INNER-CITY NEWS

INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, 2016 - August 02, 2016 THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

Financial Justice Key Focus atRights 2016Attack NAACP Convention Cedric Richmond IssuesaBlistering Voting Against GOP, Trump New Haven, Bridgeport

INNER-CITYNEWS

Volume 29 . No. 24527 Volume 21 No. 2194

Malloy Malloy To To Dems: Dems:

“DMC” BlACK WOMEN ACTIVIST

Ignore Ignore“Tough “ToughOn OnCrime” Crime”

Color Struck?

Snow in July?

Pitts Chapel Unveils Longtime Bishop’s Portrait

City Will Require Covid Booster Shots US ON FOLLOW 1

Darlene Braddy-Huskey, Patricia Gilliam, and Jean Carr.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

An Arts Incubator Opens Its Doors In Westville

by Lucy Gellman, Editor, The Arts Paper www.newhavenarts.org

The long-silent school building at the corner of McKinley Avenue was coming to life.

In a second-floor classroom, Gretchen Frazier grabbed a purple dry erase marker, and sketched out four thick music notes floating down a scale. Through the wall, the faint refrain of “Hot Cross Buns” started up for the third time in 10 minutes. The sound of drums drifted over the hallway, singing on the downbeat.

Back in Frazier’s classroom, 8-year-old Donny Williams, Jr. came over to the board and read every note.

It’s a normal scene at the new Westville Performing Arts Center, where Arts In CT has set up shop one one floor of the former St. Aedan/St. Brendan School on 351 McKinley Ave. Saturday, the arts incubator marked its grand opening with a day of Covid-cautious classes, from masked string, dance and singing lessons to tutorials on Shakespeare and contemporary movement. Read a previous Arts Paper article on the organization’s move to Westville here.

Arts In CT Founder Barbara Alexander bounced from room to room, often in song. Bursts of piano spilled out of her corner office every few minutes. Meanwhile, teachers rolled in and chatted with each other beneath crisp masks, waiting for potential students to arrive.

“I like Arts In CT because I get to express who I am on a constant basis,” said Earl Ali-Randall, a longtime teacher at the organization who is in charge of WPAC’s West African and jazz dance curriculum. “I feel like it’s a family. I’m with the vision.”

In the few months since the move to Westville last year, Alexander has recruited over a dozen teachers for the McKinley Avenue space, which sits on the second floor of an old, imposing stone building on a quiet block of the neighborhood.

There are dancers including Ali-Randall and Wes Yarbor, string instructors like Frazier, yoga geeks, opera singers who have performed in New York and Italy, and actors who eat the Bard for breakfast and Greek tragedy for lunch and dinner.

Because of the pandemic, the organization has also continued to offer virtual classes in addition to in-person ones.

Saturday, reminders of the building’s former life kept bumping into its new one. Gentle, cartoon-esque renderings of saints and apostles shared space with crafting tables and pint-sized easels.

Yarbor set a boom box down on a floor that, not so long ago, housed neat rows of desks and hushed, squirming students.

West African drums pounded through classroom number two—Alexander calls them suites—as the Virgin Mary kept watch in pearlescent blue and white at the end of the hall.

Nobody seemed to mind. In the art room,

Teachers Earl Ali-Randall, Matthew DeCostanza and Jeannie-Marie Brown. DeCostanza, who grew up in Connecticut and is a playwright, will be teaching Shakespeare.

Lucy Gellman Photos: Donny Williams, Jr. and teacher Gretchen Frazier. Frazier, a violist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and Eastern Connecticut Symphony among others, is one of the teachers at the new Westville Performing Arts Center (WPAC).

10-year-old Sophia Torrens cut out a series of construction paper hearts, labelling each of them carefully as she slipped them into a see-through Valentine’s Day ornament. Love, read one. Mom, read another. When she labeled a third with the word Hatred, she explained that “you gotta put some love on all that hate” in the world, as a way to stop it in its tracks.

A student at Seth Haley Elementary School in West Haven, she and stepdad Joshua Gharis came out to the grand opening after spotting it online earlier this month. For Gharis, a professional photographer, it’s a way to pass his love for art

down to Sophia. For Sophia, who started making art as a toddler and never stopped, it’s a way to relax in a world that doesn’t always feel relaxing. She said she’ll likely be back for classes in the spring.

“Now I’m calm,” she said. “When you’re angry, you can just doodle your feelings away. It helps my mind to not think of the bad and think of the good.”

Across the table, 8-year-old Leah Dobin filled a matching ornament with neat red hearts, debating the merits of decorating the outside with her mom Rachel.

Teacher Denise Vosburgh checked on her progress, then checked on the watercolor

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supply as students squeezed globs of yellow, blue and green onto their palettes and began to mix. When an abstracted canvas caught her eye, she stopped to watch a student paint for a while. Sun streamed through the window, illuminating both of them.

Based in Hamden, Vosburgh is a very new member of the Arts In CT family— she signed up to teach after a phone call with Alexander the night before the grand opening. After two years of teaching largely online, she said she was excited to be back in the classroom. She squirted her hands with sanitizer, rubbing it between her palms as she spoke.

“It’s so much fun to see them finding a

technique that fits their desire to express themselves,” she said. “The more you accomplish, the more you know what you want.”

Three rooms over, Dr. Lisa Bryce welcomed 8-year-old Naomi Rivers to the keyboard for a voice lesson. Born and raised in New York City, Bryce met Alexander years ago, while both of them were studying opera in Italy. During the pandemic, she began teaching Arts In CT courses from her Brooklyn apartment.

Saturday, she took the grand opening as a chance to visit New Haven (“it’s so peaceful,” she mused between lessons) and give a few master classes in person.

As Naomi stepped up to the keyboard, Bryce beamed beneath her mask.

“We are going to laugh with a lot of energy at these notes!” she said, She placed both hands gingerly on the keyboard and began to play. Standing directly across from her, Naomi lifted one foot barely off the floor, just enough to set off a series of flashing pink lights in her sneakers. She began to laugh-sing in time with Bryce’s notes. Her mom, Jane Rivers, watched quietly from the corner.

“Now that you have such energy in your voice, let’s sing ‘Hot Cross Buns!’”

Bryce said, her eyes bright over a grey mask. Naomi’s voice filled the room, rising to the ceiling. She later said that singing “makes me feel good,” whether it’s the soundtrack to Encanto or Bryce’s warmups.

In the hallway outside, Ali-Randall chatted with fellow teachers JeannieMarie Brown and Matthew DeCostanza.

Born and raised in New Haven, AliRandall started teaching with Arts In CT almost six years ago. For him, it’s the chance to give back to a community that raised him, from classes with Sheri Caldwell and Elaine Peters to his current work with Hanan Hameen and the Artsucation Academy Network. He added that he’s grateful for the work in the pandemCon’t on next page

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

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ic, which has pushed some of his dance classes online. When he’s not dancing, he is a paraprofessional in the New Haven Public Schools.

“The potential for development is huge,” Brown chimed in. “The liftoff part is often complicated, but we’re here, and we’re not going anywhere.”

Strains of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” cut through their conversation, bobbing into the hall as a door opened somewhere.

Inside a sunlit classroom, Frazier handed a violin to Donny Williams. “We can hold the violin like a guitar,” she said as he accepted the instrument tenderly, as if it were a newborn baby. As he placed it horizontal between his hands, his mom, Samantha Williams, pulled out her phone and began to record.

The founder of 628 Digital Design and the Collective of Minority Women Professionals, she later said that she has known Alexander for some time through work, and was excited to “support and amplify” the brainchild of a fellow Black woman.

Frazier put down the violins, and walked over to the whiteboard. Donny took a beat, and then came over to where she was standing. She drew out a treble clef that matched the color of her sweater, and then labeled each line with a note.

He read them almost as quickly. Over a child-sized N95 mask, his eyes crinkled and rose just a little at the edges, enough to show that he was smiling.

“Ooh, you’re fast!” Frazier said, walking back over to the violins. “Good job!”

In her corner office, it appeared that Alexander hadn’t had a chance to sit down at her desk all morning. She jogged from the hallway to the piano in the corner of the room, where 12-year-old Kaylee George was learning to play the keyboard. Alexander pulled the bench out, straightened her back, and demonstrated careful form. She played a scale, and then stopped on D. “D is the doggie with the two black ears,” she said, turning the bench back over to George as she watched her hands float up to the keys. “That’s how I always remembered it.”

For both teacher and student, it was a full circle kind of moment. When George was five, she acted in Arts In CT’s firstever performance, a production of Beauty and the Beast. Even as a villager ferrying eggs around the stage, “Kaylee was a star,” Alexander said. Then the two lost touch. When George and her mom spotted an announcement for the grand opening, they were excited for the chance to reconnect.

“It’s fun, but scary,” George said of performing. “I didn’t really know how to do it. I definitely want to learn more.”

The Westville Performing Arts Center (WPAC) is located at 351 McKinley Ave. in New Haven. Learn more about upcoming classes and a 2022 summer camp here.

150 Bid Farewell To A Fallen Officer

by CORAL ORTIZ

The death of Police Officer Diane Gonzalez “changed all of our lives in some way,” one of her former colleagues recalled at an emotional funeral ceremony held Wednesday.

That former colleague, Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez, made those remarks before a crowd of 150 friends, relatives, former coworkers, and elected officials gathered graveside at Evergreen Cemetery. said this at the funeral of Officer Gonzalez, a 13-year veteran of the NHPD who died last week after spending 13 years in a coma following a 2008 crash with another officer en route to an emergency call.

Dominguez described Gonzalez as the “hen taking care of her chicks” during her time at the police department. She said Gonzalez left her mark on the department, particularly on other female officers. With such an impact on the department and the city, Dominguez encouraged those in attendance to continue “soul searching” and “love fiercely” in Gonzalez’s memory.

Ofc. Gonzalez.

Other speakers at the funeral described how Officer Gonzalez always was willing to take extra shifts, connected with the community, and showed a deep love for her children and grandchildren.

Former Chief Anthony Campbell re-

CORAL ORTIZ PHOTO Officers and loved ones gather at Wednesday's funeral. called a moment at Dunkin Donuts he and Officer Gonzalez “broke up a fight.” Officer Gonzalez used her ability to “know how to talk to people” and calmed ev-

eryone down. She “always made sure to take care of people around her,” Campbell said. He vowed the New Haven will “never let the memory of her die.”

City Will Require Covid Booster Shots

by PAUL BASS

“Fully vaxxed” for city workers will now mean three shots, not two.

Mayor Justin Elicker made that announcement Tuesday at a Covid-19 update press conference outside the back entrance to City Hall.

He announced that city workers, including school employees, will need booster shots as well as the original two vaccine shots to qualify as “vaccinated” under the city’s vax-or-test policy. He cited research showing that boosters offer greater protection against infection and serious disease from the coronavirus. He also said the city is following the guidance of the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Starting Friday employees will have two weeks to update information about their vaccination status on the city government portal. The policy will take full effect March 4, meaning by that date employees will need either to confirm they have received all three shots or submit to weekly Covid testing.

The policy covers 1,436 non-education city employees, and around another 4,000 public schools workers.

Officials at the press conference also stated that: • 81.1 percent of city employees have received at least two vaccine shots. That includes 66 percent of police officers and 79.2 percent for firefighters. “Fire is crushing the police,” Elicker quipped.

• Omicron cases appear to be continu-

PAUL BASS PHOTO Fontana: No more long lines for saliva tests; "in and out in five minutes."

ing to plunge in the city, reflecting a regional trend. The most recent engineering analysis of city wastewater (from Jan. 17) revealed about 34 cases a day, compared to over 200 at the wave’s height, reported Health Director Martiza Bond.

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• The city has distributed 40,000 Covid rapid tests to city residents and another 10,000 to government first responders.

“It has made a huge difference in keeping people at work,” said the city’s point person for the distribution, emergency

management chief Rick Fontana.

• The city’s focusing on helping local businesses stay open, especially amid the end of government subsidies and yale’s decision to keep students quarantined for weeks.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

Feds Send City $2M For “Healthy Homes”

by MAYA MCFADDEN

Penfield Communications Inc

New Haven Independent

Two hundred low income households can expect to get assistance from the city to tackle causes of asthma, lead poisoning, and exposure to radon, thanks to the latest infusion of federal cash into New Haven.

The city’s Health Department made the announcement Monday: It will receive $2 million from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to increase resources for its Healthy Homes Program.

The grant will help the department obtain assessments and repairs for 200 homes within the city’s lower-income “opportunity zones.” The means new investment in the structure of homes, 70 percent of which were built prior to 1978.

The grant funds will be used as a supplement to the city’s lead hazards control program to make it possible to address health issues including but not limited to lead poisoning.

The “opportunity zones” lie in Fair Haven, Hill, Dwight, Newhallville, and Dixwell, Health Department Environmental Program Director Rafael Ramos said.

The grant will focus on targeting neighborhoods with high rates of poor housing condition due to outdated home infrastructures and lack of resident resources, city Health Director Martiza Bond said.

Bond noted that homes “built before 1978 come with a lot of issues.”

The Monday press conference announcing the grant was held in front of homes on Grafton Street that have had high rates of housing violations related to health in the past, Bond said.

Concerns targeted also include mold, mildew, tripping hazards, and weatherization gaps causing high heat and elec-

John P. Thomas Publisher / CEO

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Editor-in-Chief Liaison, Corporate Affairs Babz@penfieldcomm.com

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Editorial Team

Staff Writers Christian Lewis/Current Affairs Anthony Scott/Sports Arlene Davis-Rudd/Politics

Contributing Writers Blumenthal thanks the LCI team for "boots on the ground.”

tric bills.

Two years ago Mayor Justin Elicker and Bond agreed to work on a vision of “healthy goals” for the city which involved tackling lead concerns citywide to avoid permanent health damage to youth in particular.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal joined local leaders for the announcement. He worked with U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro to secure the grant funds.

“There’s a reason why New Haven has received this grant, which is New Haven has such extraordinary leadership to make good use of it,” Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal described the city’s investment in addressing health hazards as a “solid, sound investment into the future.”

“Nothing is more important to a kids health than their homes. Nothing is more important to a kids’ health than [addressing] moisture, mildew, air quality, pests,” Blumenthal said.

He reported that asthma was the leading cause of absenteeism in schools in 2018.

“If a kid can’t go to school or go to the playground, that affects that child for a long time,” he said.

Blumenthal’s office reported that in New Haven, 14.7 percent of school-aged chil-

dren in New Haven have asthma. Over 1,800 public school students keep asthma medications with the school nurse.

In 2019, 625 pediatric emergency room visits were attributed to asthma. Between 2016 and 2021, there have been 1,225 hospital admissions of children under 18 related to asthma.

Ramos added that the city will be working with its small business office to hire local contractors for home repairs.

To let the city know about a health concern in a home resident can call 203−946−6999 or submit request via email and seeclickfix.

Hamden Superintendent of Schools Announces Retirement

by STAFF

New Haven Independent

Hamden Superintendent of Schools Jody Goeler announced his plans to retire on Monday in an email to students’ families.

Dear Hamden Public Schools Community: With mixed feelings, I take this opportunity to announce to you my decision to retire from public education.

As I have shared with the Board of Education members, my retirement under the Teacher Retirement Board rules will be effective on January 28.

However, I remain available to serve as superintendent for the remainder of this school year or longer, as the Board of Education may request. I am grateful to the Board, the administrative team, teachers, and support staff,

Keith Jackson Delores Alleyne John Thomas, III

and the entire community for your support over the last eight years. Your dedication to the students and their education and welfare is an inspiration, and it has been the honor of my professional career to serve as Superintendent in Hamden.

Change can be difficult, but it is necessary, and after almost forty years in public education, the time has come for me to retire. The well-being of the Hamden Public Schools, however, is my first priority, and I will do all within my power to support the Board of Education, the students, and the staff of the Hamden Public Schools during the transition to new district leadership.

Sincerely, Jody Ian Goeler

Jody Goeler with BOE members Mariam Khan and Melissa Kaplan.

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David Asbery / Tanisha Asbery Jerry Craft / Cartoons / Barbara Fair Dr. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur Michelle Turner / Smita Shrestha William Spivey / Kam Williams Rev. Samuel T. Ross-Lee

Contributors At-Large

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www.CTNewsJunkie.com

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

What a Life! Mr. Alfred L. Marder turns 100

by Francette Carson, Senior Correspondent, Inner-City News

Mr. Alfred L. Marder turns 100 years old. The community must celebrate a man who has dedicated his life to fighting for equality, peace, and justice for all. Marder is a pillar in the New Haven community.

He organized and led many successful campaigns against racism and oppression.

He has served as the Committee for Peace and Economic Justice Chairman, 386 U.S. Delegation World Peace. He has been the President of the Greater New Haven Peace Council since 1977. As the President of the Amistad Committee, he initiated the commemoration of six Amistad captives who died in New Haven in the fall of 1839, which was the first human rights case in the United States. He also initiated the official State of Connecticut Freedom Trail. He has received many awards for his service and dedication to people of color and world peace. He was awarded a community service award for the Greater New Haven National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The Order of the Rokal, Republic of Sierra Leone’s highest honor, led the United States Peace Council delegation to Cuba and was awarded Legion of Honor of Mexico.

Mr. Marder was born and raised in New Haven and has worked tirelessly to fight for justice in the Black community. His

compassion and empathy began at a young age. His father owned and operated a small grocery store on Oak Street near Yale-New Haven Hospital, close to the railroad. He observed unemployed workers, most men of color near the railroad seeking work. His father would give them sandwiches to fight off hunger. This experience made a tremendous impression upon him. His compassion grew, and the manifestation of his purpose in life began to take root.

Marder attended New Haven public schools; Ivy Street Elementary School, Bassett Junior High School, and James Hillhouse High School. During high school, his advocacy began as President of the International Relations Club, Student Peace Council, and the Sentinel Newspaper. He supported and fought for integration and was a member of several interracial organizations such as the Unity Players Drama Club and the New Haven Redwings basketball team. He conducted a campaign to break barriers for black athletes. Marder was socially conscious, and World War II prompted him to organize the Student Peace Council.

In 1938, he participated in a national campaign for New Haven Youth Council, advocating for scholarships and employment for Black students. As a result of his collaborations with delegates of youth and church organizations, he formed a relationship with a notable participant,

Photo credits: New Haven Independent New England Historical Society PeaceNews.org

United States District Judge Constance Baker Motley. The relationship with Baker Motley became full circle when he invited her to be the main speaker for the Amistad commemoration. She spoke

All throughout the year, we celebrate Black Joy. Its beauty. Its brilliance. Its variety. Its tenacity. Its resilience.

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along with Harry Belafonte.

As a young man, Marder had begun to make a difference in the New Haven community. Many Black families migrated from the south to secure employment at

Winchester Repeating Arms Company.

However, black workers could not work at the machines making firearms, which paid much higher wages. Marder organized the trade union to advocate for Blacks to join with White workers.

His family encouraged him to further his education, and he reluctantly went to City College of New York. He became very active in student politics. Upon his return to New Haven, he organized a movement for working college-age students to attend school in the evening. The New Haven State Teachers College was established, currently Southern Connecticut State University. Marder was Chairman, and he and all the board members attended the college. He furthered his education at the University of Connecticut, became President of the International Relations Club, and hosted a radio talk show focusing on political discussions. While at UConn, he was referred to as a professional agitator. He organized the American Youth for Democracy at UConn and led campaigns against the lynching of Black soldiers. He advocated for Black bus drivers and returning soldiers to have employment opportunities.

He was drafted into the army and again met with racism and segregation, which fueled his purpose and mission to continue fighting for equality and justice. Marder stated, “the atmosphere was poisoning,” Con’t on page 07

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

Lamont Asks For Extension of Emergency

by Christine Stuart

Protect Yourself & Others

GET VACCINATED TODAY! Flu Shots plus COVID-19 1st, 2nd, 3rd Dose and Booster Shots are available for all qualified age groups

Visit www.cornellscott.org or call 203-503-3000 for current locations and hours throughout New Haven County

yale institute of sacred music joins the

i n n e r city news in celebrating the accomplishments of African Americans to the cultural and spiritual life of New Haven and the world.

Gov. Ned Lamont sent a letter to legislative leaders Friday asking them to extend the public health and civil preparedness orders which would leave him with emergency powers headed into his reelection bid.

“There are compelling reasons to continue the emergency declarations because as the past few weeks have shown, we are still in a state of emergency. The nature of this virus is such that conditions change rapidly, with the resulting need to have the tools in place to respond quickly to an ongoing public health threat,” Lamont wrote.

The 11-page letter also asks lawmakers to codify 11 executive orders, such as the school mask mandate and one that allows retired teachers to return to the classroom.

“I am cautiously optimistic that we have seen the peak of omicron COVID-19 infections,” Lamont wrote. “There has been a steady decline over the past week in the number of patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 and the decline follows trends that public health experts have seen with the omicron variant in South Africa and Great Britain. But, while hospitalizations are trending downward, they remain very high and rising nursing home cases continue to pose a challenge. There remains a need to maintain the limited number of executive orders that we have successfully used to respond to both the delta and omicron variants of COVID-19.”

Lamont also wants to continue the executive orders that require long-term care facility and state hospital workers to re-

Gov. Ned Lamont Credit: Christine Stuart / CTNewsJunkie.com

ceive a booster by Feb. 11.

“These orders protect the elderly and vulnerable by requiring that their care takers be vaccinated. They also strengthen the state’s healthcare infrastructure because individuals who have received a booster vaccine are less likely to get infected and are therefore able to continue to provide healthcare services,” Lamont wrote.

He also wants to continue executive orders that waive licensing requirements for health care workers.

“The waived requirements allow eligible healthcare workers to safely work in a

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Stefanowski Makes Governor Run Official

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temporary and supervised status. The orders increase the number of available temporary nurse aids, respiratory care practitioners, registered nurses, clinical nurse specialists, and other healthcare workers,” he wrote.

The legislature reconvenes on Feb. 9 and is expected to begin debate on extension of the 11 executive orders, but they won’t have much time. The deadline for proposed legislation is Feb. 10.

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With a focus on crime and inflation, Bob Stefanowski is making a second run for governor.

Republican Stefanowski has remained in the public eye, laying the groundwork for a 2022 rematch, since he lost the 2018 gubernatorial election to Democrat Ned Lamont.

He made his quest official Wednesday with a formal announcement, which echoed themes Republicans are employing elsewhere in the country portraying Democrats as soft on crime and rising prices.

First Stefanowski needs to win the Republican gubernatorial nomination again. He faces an expected opponent for that nomination in former state House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, who has begun setting the stage for a run.

“I have been working hard over the last year in traveling the state talking to people and will be making my decision soon,” Klarides told the Independent Wednesday.

Lamont is running for a second term with a focus on his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as his stewardship of state finances.

Connecticut has some of the most honest, hard-working people in the country. But we are being short-changed by leaders prioritizing politics over people.

Over the past three years, our state has become less affordable and more dangerous for the good people who live, work, and go to school here.

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CHRISTINE STUART PHOTO Bob Stefanowski: Ready for a rematch.

We already have some of the highest taxes, utilities, and childcare costs in the country, and runaway inflation is making it even worse.

Nearly everything is more expensive in Connecticut than the rest of the country.

Crime is rising across our state, residents feel less safe, and law enforcement is demoralized because of policies coming out of our state government.

I’m running because I fundamentally believe that working together, we can change Connecticut. I’m running for Governor to make government work for the people of Connecticut, not political insiders.

It’s time for new leaders who will focus on delivering results to the people of Connecticut rather than personal political agendas.

People in Connecticut are not asking for a lot.

They want to be safe, to trust that state government is being open and accountable, and to be able to afford to live, work, and retire here.

Unfortunately, these are not the priorities of the current state leadership, who continue to serve the political insiders more than they do the people they represent.

I have the experience, a plan to accomplish it, and as a political outsider, I’m not afraid to ruffle a few feathers if it means making Connecticut stronger, safer, and more accountable.

And that is exactly what I am going to do as your Governor.

-Bob Stefanowski

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

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What a Life!

referring to the separation of blacks and whites as they both served their country.

Marder says, “the historical struggle continues as the core of racism and oppression remains present today. He referred to the George Floyd protest as a demonstration of a multi-racial movement and a new beginning in the fight against racism and inequality. Marder states it’s a struggle to change the atmosphere; however, he believes we are reaching a new plateau. Our society requires leadership that embraces the philosophy of togetherness.

Marder referred to the Amistad as a pivotal point in our fight to end racism and inequality. It was the first time in our history that whites joined with blacks to fight for freedom. “We must unite; there must be a collaborative effort as the realism of the political struggle requires unity. We must share in the fight, and we all benefit when racism ends.”

Marder continues to dedicate his life to fighting peace, equality, and justice. He has accomplished much in his lifetime. At the age of 100, his mind is strong clear.

He continues to share a wealth of knowledge, support, and encouragement to the younger generation to carry on with the fight for peace, equality, and justice. Happy 100th Birthday to Alfred L. Marder, a man who has made a difference in many lives. Thank you for your service to our community and the world.

President Joe (The Original) Returns To CMT Hustings

by ALLAN APPEL

New Haven Independent

Southern Connecticut State University Joe Bertolino is back making rounds of New Haven neighborhoods, looking to link his campus to the community.

That marked a return to the CMT hustings. After taking the helm at SCSU six years ago, Bertolino — affectionately known as “President Joe” long before a certain former POTUS took office — visit each and every one of the city’s management teams.

“I visited with all the CMTs a couple of years back and then Covid hit, and now this is an opportunity to re-engage. We are here, your public university, to partner and to be a resource,” Bertolino told the 25 Dixwell CMT gathered via Zoom Thursday evening.

Bertolino first gave an update on SCSU’s activities during the pandemic.

“Many of our graduates are nurses and teachers, so many are on the front line,” he said. “We’ve been working closely with the city, particularly in trying to provide testing and vaccination resource information, especially among hesitant populations.”

Many of the attendees did not know that Southern has also been offerings testing and vaccination to the general public in the basement of Schwartz Hall. Bertolino’s assistant, Gregg Crerar, who was also in attendance, pledged to give the hours

SCSU Prez Joe Bertolino

of operation and pertinent info to CMT Chair Crystal Gooding to distribute to the several neighbors who expressed interest.

Bertolino said 75 percent of students have returned in person to campus as of Wednesday. Of 1,300 students tested for Covid-19, he reported, “and all but 18 tested negative.”

Other news included that the university has broken ground on a new business school building, with a beam-signing ceremony Wednesday; a new college focusing on health and human services is being born; and the Barack H. Obama Magnet University School, a kindergar-

7

ten-through fourth grade “lab” school on campus, is thriving, with 300 kids.

Lt. Dana Smith, Dixwell’s district manager, thanked President Joe and praised the help and partnership that Southern’s police force provides to the NHPD, including patrolling in the Dixwell area when called upon by NHPD. Bertolino said many of the officers on Southern’s security advisory task force are retired New Haven officers.

“They’re good guys,” said Smith.

Neighbor Lindsey Ruminiski asked what Southern has been doing recently with the Board of Ed. The answer: “Our college of

education has been highly engaged with the school district,” with several hundred students providing support, working closely with district personnel on the technical side of learning through Covid, and as interns.

Dixwell/Newhallville Alder Steve Winter asked Bertolino if he has heard of the interest expressed by The Friends of Beaver Pond and other community groups on establishing a walking tour around the body of water bordering the campus. Bertolino said he didn’t have specifics, but he is aware of the initiative and is intrigued; he said he’d get back.

Initiated in 2019, the latter allows New Haven high schoolers to take tuition-free courses at SCSU. The courses have subsequently then been offered, without the kids’ requirement to travel, right on a high school campus.

As the meeting concluded, several attendees, including CMT Assistant Secretary Roxanne Condon, a special advocate of Scantlebury Park, and Marita Spell, a community engagement staffer for the Clifford Beers Clinic, asked how they might contact Southern to sign up students to volunteer for area activities like clean-ups. Crerar again said he was taking notes and would provide Gooding with the specific Southern staff to contact.

“Don’t hesitate to call,” said President Joe.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

30 Years Later, "Fires In The Mirror" Ignites A Dialogue At Long Wharf

by Lucy Gellman, Editor, The Arts Paper www.newhavenarts.org

The poet Ntozake Shange stands upstage, the word identity rolling around her mouth as she tests how far it can bend.

She takes a breath, crisp on the exhale, and slips on a headscarf. She becomes a Lubavitcher mother in Brooklyn, in search of someone who can turn her radio off on Shabbat. She breathes in again, and the playwright George C. Wolfe appears in her place, dipping into the recesses of his memory as Los Angeles stands on the brink of burning.

The snappy, intentionally disjointed rhythm defines Fires In The Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn And Other Identities, Anna Deavere Smith’s groundbreaking 1992 work now running at Long Wharf Theatre through Feb. 6. Directed

by Nicole Brewer with an ambitious crew, it marks both a collaboration with Baltimore Center Stage and an anniversary performance at Long Wharf, where it ran 29 years ago this year.

It would not be possible without actor Cloteal L. Horne, who alone plays all 26 characters in the script. All of them are products of a diaspora, and all of them have stories to tell.

First performed to great acclaim in 1992, Fires In The Mirror follows the events of August 19, 1991, when a motorcade following Chabad Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson blew through a traffic light in Crown Heights—whether it was red or yellow is still contested today—and veered into a curb, striking two children.

Seven-year-old Gavin Cato, the young son of Guyanese immigrants, was trapped beneath the car and killed. His 7-year-old cousin Angela, who was with him at the time, was injured.

Hours later, 29-year-old Hasidic student Yankel Rosenbaum was beaten and stabbed while walking in a nearby section of Crown Heights. Rosenbaum, an Australian student, was white and visibly Jewish; his assailants were Black. He later died at Kings County Hospital, which his family sued for medical malpractice.

For the next three days, violence shook Crown Heights. The ground opened to a pit of grief. People threw bottles and raided stores. Police chased after and in some cases beat Black children. Both Jewish and Black residents closed themselves up inside their homes, feeling othered and fearful.

In the event’s tumultuous aftermath, Smith spoke to over 100 people, from Black and Jewish neighbors to prominent activists, artists, academics and faith leaders including Shange, Angela Davis, professor Leonard Jeffries, Minister Conrad Mohammed and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Some, like Sharpton, played an outsized role at the time of the riots, where he presided over Cato’s funeral and later led protesters through Crown Heights on Shabbat. Others, like Black high school students, musician Monique “Big Mo”

Cloteal L. Horne in Fires In The Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn And Other Stories. The work runs at Long Wharf Theatre through Feb. 6. T. Charles Erickson Photos.

Matthews, Jewish mothers, and dozens of neighbors sitting out on their stoops, talked to Smith while trying to simply live their lives.

Of those dozens of interviews, 26 make it into the play. They are written just as Smith transcribed them, such that stutters, billowing accents, dismissively clucking tongues, nervous laughter and stop-andstart patterns of human speech become integral to the work. ires was first performed at the Public Theatre in 1992 It was prophetic even then: it premiered two days into the L.A. race riots, after officers were acquitted of brutally beating Rodney King. Smith recorded the work for PBS “American Playhouse” series a year later. It first ran at Long Wharf for a week in 1993, with Smith in the role that she had originated.

As she steps onto Long Wharf’s stage decades later, Horne straddles past and present, both faithful to the script and unfixing the story in time. Stripping off a pair of sneakers and bright knit sweater that mark her as herself, she transforms into a vessel, ready to take on over two dozen different personae one after the other. It is a task to which she rises gracefully, using breath to mark the transition between the one character and the next.

The way she weaves these histories together is part of the show’s power. Audience members hear clearly from community members that share in the depth of their rage, and are divided by its origins.

While parts of the work may have felt more immediate in 1992—Sharpton’s monologue on James Brown, or Jeffries’ critique of Alex Haley’s sale of Roots to producers David Wolper and Stan Margulies, both of whom were Jewish—much of it is as stinging today because racism has not disappeared from American consciousness.

When a Lubavitcher mother insists that she and her Black neighbors want the same fundamental health and safety for their families, the audience is with her— until she’s explaining matter-of-factly why she can’t have dinner with those same neighbors. When Conrad Mohammad, who ministered for Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, catalogues the horrors of enslavement, the audience is with him too—until he delegitimizes the entire practice of Judaism in less than a sentence.

Many of the same conspiracy theories that the audience hears in the show—that Sharpton brought busloads of Black people into Crown Heights to riot, that Jews are running the media writ large, that there’s a relationship between Israel and American law enforcement—are not so different from rumors that weave through the airwaves and onto the web today.

There are echoes of tiki torches and Charlottesville, of Trump supporters storming the Capitol with no recourse, of people simply talking past each other because they’ve forgotten how to listen.

8

Horne is nimble in balancing the script’s emphasis on storytelling and living history with its interest in a more theoretical framework, from distorted mirrors (“You know you have a pretty young woman and she looks into a mirror and she’s a witch, because she’s evil on the inside,” she says as Aaron M. Bernstein, a professor of physics at MIT) to the creation of race and racism (“If we don’t transform this intransigent, rigid, notion of race, we will be caught up in this cycle of genocidal violence that is at the origins of our history,” she ruminates as Davis, bouncing between sitting and standing).

Paired with real, heartfelt and often heart-rending testimonials of August 1991, it’s a stark reminder of forced migration and the depth of loss embedded in a diaspora. Whether she is speaking as the aggrieved Norman Rosenbaum or the fiery Richard Green, who led the Crown Heights Youth Collective, she clearly communicates the sharp edge of whiteness, and the way it has been weaponized to divide historically marginalized and oppressed people.

In addition to her voice, Horne uses her whole body as an instrument, with lyrical, propulsive movement that makes the play crackle at the edges. She becomes a child, playing hopscotch on the warm pavement, and just as quickly a parent watching protest bubble in the streets.

In the show—just as in New Haven in 2022, or Los Angeles in 1992, or Min-

neapolis in 2020, or Cincinnati in 2001, or Charlottesville in 2016, or the world many times over—there’s a debate over whose trauma cuts most deeply, whose actions can be justified as two people lie dead on the streets. As they talk past each other, characters rarely acknowledge a shared and forking history—of paupers’ fields, of erasure of land and names and languages, of ghettoization that they never asked for. For the Jews in the play, it is the obsession with remembering the six million lost in the Holocaust, a trauma so deep and so recent that its very name is a wound. For the Black people in the play, it’s the spoken and unspoken spectre of enslavement, and the economic deprivation of Black Americans that continues today.

It is hard to see this work and not think of New Haven, where the scars of urban renewal, redlining and environmental racism are still raw and throbbing. If the city were a body, there would be a pain point downtown, where Rabbi Shua Rosenstein was beaten and called a “fucking Jew” two years ago this coming April.

And another in Beaver Hills where a growing, largely self-segregating Orthodox population has come to barbs with Black neighbors about law enforcement in the community. And a bruise blooming along the Oak Street Connector, where 886 families were displaced during urban renewal. And thousands in Dwight, DixCon’t on page 12

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Reflections

by Karen DuBois-Walton, Ph.D. is the President of Elm City Communities/ Housing Authority of the City of New Haven.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s legacy is celebrated annually with commemorations, vigils, marches and oft repeated recitations of his words and speeches.

Some aspects of his legacy are most readily remembered. Others don’t fit neatly into the picture often painted of him.

Many downplay the ways he challenged and pricked at the US consciousness with his views on equity, justice, anti-poverty, anti-war and anti-capitalism.

Dr. King’s fight for housing justice – an end to housing discrimination and segregation, a push for fair housing laws that protected the rights of Black families and other families of color to access quality rental housing and to build wealth through homeownership and the ability of all people to live in communities of their choice- was central to his civil rights campaign. And it was vociferously opposed.

Many attribute the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968 to Dr. King without recognizing its full history. King’s legacy does include the passage of this important piece of legislation--legislation designed to prevent housing discrimination on the

basis of race, ethnicity, marital status, disability status or other protected classes.

However, few remember that the bill was actually introduced two years earlier in 1966 and facing stiff opposition from white America went nowhere. King is quoted as saying “when that bill died in Congress, a bit of democracy died’.

And then on April 4, 1968, in the height of his activism, Dr King was assassinated.

It was only in the wake of the shame of Dr. King’s assassination and the subsequent racial uprisings in cities across this country, that President Lyndon Johnson could no longer rest in inaction and days later, gathered the votes and upon passage

by Congress, he signed the bill into law.

It has been 53 years since the passage of the Fair Housing Act yet we find our communities more segregated than they were during King’s life.1. Families of color remain segregated in under-resourced urban communities, quality affordable rental housing remains in limited supply, the racial wealth gap (in large part attributable to disparities in homeownership rates) widens, segregated suburban communities and schools proliferate and our current day neighbors advocate against efforts to reform zoning and increase access to affordable housing - all while celebrating the legacy of Dr. King.

How can we reconcile these things? It’s

Karen DuBois-Walton, Ph.D. is the President of Elm City Communities/Housing Authority of the City of New Haven.

been said that those who fail to know their history are doomed to repeat it. Today’s challenges to fair housing, exist side by side with the rise of resistance to anti-racist teaching. We see angry zoning meetings with neighbors resisting afford-

able housing developments in one town and protests at school board meetings in the next town over. We see politicians resist zoning change under the guise of “protecting the character of their towns” and School Board candidates running on “anti-critical race theory” platforms. We see schools remaining racially segregated and parents demanding the banning of books that teach the discriminatory, racist and segregationist history of this country.

And once a year we celebrate the legacy of Dr. King.

Dr. King’s legacy calls on us to do better. How can we honor Dr. King’s legacy in the fight for fair housing? First, we must learn and remember our history of the fight for housing opportunities – hard fought and won. We must know it for its challenges and victories, and we must learn the lessons, notice every setback and celebrate the contributions if we are ever to achieve inclusive communities. Next, we must work to make fair housing law meaningful by challenging housing discrimination in all the explicit and implicit ways that it continues to shape how our communities develop and get resourced.

We must notice who is included and excluded by our land use, planning, zoning and development policies. We must fight to increase affordable housing in all our communities, increase access to home-

HONORING LIFE AND LEGACY OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

“THE TIME IS ALWAYS RIGHT TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT” We want to work with you. Look for bid opportunities advertised in this publication and posted at ParkNewHaven.com

(203) 946-8936

9

ownership for Black and other families of color and increase investment in equitable urban revitalization. And finally, we must move beyond notions of scarcity and embrace notions of abundance and interconnection, recognizing in the words of Dr. King that “whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly”. Our city, Region, State and Nation will never thrive so long as we leave entire communities subject to housing insecurity, discrimination and segregation.

It’s time we make good on the 50-yearold promises of the Fair Housing Act. Dr. King recognized that failing to do so represented the death of democracy. Acting today in full alignment with the intentions of the Fair Housing Act is in fact an act toward resuscitating our Democracy.

Karen DuBois-Walton, Ph.D. is the President of Elm City Communities/ Housing Authority of the City of New Haven. Trained as a clinical psychologist, Dr. DuBois-Walton has led the agency since 2008 integrating progressive housing policy, community development and social service provision in ways that create communities of opportunity for lowincome families. ECC/HANH envisions a New Haven where every resident has a safe and decent home that they can afford and opportunities to fulfill their goals.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

Pitts Chapel Unveils Longtime Bishop’s Portrait

by MAYA MCFADDEN

The legacy and face of Pitts Chapel Unified Free Will Church’s retired leader Elijah Davis Jr. will now remain in the church even on days when his physical presence is absent.

The church held a celebration during its Sunday service to unveil a portrait of retired head Pastor Davis, honoring his and First Lady Esther Davis’ 35 years of leadership.

Davis preached for the last time as head pastor at Pitts Chapel last September. His farewell sermon followed a celebration of his “victorious” legacy with the renaming of a city street corner after him.

Newly installed Head Pastor Darrell L. McClam preached the Sunday sermon to a room full of 20 members. He called on parishioners to be grateful, “victorious,” and triumphant much like the Davises.

“Bishop, you are a victorious man. And Mother, you are a victorious woman. Because the Lord has shined on y’all,” McClam said. “Hundreds of years after we’re all gone, your name will still be alive.”

Bishop Davis said he finds comfort in

his retirement knowing he found a new “strong leader” for the church.

“Thirty five years in the same place is hard to step down. I still find myself wanting to handle the problems of the church,” he said.

Lady Davis described the past four months of retirement as “happy” and “free.”

McClam, who has been head pastor since September 2021, said the Davises’ legacy “gives me something to strive for.”

He will be working to “finish out the dreams” of Davis by increasing church membership, having a bigger community presence, and expanding the church facility in the future.

As Pastor McClam took the microphone for a rhythmic sermon, Bishop Davis and Lady Davis stood to their feet and joined the congregation in shouts of “Amen” and hands raised to the ceiling in praise.

“Those times you preached, those times Mother when y’all came to church when y’all did not feel like coming, God is going to repay y’all for your work in the kingdom,” McClam said.

A gold plaque hung just below the por-

trait, reading: “General Bishop Elijah Davis Jr.; Longest Term Pastor; He Served Faithfully With Distinction for 35 Years; Aug. 1, 1986 — Aug. 31, 2021.”

“When he took things over, we were going through turmoil,” said Deacon Joe Davis, brother of the former pastor. “But he got the ship back on course. We were prosperous under his leadership.”

At one point the church had 500 members under Davis’s leadership.

“When people were always running away, he was always running to,” Joe said of his brother.

Church members Mothers Patricia Gilliam, Jean Carr, and Darlene BraddyHuskey helped organize a retirement banquet for the Davises last year that brought together 152 people, including other members and Bishop Davis’ family from North Carolina.

They also helped to collect signatures for the renaming of the church’s corner at Brewster Street and Shelton Avenue.

Carr and Gilliam said they look forward to the new young leadership of McClam.

Elijah and Esther Davis.

Omicron Wave Hits Home Care Workers’ Health And Paychecks

by Lisa Backus

Marcial Torres’ ability to work as a personal care assistant has been cut by 70% for nearly the past two weeks because his primary client has been in the hospital with COVID-19.

Torres couldn’t care for two other clients, which make up the other 30% of his pay, because he had to isolate for a few days while waiting for his own COVID-19 test to come back negative.

As a PCA, or home care worker, paid with funding administered through the state Department of Social Services, Torres gets no paid time off, no sick time pay and no health insurance.

He also doesn’t get paid if his clients are in the hospital, putting him in a precarious financial position during the most recent wave of illness caused by the more contagious omicron variant.

“We’ve always had the issue of not being able to get paid, but now it’s gotten worse,” said Torres, a 35-year-old New Haven resident who helps support his family. “The pandemic is now making it difficult to maintain work and not put anybody at risk. This is really pushing the limits.”

He’s not alone, said Diedre Murch, vice president and director of home care for the New England Heath Care Employees Union, SEIU 1199.

Marcial Torres Credit: Contributed photo

The pandemic is now devastating PCAs at both ends of the equation, Murch said. “This new surge, in the absence of any paid sick time, has put gasoline on the fire,” Murch said.

“We are hearing about people going through severe hardships, evictions, hunger, the inability to pay bills.”

The union has been in negotiations

with the state over a new contract for months. The union wants PCAs to receive $20 an hour, paid sick time, health care and a path to retirement much like the contracts that were approved for group home and nursing home workers.

But so far, there has been little forward movement, even though federal

10

funding for COVID-19 paid sick time for PCAs ran out three months ago, Murch said.

In the meantime, union officials have been flooded with phone calls about dire circumstances faced by PCAs who often don’t qualify for state aid because they make over the threshold for benefits, but are still living paycheck to paycheck, and now, are a few paychecks behind, Murch said.

“It’s really gutting to see and hear so many people going through extreme hardship,” Murch said. “The volume of calls and the level of hardship is really high right now.”

The union has sent out surveys to members to get a handle on what people are facing during this wave of the pandemic, Murch said. Last year’s survey showed 20% of PCAs either feared or experienced homelessness during the pandemic, she said.

Torres had been trying to pay off medical bills from an injury in October and now has missed two weeks of work after his primary client went to the hospital with COVID-19.

The client is still hospitalized and Torres has only been working 20 hours a week since. “Almost 40% of my income for January is gone,” he said.

Crystal Amato lost two weeks of pay when her son tested positive for COVID-19 and now her work as a PCA

has been cut in half because she lost a client. “It’s definitely cut my income,” Amato said. “I don’t qualify for food stamps. Thankfully I have a good stock-up pile, so we have been living on whatever we had.”

After she tested positive for COVID-19 just after Christmas, Essie Anderson borrowed money so she could feed her grandniece and nephew, who are in her care. For the past four years, she’s worked as a PCA for her mother, who needs 24-hour care, she said.

But when she started feeling unwell the day after the holiday, she took a test – and came up positive, she said.

That resulted in her missing work until Jan. 6, when she tested negative. By that point, her mother tested positive, leaving Anderson in a position where she feared she’d be spreading the virus back and forth between family members.

“I went back on a limited schedule to keep myself from being reinfected,” Anderson said. So instead of being paid for 25 hours a week, she said she’s down to two hours a day.

“It’s a vicious cycle,” Anderson said.

“If you aren’t at work, that’s a day’s pay lost. If you miss your time, there’s no way to make it up. If you get sick, there’s no pay. For the work we do, that’s extremely disappointing.”

Word On The Street: 10 AM Georgia Hots THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

by MAYA MCFADDEN and NORA GRACE-FLOOD

The word on the street was… hot dogs.

At 10 in the morning.

Lots of hot dogs.

The franks were flying Tuesday morning at their usual morning spot: Jack’s Hot Dogs stand outside Superior Court at the corner of Church and Elm Streets, where lawyers, social workers, and court employees are the regulars.

The owner of the stand — Steve Williams — is known as “Jack” to most.

“I can talk to an attorney and ask him a question that people spend $500 to ask,” Williams joked. (He noted that famed defense attorney Norm Pattis regularly comes by for a chicken kebab).

Williams spoke with WNHH FM’s “LoveBabz LoveTalk” program’s “Word on the Street” team in between serving morning dogs.

Williams, who described himself as a workaholic, serves up “premium” handheld sandwiches seven days a week. The East Haven native has done so! since returning to the area in 1982 from Florida Word on the Street reporters Maya McFadden and Nora Grace-Flood sample Williams' work: At 10 Word on the Street reporters Maya McFadden and Nora Graceto take over the stand from a close friend. in the morning, a 10/10.

Flood sample Williams' work: At 10 in the morning, a 10/10.

THE SCSU MULTICULTURAL CENTER PRESENTS

MLK Day Commemoration

SouthernCT.edu

“Critical Race Theory: What It Is and What It Isn’t” Wednesday, February 2, 2022 1:00 p.m.

ADANTI STUDENT CENTER BALLROOM

If you are disturbed by how often race is used as a divisive political tool and would you like to know more about how to engage in “race talks” positively, please join us for this program.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: RETIRED CONNECTICUT SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE ANGELA C. ROBINSON 11

The most popular customer request on the menu is Georgia hots layered with mustard and sauerkraut.

While feeding New Haveners who both walked by and drove up curbside, Williams quickly grabbed a dog off the grill and housed it in a toasted bun. Then he topped it with cheese sauce and onions.

From 10 a.m to 4 p.m Williams serves New Haven from the corner in his winterready stand, which allows him to operate inside the metal compartment during the colder months.

Williams had to shut down for a while when the pandemic started. He said right now he is still dealing with supply chain challenges, struggling to find napkins, condiments, straws, paper bags, and soda cans at times. He has had to spend more money on getting larger bags for dogs.

He still has enough napkins to serve both new and familiar faces seven days a week.

Alexis Torre, 25, was on her way to Wells Fargo Bank Tuesday morning when she noticed Williams’ cart — and was reminded of eating warm dogs fresh out of water in her early childhood.

As a 5-year-old, she’d hang out with Williams while her grandfather was “at the courthouse all the time.” Her grand-

father, a landlord, spent his time evicting tenants — and she spent hers eating Italian sausages.

“I didn’t like hot dogs,” she laughed.

This time around, she went for the classic order: a Georgia hot with sauerkraut and mustard.

“I’m vegan, but I’m nostalgic,” Torres said.

While Torres remembered the past, Williams was relishing the present.

His job has gotten easier since 1982. He used to pay $3,000 each year to stand on the street; now it’s $1,000, and new vendors are required to go through a lottery process before setting up shop. (He also pays $7,500 in taxes for his New Haven warehouse, where he stores his New Haven Hummels dogs, he proudly pointed out.)

In the old days, another hot dog stand could usurp his space. No longer.

He has formed long-term friendships not just with loyal clientele, but with other food truck owners selling burritos and pad thai along Church Street.

“There’s no competition,” he said.

For a $2 meal, he asked, “Where else are you gonna go?”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

National Geographic dives into the untold story Of the Transatlantic Slave Trade with new podcast, ‘Into the Depths,’ launching Jan. 27

by BlackPR.com Ahead of Black History Month, National Geographic is launching a powerful new podcast, “Into the Depths,” on Jan. 27 that uncovers the deep history of the transatlantic slave trade as it follows a group of Black divers who are dedicated to finding and helping to document slave shipwrecks. The podcast series trailer is now available on Apple Podcasts and wherever podcasts are found, as well as at http://natgeo.com/intothedepths.

The podcast will also be accompanied by a cover story in the March issue of National Geographic magazine, available online on Feb. 7, and a National Geographic documentary special, “Clotilda: Last American Slave Ship,” premiering Monday, Feb. 7, p.m. EST on National Geographic and available to stream next day on Hulu.

The six-part podcast series, funded in part by the National Geographic Society, highlights the journey of National Geographic Explorer Tara Roberts (@ curvypath_tara on Instagram), who quit her job and left her life behind to follow in the footsteps of Diving With a Purpose, a group of Black divers who traverse the globe in search of long-lost slave shipwrecks and the truth of the history that accompanies them. The podcast follows Roberts from Florida to Costa Rica, and from the continent of Africa back to Roberts’ family home in Edenton, North Carolina, where the journey quickly turns personal for her.

“What I was experiencing was this sense of longing. I think this is a unique thing for African Americans.

Where is home for us?” she asks in the fourth episode of the series. The question leads her on this life-changing journey. “‘Into the Depths’ is a profound and personal exploration of identity and history as told through the lens of Black scientists and storytellers eager to deepen our understanding of American history,” says Davar Ardalan, executive producer of audio for National Geographic.

The podcast, which will drop from Jan. 27 to March 3, features over 40 voices, including underwater divers and archaeologists, descendants of those brought over on the ships, historians, and a variety of experts whom Roberts works with to uncover these stories. Ken Stewart, diver and cofounder of Diving With a Purpose, is featured in the second episode as Rob-

erts dives into the story of the Spanish pirate ship, the Guerrero, which wrecked off the coast of Florida in 1827. Meanwhile, the town of Africatown, Alabama, made up of the direct descendants of Africans brought to America on the slave ship Clotilda, make an appearance in episode six.

The journey brings Roberts to a deeply painful and personal crossroads concerning her identity as a Black American as she searches for a sense of belonging. You can listen on Apple Podcasts and wherever podcasts are found.

“As I got to know the divers, the ships they had found, the stories of those who had been captured, I realized this was a way to come to grips with those 400 years, with this traumatic history ,” Roberts explains in the opening of the first episode. “Through these ships, we could bring lost stories up from the depths and back into collective memory.”

The podcast series was produced and directed by Francesca Panetta with National Geographic’s Carla Wills as executive editor and producers Mike Olcott and Bianca Martin.

“As a Black journalist, it’s been uplifting to edit and produce this podcast together with Black women storytellers who have brought tremendous insights and creativity to this groundbreaking series, including Tara as well as National Geographic Explorer and poet Alyea Pierce, sound designer Alexis Adimora, and producer Bianca Martin,” Wills says.

National Geographic is also encouraging listeners to listen with their crews and host their own COVID19-safe listening parties by offering a downloadable listening party toolkit, available at natgeo.com/intothedepths.

The toolkit will include an episode guide, discussion guide, social sharing graphic, and more, as well as helpful information regarding how to participate in the conversation online using #intothedepths.

In addition to the podcast series, Roberts will be featured on the cover of the March issue of National Geographic magazine, which will be published online at natgeo.com/intothedepths on Feb. 7. The feature will profile Roberts’ journey as she travels with the divers to investigate the lost stories of the slave trade – both to expand the historical record and to honor the 1.8 million unsung souls who perished during the middle passage.

National Geographic will also premiere a documentary special, “CLOTILDA: LAST AMERICAN SLAVE SHIP,” about the most intact slave shipwreck found to date and the only one for which we know the full story of the voyage, the passengers and their descendants. In July 1860, on a bet, the schooner Clotilda carried 110 kidnapped Africans to slavery in Alabama. The traffickers tried to hide their crime by burning and sinking the ship, but now, for the first time since Clotilda arrived in America, maritime archaeologists enter the wreck.

In a dangerous dive, they explore the

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actual cargo hold and find physical evidence of the crime the slave traders tried so hard to hide. Descendants of the passengers share how their ancestors turned a cruel tragedy into an uplifting story of courage and resilience.

The special features experts include the following: -Sylviane Diouf, historian and author of “Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America” -Natalie S. Robertson, historian and author of “The Slave Shop Clotilda and the Making of Africatown, USA” -Mary Elliott, curator of American slavery, National Museum of African American History and Culture -James Delgado, maritime archaeologist, SEARCH Inc. Stacye Hathorn, Alabama State archaeologist, Alabama Historical Commission -Joseph Grinnan, maritime archaeologist/diver, SEARCH, Inc. -Kamau Sadiki, lead instructor, Diving With a Purpose “Clotilda: Last American Slave Ship” is produced by National Geographic Studios, with producer/director Lisa Feit, senior associate producer Alex Brady, senior lead editor Joe Bridgers, editor Liv Gwynn and executive producer Chad Cohen. Michael Cooke is the director of photography. For National Geographic, Courteney Monroe is president, Content.

Con’t from page 08

well, Newhallville, Fair Haven and the Hill, where a scarcity of resources has left neighborhoods gripped by violence.

Which is to say, Gavin Cato’s death may have been an accident, but the conditions that allowed it to happen were anything but. And Yankel Rosenbaum’s death may have been an isolated reaction to a specific moment, but the conditions that allowed it to happen after were anything but. And still. And still. And still.

Horne doesn’t do the work entirely alone, and the play’s success is also owing to a crew that has worked through pandemic conditions to pull the show off. A set from Diggle brings attendees into a kind of healing circle, where Horne can and does bury her feet in the sand, beat drums, and circumnavigate the space. Thanks to costume designer Mika Eubanks, small pieces—a kufi, pairs of wire-rimmed and tortoise shell glasses, button-down shirts, wide-brimmed black hats and white tallit—allow Horne to shape-shift between characters.

Lighting (Porsche McGovern) and sound design (Bailey Trierweiler, Daniela Hart and Noel Nichols) help differentiate between characters and underscore the tension building in the script. Among projections that put the work in context, designer Camilla Tassi’s use of archival news clippings and photographs, panoramic New York skylines, and the cool concrete of memorials are particularly successful. Some are a little too on the nose: the black-and-white piles of discarded shoes at Auschwitz and 2020 Black Lives Matter Protests in New York read as Long Wharf not trusting its audiences to make the connection.

When Smith performed the work in 1992, Fires In The Mirror became an unlikely container that put these interviewees in conversation with herself, with the audience, and perhaps most crucially with each other. It holds up 30 years later, at a time when neighbors, faith leaders, bloviating elected officials may need to simply stop talking past each other and listen, when Black people and non-Black people of color are still terrorized by law enforcement, when Antisemitism continues to rise across the country.

Nowhere, perhaps, is that more evident than in a final monologue from Carmel Cato, Gavin Cato’s grieving father. Horne sits at the front of the stage, an orange light glowing on her face as she pushes away the set’s sand and opens a trap door.

As she morphs into character, Cato is angry and exhausted; Horne is too. Holding a soft, child-sized sweater—for a moment, it looks like it could be a red and yellow tallit—he loses it. He weeps, his voice thick and deep at the edges. There is no justice, he insists.

He’s not wrong. But in a different world, there could be.

Fires In The Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn And Other Stories runs at Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Dr., through Feb. 6. Tickets and more information are available www.longwharf.org

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

“Quit Playin”

Look at The Signs!

By Vincent L. Hall Texas Metro News

As we stand on the precipice of yet another Black History Month, I would desire that we as a people Quit Playin’ like so much has changed. Someone removed the “White Only” signs, but they left you the signals.

Last week the Dallas Republican Party shuttled out their handpicked “Black” again! But, the Grand Old Party’s message has not changed. “Getting tough on crime” is still afresh on their lips and psyches. The taglines change, but their views on solving crime are nothing more than reiterations of the same old “ish!”

You can pluck a few lines from a recent Dallas Morning News article and quickly understand my distrust for the party, especially the Black folks who tether their reputations and political hopes to the Trump’s train. “Faith Johnson, the Republican candidate for Dallas County district attorney, vowed Wednesday to roll back one of John Creuzot’s hallmark policies if she is elected in November. “As your chief lawenforcement officer of this county, I want you to be able to count on me,” said Johnson, who was Dallas County’s DA from 2016 to 2018.

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“I want the shop owners to be able to count on me. I want the large grocery chains to be able to count on me.” As we stand here in the throes of yet another variant of a historic pandemic, the GOP wants business owners to know that their position has never changed. They always promise to prosecute Blacks and ne’er-do-wells without regard to the cost or consequences. “Lock ‘em up” is simple and portable enough for their followers.

The county jail boasts a larger population than 90% of the towns in Texas, and the Dallas Police Department is understaffed and overwhelmed. Omicron is raging so high that judges cannot impanel juries. But let’s lock ‘em up! However, you resurrected this candidate and this plank because the GOP will always place personal possessions at the top of their list. To hell with rehabilitation, mental illnesses, and homelessness. We rank in the bottom five in education and that says it all.

This clan is the same swath of the population who don’t want you to embarrass them or their children with Critical Race Theory. So instead, they define CRT to include any history that calls out White Privilege. We have grown weary of Governor Abbott and his ilk, who want to blame all of racism’s ills on their parents and forbears; when in truth, Jim Crow passed the baton to James Crow Esquire, and the team has never lost a step.

What is worse is that they can always buttonhole a Negro to “legitimize” their platform. The 14th Amendment forbade the sale of Negroes, but renting has always been an option. They can always find a Herschel Walker or an Allen West to do their bidding. You can be Black and a fiscal conservative? Go ahead and wrap yourself in the flag. Both are personal prerogatives. However, these washed-out, lukewarm, middleof-the-road Negroes, who abhor BLM and criminal justice reform are unbearable.

Our schools are in a mess, and Black income is still less. Police brutality is still a reality, and our HBCUs still need charity. Did I bust a rhyme? LOL We are as lost in America today as we ever were. The only difference is that a few more of us navigate this wilderness in exotic cars and live in bigger tents than our parents did. Yet, sadly, we own little of what we have and typically pay higher interest rates than anyone else pays for the dubious privilege. We are co-stars in a movie that we did not audition for.

We sing in a choir whose songs don’t stir our souls. We play in a game where the rules are constantly changed to our disadvantage. As a result, most of us bear distrust and resentment for capitalism, the justice system, and anything else that we consider to be controlled by or governed by the rule of racism. Quit Playin’ like you can relax just because they took down the sign. Unfortunately, the signals are still there, and they still appear to be red.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

OP-ED: Empowering Black Communities Means Ensuring We Can Make Our Own Decisions with Dignity

By Marcela Howell, president and CEO of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda.

It is no secret that our institutions and health care systems have long failed Black people. We see this in the sky-high rates of Black maternal death, infant mortality, and poor health outcomes across the board. And now, we await one of the most consequential Supreme Court rulings that could push one of our health care options entirely out of reach for Black communities across the country. Access to abortion is deeply connected to the health and economic security for individuals and families. Now is the time for bold action so that the Supreme Court does not deny another of our rights.

Since 1973, Roe v. Wade has been the law of the land, and while abortion remains legal in all 50 states, it has never been widely accessible for Black communities, especially those of us working to make ends meet. In 2021 alone, 108 abortion restrictions were enacted, with the impact falling hardest on Black and Brown people.

For decades anti-abortion lobbyists and politicians have actively worked against us by denying us the agency to determine and control our futures. The ugly truth is that abortion bans are rooted in white supremacy and anti-Black racism, and are, by design, crafted to harm Black people.

Bans are not about protecting our mothers, children, and communities, but further controlling, marginalizing, and disempowering us.

Throughout much of its history, the mainstream feminist movement ignored the needs of Black communities. In 1994, Black activists responded to this by creat-

ing a visionary framework –– reproductive justice –– which is defined as “the human right to control our sexuality, our gender, our work and our reproduction – the right to have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and healthy communities.”

While activists of color have historically practiced reproductive justice through our grassroots organizing, campaigns, and broader social justice work, naming it has helped further focus on the needs of our communities as mainstream leaders have failed to recognize the unique challenges that Black women in particular face when

trying to obtain abortion care. Whether it’s traveling long distances because abortion is not accessible in our communities, the inability to pay for abortion care, or facing racism from health care providers who are not invested in supporting our health and well-being, the consequences are steep. Abortion justice is only one part of our liberation, and we must view it within the wider context of racial, economic, and environmental justice.

The same challenges that prevent people from accessing other vital services also arise when people need an abortion. Abortion funds across the country have been a

lifeline for countless communities as they help eliminate the geographic, financial, and other barriers to accessing care, but this should not be our reality when abortion is legal in all 50 states. As other states move to pass copycat bills modeled after Texas’ 6-week abortion ban, we need to urgently change course.

Abortion is rooted in freedom. When abortion is available and affordable, we are more able to make our own decisions about whether and when to start or expand our families. This gives us the opportunity to make important decisions about our health, to care for our families, to pursue

our dreams, and to live in thriving communities. When abortion is accessible, we see its positive impact for generations, but when it is pushed out of reach, it causes irreparable harm to the emotional, financial, and physical health of those who are forced to carry a pregnancy against their will.

Even If the Supreme Court upholds Roe later this year, it will still not be enough.

From the grassroots activism on the ground to the politicians making decisions about what we can and cannot do with our bodies, this is why we need to support efforts to ensure all people have real access to abortion. Abortion care that is covered by insurance, that is nearby, and without unnecessary waits, or asking neighbors to spy on us, or any other efforts to interfere with our decisions. In short, access to abortion care, just as other health care, should not depend on where we live or who sits in power in our state capitals.

Black women have always been visionary leaders at the helm of all forms of social justice in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. We have fought for a better, brighter future because we know it is our birthright. This is why we continue to demand that our elected officials do more for us –– to make abortion accessible and affordable to all who need it.

Abortion access is about much more than our legal rights; it is about our humanity, dignity, and freedom –– and we deserve to be free.

Marcela Howell is president and CEO of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda.

Follow her work on social media at @ BlackWomensRJ.

Cedric Richmond Issues Blistering Voting Rights Attack Against GOP, Trump

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

White House Senior Advisor Cedric Richmond continued the administration’s forceful tone on voting rights with a blistering attack on Republicans and former President Donald Trump.

Richmond, who served as Louisiana’s representative in the U.S. House for a decade before assuming his current role as the White House Office of Public Engagement Director, said during a Zoom gathering of reporters, that voting rights are the “bedrock of democracy.”

But GOP lawmakers have a palpable fear of Trump and losing re-election bids if they go along with Democrats who want to make voting easier for all Americans.

“Let me be very clear, what has changed is Donald Trump and his stronghold on the Republican Party and people who don’t want to get primaried,” Richmond asserted.

The senior advisor to the President was asked why no Republicans support passing

voting rights legislation today, despite 16 Republicans in 2006 voting in favor of extending the measure when pushed by then Republican President George W. Bush.

“President Joe Biden has said that politicians worry about the next election, but statesmen and stateswomen worry about the next generation,” Richmond continued.

“The President and the Vice President stood up as a statesman and a stateswoman. “Unfortunately, these Republicans fear the wrath of Donald Trump, and that is truly unfortunate when you think about how important this is to the country. Their lack of displayed courage is something that we can’t allow to stop us and what we need to do.”

Richmond promised that the President would continue to make voting rights a theme of his presidency.

“It is a very clear fact, a given, that the election in 2020 was one of the most safe and secure in our history. The fact that [Trump] has pushed the big lie – some representatives have stood up to it, and most have not. It is just an indication that their

Party has been hijacked by former President Trump,” Richmond declared.

Earlier, both President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris gave speeches about the significance of getting voting rights passed.

In what the White House called one of his most forceful speeches, Biden insisted that he would “defend your right to vote and our democracy against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

He questioned where U.S. senators stood on the issue.

On Thursday, January 13, Biden met with Democratic senators on Capitol Hill to discuss voting rights and even asked that they consider abolishing or altering the draconian filibuster to ensure passage.

“The 15th Amendment passed on a partyline vote. One Party delivered the vote to protect African Americans’ right to vote,” Richmond remarked.

“The filibuster rules shouldn’t trump the Constitution. The rules are a means to an end. The end here is voting rights and free and fair elections.”

14

Cedric

Richmond

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

PBS’ ‘Unapologetic’ spotlights new generation of Black women activists

by Nadine Matthews Special to the AFRO, Afro.com

Perhaps nothing symbolizes Janae Bosu’s growth more than the fact that she earned her Ph.D by the end of the four years during which the documentary Unapologetic was shot. Specifically, Unapologetic, now streaming on PBS as part of its POV series, chronicles the evolution of Bosu and another social activist, Bella Bahhs, as they blossom from fledgling, to mature activists.

This is fitting because the film, directed

by Ashley O’Shay, also aims to begin fixing historical “slights” that have largely written Black female leadership out of the history of social movements, relegating them mainly to supporting characters.

“The film,” Bosu stated in an interview with the AFRO, “is about Black women’s leadership in social movements.” Bosu represents the new generation of activists around areas of gender and race.

Bosu’s bona fides were earned during the Black Lives Matter movement, which was catalyzed by a series of high profile deaths at the hands of law enforcement, including Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, and Laquan McDonald in the twenty-teens. The latter death occurred in Chicago, where Unapologetic finds its two powerful, charismatic subjects, Baahs and Bosu.

There was another death at the hands of police that occurred before those mentioned above, but it failed to garner the national mainstream attention they did.

22-year-old Chicagoan Rekia Boyd was shot and killed as she hung out with friends at a Chicago park. Finding justice

for Boyd fueled Bosu’s determination, as she worked with Black Lives Matter and influenced Bosu’s subsequent shift in focus to primarily Black women and girls, though she emphasizes, “I’m for the liberation of all Black people.”

Bosu got her Ph.D in social work from the University of Illinois Chicago. She’s now director of research and advocacy for the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, a research think tank Bosu explains is, “by and for Black women and girls, working to end the criminalization of Black women and girls.” She further

stated, “Everything that you see in the film around centering, protecting, and fighting for Black women, I am continuing to do in my work.”

The example of Rekia Boyd is emblematic of Black female experience where, said Bosu, “Black women’s voices and actions are too often not heard or represented.” Though the deaths of Black men and boys like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Freddie Gray held a vice grip on news cycles, websites, and papers for months, the deaths of women like Sandra Bland and Rekia Boyd did not. Bosu’s

work attempts to correct that imbalance in the same way that the film attempts to cover the imbalance in coverage of Black women leaders.

Bosu admits part of the reason is because historically, Black men have been targeted more.”If we’re talking proportionately, more Black men are being killed by police, so there’s much less attention, care and outrage when a Black woman is also shot, or sexually assaulted by the police, or other Black men,” Bosu said.

But the slight differences in the way society treats Black women compared

to Black men, is becoming increasingly slim, while simultaneously diverging from the treatment of White women.

Bosu informs us that “Black women are the fastest growing population of people who are incarcerated.”

Some of the reasons are rooted in structural racism and similar to the reasons why young Black men and boys are shuttled into the criminal justice system at alarming rates. “Many people outside of Black women are socialized to see us as aggressors and incapable of victimization,” explained Bosu. “For example, many Black women who have been sexually assaulted, are in jail for defending themselves. Mandatory arrest laws have been shown to disproportionately impact Black women compared to White women.”

Bosu terms the way that violence toward Black women is often overlooked by society “invisibilization.” This falls under another umbrella term, “misogynoir,” coined to describe Black women’s particular experience of racism, anti-Blackness, and sexism simultaneously.

She urges others, particularly Black men, to learn to be more sensitive and active when it comes to Black women’s issues, in the same way that Black women often are for them. “Black men in particular can learn a thing or two from us about what it means to show up for each other,” stated Bosu.

Ultimately, Bosu said, she hopes to create “a world where Black women feel safer and a little bit freer of the violence that we face in our homes, our communities, and institutions, meant to serve and protect us but often harm us.”

Why 30 out of 32 NFL head coaches are White – behind the NFL’s abysmal record on diversity skilled as their white counterparts.

Other researchers have analyzed NFL data from 1985 to 2018 and found no racial differences in the performance of head coaches.

In short, there is no evidence that Black coaches are unqualified.

By George B. Cunningham, Texas A&M University A couple of weeks after the close of the National Football League’s regular season, there is just one Black head coach and one Latino head coach left in the League – Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Ron Rivera of the Washington Football Team, respectively. This follows the firing of Brian Flores by the Miami Dolphins and David Culley by the Houston Texans.

In other words, in a league in which most of the players are Black, 30 of the 32 NFL head coaches are white.

I have studied diversity and inclusion in sport for more than two decades, including the ways in which race and gender intersect to affect leadership opportunities for women and men. My research shows that biased decision-making, organizational cultures that value similarity, and societal forms of bias and discrimination are all to blame for the lack of diversity among NFL head coaches.

History of exclusion The dismal numbers are nothing new. In 1989, Art Shell became the first Black head

Head Coach Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers

coach of an NFL team in the modern era.

But his hiring did not break down the barriers other minority coaches face in the NFL. Seeking to address its diversity problem, the NFL adopted the Rooney Rule in 2003, requiring teams to interview at least two minority candidates for their head coach openings. In 2021, the league expanded the rule to include general managers and offensive and defensive coordinators.

The policy had positive short-term effects, as the league saw an increase in Black and Latino coaches. The gains have since di-

Art Shell, 1st Black head Coach in the NFL

minished, though, and the number of Black head coaches at the start of the 2021 season, three, was the same as in 2003.

In short, the NFL is back to where it started.

When looking for explanations, it is helpful to explore factors at the individual, organizational and societal levels. Research evidence shows some of these explanations are better than others.

Individual factors At the individual level, people might not

16

Ron Rivera, only Latino head Coach in The NFL

obtain a job if they lack skills or experience, don’t have contacts or don’t apply. There is no consistent evidence, though, that any of these explanations describe Black coaches.

For example, scholars have found that Black assistant coaches in college football were less likely to be promoted and had less career satisfaction than their white counterparts, but neither was a function of the coaches’ experience, skills or social networks. This is the case in the NFL, too, where sports economists have also shown that Black assistant coaches are equally as

Organizations and leaders On the other hand, research does show that leaders and organizations make a difference in who gets hired. For example, an analysis from Arizona State University’s Global Sports Institute shows that seven NFL teams have hired only white head coaches.

The types of positions Black coaches have access to also matters. Offensive and defensive coordinators are frequently in line for head coaching opportunities. But research at the NFL and NCAA levels reliably shows that white coaches are overrepresented in these coveted coordinator positions.

What’s referred to as “the glass cliff” offers another organizational explanation.

This theory suggests that members of unCon’t on page 17

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022 Con’t from page 16

derrepresented groups are most likely to be hired by organizations that have a history of poor performance or that are in crisis.

When performance continues to wane, the leaders are likely to be replaced by majority group members. Researchers have shown that race and racism also affect the glass cliff, including leaders in sport. Relative to white coaches, minoritized men’s basketball coaches were more likely to be hired to teams with a history of losing, and if they were unable to turn things around, they were likely to be replaced by white coaches.

These examples show that leaders clearly make a difference. A study of the Las Vegas Raiders further illustrates the point. Under former general manager Reggie McKenzie, who is Black, the Raiders had the highest share of Black players in the league, at 79.2%. In 2016, when McKenzie won NFL executive of the year, the Raiders also had the highest share of Black coaches, at 82.3%.

Following the 2018 season, the Raiders fired McKenzie and brought in a white head coach, Jon Gruden, and a white general manager, Mike Mayock. The percentage of Black players has decreased every year since. In 2021, in one of the most damaging blows to the NFL in recent memory, Gruden was fired for making racist and homophobic comments after an analysis of thousands of emails sent to NFL executives and others. McKenzie was fired after the season, too. At the same time, the percentage of Black players on the Raiders roster dropped to 67.2%.

Though the study on the Raiders focuses on players, organizational scholars have consistently shown that people are most likely to hire others who are of the same race. Bias among decision-makers can affect the diversity of the organization.

Systemic racism Finally, societal factors make a difference, the most prevalent of which are systemic forms of racism, meaning racial bias at the community, state and national levels. Societal factors reflect people’s collective racial biases, as well as the racially tinged laws, policies and norms embedded in societies’ institutions.

A focus on systemic racism moves beyond individual actors and prioritizes the societal patterns of prejudice and discrimination. For example, my colleague and I have shown that county-level racism is predictive of fans’ reactions to Black Lives Matter protests by NFL players.

Systemic racism has an enduring impact that can affect people years later. Researchers have shown that counties most dependent on slavery in 1860 also have high levels of racism today. As systemic racism increased in these counties, Black residents’ poverty rates increased and their social mobility decreased.

Given the impact of systemic racism across all elements of society, it is hardly surprising that NFL coaches, analysts and scholars – including those in media studies, sport studies, sociology, sport management, and behavioral science – point to systemic racism as a reason for the lack of Black coaches in the league.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

Why Black Men Should Consider Immunotherapy for Prostate Cancer

by Ty McDuffey, BlackDoctor.org

New research conducted by scientists at Northwestern University has found that Black men may have a genetic advantage in immunotherapy treatments for prostate cancer.

Black men are more likely to have a type of cell on their tumors that can be targeted.

Black men are disproportionately more likely to get and die of prostate cancer than men of other races.

Prostate cancer is a risk for all men, but it can be especially deadly for African American men. African American men have higher prostate cancer mortality rates than other groups.

African American men are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer. However, Black men may benefit more from new immunotherapy therapies, which stimulate the immune system to fight cancer.

The study from Northwestern University uncovered why Black men might have a genetic advantage in immunotherapy treatments.

More Immune Cells Mean Better Responses to Certain Therapies The Northwestern University study found that prostate tumors from Black men and men of African ancestry have more plasma cells than tumors in men of other races.

These plasma cells can be protective.

African American men have a higher preponderance of these cells in their tissues,

Why is

Prostate Cancer

in Black Men Generally More Deadly?

Head Coach Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers

and those higher levels tend to be protective. Patients with higher levels of plasma cells have better outcomes in prostate cancer cases.

New immunotherapy treatments may be able to target these cells and reduce tumors. Increased plasma cells are associated with improved cancer survival rates following surgery. Researchers identified plasma cells as possibly driving prostate cancer-immune responses.

If a man’s prostate cancer has numerous plasma cells, researchers found he has an

improved chance of cancer survival. The study suggested plasma cells are important in the body’s response to cancer.

What is Immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is a broad term. It refers to the practice of using your immune system to help fight off prostate cancer.

Immunotherapy treatment is also used to fight prostate cancer that has become resistant to other therapies to improve the odds of survival.

Immunotherapy comes in many different forms in cancer therapy. In prostate

cancer, the commonly approved immunotherapy is a medication called Provenge.

With Provenge, patients’ white blood cells are drawn from their blood through plasmapheresis. Patients are then exposed to proteins that train their white blood cells to recognize and fight prostate cancer cells and then insert them back into their bodies.

More Plasma Cells Means a Better Reaction to Treatment All men with higher levels of plasma cells showed improved cancer-free sur-

vival, not only Black men.

Black men tend to have higher plasma cells levels than other demographic groups.

Researchers are developing immunotherapy-based precision medicine trials to determine whether increased levels of plasma cells in prostate cancers from men of all races and ancestry can enhance chances for improved survival.

Testing for plasma cells in prostate cancer may help identify men who benefit from immune-based treatments.

Why is Prostate Cancer in Black Men Generally More Deadly?

Black men in America face higher risks from prostate cancer than other demographic groups.

Age is the greatest risk factor. The incidence of prostate cancer rises as men get older.

African American men are more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer and have higher mortality rates.

Socioeconomic factors may play a role in why Black men in America are more likely to get prostate cancer and die from it.

Access to healthcare plays a major role in the impact of the disease, the time of diagnosis, and the stage at diagnosis on the Black male population.

Whether a close relative has had prostate cancer is also another risk factor.

New stamp to honor pioneering Black-Native American sculptress Edmonia Lewis

by Special to the AFRO

By AFRO Staff, Afro.com

A new stamp honoring Edmonia Lewis, a pioneering African-American and Native American sculptor who surmounted racial and gender barriers to earn international acclaim, will begin circulation Jan. 26, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

The USPS will honor Lewis as “first African American and Native American sculptor to earn international recognition” during a first-day-of-issue ceremony at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., which is free and open to the public.

“It’s impossible to overstate her significance and that’s becoming more and more clear as we see she really was something new under the sun,” Marilyn Richardson, a Massachusetts-based art consultant who spent decades tracking down and authenticating Lewis’ artworks around the world, told the New York Post. “We’ve never seen a woman of color who also identified as native both in her descent and in her work.”

Lewis was born in 1844 to an African American father and Chippewa (Ojibwa) Indian mother in Greenbush, New York.

Orphaned at an early age, Lewis was reared with her mother’s tribe, where her life revolved around fishing, swimming, and making and selling crafts. With help from her older brother – who reportedly had struck it rich in the California gold rush – Lewis left New York in 1859 and enrolled at Ohio’s Oberlin College, a liberal, pro-abolition institution. Even there, however, Lewis could not escape the specter of racism. Accused of poisoning two White classmates, she was badly beaten by a White mob. And, while the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence, she continued to face hostility and had to flee the school.

Lewis fled to Boston where she established herself as a professional artist, studying with a local sculptor and creating portraits of abolitionist heroes. Despite her modest success, Lewis chafed under the restriction of being a “colored girl” in the United States. In 1865, she relocated to Rome, joining a welcoming community of expatriate artists and began to work in marble. Adopting a neoclassical style, Lewis built a successful career, creating complexed art inspired by her Roman Catholic beliefs, classical mythology, African-American history and her

Photos; sculptures reflecting Indigenous People

Native American ancestry.

And, as with other successful Blacks,

18

Lewis’ achievements came with extra effort: “Sculptors usually hired local

workmen to carve their final pieces, but Lewis did all her own stonework out of fear that if she didn’t, her work would not be accepted as original,” according to the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Despite her unprecedented success, Lewis died in relative obscurity in 1907 in London. And, with her death, interest in and recognition of her works also died.

But that was to be expected, historians say.

“Women back then and people of color were basically forgotten if they had no way to have their legacy carried forward,” Bobbie Reno, a town historian in East Greenbush, N.Y., who has been advocating for Lewis’ recognition, told the Post.

“I had never heard of her, and then when I started to dig into her life everything about her just blew me away,” she said.

“She lived in two cultures and didn’t let any obstacles stop her from doing what she did.”

The Edmonia Lewis stamp is the 45th in the Black Heritage series. The stamp art is a casein-paint portrait based on a photograph of Lewis by Augustus Marshall made in Boston between 1864 and 1871.

It will be issued in panes of 20.

INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 262016 , 2022 - February 01, 2022 - August 02, 2016

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Maximum income limitations apCommunities’ Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesysply. Pre-applications willtems.com/gateway be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y beginning on 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon re20, 2021 3:00PM. quest by callingMonday, HOME INCDecember at 203-562-4663 duringatthose hours. Completed preapplications must be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third Floor, New Haven, CT 06510.

Listing: Accounting NOTICIA

Accounting Department has an immediate opening in Accounts Payable for an AP Operations Specialist. This full time position in a fast-paced office requires good computer and organizational skills, attention to detail, and multiVALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES tasking. Benefits include health, dental & LTD insurance, plus 401(k). Send resume Resource Dept.,House P O Box CT 06437 or email HOMEto: INC,Human en nombre de la Columbus y de 388, la NewGuilford Haven Housing Authority, está at aceptando HRDept@eastriverenergy.com. you. de un dormitorio en este desarrollo pre-solicitudes para estudios yThank apartamentos ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos ********An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer********** máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 julio, 2016 hasta cuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) en las oficinas de HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas por correo a petición llamando a HOME INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse a las oficinas de HOME INC en 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, New Haven , CT 06510 .

THE GLENDOWER GROUP

Request for Proposals Lender/Investor for Scattered Sites

The Glendower Group is currently seeking proposals for a lender/investor for Scattered Sites. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Glendower’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway

NEW HAVEN

beginning on Monday, December 6, 2021 at 3:00PM.

242-258 Fairmont Ave 2BR Townhouse, 1.5 BA, 3BR, 1 level , 1BA

Full Time, Benefits, Top Pay

!" #$%$&'$"())"*+$"*$%+",$(-".$$/$/" !" 0$(-."*+$"1(2&%2"34"*+$"531"63-72"7-3,-(894-38" 0$(-."*+$"1(2&%2"34"*+$"531"63-72"7-3,-(894-38"" +(./2:3."*-(&.&.,"*3"%(87;2")&4$"(./"83-$" +(./2:3."*-(&.&.,"*3"%(87;2")&4$"(./"83-$

Apply:Pace, 1425 Honeyspot

Rd. Ext., Stratford, CT EOE

POLICE OFFICER City of Bristol

!" <./$-2*(./"=3;-"-3)$2"(./"-$273.2&1&)&*&$2" <./$-2*(./"=3;-"-3)$2"(./"-$273.2&1&)&*&$2"" (2"("531"63-72"2*;/$.*" !" 63..$%*">&*+"3*+$-"2*;/$.*2"(./"2*(44" 63..$%*">&*+"3*+$-"2*;/$.*2"(./"2*(44"" >+38"=3;?))"8$$*"3."%(87;2" !" @&2%3'$-"*+$"-$23;-%$2"('(&)(1)$"" *3"=3;"ABCD

$69,017 - $83,893/yr.

Required testing, registration info, and apply online: www.bristolct.gov DEADLINE: 02-25-22 EOE

!"#$%"&'($C/8'($1/0206/1%7)8%(9$"#29%:;8!1,$8"/+'%21(%(91%'<0//'%,.+% &-0/,'*"+('.&2(+&&-(3")(,(10//&1130%(30'0)&,$P)0C$"=1$%7**%($,0.0.2% ,)&,1Q$0C/$'&"<&*1$'&"@)?/($:"7$B)0C$0C/$.,+-19"+('),*+*+45('""%15(,+-( '&/.+"%"42('"($0)10&(2"0)(-&1*)&-(/,)&&),$! ! %"22/A0$B)0C$*2$*?1)(()"2($A"72(/8"&$0"$?)(A7(($C"B$:"7$A*2$(0*&0$! !"#$%"&'($@)&07*88:,

!"#$%&'(%&)"*+&,+(-./&0(%&'"/%&1#&%2(&/2*34(5

DRIVER CDL CLASS A

!"#$%#&'#"($)*(&+,$$EFGGH"DII:5JKL"MNOADP"3-"53163-72Q,3'

!"#$$#% &$'()*+$#$

Full Time – All Shifts Top

!"#$%"&'($)($*$+,-,$./'*&01/20$"3$4*#"&$567*8$9''"&072)0:$51'8":/&$;&"<&*1,$=7>)8)*&:$*)?($*2?$(/&@)A/($*&/$*@*)8*#8/$ 7'"2$&/67/(0$0"$)2?)@)?7*8($B)0C$?)(*#)8)0)/(,$D..EDDF$0/8/'C"2/$271#/&$)($GHIIJ$HHKLMNOI, !"#$%

Pay-Full Benefits

EOE Please apply in person: 1425 Honeyspot Rd. Ext. Stratford, CT 06615

QSR STEEL CORPORATION

DO YOU WANT FREE TRAINING? DO YOU WANT STEADY FULL OR PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT?

toCERTIFIED Bid: NURSE ASSISTANT APPLY NOW!Invitation 2 Notice PHLEBOTOMY PATIENT CARE TECHNICAN CPR nd

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders Top pay for top performers. Health Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay. Old Saybrook, CT

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

State new of appliances, Connecticut All new apartments, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways, of nearPolicy bus stop &and shopping center Office Management Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258

333 Valley Street New Haven, CT 06515 (4 Buildings, 17 Units) Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project (203) 389-3321 Monday thru Friday 9am - 1pm

CT. Unified Deacon’s is pleased toOffice offer a Deacon’s The StateAssociation of Connecticut, of Policy and Management is Certificate Program. This is a 10 month program designed to assist in the intellectual formation of Candidates recruiting for two (2) Connecticut Career Trainees and a Lead in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:30Analyst.

3:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J.Planning Davis, M.S., B.S. (203) 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Elijah Davis, D.D. Pastor of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster St. NewFurther Haven, CT information

regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and application instructions are available at:

New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, CastDELIVERY PERSON in-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, TOWN OF EAST HAVEN Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection.

PURCHASING AGENT This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements.

NEEDED Must Have your Own Vehicle If Interested call

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/sup/bulpreview.asp ?R1=211213&R2=0007AR&R3=001;

Part Time Delivery Day a Week, Deadline toNeeded applyOne/Two is 12/17/21

Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/sup/bulpreview.asp ?R1=211213&R2=2292AR&R3=001 until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the and Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour. https://www.jobapscloud.com/CT/sup/bulpreview.asp

?R1=211213&R2=2292AR&R3=002 A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith Street Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016.

The State of Connecticut is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and Bidding documents are available the Seymour Housing Authority persons from with disabilities.

!"#$%&'&(")*&+','*"+(,+-('.&(/,)&&)($)&$,),'*"+(/"0)1&1(2"0( +&&-(3")(2"0)('),*+*+45(,%%("+%*+&6(7.&+(8"*+(01("+(/,#$01('"(4&'( '.&(.,+-19"+(&:$&)*&+/&(2"0(+&&-(3")(,(10//&1130%(/,)&&)6(;0)*+4( !"#$%&$'(%)*%+,!'%"-%"./0.1%/1,$.0.23%!"#%40//5

Of-

fice, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579.

The Housing Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, to reduce the scope of the project to reflect available funding, and to waive any informalities in the bidding, if such actions are in the best interest of the

The Town of East Haven seeks a qualified candidate to serve in the position of

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 This is a highly responsible position involving purchasing and Purchasing Agent. purchasing functions of the municipality. Qualified candidates should Anticipated Start: directing August 15,the 2016 possess a bachelor’s Project documents available via ftp link below: degree in business administration or related field preferably including or supplemented with special course work in purchasing/municipal bid http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage processes and materials management plus five (5) years’ of progressively responSeeking qualified condidates to sible purchasing work or an equivalent combination of education and qualifying or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com fillFaxnumerous vacancies to inexperience.

Must have valid class 3 Connecticut Driver’s License. The salary for HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses this position is $62,541/year, 35 hours per week and the Town offers an excellent clude, DeputyHaynes Assessor, Mechanic Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 benefit package. Please send cover letter and resume with references to: Town of Sewer Line, Public Health Nurse AA/EEO EMPLOYER East Haven, Michelle Benivegna, Human Resource Department, 250 Main Street, and more. For information and East Haven, CT 06512 or MBenivegna@townofeasthavenct.org. Resumes will detailed application instructions, be accepted until the position is filled. The Town of East Haven is committed to visit www.ci.milford.ct.us building a work force of diverse individuals. Minorities, females, handicapped and Click on SERVICES, JOBS and veterans are encouraged to apply. The Town of East Haven is an equal opportunity JOB TITLE. employer.

(203) 435-1387

CITY OF MILFORD

19

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January , 2022 - February 01, 2022 INNER-CITY NEWS July 27,26 2016 - August 02, 2016

Construction

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks:

Construction Equipment Mechanic preferably experienced in Seeking to employ experienced individuals in the labor, Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory foreman, operator and teamster trades for a heavy outside training on equipment we operate. Location: Bloomfield CT work statewide. Reliable personal transportation and a valWe offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits id drivers license required. To apply please call (860) 621Contact: Tom Dunay VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE 1720 or send resume to: Personnel Department, P.O. Box 368, Cheshire, CT06410.

Phone: 860- 243-2300 HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, Email: tom.dunay@garrityasphalt.com is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom this develAffiatrmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to applyapartments opment locatedAction/ at 108 Frank New Haven.

Maximum income limitations ap- Drug Free Workforce Affirmative EqualStreet, Opportunity Employer ply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon reGarrity Asphalt Incduring seeks: CT Fence quest by calling HOMEReclaiming, INC at 203-562-4663 those hours.Large Completed pre- Company looking for an individual for our Reclaimer Operators and Milling Operators with current licensing PVCStreet, Fence Third Production Shop. Experience preferred but will applications must be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange and clean driving record, be willing to travel throughout the Northtrain the right person. Must be familiar with carpentry hand Floor, New Haven, CT 06510. east & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits & power tools and be able to read a CAD drawing and tape measure. Use of CNC Router machine a plus but not required, will train the right person. This is an in-shop production poContact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860- 243-2300 sition. Duties include building fence panels, posts, gates and Email: rick.touMust have a valid CT driver’s license & be able to obtain signant@garrityasphalt.com VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDESmore.

DISPONIBLES a Drivers Medical Card. Must be able to pass a physical and Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply drug test. Please email resume to pboucher@atlasoutdoor.com.

Affirmative Action/deEqual Opportunity HOME INC, en nombre la Columbus House y Employer de la New Haven Housing Authority, está AA/EOE-MF aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Equipjulio,Must 2016have hastaacuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes ment.

CDL License, clean driving record, capable of (aproximadamente 100) en las oficinas de HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas porSeeking correo atopetición operating heavy equipment; be willing to travel throughout the employ experienced individuals in the labor, foreman, llamando HOME INC alexcellent 203-562-4663 horas.Pre-solicitudes deberánand remitirse Northeast &aNY. We offer hourlydurante rate &esas excellent benefits operator teamster trades for a heavy outside work statewide. a las oficinas de HOME INC en 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, New Haven , CT personal 06510 . transportation and a valid drivers license reReliable

NOTICE

PVC FENCE PRODUCTION

NOTICIA

Union Company seeks:

Contact Dana at 860-243-2300

Email: dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer

NEW HAVEN

Construction

quired. To apply please call (860) 621-1720 or send resume to: Personnel Department, P.O. Box 368, Cheshire, CT06410.

Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V

242-258 Fairmont Ave 2BR Townhouse, 1.5 BA, 3BR, 1 level , 1BA All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways, near bus stop & shopping center Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258

Drug Free Workforce

St. New Haven, CT

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour.

Full Time Class B driver for a fast paced petroleum company for days and weekends.

Previous experience required. Competitive wage, 401(k) and benefits. Send resume to: HR Manager, P. O. Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437.

Invitation to Bid: State of Connecticut 2nd Notice ********An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer********** Office of Policy and Management

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL Old Saybrook, CT The State of Connecticut, Office(4ofBuildings, 17 Units) HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF DANBURY Policy and Management is recruiting Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project for a Staff Attorney 1 (confidential) position.

CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s Certificate Program. This is a 10 month program designed to assist in the intellectual formation of Candidates in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:303:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. (203) 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Elijah Davis, D.D. Pastor of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster

Listing: Commercial Driver

Inspection Services RFP No. P22001

New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, CastFurther information regarding the duties, eligibility requirements and Concrete, applicationAsphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, in-place instructions are available at:

Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework,SCOPE:

https://www.jobapscloud.com/ The Housing Authority of the City of Danbury hereby issues this Request Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection.

CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1 for Proposal to secure a contract to perform HQS Inspections. =211124&R2=1637CR&R3=001 This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements.

The State of Connecticut is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and strongly encouragesBid the Extended, applications Due Date: August 5, 2016 Housing Authority of the City of Danbury, 2 Mill Ridge Rd, Danbury, CT 06811 of women, minorities, and persons Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016 with disabilities.

Envelope Must be Marked: RFP No.P22001, Inspection Services

PROPOSAL SUBMITTAL RETURN:

Project documents available via ftp link below: http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage SUBMITTAL DEADLINE POLICE OFFICER February 9, 2022 at 9:00am (EST) Fax orCity Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com of Bristol HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses

A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith Street Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, July 20, 2016.

Bidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority Office, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579.

The Housing Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, to reduce the scope of the project to reflect available funding, and to waive any

CONTACT Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 PERSON FOR IFB DOCUMENT: $69,017Haynes - $83,893/yr.

Ms. Devin Marra, Director of Financial Operations, Required testing, AA/EEO EMPLOYER Telephone: 203-744-2500 x1410 registration info, and apply E-Mail: dmarra@hacdct.org online: www.bristolct.gov DEADLINE: 02-25-22 [Minority- and/or women-owned businesses are encouraged to respond] EOE

20

INNER-CITY NEWS July 27,26 2016 - August 02, 2016 THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January , 2022 - February 01, 2022

DRIVER CDL CLASS A

WATER DISTRIBUTION NOTICE

Full Time – All Shifts Top Pay-Full Benefits EOE Please apply in person: 1425 Honeyspot Rd. Ext. Stratford, CT 06615

The Town of Wallingford is seeking qualified applicants for Assistant Superintendent – Water Distribution.

The position responsiblePREfor providing technicalAVAILABLE and managerial VALENTINA MACRI RENTALis HOUSING APPLICATIONS direction in the operation and maintenance of the Town’s Water Department distribution system. qualifications are a House bachelor's inHaven civil orHousing sanitaryAuthority, engineerHOME INC,The on behalf of Columbus and degree the New ing, plus five years of progressively responsible experience in water operations with at is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom apartments at this develleast three years in water distribution, or an equivalent combination of education and opment located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven. Maximum income limitations apqualifying experience. Applicants must have or being able to obtain within six months, ply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y a State of Connecticut Department of Health Services Class II Distribution System 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have Operator Certification. Must possess and maintain a valid CT driver’s license. Salary: been received at theannually offices of HOME INC. Applications willts be mailiedApplication upon re$79,014 to $101,097 plus an excellent fringe benefi package. questmay by calling HOME at 203-562-4663 during those hours.

Completed preforms be obtained at INC the Department of Human Resources, Town of Wallingford, applications must be returned to HOME INC’s offices at 171 Orange Street, Third 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Forms will be mailed upon request Floor, Haven, CT 06510. Resources or may be downloaded from the Town of from theNew Department of Human Wallingford Department of Human Resources Web Page. Phone: (203) 294-2080, Fax: (203) 294-2084. Applications and resumes can be emailed to: wlfdhr@wallingfordct. gov by the closing date of February 10, 2022. EOE

QSR STEEL CORPORATION

APPLY NOW!

Steel Fabricators, Erectors & Welders Top pay for top performers. Health Benefits, 401K, Vacation Pay. Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

NOTICIA

MECHANIC TRACTOR TRAILER

VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES

360 MANAGEMENT GROUP COMPANY

HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 julio, 2016 hasta cuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) en las oficinas de HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas por correo a petición 360 Management is currently seeking proposals for tax credit compliance. llamando a HOMEGroup INC alCo. 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse A acomplete copy of the INC requirement may be obtained fromNew 360 Haven Management’s las oficinas de HOME en 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, , CT 06510Ven.

Full Time, Benefits, Top Pay

Request for Proposals Tax Credit Compliance

dor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on

Monday, January 10, 2022 at 3:00PM.

NEW HAVEN Listing: Risk and Safety Manager 242-258 Fairmont Ave

Petroleum company has a need a full time1Risk Safety Man2BR Townhouse, 1.5forBA, 3BR, leveland, 1BA ager. AllSchedule includes weekends and night coverage.

Job& requires new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 I-95 instate travel throughout Candidate must be detail oriented, highways, the nearweek. bus stop & shopping center have aPetstrong logistics knowledgeable in OSHA, DOT, under 40lb allowed.background, Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258 EPA, WC regulations. Previous petroleum, transportation or management experience a plus. Send resume to: HR Manager, P.O. Box 388, CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s Certificate Program.

This is a 10 month program designed to assist in the intellectual formation of Candidates Guilford, CT. 06437. in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:303:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. (203) 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Elijah Davis, D.D. Pastor of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster

**An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer**********

******

St. New Haven, CT

THE GLENDOWER GROUP SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

Request for Qualifi cations Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour until 3:00 pm on Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the Project Architect for the Repositioning of Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour.

Elm City Communities Scattered Sites Properties

A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith The Glendower Group is currently seeking Proposals for a project architect for the reStreet Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, scattered on Wednesday, July 20,A2016. positioning of Elm City Communities sites properties. complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Glendower’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https:// newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Authority OfBidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing

fice, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579.

Monday, September 27, 2021 at 3:00PM. The Housing Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, to reduce the scope of the project to reflect available funding, and to waive any

Apply:Pace, 1425 Honeyspot

Rd. Ext., Stratford, CT EOE

Account Clerk-Payroll: The Town of East Haven is currently accepting applications to participate in the examination for Account Clerk-Payroll. The current vacancy is in the Finance Department of the Board of Education but this list may be used to fill other Account Clerk positions within the Town of East Haven. The starting salary is $54,325/year, 40 hours per week. Applications are available by calling 203-468-3375 or online at https:// www.townofeasthavenct.org/civil-service-commission/pages/job-notices-and-tests and must be returned Invitation to Bid: by mail to the Civil Service Offi ce, 250 Main Street, East Haven CT 06512 by February 11, 2022. The 2nd Notice Town of East Haven is committed to VILLAGE building a workforce of diverse individuals. Minorities, Females, SAYEBROOKE Handicapped and Veterans are encouraged to apply.

Old Saybrook, CT (4 Buildings, 17 Units) Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project

POLICE OFFICER New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, CastCity ofin-place Bristol Ducci Electrical Contractors, we believe it is our duty to encourage the Concrete, Asphalt At Shingles, Vinyl Siding, growth and use of small, minority, women-owned, disadvantaged and

Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential disabled andCasework, non-disabled veteran-owned businesses. $69,017 - $83,893/yr.

Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection.

We are committed to the principles and practices of Equal Employment Required testing, Opportunities, Civil Rights, Diversity and Inclusion and the This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements. registration info, and apply implementation of policies, codes, and regulations that will foster

online: www.bristolct.gov growth, promote advancement, and provide opportunities Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 for all subcontractors and vendors.

DEADLINE: 02-25-22 Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016 EOE Project documents available via ftp link below: For additional information, or to be added to our bid list, http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage

DRIVER CDL CLASS A please send your qualifications to the following contact: Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBEStacey & Section 3 Certified Businesses Vincent, Contracts & Diversity Manager Full TimeHaynes – AllConstruction ShiftsCompany, Top 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483 svincent@duccielectrical.com

AA/EEO EMPLOYER Pay-Full Benefits If you are interested in becoming part of our workforce, please contact:

EOE Please apply in person: 1425 Honeyspot Rd. Ext. Stratford, CT 06615

21

Catherine Best, Corporate Compliance Officer cbest@duccielectrical.com www.duccielectrical.com

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

2022 Princeton University Summer Program for Black Teen Girls Now Available Online

By BlackNews.com

Nationwide — Black excellence and effective leadership are essential for a thriving African-American community to survive any world crisis. Jacqueline Glass-Campbell, CEO of At the Well Conferences, Inc. (ATW), celebrates molding the masterminds of tomorrow by introducing At the Well Young Women’s Leadership Academy’s Online Distance Learning Program.

The program was created for young minority women out of a commitment to increase awareness of the essential tools required to aid them in becoming successful leaders. By promoting excellence in education, young talent will transform their communities. Girls are encouraged to live beyond their limitations, achieve beyond their dreams, and impact communities beyond their reach.

Due to the current and uncertain pandemic, the 2022 summer At The Well Leadership Academy will be conducted in a virtual environment that will be easily accessible and affordable. Registration is now open on the official website at www. atthewellconferences.org Tuition is $399, which includes the Four

Day Online Distance Learning Program and one Fall/Winter Leadership Workshop. There is no application fee.

There will be two programs in 2022:

Robert Saulsbury aul h s sb

al

in

vi

y ur

coac

Basketball Invitational

tat i o n

4:00 pm - 5:00pm Carreer High Vs. Eli Whitney High 5:30 pm - 5:45 pm Awards Ceremony Honoring

Coach Larry S. Kelley • Mrs. Jacqueline Bracey Coach David Pringle

6:00 pm - 7:15 pm Hillhouse High Vs. Windsor High 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm Wilbur Cross Vs. Bristol Central

Floyd Little Athletic Center 480 Sherman Ave., New Haven, CT 06511 Wednesday February 2, 2022 - 4:00 pm - 9:00 pm Donation: $5.00 Students • $10.00 Adults

Proceeds to Benefit The Robert H. Saulsbury Scholarship Fund Refreshments available for sale

For More Info Contact: 203-376-1385

• July 28-31st, 2022 — 9th-10th Grade Virtual Intensive Minority girls who are currently in the 9th & 10th-grade years of high school will participate in classes to increase aware-

ness of the essential tools required to aid them in becoming successful leaders.

They learn critical thinking, essay writing, and critical reading skills. We seek to motivate these students towards higher

achievement in school and increased selfconfidence.

• July 21-24th, 2022 — 11th Grade College Prep Virtual Intensive Minority girls who are currently in their 11th-grade year in high school will participate in classes with a core curriculum specifically created for students preparing to attend college. The program provides the essential tools that lead to college success such as critical thinking, college essay writing, and assistance with college selection and scholarships.

ATW partners with many celebrities, high-profiled figures, educators, and activists who share life challenges and personal testimonies. Recent speakers have included actress Nicole Ari Parker, rising actress Eden Duncan Smith, scholar Julianne Malveaux, motivational speaker Brandi Harvey, Chynna Clayton Personal Assistant to Michelle Obama, physician Michele Reed, and plus-size supermodel Liris Crosse.

For more information about At the Well Young Women’s Leadership Academy’s Online Distance Program, visit AtTheWellConferences.org. For questions, please email contact@atthewellconferences.org or call 646-592-1488.

IN MEMORIAM:

Cheryl Hickmon: National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Dies

By Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D, NNPA Newswire Culture and Entertainment Editor

The nation is mourning the passing of Cheryl Hickmon, national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, the nation’s largest African-American sorority. Hickmon was elected president of the organization dedicated to sisterhood, scholarship and service November 21, 2021 at the 55th national convention held in Atlanta, GA. Hickmon, a beloved and celebrated member, served the organization for 39 years. The Connecticut native was initiated into the Alpha Xi Chapter at South Carolina State University in 1982 and was an active member of the Hartford (Conn.)

Alumnae Chapter. The national office of the sorority released a statement announcing Hickmon’s death which reads as follows: “It is with great sorrow that Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. shares the passing of our beloved National President and Chair of the National Board of Directors, Cheryl A. Hickmon. President Hickmon transitioned peacefully on January 20, 2022 after a recent illness.

President Hickmon was a devoted member of Delta Sigma Theta since 1982 and served in various capacities at the chapter, region, and national level before being elected National President. She is remembered not only for her role as a leader but for being a colleague, friend, and most of all, sister.

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Cheryl Hickmon, national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, the nation’s largest African-American sorority.

The entire sisterhood of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated mourns the loss of President Hickmon. During this difficult time, we ask that you respect her family’s privacy and keep them in your prayers.”

In addition to serving as the national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Cheryl was employed at Montefiore’s Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Health in Hartsdale, NY where she supervised the In Vitro Fertilization Laboratories for Andrology and Endocrinology. A licensed Clinical Laboratory Technologist, Hickmon worked in the Reproductive Medical Laboratory for more than 30 years.

Members and supporters have been offering remembrances and calling for prayers in response to Hickmon’s death.

Florida representative Val Demings, who is a member of the sorority, shared her

thoughts via Twitter.

Organizations including the NAACP and fellow Black Greek Letter Organizations like Omega Psi Phi, Phi Beta Sigma and Alpha Kappa Alpha have issued statements about Hickmon’s passing.

Cheryl Hickmon is the daughter of the late Dr. Ned Hickmon of Hartford, CT and Bishopville, South Carolina and the late Consuella Anderson Hickmon of Hartford, CT and Cincinnati, Ohio. She is survived by her two older brothers Ned and David Hickmon.

Hickmon’s bio reads, “Cheryl lives her life by the motto … ‘Don’t measure life by the number of breaths you take but by the number of moments that take your breath away.’” She was 60.

This obituary was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - January 26, 2022 - February 01, 2022

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