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27, 2016 - August 02, 2016 THE INNER-CITY NEWS MAYJuly 09, 2018 - MAY 15, 2018

Financial a Bill KeytoFocus at 2016 NAACP Convention Let’s UpdateJustice the Farm Help Lift Americans Out of Poverty New Haven, Bridgeport

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Volume 27 . No. 2278 Volume 21 No. 2194

Ignore On Crime” Ignore“Tough “Tough On 2nd Man Cleared GunCrime”

“DMC”

Malloy Malloy To To Dems: Dems:

Marquis Jackson (right), Vernon Horn outside court Wednesday.

Issue

TIME Magazine Names

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California Congresswoman Maxine Waters “One of the Most Influential People in the World”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS

MAY 09, 2018

MAY 15, 2018

3 Alternative Schools Targeted To Close by CHRISTOPHER PEAK New Haven Independent

A small high school that can’t attract required white suburbanites and two alternative schools that can’t keep traumatized students in class should be shuttered this year, a school board committee suggested. At a meeting Monday, the Board of Education’s Finance & Operations Committee made an initial recommendation to close Cortlandt V.R. Creed Health & Sports Sciences High School’s current location and consolidate the three alternative schools as part of an effort to close a projected budget deficit. The conference room at the district’s central offices on Meadow Street was packed — an unusual sight at what’s normally a dry, numbers-heavy meeting for which even school administrators often don’t stay through the end. Six school board members (everyone but Mayor Toni Harp) showed up to have their say on how to close a $6.58 million dollar deficit this year and an even bigger shortfall of at least $14.35 million next year. The board members talked for two and a half hours. More than 50 parents and staff many from Creed listened without a chance to weigh in on the imminent plans to close their school. The Finance & Operations committee also asked the superintendent to take a look at a number of other expenses. They directed her to renegotiate several leases, including warehouse space on Ferry Street, early childhood education offices on Hamilton Street, and theater space for Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School. They also asked her to review who has permission to use district-owned vehicles. The committee’s other cost-saving measure in recent months, sending the school-bus contract out to bid rather than taking a locked-in renewal rate as staff had recommended, backfired. Only one company sent in a bid — Students First, the existing transportation provider — at 8 percent higher than their current rate. Because the company is the only bidder, the district is trying to negotiate the rate down. None of the decisions have been finalized, with board members leaving open the possibility of finding a permanent homes for Creed and the alternative schools. Superintendent Carol Birks is scheduled to provide an update about the budget at next week’s full board meeting. Darnell Goldson, the board’s

CHRISTOPHER PEAK PHOTO

Ed board’s Ed Joyner, Joe Rodriguez, Darnell Goldson Monday.

The crowd at Monday’s Finance & Operations Committee meeting.

president, plans to then call a special meeting mid-week to vote on a plan to close and consolidate schools. “We’ve been talking about this for months. These issues were closures of schools, layoffs of some people, furloughs, whatever it took to get this budget in line. Because at the end of the day, this budget doesn’t help to educate our kids,” Goldson said. “We have to make tough decisions.” Counting Enrollment Figures At Monday’s meeting, Birks said she’d narrowed in on four smaller schools that weren’t meeting targets. She said that Creed, an inter-district magnet high school that had 250 students at the start of the yearlocated in temporary quarters in North Haven, had missed enrollment projections and failed to attract enough racial diversity to justify its state funding. The school, which is 92.8 percent non-white, is at risk of losing $121,000 next year, said Sherri Davis-Googe, director of school choice enrollment. That’s because, starting this year, inter-district magnet schools formed after 2005 can’t be more than 75 percent African-American or Hispanic — the

standard for racial isolation that came out of the landmark Sheff v. O’Neill case, which the Connecticut State Department of Education (SDE) later implemented statewide. Magnet schools created earlier have until 2020 to catch up. Hyde Leadership Academy, as Creed was once known, would have fit in that category, but it was reconstituted during the move to North Haven in 2013, putting it on deadline. New Haven’s school administrators have argued that the demographic targets that the state has set are unreasonable for an urban school district surrounded by increasingly diverse suburbs. Never a party to the Sheff lawsuit, which only affected schools in greater Hartford, the district has asked for different criteria to be used, such as measuring socio-economic diversity alongside race. But the SDE gets to set the regulations. And with a budget crisis that’s slashed magnet school funding, they’ve decided that Creed is out of compliance. They said it could lose funds next year and, without signs of progress, potentially be demagnetized

within two years. Beyond the penalties the district could incur, Birks said that closing down Creed would save $560,000 a year in rent and transportation. Birks added that the district’s three alternative schools — New Horizons, Riverside Academy and New Light — which together have 211 students who were kicked out of traditional high schools, had such low attendance and graduation rates that they should be reimagined. The majority of the alternative school kids have been marked chronically absent, meaning they missed 10 percent of class. Last year, the chronic absenteeism rates were 63.3 percent at Riverside, 81.3 percent at New Light, and 90.4 percent at New Horizons. Each day, only about one-third of the desks are full, Birks said she heard from principals. Goldson said he stopped by one school at 12:30 p.m. last week and found no students there. “I looked at our data, and I guess I asked the question, ‘Is this the best way to serve that population of students?’” Birks said. “If they’re not coming to school, if we’re not graduating them at a high rate, is this the best way to run a school? We need to look at that, and it’s going to take more than a day or week.” Birks proposed introducing specialized programs to the bigger high schools and then consolidating other students at a compound that the district rents on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, where Riverside is currently located. Next to adult education classes, the location could allow for more vocational training, perhaps run by Jobs for the Future or Big Picture Learning,

plus summer school, she explained. But that sent up red flags for several board members. Why would they continue to pay $590,000 in rent on the boulevard, when two district-owned buildings would be vacated? “Closing other facilities and leasing that facility, for me, is problematic,” Goldson said. Ed Joyner, the one remaining board member who voted against hiring Birks, made a surprise turn when he argued that his colleagues should all take a step back and allow the superintendent to develop her own plan. “We should give the opportunity to allow the superintendent to use her expertise as an educator for how to do it or not do it,” he said. ‘We are parttime policymakers, and we are really headed down a slippery slope if we give specific orders about how to do her job.” While research on the impact of school closures is mixed, several studies suggests that the most important factor in academic outcomes is where students are redirected after their school is shuttered. In one major study last year, researchers at the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University analyzed more than 1,500 school closures in 26 states over a seven-year period. They found that students who ended up in better schools showed greater academic gains than peers at low-performing schools that stayed open, getting ahead by 10 to 40 days of learning. On the other hand, they found that students who landed in equivalent or worse schools tended to fell behind Con’t on page 06

Book Signing and Talk at Westport Historical Society:

A radical new history of abolition

Join Westport Historical Society on May 16 at 7pm for an evening lecture related to the new WHS exhibition “Remembered: The Story of African Americans in Westport.” The 2017 Frederick Douglass Prize winning author Manisha Sinha will discuss her book “The Slaves Clause”: a groundbreaking history of abolition that recovers the largely forgotten role of African Americans in the long march toward emancipation from the American Revolution through the Civil War. Manisha Sinha is the Draper Chair in American History at the University of Connecticut. Register online at westporthistory.org, $10 members, $15 non-members. May 16, 7 pm, Westport Historical Society, 25 Avery Place across from Town Hall. All proceeds go to continuing educational programming at WHS.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS MAY 09, 2018 - MAY 15, 2018

2nd Man Cleared, Freed In Deli Murder by THOMAS BREEN New Haven Independent

After spending 19 years behind bars for a crime he’s no longer accused of committing, Marquis Jackson walked out of court a free man Thursday with a planned upcoming stop in Wakanda. New Haven Superior Court Judge Elpedio Vitale dismissed all charges against Jackson, who turns 39 on Monday, connected to his alleged involvement in a botched robbery-turned-murder at Dixwell Deli at 706 Dixwell Ave. early in the morning on Jan. 24, 1999. The dismissed charges included felony murder and first-degree robbery. It was the second exoneration and release of a prisoner in a week in that case thanks to new evidence uncovered by the federal public defender office. After a 25-minute court proceeding, Jackson emerged from the courthouse around 2:45 p.m. alongside Vernon Horn, a close friend and the co-defendant who similarly spent nearly two decades behind bars for his alleged involvement in the Dixwell Deli robbery before being freed on April 25. Jackson said he plans to spend this first day of his life as a free man watching Black Panther, the new Marvel superhero movie that envisions a secret, prosperous, self-sufficient African kingdom, Wakanda, protected from the ravages of racism and colonialism. “Today is the first day of my new life,” Jackson declared as he hugged his mother Mary and his attorney Daniel Lage on the steps outside the New Haven County Courthouse at 235 Church St. “And I’d like to say, in [words of] the Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I’m free at last!’” Jackson’s long and tortuous path through the criminal justice system began in the spring of 2000, when he and Horn were convicted for their alleged involvement in the armed robbery of the Dixwell Deli in early 1999. On Wednesday afternoon, New Haven State’s Attorney Patrick Griffin rehashed that history as a prelude to a motion to set aside the previous judgment of conviction, restore the case to the Superior Court, and ultimately dismiss the case and all charges against Jackson. According to Griffin, court records, and evidence offered against Horn and Jackson those years ago, three masked and armed robbers entered the Dixwell Deli at 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 24, 1999. The robbers shot and injured the owner of the deli, Abby Yousif. They also shot and killed a 22-year-old customer named Caprice Hardy, They assaulted off-duty employee at the deli named

Vernon Butler, robbing him of cash and his cellphone. Butler’s cellphone would prove to be a critical piece of evidence in the state’s investigation, Griffin said, after the third man who had been involved in the robbery, Stephen Brown, cooperated with the prosecution and accused Horn and Jackson of being his co-conspirators in the armed robbery. At trial back in 2000, the state’s attorney argued that Horn used the phone to make two calls from New Haven the day after the crimes were committed. Horn and Jackson were ultimately found guilty of several felony counts, including murder and first-degree robbery. Horn was sentenced to 70 years in prison. Jackson got a sentence of 45 years. Jackson wound up serving a little under 19 years, mostly at Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, Connecticut. For the next decade and a half, Horn and Jackson protested their convictions and consistently claimed their innocence. In 2014, Horn filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, leading to an investigation by the federal defender office. That office’s team disocvered nearly 140 pages of phone records that had been collected by an office investigator during the initial prosecution but had not been logged into police evidence or shared with the defense’s lawyers. The federal defenders found that the new evidence and new interpretations of the previously presented evidence proved that the calls made on Butler’s stolen cellphone did not originate in New Haven, as alleged, but rather in Bridgeport. Click here for a previous story describing the work of the office in unearthing the new evidence that lead to the release and exoneration of Horn. “The totality of the information developed to date has sufficiently undermined the state’s confidence in the judgment of conviction,” read the state’s motion to void Jackson’s conviction on Wednesday, “such that justice is done by setting the judgment aside and restoring the case to the Superior Court docket.” State’s Attorney Griffin put the matter more bluntly during Jackson’s hearing before Judge Vitale on Wednesday. “As state’s attorney,” he said, “it would be virtually impossible to untangle that evidence that was presented at the original trial. We would not be in a position in good faith to stand before this court or in good faith to represent this victim’s family or to retry this case.” Referring to the newly interpreted cellphone information and the contemporaneous testimony of Stephen Brown

Marquis Jackson (right), Vernon Horn outside court Wednesday.

Horn and Jackson.

Jackson and his lawyer Daniel Lage.

as “at best unreliable, at worst patently false,” Griffin said that he was “honorbound” as state’s attorney to support the state’s decision to reopen Jackson’s conviction and dismiss all charges against him. Griffin said that he had spoken with the murder victim’s mother before Jackson’s hearing, letting her know about the newly interpreted evidence and the state’s motion to clear Jackson.

“Mrs. Forbes [Caprice Hardy’s mother] is understandably broken-hearted,” he said. He said that Forbes, who declined to attend the court hearing on Wednesday, has lost two of her sons to gun violence in New Haven. He said she sees Horn and Jackson’s exoneration and release as a failure of the criminal justice system. The dozen weeping and cheering family members and friends of Jackson

who showed up on Wednesday called the state’s decision to reopen and dismiss his case as a first step in amending the grievous failure of justice that took 19 years from Jackson’s life. “Every case that they investigated needs to be reopened,” said Jackson’s aunt Lorraine Spann, referring to the prosecution team that helped wrongfully convict Horn and Hackson those two decades ago. “They retired. The state’s still paying their pensions. But we’re not in it for the money. We’re in it for justice.” “It’s a horrible system,” Horn said as he and his lawyer prepared to leave the courthouse on Wendesday. “There’s so much work that needs to be done.” He praised the federal defender office for their tireless support of him, and thanked everyone who had donated to a GoFundMe page set up by Yale Law School students with the mission of helping Horn rebuild his life after prison. (Terence Ward, David Keenan, Kelly Barrett and Jennifer Mellon of the Federal Defender Office handled the case with the help of Quinnipiac Law Professor Sarah Russell and Yale law students Alison Gifford, Amit Jain and Christopher Desir.) Horn said that, after his release, he insisted that his attorneys turn over all of the evidence they had gathered in his case to Jackson’s lawyers from the Shelton-based firm Ruane Attorneys At Law, so that they would be able to marshal the same research and evidence in support of his friend and former codefendant. “I went to law school in order to fight for people like Marquis,” said Ruane Assistant Attorney Daniel Lage, who said that he grew up in Bridgeport and spent some time struggling with homelessness before getting his GED and law degrees. “Because Marquis reminds me of people I grew up with. To those people, we are fighting for you. To the people out there who have been wrongfully accused, wrongfully convicted, people will fight for you. We are out there. Do not give up.” On the sidewalk outside the courthouse, Jackson described the sensation of being free as “wonderful” and “unreal.” “This is a wonderful day for me,” he said. “Nineteen years and coming. I always believed that I would be exonerated. Sometimes it was shaky, but I kept the faith and I kept moving forward.” “The same system that took my liberty today gave it back,” he continued. “So it’s bittersweet. Unfortunately, there’s several other men who didn’t get that lucky break as I got today. Mistakes have been made, and unfortunately several other mistakes were made. But I’m

THE INNER-CITY NEWS

MAY 09, 2018

MAY 15, 2018

Mattei Wins The Door Knockers by PAUL BASS

New Haven Independent

William Tong rolled out the mayor. On Thursday, Chris Mattei rolled out the artillery. The two candidates for the Democratic nomination for attorney general will now put to the test which kind of political endorsement makes the biggest difference when it comes to rounding up votes. Mayor Toni Harp recently endorsed the candidacy of Tong, her former colleague in the state legislature. (Mattei, a former federal prosecutor and union organizer, assembled 10 alders plus City Clerk Michael Smart in front of City Hall’s Amistad statue Thursday afternoon to demonstrate his success in lining up New Haven support. A total of 25 of the city’s 30 alders have now endorsed his campaign, two weeks

PAUL BASS PHOTO

Mattei surrounded by city endorses Sal DeCola, Rosa Santana, Michael Smart, Tyisha Walker-Myers, Aaron Greenberg, Michelle Edmonds-Sepulveda, Brian Wingate, Jody Ortiz, David Reyes, and Frank Douglass.

before the state party nominating convention. That will help at the convention; all the alders are delegates. That will probably help even more in the event of an expected party primary. Many of the alders present are part of the UNITE HERE-backed coalition that is considered the city’s, if not the state’s, leading vote-pulling force. “Nobody,” noted Beaver Hills Alder Brian Wingate, hits “the doors like we do.” Mattei’s endorsers Thursday included Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers. She said after the event that she had met with both Tong and Mattei. “I think he’s a great guy,” Walker-Myers said of Tong. “I think he has a lot to offer.” Con’t on page 09

Colleges To Train Next-Gen Utility Workers by JOE BERTOLINO AND PAUL BROADIE New Haven Independent

(Opinion) Connecticut’s utility sector is facing a watershed – a flood of retirements and a drought of skilled workers. With nearly one-third of the workforce at the region’s utility companies eligible to retire within four years, Southern Connecticut State University and Gateway Community College have joined forces to develop a unique pipeline to prepare workers to fill those anticipated openings. The collaboration with the two institutions was the brainchild of Larry Bingaman, the president and CEO of the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority (RWA). He approached us three years ago with the idea of establishing this type of program. Subsequently, representatives of other utility companies supported the concept. “About half of RWA employees will be eligible to retire in the next several years,” Bingaman said. “But this trend within the industry extends throughout New England and to other parts of the nation. An aging workforce – combined with changes in regulations, technology and the push toward sustainable energy sources – pose new challenges for

the utility industry as a whole.” Considering what’s at stake, Southern and Gateway have joined forces to create a pathway for students to receive the education necessary to fill the projected managerial and technological job openings at the state’s water, wastewater, electric and natural gas companies. Thought to be the first of their kind in the nation, these programs should fill a void in the development of future utility leaders and help meet the needs of the state workforce. After all, helping to train the next generation of Connecticut’s skilled workers is a strategic commitment for both schools. At Southern, we have created a specialization in public utility management with tracks in water, electric and gas operations within our Bachelor of Science degree program in business administration. At Gateway,

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we have developed a certificate and an associate degree in public utility management. Many students are likely to begin at Gateway, attain an associate degree, and transfer to Southern in their third year to complete their bachelor of science degree program with the

specialization. Existing and incoming students at Southern may opt to start their program there. Internships at various utility companies in Connecticut will be offered to students as part of the new collaboration. The departments facing the most Con’t on page 11

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Harp: Whom Do We Call Now At Yale? THE INNER-CITY NEWS

by PAUL BASS

New Haven Independent

She doesn’t see Yale retreating from New Haven. But Mayor Toni Harp does question the effect that the university’s latest top-level shuffle will mean for town-gown relations. The university announced that shuffle on Friday: Bruce Alexander will retire next month as Yale’s vice-president for New Haven and state affairs. Yale created that job for Alexander 20 years ago when it embarked on a newly engaged relationship with the city, from rebuilding commercial corridors to helping workers buy homes in the city. Alexander has served as a top-level contact and decision-maker on New Haven matters for civic players throughout New Haven. In announcing Alexander’s pending

retirement, university President Peter Salovey stated that rather than hire a replacement, Yale will divide Alexander’s duties among six other existing next-rung officials. (Read the details of that plan here.) Now, Harp said during her latest appearance on WNHH FM’s “Mayor Monday” program, “One thing we have to struggle with is: Who do we talk to for what? “I know that Lauren [Zucker, associate vice-president for New Haven affairs and University Properties] is going to be taking over a lot of the role he plays with government. We have a good relationship with her. But the whole development piece that he did, that was kind of done very subtly, I don’t know who will be doing that.” Harp said she has met “five or six

MAY 09, 2018

MAY 15, 2018

times” a year in person with Alexander, on top of occasional phone calls. “My sense is they’re not retreating from New Haven. Peter Salovey is the president. He lives in New Haven and is committed to New Haven. I think they’re just trying a different method,” Harp said. But, without a single top person with Alexander’s portfolio and authority, “it won’t be focused, that’s for sure. ... I worry that we will all be wishing that we had something that was a little more focused, someone a little more like Bruce.” Harp noted that Alexander played a leading role in not just city and state matters, but internal operations, including dealings with Yale’s unions. His job evolved over the decades, she noted; maybe not the job is reverting in some form to where it began.

That’ll Be Two Hundred Bucks, President Joe by ALLAN APPEL

New Haven Independent

Southern Connecticut State University President Joe Bertolino brought his charm and outreach tour to the Fair Haven Community Management Team (FHCMT) Thursday night. It cost him $200. Bertolino, president of Southern Connecticut State University since 2016, said he is the first president in recent memory who lives in the city (Morris Cove). He has been on a campaign to visit each of the city’s community management teams to promote a closer relationship between New Haven and the university. Fair Haven’s gathering was the fourth of 12 management teams Bertolino, who encourages listeners to refer to him as “President Joe,” intends to hit. He made the case that SCSU is the city’s “working-class institution” serving an increasingly diverse student body as the school approaches its 125th anniversary next year. He was warmly received during his ten minutes of speaking during an agendafilled gathering. Longtime community activist Mary Ann Moran thanked Bertolino for Southern’s athletes who for the past four or five years have participated on their “day of service” helping to clean up portions of New Haven like Dover Beach Park. Bertolino said students of color now comprise 40 percent of enrollees; he expects the number to hit 50 percent within five years. Kim Johansen, the New Haven Housing Authority’s (HANH) residents service coordinator, said that some of her

ALLAN APPEL PHOTO

Bertolino, right, chats with Fair Havener, and police commissioner, Kevin Diaz after the meeting.

clients find the process of applying for admission a little confusing. Bertolino said he’d be happy for his staff to drop in on HANH’s sites with a program or workshop to help make the process less daunting. “We are your public university. We want to be good neighbors. If you’re looking for partnerships, call us first,” he said. Not a bit shy, FHCMT Co-Chair David Steinhardt immediately replied that the team is always on the look-out for support for picnics and dinners it puts on for hundreds of Fair Haven kids and the seniors at the Atwater Senior Center. Might SCSU pony up, say, two hundred dollars? Bertolino’s eyes opened a touch wider at the spontaneous request. Then he recovered.

“That ... I think we can do,” he said. Steinhardt smiled. “Can my students and staff volunteer?” Bertolino asked. Steinhardt nodded in the affirmative. In other news from the meeting, voting members approved the writing of a letter, on behalf of the FHCMT, to Mayor Toni Harp asking the city to issue a request for proposals (RFP) to find a bank to take over the city’s accounts with Wells Fargo. The request was in response to a pitch made by local activist Melinda Tuhus, representing New Haven Stands for Standing Rock, in protest of the bank supporting the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, as well as its shoddy banking practices. The vote was 9 in favor, with four abstentions.

Bruce Alexander will retire next month as Yale’s vice-president for New Haven and state affairs. Con’t from page 2

3 Alternative Schools Targeted To Close

by CHRISTOPHER PEAK

Humanities High School. They also asked her to review who has permission to use district-owned vehicles. The committee’s other cost-saving measure in recent months, sending the school-bus contract out to bid rather than taking a locked-in renewal rate as staff had recommended, backfired. Only one company sent in a bid — Students First, the existing transportation provider — at 8 percent higher than their current rate. Because the company is the only bidder, the district is trying to negotiate the rate down. None of the decisions have been finalized, with board members leaving open the possibility of finding a permanent homes for Creed and the alternative schools. Superintendent Carol Birks is scheduled to provide an update about the budget at next week’s full board meeting. Darnell Goldson, the board’s president, plans to then call a special meeting mid-week to vote on a plan to close and consolidate schools. “We’ve been talking about this for months. These issues were closures of schools, layoffs of some people, furloughs, whatever it took to get this budget in line. Because at the end of the day, this budget doesn’t help to educate our kids,” Goldson said. “We have to make tough decisions.” Counting Enrollment Figures At Monday’s meeting, Birks said she’d narrowed in on four smaller schools that weren’t meeting targets. She said that Creed, an inter-district magnet high school that had 250 students at the start of the yearlocated in temporary quarters in North Haven,

Bysiewicz Not Ceding City To Lamont THE INNER-CITY NEWS MAY 09, 2018 - MAY 15, 2018

by MARKESHIA RICKS MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTO New Haven Independent

Susan Bysiewicz lost New Haven Mayor Toni Harp’s endorsement for her quest to become Connecticut’s next governor, but she demonstrated support Sunday in the heart of highvoting Westvile from people who pull the vote for progressive candidates. More than 50 people showed up Sunday night to hear the candidate at Manjares Fine Pastries & Tapas Bar on West Rock Avenue. Many were there to show support for the Middletown Democrat, others to see if they could be persuaded that Democrats should choose her as their candidate to succeed retiring Gov. Daniel P. Malloy. Sunday’s event was put together by progressive members of the New Haven and Hamden Democratic Town Committees including Upper Westville Alder Darryl Brackeen Jr., ward Co-chairs Janis Underwood and Amy Marx, and Westville businessman Gabriel DaSilva. Other hosts included Hillary Grant, Sarah Locke, and Analis Quintman. The event came three days after Harp endorsed frontrunner Ned Lamont at an event at Tweed New Haven airport. Lamont has picked up support from other city politicians, as well, at least three of whom he has hired. Gail Otis, an East Haven resident, was one of those who came to the event to be persuaded. She said she’d attended the New Haven gubernatorial candidate debate, and out of the six candidates, only two sparked her interest: Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim and Susan Bysiewicz. Otis said Ganim piqued her interest because he’s “suave,” but said of Bysiewicz, “it doesn’t hurt that she’s the only woman” running. Otis said she is looking for a candidate who “pro women’s choices, concerned about getting the economy on track ... and willing to stand up to Trump.” Bysiewicz, a former secretary of the state, said she supports progressive ideas such as paid family leave, a $15 an hour minimum wage, legalization of marijuana, and closing the hedge fund loophole so that private equity managers pay 20 percent in taxes like everybody else. She also touted her work helping small, homegrown businesses in the state access capital and her plans for

helping those kinds of businesses grow in the state. “I want to focus on those kinds of businesses and not corporate welfare for companies like GE, Pfizer, and Alexion that take millions of dollars from taxpayers and end up leaving us anyway,” she said. “You have my commitment on that.” To further pump the economy, she said she’d use new highway tolls to invest in roads, bridges, public transportation, and deepwater ports. Such investments would create thousands union and construction jobs, she said. Bysiewicz said she also would support the expansion of Tweed-New Haven Airport’s runway. Bysiewicz said she’s happy that the legislature was able to get crucial legislation passed this session that prohibits employers from asking for salary history because she said it helps break the institutionalized discrimination against women and people of color. But there is more work to be done, she said. “I strongly believe that we can uplift every family in the state if we insist on one simple idea: that women should get dollar for dollar what men make,” she said. “It is unacceptable that white women get on average 83 cents on the dollar and women of color get 59 cents.” Pointing to Bysiewicz’s credentials as a former state representative and secretary of the state, Darryl Brackeen heartily threw his support behind her candidacy. “She is someone who intimately knows what this state needs,” he said. “Why wouldn’t I vote for her?” Brackeen called gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont “a very nice fellow.” “I just don’t — at the core of my progressive values — believe that we need a millionaire-billionaire to run our state. We need someone like Susan who started from the bottom and worked her way here,” Brackeen argued. “More Choices Are Better” “Grassroots” and “progressive” were the buzzwords of the evening. And Bysiewicz reminded attendees that part of her grassroots strategy for taking the governor’s office includes fundraising, securing enough delegates to get on the ballot and hitting the doors on the campaign trail. She is in the thick of the fight to get

Local supporters included, from left, Westville Ward Co-Chair Janis Underwood, Gabe DaSilva, Alder Darryl Brackeen Jr., Co-Chair Amy Marx, activist Hilary Grant.

her name on the Democratic primary ballot. There are 2,000 delegates up for grabs at the May 18-19 state nominating convention; she needs 15 percent, or 300 to get on the ballot. New Haven alone has 100 delegates. “There are forces within the unenlightened sectors of our party who are trying to limit who gets on the ballot,” Bysiewicz said. “And we all know more choices are better. We also know that when women run in special elections and primaries across the country that they win by large margins even if they are underfunded. That has been born out last year and this year. We need your help to talk to delegates in New Haven. It’s a big delegation of 100 people. Talk to delegates, spread the word, Hamden is well represented here. I need your help on that front.” She’s participating in the public financing system, the Citizen’s Election Program (CEP) — or at least she plans to as soon as she qualifies. She hasn’t yet crossed the threshold of qualifying donations. “We’ve already had 5,000 people from across the state contribute to our campaign,” she said. “I’m very proud of that. We will need your help after the convention to door knock to do this grassroots campaign.”

Hamden State Rep. Josh Elliott praised Bysiewicz commitment to participating in the CEP. Lamont has been criticized by Bysiewicz and her supporters because he is not participating in the system. “You can’t just say you’re running a grassroots movement,” he said. “You have to be a grassroots movement. Susan, thank you for running your campaign the way you’re running it. “I cannot wait to see your name on the ballot and I cannot wait to vote for you,” he added. Other members of the of the Democrats’ progressive wing present Sunday evening included two fellow women candidates runing for state Senate seats: Valerie Horsely and Aili McKeen. Horsely, who is running against state Sen. George Logan in a district that includes Hamden and Bethany (among other towns), said progressives have been marching and knocking doors and “flipping districts all across the nation and in our state.” Activists and women are doing that work, and those are the people Horsely said can get people like Bysiewicz elected. “Not only does she have our values but I know that she can win because

she will build a team that can bring out the vote,” Horsely said. “I can’t wait to say, ‘Madam, governor.” “Amen, madam senator,” Bysiewicz said. Frank Donato of Strafford asked Bysiewicz not to forget about the senior citizens. He told her seniors still want to work but are often discriminated against because of their age with application questions about what year they graduated from high school. Bysiewicz promised to tackle the issue if elected governor. He said afterward that he isn’t sure whom he will vote for, but “I like what I heard. I think she may have won me over.” John Flanagan was already sold on Bysiewicz; he thanked her for getting back to “the old-time Democratic religion.” He proclaimed that she’ll win the election with the help of seniors like him and young people like Bo Yun Brainerd, a 14-year-old Branford High School student who asked Bysiewicz a question about school safety. “That’s we’re doing looking for,” Flanagan said, “a Democratic Party that works for the people. Not Republican light like we’ve seen over the past few years.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS

MAY 09, 2018

MAY 15, 2018

DC NEWS JUNKIE | Murphy in Full Campaign Mode on Gun Issue by Peter Urban CT. Junkie News

WASHINGTON – Standing outside the U.S. Capitol on Monday, Senator Chris Murphy predicted that no gun safety legislation will come out of Congress until voters clear away the current leadership. “Ultimately you need to kick out of office people that aren’t listening to the majority of Americans that want common sense gun reform,” he said. Murphy believes that could happen this November in the midterm elections, particularly if young voters are motivated to turn out in big numbers over the gun issue. “These young people, who don’t normally turn out in midterm elections, may be a force in 2018,” he said. “I don’t think they are going to get what they want between now and the election from this Republican Congress but they might in 2019 if they put into office a bunch of senators and congress people who are going to actually support commonsense gun changes.”

PETER URBAN / CTNEWSJUNKIE

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy addresses members of Generation Progress, who were at the Capitol on Monday to urge action on anti-gun violence legislation.

Murphy spoke briefly Monday to several dozen young activist members of Generation Progress who came from across the country to urge Congress

to approve anti-gun violence legislation including universal background checks and a ban on assault-style weapons and large-capacity maga-

zines. From her wheelchair, Karina Sartiaguin explained that young people were here to “storm the Hill” to offer lawmakers a different view than the one delivered over the weekend at the National Rifle Association’s convention in Dallas, Texas. “I won’t be walking as we make our demands today in Congress, instead I will be rolling my wheelchair through the halls of the Capitol surrounded by my Generation Progress family and friends to fight for our future,” she said. Eight years ago, Sartiaguin was standing with friend outside Aurora High School in Colorado when a car drove by and opened fire. She was the only one struck by the spree of bullets and at age 15 learned she would never walk again. “I might not be able to physically stand on my own anymore but I am standing with my voice because this country, and our lawmakers specifically, need to understand how gun vio-

lence effects young people all across America,” she said. Murphy sees the young activists as pivotal in his efforts to enact anti-gun violence legislation since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings on Dec. 14, 2012. With their help, he believes Democrats could secure the majority in the House and Senate allowing them to get votes on gun safety bills. “I am going to do whatever I can to support candidates in 2018 who are going to tip the balance in favor of common sense anti-gun violence legislation,” he said. Republicans have made it very clear that they are not going to take up any gun bills so we’ve got to bring this to the electorate — and these young people can really make a difference.” Murphy is up for re-election this year and thus far there are three Republicans — Dominic Rapini, Joe Visconti, and Matt Corey — who are each vying for the nomination.

My Disney Experience THE INNER-CITY NEWS MAY 09, 2018 - MAY 15, 2018

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Mattei Wins

She said that Mattei’s bio and career choices ultimately convinced her to back him. Mattei has worked as an organizer for the Services Employees International Union. As an assistant U.S. attorney, he prosecuted gun traffickers, lenders accused of illegally profiting from securitized home mortgages, and investment advisers accused of fleecing seniors. “The type of work we choose says a lot for a person. It says a lot about their values,” Walker-Myers said. “I represent people across the city — elderly, homeless, youth, transgender. I feel [Mattei] has serviced the under-representated population.” Walker-Myers said she never met with Clare Kindall, the third Democrat seeking to replace retiring attorney general George Jepsen. “They didn’t reach out to me,” she said of Kindall’s campaign. The three candidates are seeking to appeal to the Democratic liberalleft base in this “resistance” year of party primaries. As the top state lawyer in charge of filing civil suits on behalf of the government and often in conjunction with other states, the attorney general plays a leading role in addressing issues of concern to that base: environmental protection, gun control, consumer protection, financial fraud, immigrant rights, and civil rights. In introducing Mattei at the event, Walker-Myers vowed to hold him accountable if he gets elected. “You won’t forget us after you’re elected, because I have your number,” she told him. “Anybody who knows me, I am relentless. I don’t stop. I don’t talk to secretaries. I don’t talk to nobody. I talk directly to the person.” Mattei said he was “humbled and honored” to win the support of elected representatives in the city “where my grandparents are buried, where my father was raised.” He spoke of how as attorney general he’ll tackle issues that concern people both in New Haven and across the state: high prescription drug costs and energy rates, poverty, drug addiction. And he got the alder president’s message. “When Tyisha Walker calls me,” he assured the assembled alders, “you better believe I am going to pick up.”

by Darius Martin, ICN Student Correspondent

From the moment I arrived at Disney Dreamers, there was an essence in the air that the journey that I was about to embark on would be not only educational, but life-changing as well. Most people who venture to Disney go for the many theme parks and popular tourist attractions, but I was there to seek wisdom from some of the toughest, inspiring minds so that I could have a better understanding of my future career path. The first day was an introduction from Steve Harvey, who reiterated to us multiple times throughout the program, that we had beaten out 1400 applicants and were the lucky 100 that were able to soak in the knowledge of the various individuals that were successful in their distinct fields. They told us that we would be busy and the first day proved that they weren’t kidding around as we were to wake up early so we could be on the bus as early as 7:15. The Dreamers Academy had a special way of connecting us with the other dreamers that were in attendance and they did this by having us split into teams based off the color you were assigned. We were assigned Social Media Challenges (SMC) and we would get points by completing them, which as I pointed out earlier, was an effective method of bonding with our fellow dreamers. We would have breaks to complete them, but during one of our breaks we had to prepare for our first speaker of the day and his name was Jonathan Sprinkles. Don’t let the last name fool you because this man packs quite the punch, from his motivational quotes, fiery charisma that kept us engaged throughout, and his ability to relate to the struggle that we were in as we tried navigating the changes in our lives. “Being imperfect doesn’t disqualify you from your dream,” said Sprinkles. “Never tell your life story from the perspective of the victim.” He told stories in his life, ranging from times that he struggled with certain insecurities in his life to the loss of his father. We would later break off into the groups that matched our career path and since my career path was journalism, I was able to explore the ESPN studios and speak with four staff members who work in marketing, analytics,

and sports management. These individuals also talked about what it took to be an anchor or sportscaster and the road that you need to take in order to achieve the dreams that you want to achieve. The night seminars saw the boys and girls split up and go to separate rooms to discuss the segments they were assigned for the evening. The men had a segment called “Man Cave” where we discussed the way a man is supposed to handle themselves in society, and the pressure we face having to be the man of the household in the absence of our fathers. One of the men that spoke to us was Dr. Steve Perry and he explained the importance of heeding the advice we would learn over the next

couple days. “You won’t be able to explain to your friends or family the experience you’ve gone through here, nor the people who spoke to you, so try your best to soak up what you can,” Perry says. The men in the room left not only with the strength they needed but the determination to strive for what they desire the most. All the hurt that they had experienced from feeling like they had to do it all on their own made them learn how to forgive their fathers and be the men they were raised to be. The third and final day of our experience was setup in the form of a graduation, as we were seen as the graduating class of dreamers. As the

ceremony began, we reflected on the journey we had went on and the lessons we had learned from not only the speakers but from each other as well. As we said our goodbyes, we were hopeful about the road that lay ahead of us and the future that awaited all of the 100 dreamers that participated in this program. This experience is a once in a lifetime opportunity that should I would recommend to anyone looking for guidance for not only their future careers but also for your life as well. To be able to attend an experience such as this, you need to visit the Disney Dreamers Academy website and apply to be a dreamer. Think big, and dream bigger.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS

MAY 09, 2018

MAY 15, 2018

Students from New Beginnings Family Academy Open Educational Garden Bridgeport charter school takes kids outside to make its spring garden grow

BRIDGEPORT, CT (May 2018) – New Beginnings Family Academy (NBFA) celebrated the opening of its educational garden. Third graders brought the classroom outside, planting sugar snap peas, lettuces, carrots, tomatoes, and cucumbers as part of NBFA’s commitment to teaching students the science of healthy living. Students enjoyed the chance to sample some of the foods they are growing, including a seasonal salad to share, thanks to a tasting-table set up by Whole Foods Market® in Fairfield, CT. “We are excited to provide special educational experiences for our students; this is their place to share the practice of growing their own food together,” said Ronelle Swagerty, NBFA’s Head of School. “Our garden is opening up opportunities for our students to experience the science as well as the joy of horticulture.” Today’s seven- and eight-year old planters all worked under the leadership of NBFA’s STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) Director, Katherine Habansky, who said, “nearly 400 NBFA students will engage in hands-on learning in the garden, which serves as an outdoor classroom employing lessons in math and science.”

Photo enclosed: Caption: Fourth grade students planting the educational garden at New Beginnings Family academy in Bridgeport

Questions about your bill? Yale New Haven Hospital is pleased to offer patients and their families financial counseling regarding their hospital bills or the availability of financial assistance, including free care funds. By appointment, patients can speak one-on-one with a financial counselor during regular business hours. For your convenience, extended hours are available once a month. Date: Monday, May 21 Time: 5 - 7 pm Location: Children’s Hospital, 1 Park St., 1st Floor, Admitting Parking available (handicapped accessible) An appointment is necessary. Please call 203-688-2046. Spanish-speaking counselors available.

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“It is inspiring to see such enthusiasm for kids growing their own produce,” said Cora Triana, Metro Marketing Team Leader for Whole Foods Market Northeast Region. “We are proud to partner with New Beginnings Family Academy because they share Whole Food Market’s vision for deepening children’s affinity for wholesome and natural foods.” Thanks to the grant from Whole Kids Foundation, NBFA received seeds and educational resources, in addition to funding, in order to help sustain the garden long-term. For more information about the mission and programming at NBFA, visit nbfacademy.org. For information about how to apply for a school garden grant and learn about additional Whole Kids Foundation programs, visit wholekidsfoundation.org. To learn more about Whole Foods Market, visit wholefoodsmarket.com. About New Beginnings Family Academy: NBFA is Connecticut’s only progressive Pre-K - Grade 8 public charter school with emotionally responsive practice. Its mission is to provide students a meaningful, high-quality education through experience-based learning that helps develop essential social, emotional

and critical-thinking skills. This gives all children a foundation to achieve their full potential at every stage of life. For more information, visit nbfacademy.org. About Whole Kids Foundation: Whole Kids Foundation, a Whole Foods Market foundation, is based in Austin, Texas, and operates as an independent, nonprofit organization. By empowering schools and inspiring families, the Foundation aims to help children reach optimal health through the strength of a healthy body fueled by nutritious food. For more information on the Foundation’s programs including school gardens, salad bars and nutrition education for teachers, visit wholekidsfoundation.org. About Whole Foods Market: For 39 years, Whole Foods Market has been the world’s leading natural and organic foods retailer. As the first national certified organic grocer, Whole Foods Market has over 470 stores in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom. Whole Foods Market has been ranked one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America by FORTUNE magazine for 20 consecutive years. To learn more about Whole Foods Market, please visit media.wfm.com.

Take Her To Church THE INNER-CITY NEWS MAY 09, 2018 - MAY 15, 2018

Lucy Gellman/The Arts Paper

When four embellished hats descended from the ceiling of Long Wharf Theatre last month, Babz Rawls-Ivy wasn’t just thinking about the music that was swelling around her. Or about the high heels that stomped as their owners took the hats from their hooks, and paraded around the stage. Or how the songs that came fully formed from their bellies were songs with which she could instantly sing along. All of those things entered her mind. But mostly, she was thinking Eva C. Taylor—her maternal grandmother—and how bringing that woman’s memory to the Long Wharf stage was a revolutionary act. Rawls-Ivy is editor of the Inner-City News CT, the city’s only Black newspaper. The hats are part of Crowns, a gospel musical at Long Wharf Theatre that enters its final stretch this week. Recently the two came together as Rawls-Ivy took a seat in the audience, opened her playbill to the first page, and found a meditation on Black joy,

religion, and redemption. Written and directed by playwright Regina Taylor, Crowns tells the story of Yolanda, a 17-year-old teenager who is sent to South Carolina after her brother is shot and killed in their hometown of Chicago. From the moment she learns about the journey, she is a skeptic, unsure of what there is to learn among old biddies with their church hats, full-bellied spirituals and sun-soaked Sunday services. In her eyes, their hats are a punchline or a stereotype, no match for her baseball cap and penchant for sleeping in—but also for the immense emotional pain that she finds herself in. As large, bright words appear on a scrim behind her, she shares her disinterest and doubt with the audience in verse, a sort of conversation piece to the gospel in the show. Until one day those beliefs are tempered—and she starts to see her legacy through song and the women who carry it. It is a conversion story for which the live soundtrack doubles as plot, and there is no plot without that

Babz Rawls Ivy & her hats by Lucy Gellman

soundtrack. On Long Wharf’s stage, the play springs fully, vividly to life, characters moving rhapsodically as they belt “Run and Tell That,” “His Eye On The Sparrow” and propulsive, original music. On the side of the stage, percussionist David Pleasant loses his body entirely to the music, arms whipping back and forth as he

reaches from one drum to another. It’s a testament not just to resiliency of the human spirit, but the music that has literally held it up for centuries, the music that should double as a call for reparations even now. And in their rows, audience members like RawlsIvy find a story that they can crawl Con’t from page 16

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Colleges To Train

pressing hiring needs in the public utility field include customer service, field operations, employee relations, information technology, purchasing, finance and quality assurance, according to a study conducted by our schools. The average salaries range between $55,600 and $75,833, depending upon an applicant’s experience and educational background. The SCSU-Gateway partnership is a win for the utilities, our institutions, and our students. The utilities gain a pool of qualified candidates to assume management and technical positions. Southern and Gateway have a new curriculum that meets the needs of local utilities. And, students gain new career opportunities in an industry that many may not have considered. Many young people graduating high school may not think of working for a public utility. But, in time, they just might. Dr. Joe Bertolino is president of Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven and Dr. Paul Broadie is president of Gateway Community College in New Haven.

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Mock Trial Inspires Future Careers THE INNER-CITY NEWS

by ALLAN APPEL

New Haven Independent

Seven years ago, then-9-year-old Flor Jimenez and her brother watched their father Luiz get treated with what they thought was unnecessary roughness by a New Haven police officer. She says her father’s subsequent complaint has never been resolved. Justice came more swiftly Tuesday when Flor, now 16 and a tenth-grader at Metropolitan Business Academy, presided over a different case case as a judge. She was, of course, a mock judge in a mock yet moving criminal trial that unfolded in U.S. District Court at 141 Church St. as part of the annual Law Day celebration. Flor is part of social studies teacher Nataliya Braginsky tenth-grade law class. She and her peers prepared for weeks with local attorneys who have visited the school. They appeared on Tuesday as attorneys, witnesses, jurors, and courtroom officials, along side their real counterparts in the courtroom of U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Merriam. They were trying a fictional criminal case of one Chris Archer, president of a fraternity. Archer was present during a night of initiation and possible hazing, when a frat aspirant fell to her death off the roof at fictional Columbus University. Ana Laura Velezm served as chief prosecuting attorney, Aida deLeon as chief defense attorney Aida deLeon. Judge Flor instructed the jurors on the presumption of innocense, the meaning of “beyond a reasonable doubt” and the differences between murder

and involuntary manslaughter. Much of the hour-plus presentation was material was scripted in advance in Braginsky’s classroom as kids tried out for the various roles. This was the third mock trial they’ve done as part of the curriculum, but the first taking place in an actual court. In court, stretches of cross examination and “re-direct” were spontaneous and required the kids to listen and to think on their feet. “Cross examination is an adventure,” Judge Merriam said. She complimented the student attorneys on their listening skills and some of the witnesses on how well they stuck to their stories. She complimented student defense attorney deLeon as well:” “One of the best closings I’ve heard in years. You started out by saying your client is not guilty, and you remarked, ‘One life is lost and another is on the line.’’” That apparently had an effect on the student jurors, because when they emerged, Chris Archer had escaped most of the grievous charges. Reallife Attorney Jonathan Einhorn, who had accompanied the jurors into their sequestered adjoining room to debate, was also impressed by their deliberations. {media-_4}Two juries considered the case. When the foreman and forewoman stood to announce a verdict, there was electricity in the chamber, as if a real trial was concluding. Both juries ruled Chris Archer, played by tenth-grader Enyce Culbreath, not guilty on both first and second-degree murder charges. On involuntary manslaughter, the

MAY 09, 2018

MAY 15, 2018

ALLAN APPEL PHOTO

The two judges share a moment of levity after jurors left the chamber to deliberate

Defense attorneys Cotten and Dillard.

third charge, both juries declared themselves hung. Finally, on violation of federal anti-hazing laws, one jury found Archer guilty and another not guilty.

Judge Merriam instructed the kids that similarity of the conclusions drawn by two groups of people, not communicating with each other, suggested one of the glories of the jury

system. She predicted that when these kids receive their first summonses to appear as potential jurors, their eyes will not roll. They will instead see participation on a jury less as a service and more as an “opportunity” to learn and be part of what she called the miracle of democracy. Jimenez’s father Luiz one of many of the parents in the audience beamed with pride. Not long after the incident with the police officer, Flor had also, with her father, testified in support of New Haven’s immigrant-friendly municipal ID card. At that occasion, someone asked her if one day she might be an attorney or a judge. Now here she was, in a manner. A possible career in the law may be in the cards, Flor said. Across the chamber, both Dameon Dillard and Emoni Cotten said they want to grow up to become not only lawyers, but defense lawyers in particular, not prosecutors. “At home when my mom gets angry at me, I wish I had a defense attorney,” explained Emoni. As they waited for the verdict, the two considered forming a law firm together once they finish law school, of course. Its name? To be determined “as long as my name come first,” Dillard added. After congratulations all around, jurors, attorneys, judges, court officers, and parents all broke out the pizza to have lunch together. There was no objection.

With Poor Treatment of African Immigrants, Prime Minister Netanyahu Shows Limits of Israel’s Democracy

By Bill Fletcher, Jr. NNPA Newswire Columnist In my last column, I addressed the murder of Palestinian protesters by Israeli state officers. The racial politics of the Israeli state were also demonstrated by another recent action: the April 3 reneging on an agreement on the handling of African migrants. The Israeli political establishment goes out of its way to present Israel as

a civilized democracy. The hypocrisy of this can, of course, be seen in the apartheid system created to oppress and suppress the Palestinian people. But it can also be demonstrated in actions towards African migrants. Over the years, African migrants, seeking refugee from war, political repression, poverty, and environmental devastation, have entered Israel in search of a safe haven. This population, which Prime Minister Netanyahu and his right-wing clique have termed “infiltrators,” has come to occupy a rung in the social hierarchy reserved for poor and disenfranchised labor. Much like undocumented workers in the United States, these African mi-

grants are subject to various forms of abuse including harassment from employers and government alike. In January 2014, on a visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, I witnessed demonstrations by African migrants in Tel Aviv as part of a protest against the barbaric treatment that they have received when imprisoned. The Netanyahu administration originally came to an agreement with the United Nations—after threatening to deport these migrants to their countries of origin—to send them to safer locations. Returning the migrants to their countries of origin would, in some cases, be nothing short of a death sentence.

On April 3, the Netanyahu administration put this deal on hold, throwing into uncertainty, the fate of the African migrants. Allegedly due to pressure from his right-wing allies, Netanyahu changed his mind, leaving the status of the migrants unclear, but also leaving unclear whether there are to be further negotiations towards an acceptable resolution of this crisis. The Israeli political establishment over the years has made Israel available to anyone claiming Jewish heritage. Thousands of Russians entered Israel after the collapse of the USSR irrespective of their ability to prove their alleged Jewish origins. A line, however, has been drawn when it

comes to African migrants and in this line one can see evidence of the racial politics of the Israeli state. The democratic face of Israel is crumbling as it becomes more repressive against generalized dissent; as it strengthens the apartheid system against the Palestinian people; and as it ramps up its xenophobic attacks on African migrants. There are no further excuses that can be made nor justifications accepted. Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the former president of TransAfrica Forum, a talk show host, writer and activist. Follow him on Twitter @BillFletcherJr, Facebook and at www.billfletcherjr.com.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS MAY 09, 2018 - MAY 15, 2018

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23 and Me and Facebook

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Facebook recently informed 87 million users that Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm, harvested their confidential information using it to create targeted ads that may have influenced the outcome 2016 presidential election. Many users were shocked to learn that Cambridge had access to their data. Now, Congress is demanding reforms from Facebook and other social media sites. Our lawmakers want social networks to simplify privacy terms and conditions. But Facebook isn’t the only firm that puts users’ privacy at risk. Some genetic testing companies like Invitae, 23andMe, and AncestryDNA do too -- and the consequences of irresponsibly sharing DNA data are far more serious than a social media data breach. Lawmakers and regulators ought to demand these genetic testing companies clearly inform consumers whether, and how, their data will be shared. Every year, millions of people undergo genetic testing to help predict health problems or just discover their heritage. Doctors send patients’ blood or saliva samples to lab testing companies like Invitae. Millions of people have bought DNA testing kits from companies like 23AndMe and AncestryDNA and submitted their samples through the mail. After sequencing the DNA samples, genetic testing firms often sell or share the genetic information to third parties. For instance, 23andMe agreed to share its data with biopharmaceutical firm Genentech in exchange for as much as $60 million. Testing firms seek users’ permission to share the data. But they gloss over the risks. As a result, consumers sign away their rights with little comprehension of the privacy violations and discrimination that could ensue. Take Invitae. Its privacy policy states that it may use patients’ “de-identified” data for “general research purposes” which may include “research collaborations with third parties” or “commercial collaborations with private companies.” The problem is that the data isn’t permanently “de-identified.” It can easily be tied back to specific people. Just ask Harvard Medical School Professor Latanya Sweeney. She recently identified the names of more than 40 percent of participants in a supposedly anonymous DNA study. Sweeney cross-referenced participants’ provided zip codes, birthdays, and genders with public records like voter rolls. She then was able to match people up to their DNA. Your DNA contains a wealth of sensitive medical information. Imagine what employ-

Peter J. Pitts, a former FDA Associate Commissioner, is president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.

ers might do if they got access to people’s DNA. They easily could exploit this information to discriminate against prospective hires. If you’re worried about someone stealing your social security number, imagine identity theft on the genetic level. Genetic privacy is a human right. To protect consumers from such abuses, the U.S. government should increase regulation of genetic testing companies to protect people. European policymakers have already done so. In late May, the European Union’s online privacy legislation -- known as the General Data Protection Regulation -- will go into effect. Among other provisions, the new law will require genetic testing companies to delete personal information if users request it. Some DNA testing companies aren’t waiting for regulators to act. They’re already voluntarily promising to not share any genetic samples, leaving the important privacy decisions in patients’ hands where they belong.” Social media platforms like Facebook are failing to secure users’ personal information. Most genetic testing companies are failing too. It’s time for lawmakers and regulators to impose tougher consumer protections so that we don’t have a Facebook-like crisis involving people’s most sensitive genetic information.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS MAY 09, 2018 - MAY 15, 2018

Let’s Update the Farm Bill to Help Lift Americans Out of Poverty By Harry Alford, President and CEO, National Black Chamber of Commerce and Rep. Mike Conaway, TX-11, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee

From 2012 to 2015 African American-owned businesses across the U.S. grew from 1.9 million to 2.6 million. As the economy continues growing, these numbers are only expected to increase, but our nation’s Black businesses face a host of challenges, including access to a skilled workforce. Currently, there are more than 6.1 million open jobs in the U.S. This is a significant roadblock for Black employers across the country, who want to continue expanding and growing their operations. That’s why it’s time for Washington to take a serious look at the skills gap and support policies that create opportunities for our work-capable adults. The House Agriculture Committee is proposing legislation to help provide these opportunities for the unemployed and underemployed using one of our nation’s anti-poverty programs, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The bill aims to help work-capable adults receiving SNAP secure employment to improve their lives. Americans in poverty should be supported by government assistance that aims to graduate users into the

mainstream economy. And the new bill implements and mandates constructive and empowering work requirements that are balanced with a strong investment in proven tactics to assist recipients in climbing the economic ladder and improving their station in life. Now is the time for a focus on employment and training in the SNAP program. Let’s energize and prepare eligible and work-capable SNAP recipients, aged 18-59 years-old, for the workforce by way of a significant investment in SNAP Employment and Training (E&T), including a suite of ancillary services like assessment and case management. It is important to afford individuals additional opportunities like apprenticeships and subsidized employment opportunities that are proven to help individuals enter or re-enter the workforce. Congress must take advantage of the current economy, and support individuals who want their own status to improve. Businesses and SNAP recipients alike stand to benefit from investments in training and education. Our economic potential is only as great as our workforce, and as we look to

Mr. Alford is the Co-Founder, President and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce. Rep. Mike Conaway (TX-11) is the Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.

stimulate growth for Black-owned businesses we need to see these policies for what they are: opportunities for those in need, accountability for those on SNAP and an untapped

workforce that can fill businesses unmet needs. While critics of this legislation claim it is aimed at kicking people off SNAP to save money, that

couldn’t be further from the truth. Under this work proposal, only a work-capable individual who chooses not to participate in a guaranteed E&T slot—who chooses not to take advantage of the free training and education opportunities—will lose eligibility for SNAP. It’s time for both parties in the House and Senate to come together and rid America of poverty through opportunities for upward mobility and empower families and individuals with occupational training and job placement. All it takes is proper attention. That’s why the House Agriculture Committee wants to work with groups like the National Black Chamber of Commerce, Black churches and other interested parties to highlight opportunities to bring jobs back to local communities and hire local workers. It’s as the old adage tells us, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” For more information on the 2018 Farm Bill, visit agriculture.house. gov/farmbill.

A Perilous Path Talking Race, Inequality and the Law by Sherrilyn Ifill, Loretta Lynch, Bryan Stevenson and Anthony G. Thompson The New Press Book Review by Kam Williams “We are definitely in challenging times. A lot of things so many of us fought for are being deliberately and actively rolled back, trampled on. But what we’re really seeing, which we have not seen in fifty years, is the peeling away of the role of government--the move away from protecting the disenfranchised, the move away from speaking to those who don’t have a voice, [and] the move away from lifting up people who have been pushed down.” --Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch (pages 10-11) This book is basically a candid conversation among talking heads revolving around the issue of racial justice in America. In fact, A Perilous Path is

literally an edited version of a spirited chat which took place on February 27, 2017, during the launch of NYU School of Law’s Center on Race, Inequality and the Law. On the dais were four African-Americans luminaries of considerable stature: former Attorney General Loretta

Lynch, President of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Sherrilyn Ifill (cousin of the late Gwen Ifill), MacArthur Genius and best-selling author Bryan Stevenson, and NYU Professor of Law Anthony C. Thompson. The topics they explored ranged from the historical, such as why emancipa-

tion of the slaves failed to usher in an era of freedom and true equality; to the visionary, such as assessing the prospects for minorities in the age of Trump. In terms of the former, Stephenson asserts that “The North won the Civil War but the South won the narrative war. The South was able to persuade the United States Supreme Court that racial equality wasn’t necessary.” He laments the thousands of lynchings and other forms of terrorism which ensued that no one was held accountable for. Similarly, he says, “We won passage of the Civil Rights Act. But we lost the narrative war.” Consequently, the segregationists waving Confederate flags were still able to maintain de facto white supremacy, evidenced by schools named after disgraced rebels like Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee. I doubt you’d find any statues of Hitler and his henchmen scattered around

Germany. Why not? Because not only did the Nazis lose World War II, they also lost the subsequent cultural war, which explains why Stephenson concludes for our purposes, “The challenge we face is a narrative battle.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS

MAY 09, 2018

MAY 15, 2018

Con’t from page 11

Take Her To Church

Honoring Human Excellence Through Human Service Recognizing Those Who have Been Chosen To Carry The Light That We Might See

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Monday, May 21, 2018 - 6:00pm Banquet Tickets: $70.00 Theme:

THE SERVANT’S HEART Awardees:

Ms. Kyle Ballou Deacon Joseph Boyd Minister Janet Brown-Clayton The Honorable Clifton Graves Elder Walter Gray Brother Kenneth R. Jackson, Sr.

Pastor Kenneth Moales Mrs. Sandra Pittman Minister Jerry J. Randall Ms. Bridgette P. Russell Sister Shirley Wayne-Washington

Special Recognition to CCC Founders

Apostle Eugene Brunson Wayfaring Ministries

Pastor Betty Marks

New Growth Outreach Ministries

Pastor Alma Morrison Miracle Temple

P.O. Box 3003 - New Haven, CT 06515 Tel: (203) 624-9228 Fax: (203) 999-8734 Email: Christian.comm@snet.net

into, and call home. “When the woman sang ‘His Eye on the Sparrow’…it really is the foundation of our faith,” she said. “All I could do was sing ‘Hallelujah!’ I felt as if I was in my Pentecostal church (Ebenezer Baptist Church on Columbus Avenue) as a child. I’m not Pentecostal now … but the music just took me right back to my roots. I had tears in my eyes when she sang that song. To hear that—it just roused me in a way that I hadn’t been roused in a very long time.” “The white people turned around because we were singing,” she added of a racial rift in the crowd. “They were like: How did you know this?” But Rawls-Ivy has been with Crowns since the beginning, when it premiered in New York City in 2002. Back then, Taylor had been moved to write the musical when Director Emily Mann contacted her about Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry’s year 2000 publication Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats. At the time, Mann said she knew she wasn’t the right person for the job; Taylor, who saw her family reflected in the book, was. In 2002, she released the first iteration of the play, itself a sort of gospel that grew legs, and began to dance in once-hatless theaters across the country. Then a few years ago, Mann asked Taylor if she wanted to do a revival. The time seemed right to reorient the play to Yolanda’s perspective—a sort of ceremonial handoff to a younger generation, that was still grappling with old systems of oppression. “Trying to open a widow into Yolanda’s mind has been part of this mission that I’m on to reconnect with our youth,” Taylor said in an interview with the Arts Paper and Inner City earlier this year. “We need to reclaim our youth. Unfortunately, it’s as timely as it was 15 years ago … I’m saddened by that fact that it is so current, so present in the world that we live in right now.” “I see lots of Yolandas walking around in my life,” she added. “It’s right in front of me—this despair. But the thing about those hats is that they hold so many stories. Histories cupped under the brim. This cycle that we all go through—good times and bad. the women … they baptize her [Yolanda] in her history.” It’s a message that resonates with Rawls-Ivy. 20 years ago, she began her hat collection to pay homage her

grandmother, a “beautiful, red-boned kind of women” who was matriarch of the family until she died at 75. During her life, she was a hat lady—she had her church hats, her “let loose” hats, her holiday hats and her fall hats, including a fox stole with eyes that stared out from her shoulder. She wore a hat every day of her life, Rawls-Ivy recalled, with gloves and a traveling trunk and a stationary box for letter-writing. She could rock a wide brim and a fitted design. The crown jewel—or perhaps, the crown itself—was a black, wide-brimmed hat that was gray and white on the top, with a tall feather and a brooch. “Black women of that age—you just fife’t go to church with a bare head,” Rawls-Ivy said on a recent Sunday, pulling out her collection of 30 church hats. “A Black woman’s worth and wellness was tied to the affordability of a hat. You could tell a women of measure or means by a hat. But every woman, despite her economic status, had a hat. So a hat was an equalizer. It didn’t matter if it was fancy or not.” Now, she wears hats each Sunday from Easter through June 21, the first day of summer. From a collection that started small, she now has decades to pull from: a large, gray hat that she calls her “old-school Black woman hat,” that she has pulled out for weddings and festivals. There’s a small collection of pink ones (“my favorite color!”) that she can take from church to the beach, and wear for an entire day. A Jackie Onassis hat, a blue-gray take on a pillbox with a brim. And the most recent pièce de résistance: a “club hat” that she bought for this year’s Kentucky Derby, with polka dots, thick pink ribbon and sparkles. It’s not a tradition that her two daughters follow. Yet. Rawls-Ivy said they have time. “I’m hoping that when I get a certain age, they will want to have a certain homage to me,” she said, a grin spreading across her face. “If I can get them to wear a hat when I’m 80.” Each time she dons one—she wears them only for church—Eva C. Taylor is there, looking on with approval. “I feel very much close to her when I’m in my spring, Easter mode,” she added. “I really do feel connected to her and her legacy.” “Every hat has its own story,” she added. “Different hats have different moods to them. And anybody can wear a hat.”

House Debates

Then Tables Voting Rights Bill

CHRISTINE STUART / CTNEWSJUNKIE

Rep. Joshua Hall and his copy of the constitution HARTFORD, CT — The House spent about an hour Tuesday debating and then tabling a bill that would restore voting rights to parolees, who are still serving their sentences. The bill, which didn’t receive much attention this year, was a priority for the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus. A deal was brokered to let them debate the bill for a limit period of time, but it never got called for vote. “There is no harm in broadening civic engagement,” Rep. Brandon McGee, DHartford, said. He vowed to bring the bill back next year and win more support for the measure. He said they want to provide rights to individuals who are living and breathing in their communities. “The bill was not as bad as some folks were making it out to be in the debate,” McGee said. He said it’s important to help all citizens participate in the electoral process. Currently, someone on probation can have their voting rights restored, but someone on parole cannot. The bill would have given the estimated 4,600 individuals on parole the right to vote. Rep. David Labriola, R-Naugatuck, said it’s bad public policy. ‘ “Unusually bad public policy idea,” Labriola, an attorney who practices in criminal court, said. Labriola said voting is a privilege and so it’s not an “absolute right.” “It’s hard to get to jail. You’ve really gotta do a lot of bad things to get to jail,” Labriola said. “Once you’ve gone to jail you’ve give up the biggest right, the most important right and that’s your freedom.”

Con’t on page 22

THE INNER-CITY NEWS MAY 09, 2018 - MAY 15, 2018

Stetson Library: The Next Chapter HELP STETSON LIBRARY MOVE INTO THE NEW Q HOUSE “We don’t just need a place for books—we need a space for people to learn, to be challenged, to come together. A library is not just a home for books, it’s a home for the community.” - Diane Brown, Stetson Branch Manager

Thanks to a generous challenge grant from the Seedlings Foundation, you can double the impact of your donation. All gifts between $50 - $10,000 will be matched dollar for dollar! Donate online at nextstetson.org or by check to: NHFPL Foundation - Stetson Library, 133 Elm St, New Haven, CT 06510 The NHFPL Foundation is a 501(c)(3) exempt organization; gifts are fully deductible under federal tax regulations.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS

MAY 09, 2018

MAY 15, 2018

Postpartum Depression: A Black Mother’s Story by Abril Green, Black Doctor.org

Black women can do everything. We’ve been programmed since nursing white babies, tending the house and picking the fields to handle all things thrown our way. The strength of our female ancestors, who bent hell backward and opened doors to freedom, were passed down to us. Their determination, resilience, and tenacity to never break, live in the bosoms of our bellies. And because so, nothing is too hard. We’re good at everything. We don’t give up and we don’t get tired. As awesome as this may sound, and while we would like this to be true, we know that it’s not. But somehow, black women have been labeled with this permanent marker that we are invincible. Showing emotion or weakness means we are less than, and reaching out for help and/or advice means we are worthless. We’ve been forced to live up to this invisible aptitude; pink S’s adorn our chest because we are “super” women and never sub-par. I would like to go on record and publicly admit how untrue this is. I fell into this mindset of being a Super Woman, and it wasn’t until I became a mother that I realized the level of trauma that comes along with pretending to be okay when you aren’t. Having children changes a woman–and this is much more than a physical change, but a mental and emotional change. We stress about being the perfect mother, having a bomb “snapback”, still desir-

ing to feel attractive to our significant others and needing to feel acknowledged. We feel highly criticized and judged; closed off from the rest of the world due to our babies’ beck and calls. This is postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is suffered by a mother following childbirth. It is usually a combination of hormonal changes, psychological adjustment to motherhood, and fatigue. It doesn’t have to be this harsh example of postpartum depression we’re so used to hearing about. But feeling overwhelmed from day to day activities, extreme anxiety about tackling certain obstacles, being emotionally exhausted, having varying mood swings and lack of sleep, are categories of postpartum depression. See, Depression is something black people never talk about. It’s become a taboo subject, so often swept under the rug that we’ve learned to suppress our emotions. I realized early on how unhealthy leaving bottled emotions unacknowledged can be when it changed the dynamic of my relationships. I didn’t know how to express to my husband how unattractive I felt or convey to others that I was excited about being a mother, despite the sleepless nights and the hell recovery could be. It wasn’t until conversations with my black female friends, that I learned that black women experience the baby blues, too. We experience the depression. We fear the unknown of parenthood, so why should we suffer in silence because of falsely printed S’s on our chests, we never asked to be there? It is time we break the stigma that Black women aren’t allowed to be weak or vulnerable. We’re allowed to not have the answers. We’re allowed

to “cry it out” as our babies do; we’re allowed to be overwhelmed and overworked. This doesn’t mean we aren’t strong, but even the strongest person knows their limitations. Postpartum depression doesn’t have to be as grim as we believe it to be. It is feeling like you want to cry out loud, but fearful that no one will hear you. Because black women don’t cry–because Black women don’t break or bend. Raising children is a very stressful and time-consuming job. And because we’ve been conditioned to believe that black women are superior beings, that expectation coupled with the stress, makes us that much more susceptible

to feeling inadequate. The house won’t be clean all the time. Diapers won’t be changed immediately. We won’t be sexy 24/7. Allow us to be comfortable in our truth. Our blackness shouldn’t negate our experiences of certain things. Our discovery of being healthy in our bodies, our minds and spirits should be supported. Trust that those ancestors from which we come are there to guide us from a spiritual realm if ever we fall short, but know, we will fall short. We are good mothers. Leave the ‘S’ on our chests; we deserve to have it printed there. Just understand the difference. Being a superwoman doesn’t

mean we’re Super-Woman. …and that’s okay. Abril Green (Edwards) is an author, spoken word artist & motivational speaker; founder of #BumpyButNotBlocked Ministries & Spoken WorDship where she spits “Poetry with A Purpose”. Currently a Literacy Interventionist at Chicago Public Schools, Abril believes “the greatest relationship outside of Man and His Higher Power, is between a Pen and HER Paper.”

What Did America Hear from the Voices of the Unheard By Kevin Daniels, Special to the AFRO Across the country, many people continue to note the 50th anniversary of the death and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with the subsequent unrest and riots that followed, not only across the country, but also here in Baltimore as well. However, as we remember MLK’s vehement speech, “The Other America,”

that “a riot is the language of the unheard” the question becomes what did America, and specifically, what did Baltimore hear from the voices of the unheard since 1968 and the unrest after the death of Freddie Gray in 2015? According to a recent YouGov Poll, over 51% of both Blacks and Whites acknowledge the incremental gains of race relations after the 1960s but are extremely concerned that over the past decade there have been multiple examples of police brutality on people of color, the rise of white nationalist sentiments and a widening wealth gap. The recent Starbucks discriminatory episode between two African American men and a store clerk in Philadelphia, and the

subsequent protest, along with the need for Starbucks owners to close over 8,000 stores to teach appropriate race relations, attest to the fact that gains in race relations are suspect. Even more concerning, one year after the federal government declared Baltimore policing in need of repair, city leaders appeared in court recently for an update on progress and the judge sent a sharp, yet precise, message that progress is still lacking. Again, what did America, and specifically, what did Baltimore hear from the voices of the unheard? When people feel that their concerns are ignored, they command attention in ways that existentially solidifies their identity, meaning and purpose. The prophetic voice is

clear in the proverbs and the Pentateuch that “appropriately hearing the voices of the people should produce great gains” (paraphrased) – “Prophet, I have heard the voices of the people, and I have come down to do something about it.” Consequently, sweeping gains and actionoriented progress are the outcomes and results of being heard. Therefore, people, when they are heard, reflect their fundamental ability to feel safe and focused in their pursuit of happiness without barriers that diminish them. People who are heard don’t feel threatened to share their own stories, ideas and concerns without the sense of retaliation and vilification. People who are heard have access to the necessary resources to

implement their life goals. People who are heard have the sense of autonomy that creates for them linkages and ongoing beneficial engagements that lead to the development of shared initiatives and results. In America, we cannot continue to keep touting an emblem of liberty saying “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” and not hear the voices of the unheard. Dr. Kevin Daniels is an associate professor at the Morgan State School of Social Work, chair of the Civic Action Committee (Minister’s Conference of Baltimore & Vicinity) and pastor at St. Martin Church in Baltimore.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS MAY 09, 2018 - MAY 15, 2018

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INNER-CITY NEWS July 2016 -- August THE INNER-CITY NEWS MAY 09,27, 2018 MAY 15, 02,2018 2016

CITY OF NEW HAVEN - BID NOTICE

NOTICE Sealed bids, to purchase the following, will be accepted by the Bureau of Purchases, Room 301, 200 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06510 until 3:00 P.M., local time, on the date shown, at which time they will be VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE publicly opened and read. Bid forms are available online at www.cityofnewhaven.com/purchasing. HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom apartments this2018 develOn Call HVAC Repairs 21580 Mayat30, opment located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven. Maximum income limitations apBOE ply. Pre-applications will be availableMay from16, 9AM TO 11 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y Non-Mandatory Pre-Bid Meeting: 2018 A.M. 25,Ferry 2016 Street and ending sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have 654 New when Haven, CT 06513 been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon reOn Call HVAC Controls 21579 May 30, 2018 quest by calling HOME INC at 203-562-4663 during those hours. Completed preBOE applications mustPre-Bid be returned to HOME INC’s offices 171 Orange Street, Third Non-Mandatory Meeting: May 16, 2018 10atA.M. Floor, NewStreet Haven, CT Haven, 06510. CT 06513 654 Ferry New On Call Electrical Services 21578 BOE

NOTICIA

May 23, 2018

On Call Equipment Rental 21577 May 23, 2018 VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES BOE On CallINC, Sewer Line Maintenance May 23, 2018 HOME en nombre de la Columbus21576 House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está BOE aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo On Call Water Treatment May 23, 2018 ubicado en la calle 109 Frank21575 Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos BOE máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 julio, 2016 hasta cuando21574 se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) Window Treatments May 23, 2018 en las oficinas de HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas por correo a petición BOE llamando a HOME INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse Dumpster Purchase 21581 May, CT 24,06510 2018 . a las oficinas de HOMEand INCRemoval en 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, New Haven BOE

CITY OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT - REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Dairy #2019-05-1216 NEW HAVEN

RFP due date: Tuesday May 22, 2018 at 11:00 AM EST.

242-258 Fairmont Ave Michael V. Fumiatti 2BR Townhouse, 1.5 BA, 3BR, 1 level , 1BA Purchasing Agent

RFP can be downloaded at http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/PurchasingBureauOnline

All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways, near bus stop &Company shopping center Centrally Located Construction in Connecticut Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contactproject Maria managers, @ 860-985-8258 has positions available for experienced laborers and truck drivers. This company is an Equal Opportunity Employer M/F. Females and Minorities CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s areprogram encouraged toassist apply. Certificate Program. This is a 10 month designed to in the intellectual formation of Candidates in response to the Church’s Ministry needs.to The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:30Please fax resume ATTN: Mike to 860-669-7004. 3:30 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

St. New Haven, CT CITY OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT - REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Facility Maintenance and Custodial Management Services for Board of Education #2019-04-1211

RFP due date: Tuesday June 5, 2018 at 11:00 AM EST. SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

RFP can be downloaded at http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/PurchasingBureauOnline

Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour Michael V. Fumiatti Purchasing Agent 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. CITY OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT - REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS Custodial Cleaning and Other Services

#2019-04-1212 A pre-bid conference will be held at the Housing Authority Office 28 Smith RFP due Tuesday 15, 2018 at 11:00 EST. Street Seymour, CTdate: at 10:00 am, onMay Wednesday, July 20,AM 2016. RFP can be downloaded at http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/PurchasingBureauOnline

Bidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority OfMichael V. Fumiatti fice, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579. Purchasing Agent 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

INVITATION TO BID

Leasing Office Improvements at Zbikowski Park Bristol, CT The Bristol Housing Authority will receive sealed bids on or before 1:00 p.m. EST, Friday, June 1, 2018 at their offices at 164 Jerome Ave., Bristol, CT 06010, and said bids will be publicly opened and read aloud immediately thereafter. Bids will be received for furnishing all labor, materials, tools and equipment necessary to complete Improvements at 111 Lillian Rd., Bristol, CT 06010. Sealed bid packages to be clearly marked “Leasing Office Improvements at Zbikowski Park, Attention: Mitzy Rowe, CEO.” A pre-bid walk through will be held on Monday, May 21, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. Please meet at the site located at 111 Lillian Rd., Bristol, CT. Attendance is strongly recommended for all bidders. Contract Plans and Specifications dated February 20, 2018, revised April 13, 2018 as prepared by Capital Studio Architects, LLC, 1379 Main St., East Hartford, CT 06108, will be on file at the Bristol Housing Authority, 164 Jerome Ave., Bristol, CT. Project information can also be obtained online at Projectdog.com. The Bristol Housing Authority reserves the right to reject any or all bids and/ or to waive any informalities in bidding when such action is deemed to be in the best interest of the Bristol Housing Authority. All bid documents must be 100% completed when submitted. A 100% Performance, Labor and Material Bond is required. All sureties must be listed on the most recent IRS circular 570. “Attention of bidders is directed to certain requirements of this contract which require payment of Davis-Bacon residential wage rates, and compliance with certain local, state and federal requirements.” For further information, please contact Carl Johnson, Director of Capital Funds, Bristol Housing Authority at (860) 585-2028 or David Holmes, Capital Studio Architects, LLC at (860) 289-3262.

Union Company seeks: Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Equipment. Must have a CDL License, clean driving record, capable of operating heavy equipment; be willing to travel throughout the Northeast & NY. We offer excellent hourly rateor& excellent beneﬁts BA/BS in Civil Engineering Construction Management. Contact: Dana Briere Phone: 2-5 yrs. experience. OSHA Certified. Email: Proficient 860-243-2300 in reading contract plans and specifications. dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com Resumes to RED Technologies, LLC, 10 Northwood Dr., Women & Minority Applicants are Bloomfield, CT 06002; Fax 860.218.2433; encouragedRED toTechnologies, apply LLC is an EOE. Email resumes to info@redtechllc.com. Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity EmployerRemediation Division Project Manager Environmental

Field Engineer

3-5 years exp. and Bachelor’s Degree, 40-Hr. Hazwoper Training Req. Forward resumes to RED Technologies, LLC, 10 Northwood Dr., Bloomfield, CT 06002;

Fax 860.218.2433; or Email to HR@redtechllc.com

RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks: Reclaimer Operators and Milling Operators with current licensing and clean driving record. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent beneﬁts Contact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860243-2300 Email: rick.tousignant@garrityasphalt.com Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming Inc Employer

seeks: Construction Equipment Mechanic preferably experienced in Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory AN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER training Asphalt on equipment we operate. Garrity Reclaiming Inc MBE’s, WBE’s, AND SBE’s ARE ENCOURAGED TO SUBMIT Location: Bloomfield CT seeks: Construction Equipment Mechanic Contact: experienced James Burke Phone: 860preferably in Reclaiming and Firefighter/ParamediC 243-2300 Invitation to Bid: Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory The Town of Wallingford is currently accepting applications for Firefighter/ email: jim.burke@garrityasphalt.com training on equipment we operate. 2nd card, NoticeHS diploma/GED, Paramedic. Applicants must have: a valid CPAT Women & Minority Applicants are Location: Bloomfield CT valid driver’s license and hold a valid Paramedic License that meets CT State Regulations. Copies of licenses and certifications must be submitted with Contact:encouraged James Burke Phone: 860to apply application materials. The Town of Wallingford offers a competitive pay rate 243-2300 Old Saybrook, CT Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity of $54,064.40 to $69,701.32 annually. In addition, there is a $4,400 annual email: jim.burke@garrityasphalt.com Employer We offer excellent hourly rate & Buildings, 17Application Units) deadparamedic bonus plus an excellent fringe(4 benefit package. Women excellent & Minoritybenefits Applicants are line is June 1, 2018 or the date the 75th application is received, whichever Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project occurs first. Apply: Human Resources Department, Town of Wallingford, encouraged to apply 45 South Main St., Wallingford, CT. phone: (203) 294-2080; fax: (203) 294Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity 2084. EOE. New Construction, Wood Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, Cast-We offer excellent hourly rate & Employer in-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, excellent benefits Centrally Located Construction Company in Connecticut Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, has positions available for experienced project managers, laborers and truck drivers.and Fire Protection. Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing This company is an Equal Opportunity M/F. This contract is subject to state set-asideEmployer and contract compliance requirements. Union Company seeks: Tractor Trailer Females and Minorities are encouraged to apply. Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Please fax resume to ATTN: Mike to 860-669-7004. Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 Equipment. Must have a CDL License, clean driving record, capable of operating Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016 Common Ground High School is seeking a Full Time TeachUnion Company seeks: Tractor Trailer heavy equipment; be willing to travel ing Assistant (TA). The TA is responsible for available supporting via teachers in below: the Project documents ftp link Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction classroom during the school day, providing targeted supports in academic throughout the Northeast & NY. We offer http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage Equipment. Must have a CDL License, labs both during and after school, and assisting with summer academic proexcellent hourly rate & excellent benefits grams. For a full job description and how to apply, please visit http://comclean driving record, capable of operating Contact: Dana be Briere Phone: mongroundct.org/2018/05/common-ground-is-seeking-a-special-educationheavy equipment; willing to travel Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com teaching-assistant-ta/ 860-243-2300 Email: the Northeast & NY. We offer HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certifiedthroughout Businesses dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com hourly rate & excellent benefits Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483excellent The Housing Authority of the City of Norwalk, CT is requestWomen & Minority Applicants are Contact: Dana Briere Phone: AA/EEO EMPLOYER ing proposals for Copier Lease and Maintenance Service. encouraged to apply 860-243-2300 Email: Proposal documents can be viewed and printed at www.norAffirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com walkha.org under the Business section RFP’s/RFQ’s Employer Women & Minority Applicants are Norwalk Housing is an Equal Opportunity Employer. encouraged to apply Thomas Hickey, Interim Executive Director. Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity 20 Employer

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, 2016- - August 02, 2016 THE INNER-CITY NEWS MAY 09, 2018 MAY 15, 2018

Dispatcher

Boundaries LLC is a full-service Land Surveying Firm located in Griswold, CT. We are recruiting for these Materials is seeking a motivated, organized, detail-oriented candidate to join its NOTICE positions and are accepting resumes for Survey Field Galasso truck dispatch office. Responsibilities include order entry and truck ticketing in a fast Technicians, Survey Computer Technicians, Licensed paced materials manufacturing and contracting company. You will have daily interacwith employees and customers as numerous truckloads of material cross our scales Land Surveyors, Civil Engineers, from 4/9/2018 tion daily.AVAILABLE We are willing to train the right individual that has a great attitude. NO PHONE VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS through 12/31/2018. Interested parties can contact us CALLS PLEASE. Reply to Hiring Manager, PO Box 1776, East Granby, CT 06026. EOE/M/F/D/V. at HOME 860-376-2006 or submit yourHouse resume INC, on behalf of Columbus andto theJfaulise@ New Haven Housing Authority, boundariesllc.net. AA/EOEfor studio and one-bedroom apartments is accepting pre-applications at this develCommon Ground High School is seeking a passionate, creative, effective,limitations inclusive Environmental Leadership Manager. This is a unique opment located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven. Maximum income apopportunity to Ju;y work at a school that prioritizes leadership developply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday CARPENTER ment and experiential 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have learning focused on the environmental and justice. For a full job description and how to apply, please Large CTreceived Fence Company carpenterINC. for our Wood Fence Probeen at thelooking officesforofa HOME Applications will besocial mailied upon reduction Experience preferred will train the rightduring person.those Must hours. be visit http://www.commongroundct.org/2018/04/19180/. questShop. by calling HOME INC but at 203-562-4663 Completed prefamiliar with carpentry hand & power tools and be able to read a CAD drawmustThis beisreturned HOME INC’s offices 171 Orange Street, Third ingapplications and tape measure. an in-shoptoproduction position. Dutiesatinclude Floor,fence Newpanels, Haven, CT gates 06510. building posts, and more. Some pickup & delivery of Common Ground High School is seeking a Special Education Teach-

ing Assistant (TA). The TA is responsible for supporting teachers in the classroom during the school day, providing targeted supports in academic labs both during and after school, and assisting with summer academic programs. For a full job decription and how to apply, visit http://commongroundct.org/2018/05/common-ground-isVALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDESplease DISPONIBLES seeking-a-special-education-teaching-assistant-ta/

materials may also be required. Must have a valid CT driver’s license and be able to obtain a Drivers Medical Card. Must be able to pass a physical and drug test. Please email resume to pboucher@atlasoutdoor.com. AA/EOE

NOTICIA

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

HOME INC, en nombre de lafor Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing Authority, está Request Proposals Payroll & Other Human Resource Management aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo Common Ground High School is seeking a passionate, creative, partSystems Services ubicado en la calle 109 Frankand Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos time science teacher, certified in biology and general science. For a full job description máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando Martes 25 and how to apply, please visit http://www.comThe Housing Authority of New Haven d/b/a Elm City (aproximadamente mongroundct.org/2018/05/common-ground-is-seeking-a-part-timejulio, 2016 hasta cuandoofsethe hanCity recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes 100) Communities is currently seeking Bids science-teacher/ en las oficinas de HOME INC. Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas por correo a petición for Payroll & Other Human Resource Management Systems and llamando a HOME INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse Services. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained . a las Elm oficinas de Vendor HOME INC en 171 Orange tercer piso, New Haven , CT 06510KMK Insulation Inc. from City’s Collaboration PortalStreet, https://newhaven-

housing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Monday, April 16, 2018 at 9:00AM.

Welder:

1907 Hartford Turnpike North Haven, CT 06473

Mechanical Insulator position. Insulation company offering good pay and benefits.

DELIVERY PERSON NEEDED Part Time Delivery Needed One/Two Day a Week, Must Have Own Vehicle If Interested call

(203) 435-1387

CITY OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT - REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS Computer and Printer Support Solution #2019-04-1214

RFP due date: Tuesday May 15, 2018 at 11:00 AM EST. RFP can be downloaded at http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/PurchasingBureauOnline

Michael V. Fumiatti Purchasing Agent

CITY OF NEW HAVEN - BID NOTICE Sealed bids, to purchase the following, will be accepted by the Bureau of Purchases, Room 301, 200 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06510 until 3:00 P.M., local time, on the date shown, at which time they will be publicly opened and read. Bid forms are available online

Large CT fence & guardrail contractor looking Please mail resume to above address.. MAIL ONLY for a shop welder. Duties include but are not limited to welding & at www.cityofnewhaven.com/purchasing. This company is an Affirmative Action/ fabricating gates, plating posts, truck and trailer repairs. Must be Equal Opportunity Employer. Invitation to Bid: School Calendars 70195042 May 9, 2018 able to weld steel and aluminum. Some road work may be required. 2nd Notice All necessary equipment provided. Must have a valid CT driver’s BOE license and be able to obtain a DOT medical card. Required to pass The GUILFORD HOUSING AUTHORITY a physical and drug test. Medical, vacation & other benefits in- is currently accepting applications for COUPLES ONLY for its one Electric All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 GuilSaybrook, CT cluded. Please email resume to pboucher@atlasoutdoor.com AA/ bedroom apartments at Guilford Court and Boston Terrace inOld highways, near bus stop & shopping centerford, CT. Applicants must be age 62 and over or on 100% EOE-MF (4 social Buildings, 17 Units)Lineman - Electric utility is seeking candidates for a paid training program leading Apprentice security or federal disability and over the age of 18. Applications Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258 to qualification as aProject First Class Lineman. Applicants must be a H.S. graduate or an equivalent Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate may be obtained by calling the application line at 203-453-6262, in experience and training. Also, must be in good physical condition to perform the duties ext. 107. An information packet will also be provided with the apof the position. Hourly rate: $24.39 to $35.03, plus an excellent fringe benefit package. The plication. Applications willNew be accepted until end of Framed, business Housing, day CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s Construction, Wood Selective Cast-or the date the fiftieth (50) application is received, closing date forDemolition, applicationsSite-work, is May 9, 2018 on July of31, 2018. Credit, police, and landlord checks are procured whichever occurs first. Apply: Human Resources Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South with This 3 years min. exp.program HAZMAT Endorsed. Certificate Program. is a 10 month designed to assist in the intellectual formation Candidates in-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday,by August 20, 2016 1:30(Tractor/Triaxle/Roll-off) the authority. Smoke free housing. Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492, (203) 294-2080. EOE. 3:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S.

NEW HAVEN

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

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

Class A CDL Driver

Some overnights may be required. FAX resumes to RED Technologies, at Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential (203) 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Elijah Davis, D.D. Pastor of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster EQUAL OPPORTUNITY HOUSING 860.342-1042; Email: HR@redtechllc.com Mail or in person: 173 Pickering Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection. St. NewStreet, Haven,Portland, CT CT 06480. RED Technologies, LLC is An EOE.

School Security

Casework,

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

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

NEW HAVEN EARLY CHILHDOOD COUNCIL REQUEST FOR QUALITY ENHANCEMENT PROPOSALS

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

Index No: 2009203371 Date Summons Filed December 10, 2009 Plaintiff designates

Nassau County as the Place of trial.-The Basis of venue is Plaintiff/Defendant Resides Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 Greeter- Seeking qualified individuals to perform a variety of duties associat:436 Bedell Terrace West Hempstead, NY 11552.-SUMMONS WITH NOTICE Plainated with monitoring access to the building or assigned station, implementing August 15, 2016 The New Haven Early Childhood Council isAnticipated seeking toStart: tiff re- Sides at 436 Bedell Terrace West Hempstead, NY 11552,Timothy M Celenza security protocols as provided buildingAuthority level administrative Sealed bids are invitedbybydistrict the and Housing of the Town of quality Seymour fund enhancement (QE) projects for the period available Plaintiff Yulia Zorina, Defendant - ACTION FOR DIVORCE To the above Project documents via against ftp link below: staff. Requires graduation from high school, plus a minimum of one year exuntil working 3:00 pm August 2, 2016 at positions its office Smith Street, 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 for the following services: named Defendant: YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to Serve a notice of appearance perience withon theTuesday, public. Individual considered for the willat 28July http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage beSeymour, required to beCT fingerprinted and Concrete undergo background checks. Hourly and Rate:Replacement at the on the Plaintiff within twenty (20) days after the service of this summons, exclusive of 06483 for Sidewalk Repairs $10.23 - $10.56 plus benefit package. Apply to: Personnel Department, Town • on-site education consultation to prek programs the day of service (or within thirty(30) days after the service is complete if this summons, Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour. • mental health resources for children and families in prek programs; of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492. Fax #: (203) Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com 294-2084. Closing date will be May 9, 2018 or the date the 50th application is received, whichever occurs first. EOE.

is not personally delivered to you with in the State of New York; and in the case of your

• professional development trainings related to CT Early Standards, HCC encourages theLearning participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Sectionjudgment 3 Certified Businesses failure to appear, will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded trauma informed care and topics required

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. by School Readiness and NAEYC.

Haynes Construction Company, 32 in Progress Ave, Seymour, 06483 Dated: December 2, 2009 Timothy M Celenza, Plaintiff Pro the notice set forthCTbelow. AA/EEO EMPLOYER Se 436 Bedell Terrace West Hempstead, NY 11552. NOTICE: The nature of this Action is to dissolve the marriage between the parties, on the grounds: DRL Section 170 subd. (2)Off load trailers, reload for trans/disp. Lift 50 lbs., operate industrial powered trucks and forklift. An info session will be held Monday, May 12th from 2-3pm at 54 Meadow The Abandonment of the Plaintiff by the Defendant for a period of more than one year. Asbestos Workerdocuments Handler Training aare +. Resumes to RED Technologies, 173 PickeringHousing St., Street, conference Ofroom 3B. To receive the RFP and for established rates for each Bidding available from theLLC, Seymour Authority The relief sought is A judgment of absolute divorce in favor of the Plaintiff dissolving Portland, CT 06480; Fax 860-342-1022; or service type, contact the School Readiness office Email to lkelly@redtransfer.com the marriage between the parties in this action. The nature of any ancillary or additional fice, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579. RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE. Denised@nhps.net 203-946-7875. relief demanded is:None

TRANSFER STATION LABORER

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

THE INNER-CITY NEWS

MAY 09, 2018

MAY 15, 2018

TIME Magazine Names California Congresswoman Maxine Waters “One of the Most Influential People in the World” use it and he could not usurp it.” Waters said that the video inspired a lot of women and showed that, even on Capitol Hill, women lawmakers must have the courage to demand respect. Waters said that young people welcome the openness and tenacity that she displayed during that exchange with Mnuchin and in her searing criticism of President Donald Trump’s performance. “They welcome it this is the first time they’ve seen this kind of authenticity,” Waters said. “For many of them, this is the first time they’ve seen this kind of authenticity.” Shahidi, who also stars in the “Blackish” spin-off “Grown-ish,” said that Waters, says what many of us are thinking. “She reminds us that we are worthy of any space we occupy,” Shahidi said. “In this time of sociopolitical unrest, Congresswoman Waters has been the brilliant, tenacious representative of the people that we all need.”

By Freddie Allen, Editor-In-Chief, NNPA Newswire

TIME magazine recognized Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Rep. Waters said that the Black Press must cover President Trump in a way that allows the average person to understand what’s going on in the White House. TIME magazine recently honored Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. According to a press release about the honor, “The list, now in its fifteenth year, recognizes the activism, innovation and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals.” Waters said that she was shocked and surprised by the recognition and that she “felt very, very blessed” to receive the honor. In a commentary about the award, “Black-ish” actor Yara Shahidi wrote that, “Congresswoman Maxine Waters of the 43rd District of California, a.k.a. Auntie Maxine, has made my generation proud to be nieces and nephews.” Shahidi continued: “She is adored and admired by people who care about social justice and is oh so eloquent in letting the world, particularly the White men of Congress who dare test her acumen, know that she is not here for any nonsense.” Waters said that for many young people, she is one of the few lawmakers willing to step outside of the box

of a traditional, non-confrontational lawmaker to speak truth to power. And even though, she captured the attention of millions in a viral video exchange with United States Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, Waters acknowledged that the use of the phrase “reclaiming my time” is a part of the regular order of business in Congress. “It’s what we use when it is our time

to speak and we’re being ignored by the people who are on the panel and you want to shut them down,” Waters said. “We use it when we’re being interfered with by another member of Congress in a debate.” Waters continued: “It was something that I used at a time when it was important for me to let Mr. Mnuchin know that he couldn’t have his way that it was my time and I intended to

Shahidi added: “She’s not new to it, she’s true to it.” Waters is one of President Trump’s most vocal critics on Capitol Hill, even calling for his impeachment. “[President Trump] has defined himself as someone who is not deserving and that should be our mantra, that should be the conversation, that should be what we talk about with our newspapers and our radio sta-

tions…we need to speak up,” Waters said. “We have to let everyone know we don’t accept this and we don’t feel helpless like victims in all of this. We are going to resist him and we are going to fight him.” Waters said that Black newspapers should run stories about the Trump Administration, every week, monitor digital media, especially social media, and pay attention to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Waters said that the Black Press must cover President Trump in a way that allows the average person to stay up-to-date and to understand what’s going on in the White House. “That conversation can help people get more involved, get people excited about registering to vote and to get out to vote…and see what we have to do to change this government.” Black millennials need to know that they can make a significant difference in the upcoming midterm elections, Water said. “If our millennials vote, we win,” Waters said. “We can take back the House, we will keep many of our state legislature seats…if [millennials] go to the polls, we win.” This article was originally published at BlackPressUSA.com. Freddie Allen is the Editor-In-Chief of the NNPA Newswire and BlackPressUSA.com. Follow Freddie on Twitter @freddieallenjr.

Con’t from page 16

House Debates Then Tables Voting Rights Bill

The Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities Proudly Presents:

Kids Speak 2018 Kids Speak is a day for students in middle and high school from across the state to come together and discuss topics related to civil and human rights. The forum will raise the consciousness of students regarding equality, diversity, anti-bullying, equal protection, segregation, integration, educational equity and so much more.

Please RSVP for the event by emailing Cheryl.Sharp@ct.gov on or before May 1, 2018

Where:

UConn School of Law 55 Elizabeth Street Hartford, CT 06105

When:

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Time:

9:00 am to 1:30 pm

He said actions have consequences and” part of the consequence is losing your freedom and losing your right to vote.” He said it’s a huge leap from probation to parole. He said it goes against the fundamental rules of democracy. “The pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction,” Labriola said. However, proponents of the legislation were quick to point out that Connecticut is the last state on the east coast to pass legislation restoring voting rights for this population. Seventeen states have passed similar legislation to restore voting rights for parolees. “This country has a notorious history which both denying and abridging this most sacred right,” Rep. Joshua Hall, DHartford, said while holding up a copy of the U.S. Constitution. He said Connecticut has been a leader in criminal justice reform and the resources provided are critical to reducing recidivism. “I thought it was called the bill of rights

and not the bill of privileges,” Hall said. “Because it seems that according to some of my colleagues that anything you can regulate is not a right.” “Therefore, the right to bear arms is apparently a privilege and not a right,” Hall said using the Republican logic. “So that’s very interesting.” McGee said the debate was helpful in that it taught them what they need to do next year to get the bill over the finish line. The bill comes a day after proponents held a press conference on the steps of the Capitol with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Secretary of the State Denise Merrill said it’s disappointing that the bill failed. “Restoring the right to vote to citizens who have served their terms of incarceration as they return to their communities is a long overdue reform, and simply the right thing to do,” Merrill said. “Seventeen states and the District of Columbia, including every other New England state, already return voting rights to people on parole.”

RP inner city news full page.qxp_Layout 1 3/19/18 2:49 PM Page THE1INNER-CITY NEWS

MAY 09, 2018

MAY 15, 2018

THE RIDGEFIELD PLAYHOUSE LaKisha Jones: To Whitney, With Love

American idol finalist pays tribute to Diana Ross, Donna Summer, Tina Turner and Whitney Houston!

April 7

Fabulously Funny Females of Comedy

ft. Cory Kahaney, Karen Bergreen & Erin Jackson

April 20

Upright Citizens Brigade

Improv comedy from the troupe that launched Amy Poehler & more! Ft. SNL’s Sasheer Zamata

May 4

Ruben Studdard

Broadway Sings Stevie Wonder

Broadway’s hottest talents sing Stevie Wonder’s hits! Ft. Kennedy Caughell (Beautiful), Corey Mach Kinky Boots), Austin Owen (Jersey Boys) & more!

May 14

Rhiannon Giddens

The Freedom Highway Tour

Co-founder of the Grammy-award winning bluegrass band, Carolina Chocolate Drops!

An Evening of Luther Vandross, Always & Forever

June 20

203.438.5795 • RIDGEFIELDPLAYHOUSE.ORG 23

May 3

THE INNER-CITY NEWS

MAY 09, 2018

MAY 15, 2018

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