New York Amsterdam News Issue #52 December 29 - Jan 4, 2023 Year 2022

2022 YEAR REVIEW IN

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams, the city’s second Black mayor, was sworn in right after the ball dropped on New Year’s Eve in Times Square. Alvin Bragg was sworn in as Manhattan’s first Black district attorney. Sidney Poitier, groundbreaking actor and diplomat, died at 94. Prosecutors dropped groping charges against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Disney’s Colombia-inspired “Encanto” was a top grossing film with infectious lyrics and songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Councilmember Adrienne Eadie Adams was elected to be the first Black person to serve as City Council speaker. A new COVID-19 variant known as Omicron exploded nationwide causing another pandemic frenzy. Over a dozen lives were lost in the Twin Parks Towers Northeast apartment fire in the Bronx. There was a huge outpouring of grief at the fire victims’ funeral. Famed Poet Maya Angelou became the first Black woman on a U.S. coin. American jazz and R&B musician, songwriter and record producer James Mtume died at 76. The New York City’s pandemic-era eviction moratorium expired with housing advocates scrambling for more time. Celebrated Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee died at 102. Black TV shows “Harder They Fall”

and “Insecure” along with music artist H.E.R. nabbed NAACP awards nominations. A series of horrific shootings of cops and civilians occurred, including an 11-month-old baby girl who was hit in the face by a stray bullet and the shooting deaths of NYPD Police Officers Jason Rivera and Officer Wilbert Mora. Regina King’s son, Ian Alexander Jr., committed suicide at age 26 and former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst committed suicide at 30, prompting in-depth discussions about the alarming rise of suicide among Black youth. Trial began for former police officer Derek Chauvin and the cops accused of murdering George Floyd in 2020. The judge rejected a plea deal for the men who killed Ahmaud Arbery. Inflamed tensions surrounding critical race theory led to the banning of Black authors in schools, libraries and prisons. President Joe Biden geared up to nominate Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson as the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. Master of style and Vogue editor André Leon Talley died at 73. Bomb threats were made to historically Black schools (HBCUs) across the country. Barbadian singer, actress and businesswoman Rihanna announced pregnancy with boyfriend A$AP Rocky. See YEAR IN REVIEW on page 5

(Michael Appleton Mayoral Photography Office)

Mayor Eric Adams visits the site of the Bronx fire. Monday, January 10, 2022 (Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

After an internal election, Councilmember Adrienne E. Adams joyfully assumes the role of City Council Speaker on Wed, Jan. 5. (NYC COUNCIL facebook photo)

Sidney Poitier (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

Vogue editor André Leon Talley (Photograph by Jonathan Becker (PRNewsfoto/TAA Public Relations))

Dickens joins Harlem District 9 City Council race

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

Harlem’s District 9 City Council race just got a bit tighter as heavy hitter Assemblymember Inez Dickens announced she is running against Councilmember Kristin Richardson Jordan.

Dickens would be like a returning champ battling a newcomer since she served in City Council for District 9 for 12 years before moving onto the State Assembly 70th District. Dickens is also a lifelong Harlem resident, and her father and uncle both served as the assemblymember in the district before her.

Dickens said that she hadn’t initially planned on running but a coalition of NYCHA and business leaders in the community had asked her to. There had been rumors of disharmony between the community and Richardson Jordan, as well as a feud between

the councilmember and other Harlem electeds.

“I hadn’t thought about running but they asked me to run because they’re so unhappy with the nonresponse that they feel that they’re getting from the current occupant of the seat,” said Dickens.

Richardson Jordan ran against former Councilmember Bill Perkins, who at the time hadn’t rallied much for a reelection campaign and had pretty robust health issues. Richardson Jordan won on her progressive socialist policies, cementing her seat as a newcomer in the City Council.

Since she already has experience in City Council, Dickens said she’ll be able to navigate the politics of council funding and securing resources for the community better than her opponent. She also said that she has a sturdy relationship with most of the City Council women and men as well as the mayoral office.

She plans on prioritizing public safety, housing and seniors.

“To be honest, on all levels, when you go in as a new person, nobody is going to tell you where anything is, where the pots of money are, how to be on budgeting, how to do legislation. They don’t tell you because that’s less for their district,” said Dickens.

She maintains that she’s solid at communicating with the community and collaborating on City Council issues when residents reach out to her.

Dickens speaks well of her other notable opponents in the race, Dr. Yusef Salaam of the exalted Exonerated Five and incumbent Assemblymember Alfred Taylor.

Salaam is a Harlem native who was wrongfully tried and convicted in the Central Park Jogger rape case of a white woman in 1989 with his friends. After his release and city payout, Salaam has since become an author, activist, father

See COUNCIL RACE on page 29

Family Miranda law gains traction, advocates call out racist ACS practices

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

After an internal New York City Administration of Children’s Services (ACS) audit was conducted and consequently buried in 2020, suspicions of racial biased practices that disrupt Black, brown and low-income families were confirmed. In the meantime, elected officials have been rallying for systemic change and the Family Miranda law to properly inform parents of their rights.

Councilmembers Sandra Ung

and Carlina Rivera have been primary legislators behind ending ACS’s racist enforcement on the city level. Rivera has been working on passing the Family Miranda law, which would require ACS caseworkers to provide families with their rights verbally and in writing before answering questions, conducting a home search, or removing a child. Ung introduced Int. 294, which would require ACS to provide a multilingual disclosure form to parents or guardians during a child protective investigation.

“A visit from an ACS case worker

is a terrifying experience for any parent or caretaker, and the initial shock and confusion makes thinking clearly and rationally understandably difficult,” said Ung in a statement. “They may unknowingly consent to a search or sign a legal document without fully understanding the implications of their actions.”

Ung said that a parent or caretaker should know they have options including seeking legal counsel. The simplest way to administer that knowledge in multiple languages would be through a

See ACS on page 35

Wins-Day Adams: Mayor celebrates public safety victories, though recent violence demonstrates room for improvement

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

Mayor Eric Adams didn’t wait for Christmas to celebrate, highlighting the city’s public safety wins throughout 2022 last Thursday during a City Hall press conference. He named gun violence reductions, subway police rollouts and increased fire safety as a few key issues his administration addressed over the first year

in office.

“Murders and shootings are down by double digits this year, and, more recently, major crimes are down both on the streets and in the subways,” said Adams.

“We’re also making great strides through all of our different public safety agencies. We knew these changes wouldn’t happen overnight, but, every day, we continue to dam the many rivers that feed the sea of violence in our city with investments in both in-

tervention and prevention. We’ll continue to engage New Yorkers at every level on the issue of public safety and make sure 2023 is even safer.”

“We call it the ‘public safety ecosystem’—all of the city’s public safety agencies are working together as one toward our common goal of keeping New York City safe,” said Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks III. “Each piece of that

See PUBLIC SAFETY on page 31

Metro Briefs

Gun violence prevention czar A.T. Mitchell hosting Day of Remembrance for gun-related homicide victims

The city’s Czar of Gun Violence Prevention Andre “A.T.” Mitchell is joining leaders across the nation for the National Day of Remembrance for Gun Related Homicide Victims on Dec. 30 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn starting at 3 p.m.

Mitchell and others are calling Mayor Eric Adams and elected officials across the country to initiate proclamations declaring Dec. 30 as the National Day of Remembrance for Gun Related Homicide. Several other cities are participating in the event including Newark, N.J., Mt. Vernon, N.Y., Philadelphia, Chicago and Atlanta.

Each city is holding a ceremony in remembrance of fallen victims of gun violence alongside their families, friends and communities. Names of the victims will be read aloud and balloons will be let go to commemorate the lives lost in 2022. A dove will then be released signifying the hope of peace in the new year.

Apollo Theater hosting ‘Kwanzaa: A Regeneration Celebration’

The Apollo Theater is hosting its annual Kwanzaa Regeneration Celebration on Friday Dec. 30 at 7:30 p.m.

The 2022 edition of the Kwanzaa celebration features traditions from across the country in an evening of music, percussion, and modern and African dance.

The celebration will feature New York-based dance company Abdel R. Salaam’s Forces of Nature Dance Theatre, Harlem Children’s Zone/ Forces of Nature Youth Academy of Dance and Wellness, Harlembased actress Stephanie Berry and more.

Go to apollotheater.org for more information.

AG James invites price-gouging complaints

New York Attorney General Letitia James invites state residents to report any price gouging by stores facing shortages of painkillers and fever reducers for children.

The attorney general issued a consumer alert amid a surge of cases of the coronavirus, RSV and the flu, urging anyone who spots gouging to report it to her office amid a national shortage of medication for children.

New York law prohibits merchants from taking unfair advantage of consumers by setting unconscionably high prices for anything vital to the safety, health and welfare of state residents.

James also cautioned consumers to buy only as much children’s medication as they need and not to stockpile supplies that might be needed by others. Retailers, she added, are permitted to limit the amount of medication that they sell to individual consumers when there is limited supply.

Record number of Christmas gifts given to youth during city’s ‘Secret Snowflake’ initiative

NYC Service has helped facilitate the donation of more than 5,500 individualized gifts given to vulnerable youth in transitional housing, foster care, shelters, family justice centers, and Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers this holiday season through the Secret Snowflake in-kind donation initiative—serving the highest number of children in the program’s decades-long history. The program also engaged the most private sector businesses to date, with 32 businesses engaging a record number of 3,500 employees as volunteers.

This year’s program benefitted more than 5,500 youth, ages 0-18 years old, served by seven different city agencies, including the New York City Administration for Children’s Services, the New York City Department of Homeless Services, the New York City Department of Education, the New York City Department for the Aging, the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender Based Violence, the New York City Human Resources Administration and NYC Health + Hospitals.

NYC Service coordinated the intake of 5,547 letters from youth—a 48% increase compared to the previous year.

Ringleaders of a plot to kidnap Mich. Gov. Whitmer sentenced to long terms

By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews

Barry Croft Jr., 47, was sentenced on Wednesday to nearly 20 years in prison for his mastermind role in the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Prosecutor and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler compared Croft with the blind Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the spiritual leader of the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993.

“This man is thoroughly radicalized,” Kessler said, “and he hasn’t changed his viewpoint.”

Moreover, Kessler continued, “He’s the spiritual leader of this group, of this movement the same way some sheik in ISIS or Al Qaeda might be.” In his estimation, Croft was the brains behind the plot. His codefendant, Adam Fox, 39, was sentenced to 16 years by U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker.

“I do see Mr. Croft as the more seriously culpable…and was the person who gave Mr. Fox something to grab on to.”

This was the second trial for the two defendants after a jury failed to reach a verdict, forcing Judge Jonker to call a mistrial.

Both men were convicted in August of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and to use a weapon of mass destruction to attack the governor. She was targeted by far-right groups for efforts to halt the spread of the virus in 2020.

Whitmer was successful in her re-election campaign last month but the contempt from her enemies may increase with the imprisonment of its leader. Several others involved in the plot pleaded guilty to conspiracy and cooperated with investigations. Others face state charges and are awaiting trials.

Tragic Rosewood massacre to be commemorated in January 2023

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

Florida is set to start the year 2023 with a remembrance of the horrific massacre at Rosewood.

This January will mark 100 years since the small Black community of Rosewood in north Florida was burned to the ground after a mob of white vigilantes came to town, looking to avenge the reported rape of a white woman.

Fannie Taylor was the name of that white woman; she lived in the nearby mostly white settlement of Sumner. When she told her neighbors that a Black man, Jesse Hunter, had assaulted her in her home it caused outrage. Sumner’s whites turned on Rosewood, a nearby unincorporated community where Blacks owned their land and homes, had local businesses, a school, three churches and a Masonic lodge. From January 1-7, 1923, hundreds of whites and local county officials came looking for Hunter. In that week the white mob looted livestock and property; shot, hung and murdered residents; and burned Rosewood to the ground. It was an event covered in national media by papers like The New York Times and the Gainesville Daily Sun––most of the reportage was from Associated Press stringers. Rosewood residents had fled into nearby swamps, hid in wells, and escaped by foot to get out of the area: some were placed on a train by helpful local whites. Officially, two

white men and four Blacks were killed but others contend that the number of dead ranged between 27 and 100.

When Rosewood burned, residents lost everything but were not compensated for their losses. For 60 years, Rosewood’s survivors did not speak about the massacre. After media coverage about the incident picked up again in the 1980s, survivors came forward in 1994 to file a claims bill in the Florida legislature. On May 4, 1994, Gov. Lawton Chiles signed a $2.1 million compensation bill that gave a total of nine survivors $150,000 each, plus a state university scholarship fund for Rosewood families and their descendants.

“The survivors, who were, of course, all elderly, got a chance to tell their story,” said Maxine D. Jones, professor of history and director of the Women Studies Program at Florida State University. Dr. Jones was the lead investigator for the report “documented history of the incident which occurred at Rosewood, Florida, in January 1923” which was commissioned by the state of Florida. “I think that was important because this had been buried. It was a secret, even within the families. They really didn’t talk about it.”

The $150,000 given to survivors was not a lot of money, Jones acknowledged. “But no amount of money could make up for what happened. Lives have been, you know, destroyed.

Legacies have been lost. And to be honest, there is more than

one way to die. I think spiritually, we talk about, you know, generational trauma. I’m sure how the descendants raised their children can probably be traced back to some of the trauma that they themselves experienced. So sometimes you can’t put a price on something.

“But the state of Florida did acknowledge that it had failed in its efforts to protect all of its citizens and it did make an attempt to compensate them for that. Now the money that was awarded was just a drop in the bucket to what the families originally asked for. I mean, it was in the millions of dollars, and then it was reduced to $7.2 million and then I think that they appropriated $2.1 million and gave the $150,000 to the survivors. It also provided for scholarships for descendants of the Rosewood families, but again I think getting their story out there was important and I think the governor, in the state of Florida, acknowledging what had happened was huge. This is probably the first time that the government, at any level, has acknowledged something like that since the Japanese internment. So that part was huge, and I also think that Rosewood encourages other people to tell their stories as well.”

The story of the Rosewood massacre is the kind of history that, ironically, Florida’s current governor does not want to be taught to the state’s students. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has promoted a Stop W.O.K.E Act,

NewJersey News

Corrections officer at youth prison pleads guilty to inmate assault and cover-up

By CYRIL JOSH BARKER Amsterdam News Staff

A former senior correctional police officer at the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility in Bordentown pleaded guilty after striking an inmate twice in the back of the head while the prisoner was handcuffed and restrained by other officers. After the assault, the officer attempted to cover up the incident by falsifying his report and convincing another guard to do the same.

Jason Parks, 43, of Gibbstown, N.J., appeared on Dec. 5 before the Honorable Terrance R. Cook, in Burlington County Superior Court and entered a guilty plea to second-degree conspiracy to commit official misconduct.

“Correctional police officers take an oath to maintain and secure the facilities where they are assigned,” said Attorney General Matthew Platkin. “The actions of the officer were not only unjustified and excessive, they were brutal and vicious. We will continue to hold law enforcement officers accountable to their promise to protect all New Jerseyans—including those in state custody.”

In entering the plea, Parks admitted that on Feb. 19, 2019, while he was on duty at the Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility, he struck an inmate in the head twice while that inmate was handcuffed with his arms behind him. The inmate was being held by

two other correctional police officers and facing away from Parks at the time. The force of the blows knocked the inmate’s head against a wall. That use of force was in clear violation of the Department of Corrections’ Use of Force policy.

After the assault, Parks filed a report in which he claimed the inmate cursed at him and threatened to spit in his face. In his report, Parks stated that he struck the inmate in the mouth with an open hand to prevent him from spitting. Surveillance video from the facility and witness statements contradicted those claims. After the incident, Parks directed another officer to write a report that echoed his own false narrative. In his plea, Parks admitted to conspiring with that officer to commit official misconduct and violate the DOC’s rules and policies.

“Part of the Department of Corrections’ mission is running facilities that are not only secure but that also treat those in custody humanely, and this assaultive behavior will not be tolerated,” said Thomas Eicher, executive director of the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability. “To make matters worse, Parks falsified documents and dragged a fellow correctional police officer into filing a false and misleading report.”

Sentencing is scheduled for March 9, 2023, before Judge Cook. The defendant faces up to 10 years in prison.

Newark medical workers distribute care packages to the homeless

By CYRIL JOSH BARKER Amsterdam News Staff

Medical workers from AvaCare in Newark braved the cold rain last week distributing self-care packages they packed themselves to the homeless.

In three hours, 500 packages containing basic hygiene supplies, such as shampoo, soap, deodorant, mouthwash and toothpaste, were distributed to the hundreds of people who lined up at the St. James Social Service building.

St. James Social Services nonprofit organization, located in the Central Ward of Newark, New Jersey,

SJSSC has grown to become an independent agency that provides hunger prevention, housing assistance, clothing distribution and other essential services to more than 30,000 people annually.

Seeing so many people walking away with a smile on their faces was a sight to behold for Jay Stein, AvaCare Medical’s director of purchasing, who was on scene to help. “It was incredible to watch, making so many people’s holiday season a happy one!”

Vesta Godwin Clark, the executive director at St. James Social Services, said the event was a success and looks forward to partnering with AvaCare Medical in the future.

FEB 2022 / Black History Month!

Continued from page 2

ABC suspended Whoopi Goldberg over comments she made regarding the Holocaust. She apologized shortly after. NFL Coach Brian Flores talked to the Giants about the vacant head coaching job. When Flores discovered racist hiring practices against Black coaches, he filed a lawsuit. The Justice Department decided not to reopen a probe into the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was killed by a white police officer in Ohio in 2014. The veteran actor Michael K. Williams had died of a drug overdose in 2021; four people were charged this year for his death. Locals demanded more input ahead of the state’s vote on redistricting maps. The legal weed market began to take off in New York State as the mask mandate was set to expire. Josiah Walls became Florida’s first Black Congress member. Artist Snoop Dogg bought the iconic Death Row Records label that launched his career. U.S. speedskater Erin Jackson became the first Black woman to win a speed skating gold medal. The trial of the three additional cops present at the murder of George Floyd continued. The Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 at Super Bowl LVI. New York fired a slew of unvaccinated workers. Community organizer Edward Gibbs was sworn in to New York’s State Assembly, the first person with a conviction record to hold office. Former police officer Kim Potter was sentenced to two years for killing Daunte Wright. The city was concerned about the rise in subway crime. Mayor Adams controversially pushed to then remove

homeless people in the subway system. Ahmaud Arbery’s killers, three white men, were convicted of violating his civil rights and other charges. The “Wendy Williams Show” was set to end, beginning the uphill battle of Williams trying to legally hold onto her legacy amid health concerns. The city honored the 57th anniversary of Malcolm X’s assassination and last year’s exonerations of wrongfully convicted Muhammad Abdul-Aziz (Norman 3X Butler) and Khalil Islam (Thomas 15X Johnson). The Broadway play “Wicked” welcomed a Black lead actress, Brittney Johnson, as the good witch. First recorded Rikers Island inmate death of the year as number of deaths continued to rise in NYC jails. The National Action Network commemorated the 10th anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s killing. The amazing Broadway musical, “MJ: The Musical,” premiered.

See YEAR IN REVIEW on page 6

All three white men convicted of murdering 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery (above in photo) were found guilty of federal hate crimes and other lesser charges. (Family photo)

(smodj via iStock photo)

Living the Legacy: The 57th Commemoration of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz Malcolm X booklet (Seitu Oronde photo)

NYPD vigil (Bill Moore photo)

Erin Jackson of the United States hoists an American flag after winning the gold medal in the speedskating women's 500-meter race at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

MARCH 2022 /

Ukraine was invaded by Russia. As Ukrainians fled to Poland, African students were left behind. The Emmett Till Antilynching Act passed in the House and Senate. The Brooklyn Nets and their fans eagerly awaited NBA player Kyrie Irving’s return to playing after being benched over refusing the vaccine jab. New York City lifted mask mandates in schools. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo hinted at a political comeback six months after resigning in shame due to sexual harassment allegations. Cuomo ultimately did not run again for governor. Famed civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton delivered a sermon at the anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March. The NYPD announced a continued rise in citywide crime stats. Jussie Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail for a fake attack. According to the 2020 Census, Black

populations grew in suburbs while shrinking in cities. Music legend Harry Belafonte celebrated his 95th birthday, and President of the New York State NAACP Dr. Hazel Dukes turned 90. The CROWN Act, which protects against discrimination of natural hair, passed. Hearings began for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. Nationwide outrage to “FREE BRITTNEY” sparked as WNBA star Brittney Griner remained in Russian custody. The “slap heard around the world”—actor Will Smith received a deluge of criticism for slapping comedian Chris Rock over a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, at the Oscars. Smith issued a public apology for the Oscar smackdown. The event began a debate online about mental health, Black male anger, and the defense of Black women. Smith was banned from attending the Oscars for the next 10 years.

APRIL 2022 /

Amazon workers in Staten Island became the first to vote to unionize. The family of 12-year-old shooting victim Kade Lewin held a funeral, denouncing gun violence in the community. NAN kicked off the 31st annual national convention. Longtime WNYC Host Jami Floyd quit and filed a lawsuit against “racist” practices. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson became the first Black female Supreme Court justice. After suffering a horrific car crash, Tiger Woods returned to the Masters tournament cautiously confident. Brooklyn commuters faced a terrifying attack when a rush-hour train car filled with smoke and gunshots, injuring at least 10 people. The assailant Frank R. James, 62, was found days later and apprehended under terrorism charges. Former Sen. and Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin was arrested on fraud charges. NYC began an initiative to help those impacted by the war on drugs to enter the legal cannabis industry. Jazz at Lincoln Center celebrated the Charles Mingus centennial. A judge found former

General Letitia James. There were nationwide calls to wipe out student loan debt. Chauvin tried to appeal his murder conviction for killing George Floyd. A judge delayed the New York Congressional and State Senate primaries until August after the court tossed redistricting maps.

See YEAR IN REVIEW on page 14

President Donald Trump in contempt in a legal fight with New York State Attorney

Brittney Griner (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

The Emmett Till Antilynching Act passed in the House and Senate. (NAACP/Library of Congress photo)

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith at the 2022 Oscars (Richard Harbaurgh/ A.M.P.A.S. photo)

Ukrainians and foreign residents wait for trains inside Lviv railway station, Feb. 28, 2022, in Lviv, west Ukraine. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Former Sen. and Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin was arrested on fraud charges. (Bill Moore photo)

(Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

(Photo courtesy of mj0007 and deberarr via iStock)

Ketanji Brown Jackson (AP Photo/ Jacquelyn Martin)

Continued from page 5

Go With The Flo

FLO ANTHONY

Meek Mill spread some Christmas cheer by paying bail for 20 women so they could spend the holidays with their families and friends, according to multiple reports. Meek Mill and Jay-Z’s organization, REFORM Alliance, said the ladies were incarcerated at Riverside Correctional Facility in Philadelphia and had no funds for bail. In a statement, Meek Mill said the holidays can be an “extremely challenging time” for families impacted by the criminal justice system, and so that’s why he wanted to help.

Following an eye witness testifying that they saw Tory Lanez, his driver and Megan Thee Stallion’s assistant Kelsey Harris kick and punch the raptress as she lay on the ground suffering from gunshots in her feet, a Los Angeles jury found Lanez guilty of three felonies in the 2020 shooting on Dec. 23. According to the Daily Mail, the attack left her with bullet fragments in her feet. Lanez faces more than 20 years or more in jail when he is sentenced.

Sei Less restaurant has become one of Manhattan’s hottest celebrity spots. According to GQ, everybody from rapper Fabolous to Boston Celtics player Jaylon Brown are regulars at the upscale Asian Fusion eatery. In fact, even NYC Mayor Eric Adams stopped in to celebrate the release of Bronx emcee French Montana’s latest album. Back in February, Kanye West celebrated his then girlfriend Julia Fox’s birthday at the West 38th Street eatery.

Newsday is reporting that in an annual tradition that began when Barack Obama was in office, the 44th president of the United States has released his music playlist for 2022. Obama’s list of 25 tunes includes his favorite artist Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul,” Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5” and Lizzo’s “About D**n Time.” R&B/soul songstress Ari Lennox was so excited to be included on the former POTUS’ list that she posted on his Instagram, “I’m so honored thank you.”

Reflections on Sonny Abubadika Carson: 20 years later

By MAL’AKIY 17 ALLAH Special to the AmNews

December 20 marked the 20th anniversary of when Brooklyn warrior Sonny Abubadika Carson joined the ancestral realm, and several of his close comrades reflected on his legacy. For many decades he was on the frontlines, fearlessly fighting against systematic oppression on behalf of his community. The education Sonny Carson provided remodeled several neighborhoods in the People’s Republic of Brooklyn. He advocated Black self-determination and self-reliance.

“Founding the Committee to Honor Black Heroes is indicative of him tasking himself with the arduous mission of extracting out of the minds of the Negro the negative psychological pillars (thinking of oneself as stupid and cowards) erected by the enslavers, proponents of the myth of Black inferiority,” stated Brother Tarik Black Panther. “Each street sign or school bearing the names of our enslavers, and replaced with names of intelligent and courageous Africans, was done with the intent of remaking the Negro back into being a proud African.”

Along with renaming some locations, he also retraced his African heritage.

“The prophet Ezekiel asked, ‘Can these bones speak again?’

The Sankofa bird represents freedom, Africans who came to America and are looking back to the Motherland,” noted Carson’s comrade, Brother Ali Lamont Jr., prior to explaining how Abubadika returned some of his ancestors’ bones to Africa and had them reinterred. “That’s us as a people. That was a journey. How did we lose it, and how do we get it back?”

Sonny’s clout also extended beyond the streets and always included succeeding generations.

“He was responsible for getting so many of our young people construction jobs, and also made sure there was a Black principal, teachers and curriculum in the schools,” recalled elected activist Charles Barron. “When he thought they were messing with my wife, Inez, who was a principal at a school in Bed-Stuy, he called her up and asked, ‘What do I need to do?’ and just the

thought of that, they backed off. He said ‘If anybody messes with you, we’ll be there for you.’”

Furthermore: “He, Rev. Daughtry, and others, stopped the African Burial Ground from being decimated by the federal government. He made them stop excavating once the remains of our ancestors were found there.”

referred to Abubadika as a “Black radical, revolutionary cultural icon in our community.” He noted his close affiliation with Brooklyn’s December 12th Movement and the renaming of East New York’s Linden Park as Sonny Abubadika Carson Park before saying, “He is surely missed. His spirit will live on in

our community.”

Tarik concluded, “For having struggled for us and for the innumerable sacrifices he has made, Sonny should be commemorated every year.”

The campaign to co-name Bed Stuy’s Gates Avenue as “Sonny Abubadika Carson Way” continues.

Barron

(Azim Thomas photo)

Sonny Abubadika Carson 20th Anniversary Sista's Place Kujichagulia 2022 (Omowale Clay photo)

Life Camp’s Erica Ford at NY Knicks basketball game

Nightlife

The National Action Network (NAN) hosted an in-person dining experience, the first since COVID-19. Electeds came through, including Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, DA Alvin Bragg, Cong. Adria-

no Espaillat and Councilmember Rita Joseph. Exonerated Five members Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam, Eric Garner’s mom Gwen Carr and others also enjoyed the great community day.

Kwanzaa Black film festival ceremony

Alysia Joy Powell (Bill Moore photos)

The Kwanzaa Film Unity Awards were held at the Shrine Music Venue in Harlem. Black film festival founders were awarded the Sydney Poitier Award for excellence. Host

Written by David Goodson

Ina Norris presented the award to Alysia Joy Powell, Homer Hans Bryant, Edney Hendrickson and Cynthia Horner, all in Black independent film.

Gamble & Huff’s Thom Bell has transitioned

Not a big social media dude, but when certain things from certain people hit, they hit hard, and they hit home. There from Instagram, sourced by one of the most reputable people in the world of Black music, Dyana Williams. For perspective, Dyana Williams is a four-decade veteran in radio and on television and co-founder of the Pennsylvaniabased nonprofit advocacy organization, the International Association of African American Music Foundation, among many laurels. Her post read, “Classic, award-winning songwriter arranger and producer, frequent collaborator of lyricist, Linda Creed, Thomas Randolph Bell aka Thom Bell has transitioned. One of the architects of The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, Mighty Three music, partner of Gamble & Huff. Soundtrack to our lives with music from The Stylistics, The Delfonics, The Spinners, Denice Williams, Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis. As a member of our extended family, heartfelt love to Thom’s immediate family, friends and music lovers of his classic songs.”

Songwriter/producer Thom Bell, as part of the trifecta alongside Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff known as the Mighty Three who cocreated The Sound of Philadelphia, one of the greatest musical movements in history, has died at age 79. The remaining two-thirds of the trio offered the following, “Tommy and I have been best friends for over 60 years,” said Kenny Gamble in a press statement. “When we first met, we decided to start writing songs together and form a singing duo ‘Kenny and Tommy’ and then our band The Romeos…He was a great talent and my dear friend. Rest in peace buddy.”

“Thom Bell was my favorite musician, arranger, songwriter and music producer of all time!” added Leon Huff. “It was my esteemed honor and pleasure to work with him creatively and as a business partner. Rest in peace.”

In an interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air in 2006, Bell explained the origins of his eventual path. “I studied to be a concert pianist [classical piano] from the age of 6 to 22. By the time I was 18 I found that articulating somebody else’s music was not quite what I wanted to do. I got bored with that, I was hearing different chords, different

and

progressions and different variations of the themes that I was doing but you couldn’t really change the work of the masters’ creations. My sound was a sound in my mind, because until I was about 13, I hadn’t heard the radio so what I heard was strictly from the symphonic end.” So instead of changing the creations of the masters, he unleashed his creativity and as an arranger, producer, conductor and songwriter became one.

For his work, Bell received the ultimate plaudits, having won Producer of the Year at the 1975 Grammy Awards and an induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006; he had top ten pop recordings including Deniece Williams’ remake of The Royalettes’ “It’s Gonna Take a Miracle,” Elton John with “Mama Can’t Buy You Love,” as well as James Ingram’s #1 1990 hit “I Don’t Have the Heart.” While those accomplishments were nice résumé fillers, it’s the apex level of pure unadulterated soul achieved times over for various artists of various decades. We’ll frame it this way: one of his creations, along with the great Linda Creed, was recorded by a mainstream actress, Connie Stevens, given its standard classic stamp when the Stylistics covered it, and later yielded renditions by Johnny Mathis, Aaron Neville, Dionne Warwick, Smokey Robinson, Phyliss Hyman and hell PRINCE, who at the conclusion of the song in his way revealed that he couldn’t have expressed those sentiments any better. That song was “Betcha By Golly Wow.” MIC DROP!

Samples and interloping by the likes of Missy, Lauren Hill, Mary J Blige, Jay Z, Nas, Pac, Snoop and the list continues will keep his name ringing, but album cuts ranging from a pre-teen Michael Jackson (“People Make The World Go Round”), Angela Winbush (“Baby Hold On”) and Phyliss Hyman (“You Just Don’t Know”) provide the depth of his material.

Always wondered what would have happened if a record executive had utilized the Thom Bell genius and paired him with one of the most underserved, unheralded falsettos of our time, TCD, and the group the Force MDs. Hopefully they’re introducing themselves at the pearly gates.

Over and out. Bidding adieu to 2022, looking to live the bon bon vie in 2023. Holla next week. Til then, enjoy the nightlife.

team. This while she anticipates being awarded a cannabis dispensary. She was on scene on the big screen at game time.

The Sound of Philadelphia

NAN serves Christmas Eve dinner & toys for kids

Union Matters

Being resolute about resolutions

Gregory Floyd

Starbucks and its workers still at impasse on collective bargaining

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

As the New Year approaches, we look to a fresh start and a new beginning. It’s a tradition held by many to spend some time reviewing the past year and making a resolution or a wish for the New Year. Lose weight, stop smoking, spend less money and listen to your spouse more are just some of the resolutions that top the list. We know when we make resolutions that at best, they are wishful thinking that holds no penalties if they don’t last. The most resolute thing about New Year’s resolutions and wishes is that although we make them with sincerity and plan to keep them in earnest when made, there’s the sense that there’s always next year to make them again. In fact, 88% of New Year’s resolutions fail—80% of them are over, forgotten or just abandoned by March of the new year.

The new year is indeed a time that many reflect on their lives—sometimes with regret, sometimes with anger about what went wrong—but more often with thanks and with hope for a better year ahead. There are always celebrities who weigh in with their New Year hopes, predictions, aspirations and advice. Oprah Winfrey famously said: “Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” Albert Einstein advised: “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” Maya Angelou noted: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Mark Twain suggested, “New Year’s Day is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.”

John Lennon said: “Count your age by friends, not years. Count

your life by smiles, not tears.” Michelle Obama encouraged youngsters to “choose people in your life who lift you up.” Mohammed Ali gave this advice: “I hated every minute of training. But I said, don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life a champion.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. counseled his followers to “take the first step in faith— you don’t need to see the whole staircase, just the first step.” And even Dr. Seuss chimed in with this philosophical thought: “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”

With more than two years of the coronavirus and its variants, many things have now changed forever. Despite signs that we’re on the road to recovery, there is a new normal that for some is anything but normal. Surely, so much is different, from the way we currently work and shop, to how we spend our leisure time. Some might say they preferred the pre-pandemic ways—like seeing a new movie at the local cinema and buying a gigantic tub of hot popcorn loaded with butter, instead of viewing it at home on Netflix on their iPad. Yet, here we are: 2023 knocking at the door and telling us it’s time to move on.

While some may question if the pandemic could possibly have had a “silver lining,” such as more time with family members, or perhaps even produced a profound sense of thanks or a reinvigorated feeling of joy for the simple pleasures that had been taken for granted or ignored, let’s look to the future with hope. While few would say that 2022 will be missed and certainly, not forgotten, a new year means beginnings and another chance to be more resolute about our resolutions.

Starbucks workers are still trying to get management to bargain with union reps who now represent more than 7,000 workers organized in 264 Starbucks stores in some 36 states.

Under the banner of Starbucks Workers United (SWU), workers recently conducted a multi-day, multi-city #DoubleDownStrike—from Friday, Dec. 16 to Sunday, Dec. 18—at some 100 Starbucks union stores.

New York City workers at the company’s flagship Starbucks Roastery at 61 Ninth Avenue in Manhattan had voted to form a union last April. Their subsequent dealings with what they have deemed a management intent on breaking the union and who were not willing to deal with specific health and safety issues at their store led to a 46-day walkout which only ended in mid-December.

In a prepared statement, strikers claimed, “We walked out the morning of October 25th out of concern for ourselves and our fellow partners and management’s lack of communication about bed bugs found in our store. This was a spontaneous, unplanned strike that was a genuine response to the fear of bed bugs as well as other health and safety concerns like mold in the ice machine.”

The 46-day walkout ended when Starbucks corporate agreed to regular ice machine servicing and inspections, as well as regular pest inspections for bed bugs. But efforts to negotiate a collective-bargaining contract with Starbucks corporate remains an ongoing issue.

Starbucks corporate has accused the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) of colluding with SWU to promote union membership. The NLRB has accused Starbucks of carrying out an anti-union campaign that has included employee surveillance and firings.

This past October, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal penned a letter to Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schultz asking him to answer to accusations of antiunion tactics: “We are deeply troubled by Starbucks’ anti-union campaign,” the letter states, “including the ongoing and illegal weaponization of benefits against unionizing workers, and the company’s brazen efforts to flout the [National Labor Relations Act].”

The senators wrote that under the leadership of CEO Schultz, “…Starbucks has also weaponized wage increases and new benefits in its anti-union campaign, threatening to withhold them from workers who have voted to unionize, and even those who are organizing and have not yet had a union election—and not hesitating to act on that threat. Starbucks is reporting record profits, and has ample cash to pay for additional benefits even ‘without hampering the dividend’ for Starbucks shareholders. But instead of increasing wages and benefits for all workers, you have illegally extended them only to non-unionized workers and used this disparity to threaten workers considering unionization.”

Starbucks’ founder Howard Schultz served as the

company’s interim CEO for the past year. He was brought on to try to stabilize Starbucks as it was dealing with growing competition from other coffeehouse stores and lowering employee morale. The company has already named Laxman Narasimhan, a former PepsiCo executive, as its new permanent CEO. Starbucks representatives did meet with union members at the bargaining table on Oct. 24 for what was supposed to be the start of a three-week bargaining period. But Starbucks reps quickly left the negotiations when they learned that some union members had joined the negotiations over Zoom. “The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) prohibits any party from making recordings or transcripts of contract negotiations because such actions ‘inhibit the free and open discussion necessary for conducting successful bargaining.’” Starbucks corporate complained in a press release about the Oct. 24 meeting: “Starbucks issued written statements to Workers United representatives regarding our concerns and our willingness to return to the bargaining table as soon as appropriate and lawful bargaining conditions—set by the NLRB— were in place. It was our sincere hope that the issue would be resolved swiftly, and we could begin bargaining. Unfortunately, Workers United representatives continued to thwart NLRB rules throughout the week, resulting in extensive and wholly unnecessary delays that negatively affect our partners.”

In an attempt to pressure Starbucks corporate to return to working on a collective-bargaining agreement, unionized Starbucks workers have promoted a #NoContractNoGiftCard campaign designed to discourage people from buying Starbucks gift cards during the 2022 holiday season. Starbucks corporate has not yet negotiated union contracts with any of the stores that have voted to unionize, even though Starbucks workers accounted for, according to GBH News, “roughly a quarter of all union elections this year, and the union was victorious in four out of every five elections.”

President, Teamsters Local 237 and Vice President at-Large on the General Board of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Starbucks logo  (Karen Juanita Carrillo photo)

Biden takes a break and a hit

Trump is not in office, but his Supreme Court is and this week they blocked the Biden administration from ending migrant expulsions. This program Title 42, originated under the Trump administration during the early days of the COVID19 pandemic, allowed customs and border agents to return the migrants to their home countries.

Biden had sought to end the policy last April, announcing the program was no longer needed because vaccines and treatments had reduced the impact of the virus.

The Court said it would hear arguments in February; in the meantime, it won’t mean anything to the steady flow of migrants being stopped at the border and returned to their homeland.

This is another victory for Trump and his cohort and they are sure to make sport and take shots at him as he vacations in the Caribbean. It may not be the best time to take a break from presidential ordeals, particularly with the airline cancellations and the pandemic numbers rising again, and while the optics of all this looks bad, whatever can be done is not hampered by his not being at home in the White House.

Perhaps the break from the tired routine is an opportunity to shore up his plans for re-election, again something the GOP is sure to criticize and ask that his flight like hundreds of others be canceled.

A recent poll was not favorable but that should be of no concern since it was apparently coming from an unfavorable source. Nonetheless, Biden and his team cannot afford to ignore the nipping at the heels, the negative put-downs as the GOP gropes with its own strategy for 2024.

Finding a chink in Biden’s armor will preoccupy his enemies on both sides of the aisle and while he should possess a singled-minded outlook, his vision must be panoramic because some of the barbarians are at the gate, others are already inside and ready to make mischief.

Mayor Eric Adams’ Community Op-Ed: A year of getting stuff done!

Every day when I’m out talking to my fellow New Yorkers across the five boroughs, I hear the same things. All of us want a strong economy, safe streets and subways; more affordable housing; support for working families and a great education for our children.

When I took office as your mayor a year ago, I pledged that we would Get Stuff Done in these areas, and I am proud to report that we have done just that.

The economy is roaring back, with over 150,000 private-sector jobs added between January and October.

AMNEWS READERS WRITE

Subway ridership is higher than it has been in two years. Tourism has recovered to 85% of pre-pandemic levels, supporting jobs across every sector, from hotels to restaurants, bars and shops.

After two years of the COVID pandemic, New York City is back. I can feel the energy everywhere I go, and I can see the difference from when I was on the campaign trail.

Much of this is due to our determination to focus on public safety from Day One. While New York remains the safest big city in America, we know that people need to be safe and

to feel safe. That’s why we worked so hard to address crime, disorder, and quality of life issues on every front.

The good news is that crime is down. Major crimes have dropped this November from where they were a year ago; and transit crime is down nearly 13%—due in large part to our surge of NYPD officers in the transit system. We’ve removed nearly 7,000 illegal guns from our streets, and gun arrests are at a 27-year high.

At the same time, we are offering alternative pathways to New

We need a chief justice for all

By NY STATE SEN. ROBERT JACKSON and SEN. CORDELL CLEARE

The nomination of a chief judge to the State of New York’s Court of Appeals is a generational opportunity for the New York State Senate to confirm a justice who will advance equity and justice for all. As the most diverse state in our nation, New York must ensure nominees for chief judge for the Court of Appeals reflect the experience, leadership and decision-making that New York deserves.

On Thursday, Governor Hochul made one of the most consequential nominations of her tenure thus far, leaving the Senate with a decision to either confirm her choice or vote down the nominee. As senators representing Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood, parts of the Upper West Side and the Bronx, we fought hard to get the first woman elected to lead New York State as our gover-

nor. We worked to get the vote out in largely working-class communities that struggle to believe their elected officials ever listen to them. We stood alongside our labor partners, who proudly wore their union gear on street corners and poll sites while handing out literature. However, today we are asking our State Senate colleagues to vote against Governor Hochul’s nominee: Justice Hector LaSalle.

Candidates should have track records that show a commitment to representing all New Yorkers, especially the most vulnerable among us. We must bring forward candidates who share progressive values and will protect worker rights, reproductive rights and the rights of all. Justice Hector LaSalle’s track record runs counter to these ideals. He has passed down decisions that are anti-union and anti-abortion, and that show a disregard for due process and individuals in need. We don’t need his voice leading and dominating the views and decisions in our state’s highest court—not in this union town and not when there is so much at stake.

fending against federal attacks, protecting residents and upholding the rule of law.

After witnessing the harmful impact of conservative leadership in New York State, Governor Kathy Hochul’s nomination for chief judge is disheartening. It fails to inspire confidence that New York will be protected from the dangerous leanings of the current U.S. Supreme Court. In fact, this nomination goes against the package of landmark bills championed by the New York State Legislature this past June that protect the reproductive rights that Governor Hochul signed into law.

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

With great disappointment and fear, the nation has watched the U.S. Supreme Court strip communities of fundamental rights. It is terrifying to see the nation’s highest court embrace bigoted and extremist values that invalidate common-sense state laws and undermine democratic institutions, and it seems poised to continue to do so in the upcoming year. Undoubtedly, the Court of Appeals acts as a shield in New York, de-

For weeks, several labor unions, reproductive rights organizations, civil rights groups, advocates, constituents and our colleagues—many of whom worked hard to elect Governor Hochul—have expressed legitimate concerns about Justice LaSalle. More than ever, New York State’s judicial system needs voices that repudiate attacks on our democracy, gender identity and reproductive and worker rights. We hope Governor Hochul listens and reverses course immediately. There is much work that we must do to continue leading our state forward together. In the meantime, as the chairs of the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions and the Committee on Women’s Issues, we call on our Senate colleagues to reject Justice LaSalle’s nomination and demand a chief judge nominee who will protect the rights of all New Yorkers and make us all proud.

See MAYOR ERIC ADAMS on page

Elinor R. Tatum: Publisher and Editor in Chief

Kristin Fayne-Mulroy: Managing Editor

Sin, corruption and the fall of America

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not represent 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.

ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS

As the flames of judgment touched at the edges of Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities steeped in corruption and depravity, the almighty God looked upon them with disdain. Their wickedness had reached a point of no return, so he decided to unleash his fiery wrath upon them, reducing them to ash in an instant.

These cities have long been used as a cautionary tale, a warning of the dangers of sin and the consequences that come with it. And now, as we reflect on the troubled times we find ourselves in, it seems that our own nation—America—is teetering on the brink of a similar fate. Our own sins and shortcomings are threatening to tear us apart from within, bringing us closer and closer to our own day of reckoning.

As our nation stands on the precipice of ruin, it becomes increasingly apparent that our downfall has been brought about by our own excesses. No longer do we face the struggles of disease, hunger, or poverty—rather, we have become so comfortable and secure that we have turned inward, tearing each other apart over petty squabbles and trivial matters. In a world where we have everything we could possibly want, we have lost sight of what truly matters, and as a result, we are tearing ourselves apart. It is a tragic irony that in our quest for perfection, we have doomed ourselves to destruction.

It seems that in America, much of the strife and conflict that we see today stems from a select few groups and individuals who are pushing their own agendas, often at the expense of others. Without the influence of these radicals, such as the transgender movement, radical feminists, corruptible politicians and criminals, it seems that the majority of Americans would be able to live peaceful, comfortable lives, surrounded by the fruits of our nation’s ingenuity and abundance. We have access to the latest technologies; a variety of cheap and sustainable sources of food and water; and a robust labor market that allows us

to build, repair and live healthy lives.

Of course, not every American is so blessed with comforts—but every American is blessed with opportunity. Why then would the Biden administration secretly enlist a transgender individual with a history of theft to develop policies that could potentially brainwash children? Why would school officials, who make exorbitant salaries, push our children toward the brink of criminality? And why would big tech companies, which already have billions of dollars in profits and an immense amount of power, continue to steal our data and share it with the Chinese government, or censor the views of innocent Americans?

It’s easy to state that this behavior is merely indicative of a desire for power and wealth, but perhaps it goes deeper than that. Perhaps it’s a desperate need to shape the world according to one’s own design, not as a result of a wanting for power, but a result of necessity that formed from the lack of plights these wicked people endure.

The root of the problem is not necessarily that people on different sides of the ideological spectrum fundamentally disagree on issues. Most people in the United States, regardless of their political beliefs, care about the well-being and safety of their families and their country. The issue is that we have become a society that only allows for black-and-white thinking, where individuals are judged based on one action or statement and labeled as extreme or bigoted. As a consequence, no one can safely have a productive conversation or publicly state their views without being labeled as extreme by one group of people.

This is why we are divided; we are quick to label someone based on a single action or statement, without considering the context or the person’s overall character. We have lost faith in the ability to judge others fairly and to see the nuances and complexities of any situation.

Imagine there are two doors in

front of you, one labeled “tolerance” and the other labeled “intolerance.” You are asked to choose which door to go through, based on which one you believe you embody. How many people could honestly go through the door of tolerance?

Nobody; it is likely that no one could honestly choose the door of tolerance, because everyone has some degree of prejudice. So, why is it then that when we see an instance of intolerant behavior, we are so quick to judge a person when we are no better? If we can separate our views from the labels we place on others and have respectful conversations with those who disagree with us, we can work toward a more united and less divided society. With Christmas just past and the new year approaching, I implore you to gather with those you hold dear. May the love you share with your friends and family be rooted in mutual respect and appreciation, rather than shared ideologies. These moments of togetherness will soon be few and far between. You may huddle by the fireplace, offer up prayers and cling to hope, but ultimately, America will meet its demise—not by divine fire, but by the unrest of its own citizens, desperate to protect all that we hold dear in a misguided, unnecessary and futile effort to save the nation.

If we hope to save our nation, we don’t need a leader to protect us. We simply need people in power to stay quiet about what America truly needs. Jumping from one ideological leader to the next will not save us. What we need is for individuals to be able to live their lives freely, without interference from those in power. Only then can America be born anew and thrive.

Armstrong Williams (@ARightSide) 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

2022 is coming to a close

CHRISTINA GREER PH.D.

As 2022 comes to a close, let us reflect on the year that was. I still feel like I am trying to process 2020 and the subsequent months that followed. I will admit, 2022 was filled with adventures and surprises. So many of us are still living with the effects of COVID and lockdowns and so much more. Many families are still processing health tribulations and financial struggles due to COVID and lockdown from previous months. As we conclude this year and all its complexities, it is my hope we have time to find time for gratitude and enjoy all of the friends and family members who surround us.

One of the ways I try to stay connected to my New York community is through donations. So many organizations need end-of-year donations to help sustain them for the months ahead.

Since Mayor Adams just announced significant defunding of the NY Public Library, I am so glad I donate to the Brooklyn Public Library as well as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

I am also a proud trustee of the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side and we are currently working on an exhibit to highlight the history and contributions of African Americans during the 19th century. A larger story told through the life of one man, Joseph Moore. So many museums and cultural institutions need our financial support to continue to bring us exhibits and programs that can literally change how we view the world.

As we think of young people and their needs, I often think of the work of

Troop 6000 in New York City which supports girl scouts who are unhoused. Providing a troop that supports and encourages young girls is of great importance to me. Just because someone is experiencing homelessness does not mean they should not have a childhood filled with fond memories, community, and the leadership foundation provided by the Girl Scouts.

I also support the Envision Freedom Fund, formerly known as the Brooklyn Bail Fund. This organization provides support for families entangled in the unjust criminal legal and immigration systems. As we continue to fight for equal rights for all people living in this city and this country, it is important to support organizations doing the work on the ground to make the criminal legal system more just and equitable.

The Doe Fund is also a great organization to support as they “work to break the cycle of poverty, homelessness and recidivism through economic opportunities, housing and comprehensive support services.”

No matter what organizations you support, any amount you give helps contribute to a better New York and a better nation. We are one and we remember to be sure to support our neighbors, known and unknown.

Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University, the author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream,” and the co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC and host of The Blackest Questions podcast at TheGrio.

New Yorkers rallied over the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade. City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and members of the first-ever women majority-led City Council gathered on Tuesday, May 3, to support women’s reproductive rights in light of a leaked Supreme Court opinion that could overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. New York state lawmakers quickly passed legislation to remove former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin from the June primary ballot amid investigations against him of campaign fraud. Shortly after, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced her new running mate, U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado. A New York State Court of

Appeals judge ruled that congressional and state senate maps that favored Democrats must be redrawn. Harlemites, friends and family in mourning gathered to honor one of their “fallen angels,” 27-year-old Brittani Nicole Duffy, who was a victim of domestic violence and shot by her boyfriend in 2021. Shakespeare’s classic “Macbeth” reigned on Broadway— having a rebirth at the Longacre Theatre on W. 48th Street with non-traditional casting along both racial and gender lines. Edward Adams Bagwell passed on Sunday, April 24. Bagwell worked closely with the Amsterdam News during the 1960s. The first hearing for former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores’ federal racial

discrimination lawsuit suit against the National Football League saw the NFL’s legal representative, former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, inform Judge Valerie E. Caproni they would seek to either dismiss the case or move it to arbitration.

Tragedy struck Buffalo, New York on May 14 when 10 Black people were murdered by a white man who hates Black people. The victims were assaulted at a Tops Friendly Markets store and the victims ranged in ages from 20-86. Hotspots for fervent protests included Manhattan’s Foley Square and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. BLA fighter Sundiata Acoli was released after 49 years in prison. Incumbent Newark Mayor Ras

Baraka won a third term during nonpartisan municipal elections. Karine Jean-Pierre was named to replace Jen Psaki as the next White House press secretary. Harlemites and Councilmember Kristin Richardson Jordan were vocal about their disapproval of the proposed One 45 development at 145th Street and Lenox Avenue. A documentary about the African Jazz Art Society & Studio, the artist collective that made the earliest documented contributions as an organization to what people now recognize as the Black Arts Movement, debuted at the Dwyer Cultural Center on Sunday, May 15. People came from all over the nation on Thursday, May 19, 2022, to celebrate what would have

been the 97th birthday of Malcolm X, a.k.a. El Hajj Malik El Shabazz. Fans of late hip hop legend Christopher Wallace a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G./Biggie Smalls came out to wish him a happy birthday on Saturday, May 21. And more fans swamped Brooklyn subway stations with long lines in hopes of snagging a limited-edition Biggie MetroCard. National Newspaper Publishers Association President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. helped to eulogize Challenger Community News journalist Katherine Massey in Buffalo on Monday, May 23, telling the gathering at Pilgrim Baptist Church that the 72-year-old fought for freedom, justice and equality.

YEAR IN REVIEW on page 15

New York State Attorney General Letitia James (Bill Moore photo)

The Notorious B.I.G./Biggie Smalls' 50th birthday (Nayaba Arinde photo)

Malcolm X Day in Harlem (Bill Moore photo)

Malcolm X Day in Harlem (Nayaba Arinde photo)

Limited-edition Biggie MetroCard (Nayaba Arinde photo)

Continued from page 6

page 14

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office announced they will hand out $20,000 to up to 10 nonprofits each for employing atrisk youngsters on projects pertaining to gun violence prevention. The developers behind the proposed One45 project at 145th Street and Lenox Avenue withdrew their plans for the site in Harlem just before the land use vote. Harlem hosted a Juneteenth Flag Raising at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Harlem State Office Building on June 6, 2022. Breakdancers from around New York and beyond came together at Bronxlandia to compete in the Red Bull BC One Bronx Cypher, one of the biggest breakdancing competitions with thousands of people vying for spots in the World Final. Mayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams came to an agreement on a $101 billion dollar city budget for the fiscal year of 2023. Mayor Ras J. Baraka, Gov. Phil Murphy, and partners Shaquille O’Neal and Boraie Development held the topping-off ceremony for 777 McCarter in Newark. At the March for Our Lives rally in Downtown Brooklyn, rallyers called for the passage of comprehensive gun control laws, and in the wake of the recent Buffalo and Ulvade, Texas mass shootings, hundreds of chanting, poster-waving marchers took to the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday, June 11. On June 12, Jennifer Hudson joined an elite group of 17 entertainers in the history of Hollywood to become an EGOT. Hudson picked up her final qualifying award at the 2022 Tony Awards as co-producer of “A Strange Loop,” which won Best Musical. Juneteenth celebration weekend in Yonkers kicked off with Mayor Mike Spano, sculptor Vinnie Bagwell, local artists and community leaders officially unveiling The Enslaved Africans’ Rain Garden along the Yonkers waterfront at 20 Water

Grant Street, on June 17. The urbanheritage sculpture garden honors the legacy of enslaved Africans who resided and worked at Philipse Manor Hall in Yonkers. Darius Lee, a 21-year-old son, student and star college basketball player at Houston Baptist University, was killed in an overnight shooting that wounded eight others at a gathering on East 139th Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan. Francia Márquez became Colombia’s first Black, female VP. As reports came out on the eighth death of an incarcerated individual while in Department of Corrections custody, advocates were demanding that the city properly address the “humanitarian crisis” in the jail. Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka hosted a ceremony to re-name Washington Park as Harriet Tubman Square and announced plans to create the Newark Arts and Education District at the square to mark Juneteenth. A deluge of protesters hit the streets in outrage Friday, June 24 after learning that five members of the Supreme Court had ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, a pivotal court case that established a woman’s right to an abortion 50 years ago. New evidence in the lynching of Emmett Till: investigators were able to find a warrant issued 67 years ago for the arrest of Roy Bryant, J.W. Milam, Bryant’s half-brother, and Carolyn Bryant in the kidnapping of Till. City Council convened a joint hearing on education and oversight due to the expected city budget cuts to schools. The teacher’s union that rallied outside of City Hall during the hearings demanded that Mayor Eric Adams “restore the cuts.”

DanceAfrica 2022 during Memorial weekend at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (Left photo credit: Daniel Goodine, right photo credit: Nayaba Arinde)

(Bill Moore photo)

Juneteenth flag rising (Bill Moore photo)

Juneteenth parade (Bill Moore photo)

Lorraine Hansberry statue (Bill Moore photo)

Continued from

Caribbean Update

Dutch king also says sorry

By BERT WILKINSON Special to the AmNews

A week after Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte courageously ignored critics and formally apologized for the Dutch role in the transAtlantic slave trade, the country’s monarch has also done likewise, even calling the genocide a crime against humanity.

Dutch King Willem-Alexander incorporated the remorse of the Dutch in his Christmas message to locals, saying the move by the Dutch cabinet is the “beginning of a long journey,” as the Netherlands tries to grapple with a horrid past and to cope with pressure from Caribbean Community nations and other victim descendants fighting former European nations to pay reparations for slavery. “But by viewing our joint history in an honest way and by acknowledging the crime against humanity that slavery was, we are however laying the foundations for

a joint future,” he said of a nation of which 49% of the population still opposes any formal apology.

Last week, Caricom governments reacted to Rutte’s apology, thanking the Hague for doing so, contending that it has now opened a portal for future engagement but branding the Dutch as brutal pioneers of slavery.

“The Dutch state was Europe’s pioneer of the global slavery enterprise. For most of the 17th century, it monopolised the transAtlantic slave trade, and provided the finance

and technology that enabled the English, French, Spanish and Portuguese to establish their own slavebased empires. As a result, Amsterdam became the financial center of Europe, and the leading supplier, globally, of capital for colonization,” said Hilary Beckles, chair of the regionally appointed Caricom Reparations Commission and Vice Chancellor University of the West Indies.

Willem-Alexander did not address calls from former Dutch Caricom member nation, Suriname, for him to visit the country mid

next year for the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery. Activist groups want him to make the effort to fly to Paramaribo and say the Dutch were sorry and to pressure the government to begin addressing the issue of reparations.

The CRC says it is, however, encouraged by Rutte’s remarks when he said that he was ending his apology with a comma rather than a full stop, leaving the door open for some form of talks in the near future.

The region has long asked Europe for a formal summit to discuss the issue. Very

few have given positive signals but the CRC believes that the apology will put pressure on other nations to begin some form of engagement. Those nations identified so far for their role in slavery include the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. They have also hired a British law firm which had won compensation for Kenyan tribesmen who were slaughtered by British soldiers to represent their case.

Rutte described slavery as dehumanizing and says the Dutch cannot escape responsibility for this.

“Until 1814, more than 600,000 enslaved African women, men and children were shipped to the American continent under appalling conditions by Dutch slave traders. Most to Suriname, but also to Curaçao, Sint Eustatius and other places. They were taken from their families, dehu-

What will the new year bring for U.S. immigration?

KORNER

If the dropping off of another 100 poor migrants by Texas officials in front of the home of Vice President Kamala Harris on a freezing Christmas Eve is any indication of what’s to come, then 2023 is going to be a horrible year for immigrants and U.S. immigration.

Here’s what my crystal ball predicts: 1: The chaotic situation at the Southern Border will only get worse in 2023. Should the Supreme Court agree to the removal of Title 42, madness will ensue in January. The numbers of

immigrants entering will be dramatically higher than the recorded 204,155, crossing over from Mexico in November 2022 alone.

Thousands more migrants, fleeing a host of issues including climate change, food insecurity, crime, violence and poverty and desperate to enter the U.S., will continue to risk their lives crossing the southern border illegally to find a way in. This will further overwhelm border towns like El Paso and San Antonio and make it more dire in cities far away from the border, including Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago.

Throwing money at the situation and setting up tent cities in the middle of winter is not the solution.

What is needed is an urgent change of how asylum seekers apply for asylum to enter the U.S., but the Republican Congress will be too busy playing the game of retribution and blame to bother about solutions.

2: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will undoubtedly keep up his insane busing of more migrants crossing the southern border to Democratically run cities. This will further crush those cities’ resources and create more friction between the cities and Washington, D.C. as well as immigrant rights groups. Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, gearing up for 2024, will likely add to the fire, much like he did with the Cape Cod flight. No communication and no solutions will be the order of

the day.

3: With Republicans set to take over the U.S. Congress, the political football being played with immigrants’ lives is going to reach epic proportions. Both parties will continue to kick the ball down the road, without offering any real solutions, including for Dreamers in the U.S. or the labor crisis, which will continue to keep inflation high. Despite a labor shortage blamed on a slowdown in immigration, especially for agricultural workers, Republicans will have zero interest in any immigration reform, especially one pushed by the Biden administration.

4: The Biden administration, and especially immigration czar and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris,

will continue the lackluster attention to the crisis at the U.S.’s southern border and the issue of immigration reform will also only get worse in 2023. President Joe Biden will make his first trip to Mexico as president in January as thousands gather at the Mexican border, living in tents in the winter. But Biden is sure to stay away from visiting the border as his administration has few solutions on handling the crush of people seeking to enter America. He may drop his hope for reform into the State of the Union, basing the need for it on lowering inflation to please the progressive base—all the while knowing fully well that the House Republicans will do nothing. But Biden

manized, transported and treated like cattle. Often under the government authority of the West India Company. We read of flogging and torture to death, of people having their limbs cut off, of branding in the face. The fate of one person is more terrible than the other, injustice and more injustice on every page. And as Anton de Kom described it for Suriname, it also happened elsewhere, under the same Dutch government authority. We read it, we know it, and yet the horrible fate of enslaved people is hard to comprehend.”

Supporting Beckles was Hilary Brown, the secretary to the CRC. She called the slave trade “a crime against humanity committed during one of the darkest chapters in human history. We call on the European governments to follow the lead of the Netherlands, and accept liability for their actions and commit to an appropriate program of repair. Reparations now,” she said.

will make this move so he can later tell his base as we head into the silly season in 2024 that he tried.

5: The backlog in immigration processing, including for asylum seekers, will continue in 2023, even as the U.S. CIS tries hard to play catch up.

6: Millions of Dreamers or DACA recipients will continue to hang on by a thread and live in limbo as the fight to stay in the U.S. will now rest on the U.S. Supreme Court. Many Dreamers will likely move out of the U.S. and seek to build lives elsewhere, leading to a higher labor shortage.

writer is publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com –The Black Immigrant Daily News.

The

IMMIGRATION

“Last week, Caricom governments reacted to Rutte’s apology, thanking the Hague for doing so, contending that it has now opened a portal for future engagement, but branding the Dutch as brutal pioneers of slavery.”

2023 NEW YEAR’S EVE CELEBRATION ROUND-UP

After two years of no live music and no New Year’s Eve celebrations, noise-makers, crazy hats and dressing your best is back. Get ready to bring in the New Year 2023 in the Apple, watch the “ball drop,” ring the bells, holler loud celebratory shouts with fiery horns and bellowing drums, jump up and down—a New Year is a coming and live music will fly in the sky.

Bill’s Place, located at 148 West 133rd Street, was one of Harlem’s hottest speakeasies during prohibition, so definitely their New Year’s Eve celebration is going to be hot, hot. Saxton’s band will be playing hard jazz melodies in the pocket for dancing. During prohibition this address was the site of Tillie’s Chicken Shack where Willie “The Lion” Smith played stride piano and a young Billie Holiday mesmerized audiences.

The first set at 7:30 p.m. is $40 per person and the party is on for the second set at 10:30 p.m.; admission charge will be $75 per person and will include an open wine bar and assorted appetizers. Throughout the year Saxton and his abled musicians have represented the speakeasy reputation where the music roars until dawn or until they go home. New Year’s will be a throwdown jazz getdown; hold on it’s going to be a big joyous ride.

Reservations are a must—call 212-281-0777, or visit the website billaplaceharlem.com.

Sista’s Place (456 Nostrand Avenue) located in Brooklyn is known for great music and outrageous New Year’s Eve celebrations. This year, their first since the pandemic, will feature George Gray’s All-Stars with trumpeter Robert Rutledge, saxophonist David Lee Jones, pianist Benito Gonzalez and bassist Lonnie Plaxico with the leader on multi-percussion. The dynamic band personnel make one statement: they are at Sista’s to play

and celebrate the night away.

There will be two sets at 9 & 10:30 p.m., $75 per person. The second set will most likely go on until the wee hours.

Reservations are a must—call 718-398-1766.

The Smoke Jazz & Supper Club (2741 Broadway) on the Upper West Side will present its New Year’s Eve Celebration Coltrane Festival Countdown 2023.

Smoke welcomes the Eric Reed

Sextet featuring special guest vocalist Paula West (an always-welcome voice in Gotham), with trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, saxophonist Vincent Herring, bassist John Webber and drummer Joe Farnsworth. This is another fine configuration with both West, pianist and composer Reed coming in from the west coast. Now that is a treat.

There will be two sets at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. that include a

three-course dinner ($250 per person + tax and 18% gratuity with beverages available a la carte) while the third set at 10:30 ($400 per person + tax and 18% gratuity) is the main event with a special selection of hors d’oeuvres including jumbo shrimp cocktail and American Sturgeon caviar with Moët & Chandon champagne.

For reservations call 212-864-6662 or visit website smokejazz.com.

Dizzy’s jazz club (Columbus Circle at 60th Street) will be a house of swinging colors with bassist and composer Carlos Henriquez’s New Year’s Eve Celebration with pianist Robert Rodriguez, trumpeters Michael Rodriguez and Terrel Stafford, tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, trombonist Marshall Gilkes, flautist and vocals Jeremy Bosch, and congas and vocals Anthony Almonte. This well accomplished nonet will blend the elements of Afro-Latin rhythms with spirited jazz orchestration. This international group will cover all the notes for a most spontaneous evening.

The 7:30 p.m. show includes cover, food, non-alcoholic beverages, & gratuity, for $285 per person. The 11 p.m. set includes a champagne toast plus all the above at a price of $400 per person.

For reservations visit the website jazz.org.

Following a few days rest start the New year right on with vocalist Vanessa Rubin as she makes her debut appearance at Dizzy’s jazz club, on Jan. 4, one night only with sets at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

She will be accompanied by pianist Brandon McCune, bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Winard Harper. She will sing originals, standards and stuff that sparks body movement. Rubin has magic that turns difficult compositions into vivid stories.

Rubin has performed with the iconic tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, who is not known for playing with vocalists. Her most recent performance at Harlem’s Aaron Davis Hall was a most memorable event, she lit it up and is set to bring some real soul and life to those lesser-known

classics rarely chosen for stage. She was one of the regulars at St. Nick’s Pub in Harlem turning it out every week with the likes of Olu Dara, Patience Higgins, and a jazz icon who deserved much more credit, pianist and vocalist Donald Smith.

Her adventurous repertoire is connected to albums like the tribute to her native Cleveland-nite pianist, arranger and composer Tadd Dameron. His arrangements influenced bebop, swing and hardbop, which also inspired Sonny Stitt, Blue Mitchell, Miles Davis and Milt Jackson. Her 2019 tribute, “The Dream Is You: Vanessa Rubin Sings Tadd Dameron,” was nominated for the 51st NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Album. Point— she doesn’t look for easy projects. She is an improvisational stylist whose vocal instrument adapts from serene to swing, blues and soul.

For reservations, visit the website jazz.org or call 212-258-9595.

All the best to you in 2023. Life is tough but you’re tougher, believe in what you do and do what you believe…Thanks so much for your continued support. Keep swinging;

Bill Saxton (Ron Scott photo)

Best Black Books of 2022, Part 1

By JORDANNAH ELIZABETH Special to the AmNews

For the entirety of this year, I’ve been covering books after many years of exploring and finding my voice here at the New York Amsterdam News

It happened naturally, without much thought, but there’s something about covering literature that has provided me with an inner momentum, a level of consistency that has caused me to pause my “searching,” and to craft and hone what I’ve learned so far. We must always be searching in some sense. I’ve heard from elders that no one should or can stop learning, but in this instance, in this piece of writing, I’m highlighting my picks of books I’ve gotten to know since the dawn of 2022.

Every book I’ve covered has been written by excellent Black writers I greatly admire, yet these 10 books have seeped into my memory, and caused me to quote them in conversation and think about them when I have a free moment to ruminate. I’m excited for 2023. I hope our community is inspired to read more, think more and do much more.

The Quaking of America: An Embodied Guide to Navigating Our Nation’s Upheaval and Racial Reckoning | Resmaa Menakem

As a follow-up to the 2017 New York Times bestselling book, “Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies,” which consciously unfolds the mechanisms of Black generational trauma, psychotherapist Resmaa Menakem returned in 2022 with “The Quaking of America,” which revisits some concepts introduced in “My Grandmother’s Hands,” including the distinctions of what he calls “clean pain” and “dirty pain.” He examines the differences between healthy and unhealthy channels of processing trauma. Not only does “Quaking of America” continue to offer insights and grounding exercises (which are relatively simple and do not demand large amounts of time to enact) to heal trauma that sits within the genealogy and bodies of Black people, it offers informative practices for white Americans who unconsciously perpetuate racial mistreatment, discrimination and

abuse toward Black Americans to grow and understand themselves. Foundationally, the book is a preparation or pre-emptive measure to combat what Menakem believes will be a very likely white supremacist uprising in the near future based on the foreshadow of the January 6th insurrection.

Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop | Danyel Smith

Danyel Smith’s book “Shine Bright” is an honest biographical account of the life of this accomplished music editor, author and journalist as it relates to a number of iconic Black women in music. Not only does she share stories about her childhood and important relationships with women in her own family, including her sister and mother, she intelligently ties each artist together in an incredibly unique way, includ-

ing artfully connecting the familial bloodline of Leontyne Price, Dionne Wawrick and Cissy Houston—the latter, of course, is Whitney Houston’s mother. Smith’s ability to create a cohesive world of music history that centers on Black women, and her personal reality and experience, makes this book impossible to duplicate regarding literary voice and style.

“Shine Bright” has deservingly been cited as a favorite by readers and critics since its release in April 2022.

The Furrows: A Novel | Namwali Serpell Somali-American author, professor and essayist Namwali Serpell’s second novel, “The Furrows,” following 2019’s “The Old Drift,” is a deeply emotional, well-crafted tale of childhood grief. She masterfully writes the unfolding of the thoughts and comprehension of the death of a

9-year-old girl’s younger brother, carrying readers straight into the density of the matter from the first pages. Serpell’s courageousness in delving so heavily into portraying such thickness of emotionality and understanding of the vivid awareness of children in turn reveals her gift of fully committing to the experience of her characters without embedding any form of commentary or perspective of her own. Very few fiction authors are able to accomplish this, let alone create such a work so early in a career.

Victory Is Assured: Uncollected

The posthumous collection of the unpublished work of the bright, lively and confrontational cultural critic Stanley Crouch serves as a balm to readers, fellow writers and colleagues

who feel a void from the loss of Crouch’s larger-than-life, unabashed literary presence. Continuing the work of Baraka and creating space for voices like Tate and others, he challenged the dominant stances of white jazz critics and Black Nationalists all in one lifetime. American culture would not be what it is today without Crouch’s elbowing of structure and unwillingness to allow a level of comfortability to the systemic normalcy and white sensibility of jazz, art and so on. This doesn’t mean one shouldn’t be nice. It just means Crouch was needed and had his place within the fabric of cultural discourse during a time when disparities were so rigid and prevalent; it was time for a change.

South Central Noir | Various Contributors

The city was on fire. This is what has been said about every major city across the United States at one moment in history or another. But South Central Los Angeles seems to stay ignited, burning in the hearts of the gangsters, in the pocketbooks of the mothers, in the eyes of shop owners and in the minds of onlookers who dream to be a part of the drama so they would have a story to tell. “South Central Noir” features locale-centric short stories from writers Steph Cha, Nikolas Charles, Tananarive Due, Larry Fondation, Gar Anthony Haywood, Naomi Hirahara, Emory Holmes II, Roberto Lovato, Penny Mickelbury, Gary Phillips, Eric Stone, Jervey Tervalon, Jeri Westerson and Désirée Zamorano, who should all rightfully be named because their contributions are searing and diverse, leaning on their own understanding of what could possibly happen within what the writer of the introduction to this collection, Gary Phillips, describes as “roughly 33 square miles.” Geographic and urban lines and boundaries seem to be the only thing that are solid and predictable in an area of the country that has garnered countless homages in the world of rap, in the world of Black life, in the world of Asian survival, in the world of masculinity and in the minds of Americans who fear what they cannot truly fathom without experience.

Writings of Stanley Crouch | Stanley Crouch, edited by Glenn Mott

Greg Tate: A (re)introduction to the literary works of a cultural visionary

By JORDANNAH ELIZABETH Special to the AmNews

We who are alive know nothing of death. We know nothing of it except the experience of having met someone who has ascended to the spiritual, intangible realm. I assume that I am not alone in desiring that those we’ve known have left this life with grace, peace and honor.

A little over a year ago, my mentor and a friend, father, brother, uncle, colleague and outstanding Black American writer, Gregory Tate, died suddenly without a word and without warning. I was lucky enough to have exchanged a positive and brief message about hip hop with him—he was named “The Grandfather of Hip-Hop Journalism” a week before his passing.

Nonetheless, it is regrettable that an invitation to speak at my class at the New School and a time to catch up about a month later all fell through, although I cannot imagine what those who had not been in contact in months or years may have felt after receiving the news.

I’d never thought of it before, but in writing the last passage, I thought of survivor’s guilt—a term that is typically reserved for those who have experienced intense tragedies, like being the only survivor in a plane crash or genocide. Logically, I shouldn’t be entertaining the term in this instance because I am so young, and my personal question is not “Why Greg and not me?” but rather more of a collective, broad question of “Why did it happen that way, without giving anyone a chance to truly say goodbye?” And “Why do those who have gotten whisked away in their own life’s circumstances have to feel guilt and pain for not reaching out sooner?”

Life isn’t always fair, and the grief has been a slow process.

Nonetheless, it is my humble honor to revisit some of the works of Tate, one of the most important cultural critics of the 20th and 21st centuries. I would not be where I am in my life and career, I would not have been afforded many of the opportunities, or have some of the wisdom I have gleaned, without his mentorship, friendliness and paternal

FLYBOY, FULL CIRCLE

Flyboy in the Buttermilk (Simon & Schuster), 1992

The seminal, linguistically trailblazing debut collection of Tate’s, which compiled a breadth of essays and articles published between 1981 and 1990 by the Village Voice. The pages of “Flyboy in the Buttermilk” are full of the bombastic, tonally fused hip hop, beatnik and singular imaginative colonialism that rose from the world, according to Tate. His world, full of Afro-centric observations, humor, irony and acute honesty when tackling issues of racism, rap, jazz and socio-political issues. Today, “Flyboy” is read in universities and regarded as the foremost book on modern

Black cultural criticism.

Flyboy 2: The Greg Tate Reader (Duke University Press), 2016

Nearly a quarter of a century after Tate’s first original literary triumph, “Flyboy 2” appeared to reveal what had become of the growth of the flourishing seeds its predecessor planted by presenting the equivalent of a cultural oak tree—storied, full of writing that spanned across decades and sharing the wisdom of Tate’s maturation as an essayist and thinker.

MUSIC BIOGRAPHIES

Midnight Lightning: Jimi Hendrix and the Black Experience (Chicago Review Press), 2003

Tate pushed the boundaries of dis -

tinctive inquiry and commentary to explore the intricacies of Jimi Hendrix’s navigation of segregation and emergence into the predominately white psychedelic rock world, culture and lexicon.

Miles Davis: The Complete Illustrated History (Voyageur Press) | Contributor along with many others, 2012

Lending his pen alongside many leading jazz critics and musicians, Tate assists in telling Miles Davis’ life, aligned with vibrant illustrations that breathe new life into the jazz legend’s wellknown history.

ART BIOGRAPHIES, EXHIBITION CATALOGS

Kerry James Marshall (Contemporary Artists Series) (Phaidon Press)| Written with Charles Gaines and Laurence Rassel, 2017

Tate writes an extensive historical biography of the Black contemporary artist Kerry James Marshall with co-authors artist Charles Gaines and Brussels-born feminist curator and artist Laurence Rassel.

Basquiat’s Defacement: The Untold Story (Guggenheim) | Written with Chaédria LaBouvier, Nancy Spector and J. Faith Almiron, 2019

Writing to accompany an expansive exhibition inspired by Basquiat’s 1983 painting, “The Death of Michael Stewart (Defacement)” at the Guggenheim Museum in 2019, Tate helps describe the vastness and brilliance of Basquiat’s work and profound influence.

Writing the Future: Basquiat and the hip-hop generation (MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Art) | Written with MFA Liz Munsell, 2020

Tate and MFA curator Liz Munsell pen the catalog chronicling the story of how hip hop informed Basquiat’s art and complicated brief life in conjunction with the 2020 exhibition at the Museum of Fine Art Boston.

kindness. Rest in Power, Baba Tate.

HOROSCOPES BY KNOWYOURNUMB3RS

By GODDESS KYA

December 29, 2022 — January 4, 2023

Rebirth of a New Nation: 2023 is the bridge after the gates were opened in 2022. What used to be a secret is no longer a secret, it’s right in your face. Smile! 2023 (2+0+2+3 =7) adds up to a 7 universal year. There are two twos, one zero and one three indicating a year to have faith in your plans while applying the footwork. You are the main event, the star in the play. Partnerships, self-awareness, truth-seeking, seminars, bridging the gap from the 6 year (2022), connecting the dots to make it make sense. Consider a sabbatical, leave from work or a retreat for a few weeks/ months to rejuvenate and handle personal affairs. Mercury retrogrades in Capricorn at 24 degrees on Dec. 29, 2022 until Jan. 17, 2023, jogging your memory of old and new while reconstructing your established perspective on life. It’s time to dedicate your life to a more spiritual purpose, finding out who you are, your roots of origin. The question “Why” will frequently come up for you to research the stories that have been told and find the origin close to it for comparison. “Never forget where we came from and always praise the bridge that carries us over.” Fannie Lou Hamer

2023 has much in store for you that will change the course of your life. Pluto’s transit peaked in Capricorn March 2008 before officially entering your sign later that year in November of 2008. A 15-year cycle as Pluto does one more dance from June until January 2024, making it 16 years. Reflect on the changes that occurred, accomplishments, relationships, careers choices in your life and what is happening now that is coming to a completion. This will be the energy that pushes you to higher growth and advancements. Dec. 31-Jan. 2, enjoy what 2023 has to offer you while climbing the mountain.

Don’t fight against the grind, stay the course of your path and develop new ways to stay relevant. This is a cycle of major change within your spheres of siblings, personal health, family members or close associates, and your personal growth as far as your reputation. If you are dealing with the public, be mindful of the words you choose and your actions. Don’t contradict what needs to be conveyed, just say it. Jan. 3-5: be yourself.

Something new is on the rise or ready to view. Now you discover a new part of you by going through the process; you learn a valuable lesson regarding time, so be patient to see results. It’s time to start building a new foundation and get out of your own way to get it done. A significant woman may play a role in your life at this time for counsel. Listen carefully and be mindful of what you ask for. Days leading up to Jan. 6, acknowledge what you feel.

Can you say Wala magic: you have awakened from a deep slumber this month to realize your own gifts and areas of focus to work on. What an illusion life can be, making things feel real. Things are real when you believe then act upon them making it your reality. January is a month of revelation and deep concentration on your growth. Chiron is in Aries, assisting you to heal deep wounds buried deep within, to rebirth and begin initiation on a new journey. Dec. 29-30, follow the clues, hunches, hints and thoroughly investigate the details, like doing research on a brand or label.

On your march get set go: October 2022 was a pivotal change in your life as far as your work while networking with others. Gather all the notes and build off what you have as more information will come and sudden meetings occur upon your arrival. Be mindful; some people have an agenda or scheme, wanting to fit you in their program. Follow your own agenda and don’t be blindsided by the looks of things and the sweet intelligent conversation that knocks your socks off and gets your heart singing. Dec. 31-Jan. 2, keep your eyes peeled.

It’s showtime as Mars in Gemini goes direct on Jan. 12 at 8 degrees, ushering in clarity. Reflect on the time of Sept. 4 through Oct. 30 for the rewind play that’s going to launch in January 2023; then reflect on Oct. 30, 2022 through Jan. 12, 2023 as to what is happening during this time in your life. All this was part of your growth, shedding old ways to be more authentic in your path on a new accord to position yourself. Jan. 3-5, what’s the 411 ringing in your ears or conversation brewing up? It’s time to release and break free.

In 2023 it’s time to cut your losses, follow your dreams, be honest with yourself, take accountability of your actions and do for yourself. What is the burning desire in your heart? What do you want to do in life? As your mind drifts in and out, initiate the first step to prepare you for the journey arriving in May. You saw this coming, so begin now by taking the lead of your affairs and depending on your own resources to get you by. Days leading up to Jan. 6, tough love will be given with a splash of inspiration to toughen you up to fly on your terms.

After you pass step 123, 456 comes, then you must choose what decisions need to be made for your higher self. Life isn’t fair as we want to enjoy all the amenities life has to offer while co-existing in the physical world. There is a bridge we must cross to continue the path to see more of life. There are many levels in life with great rewards which become a lifestyle and a success story. Dec. 29-30 sees you gazing upon a star, finding your place in the constellation.

Can you say “beep beep, rewind what you just stated.” Some people are oblivious to knowledge, as they do not know any better or have not researched for themselves. January sees you on another deep dive study recovering more information. The deeper you travel down the study hall to visit libraries and sacred sites the more you are equipped to share your knowledge. This may be cause for another study session. Dec. 31Jan. 3, take a mental break to digest the information.

2022 was a year of something you’ve been dreaming of doing with recognition and networking. Hard work pays off when you apply yourself. In 2023 the energy is not the same. It’s time to push the envelope a bit, like upping your ante on a bet. A cycle to roll up your sleeves, snap your suspenders in place, tie up your shoelaces, and get to work. You must lay the foundation, in a way where you are not backing down if someone one day tries to move your car over there. Jan. 3-5: it’s time to stand your ground with a bit of weight on it.

At times your eyes say enough without asking how you are doing. You’ve been through some amazing quests, and some not so bright. There is a balance in the universe as some things are meant to hang around for a lifetime and some aren’t. Enjoy life in 2023 as it will shed light in your world, with a lot of interaction with the physical and spiritual realm entities. In January concentration is needed as you birth a new concept as an addition to your work. Days leading up to Jan. 6, simply live and learn.

The year 2023 has more in store even though it feels like another day in the park, yet with a different frequency. Claim 2023 as a new chapter in your life with new toys to play with for entertainment and enlightening the minds of the people. Pay attention to signs, symbols, details, information; the conversation you engage in hold key news towards the end of month. Dec. 29-30, you are thinking of a mastermind plan for the next eight years to come; have fun building your palace.

Vinateria

Beyond San Juan: Explore PR off the beaten path

By TRACY E. HOPKINS Special to the AmNews

Puerto Ricans are proud of and passionate about their culture, which blends indigenous, Spanish and African traditions. You can taste the melting pot of influences in dishes like mofongo and arroz con gandules. You can hear it in the music, from bomba to reggaeton.

On previous excursions to this balmy Caribbean island and U.S. territory, I hiked through the El Yunque rainforest; toured the colorful, cobblestoned streets of Old San Juan; and snapped Instagram-worthy photos of the street art murals in San Juan’s trendy neighborhood of Santurce. Most recently, on a holiday season trip, I explored a few smaller Puerto Rico provinces, notably the mountainside town of Cayey and the seaside town of Loiza.

Nicknamed “The City of Fog,” Cayey is about an hour from San Juan and its elevation of 1,500 feet above sea level makes it cooler than Puerto Rico’s beach towns. Pork lovers flock to the neighborhood of Guavete for its Ruta del Lechon, a winding strip of cafeteria-style restaurants that sell roast pork by the pound, as well as hearty side dishes like fried plantains, pastels and cassava, and picnic staples like macaroni and potato salads.

In Cayey’s town square, there’s a striking blue Spanish colonial church, a muraled amphitheater and three distinctive stone carvings representing the Three Kings. Across from the plaza, music flows from the Casa de la Música en Cayey. An upstairs wall in the historic building is adorned with covers of albums by local artists and a Menudo album is casually displayed on an old record player. This community organization’s mission is to retain the town’s music history, and it offers free music classes and workshops.

On the sunny December day I popped in, a group of festive seniors dressed in holiday flair hosted a Christmas party. A welcoming woman offered me a cup of coquito, Puerto Rico’s traditional holiday cocktail made with creamy coconut, rum and warm spices. Another amiable elder named Carmen told me she was a native New Yorker who has happily lived in Cayey for more than 40 years.

A short drive from San Juan, Loiza is perhaps best known for its chill beachside community of Pinones, a popular place to eat fritters, drink fruit frappes and hang out on weekends. It’s also where visitors can soak up the island’s Afro-Caribbean culture through art and dance. Loiza was settled in the 16th century by enslaved people from the West African Yoruba tribe, and the town

still has the largest Black population on the island. For me, it felt like an ancestral homecoming.

Samuel Lind’s art studio (Estudio de Arte Samuel Lind) is a great place to start a cultural heritage tour. Through visceral sculptural works and vibrant portraits and screen prints, the talented yet humble artist pays homage to the island’s Black and indigenous people. In addition, you’ll see a collection of the area’s trademark: horned vejigantes masks fashioned from coconuts. These jarring symbols are peppered throughout Loiza and play a central role in the annual Festival of Saint James, which takes over the town in July with a weeklong flurry of parades, processions and live music.

A bomba dance class on the beach was a highlight and gave me a glimpse of festival life. Led by lovely teacher N’Zambi (Taller de Bomba N’Zambi), I danced in a circle of diverse women, all of us wearing billowy skirts and moving to the rhythmic beat of

live drumming. Ashe.

Tours to take:

Sofrito Tours (https://www.instagram. com/sofritotours/) for historical and gastronomic tours of Cayey and other areas.

Bespoke Lifestyle Management (https:// bespokeconcierge.com/tours/) for the Loiza Heritage Tour. Ask for Frankie, an animated guide and history buff.

Food and drink recommendations:

Chef Natalia Vallejo’s Cocina al Fondo in Santurce is set in a cozy backyard with chirping coquis. The menu favors traditional flavors with an upscale twist.

La Unidad is a sexy speakeasy hidden on

a residential street in San Juan’s Miramar nabe. Go for the model-esque servers and creative cocktails.

Operated by a handsome couple, El Grifo is a vegan eatery in the urban center of Caguas that even non-vegans will love. The restaurant will reopen in early January, and plant-based cooking classes are also available.

Where to stay:

The beachfront San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino in the lively Condado neighborhood boasts refreshed rooms and suites with ocean views. Pick up freshly baked breads and pastries from the lobby cafe.

(Photos courtesy of Discover Puerto Rico)

AmNews FOOD

Party-worthy

Whether they prefer red or white, sweet or dry, wine lovers are often entertainers at heart. When inviting guests to share your personal favorites, nothing enhances a tasting get-together quite like complementary snack and wine pairings.

The next time you find a wine party on your schedule, consider these simple yet delicious recommendations from sommelier

wine

pairings perfect for easy entertaining

and founder of “The Lush Life” Sarah Tracey, who partnered with Fresh Cravings to create “Dips and Sips.” Aimed at reinventing wine and cheese parties, the movement focuses on simplistic recipes, easy dip pairings and suggested wines.

“When I entertain at home, I’m always looking for ways to impress my friends with fresh, creative bites I can pair with wine,”

Hummus-Stuffed Mushrooms

Recipe courtesy of Sarah Tracey

Total time: 15 minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

Nonstick olive oil spray

16 ounces cremini mushrooms, stems removed and gills scooped out Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

1 container Fresh Cravings Classic Hummus

1 jar manzanilla olives stuffed with pimientos, cut in half

1 jar roasted red pepper strips

Oregon Pinot Noir

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare sheet pan with nonstick olive oil spray.

Place mushroom caps on sheet pan, spray with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Roast 7-8 minutes then let mushrooms cool to room temperature.

Fill each mushroom cap with hummus and top each with one olive slice.

Thinly slice roasted red pepper strips and arrange around olive slices.

Pair with lighter-bodied pinot noir with cherry tones from Oregon.

Tracey said. “My favorite hack is finding great products with highquality ingredients, then creating simple, elevated ways to serve them. The less time I spend in the kitchen, the more time I get to spend with my guests.”

Tracey relies on the versatility of Fresh Cravings’ array of dip options and crowd-pleasing, bold flavors worth celebrating. With authentic-tasting

chilled salsas offering a vibrant alternative to soft, dull blends of jarred salsa, along with flavorfilled hummus made with premium ingredients like Chilean Virgin Olive Oil, these dips elevate both traditional and reinvented recipes.

For example, Tracey’s recipes for Polenta Rounds with Pico de Gallo Salsa and Crab, Spiced Butternut Squash Naan Flat-

Spiced Butternut Squash Naan Flatbreads

Recipe courtesy of Sarah Tracey

Total time: 25 minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds butternut squash

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

1 container Fresh Cravings Roasted Garlic Hummus

1 package mini naan dippers

1 bunch fresh rosemary, minced

La Vieille Ferme Rosé

Cheesy Tortilla Cutouts with Salsa

Recipe courtesy of Sarah Tracey

Total time: 20 minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

Nonstick cooking spray

6 large flour tortillas

16 ounces pepper jack cheese, grated

1 can (4 ounces) green chiles, drained

1 bunch fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1 container Fresh Cravings Restaurant

Style Salsa, Medium

New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare sheet pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Place large flour tortilla on sheet pan. Top with handful of grated cheese.

Sprinkle chiles on top of cheese layer. Add chopped cilantro. Sprinkle with additional cheese.

Top with another tortilla. Bake until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Work in batches to make three sets of cheesefilled tortillas.

Cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters.

Serve with salsa and pair with sauvignon blanc from New Zealand with zest and zing.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Chop butternut squash into 1/2-inch chunks.

Toss squash with olive oil, maple syrup, cumin and chili powder.

Spread on sheet pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, and roast until tender, about 20 minutes.

Spread hummus on naan dippers and top each with squash and fresh rosemary.

Pair with deeper, savory and earthy rosé.

breads, Cheesy Tortilla Cutouts with Salsa, and Hummus-Stuffed Mushrooms offer flavorful, easyto-make appetizers that can make entertaining easy and effortless. Plus, these crave-worthy morsels are just as tasty and approachable for guests choosing to skip the wine.

Find more recipe and pairing ideas perfect for enhancing your next party at FreshCravings.com.

Polenta Rounds with Pico de Gallo Salsa and Crab

Recipe courtesy of Sarah Tracey

Total time: 30 minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

1 tube (16 ounces) prepared polenta

Nonstick cooking spray

Salt, to taste

8 ounces jumbo lump crabmeat

1 container Fresh Cravings Pico de Gallo Salsa, Mild

1 bunch fresh mint, finely chopped Mateus Rosé

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Slice polenta into 1/4-inch thick rounds. Arrange on baking sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray and bake 20–25 minutes until golden-brown and crispy. Sprinkle with salt to taste and let cool.

Combine jumbo lump crabmeat with salsa.

Top each polenta round with crab salsa mixture.

Garnish with finely chopped fresh mint and pair with vibrant, fruity rosé.

Audra McDonald is stupendous in ‘Ohio State Murders’

By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews

When the lights come up onstage at the start of “Ohio State Murders,” playing at the James Earl Jones Theatre on W. 48th Street, the audience sees Audra McDonald’s back facing them. But this is not going to be your usual Broadway play. There is something about the six-time Tony Award winner that demands quiet and focus. The audience soon learns that her character is a successful playwright, lecturer and author named Suzanne Alexander, and that she is a guest speaker at her alma mater, Ohio State University, where the university has invited her to explain the violent images in her works. Meticulously, the play’s author, Adrienne Kennedy, takes us through her remembrances of her time at the university in the late 1940s and ’50s, and the blatant, cruel racism that she experienced. At age 91, Kennedy is making her Broadway debut with this powerful work, and it is explosive.

Suzanne is one of a handful of Black students and all the barriers are in full force.

Black students don’t live in the houses on campus as the white students do—they come in as freshmen and can only live in dorms. The white sororities don’t in any way associate with the Black students and candidly let university staff know that they have nothing in common with them. Suzanne is a brilliant freshman writer and wants to be an English major, but this is not a privilege granted to Black students. The racism, the environment of white superiority, is flagrant at this university. Suzanne is constantly bombarded by unfair treatment and social ostracizing, which leads to a great deal of loneliness. In this atmosphere, which is so mentally detrimental, Suzanne finds herself drawn to her white professor, Robert Hampshire. She loves literature and when she reads Hardy, she understands the work on a level that impresses him greatly.

McDonald is painstakingly methodical in her detailed portrayal of this character.

Every word, every movement is measured to perfection. You become engulfed in all her utterances and remembrances as you listen to a devastating story.

Bryce Pinkham as Robert Hampshire is stunningly captivating. He lets you experience the attitudinal transitions that his character undergoes.

This one-act, 75-minute play includes performances by three other outstanding actors. As Suzanne recalls her interactions at OSU, she remembers Black classmate Iris Ann, played by Abigail Stephenson, a gifted violinist who was not given any positive feedback at the school and ends up dropping out. Stephenson is very touching in this role. David Alexander/Val were both love interests of Suzanne at different times in her life, both poignantly played by Mister Fitzgerald. The final member of the cast is Lizan Mitchell, who very successfully takes on the three roles of Mrs. Tyler/Miss Dawson/Aunt Louise, delivering each role

with distinct clarity, passion and purpose.

This is truly a work of art that will have you drained from the magnitude of its brilliance, power and devastation. This is what a Broadway drama should be! It leaves you breathless. The only thing you can do when it’s finished is shout approval at the top of your lungs.

Kennedy is a writer who should be revered for decades to come. The direction of Kenny Leon is flawless. He has a marvelous gift—every time that I see his works, I feel enriched. He understands theater inside and out, and he understands playwrights and actors and the best ways to bring out their strengths so they leave the audience thinking, appreciative and stunned.

“Ohio State Murders” leaves you wanting to see it again. It is a riveting portrayal of the racism that Blacks faced in this country in the 1940s and ’50s in academic settings— and a reminder that racism still exists today.

For more info, visit www.ohiostatemurdersbroadway.com

See ‘OHIO STATE MURDERS’ photo gallery

(L-R): Audra McDonald and Bryce Pinkham in “Ohio State Murders” (Richard Termine photos)

Audra McDonald

(L-R): Mister Fitzgerald and Audra McDonald (L-R): Audra McDonald, Lizan Mitchell and Mister Fitzgerald (L-R): Audra McDonald and Abigail Stephenson

CLASSROOM IN THE Harry Pace, record company and insurance mogul

By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews

A few of the best musicologists and recording historians know that Black Swan was America’s first Black-owned record company. But they may be less informed about who the founders were, and that one of them was light enough to pass for white, something he reportedly did toward the end of his life. The lesser two of them was Harry Herbert Pace, the other was renowned musician and composer W.C. Handy, among the first to notate blues music.

What we know of Pace’s early years is chronicled on several websites and in Bruce Kellner’s “The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Dictionary for the Era.” He was born in Covington, Georgia in 1884. From a biography of Pace his grandfather was manumitted from slavery after being brought from Virginia to Georgia. Other than finishing elementary school by the time he was 12, little else is known of his formative years.

He was working as a printer when he enrolled at Atlanta University, a job that would pay his tuition and other expenses. Later, he quit the job and took on odd jobs around the campus. It was during these days on campus that he met W.E.B. Du Bois as a student in one of his classes. He was 19 years old and valedictorian of his graduating class in 1903. After graduation he used his experience in printing to start his own press in Memphis, with Du Bois as his partner. In effect, the association with Du Bois placed Pace among the “Talented Tenth,” and he, unlike Du Bois, was one of the eight who signed a letter that led to Garvey’s downfall on the charges of mail fraud. Two years later they would found the short-lived magazine The Moon Illustrated Weekly.

Pace ended his business connection with Du Bois, though he remained a lifelong loyalist and later as an insurance executive donat-

ed money to his mentor’s various enterprises. By 1912, Handy would be his next partner and they even wrote songs together. He wasn’t too busy on the entrepreneurial front and with musical activity to ignore Ethylene Bibb, whom he married in the early 1920s. This was about the same time he and Handy formed the Pace and Handy Music Company, and this brought Pace to New York City. Soon, they were able to lure such notable musicians as William Grant Still and Fletcher Henderson to the fold.

For the most part, the company published and distributed sheet music, with Handy’s notation clearly evident. But the ever aware Pace noticed the growing market of phonograph records and he resigned from the company and began devoting more time to this new interest. In 1921, after forging an alliance with members of the NAACP to establish a branch in Atlanta, Pace was back at his desk in Harlem with Black Swan Records on the agenda. Again Du Bois was involved, suggesting he

name the company after singer Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, who was called the “Black Swan.” He quickly embarked on the company, noting that “There are twelve million colored people in [the] U.S., and in that number there is a wonderful amount of musical ability. We propose to spare no expense in the search for and developing of the best singers and musicians among the twelve million.”

Pace lived in Harlem but his company’s offices were in the Gaiety Theater in Times Square. In the basement of his brownstone, he set up a recording studio. Henderson, a musical genius, became his recording manager and Grant Still the arranger. The first recordings featured light classical musical performances, blues, spirituals and instrumental solos. But things changed dramatically when Ethel Waters’ versions of “Down Home Blues” and “Oh, Daddy” were top sellers. Even so, in 1923, Pace declared bankruptcy and a few months later sold Black Swan to Paramount Records.

Two years later Pace was off on a fresh venture with the founding of the Northeastern Life Insurance Company based in Newark, N.J. By the 1930s, the company was the largest African-American owned business in the North. He then moved to Chicago to begin attending the Chicago-Kent College of Law. He received his degree in 1933 and began passing for white after opening his law firm in downtown Chicago in 1942. It would be long after his death on July 19, 1943, in Chicago that his progeny would discover his African ancestry. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.

Pace’s legacy is two-fold: he spurred the recording industry for African American ownership and did the same in the insurance industry. Countless number of enterprising women and businessmen such as John Johnson, who founded Ebony and Jet magazines, were inspired and mentored by Pace.

ACTIVITIES

FIND OUT MORE

Paul Slade’s book, which provides a bounty of information on Pace, Black Swan and Bruce Kellner, is a worthy supplement.

DISCUSSION

More information about Pace’s early years and his feelings about race and passing would be topics of discussion.

PLACE IN CONTEXT

From the turn of the 20th century to the third decade were productive years for Pace and his ambitions.

THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY

Dec. 25, 1863: Robert Blake was the first Black American to receive the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions on a gunboat.

Dec. 25, 1907: Bandleader and entertainer Cab Calloway was born in Rochester, N.Y. He died in 1994.

Dec. 25, 1932: Actress Mabel King was born in Chicago. She died in 1999.

Harry Pace adorns the cover of a book detailing the history Black Swan Records

Health

Dr. Michelle Morse on the pandemic, long COVID and planning for the holidays

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

Dr. Michlle Morse, MD, MPH, chief medical officer and deputy commissioner of the Center for Health Equity and Community Wellness in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, spoke with the Amsterdam News for a Q&A about the status of the COVID-19 pandemic, preparation for the holidays and long COVID. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

AmNews: Where are we with respect to COVID-19 right now?

Although there have been a lot of confusing conversations, I would say…we are still in a pandemic and the COVID pandemic continues to be a massive priority for all of us in public health. Where we are currently in New York City specifically is that we have seen a slow rise in cases of COVID over the past several weeks, and we have really tried to get the message out to providers and our health care partners as well. It’s happening at a time when we actually have more tools than we have ever had to prevent COVID, both in terms of…severe cases, as well as severe outcomes. [We] have more options than ever in terms of treatment…at this point, some folks may not be aware that unfortunately, we are still seeing deaths from COVID in New York City.

We have more tools than ever to prevent [deaths and hospitalizations] from happening, so the updated COVID boosters and the bivalent boosters are essential for the prevention of severe disease that can lead to hospitalization and death. We also have multiple different treatments that are available for people who do test positive for COVID.

I’m not sure how clear it is to everyone that the bivalent booster— the updated booster—the new booster…is a new version of the vaccine. I think folks need to un-

derstand that what’s so new and exciting about the booster is that it actually responds to what we’re seeing right now. It is your best bet to protect yourself and your family and your community from severe disease from COVID-19.

We’re also seeing that there is circulation of other viruses at the same time that we remain in the pandemic.

AmNews: There is a persistent myth that the COVID-19 primary series of vaccines are irrelevant. Can you speak about this?

It is a myth—you’re correct. The primary series is still extremely impactful and in some ways, I would say that it’s the on-ramp to full protection from COVID-19. It’s kind of the first part of priming your body to be prepared to fight COVID effectively and it’s still very important for folks who have never had a COVID vaccine at all. That primary series is going to be what gets your body ready to fight COVID. It is not at all useless at this point. In fact, it’s how you prepare your body to get to be ready for the booster vaccine. So that’s definitely a myth. The primary series is still very impactful.

AmNews: Another persistent myth is that if you have been vaccinated, you don’t need to wear a mask. What are your thoughts on this?

Masks are one of the most helpful ways to protect yourself and your family. We recommend that New Yorkers wear masks in all indoor settings and in public settings where there are a lot of people around—that is still our recommendation. It’s a powerful way to protect yourself and your family.

AmNews: What should people do to keep themselves safe for the holidays?

Most of our advice hasn’t changed. It’s really all the same things that we’ve been saying over the past couple of years. There are a few things we strongly recommend.

First and foremost, again,

wearing a high-quality mask in all public indoor settings and outside when you’re around big crowds. This is still one of the most basic, most powerful measures to protect yourself and your family, so we still recommend that.

The second thing we still recommend is to get vaccinated for sure for COVID-19. With the bivalent booster, it’s not too late to do that and the same for flu— get your flu vaccine as well. We strongly do recommend also that people go ahead and get both vaccines at the same time.

The third thing we recommend is that you do tests before travel and gatherings, especially if you were exposed to someone with COVID.

The fourth thing we still want to make sure everyone knows is to stay home if you’re sick. No matter what symptoms you might have, if you feel something’s coming…that is a time, again, where you could be potentially very infectious to others and we want you to stay home, get tested, make sure that you are okay before you put yourself in a situation where you might be able to spread a contagious illness to other people. That’s really important. And then handwashing. I know it sounds arcane but hand-washing still helps to prevent all kinds of viruses, not just COVID but also flu, RSV and other viruses.

AmNews: Where are we with respect to long COVID?

We continue at the health department to pay very close attention to the evolution of long COVID. It’s definitely one of our concerns—what we know from our recent Community Health Survey is that almost 30% of New Yorkers who’ve had COVID report some form of long COVID. We also know that women are a bit more likely to experience it than men and we’ve been doing a few different efforts to try to make sure that there’s awareness about long COVID across New York City.

Dr. Michlle Morse, MD, MPH (Courtesy of Dr. Morse)

Factcheck: False: COVID-19 is similar to having the flu

By HEATHER M. BUTTS, J.D., M.P.H., M.A. Special to the AmNew

As COVID-19 has continued to ravage the country and world over the last three years, the need for people to make sense of the unthinkable led to a variety of rationalizations and myths, many of which have been covered in the Amsterdam News . A particularly persistent one is that COVID-19 is the same as the flu. While both diseases have symptomatic overlap (that is, similar or some of the same symptoms), there are important differences. Knowing those differences can ensure individuals afflicted with either COVID-19 or the flu obtain appropriate, timely treatment, and use appropriate prevention measures.

According to the CDC, “In 2021, COVID19 was listed as the underlying or contributing cause of 460,513 deaths.” The number of U.S. deaths for the 2019–2020 flu season was approximately 25,000 individuals per the CDC.

The flu is not an inconsequential disease. In an interview, Dr. Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, said that “the flu is…an infection that…affects your entire body. Some of the more common things about flu are that you feel achy, you feel very tired…We keep track of hospitalizations for influenza and deaths from influenza because it is such a serious disease…There can be between 15,000 and 40,000 people in a year [who] die from influenza and influenza complications.”

However, as Pekosz goes on to state in an article titled “No, COVID-19 is Not the Flu,” the differences between the flu and COVID-19 are stark: “COVID-19 survivors report many more long-term effects of the infection than influenza survivors. Lingering symptoms like weakness, shortness of breath, trouble focusing, and, in some cases, kidney and heart problems are much more common after COVID-19 than after influenza.”

Dr. Cameron Webb, J.D., M.D., a senior policy advisor for COVID-19 Equity on the White House COVID-19 Response Team, said that, “COVID and flu are not the same…We’ve got a vaccinated population, but for folks who aren’t up to date with their vaccination or who haven’t had the benefit of using an oral antiviral treatment for COVID-19, the risk of COVID is still a cut above what we typically see with the flu, so that’s something for people to keep in mind.”

Certain distinct differences between the two diseases include: COVID-19 and the flu have different causes. COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. According to experts at the Cleveland Clinic, “Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause respiratory ill -

ness in humans. They are called ‘corona’ because of crown-like spikes on the surface of the virus.” (SARS stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.) The seasonal flu is caused by the Influenza A and B viruses.

While some of the symptoms of COVID-19 and the flu are similar, certain symptoms are distinctively different, with the loss of taste and smell being a particularly distinctive sign of COVID19. According to the New York Presbyterian guide “How to tell the difference between COVID-19 and flu,” “The loss of taste and smell is specific to COVID19 and is not seen in people who have the flu…While it may not manifest in all patients (about 38% to 55% of patients have reported loss of taste and around

40% have reported loss of smell), this specific symptom might come on anywhere from two days after contracting the virus up to 14 days after symptom onset.” Shortness of breath, symptoms lasting weeks or months and “long COVID” are additional symptoms. More differences can be found on the CDC page entitled Similarities and Differences between Flu and COVID-19. For additional resources about COVID19, visit www1.nyc.gov/site/coronavirus/ index.page or call 311. For information about the flu and flu resources, visit: https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/ health-topics/flu-seasonal.page

COVID-19 testing and vaccination resources can also be accessed on the AmNews COVID-19 page: www.amsterdamnews.com/covid/

Claim: Getting COVID-19 is similar to having the flu.

Factcheck: False. COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in 2021. While some symptoms overlap between the flu and COVID, they are very different diseases. Continued vigilance is necessary in the fight against COVID-19.

A social media post falsely states that COVID is only as dangerous as the flu

Education

Jackie Robinson Museum honors MLB’s first Black player—and Black progress

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

New York City’s Jackie Robinson Museum (JRM), which opened in its 20,000 square-foot 75 Varick St. location in Lower Manhattan this past July 26, is an interesting mix of U.S. history, a story of Major League Baseball (MLB), and a tale of Black life in 20th century America.

With archival documents, short films and images, it tells a story about the personal and professional life of Jackie Robinson. JRM visitors learn about why Robinson was chosen to break MLB’s allwhite color line—and get to learn why there was a color line in the first place.

Robinson was a respected athlete at the college level: he lettered in baseball, football, basketball and track at California’s Pasadena City College and later UCLA. He left college before graduating to take care of his family and spent some time in the military before beginning his iconic baseball career playing shortstop with the Negro Leagues’ Kansas City Monarchs

The Brooklyn Dodgers executive Branch Rickey signed Robinson to their minor league team, the Montreal Royals, in 1946 and Robinson famously broke the baseball color

line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. JRM has several photos and depictions of people’s reactions to Robinson’s first year with the Dodgers. In one part of the exhibit, the short film “Us Against the World” by Victorious Decosta (a recently AmNews profiled “Black New Yorker”) shows what Jackie and his wife, Rachel, had to go through as they traveled from the West Coast to the East when Jackie first started his baseball career. But the enthusiasm Black baseball fans had when coming to see Jackie Robinson play helped each of them deal with the challenges they faced along the way. When Robinson donned the uniform of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he became a symbol of the Black community’s nascent steps toward the Civil Rights Movement. “Black journalists like Sam Lacy of the Baltimore Afro American and Joe Bostic of the New York Amsterdam News were advocating for baseball to integrate,” a placard at the museum notes. “While other baseball officials resisted the call to integrate the game, Rickey acted. Rickey’s choice of Robinson, influenced by Pittsburgh Courier writer Wendell Smith, was a bold one. Robinson was better known for his talent in basketball and football than in baseball, and

he had a reputation for speaking out. But Rickey believed in Robinson. The men bonded over both being men of faith and having experienced the trials of integration within sports in college.”

Jackie Robinson’s physical attributes led to his later entrée into the world of politics, just as the Civil Rights Movement was gathering steam. And JRM features important images and references to Robinson’s appearances at famous locations where Civil Rights Movement history took place. It’s interesting to note that the Civil Rights Movement was mostly left-leaning and progressive and JRM does not provide as thorough of an examination of Robinson’s conservative leanings or his membership in the Republican Party as one would expect (Robinson was part of a large percentage of African Americans who had been loyal to the party of Abraham Lincoln, prior to influential Democratic Party presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt). It’s only casually pointed out that Robinson worked with New York’s Republican Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and had even endorsed Richard Nixon’s presidential candidacy in 1960.

There is an extensive and interactive timeline positioned on one part of the JRM wall detailing mo-

sect with various times in Jackie Robinson’s life. Many of his uniforms and baseball cards are displayed throughout the main hall and there is a small replica of the famed Ebbets Field, the stadium in Brooklyn where Robinson used to play, with several videos projected on the wall as well as within the stadium replica itself. One section of the museum includes pop culture-related items that Jackie was showcased in. And, back in another section, more than 30 screens are mounted with videos of people giving their accounts of how the symbol of Jackie impacted their lives. On top of showcasing Jackie Robinson and his career, JRM also urges its visitors

to follow in Robinson’s footsteps and make activist work a part of their lives. It asks visitors to make a pledge to take a stand on fighting for the rights of marginalized people.

The various interactive archives, films and documents help the flow of the Jackie Robinson Museum—you could easily find yourself learning and being entertained in the building for an hour or two. It makes the Jackie Robinson Museum a fun place to learn history, see art, and reflect on how activism can change the world. The Jackie Robinson Museum is open Thursdays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pre-registration is required for entry at www. jackierobinsonmuseum.org.

State bill banning school construction by highways vetoed by Gov. Hochul

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

Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed the Schools Impacted by Gross Highways Act (SIGH Act)—which bans constructing schools 500 feet from highways unless there’s special approval—this past Thursday, Dec. 23. The bill was passed by state legislatures earlier in the summer.

The SIGH Act was drafted by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and co-sponsored by State Sen. Rachel May (D-53) and Assembly Member Latoya Joyner in an attempt to combat longstanding environmentally racist urban design in a state ranked first in schools built within 500 feet of highways.

“Governor Hochul’s veto of the SIGH Act is an enormous disser-

vice to Black and brown communities who have suffered most from the devastating health and academic impacts of highway pollution,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman in

a statement. “We hoped the governor would heed the call of directly impacted students and residents, who have been organizing for years against this kind of systemic racism.

“Despite this setback, we will continue to work to right the historic wrongs that ‘urban development’ has caused to Black and brown communities, particularly young people, so that students and their parents are able to focus on their education without worrying about the quality of the air they breathe.”

Car pollution is the highest within the first 500 feet from the road, according to a 2015 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report. Children exposed to this level of emission are particularly susceptible to risk of asthma, weaker lung function and stunted lung development. And the NYCLU found roughly 53% of Black and brown youngsters live within 500 feet of a “major roadway” in 2019.

The NY Daily News reports city representatives pushed for Gov.

Hochul’s veto of the SIGH Act due to the difficulty of placing new schools. The EPA notes further that commutes due to a school’s distance from a major road can expose youngsters to more car emissions than attending a campus that is within 500 feet of a highway. While the agency recommends locating schools away from pollutant sources, it also recommends including the proximity from the local community when planning to break ground for a new school.

Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https:// bit.ly/amnews1

Governor Kathy Hochul signing gun laws in July (Photo credit: Darren McGee/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)

The “Us Against the World” film by Victorious Decosta is on display at the Jackie Robinson Museum (Karen Juanita Carrillo photo)

A chorus of outrage rings out against mayor’s proposed cuts to nonprofits

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

Mayor Eric Adams is in hot water this holiday season over a letter he crafted that calls for 50% cuts to City Council grants for nonprofit organizations.

City agencies were told to reduce spending by 3% back in September under the eliminate-the-gap (PEG) program to reach specific goals in the city’s financial plan.

The financial plan totals $5.55 billion in savings over the next four years. The comptroller’s office concluded that the PEG programs “are an essential part of addressing the city’s sizable budget gaps” but warned against “calls for a broad 50% reduction” to the city’s agencies.

Then, on Dec. 20, Adams sent a letter about the strenuous impact of asylum seeker funding on the city’s budget and financial plan. Adams asked that the city council “voluntarily” cut 50% of their expense discretionary spending. He cited that

the city has spent more than $250 million handling the migrant crisis and projected that $1 billion will be spent in the future.

“I know that you and your members share a deep concern for the wellbeing of asylum seekers, the needs of your constituents, and the city’s long term financial strength,” wrote Adams.

The City Council, in the middle of oversight hearings on the migrant crisis, in a statement said that the letter asking for cuts was “never delivered” and scoffed that Adams would reference it in an interview with the New York Post editorial board before making it known to the Council.

“The Council has received no such letter from the administration,” said a City Council spokesperson. “It’s disappointing that the mayor’s word on a budget agreement seems to have decreasing value and he is attempting to renegotiate via the New York Post editorial board.”

They said that numerous non-profit organizations were “filling the gaps of essential work” and aiding asylum seekers

Council race

Continued from page 3

of 10, and is now turning his intentions to politics.

Meanwhile Taylor has been an assemblymember for the last five years and has never shied away from publicly speaking on his experiences in the criminal justice system. Taylor was born in North Carolina and raised in Harlem.

In a ranked choice voting race, Dickens said there’s no “going up against them” to

speak of. She said it’s a similar situation to Richardson Jordan in that neither one of the candidates has her same level of experience to do the job effectively and efficiently.

It should be noted that because of City Council redistricting the next round of council members will only have a two-year term as opposed to a full fouryear term.

without reimbursement. They claimed the mayor was “starving” city agencies of staff and resources and now wants to take funding away from crucial nonprofits. Councilmembers such as Tiffany Cabán, Crystal Hudson, Amanda Farías and Farah Louis all chimed in to denounce the proposed cuts.

“For years, the New York City Council has provided grants to support non-profit service providers that serve as lifelines to communities of color. The mayor’s request to slash these resources for communities by 50% is counterproductive and would only harm the health and safety of Black and brown New Yorkers. This approach would not only further shortchange Black, Latino and Asian communities, but severely hemorrhage the capacity and capability of these organizations to provide adequate and meaningful services that our communities rely on,” said a joint statement from the Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus.

Additionally, some groups are also upset about cuts proposed to funding for libraries, education, housing and other social

services while Adams seems set to continue investing in policing.

“While cutting critical services and destabilizing New Yorkers’ health and lives, the Budget Modification protects and preserves the NYPD’s bloated budget from financial and personnel cuts, effectively increasing criminalization of the people the mayor is neglecting to serve and support,” said Communities United for Police Reform spokesperson Obi Afriyie. “During his first year in office, the mayor has consistently positioned the NYPD to respond to public health and safety issues that stem from underinvestment in housing, health and education, which the NYPD is not qualified to address.”

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://bit.ly/amnews1

“It takes you two years to get in there and learn where the bathrooms are and I don’t have to do that,” said Dickens.

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://bit. ly/amnews1

Assemblymember Inez Dickens (Bill Moore photo)

New York City mayor hosts a meeting with a group of urban pastors under 40. Gracie Mansion. Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. (Benny Polatseck/Mayoral Photography Office)

Religion & Spirituality

Thom Bell, prolific composer, producer and arranger, dead at 79

By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews

Thom Bell composed a rosary of hummable tunes during the ’60s and ’70s, many of them done in collaboration with the extraordinary lyricist Linda Creed. Their songs propelled such groups as the Stylistics, the Delfonics, the Spinners and the O’Jays to the top of the charts. Bell, a third of the Philly Sound triumvirate, was equally prolific as a producer, arranger and orchestrator. He, along with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, were popularly known as The Mighty Three, put the Philly Sound on the map, rivaling Motown and Stax. Bell died on Dec. 22 at his home in Bellingham, Wash. He was 79.

His manager and attorney, Michael Silver, confirmed his death but cited no cause.

Bell was born January 26, 1943, in Philadelphia to Leroy and Anna Bell. His father was from Portsmouth, Va. and his mother from Baltimore. Other than his maternal grandfather who was born in Jamaica, the other grandparents were born in the U.S.

He was classically trained as a pianist, and as a teenager began his long and productive affiliation with Gamble and Huff. In 1967, he was introduced to The Delfonics, and began producing for them while introducing the lush sound that would characterize many of the later hits. The group recorded his “La-La (Means I Love You)” and “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)” in 1970; the latter tune earned them a nomination for a Grammy.

At the same time he was working with The Delfonics, he was arranging for Gamble and Huff, whose company was gaining momentum in the recording industry. When the duo launched Philadelphia International Records, Bell arranged “Back Stabbers” for the O’Jays that gave the new label a considerable boost in the market.

After the Mighty Three publishing company was established, Bell moved on to produce The Stylistics, by this time teaming up with Creed. They, along with Russell

Thompkins, the group’s lead singer, produced a trove of unforgettable songs, including “You Are Everything,” “Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart),” “You Make Me Feel Brand New,” and the ever tuneful “Betcha by Golly, Wow.”

When Atlantic Records came calling, Bell agreed to work with The Spinners, who were no longer with Motown, and he revi-

talized the group with such songs as “I’ll Be Around,” “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love” and “Rubberband Man.” In 1974, he was awarded a Grammy for best producer of the year. A year later he was in the studio with Dionne Warwick, teaming her with The Spinners on “Then Came You,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 and reached #2 on the R&B chart.

Bell worked with a number of top recording artists—Elton John, James Ingram, the Temptations, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Phyllis Hyman. There was even a reunion with The Stylistics in the early ’80s.

On the personal side, Bell married Sylvia Bell in 1965 and they divorced in 1984. Two years later he married Vanessa Bell and they had six children.

Thom Bell stands with musicians Kenneth Gamble, left, Leon Huff, center (Stephanie Aaronson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Public safety

puzzle is critical to the health of the entire system. While there is certainly more work to be done, the results are clear that this strategy is working. Making sure the public feels safe and is safe remains our top priority, and we will continue to tackle public safety challenges head-on in a comprehensive way to protect New Yorkers.”

Shootings are down from last year by roughly 17%, which Adams credits to the 6,985 guns seized by police in 2022. Gun arrests are at a 27-year high. And there are 302 fewer shooting victims this year. Adams also highlighted the controversial Neighborhood Safety Teams, which employ unmarked vehicles and plain clothes units to address illegal gun possession and other “violent major crimes.” The program tackled neighborhoods traditionally plagued with gun violence using “precision policing” and promised to skip stop-and-frisk practices traditionally associated with such initiatives to focus on just getting illegal firearms off the street. In 2022, there was a 73% increase in ghost gun seizures compared to last year.

Shortly after Adams took office, the Bronx apartment fire killed 17 people, including eight children. Closing the year, the FDNY trained more than 258,000 New Yorkers this year in fire safety. The department also installed and distributed over 13,000 smoke alarms throughout the city. Prosecutions

for fire safety violations are down 98% this year, as the current administration instead pursues civil charges, which are processed faster, reported the New York Times in October.

Adams also flexed his often controversial handling of subway and transit safety, mentioning 27,200 people removed from trains for violations and 8,600 were arrested. He also touched on a 13% drop in November 2022 transit crime compared to last year after three New Yorkers were fatally stabbed within 10 days the previous month. As far back as February, Adams pushed to remove unhoused New Yorkers from subways, compounded with a recent directive to police and emergency services to involuntarily commit those with severe mental illness. According to the city, subway ridership currently peaks daily at around 3.9 million straphangers.

The streets are also safer in a literal sense, with pedestrian fatalities down 8% and cyclist fatalities down 15%. Adams credits a state-partnered 24/7 camera program reducing speeding around recorded areas by 25%. He adds the city will continue to work with Albany to increase penalties for reckless drivers, especially those who kill someone behind-the-wheel. Showing the now famous graphic of bulldozed ATVs, Adams said dirt bikes were a major concern for New York City drivers.

Additionally, crackdown on illegal license plates were mentioned as a crime deterrent as Adams attributed their use to “feeding the sea of violence.” But the city won’t outsource help—Brooklyn safe-streets advocate Adam White was arrested and detained last month for removing plastic used to illegally obstruct a license plate.

And surprisingly, corrections were a point of pride for Adams despite 19 deaths in or shortly after New York City jail custody this year. He says while there’s no official tally, he’s “likely” visited Rikers Island more than any other mayor in the city’s history. Given a reported, rampant sick leave issue in the embattled jail, the administration highlighted a 70% reduction in Department of Corrections uniformed staff calling in sick from this past January.

But there’s still work to be done, as shown

Rosewood

which prohibits any teaching that could make students feel they bear personal responsibility for historic wrongs.

The state of Florida is, as of this writing, not planning a commemoration of the Rosewood centennial. The University of Florida is hosting the remembrance activities and events that will kick off on Jan. 7, 2023. They feature a wreath-laying ceremony presided over by descendants of the eight surviving families, screenings of the John Singleton-directed 1997 film “Rosewood,” and panel discussions that examine the importance of maintaining communities in the past and in the present. The governor and his staff have been encouraged to attend the activities but have not yet responded to their invitation.

“Varying history doesn’t help any of us,” Jones commented. “I think it helps us to understand why there is sometimes tension between, you know, various groups. I think that Black people have a right to know their history, how they’ve been treated. The history is there, and it should be made available to anyone who is interested. But imagine you are a descendant of the Rosewood families and you’ve been denied a part of your history. I mean, I can’t control how people feel, I don’t have an agenda: I’m just pre-

senting the facts. My intent is not to make anyone feel guilty, but this is our history. How can you not acknowledge it? How can you walk away from it and pretend that it never happened? …You cannot sweep it under the rug: the intent is to inform.”

by the Christmas week violence. Most notably, Roland Codrington, 35, was arrested and charged for an alleged pair of separate slashing murders. One victim, 60-yearold pediatrician Bruce Maurice Henry, was found dead in Central Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park. This past Monday, a 64-year-old woman was found shot dead in Inwood.

And while murder is down, yearto-date from Dec. 18, major index crime is up by 23.5%, including increases in every other category. There were 10,000 more grand larcenies this year compared to 2021, a 27.8% rise.

Still, Adams and friends maintain the city is trending in the right direction, if the current decreases in every major index crime category besides grand larceny auto this past month are anything to go by. The mayor certainly is confident.

“New York remains the safest big city in America,” said Adams. “We have to be clear on that. We are still the safest big city in America, and in 2023, we’re going to push this city to be safer.”

Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.

Ruins of a burned African American home—Rosewood, Florida. 01-04-1923. (State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory)

New York City Mayor Eric Adams delivers an update on public safety in New York City at City Hall on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Florida State University’s Maxine D. Jones led the investigation on the Rosewood massacre (Karen Juanita Carrillo)

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101 LEGAL NOTICES

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK

U.S. Bank NA, successor trustee to Bank of America, NA, successor in interest to LaSalle Bank NA, as trustee, on behalf of the holders of WaMu Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2005-AR17, Plaintiff

AGAINST

Sonia Leventhal a/k/a Sonia M. Leventhal; et al., Defendant(s)

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered July 14, 2022 I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Portico of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre St, New York, NY 10007 on January 25, 2023 at 2:15PM, premises known as 123 East 91st Street, New York, NY 10128. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County, City and State of New York, Block 1520 Lot 10. Approximate amount of judgment $4,042,489.81 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index# 850235/2018. The auction will be conducted pursuant to the COVID-19 Policies Concerning Public Auctions of Foreclosed Property established by the First Judicial District

Roberta Ashkin, Esq., Referee

LOGS Legal Group LLP f/k/a Shapiro, DiCaro & Barak, LLC

Attorney(s) for the Plaintiff

175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (877) 430-4792

Dated: July 28, 2022

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT: NEW YORK COUNTY. W. FINANCIAL REIT, LTD., Pltf. vs 150-152 EAST 79 LLC, et al, Defts Index #850128/2021. Pursuant to judgment of foreclosure and sale entered August 10, 2022, I will sell at public auction on the portico of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on February 1, 2023 at 2:15 p.m. premises k/a (i) Block 1413, Lot 152; (ii) Block 1413, Lot 52; (iii) Block 1413, Lot 51; (iv) Block 1413; Lot 154; (v) Block 1413, Lot 53. Approximate amount of judgment is $61,313,320.78 plus costs and interest. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed judgment and terms of sale HALEY GREENBERG, Referee. JASPAN SCHLESINGER LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 300 Garden City Plaza, Garden City, NY 11530. #99922

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK, 73 SERVICING LLC, Plaintiff, vs AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, INC., ET AL., Defe ndant(s)

Pursuant to an Order Appointing Referee to Conduct Sale and Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered on June 24, 2022, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in the portico of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on February 1, 2023 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 5 West 73rd Street, New York, NY 10023. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, Block 1126 and Lot 127. Approximate amount of judgment is $18,865,223.63 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850211/2020. COVID-19 safety protocols will be followed at the foreclosure sale

Thomas Kleinberger, Esq., Referee

Glenn Rodney, PC, 368 Birch Road, Wallkill, New York 12589, Attorneys for Plaintiff

Notice of Formation of 212 E 47TH 8A AF LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/29/22. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 420 E. 23rd St., NY, NY 10010. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Asaf Frig at the princ. office of the LLC Purpose: Real estate holding.

Notice of Formation of 421 EAST 91ST STREET, LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/06/22. Office location: NY County SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Eli Zabar, 403 E. 91st St., NY, NY 10128. Purpose: Any lawful activity

101 LEGAL NOTICES 101 LEGAL NOTICES

101 LEGAL NOTICES 101 LEGAL NOTICES

NOTICE OF SALE

SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK, US BANK TRUST NATIONAL ASSOCIATION NOT IN ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY BUT SOLELY AS TRUSTEE FOR FIDELITY GUARANTY LIFE MORTGAGE TRUST 2018-1, Plaintiff, vs 286 WADSWORTH LLC, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on June 24, 2022, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the portico of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on January 18, 2023 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 286 Wadsworth Avenue, New York, NY 10040. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of New York, County of New York, City and State of New York, Block 2170 and Lot 22. Approximate amount of judgment is $963,443.54 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850005/2021. COVID-19 safety protocols will be followed at the foreclosure sale

D. Hunter III, Esq., Referee

Greenspoon Marder, 590 Madison Avenue, Suite 1800, New York, NY 10022, Attorneys for Plaintiff

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf v. DOMINIQUE JEFFERY and ALICIA RAMANATH, Deft - Index #850058/2020. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated July 21, 2021, I will sell at public auction Outside the Portico of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Thursday, January 26, 2023, at 2:15 pm, an undivided .004932% tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as 57th Street Vacation Suites located at 102 West 57th Street, in the County of NY, State of NY Approximate amount of judgment is $19,699.68 plus costs and interest as of March 27, 2020. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges Mark McKew, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf v. MICHELLE AMANO and RICHARD AMANO, Deft - Index #850044/2019. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated August 13, 2020, I will sell at public auction Outside the Portico of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Thursday, January 26, 2023, at 2:15 pm, an undivided 0.019728% tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as 57th Street Vacation Suites located at 102 West 57th Street, in the County of NY, State of NY Approximate amount of judgment is $74,275.26 plus costs and interest as of January 23, 2020. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges Mark McKew, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf v. BRENDA JEAN AMBRIZE, GORDON W. STATHAM, Deft. - Index #850033/2021. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated January 28, 2022, I will sell at public auction Outside the Portico of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Thursday, January 12, 2023, at 2:15 pm, an undivided 0.00493200000% tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as 57th Street Vacation Suites located at 102 West 57th Street, in the County of NY, State of NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $49,366.11 plus costs and interest as of August 4, 2021. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges Paul Sklar, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY

Notice of Formation of 426432 EAST 91ST STREET, LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/06/22. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Eli Zabar, 403 E. 91st St., NY, NY 10128. Purpose: Any lawful activity

Notice of Formation of 429433 EAST 91ST STREET, LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/06/22. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Eli Zabar, 403 E. 91st St., NY, NY 10128. Purpose: Any lawful activity

831 THIRD LLC Arts of Org. filed with the SSNY on 08/02/02. Office: New York County SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/o Larstrand Corporation, ATTN: Legal Department, 500 Park Avenue, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10022. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Amont Partners LLC filed w/ SSNY 11/8/22. Off. in NY Co SSNY desig as agt of LLC whom process may be served & shall mail process to Zhaoyu Li, 1740 Broadway, 15th Fl, NY, NY 10019. Any lawful purpose.

BROTHERLY LIQUIDATION

LLC Art of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/10/2022. 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, ALBANY, NY 12204. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

CORDETT CREATIONS LLC Arts of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/12/22. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against LLC & shall mail a copy to: P.O. Box 2891, New York, NY 10163 Purpose: Any lawful activity

Notice of Qualification of DERBY COPELAND FUND II, LLC Appl for Auth filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/29/22. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/24/22. Princ. office of LLC: 41 Madison Ave., 40th Fl., NY, NY 10010. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert of Form filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity

Notice of Qualification of DERBY COPELAND MANAGEMENT GROUP, LLC Appl for Auth. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/29/22. Office location: NY County LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/25/22. Princ. office of LLC: 41 Madison Ave., 40th Fl., NY, NY 10010. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert of Form filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity

Matthew

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf v. CHRISTIE LEE GARDNER, Deft - Index #850039/2021. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated April 19, 2022, I will sell at public auction Outside the Portico of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Thursday, January 12, 2023, at 2:15 pm, an undivided 0.00493200000% tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as 57th Street Vacation Suites located at 102 West 57th Street, in the County of NY, State of NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $21,880.44 plus costs and interest as of January 28, 2022. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges Paul Sklar, Esq., Refe ree. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY

JAHAN TRAVEL DESIGNS

LLC Arts of Org. filed with SSNY on 09/13/22. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon her is C/O Marianna Leivada, 45-02 Ditmars Blvd, Queens, NY 11105.

Principal business address: 19 W 69th St, NY, NY 10023. Purpose: any lawful activity

KIMBERLY ANN YEE, LLC

Arts of Org. filed with SSNY on 09/21/22. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served against it & shall mail to: 87 Baxter Street, Apt. 6, NY, NY 10013. Purpose: any lawful activity

LAURA PURDY, M.D., PLLC, a Prof LLC Arts of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/01/2022. Office location: New York County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served SSNY shall mail process to: The PLLC, 1806 Williamson Court, Ste 135, Brentwood, TN 37027.

Purpose: To Practice The Profession Of Medicine.

Melq73 Seventy Five LLC, Arts of Org filed with SSNY on 11/11/22. Off Loc: New York County, SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: The LLC, 52 Mulberry St, New York NY 10013. Purpose: to engage in any lawful act.

Notice is hereby given that a license, serial #1355467 for beer, wine & liquor has been applied for by the undersigned to sell beer, wine & liquor at retail in a Restaurant-bar under the ABC Law at 231 2nd Ave. NYC 10003 for on-premises consumption; The Longford Lads LLC

Notice is hereby given that an On-Premises Liquor License for beer, wine and spirits has been applied for by the undersigned to permit the sale of beer, wine and spirits at retail rates for on-premises consumption (Hotel) at the Hilton New York Fashion District located at 152 W. 26th Street, New York, NY 10001 under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law Fashion 26th Street LLC; Interstate Management Company LLC and 152 W. 26th Street Rest, LLC

Notice of Formation of ANN+ Sofia Beauty Artists LLC

Arts of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/25/18. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against LLC & shall mail a copy to: 315 5th Avenue, #1004, New York, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful act or activity

Notice of formation of Bayview Capital Solutions, LLC Arts of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/13/2022. 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 advances.

Notice of Formation of HAYE WIRING & HOME SPECIALTY, LLC Arts of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/18/22. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC & shall mail a copy to: 539 East 95th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11212. Purpose: Any lawful activity

Notice of Formation of HARMONY MART LLC Arts of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/10/22. Office location: NY County SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against LLC & shall mail a copy to: 177 East 101st Street, Apt 1D, New York, NY 10039. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity

Notice of Formation of Solar Merger Sub, LLC Arts of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/04/22. Office location: NY County SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against LLC & shall mail a copy to: 10900 Red Circle Drive, Minnetonka, MN 55343 Purpose: Any lawful activity

Plugout, LLC filed w/ SSNY 11/12/03. Off. in NY Co SSNY desig as agt of LLC whom process may be served & shall mail process to c/o John Aksoy, 506 La Guardia Pl, Ste. 4, NY, NY 10012. Any lawful purpose.

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Family Miranda warning as soon as an ACS caseworker visits, she said.

Several groups within the Parent Legislative Action Network (PLAN) have been pivotal in pushing to end ACS’s treatment of Black and brown families, like founder JMacforFamilies, the Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, Neighborhood Defender Services and the Center for Family Representation. Members of these various groups said that ACS has made very little visible progress towards improving their practices or adapting recommendations from community groups.

Joyce McMillan, founder and executive director of JMACForFamilies, is an impacted parent advocate who led the rally held at City Hall on Dec 21. McMillan, a Harlem native, has been a community organizer on this issue for 23 years. It took her two and a half years to get her children back after they were removed from her home. She said the child welfare and foster system in the city is a traumatic place, where children are vulnerable to being molested, abused, neglected, stabbed, beaten and overmedicated.

“What frustrates me is that we’ve been talking about Miranda for some time and no one was interested in Black and brown families being protected against unlawful intrusions into their homes, snatching their children out,” said McMillan, “until the report from ACS that said they were racially biased when everything spoke to that already.”

Zainab Akbar, managing attorney of the Family Defense Practice at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, said that ACS has essentially built a myth of benevolence that is simply not true or equitable. She asserts that ACS parallels the NYPD in that it doesn’t represent safety for low-income Black and brown communities since ACS decisions often result in some sort of punishment, surveillance or prosecution.

“We live in a white supremacist society where the structure of Black and brown families have been undermined from the beginning and it’s been naked in our culture so it’s very easy to go from this family doesn’t have the resources they need to this parent is harming their children,” said Akbar.

After a racial reckoning inspired by George Floyd’s murder and the massive

Black Lives Matter movement in summer 2020, the ACS in good faith vowed to be an “anti-racist organization.” ACS commissioned National Innovation Service (NIS) to do an internal audit for the agency in December 2020. They didn’t necessarily make the results confirming racist practices public, which led the Bronx Defenders organization to file a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request.

In the report, NIS found that “safety” is a “privilege of race” or a construct of class. ACS’s standards for what constitutes an appropriate level of childcare is set by what white middle class families with more economic resources can have. Overall poverty and racial bias are bigger factors in a child being removed from a home than actual safety concerns or abuse, and fear often incentivizes ACS staff to protect themselves rather than families they survey, said NIS.

Akbar said there’s no real definition of safety but there is a legal definition for neglect and abuse. Families are technically required to provide the minimum degree of care and that is colored by what a worker

determines a “family” should look like and what they think parenting is. Social Work Supervisor and Co-Director of Queens Family Defense Practice Ari Chiarella, as well as many others, have however commended frontline Child Protection Specialists (CPS) workers for usually trying to work with families. Unfortunately, case workers and even CPS don’t have the final say.

“The conflict between what workers are feeling in terms of this idea of protecting themselves and then what makes a family safe. How those assessments might not be in line,” said Chiarella. “So fearing making the wrong call and erring on the side of removal because of this idea that if you make the wrong call, you’ll be penalized.”

Chiarella denounced higher-up administrators for defaulting to a removal of a child from a home when it comes to Black and brown families despite input from on-theground staff in many cases.

Teyora Graves-Ferrell, parent advocate supervisor for Center for Family Representation, was one of the people interviewed in the report. She said it’s jarring for their

client families when they make a plan with a case worker, who may be of color, and then have the plan overruled in a predominantly white-run courtroom. GravesFerrell said ACS is contradictory in that they are not coming to help the family with supportive services or subsidies for struggling parents as they assess safety, it’s always an investigation and removal.

“As a person who’s gone through this process myself as an impacted parent, there’s this false sense of we’re coming together as a team to make a decision for your family,” said Graves-Ferrell. “It feels like a decision has been made before you even step in the room. The way ACS interacts is to gather information against them and that’s what we tell clients. It’s punitive. You’re not coming to the table to create a plan for the child to stay.”

Graves-Ferrell said that ACS also shoots down Black and brown familial supports, like a stable grandmother or aunt that can keep a child within the family, creating generational trauma.

ACS leadership opposes Family Miranda legislation. ACS Commissioner Jess Dannhauser recently published an op-ed on Dec. 15 attempting to address the rallying cries from case workers, parents and advocates. To summarize, he wrote that the debate in child welfare had become “polarized,” and above all, ACS must protect children who face abuse and chronic neglect while addressing current systemic racial disparities.

“Some say, if you care about child safety, then you are perpetuating our country’s history of racism and oppression; others say, if you care about parents’ rights and the integrity of families, then you are oblivious to the horrors some children face,” wrote Dannhauser. “There is truth on both sides—and this is the moment to hold these truths together.”

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://bit.ly/amnews1

Council members and advocates hold rally regarding Family Miranda rights legislation (John McCarten NYC Council Media Unit)

Yorkers living in areas that are at high risk for gun violence—for example, job opportunities and training with organizations like BlocPower.

Housing our neighbors has never been more important, and I have called for an all-hands-on-deck effort to build half a million new units of housing over the next 10 years. We are already scaling up our efforts on this front, building more affordable housing across the five boroughs, and investing in improving the public housing that already exists.

We are also connecting New Yorkers in need to stable housing, and are taking bold measures to help our brothers and sisters with severe mental illness leave the streets and receive the medical support and services they urgently require.

Our young people have struggled over the past two years. We must make sure that they have the tools to recover from the isolation of the pandemic and to succeed in their careers and lives.

So, we expanded the Summer Youth Employment Program to serve 90,000 young New Yorkers over the past summer. We’ve instituted dyslexia screenings in our schools so that

all our students can learn to read fluently, and we extended our services to youth in foster care so we can now support young people ages 21-26, who are facing the challenges of transitioning to independent adult lives.

And we are supporting our working families by increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit for the first time in over 20 years, putting $350 million dollars in the pockets of hardworking New Yorkers who need a break.

A safe city is also a clean and environmentally resilient city. We started the largest-in-the-nation composting program in Queens, which we hope to expand citywide. We are making sure that trash doesn’t collect in neglected areas, like underpasses, and we are limiting the amount of time residential trash can be left out on the sidewalk in an effort to reduce our rat population. Our city continues to face challenges, but as 2022 draws to a close there is much to be optimistic about. It is an honor to be mayor of the greatest city in the world, and I’m proud of what our city has accomplished together. I’m looking forward to working for you and with you to Get Stuff Done for our city in 2023 and beyond.

Ariama C. Long @wordslivehere & Tandy Lau @TandyLau1995 our @Report4America corps members.

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

Tandy Lau @TandyLau1995 is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News.

The surging Nets finally have the look of a title contender

By VINCENT DAVIS Special to the AmNews

It’s been nearly three and a half years since Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving shook up the NBA by signing free-agent deals with the Brooklyn Nets in July of 2019. Durant left the Golden State Warriors after winning two titles and two Finals MVP awards, and Irving had won a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 before moving on to the Boston Celtics for two seasons.

Nets fans had high expectations and many pundits predicted Durant and Irving would win a few more titles. They hired Steve Nash to become a first-time head coach, believing the Hall of Fame guard understood how to get superstars to play well together. When the Nets traded for James Harden in January of 2021, it became a foregone conclusion the dynamic trio would get at least one ring together. It didn’t work out that way.

The Nets became the NBA’s top reality series filled with drama. Harden was ultimately traded to the Philadel -

phia 76ers for Ben Simmons and the Nets’ championship window appeared closed. Until now. They were in Atlanta last night (Wednesday) to face the Atlanta Hawks on a nine-game winning streak and had won 13 of their last 14, moving to only 2.5 games out of first place overall in the Eastern Conference. They were 22-12 and the No. 3 seed behind the 25-10 Boston Celtics and 22-11 Milwaukee Bucks.

They continue to be carried by Durant and Irving, two of the league’s leading scorers. Durant was sixth at 30 points per game and 16th at 26. In the Nets’ 125-117 road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday, Durant scored 32 points and passed Tim Duncan for 15th place on the NBA’s scoring list. He now has 26,516 alongside Dominique Wilkins (26,668), Oscar Robertson (26,710) and Hakeem Olajuwon (26,946).

“To be able to pass a legend, it’s something I’ll call my folks about tonight,” said Durant after the game. In addition to Durant and Irving (32 points) tying for a team high in scoring, forward T.J. Warren added 23 key bench points in

27 minutes. Warren, who had been sidelined the last two seasons because of a left foot stress fracture, has been a valuable acquisition for the Nets, who signed him as a freeagent last July.

After firing Nash in early November and naming assistant Jacque Vaughn as the new head coach, the Nets have found a healthy balance. “Today is today. The most important part of today is we’re trying to win this ball game,” said Vaughn expressing a reason for the Nets’ turnaround after they began this season 1-5. “It’s about basketball.”

They play the Charlotte Hornets on the road Saturday night, host the San Antonio Spurs in Brooklyn on Monday, then are away next Wednesday to face the Chicago Bulls.

WNBA leads NBA Africa women’s camp in Senegal

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

It was an incredible experience for current WNBA players Jasmine Thomas of the Connecticut Sun and Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings, who worked together with WNBA players of the past and current Seattle Storm coach Noelle Quinn for the fourth NBA Academy Women’s Camp Africa. It took place Dec. 5-8 at NBA Academy Africa, an elite training center in Saly, Senegal and included high school aged players from across the continent.

“It was one of the best experiences of my life,” said Thomas. “We do camps all the time. You run these programs all day. It was so much more. It was programming for these young ladies on the court, off the court, life skills, challenges they’ve faced. Being able to connect with them and actually be a presence for them…and let them know we want to be part of helping them achieve their goals.”

Several WNBA veterans also participated, including Taj McWilliams-Franklin and two former players from Africa, Astou Ndiaye (member of the

2003 WNBA Champion Detroit Shock) and Hamchetou MaigaBa (2005 champion with the Sacramento Monarchs).

“Maiga was amazing with the kids,” said Thomas. “We all had a team that we coached. The first day her team was not aggressive and wasn’t clicking. By the last day where we actually played for a championship, her team was night and day. They had a great time, they bonded, they received her energy. It was super cool to be with her.”

Quinn served as the overall head coach and leader of the camp. She gave the players insight into what it takes to make it onto a college roster and what is needed in a professional player. “They really enjoyed the experience, and ultimately that is what we wanted to give them,” said Thomas.

It was clear to Thomas that the teenagers watched U.S. women’s college basketball and the WNBA. The talent level of the players was apparent, noting that it was obvious they worked on their games. “The push was playing basketball at a high level,” she said. “Here are the tools to do that. Here are the things you need to work on and

be better at. … By the last day… at least a fourth of them were ready for an opportunity in the States.”

Thomas continues to rehab a torn ACL. She is spending the offseason at her alma mater, Duke University, doing rehab

and working as a broadcast analyst for the ACC Network. She looks forward to returning to the court with the Sun in 2023.

Jasmine Thomas (L) works with a participant (NBA Africa photos)

Nets forward T.J. Warren has added depth and scoring off of the bench for the surging squad that was on a ninegame winning streak before facing the Atlanta Hawks on the road last night (Bill Moore photo)

The Knicks look to get back on track in Texas

By JERALD HOOVER Special to the AmNews

Strong defense, superior rebounding, solid foul shooting, and ball movement and player movement, the core of the Knicks’ strategy for an eight-game win streak from Dec. 4 through Dec. 20, had trended in the opposite direction when they looked to break a three-game losing streak in Dallas versus the Mavericks on Tuesday night.

“Compilation of things, but it wasn’t any one particular play,” said Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau after a 118-117 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Friday night at Madison Square Garden. “I just felt like we never really got our defense established, and it was an offensive game. And then, they had some timely offensive rebounds. We missed some free throws. So, things can change real fast in this league.”

The normally clutch free-throw shooter, starting point guard Jalen Brunson, missed two with 6.4 sec-

onds left with the Knicks up one. It allowed Bulls All-star forward DeMar DeRozan to score on a jump shot and get fouled by guard Quentin Grimes (who also missed two free throws with 1:06 left in the fourth) to steal the victory.

Brunson explained a formula for the Knicks to pull out close games. “One, make free throws… put the game away when we [have big] leads. Just play better on the defensive side of the ball. I thank the Lord we have [Knicks forward] RJ [Barrett]. He just played amazing tonight and we couldn’t close it for him.”

Barrett scored 44 points and was an outstanding 6-6 from the three-point line in trying to carry the Knicks to victory. “I just continue to work. I was making shots. I had it rolling tonight,” he said. “The team kept going to me but it’s not the same without the win.”

On Christmas Day (a noon start), the Knicks came out firing on all cylinders against the Philadelphia 76ers, who entered MSG having won seven in a row.

At one point the Knicks had the Sixers down 30-16 en route to a 37-25 eventual first-quarter lead. However, by halftime they were up just 63-60.

In the second half, Sixers All Stars Joel Embiid and James Harden took over. Center Embiid ended with 35 points and point guard Harden had 29 points and 13 assists to elevate their team to a 119-112 victory.

“I mean, it’s that Joel is a monster, obviously,” remarked Knicks forward Julius Randle, who shared game-high honors with 35 points. “They have guys that know their roles and great shooting. They just come out there and play for each other.”

The Knicks played relatively well for the first three quarters. In the fourth quarter, however, they couldn’t survive the onslaught of the two-headed monster of Embiid and Harden. The Knicks eventually lost the game, 119-112.

The Knicks are on a three-game Texas swing that includes facing the Houston Rockets on New Year’s Eve.

The Knicks continue to battle through self-inflicted adversity

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor

Mesmerizing. Unparalleled. Historic. Choose any of those adjectives and it would aptly describe Luka Doncic’s performance versus the Knicks on Tuesday night. Crushing. Improbable. Maddening. These are descriptors fitting of the Knicks’ 126-121 overtime loss to Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on the road.

The Knicks seemingly had complete control of what would have been perhaps their best and most resourceful win of the season. Instead it became one of the franchise’s most distressing in recent memory. They held a nine-point lead with 33 seconds remaining but shockingly made a series of mental and physical errors in the last half minute of regulation, creating a pathway for Doncic to put back his own intentional miss on a free-throw with one-second remaining to tie the game at 115 all.

Doncic snatched the victory with seven points in the extra five-minute session, to end the game with the NBA’s first-ever 60-point, 20-rebound triple-double. The 23-yearold Slovenian phenom, who made his pro debut in Europe at the age

of 16, registered 60 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists.

“It’s a shame not to come out of here with a win,” Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau dejectedly said after the defeat. “Disappointed.”

Doncic did his remarkable work against a Knicks squad that played without starting point guard Jalen Brunson, who was inactive due to a hip injury, and the departure of guard RJ Barrett two minutes into the contest with a lacerated finger on his right hand caused by Doncic attempting to knock the ball out of Barrett’s hand from behind on a drive to the basket.

Yet several Knicks rose to the challenge. Guard Quentin Grimes scored a career-high 33 points.

Julius Randle continued his AllStar candidacy with 29 points and 18 rebounds playing in his hometown. Center Mitchell Robinson was stellar with 20 points and 16 rebounds, and guard Immauel Quickley executed an excellent floor game starting in place of Brunson, dishing out a career-high 15 assists and adding 13 points although he shot just 5-21.

“I promise I was trying to [guard Doncic],” maintained Grimes, who along with Randall as the primary defenders did as much as they

could to slow down the league’s second leading (33.6) scorer. “I’m trying to go over every pick and roll, he’s in almost every action. It was a lot on me, trying to get over everything. He’s crafty with the ball, without the ball. I need to know where he is at all times on the court.”

The Knicks’ ongoing self-inflicted adversity was illuminated again by crucial misses from the foul line. It has been a recurring issue in recent games down the stretch that could have cemented wins. They finished 15-26 from the line in a 118-117 home loss to the Chicago Bulls last Friday and guard Miles McBride left three on the table in the last 30 seconds against the Mavs. The Knicks were 15-24 overall. They also gave two 3-pointers to Dallas in the final half-minute. But in the end, the night was defined by Doncic’s brilliance.

After winning eight straight, the Knicks have lost four in a row going into tonight’s game against the San Antonio Spurs in the second of a three-game road trip through Texas. They’ll meet up with the Houston Rockets on Saturday before returning home to host the Phoenix Suns on Monday and a rematch with the Spurs on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.

The Knicks are on a three-game road trip in Texas, which began Tuesday against the Dallas Mavericks, point guard Jalen Brunson’s (pictured) former team, and continue tonight versus the Houston Rockets (Bill Moore photo)

Knicks second-year center Jericho Sims is now a mainstay of head coach Tom Thibodeau’s firm nine-man rotation (Bill Moore photo)

New York Liberty steps up for holiday giving

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

It was a very Merry Christmas for several organizations this year as the New York Liberty launched its first-ever Season of Giving, a community gifting campaign that reflected the deep connection between the team and the city. Along with nine of its corporate partners, the Liberty provided gifts to community organizations throughout the five boroughs. The program reflected the Liberty’s social responsibility pillars, which include growing youth basketball, embracing young women, championing unity and

promoting Pride (BEUP).

“We really wanted to align our corporate sponsors and our community partners on our holiday giving,” said Alesia Howard, the Liberty’s vice president of communications and social responsibility. “They know the impact we have in our community.”

The corporate partners, which include Xbox, Wilson, BioSteel, HeroCosmetics, Snipes, SeatGeek, HSS, Webull and Withings, were very generous, said Howard. The gifts included custom Liberty-branded Xbox Series S consoles, basketballs and sports drinks to community centers in each borough. There were skincare products for

Womankind, which serves survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual violence. The Bowery Mission received 400 coats and 1,200 pairs of socks for residents, who got to meet Liberty guard/forward DiDi Richards.

“We were able to go to community organizations, organizations that focus on women and girls and LGBTQ+ organizations,” said Howard. “Everyone was so grateful and thankful and that really made it worth it. All the smiles and happy faces. It was tough not to get emotional at some of the stops. … It’s all about community.” These interactions help root the team

even deeper into the fabric of NYC. Howard said it’s not just about playing at Barclays Center, it’s about being a presence in the communities. “Doing the right thing and spreading some holiday cheer,” she said.

In terms of revving up for the 2023 WNBA season, Liberty management and coaches are preparing for the free agency signing period. There may be some roster moves. Before then, plans are underway for Black History Month (February) Women’s History Month (March) and National Girls and Women in Sports Day (Feb. 1), for which there will be some Liberty/Brooklyn Nets collaborations.

New pairs team prepares for U.S. Championships debut

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

In the autumn, it appeared that the pairs team of Mark Sadusky and Nica Digerness had run out of steam. After making huge progress since teaming up in 2021, they were looking forward to a competition that would qualify them for the 2023 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but an injury to Digerness—a fractured pinky finger that required surgery—appeared to put that out of reach.

Their partnership began when they trained at the same rink in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and both found themselves without partners. “We were skating together just to practice. There wasn’t any definition that there was going to be a team,” said Sadusky. “We really kind of developed our skating and from there we morphed into a team.”

As Digerness, 22, tended to her injury, Sadusky, 24, temporarily stopped skating. “For how hard we worked, it was devastating,” said Sadusky. Thankfully, things took a positive turn when Digerness was able to resume training.

Unable to do the required pairs competition in November, Sadusky and Digerness

applied for a waiver (advancement petition) to get a spot at the U.S. Championships. With that approved, they’re now working to be in optimal shape.

“Physically, we’re pretty much where we need to be for Nationals,” said Sadusky. “I can always get stronger. Nica can always get stronger. The biggest thing is the mental side of it. We’re coming off an injury and not having nearly as much time to prepare for Nationals as we would like, but we have some time.

“Our coaches say stay in the moment,” he added. “Our elements feel pretty solid. It’s now about getting them back into competition peak form. Another two weeks and we’ll be competition ready again. It’s about drilling the programs over and over again.”

The reigning World Champions, Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier, are seeking to reclaim the U.S. title after withdrawing last year due to Frazier testing positive for COVID. Sadusky and Digerness are excited to compete in a talent -

ed senior pairs field.

The U.S. Championships will take place Jan. 23-29 in San Jose, California. Sadusky grew up in Oakland, so he knows family and friends will be in attendance. In a predominantly white sport, Sadusky is proud to be one of several Black skaters competing.

“For me, it’s incredible,” he said. “To go to Nationals and have that representation, it really means a lot, especially to people wanting to try our sport.”

Mark Sadusky and Nica Digerness will make their Nationals debut in January (Photos courtesy of Mark Sadusky)

(L-R): Nica Digerness and Mark Sadusky

The New York Liberty shared much holiday joy

Guard/forward DiDi Richards attend the giveaway at Bowery Mission (New York Liberty photos)

Sports

One more win and the Giants end their long playoff drought

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor

This could be the week.

The 8-6-1 Giants could end their fiveseason playoff absence this Sunday at MetLife Stadium versus the 4-10-1 Indianapolis Colts, a team that is in absolute flux and has lost eight of their last nine games. Yet, the Colts’ abysmal season is a flashing warning signal for the Giants. They have to come into the matchup at home thoroughly prepared and purposeful with the Philadelphia Eagles on the schedule in the regular season finale.

The 13-2 Eagles could potentially need a win against the Giants in Philadelphia on Jan. 8 to secure the best record in the NFC and clinch home field advantage for the playoffs. So that game could have monumental ramifications for both teams. The Eagles can lock up home field with a victory over the 6-9 New Orleans Saints in Philadelphia on Sunday.

The Giants could have clinched a wild card spot last Saturday in Minnesota,

but Vikings kicker Greg Joseph drove a franchise record 61-yard field goal over the crossbar as time expired, sending them home with a 27-24 defeat on Christmas Eve. The Vikings set another record as it was their 11th one-score victory of the season, the most ever in a single NFL season.

The Giants have put the disappointing loss behind them and are entirely immersed in extending the Colts’ five-game winless streak. “I’d say we try to do the same thing each week. We go back and look at some of the things we did well— some of the things we can improve on— and get ready for this week, try to be as consistent as we can with it,” said Giants head coach Brian Daboll on Monday.

“I don’t think you’re ever happy or satisfied after a loss in really any shape or form. But you have to go back, review it, correct the things you need to correct and get ready for next week.”

Daboll emphasized the task at hand and the team’s general mindset as they are on the precipice of making the playoffs.

“We’re not in it yet. I’m not going to look too far down the road, and we’re going to try to beat the Colts. And that’s where I’m at with it.”

Despite Daboll and his players collectively subscribing to the long-held sports philosophy of not looking too far ahead, Giants third-year left tackle Andrew Thomas was transparent speaking with reporters on Tuesday in his hopes for finally playing in the postseason.

“It definitely means a lot,” said Thomas, who was drafted by the Giants out of Georgia in 2020 with the fourth overall pick in the first round. Thomas has played at a Pro Bowl level this season but was overlooked as a selection for the NFC squad.

“I’ve never played in the playoffs as long as I’ve been in the league. It’s definitely something you look forward to.”

White returns as the Jets hold on to slim playoff hopes

By VINCENT DAVIS Special to the AmNews

After he was unable to play in their last two games, the Jets will start quarterback Mike White on Sunday afternoon on the road against the 7-8 Seattle Seahawks in Week 17 with just one regular season game remaining. They are still in the race for a playoff spot to end their 11-year drought but their chances are slim.

The 7-8 Jets must beat the Seahawks and then the Dolphins in Miami on Jan. 8, their final regular season game. That still wouldn’t guarantee them one of the three wild card invitations. The Jets are the No. 9 seed in the AFC entering this weekend’s game, with the top seven from the conference making it to the postseason.

White, who suffered fractured ribs versus the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 11, was cleared to return this week and will once again take over for Zach Wilson. The 2021 No. 2 NFL draft pick, who has frustrated his teammates and the Jets fan base with poor play and lack of accountability, won’t even be in uniform. Wilson will be inactive with veteran Joe Flacco the primary backup.

It is another setback for the 23-yearold from BYU, who has been benched twice this season and replaced once during a game. There has been constant speculation about what’s next for Wilson. He is no longer viewed as the Jets’ long-term QB after being selected as the potential face of the franchise.

“I still think he has a future here. I still think he’s going to be a really good quarterback,” said Jets head coach Robert Saleh. ”We still have him in our future, and in our plans.”

As for White, who’ll be a free agent next season, Saleh noted he has been solid as an alternative to Wilson.

“I thought he did a great job moving the offense, sustaining drives, getting first downs,” Saleh said earlier this week. “The offense was running with some good efficiency. So, it’s a great opportunity for him, and it’s a great opportunity for everybody.”

In Seattle, the Jets will face an eager Geno Smith, their former quarterback from 2013 to 2016 who has been the Seahawks’ starter this year after they traded Russell Wilson to Denver. Wilson led the franchise to two Super Bowls, winning 43-8 at MetLife Stadium versus the Broncos to conclude the 2013 season.

Smith’s tenure with the Jets is a good example for Zach Wilson to study. The 32-year-old Smith was drafted by New York in 2013 in the second round and struggled during most of his time with the Jets, even getting into a fight with a teammate. Smith played in 33 games and started 30 in over four seasons. He was then released after the 2016 season, playing for the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Chargers before finding a home with Seattle.

Seattle’s head coach also has history with the Jets. He was the team’s defensive coordinator from 1990-93 and earned his first head coaching job when he was promoted by the franchise in 1994. But Carroll was fired after one season going 6-10. Carroll and Smith aren’t looking for redemption. That has passed a long time ago. They are focusing on fighting for the playoffs as the current No. 8 seed in the NFC.

The Giants including quarterback Daniel Jones could clinch the team’s first playoff appearance in five seasons with a win over the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday (Bill Moore photo)

Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley was named to his fifth NFL Pro Bowl last Wednesday (Bill Moore photo)