INNER-CITY NEWS by INNER-CITY NEWS

THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

How to Justice put Puerto Rico back onConvention its feet Financial a Key Focus at 2016 NAACP INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, 2016 - August 02, 2016

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Volume 27 21 . No. 2251 Volume No. 2194

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

$50K Reward Posted In Tyrick’s Murder by CHRISTOPHER PEAK New Haven Independent

Investigators are offering $50,000 to produce a break in a three-month-old homicide of a 14-year-old boy. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has authorized the $50,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot Tyrick Keyes on July 16, said Chris Collibee, the governor’s press secretary. Demethra Telford, Tyrick’s mother, said she has been frustrated that no arrest has been made yet in the case. In an interview at her Read Street home, she wondered aloud how cops could bust drug dealers and child protective service workers remove kids so quickly, while her son’s case seems to drag on. “They say, ‘OK, we’ll let you know when we hear something,’ then take a long time to return my calls,” Telford said of detectives working the case. “At the end of the day, this is my child.” Telford, who called herself “one woman [cops]’re gonna hear about,” said she doesn’t plan to let the pressure off the police department. “My son is not gonna become a cold case,” she said. “I just wait all the time for that knock on the door [from a police officer] to say, ‘We got ‘em.’” The governor’s office acts on recommendations by the state’s attorney’s office in posting rewards, said Assistant Police Chief Archie Generoso. With the investigation ongoing, he de-

clined to say whether the police have identified potential suspects. “Our investigation is progressing,” he said. Generoso said that while he can’t identify a specific local case in recent years in which a posted reward helped lead to an arrest, “I know they have worked in the past. It doesn’t help the majority of cases but there are instances when rewards have helped. We’re leaving no stone unturned anything we can to solve this case we’re speeding up.” State Rep. Robyn Porter, who helped get the funding approved, said the reward money could be an “important” way to “spur someone to come forward and speak.” Porter said that the unsolved murder in her district is a “public-safety issue, undoubtedly,” but she also called on her neighbors to help detectives solve the case. “That’s why it’s so disturbing that this gap seems to be widening between the community and police around trust. Somebody in this community as a matter of fact, I bet quite a few know who did it,” she said. “As a community, we cannot ask an outside agency to do what we aren’t doing for ourselves. We have to hold ourselves and our community responsible.” Telford, meanwhile, has been a visible presence throughout the Elm City since her son’s killing .She’s hung poster-sized pictures of her son at Fair Haven Middle School, where Tyrick graduated two months before his death, and Hillhouse High School, where he was headed a month later.

CHRISTOPHER PEAK PHOTO

Telford beside a banner of her murdered son.

She’s also working with her alder, Delphine Clyburn, to dedicate the intersection of Basset and Newhall Streets to Tyrick. In her new public role, Telford said she has felt used at times, trotted out for photo-ops, particularly during the mayoral race. She also said she can’t stand when people ask, “How are all your kids doing?” a genuine inquiry that still reminds her one of her children is gone. “Each day is a struggle. What keeps

me going is to get pictures of Tyrick and to keep talking about him. At my break moments, I’m wondering when the killer will be caught and waiting to ask why did you do this to him,” she said. “Inside, I’m angry about how society works, about how New Haven works.” She said did find one group that truly understands her. Dawn Spearman, the founder of a support group for Bridgeport mothers who’ve lost children to violence, and a few members recently

came up to New Haven to meet with Telford. Now, each day, she receives a Facebook message telling her she’s not alone. The network is planning statewide actions aimed at gun violence. Seeing how involved the group’s members are, Telford criticizes herself for not being more involved in political activism before. “I say this to other parents about myself: ‘Don’t wait to get here to fight for justice,’” Telford said. “‘We need your support now.’”

Criminal Justice, From The Inside Out

BRIAN SLATTERY PHOTO

Grant and Rawls-Ivy.

Babz Rawls-Ivy is the editor of the Inner-City News, the host of daily WNHH FM’s “LoveBabz LoveTalk,” and a frequent guest on WNHH shows. Jeff Grant is the executive director of Family ReEntry, a social service organization in Bridgeport working with people who have gotten out of prison, and helping to prevent them from going back in. They’ve both also served prison sentences themselves. They are now co-hosts of a new show on WNHH, “Criminal Justice Insider,” that tackles criminal justice issues from the inside out. “Criminal Justice Insider” will air once a month on WNHH, featuring Rawls-Ivy, Grant, and a series of guests as they talk about the lives of people in prison and how it affects not only the prisoners themselves, but the family. When one family member goes to prison, “the whole family goes to prison,” they agreed on their debut episode. They will also talk about the lives of people who have gotten out, and the factors that contribute to them going back in or staying out for good by rebuilding their lives, a reality both of them have lived.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

ICN Catches up with The Fabulous Vanessa Williams! Babz Rawls Ivy, Editor-in-Chief, The Inner-City News

Babz: Good morning! It is my pleasure to talk with Vanessa Williams, yes, THE Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America, and star of screen, and stage, and records. She’s going to be at the Ridgefield Playhouse on November 4th, Saturday night at 8:00. And I thought I’d take a little time to catch up with her to get a sense of what that concert will be like, what she’s into these days. Babz: I know you’re coming to the Ridgefield Playhouse here in Connecticut for a concert on November 4, 2017 8:00 pm Vanessa Williams: Yes. Babz: And what can we expect, because I’m a huge fan girl, forgive me. Vanessa Williams: I’ve been touring…I first started 20 years ago back in 1997. I do my hits, I do some Broadway style…My band is amazing… We’ve been on the road for 20 years now, we usually do probably about three concerts a month. Whether it’s – a program or concert, a theater, with some symphony, and dance, we take whatever we can, we’re in Rancho Cucamonga on Friday night, and we’re going to fly on Thursday. And we love each other, we’re a perfect family and we love to play. Babz: I had no idea you were touring that much, I had no idea, I just thought perhaps, a few times a year, you show up somewhere, you do a couple of songs or whatever, because I’ve been following your career since the very beginning and I follow you in movies, I follow you on television, but I did not know that you were performing that much. Which is a wonderful thing because you are a well-respected and tremendous singer, people really appreciate your music. Is there some new music coming, is there an album in the works? Vanessa Williams: Yes, recording has certainly change particularly for artist in my age range but also my genre, it’s going from pop to kind of slow jazz and smooth jazz. I’ve had a couple projects that I’ve been working on, but hopefully sometime next year, I will get to come back to them. Babz: People seem to be finding success with singing the American song book kinds of songs, you know what I mean, people are sort of liking that

Vanessa Williams

sound. Vanessa Williams: Yes, I’ve done it for years in my show. I want to again, record companies are trying to make money, and to that end – it’s a matter of finding the right match and I think that is what I’m going to have to do. Babz: Are you going back to Broadway anytime soon, can we see you on the bright lights of Broadway? Vanessa Williams: Nothing yet, yes, there’s a couple things in the production. There’s lots of meetings now, I have nothing to announce, but lots of ideas. Babz: Okay. Now, there’s a lot of women now that’s are starting to sort of fire up their own production companies, create their projects, lead their own ships, are you in that same boat, do you feel like that’s the way you get the best parts and the good music if you create your own stuff? Vanessa Williams: Yes, I think it’s always relationships and collaborations and talking to people that you like to work with, in the first movie that I produced, which was a movie about the first order of black nuns in New Orleans to the holy family “The Courage To Love” That was the first time I was producer, getting a writer and producing it in song and so that was a while ago. I want to do more projects. I know so many people, I know what writers I want to use, I know what directors and all that stuff. I’m always in the thick of it, it’s more than just being a hired name which is, I think is a positive thing. Babz: Any thoughts to a memoir or... Vanessa Williams: Yes, my book came out in 2012, I did that already.

Babz: And another one, maybe, possibly? Vanessa Williams: No, not that five years ago, it’s called “You have no idea”, I got more to – more to accomplish. Babz: You’ve got a daughter who was – I guess I would say following in your foot steps as a musician, as a singer of Lion Babe, does that make you happy, do you feel sort of tensed? Vanessa Williams: No, I’m very happy that she’s carved her own mission in her career and doing a great job and she’s really hard working and has got a lot of creative ideas and she’ll ask for advice, fill me in on where she is, creatively and emotionally. I could kind of help her which is great, but she’s been doing her own thing, and on her own like it’s really, productive, and creative, and happy and it’s just – yes, it’s nice to see as they’re trying to be great people which is the hardest job in the world, to be a parent and the most rewarding for sure. Babz: Yes, absolutely. And all of them are grown up now, I believe, right? Vanessa Williams: Well, faster than you think, she’s almost ready for college, it’s her senior year, I know her volleyball games is today and I will be racing out to Stanford to catch it. Babz: Before I let you go, what is the – if there’s any long held dream to accomplished and you’ve done a great deal, what’s the one long held dream that you like to get done, like, what is that fantasy thing that you’re like, you know what, I’d really or I’ve always wanted to do X, Y, and Z. Vanessa Williams: Well, I think Broadway is always what I go back to as my true love just because I started out in theater and I just – it’s a total sensory satisfaction where you got a live audience with spectacular material with a great direction, and you could sing and dance and all within one moment. I would love to do another Broadway production, that would be – it would definitely be that, but again, I never know where my career is going to go, as soon as you think you’re going to do and make plans, you just never know what’s going to happen, what the next project is going to be and the next people I’m going to be working with and staying open and

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

Dwight Signs Off On Eminent Domain by THOMAS BREEN

New Haven Independent

The city’s Redevelopment Agency won hard-earned community support on Tuesday night for its bid to use eminent domain to hold slumlords accountable in the Dwight neighborhood. City officials offered one final concession to the neighborhood: The city won’t follow through with seizing a specific rundown property if the community vetoes the idea. Such was the outcome of the latest meeting of the Dwight Community Management Team (DCMT) on Tuesday night, when over 30 neighbors gathered in the cafeteria of the Amistad Academy Middle School on Edgewood Avenue to discuss new developments in the neighborhood. On the table was whether to approve a Chapel/Dwight/ Whalley Redevelopment and Renewal Plan proposed by the city’s Redevelopment Agency. The agency has tried for months to win the team’s approval, stop one in a multi-step process of making the plan a realty. Led by chair Florita Gillespie, the DCMT Tuesday night finally voted to write a letter in support of the Redevelopment Agency’s proposed plan, which promises more active government involvement in the area bounded by Whalley Avenue, York Street, Frontage Street, and Ella T. Grasso Boulevard. For the past year, Redevelopment Agency commissioners have been making their pitch to the DCMT as to why the community should support the resur-

rection of an urban renewal tool that would allow the city to seize ownership of neglected, privately-owned buildings at fair-market value and then redevelop those properties to be in line with the density, character, and overall condition of the surrounding neighborhood. Click here for a previous story on the city’s new eminent domain pitch, and here for a story on Redevelopment Agency commissioner (and Dwight neighbor) Joel Schiavone’s prior pitch to the DCMT on this issue. While the city currently has the right to exercise eminent domain for the sake of constructing public projects (e.g. schools, firehouses, new roads), state statute requires that the city pass a publicly-approved redevelopment plan before it can engage in eminent domain for the sake of economic development. That is, the city already has the authority to buy private property for public use. But it needs to adopt into law a redevelopment plan before it can buy private property for private use. Over the past year, DCMT members have expressed wariness over the Redevelopment Agency’s proposed reintroduction of a municipal tool that many associate with the mid-century demolition and abandonment of working class neighborhoods for the sake of suburboriented highway development. On Tuesday night, Redevelopment

John P. Thomas Publisher / CEO

Babz Rawls Ivy

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

Advertising/Sales Team Trenda Lucky Keith Jackson Delores Alleyne John Thomas, III

Editorial Team Staff Writers

Christian Lewis/Current Affairs Anthony Scott/Sports Arlene Davis-Rudd/Politics Chair Florita Gillespie: Tonight we’re voting for this.

Agency chair Brian McGrath assured neighbors that the city is not at all interested in buying and leveling large swaths of real estate for the sake of rebuilding a neighborhood en masse. Instead, it seeks to use eminent domain as a precision weapon for pressuring and punishing negligent landlords who profit off of dilapidated properties at the neighborhood’s, and the city’s, expense, he said. “The plan that we’re doing now is nothing like it was in the old days, where [the city] used to name entire neighborhoods for condemnation and then not buy [the demolished properties],” McGrath told the DCMT. “All our plan says is that, if you’re

within this district, you have to follow the city’s zoning ordinance. We’re saying that all the properties have to follow the city housing codes and building codes.” McGrath, a retired city development and transit official, said that the city perpetually struggles with landlords who refuse to fix up their properties, profit off them until they collapse, abandon them to tax foreclosure, and then leave them for demolition at the city’s expense. He said that the Livable City Initiative (LCI), the city’s antiblight agency, can issue fines to slumlords all it wants, but that the city currently lacks any formidable resource for dealing with negligent property Con’t on page 9

Contributing Writers David Asbery Tanisha Asbery Jerry Craft/Cartoons Barbara Fair

Dr. Tamiko Jackson-McArthur Michelle Turner Smita Shrestha William Spivey Kam Williams Rev. Samuel T. Ross-Lee

_______________________

Contributors At-Large

Christine Stuart www.CTNewsJunkie.com Paul Bass New Haven Independent www.newhavenindependent.org

Memberships

National Association of Black Journalist National Newspapers Publishers Association Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Greater New Haven Business & Professional Association Greater New England Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc.

For more information on ACES schools, programs and services, please visit our website.

(203) 498-6800 | www.aces.org 4

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

Amid Upscaling, Seniors Gain Foothold by MARKESHIA RICKS New Haven Independent

A long-vacant lot in a quickly developing juncture of the Dixwell and Newhallville neighborhoods may become the new home of senior citizens who now live at Edith Johnson Towers, under a plan that departs from New Haven’s market-rate housing trend. Neighbors at a community meeting got to hear from developers chosen by the city to build 95 new affordable senior housing units there to replace the existing 95 units at the more than 50-yearold eight-story Johnson Towers at 114 Bristol St. The city chose the Boston-based Beacon Corcoran SP Jennison (aka “BCJ”), which owns the Johnson Towers as well as the related 339-unit Monterey Place public-housing development in Dixwell, after requesting proposals from developers in August 2016 for the 2.3acre site between Ashmun and Canal Streets. Serena Neal-Sanjurjo, who runs city government’s neighborhood anti-blight agency, the Livable City Initiative (LCI), said the site was originally planned for development as part of the Monterey Place remaking of the old Elm Haven projects. That never happened. The lot is near Science Park, Winchester Lofts, Ashmun Flats and the forthcoming development of the former 13- acre Olin Corp. factory site on Munson Street into nearly 400 apartments. The city has tried over the years to develop the vacant property without any success. With new housing developments springing up all around the property, the city got nibbles from two other developers, including the Glendower Group, which is the development arm of the city’s housing authority. Neal-Sanjurjo said the old Edith Johnson building would revert city ownership; there are no plans yet for what to do with it once it is vacated. Dara Kovel, president of Beacon Communities Development, told Edith Johnson residents and other Dixwell and Newhallville neighbors at Thursday night’s meeting, held at New Trinity Temple Church of God in Christ on Dixwell Avenue, that the project would be a onefor-one development of housing to replace the units at 114 Bristol St. Beacon has hired New Haven-based Newman Architects to handle the design work. “We believe we can do that in a four-story building, with a sort of wood frame building on both sides,” Kovel said. “We’ve proposed a U-shaped building.

MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTO Morrison

to neighbors: I fought for senior housing.

We recognize that there are single family homes across the street and are trying to pull back some of the scale from the street there. There also will be parking in the back.” Kovel said the city’s proposal asked that the development be mixed-use. So Beacon’s design calls for space on the first floor that could be used for a retail/commercial space, a childcare center or a health clinic. The first floor also will include other amenity space for residents such as a manager’s office, health services, and possibly a fitness center. Apartments will be on the three floors above the non-residential space, she said. But all of what will be on the first floor, and the layout of apartments above, remain to be decided. “Right now this is just a design concept,” Kovel told neighbors. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do—work with the architect to refine this idea. A lot of work to do with Serena and Livable City to get the site ready for zoning and moving through that process.” Kovel said that the project would also have to get a series of approvals from the city’s housing authority and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) so that the subsidies that help people who

live in Edith Johnson afford their rent — paid with the help of the rental assistance demonstration (RAD) program — can be moved from the old site to the new one. “We’ve had some preliminary conversations about doing that and have gotten generally positive responses that that will be possible,” she said. “We have several more steps to take in doing that.” One neighbor pointed out that senior housing is one of the least intensive uses that the site could have and would provide the city a lot less tax revenue than an apartment building filled with market-rate renters. Why not put as much senior housing as possible on the site and provide more than 95 units given that Edith Johnson currently has a waitlist? Pam Goodman, Beacon Communities CEO, said it was her understanding that the community didn’t want higher density. She also didn’t see a way to fund additional units that would also keep them affordable. “We really were somewhat concerned about what the community wanted,” she said. Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison said when the three proposals were presented to her — two of which would have added 200-300 market

rate units in mixed-use developments she advocated for the replacement of the new senior housing instead. “To be honest with you, I got in the city’s way,” she said. “The city did want more tax money on that land, that’s what they wanted out of those three projects. Senior housing was the most sensible thing for that area.” Some neighbors expressed heartburn over the fact that of the proposals submitted to the city, one had been chosen without their input. They also expressed frustration that they were unaware that a request for proposal had been released by the city that they knew nothing about. “We’re being notified that the situation has already been decided,” one man said. “I’d rather for the residents to decide what goes on that property. The residents might have gotten together and bought that land. “Anyone could have addressed the RFQ,” Morrison responded. “Whatever an RFQ is,” the man retorted. “Nobody gave us a chance to do nothing.” (The city issues RFPs and RFQs —requests for proposals and requests for qualifications — to interested bidders.) Morrison acknowledged that the de-

cision to put the senior housing vacant lot had already been made by the city. Thursday’s meeting was an opportunity for neighbors and Edith Johnson residents to have influence over that plan. A plan that Kovel and Goodman said would require many more meetings with neighbors. Kovel said in a bestcase scenario, the project could break ground sometime in 2019. “We don’t know when it will start is the short answer,” she said. “There are a lot of steps to go through. We have to meet with you guys some more, there’s a zoning process, we’re gathering our financing. In an ideal world, we’d start in 2019. But that’s if everything falls together perfectly. Edith Johnson residents like Gladstone Pantin welcomed the news of a new home pointing out that the apartments are in need of costly repairs including the need to reconstruct the entrance and the need to repair water leaks throughout the building. “We’re happy to live there,” he said. “The place is in dire need of repair. What we’re looking at is a sensible decision.”

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Gateway Prez: We’ll Do More With Less THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

by PAUL BASS

New Haven Independent The new chief of New Haven’s Gateway Community College has found that adding two campuses together can help more people launch machinist, railroad or ultrasound careers even when a budget-strapped state is cutting back funding. Paul Broadie has taken on the challenge of producing more with less since succeeding retired Gateway President Dorsey Kendrick in July while simultaneously continuing in his job as president of Bridgeport’s Housatonic Community College, which he has held for two and a half years. In his first three months on the job, he has made a point of “putting everyone at ease that” change “is going to be OK” now that one president is overseeing two campuses, he said in an interview on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven Program.” Broadie spends two full days a week at each campus. “My running joke,” he said, “is I need a helicopter on Fridays,” when he battles I-95 gridlock to spend a half-day at each campus. Meanwhile, he has already found $1 million in cost savings while discovering ways to offer more opportunities for students than before by having people at the two campuses work together. Gateway —- the state’s largest community college, with over 7,000 students — and 5,200-student Housatonic officially remain separate col-

leges, at least for now. But with a shared president, and under pressure to cut costs in a state currently without an approved budget and a projected $5.1 billion twoyear deficit, the campuses’ destinies, and in many cases daily operations, are becoming joined. Broadie, who’s 49, has assumed the helm at a time of change in the state higher education system, as well as in the midst of a separate trend that you could call the Bridgehaven Convergence. New Haven and Bridgeport, until now unrelated municipal planets with separate orbits and identities, are suddenly operating more and more as partners. Its two main hospitals have one owner (Yale New Haven Health System). Its two legacy corporate daily print newspapers are now owned by one company, with identically designed websites and shared articles about both communities. The two cities’ mayors teamed up in recent months on pitches for a new MGM casino and Amazon headquarters. They’re planning to start pitching potential big employers together on locating here, presenting their two communities as part of a single region that will compete better in the new economy by pooling their strengths. Broadie described a similar strategy for the two community colleges he now oversees. “You’re going to see a greater partnership between the two institutions that expand

MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTO

New Gateway prez Dr. Paul Broadie.

programs. No longer will we have silos,” Broadie said. “Students don’t care about our silos and our barriers. We need to take those silos down and serve the needs of our students. ... “There’s no value in competing with each other. We have to look at synergies. We have to look at savings. We’re duplicating efforts. There’s no value in duplicating efforts. We’re combining efforts.” Some of the $1 million in savings come from combining overhead costs from the two campuses: Having one marketing office with one set of publications, for in-

LEAP Halloween Party Set For Fun, Fright

LEAP’s annual Halloween party for kids and families will be Oct. 27 from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the LEAP Community Center at 31 Jefferson St.. We will have face painting, a haunted house, tons of games, pumpkin decorating, scary music, and a photo booth. We will be joined by our friends from the New Haven Police and Fire Departments as well as volunteers from Yale University. Once again, we will join with our neighbors on Lyon, William and Bradley Streets to have trick or treating for kids. Each year our great neighbors open their homes to trick or treaters on the same night as LEAP’s Halloween party. We will have plenty of LEAP counselors and staff on each of the streets ensuring a fun and safe night for everyone. Because hundreds of children attend every year, our neighbors can quickly run out of candy. So please consider donating candy. You can drop it off between 9 am and 7 pm, Monday to Thursday or 9 am to 6 pm on Friday. We hope to see you on October 27th!

stance. Broadie has combined the two campuses’ dean of administration positions into one rather than fill a vacancy at Gateway. He’s looking at group purchasing across campuses and outsourcing the verification process for financial aid. Then there’s the administration of specific academic programs. Both community colleges are stepping in to fill an important job-readiness gap in the state: The need for surgical technologists, or operating-room technicians. Hospitals in both cities have shortages to fill. But the state’s technical high schools eliminated their surgical tech training programs. So Housatonic started to develop its own program after Bridgeport hospital decided to transfer an existing training effort there. Meanwhile, Gateway looked at creating its own program. Upon taking the Gateway helm, Broadie had both schools to work together to create one program for both campuses. Forty students, 20 from each campus, are starting out in it, he said. it will have one director, one set of teachers, one clinical coordinator, rather than two of each. “I saw the value of seeing things in a single lens and not competing for students and duplicating resources,” Broadie said. Another example: the two school’s manufacturing program. Modern factory jobs require more advanced skills than in the past. The two campuses had separate nine-month programs for obtaining certification for those jobs. two sets of facilities, two staffs. It turns out Bridgeport has an “amazing” facility for the first portion of the program, learning to operate computer-controlled CNC machines. So the two schools have combined their program, with all students beginning the program at the Housatonic facility. They complete the advanced learning portion of the program on the Gateway campus. Same offerings. Same number of students. Lower cost. A new state program is making it easier for students to travel between the campuses. Called U-Pass, it allows state college and university students to ride buses and trains for free. Both Housatonic and Gate-

way are a quick walk from their respective train stations. Not all cuts are painless or opportunities to rethink how to offer a better education for less money. Broadie has been unable to fill important faculty positions with full-time professors, at least since July, when Connecticut’s last approved budget ran out. For now, Gateway has made use of more adjunct professors. He said he hopes that when a new budget is passed, he’ll be able to fill those slots. He’s also looking to grow, not just to cut. He cited three strong programs at Gateway railroad tech, automotive, and dual-certification diagnostic stenography that he plans to expand. With more students would come more revenue. He’s also been meeting with presidents of other New Haven colleges, two of whom, at Southern Connecticut State University and Albertus Magnus, have also recently assumed their posts. They’re discussing how to upgrade “articulation agreements” that enable students to transfer from Gateway to four-year colleges. Paul Broadie didn’t go to college to pursue a career in college administration. A product of the Bronx, he majored in business at Mercy College. His plan was to obtain an MBA and go into the private sector. He served in student government, where he enjoyed working with administrators and on policy. Upon graduation, Broadie received an offer from the college president that he couldn’t turn down: Work as an admission counselor and have his MBA tuition paid for. “Once I began to work at a college, I saw very quickly how education changes lives,” Broadie recalled. “For me it was life-changing. And it changed the track of my career. , I didn’t look back. I stayed in higher education.” Broadie went on to work in administrative posts at Mercy, which has five locations in New York State; Westchester Community College, with has 11 satellites; and, as vicepresident, at Orange County Community College, where he oversaw four campuses. In other words, over 28 years in the business, he has extensive experience figuring out how to make multiple campuses work well together. Which comes in handy for his new New Haven-Bridgeport challenge. “For me, it wasn’t really new,” he said. “What was different was that Housatonic and Gateway Community College had grown up separately.” Given Connecticut’s systemic budget challenges, the Gateway-Housatonic partnership may be just the beginning. Some have called for the state to combine all community colleges into one school. Others have floated the idea of combining the community colleges with the state university system. The betting money is that, however that debate turns out, Paul Broadie will be helping steer the ship of change.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

School Bus Routes Confound Parents by CHRISTOPHER PEAK New Haven Independent

Abdullah finally hopped off a school shuttle and into his mother’s arms at 5:03 p.m. after sitting on the bus for nearly an hour and a half a trek that his mother has repeatedly told the Board of Ed is too long for a 5-year-old with special needs. The mom, Aisha Patel, has repeatedly requested a change in her nonverbal youngest son’s bus routes. At first, she went to district headquarters before the school year started. Last week, she demanded answers at the Board of Education’s meeting. A month into the school year the district has yet to adjust the boy’s schedule, leaving him to wait out a 3.5-hour daily round trip, from the family’s condo in Fair Haven Heights to MauroSheridan Interdistrict Magnet School in Amity. (Update: A few hours after this story was published, the district placed Patel’s son on a new bus route with a 4:15 p.m. drop-off.) Patel’s difficulty with the bus schedule is an example of the many complaints about the school transportation system that crop up at the start of every school year. As the district has moved

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available and ready to – ready to roll. Babz: Well, thank you so much for busy or because no one picks up, ac- this time Miss Vanessa Williams, you will always be my Miss America. I cording to Waters. “There’s no accountability in this certainly will be there at Ridgefield district. And because there’s no ac- Playhouse on Saturday, November 4, countability, who cares about fixing 2017 because I have all your CD’s insomething? What are the repercus- cluding the Christmas CD’s. sions when this happens? Who goes Vanessa Williams: That’s very cool. Babz: I am your big fan. back and apologizes to the parents? Vanessa Williams: You’ve been reWho even follows it through?“ Waters said. “You see, with this parent, they ally wonderful. I am working on should say, ‘Hey, listen, we’re work- my Christmas album, if you like the ing on this problem. It’s taking a little Christmas stuff, you’ll love the Demore time than what we had expected, cember show as well. but please bear with us.’ They don’t, Babz: Absolutely, absolutely, well, to because you don’t have a person in the your success my dear, I am a big fan girl and I’m going to be in the audidistrict” conducting oversight. “The customer service, across the ence listening and... Vanessa Williams: I will see you board, sucks, to be honest with you,” CHRISTOPHER PEAK PHOTO Aisha Patel’s son arrives home at 5:05 p.m. backstage then. Waters said. Babz: Oh, I hope so, I hope so Ms. away from neighborhood schools year with a bus dropping her son off District officials said that they’re to magnets that draw students from tardy at school on a near-daily basis. charged with a daunting task. Every Williams, I hope so. Well, good luck, across the region, parents routinely CPT’s most recent meeting focused day, school buses transport 20,000 and I will talk to you soon and thank run into problems with the buses: on this topic, when nearly 50 moms kids across “hundreds of routes and you for this opportunity to talk with stops located too far from home, driv- and dads showed up with transporta- thousands of miles” branching out you. Vanessa Williams: No problem, talk ers showing up late, and no supervi- tion concerns. A district employee in into dozens of suburban towns, said sion onboard. charge of busing was in attendance, Will Clark, the Board of Education’s to you later, thanks. Babz: Thank you. Parents are asking, “How many first along with the superintendent. The chief operating officer. That’s all while Vanessa Williams: Okay. days of school [has the district] had? employee said she resolved all the needing to maintain time-efficient and Babz: That was wonderful, I just How many years of school? Then complaints, except for Patel’s, within cost-efficient routes, he said. how come this is the same issue ev- less than a week. Parents trying to fol- At this week’s board meeting, Super- had a wonderful conversation with ery year?” said Nijija-Ife Waters, the low-up with the district, though, said intendent Reggie Mayo said the dis- Vanessa Williams, my Miss America, and she’s going to be at the Ridgefield president of the Citywide Parent Team they struggled to get an employee on Con’t on page 12 Playhouse, Saturday November 4th. (CPT), who had her own problems last the phone, either because the line is SCSU_UOH_5.472x5.1_InnerCity.qxp_Layout 1 9/27/17 2:50 PM Page 1

sunday, october 15, 2017 For high school students, transfer students, parents, and friends • Visit our beautiful campus • Meet faculty, staff, and students • Learn about majors, financial aid, housing, and more

THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

Pols Seize On Loosening Gun Lobby Grip by BRIAN SLATTERY AND MARKESHIA RICKS New Haven Independent

New Haven’s Congressional delegation joined more than 100 anti-gun violence advocates on the steps of the New Haven Police Department Friday morning to call on federal lawmakers to support what they say are common-sense gun policy reforms, including a ban on bump stock devices and expanded background check rules. Just before that event, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy visited the WNHH studio to talk about gun control, Iran and North Korea, and the response to Hurricane Maria’s devastation of Puerto Rico to create a picture of the ways in which the current administration is “truly and frighteningly groundbreaking” in its handling of challenges and crises. The rally comes in the wake of the latest mass shooting to shock the nation, this time in Las Vegas, where the death toll has risen to 58. It also comes in the wake of the National Rifle Association, which in previous shootings has doubled down on its pro-gun message, seeming to loosen its stance in support of bump stock regulation. U.S. Sen Richard Blumenthal said that those who support responsible gun use should not be fooled into believing that the NRA has changed its position. “The NRA statement is a deceptive and dangerous dodge,” he said. “Regulation is a path to delay not action. There must be a ban on bump stocks. People in Las Vegas might well be alive today if bump stock were illegal and access was barred because the shooter there was able to mow down many people because the machine like weapon that he converted…with

MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTO Lawmakers sign a banner for the victims of a mass shooting.

bump stock.” Blumenthal and U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy have submitted legislation that would ban bump stocks, which modify semi-automatic weapons to make them essentially automatic. In 2010, Murphy explained on “Dateline New Haven,” the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) visited the question of the legality of bump stocks and found that the statute was “ambiguous.” Without a clear directive from the law, the ATF allowed them to continue to be sold. “The problem is the statute does not make it clear that these modifications of semi-assault weapons should be illegal, and so we should make it perfectly clear that they are illegal,” Murphy said. That the NRA is not calling to clarify the law illustrates the nature of the “dodge” Blumenthal mentioned. “I think they [the NRA] know that the ATF doesn’t believe the language is

clear,” Murphy said on WNHH, “so the ATF won’t do it” that is, institute a ban. “So the NRA is setting up a potential circle of inaction here.” “But the very fact that they didn’t issue their traditional response, which is ‘no changes, no changes whatsoever,’” Murphy added, “does suggest that the ground is subtly shifting. The anti-gun violence movement is getting bigger and stronger and people are less willing to accept inaction as an answer, and my read on this is that the gun lobby understands that and has to take a slightly different position today than they did in the wake of Sandy Hook, when they said, ‘we will not support a single change in our gun laws.’” Murphy has also introduced legislation that would close what has become known as the “Charleston loophole,” which refers to the shooting of nine people in a church in that city and the Con’t on page 23

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Dwight Signs Off On Eminent Domain owners who refuse to change their ways. “The city got a little soft in the last 15-20 years and hasn’t been able to deal with these problems,” McGrath said, referring to how the city has let lapse all its previously-adopted redevelopment plans. Each plan lasts for 10 years before it has to be renewed. With a new redevelopment plan’s affordances for eminent domain, McGrath argued, the city would be able to force a slumlord to sell his property to the city, and then the city could work with a new developer to restore or rebuild the property. “How do you decide which buildings you’re going to target?” asked Kate Walton, a Dwight resident and the director of the Interfaith Volunteer Care Givers of Greater New Haven. “The public decides,” McGrath replied. “We don’t decide. If a building becomes burned out, blighted, and sits there for too long and the owners are not cooperative, that’s how you decide. You come to the city and say, enough’s enough.” According to McGrath’s presentation and to a draft of the redevelopment plan that he and city economic development officer Carlos Eyzaguirre passed around during the meeting, the city would solicit the opinion of the DCMT, and would require the approval of the Whalley Special Services District (WSSD), the Chapel Special Services District (CSSD, which McGrath runs), and the Greater Dwight Development Corporation (GDDC) before it proceeds with the acquisition and redevelopment of any properties within the prescribed area. If the WSSD, CSSD, or GDDC disapprove of an eminent domain project within their area of coverage, then the city would have to desist. If those organizations consent to the eminent domain project but the Board of Alders rejects it at a subsequent, required public hearing, then the city would have to desist. McGrath stressed again and again that this redevelopment plan is not focused on widespread demolition, but on targeted preservation of a neighborhood. “This is the first renewal plan that specifically says that all priority will go to renovation and protecting historic buildings,” he said. “And that demolition will be the last resort in a project.”

After his presentation, management team chair Gillespie opened the floor for questions — but also made clear that the DCMT had had enough time over the past year to consider this plan, and that the team would be writing a letter of support for McGrath and the Redevelopment Plan. “Now Brian has been here twice, and it’s really time for us to move on,” she said. “Because we want our neighborhood to thrive. There are properties that are not being upkept properly, and it makes our property values as homeowners go down. We’re not going to take that anymore, and this is why the management team will be sending a letter to Brian so that they can move forward.” McGrath said that he had already received letters of support from the WSSD, CSSD, and GDDC, and that the formal encouragement of the DCMT would go long way in bolstering the legitimacy of this proposal when he and the Redevelopment Agency hold a formal public hearing on it sometime in the near future. McGrath noted that, before the plan can be adopted as law, it must undergo a public hearing, and then receive approval from the Board of Alders, the City Plan Commission, and likely the Board of Zoning Appeals too. After the meeting, city Development Administrator Matthew Nemerson explained that the volunteer advisory Redevelopment Agency, which falls under his department, has to proceed with such caution and jump through so many different approvals and checks and balances because redevelopment plans have historically sometimes resulted in the destruction rather than the preservation of New Haven neighborhoods. “Like any tool, it can be misused,” he said. “Redevelopment got a reputation for being overused. But if redevelopment is used surgically, it can add more value to existing properties. And it says to properties owners that we need you to be good neighbors.” McGrath and Eyzaguirre did not say when a final version of the Redevelopment Plan will be finished. However, when it is, the Redevelopment Agency plans to hold a public hearing on it downtown before it is submitted to the Board of Alders for review.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

Jerry Jones Thinks He Literally Owns Cowboys Players.

(Taking a Knee Will Set You Free)

By William Spivey, Noted Blogger and ICN Correspondent Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys is taking his role of “owner” way too literally. It might give him some great pleasure to think he owns a group of mostly black, strapping young bucks. They might even refer to him as, “my owner” from time to time. But Jerry, you don’t actually own these people! Listening to his buddy Donald Trump (we saw you when you dropped $1 million on his inauguration) he now says he’ll bench any player that doesn’t stand for the National Anthem. It wasn’t long ago when Jones himself, took a knee, faking solidarity with his players. When Jemele Hill tweeted in response, suggesting what owners like Jones listen to are advertiser boycotts. Spineless

ESPN suspended her for two weeks for violating “social media policy.” Here is what I hope happens. I wish that every single Dallas player, white, black, and other, refuse to stand for the Anthem and let Jerry Jones forfeit the game if he wants to. There is a great desire in parts of this country including the Oval Office, to be seen crushing black people, movements, and accomplishments. Jones is certainly stepping up to do his part. What it comes down to now is, “What are the players willing to do?” The choices are crystal clear, bow down before Jones, Trump, and others of their ilk and demonstrate your submissiveness. Take a knee and reject police brutality, injustice and white supremacy to boot!

Maritime Biz To Replace Shantytown

As some better-known companies flee Connecticut for Massachusetts, a dredging and maritime construction company is sailing in the opposite direction, planning to set anchor in riverine Fair Haven. The company is Patriot Marine, of Winthrop, Mass., which, pending a final city approval, plans to move to 90 River St. Neighbors were pleased to hear that at their most recent Fair Haven management team meeting. City Livable City Initiative staffer Lori Lopez called the marine-based business a choice that “makes a ton of sense.” Reached by email after the meeting, city development staffer Helen Rosenberg (who couldn’t make the meeting) confirmed that Patriot Marine has signed a purchase and sales agreement with Maverick Partners, current owner of the long, grey shuttered building that stretches to the river at 90 River. In 2005 the property had been sold to nearby Suraci Metal Finishing, which renovated it and employed over 100 people before going bankrupt. Two years ago Maverick bought the bank lien and has signed a purchase and sales agreement with Patriot for the property. Patriot, however, can’t close on the the 50-foot wide waterfront strip until after the Board of Alders approves the sale. The matter is currently before the board. According to a summary of the proposal that Rosenberg said will be presented

MACMILLAN FILE PHOTO

Patriot would build at this former Shantytown.

in November, the company would maintain equipment, weld cranes and other equipment, and store items as needed on the property. There would also be an office to handle accounting, payroll, and indoor tasks. As part of the purchase agreement, Patriot would install a new steel bulkhead at a waterfront area where for years, until this spring, “Shantytown,” a colorful “fishing village,” flourished. Lopez reported that the “village” is gone. The man who had kept it together was no longer fulfilling that role, she said. People had been living there illegally. “It was time to make it go away,” Lopez said. Lopez indicated that the gathering of colorful fisherman, amid a camp-like collection of chairs, coolers, and flags, had gone away long before Patriot Marine had expressed an interest in the property and there was no connection between the two developments.

Patriot’s proposal also includes a promise to replace the entire roof of the 57,000 square foot building at 90 River St. as well as to renovate the facade and the inside to make about 10,000 square feet available for rental by tenants. Importantly, under the deal Patriot would grant the city a permanent easement over the property for a pedestrian walkway, at such a time that the city receives funding to build it. During the dredging season the company employs about 50 people and in the off-season 15, according to Rosenberg’s summary. Fair Haven management team Co-Chair David Steinhardt, himself the owner of a small area manufacturing business, called the news very good. “The waterfront is slowly being developed,” he said. “River Street has been the bane of my existence for 16 years,” said Lopez. “This is great news.”

$492K Clean-Up Grant App OK’d For St. Luke’s Development by MARKESHIA RICKS New Haven Independent

St. Luke’s Development Corp. got a step closer to making a long-awaited mixed-income housing near the intersection of Whalley Avenue, Sperry, and Dickerman streets a reality. The Board of Alders Monday voted unanimously in support of the city applying for $492,000 from the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) to clean up the site where the church organization plans to build affordable housing, commercial and community space. The city determined it needed that money to clean up hazardous material and partial demolition of the properties associated with the development, according to a letter from city Economic Development Administrator Matthew Nemerson. It has taken more than five years of jumping through zoning regulation

MARKESHIA RICKS PHOTO

St. Luke’s and the commercial complex it’s been working to transform for more than five years.

hoops for St. Luke’s Development Corp. to move forward with the plans

to build 28 multifamily, mixed-income housing units, three of which

will be owner-occupied.The project will include ground-floor commercial space, a basement community access area, and a community garden. The construction os set to happen on property the development corporation, which has been working to improve the neighborhood surrounding the Whalley Avenue church, has purchased at 117-125, 129 Whalley Ave., and 16 Dickerman St., and property it will purchase in the next week under an option to purchase agreement for 34-36 Sperry St. and 10-12 Dickerman St. The project is one unified development from Whalley Avenue to Dickerman Street, with multiple structures sharing parking and open space. The Whalley Avenue properties would include a 45,000 square-foot four-story building with 28 affordable units, including 10 for the elderly, six studio apartments, and 12 two-bedroom apartments. The Sperry and Dicker-

man Street properties would feature one three-story structure with four apartments and on-site parking for 24 cars. St. Luke’s was granted approval in 2013 and a one-year extension on Nov.10, 2014, for a project that would have created 40 apartments instead of 28. But it couldn’t find financing for that at that time. The proposed height of the residential building on Whalley Avenue and the number of apartments was reduced to make it more affordable to build. In a June 5 letter to alders, Nemerson said that the city had completed an environmental and hazardous building assessment of the site under a previous $200,000 grant from DECD and determined that it would take a grant of nearly half a million to clean up the site which includes a former automotive shop. St. Luke’s asked the city to proceed with applying for a grant that would aid the cleanup cost.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

NNPA, Chevrolet Honor the 2017 Discover The Unexpected Journalism Fellows By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Contributor

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) and Chevrolet recently recognized the achievements of eight students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. that participated in the 2017 Discover The Unexpected Journalism Fellowship program. The class of 2017 DTU journalism fellows included: Alexa Imani Spencer and Noni Marshall from Howard University; Kelsey Jones and Taylor Burris from Spelman College; Jordan Fisher and Tiana Hunt from Clark Atlanta University; and Ayron Lewallen and Darrell Williams from Morehouse College. The eight fellows were recently rewarded for their intrepid, diligent work in the Chevrolet-backed program that provides students from HBCUs scholarships and summer internships at NNPA member, Black-owned newspapers. The aspiring journalists and media professionals worked with The Washington Informer, The Atlanta Voice, The Carolinian and The Louisiana Weekly to create print, digital and social media content for the publications. “This is a joyous occasion,” said hip-hop pioneer MC Lyte, the national spokesperson for the DTU journalism program and the master of ceremonies for the award reception held at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., the president and CEO of the NNPA, a trade group that represents over 200 Black-owned media companies, said that it’s vital that the Black community, especially Black publishers, educate young people about the the importance of the Black Press. “We have a responsibility of raising a new generation of freedom fighters and we have, over the past year, discovered the unexpected,” said Chavis, noting that the 190 year-old Black Press has enjoyed a partnership with General Motors, the automakers behind the Chevrolet brand, that has lasted more than 40 years. Chevrolet’s Diversity Marketing

Manager Michelle Alexander said that the company has vowed to continue the DTU journalism program. NNPA Chairman Dorothy Leavell told the recipients how proud she was of their efforts and stressed the importance of the Black Press and noted how vital young journalists are to its mission. “We need to create a space for them to tell their stories,” Leavell said. The day belonged to the up-andcoming journalists. Jordan Fisher and Kelsey Jones received the Social Media Maven Award for their outstanding work on various digital platforms. “Being part of the DTU fellowship program taught me a great deal about social media and journalism,” Fisher said. “Breaking news, catastrophes…will be shown all over the world and with this power, we have a responsibility to uplift our communities.” One of Fisher’s most memorable stories for The Atlanta Voice was an interview with a sea lion trainer, after a video of a 700-pound sea lion pulling a little girl into the water off a pier in Vancouver, British Columbia went viral. “I learned authenticity can go hand-in-hand with passion,” said Kelsey Jones, who received a lot of attention for her Atlanta Voice pieces on West End development

near downtown Atlanta. Noni Marshall and Alexa Imani Spencer both received the State of the Union Award at the reception for their work covering politics and other issues for The Washington Informer. “The people I’ve connected with not only made me a better woman, but a better journalist,” said Marshall, who teamed with Alexa to write several exciting stories including a feature on how “News One Now” host Roland Martin had issued a call to action to address the critical financial state of HBCUs. “I was surprised when I was accepted into the program,” Spencer said. “The truth is, I didn’t have much confidence in my journalism, but that changed on ‘Day 1,’” she said, noting that Denise Rolark Barnes, the publisher of the Informer, assigned her a story about a young man who had been accepted to 14 of the 16 colleges he’d applied for. Washington Informer Editor D. Kevin McNeir pushed Alexa, late into the night, to turn the story in, she said, adding that, “the article was published the next morning on the front page.” The Live on Air Award went to Tiana Hunt and Darrell Williams. Hunt penned a story in August in The Louisiana Weekly about Williams’ dreams of being a creative director, while one of his signature features was about the 2018

Chevrolet Equinox, which he said should be in every neighborhood across the country. “I’ve discovered so much of the unexpected with great mentors and great people,” Williams said. Meanwhile, Hunt said the DTU journalism program helped her to see how much hard work and dedication pays off. “I can honestly say, I ‘discovered the unexpected,’” Hunt said. Ayron Lewallen and Taylor Burris received the Entertainment Reporting Award for their work interviewing celebrities and other high-profile individuals. “This program taught me that being a journalist is more than interviewing celebrities,” said Burris, who wrote a fascinating story for The Carolinian about Nita Key Enrichment, the first Black music enrichment company in North Carolina. “I’ve become stronger than ever and it means that I have to be prepared to advocate for my community.” Lewallen, who blogged for The Carolinian about how his Detroit immersion trip changed his mindset, said he had always been big on ideas, but being a DTU fellow was about more than just big ideas. “I had to dig deep,” said Lewallen. “I will continue my path toward becoming a broadcast journalist and I will never forget what everyone in this program has taught me.”

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School Bus Routes Confound Parents

trict has made nearly 5,000 changes this year already, largely because of parents who don’t turn their information in on time. While he said he couldn’t comment on individual cases, Clark wrote in an email, “We work very hard internally and with our contractor as well as with schools and parents to seeks appropriate solutions.” “As individual issues arise we do our best to work on appropriate resolutions where possible,” Clark stated. . In the meantime, Patel’s son is still scheduled for pick-up at 7:30 a.m., ahead of Mauro-Sheridan’s 9:15 a.m. start; and drop-off at 5:15 p.m. (after the school day’s 3:30 p.m. end. Patel said she worries about what might happen if Abdullah has an accident on the long commute. Because of his special needs, he finished potty-training over the summer, and he can’t speak. So far, there haven’t been any such incidents, she said. The long commute is so tiring for the youngster that, on most days, he falls asleep either on the ride or on the couch once he’s home, Patel said. “It’s too much for a 5 year old.” Liking the principal and the school’s STEM-focused curriculum, the family doesn’t want to change schools, said Patel. Abdullah’s father has begun dropping his son off by car in the morning on the way to his job as a baked goods distributor. But he can’t pick him up in the afternoon, leaving the bus as the only way to get home. One solution Patel has offered is putting her youngest on the quicker bus that Abdullah’s three older brothers all take. That one arrives at 8:35 a.m. and returns at 4:30 p.m. Patel said she’d feel that her son was “safer” on that bus, knowing that his older siblings would “watch out for him.” Generally, that’s how the district likes to map out the routes as well. But special circumstances, like special education requirements or behavioral issues, may require “unique planning” that separates siblings, Clark said. According to Patel, the district promised her that it would have a solution sometime this week. She said she won’t be surprised if nothing changes. “It’s going to be a month on Oct. 6,” this Friday, since she first lodged her concerns, Patel said. “It’s frustrating.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

Protests Increase over Universities and Ties to Slavery

University of North Carolina students gather during a protest of a Confederate monument on campus in Chapel Hill, N.C. Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. The debate over removing Confederate symbols from college campuses has prompted fresh questions about buildings named for benefactors whose ties to slavery or white supremacy may have flown under the radar in decades past. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

HILL, N.C. (AP) — The national debate over removing Confederate symbols from U.S. college campuses is spurring wider questions about university benefactors whose ties to slavery or white supremacy flew under the radar in decades past. Students and alumni are no longer simply opposing overt Confederate memorials, but also lesser-known founders and donors with troubling racial legacies. And the discussions have intensified after deadly white nationalist protests in August in Charlottesville, Virginia. The problem is apparent at the University of North Carolina, where opposition to a Confederate statue has dredged up racist statements by a former trustee. Tobacco magnate Julian S. Carr, himself a Confederate veteran, gave the dedication speech in 1913 for the campus statue depicting an anonymous rebel soldier. His remarks included a reference to the “pleasing duty” of whipping a black woman in public. “He stood out here and stood in front of a crowd of people and bragged about how he drug a ‘negro wench’ through the streets for insulting a white woman,” said Gabrielle Johnson, a student who helped organize a sit-in against the statue nicknamed “Silent Sam.” ‘’I don’t see how that embodies anything other than hatred.” University of North Carolina student Gabrielle Johnson speaks to a crowd gathered at a Confederate monument protest on campus in Chapel Hill, N.C. Thursday, Aug. 31, 2017. The debate over removing Confederate symbols from college campuses has prompted fresh questions about buildings named for benefactors whose ties to slavery or white supremacy may have flown under the radar in decades past. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) chancellor has said a state historic monument law prevents the university from removing “Silent Sam.” But the fresh attention to Carr has spurred wider conversations about his legacy at UNC and nearby Duke University, where part of campus was built on land donated by

Carr. Both schools are home to a “Carr Building” and have convened panels on how to handle controversial building names. It’s not the first such dilemma for either school. In 2014, Duke removed the name of a former governor — Charles Aycock — from a dorm, citing his legacy of black disenfranchisement. And UNC chose “Carolina Hall” to replace the name of a former Ku Klux Klan leader before putting a freeze on renaming other historic buildings for 16 years. The issue resonates beyond the South. Yale University announced this year it would rename a residential college honoring former Vice President John C. Calhoun, an ardent supporter of slavery. Georgetown and Harvard have acknowledged or apologized for slavery ties. And in mid-September, protesters at the University of Virginia draped a black shroud over a statue of university founder Thomas Jefferson, a slave owner they accused of racism. University president Teresa Sullivan condemned the protesters’ action while acknowledging Jefferson’s faults: “In apparent contradiction to his persuasive arguments for liberty and human rights, however, he was also a slave owner.” About 30 mostly Southern universities will gather this October for a symposium on higher education’s ties to slavery. One of them, Washington and Lee University, is keeping Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in its name while pledging further study of the school’s history. University president Will Dudley urged “a critical analysis that goes beyond the caricatures of one-dimensional heroes and villains.” In Nashville, Tennessee, Vanderbilt University took final steps in 2016 to rename Confederate Memorial Hall, but a black graduate subsequently wrote a newspaper column saying other names should come down. Con’t on page 22

Con’t from page 9

Pols Seize On Loosening Gun Lobby Grip

law that allows federally licensed dealers to sell firearms after a 72-hour waitperiod for a background check. Blumenthal said at the rally that in the wake of these shootings, the NRA is losing its grip on Congress and the American people. “Ninety percent or more want these common-sense measures,” he said. “We are at a tipping point now. We may not do it in the next month but we have reached a tipping point in this country where people will say that enough is enough. Hearts, and prayers, condolences and sympathy are not enough. We must honor the victims with action.” U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro called the many moments of silence that politicians have participated in after the latest shooting are empty moments in the face of zero votes on gun reform. “We have not been able to vote on legislation in the House of Representatives,” DeLauro pointed out. “Why do we serve if not to respond to the people who put their faith and trust in us to carry their message? If we don’t do it, they have an obligation to turn us out and find people who will listen. “We debate and we vote in the Congress.,” DeLauro added. “I’ll take my chances. Bring up some of this legislation. I believe that we will win and would win overwhelmingly. And yet they will not allow us to vote. We need to vote and we need to vote now.” Maybe there is a narrow path to a diplomatic agreement, but we simply don’t have the ability with this current administration to get that deal done,” Sen. Murphy said on “Dateline New Haven” about defusing the tense situation regarding North Korea’s acquiring nuclear weapons. It is possible that North Korea’s nuclear weapons are more of a defensive than an offensive gesture. “You can create a rational paradigm that looks nothing like our paradigm but you can create a rational paradigm inside which the North Korean regime is operating, through which they have made a decision to pursue a nuclear weapon in order to make sure that they are protected,” Murphy said. But that isn’t something that we can take for granted, given North Korea’s treatment of its own citizens and the sometimes erratic outbursts of its own leader, Kim Jong Un. “There are all sorts of things that this leader has done that are irrational,” Murphy said. “Which is the reason why many of us are very concerned about the words that our president uses. It’s one thing to make the North Korean regime know that we have a military option. It’s another to call him names and to poke a stick in his eye. Be-

cause if it turns out he’s not a rational actor, then why on earth would you do things to prompt him to maybe take a catastrophic path?” The friction between Trump and the State Department doesn’t help. “I think that we risk normalizing everything in this administration, but the least normal thing happening in this administration is the open war between the President of the United States and his Secretary of State,” Murphy said, referring to the public statements both parties made last weekend in which Trump made clear that he thought diplomacy with North Korea was worthless, while the State Department made clear that, nonetheless, it would continue to negotiate. “We’ve never seen anything like it. It obliterates our credibility,” Murphy said. “It means that when Rex Tillerson is representing the United States overseas, no one believes that he is representing the administration.” “It’s important to know when Donald Trump did this,” Murphy added. “Donald Trump did this when Rex Tillerson was in China negotiating with the Chinese on the question of North Korea. And so it was purposefully done to undermine Tillerson at one of the most important meetings of his time as secretary of state.” The question of Trump’s relationship with the rest of the government he leads extended to relief efforts in hurricaneravaged Puerto Rico on the heels of similarly punishing weather in Texas and Florida. “The president actually put someone in charge of FEMA who was competent and who could do the job, and they are overseeing the administration of lots of competent people,” Murphy said. “So FEMA, I think, is doing as good a job as they can being stretched incredibly thin. The problem is that we have other resources that, in a situation like this, would normally be brought to bear in a place like Puerto Rico to supplement FEMA that have not.” Namely, the U.S. military. “Why are we paying all this money for the U.S. military if they aren’t on call for disasters like this?” Murphy said. “It’s not that they can’t do it. It’s that they didn’t get the order. The President of the United States simply did not choose to send the military into Puerto Rico like President Obama sent our military into Japan or Haiti after their natural disasters.” “Everybody knew very quickly what had happened on Puerto Rico. It was not a mystery that this was outright, complete devastation, and it was also not a mystery that Puerto Rico was not in a great place to handle this,” Murphy said. Its economy had been in recession for

years, and the island’s infrastructure, especially its electrical grid, had been neglected. “Everybody knew” a “massive response” would be needed. “The fact that the President didn’t mobilize the Department of Defense and still, by the way, largely declines to mobilize the Department of Defense at the level they could be mobilized it’s really impossible to understand, and the Puerto Rican community here in Connecticut is absolutely furious about that…. And when he came after the mayor of San Juan [Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto] just because she had the temerity to suggest that maybe there weren’t enough resources on the ground that does have an effect on the entire morale of the response.” Here a comparison arose between Trump’s response to Cruz and George W. Bush’s response to a similar outcry by then-New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin after Hurricane Katrina flooded that city in 2005. “You could never imagine George Bush ... launching a personal tirade of attacks against Ray Nagin. Despite how incompetent the response to Katrina was, he did understand that it was his job to try to lift people up and make this better,” Murphy said.

Con’t on page 20

Puerto Rico

Mnuchin quickly denied the president had meant what he said. Trump, who has bragged that he is the “king of debt,” could use his experience with bankruptcy to negotiate wholesale debt relief for Puerto Rico. The Wall Street bankers who made improvident loans should refinance them for pennies on the dollar. That would give the island’s residents breathing room to begin to recover. If he chose to lead, Trump could push through a major program of aid — a Trump Plan for Puerto Rico modeled on the Marshall Plan for Europe after World War II — that would rebuild the island and insure jobs and growth for its residents. The cost would be far less than the hundreds of billions in tax breaks Trump has proposed for U.S. corporations that have booked profits abroad to avoid paying federal taxes. Why not benefit citizens who are victims of disaster through no fault of their own rather than corporate tax evaders? Puerto Ricans are Americans. We should not fail them in a desperate time of need.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

Cicely Tyson: The 92-Year-Old Cover Girl! by Aria Ellise, BDO Special Contributor

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At 92-years-old, award-winning actress and activist Cicely Tyson has done and almost seen it all. She has acted in films with some of the greatest, won numerous awards and accolades and has been a cover girl in her modeling days. But now, she adds a new covergirl to her list: Elle magazine. US ELLE just tapped Tyson to cover it’s annual ‘Women In Hollywood‘ issue for November 2017. At that’s not all! The three-time Emmy winner Tyson could win trophy number 4 this year thanks to her guest role as Ophelia Harkness, the mother of Viola Davis‘ Annalise Keating, on “How to Get Away with Murder.” She was previously nominated for the

Cicely Tyson

ABC legal thriller’s debut season in 2015. Tyson won two Emmys for “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” (1974) and another for “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All” (1994), and won a Kennedy Center honors in 2016. “At the very beginning of my career, I had a teacher whose name was Vinnette Carroll,” explains Tyson. “She directed a number of Broadway shows. She kept saying to me, ‘You know the problem with beautiful women? They tend to rely on their beauty.’ And I said, How wrong she is! I never think of myself as being beautiful. I thought, What are you talking about? I work so hard. And I did. But I learned from her how important it is to learn your craft. When all else fails, you will land on that, and that alone.”

Lawmakers Seek End to Triple-Digit Interest on Payday and Car-Title Loans By Charlene Crowell, Communication Director, Center for Responsible Lending

A group of Capitol Hill lawmakers are combining efforts and influence to legislatively crack down on predatory lending, nationwide. Seventeen Members of the U.S. House and eight U.S. Senators are supporting companion bills that would slash the cost of payday and car-title loans from their typical 300 percent annual interest rate to no more than 36 percent—the same rate protection that Congress first provided military families in 2006. Today, 90 million Americans living in 15 states and D.C. benefit from enacted rate caps of 36 percent or lower. But in the other 35 states, residents remain vulnerable to triple-digit interest rates that average 400 percent nationwide on an average loan of only $350. When consumers use their car titles as collateral for a larger and equally costly loan, a loss of personal transportation occurs when borrowers can no longer keep up with the spiraling high costs. If enacted, the legislation is expected to have an immediate impact on payday and car-title loans, but would ensure that all consumer financial services would end cycles of debt that trick and trap unsuspecting consumers into longterm debt. The bicameral effort is led in the U.S. Senate by Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois and Jeff Merkley of Oregon. Their leadership counterparts in the House of Representatives are Matt Cartwright of Scranton, Pennsylvania and Steve Cohen of Memphis, Tennessee. “Predatory lending disproportionately harms people who are already struggling financially,” noted Rep. Cartwright, where in Pennsylvania these

types of predatory and high-cost loans are already banned by state law. “This consumer-friendly legislation would provide relief from exorbitant fees for many low-income consumers across the country.” Rep. Cohen, Cartwright’s House colleague, felt similarly. “Throughout my career, I have always worked to shield people from those who would take advantage of them through predatory lending practices that can wreak havoc on people’s lives and perpetuate a cycle of indebtedness,” said Cohen. “Both justice and morality dictate that reasonable caps on interest be enacted to protect borrowers from devious lenders.” From the Deep South, to the Pacific Coast, and westward to the mid-Atlantic and Midwest states, state payday interest rates range as high as 662 percent in Texas to California’s 460 percent, and Virginia’s 601 percent. Likewise, in the Midwest, the states of Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin have comparable high interest rates that all exceed 400 percent. In Alabama and Mississippi, two of the nation’s poorest states when it comes to per capita incomes, payday interest rates are respectfully 521 percent and 456 percent. “What we have encountered across the country is that when voters are given the chance to support a rate cap, large majorities consistently say ‘No’ to debttrap lending,” said Yana Miles, senior legislative counsel with the Center for Responsible Lending. “Conversely, when it comes to state legislatures, re-

form efforts are often thwarted by the industry.” Already more than 40 national, state and local organizations have jointly written their members of Congress in support of the legislation. Signers of the correspondence include civil rights organizations, labor, consumer advocates, and research institutes. In part, the letter states, “Veterans, seniors, women, and communities of color are most often targeted for exploitation by these unaffordable high-cost loans…While the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expressly prohibited from setting a rate cap, Congress is not and should do so. A federal rate cap puts all creditors on a level playing field without undermining any additional consumer protections in the states.” Durbin said that, despite the economic gains we have made as a nation in recent years, many working families continue to struggle. “For some, payday lenders offer a quick way to make ends meet,” said Durbin. “But their outrageous interest rate caps and hidden fees can have crippling effects on the people who can least afford it.” Merkley noted that the bill’s simple, straightforward approach will protect consumers and ensure that families aren’t bankrupted by high interest rates and hidden fees. Charlene Crowell is communications deputy director with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

Lawmakers, Civil Rights Leaders Challenge DeVos on Student Loan Enforcement By Charlene Crowell, Communications Director, Center for Responsible Lending

Civil rights leaders and Capitol Hill lawmakers are standing up and speaking out against a recent Department of Education (DOE) decision to sever its working relationship with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). In separate and independent actions, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and staff are being challenged and corrected as to its understanding of a sole office having complete authority and enforcement regarding the nation’s student loans. As readers may recall, an earlier column reported on an August 31 advisory by the Department of Education’s decision to formally end two Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) that guided Education’s working relationship with CFPB. The first MOU detailed how DOE would share information with CFPB. The second detailed how the two agencies would cooperate on supervisory oversight, the process that has led to multiple million dollar settlements for fraud and other legal violations. For CFPB, the correspondence was an unexpected 30-day cancellation notice. It was also one that affects more than 40 million consumers, who together owe $1.4 trillion in a combination of federal and private student loan debt. Among Black students who used student loans to finance a bachelor’s degree, the burden of debt is disproportionate. Four years following graduation, they owe almost double the amount of their white class-

mates, according to research by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). Since then, reactions have ranged from questioning the advisability as to why DOE would cut its ties to CFPB, to outright challenges to the agency’s knowledge and interpretation of applicable federal laws. For example, 10 members of the Congressional Black Caucus joined with other Capitol Hill lawmakers in a bicameral effort that represented 18 states to challenge in a September 15 letter to Secretary DeVos that advised the department’s “assertions are false.” Led by Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Patty Murray of Washington, the correspondence was a direct challenge. “While the Department does have the authority to administer the federal student loan programs,” wrote the lawmakers, “that authority is not exclusive and has been intentionally constrained by law due to the Department’s historical negligence in carrying out many of its oversight responsibilities over federal student loan servicers.” “Congress also established a Student Loan Ombudsman at the CFPB whose responsibilities include working with the Department to ‘resolve complaints related to [borrowers] private education or federal student loans’ and is specifically instructed to enter into a MOU with the Department to do so,” the letter continued.

The lawmakers also advised in their letter that the authority to monitor and enforcement laws affecting student loan servicers beyond those held by CFPB additionally includes duties for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) at the federal level and in the states by attorneys general and other state agencies. “We are pleased to see Senators Brown and Murray are joined by more lawmakers in leading the way to assert CFPB’s authority and that of other federal agencies that together share oversight and regulation of student loans and student loan servicers”, commented Whitney Barkley-Denney, a CRL policy counsel

and student loan specialist. “The claims made by the Department of Education made in signal a disturbing intent to withhold key information that should be shared.” “These lawmakers are standing up for borrowers and taxpayers against a Department of Education that seems more interested in protecting the interests of big money corporations than struggling families. On behalf of the more than 40 million consumers burdened with student debt and our allies in this struggle, we are also most grateful,” BarkleyDenney concluded If lawmaker chidings weren’t enough, days later on September 20, another communique continued what the law-

makers began. Led by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR), a coalition of diverse national organizations pledged to promote and protect civil and human rights of all people, sent its collective concerns to Secretary DeVos, citing federal laws like Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. “All of these laws require regulations and guidance, and oversight and enforcement, in order to provide their intended benefits to students,” stated the coalition. More than 40 national organizations joined in noting DOE’s apparent failure to embrace its duties in civil rights when it comes to higher education. Among the signatories were a broad range of concerns from the NAACP, National Urban League, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, to the National Council of Jewish Women, UnidosUS (formerly the National Council of La Raza), American Association of University Women, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice. “Students deserve, and the law requires, a Department of Education that is working to protect all students from discrimination and to provide for equal educational opportunity,” the coalition concluded. Charlene Crowell is the communications deputy director with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.

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training on equipment we operate. Location: Bloomﬁeld CT THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11,Burke 2017 - October 2017 Contact: James Phone: 17, 860243-2300 email: jim.burke@garrityasphalt.com Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer We offer excellent hourly rate & is currently accepting applications to participate excellent beneﬁts The Town of East Haven is currently accepting

in the exam for Certified Public Safety Dispatcher. Hourly rate of pay is $ 23.59. Candidate must possess High School diploma or GED and must hold and be capable of maintaining State of Connecticut Telecommunication Certification and Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD). Candidates must be COLLECT/NCIC certified or be recently expired requiring only the short one day recertification class to become re-certified. Additional Preferred Qualifications: Ability to speak and understand Spanish. Demonstrated knowledge of local geography. Knowledge of ProQA. Certified Emergency Medical Technician or Paramedic. Previous dispatch/police/fire experience. Certified Emergency Fire Dispatcher (EFD) and/or Emergency Police Dispatcher (EPD). Experience with Nexgen LEAS Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system. Please apply at www.PoliceApp.com/ EastHavenCT. The fee to apply is $40 and this is a rolling application process that will be open indefinitely. The Town of East Haven is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Minorities, Females, Veterans and Handicapped are encouraged to apply.

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven

is seeking to fill two full time positions: Vice President for Finance and Operations and Vice President for Development. Please refer to our website for details:

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Invitation for Bid Glendower Group Office Renovation The Glendower Group, Inc an affiliate of Housing Authority City of New Haven d/b/a Elm city Communities is currently seeking sealed bids for the Glendower Group Office Renovations. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonsystems.com/gateway beginning on

Wednesday, September 27, 2017 at 3:00PM

The Glendower Group, Inc Request for Qualifications CONSTRUCTION MANAGER AT RISK FOR VALLEY STREET TOWNHOUSE RENTAL ASSISTANCE DEMOSTRATION PROJECT The Glendower Group, Inc an affiliate of Housing Authority City of New Haven d/b/a Elm city Communities is currently seeking Proposals for Construction Manager at Risk for Valley Street Townhouse Rental Assistance Demonstration Project. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Wednesday, September 20, 2017 at 3:00PM

applications for the following positions:

Firefighter D/Paramedic-Lateral Transfer: Salary- $48,972/year Firefighter/Paramedic-New Recruit: $48,972/year Requirements for both positions and the application is available online at www.FirefighterApp.com/EastHavenFD. East Haven is committed to building a workforce of diverse individuals. Minorities, Females, Handicapped and Veterans are encouraged to apply. The Town of East Haven is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Union Company seeks: Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Truck and EquipmentConstruction Head Mechanic

Equipment. have a CDL License, Large CT based Fence andMust Guard Rail contractor looking for experienced, self-motivated, responsible Head Mechanic. Responsibilities will include clean driving record, capable of operating maintaining and repairing all company heavy equipment; beequipment willingand tovehicles, travelupdating asset lists and assuring all rolling stock is in compliance with state and throughout the Northeast & engine, NY. We offer federal regulations. Must have extensive diesel electrical wiring excellent hourly rate & excellent beneﬁts and hydraulic systems experience. Contact: Dana Top wages paid, company truck and Briere benefits.

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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 Employer

The Manchester Housing Authority is pleased to announce the opening of the State of Connecticut Congregate Housing Program. Westhill Gardens Congregate consists of 37 one bedroom units. Applications are available in person and on the MHA website at http://manchesterha.org and will be accepted by mail or in person at 24 Bluefield Drive Manchester, CT 06040. Applications will be accepted October 1, 2017- December 29th, 2017 at 4PM. The Congregate Program offers housing, a daily meal, and supportive services to frail elders, age 62 or older.

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47,600

54,400

61,200

68,000

The Manchester Housing Authority does not discriminate based upon race, color, disability, familial status, sex, or national origin.

St. Luke’s Sr. Housing, with its Managing Agent DeMarco Management Corporation are pleased to announce that applications are being accepted October 9, 2017 for the St. Luke’s Sr. Housing located at 120 Goffe St., New Haven, CT. We have newly renovated spacious one-bedroom units. Amenities include all new appliances, handicap accessible units and all utilities are included. Applicants must be 62 years of age or older to apply. Income and age limit restrictions apply. Applications are available at DeMarco Management Corporation, 117 Murphy Rd, Hartford, CT 06114 or you can request an application either by phone (860)951-9411 email at: compliance@demarcomc.com or by AT&T relay service by dialing 711. All applications must be returned to DeMarco Management. **APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED AT THE PROPERTY ON THURSDAYS FROM 9:00 am-1:00 pm. AT THE PROPERTY** Equal Housing Opportunities

El Sr. Housing de St. Luke’s, con su Agente Gerente DeMarco Management Corp., se complace en anunciar que las solicitudes serán aceptadas octubre 9 de 2017 para Vivienda de St. Luke’s ubicado en 120 Goff St., New Haven, CONNECTICUT. Tenemos unidades espaciosas de un dormitorio. Las comodidades incluyen todos los electrodomésticos nuevos, unidades accesibles para discapacitados y todos los servicios públicos están incluidos. Se aplican restricciones de límite de ingresos. Las solicitudes están disponibles en DeMarco Management Corp., 117 Murphy Rd, Hartford, CT 06114 o al (866) 951-9411 correo electrónico en: compliance@demarcomc.com o por servicio de retransmisión AT & T marcando 711. Todas las aplicaciones serán recibidas en Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming Inc DeMarco Management. seeks: Construction Equipment Mechanic Igualdad de Oportunidades

preferably experienced in Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory trainingAsphalt on equipment we operate. Garrity Reclaiming Inc Location: Bloomfield CT seeks: Construction Equipment Mechanic Contact:experienced James Burke Phone: 860preferably in Reclaiming and 243-2300 Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory email: jim.burke@garrityasphalt.com training on equipment we operate. Location: Bloomfield CT Women & Minority Applicants are Contact:encouraged James Burke Phone: 860to apply 243-2300 Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity email: jim.burke@garrityasphalt.com Employer We offer excellent hourly rate & Women & Minoritybenefits Applicants are excellent encouraged to apply Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits

Union Company seeks: Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Equipment. Must have a CDL License, clean driving record, capable of operating Union seeks: Tractor Trailer heavyCompany equipment; be willing to travel Driver for Heavy & Highway throughout the Northeast & Construction NY. We offer Equipment. Must have a CDL License, excellent hourly rate & excellent beneﬁts clean driving record, capable of operating Contact: Dana Briere Phone: heavy equipment; be willing to travel 860-243-2300 Email: throughout the Northeast & NY. We offer dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com excellent hourly rate & Applicants excellent beneﬁts Women & Minority are Contact: Dana Briere Phone: encouraged to apply 860-243-2300 Email: Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com Employer Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer

THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

Help Wanted: Immediate opening for construction laborer for Heavy and Highway Construction. Please call PJF Construction Corp.@ 860-888-9998. We are an equal opportunity employer M/F

Help Wanted: Immediate opening for Dump Truck Driver for Heavy and Highway Construction. CDL A license and clean driving record required. Please call PJF Construction Corp. @ 860-8889998. We are an equal opportunity employer M/F.

Field Engineer

BA/BS in Civil Engineering or Construction Management. 2-5 yrs. experience. OSHA Certified. Proficient in reading contract plans and specifications. Resumes to RED Technologies, LLC, 10 Northwood Dr., Bloomfield, CT 06002; Fax 860.218.2433; Email resumes to info@redtechllc.com. RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES

Project Manager Environmental Remediation Division 3-5 years exp. and Bachelor’s Degree, 40-Hr. Hazwoper Training Req. Forward resumes to RED Technologies, LLC,

Invitation for Bids Professional Moving and Storage Services

Fax 860.218.2433; or Email to HR@redtechllc.com

The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is currently seeking Bids for Professional Moving and Storage Services. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 at 3:00PM.

TRANSFER STATION LABORER

Off load trailers, reload for trans/disp. Lift 50 lbs., operate industrial powered trucks and forklift. Asbestos Worker Handler Training a +. Resumes to RED Technologies, LLC, 173 Pickering St., Portland, CT 06480; Fax 860-342-1022; or Email to lkelly@redtransfer.comRED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

Office or General Help:

Immediate opening in the Contract Department, in a fast-paced petroleum environment. Strong computer skills (ie: Excel, Microsoft Office) and analytical skills a must. Candidate must possess a high level of accuracy, attention to detail and be able to research and work independently. Petroleum and energy industry knowledge experience a plus. Send resume to: Human Resource Dept., P O Box 388, Guilford CT 06437. **An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer**

NOTICE OF INVITATION FOR BID HOUSING AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF DANBURY Snow Removal/Glen Apartments IFB No. B17004

CONTACT PERSON

Ms. Devin Marra, Director of Procurement Telephone: 203-744-2500 x141 E-Mail: dmarra@hacdct.org

HOW TO OBTAIN THE IFB DOCUMENTS:

Contact Ms. Devin Marra, via phone or email.

BID SUBMITTAL RETURN

Housing Authority of the City of Danbury 2 Mill Ridge Rd, Danbury, CT 06811 Envelope Must be Marked: IFB No. B17004 Snow Removal

PRE-BID WALK THROUGH

Glen Apartments 25 Memorial Drive, Danbury, CT 06811 October 24, 2017 by 10:00am EST

BID SUBMITTAL DEADLINE/BID OPENING

October 30, 2017 at 10:10am EST

[Minority- and/or women-owned businesses are encouraged to respond]

10 Northwood Dr., Bloomfield, CT 06002;

KMK Insulation Inc. 1907 Hartford Turnpike North Haven, CT 06473

Mechanical Insulator position.

Insulation company offering good pay and benefits. Please mail resume to above address.. MAIL ONLY This company is an Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer.

The Housing Authority of the City of Norwalk, CT is requesting proposals for the painting of interior vacant units.

RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.

Proposal documents can be viewed and printed at www.

Class A CDL Driver

norwalkha.org<http://www.norwalkha.org> under the Business section RFP’s/RFQ’s

with 3 years min. exp. HAZMAT Endorsed. (Tractor/Triaxle/Roll-off) Some overnights may be required. FAX resumes to RED Technologies, at 860.342-1042; Email: HR@redtechllc.com Mail or in person: 173 Pickering Street, Portland, CT 06480. RED Technologies, LLC is An EOE.

Norwalk Housing is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Curtis O. Law, Executive Director.

Common Ground High School seeks a PART TIME Special Education Teaching Assistant (TA). The TA is responsible for supporting the Special Education teachers in general education and special education classes. Support will include individual and small group instruction, facilitation of on-task behavior, and implementation of students’ IEPs, including accommodations, goals, etc. Click here for more details and how to apply http://commongroundct. org/2017/10/cghs-seeks-a-part-time-special-educationteaching-assistant/. The Housing Authority of the City of Norwalk, CT

is requesting qualifications from experienced firms for Internet, Internet Voice Bundle and Hosted Voice service. RFQ documents can be viewed and printed at www.norwalkha.org under the business tab, RFPs/RFQs. Norwalk Housing Authority is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Curtis O. Law, Executive Director

Truck Mechanic

Immediate opening for a truck mechanic. Maintenance “hands on” to be done on petroleum trucks and trailers. Must have commercial truck repair experience. Send resume to: Attn: HR Dept, P O Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437. **An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer**

TRANSFER STATION LABORER Off load trailers, reload for trans/disp. Lift 50 lbs., operate industrial powered trucks and forklift. Asbestos Worker Handler Training a +. Resumes to RED Technologies, LLC, 173 Pickering St., Portland, CT 06480; Fax 860-342-1022; or Email to lkelly@redtransfer.com

ELECTRIC

Distribution Technician- the Town of Wallingford Electric Utility is seeking highly skilled candidates for Distribution Technician. Applicants must be a H.S. graduate and be fully qualified as a Journeyman Lineman or First Class Lineman. Hourly rate: $38.16 to $43.22, plus an excellent fringe benefits package. The closing date for applications is September 22, 2017 Apply: Personnel Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492, (203) 294-2080, Fax: (203) 294-2084. EOE.

Listing: Receptionist/Office Assistant

Petroleum Company has an immediate full time opening. Previous experience in a very busy office handling multiple telephone lines and dealing with customers required. Excellent customer service skills a must. Previous petroleum experience a plus. Applicant to also perform administrative/clerical tasks as assigned. Please send resume to: H.R. Manager, Confidential, P O Box 388, Guilford CT 06437.

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

THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

Gabrielle Union Reveals Infertility Struggle: “I’ve Had 8 or 9 Miscarriages” bloated from the hormones, Union writes that she and Wade “remain bursting with love and ready to do anything to meet the child we’ve both dreamed of.”

by T. Carter Williamson, BDO Contributor

Being Mary Jane star, Gabrielle Union has been showcasing her love and #RelationshipGoals and love all over instagram with hubby NBA star Dwayne Wade, but little did we all know behind the scenes she had been suffered multiple miscarriages in attempted to have a baby. In her new book We’re Going to Need More Wine Union, who married Wade, now of the Cleveland Cavaliers, in 2014, exclusively told People that she had “never wanted kids. Then I became a stepmom, and there was no place I’d rather be than with them.” Wade, 35, has custody of his two sons with ex-wife Siohvaughn Funches — Zion, 10, and Zaire, 15 — and also is raising a nephew, Dahveon Morris, 16. He additionally has a son, Xavier, 3, being raised by a former paramour, Aja Metoyer. “I have had eight or nine miscarriages,” Union, 44, writes in the book. “For three years, my body has been a prisoner of trying to get pregnant — I’ve either been about to go into an IVF cycle, in the middle of an IVF cycle, or coming out of an IVF cycle.” In Vitro Fertilization or IVF is an assisted reproductive technology (ART) commonly referred to as IVF. IVF is the process of fertilization by extract-

And that is no easy task, especially emotionally. Many women form an attachment to their baby early on in the pregnancy, particularly if they’ve been trying to conceive for some time. So after a miscarriage, they’re likely to go through a period of mourning and possibly experience the same stages of grief that can accompany the death of a loved one. The stages are:

ing eggs, retrieving a sperm sample, and then manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish. The embryo(s) is then transferred to the uterus. Other forms of ART include

gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT) and zygote intrafallopian transfer (ZIFT). But even after enduring three years of failed IVF cycles and being constantly

1. Denial (a refusal to believe what has happened). 2. Anger (blaming yourself or others for the loss). 3. Bargaining (striking a deal with yourself or God to have things return to the way they were). 4. Depression (feeling listless, tired, despondent, guilty, punished, and/ or as if there’s no pleasure or joy in life). 5. Acceptance (realizing that life has to go on, and regaining your energy and goals for the future). A common misconception is that infertility doesn’t exist in the Black community, where we are often stereotyped as super-fertile and more

epidemics sweeping through families weakened by hunger and exposure is stark. Even before the hurricane hit, Puerto Rico was literally bankrupt. Its efforts to declare bankruptcy and to renegotiate its unpayable debts were fiercely contested. Wall Street bankers were enforcing a harsh austerity on the island. One of the reasons the island was so vulnerable was that it was unable to modernize dated energy and water systems. Puerto Rico is an American territory; its people are American citizens. Like those living in New Orleans in the wake of Katrina or Houston in the wake of Harvey, they can abandon their homes, move to another part of the country and start over. In Houston, in Florida and in New Jersey, the federal government moved in to help with emergency assistance and to spur rebuilding of homes and infrastructure. In New Orleans after Katrina, the botched federal

response became a national scandal for the Bush administration. Puerto Rico suffered worse devastation, and it impacted more people. As the hurricane approached, it was impossible to evacuate more than a handful of the 3.4 million people from the island. Getting aid to the Americans there, caring for the wounded, providing food and water, and beginning the process of rebuilding pose far greater challenges than similar responses to other disasters. The Trump administration’s response to this challenge has been, in a word, disgraceful. President Trump himself was absent without leave for a week; he was more focused on tweeting about the NFL from his golf club. He publicly scorned the mayor of San Juan for doing her job: pleading for more assistance for her people in peril. He slurred Puerto Ricans for supposedly wanting “everything to be done for them.” When he finally visited the disaster

last week, he seemed intent on ignoring reality while boasting about the federal response. He claimed Puerto Rico hadn’t experienced a “real catastrophe” like Hurricane Katrina, and bizarrely praised the official death toll (at the time, 16) as something Puerto Ricans “can be very proud of.” Trump also told disaster survivors that “you don’t need” the flashlights he was handing to them, apparently ignorant of the fact that 93 percent of the island remained without power. Even as he touted a “tax reform” plan that would gift $5 trillion dollars in tax breaks to the rich and corporations over the next decade, he complained to the American citizens in Puerto Rico that they had “thrown our budget a little bit out of whack.” At the same time, Trump praised his administration’s response as “unbelievable” and “incredible.” His advisers called it a “good news story.”

in need of birth control than infertility care. This portrayal is both inaccurate and unfair. You may be surprised to know that infertility rates have increased for Black women over the past several years, while they have decreased for White women at the same time. Although Black women are more affected by infertility,… … we are less likely to ever receive infertility treatment. In addition, Black women seeking infertility treatment usually wait longer before seeing a fertility specialist, have more tubal disease, more fibroids and are more likely to be overweight than women of other ethnicities. Union is constantly is reminded of her struggle each time she’s asked by both family and strangers alike when she’s having kids. “For so many women, and not just women in the spotlight, people feel very entitled to know, ‘Do you want kids?’” Union says. “A lot of people, especially people that have fertility issues, just say ‘no’ because that’s a lot easier than being honest about whatever is actually going on. People mean so well, but they have no idea the harm or frustration it can cause.” Keep your head up Gabby!

How to put Puerto Rico back on its feet

By Jesse Jackson

What obligations do we owe one to another as Americans? What does patriotism and citizenship mean in practice? Hurricane Maria’s devastation of Puerto Rico has posed these questions. Americans should be dissatisfied with the way our federal government has responded. The island has been utterly savaged by the worst hurricane in memory. Weeks after the tragedy, parts of Puerto Rico still have no water. The electricity grid is utterly destroyed. Fuel is short. The death toll, currently at 38, is likely to rise further. The danger of

This isn’t a game. The lives of American citizens have and will be lost because of the belated and inadequate response. How should American citizens be treated in a crisis of this magnitude? Surely, mobilization to provide disaster relief should be immediate and sufficient in scale to deal with the emergency. Then the U.S. should invest in rebuilding the core public infrastructure of Puerto Rico — the electric and water systems, the roads and bridges. This would not only make the island more resilient for the next crisis; it would also provide immediate jobs and help with the economic recovery. Puerto Rico bears a staggering and unpayable $74 billion in debt. During his trip to the island, Trump remarked cryptically that “we’re going to have to wipe that out.” Wall Street went nuts, and Treasury Secretary Steven Con’t on page 22

THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

Gary’s Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson Lobbies for New Amazon Headquarters By Erick Johnson, Chicago Crusader/NNPA Member

It could the greatest comeback in the history of any American city. Gary, Indiana, a predominately Black city, that has struggled with business closures, soaring unemployment, poverty, foreclosures and depressed property values for decades, could be seeing a dramatic turnaround so stunning that it would be an urban miracle. All it would take is for one hungry, high-profile corporation seeking to expand with few limitations and an economically-starved city coming together to hammer out a business deal that would transform both entities forever. Gary is willing, but does Amazon Inc., one of the largest retailers in the world, believe that the underdog city can truly be the “Magic City” once again? Amazon Inc., a Seattle-based, multbillion dollar retailer, set off a bidding war on September 7 with plans to build “HQ2,” a $5 billion facility that would be so big, that it would employ 50,000 employees, with many positions paying, on average, $100,000 annually. The employee estimate is 65 percent of Gary’s population of 76,424. It could wipe out the city’s high unemployment and trigger an unprecedented economic boom in Gary’s business and housing industries. With huge tax breaks and Gary’s vacant swaths of real estate, international airport and close proximity to Chicago and major highways, the opportunities for Amazon to grow and increase could be endless. However, big cities are jumping at the prospect of landing Amazon, too. Even though, Gary is the smallest and perhaps least competitive of them all, the city may offer Amazon a tremendous opportunity to earn greater respect and name-recognition for turning around an underdog that has suffered since it was deserted by Whites when the city elected its first Black mayor, Richard Gordon Hatcher, in 1968. They are big dreams that could turn around Gary in ways the city’s last four mayors have been unable to do. And, the move could address Indiana’s racial

and class divide that left Gary’s predominantly Black residents lagging behind other residents in the state. Gary’s current mayor, Karen FreemanWilson, a two-time Harvard graduate, is used to fighting uphill battles as the city’s leaders. She has pulled out all stops to get Amazon’s attention. On September 17, Freeman-Wilson turned heads after taking out a small advertisement in The New York Times on the second page of the business section. The ad, which was laid out in the form of a 579-word letter, is written from the perspective of a “person” or the collective voice of Gary, Indiana. While the letter details Gary’s “tough times,” it also highlights Gary’s strengths. The letter urges Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, to consider the city’s strengths, including the Gary/Chicago International Airport, new businesses and the port authority. Gary’s proximity to two major highways, the I-90 and the I-94, are also cited as strengths; about 20 percent of the city’s residential property and half of its commercial property are vacant. “And land? Jeff, I have all the land you need,” the letter reads. The ad also includes Freeman-Wilson’s email address and cellphone number. According to one news report, the city paid about $9,500 for the advertisement and plans to submit a formal bid to Amazon by October 19. “We believe that the natural assets of Gary and (northwest Indiana), coupled with the positive Indiana business climate and the amenities of the Chicagoland market, make us competitive,” Freeman-Wilson said in a recent email. Lately, Gary has been on a roll in luring businesses to the city. In July, the city snagged deals with two Illinois companies, Alliance Steel Corp. and HMD Trucking. Both companies plan to build new headquarters in the city that will generate a combined total of 600 jobs. Luring Amazon’s HQ2 facility may be Gary’s toughest battle to date. As of September 29, eight major cit-

ies, including New York, Chicago, Dallas, San Diego, Cleveland, Louisville, St. Louis, and Detroit reportedly will submit bids for Amazon’s new facility. Several cities in Indiana’s Boone County are preparing their bids, but all eyes are on Indianapolis, where Mayor Joe Hogsett is making the case for the retailer to move to his city. “Indianapolis continues to receive national attention as a rising tech hub, helping to drive innovation and growth for local and global businesses,” said Hogsett’s spokeswoman, Taylor Schaffer. “That’s why we are very excited to engage with state leadership and Amazon to encourage the growth of their current successful presence in our city.” Cities are pulling out all the stops for Amazon; so far, Indiana’s governor has declined to publicly support Gary’s bid. In Illinois, Governor Bruce Rauner and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel have publicly put their differences aside to put together a “single comprehensive proposal” for the Amazon HQ2 headquarters. Rauner and Emanuel’s deputy mayors and several city and state officials visited Amazon’s main headquarters in Seattle recently to survey the company’s massive 8.1 million square foot facility. While Rauner backs Chicago’s bid for

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Amazon’s new headquarters, Holcomb isn’t saying whether he support Gary’s bid. Holcomb said he wants Indiana to get the headquarters, but he hasn’t specified what city, although there is speculation that he wants Indianapolis to get the facility. In a statement, Holcomb said, “Indiana has a tremendous opportunity to be seriously considered in this process. We are doing what Amazon has asked us to do: coordinating efforts with all interested regions of the state to put our best bid forward. I’ve called on the Indiana Economic Development Corporation to lead this collaborative effort that will culminate with a bid submission that includes local and state incentives as well as recommended best sites.” In Indiana, there has always been concern that state Republican lawmakers have allowed Gary and its economy to deteriorate without offering much help. Many residents still remember when state officials did very little to slow White flight in the city after Indiana’s General Assembly passed legislation exempting only Lake County from the state’s “buffer zone” law, which prohibited incorporation in areas within three miles of Gary and larger cities. Without the buffer zones, White resi-

dents helped Merrillville become an official city in 1971, after years of unsuccessful attempts. Freeman-Wilson acknowledges that her bid is “far-fetched” and may not be as good as Chicago’s offer. As part of its requirements, Amazon said it prefers to be near a metropolitan area with more than a million people. The company is also looking for a friendly business environment. Amazon officials said the company would also consider urban or suburban locations with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent, which many Gary residents don’t have, although there is potential for training. However, Chicago’s large technical workforce may commute to an Amazon headquarters in Gary, but this won’t benefit the housing or job market in Steel Town. Founded in 1994, Amazon is one of the world’s largest Internet companies. Amazon is ranked No. 12 on the Fortune 500 list and No. 3 on the Forbes list of “The World’s Most Innovative Companies.” Amazon generated over $135 billion in revenue (as of May 2017) from selling everything from electronics to home furnishings to men’s and women’s apparel online.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

New Nielsen Study Reveals Growing Spending Power, Influence of Black Women By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Contributor

A new report detailing the recordsetting spending power of African American women has further buoyed the confidence of Black female entrepreneurs, who said the information proves their undeniable value to the United States and the global economy. The report titled, “African-American Women: Our Science, Her Magic,” was released by Nielsen during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual legislative conference; it revealed that African American women’s consumer preferences and brand affinities are resonating across the mainstream culture, driving total Black spending power toward a record $1.5 trillion by 2021. The report also noted that Black women comprise 14 percent of all females in the U.S. (“24.3 million strong”) and 52 percent of all African Americans. With an average age of 35.1 years (versus 42.8 for non-Hispanic White women and 39.4 for all women), Black women have enjoyed steady growth in population, incomes and educational attainment. Sixty-four percent of Black women currently enroll in college right out of high school and 23 percent over the age of 25 have a bachelor’s degree or higher, up from 18 percent in 2005. Further, the report noted that the number of businesses majority-owned by Black women grew 67 percent between 2007 and 2012, more than all women combined. The latest U.S. Census figures show African-American women have majority ownership in more than 1.5 million businesses with over $42 billion in sales. “This report is helpful to show banks and brands that Black women are highly qualified to be recipients of fair lending and to be fairly represented in advertising campaigns,” said Samantha Gregory, the founder of the website richsinglemomma.com, a platform developed to help single mothers earn extra cash. “As a Black woman in technology and personal finance, who is also a business owner, those statistics are useful, when I am making a case for working with brands for my blog and business. Gregory continued: “However, if the powers that be are not educated about these statistics, it is still challenging to get a seat at the table, where all the prime contracts are being handed out.” Briana Santirosa, the founder and CEO of online retailer, Casa de Reinas,

Con’t from page 14

Protests Increase over Universities and Ties to Slavery

said that after working in retail for four years, she made the decision to start her own business. Santirosa said that fashion and beauty industries often chose to ignore the purchasing power of Black women. “I do see the market beginning to recognize Black women more and cater to our spending preferences,” Santirosa offered. In Nielsen’s new Diverse Intelligence Series report, the global researcher paints a portrait of Black women as trendsetters, brand loyalists and early adopters, who care about projecting a positive selfimage. As they wield that #BlackGirlMagic, Black women play an increasingly vital role in how all women see themselves and influencing mainstream culture across a number of areas, including fashion, beauty, television and music, the report’s authors said. “Black women have strong lifeaffirming values that spill over into everything they do. The celebration of their power and beauty is reflected in what they buy, watch and listen to, and people outside their communities find it inspiring,” said Cheryl Grace, the senior vice president of U.S. Community Strategic Alliances and Consumer Engagement for Nielsen. “Understanding how Black women’s values affect their buying decisions has long been a marketing necessity.” Grace continued: “Now, marketers must also recognize the intercultural influence of Black women on the general market, as an increasingly vital part of how all women see them-

selves, their families and the rest of the world.” The African American woman’s independent mindset is present in her growing confidence, self-awareness and rising income, according to the report. Black women are not only redefining what it means to be a woman for themselves, but are at the vanguard of changing gender roles and unlimited possibilities for American women of all ages and races. The report noted that 64 percent of Black women agree their goal is to make it to the top of their profession; 58 percent agree that they don’t mind giving up their personal time for work—20 percent higher than nonHispanic White women. Further, 14 percent of Black women have annual incomes of $50,000 or higher with ages 35–49 enjoying the highest income within the Black female cohort. For millennial women, 81 percent have never been married, up from 71 percent in 2005 and, with an average household size of 2.47, 29 percent of total Black American households contain a married couple. Black women also have embraced the social media movement #BlackGirlMagic, a term that describes a crossplatform gathering of empowered Black women who uplift each other and shine a light on the impressive accomplishments of Black women throughout the country. According to the report, Black women “over-index by 29 percent for

spending three to four hours each day on social networking sites and by 86 percent for spending five or more hours each day on social networking sites.” Especially adept at using technology and social media to trade opinions and offer recommendations, Black women 18 and older, more than any other demographic group, have taken social media and adopted it for higher purposes, the report found. Whether they are buying cars, jewelry, smartphones or beauty products, the advice, referrals and feedback they receive from friends and community play an important role in Black women’s purchases, the report said. Forty-three percent of Black women say they like to share their opinions about products and services by posting reviews and ratings online; 47 percent agree that people often come to them for advice, before making a purchase. “The trend of Black women becoming increasingly educated and driving the buying power of Black households, means that they are making purchase decisions that historically they didn’t make,” said Bianca Blake, a marketing specialist. “Couple that with trends of the millennial generation marrying and starting families later, the Black woman becomes an independent decision maker for much more of her journey through life, as opposed to abiding by decisions made by her parents, husband or heavily influenced by her children.”

Lee Hall-Perkins decried one dorm named for school founder Holland McTyeire, a Methodist bishop who once wrote an essay on the duties of Christian slave owners, including physical punishment in “moderation.” “When I was an undergraduate student, these names were benign to me but when I dug deeper, it infuriated me that these names were on campus,” Hall-Perkins said by phone. Responding to a reporter, Vanderbilt said it’s holding a spring conference on slavery’s impacts. Adam Domby, assistant professor of history at College of Charleston in South Carolina, said many Southern political figures from a century ago espoused racism. “A lot of the leading political figures of the early 20th century are going to be tainted with white supremacy,” Domby said, adding that Carr unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 1900 on a white supremacist platform. Scholars note that Carr — not unlike Lee or Jefferson — has a complicated legacy. He also donated to African-American institutions and served as treasurer for the group that started what became historically black North Carolina Central University, said university archivist Andre Vann. “If I had to rationalize some of this, the lives and experiences of men and women like Carr and others are really a mirror of the society that they lived in,” Vann said. The 2008 book “Upbuilding Black Durham” noted black leaders struck an uneasy accommodation with Carr, one of Durham’s wealthiest men, though well aware of his racial views. “Once questioned about the elites’ amiable relationship with the ex-Confederate, one black leader responded ‘We prefer to think of General Carr in terms of his benefactions, not his politics,’” Williams College history professor Louise Brown wrote in the book. “Thus the Durham black elite opted to cite the ‘friendly feeling’ between the races, well aware that the assertion was mostly not true.” Protesters at UNC now hope Carr’s own words will persuade administrators of the need for change. Recently Johnson stood before several hundred demonstrators at “Silent Sam” and read parts of Carr’s 1913 speech through a bullhorn, emphasizing the words: “I horse-whipped a negro wench until her skirts hung in shreds.” Turning toward the statue, she exclaimed: “Silent Sam does not represent history ... He represents racism!”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS October 11, 2017 - October 17, 2017

50th

ANNIVERSARY

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY ACTION

1967-2017

PRESENTS

A CONVERSATION WITH

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BUY TICKETS: IN PERSON: SHUBERT THEATRE BOX OFFICE 247 COLLEGE ST., NEW HAVEN

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Convenience charges apply to Internet, and telephone sales. Proceeds will benefit CCA and its programs for families that are homeless or at risk of homelessness. 24