about 80% of new arrivals didn’t have a di ploma or GED back in 2007. Griggs commended Adams and the city’s massive push for more screening and intensive support for New York City students to head off the root causes of systemic issues. Griggs said her organization has been working with the city’s teach ers since June, and luckily the train ing is free so it hasn’t been affected by the ongoing back and forth legal ities on school budget cuts. Teachers for grades K-12 will have one year to complete litera cy training and are all expected to participate in Made By Dyslexia’s 2-hour introductory training by April 2023, said the Department of Education (DOE). “New York City schools are making sure every teacher is getting dyslexic training, which is phenomenal be cause every teacher is a teacher of dyslexic children,” said Griggs. Students in grades K-2 will be screened for reading and math skills three times a year with Acadience, a method of identifying students who are ‘at risk’ for early reading difficulties, including dyslexia, said the DOE. Students in grades 3-10 will take screeners three times a year with varying options of which method to use in order to identi fy kids who need intervention, said theTheDOE.city will also have an exciting reading-focused pilot program to help struggling readers. The two ele mentary schools participating in the pilot are the Literacy Academy Col lective in PS 161 in the Bronx with Principal Brian Blough and the Lab School for Family Literacy at PS 125 in Manhattan with Principal Yael Leopold, said the DOE. Additionally, ‘at risk’ of dyslexia screening will take place in a pilot program in 80 elementary and 80 secondary schools, said the DOE.
Education Dealing with dyslexia in NYC Public Schools
with Kate Griggs, founder and CEO of Made By Dyslexia, a nonprofit charity or ganization focused on dyslexia. The goal of the nonprofit is to train teachers in ways to spot and sup port kids with learning challenges. Griggs has spoken at length about her dyslexic journey, being from a dyslexic family and raising dyslexic kids and being dyslexic herself.
“The safety and wellbeing of our students, staff and entire school communities has been throughout the pandemic, and continues to be, our very top priority,” said a DOE spokes person. “It is essential that our students remain in classrooms, receiving in-person instruction and the wraparound supports they need. As always, we will continue to follow the science and adjust guidance if needed.”
By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member Mayor Eric Adams has repeated ly promised a brand-new approach to reading and literacy for students this coming school year. In addi tion to training teachers in phonicsbased curriculums all summer, the city has beefed up its dyslexia sup port and screening.
By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member Class is back in session today and so are the Department of Education’s COVID-19 guide lines for NYC Public Schools. Not returning this semester are mask mandates, daily screen ings and random testings.
“It’ll be terrific,” chimed in Harlem Commonwealth Council Vice Pres ident Suzanne Hurley about the coming reading programs. “Stu dents will actually learn how to read. Learning phonics is fundamental for reading and comprehension. They’re learning to break words into smaller digestible pieces for understanding the word and then sentences. It will definitely help students in our com munity close the gap in education postAdamspandemic.”partnered
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about culture and politics in New York City for The Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please con sider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8wvisiting:
In accordance with New York State Department of Health and NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene guidelines, daily screeners were expelled from city schools on Aug. 16. Students and faculty will receive four home testing kits each month. And those who are sick should stay home. The Depart ment of Education says stu dents and staff shouldn’t come to school if they display symp toms of COVID-19 or other ill nesses and should get tested first. Those who test positive will need to isolate for five days. They may return after, if their symptoms are improving orSincegone.
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your do nation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing sto ries like this one; please con sider making a tax-deductible gift today by visiting: https://ti nyurl.com/fcszwj8w
28 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
New York City logged off of remote learning and re opened their classrooms last September, the Department of Education records 254,752 total reported cases up to Sept. 6 of this week. 190,563 were student cases. Between DOE and Divi sion of Early Childhood Edu cation (DECE) schools, 4,931 classrooms and 17 campuses were closed due to COVID-19 since the reopening.
Vaccinations for students remain optional, but recom mended. So youngsters are al lowed to attend in-person, with or without their shots. Grown ups are a different story, with mandates for educators, staff andAforementionedvisitors. mask man dates graduated last semester, lifted by Mayor Eric Adams this past March. Like vaccines, facecoverings are recommended, but not mandatory, for students unless they’re returning to class six to 10 days after testing pos itive for COVID-19. Accord ing to the DOE, KN95 masks for adults and regular surgicalgrade masks for adults and kids are provided at schools.
Hit the Books: COVID-19 guidelines for back to school week
“When you can’t read it impacts everything you do for your entire life. For children it’s super granu lar, it’s about what’s on paper, read ing the words on a screen, even in games,” said Naomi Peña, one of the founders of the Literacy Academy Collective. “From reading a menu to applying for jobs. Being literate af fects you in every way.” Peña said that the “holistic” pho nics program is based on a “bal anced literacy” approach. She said the kids at PS 161 aren’t labeled or identified as dyslexic, but broad ly supported and tutored if they’re having trouble reading in any way.
Peña is a mother of four dyslexic children as well. She said she came together with other moms to start the school because of their kid’s challenges with reading and learn ing. In the past, she had teachers tell her that she was “overreacting” when she started inquiring about dyslexia when her son exhibited early“Onesymptoms.yearin3rd grade he had a teacher who took his inability to perform in the classroom that my son was lazy and that he didn’t care about his education and by de fault that I was not supporting him at home,” said Peña about a white teacher of her son’s. “She completely ignored my son for the entire school year and subsequently whenever she saw my son in the building for the next two years she ignored him as if he was an evil child and that really bothered him.” She said it’s “unfortunate” that boys of color are treated vastly dif ferently than other students and are often left behind or disregarded if they aren’t quick learners. Made By Dyslexia will also be doing extensive outreach to par ents and families to raise awareness about dyslexia, she said.
On Sept 2, Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released a report, “How the Other Half Lives in Public Housing,” after inspecting housing developments in all five boroughs earlier this year. The report details the “deplorable and often dangerous conditions” at NYCHA, such as apartments overrun with mold, a pest infestation affecting residents with ro dent-based diseases, elevator outag es, water damaged buildings, and heat or hot water disappearing in colder months. Riis Houses opened in 1949 and especially has a history of uninhabitable conditions for tenants.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 29 had been testing for bacteria like E. coli in the water, said Rivera.
Ayo Harrington, co-chair of Lower East Side (LES) Ready, has lived a few blocks from Riis Houses for the last 33 years. Her organization is a part of a coalition of community-based disaster response groups throughout the district that got started after Hurricane Sandy devas tated the area back in 2013. Harrington said last Friday evening, LES Ready vol unteers helped hand out bottles of water and circulate information available for residents. Harrington said she definitely worries about the whole neighborhood’s possible exposure to arsenic.
“We continue to receive encouraging re sults from water tests at Riis Houses. All original water delivery points that were previously thought to test positive for arse nic have been retested and have now been found to be negative,” said a Mayor’s Office spokesperson.TheMayor’s Office said that they have tested approximately 140 additional sites, both at the source and at the point of de livery. The test results for arsenic at 58 sites “so far suggest the water is safe.” But, Riis Houses residents are being asked to continue not to drink or cook with the water in their buildings until all test re sults are Residentsreturned.should use the water stations outside the buildings when possible, said the Mayor’s Office, and bottled water will continue to be handed out. As of Monday, Sept. 5, 97 pallets (each pallet has 84 cases) of water had been distributed. “We want to fully analyze all test results before any recommendations are made. In the meantime, we are continuing to pro vide clean water for anyone who needs it,” said a Mayor’s Office spokesperson.
“When we spoke to tenants on the ground, before the arsenic levels were public, they were already angry and ex hausted. This news exponentially com pounds that city sanctioned suffering,” said Williams via Twitter. By Sept. 3, the Federal Monitor team in vestigating NYCHA requested that all doc uments related to the arsenic issue be preserved and not destroyed. A similar water crisis occurred recent ly in Jackson, Mississippi, where tens of thousands lost running water for a week after a major failure at a water plant, re ported Mississippi Today. The city’s water tank lost pressure when years of neglected and “aged” water main lines were hit with a flood. Some pipes that are integral to the system are more than 100 years old, report ed Mississippi Today. The city’s been working around the clock distributing water to Jacksonians, its resi dents who are about 82% Black, and trying to fix the issue but they are still encourag ing people to boil their water to be on the safeRiveraside.and Harrington couldn’t estimate when the water for Riis Houses would be safe again, but comprehensive testing re sults should be in within the week.
Rivera said that agencies have to regain trust of their residents, streamline multi agency processes, and focus on trans parency going forward. She added that she’s also checked with legal aid in the instance that residents need legal and fi nancial assistance.
Williams released the report, and “less than 12 hours later” The City reported the discovery of the presence of arsenic at Riis Houses. Williams said that the constant water outages at developments were al ready a problem, but now the arsenic was not only a clear example of NYCHA’s “sys temic failures” but their “inadequate” pre paredness and response.
“This just really deepens the mistrust that people have and they’re at this point that they’re not sure who to believe regardless of what the results turn out to be,” she stated.
“People were frightened and angry,” said Harrington. “Angry because of the lack of immediate response to their needs. Wheth er it is lead, water, mold. So this is just an other assault to habitable housing. But they’re also frightened about what does this mean for my kids and families.”
Ariama C. Long is a Report for Ameri ca corps member and writes about culture and politics in New York City for The Amster dam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deduct ible gift of any amount today today by visit ing: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w and have less access to medical resources. “Vaccine access must be equitable, even in the face of high demand,” urged the sen ators. “Any federal targeted response and aid must not inadvertently stigmatize the ongoing public health crisis, but there should be intentional outreach to get re sources to impacted communities. The implementation of a rapid and efficient vaccination program is essential to con taining and eradicating MPV in communi ties across the United States.”
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The physical and emotional ravages of the COVID-19 pan demic made it understandable that people were looking for a lifeline to hold on to. For many, that was the vaccines. Herald ed as the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, vaccines have been a game changer in terms of preventing serious illness from COVID-19. But a myth that people who have been fully vaccinated and then test posi tive for COVID are not actually contagious and can not infect others has persisted.
Health
What can individuals do to safeguard themselves? Accord ing to the Mayo Clinic factsheet on COVID, individuals who are vaccinated can still test posi tive for COVID-19 and spread the disease to others. “Some fully vaccinated people will still get COVID-19 if they are exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19. These are called vaccine break through infections. People with vaccine breakthrough infections may spread COVID-19 to others.” While the disease is less deadly for people who are vac cinated, the CDC also recom mends that individuals should continue to wear masks in doors, get booster shots, stay home if you have been exposed to COVID-19, and continue to get tested for COVID-19. You can also access resources on the AmNews COVID-19 page: https://amsterdamnews.com/covid/
(Image by Alexey Hulsov from Pixabay)
Factcheck: As long as you are vaccinated, if you test positive for COVID you are not contagious
Claim: People who have been fully vaccinated and then test positive for COVID are not actually contagious and can not infect others.
When the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines completed their trials in late 2020 we learned they had an efficacy rate of more than 90% at preventing COVID-19 illness. That 95% vaccine efficacy means is explained in a PBS Newshour article which states: “Imagine conducting a vac cine trial. You randomize 1,000 people to receive the vaccine in one group. You randomize an other 1,000 to be given a place bo in the other group. Say 2.5% of people in the vaccinated group get COVID-19 compared with 50% in the unvaccinat ed group. That means the vac cine has 95% efficacy…So 95% indicates the reduction in the proportion of disease among the vaccinated group. Howev er, a vaccine with 95% efficacy does not mean 5% of vaccinat ed people will get COVID-19. It’s even better news: Your risk of illness is reduced by 95%.”
Can people who are fully vac cinated test positive for COVID and spread the disease? The answer is yes. According to an ar ticle in Nature “Individuals who contract COVID-19 after vacci nation, and even after a booster dose, still shed virus into the air.”
By HEATHER M. BUTTS, JD, MPH, MA Special to the AmNews
The true utility of the vaccines is to protect individuals from ending up in the hospital and dying from COVID-19. Accord ing to the American Medical As sociation “[t]he…vaccines…are doing exactly what they were meant to do: protect against severe illness and hospitaliza tion…Nevertheless, the fact re mains that getting vaccinated is effective in preventing people from getting severely ill or dying from the disease.” Such severe illnesses include Long COVID. As Dr. Donald J. Alcendor, assistant professor of cancer biology at Meharry Med ical College told the AmNews, “If you’re infected with COVID, every time you’re infected, whether it’s a primary infection or reinfec tion or rebound infection, you have the risk of developing Long COVID. And nobody wants that… Because what we’ve seen is that people that even get vaccinat ed, they have different responses to the virus, some of them weak, some of them robust. But the idea of you having a weak response to COVID, and COVID becomes more of a serious illness for you… Weeks later might be on a ventila tor, and at risk of losing your life.”
For overall information regarding what to do if you do test positive for COVID-19, please review this factsheet from the NYC Health https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/covid/Department:covid-19-symptoms-what-to-do-factsheet.pdf
How did we get from these very positive statistics to current rates of COVID-19? While there are sev eral factors, variants, specifically the Delta variant and the Omi cron variant and its sub-types, top the list. When breakthrough COVID cases first began appear ing, they were described as “rare” occurrences. Rare turned to commonplace with the COVID19 variants’ increasing ability to evade the vaccines.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS30 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022
False. People who have been fully vaccinated and then test positive for COVID can still transmit the virus to others. There are several precautions you should take to safeguard yourself and others.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in CAR (MINUSCA) and Rwandan special forces have also expressed concerns about joint opera tions with Wagner over alleged human rights violations. The European Union imposed sanctions on the Wagner Group and Wagner Group-linked individuals in December 2021. Meanwhile, Malian authorities have re peatedly dismissed allegations of human rights abuses as part of a disinformation campaign and have denied the presence of Wagner in the country, even as Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed it earlier this year. But aligning itself with the African Amer ican Civil Rights Movement was what doomed U.S. labor unions. In her book, “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Every one and How We Can Prosper Together,” Heather McGhee points to a conservative talking point that tied unions to support for Black rights. “[P]riming white voters with racist dog whistles was the means; the end was an economic agenda that was harm ful to working- and middle-class voters of all races, including white people. In railing against welfare and the war on poverty, con servatives like President Reagan told white voters that government was the enemy, be cause it favored Black and brown people over them—but their real agenda was to blunt government’s ability to challenge con centrated wealth and corporate power.” This past Labor Day, Andre Powell, an AFSCME leader and long-time Baltimore, Maryland community activist, spoke at a Starbucks Workers United panel about the importance of understanding the role race and racism have played in trade union or ganizing in the United States: “Labor unions are…doing workshops around race. … More and more in the past two de cades, the number of workers of color and women is growing,” Powell said as part of the “Same Struggle, Same Fight: The Im portance of Intersectionality Within the Labor Movement,” panel. “So, it’s good to see them doing the work shops, but we need to just keep in mind that this country, here we are 160 years after the end of the Civil War and during Reconstruc tion, it was a little easier for Black people in the South. But then one of the presidents— I’m thinking Andrew Johnson or Andrew Jack son––withdrew federal troops from the South and that allowed these little renegade bands of racists to come back and take control and harass and terrorize Black people. But they didn’t do it wearing regular clothes, they put on these white sheets with these hoods.
“Put it simply, Wagner has been bad news for civilians,” said Héni Nsaibia, a researcher with ACLED focusing on Mali, and one of the authors of the new report on the group’s activities in the two coun tries. “They have played a central role in this escalation and increase of fatalities.”
The new data complements a growing body of evidence gathered by the United Nations, research institutes and news organizations documenting widespread looting, torture and indiscriminate kill ings in Africa by the group. According to ACLED, Wagner mercenaries have been involved in the deaths of more than 500 civilians in Mali this year, driving casual ties that in the first six months of 2022 have al ready outnumbered last year’s civilian deaths. Earlier this year, Malian soldiers and Russian operatives looted houses and executed hun dreds of men in the village of Moura, before forcing locals to burn bodies in mass graves, according to a New York Times investigation.
An employer of mercenaries, the Wagner Group is “shrouded in secrecy,” says Timo thy Lay, an analyst at the Armed Conflict Lo cation & Event Data Project (ACLED).
“Private military companies can oper ate as legal enablers of legitimate activity or in the shadows, blurring the lines be tween legal and illegal activities,” said Tom Tugendhat, chair of the UK Foreign Affairs Committee. “Despite the threat their use can pose to peace and democracy world wide, international law in this area is am biguous and policing powers are limited.” Multiple U.N. bodies have opened inves tigations into alleged abuses perpetrated by Wagner mercenaries. In June 2021, the U.N. Panel of Experts on the Central African Re public (CAR) introduced reports of “indis criminate killings” and violence against civilians at the hands of “Russian instructors.”
“That legacy of racism has continued in this country: there were movements to beat it back in the 1960s and 1970s and we certainly pushed it back. But then again looking at the latest guy that used to be president, Trump, now the racists have come forward again and are emboldened to come out.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 31
International Continued from page 2 Black Workers Continued from page 10
“Labor unions continue to stand against racism because we’ve got to remem ber the history, we must begin to teach the legacy of racism that started in this country. …We’ve got to link all of these, the intersections that we’ve got…and keep it solid, we’ve got to stay together and stay unified against racism, against sexism, against homophobia, and LG BTQ2-spirit oppression. This country was developed on a racist basis: the kill ing of Native Americans and stealing their land. And that legacy, some of it is trying to come back today. It’s going to take a strong united movement from the labor force and the non-labor force together to fight back.”
32 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
Esther Cooper Jackson, a phenomenal editor and freedom fighter
Religion & Spirituality
By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews
By DALEEL JABIR MUHAMMAD Special to the AmNews
on page 33 (Photo
Farrakhan remembers Min. Ava Muhammad
“‘Freedomways’ has no special interests to serve save those already clearly stated—no political, orga nizational or institution al ties. Those who commit themselves to its support become patrons of a pub lication and an editorial policy designed to provide an open forum for the free ex pression of ideas.” This is but a paragraph from the first ed itorial of “Freedomways” in the spring of 1961, and while it is signed by the editors, the real moving finger having writ probably belonged to Esther Cooper Jackson, a co-founder of the journal. For most of her adult life Jackson was on the ramparts for justice and human rights, and during her 25 years or so as editor of “Freedomways,” she received and refined ar ticles submitted by such dis tinguished writers as James Baldwin, Paul Robeson, Alice Walker, W.E.B. Du Bois, Lor raine Hansberry, and countless others. She joined the ances tors—many of whom she shep herded to print—on August 23, 2022, two days after her 105th birthday in Arlington, Va. There’s a picture in the “Freedomways Reader”––which she edited––of her with Du Bois at the Southern Youth Negro Congress (SYNC) in 1946. She welcomed Du Bois to the podium where he deliv ered one of his most famous speeches “Behold the Land,” in Columbia, South Carolina. Her youthful presence as the COOPER courtesy of NOI Facebook)
See ESTHER
Min. Louis Farrakhan, nation al representative of the Honor able Elijah Muhammad, and the Lost Found Nation of Islam in the West, held a special janazah service (funeral) at their national headquarters in Chicago at their sacred Mosque Maryam this past Saturday, August 3, in honor of his top student, Min. Dr. Ava Muhammad.Min.AvaMuhammad was a long sought after public speaker, educator, lawyer, minister and the national spokesperson of the Honorable Min. Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. She ac cepted Islam in Harlem in 1981 under then Min. Karriem Mu hammad (aka The General) of Muhammad Mosque No.7. She became a staunch defender of Min. Farrakhan throughout the country and the world. The min ister counted her as one of his best“She’sministers.astar of God,” stated Minister Farrakhan. “Stars don’t die. Their light goes out but the light of the star travels through time and space even though the star is billions of light years away when it died, but it’s reaching us now.” He went on to describe her work and the significance of her work as it relates spir itually and metaphorically to the light of a star, “Min. Ava is a star, her life was extinguished in death but down to the ages, people are going to read what she wrote and listen to the words that she spoke,” the minister eloquently equated. “My mom’s prayer, sacrifice, her life and her death was all for Allah,” said Sister Cherelle Mu hammad, daughter of Min. Ava and Brother Darius Muham mad holding back her tears. “She worked hard on her book ‘Natu rally Beautiful,’ to ensure that women and girls would have a reminder of how naturally beau tiful they are.” “She would coun sel people on their personal and marriage issues and leave them in high spirits.” “My mom was fully invested in her Nation, she willingly gave her time, her tal ents, her mind, her spirit and her very being to the Nation of Islam,” Sister Cherelle added. A letter of condolences was read by the national assistant to the Honorable Min. Louis Farra khan, Min. Ishmael Muhammad from the mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, who noted, “I was very impressed to learn about Min. Dr. Muhammad’s life working as an attorney serving as a legal ad viser to the Nation of Islam and as the national spokesperson for Min. Louis Farrakhan. Serving as a member of the Nation of Islam executive council, making histo ry as the first Muslim woman in modern history to hold a posi tion of authority over a Mosque anywhere in the world. Her work as a much sought after nation al speaker and her love for her family, friends and community.
“Min. Ava’s love for Allah in the person of Master Fard Muham mad, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Min. Louis Farrakhan was tire less and immense. “Ava loved purely,” Min. Farrakhan reflect ed. “She was a special woman. She fed from a word and she was faithful to that word. And because she was faithful to that word, she was faithful to what that word came to us to do. To resurrect us from a dead level,” exuberantly stated by Min.SisterFarrakhan.Ava’sjanazah was replete with salutes, from the audience who travelled far and near, along with the full honor guards in uni form who stood around her coffin, which represented the spiritu al and military honors given to members of the Nation of Islam. Min. Ava Muhammad was a known author of several books, including “Real Love.” She was a mentor, a teacher, and a radio host. Sister Ava Muhammad leaves behind two daughters, Sasha and Cherelle, and her husband of 33 years, Brother Darius Muhammad. Initial pathologist results show that her body was clean. She wasn’t in failing health, she didn’t suffer a stroke or heart attack. Results from the full autopsy are pending.
32 • May 26, 2022 - June 1, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS CLASSIFIEDBusiness Directory Mercedes Benz Sprinter Limousine Funerals, Wedding, Tours, Casinos Special Events & www.executivesecurityprotection.com212.531.3792Occassions Are you raising a troubled teen? Know someone who is? Get: Teen Preganancy & Teen Drug Abuse Its’s a 60 minute DVD full of sound insight. To order send $29.95 plus $3.50 shipping and handling to: A. Nat Curtis P.O. Box 306, New York, NY 10026-0306 paypal: axnatxx@gmail.com (Delivery in 3 weeks) DeborahAuthorBattle's Children“ForandtheYoungatHeart” Available at: BarnesAmazon,andNoble,andGooglePlay Announcing An AmericanAfricanPhilosophyofMedicinebyFrederickNewsome,MD,MSc An examination of race, medical knowledge and history based on the author’s life as a physician in West Africa and Harlem, New York. Available at Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and Dorrance Publishing Company “A www.fbiwarontupac.com-Prof.presentation!”masterlyAhatiN.N.Toure AVAILABLE EVERYWHEREBOOKSTORESAT Dawnmcdermott32218@yahoo.com(904)442-3810 PARTYMUZIC.COM WE’VE GOT WHAT YOU NEED FROM ALL MUSIC TO VINTAGE CLOTHING, AROMATHERAPY & MORE. WE SELL 80 MINUTE CONTINUOUS-PLAY PARTY MUSIC. (ALL GENRES) STOP BY THE SHOP, OR VISIT US ONLINE WE ARE NOT JUST A RECORD STORE, WE ARE YOUR MUZIC BOUTIQUE STOP IN AND ASK FOR TYRONE 438 MARCUS GARVEY BLVD BROOKLYN, NY 11213 (646) WWW.PARTYMUZIC.COM406.9102 especiallyservinghelpingawareness,Spreadingandothersinneedhasbeenmypersonalmission,whenitconcernsour children. My books will focus on social issues facing children. Available amazonbooks.comatSHARONDASH TO DISPLAY YOUR BUSINESS INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT ADVERTISING SALES CONSULTANT William J. Atkins WILLIAM.ATKINS@AMSTERDAMNEWS.COM P: 212-932-7429 F: 212-932-7497 Executive Exotic Limo CustomFleet: Mercedes Benz Sprinter Cadillac Escalade ESV Mercedes Benz S550 Funerals, Wedding, Tours, Casinos Special Events & Occassions Office: www.executiveexoticlimo.comMobile:212-531-3792917-560-6838 Executive Security & Limo Service Funerals, Wedding, Tours, Casinos Special Events & Occassions Office: 212-531-3792 Mobile: www.executivesecurityprotection.com917-560-6838 CustomFleet: Mercedes Benz Sprinter Cadillac Escalade ESV Mercedes Benz S550 www.amazon.com/author/reginaj Suicide Continued from page 3
Justina Schlund, senior director of Content and Field Learning at Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) in Chicago, said that emotional and mental wellness heavily influences students’ ability to learn and their healthy development, and through out the pandemic there was a dis proportionate impact on children ofDr.color.Michael Lindsey, the dean and Paulette Goddard professor of Social Work at NYU Silver School of Social Work, studies child and adolescent mental health. He also helped create the report “Ring the Alarm: The Crisis of Black Youth Suicide in America.” Lindsey said that the COVID19 crisis in high poverty-impacted communities has led to “enduring struggles,” such as loss of life, dis ruption of quality of life, job dis placement, and a disconnection of kids and adolescents from schools. Even though it’s two years removed from the initial pandemic, students are still adjusting or falling behind engendering a battle with depres sion, anxiety, and trauma, he said.
32 • August 25, 2022 - August 31, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
Continued from page 32 knowledge, and as we all know, knowledge is power,” said Joseph.
In the AAKOMA study, depres sion was most severe among Native American, Latino/Hispanic, and Black youth while anxiety was high est among Latino/Hispanic youth.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 33 preeminent scholar and his torian personifies her place in the pantheon of the civil rights struggle. That she was in this place at this time was consis tent with her pedigree as the daughter of Esther Georgia Irving Cooper, a president of the NAACP’s Arlington branch. Her first lessons in activism occurred at such meetings lis tening to her mother and other members of the movement. After attending segregated schools, she enrolled at Ober lin College and later earned a master’s degree in sociology from Fisk University in 1940. Her thesis “The Negro Woman Domestic Work in Relation to Trade Unionism” was indicative of her political tendency and it was honored with a Rosenwald Fellowship for her subsequent study of African American youth toward World War II. She was well on her way to becom ing a prominent professor, but it was hard to dismiss her ac tivist inclinations and she was soon a member of the Southern Negro Youth Congress. Her political prowess and in stincts were quickly recog nized. She was assigned to the Voting Project in Birmingham, Alabama, and it was there that fate would introduce her to James Jackson, her future hus band. He was involved in fight ing for the rights of tobacco workers and for the next seven years they committed them selves to ending Jim Crow laws while giving the SNYC a pres ence across the South. She worked alongside Jackson as he continued his labor strug gles and his rise in the ranks of the Communist Party. They were viewed as the ideal activ ist couple, equally devoted to each other and the movement. After her husband fulfilled his military obligation during World War II, Esther continued to work as a political organizer, mainly in the SNYC where she began mentoring young Afri can American writers and art ists. A portion of those years can be found in their associ ation with Louis and Dorothy Burnham, another remarkable duo the Jacksons met during their days in the SNYC. Esther, in the pages of the “Reader,” commented on the final Esther Cooper
“When you think about how our young people of color, that fatigue that you’re seeing that’s showing up in class––they’re putting their head on the desk and slumping down in chairs––that’s not neces sarily seen as a child with depres sion,” said Breland-Noble. “That might be perceived as a child who’s lazy and disinterested.”
For anxiety, a feeling of being wor ried or nervous was universal, but each group showed slightly differ ent signs as well. Black youth were more likely to struggle with deci sion-making and worry about bad things happening as a result of anxi ety, while Asian American Pacific Is lander (AAPI) and Native American youth tended to be avoidant of wor rying situations, said the study. Lindsey posits that a contribut ing factor to the rising rates of youth of color is a tendency towards pun ishment of certain behaviors rather than mental health and behav ioral support for kids. The school
The symptoms of depression most often presented as kids “being tired and having low energy.”
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NEW YORK STATE 2023 Annual Action Plan
Notice of formation of EN GAGE CONSULTING SERVICES LLC. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/14/22. Office lo cation: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served The address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: Chialing Yang, 243 W. 21st St., Apt 4D, New York, NY 10011. Purpose: to engage in any lawful act or activity with in the purposes for which limited liability companies may be organized pursuant to Limited Liability Company Law provided that the limited liability company is not formed to engage in any act or activity requiring the consent or approval of any state official, department, board, agency, or other body without such consent or approval first being obtained.
FrenchCocco LLC Arts of Org. filed with Sec'y of State (SSNY) on 06/21/22. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC for process & shall mail copy to: 35 W 90th St, 5K, NY, NY 10024. Purpose: Any lawful
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
Reservations will be REQUIRED for individuals wishing to participate in the live hearings Interested individuals must RSVP by calling (518) 48 6-3452 or sending an e-mail to HCRConPln@hcr.ny.gov no later than 5:00pm Friday, September 16, 2022. Attendees must present a valid drivers lic ense or other government-issued photo ID upon entry to any of the facilities. Each site is accessible to individuals with mobility impairments. Every ef fort will be made to accommodate persons with other special needs. To do so, it will be necessary to receive any requests no later than September 16, 2022. Individuals seeking additional information regard ing the hearings may call DHCRs toll-free number, 1-866ASK-DHCR (275-3427) or (518) 486-3452.
CES 101 LEGAL NOTICES101 LEGAL NOTICES101 LEGAL NOTICES101 LEGAL NOTICES 101 LEGAL NOTICES
The Annual Action Plan will describe the States planned use of federal Fiscal Year 2023 funds to address the needs identified by its five-year Consolidated Plan and further the Consolidated Plans obje ct ives and will also desc ribe the States methods for distributing these funds.
Purpose: Any lawful activity
USMILE SL CONSULTING LLC Art of Org. filed with the SSNY on 03/25/2022. 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, LEGALCORP SOLUTIONS 1060 Broadway Suite 100 AL BANY, NY 12204 Purpose: Any lawful purpose.
To participate in certain federal community development and housing programs, the State of New York must prepare a 5-year Consolidat ed Plan and an annual Ac tion Plan and provide opportunit ies for citizens to participate in its development As part of this proces s, the State will conduct public hearings to obtain the views of citizens, public agencies, local governments, and other interested parties on the housing and non-housing community devel opment needs of the St ate before a draft Annual Action Plan for the year 2023 is prepared
The Stat e of New York seeks to obtain the views of citi zens and interested parties on the development of the 2023 Action Plan. As part of this process, the State will conduct a series of virt ual public hearings on Sept ember 21, 2022 at 10 :00 am and September 22, 2022 at 1: 00 pm to give a brie f overview of the program objectives a nd time line for Plan devel opment. Information on how to participate in the virtual public he aring may be found at https://hc r.ny.gov/pressroom. A recording of the presenta tion will also be made available. For any person that wish es to present testimony in person, the following HCR locations will be connected to the virtua l hearing via webex; 641 Lexington Av enue in New York City; 38-40 State Street in Albany; 620 Erie Boulevard W est in Syracuse; and 535 Washington Street in Buffalo.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK TO: Un known Distributees Attorney General of the State of New York Richard A. Nurse Unknown Distributees of Norma A. Nurse Unknown Distributees of Ronald A. Nurse to Richard A. Nurse, whose whereabouts are unknown, if living, and if they died subsequent to the decedent herein, to their heirs at law, next of kin, distributees, legatees, executors, administrators, as signees and successors in interest whose names and places of residence are unknown; to the heirs at law, next of kin and distributees of Norma A. Nurse and Ronald A. Nurse, if living and if any of them be dead, to their heirs at law, next of kin, distributees, legatees, executors, administrators, assignees and successors in interest whose names and places of resi dence are unknown and cannot, after diligent inquiry, be as certained by the petitioner herein; and to all other heirs at law, next of kin and distributees of Joyce J. Nurse, a/k/a Joyce Nurse, the decedent herein, if living and if any of them be dead, to their heirs at law, next of kin, distributees, legatees, executors, administrators, assignees and successors in interest whose names and places of residence are unknown and cannot after diligent inquiry, be ascertained by the petitioner herein; being the persons interested as creditors, legatees, devisees, beneficiaries, distributees, or otherwise in the estate of Joyce J. Nurse, a/k/a Joyce Nurse, deceased, who at the time of her death was a resident of 61 Hamilton Pl, New York, New York 10031; A petition having been duly filed by the Public Ad ministrator of the County of New York, who maintains an office at 31 Chambers Street, Room 311, New York, New York 10007.
Ahern Painting Contractors, Inc is seeking DBE Subcon tractor proposals for the Project: “C34916 Overcoating Painting & Steel Repairs of Elevated Structure Kings Highway to W. 8th Street Culver Line in the Borough of Brooklyn” Please contact Anna at 718-639-5880 for de FILE NO 2018-3842/A
Notice of formation of 130 WEST 131st STREET., LLC. Arts of Org. filed with the Sec'y of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/26/2022. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail a copy to: 130 W. 131st St., Ste. 1, NY, NY 10027. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity
Notice of Formation of 170 JAVA HOLDER, LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/05/22. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 60 East 42nd St., Ste. 1300, NY, NY 10165. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543
YOU ARE HEREBY CITED TO SHOW CAUSE before the New York County Surrogates Court at 31 Chambers Street, New York, New York, on October 13th 2022 at 9:30 A.M., in room 503, why the following relief stated in the ac count of proceedings, a copy of the summary statement thereof being attached hereto, of the Public Administrator of the County of New York as administrator of the goods, chattels and credits of said deceased, should not be granted: (i) that her account be judicially settled; (ii) that a hearing be held to determine the identity of decedents distributees at which time proof pursuant to SCPA §2225 may be presented, or in the al ternative, that the balance of the funds in this estate be deposited with the Commissioner of Finance of the City of New York for the benefit of the decedents unknown distributees; (iii) that the Surrogate approve the reasonable amount of compensation as reported in Schedules C and C-1 of the account of proceedings to the attorney for the petitioner for legal services rendered to the petitioner herein; (iv) that the persons above ment ioned and all necessary and proper persons be cited to show cause why such relief should not be granted; (v) that an order be granted pursuant to SCPA §307 where required or di rected; and (vi) for such other and further relief as the Court may deem just and proper Hon. Rita Mella Surrogate Dated, Attested and Sealed August 17th, 2022 (Seal) Diana Sanabria Chief Clerk Schram Graber & Opell P.C. Counsel to the Public Administrator, New York County 11 Park Place, Suite 1008 New York, New York 10007 (212) 896-3310 Note: This citation is served upon you as required by law. You are not required to appear If you fail to appear it w ill be assumed that you do not object to the relief requested. You have the right to have an attorney-at-law appear for you and you or your attorney may req uest a copy of the full account from the petitioner or petitioners attorney
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34 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS CLASSIFIED ADS
All speakers are urged to provide a written copy of their testimony. Individuals who are unable to attend may view the recorded presentation on our website: https://hcr.ny.gov/pressroom and submit comments to NYS HCR , At tention: Rachel Yerdon, 38-40 State Street, Albany, NY 12207, or e-ma il them to HCRConPln@hcr.ny.gov. Written comments must be recei ved no later than September 28, 2022. E-mail comments must also be sent by this date. Intere st ed parties ma y also comp lete the 2023 Action Plan Community Needs Survey, also available on our websit e. #e.
The Consolidated Plan and the Annual Action Plan focus principally on five federal programs: the New York State Community Development Block Grant Program; the HOME Investment Partners hips Program; the Housing Trust Fund; the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program; and the Emergency Solutions Grants Program.
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Notice of formation of BLOCKSURGE LAB LLC. Arts of Org. filed with the Se cy of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/5/22. Office location: NY County SSNY has been des ignated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served. The address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: Song Law Firm, LLC., 400 Kelby St., Suite 1900, Fort Lee, NJ 07024. Purpose: to engage in any lawful act or activity within the purposes for which limited liability companies may be organized pur suant to Limited Liabi lity Company Law provided that the limited liability company is not formed to engage in any act or activity requiring the consent or approval of any state official, department, board, agency, or other body without such consent or ap proval first being obtained.
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Notice of Formation of JOSHUA PERLMAN & AS SOCIATES LLP Art. Of Org. filed with SSNY on 4/12/22. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: 20 W 64th Street, Apt 12N, New York, New York, 10023. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.
Notice of Formation of 54 GREENE HOLDER, LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/05/22. Office location: NY County Princ. office of LLC: 60 East 42nd St., Ste. 1300, NY, NY 10165. SSNY desig nated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Al bany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity
NOTICE OF FORMATION of NYCNCC SUB-CDE 16, LLC (the “LLC”) filed with the Secretary of State of the State of New York (“SSNY”) on 05/16/2022. Office location: New York County. The princi pal business address of the LLC is: One Liberty Plaza, New York, New York 10006 SSNY has been designated as the agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail service of process to c/o New York City Economic Development Corporation, One Liberty Plaza, New York, New York 10006, Attention: Gener al Counsel Purpose: any lawful purpose.
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LoveU4FreeMediaNYC, LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 5/19/2022. Office location: NY County. SSNY designat ed as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail copy to: 2937 8th Ave., Apt. 20K, NY, NY 10039. Purpose: any lawful activity
COURT STATE NEW YORK OF
Notice of Formation of JL De sign Studio LLC Arts of Org. filed with the Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 06/29/2022. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: United States Corporation Agents, Inc., 7014 13th Ave., Ste 202, Brooklyn, NY 11228. The principal business address of the LLC is: 169 East 91st St, Apt 2B, New York, NY 10128. Purpose: any lawful act.
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Notice of Formation of GOLD SKY STRATEGIES LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/09/22. Office location: NY County Princ. office of LLC: 355 S. End Ave., Apt. 28L, NY, NY 10280. SSNY desig nated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Al bany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Marketing services
Date Filed: 8/9/2022
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 FILLING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT, A DEFAULT JUDGMENT MAY BE ENTERED AND YOU CAN LOSE YOUR SPEAKHOME.TOAN ATTORNEY OR GO TO THE COURT WHERE YOUR CASE IS PENDING FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON HOW TO ANSWER THE SUMMONS AND PROTECT YOUR SENDINGPROPERTY.APAYMENT
Notice of Formation of JAGUAR HOLDINGS 1 LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/23/21. Office location: NY County SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 347 5th Ave., Ste. 300, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful activity
Notice of Formation of JAGUAR HOLDINGS 2 LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/23/21. Office location: NY County SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 347 5th Ave., Ste. 300, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful Noactivitytice of Formation of JAGUAR HOLDINGS 3 LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/23/21. Office location: NY County SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 347 5th Ave., Ste. 300, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful activity
NEW YORK
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TO THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANTS: The foregoing Summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Hon. Francis Kahn, III, a Justice of the Supreme Court, New York County entered August 2, 2022 and filed with the complaint and other papers in the New York County Clerks Office.NOTICE
THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is to foreclose a Mortgage to secure $40,700.00 and interest, recorded in the New York County office of the City Register on May 3, 1989, at Reel 1569 of Mortgages, page 205 covering premises known as 151 East 20th Street, Unit 4C, New York, N Y 10003 a/k/a Block 876, Lot 1118. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the premises described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above. Plaintiff designates New York County as the place of the trial. Venue is based upon the County in which the mortgaged premises is situated.
Notice of Formation of JMB JUSTCOME SUIT LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/05/22. Office location: NY County Princ. office of LLC: c/o United American Land, LLC, 73 Spring St., 6th Fl., NY, NY 10012. SSNY desig nated 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
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Notice of formation of REASSURE FUNDING LLC Arts of Org. filed with the SSNY on 07/14/22. Office: NY County SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail copy to: Thomson Ollunga LLP, 41 Madison Ave., 31st Fl., NY, NY 10010. Purpose: Merchant cash advance.
OF
RMR Solutions Arts of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/3/2022. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail copy to: 496 W 133rd St, Apt. 2E, New York, NY 10027. Purpose: any lawful activity
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TO YOUR MORTGAGE COMPANY WILL NOT STOP THIS FORECLOSURE ACTION. YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE Dated:COURT.October 4, 2021
Frank M. Cassara, Esq. Senior Associate Attorney LOGS LEGAL GROUP LLP F/K/A SHAPIRO, DICARO & BARAK, LLC Attorneys for Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (585) 247-9000 Fax: (585) 247-7380 Our File No 14-031865 #99690
PROPERTY ADDRESS: 151 East 20th Street, Unit 4C, New York, NY 10003
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NOTICE OF FORMATION of NYCNCC SUB-CDE 17, LLC (the “LLC”) filed with the Secretary of State of the State of New York (“SSNY”) on 05/16/2022. Office location: New York County. The princi pal business address of the LLC is: One Liberty Plaza, New York, New York 10006 SSNY has been designated as the agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail service of process to c/o New York City Economic Development Corporation, One Liberty Plaza, New York, New York 10006, Attention: Gener al Counsel Purpose: any lawful purpose.
Notice of formation of KOB NYC LLC Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/8/22. Office lo cation: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to: 1-3 Eldridge St., NY, NY 10002, Purpose: any lawful act.
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Prevail The Label LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 6/15/2022. Office location: NY County. SSNY designat ed as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail copy to: 40 Wall St., Ste. #2859 New York, NY 10005. Purpose: providing professional consulting services to clients.
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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 a notice of appearance on the attorneys for the Plaintiff within thirty (30) days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service. The United States of America, if designated as a defendant in this action, may appear within sixty (60) days of service hereof. In case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the complaint.
KeyBank, NA, s/b/m Goldome, Plaintiff, -againstKings County Public Administrator, as the Limited Administrator of the Estate of Mary Searcy a/k/a Mary L. Sear cy a/k/a Mary Rittenhouse a/k/a Mary S. Rittenhouse; Dolores Thompson; Albert Thompson; Vivian Davis; Tommie Benn; Marquita Benn, Charles Benn, if he be living or dead, his spouse, heirs, devisees, distributees and successors in interest, all of whom and whose names and places of residence are unknown to Plaintiff; Jermaine Benn; Micaela Benn; Tion Benn, if be he living or dead, his spouse, heirs, devisees, distributees and successors in interest, all of whom and whose names and places of residence are unknown to plaintiff; Mark bolden, if he be living or dead, his spouse, heirs, devisees, distributees and successors in interest, all of whom and whose names and places of residence are unknown to Plaintiff; Nachon Shebaniah Benn; Ltan Hale, Mildred Benn; Roslyn McCain; Leah D. Hudnall; Truenetta Jackson; Gwendolyn Daughtery a/k/a Gwendolyn Daugherty, if she be living or dead, her spouse, heirs, devisees, distributees and successors in interest, all of whom and whose names and places of residence are unknown to Plaintiff; Johnny Benn; Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company; The Board of Manager of the Gramercy Park Condominium Homeowners Association; State of New York; City of New York Environmental Control Board; City of New York Parking Violations Bureau; City of New York Transit Adjudication Bureau, and JOHN DOE, said name being fictitious, it being the intention of Plaintiff to designate any and all occupants of premises being foreclosed herein, and any parties, corporations or entities, if any, having or claiming an interest or lien upon the mortgaged premises, Defendants.
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SPORTS
By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews
The deciding Game 5 of the Sun-Sky series is tonight as Connecticut roared back to defeat Chicago 104-80 in Game 4.
While the WNBA did away with the Eastern and Western Conference playoff structure several years ago, it has boiled down to that in this year’s semifinals. The Seattle Storm and the Las Vegas Aces faced off in the West and the Chicago Sky and Connecticut Sun are mixing it up in the East to earn spots in the Finals. No team was going down without a fight. Nowhere was that more evident than in game three in the West, in which the Aces prevailed 110–98 in overtime on Sunday. A’ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray combined for 63 points. “This is probably the game where there were so many back and forths,” said Gray. “That’s what playoff basket ball is all about. It felt good.” Regard ing overtime, she added, “We said in the huddle that the momentum is on our side now. It was deflating for the home team [Seattle] that we had to go into overtime. We were ready. We came out locked in for those five minutes.” “We live for these moments,” said Wilson. “You work hard for these bright light games. Staying in and understand ing that we worked hard to get to where we are and never lose sight of that.”
By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews
The WNBA Finals get underway on Sunday. Several WNBA postseason awards have been handed out. Rhyne Howard of the Atlanta Dream has been named Rookie of the Year, and the All-Rookie Team con sists of Howard, Shakira Austin of the Washington Mystics, Queen Egbo of the Indiana Fever, Rebekah Gardner of the Chicago Sky and NaLyssa Smith of the Fever. The Sky’s head coach/general man ager James Wade was named WNBA Bas ketball Executive of the Year. Wilson received Defensive Player of the Year and leads the All-Defensive First Team, which also includes Bre anna Stewart of the Storm, Sylvia Fowles of the Minne sota Lynx and Natasha Cloud and Ariel Atkins of the Mys tics. All-Defensive Second Team consists of Alyssa Thomas and Jonquel Jones of the Sun, Ezi Magbegor and Gabby Thomas of the Storm and Brittney Sykes of the Los Angeles Sparks. Brionna Jones of the Sun was named Sixth Player of the Year. First-year head coach Becky Hammon garnered Coach of the Year. She is the third former WNBA player to win the award, but the first to receive the honor in her debut season and the only coach to win the award coaching the team for which she played (the Aces were previously the San Antonio Stars).
A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces are headed to the WNBA Finals after a victory over the Seattle Storm (WNBA photo)
Aces make the WNBA finals and end Sue Bird’s epic career
Foreign tour proves joyful for Columbia’s women’s hoopsters
It was the right team at the right time, said Columbia University women’s bas ketball coach Megan Griffith, who recently completed a one-week foreign tour through Morocco and Spain with the team. The trip had original ly been planned for 2020, but having it delayed was sort of a blessing as this team has not only put in the work, but also notched the success to make the most of it. “Being able to build off of where we left off, but also shotgun start our season,” said Griffith. “The trip hon estly gave us an opportunity to grow closer as a program. … Going somewhere differ ent, experiencing something different with those people, you learn about yourself. Bas ketball was kind of like the bonus. Coming away from it, I would say our team is very ready to take this next step.” Griffith wanted the team to travel somewhere interesting and educational. The team has two players from Spain, Mary Lobon and Noa Comesaña, who were ex cited to experience their home country with their teammates, but at least one of the cities they visited, Seville, was new to them. Their parents came to the games, which was a proud moment for them. The trip even provided the coaches an oppor tunity to do some recruiting.
The loss for the Storm ended the remark able career of New York native and Christ the King High School legend Sue Bird. The 41-year-old point guard from Syos set (Long Island) is a four-time WNBA champion, 13-time WNBA All-Star, alltime WNBA leader in assists and five-time Olympic gold medalist. In June, Bird an nounced this would be her final season.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 37
Columbia University women’s basketball team enjoying its first international trip (Columbia University Athletics/Teyvon Bussey photo)
“It didn’t change a lot of what we do, but it increased and helped our quick thinking and making decisions under pres sure and time,” Griffith said. “The game’s called different, so we had to adjust to that on their home turf. It was an opportu nity to challenge our team to embrace the differences of the game. … They’re feeling really good after this trip.”
The Aces finished off the Storm on Tuesday with a 97-92 win to take the series 3-1. Gray topped the Aces with 31 points and Wilson added 23 and a gamehigh 13 rebounds.
“There were so many team bonding moments,” said Griffith. “One of our games, we went out to dinner with an other team. They were chatting the entire time. It didn’t matter who spoke Spanish or English, basketball is what brings us all together and creates these opportunities. That was such a metaphor for life and sports teaching life lessons.” All the 13 players who made the trip got to play in the games, whether they have been starters or re serves during their collegiate seasons. A big takeaway for Griffith was how much some players have evolved just since the end of last season. Of course, additional skills were acquired during this trip, during which they had to adapt to a shorter shot clock and a difference in the court.
The 81-54 Yankees held a 4.5 game lead over the second place Tampa Bay Rays, who stood at 76-58.
Daniel Jones gets another new start under firstyear head coach Brian Daboll and first-year general manager Joe Schoen (Bill Moore photo)
By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor
The Mets begin a three-game series with the Marlins in Miami tomorrow then host the Chicago Cubs in Queens for three games next Monday through Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the Yankees placed first baseman Anthony Rizzo on the 10-day injured list due to headaches (MLB.com photo)
The Mets had lost three straight games against two of the worst teams in baseball to relinquish sole possession of first head ing into yesterday’s doubleheader on the road versus the Pittsburgh Pirates. They dropped back-to-back games to the Wash ington Nationals at Citi Field Saturday and Sunday, losing both by 7-1 scores. Then the Mets were soundly beaten by the Pirates 8-2 in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. The Nation als were 48-88 as of yesterday, last in the NL East, while the Pirates were at the bottom of the NL Central at 50-84.
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS38 • September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 The Schoen-Daboll era begins in earnest with the Giants’ opener
Mets and Yankees labor to maintain division leads
The stewardships of Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur and Jerry Reese, while not too long ago, feel as if they are in the distant past. The imprints of Dave Get tleman and Joe Judge are still deep within the Giants’ roster. But as the team gears up for the 2022 season opener versus the Tennessee Titans on the road this Sunday (4:25 p.m.), it is firmly the Joe Schoen-Brian Daboll era now. “I’m just trying to do the best I can to help the players out in terms of their preparation, prac tice schedule, and really not focus on that,” said Daboll on Tuesday regarding his emotions ahead of his regular season coaching debut, per the Giants website. “I’d be lying to say that I’m not honored, again, to be stand ing up here. But my focus is on the game and the players. There will be a time and place for that. I want to do everything I can to get ready for this game.”
The Yankees could either see the gap be tween themselves and the Rays increase or contract as the Major League Baseball slate is in its closing month. Like the Mets, the Yankees were slumping since the end of August. They were 3-6 over their past nine games heading into yesterday’s series ending matchup with the Twins.
By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor
The Giants’ first-year general manag er Schoen and rookie head coach Daboll are charged with pulling the Giants out of the abyss. Former coaches McAdoo, Shurmur, Judge and erstwhile GMs Reese and Gettleman all share in the account ability for the Giants not making the playoffs since the 2016 season and fail ing to win the NFC East division since the 2011 campaign, their last Super Bowl championship season. But the success of an organization begins and ends with the ownership, which ultimately signs off on the organi zation’s most significant hires and often the selection of high draft picks, partic ularly quarterbacks, many who become the faces of NFL franchises. So Schoen and Daboll aspire to replicate the suc cess the Giants experienced in win ning Super Bowls XLII and XLVI, first with Ernie Acorsi as the GM followed by Reese, who was the director of player personnel under Accorsi before rising to general manager. Both had Tom Cough lin as their head coach and Eli Manning at QB for those momentous victories. Schoen and Daboll enter their inaugu ral season with the Giants having Daniel Jones as QB1. Daboll will be the third head coach for which Jones has played since being drafted fifth overall by the Giants in 2019. One of the first signifi cant decisions Schoen and Daboll made was not exercising the fifth-year option of Jones’ rookie contract, meaning they can either place the franchise tag on him after this season, sign him to a long-term deal, or let the Charlotte, North Carolina native walk. It is an urgently important season for the 25-year-old Jones, and an intense and consequential evaluation year by Scheon and Daboll. Similarly, after enduring the egregious mistakes and missteps of the previous re gimes, diehard Giants fans will be heavi ly scrutinizing Schoen and Daboll. After developing the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen into one of the NFL’s best QBs, the duo are keenly aware how an elite quarterback can elevate the fortunes of a franchise.
The Mets and Yankees both once held double digit leads in their respective divi sions this season. The Mets in the Nation al League East and the Yankees in the AL East. Yet the margins are fleeting. When the MLB schedule began yesterday, the Mets were tied with the Atlanta Braves for first place with identical records of 85-51.
The Mets’ issues have primarily been a lack of run production. Over their previ ous nine games, the Mets scored a total of just 24 runs for an average of 2.66 per game. Over that period dating back to Aug. 27 the Mets are 4-5. Their slide, said manager Buck Showal ter on Tuesday, has put the team on notice.
“It catches your attention because they’ve been so good for so long, 100-some odd games,” Showalter cited. “You always tip your cap to the opposition but you know, guys are frustrated right now because they know they are capable of better.”
For Jones, it will be a week to week jour ney over the 17-game schedule. “It’s about us, it’s about us executing our plays and doing what we need to do as a unit and an offense,” he said from Giants practice on Tuesday. “We’re preparing for [the Titans], but we’re really focused on us this week.” And the focus of many eyes will be squarely on him.
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The Yankees are concluding a five-game series in the Bronx against the Minnesota Twins today ahead of a critically important three-game set versus the Rays at Yankee Stadium this weekend beginning tomorrow.
Although Aaron Judge is on a historic home run pace, hitting his 54th on Monday in a 5-2 Yankees win over the Twins, putting him only seven behind Roger Maris’ fran chise record 61, he hasn’t been able to sin gularly carry the team which has obvious holes in the lineup, exampled by infielder DJ LaMahieu grappling with a 2-38 plunge at the plate over his last 10 games before Tuesday’s rainout. It has been the opposite for Judge, who tops the Yankees in every major statis tical batting category. In addition to his MLB lead in homers, Judge had 117 RBIs, was hitting .302, had 146 hits and carried an OPS (on-base and slugging percent age) of 1.085, which was also first over all in baseball. But his outfield mate and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton has been ham pered by various injuries. He missed 28 games with left Achilles tendonitis before coming off of the injured list on Aug. 25 and on Monday fouled a pitch off his foot and ankle. He was listed as day-to-day. First baseman Anthony Rizzo was placed on the 10-day IL yesterday before a doublehead er with the Twins resulting from headaches and a back issue. After taking an epidural shot for back pain, there were concerns that Rizzo’s headaches could be related to the epidur al. “We don’t think so based on this, but he had the epidural and now the head aches,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “It’s hard to tell. I know some of the images and stuff were good signs as far as not being that, but I think they’re trying to get heads around exactly why.”
“The thing that drew me to St. Francis was one, the culture that they have in the school,” said Kes hwar, 22. “Two, the attitude of the coach wanting to do well with the team and wanting the best for us as a group. It felt like the right one and I chose it. “To be able to start from ground up, to set down goals and stan dards we want within the team is an honor and a challenge,” she added. “It helps me grow as a person and it helps me develop. … It’s been a great journey.” Keshwar started playing soccer at around age nine and fell in love with the sport. Becoming a goalkeeper happened quite un expectedly. Originally a forward, over time she found her posi tion in defense and was recruit ed to the junior national team as a defender. When she was around 13, there was a shooting drill and each person took a turn at the goal. “I was saving all the goals,” she recalled. “We didn’t have a proper goalkeeper then, so they had me start training with the goalkeeping coach.”
Klil Keshwar helping St. Francis build women’s soccer
By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews
Some sneakerheads are loyal to a specif ic brand. Others buy a shoe because it is worn by their favorite NBA or NFL player. Many are technicians. Similar to a skilled mechanic who knows exactly what’s under the hood of a car, an experienced sneaker head knows how to spot an authentic shoe and spot counterfeit footwear.
“You get a good experience with every one, you have the season veteran sneak erhead and the person that is just buying their first pair of sneakers,” Brown ob served. “I still remember the first pair of sneakers that I bought, I bought a pair of Forces [Air-Force Ones] in the fifth grade.”
By JAMMEL CUTLER Special to the AmNews
All-time great athletes such as Micheal Jordan globally popularized sneakers rep resenting Nike and became wealthy in the process. At the start of last NBA season, 22 players had their own signature shoes. But now entertainers, notably Kanye West, have also made a fortune in the in dustry. West has partnered with Adidas to establish the Yeezy brand that includes sneakers and the increasingly trendy slides. Countless people can recall buying their fa vorite pair of sneakers and saving money as a youth to purchase a pair of sneakers they deeply desired. These are memories shared by everyday working sneaker lovers and famous athletes such as former NFL All-Pro Antonio Brown, an attendee at New York Got Sole. “I love the energy here, thousands of
Thousands of sneakerheads attended the recent New York Got Sole sneaker convention held in Secaucus, New Jersey (Jammel Cutler photo) St. Francis goalkeeper Klil Keshwar (St. Francis Athletics photos)
When you are walking around any sneak er convention, you are bound to hear some one say, “two for five [hundred] right here,” or “four-fifty deadstock,” and “I got the ex clusive right here from the latest drops.” That jargon doesn’t sound familiar? No? For a multitude of enthusiasts identi fying as sneakerheads, this is everyday lingo that bonds them as a community. Many attended this year’s New York Got Sole Convention, one of the biggest sneak er conventions in the country. It was held Aug. 27-28 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, New Jersey. “I love coming here,” said Alfred Sum jmer, a vendor at the convention. “I brought my son here to learn the ins and outs of sneaker reselling. We both love sneakers, and being here gave us a chance to bond over something we both care deeply about,” Alfred said. This year thousands of like-mind ed people descended upon Secaucus. “I always come out to car shows and conven tions like this because it gives me a chance to see what regular everyday people are buying,” said vendor Omar Brown. Sneaker culture is a lifestyle, which is why major apparel brands have evolved over the past six decades from narrowly creating shoes focused on athletic perfor mance to designing footwear for fashion.
people are here to show their love for sneakers and fashion,” said the 34-yearold Brown, who won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2020 season and is currently a free-agent.
Over the summer, Keshwar played with Trinidad and Toba go’s women’s na tional team for the CONCACAF (Con federation of North, Central America and Caribbean Associa tion Football) World Cup qualifying. The international experi ence was exhilarating. “You get a differ ent experience inter nationally in terms of your game intelli gence,” said Keshwar, who hopes to play professionally and then become a sports commentator. “To be able to bring that back to the [St. Fran cis] team and help the younger ones de velop and grow from that is such a great opportunity.”
Growing up in Trinidad, West Indies, Klil Keshwar envisioned playing collegiate soccer in the U.S. She did not imagine help ing a college build a women’s soccer program from the ground up, but when the opportunity to do just that at St. Francis College in Brooklyn arose, she stepped up to the challenge. “Both on the players’ and the coaches’ end, we have to be able to organize the team and find players that stick around togeth er,” said Keshwar, who is part of St. Francis’ first-ever women’s soccer team. “For us to be able to actual ly get that within four years I think is a great thing. I believe this year we are able to go far and do well in ourNowconference.”aseniormajoring in com munications with a concentra tion on digital media, Keshwar had several options for collegiate soccer. At 6-foot-2, she is a formi dable force as goalkeeper.
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THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS September 8, 2022 - September 14, 2022 • 39 The growing sneaker culture expands far beyond athletes
“You’ll never catch me out here in fakes,” Brown said laughing. Bots, short for robots, a computer pro gram that simulates human activity, have changed the way sneakers are bought and sold. “Over the last 15 years or so the rise of bots has obviously made it harder for the average Joe to find those elusive pairs of shoes and obtain them,” said Joe LA Puma, senior vice president of content strategy at Complex.
No matter what the future holds for sneaker culture, the Got Sole conven tion showed the essence is still strong and should be for the foreseeable future.
Serena Williams bows out gracefully while Coco Gauff ascends
By B.L. OLIVER Special to the Am News
Serena Williams, who will turn 41 on Sept. 26, and 18-year-old Coco Gauff are at distinctly different stages of their lives andWilliamscareers. reached the third round at the US Open but was defeated in a thrill ing match by Austra lia’s Ajla
“Thanks mom. I just want to thank every one that’s here, that’s been by my side so many years, decades, my gosh…but it all starts with my parents, and they deserve everything, so I’m really grateful to them.”
Rising players increase the drama at the US Open
Williams also extended a special thanks to her older sister, Venus Williams, with whom she lost in their first round doubles match. “I wouldn’t be Serena if there wasn’t Venus. So thank you, Venus, she’s the only reason that Serena Williams existed.”
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“I mean, Ashe Stadium chanting my name, I was trying not to smile on the bench on the last changeover,” she said. “I was trying to stay in the moment. But in my head I was smiling.”
Gauff fell short of making it to the semifinals when she lost to 28-year-old Caroline Garcia from France in straight sets on Tuesday 6-3, 6-4. Gauff entered the Open ranked No. 12 world and Garcia ranked No. 17. Earlier in the tournament in first round play, Gauff and Jessica Pegula, the No. 2 seeds in the women’s doubles, were de feated by Leylah Fernandez and Daria Saville 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5). It was a con troversial match in which the Ameri can duo of Gauff and Pegula accused chair umpire Christian Rask of “stealing points” by making several questionable calls. Both Gauff and Pegula shouted at Rask at various times during the match.
Serena Williams was eliminated from the US Open last Friday in the third round while Coco Gauff lost in the quarterfinals on Tuesday (Margot Jordan photos)
Since Serena Williams’ exit from the US Open last Friday, falling to Ajla Tomljanovic, 5-7, 7-6 (4), 1-6, some of the electricity has left the tournament with her. There may not be any more record-breaking crowds, but exciting tennis and drama continue to mark the event. Francis Tiafoe is one of the play ers keeping the excitement alive.
“To beat those Mount Rushmore guys, for them, I can’t imagine what was going through their heads,” ref erencing Nadal, one of the game’s all-time greats, who holds the record for the most men’s Grand Slam singles titles at 22.
Nadal’s assessment of his loss to Tiafoe was simple. “I played a bad match and he played a good match.” Tiafoe took on No. 9 seed Andrey Rublev last night (Wednesday). Sharing the spotlight with Tiafoe was No. 24 seed Nick Kyrgios. He defeated the tournament’s No. 1 seed Daniil Medvedev 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6 in the fourth round. “I’m just trying to not let people down,” said Kyrgios after defeat ing Medvedev. “I was in this press conference room a while back, and I lost in the third round. It was the worst feeling, because I’ve just got so much expectation. I’m finally able to show it now.” Kyrgios could not keep the mo mentum going as he was eliminated from the Open in a match that began on Tues day night and ended in the early hours of Wednesday. The Aus tralian lost a tough five set battle to the No. 27 seed, Russian Karen Khachanov 5-7, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6.
The gifted Gauff, a native of Atlanta, advanced to the quarterfinals of the US Open on Sunday by defeating 33-year-old Shuai Zhang in straight sets 7-5, 7-5. It was the first time playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium for Gauff and Zhang.
Hyattsville, Open’snativeMarylandFrancesTiafoe,theUSmen’sNo.24seed,metupwithNo.9seedAndreyRublevlastnightinaquarterfinalsmatchup Jordan(Margotphoto)
Gauff’s father, Corey Gauf, said the noise was so loud that he had to take an Advil and was surprised by the exuberance for his daughter. Zhang said it was the most noise she had ever heard at a match.
The No. 22 ranked Tiafoe, 24, from Hyattsville, Maryland, upset No. 2 ranked Rafeal Nadal on Monday at Arthur Ashe Stadium 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 on Monday to become the youngest American man to reach the US Open quarterfinals since Andy Roddick. At 24, Roddick made it to the finals in 2006.
By VINCENT DAVIS Special to the AmNews
Tiafoe, whose family migrat ed from Sierra Leone, displayed supreme confidence in handing Nadal his first grand slam loss this year. The four time US Open winner was 22-1 this Grand Slam campaign and won this year’s Australian Open and French Open. He withdrew from Wimbledon in July before his scheduled semifinal match. He was the favorite entering the US Open after the men’s world No. 1 ranked player Novak Djokovic withdrew from the Open due to the United States’ COVID-19 travel re strictions. Djokovic is unvaccinated. “They’re going to remember today for the rest of their lives,” said Tiafoe, speaking about his parents, who were in attendance along with other close supporters.
The Queen of the court played her last professional match in the US Open and a young star’s run ended on Tuesday.
al farewell speech, Williams thanked her family, friends and fans for supporting her throughout her wondrous journey as a tennis and social icon. “Thank you daddy, I know you’re watching,” she said in ac knowledging her father Richard Williams.
The 23-time Grand Slam singles cham pion, second all-time behind Margaret Court who had 24 during her career span ning 1960-1977 but the most in the Open Era of tennis which began in 1968, lastly thanked her husband Alexis Ohanian and her daughter Olympia.
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Coco Gauff Serena Williams
