New York Amsterdam News: Feb. 1-8, 2024

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Vol. 115 No. 5 | February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024

THE NEW BLACK VIEW

©2024 The Amsterdam News | $1.00 New York City

PROMOTING PEACE:

STREET CORNER RESOURCES FIGHTS VIOLENCE

Councilmember Salaam stopped by NYPD (See story on page 3)

Three Black U.S. reservists killed near Syria (See story on page 30)

A Bold Proposal to Reshape How NY Addresses the Lack of Affordable Housing Urban Agenda by David R. Jones, President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York - See page 5

)

2 • February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024

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INDEX Arts & Entertainment �������������������Page 17 » Astro ���������������������������������������������Page 19 » Dance ��������������������������������������������Page 17 » Jazz ����������������������������������������������Page 24 Caribbean Update �������������������������Page 16 Classified ����������������������������������������Page 33 Editorial/Opinion �����������������������Pages 12,13 Education ���������������������������������������Page 26 Go with the Flo ������������������������������Page 8 Health ����������������������������������������������Page 28 In the Classroom ��������������������������Page 25 Community ��������������������������������������Page 9 Religion & Spirituality ��������������������Page 30 Sports ��������������������������������������������� Page 40 Union Matters ����������������������������������Page 10 MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS INFORMATION U.S. Territories & Canada weekly subscriptions: 1 year $49.99 2 Years $79.99 6 months $30.00

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U.N. COURT WILL EXPLORE CLAIMS OF ISRAELI GENOCIDE (GIN)—The U.N.’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) has agreed to take up an application submitted by South Africa seeking an immediate suspension of Israeli military operations in and against the Palestinian people of Gaza.

In its 84-page petition to the court, South Africa cited military operations that have devastated hundreds of schools, including those run by the U.N.; destroyed educational infrastructure; and left thousands of students suffering from mental trauma.

Close to 45 percent of residential buildings in Gaza have been damaged or ruined, according to a recent report by the World Bank.

South African claims that these alleged damages and the deaths of some 25,000 Palestinians are violations by Israel of its obligations under the Genocide Convention.

In its response on Friday, Jan. 26, the panel of 17 judges agreed that

News

ICJ courthouse and listeners to their ruling (GIN photo)

South Africa had jurisdiction to bring the case against Israel and that there was plausible risk that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The finding, read out by Joan Donoghue, president of the court, was applauded by the South African delegation.

South Africa’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the decision a “significant milestone in the search for justice for the Palestine people. The decision is momentous…”

In the court’s ruling, Israel was ordered to take steps to limit harm to Palestinians, preserve evidence

of genocide, and submit a report within a month on all measures in response to the court’s order. The judges rejected Israel’s request to throw out the case and ordered Israel to take "immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians."

“At least some of the acts and omissions alleged by South Africa to have been committed by Israel in Gaza appear to be capable of falling

within the provisions of the (genocide) convention,” Donaghue said.

While the court failed to order a ceasefire, Columbia University Professor Mahmood Mamdani said, in an interview with the news show “DemocracyNow,” that the court had indeed called for a ceasefire. “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it just may be a duck,” he said.

On a serious note, Mamdani continued: “The South African case has a strong side and a weak side. The strong side is its content, its substance, and that is based almost entirely, from what I can see, on U.N. documents. So the court is not going to question the authenticity or the veracity of those documents. Almost everybody agrees that the intellectual case is very strong.

“It’s interesting that the lawyers for Israel did not claim that a genocide was unfolding,” he added. “They questioned whether South Africa was the appropriate party to bring See INTERNATIONAL on page 31

Piedad Córdoba...grand cimarrona of the Americas and Caribbean

By JESÚS CHUCHO GARCIA Special to the AmNews Translated by KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff The death of Afro Colombian activist and Senator Piedad Córdoba Ruiz on January 20, stunned the world of peace and social justice lovers.

One of her assistants, the Afro Colombian doctor Efrain Viveros Filigrana, had just had a long conversation with Córdoba the day before, at her home in Medellin. They talked about the need to bolster the struggle for the rights of Afro Colombians and people in general, and the obligation to fight against the horrors the Israeli state is committing against the Palestinian people. He mentioned that Piedad was smiling and listening to salsa and bolero music at the time. I was surprised when the next day, they called me to say that she went into cardiac arrest and arrived at the hospital with no vital signs. “For me,” said Viveros Filigrana, “it was a blow to my soul that I still haven’t recovered from.”

A promoter of peace in Colombia The babalao Jimmy Viera, who served as Córdoba’s spiritual advisor, said, “Senator Piedad Cordoba’s advocacy efforts in defense of the

Afrodescendant groups came from across Latin America to attend funeral services for Piedad Córdoba (Jesús Chucho Garcia photo)

Afro Colombian people dates back to the early 1990s, during the negotiations to create the national Constituent Assembly, where the 55th transitory article was created to draft the famous Law of Black Communities (1993), which recognizes the territorial rights of the Afro Colombian people. When I took a trip with her to Venezuela in 2006, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez invited her onto his program ‘Aló Presidente’ so that Piedad could be the broker for peace in Colombia. Her effort was to put a stop to the armed conflicts that shook that country, causing more than 200,000 deaths and the displacement of millions. This was

In an old photo, Sen. Piedad Córdoba with her spiritual advisor, babalao Jimmy Viera (Jimmy Viera photo)

where Piedad began to assume the leadership of the Peace Dialogue, which included an ethnic chapter (relating to the Afrodescendant, Indigenous, and gypsy peoples). That dialogue would take place under the presidency of former President Juan Manuel Santos in 2015.”

Viera added that although Piedad was able to contribute to Colombia’s peace dialogue between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Colombian government, other important negotiations are still pending, such as with the National Liberation Army (ELN). Viera added that in recent times, the senator suffered attacks from journalists

who were trying to discredit her, but they were never able to do so.

Roraima Gutierrez, a young Afro Venezuelan congresswoman, has spoken about how much Piedad learned from her trips to Venezuela about establishing a continent-wide Afrodescendant agenda. The Venezuelan government’s presentation of its highest distinction, the Order of the Liberator medal and a replica of the sword of Simón Bolívar, by the Venezuelan Minister of Culture Ernesto Villega to Córdoba’s children––Juan Luis and Natalia Castro Córdoba––was a gesture of ethical recognition.

See PIEDAD CÓRDOBA on page 31

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 3

Overridden again: City Council overturns mayor’s veto of How Many Stops Act and ban on solitary

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member This Tuesday, the New York City Council opted to override Mayor Eric Adams’s veto of two key pieces of legislation centered on criminal justice reform. The vote was 42 to 9.

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and lead bill sponsor Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, along with other elected officials and community groups, held a rally for the How Many Stops Act (HMSA) before the council’s vote at City Hall on January 30.

“Simply put, the origin of this bill is feedback from communities and families most affected,” said Speaker Adams at the rally.

“Our mothers, our fathers, our daughters, our sons who were stopped.”

The Council passed two bills in December 2023: one to ban the use of solitary confinement in city jails and one to enact the HMSA, which would require the NYPD to publicly report on all police-civilian Level I investigative stops. On January 19, Adams announced his official veto of HMSA and the solitary confinement ban.

One of the sticking points in the council’s argument is that statistically, Black and brown New Yorkers are still disproportionately stopped, searched, and/or arrested by police despite making up less than half the city’s population, according to recent data gathered by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and a federal court-

appointed monitor report. Speaker Adams again drilled down that the bill centers on “investigative stops,” not casual ones.

“There is so much discretion and confusion within the NYPD, potentially not out of malintent, but…the best way to begin to get at this so that we see the scale and scope of what is happening so we can make better decisions as a city is to get a uniform report,” said bill co-sponsor Councilmember Alexa Aviles. “We need this data so that we can do a better job. This is a first step in tackling a very persistent, pernicious situation that has been transpiring across New York City.”

The HMSA veto, coupled with the solitary confinement ban veto, was overridden with 49 votes in the affirmative and nine

negative in a City Council stated meeting later that day. Among those who voted no were Councilmembers Joann Ariola, Robert Holden, Joseph Borelli, and Kalman Yeger.

“We didn’t make this a race thing; this is a race thing,” said Councilmember Kevin Riley explaining his personal experience during his vote. “This is what we have to deal with on a daily basis, and I’m speaking to you as a Black man who still has to deal with this on a daily basis.”

During his usual Tuesday morning in-person meeting, Adams spoke in-depth about the ride-alongs with councilmembers over this past weekend. He played a brief video showing members in body armor shadowing officers on emergency calls. One call See OVERRIDDEN on page 29

Testify: Focusing on Black perspectives from the state’s mayoral control hearings

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member The New York State Education Department officially wrapped its series of public hearings this Monday that reviewed Mayor Eric Adams’s mayoral control of New York City schools. Most advocated for a change in how the schools are run.

Black parents, educators, and elected officials showed up to school auditoriums to passionately make their case for or against mayor control. Most overwhelmingly railed against the system of mayoral control and not necessarily Adams himself, while many others pointed to his budget cuts to education as a prime example of why public schools shouldn’t be solely in the hands of one person and his appointees.

Some wanted to talk about race and the

fact that Adams is the city’s second Black mayor and the first to have mayoral control. And a few wanted to keep the current system going.

“The decentralization of schools is the best way to educate children within our communities. One thing which has been consistent has been my support to end mayoral control in the City of New York,” testified Assemblymember Latrice Walker, who attended the city’s public schools.

Walker has been vocal in advocating for parent and community control of public schools, as well as building an “education bill of rights” that includes appropriate class sizes, staffing, suitable curricula, adequate resources for students with disabilities and English language learners (ELL), book supplies, fully funded libraries, access to labs and technology, and safe buildings.

“This would be an independent and stand alone bill, which mayoral control should be as well, instead of balancing the budget on the backs of our babies which is dead wrong,” said Walker, “but it happens each and every year.”

Senator Jabari Brisport, who attended a Brooklyn hearing but didn’t testify, said that he hasn’t heard any support to extend mayoral control from his constituents. He definitely recognizes that there are local communities that have differed with the Mayor over things like virtual learning and educational policies.

“I know some people want to center the report that’s coming out. I’m centering the voices of my community,” said Brisport.

New York City’s public school system has been under mayoral control for more than the last two decades, beginning with Michael Bloomberg in 2002. It gave Bloom-

berg the power to appoint the city’s schools chancellor and members to the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), which runs the city Department of Education (DOE).

Before the 1990s, the city’s schools were run by 32 community-elected school boards and the Board of Education.

Brisport supports going back to a form of elected school boards, since New York City is one of the only outliers in the country that doesn’t use that system. He believes that fears of corruption crippling the education system are more so “Bloomberg talking points.” He noted that it was important to remember that Adams has also made persistent education budget cuts and hasn’t implemented the state’s law to reduce classroom sizes.

A handful of testimonies addressed the issue of race at play, claiming that the See TESTIFY on page 36

Councilmember Yusef Salaam’s police stop fuels ‘driving while Black’ concerns

By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member NYPD officers pulled over Harlem Councilmember Yusef Salaam last Friday, Jan. 26 while driving across 125th Street with his family. The department says the officer “conducted a legal and professional stop” over tinted windows. Salaam says the experience amplifies “the importance of transparency for all police investigative stops.”

“While it is imperative for all of us as New Yorkers to understand the difficult tasks that we ask the NYPD to take on, it is also critical to understand the lived experiences of those subjected to unjust police stops in this city,” said Salaam in his statement.

“Many of us in the Council know what it’s like to feel vulnerable and powerless when stopped by an officer, because we have per-

sonally experienced triggering interactions like I had last night. It is our duty as public servants to collect the data necessary to determine the pervasiveness of these stops, and solutions to build the trust necessary to make our neighborhoods safer.”

The actual encounter only lasts a few seconds based on the officer’s body camera footage. Salaam is asked to roll down the back window of his blue BMW sedan and introduces himself as the district’s councilmember. The officer subsequently sends him on his way while Salaam asks if everything is okay—he later points out that he was not provided “a rationale for the stop.” The video was posted publicly over the NYPD’s social media and sent to reporters shortly after Salaam’s office recounted the incident.

Despite the encounter’s banality, the deaths of Tyre Nichols and Philando Castile

show the dangers of traffic stops for Black drivers, who are pulled over at higher rates.

Of course, Salaam is famously part of the Exonerated Five whose wrongful conviction stemmed from arrest and questioning by the NYPD. He also heads the public safety committee for the City Council, which overrode Mayor Eric Adams’s veto of the How Many Stops Act this past Tuesday.

Salaam refused a scheduled police ridealong extended by Adams after the stop.

He says he plans on building “organic” relationships with local Harlem police precincts instead and later voted in favor of the veto override.

To be clear, the bill-turned-local law would mandate police reporting of lowlevel street stops. Vehicle stops are Level 4 encounters which already require police reporting predating the legislation, according to the NYPD. The report was also shared

publicly over social media, and identified the stop’s basis as a VTL (short for Vehicle and Traffic Law) Infraction.

Mayor Eric Adams provided a statement commending both Salaam and the NYPD. He said the department followed “all proper police procedures.”

Police Reform Organizing Project Director Robert Gangi says such stops lead to a glut of cases for nonwhite New Yorkers witnessed by the organization’s court monitoring.

“Tinted windows charges, from my experience, always involve a New Yorker of color,” he said. “And sometimes, the people don’t even know they had a tinted window—they had a window replaced in their car and it turned out to be tinted.

They’re not intentionally trying to prevent cops or anybody [else] from seeing what’s going on in the car.”

See SALAAM on page 36

4 • February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024

Trump at war with women

By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews

Trump at war with women is not a fresh news story, but lately, the battles have spread almost as quickly as the conflict in the Middle East. While the recent settlement of E. Jean Carroll against Trump to the tune of $83.3 million commands headlines, three Black women should also be remembered: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s federal election interference case.

Whether in or out of the courtroom, Trump is under fire. The Carroll verdict is the biggest blow, but it will undoubtedly be appealed and be a continuing media story. It may also soon give way to verdicts from Georgia and New York, where Trump is assailing Willis, insisting she should be moved from the case.

He claims that she has “inappropriately injected race into the case and stoked racial animus,” which in some instances sounds like a personal indictment.

Moreover, Trump and his lawyers are calling for her removal based on allegations that Willis has a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she appointed to the case—a potential conflict of interest. To date, Willis has not responded to the charges but has vigorously defended Wade and his qualifications.

On another battlefront, Trump targeted James, who has charged Trump and his co-defendants in a $370 million civil fraud trial. He is accused of inflating his net worth by billions of dollars to obtain better loans from banks and reduced taxes.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and asserted that the litigation against him is politically motivated because he is the current Republican presidential frontrunner.

Chutkan has consistently rejected Trump’s call for a dismissal of the trial and slapped him with a gag order. It appears doubtful that the trial’s scheduled start date of March 4 will occur in a case that awaits a judgment from the U.S. Court of Appeals on whether Trump is immune from prosecution.

One other woman, Stormy Daniels, and a “hush money” payment is still on the docket for late March.

Prosecutors reported that they have evidence of other hush money payments to cover damaging stories during his presidential bid in 2016.

And so it goes.

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

TikToxin: Mayor Adams’s address highlights health department’s plan tackling social media as ‘a toxic exposure’

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

What’s 280 characters in a city of 8.4 million? Mayor Eric Adams called out social media giants for “fueling” the mental health crisis among young people in his State of the City address last Wednesday. He specifically named TikTok, YouTube and Facebook.

“We cannot stand by and let big tech monetize our children’s privacy and jeopardize their mental health,” said Adams. “That’s why today Dr. (Ashwin) Vasan is issuing a health commissioner advisory officially designating social media as a public health crisis…we must ensure that tech companies take responsibility for their products.”

The advisory calls on all New Yorkers to “hold social media companies accountable and advance reform that protects youth from harmful and predatory practices.” It also suggests parents discuss social media use with their children and that healthcare workers provide “evidence-based” guidance for online use. But beyond ground-level reforms, the advisory also recommended both figurative and literal stakeholders—from local lawmakers to tech investors—to put pressure on social media companies to implement safer practices.

Vasan, who heads the NYC Depart-

our digital environment, including education and awareness, research, and regulation.”

Adams is referencing the surgeon general’s advisory on social media last May, which could not determine whether social media is sufficiently safe for teens. It did find that up to 95% of young people ages 13-17 report using social media. And almost 40% of children under 13 report using social media, despite them failing to meet the minimum New York City Mayor Eric Adams delivers his third State of the City age requirement for most major Address at Hostos Community College in the Bronx on January 24, platforms.

2024. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office) To be clear, the experts are not sugment of Health and Mental Hygiene and brown students reported feel- gesting young people to log out for (NYC DOHMH) spoke about social ing hopeless in the city’s findings, good, just practice moderation in media’s impact on young people last compared to 29% of white stu- every sense of the word. The surgeon June, specifically on the harm Black dents. These numbers come from general’s advisory also found that and brown youth may face. He lik- a March 2023 mental health plan platforms allow users to access imened it to an environmental toxin to which planted seeds for the recent portant information, express themthe brain akin to how lead paint or big tech callout. For nonwhite youth, selves and develop friendships. It tobacco harms the body. pandemic-related mental health also reports that many girls of color “The numbers paint a sobering, struggles were compounded by in- come across “identity-affirming” encounters over social media. sobering picture, we are most cer- terpersonal and structural racism.

Facebook and TikTok did not retainly in the midst of a youth mental Following the address, Adams rehealth crisis,” said Vasan. “In 2021, iterated his message over an email spond to requests for comment at press time.

38% of New York City high schoolers statement. reported feeling so sad or so hope“Unfettered access to social media Tandy Lau is a Report for Ameriless during the past 12 months that is fueling our national youth mental they stopped doing their usual ac- health crisis and putting our chil- ca corps member who writes about tivities. That rate was significantly dren in harm’s way,” he said. “Taking public safety for the Amsterdam higher for Black and Latino children. inspiration from the U.S. surgeon News. Your donation to match our Over the past 10 years, rates of sui- general, we’re the first major Ameri- RFA grant helps keep him writing cidal thoughts amongst high school- can city to take this step and call out stories like this one; please consider ers in New York have increased by the dangers of social media like this. making a tax-deductible gift of any more than 34%.”

New York City is employing a wide amount today by visiting https://bit.

Specifically, around 40% of Black array of tools to address this toxin in ly/amnews1.

Deadly violence increased in Upper Manhattan last year despite reduction in shootings

By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member The NYPD reports a 22% reduction in shootings and yet a 20.9% rise in murders in Manhattan North precincts last year in an unusual divergence between two traditionally linked crime stats.

Both shootings and murders were down citywide last year, a trend reflected by almost every other patrol borough with the exception of Staten Island.

The NYPD credits aggressive enforcement, reporting more than 4,000 gun possession arrests last year resulting in roughly 6,500 illegal firearms off the street. 2023 marked the fourth lowest number of shooting victims over the past three decades, according to the department. Yet uptown neighborhoods like Harlem still saw a rise in murders last year.

Numbers wise, there were nine more murder complaints in Manhattan North last year compared to 2022 despite 37 fewer gun violence incidents and 51 fewer shooting victims. Comparatively, there were 16 fewer murders and 12 fewer shooting incidents in Manhattan South.

The discrepancy does not stem from intimate partner violence.

Both domestic violence-related murders and shootings were down in Manhattan North last year, according to the NYPD. John Jay College associate professor Christopher Herrmann, who formerly headed the NYPD’s Citywide Shooting and Homicide analyses, says the numbers “don’t make sense” given shootings make up a majority of murders, frequently leading to statistical correlations.

He says it’s especially unusual given both percent changes were in the double digits.

“It’s weird to have a downswing

and gun violence and upswing in murders,” said Herrmann. “If… it’s not intimate partner violence, now we’re starting to think about stabbings or assaults or [vehicular homicides].”

Could underreporting be an issue?

Not likely, Herrmann said. While victims of other index crimes like rape and burglary don’t always come forward, shooting victims are almost always treated in hospitals where there’s mandated police reporting.

Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey told the AmNews during a Mayor’s Office roundtable that the correlation between gun violence and murders uptown requires a deeper look.

“Harlem had a good reduction in shooting violence, but unfortunately we lost a few more people,” he said over Zoom.

Overall, murders dropped by 11.9% from 438 in 2022 to 386 last year. Shooting incidents dropped

by 24.7% from 1,294 in 2022 to 974 last year.

But the crime stats don’t always reflect on-the-ground sentiment.

Harlem Mothers S.A.V.E. founder Jackie Rowe-Adams said she feels like shootings are higher and homicides are lower in her victims services work.

“It depends on who pays attention [to the crime stats],” she said. “You can read that and you can hear that but another person can go and say ‘well on my block they just finished shooting, I’m not paying attention to that.’ It could go either way.“ 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.

February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 5

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Family Focused Photographer

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Special to the AmNews

Family photographer Nicole Mayhorn

Meeting her, you can tell that family photographer Nicole Mayhorn is different. She’s not your average New Yorker: she is approachable, she’s calm, and she’s confident.

“Oh, so I’ve been in New York for I guess around 15 years or so,” Mayhorn reveals. Originally from Houston, Texas, Mayhorn now lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons. Following in the footsteps of her sister, Mayhorn had traveled from Houston to Washington, D.C. to attend Howard University. It was while majoring in advertising at Howard that she began studying photography.

She had started taking classes at the school of communications and, initially, the excitement came when she got to work on films and to write short stories and then film them.

“But then when I got a camera and I actually had more control, I fell in love,” she confesses. Instead of working with a large team to shoot scripts and later edit them, Mayhorn was taken with the idea that, “It was just me being able to control the creative narrative. I just fell in love with that.”

The more she learned about photography, the more pictures she took. “I was always taking pictures, you know, like of my family. I always had a camera and was documenting our family when they came over for Christmas and just around the house. It was so funny because my mom hates taking pictures, but then through me being a photographer, she’s just learned to tolerate it a little bit more.”

After college, Mayhorn thought about living and working in California. She did an internship at Hollywood’s Showtime Networks, but then took a position doing film distribution at 20th Century Fox in New York City. In 2009, she set up her own business, Nicole Mayhorn Photography (https://nicolemayhorn.com/), in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. It quickly rose through word-of-mouth referrals. Mayhorn says she didn’t have a formal studio location at the time, so she sometimes had to rent one for her shoots. But she also loved taking photos in Fort Greene Park, throughout Dumbo, and at locations around New York where she could incorporate the beauty of the city.

Her photographs of families led to Mayhorn being asked to take children’s school photos. She has contracts to take the annual photos at 13 area schools each year. When she works with children, she likes to come in and really take the time to connect and meet her subjects. She said she sits and talks with them, asks them

THE URBAN AGENDA

By David R. Jones, Esq

A Bold Proposal to Reshape How NY Addresses the Lack of Affordable Housing It’s not every day that a major opportunity comes along to reshape the way we deal with one of our most severe and persistent crises.

But this coming Tuesday, just such a pathway will be blazed when Harlem State Senator Cordell Cleare and Brooklyn Assemblymember Emily Gallagher introduce legislation to create a Social Housing Development Authority (SHDA), representing a bold new way of taking on this city’s and state’s affordable housing deficit.

Black

New Yorker

about their interests, and even brings a few toys to see how they interact with objects.

“What I get from parents is they’re like, ‘Oh my goodness: You caught my child’s spirit! You caught them as who they are, I can see my child’s joy in your pictures.’ Because kids are so busy and they’re always moving and they’re like, ‘How do you get them all to do so many different poses?’”

Taking photos and framing the different poses of children and families in photographs is vital because it helps establish a sense of stability, Mayhorn argues. Just taking selfies and having pictures on your cell phone isn’t enough, “I really want my families to be able to celebrate their families and celebrate themselves as art. I think it’s really important for kids and for families to see their images on the wall, for them to be able to wake up each morning and walk in the living room or in the bedroom or in the hallway and see themselves framed in their home. You know, studies have shown that seeing framed pictures of yourself and your family just gives you more confidence because you’re seeing yourself being celebrated inside your house. And it’s also bringing back those good memories of that time, because then as you get older you still have those pictures framed.”

Mayhorn added that her goal is to celebrate the spirit of a person in a photograph. “People uniquely are so interesting,” she said, “and I just enjoy the joy that resides in people when they’re happy or when you can see that sparkle in their eye. Just being able to capture that memory and like freeze that moment for people, to feel and really see the joy of the person: that’s the kind of spirit-led photography I really enjoy doing, where I see their spirit shining through.”

For about 50 years, New York State offered a total tax exemption to luxury developers in exchange for a tiny share of “affordable” rentals, often priced much higher than our community can afford. This program, known as 421-a, cost New York taxpayers $1.8 billion a year, more than any other single housing program in the state, including public housing, vouchers, and non-profit subsidies. 421-a died an unceremonious death a couple years ago, and now developers are begging for its return, claiming it is the only way we can jumpstart housing production in our city.

That kind of viewpoint is what you would expect from the real estate industry, which shells out generous contributions to keep the status quo.

But handing over billions of dollars to private, for profit developers is not the only way to increase the city’s affordable housing stock.

While in the past we could have turned to the federal government for help, the primary support for affordable housing production it has to offer today is the “Low Income Housing Tax Credit.” This is a Reagan-era mechanism whereby the federal government gives tax credits to states, which pass them on to affordable housing developers, which sell them to private investors, who save big on taxes. If that sounds like an awfully inefficient way to raise money for what should be a basic human right, it is.

And, the federal government has other programs, like the Housing Trust Fund (HTF), which are both much less complicated and much more efficient. But because tax credits make a lot of money for big corporate interests, they persevere as the primary mechanism for building temporarily affordable housing around the country.

Senator Cleare and Assemblymember Gallagher’s new bill will provide a pathway out of the housing crisis for New York State and a model for the rest of the country.

Instead of giving huge tax breaks to the richest in order to build a few apartments

for the poorest, New York State’s Social Housing Development Authority would be tasked with producing high quality, permanently affordable housing around the state – in cities, suburbs and rural areas alike.

Those new buildings would be built by the SHDA but could be owned by the tenants themselves or run by a trusted Community Development Corporation or management company. The SHDA could also help tenants in private rental buildings buy their buildings from their landlords and either turn them into not-for-profit rentals or limited-equity cooperatives – a process the Community Service Society of New York outlined in our interactive 2022 report, Pathways to Social Housing in New York: 20 Policies to Shift from Private Profit to Public Good.

And on top of that, they would be built and staffed by union workers.

New York has dreamed big on housing before – we’ve just fallen out of practice.

In the 1920s, our unions built affordable cooperatives around the city. In the 1930s, we built public housing, even before the federal government. In the 1950s, we started building Mitchell Lama coops and rentals, which remain extremely popular decades later. In the 1960s and ‘70s, we even had a Social Housing Development Authority – it was called the Urban Development Corporation, and it built high quality social housing around the city and state, including Harlem’s Lionel Hampton Houses, Schomberg Plaza, and more. In the 1980s, tenants fought for the city to turn over tenements to them to own and manage as affordable cooperatives. We’ve done it all before, but we need to do it again – now more than ever, as homelessness and rising rent burdens are becoming existential crises for our communities.

Housing is not a simple problem, and there’s no single solution to this crisis.

We also need stronger tenant protections and programs to rehouse the homeless in already-existing vacant apartments.

But we’ll never solve the housing crisis just by tinkering around the margins of the tax code. New York State needs to lead the way by building the housing our communities need. Senator Cleare and Assemblymember Gallagher’s bill to create a SHDA will offer a transformative vision for a New York State with homes for all – poor and middle class alike.

We don’t just have to cut taxes and hope profit-seeking developers do the right thing; we can build the city and state New Yorkers deserve.

David R. Jones, Esq., is President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York (CSS), the leading voice on behalf of low-income New Yorkers for more than 175 years. The views in this column are solely those of the writer. The Urban Agenda is available on CSS’s website: www.cssny.org

6 • February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Promoting peace: Street Corner Resources fights violence

By SHANNON CHAFFERS AmNews Staff/Report for America Corps Member The ethos of peace powers Street Corner Resources (SCR), an anti-violence nonprofit organization based in central Harlem. “Peace and blessings” is a common greeting used by both staff and passersby, the message “I Am Peace” is emblazoned on the staff’s T-shirts, and bold black letters spelling out “Speak Peace Forward” adorn the back wall of one of the organization’s two buildings on 145th Street.

The neighboring building hosts the office of Iesha Sekou, founder and CEO of SCR, but Sekou herself is more likely to be found meeting with her staff next door, greeting visitors on the benches outside, or sitting in one of SCRs’ vans en route to the myriad events or meetings that make up her hectic daily schedule.

Since founding the nonprofit in 2005, Sekou has overseen its expansion to provide a variety of services, including summer and afterschool programs for youth, a robust violence intervention program, legal aid and housing referrals, and a monthly open mic night called the Peace Café.

It’s all aimed at promoting peace in a neighborhood that has long suffered from the devastating consequences of poverty and violence that plague many of New York’s Black and brown neighborhoods as a result of decades of disinvestment.

In many ways, SCR represents the new face of violence prevention emerging in New York City. Research has shown that community-based nonprofits partly contributed to the decline in violence in American cities between the 1990s and the 2010s, and the city's recent investment has put these groups at the center of a new public safety infrastructure to address gun violence, alongside policing.

While her organization has benefited from this newly available funding, Sekou will be the first to tell you that none of this support came without a fight, one that continues to this day.

SCR staff member Javon Griffin hands out flyers to students outside Mott Hall High School as part of SCR’s safe passage program. (Photo by Shannon Chaffers) Members of Street Corner Resources on stage at the African Day Parade (Photo courtesy of Street Corner Resources)

Beginnings of Street Corner Resources Street Corner Resources emerged from Sekou’s earlier community work in Harlem— more specifically, from her brownstone on 136th Street, where she lived for around 30 years. Sekou made the space a safe haven for young people, especially those who had run away from home and were vulnerable to violence.

“I had the typical brownstone stoop, and kids would sit up on the railing, they would sit on the stoop, they would sit in the downstairs garden area [where] I’d put some chairs down…my house was the house,” Sekou explained, recalling the various activities she organized, like homework and college application sessions, weekend brunch, and Kwanzaa celebrations.

This sort of community organizing came naturally to Sekou, who grew up in an activist household. Her mother frequently tasked her with making signs for the various protests they attended. After spending about a decade in Florida to attend college and work in adult education, Sekou moved back to New York in 1984.

She first encountered the scale of the gun violence crisis in Harlem when she began working at a series of welfare-to-work programs as an educator, where many of her clients were young mothers.

“They were losing their sons.

A number of young people were getting shot and killed and losing life. And I was helping these women to bury their children,” Sekou said.

Alarmed by the devastating toll of this violence and frustrated by the failure of existing programs to address it, Sekou’s own mother inspired her to create her organization.

“One of the things my mother said was that, when you see something that you want to see different, then you be the person to make it different,” she said.

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS While Sekou said starting an organization from scratch initially seemed “far-fetched,” her mother pointed out that she already had the seeds of an organization through her house. They chose the name Street Corner Resources because it spoke to how Sekou had built a space where young people could hang out, feel safe, and access resources to secure a better future.

Fighting for funding In its early years, SCR operated with very limited funding, mostly from small donations. Sekou focused her attention on young people, drawing on her background in education and experience running youth summer programs. She arranged activities like games of chess, or dance and music workshops.

She also sought to intervene against violence more directly. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, she and a few other neighborhood residents stood at the corner of 129th Street and Seventh Avenue, across the street from St. Nicholas housing.

“We were out there to disrupt the violence. To talk to young people, to get them to think about their behavior,” Sekou said. “Were there guns? Yes. Did we take guns?

We didn’t physically grab the gun and take it, but they turned in guns to us.”

Sekou also attended community board meetings in hopes of securing more funding, but her frustration at government inaction meant she was often seen as disruptive and hostile by those whom she was asking for help.

“She’d come in like a volcano, exploding with lava!” recalled Inez Dickens, a City Councilmember at the time who became Sekou’s ally. “Sometimes it was hard to get a hold of that volcano because she would be so angry because people weren’t listening. And I wanted her to understand: You’re trying to get funding... It doesn’t mean [being] meek. It doesn’t mean being humble. But it means you come in stating your facts, stating your case, and why your program is necessary.”

Dickens helped Sekou secure funding from the City Council starting around 2013, some of which was used to establish a media center at Harlem Renaissance High School in 2014.

Around the same time, the city began offering grant money for anti-violence initiatives like Cure Violence, a public health-

February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 7 they met that standard.”

Speaking peace forward When Josh Marte first came to Street Corner Resources five years ago, he had just completed a short stint in jail and was seeking a way out of the drug dealing and gang activities he had engaged in for much of his life.

Marte grew up in Harlem, and said that many of his family members dealt drugs and carried guns as a means of survival. But Marte said he never participated until he had a traumatic encounter with the police when he was around 14 years old. One snowy day, he and his cousin were on their way to school when two police officers stopped and searched them. “[They] dumped my bookbag out, [roughed] me up. Made me and my cousin step out of our sneakers to search the bottom of our socks, saying we had drugs on us…Then the officer goes and searches the private areas of us. And I…felt very violated,” he recalled.

Marte said the experience was so traumatizing that he turned to street life as a way to prevent himself from being victimized again. The incident elevated his status among older members in the community who had faced similar treatment from police.

“When the police came and harassed me, now I wind up being accepted by them, and now I’m back doing it to others. I’m not going to be the victim, I don’t want to be the victim, so I’m victimizing,” he explained.

Marte first came to SCR looking for a maintenance job, but after he spent a few weeks around the organization, Sekou decided to hire him as a violence interrupter.

Now a senior member of the Speak Peace Forward violence interruption team, Marte regards Sekou as a mentor, and SCR as a place that helped him see beyond a cycle of violence and retaliation.

See PEACE on page 14

Participants of Street Corner Resources play drums outside the offices.

(Photos courtesy of Street Corner Resources)

based approach to violence prevention that employs credible messengers—people from the neighborhood with experience of gun and gang violence—to work as violence interrupters.

In 2014, the city established the Crisis Management System to systematize this public health approach. Along with other community organizations, SCR joined the program.

“For us, the Crisis Management System was a way to give this a name—the work that we do,” Sekou said.

In recent years, the city has invested more money into the Crisis Management System, which consists of more than 50 community-based organizations and has a budget of $86 million.

Experts say that measuring the effects of the program is difficult, because it can be hard to isolate the causes of fluctuations in gun violence at a neighborhood level, and each Cure Violence program differs slightly. But researchers at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who studied the program found that it is a “promising model” for addressing community gun violence. Their study showed that neighborhoods with CMS sites had a steeper decline in

gun violence and greater reductions in social norms supporting violence compared to areas without sites.

“I think it’s been proven enough to know that it’s a good investment for local governments as a complement to law enforcement,” said the study’s co-author, Jeffery Butts. “[These programs] don’t have to be magic solutions. They just have to help contribute to public safety, and they pay for themselves. And

"Here in Harlem, we say Superman doesn’t have a cape, he has an ‘I Am Peace’ shirt on,” - Josh Marte

Iesha Sekou (left) hired Josh Marte (right) in 2018. Now he is senior member of SCR’s outreach team.

8 • February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024

Go With The Flo

FLO

ANTHONY Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson was very busy moving around the Big Apple last week. The rapper turned television executive producer was spotted enjoying a porterhouse steak at Empire Steak House on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

He was also seen at Lava Restaurant and Lounge in Staten Island. Sources also tell Go With The Flo that the STARZ producer took time out to promote his champagne and cognac brands. Meanwhile, 50 has lost 43 pounds. Although there has been speculation that he took the popular weight loss drug, Ozempic, 50 denies that’s how he took off the weight, and posted on Instagram, “You seen me on tour. I was running around, I was 253 pounds. I came down and I’m 210 right now. I was running. I was doing what I had to do.” All right 50. Do your thing!......

The marvelous Melba Moore, fourtime Grammy nominee and the winner of the 1970 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress for a Musical, for her performance as Lutiebelle in “Purlie,” will present “From Broadway With Love,” on Friday, March 15 and Saturday, March 16, 2024, in New York City.

Both performances will start at 7 p.m. at 54 Below, 254 W. 54th St., New York City.

Moore is currently promoting her new album, “Imagine”......

After successfully opening the Burger House restaurant in the middle of COVID, entrepreneur Jonathan Yearwood is expanding his enterprise by launching his culinary masterpiece, D’OEUVRE. Located at 1775 Flatbush Ave, in his beloved East Flatbush neighborhood, the opulent dining destination features Yearwood’s signature menu in an upscale, family-friendly environment. Local neighboring business owners, elected officials, including NYPD brass, as well as family and friends joined Yearwood for a festive ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the new eatery’s official opening. Hercules Reid, NYC Mayor’s Office Brooklyn director, said, “There’s nothing like opening a new business, and seeing someone’s dreams come to fruition.” ........

Saturday Night Live announced that “The Bear’s” Ayo Edebiri will host the Feb. 3 show for the first time. The Critics Choice, Golden Globe and Emmy award-winning actress will be joined by actress/songstress/dancer Jennifer Lopez as the musical guest. This will be the Bronx native Lopez’s fourth appearance on SNL. She has hosted the late night weekly show three times. Edebiri portrays Sydney Adamu on “The Bear”.....

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O

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS W I T H T H E F L O

Commemorative coins issued for Black History Month 2024

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff The national mints of the United States and Canada are each issuing commemorative coins to celebrate Black History Month for 2024.

In January, the United States Mint announced it would release $5 gold, $1 silver, and half-dollar Harriet Tubman coins to acknowledge the ongoing 200-year commemorations of Tubman’s birth.

Images on the new coins illustrate scenes of episodes from Tubman’s life. One coin depicts Tubman holding forth her hand in a gesture showing that she is willing to assist you and take you with her. Another coin shows her leading others across a bridge to freedom, while a third shows a confident Tubman in the foreground with an illustration behind her of the Civil War’s Combahee River Raid of 1863. Tubman led 150 African American soldiers during this military raid that led to the liberation of 700 enslaved Black people.

A famed anti-slavery advocate and Underground Railroad “conductor,” Tubman was born in 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland, to Harriet Green and Benjamin Ross, who could both trace their ancestry to the Ashanti (Asante) people of Ghana. She was given the name Araminta Ross. At some point in 1844, married a free Black man named John Tubman and adopted Tubman’s last name. She later changed her own first name to Harriet, in honor of her mother.

Tubman liberated herself from slavery in July 1849 and returned to Maryland at least 13 times over the following 10 years to bring some 70 other family members and friends to freedom.

Harriet Tubman 2024 three-coin proof set (United States Mint)

conductor. She then went on to serve as a nurse, scout, and even a spy for the Union Army during the Civil War. After the Civil War, until her death in 1913, she lived a life committed to freedom, women’s suffrage, and dignity for all people. In recognition of the 2022 Bicentennial of her birth, this groundbreaking commemorative program will showcase Harriet Tubman’s life reflected in unique designs in gold, silver, and half-dollar coins.”

“Every coin produced by the United States Mint helps to tell a story that teaches us about America’s history or connects us to a special memory,” said Ventris C. Gibson, director of the Mint, in a press release. “We hope this program will honor the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman and inspire others to learn more about this amazing woman.”

The Royal Canadian Mint, which circulates Canadian coins, will commemorate Black History Month with silver coins honoring the Amber Valley, Alberta, community. Canada, which also celebrates its Black History Month throughout February, will remember the African American families from the U.S. Oklahoma and Texas areas who accepted the Canadian government’s promise of free land in western Canada and established the Pine Creek settlement (later renamed Amber Valley) in the earlyRoyal Canadian Mint’s 2024 $20 fine 20th century. silver coin commemorating Black “Amber Valley was the only Negro sethistory: Amber Valley fine silver coin tlement to survive both World War I and (CNW Group/Royal Canadian Mint) the Great Depression,” wrote Robin W. Wink in the book “The Blacks in Canada: “Harriet Tubman spent her life actively A History” (McGill-Queen’s University pursuing freedom and social justice for all,” Press, 1997). “Some three hundred Oklathe catalog for the U.S. Mint proclaims. “As homa Blacks moved into the Pine Creek one of the most recognized figures of the area, one hundred miles north of EdmonUnderground Railroad, she guided around ton…beginning in 1910…Leaving their 70 people to freedom during her time as a families in Edmonton for the first winter,

the men—led by Jefferson D. Edwards, a young man of twenty-two—accepted from one to five sections each. While a few were able to find abandoned claims on which improvements already had been made, most needed two years or more to harvest their first crop. During the winters they returned to Edmonton to work in a meat-packing plant. The settlers opened a school which served as their Methodist church as well. By 1920 the average holding at Amber Valley consisted of thirtyeight acres—virtually all in crops––three horses, two cattle, and houses and fences valued at $400, which although low was deemed sufficient by the local authorities.”

The pure silver Amber Valley coin shows several Black families arriving at the Pine Creek settlement and getting ready to carve out a new life in early-20th-century western Canada. “I appreciate the recognition this coin represents,” Myrna Wisdom, historian and co-founder of The Black Settlers of Alberta and Saskatchewan Historical Society, said in a statement. “The Black Settlers of Amber Valley are indeed deserving of this recognition, which includes both my paternal and maternal grandparents, as well as my parents.”

Surcharges from the sale of Harriet Tubman Commemorative Coins will benefit the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Harriet Tubman Home, Inc., in Auburn, N.Y. The coins are available from the U.S. Mint’s online store (https://catalog.usmint. gov/) or can be purchased at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., and their gift shop in Philadelphia, PA. The Royal Canadian Mint’s 2024 $20 Amber Valley Fine Silver Coin is available by calling 1-800-268-6468 in the U.S. or visiting www.mint.ca.

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS O U T & A B O U T

February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 9

Schomburg Center transcribe-a-thon celebrates library’s founder

The invitation to the Schomburg Center transcribe-a-thon said, “Celebrate Schomburg’s birthday by helping us bring his archive to life!” (Karen Juanita Carrillo photos)

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff Arturo Schomburg’s 150th birthday was celebrated this past January 24 in a manner the bibliophile would have truly appreciated.

Schomburg is known for having traveled the world to create a 10,000+ African diaspora art and book collection that was purchased by the New York Public Library in 1926. His collection is today known as the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

On January 24, the public was invited to take part in what was billed as “Transcribea-thon: Remaking the World of Arturo Schomburg,” which had folks volunteer to type up some of the letters and documents from the “Arthur Alfonso Schomburg papers.” Schomburg’s personal collection contains nearly 25,000 pages of digitized documents. The event, put together with a $120,000 National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)-Mellon Grant, is one of several the Schomburg Center plans on holding over the next two years to help preserve Schomburg’s collection for the future.

Some 40 people signed up to take part in the Schomburg Center transcribe-athon. At Fisk University, in Nashville, Tennessee, undergraduate students registered in classes to work on the transcripts. After his collection was purchased by the NYPL, Schomburg was invited in 1929 to help set up Fisk’s library. Transcribing took place in both Tennessee and New York and both events were broadcast via Zoom, so that teams could see and talk with each other while doing the work. “In doing this, we’re making transparent the very valiant and tangible connections Schomburg had with both institutions,” Barrye Brown, the Schomburg Center curator leading the transcribe-a-thon told those in attendance.

“I'm so happy that you’re all here, all part of this today: part of helping us really bring this history alive.”

Laura Helton, a University of Delaware history professor who is serving as a scholar on the digitizing project, noted that while

her students tend to think that everything is already online, there are over 11 million documents in the Schomburg Center and only a fraction of them are available digitally. “It takes a lot of human labor to turn things into digitized resources that are easy to access,” she said. “You are today making Schomburg’s papers more accessible. …

His handwriting in cursive was not too easy to read and humans are much better at reading this than machines are. So, we need an accurate transcription of these documents so that they will be eventually fully searchable in the digital collection that we’ve been building.”

Schomburg Center birthday cake

transcribe-a-thon

A few of the volunteers at the transcribea-thon said they had done transcriptions at their places of employment or for personal reasons, so this was nothing new to them. Yet most attendees said they were in no way professional transcriptionists: it’s just that they had seen the advertisement for the event on the Schomburg Center’s webpage in late December and jumped at

Dean Schomburg, Arturo Schomburg’s grandson (back row, sixth from right), and Aysha Schomburg (Dean’s daughter/Arturo Schomburg’s great-granddaughter) (back row, ninth from right) came to support the volunteers taking part in the Schomburg Center transcribe-a-thon

the chance to contribute. “We wanted everyone to be able to participate as long as they are willing to try to interpret the documents,” Dr. Helton told the AmNews. “We have some people in the room who can read cursive and that's great. That’s helpful to us. And folks who transcribe letters in French: that’s useful too. But really anybody can join in.”

Brown added that there were no barriers preventing someone from signing up and joining the transcribing event: “That’s one of the beauties of being at the New York Public Library, there are really few barriers to accessing information. That’s really one of the important reasons why Schomburg placed his collection here at the library.

Because in order to access any of our collections, you only need a library card and anyone around the world can get a New York Public Library card for free. So, anyone can access our collections and the riches that we have here, anyone can learn more about any culture of the African diaspora, the history of the African diaspora. That is why we’re here.”

Participants were encouraged to do their best but to not be too concerned if they thought they were not completely accurate.

The documents being transcribed would ultimately be crowdsourced, which means that even if one person got part of a transcription wrong, they would not be the last person to see the document before it goes online. The same document was due to be worked on by more than one volunteer and the combined transcriptions would be compared, with disagreements flagged and resolved before the final transcription is approved.

“I fully appreciate the honor it is to contribute to this,” Satneith, a high school science teacher working on a transcription, said. “No one else can do this. Like if we don't do it, no one else is going to do it, right? So that’s why I’m here: I’m like, if I could contribute a teeny-weeny bit of information for some other generation to combat the ignorance, you never know.”

Vanessa K. Valdés, author of “Diasporic Blackness: The Life and Times of Arturo Al-

fonso Schomburg,” explained the reasons why she came to the transcribe-a-thon: “Because this is his birthday. Because of the significance of his 150th, this is the 150th anniversary of Schomburg’s birthday, and so this is a major milestone. But also, what I appreciated about this particular activity is that this is so in keeping with who he is, meaning the building of community, the strengthening of community.

Announcement of the grand opening of what would become the Schomburg Center (Jonathan Blanc photo)

“The opportunity for us from all different backgrounds––people who are in the academy and professors and scholars and folks who just love him and love Black history–– who are in this space together and learning about him and helping to transcribe his papers, helping to make these papers more accessible. That’s why I decided to be a part of this activity. Yeah.”

The January 24 Schomburg Center transcribe-a-thon was the pilot event for digitizing the Arturo Schomburg papers. By the end of the day, 383 transcriptions were completed in both Harlem and Nashville. Organizers say they plan on doing another, larger transcribe-a-thon next year and that it could possibly even have an added online component.

10 • February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Unions Matter AG James concerned about midwife services ending at NYP Allen Hospital

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff Attorney General Letitia James mailed off a letter to New York-Presbyterian (NYP) Allen Hospital this week, expressing her concern about the hospital’s proposed plans to close its midwifery services.

With an ongoing, critical maternal healthcare crisis among Black and brown New Yorkers, the rationale for suddenly terminating this crucial obstetrics service at NYP Allen is perplexing, the attorney general wrote.

NYP Allen services the Inwood, Washington Heights, and Bronx communities. It’s in upper Manhattan, in a neighborhood where local residents are predominantly Black and/or Latino and the average income is around $41,000 a year.

Two weeks before this past Christmas, NYP Allen sent out letters to its midwife staff, stating it had plans to close midwifery services at the hospital. Seven national and state licensed certified nurse midwives were scheduled to be terminated.

The letter the midwives received was straight and to the point: “This letter is to inform you that the Hospital will be eliminating your position, as a nurse midwife, at the Allen Hospital,” it read.

“This elimination is scheduled to become effective on or around February 1, 2024.

“Should you choose to remain at NYP, we will work with you to secure another position at the Hospital. A meeting will be set up with you and your representatives to discuss these changes and potential impact to you. We will contact you shortly with those details.”

The midwife eliminations were later rescheduled to take place March 3, 2024.

The New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) came out to rally against the proposed midwifery services closure on January 11. “NYP’s decision to terminate these vital services at NYP Allen Hospital will contribute to health inequities that Black and brown birthing people already disproportionately face,” the nurses’ union said in a statement. “Most of the NYP Allen midwives live in the community where they work, and some have decades of experience serving this community.

“Eliminating experienced, communitybased midwives will likely have a negative impact on quality care and health equity.

New York State Nurses Association is calling on the hospital to maintain these services.”

New York State Sen. Robert Jackson, who represents District 31, took part in the January 11 NYSNA rally for NYP-Allen midwives. Sen. Jackson said he recognized the “importance of making sure that midwivery services at Allen flourishes rather than is shut down or diminish[ed].” City Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa (to the right of Sen. Jackson), who represents northern Manhattan, said this is a time when maternal health and infant mortality has to be prioritized. (NYSNA Facebook page photo)

torical exception and a legitimate point of pride for NYP and the City of New York.

“I believe that the elimination of Allen’s midwifery program is a step in the wrong direction and would strongly urge you to reconsider this decision and look instead at expanding the program.”

In a statement to the Amsterdam News, New York Presbyterian claimed midwife services are not actually ending at NYP-Allen: Perinatal care positions “To clarify, full-service midwifery care will “New York Presbyterian … claims to pri- be available on-site at NYP Allen Hospital. oritize addressing historic inequities in the Going forward, the program will be mancommunities it serves,” AG James said in aged by Columbia, increasing coverage and the letter sent to the hospital. “Eliminat- access to the highest standard of care, ining this long-standing program with deep cluding the best and most experienced clities to the community undoes a critical his- nicians, for the benefit of our patients.”

NYP Allen’s seven current midwives have been invited to take on “other perinatal care positions within our system,” the hospital said.

But NYSNA contends that Columbia’s planned services at NYP Allen are still not concrete or, if they are, have not been shared.

In the meantime, the hospital’s current midwives have not chosen to work with Columbia, where they have only been offered non-union positions. “Most have agreed to different positions at CHONY (NewYorkPresbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital),” a NYSNA spokesperson said.

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams wrote in a white paper that pregnancies that utilize midwife services tend

to lead to less maternal deaths and fewer stillbirths and preterm births. The availability of midwife services can be crucial for low-income families who, instead of paying out of pocket, can use Medicaid.

Obstetric care under midwives can lead “to lower use of potentially harmful interventions like C-sections for low-risk deliveries, epidurals, and instrument-assisted births,” the public advocate’s office reported. “Midwifery care has also been reported to improve patient satisfaction and maternal psychosocial well-being outcomes, including those for postpartum depression. If a pregnant person has a low-risk pregnancy, they can choose to have a midwife care for them during pregnancy.”

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 11

Public Hearing

Proposed Toll Rate Schedule for the Central Business District Tolling Program (CBDTP) The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA), doing business as MTA Bridges and Tunnels, will hold hybrid public hearings to solicit comments on the proposed toll rate schedule for the Central Business District Tolling Program (CDBTP). The hearings will be held in a hybrid format with options to participate in-person as well as virtually via Zoom’s online platform and conference call feature, with a livestream available on the MTA YouTube channel.

Under the MTA Reform and Traffic Mobility Act of 2019 (the “Act”), TBTA will establish the CBDTP and collect tolls from vehicles entering the Manhattan Central Business District, an area defined by statute as south of and inclusive of 60th Street but excluding the FDR Drive, New York State Route 9A (including the Battery Park Underpass), and any surface roadway portion of the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel connecting to West Street. The purpose of the Program is to reduce traffic congestion and generate revenue to fund $15 billion in improvements to subway, bus, and commuter rail systems under MTA’s 2020-2024 Capital Plan and successor plans.

The Act established a Traffic Mobility Review Board and tasked it with issuing recommendations for a toll rate schedule within the parameters of the Act, including toll amounts and any credits, discounts, and/or exemptions.

These recommendations were published on November 30, 2023. On December 6, 2023, the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Board voted to proceed with the administrative procedure required to establish and adopt a toll rate schedule.

Accordingly, a public comment period is underway and hybrid public hearings will be held in order for TBTA to receive feedback on the proposed toll rate schedule. The public comment period began December 27, 2023 and will continue through March 11, 2024. The proposed toll rate schedule can be viewed at: https://new.mta.info/document/129191. The proposal in summary includes the following: n Passenger vehicles and passenger-type vehicles with commercial license plates would be charged a $15 peak period E-ZPass toll for entering the CBD, no more than once per day. n Trucks would be charged a $24 or $36 peak period E-ZPass toll for entering the CBD, depending on their size. n Buses providing transit or commuter services would be exempted from the toll. Other buses would be charged a $24 or $36 peak period E-ZPass toll for entering the CBD, depending on their type. n Motorcycles would be charged half the respective passenger vehicle toll, no more than once per day. n Tolls would be charged to vehicles only as they enter the CBD – not if they remain in or leave the zone. n Peak period toll rates would apply during the most congested times of the day – from 5am to 9pm on weekdays, and from 9am to 9pm on weekends. Toll rates would be 75% lower in the overnight period. n A tunnel credit against a portion of the peak period CBD toll rate would be provided to vehicles with E-ZPass entering through the four tolled entries that lead directly into the CBD: the Queens-Midtown, Hugh L. Carey, Holland, and Lincoln Tunnels. No crossing credits would be in effect in the overnight period, when CBD toll rates are already 75% lower than in the peak period. n NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) taxis, green cabs, and for-hire vehicles (FHVs) would be exempted from the daily system toll on vehicles. Instead, a per-trip CBD toll would be added to each paid passenger trip fare for trips made to, from, or within the CBD at the toll rate of $1.25 per-trip for taxis, green cabs and FHVs, and $2.50 per-trip for FHVs on trips dispatched by a high-volume for-hire service (HVFHS). n Specialized government vehicles would be exempted from the CBD toll (in addition to qualifying authorized emergency vehicles and qualifying vehicles transporting persons with disabilities, as required by the Act). n Low-income vehicle owners who qualify and register with TBTA for the Low-Income Discount Plan would receive a peak period E-ZPass toll rate that is 50% less than the passenger vehicle peak period E-ZPass toll rate, on their eligible vehicle’s 11th trip and trips thereafter in a calendar month. n Generally, CBD toll rates for vehicles using fare media other than E-ZPass, commonly referred to as Tolls by Mail, would be 50% higher than that of E-ZPass customers.

Complete details of the proposed toll rate schedule can be found at https://new.mta.info/document/129191.

DATES AND TIMES OF THE PUBLIC HEARINGS Central Business District Tolling Program (CBDTP) Public Hearings Thursday, February 29, 2024, at 6:00 PM Friday, March 1, 2024, at 10:00 AM Monday, March 4, 2024, at 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM Hybrid public hearings will include both in-person and virtual platforms.

Location of the Hearings (In-Person) The hearings will be held at MTA Headquarters, 2 Broadway, 20th Floor – William J. Ronan Board Room, New York, NY 10004.

Joining the Public Hearing (Virtually) If you are registered to speak, you may join in person, online, or by phone by following these instructions: Join Zoom Webinar Online: To access the Zoom webinar online, go to https://mta.zoom.us/j/82624594335 Join Zoom Webinar by Telephone: To access the Zoom webinar by telephone, please call (929) 436-2866 (local) or (833) 548-0282 (US toll free). Then enter Webinar ID 826 2459 4335, followed by the pound (#) sign.

Public Hearing Format This will be a hybrid hearing format with in-person participation as well as via Zoom’s online platform and conference call feature, with a livestream available on the MTA YouTube site. Those interested in speaking must register to speak at the public hearing. Each registered speaker will have two (2) minutes to speak. Public comments will be limited to a total of 240 minutes per hearing, or approximately 120 speakers. Speakers who have not already spoken at a CBDTP toll rate schedule hearing will be given priority over those who have previously spoken at a hearing. All comments will be transcribed and made part of the permanent record for these hearings.

Registering for the Public Hearing

To register, please go to: https://new.mta.info/agency/bridges-and-tunnels/cbd-tolling-hearing, or call the Public Hearing Hotline at (646) 252-6777. Telephone agents are available daily from 6 AM to 10 PM. Registration will begin one week in advance of each hearing, and will close 30 minutes following the start of each hearing.

To Submit Comments You may submit comments online at https://new.mta.info/project/CBDTP, by e-mail to cbdtp.feedback@mtabt.org, or by postal mail to Central Business District Tolling Program, 2 Broadway, 23rd Floor, New York, NY 10004. You may also call the CBDTP comment line at 646-252-7440.

All comments must be received no later than 11:59 PM on March 11, 2024. Comments received after that date and time will not be considered.

Accessibility and Language Assistance Services

American Sign Language and CART Captioning Services will be available. Members of the public who are deaf or hard of hearing can use their preferred relay service or the free 711 relay service, and then ask to be connected to the Public Hearing Hotline at (646) 252-6777 to speak with an agent.

Members of the public who do not have access to a computer or who do not have access to the Internet can listen to each of the hearings by calling the Zoom meeting at (929) 436-2866 (local) or (833) 548-0282 (US toll free).

Then enter Meeting ID 826 2459 4335, followed by the pound (#) sign.

If language assistance or any other accommodations are required, please submit a request at least five (5) business days before the scheduled hearing date in one of the following ways: by e-mail to cbdtp.feedback@mtabt.org, by telephone by calling the Public Hearing Hotline at (646) 252-6777, or send a letter via postal mail to MTA Government & Community Relations, Attn: Central Business District Tolling Program Hearings, 2 Broadway, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10004.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Going your way

www.mta.info

12 • February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Opinion Middle East conflict spreads

EDITORIAL

Black Americans who are still on the fence about the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas might experience a fierce sense of urgency with the report that three African-Americans were killed in a drone attack on Sunday.

True, they were victims of an attack in either northern Jordan or Syria, but are still part of the ongoing concern about the spread of the war into neighboring countries. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the three soldiers were reservists from a Georgia-based engineer unit: Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders, Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, and Specialist Breonna Alexsondria Moffett. They were killed in a confusion of drones, one of which was a returning U.S. drone and the other allegedly from an Iranbacked militia.

Whatever the case, it is sure to stir emotions among Black Americans who have become increasingly disturbed by the U.S. role in the war, mainly the carnage and expenditure of resources and manpower.

As we go to press, there are only three casualties, but several others were wounded, although it is not clear if they are in critical condition. What is critical is the need for President Biden to continue to do what he can to lower the temperature of this combat. However, that may not occur until some form of retaliation is launched.

A family member of one of the victims said she hoped that the deaths would not lead to further violence, and we concur.

No further violent outrage is going to remedy the situation, and the Pentagon and the Defense Department ought to consider moving our troops farther from danger or providing them protection from assaults.

We don’t need any more reminders of the conflict there and certainly no more loss of our troops. Even so, how many more missiles, bombs, rockets, and drones are necessary to destroy Hamas? Does their infestation require the destruction of Gaza?

Member

Alliance for Audited Media

Biden-Harris administration’s LNG decision is the hope young people have been waiting for

By BEN JEALOUS

to wake up. Some of the most powerful voices have been those of young people.

James Hiatt lives in an area along the And we should all appreciate what it has Mississippi River in Louisiana that has taken for those young people to maintain been dubbed “Cancer Alley.” Teeming with their determination. chemical plants and oil and gas refineries, the air the residents of this area breathe contains more carcinogens than anywhere else in the country.

One of those oil and gas facilities is the Calcasieu Pass liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal, which has further devastated public health, local livelihoods, and marine wildlife. Last week the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Energy (DOE) paused the permitting of new LNG projects. The decision stops the gas industry’s plans for the even larger CP2 LNG terminal right next store.

This move was perhaps the boldest rebuke ever from a U.S. president against the oil and gas industry. President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary of Energy Granholm— whose support for the move was especially crucial—did the right thing.

Millions of us are celebrating along with James Hiatt, who says, “I’m thankful for this pause in granting gas export licenses; the DOE has finally heard the wake-up call. The gas industry was planning to inundate my hometown with LNG terminals.”

The pocketbooks of American families will be thankful as well. Any word you hear from the fossil fuel industry or the politicians in their pockets about how this decision harms American consumers or the economy is a lie.

As Hiatt points out, “exporting LNG drives up domestic energy costs, affecting everything from home heating to food prices.”

Pausing the LNG boom will keep global energy markets more stable. It will help move economies and electric grids towards The American Psychological Associausing less expensive and more resilient re- tion defines “eco-anxiety” as “a chronnewable energy sources. It will keep 681 ic fear of environmental doom.” In 2021, coal plants worth—or 548 million gasoline- Lancet Planetary Health surveyed more powered cars worth—of planet-warming than 10,000 young people, ages 16 to 25, greenhouse gasses out of our atmosphere in 10 countries. Anxiety about climate each year. change impacted the ability of more than All of this is 45% of these young people to function in critically im- their daily lives; 75% were “frightened” of portant. But so the future. And it exposed a key feature of is James Hiatt’s eco-anxiety: hopelessness.

Elinor R. Tatum: Publisher point about the Half the young people in the study deand Editor in Chief “finally heard scribed feeling helpless and powerless.

Kristin Fayne-Mulroy: Managing Editor wake-up call.”

Now, we know that despite the fear, young Cyril Josh Barker: Digital Editor For years, ac- activists have been among our fiercest Damaso Reyes: Investigative Editor tivists, along leaders in the fight against the climate Siobhan "Sam" Bennett: with scientists crisis. They have not given in to the lingerChief Revenue Officer and Head of Advertising and others, have ing despair. But, as a piece on eco-anxiety Wilbert A. Tatum (1984-2009): been sounding in the Harvard Political Review pointed Chairman of the Board, CEO and Publisher Emeritus the alarm to get out, young people have felt like they are those in power alone in the fight. And, “if no one is lis-

tening and no change is happening, then pushing forward can feel hopeless.”

That is why, aside from the emissions numbers and the economic and energy security benefits, the Biden-Harris admin-

“Half the young people in the study described feeling helpless and powerless.

Now, we know that despite the fear, young activists have been among our fiercest leaders in the fight against the climate crisis. They have not given in to the lingering despair. But, as a piece on ecoanxiety in the Harvard Political Review pointed out, young people have felt like they are alone in the fight. And, 'if no one is listening and no change is happening, then pushing forward can feel hopeless.'”

istration’s LNG decision is a win for hope.

And hope is a powerful thing.

In his statement about the decision, President Biden said, “We will heed the calls of young people and frontline communities who are using their voices to demand action from those with the power to act.”

This victory for climate-concerned people the world over, and the planet itself, is proof that organizing works.

Grabbing the bullhorn and telling your story, even if the crowds don’t listen right at first, matters.

This LNG decision is a momentum builder. And a clarion call for even more organized action on the climate crisis—especially from young people.

Ben Jealous is the Executive Director of the Sierra Club and a Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS O P I N I O N

Dueling cowboys at Eagle Pass 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.

GREER, PH.D.

WILLIAMS

the vast majority of these unauthorized border crossings transpire in Texas, a state that is presently grappling with the challenge of supporting its estimated 1.7 million illegal immigrant inhabitants. States such as New York, to which Florida and Texas have bused migrants and which are sanctuary states despite frequently bemoaning their inability to assist the migrants due to a lack of resources, are vastly outnumbered by this figure.

Eagle Pass, in particular, is a hotbed for migrant inflows. It is a small city of 28,130 people as of the 2020 census and has become known as a border town. Eagle Pass began as a garrison town named after the abundance of Mexican eagles that circled the area, and evolved into a customs point for the cotton and munitions trade between Mexico and the Confederacy after the soldiers withdrew.

At this moment, Eagle Pass is the focal point of the immigration debate in the United States due to the ongoing stalemate between the state of Texas and the border agents.

After the Supreme Court ruled that the Texas National Guard could not prevent the entry of border agents to cut down the razor wire, video surfaced online showing

Spike Lee exhibit CHRISTINA

ARMSTRONG There’s a standoff in Texas, and it’s not between cowboys this time.

It’s between the Texas National Guard and federal border agents. This is occurring in the wake of a Supreme Court decision requiring the Texas National Guard to grant access to federal border agents deployed by the Biden administration to the border to take down razor wire erected

by Texas to prevent the influx of undocumented immigrants.

Recent events have caused widespread anger over the use of razor wire along the border, specifically in areas on the water. People expressed concern that migrants who encounter difficulties while crossing the water could drown in the absence of assistance from border agents. On January 12, these concerns came to a head when a mother and her two children perished while attempting to traverse the Rio Grande River. The drowning fatalities occurred in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, the site of the ongoing confrontation.

The United States has seen a mass influx of migrants over the past year, with 2.5 million total encounters of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Undoubtedly, the issue buried deep within this situation is the fact that

February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 13

Texas officers further erecting even more razor wire. Further, video captured Texas officers impeding the entry of Border Patrol Agents’ Humvees into the border region, although reports have indicated that there have been no hostilities thus far. After all, Texans don’t want to harm Texans.

What does this all mean?

This situation is turning out to be the perfect analogy for border crisis that the Biden administration has provoked: a standoff between the federal government and the state that bears the brunt of the Biden administration’s policies. It’s no wonder that 25 Republican governors have signed a letter stating that they stand in solidarity with Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas National Guard.

At the heart of this entire situation is the question of whether the states will allow themselves to be trampled by the federal government. The tragic aspect is that the federal government is attempting to compel Texas to accept and process migrants that they don’t want, and then Texas is told they can’t send them anywhere else.

The fact of the matter is that the end result of this crisis is that Texas has to take care of migrants; not the federal government.

Many Americans, and Texans in particular, are not oblivious to the bla-

STAY UPDATED WITH WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR COMMUNITY VISIT WWW.AMSTERDAMNEWS.COM

tant injustice of the situation; they are the ones who daily contend with the problems that illegal immigration produces.

The decision of Abbott to begin transporting migrants to other states by bus is unsurprising, given that these states have contributed significantly to the migrant crisis Texas is currently experiencing at the border due to their elected officials and influence in Congress.

There is more to the current standoff in Texas than merely a disagreement over razor wire and border control restrictions. It is a prime example of a more extensive and intricate dispute concerning the sovereignty of states, authority of the federal government, and handling of immigration in the United States.

This standoff in Texas will be remembered in history as the moment the states fought back— even if there is no bloodshed.

I pray that no hostilities transpire, and I pray that there is a favorable outcome.

Armstrong Williams (@ ARight-Side) is manager / sole owner of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the year. www. armstrongwilliams.co | www.howardstirkholdings.com

I recently experienced the “Spike Lee: Creative Sources” exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum and I cannot stop thinking about it.

For anyone who watches Spike Lee’s films, you are well aware of his dedication to telling the stories of Black people. His level of detail in his films is undeniable, whether portraying intimate relationships, jazz musicians, college campuses, Brooklyn in the 1980s, Brooklyn in the 1990s, interracial relationships, or drug use. I haven’t always agreed with Lee’s portrayal of Black women in certain films, but that is what makes him so compelling. Every Spike Lee Joint leaves you wanting to discuss, debate, demand, and more.

For anyone who cares about the works of one of the great filmmakers of the late-20th and early-21st century, is a student of cinema, appreciates the evolution of Black culture into the mainstream, or likes to chronicle sports and the interplay between race and mainstream consumption of America’s various athletic endeavors, the Spike Lee exhibit is for you. If you’re a NY Knicks fan, you already know this exhibit is for you…

What impressed me the most about the exhibit was the breadth and depth of Lee’s collection of Black artifacts and objects that extend beyond his cinematic works.

Yes, you can find mementos and posters from his well-known films. However, I was not expecting to see so many first edition books, original works by Gordon Parks and James Van der Zee, original paintings from Black masters, and such a detailed collection of Black

sports memorabilia spanning decades incorporating a myriad of sports where African Americans have integrated and excelled.

Each room is a new and unique experience, a love letter to his craft, and a window into the mind of a man who truly and deeply cares about the legacy of Black people. I am so glad this son of Brooklyn was able to showcase some of his collection at the premiere cultural institution in Brooklyn that prides itself on social justice and boundary expanding exhibits.

I have been a member of the Brooklyn Museum for years and each time I go to the museum, I learn something new, even if I am just revisiting my favorite permanent exhibit of period rooms on the fourth floor. It is imperative that we continue to support the cultural institutions that spark our interest and creativity, no matter the age. It was wonderful to see so many elementary school children at the Spike Lee exhibit. I couldn’t help but to wonder if the next great filmmaker was walking beside me.

Luckily, the Brooklyn Museum has extended the exhibit to February 11. To find out more about “Spike Lee: Creative Sources” and other exhibits, go to www. brooklynmuseum.org.

Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; and co-host of the podcast FAQNYC and host of The Blackest Questions podcast at TheGrio. She is a 2023-24 Moynihan Public Scholars Fellow at CCNY.

14 • February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Peace

“safe passage,” which they practice at a handful of Harlem schools on a rotating basis during dismissal time. As the exiting students streamed out of the building, the staff fanned out to greet them.

Two set up between the exit gates and the nearby subway station entrance. The other three continued down the block, stopping at the corner where students often gather after NYPD school safety agents have ushered them away from the school’s entrance.

On that day, the latter group’s positioning was fortuitous, because a fight between two girls broke out on the corner. Marte successfully intervened before sending those involved home.

All five staff then gathered on the corner to monitor the area. As tensions calmed, the staff resumed handing out pub-ed to students as they passed by, alerting them to SCR’s after-school program.

About 20 minutes later, though, Marte received a call. A stabbing victim had just been brought to the nearby Harlem Hospital. SCR partners with the hospital in what is known as hospital-based violence intervention. Through the program, which operates in multiple hospitals throughout the city, the

Continued from page 7

On a warm and sunny afternoon in early October, Marte and four SCR staff members gathered outside of SCR’s offices, preparing to head out on a neighborhood canvas. Three times per day, five days a week, the staff walks through an area that stretches from 145th Street to 137th Street, between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Malcolm X Boulevards. Along with program manager Mike Saylor, Marte often leads these canvases.

After setting off, they first stopped about 30 feet away as they passed by the gas station across the street. A man pumping gas recognized them and started talking to the group, saying “Y’all do great work.” A few more feet down the road, the group paused again. This time, a young man stopped them to explain that he was looking for a job. Javon Griffin, another team member, handed him one of the cards that all the staff carry on canvases. Known as “public education,” or “pub-ed,” these pamphlets contain information about the services SCR offers as well as advice on how to de-escalate

tense situations.

As we continued along, Marte explained that in addition to engaging people they encounter by chance, the team also uses the canvases to monitor neighborhood hotspots, like certain parks or corners, as well as buildings that are hangout spots for gang members. Building connections with these community members is key to de-escalating potential conflicts, Marte said.

If he hears about a conflict between individuals, for example, he speaks to both people involved, to convince both that the other side doesn’t want trouble. He then arranges for the two to meet.

“I don’t care if [they] have a fistfight. I’ll take that loss of a fistfight.

But to stop that shooting and that stabbing, we have to find a way to get them to come together, to get them to understand that we’re all on the same boat,” he said.

For conflicts between larger groups, SCR employs other strategies, like “occupying” the corner where a group gathers, offering resources to those involved, and even motivating them to come to their offices with gift cards.

After about 15 minutes, the team arrived at Mott Hall High School.

The staff were there to provide

staff respond to all incidents involving victims of shooting, stabbing, or violent assaults brought to Harlem Hospital.

The hospital is a familiar place for Marte. Since his childhood, his mother has worked there as a nurse, treating trauma patients, including those who’ve been shot or stabbed. Marte’s role involves providing a different treatment to these victims and their families: making sure they feel safe, offering them resources, and encouraging them not to retaliate.

In this case, the victim was a 16-year-old boy. After speaking with the boy and his family, and getting his number, Marte and the group continued on the canvas. Suspicious that the incident was gangrelated, Marte planned to follow up the next day.

For the canvas’s final stretch, Marte made a point of stopping by local shops, whose workers can provide key information about community dynamics. One restaurant owner was particularly enthusiastic on meeting the staff, stopping the team for a 5-minute chat and taking a handful of pub-ed.

The canvas wrapped up at General Charles Young Playground, about 2 minutes away from SCR’s

SCR staff participate in weekly self-defense classes at General Charles Young Playground. (Photo by Shannon Chaffers)

offices. The playground is a frequent stop for the staff, and they relaxed a bit as they greeted familiar faces and introduced themselves to those they didn’t yet know. “We need more of this,” one woman said when handed a pub-ed card.

Challenges faced by violence interrupters “Here in Harlem, we say Superman doesn’t have a cape, he has an ‘I Am Peace’ shirt on,” Marte said, previewing a poem he hopes to perform at the Peace Café.

The violence interrupters have signed themselves up for work that is physically and mentally draining, and dangerous. The interrupters receive extensive training in conflict de-escalation, mediation, and self-defense. They also receive mental health care through one-on-one and group therapy sessions— but the work is by nature traumatic.

Both Saylor and Marte recalled separate incidents when the team had been called in to break up a fight between two large groups.

While they initially succeeded in de-escalating the situation, a couple of people from the fight broke off and began letting off See PEACE on page 32

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 15

Capone

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celebrating peggy lee and frank sinatra Feb 8 @ 7:30PM Featuring Aloe Blacc, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Paula Cole, Bettye LaVette, Christian McBride, Rachael Price, Brian Stokes Mitchell and The Christian McBride Big Band.

blippi The Wonderful World Tour Sat, Mar 16 @ 3PM Blippi returns to NJPAC for The Wonderful World Tour! Kids will have a blast dancing and singing along.

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a night of love Fri, Feb 9 @ 8PM • Prudential Center 25 Lafayette St., Newark A Valentine’s R&B celebration featuring Keyshia Cole, Trey Songz, Jaheim and K. Michelle.

musiq souldchild & eric benét Fri, Apr 12 @ 8PM Neo-soul star Musiq Soulchild and R&B crooner Eric Benét bring powerhouse vocals and deep emotions to every song.

Mar 7 @ 8PM GRAMMY® winner and powerhouse vocalist Ledisi is joined by special guest Raheem DeVaughn.

deon cole My New Normal Tour Sat, Apr 13 @ 8PM One of the smartest comics working today, the star of Black-ish, Grown-ish and Barbershop can make anybody laugh.

The American Song series at NJPAC is presented, in part, through the generous support of the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, the David S. Steiner and Sylvia Steiner Charitable Trust, the Joan and Allen Bildner Family Fund, and the Smart Family Foundation/David S. Stone, Esq., Stone & Magnanini.

16 • February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Caribbean Update

Caribbean and Mexico win stage one of gun battle with manufacturers

By BERT WILKINSON Special to the AmNews Caribbean Community (Caricom) nations have, in the past week, lauded a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to allow Mexico to sue a number of American gun manufacturers and a distribution company for allegedly facilitating the trafficking of guns in Mexico and fueling violence and pain.

Concerned about a spike in gun-related deaths, Mexican authorities sought to determine whether they could, in fact, sue American manufacturers to make them liable for the smuggling and deaths linked to alleged trafficking of weapons across the border.

A court in an original lawsuit had lost the case after a court ruled that Mexico’s local laws were barred by a legal concept referred to as the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which indemnifies American producers from civil and criminal lawsuits if their products were determined to have been used in violent crimes.

Convinced they were onto something, the Mexicans pressed on and sought relief at the First Circuit of the Court of Appeal, which reversed the original ruling and cleared the way for manufacturers to face lawsuits relating to what they produce on a daily basis.

Several Caribbean countries, including the Bahamas and Trinidad, had accepted invitations from Mexico to join as interested parties in the suit. This week, governments are hailing the ruling, contending that the time has come for gun manufacturers to be held liable.

“The fact that the case will now move forward is gratifying and encouraging,” Bahamian Security Minister Wayne Munroe told reporters. “Of course, in any litigation, you often have settlements, and so a part of the case the Mexicans put is that Smith and Wesson should be more responsible in not supplying people who they know may be selling to straw purchasers. I think the prime minister’s decision and the government’s decision is vindicated by this decision and we look forward to the

further conduct of the matter.”

Reacting positively as well was Trinidadian Prime Minister Keith Rowley.

He said the ruling, even at this stage, should push manufacturers to act more responsibly.

“I feel satisfied that it was a good thing for Trinidad and Tobago to align itself with the arguments and the Mexican lawsuit because we face the same problem that Mexico is complaining about. Whatever the final outcome of this lawsuit, because it is a complaint filed by sovereign states being taken up by the U.S. judicial system, this will certainly cause gun manufacturers and distributors in the U.S. to pay attention and take pause as they shovel volumes of dangerous items into our countries,” Rowley told the Express newspaper. This was as he criticized the main opposition party for not supporting the effort.

Leaders had discussed the issue and the lobby for regional support at their summit in the Bahamas a year ago, even as a number of regional bloc member

states—chief among them Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad—are reeling with gun violence-linked gang and other activity.

St. Lucia, the Bahamas, St. Vincent, and Barbados have also been complaining about spikes in illegal gun uses.

Bahamian Prime Minister Phillip Davis had complained that 90 percent of guns involved in crime at home had come directly from the U.S. The decision in the case came at around the same period of stepped-up cooperation between the U.S. and the Caribbean, resulting in a number of arrests of U.S.-based Caribbean smugglers attempting to ship large quantities of weapons to the region.

“A critical element of the government’s effort to reduce violent crime in our country is cracking down on the proliferation of firearms, with particular focus on strengthening borders and entry points and on interrupting networks of illegal smugglers,” Davis said in a recent reference to the Mexican effort to take gun manufacturers to court.

Rise of Trump brings with it return to racism and xenophobia FELICIA PERSAUD

IMMIGRATION KORNER For those of us who thought the “Era of Trumpeto” was done and dusted, the return of the man who normalized bigotry and xenophobia in politics represents a horror that is triggering anxiety and fear for the sane in the United States, particularly many immigrants.

Trump has now won two Republican primary elections, and if he wins in South Carolina, then there is nothing and no one who will stand against him as the GOP’s Presidential nominee for 2024.

With Death Santis out of the race along with “Little Trump,” Vivek Ramaswamy, as

well “Uncle Tom” Scott, who have all lined up in a love fest to worship at the altar of the Xenophobe, Nikki Haley is now the dartboard for El Trumpeto’s racist and ugly xenophobic attacks.

Like he did to President Barack Obama, Trumpeto is back to his birther playbook; this time, his fiery darts are being thrown directly at Haley, his own former U.S. ambassador and a one-time defender of his.

Now he claims Haley is not eligible to run for president because she wasn’t born in the United States, adding deceitfully: “wherever she may come from”—red meat to his racist base of primarily white men who would rather die than see any other person of color in the White House, and he knows it.

Trumpeto has also purposely butchered Haley’s name, calling her “Nikki ‘Nimrada’ Haley” in a social media post, and

then dismissing it as not racist but just a bit of “fun.”

Haley’s full name is Nimarata Nikki Randhawa Haley and she was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, to parents Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawaho, who are Indian migrants. She married businessperson Michael Haley and took his name.

Trumpeto is obviously happy to play on these forces. He would have done it to Ramaswamy as well, if he felt he was a big enough threat and even Scott. To him, it’s nothing personal—it’s simply about winning, morals and ethics be damned.

What is sad is that we have seen this play before. Trump lied about former President Obama and was a chief promoter of the racist lie that Obama was not born in the U.S. Trump also regularly emphasizes Obama’s middle name, Hussein, at campaign rallies.

What is shocking is that the racist and xenophobe, who committed treason while in office, is rising again. A leopard does not change its spots and, hate him or not, Trumpeto stays true to who he is and makes no bones about it.

What is scary is that unless there is a third-party candidate who can mobilize the masses at this stage of the game, we are looking at weak Joe and MIA Kamala fighting a losing battle against majority-white male voters who see “their” country being overrun by Black and brown people, especially immigrants, who have no place in “their America.”

Time to pray for a miracle so we as a nation will not face another Trumpeto Presidency.

Felicia J. Persaud is the publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, a daily news outlet focusing on Black immigrant issues.

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Arts & Entertainment

February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 17

Dance pg 17 | Theater pg 22 | Jazz pg 24

Pg. Pg. 20 19 Your Stars

PHILADANCO! returns to the Joyce

By ZITA ALLEN Special to the AmNews PHILADANCO, the award-winning Black dance company known for its dazzling performers and exciting choreographers, takes the stage at New York’s Joyce Theater from February 6–10 with a program of works highlighting four emerging choreographers.

The Joyce program is titled “Intangible,” evoking the quality that makes PHILADANCO programs so special and leaves critics invariably showering performances with superlatives.

This current program features Christopher Rudd’s “Mating Season”; Nijawwon K. Matthews’s “From Dystopia to Our Declaration”; Ray Mercer’s “Balance of Power”; and TommieWaheed Evans’s “Somewhere Between Heaven and Earth,” made in collaboration with the PHILADANCO dancers.

These artists join an impressive roster of talent nurtured by PHILADANCO’s founder Joan Myers Brown—talent that includes former Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre’s dancerturned-choreographer Hope Boykin, Milton Myers, Rennie Harris, Ron K. Brown, and Christopher Huggins, and current PHILADANCO Artistic Director dancer Kim Bears-Bailey, who was a company member back in 1990 when PHILADANCO made its New York debut.

“You know I’m always interested in introducing young emerging Black choreographers because doors don’t open for them as easily as they should. I took Ron K. Brown to the Joyce Theatre first,” Myers Brown said during a recent interview.

“We’ve been going to the Joyce since the 1990s,” she said, noting that “2018 was our last time there” before the COVID pandemic.” The company, now in its 54th season, is also famous for its troupe of well-trained and polished performers who have also gone on to perform with The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Martha Graham Company, and others. Brown is also not shy about bragging about dancers who have trained at her Philadelphia-based school and cut their teeth by performing with her critically acclaimed company, saying, “Over 29 former PHILADANCO-trained dancers have gone on to enjoy long-term careers with Ailey and other companies.”

During this Joyce season, PHILADANCO audiences can expect an exciting program thanks to both its dancers and choreographers. Matthews, an internationally acclaimed director, choreographer, educator, and dancer, is the founding artistic director of the XY Dance Project, a pre-professional company. He was selected as the Director’s Choice for the 2019 Dallas Black Dance Theatre season. Matthews has performed in the films “In the Heights” and “Black Nativity.” His concert career high-

Dancers Brittany Wright and William E. Burden of PHILADANCO

Dancers Brandi Pinnix & Christian D. Gonzalez (J. Harris photos)

lights include legacy works by Donald McKayle, George Faison, Otis Sallid, Milton Myers, Kevin Iega Jeff, Gary Abbott, and Christopher Huggins, and companies such as PHILADANCO, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, and Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. A faculty member of Broadway Dance Center and the Joffrey Ballet School, Matthews was featured in the October

2016 issue of Dance Teacher.

Rudd’s choreography work is informed by his experiences as a queer Black man in dance and blends contemporary dance, circus, and theatricality to speak to relevant issues. The Jamaican-born choreographer created the groundbreaking works “Touché” and “Lifted” for the Ameri-

can Ballet Theatre. He has also created works for the Alvin Ailey School, Duke University, and UNC School of the Arts and received residencies from CUNY Dance Initiative, Vendetta Mathea’s La Manufacture, Tofte Lake Center, Kaatsbaan, and STREB. A 2019 Guggenheim Choreography Fellow, Rudd was the inaugural New Victory LabWorks Launch Artist and currently is a resident artist for BAM and Chelsea Factory. He was named one of 2023’s “Six to Watch” by American Theater Magazine. As founder of RudduR Dance, he is a two-time U.S. State Department Exchange Alumnus, having presented his works in Canada, France, Trinidad & Tobago, Burkina Faso, Ecuador, and Italy.

Rudd’s performing career includes the Carolina Ballet, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montréal, and Cirque Du Soleil.

Omaha native Mercer has set works on PHILADANCO, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, New Jersey Ballet, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Ballet Pensacola, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, and DRA (Dancers Responding to AIDS), and has been commissioned to choreograph a work for the Smithsonian Museum. He has performed with Deeply Rooted Dance Theater and as a guest artist with the Boston Ballet, and is currently in the Broadway production of The Lion King. Mercer is resident choreographer for the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program. His achievements include five-time winner of Broadway’s Gypsy of the Year Award for best onstage performance, a 2012 Joffrey Ballet Choreographers of Color Award, and a Pensacola Ballet Choreographers Award. He was recently acknowledged for his choreography in the New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, and Movement Magazine.

Guggenheim Fellow Evans’s work explores Blackness, spirituality, queerness, and liberation. His training began with Karen McDonald; he won an Ailey School fellowship and received an MFA in choreography from Jacksonville University. A former company member of the Lula Washington Dance Theater, Complexions, and PHILADANCO, Evans has created works for BalletX, Dallas Black, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and Ballet Memphis. His awards include Resident Fellow at the Center for Ballet and the Arts, Princess Grace Award in Choreography, and Joffrey Ballet Winning Works. He is an assistant professor at the University of the Arts and Artist in Residence at PHILADANCO. PHILADANCO breezes into the Joyce Theatre with performances on Tuesday, February 6, and Wednesday, February 7, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, February 8, and Friday, February 9, at 8 p.m.; and Saturday, February 10, at 2 p.m. (family matinee) and 8 p.m.

For more info, visit www.joyce.org/performances/55//philadanco.

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Dance Calendar February 2024

By CHARMAINE PATRICIA WARREN Special to the AmNews Philadanco! -The Philadelphia Dance Company, also known to many as “Danco,” makes a momentous return to The Joyce for their 32nd season, and heads this month’s packed calendar. Founded in 1970 by Joan Myers Brown, Philadanco brings an evening of dance titled “Intangible” and includes Nijawwon K. Matthews’s “From Dystopia to Our Declaration,” Christopher Rudd’s “Mating Season,” Ray Mercer’s “Balance of Power,” and Tommie-Waheed Evans’s “Somewhere Between Heaven and Earth,” made in collaboration with the Philadanco dancers. The resident company of Philadelphia’s Kimmel Cultural Campus, this is their first season at The Joyce since 2018. Performances run from February 6-12. For more information visit https://www.joyce.org/performances/55/philadanco STILL RUNNING: Jan. 31-Feb. 4: Brazilian tap dancer and choreographer Leonardo Sandoval, bassist/composer Gregory Richardson, eight dancers and a fivepiece band come together at The Joyce with a blend of tap, percussive dance, samba, house, and original live music in Music From The Sole’s evening-length work “I Didn’t Come to Stay.” For more information visit https://www.worksandprocess.org/ calendar.

Jan. 31-Feb. 3: As part of the “SUITE/Space” 2023-24 season of Mabou Mines, Jermaine Rowe will present “Transitions,” exploring a community’s decision to allow a trans spirit access to the land of the dead. The work is inspired by a real incident of a trans woman in Jamaica. For more information visit https://www.maboumines.org/ production/suite-space-2023-jermaine-rowe-transitions/ ALSO THIS MONTH: Feb. 2-11: In Deal, New Jersey, Axelrod Contemporary Ballet Theater (AXCBT) presents Artistic Director Gabriel Chajnik’s “The Jungle Book,” fusing Chajnik’s contemporary ballet with the Indian classical dance of Bharatanatyam by Sudha Shekhar. For more information visit https://ci.ovationtix.com/35486/ production/1160725 Feb. 4: Founder of AbunDance Academy of the Arts, Karisma Jay hosts the 2nd annual award cere-

(Image courtesy of Philadanco)

mony honoring Black trailblazers in dance and this year will honor Reginald Van Lee, Assane Konte, Obediah Wright, Karen Thornton, Jamel Gaines, Chloe and Maud Arnold, Arcell Cabuag and Nicole Deweever at the Billie Holiday Theatre in Brooklyn. For more information visit https://www.abundancearts. org/abundanceawards Feb. 6-7: The Martha Graham Dance Company’s Studio Series continues with an in-process showing of a new work for the Company

by Jamar Roberts featuring a commissioned score by Rhiannon Giddens at the Martha Graham Studio Theater. The evening will include a conversation with Roberts and the dancers. The work will have its New York premiere at City Center in April 2024. For more information visit https://marthagraham.org/studioseries/ Feb. 6-17: BAAD! celebrates its 25th Anniversary year and presents the annual GET TOUGH, GET BAAD! series of films and events celebrating queer power, diversity, defiance, strength, and visibility.

For more information visit https:// www.baadbronx.org/ Feb. 7: At NYLA, John McWhorter joins Bill T. Jones in the conversation series Bill Chats! For more information visit https://newyorklivearts.org/event/bill-chats-featuring-john-mcwhorter/ Feb. 7-17: NYU Skirball presents the Queer New York International Arts Festival, featuring dance, theater and performance works from a diverse group of international artists from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, and Germany whose works

explore a range of contemporary issues related to queer identity and more. For more information visit https://nyuskirball.org/queer-newyork-international-arts-festival/ Feb. 8-9: White Wave Dance returns with the 8th annual “SoloDuo Dance Festival” at Dixon Place, under founder and Artistic Director Young Soon Kim, and will feature 30 national dancemakers, plus international dancers from Korea, Japan and Germany. For more information visit https://www.whitewavedance.org/ Feb. 9-12: For the 52nd edition of Dance On Camera and Film at Lincoln Center, featured will be 11 programs with a total of 36 films selected from countries around the globe, including eight world premieres, five North American premieres, two U.S. premieres, and more than 10 New York premieres.

For more information visit https:// www.filmlinc.org/visit-us/ Feb. 10-11: At NJPAC, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will present “Year of the Green Wood Dragon, a lunar new year celebration.” For more information visit https://www.njpac. org/event/nai-ni-chen-dancecompany-year-of-the-green-wooddragon/.

Feb. 12: EMERGE125’s ongoing Artist’s Corner series features an evening of conversation with two Black female dance directors—Artistic Director Tiffany Rea-Fisher and dean and director of Juilliard Dance Alicia Graf Mack—as they discuss experiences, successes, and challenges within the field. The event will take place at The Philips Club. For more information

visit https://emerge125.org/2024events/artistscorner-february2024 Feb. 13-17: Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet presents “Remembering” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for their annual Black History Month program, where audiences and students come together with American history told by African voices, contemporary and African dance with audio-visual elements including spoken word, music and African drumming. For more information visit https://www.creativeoutlet.org/ Feb. 16-17: Miro Magloire’s New Chamber Ballet continues its 202324 season with the world premiere of “Vox,” to an original score for piano and violin by Elizabeth Gartman, and Magloire’s “Wood Nymphs,” set to piano pieces by Franz Liszt at Mark Morris Dance Center. For more information visit https://www.newchamberballet. com/performances Feb. 16-17: NYC-based Joffrey Concert Group will present “In My Art,” the culmination of the annual Creative Movers Choreographic Initiative at Ailey Citigroup Theater.

The program will include premieres by artistic director Bradley Shelver, as well as Eryn Renee Young and Vernard J. Gilmore. For more information visit https://joffreyconcertgroup.ticketspice.com/inmyart Feb. 17: Limón Dance Company returns to NJPAC debut under Artistic Director Dante Puleio, in iconic Limón works “A Choreographic Offering” and “Missa Brevis” in addition to “Migrant Mother” by Raúl Tamez. This NJPAC performance celebrates the New Jersey debut of the company’s ensemble of young and emerging dancers, Limón2.

For more information visit https:// www.njpac.org/event/limondance-company/ Feb. 18: At Hostos Center For The Arts, celebrate the Lunar New Year with Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company with traditional and contemporary Chinese dances, including “Dragon Dance,” “Lion Dance,” and “Peacock Dance.” For more information visit https://www.hostos.cuny.edu/culturearts/events/Year2024/February/ Nai-Ni_Chen_Dance_Company/ Feb. 21: Ballet Hispánico will present a night of historic and new works celebrating Latine cultures at The 92nd Street Y with classic including a re-staging of Talley Beatty’s “Recuerdo de Campo Amor,” “Línea Recta” by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, and “Club Havana” by Pedro Ruíz. For more information visit

https://www.92ny.org/event/ ballet-hispanico Feb. 22-25: The American Dance Guild Performance Festival returns to the Ailey Citigroup Theater with “Leaps Beyond Bounds,” a four-night program celebrating the Guild’s 68th anniversary. Thirty new and historical dance works will be shown, with this year’s honors celebrating the late choreographer Joan Miller (Lifetime Achievement Award), Ron K. Brown/Evidence (Lifetime Achievement Award), and Celia Ipiotis/Eye on Dance (Distinguished Service in Dance - Lifetime Achievement Award). For more information visit https://www.americandanceguild. org/ Feb. 22-28 – Halifu Osumare’s NYC book tour of “Dancing The Afrofuture: Hula, Hip-Hop, and The Dunham Legacy” happens at various venues and will include a shared discussion with Camille A. Brown at one venue. For more information visit https://www.hosumare.com/ Feb. 24: In honor of Black History Month, Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center and Central Baptist Church present a dance-narrative piece that tells the story of the Black experience in America. For more information visit https://www.thelmahill.org/ Feb. 25: The Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company will present “Red Firecrackers,” the story of Nian and the origin of Chinese Lunar New Year customs at Flushing Town Hall Theater. For more information visit https://www.flushingtownhall.org/ red-firecrackers.

Feb. 27-Mar. 3: Led by Artistic Director Rafael Palacios and based in Colombia, Sankofa Danzafro brings “Behind the South: Dances for Manuel” (Detrás del Sur: Danzas para Manuel) which pays tribute to Colombian writer Manuel Zapata Olivella’s “Changó, el Gran Putas” to The Joyce. For more information visit https://www.joyce.org/ performances/46/behind-thesouth-dances-for-manuel/sankofa-danzafro Feb.29-Mar. 2 At TRISK, Sha Creative Outlet will present “Wild Future,” “…the unknown yet powerful future that is rooted in the current moment…” a performance consists of two pieces, “\\\” (reads as Three Slashes) and “Dis-placement .” For more information visit https://www. triskelionarts.org/spring-2024/shacreative-outlet

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HOROSCOPES BY KNOWYOURNUMB3RS

By SUPREME GODDESS KYA WWW.KYAFRENCH.COM | CONSULTATIONS 866-331-5088

Uranus, stationing direct late evening on January 26, 2024, started its retrograde on August 28, 2023. This is a rerun like a family reunion marathon on steroids, once the speed of Uranus retrograde catches up. For some folks, this is a new beginning from what took place around that time, and a bit of revision in areas of your life—the unauthorized unanticipated events that have been silently building up. As February begins, what are the stars, singing above in harmony, bringing down from the heavens? Seems like magical things are appearing in your city, state, town, and country on ground level and in your spirit. Wise folks say, “What comes around goes around.” Karma is in play this year. Have you been good or indifferent?

Revelations have a way of unfolding right before your eyes. Right now, in-

February is a month your reputation gets a boost by the things you do to build yourself. You are happy in your belly, smiling, glistening and having the courage to do and be you. Try things Dec 22 June 22 man/woman for themselves,” but just remember, not in a selfish way. Do out for feedback, be it a yes or a no go. Take note of the first Jan 21 July 23 what you feel is right for you, which opens the doors for new opportunities to week due to the experiences and profound insights you will rebe brought to you. From February 6 around 7:08 a.m. until February 8 around ceive to better your decision making or situation. From Febru8:45 a.m., ask for the things you need and the rest will follow. When your heart and mind are ary 1 around 3:37 p.m. until February 4 around 1 a.m., you have the keys to in sync, you are much better guided to make beneficial choices. There is a spiritual inner tone many different doors to unlock the one that gives you the key ingredients to that is playing out, either when you close your eyes or in your waking state. make all of them flow.

 formation is at your fingertips and the ball is in your court. Remain groundCapricorn ed and on your toes. Think about your needs first, like in the old saying “every

 Cancer

Ready or not, here comes Uranus stationing direct with an awakenWhat ingredients do you use to make your best dish? Februing strike of revelations off of its recent retrograde from August 28, 2023 ary is brewing up one heck of a concoction to serve you the best through January 26, 2024, like a running horse following its instincts to partnerships, deals, offers, main events, and connections to Aquarius steady ground. In the days leading up to February 8, you’re balancing home, Leo people in high places. This up-in-the-air month gives you the Jan 22 July 24 work, family, romance, finances, and deciding on when to take a vacation; it best storylines playing out as a preview, before the main entree is Feb 19 Aug 23 could be somewhere tropical, or maybe just where land, sea and trees are. served, followed by a delightful desert in the last week. Patience Your six senses will inform you with detail when needed in due time. is a recommended diet, a habit to engage in for the experience. From February 4 around 1:28 a.m. until February 6 around 6:55 a.m., you have the menu February is full of surprises, preparing you for an uncomfortable ride in your hand: order an appetizer. to move forward. This time, set the tone in the beginning to build the foundation, club, society, sorority, whatever it may be to lay the groundThe main theme for February is to utilize your six senses as they Pisces work before you start.

Everything else will follow suit when you begin to are highly activated. Listen to the wise qualified people around Feb 20 apply the footwork. From February 1 around 3:37 p.m. until February you who can share their experiences and wisdom. This month, Mar 20 Virgo 4 around 1 a.m., when it feels like you are starting over, stay motivated position yourself in the service you wish; when you know the Aug 24 throughout your journey. There are times when a test appears to do what is comfortroute, you navigate differently for advancement of your future.

Sept 23 able or what you are used to doing. This time, be different, bold, and brave, to do what From February 6 around 7:08 a.m. until February 8 around 8:45 organically calls and pulls at your soul to do. a.m., be disciplined enough to pass the test for future opportunities.

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It’s time to begin a new foundation or put something new out there into It’s a time for self discovery with a bit of reconstruction of your the universe. A new beginning is taking place for you whether you learn values, and organizing the home and office, for concentration your lesson now or later. Learning from your experiences to elevate you into and clarity within your space. A bit of “I seen, done, and heard Aries Libra a higher level is a theme for this year. When you know better, you do better this before” is a reminder of something you did in a previous lifeMar 21 Sept 24 due to having been down a familiar path. From February 4 around 1:28 a.m. time or this lifetime. When you see a revolving trend, no matter Apr 21 Oct 23 until February 6 around 6:55 a.m., take the initiative when you see repetihow good, you want to be involved, allowing it to pass through tive cycles showing up, or karma will kindly write up one heck of a learning ticket for you— the next stop is a new adventure. In the days leading up to February 8, this something you can’t run, or hide from. Weigh things out on both ends and know they are is about your growth and development and how you position yourself based balanced and that boundaries are needed. upon your agenda.

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Sudden intel of this, that, and the other remind you of something you The eyes see and recognize based on their experiences and learned from or have been through before. When this silent awakening what they witnessed know what is true. Take the lead in your afshows up in a dream state, deja vu, past conversations, partnerships or fairs to align with your plans and the rest will line up. Make it Taurus Scorpio network events, it all begins to tell a story, one that you are very aware of, count as you count your blessings, putting all your ducks in row.

Apr 22 Oct 24 which puts you in a better position to take control for a fruitful outcome.

Some ducks may lag behind and will surely catch up when it’s May 21 Nov 22 From February 6 around 7:08 a.m. until February 8 around 8:45 a.m., Jutime to exit. From February 1 around 3:37 p.m. until February piter is in Taurus delivering you the messages, people, insights, things, places, habits, 4 around 1 a.m., the moon is in your sign. Get out your feelings and feel what teachings, and teachers to instill in you the deepest finetuning of self upon your grad- is there for you to allow the instructions to download and come through. Wait uation once Jupiter leaves your sign. and see this cycle after you put things in rotation.

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What’s the status quo with you? One minute you are here, there, When the walls seem to be caving in, there is always a door discussing matters of family, home, work, community outreach, once you’ve experienced the lesson from bumping into all four and what you really need and want. There is a free spirit about you. walls. The lessons you learn are your survival tools to get you out Gemini Sagitarius of a funky time. Freedom comes when you mentally act upon it, Those who give you the most flexibility, adaptability, and freedom May 22 Nov 23 are the ones you keep. Being smothered at one stand-still location June 21 Dec 21 and keep the vision and faith alive to walk the walk and talk the is not your style. In the days leading up to February 8, you are truly talk to do as you please. February points out your weaknesses cut from a different cloth. As the old faces, places, and things resurface and the and strengths, friends and fake ones. Just know it’s about you standing your future is also giving you insight, remember the revolving door is exactly what it ground. From February 4 around 1:28 a.m. until February 6 around 6:55 a.m., is, playing out differently. it’s yours for the taking. Your choices deliver you the route.

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February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 21

E X C E R P T S F R O M T H E L E T T E R F R O M FA I T H L E A D E R S T O G O V E R N O R H O C H U L

GOVERNOR HOCHUL: FULLY FUND MEDICAID As you know, New York State reimburses hospitals 30 percent less of the cost of full care covered by Medicaid.

This chronic underfunding of Medicaid has created a health crisis that is pushing New York hospitals to the fiscal breaking point. Hospitals can’t hire the staff they need, and many hospitals have already cut critical mental health services and closed maternity wards.

NEW YORK’S MEDICAID PROGRAM REIMBURSES HOSPITALS 30% LESS THAN THE FULL COST OF CARE THEY PROVIDE FOR MEDICAID PATIENTS.

Underpayments have also created unacceptable health disparities among our most vulnerable New Yorkers, particularly in Black and Latino communities where Medicaid underpayments have led to worse health outcomes such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, shorter life expectancies, and a rise in infant deaths.

For example, while Medicaid covers 50% of births in New York, women covered by Medicaid accounted for 61% of pregnancyassociated deaths in 2018,1 with Black women experiencing significantly higher mortality rates than other races. Infant mortality rates are also higher, with an infant mortality rate in black, non-Hispanic births of 8.8/1,000 live births and 4.3/1,000 live births for Hispanics compared to 3.4/1,000 live births for white, non-Hispanic births.2 And while the infant mortality rate has declined by 18% over the past decade in New York State and New York City, it has remained essentially unchanged in the Bronx.

“As faith leaders, we are in the community.

We are witnesses to the devastation this health care crisis is causing.…

…We join the New York Alliance for Healthcare Justice in the belief that underfunding Medicaid As faith leaders, we are in the community. We are witnesses to the devastation this health care crisis is causing. You can end is at the heart of what is fundamentally the suffering by stopping these Medicaid underpayments. wrong and destructive in health care.

The root cause of this health care crisis is the chronic underfunding of Medicaid that is deeply affecting every New Yorker.

Additionally, residents of the Bronx also experience higher rates of emergency department visits for asthma (both adults and kids) and higher rates of hospitalizations for diabetes. These are just a few examples of the ongoing health disparities.

…Governor Hochul, fully funding Medicaid should be a priority. You can fix this, and we need you to fix now for the sake ofState. allEveryone Newwould Yorkers.

You can change things oncethis and for all for every community in New York benefit. ”

That’s why (name of faith leader or organization) supports fully funding Medicaid. It would begin to address these significant health care disparities that have long been ignored. New York would also have a more equitable and better health care system for all, not just Blacks, Latinos, and poorer communities, but everyone no matter their income or zip code.

More than a 100 faith leaders have joined the New York Alliance for Healthcare Justice in the belief that underfunding Medicaid is at the heart of what is fundamentally wrong and destructive in health care. Fully funding Medicaid should be a priority. You can fix this, and we need you to fix this now for the sake of all New Yorkers.

Sincerely, New York’s Faith Leaders:

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To learn more: Paid for by Healthcare Education Project

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“Days of Wine and Roses” is a musical masterpiece!

Scene from Days of Wine and Roses, Brian D’Arcy James and Kelli O’Hara. (Joan Marcus photo)

By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews “Days Of Wine and Roses” is a sweeping and stunningly brilliant musical! Playing at Studio 54 on West 54th Street, the chemistry between its stars Brian D’Arcy James and Kelli O’Hara is tremendous! The way that they connect on the stage—their love scenes and their drinking scenes are performed with such deep, penetrating realism! These two actors are an absolute delight to experience! This new musical, first presented at the Atlantic Theatre Company, is poignant, powerful and leaves the audience riveted.

The musical is adapted from the 1962 film and original 1958 teleplay, but it is definitely a story that is timeless and has been given a fantastic book by Craig Lucas, penetrating music and lyrics by Adam Guettel and incredible direction by Michael Greif. The singing performances of James and O’Hara are absolutely thrilling to witness, especially the harmonies they deliver. So many songs make for unquestionably showstopper moments. James and O’Hara take the audience on an intense trip into new love and alcohol addiction and what they could mean for a couple in 1950s New York.

This is a musical that will have you engaged, at times laughing and at other times gasping. But it is always a show that paints

a real-life picture of how a person can become an alcoholic, the journey to recovery, and the struggle not to backslide along the way. This marvelous musical also shows the audience what a family can go through when a young child has to take care of themselves and sometimes take on adult responsibilities.

James plays Joe Clay, a public relations man, and O’Hara plays Kirsten, the boss’s secretary who never takes a drink. James, who many would recall recently as starring on Broadway in “Into The Woods,” simply has a phenomenal presence on stage. I loved how the cast came out before the lights went on and as he stood in the middle of the stage in the dark, the house went crazy with cheers and applause. The opening number definitely got delayed with all the enthusiasm from the crowd. James has a fantastic reputation with audiences of bringing such talent and sincerity to his characters, you rush to the theater when you hear he is in a production. I also had the pleasure of seeing him perform this role off-Broadway and he comes with that same boundless energy, charm and presence. O’Hara also performed her role flawlessly off-Broadway and now on Broadway performs with such beauty, innocence and then anger and disappointment in herself that pulls at your heartstrings. This is a musical that will have

you experiencing a great deal of emotions, but in the end you will know that you witnessed a musical masterpiece!

Tabitha Lawing delivers an incredibly strong, wonderful performance as Lily, their daughter. She finds herself having to grow up and take care of herself, while also genuinely loving her parents and facing the disappointments that they bring in her life. David Jennings plays Jim Hungerford, an Alcoholic Anonymous sponsor, and does a tremendous job with the role, as does Sharon Catherine Brown who plays a neighbor named Mrs. Nolan, who watches Lila at times.

A performance that also stands out is that of Bill English, who portrays Mr. Shaw, Kirsten’s father. He performs the role with such heart, passion and intensity that you can’t help but understand his point of view and his anger.

Every aspect of this production screams hit! There is lovely choreography by Sergio Trujillo and Karla Puno Garcia, detailed scenic design by Lizzie Clachan, period costume design by Dede Ayite, wonderful lighting design by Ben Stanton, sound design by Kai Harada, music direction by Kimberly Grigsby, orchestrations by Adam Guettel and Jamie Lawrence, and hair and wigs

by David Brian Brown. “Days of Wine And Roses” is truly worth your time and money, it’s stupendous! For tickets go to daysofwineandrosesbroadway.com.

“How To Dance In Ohio” is daring, dynamic, and delightful

By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews

Greer Melocik, music by Jacob Yandura, choreography by Mayte Natalio and direction by Sammi Cannold.

Broadway is taking inclusion to an When the group members decide astronomically beautiful level with the to have a dance, that’s when the anxinew musical “How To Dance In Ohio” at ety comes in and Dr. Amigo helps them the Belasco Theatre on West 44th Street work through it. These students and their in Manhattan. This musical is about parents have very delicate and touching and features a cast of seven young aurelationships that warm your heart to tistic actors: Desmond Luis Edwards witness. The outside world though does who plays Remy; Imani Russell who not understand how to react to these plays Mel; Madison Kopec who poryouth coming together for a dance and trays Marideth; Liam Pearce who plays is cruel with regards to the idea. This muDrew; Amelia Fei who plays Caroline; sical shouts out: stop judging what you Ashley Wool who plays Jessica; and don’t understand!

Conor Tague who plays Tommy. All are The seven starring actors do a fantasmaking their Broadway debuts. Each tic job on stage, whether acting, singing character is distinctly different when or dancing have a great deal to be proud it comes to their autism hammerming of! “How To Dance In Ohio” is daring, how the dangers of assumptions and dynamic and delightful! The seven augeneralizations; each person is very tistic actors are joined by Caesar Sadifferent. “How To Dance In Ohio” tells mayoa who thoughtfully plays Dr. the story of a therapy group of autisAmigo; Cristina Sastre, who beautifully tic youth who are in high school and portrays his daughter Ashley; Darlesia struggling to deal with the challenges Cearcy who plays Johanna; and Melina of everyday life, love, friendship and Kalomas and Carlos L. Encinias, who acceptance. These are young people both play multiple roles. who are not used to socializing and along how much patience, love and understand- derstand their weak points, but also their This is a musical that the entire family with Dr. Amigo, who runs the group, decide ing they have to maintain. Autistic people strengths. This musical is absolutely beau- should see together. Also the show is geared that a rite of passage is to have a dance. are intelligent, loving, caring, and need to tiful to experience! This sensitive, lovely to accommodate people with autism who This musical not only tells the story of be able to deal with the world on their own production is based on the documentary may be in the audience; there are special the autistic youth from their perspective, terms, as we all need to do. They are not movie by the same name done by Alexan- functioning stations available during the it allows audiences to also see the lives of here to be judged or pitied, but just want dra Shiva. So, it is based on a true story. It show. For tickets go to www.howtodanthe parents of autistic youth and realize to be accepted for who they are. They un- has a splendid book and lyrics by Rebekah ceinohiothemusical.com.

The cast of “How To Dance In Ohio” (Curtis Brown photo)

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New books on Black magical realism & science fiction

By JORDANNAH ELIZABETH Special to the AmNews

The recently etched realm of new Black American literature, although not as frequently published compared to 2020 and ’21, continues to embody a vast array of stories and genres that have not been historically embraced by the majority-white publishing sphere. This new era has wonderful pockets of creative potency, devoid of stifling limits on what stories Black American writers can tell. This is a positive development. The release of the science fiction afrofuturist book “GLEEM” by Freddy Carrasco, published

by Carrasco & Peow, and the magical realism work “Parasol Against the Ax” by Helen Oyeyemi, published by the Penguin Random House imprint Riverhead Books, are shining examples of genrespecific books that might not have been published less than a decade ago.

Freddy Carrasco’s frenetic, fast-paced graphic novel, divided into three vignettes, is steeped in radical technoinfused stories and scenarios, flaunting the out-of-the-box Black tradition of afrofuturist fiction. “GLEEM” is a book for the excitable, adventurous reader. This book challenges and disrupts the praxis of Black fiction, abandoning the confines of more widely published urban lit (particularly in the 1980s and ’90s).

Carrasco takes complete hold of the steering wheel and drives his fantastical science fiction tales into the Black literary unknown. Originally published in 2019, this new edition will ensure young readers, and readers of all ages, have the opportunity to experience this far-out, creative book.

In Helen Oyeyemi’s “Parasol Against the Ax,” the very real Czech Republic city of Prague becomes a fictionalized setting for a story of distorted realities brought on by an eerie, otherworldly book, much like Timbuktu in O. O. Sangoyomi’s “Masquerade.”

The protagonist, Hero Tojosoa, joins her friends for a weekend in the Central European city only to discover that a book she owned changed and morphed depending on who was reading the pages. This book blurs the lines between reality and illusion, and twists the normally static structures of modern life, as well as Prague’s oddly humorous fabricated citizens.

We cannot stress enough that the uninhibited artistic freedom of Black fiction writers is a state of being that should be nurtured, encouraged, celebrated, and published. Creativity is a healing act. Our communities and Black writers around the world deserve the freedom to be different…to be themselves.

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Out Fest, Blue Note, Reviews: Unity, Winter Jazzfest, Omniverse RONALD E. SCOTT

Reggie Workman in concert with Archie Shepp at Red Room in Deutschordensmuseum Bad Mergentheim.

J A ZZ N OT E S One upcoming NYC jazz festival worth immediate attention is the first annual Out Music Festival, now through February 4, on the Lower Eastside at the Theater for the New City (155 First Avenue).

It is presented by Arts for Art, the progressive nonprofit organization known for its annual Vision Festival, among other projects. “The Future is Pissed! The world is divided against itself. The earth is in jeopardy.

These diverse artists are doing their best with too little support,” said AFA founder and director Patricia Nicholson. “Their voices have been marginalized. As people of conscience and as creative people, we come together to support each other as we live, create, and work for a world with peace, compassion, justice, and the arts.”

Some Out Festival musicians will include bassist Reggie Workman, the Tony Malaby Quartet, saxophonist Joe McPhee, drummers Thomas Fujiwara and Michael TA Thompson, poet Raymond Nat Turner, the duo of James Brandon Lewis/Alexis Marcelo (composer and saxophonist Lewis will perform with pianist Marcelo, who mixes genres for his colorful canvases and began his music studies at Harlem School of the Arts), pianist Angelica Sanchez, composer and electric violinist Jason Kao Hwang, and the Davalois Fearon Music & Movement.

The Fearon dance company, named after its artistic director, has been acclaimed by colleagues as “unapologetic” and by critics as “electrifying.” They are known for exploring social issues and pushing artistic boundaries.

For a complete schedule, visit the website artsforart.org/out-festival. Tickets are $25 per day and live streams $5.

The pianist, keyboardist, composer, and arranger James Francies has received impressive accolades since making his way to NYC from his hometown of Houston, Tex. He met Questlove and Roots keyboardist James Poyser a few years ago, and since then has become a resource for Quest and company, subbing for Poyser on Roots concerts and ”The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

At 24 years of age, he has played with Pat Metheny, Chris Potter, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Stefon Harris, Eric Harland, and Terrace Martin, and has extended credits in hip hop and R&B from shows with Lauryn Hill, Common, and studio time with Chance the Rapper, aside from leading his own group, Kinetic.

From February 6–11, Francies begins a residency at Blue Note jazz club (131 West Third Street) with special guests. He opens with a trio featuring bassist Burniss Travis and drummer Jeremy Dutton, with special guest Black Thought. Trumpeter/keyboard-

(Photo credit: Schorle (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shepp_workman_mergentheim_08.jpg), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-sa/4.0/legalcode)

ist Nicholas Payton is a special guest from February 7–8. From February 9–11, Francies leads a group featuring drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, bassist Larry Grenadier, and tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III. For times and reservations, visit the website bluenoteuazz.com.

The first annual Unity Jazz Festival (Jazz at Lincoln Center) recently became another alternative to a busy week that already included the annual Winter JazzFest, as well and the APAP showcases at the Hilton Hotel. It wasn’t surprising to hear (from jazz participants) that all the venues were at capacity, all offering a cross-section of jazz genres. from straight ahead to Black rock to fusion, avant garde, and assorted color dimensions.

What made it so intriguing was the number of avant artists performing at the Unity/JALC. The jazz complex is noted for their straight-ahead tradition and ever-so often they venture to the edge of improvisational infinity. But these colors of avant gardism could have very well been the final offerings of Funmi Ononaiye, the center’s programming manager. We know that Funmi loved all kinds of music, whether in or out of the jazz realm. The final Unity festival evening was a tribute to Funmi—his giant screen photo was right there in the atrium, smiling over the avant happenings, saying “Yeah, I like it.” Let’s hope more avant gardism graces the jazz house.

One of the many hot tickets for the Winter JazzFest was “A Night at the East.” The short list of headliners included saxophonist/bass clarinet David Murray, trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah, flautist Nicole Mitchell, and saxophonist Gary Bartz. If you weren’t there, you just missed out on an event worthy of listings in the jazz annals of America.

This all-star celebration acknowledged icons who performed and inspired generations of musicians, including the Last Poets, Max Roach, Roy Ayers, Freddie Hubbard, Betty Carter, Sun Ra, Lee Morgan, and McCoy Tyner. Its name was included in the title of Pharoah Sanders’s “Live at the East” album (Impulse! 1972).

For jazzheads, it was a compelling weekend jazz joint. The East, founded in 1969, was revolutionary in thought, warrior activists in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy community; founded by students from the African American Student Association and Jitu Weusi. It served as a beehive of many activities; provided day care for children and evening classes for adults; and served as home for Black News and a bookstore, restaurant, catering service, and food co-op.

Donald Harrison’s Music Omniverse at Town Hall during Winter JazzFest was an explosion of the Black music diaspora. His extended ensemble covered multi genres, from James Brown’s funkster trombonist elder Fred Westley, Latin bandleader pianist and composer Arturo O’Farrell, trumpeter Charles Tolliver, guitarist Vernon Reid (Living Colour),

drummer Joe Dyson, D.J. Logic, and bassist Dave Holland, among others.

Harrison took his audience on an exciting journey, visiting the roots of jazz from Sidney Bechet’s “Maple Leaf Rag” (ragtime) to Charlie Parker’s “One for Bird,” with Westley leading the ensemble on Miles Davis’s “Bye Bye Blackbird” and Donald playing John Coltrane’s 1960s “Autumn Leaves.” The funk was all in your face when Westley and the ensemble jumped into the Godfather of Soul’s “Hot Pants” and “Funky Good Time.”

Harrison’s Omniverse music is a lively performance connecting Black music from ragtime to the funk of the ’70s to Black rock of the ’90s and hip hop. Harrison played through four standing ovations that transcended into a big joyous party. The music was a fireball of burning funk, Latin, fusion, and New Orleans second-line swing. The audience instinctively jumped up to move to that hypnotic groove, Omniverse music.

For Black History Month, let’s do something different. Every week, I will present one book and album for your pleasure, knowledge, and awareness. Enjoy!

Let’s start with Nina Simone’s album, “Nina Simone in Concert” (Phillips, 1964).

The book “Confirmation An Anthology of African American Women, by Amiri and Amina Baraka (William Morrow & Company, 1983). The Barakas have brought together the work of 49 Black women writers who represent a body of American literature that can always use more recognition.

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Mildred Joanne Smith co-starred with Sidney Poitier, both debuting in ‘No Way Out’

By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews Mildred Joanne Smith was literally and figuratively flying high when the plane carrying her and other passengers to Newark Airport crashed. She was severely injured but was one of the 34 passengers who survived; 29 others were killed. The accident happened in 1952, two years after she portrayed Sidney Poitier’s wife in his and her debut film “No Way Out.” Smith was born on May 16, 1921, possibly in Struthers, Ohio, where she was raised. Her acting career began on Broadway during the 1940s when she performed in several Broadway shows, including “Men to the Sea,” “Mamba’s Daughters,” “Forward the Heart,” and “A Long Way from Home.” In “Beggar’s Holiday” with Alfred Drake, she played Lucy Lockit and regaled audiences with a solo performance of “Brown Penny” in the second act. This may have been her introduction to Duke Ellington, who wrote the music for production. Later, she would often perform as a singer with his orchestra.

In the playbill, there is additional biographical information about her, noting that she earned a master’s degree in psychology from Western Reserve University. She also studied drama at the college with a minor in physical education. For recreation, she acted in the Cleveland Playhouse and it was from these performances that she received the praise that brought her to Broadway for a role in “Men to the Sea.” There was a steady succession of roles, including “Blue Holiday,” and then the revival of “Beggar’s Holiday” that reunited her with Perry Watkins, the pioneering African American set designer.

She was Rose in the 1948 production of “Set My People Free,” and according to the trade publication Billboard, was excellent. Two years later, she landed her most significant role as Cora Brooks, co-starring with Sidney Poitier as his wife.

Despite favorable reviews,

Smith wasn’t offered any more film roles. Film critic and historian Donald Bogle, in his book “Blacks in American Films and Television” (Garland Publishing, 1988), discusses how Smith navigated post-war racial hostilities.

Smith survived the plane crash, although she suffered a broken back and ribs, and burns to her legs. She was featured in a Jet magazine issue, gracing the cover in a story with a less than flattering title “The Magnificent Failure: She Won Fame but never quite could attain stardom.” Even so, her performing continued, mainly as a vocalist, most notably with Ellington and his partner Billy Strayhorn in a London Production of “Cockles and Champagne.” Once again, she was praised for her remarkable performance.

After giving up the stage, Smith became the women’s editor of Our World, a popular magazine that at one time rivaled Ebony in the 1950s. By the 1960s, she was in the classroom teaching English at Eastview Junior High School in White Plains, NY. On July 19, 2015, Smith died at the age of 94. She left two children, a stepdaughter, and six grandchildren. Her husband, David A. Hepburn, a journalist and former vice president of WNEW-TV, died in 1985.

ACTIVITIES FIND OUT MORE Film authority Donald Bogle, as noted above, is one of few writers to have delved into Smith’s performances.

DISCUSSION A search for more about Smith’s career as a singer was futile, particularly her time with Duke Ellington.

PLACE IN CONTEXT Smith was at the dawn of a breakthrough of respectable roles for Blacks in films.

THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY Jan. 30, 1959: Jody Watley, Grammy Awardwinning singer, was born in Chicago.

Jan. 31, 1934: Etta Moten Barnett, singer/entertainer, is the first Black star to perform at the White House. She died in 2004.

Jan. 31, 1962: Lt. Commander Samuel L. Gravely is the first of his race to command a U.S. warship.

Mildred Smith with Sidney Poitier in 'No Way Out' (Image courtesy of daaracarchive.org)

26 • February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Education Texas school’s punishment of Black student who wears his hair in locs is going to trial

By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press

ANAHUAC, Texas (AP)—A judge ordered Wednesday that a trial be held next month to determine whether a Black high school student in Texas can continue being punished by his district for refusing to change a hairstyle he and his family say is protected by a new state law.

Darryl George, 18, has not been in his regular classroom at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu since August 31. Instead, he has either been serving in-school suspension or spending time in an off-site disciplinary program.

His Houston-area school district, Barbers Hill, has said George’s long hair, which he wears in neatly tied and twisted locs on top of his head, violates a district dress code that limits hair length for boys. The district has said other students with locs comply with the length policy.

George, a junior, said Wednesday that he has felt stress and frustration over what he sees as unfair punishment, but that he was grateful to soon be getting his day in court.

“I’m glad that we are being heard, too. I’m glad that things are moving and we're getting through this,” George said after the hearing in Anahuac, with his mother, Darresha George, standing next to him.

State District Judge Chap Cain III in Anahuac set a February 22 trial in a lawsuit filed by the school district regarding whether its dress code restrictions limiting the length of boys’ hair violates the CROWN Act. The new Texas law, which took effect in September, prohibits race-based hair discrimination and bars employers and schools from penalizing people because of hair texture or protective hairstyles, including Afros, braids, locs, twists, or Bantu knots.

Darresha George said she was disappointed the judge did not consider granting a temporary restraining order, which would have halted her son’s punishment until next month's trial.

“I have a son, 18 years old, that wants to go to school, that wants to

Darryl George, an 18-year-old high school junior, and his mother, Darresha George, outside a courthouse in Anahuac, Texas. A judge ordered Wednesday that a trial be held next month to determine whether George can continue being punished by his district for refusing to change a hairstyle he and his family say is protected by a new state law (AP Photo/Juan A. Lozano)

get his education, and y’all messing with him. Why?” she said.

In an affidavit filed last week in support of the temporary restraining order, Darryl George said he is being subjected to “cruel treatment.”

“I love my hair, it is sacred and it is my strength,” George wrote. “All I want to do is go to school and be a model student. I am being harassed by school officials and treated like a dog.”

A spokesperson for the school district didn’t speak with reporters after the hearing and didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

In a paid ad that ran this month

in the Houston Chronicle, Barbers Hill Superintendent Greg Poole maintained the district is not violating the CROWN Act. Poole defended his district’s policy and wrote that districts with a traditional dress code are safer and had higher academic performance and that “being an American requires conformity.”

“We will not lose sight of the main goal—high standards for our students—by bending to political pressure or responding to misinformed media reports. These entities have ‘lesser’ goals that ultimately harm kids,” Poole wrote.

The two Texas lawmakers who co-wrote the state’s version of the

CROWN Act—state Reps. Rhetta Bowers and Ron Reynolds—attended Wednesday’s hearing and said the new state law does protect Darryl George’s hairstyle.

The district “is punishing Darryl George for one reason: his choice to wear his hair in a protective style[,] which harms no one and causes no distraction in the classroom,” Bowers said.

George’s family has also filed a formal complaint with the Texas Education Agency and a federal civil rights lawsuit against Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, along with the school district, alleging they failed to enforce the CROWN Act.

The lawsuit is before a federal judge in Galveston, Texas.

Barbers Hill’s policy on student hair was previously challenged in a May 2020 federal lawsuit filed by two other students. Both students withdrew from the high school, but one returned after a federal judge granted a temporary injunction, saying the student showed “a substantial likelihood” that his rights to free speech and to be free from racial discrimination would be violated if he were not allowed to return to campus. That lawsuit remains pending.

Follow Juan A. Lozano: https:// twitter.com/juanlozano70.

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 27

Primary: Meet the Candidates in the 70th Assembly Race

Headshot of Shana Harmongoff. (Contributed by Harmogoff’s campaign photo)

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member So far there’s a handful of candidates vying to replace Harlem’s Assemblymember Inez Dickens, who’s already announced she’ll be retiring from office this year.

The candidates for the 70th Assembly District are Shana Harmongoff, Joshua Clennon, Maria Ordoñez, Jordan Wright, and Alpheaus Marcus, according to the New York State Board of Elections (NYSBOE).

Harmongoff is a native New Yorker with a law degree background. She served as the District Office Director and Director of Community Affairs under former State Senator Brian Benjamin for just over four years. “When I was a kid, about eight years old, both of my parents were civically involved in the Harlem community,” said Harmongoff about why she’s running.

“They would always have me and my siblings volunteer at nursing homes and senior centers.”

Headshot of Maria Ordoñez. (Contributed by Ordonez’s campaign photo)

Harmongoff has dedicated her platform to mental health and protecting seniors, she said. She worked next door to Dickens while in Benjamin’s office and said she would be honored to continue her legacy.

“When I go out to the community, I listen to the community and hear what their needs are, so when I become an elected official,” said Harmongoff, “now I’m able to deliver and create legislation and give the people what they need.”

Previously, Harmongoff ran for Senate District 30 in 2022.

Clennon is a fourth-generation Harlemite.

He unfortunately lost his father to gun violence at a young age, but is using the tragedy as a catalyst for his life in public service.

“He was actually holding me in his arms when he was shot and killed,” said Clennon. “I decided at a young [age] then that I wanted to give back to my community to help prevent things like that, tragedies, from happening to future generations.”

Clennon has previously served as the treasurer and chair of District Needs for

Headshot of Joshua Clennon. (Contributed by Clennon’s campaign photo)

Manhattan Community Board 10, treasurer of the Black Caucus of the Young Democrats of America, political director and vice president of the Manhattan Young Democrats, New York County Judicial Delegate and County Committee member, and as a Democratic National Committee Delegate.

He’s also worked in the arena of affordable housing and with Congressmember Charles Rangel. Previously, Clennon ran for City Council District 9 in 2021.

“I think this is a pivotal time for our community. We have thousands of families being forced out of our community each year just because they can’t afford to raise a family here,” said Clennon.

In addition to affordability, Clennon wants to focus on maternal health, infant mortality, environmental issues, and education.

Harlem native Ordoñez is a community activist who organizes for tenant rights, environmental justice, and involving more people in the democratic process. She feels that elected officials have been “failing” the district for years.

Previously, Ordoñez also ran for City Council in 2021.

Ordoñez is an executive committee member of the New York Progressive Action Network (NYPAN), is Manhattan Young Democrats Local Political Director, and currently serves as a Democratic State Committee Member for Assembly District 70.

“Together we can make truly affordable housing, education equity, climate justice, the New York Health Act, union jobs with livable wages, and a Green New Deal for public housing possible in Harlem,” said her campaign website.

The Amsterdam News reached out to candidates Wright and Marcus but did not hear back by post time.

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.

28 • February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Health Factcheck: False—COVID-19 vaccine causes heart attacks

Factcheck: False.

COVID-19 vaccines do not cause heart attacks .

By JORDYN PYKON Special to the AmNews It seems that every time a young athlete suffers from cardiac arrest, COVID-19 vaccine skeptics flood social media with posts affirming the myth that the COVID-19 vaccine caused the heart attack.

When Damar Hamlin experienced a heart attack last year during a football game, conservative vaccine skeptic Charlie Kirk posted on X, “This is a tragic and all too familiar sight right now: Athletes dropping suddenly.”

When Bronny James had a cardiac arrest on July 24, Elon Musk falsely posted on X, “We cannot ascribe everything to the vaccine, but, by the same token, we cannot ascribe anything. Myocarditis is a known sideeffect. The only question is whether it is rare or common.”

As it turns out, neither athlete’s cardiac incident was vaccine-related. Hamlin’s heart attack was a result of commotio cordis, which is when a cardiac arrest occurs from impact to the chest. James’s heart attack was most likely caused by the congenital heart defect that doctors found after his cardiac arrest.

There is no evidence that getting the COVID-19 vaccine leads to someone experiencing a cardiac arrest.

Developing myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) or pericarditis (inflammation of the heart lining) are rare side effects associated with the COVID-19 vaccine.

It is important to note that individuals are more likely to develop myocarditis from getting infected with COVID-19 than from receiving the vaccine.

According to the National Institutes of Health, developing myo-

”It is important to note that individuals are more likely to develop myocarditis from getting infected with COVID-19 than from receiving the vaccine.“ carditis as a result of getting the COVID-19 vaccine “affects fewer than 20 people per 1,000,000 [1 million] COVID-19 vaccinations.” The complication rate from contracting COVID-19 is far greater.

Jessica A Hennessey, a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/ Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and the Esther Aboodi Assistant Professor of Medicine, told the AmNews in an email, “There have been multiple studies assessing death following COVID-19 vaccine and per the CDC, there is no increased risk of death from non-COVID causes with COVID-19 vaccine compared to non-vaccinated people.

Additionally, the vaccine protects from death from COVID-19 and its related complications.”

According to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Clinical Considerations: Myocarditis and Pericarditis after Receipt of COVID-19 Vaccines Among Adolescents and Young Adults: “Cases of myocarditis and pericarditis have rarely been observed after COVID-19 vaccination in the United States and evidence from multiple vaccine safety monitoring systems in the United States and around the globe supports a causal association between

When Damar Hamlin experienced a heart attack last year during a football game, false rumors began to spread linking his cardiac arrest to COVID-19 vaccine.

(AP Photo/Matt Durisko)

mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (i.e., Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech) and myocarditis and pericarditis.”

Elizabeth Paratz, cardiologist and lead author of a research article on the subject, found ​​ in her study that there was no link between receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and experiencing cardiac arrest. In addition, her study found no relationship between getting the COVID-19 vaccine and developing myocarditis that results in cardiac arrest.

Paratz told the AmNews that “sudden cardiac arrest is a tragic condition that has always existed. We have some papers about it going back decades, so it's not a new entity. It’s a tragic thing. When we look at the rates throughout COVID and COVID vaccination, we don’t

see any significant uptick…that would suggest that vaccinations are not driving huge amounts of sudden deaths, which is very reassuring.”

Paratz’s study, which looked at more than 4 million people, took place in Victoria, Australia, which she says is a “bit of a unique little petri dish” because the state had low COVID-19 rates and high vaccination rates. Paratz looked at population-level vaccination data and examined whether there was an increase or change in the number of cardiac arrests among those who got vaccinated, which there was not.

Joelle Daems, a medical doctor and a current PhD candidate in the Department of Sport Cardiology at the Amsterdam University Medical Centres, co-wrote an arti-

cle examining the potential impact of COVID-19 vaccination on athletes finding that there was no evidence to support the claim that the COVID-19 vaccine causes cardiac arrest in young athletes.

Despite the mounting evidence that there is no causal relationship between getting the COVID-19 vaccine and having a heart attack, misinformation regarding this myth still circulates.

Daems explained that when many people get vaccinated, it is inevitable that some people will receive that vaccine shortly before experiencing adverse events such as suddenly having a heart attack.

While these events may seem connected, this may not be the case.

“The problem is people die every day of other causes. Also, if they don’t get vaccinated. And what happens if you start vaccinating a very large group of people? These events might coincide in the same person without there being any causal relation.”

As to why this myth continues to spread, Daems told the AmNews, “I think it scares people that the people who are very fit and very healthy can have such a serious adverse event.

I think it’s harder to grasp that a healthy and fit person can have a serious adverse event like cardiac arrest without seeming ill.”

For those who have a previous history of heart conditions, receiving the COVID-19 vaccine could be worrisome, even knowing that there is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine leads to cardiac arrest, but they are at far more risk for complications if they contract COVID-19 than from getting vaccinated. According to the CDC, “Having heart conditions such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathies, and possibly high blood pressure (hypertension) can make you more likely to get very sick from COVID-19.”

It’s important to get the COVID19 vaccine and timely boosters to maintain heart health, and to protect everyone against the COVID-19 infection.

For additional resources about COVID-19, visit www1.nyc.gov/site/ coronavirus/index.page. COVID-19 testing, masks, and vaccination resources can also be accessed on the AmNews COVID-19 page: www.amsterdamnews.com/COVID.

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Overridden Continued from page 3

involved a robbery suspect, said Adams.

Councilmember Yusef Salaam, who was stopped by police last week for dark tints on his vehicle’s windows and out-of-state license plates, opted out of the ride-alongs and voted yes on the override. Adams considered the “interaction” between Salaam and the officer an example of a successful de-escalation that was properly documented. “Car stops are one of the most dangerous jobs a police officer can go on, and being stopped by the police is one of the most stressful—to see those lights in the back. When I was a police officer and those lights came on in the back, my heart really started going,” said Adams about his experience.

Admittedly, Adams said he wished they had done ride-alongs with the council members earlier in the discussion about the legislation. “There are passions on both sides of this issue, and people believe that what they are calling for is not in place already,” said Adams.

He emphasized that the phrase “police stops” evokes a lot of emotion, especially among Black and brown people who lived through the heyday of stop-and-frisk in the Bloomberg era. He categorized the types of stops described in the bill as interactions or encounters instead, which has been a persistent point of confusion and contention

Community groups and electeds hold rally on Tuesday, Jan. 30, for How Many Stops Act (HMSA) before Council vote at City Hall. (Ariama C. Long photo)

for the City Council and the public.

This is also not the first time Adams, a former cop, and the more left-leaning City Council have had a contentious veto/override situation.

Last July, the City Council also chose to override the mayor’s City Fighting Homelessness and Eviction Prevention Supplement (CityFHEPS) bills veto with a majority

vote of 42–8. The bills included removing shelter stay as a precondition to eligibility for CityFHEPS, giving people the ability to demonstrate risk of eviction by presenting a rent demand letter, and changing the eligibility for vouchers from 200% of the federal poverty level to 50% of the area median income.

The argument over the bills stemmed

from the ongoing asylum seeker crisis and other compounded housing issues that put a substantial strain on the city’s resources and lower-income individuals and families.

Adams is already encouraging the City Council to “amend” the bills in the next few months before implementation.

“I have always believed that public safety and justice go hand in hand, and I have fought for both throughout my entire career,” said Adams in a statement released later that evening after the override vote. “I share the City Council’s goal of increasing transparency in government, and our administration has remained at the table to negotiate in good faith throughout this entire process to achieve that mission. But the answer is not to compromise public safety or justice for the victims of violence.

With these bills set to become law, I remain willing to partner with my colleagues in the City Council to address New Yorkers’ concerns in the period leading up to implementation.”

Speaker Adams and Williams said that they aren’t interested in amendments but have always been open to working with the NYPD about how to best implement the bills.

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member who 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.

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Religion & Spirituality Africa’s Catholic hierarchy refuses same-sex blessings, says such unions are contrary to God's will

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press

VATICAN CITY (AP)—In the greatest rebuke yet to Pope Francis, the Catholic bishops of Africa and Madagascar issued a unified statement Thursday refusing to follow his declaration allowing priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples and asserting that such unions are “contrary to the will of God.” The statement, signed by Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo on behalf of the symposium of African national bishops conferences, marked the closest thing to a continent-wide dissent from the declaration Francis approved on December 18 that allowed priests to offer such blessings.

That declaration from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has sent shock waves through the Catholic Church, thrilling LGBTQ+ Catholics as a concrete sign of Francis’s

message of welcome but alarming conservatives who fear core doctrines of the church are being ignored or violated.

The controversy has deepened a growing chasm between Francis’s progressive, reform-minded papacy and the conservative church in much of the world, especially Africa, where the number of Catholics is growing at a faster rate than anywhere else.

The Vatican declaration restated traditional church teaching that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and woman, but allowed priests to offer spontaneous, non-liturgical blessings to same-sex couples seeking God’s grace in their lives, provided such blessings aren't confused with the rites and rituals of a wedding.

In his statement, Ambongo said it wasn’t appropriate for African priests to offer such blessings because of the scandal and confusion it would create. He cited biblical

in Africa, this declaration has caused mary” of the positions adopted by a shockwave, it has sown miscon- individual national bishops conferceptions and unrest in the minds ences, and that it had received the of many lay faithful, consecrated “agreement” of Francis and the docpersons and even pastors, and has trine office’s new prefect, Cardinal aroused strong reactions,” he wrote. Victor Manuel Fernández.

While stressing that African bishThe botched rollout of the Decemops remain in communion with ber 18 declaration has heightened Francis, he said they believed such conservative criticism of Fernánblessings cannot be carried out be- dez, whom Francis appointed to the cause “in our context, this would office over the summer. Fernández cause confusion and would be in apparently published the text with direct contradiction to the cultural little consultation inside the Vatican ethos of African communities.” and no forewarning to bishops in the A few weeks ago, Burundi’s Presi- rest of the world. dent Evariste Ndayishimiye said that Usually, when such sensitiveVatican “people of the same sex who marry in documents are being prepared, there this country should be taken to a sta- is an attempt to at least not blindside teaching that condemns homosex- dium to be pelted with stones, once local church leaders. Often, they are uality as an abomination and the discovered.” In a radio broadcast on released with an accompanying letter African cultural context, where he December 29, he asked Burundians or explanatory note published by Vatasserted that LGBTQ+ unions “are living abroad who practice homosex- ican Media, and are given to journalseen as contradictory to cultural uality “not to return home.” ists ahead of time under an embargo norms and intrinsically corrupt.”

Ambongo said the symposium to ensure the reporting is accurate and “Within the church family of God statement was a “consolidated sum- See CATHOLIC continued on next page Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu leaves after receiving the red three-cornered biretta from Pope Francis during a consistory in St. Peter’s Basilica. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Three Black U.S. Army reservists killed in drone attack near Syrian border

By STACY M. BROWN NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent Three Black American reservists from the 926th Engineer Brigade, based at Fort Moore, Georgia, lost their lives in a drone attack on a U.S. base near the Jordan-Syria border.

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh identified the fallen soldiers as Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia.

The tragedy occurred at the logistics support base at Tower 22 of the Jordanian Defense Network, where approximately 350 U.S. Army and Air Force personnel are stationed. That base plays a crucial role in providing support for the coalition’s efforts against ISIS, according to Central Command.

The attack marks the third drone

strike on the outpost in the past six months, with the first two occurring in the latter half of the previous year being unsuccessful. Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels, chief of the Army Reserve and commanding general of the U.S. Army Reserve Command, said the murders of the three Black reservists cut deeply.

The U.S. government has determined that Iran was responsible for the attack, prompting President Joe Biden to vow a response. “There will be a response,” Biden declared.

In her last conversation with her mother, Sanders reportedly expressed aspirations to elevate her military career upon returning home from the Middle East. She also revealed her intention to purchase a motorcycle. Sanders was actively involved in coaching soccer and basketball in her hometown of Waycross, Georgia, and worked at a pharmacy.

She was pursuing college courses to become an X-ray technician.

(L-R) Spc. Kennedy Sanders, Sgt. William Jerome Rivers and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett. (Shawn Sanders and U.S. Army via AP photo)

Sanders’ parents shared that she volunteered for deployment to experience different parts of the world.

With a history of military service in the family, Sanders had previously deployed to Djibouti and later volunteered for Kuwait, including a stint in Jordan near the Syrian border.

Rivers enlisted in the Army Reserve in 2011 as an interior electrician, according to the U.S. Army Reserve Command Public Affairs Office.

He served “with courage, honor, and a deep sense of duty, embody-

HAVE YOUR LOVED ONES MEMORIALIZED IN THE AMSTERDAM NEWS’ OBITUARY SECTION. FOR MORE INFO EMAIL: William.Atkins@amsterdamNews.com

ing the best of New Jersey and our nation,” said Sen. Cory Booker (DN.J.). “His death is a profound loss to his family, friends, colleagues, and our entire country, and a reminder of the heavy debt we owe to our military families for their sacrifice.”

U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who represents Willingboro, said in a statement that Rivers served this country and local community with great honor and bravery. “We are indebted to him and his loved ones for their service and sacrifice,” Kim

stated. “We will never forget what Sergeant Rivers and his fellow fallen soldiers, Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, gave for our nation. May their memory live on in our continued service to our military families.”

Moffett reportedly was no stranger to the military as both of her parents were veterans.

“I was like no you should, but you know she went anyway, because of her dedication to her county, she really really honored her job,” Saryha Truell, one of Moffett’s lifelong friends, told WTOC-TV. “We are reminded that the brave men and women who defend our great nation put their lives on the line each and every day to keep our country safe,” said Brig. Gen. Todd Lazaroski, Commanding General of the 412th Theater Engineer Command.

“Their service and sacrifice will not be forgotten,” Daniels stated.

February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 31

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International Continued from page 2

this question to the court. And they said that South Africa had not taken into consideration Jewish holidays, belittling the substantial question, which is genocide.”

Still, the preliminary court ruling offers only a glimmer of hope for the more than 2 million Palestinian civilians in Gaza, because the ruling alone cannot put an end to what Gazans are experiencing.

For its part, Israel has rejected the accusations of genocide as baseless and said South Africa was acting as an emissary of the Hamas terror group, which initiated the current conflict and seeks to eliminate the Jewish state.

The Israel Defense Forces is targeting Hamas terrorists, not Palestinian civilians, they said, but civilian casualties in the fighting are unavoidable because terrorists operate from within the population.

In a recent development, the Times of Israel reported that thousands of right-wing activists are getting ready to resettle Gaza after the war. “Gaza City will be Jewish,” one leader was quoted to say, adding that core groups of potential residents are being assembled.

Mamdani continued: “Israel has had a record of sheltering under American power, both hard power and soft power. This time, whether it will be able to do so is also questionable.

“The Israeli stance has been that the international community has no moral standing when it comes to Israel, because: Where were they when the Holocaust took place? There’s some truth in this, except that it doesn’t apply to most of the Third World, which wasn’t part of the U.N. when the Holocaust took place. It also doesn’t apply to South Africa, which had an apartheid government. And that government was in cahoots with Israel, and Israel was one of the major foreign parties strengthening that government.

“South Africa has the moral standing to bring the claim of genocide, which others lack. So who else but South Africa can stand up for victims in Israel?”

NY AUCTION OF MANDELA’S BELONGINGS SLATED FOR FEBRUARY (GIN)—Some 70 belongings of former South Africa president Nelson Mandela are slated to travel to New York next month for an auction sale that has sparked a firestorm between his eldest daughter, Makaziwe Mandela-Amuah; his son; and South Africa’s Heritage and Resource Agency (SAHRA).

The New York auction is set for February 22, but the Guernsey Auction House online announcement now carries the message “Suspended.”

Items up for auction include dozens of personal items, estimated at a collective value of $2 to $3 million.

According to an ad placed by the Guernsey Auction House, the property includes “nearly one hundred treasured items—objects that in one way or another played a role in “Madiba’s life—will be presented at unreserved auction…Never offered before, these objects are coming directly from the Mandela family.”

Among the items are Mandela’s 1993 South

African Identification book, his famous green fern-patterned “Madiba” shirt, his iconic aviator sunglasses, a blanket that was a gift from former President Barack Obama, sculptures, personal letters written by Mandela, and even his hearing aids.

Proceeds are set to go to construction of the Mandela Memorial Garden surrounding his final resting place in the Eastern Cape village of Qunu, according to Mandela’s daughter, where her father grew up and was buried.

“It is my wish that before I close my eyes on nature, I will honor my father with a memorial garden,” said Makaziwe Mandela in an interview with the New York Times. “That’s what my father would want.”

But Ndaba Mandela, Nelson’s grandson, didn’t agree. “Who sells their father’s ID?,” Ndaba demanded to know as he slammed his aunt’s plans to auction Madiba's ID and other items.

The sale was initially canceled but this December, a three-judge panel of the high court in Pretoria sided with Mandela’s daughter, calling the SA Heritage Agency’s interpretation of heritage objects “overbroad.”

South Africa’s Minister of Culture Zizi Kodwa echoed some of the concerns raised by SAHRA. “Former President Mandela is integral to South Africa’s heritage,” said Minister Kodwa.

“His life, experiences and legacy live in our consciousness and in the values we promote as a country…It is thus important that we preserve the legacy of former President Mandela and ensure that his life’s work and experiences remain in the country for generations to come.”

A similar trove of items was auctioned off last year by Guernsey in a sale called African American Historical and Cultural Artifacts that consisted of thousands of objects tracing the African American experience from the Revolutionary War and the beginnings of slavery on through the Civil Rights Movement and today’s Black Lives Matter.

For now, according to the auction house online, interested bidders are encouraged to contact Guernsey’s in New York at 212794-2280 or via email at auctions@guernseys.com, and/or register for online bidding at liveauctioneers.com or invaluable.com, where the full auction catalog will be posted one month before the January 28.

(GIN photo)

Piedad Córdoba Continued from page 2

Afrodescendant organizations pay tribute to Piedad Córdoba Several organizations offered this tribute to Piedad Córdoba: “The International Summit of Afrodescendants and Africans and the Articulation of Afrodescendants of Latin America and the Caribbean (Cumbe Internacional de Afrodescendientes y Africanos y la Articulación de Afrodescendientes de América Latina y el Caribe) would like to express our support for the family and friends of the cimarrona senator and activist Piedad Cordoba, who has sadly passed on so early into the spiritual plane.

“Though her image was widely defamed, Piedad was a tireless defender of the forgotten and condemned of history: Black, Afro Colombian, Raizal, and Palenquero communities;

women; the LGBTIQ + population; and victims of Colombia’s internal armed conflict. She was also a recognized human rights defender, especially for the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. She was a trailblazer for many of us who felt out of place in our corporeality and territoriality; in short, she was passionate about the struggles against discrimination and injustice.

“Persecution, stigmatization, and hatred will never erase her legacy and what she leaves in each one of us who knew her, what she leaves in the homeland; today, her death means a sowing of hope to continue her struggle.

“Recognizing her humanity and her legacy, some of the key spokespersons of the International Cumbe of Afrodescendants and Africans and the Articulation of Afrodescendants of Latin America and the Caribbean, have traveled from different parts of Latin America and Colombia to the city of Bogota to accompany and give an earthly farewell to our Piedad.”

come to them humbly asking for God’s help.”

The document “reminds us that those who Continued from page 30 are not in a position to commit themselves to the sacrament of marriage are not excludthought through. ed from the love of God or of his church,” the No such extra documentation or prepara- French bishops said. tion accompanied Fiducia Supplicans, as the Fernández was forced to issue a second extext is known, and its rollout was marked by planatory note a few weeks after the initial individual bishops and entire national con- publication, insisting there was nothing “heferences voicing confusion and opposition. retical” in the document but acknowledging Others have welcomed it. France’s bishops the opposing views. He acknowledged that conference, for example, said in a statement it may not be applicable to some parts of the Wednesday that the declaration encourages world and that further “pastoral reflection” pastors to “generously bless the people who might be necessary.

Catholic

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February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 32

Every month, SCR invites community members to perform at their open mic night, Peace Café. (Photos by Shannon Chaffers)

Peace Continued from page 14

shots a few blocks away.

In this situation, the interrupters must stand back and wait for law enforcement and emergency services to arrive.

“We don’t have a gun, we don’t have a vest, we don’t have even some handcuffs,” Marte said. “At that point, the violence is happening…You had to let it be.”

The work can take its toll. Marte decided to take a break when, after a day when he had to speak with seven victims at the hospital, he realized he couldn’t give the community the attention they deserved.

“I was addressing the victims: victim number one, victim number two, victim number three.

And to me, it was almost like, so insensitive,” he said. “I wasn’t no longer giving my all or my best to who I was dealing with. And I would never rob the community like that.”

After a six-month break, Marte returned to the job this summer reenergized. But these challenges demonstrate the need for more resources to make the violence interruption work more sustainable.

Sekou said she’d like to have more hospital responders “so that the workers who respond don’t have to deal with trauma three times in one day.”

And although SCR is not the only Cure Violence site in Harlem (SAVE Harlem also operates in a section of East Harlem), the strategy as a

whole is not established in every neighborhood, and its $86 million budget is miniscule compared to the NYPD’s $10.8 billion budget.

“The thing that makes communities safe have nothing to do with patrol cars and badges. [It’s] about the strength of the neighborhood, economic opportunities, housing, schools, medical care—all the stuff that rich people take for granted.

That’s how you build a strong community and make safety. But the challenge is to get public officials to actually care about that,” said Jeffery Butts of John Jay College.

Sekou also believes that police play a more reactive than preventive role in addressing violence.

SCR maintains what they describe as a one-way relationship with the police: to preserve their credibility, they never supply police with information on the individuals they work with. But they are receptive to acting on information the police give them.

For example, sometimes the police will reach out to the office if they receive complaints about youth in the neighborhood. Rather than creating further disruption by making arrests, they will ask SCR staff to address the situation.

Sekou has also built relationships with police leaders, like NYPD’s current Chief of Training, Olufunmilola Obé, who was the former Manhattan North Borough commander. Obé said that although the NYPD and SCR did not have a “perfect relationship,” she valued working with the organization to address youth gun violence.

“I would go to [Sekou] always and say, this is what we see. Can

Julian Miles, 19, joined Street Corner Resources’ youth program after he lost his friend to gun violence two years ago. “I wanted to make a change in my community, because you never know if somebody’s going to die the next day,” he said. (Photo by Shannon Chaffers)

you help me?... So that we don’t have another kid dead, we don’t have retaliation,” she explained.

“And she was always very successful in helping us quell whatever problems we had.”

little tear when I see a young person [who] was struggling, and I helped them or we helped them, and they’re doing something I didn’t expect them to do.”

Saylor said the youth program currently serves around 30 kids, Lasting impact: SCR’s youth ages 14 to 21, from a range of programming backgrounds, including those who When Sekou is asked about have a history of violence or are the impact of her work on young deemed at-risk, who often “have people, she begins to tear up. some things going on in their lives, “It overwhelms me,” she said of where they don’t know how to talk running into past participants. about it, get help for it, [or] plan “Sometimes I walk away with a their life ahead.”

By giving youth structured activities where they could otherwise be unsupervised, and providing financial support in the form of stipends, SCR hopes they can steer kids away from violent behavior.

Indeed, research has shown that afterschool programs can reduce violence.

But SCR’s limited size means they can’t reach everyone—a fact that becomes clear with every shooting. “[I’m] always thinking about how could we have stopped this shooting, or this kid from dying?

I’m always thinking about what could be done, what more [we] could do,” Sekou said.

Her next goal as part of this vision is to secure a building that can serve and house vulnerable youth. She says it would be like a larger scale version of her brownstone home, where SCR got its start.

“That’s where I developed my vision for this,” she said. “We need a place where young people can come and stay…and to be able to have a door that we can open past midnight, when [they] feel uncomfortable and they need to talk and they feel like they want to be involved in an act of violence.”

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

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Notice is hereby given that license serial number NA-034024-102272 for a On-Premises Restaurant liquor license has been applied for by the undersigned to permit the sale of beer, wine and liquor at retail in a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at the to be named restaurant located at 85 Flatbush Avenue Extension in Kings County for on-premises consumption. Hersha Hospitality Management L.P., 85 Flatbush Avenue Extension, Brooklyn, NY 11201.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT – NEW YORK COUNTY – WEST 45TH RETAIL LLC, Plaintiff v. ALANDALOUS PROPERTIES CORP. f/k/a PEOPLES FOREIGN EXCHANGE CORPORATION, et al., Defendants. Pursuant to an Amended Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision and Order on Motion entered on September 29, 2023 (the “Judgment”), I will sell at public auction to the highest bidder in Room 130 of the New York County Supreme Court, 60 Centre Street, New York, New York, on February 14, 2024 at 2:15 p.m., the premises known as 24 West 45th Street, Unit C-1, New York, New York. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in New York County and State of New York: Block 1260, Lot 1001, as more particularly described in the Judgment. Approximate amount of Judgment is $1,632,632.61, plus additional interest and fees. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of Judgment and Terms of Sale.

Index #850207/2021. The foreclosure sale will be conducted in accordance with 1st Judicial District's Covid-19 Policies and foreclosure auction rules.

Elaine Shay, Esq., Referee.

Andriola Law, PLLC, 1385 Broadway, 22nd Floor, New York, NY 10018, Attorneys for Plaintiff

Notice is hereby given that license serial number NA-034023-152061 for a On-Premises Restaurant liquor license has been applied for by the undersigned to permit the sale of beer, wine and liquor at retail in a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at the to be named restaurant located at 5 Times Square, Floor 5, New York in New York County for on-premises consumption.

RXR 5TS TRS LLC and 5 Times Square Location LLC, 5 Times Square, Floor 5, New York, NY 10036-6527.

Notice is hereby given that a license, serial #1361897 for beer & wine has been applied for by the undersigned to sell beer & wine at retail in a restaurant under the ABC Law at 489 Columbus Ave., New York, NY 10024 for on-premises consumption; Sajni N Sons Corp.

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NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT: NEW YORK COUNTY. NYCTL 19982 TRUST AND THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON AS COLLATERAL AGENT AND CUSTODIAN, Pltf. vs. SONIGIO LLC, BOARD OF MANAGERS OF 310 WEST 52ND STREET CONDOMINIUM, Defts. Index #158610/2022. Pursuant to for judgment of foreclosure and sale entered October 6, 2023, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on March 6, 2024 at 2:15 p.m. prem. k/a 310 West 52nd Street, Storage Unit 155, New York, NY 10019 a/k/a Block 1042 Lot 1470.

Judgments amount: $2,827.20 and $2,494.69. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed judgment and terms of sale.

JEFFREY R. MILLER, Referee. THE DELLO-IACONO LAW GROUP, P.C., Attys. For Pltf., 312 Larkfield Road, Lower Level, East Northport, NY. File No. 22-000139 - #101036

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK THE COLUMBIA CONDOMINIUM BY ITS BOARD OF MANAGERS, Plaintiff -against- IR 96TH ST HOLDING LLC, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated September 28, 2023 and entered on October 2, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, NY on February 14, 2024 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, known as Unit No. 25F in the premises known as "The Columbia Condominium" together with an undivided 0.002716% interest in the common elements. Section 7 Block 1868 and Lot 1240.

Said premises known as 275 WEST 96TH STREET, APT. 25F, NEW YORK, NY. Approximate amount of lien $96,753.84 plus attorneys fees and costs as awarded in the judgment, along with interest & costs.

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

Index Number 154633/2021.

ALLISON M. FURMAN, ESQ., Referee Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas LLP Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 444 Madison Ave., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10022

BARBO 906, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/05/23.

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, 165 West 73rd Street, New York, NY 10023. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK. BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE 610 PARK AVENUE CONDOMINIUM, Plaintiff -against- 16EF APARTMENT, LLC and MARA ENTERPRISES, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered herein and dated September 29, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, NY on March 6, 2024 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, known as Unit No. PH16E in the building designated as 610 Park Avenue Condominium. Together with an undivided 4.0581% interest in the common elements.

Block: 1379 Lot: 1189 Said premises known as 610 PARK AVENUE, PH16E, NEW YORK, NY Approximate amount of lien $171,820.02 plus interest & costs.

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

Index Number 151261/2023.

CHRISTY M. DEMELFI, ESQ., Referee Belkin Burden Goldman, LLP Attorney(s) for Plaintiff

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SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK MASPETH FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff -against- CALIMERO, LTD., et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated August 23, 2023 and entered on October 6, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, NY on February 14, 2024 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the City, County and State of New York, bounded and described as follows: BEGINNING at a point on the southerly side of 84th Street, distant 123 feet easterly from the southeasterly corner of Avenue A and 84th Street; being a plot 102 feet 2 inches by 25 feet by 102 feet 2 inches by 25 feet. Section: 5 Block: 1580 Lot: 47. Said premises known as 504 EAST 84TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY. Approximate amount of lien $716,258.71 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale.

Index Number 850247/2022.

SCOTT SILLER, ESQ., Referee MASONE, WHITE, PENKAVA & CRISTOFARI Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 69-34 GRAND AVENUE, P.O. BOX 780569, MASPETH, NY 11378 SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. DAVID GEORGE JOHNSON, NYC DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE, PARKING VIOLATIONS BUREAU, NYC ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BOARD, Defts. - Index # 850064/2023. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated August 24, 2023, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Thursday, February 8, 2024, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 0.00493200000% tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as 57th STREET VACATION SUITES located at 102 West 57th Street, New York, New York. Approximate amount of judgment is $17,586.29 plus costs and interest as of March 29, 2023. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Jeffrey R. Miller, 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. BARBARA G. HAMMERMAN, RAYMOND A. LAVINE, AMANDA G. HAMMERMAN, Defts. - Index # 850274/2022. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated November 27, 2023, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Thursday, February 8, 2024, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 9,000/28,402,100 tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as HNY CLUB SUITES located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York. Approximate amount of judgment is $36,363.83 plus costs and interest as of February 24, 2023. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Christy M. Demelfi, 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. BOBBY D. PAYNE, JR. FREDERIKKA T. PAYNE, Defts. - Index # 850203/2021. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated September 6, 2023, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Thursday, February 8, 2024, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 0.00986400000% tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as 57th STREET VACATION SUITES located at 102 West 57th Street, New York, New York.

Approximate amount of judgment is $39,520.59 plus costs and interest as of May 18, 2023. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Christy M. Demelfi, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY.

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

101 LEGAL NOTICES

101 LEGAL NOTICES

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. BRIAN P. MOORE, DESIREE L. MOORE, NYC TRANSIT ADJUDICATION BUREAU, Defts. - Index # 850063/2023. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated August 24, 2023, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Thursday, February 8, 2024, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 0.0519144314871446% tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as HNY CLUB SUITES located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York. Approximate amount of judgment is $63,724.79 plus costs and interest as of March 29, 2023. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Jeffrey R. Miller, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY. SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK NYCTL 2021-A TRUST, and THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON AS COLLATERAL AGENT AND CUSTODIAN FOR THE NYCTL 2021-A TRUST, Plaintiff -against200 EAST 61ST STREET, LLC, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered herein and dated May 19, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, NY on March 6, 2024 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, known as Unit No. 32-E in the premises known as "Savoy Condominium" together with an undivided .3517809% percent interest in the common elements.

Said premises known as 200 EAST 61ST STREET, UNIT 32E, NEW YORK, NY Approximate amount of lien $109,853.89 plus interest & costs.

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

Index Number 159350/2022.

CHRISTY M. DEMELFI, ESQ., Referee Bronster, LLP Attorney(s) for Plaintiff Notice is hereby given that license serial number NA-034023-151676 for a On-Premises Restaurant liquor license has been applied for by the undersigned to permit the sale of beer, wine and liquor at retail in a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at the to be named restaurant located at 5 Times Square, Floor 4, New York in New York County for on-premises consumption.

RXR 5TS TRS LLC and Dinex Restaurant Services, LLC, 5 Times Square, Floor 4, New York, NY 10036-6527.

Ahern Painting Contractors, Inc is seeking M/WBE and SDVOB Subcontractor Proposals for the following PANYNJ Project: “REHABILITATION OF STRUCTURAL STEEL, REMOVAL OF LEAD BASED PAINT AND REPAINTING THE UNDERSIDE OF LOWER LEVEL, CONTRACT GWB-244.287”. Please contact Anna at 718-639-5880 for details.

HELL'S KITCHEN PICKLE BALL LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/04/23.

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 Robert Iacono, 660 12th Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10019. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

101 LEGAL NOTICES

101 LEGAL NOTICES

February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 34

101 LEGAL NOTICES

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK

INDEX NO. 850495/2023

FAREVERSE LLC I/L/T/N FINANCE OF AMERICA REVERSE LLC Plaintiff designates NEW YORK as the place of trial situs of the real property SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS Mortgaged Premises: 519 WEST 135TH STREET, UNIT 1ACA, NEW YORK, NY 10031

NOTICE OF SALE

District: , Section: 7, Block: 1988, Lot: 1001

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK HILTON RESORTS CORPORATION, Plaintiff -against- FRANCILLIA BEVANS, ANNETTE M. BEVANS, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated September 25, 2023 and entered on September 27, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, NY on February 28, 2024 at 2:15 p.m. premises being an undivided ownership interest as tenant-incommon with other owners in the Timeshare Unit in the building located at 102 West 57th Street, New York, NY. Together with an undivided 0.00493200000% interest in the common elements.

This a foreclosure on ownership interest in a timeshare unit, a studio penthouse on a floating use basis every year, in accordance with and subject to declarations. Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions dated October 10, 2008 and October 31, 2008 as CFRN # 2008000426142 as recorded in the Office of the City Register, County, City and State of New York. The Timeshare Unit is also designated as Block 1009 and Lot 37. Said premises known as 102 WEST 57TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY. Approximate amount of lien $19,844.42 plus interest & costs.

Plaintiff, vs.

GUZEL GONTCHAROVA, AS HEIR AND DISTRIBUTEE OF THE ESTATE OF JUNE M. HESS; UNKNOWN HEIRS AND DISTRIBUTEES OF THE ESTATE OF JUNE M. HESS, any and all persons unknown to plaintiff, claiming, or who may claim to have an interest in, or general or specific lien upon the real property described in this action; such unknown persons being herein generally described and intended to be included in the following designation, namely: the wife, widow, husband, widower, heirs at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors, and assignees of such deceased, any and all persons deriving interest in or lien upon, or title to said real property by, through or under them, or either of them, and their respective wives, widows, husbands, widowers, heirs at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors and assigns, all of whom and whose names, except as stated, are unknown to plaintiff; SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT; BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE MANHATTAN HILL CONDOMINIUM; MANHATTAN HILL CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION; NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT ADJUDICATION BUREAU; NEW YORK CITY PARKING VIOLATIONS BUREAU; NEW YORK CITY ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BOARD; NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION AND FINANCE; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK; "JOHN DOE" (REFUSED NAME) AS JOHN DOE #1, "JOHN DOE #2" through "JOHN DOE #12," the last eleven names being fictitious and unknown to plaintiff, the persons or parties intended being the tenants, occupants, persons or corporations, if any, having or claiming an interest in or lien upon the premises, described in the complaint,

Defendants.

To the above named Defendants YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your answer, or, if the complaint is not served with this summons, to serve a notice of appearance on the Plaintiff's Attorney within 20 days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within 30 days after the service is complete if this summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York) in the event the United States of America is made a party defendant, the time to answer for the said United States of America shall not expire until (60) days after service of the Summons; and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the complaint.

NOTICE

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

Index Number 850063/2022.

GEORGIA PAPAZIS, ESQ., Referee

YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME If you do not respond to this summons and complaint by serving a copy of the answer on the attorney for the mortgage company who filed this foreclosure proceeding against you and filing the answer with the court, a default judgment may be entered and you can lose your home.

DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP PLLC

Speak to an attorney or go to the court where your case is pending for further information on how to answer the summons and protect your property.

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff

Sending a payment to the mortgage company will not stop the foreclosure action.

242 Drexel Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590

YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT.

This is to announce that the next meeting of the Harlem Children's Zone Promise Academy I Charter School Board of Trustees will occur in person on Tuesday, January 30th, 2024 at 7:30am. The meeting will be held at 245 West 129th St, NY, NY.

Please take further notice that any right you may have pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act to dispute the validity or amount of the debt does not change the time within which you must answer this summons and complaint. You must follow the instructions contained in the summons even if you dispute the validity or amount of the debt.

This is to announce that the next meeting of the Harlem Children's Zone Promise Academy II Charter School Board of Trustees will occur in person on Tuesday, January 30th, 2024 at 7:30am. The meeting will be held at 245 West 129th St, NY, NY BARBO 908, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/05/23.

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, 165 West 73rd Street, New York, NY 10023. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Dated: January 9th, 2024 ROBERTSON, ANSCHUTZ, SCHNEID, CRANE & PARTNERS, PLLC Attorney for Plaintiff Matthew Rothstein, Esq. 900 Merchants Concourse, Suite 310 Westbury, NY 11590 516-280-7675

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. KAREN D. JOHNSON, Trustee of THE KAREN D. JOHNSON REVOCABLE TRUST, dated July 2, 2009, and KAREN D. JOHNSON, Defts. - Index # 850167/2020. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated May 11, 2023, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on Thursday, February 29, 2024, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 7,000/28,402,100 tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as HNY CLUB SUITES located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $42,460.12 plus costs and interest as of June 21, 2021. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Jerry Merola, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY.

101 LEGAL NOTICES STATE OF NEW MEXICO COUNTY OF D-101CV-2023-02136 AUDRA ARMIJO AND CARLOS VALLES, SR. INDIVIDUALLY AND CARLOS VALLES, SR., AS THE PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE WRONGFUL DEATH ESTATE OF ALVARO VALLES, DECEASED, Plaintiffs, vs. BRIAN V. CASHIN, MD, TAJDHARY TIWARI, MD and DEMING HOSPITAL CORPORATION D/B/A MIMBRES MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, Defendants. NOTICE OF SUIT TO: Defendant Tajdhary Tiwari, MD, You are hereby notified that the abovenamed Plaintiffs have filed a civil action against you in the above-entitled Court and cause, the general object thereof being to bring about a medical malpractice and wrongful death suit. That unless you respond to the Complaint for Medical Malpractice and Wrongful Death within 30 days of completion of publication of this Notice, judgment by default will be entered against you. Name, address, and phone number of Plaintiffs’ attorney: Poulos & Coates, LLP 1802 Avenida de Mesilla, Las Cruces, NM 88005 575-5234444. BY ORDER OF The Honorable Bryan Biedsheid, District Judge of the First Judicial District Court of the State of New Mexico and the Seal of the District Court of Santa Fes County, entered on December 27, 2023.

NOTICE OF OWNERSHIP OF CERTIFICATES OF TITLE AND REGISTERED SECURITIES No. 156 - 66-318859 Joseph Anthony Segers, living and original native American man am of the age of majority and hereby give public notice and make CLAIM OF OWNERSHIP of the Certified Security and/or Bond No: 15666-318859 whose name also appears on the face of the instrument as JOSEPH ANTHONY SEGERS (Trust/Estate) by reference to the Official Certificate of Live Birth (Title), recorded and filed dated May 23, 1966, in the Office of the Clerk, County of Kings County.

ALL INDIVIDUAL(S) claiming an interest in the registered securities no.: 156 - 66 - 318859 against JOSEPH ANTHONY SEGERS (Trust/Estate) shall be presented to: Joseph Segers at: 110-01 62nd Drive Suite 3C Forest Hills, NY 11375 within 30 days after the publication date of this publications of this notice, February 1, 2024.

WANTED: Certified M/WBE Subcontractors The Schwan's Company has created a diversity outreach program to enhance the ability of M/WBEs to compete for contracts. We are looking for certified M/WBE subcontractors to provide raw materials, supplies or services to the Schwan's Company. If you are interested in this opportunity, please contact SupplierDiversity@ Schwans.com for consideration.

SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. AMADEO F. URBANO JR. and CORAZON D. URBANO, Defts. Index # 850055/2023. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated October 3, 2023, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on Thursday, February 29, 2024, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 0.0271980765638990% tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as HNY CLUB SUITES located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $45,563.22 plus costs and interest as of July 21, 2023. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Clark Whitsett, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY.

35 • February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024

101 LEGAL NOTICES

101 LEGAL NOTICES

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK Freedom Mortgage Corporation, Plaintiff, -againstRegina Kiperman, as Administrator of the Estate of Melanie Silvera a/k/a Melanie Grace Silvera, Jefferson Malcom Silvera, as Heir to the Estate of Melanie Silvera a/k/a Melanie Grace Silvera if living and if any be dead, any and all persons who are spouses, widows, grantees, mortgagees, lienor, heirs, devisees, distributees, or successors in interest of such of the above as may be dead, and their spouses, heirs, devisees, distributees and successors in interest, all of whom and whose names and places of residences are unknown to Plaintiff , Ann Silvera, as Heir to the Estate of Melanie Silvera a/k/a Melanie Grace Silvera if living and if any be dead, any and all persons who are spouses, widows, grantees, mortgagees, lienor, heirs, devisees, distributees, or successors in interest of such of the above as may be dead, and their spouses, heirs, devisees, distributees and successors in interest, all of whom and whose names and places of residences are unknown to Plaintiff , Board of Managers for the Regatta Condominium Association, New York City Environmental Control Board, New York City Parking Violations Bureau, New York City Transit Adjudication Bureau, United States of America-Internal Revenue Service, New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Defendants.

Index No. 850553/2023 SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS Plaintiff designates New York County as the place of trial. Venue is based upon the County in which the Mortgage premises is situated.

TO THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANT(S): YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the Complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your Answer or, if the Complaint is not served with this Summons, to serve a Notice of Appearance on the attorneys for the plaintiff within twenty (20) days after service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within thirty (30) days after service is complete if this Summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York). In case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint.

NOTICE OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is to foreclose a Mortgage to secure $535,713.00 and interest, recorded in the Office of the Clerk of the County of NEW YORK on July 15, 2022, in Book CRFN 2022000282777, Page , covering premises known as 21 South End Avenue, Unit# 435, New York, NY 10280.

The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the premises described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above.

NOTICE YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME If you do not respond to this Summons and Complaint by serving a copy of the answer on the attorney for the Mortgage company who filed this foreclosure proceeding against you and filing the answer with the court, a default judgment may be entered and you can lose your home.

Speak to an attorney or go to the court where your case is pending for further information on how to answer the Summons and protect your property.

Sending a payment to your Mortgage company will not stop this foreclosure action.

YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT. Dated: Bay Shore, New York December 14, 2023 By: Robert Tremaroli, Esq. Frenkel, Lambert, Weiss, Weisman & Gordon, LLP Attorneys for Plaintiff 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, New York 11706 (631) 969-3100 Our File No.:01-098657-F00 SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. MARIJEAN P. JERRELL and NEWTON A. PERRIN, Defts. - Index # 850072/2023. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated October 3, 2023, I will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on Thursday, February 29, 2024, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 14,000/28,402,100 tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as HNY CLUB SUITES located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $66,372.66 plus costs and interest as of July 21, 2023. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Clark Whitsett, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY. Bronx Creative Crafts LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/23/2023. Office: Bronx County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail a copy to: United States Corporation Agents, Inc., 7014 13th Ave., Ste. 202, Bklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Shirty Words LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/04/2023. Office: New York County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail a copy to: 28 E. 21st St, #1A, NY, NY 10010.

Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Studio Unfurl LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/16/2023. Office: NY County.

SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail a copy to: Karen Wertheim, 44 W. 62nd St., Apt 15B, NY, NY 10023. Purpose: Any lawful act.

AOIFE REDDAN PHOTOGRAPHY LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 01/04/24. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 200 North End Avenue, Apartment 9A, New York, NY 10282. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

101 LEGAL NOTICES NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF New York, Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB not in its Individual Capacity, but Solely as Trustee for Residential Mortgage Aggregation Trust, Plaintiff, vs. GK Venture Partners LLC, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision + Order on Motion duly entered on August 4, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse, Room 130, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007 on March 6, 2024 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 200 West 139th Street, New York, NY 10030 a/k/a 2378 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, New York, NY 10030. 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 2024 and Lot 36. Approximate amount of judgment is $3,836,408.98 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index #850128/2022. COVID-19 safety protocols will be followed at the foreclosure sale.

Christy Demelfi, Esq., Referee Polsinelli PC, Amy E. Hatch, Esq., 600 Third Avenue, 42nd Floor, New York, New York 10016, Attorneys for Plaintiff Notice of Qualification of STANDARD POWER HOSTING ULTRA COMPANY LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/14/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/12/23. Princ. office of LLC: 551 Madison Ave., Ste. 450, NY, NY 10022. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Jeffrey W. Bullock, DE Secy. of State, DE Div. of Corps., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of TRIPLE P SECURITIES, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/18/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/31/22. Princ. office of LLC: 640 Fifth Ave., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10019. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543.

DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

LITTMAN PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES, PLLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/18/2023. Office: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail copy to: 368 Briarcliffe Road, Teaneck, NJ 07666. Purpose: Practice of psychology.

101 LEGAL NOTICES

101 LEGAL NOTICES

101 LEGAL NOTICES

SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK. THE BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE 812 RIVERSIDE CONDOMINIUM, SUING ON BEHALF OF THE UNIT OWNERS, Plaintiff -against- SOSEFIN MALINOWSKI, et al Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered herein and dated September 11, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction in Room 130 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street New York, NY on February 14, 2024 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, known as Condominium Unit No. 41 in the premises known as “The 812 Riverside Condominium”, together with an undivided 4.4133% interest in the common elements. Block 2136 Lot 1021. Said premises known as 812 RIVERSIDE DRIVE, UNIT 41, NEW YORK, NY 10031. Approximate amount of lien $55,372.43 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale.

Index Number 151675/2022.

SCOTT H. SILLER, ESQ., Referee. Kagan Lubic Lepper Finkelstein & Gold, LLP Attorney(s) for Plaintiff. 200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016.

Notice of Qualification of BSP SUMMER GP L.L.C. Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/06/23.

Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/25/23. Princ. office of LLC: 345 Park Ave., NY, NY 10154. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of MONACO RE LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/03/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/30/23.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Ilyse Dolgenas, Esq., Withers Bergman LLP, 430 Park Ave., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10022. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of the State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of SIG RCRS C MF 2023 VENTURE LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/22/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/04/23. Princ. office of LLC: 220 E. 42nd St., 16 Fl., NY, NY 10017. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of CityCom Health, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/04/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/20/23.

Princ. office of LLC: 520 Broad St., Newark, NJ 07102. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: To sell ACA approved health plans.

Notice of Qualification of CROW HOLDINGS RENEWABLES GP, L.L.C. Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/18/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 02/07/23. Princ. office of LLC: 3819 Maple Ave., Dallas, TX 75219. 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 122072543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wimington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., PO Box 898, Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of NYCNCC SUB-CDE 22, LLC (the “LLC”) filed with the Secretary of State of the State of New York (“SSNY”) on 11/16/2023.

Office location: New York County. The principal business address of the LLC is: One Liberty Plaza, New York, New York 10006. SSNY has been designated as the agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail service of process to c/o New York City Economic Development Corporation, One Liberty Plaza, New York, New York 10006, Attention: General Counsel. Purpose: any lawful purpose.

Notice of Qualification of BOSTON CHILDREN'S HEALTH NATIONAL, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/21/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Massachusetts (MA) on 08/09/23. Princ. office of LLC and MA addr.: 300 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of the Commonwealth of MA, One Ashburton Place, Rm. 1717, Boston, MA 02115. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of SIG RCRS D MF 2023 VENTURE LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/22/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/04/23. Princ. office of LLC: 220 E. 42nd St., 16 Fl., NY, NY 10017. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of SOLTEC SOLAR CONSTRUCTION, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/26/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/29/23.

Princ. office of LLC: 6100 Waterford District Dr., Ste. 3700, Miami, FL 33126. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543, regd. agent upon whom and at which process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 3, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of Law Office of Brett J. Nomberg, PLLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/31/2023. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served against PLLC to: 600 Third Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10016, USA. Purpose: any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of NYCNCC SUB-CDE 21, LLC(the “LLC”) filed with the Secretary of State of the State of New York (“SSNY”) on 11/16/2023. Office location: New York County. The principal business address of the LLC is: One Liberty Plaza, New York, New York 10006. SSNY has been designated as the agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail service of process to c/o New York City Economic Development Corporation, One Liberty Plaza, New York, New York 10006, Attention: General Counsel. Purpose: any lawful purpose.

Notice of Qualification of ECLAIR PARTNERS (GP) I, L.L.C. Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/15/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/01/23. Princ. office of LLC: 353 W. End Ave., Apt. 1, NY, NY 10024. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Jeffrey W. Bullock, Secy. of State - State of DE, Div. of Corps. - John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: Investment management.

Notice of Formation of GATES MILLS VILLA DEVELOPER, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/19/23. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 30 Hudson Yards, 72nd Fl., NY, NY 10001. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

101 LEGAL NOTICES

101 LEGAL NOTICES

William Farrington Photography LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 12/16/2023. Office: Kings County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail to: 160 Parkside Ave #6A, Bklyn, NY 11226. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Alan's Blow Clear LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/14/23. Office: Albany County.

Registered Agent Inc. designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to United States Corporation Agents, Inc 7014 13th Ave Suite 202 Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Soft Lighting LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/16/2023. Office: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail copy to: 110 West 90th St, Apt 3B, New York, NY 10024.

Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Joshua Engle MD PLLC dba ExciteMD Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/31/2023.

Office: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail copy to: 501 5th Ave, Ste 1203, NY, NY, 10017. Purpose: Any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of 40 MADISON HOLDINGS, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/20/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/23/23. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 140 E. 45th St., 43rd Fl., NY, NY 10017. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 820 N. French St., 10th Fl., Wilmington, DE 19801. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of GATES MILLS VILLA PRESERVATION GP, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/19/23. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 30 Hudson Yards, 72nd Fl., NY, NY 10001. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of GATES MILLS VILLA PRESERVATION, L.P. Cert. of LP filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/19/23. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LP: 30 Hudson Yards, 72nd Fl., NY, NY 10001. Latest date on which the LP may dissolve is 12/31/2122.

SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Name and addr. of each general partner are available from SSNY. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Lou & Rose LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/29/23.

Office location: NY County. The SSNY is designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail copy to: 332 E 18th St, #24, NY, NY 10003. Purpose: any lawful act.

Talawah Fitness LLC Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/3/2023. Office: Kings County.

SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail copy to: 1781 E. 16th St., Apt D2, Bklyn, NY 11229. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

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Testify

February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 36

New York State Education Department mayoral control public hearing in Brooklyn at Boys and Girls High School on Jan. 11. (Ariama C. Long photo)

Continued from page 3

driving factor behind why people want mayoral control to end is because Adams is Black. Dr. Shango A. Blake, aka the Hip Hop Principal, president of the Black Edfluencers-United (BEU), was adamant about Black studies, Black teachers, disenfranchised communities, and Black students. He admitted in his testimony that within his own group there were opinions about mayoral control that ranged from keeping it to ending it.

“There are others that believe there are special interest groups attacking Mayor Adams because he has an equity agenda when it comes to the procurement of contracts. In addition, there is a feeling that this intense desire to remove mayoral control of NYC schools is rooted in racial politics,” said Blake. “Black EdfluencersUnited has decided to support the extension of mayoral control. However, mayoral control must be restructured in a way that parents and community can participate as real power partners.”

Others insinuated in their testimony that Bloomberg’s initial implementation of mayoral control was “racist” to begin with and therefore should end.

“This isn’t right,” said advocate Eon Huntley at a Brooklyn hearing. “Mayoral control cannot persist because we know it’s racist in origin. New York City and other municipalities that have mayoral control implemented have done so as a reactionary response to Black and brown community power. We have been dealing with this undemocratic imbalance for over 20 years and it hasn’t made anything less corrupt.”

It’s clear that the underlying theme of the live testimonies given was a demand and a need for some type of reform on the Mayor’s part.

Adams maintains that most of the people who testified at the hearings are speaking about what happened under former mayors. He also said that the limited numbers at the hearings

weren’t a realistic sample size of the school’s parents and therefore not accurate.

“We have a public school reared chancellor, we have a public school reared mayor.

We have transformed the school system with what we are doing,” said Adams at this Tuesday’s presser. “If we were failing, then we have to deal with the negative outcomes but we are winning.We are succeeding in what we are doing.”

Adams noted some of his administration’s initiatives as wins under mayoral control, such as the Summer Rising youth employment program he recently reversed cuts to, career development programs, healthy foods in schools, implementing dyslexia screening, and narrowing the city’s racial learning gap for Black and brown students when it comes to math

and ELA test scores.

Governor Kathy Hochul effectively cosigned extending mayoral control for another four years in her executive budget. The state budget refers to mayoral control as the New York City School Governance, which is currently scheduled to expire on June 30, 2024.

The state’s final report is set to be released by Mar 31, 2024 , after all testimony, in-person and written, is reviewed.

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.

Salaam Continued from page 3

Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said that the footage showed “the truth about the outstanding, professional work” union members perform “every day” and demanded an apology from Salaam and allied elected officials.

The New York City Council Holds Stated Meeting - January 30, 2024 (Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit.)

To display your Legal, LLC, and classifieds ads contact:

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.

Shaquana Folks 212-932-7412 shaquana.folks@amsterdamnews.com

February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 37

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS S P O R T S

Third Annual Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic showcases Four HBCU games

By DERREL JOHNSON Special to the AmNews This Saturday, actor, director, and entrepreneur Michael B. Jordan, WME Sports (the sports division of WME, an Endeavor company), Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, and Horizon Sports & Experiences will come together for the Third Annual Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic at Prudential Center in Newark. The classic will feature four historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) competing in a college basketball doubleheader.

The Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic looks to improve on last year’s attendance numbers, which saw 13,451 fans at “the Rock” to watch the game, which will also be televised nationally on TNT. Each of the four teams will participate in a battle of the bands during halftime. Some of the off-the-court events of the Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic will include a welcome party, a kickoff concert, a sports and entertainment summit, an HBCU college fair, and a Legacy Brunch Series with Kevin Durant’s media company the Boardroom, which aims to connect 25 HBCU alumni with 25 senior executives across the sports and entertainment.

The Amsterdam News spoke exclusively with Cecil White of William Morris Endeavor (WME) about the origin of the Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic.

“Honestly, I have to give credit to Michael [B. Jordan] on this one,” said White. “The vision started with him on his couch. You

WBC lightweight champion and Newark native Shakur Stevenson and Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic creator, director, actor, and entrepreneur Michael B. Jordan at last year’s classic.

know, it was during the pandemic and he was watching everything happen in real time as we all were with the kind of civil unrest that was happening during the summer of 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. I think he was really enamored with the proliferation of black high school athletes, elite level, Black high school athletes that were considering HBCUs as a mode of creating more awareness for HBCUs and almost as their way of participating in the social justice movement.

He said how awesome would it be if we created some form of tournament for these

Tristan Maxwell of the Hampton Pirates brings the ball up against Norfolk State’s pressure in the 2023 Legacy Classic. (Prudential Center Photos)

HBCUs to get the national spotlight that they deserve and to show these black athletes that they could get similar opportunities at HBCUs that they could at predominantly white schools with regards to exposure.

That’s kind of where the idea was born.”

White also shared that the Thurgood Marshall College Fund has been the philanthropic partner of the event since the inaugural event.

He called Jordan the heartbeat of the event.

“He sits at the nucleus of the event,” he

said. “There’s nobody with a bigger heart than him, and I think that’s on full display every year. At the event, he’s given hugs to the food vendors who are like his aunts and uncles that he remembers from middle school.”

On the court, both Grambling State (8-12, 5-2 SWAC) and Jackson State (8-12, 4-3 SWAC) will battle for Southwestern Athletic Conference supremacy in the first game at 1 p.m. In the second game, Hampton (4-17) and Howard (9-13) will square off at 4 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased via Ticketmaster.

Winston Salem State and Virginia Union to meet in the 2024 NBA HBCU Classic

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor The NBA will honor the sterling tradition of Black college basketball by holding its third HBCU Classic on February 17 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana as part of the All-Star weekend events. Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) programs Winston Salem State University and Virginia Union will meet in the conference pairing.

The game will be simulcast on TNT, ESPN2 and NBA TV. The WSSU Rams are 13-6 overall, 7-3 in all CIAA games and 2-3 in the Southern Division. The VUU Panthers are 9-12, 4-5 in the conference yet 3-0 in the Northern Division, tied for first place with 3-0 Lincoln University (10-10, 6-4).

Earl Monroe (Winston Salem State), Willis Reed (Grambling), Sam Jones (North Carolina Central)—who passed away in 2021—and Ben Wallace (Virginia Union) are all members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and alumni of historically black colleges and universities. Dick Barnett (Tennessee State), Charles Oakley (Virginia Union)

and the late Anthony Mason (Tennessee State), a trio of former Knicks, also took the HBCU path to the NBA. Since West Virginia State’s Earl Lloyd became the first HBCU player drafted to the NBA in 1950 and the pioneering first Black player to appear in an NBA game, also in 1950, 350 more men have been selected in the NBA draft. The American Basketball Association (ABA), which operated from 1967 to 1976, when it merged with the NBA, also had notable HBCU stars such as Prairie View A&M’s Zelmo Beaty, a two-time All-NBA performer who left the NBA’s St. Louis/Atlanta Hawks for the ABA’s Utah Stars in 1970 before returning to play for the Los Angeles Lakers later in the decade.

But the number of players coming from HBCUs to the Association, as the league is commonly called, has dramatically declined over the past 30 years. The last HBCU player drafted to the NBA was Queens, New York native Kyle O’Quinn, taken in 2012 out of Norfolk State in the second round (49th overall) by the Orlando Magic. O’Quinn, who now plays in China in the country’s top league, the Chinese Basketball Association, also suited up for the Knicks from 2015 to 2018.

Tyrhe Fortney and the Winston Salem State Rams will face the Virginia Union University Panthers in the 2024 NBA HBCU Classic on February 17 in Indianapolis during All-Star weekend. (Lem Peterkin photo)

38 • February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS S P O R T S

The Knicks navigate injuries to stack crucial wins

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor No team in the NBA was better than the Knicks in the month of January.

Since acquiring forwards OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa in a trade with the Toronto Raptors for RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley on December 30, the Knicks have been the winningest team in the NBA. Anunoby and Achiuwa made their Knicks debuts on January 1 in a 112-106 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Madison Square Garden, and the team went 14-2 in the month, closing it out with a convincing 118-102 victory over the Utah Jazz at home on Tuesday night.

Guard Donte DiVincenzo, who has been one of the league’s best free-agent signings this season, scored a game-high 33 points on a career high nine made three-pointers, and combined with his former Villanova teammate and current starting backcourt partner Jalen Brunson, the NBA’s top free-agent signing last season, to drop 62 total points.

Josh Hart had 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his first career triple-double, Isaiah Hartenstein 14 point and 12 rebounds, Achiuwa 18 points and five rebounds. Achiuwa and Hart were in the starting lineup for the second consecutive game filling in for Julius Randle and Anunoby. The Knicks downed the Charlotte Hornets on

two, I think it’s the blueprint that Thibs [Thibodeau] has given us,” said DiVincenzo after the victory over Utah. “We have an identity here, and everybody buys in and there’s a joy that we have with our team right now.”

Coach Thibodeau prescribes collectivism as a mindset to overcome the loss of critical players. “I think the big thing is you don’t replace guys individually, particularly a guy like Julius,” he said. “So it’s our defense, our rebounding, taking care of the ball.”

Before their current run, in which the Knicks go into tonight’s game at home versus the Indiana Pacers on an eight game winning streak, they had lost four of five from December 23 through December 30.

Ironically, their upward trajectory began after a 140-126 loss to the Pacers in Indiana on December 30.

The Knicks had the highest defensive rating in the NBA in January and are second in the league to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the road on Monday by 113-92.

Mitch Robinson, who had left ankle surgery points allowed per game (109.3) and points Randle dislocated his right shoulder late is included, the Knicks were playing minus allowed per 100 possessions (110.6). in the fourth quarter going up for a layup three regular starters.

After the Pacers, the Knicks will host the on Saturday at the Garden in a 125-109 vicHowever, the Knicks haven’t just perse- Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, the Memtory against the Miami Heat. Rookie Jaime vered through injuries, trades and altera- phis Grizzlies on Tuesday and Dallas MaverJaquez Jr. attempted to take a charge and tions to their roster, they have thrived. Some icks next Thursday all at the Garden. slid under Randle, who was bumped off-bal- of the credit for their resolve has to be asance and tried to brace his fall with his right cribed to team president Leon Rose and exCorrection from last week’s story: Atlanarm. He is out indefinitely. Anunoby sat out ecutive vice president William Wesley for ta Hawks guard Dejounte Murray signed Monday and Tuesday with right elbow in- prudent personnel moves. a four-year, $120 million extension with flammation and is considered day-to-day. If “One, I think we have a deep team, but the team last summer.

Former Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson and Donte DiViincenzo have formed a potent backcourt tandem for the Knicks. (Bill Moore photo)

Ben Simmons sparks Nets in return to action

By DERREL JOHNSON Special to the AmNews Three-time NBA All-Star Ben Simmons, who only played in six games this season before sustaining a nerve impingement in his back on November 6, returned to action for the Brooklyn Nets Monday evening at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and immediately showed why he was sorely missed by the franchise.

In only his seventh game, Simmons entered with 6:27 remaining in the first quarter with the Nets facing the Utah Jazz. The 6-10 point-forward’s two quick assists and an offensive rebound in his first 46 seconds of play, with Brooklyn up by 16-14, initiated a 20-6. The Nets cruised to a 147-114 win to improve to 19-27 and a tie for the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference with the Atlanta Hawks after the victory.

The Nets hosted the surging Phoenix Suns last night, who had won eight of their previous 10 games. Simmons was spectacular, hitting all five of his shots while scoring 10 points, grabbing eight rebounds, and dishing out 11 assists in only 18 minutes without turning the ball over. He became the second player in NBA history to record 10 or more points, five or more rebounds, and 10 or more assists without a turnover

two in a row since besting the Detroit Pistons on December 23 and December 26.

“I think it was a good first game,” Simmons said. “Certain guys know what it’s like to play with me and where their shots are going to come from. So for us, it’s easy.”

With over half this season completed, Simmons said the Nets have much upside.

“I think we could be really good if we do everything we need to do, but that takes time and focus and dedication, from the front office to the last guy on the bench, to training staff, the coaches,” he said. “It’s a team effort and I think we can get that if everyone buys into it.”

Simmons also added that his playing time isn’t his decision, but that of the organization.

When the season began, the Nets’ needs were rebounding, playmaking ability, and the defensive skill set that Simmons brings to the game. In a small sample after missing nearly three months, without practicing with his teammates, he displayed all or a missed field goal, joining two-time also dished out 41 assists, which is the third three on Monday.

NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nug- time since 2000 that they have recorded 40 Brooklyn heads to Philadelphia on Satgets, who accomplished the feat on Octo- or more assists in a game and the first in urday to face Simmons’s former team, ber 20, 2018, against the Suns. franchise history with 40 or more assists the 76ers. The Nets return to the Barclays The Nets’ 147 points tied for the second- and fewer than 10 turnovers—Brooklyn Center for back-to-back games against the most in a regulation game since the fran- turned the ball over nine times Monday.

Golden State Warriors on Monday and the chise became the Brooklyn Nets. The team The win was also the first time they won Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.

Nets forward Ben Simmons scored 10 points, had 11 rebounds, and added eight assists in his team’s 147-114 win over the Utah Jazz in Brooklyn on Monday night. (Derrel Johnson photo)

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS S P O R T S

February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024 • 39

With spring training approaching, where will Judge and Soto bat?

By RUDY ROBINSON Special to the AmNews The New York Yankees open spring training in Tampa, Florida, with pitchers and catchers reporting on February 15 and the full squad on February 20. That means outfielder Juan Soto, a three-time All-star and two-time All-MLB First Team selection, will arrive in a few weeks. The Yankees acquired the 25-year-old slugger from the San Diego Padres this past December in a trade, giving up several of their top prospects for one of the best hitters in baseball.

The Yankees already have Aaron Judge, a five-time All-Star and 2022 American League MVP. However, both have been batting in the No. 2 spot. Since that spot can only go to one player, who will remain second in the order? Who will make the adjustment?

Judge set the American League home run record in 2022 while batting second. He’s a patient hitter who draws a lot of walks (88 last year in 106 games), showing his ability to get on base. While he strikes out a lot, that’s a trait most power hitters have, with the exception of Barry Bonds. Combining the left-handed–hitting Soto with Judge forms a 1-2 punch that will be devastating. And that’s how they should bat: Soto first and Judge second.

Soto has a high walk rate—more than 100 in the last four years. He has less power than Judge but strikes out fewer times. Getting on base is the key for the leadoff man. Soto can do this, which would mean more pitches to hit for Judge. He’s a decent runner and while not a big base-stealer, that’s not really the Yankee way.

The team had 100, ranked 21st in the MLB.

Considering the type of hitters they are, neither is very aggressive.

The 3-4 hitters in a lineup must be the attack dogs. They can’t be patient because they’re being counted on to drive in runs. See a strike, swing the bat. For Judge or Soto to bat those slots takes them out of their comfort zone. As the great boxing trainer Cus D’Amato once said, “Round people don’t turn out square.”

First baseman Anthony Rizzo and infielder D.J. LeMahieu are capable hitters in those positions, based on an eye test, not extensive analytics.

The Yankees constantly change their lineup, in this writer’s view to their detriment. Soto leading off and Judge batting second creates some consistency to an area completely overlooked by analytics. It could be a good starting point for a potentially much-improved Yankees offense.

Juan Soto, one of the best hitters in baseball, is major addition to Yankees lineup. (Photo credit: Ryan Casey Aguinaldo (https:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Juan_Soto_9.22.22.jpg), https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode )

Anaelle Kouevi and Yann Homawoo reached podium at U.S. Championships

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews

Ice dancers Anaelle Kouevi and Yann Homawoo join fellow medalists on podium. (Photo courtesy of Kouevi and Homawoo)

Former ice dancers Tiffani Tucker (l) and Franklyn Singley (r) with 1988 Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano. (Photo courtesy of Franklyn Singley)

It was a week of stellar skating at the 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Columbus, Ohio.

Novice and junior skaters kicked off the week’s competitions.

Ice dancers Anaelle Kouevi and Yann Homawoo, first cousins who train in Virginia, earned the bronze medal in novice dance, the first time a Black team has been on the podium since Tiffani Tucker and Franklyn Singley in 1993. Their parents said it was emotional to see them on such a big stage.

“It was surreal; I didn’t think we would be here that fast,” said Kouevi, who eased her nerves by focusing on performing and embodying a character. “It was really exciting to compete on that ice and be able to show everybody what we’ve been spending basically the entire season preparing for.

Even making it [to Nationals] was a dream come true.”

Homawoo said he focused on doing what he was trained to do.

Standing on the podium was exciting, but left them wanting more.

“We were there with the top skaters in the country,” said Homawoo.

“Equaling the record was inspiring, but in the back of my head, I also wanted to break the record.”

Kouevi, Homawoo, and their

coaches will study videos of their performances and work to be even stronger next season. For now, they’re enjoying the stuffed animals given to them by fans.

Three other Black skaters also competed last week. Junior ice dancer Kristina Bland finished in sixth place with partner Matthew

ers from Figure Skating in Harlem were invited to skate in Sunday’s exhibition. There was also a diversity, equity, and inclusion forum at the Lincoln Theatre in Columbus, attended by skating choreographer and former competitor Joy Thomas, who has done some work with the team at Howard University.

Sperry. In the senior women’s event, veteran competitor Starr Andrews finished sixth, receiving a standing ovation for her free skate. Mark Sadusky and partner Nica Digerness finished seventh in senior pairs.

Throughout the week, U.S. Figure Skating made an effort to create an inclusive environment. Skat-

“People shared their personal experiences and stories of not being embraced in the sport,” said Thomas, who infuses Black culture into programs through deliberate musical choices. “Also, there were discussions of what the next steps should be to make skating more inclusive.”

40 • February 1, 2024 - February 7, 2024

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Sports Mahomes and the Chiefs continue their reign as rulers of the AFC

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor Patrick Mahomes heard the opinions across the NFL landscape that the Kansas City Chiefs didn’t possess the tools to repeat as AFC and Super Bowl champions. After a 20-17 loss at home to the Buffalo Bills on December 10 in Week 14 dropped them to 8-5, the doubters’ voices were amplified.

Last season, in their march toward the Super Bowl title, culminating with a win over the Philadelphia Eagles, the Chiefs only lost three games in the NFL’s 17-game regular season schedule. After the defeat to the Bills, the Chiefs regrouped to win three of the last four games and captured their eight straight AFC title.

Following their 26-7 wildcard game victory over the Miami Dolphins on January 13, the No. 3-seeded Chiefs exacted revenge against the No. 2-seeded Bills on the road in the divisional round the next weekend with a gripping 27-24 win. Then this past Sunday, facing the No. 1 seed Baltimore Ravens on

the road, they quieted the skeptics by turning back the league’s best team during the regular season and their dynamic quarterback Lamar Jackson, topping them 17-10 to earn the franchise’s fourth Super Bowl appearance in the last six seasons.

The Chiefs will meet the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas on February 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Super Bowl LVIII (58). It is a rematch of Super Bowl LIV four years ago, when the Chiefs beat the 49ers 31-20.

Although Jackson is certain to be named the NFL’s MVP when the award is presented on February 8 at the 2024 NFL Honors Awards ceremony in Las Vegas, he was denied the coveted opportunity of playing for a league title.

While Mahomes and the Chiefs offense was calm and surgical going up against the best defense in football this season, Jackson and the Ravens’ offense was disjointed and anxious, shockingly deviating from its strength of employing a grinding rushing attack activating their running backs.

Under their first-year offensive coordinator Todd Monken, the

Ravens’ running backs had 20 or more combined carries in 12 of their previous 18 games before Sunday’s loss to the Chiefs, including a season high 31 the prior week in a dominant 34-10 win over the Houston Texans in the divisional round.

Yet Monken confoundingly and inexplicably only called six rushing plays by his running backs against a Chiefs defense that allowed 182 yards on the ground to the Bills in their prior game.

Two costly turnovers in the fourth quarter also undid the Ravens.

Wide receiver Zay Flowers fumbled the ball at the goal line early in the fourth quarter with the Ravens down 17-7 leading to a touchback and the Chiefs regaining possession. Then Jackson threw an interception into the end zone trying to hit tight end Isaiah Likely with 6:54 to go at the Chiefs 25-yard line still down 17-7.

“Our defense was outstanding,” said Chiefs head coach Andy Reid.

“We were able to get a lead, and we were able to maintain that lead with great personality, as they’ve done throughout the season.”

Meanwhile, Ravens head coach

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is headed to his fourth Super Bowl after his team’s 17-7 win over the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Game. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

John Harbaugh’s defense lived up to their lofty reputation, holding the Chiefs scoreless in the second half.

Still, Mahomes and Kansas City’s offensive unit were acutely aware of the value of ball protection and did not commit a turnover the entire game.

The Chiefs still had a chance to get the ball back for one last drive.

But a 32-yard completion from Mahomes to receiver Marquez ValdesScantling for a first down with 2:19 to play sealed the win.

“Coach Reid had the confidence to give us a chance to throw the ball in that situation,” Mahomes said.

And so it is that the Chiefs are off to another Super Bowl.

Lions coach Campbell’s gamble leads to 49ers advancing to Bowl

By DERREL JOHNSON Special to the AmNews Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell was going to stay true to what paved the way for his team to reach the NFC Championship Game this past Sunday versus the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Campbell is known for being aggressive in taking chances on fourth downs instead of going the safe route of a punt or a field goal. Against the 49ers, he opted to go for it on fourth down in two crucial spots, failing on both attempts. These two key decisions arguably cost the Lions a trip to the Super Bowl as the 49ers overcame a 24-7 halftime deficit to defeat the Lions 34-31.

San Francisco will now face the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs, who defeated the Baltimore Ravens 17-10, in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas on Sunday, Feb. 11.

The Detroit Lions dominated the first half by running the football and

scored on a 15-yard run to put the Lions up 21-7. The San Francisco defense was able to stall Detroit’s offense in the red zone later in the first half at the three-yard line to force a 21-yard field goal and the Lions took a commanding lead into halftime.

In the third quarter, a Jake Moody field goal at 11:02, a touchdown News pass from 49ers QB AM Brock Purdy to receiver Brandon Aiyuk at 5:17, and a one-yard push by 01/18/24 San Francisco running back Christian McCaffrey at 3:02 capped 17 unanswered points by the 49ers to tie the score at 24-24.

But the momentum could have News been stopped by theAM Lions.

Instead, midway through the third quarter, 01/25/24 still up by 14, Campbell went for it on fourth-and two from proficiently mixing in play-action touchdown by running back David the 49ers’ 28, opting not to passes. They opened the game with a Montgomery. The 49ers offense woke kick a field goal. The pass touchdown on their first drive when up on the next drive, putting together from Goff to receiver Josh AM News wide receiver Jameson Williams took an eight-play, 75-yard drive that cul- Reynolds was not perfect, a handoff from quarterback Jared minated with a two-yard touchdown but arguably should02/01/24 have Goff at 42 yards for a 7-0 lead.

by Christian McCaffrey. been caught. Reynolds Detroit took a 14-0 lead after an Detroit added another touchdown dropped it and the 49ers 11-play, 62-yard drive ended with a when running back Jahmyr Gibbs gained confidence.

San Francisco 49ers All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner celebrates his team’s 34-31 win over Detroit Lions in NFC Championship Game last Sunday (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

At 7:32 of the fourth quarter, with the Lions down 27-24, Campbell went for it again on fourth-andthree at the 49ers’ 30. Once again the attempt failed.

“It’s easy in hindsight,” said Campbell to the media after the game. “I get that, but I don’t regret those decisions and that’s hard. It’s hard because we didn’t come through.”

Winning coach Kyle Shanahan said his team kept its faith after falling behind.

“You had no other choice,” he said. “I think we were just pissed off…That would have been a real tough way to end [the season] if we couldn’t have played better with that group.”

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