INNER-CITY NEWS July 2016 - August 02, THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 27, 2017 - November 07, 2016 2017
Financial Justice a Key FocusTOatAPOLOGIZE 2016 NAACP Convention GEN. KELLY IS NOT MAN ENOUGH TO REP. WILSON New Haven, Bridgeport
INNER-CITYNEWS
Volume 27 . No. 2254 Volume 21 No. 2194
Wisdom Bids Ninth Square Goodbye
“DMC”
Malloy Malloy To To Dems: Dems:
Ignore Ignore“Tough “ToughOn OnCrime” Crime”
Co-Op High Changes The Faces Of
“Steel Magnolias”
Congresswoman Color Struck?
Wilson
Snow inCity July? Gala Honors Hall ‘Godmother’ Lawlor FOLLOW US ON 1
THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
Collective Consciousness Theatre (CCT) presents the New Haven Premiere of the Pulitzer Prize award winning “Topdog/Underdog” by Suzan Lori Parks, November 2-19 For the Public Theater: Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Watch Me Work, The Book of Grace, 365 Days/365 Plays (in conjunction with over 700 theatres worldwide), Topdog/Underdog, F**king A, In the Blood (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Venus, The America Play. On Broadway: The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Topdog/ Underdog. Other Off-Broadway includes Unchain My Heart, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom. Film includes Girl 6 (directed by Spike Lee), Their Eyes Were Watching God (produced by Oprah Winfrey), Anemone Me (produced by Christine Vachon & Todd Haynes). Suzan-Lori is the first African- American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and is a MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient. Other awards include Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical (Porgy and Bess); The Gish Prize for Excellence in the Arts; Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama; Horton Foote Prize; Obie Award for Playwriting: Best New American Play. SuzanLori teaches at New York University and serves at The Public Theater as its Master Writer Chair. She also currently performs Watch Me Work, a free, live streamed, weekly writing workshop, open to artists of all
“Topdog/Underdog”, a 2002 Pulitzer Prize winning dark comedy by Suzan Lori Parks plays November 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th at Erector Square (Building 6 West, 2nd Floor, Studio D) in New Haven, CT. This production is a New Haven Premiere and is presented by Collective Consciousness Theatre (CCT), a community based theatre dedicated to social change through performances, workshops and community conversations. Directed by Dexter J. Singleton, “Topdog/Underdog” features actors Terrence Riggins and Tenisi Davis. The production stage manager is Brionna Ingraham. Set Design by David Sepulveda, Lighting Design by Jamie Burnett. Jenny Nelson is the Production Producer. Eddie Chase is the Assistant Stage Manager. “Topdog/Underdog” is a darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity. Written in Suzan-Lori Parks’ signature style of examining the way we are defined by history, the play tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, two brothers whose names were given to them as a joke, foretelling a lifetime of sibling rivalry and resentment. Haunted by the past, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of their future. Suzan-Lori Parks is one of our nation’s most recognized playwrights.
disciplines. Her first novel, Getting Mother’s Body (Random House, 2003), includes songs and is set in the West Texas of her youth. She is currently developing a series for Amazon and a musical adaptation of the film The Harder They Come. Performances of “Topdodg/Underdog” will be held November 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 16th, 17th and 18th Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, Sunday November 19th at 3pm. Tickets are $20 online, $25 adults, $10 students and are available online at http://socialchangetheatre. ticketleap.com/topdog or at the Collective Consciousness Theatre website at www.socialchangetheatre.org. Every Thursday performance is Pay What You Can at the door only. Erector Square is located at 319 Peck Street in New Haven, CT. Collective Consciousness Theatre’s production of “Topdog/Underdog” is performed in Building 6 West, 2nd Floor, Studio D. “Topdog/Underdog” is produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc. The Public Theatre produced the New York City premiere of “Topdog/Underdog” Off Broadway in 2001. The play appeared on Broadway in 2002. Funding support for this production is provided in part by New Alliance Foundation.
Women of Substance: The New Haven (CT) Chapter of The Links Incorporated
The New Haven Chapter of The Links, Incorporated was chartered on December 18, 1972 for the purpose of serving the needs of the community of Greater New Haven. We are fortunate and honored to include among our active members, two Platinum members, Link Jean Downing and Link Patricia Downing, who are also charter members. As Platinum members, they have provided service to our community through our chapter for over 40 years. Since its founding, The New Haven Chapter of The Links, Incorporated has worked toward enhancing the quality of life for those in our community by offering services and programs. Consistent with the mission and structure of the organization nationally, we provide services and programs in The Arts, National Trends and Services, International Trends and Services, Services to Youth, and Health and Human Services. Our chapter has engaged with students through the National Poster Art Contest, which focuses on living an active and healthy lifestyle, and “The Mother Bear Project”, as we provide children with bears that are hand-made by our members. Additionally, we have partnered with St. Martin de Porres Academy in New Haven by presenting workshops such as “Interviewing for Success”, “Trash Talking: It’s No Joke!” which focuses on anti-bullying, and a mentorship program entitled “Myself…My Family…My World”. Our chapter has also been very active in promoting voting through various voter registration drives throughout the city. Among our other initiatives, The New Haven Chapter of The Links, Incorporated has given in excess of $185,000 in Book Awards to more than 170 college bound high school graduates in the Greater New Haven area. Each year we also provide back-to-school supplies for students. Assisting students in our community has been a long-standing honor for the organization.
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THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
“Read together, lead together: a call to collective study for liberation” by Lisa Monroe
In February of this year my sister and co-facilitator and I re-launched our collective study group at the invitation of a local bookstore owner in New Haven. Our group, Social Justice CALL, (Citizenship, Activism, Law & Literacy), focuses on the experience of African Americans historically and in the present moment. Gaining greater knowledge of African American history has always been a necessity because black people’s history is inadequately covered within our public school curriculum. However, studying our history to understand our present time is important now more than ever because, in a nation where the highest elected office endorses alternative facts, self-defense in the form of self-education and collective study is imperative. Fortunately, resistance to Trump administration’s policy of alternative facts has spurred citizens to gain greater knowledge about America’s founding principles. For example, in a memorable moment of both resistance and rebuke during the Democratic National Convention in August 2016, Khizr Kahn, the father of deceased United States Army Captain Humayun Khan, pulled from his breast pocket his personal copy of the U.S. Constitution, offering it to then candidate Donald Trump as a study aide on the criteria for American citizenship. Outraged voters have read the Constitution, or are reading it now for the first time, in order to determine what measures Congress or the people can take to impeach the president. Prior to last year’s election, how many Americans commonly discussed constitutional measures such as censure, the emoluments clause or the 25th Amendment? After the January 20 presidential inauguration, the majority of voters—those who voted for the losing candidate—expressed a crisis of confidence in the nation’s political leadership. Immediate reactions were to organize, to sign petitions, to make noise in the streets. However, as the noise has died down, there remains the urgent need to attack the administration’s practices of lies and slanders that widen the racial and cultural fault lines of our already di-
vided nation. Believing now more than ever in the value of public discussion, Social Justice CALL continues the ongoing conversations about issues that matter to our community and us. Our motto is “education is activism.” Education arms us with the knowledge to define our national identity as Americans and to tell our own story. Without the inclusion of the African American perspectives and material influence in this country, American history is incomplete, perhaps impossible. We cannot accept lies and omissions of our history to persist, whether they are promoted from the Oval Office, advertising, movies, music or textbooks. Yet, if we do not know our history, how can we defend it, preserve it and be empowered by it? Social Justice CALL participants come from various backgrounds in our community but share an interest in being involved in a positive action in this critical moment. In an eight-week course, we read activist statements by civil rights organizer Ella Baker, poet Margaret Walker and the rapper Common. We discussed activists’ viewpoints from contemporary figures such as New Haven-based visual artist Titus Kaphar, and sports stars Colin Kaepernick and Michael Bennett. Our dedicated group read the U.S. Constitution edited from an African American perspective as outlined by
African America law scholar Gloria Browne-Marshall. We traced calls for the nation’s ideals to be fulfilled as demanded by the Black Panther Party and the Movement for Black Lives political platforms. We made connections between these platforms and director Ava DuVernay’s illuminating documentary, “13TH.” Although the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is celebrated for abolishing slavery, DuVernay’s film educates all Americans on a loophole inserted in the amendment that allows the government to justify holding black people in bondage (today’s mass incarceration) and bilking black people of their free or nearly free labor—effectively reinstating America’s most successful economic strategy, black people’s enslavement. Studying together has happily inspired members’ outlook on their opportunity to expand their advocacy and to jumpstart new activism. Group members have said our collective study has “opened their eyes” to inequities in their own dealings that they had not seen before; has inspired them to rekindle their own community activism projects; has provided them with history to share with their children, nieces and nephews and grandchildren. Group participants exemplify truths regarding the importance of self-determination that we read together in historian Carter G. Woodson’s essential book,
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The Mis-education of the Negro. Woodson said, “If the Negro could abandon the idea of leadership and instead stimulate a larger number of the race to take up definite tasks and sacrifice their time and energy in doing these things efficiently the race might accomplish something.” We considered a similar conviction expressed by civil rights activist Ella Baker who said ‘strong people don’t need strong leaders.” The theme was preached by Dr. King in his sermon, “The Drum Major Instinct,” when he said, “everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.” Reading together has raised our awareness of what one individual can accomplish. In SJ CALL, we emphasize that self-education and collective study are activism traditions within the black community. Black people had to resort to self-education soon after being brought involuntarily to this land because, as early as the 1780’s, white Southern legislators began to pass laws that made teaching black people an illegal act. To counter these immoral laws, enslaved and free Africans enacted the first educational policy of black America, “each one, teach one.” By hook and crook black people risked their personal welfare to learn to read and write as a defensive move, in part to “stay woke’ about how white oppressors were lying to them and planning to further exploit and abuse
them. The phrase, “readers are leaders,” is a truism in black community, both historically and today. Some of the most outspoken black advocates for equality and justice—Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, Carter G. Woodson, Malcolm X, Barbara Jordan, Patrisse Cullors, and Ta-Nehisi Coates—testify that reading was instrumental in instilling their appreciation of black heritage. Reading about black people’s history countered the negative stereotypes, the shade, white society throws to black people and was a catalyst to their own advocacy for equal justice for all Americans. We value informed activism. When our summer course concluded, several group members decided that, on the strength of our bonding through study, we should work together in a local project. We are considering now how we might build on the educational activism that the once and future NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick has begun through his “Know Your Rights” camp. In going forward, we are modeling that “people who read together lead together.” If you are ready for a course of collective study and dialogue that can support your community activism, join us. Lisa Monroe is a co-founder and cofacilitator, with Susan Monroe, of Social Justice CALL. Contact them at booktalksisters@gmail.com.
THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
Gala Honors City Hall ‘Godmother’ Lawlor by MARKESHIA RICKS New Haven Independent
The Black and Hispanic Caucus took time out from its annual benefit for the city’s youth and seniors to honor a woman who truly has the keys to the city, Pattie Lawlor. For the sixth year, the caucus’ signature event drew a crowd to Anthony’s Ocean View on Thursday night with many of the city’s movers and shakers decked out in their best suits and sequins. Lawlor has been working for the city in some form since she graduated from James Hillhouse High School in 1959, starting her career as a dispatcher in emergency communications for the police and fire departments. She has worked in the mayor’s office for 38 years having worked for Mayors Biagio DiLieto, John C. Daniels, John DeStefano Jr. and now Toni Harp. Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison, who split hosting duties with student Board of Education member Makayla Dawkins, said that it was tough to get Lawlor to agree to be honored. A force who helps make events in City Hall happen, Lawlor prefers the background. The crowd chanted her name as she came to the front to be recognized. “She said she didn’t want to speak,” Morrison joked. Lawlor consented to a moment in the spotlight when her nephew and Democratic Town Chair Vincent Mauro Jr. agreed to do the talking. But ultimately she made her own remarks after accepting the Pioneer Award. “I always tried to help others,” she said of her long years of service. She noted that one day she might have to retire and be replaced. To which the crowd shouted “no.” In addition to honoring Lawlor, the caucus honored Larry Conaway, principal of Riverside Education Academy and New Light High School, with the Mentorship award; The Commu-
Robinson Thorpe was recognized for making the gala a moneymaker.
nity Foundation for Greater New Haven with the Community Service award; Assistant Fire Chief Orlando “Woody” Marcano with the Heritage award; and Police Chief Anthony Campbell with the Leadership award. The caucus also took the time to honor former Beaver Hills Alder Claudette Robinson Thorpe for having the vision of the gala as something more than an opportunity to honor those who’ve done great things in the community but also to raise money to aid the city’s youngest and oldest residents. Morrison said that over the years the gala has raised nearly $200,000. Part of this year’s proceeds will be used for the Dr. Reginald Mayo Early Childhood School Library Fund. Morrison made sure to put in a plug for the upcoming groundbreaking of the Q House in Dixwell. The groundbreaking ceremony will be Nov. 4 at 10:45 a.m. at 197 Dixwell Ave.
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
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
_______________________
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Christine Stuart www.CTNewsJunkie.com Paul Bass New Haven Independent www.newhavenindependent.org
Memberships
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Principal Larry Conaway accepting the Mentorship Award.
Community Foundation’s Will Ginsberg accepting the Community Service award.
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1920s theme. Sharyn Grant got into the spirit of the
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THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
First African American Woman Runs For Branford Public Office by MARCIA CHAMBERS New Haven Independent
Roberta (Bobi) Gill-Brooks is making Branford history this election year as she becomes the first African American woman to seek public office in the upcoming election Nov. 7. She is running for tax collector on the Democratic ticket. She also believes strongly in what she calls her “family tree” of public service to the town of Branford. Her family made history when her great-great grandfather John Williams was recruited in 1910 from North Carolina by Malleable Iron Fittings (MIF) to work at its plant on the Branford River. Hers is one of the town’s most prominent African American families and one of the town’s first. The MIF decision to recruit from the south drew the first African American families to Branford and began a legacy of public service. Gill-Brooks’s father, Bob Gill, served the Branford Police Department for 44 years, rising through the ranks to become its police chief. Bob Gill once worked at MIF, too. “A lot of cultural history goes with this place,” Bob Gill once said of the factory. Joe Chandler, a lifetime best friend of her father and godfather to her brother, John Gill, was the first African American man to run for public office in Branford. Chandler was a long-serving member of the Branford Board of Education, as well as its chair in the 1970s. He was also inducted into the Branford Sports Hall of Fame and the Branford Education Hall of Fame. Her godfather, Albert Washington, Jr., was the first African American police officer in Branford. In 1965, he became the first African American Connecticut State Trooper. And in the sports world, in 1932, her paternal great-uncle, Heb Williams, captained Branford High School’s undefeated and unscored upon football team. “Now it’s my turn,” she says smiling. An executive manager and advocate at AT&T for 30 years, Gill-Brooks, now retired from AT&T, says she has overseen multi-million dollar accounts and is fluent in customer advocacy, account management, and billing dispute investigations and resolution. She says the tax collector’s position is a perfect fit for her. “I am able to put my customers at ease – making them understand that they are being heard, and finding answers to their concerns.” She also has great energy and enthusiasm for stepping into public life. The Hammers and the Hitchcocks Some of her earliest memories involve her grandmother, Mary McKiver, who worked as a domestic for two of Bran-
ford’s most prestigious white families, the Hammers (he was the president of MIF and his wife Lucy was a gifted legislator, first in the Connecticut House and then in the Senate) and the Hitchcocks, who owned Atlantic Wire. “I can remember as a very little girl sitting on a stool in Mrs. Hammer’s kitchen and my grandmother was setting up the dining room for a dinner. My grandmother was placing the plates and placing the silver, very meticulously on the table. The wine and water glasses were just so many inches from the knife. And that’s how I learned all of that, from watching her. I am now a nut for setting a table because I learned all this from my grandmother. “She was treated very well and was devoted to both of those families and both of those families loved her dearly,” Gill-Brooks said in an interview with the Eagle. This is the first time Gill-Brooks has run for public office. She is 54. Her Republican opponent, Sandra Krause, 61, has extensive experience in finance as well, having had a career in a large corporation as well as working for a small privately held business. She sits on the town’s Inland Wetland’s Commission and is a
leader of the town’s Garden Club. Her nomination in July by the Republican caucus was not without conflict within the Republican Party. Both women are seeking the tax collector’s position that Joanne Cleary, a Democrat, has held for the past 12 years. Cleary was cross-endorsed in the 2013 and 2015 elections by both Democrats and Republicans. Last week Cleary endorsed Gill-Brooks. Qualifications for the Job Gill-Brooks says she has had longterm experience in putting customers at ease. “I look forward to working with Branford residents, talking with them to better understand their specific circumstances, and finding answers to their specific tax inquiries. Having a background in billing and in accounting helps. Math is math. I understand the importance of disciplined adherence to the tax statutes, and the ability to explain them. The Tax Collector’s office is the first contact a resident has when they enter Branford Town Hall. Having a positive experience there is paramount. “The more important part is being customer friendly … I want taxpayers to know that they can come in and ask questions if they think there are grounds for an appeal. If you never
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ask, the answer is always no. As I have said in many ‘Meet and Greet’ events, behind each one of these bills is a family and a situation. If there are issues let’s talk about them. Let’s see what our options are.” She went on to say that a saying by the Dalai Lama resonates with her. “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” Gill-Brooks says she has learned a lot about herself and the town of Branford during the campaign. She is spending her days going door to door and putting up lawn signs that say, “Where’s There’s a Gill There’s a Way.” She credits a good friend with coming up with the slogan. “I love Branford, am proud to be a product of this great town, and would like to give back to the town that has given so much to me,” Gill-Brooks said. She has learned a lot during the campaign, especially about Branford’s geography. “I would not trade this experience for anything. I have learned so much about Branford. I have lived here practically my entire life but in my own little corner and my own little chair. I was not aware of erosion down in District 5. I wasn’t aware of that until having the experience of going doorto-door.” Educated at Branford’s public schools, beginning at Branford Hills for kindergarten, she graduated from the town’s intermediate and high schools and then went on to college, first at Syracuse University, and then at Quinnipiac College. She said, “I just feel like for my generation it’s my turn. I want to keep that tradition going. And then hopefully someone of our crew, who grew up here in Branford, 10 or 15 years from
now will come behind me. She has three sons, two she gave birth to, Tevin Wiggins and Kyle Wiggins and “one that I got as a bonus with my marriage.” Her husband is Theodore Brooks, Jr. and her bonus son is Ted Brooks, III. Her sons are all in their 20s. One lives in Branford, one in New Haven, and one in California. “Should my son move back to Branford or one of my brother’s sons move back to Branford, hopefully someone behind me will be watching and will step into that line and serve Branford. It is a wonderful, wonderful town.” Thinking about continuity, she thought of her Dad, of his roots and of Branford’s history. (Her mom, Dorothy, grew up in New Haven and came to Branford when her parents married 61 years ago.) When the Stony Creek Brewery opened in 2015, “My dad was the person who put plans in motion to have a monument honoring MIF. He felt that MIF could not and should not pass into history unnoted, so he reached out to Bill O’Brien, and to town historian, Jane Bouley, to help make the memorial stone a reality and to honor the hundreds of people who worked there.” Ed Crowley, the owner of Stony Creek Brewery, did not hesitate when O’Brien asked him and the monument was erected as his gift outside the brewery, which was built on a portion of the sprawling MIF site on Indian Neck Avenue. O’Brien is a member of the town’s Economic Development Commission (as well as a photographer for the Eagle). An MIF Family Day was held to celebrate the role factory workers and their families played in creating the fabric of the town, a role that continues in election year 2017.
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THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
Wisdom Bids Ninth Square Goodbye
On Friday afternoon, a New Haven fashionista will raise a glass to five years at his Orange Street shop—then close the doors to his Ninth Square outpost for a final time. He’s in search of a better work-life balance, and thinks he might find it by spending more time in Westville. That’s the story for Neville Wisdom, a surgical tech-turned designer who has decided to close his 63 Orange St. location as many neighboring businesses move away, or come under new ownership. On Friday, he will hold a goodbye party at the shop, and then move all of his operations to 903 Whalley Ave., while keeping his eyes peeled for a possible new location. “Orange Street is very dear to us,” he said in an interview last week, sun bending around a cluster of painted mannequins in the shop’s windows. “It has so many great memories and it’s done so many awesome things. But I don’t think that leaving this store is going to impact that.” Wisdom moved into 63 Orange St. in 2012, opening that March with a display that was meant to channel the hit HBO series Madmen. In a move that he said almost cost him the landlord’s trust, he gave the building a revamp, tearing out walls to expose red brick and unfinished plaster. He soaked the space in splashes of deep purple, a color that has come to represent the brand. He also gained an assistant: Lauren Sprague, who heard about his
Wisdom in the Orange Street shop last week. Lucy Gellman Photos.
designs through word of mouth. The two became a team. Their work caught on, getting local and national press as customers including Mayor Toni Harp came to visit the store, and request both his small-batch and bespoke articles of clothing. Then in 2015, Wisdom moved into
a second spot at 903 Whalley Ave., opening an upstairs showroom and downstairs studio with computer-animated design programs, fabric cutting material, and a fleet of high-tech sewing machines. As he spent more time there, he found himself forgetting about appointments or meetings at the Orange Street shop, and then losing time as he got in his car, and rushed downtown. It wasn’t resentment that was building, he said, but something close. As a Whalley Avenue location came into its own last year, Wisdom and brand manager Sprague quietly took the Orange Street shop to appointment-only. They continued to host Wisdom’s signature fall fashion shows on the street, bringing in business owners and food vendors from the community. For one night a year, the street would fill with hundreds of attendees, many cheering on Wisdom’s bright and quirky new designs. And then it would empty out. While the two still spent time at the location, they found it was progressively harder to justify the store had become a small-batch sort of warehouse for fashions from the previous season. They tried hiring people to watch the shop and sell clothing, but “it was difficult finding someone who has that skill base, instead of holding down a
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store hoping that people will come in,” Wisdom said. Other things about the location started to bother him. It was eerily quiet, with foot traffic often at a minimum. On Sundays, Wisdom would spend time in the store without seeing anyone on the street for hours. “I’d drive up Chapel Street, and forget that I [the store] was two blocks away,” he said. He added the store’s continued profits came at a price Neville and Sprague, splitting their time between the stores, kept missing each other. Their working relationship happened on the phone more often than it happened in person. And so, on a vacation to the Cayman Islands last winter, Wisdom made a decision. Sprague had called him to talk about workflow. She was tired. So was he. “Let’s just close it,” he told her. “The idea is for us not to be miserable.” The store officially closed in February, when Wisdom’s lease was up, but he’s been paying rent by the month and customers still trickle in from time to time, on an off day when the building’s open. Wisdom said that the management company, Residences Ninth Sq, has asked what it can do to keep him there, but that it felt like the right time for him to move on. Reached Wednesday
morning, a representative on Residences Ninth Sq. declined to comment for the article. “We’ll miss the community for what it is,” he said of the Ninth Square. “There’s nothing other than sadness in leaving. It’s sort of like a child—letting your child go. But it’s ultimately a great thing for the brand.” “Growth and expansion is very cool, but I also … I believe in lifestyle as much as having a successful businesses,” he added. “It’s not just about making money, but providing a sort of quality of life.” A Homecoming For Westville In part, he said, that’s because returning full-time to Westville—at least for now—also feels like coming full circle. Wisdom started his career there, in a small studio on Whalley Avenue, while he was still holding down a job at Yale-New Haven Hospital. When he moved back in 2015, he said it was like being home. New neighbors at Lotta Studio and West River Arts had moved in next door, bringing new patronage to the block. Wisdom’ faithfuls headed to the Westville store, bringing in new streams of revenue. His larger, high-tech studio meant that he could employ more people, creating a few jobs in the neighborhood. Now, he said he wants to build on that. “Westville will be great,” he said. “It already is. Westville is just a kind of different environment. If I wanted a business next to me, I think it would be Lotta Studios. It’s so awesome how many opportunities they’ve given businesses to sort of have an artist.” “For artists, it’s always a struggle to have their work and sell their work,” he added. “To be able to find a little artspace that is really reasonable in a hip part of town, where there’s people around who are in the same element, is phenomenal.” He hasn’t ruled out old-new ventures, like trying a Whalley Avenue fashion show or moving back downtown if the right property opens up. But for now, it’s time to let that go. “This place has brought me so much notoriety and so many incredible things,” he said. “It’s always been my vision to be in a community and be part of a community, and I had that here.” “I’m excited about what’s going to happen now. I’m excited about where we might end up.”
THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
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THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
New Radio Show Explores Criminal Justice from the Inside and Out: Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant Launch "Criminal Justice Insider"on WNHH New Haven
The airwaves are open to discuss Criminal Justice - from the Inside. A new show, Criminal Justice Insider, co-hosted by WNHHFM’s Babz Rawls-Ivy and Family ReEntry’s Executive Director, Jeff Grant, takes a unique perspective on all issues of the justice system, including the effects of incarceration and the challenges faced by ex-offenders. A major intrigue of the program can be found in the personal background stories of the show’s cohosts. Rawls-Ivy and Grant have both served prison sentences. As ex-offenders, they are well aware of the challenges, inside and outside, of the legal system and the prison system. They are also both examples of success and hope for others. The show, which debuted last Friday, welcomed a much larger than expected audience, and WNHH immediately doubled its originally scheduled programming. Criminal Justice Insider is now slated for a full hour at 9:00AM on the first and third Fridays of each month. Rawls-Ivy, who is also the host of WNHH’s daily “LoveBabz LoveTalk,” and editor -in-chief of The Inner City News, proclaimed, “Jeff and I have talked about doing something like this for a while.
When we pitched the topic to the station, we presented so many aspects that affect so many people, not just in Connecticut but all over the country, the content designed itself.” As the executive director of Family ReEntry, a social service organization in Bridgeport that works with individuals and their families who have been directly impacted by incarceration, Grant is a perfect complement to the show. “This show is important because we go deep into the personal challenges and successes that individuals, families and whole communities experience. There are not many places that welcome and encourage the authentic, vulnerable side of the criminal justice experience.” The next broadcast of Criminal Justice Insider will be on Friday, November 3rd with special guest, Connecticut State Representative from New Haven, Robyn Porter. Upcoming live shows will feature lively discussions from a series of different guests, such as Connecticut Department of Correction Commissioner Scott Semple, Katal Center Co-Executive Director Lorenzo Jones, Carlah Esdaile-Bragg of Cornell Hill Scott Health and Marcus Bullock of Flikshop, along with many others. Working in affiliation with local news source, The New Haven Independent, a recap of each Criminal
Justice Insider show and a preview of upcoming shows will be published. For anyone who hasn’t already heard the program, the debut broadcast is now available in its entirety on SoundCloud and to keep up with the topics of discussion, a Facebook page has also been set up at Criminal Justice Insider.
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More about Family ReEntry: Family ReEntry is a 501c3 nonprofit, which was founded in 1984 as a reentry support group for men at the Isaiah House in Bridgeport. It has since grown to include policy advocacy, and intervention, prevention, in-prison, reentry, fatherhood and youth & family programs. Over the past 33 years, effective advocacy
efforts and community-based programs developed by Family ReEntry have significantly reduced the likelihood that clients will re-offend, be re-arrested, or be reincarcerated. More information is available at www.familyreentry. org
Local 35 Prez Beats Back Challenge THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
by CHRISTOPHER PEAK New Haven Independent
New Haven’s top labor leader Wednesday night vowed to reach out more to his union’s newer members after surviving his first electoral challenge in over two decades. Members of Yale’s blue-collar union, UNITE HERE Local 35, reelected Bob Proto their president 423-127 against Shirley Lawrence, his first challenger ever. “It’s an honor,” Proto said Wednesday night at union headquarters on College Street after the results came in. “It means that a lot of people respect the work I put in. And I intend on continuing to put that hard work in, on behalf of our union.” Challenger Lawrence, who ran on a “change” platform, said the campaign succeeded in highlighting a rank-andfile desire for more internal democracy. A second-generation Yale employee hired as a custodian in September 1974, Proto has been president of UNITE HERE–Local 35 for the last 22 years. He won his first 11 terms unopposed. Earlier this year, the union’s 1,340 members overwhelmingly approved a five-year contract Proto negotiated with Yale, marking the third consecutive time he’s struck an agreement without a walkout. The union represents the people who clean Yale dorms, cook and serve the food, make repairs, operate the power plant. On Wednesday, Proto touted some of the major points in the new contract, including keeping the health plan free, preserving pensions and adding casual language to job descriptions to help workers move up through the ranks. “I’ve kept our union together and focused on a good standard,” he said. Behind the scenes, Proto is considered one of the most influential people in local politics because of the majority of UNITE HERE-endorsed candidates on the Board of Alders. He has also been active in advocating for state approval for MGM’s plans to build a casino in Bridgeport; UNITE HERE already has contracts and neutrality agreements with MGM in Nevada, Maryland, and Massachusetts. Proto has served since 1999 as president of the Greater New Haven Central Labor Council, and in 2004, he was elected an international vice-president of UNITE HERE. Proto offered no criticism for his opponent. “I look at this as an exercise in democracy,” he said of the election. “My only opponent is Yale.”
CHRISTOPHER PEAK PHOTOS
Proto outside polls with campaign team: Ken Lomme, Laura Kennington, Michael Dowd, Tyisha Walker, Dave White, Barbara Vereen, Rich Esposito.
Shirley Lawrence, a pantry worker and community organizer, has been a visible UNITE HERE activist for decades in New Haven, since first being hired at Yale in 1989. For half that time, she traveled across the country to restructure unions in distress. “My job was to identify people that had the potential to be leaders, train them on issues that press them the most, help the strategize, stand up for their rights and win,” she said. That experience taught her to be “inclusive,” she added. Why did Lawrence decide to run? “It’s time for a change,” she said. She said her supporters “just want a union where they feel their voices are being heard. They just want fairness across the university, at all levels.” Lawrence cited members’ complaints about reassignments, particularly after Commons closed in July and dining-hall workers competed for spots in Yale’s two new residential colleges. On Wednesday afternoon, as rainfilled clouds gathered overhead, both candidates made their respective pitches “results” vs. “change” to
members on the corner outside Commons. The candidates taped their signs over a calendar of musical events, passed out literature and glad-handed with voters. Tyisha Walker, president of the Board of Alders and a Local 35 official, said she supported Proto because she felt the union was “headed in the right direction” under his leadership. Another city alder and Local 35 official, Brian Wingate, accompanied Proto to gatherings with members this week. Ken Lomme, another canvasser for the incumbent, praised Proto’s track record. “If I was fired today, who would I want to represent me?” he asked. “He’s the most experienced person we could have.” He suggested that, in a big union, some of his colleagues might have felt disconnected. As a shop steward, he said, hell ramp up communication with his members to make sure nobody felt “shunned or disgruntled.” Robert Bublitz, a power plant worker, said that while Proto’s done “very well” representing him, he planned to vote for Lawrence to make the union more democratic. “[A challenger] shakes it up,” Bublitz argued. “If you’re not in fear of losing your job,
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do you do as good of a job? Competition is healthy to make things real.” At 4:45 p.m., when the polls closed, union members carried out locked, sealed ballot boxes from the four polling locations: Commons, Kline Biology Tower, the School of Medicine and West Campus. Tallying by hand, with monitors from the two campaigns looking over their shoulders, the election committee counted up ballots for an hour and a half. When totals were read at the union hall at 6:30 p.m., a round of applause could be heard out on College Street. After receiving the news, Proto said he intended to “prepare this bargaining unit to hold onto this [high] standard” during his next term. To him, that meant laying out the history of the union’s organizing, aimed at younger members who haven’t seen a walkout. “The dynamic of ongoing peaceful contracts [means] that a lot of folks think the standard just is given to them: ‘This is the way Yale pays, these are the benefits.’ They need to understand the fact that from agreement to agreement, it’s fragile, and that we expect Yale to look at ways to possibly reduce the standards we’ve achieved,
in the future,” he said. “We have to be prepared.” Lawrence, meanwhile, said she felt “really good” about the vote. “I stepped up to the challenge; they voted for the incumbent,” she said. “At least they know now, you’ve got a voice; you can use it. And guess what? On this day, everybody listened.” Asked if she’d run again, she said that the “opportunity is always there,” but she added that she doesn’t hold any grudges. “I’ll always be a union member,” she said. Another round of counting lasted until 9:45 p.m., when the new executive board was also announced. Out of the 10 names on the ballot, the top eight vote-getters who’ll nab a spot were: Rich Esposito (407), Michael Dowd (403), Michael Boyd (386), Sal DeLucia (378), Ken Lomme (335), Joe Antinucci (324), Nadian Moore (303) and Len Malonis (291). This was the second time in less than a week that a challenger took on a veteran city labor leader. Malinda Figueroa unseated four-term incumbent Cherlyn Poindexter last Friday to become president of AFSCME Local 3144, city government’s management and professional union.
“Steel Magnolias”
THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
Co-Op High Changes The Faces Of by ALLAN APPEL
New Haven Independent
The male director didn’t know much about the culture of beauty parlors in general, and even less about black women’s salons and their hairstyles and how you use hot tools to achieve those big hairdos popular in the distant past of the 1980s. The actors—all teenagers—had never operated such an ancient device as a rotary telephone and honestly didn’t know which button to push to send the call. Most also had never seen an oldfashioned coffee table ashtray. So Co-Op Arts and Humanities High School teacher/director Rob Esposito, his six young actors, and the supporting crew taught each other. The result is an affecting production of Steel Magnolias, the moving, funny 1987 play about six Southern women whose refuge to be themselves, without bothersome men around, is a Louisiana beauty parlor. It’s up for a short run this week at Co-Op High Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 25 and 26, at 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., with tickets available both at the box office or by booking in advance at this website. Esposito, who’s directed hundreds of plays in his long career at the school, put Steel Magnolias way high on his list of “guilty pleasures.” It’s a plays he’d always wanted to bring to life perhaps for personal, nostalgic, even goofy reasons. However, because most school productions need to pro-
ALLAN APPEL PHOTO
Victoria Johnson as Truvy cuts the hair of Lauryn Darden, as Clairee, in rehearsal.
vide roles for lots of kids, this sixhander was never possible. Up to now. To his surprise, when Esposito submitted the proposal to the school’s play selection committee, it was accepted right away and rehearsals began at the start of the school year. When the results of the all-school audition process played out, the six
best actors for the roles turned out all to be all minority young women, five African-American and one Latina. They completely connected to the voices and world of the six white women who gather regularly in Truvy Jones’s beauty parlor in Chinquapin Parish, Louisiana to cheer on their marriages, careers, family life, and, toward the end of the play, comfort and support each other at the death of one of their number. Senior creative writing major Lauryn Darden, who plays Clairee, a wealthy lady who has her hair done at the parlor, said in her own writing and in her writing heroes, like Spike Lee, she admires “social injustice stories, anything to do with empowering women. That’s why I like Steel Magnolias I feel it’s women’s voices telling stories of women.” This devil’s-advocate reporter pointed out that a lot of the humor of the play comes from the one-after-theother one-liners and quick repartee of the dialogue, much of which is often the women being nitpicky about each other’s manners and choices. This material could be interpreted as the opposite of empowering. Darden didn’t disagree. However, she asserted that even all that banter, petty as it sometimes can be, in the
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absence of men, is empowering. “It’s the freedom of expressing, even if it’s a complaint. There’s power in the simple expression,” she said. Darden also described the world of the beauty parlor as a kind of comfort zone of “no judgment,” in spite of the jokey criticisms. “If a man judges a woman, his intentions are always negative,” she added. Not so in the beauty parlor of Steel Magnolias. Director Esposito didn’t weigh in on that particular point, but he and his actors wanted to be sure the sense of women’s power they all agree is at the heart of the play would not be diminished because of the casting. The play, written for six white women in the South, now features AfricanAmerican women. And an AfricanAmerican beauty parlor is not the same as one for whites. You do your hair differently, as the women in the cast and crew fairly quickly schooled their director in. “All the girls had stories to tell about being burned by hot combs,” Esposito said, referring to the curling iron, combs, and other “hot tools” you find for hair styling in a black salon. The parents of one crew member contributed an actual set of hot tools, along with early space-age looking
hair dryers that now enliven a fantastically yellow, green, loudly beautiful set. That was only the beginning of suggestions, along with contributions of props from cast and crew members and their families. Stage Manager Briana Bellinger has two aunts in their 90s living in New Haven, who, she knew, had copies of African-American magazines like Ebony and Jet from the 1960s carrying cover stories about the assassination of Martin Luther King and other red-letter events in American history, of special significance to African-Americans. The beauty parlor at Co-Op High now has photocopies of some of those rare magazines on the wall from Bellinger’s two great aunts, Bessie Duncan, 98, and Harriet Davis, 93. The great aunts were happy to lend the magazines, but they made Bellinger promise to return the originals completely intact or “I would get it,” Bellinger reported. Because so much of the physical action in the beauty parlor is one actor fixing the hair of another, another of Co-Op’s recent graduates, now a professional stylist, came in and mentored the actors on how to do it the right way, in the style of the 1980s. “We went over the teasing. There was big hair in black salons, but no [actual] teasing [of the hair],” Bellinger added. And where in several places in the script the beauty parlor talk brings up gorgeous hair icons of the 1980s, like Princess Grace Kelly, Esposito’s female crew and the cast came up with appropriate substitues: great black hair icons, like Whitney Houston, among others. Shelby, the about-to-be-married young woman beauty parlor client, has a diabetic fade-out in one of the chairs; complications of diabetes and pregnancy lead to — spoiler alert — the tragedy at the end of the comedy. The crew also had available another student who manages her own diabetes to explain what happens during diabetic seizure so the actors would handle that realistically. “It’s not about shaking, it’s more about being spaced out,” Esposito reported. Clearly thrilled that one of his lifelong guilty pleasures is being brought to life, and uniquely so, Esposito concluded: “The actors are all finding their truths.” By that he meant far more than truths about hair.
Guerrilla “Bust-Op” Rides On THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
by BRIAN SLATTERY & LUCY GELLMAN New Haven Independent
A downtown bus stop became a “BustOp” for a day and sparked conversations about breast cancer awareness despite a city government effort to shut it down. A standoff ensued, pitting rules-minded city government against a socialminded art. The standoff occurred Friday at the bus shelter at the corner of Chapel and College Streets on the Green. Local artist, musician, organizer, and provocateur Bill Saunders had turned the bus shelter into a pop-up gallery show calleed “Bust Op” with his paintings of women — in some cases, more accurately, women’s breasts. The exhibit was aimed at increasing awareness about breast cancer; a few of the subjects of the paintings were, in fact, breast cancer survivors. One was a ca-
BRIAN SLATTERY PHOTO
“Bust Op” on the Green, defying government orders.
sualty. Passersby took a look, talked with
Saunders offered their support. Except for one passerby. At about
12:30 p.m., city Transportation, Traffic & Parking Deputy Director Michael Pinto stopped by the exhibition. “Take it down, Bill,” he ordered. “Please hear me out,” Saunders said. “When’s it coming down?” Pinto said. He said that his concern didn’t originate in the exhibition itself, so much as the lack of explanatory materials outside of the bus stop. From the street, he explained, it just looked like larger-than-life portraits of breasts. “Go in and experience the content,” Saunders said. He also suggested that he was exercising his freedom of speech. “This is an open, public space it’s for the public!” Pinto suggested that Saunders needed a permit, which he did not have. Saunders explained that he was planning to have the paintings up until only 5 p.m. Pinto suggested 2:30 p.m. Saunders insisted on 5 p.m. “I’m not kowtowing to this,” he said.
Pinto suggested that he might call for backup. Saunders said that calling the cops was fine with him. As Pinto walked back up Chapel Street, he declined to comment to the press. “The city has to do its job,” he said. Pinto left. More passersby stopped and lingered. “Just to walk by, it looks like a bunch of breasts,” a woman said. “But now that you explain it, it makes sense. This is awareness,” she said. “It’s really awareness,” Saunders agreed. “A lot of people need to be aware of it,” the woman continued. “See what it does to people. Downtown New Haven, there are a lot of black women who aren’t aware they have breast cancer. White women, they know.” “Don’t Call Me Baby” Friday’s “Bust Op” exhibition was a natural evolution of “Don’t Call Me Baby,” Saunders’s July 2015 ex-
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THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
The Black Renaissance Is Real: HBCUs See Record Growth in 2017 by Jason Johnson, The Root (as posted at The Afro)
Last week I went to Howard University’s homecoming, and like Deon Cole, Chance the Rapper and Malia Obama at the 2012 inauguration, I was reminded that once you see he bands stomping, the music playing and the quad popping, you know that nobtody throws a party like an HBCU. n between panels on the future of HBCUs and the Golden Era: ’80s and ’90s party (flannel and throwback jerseys in full effect), I noticed something in the various Instagram and Facebook posts from friends at Morehouse and Spelman colleges, not to mention Texas Southern University and Morgan State, last weekend. These crowds are getting bigger. New dorms are being thrown up. And you meet more and more transfer students. HBCUs across the country are experiencing record-breaking incoming classes and transfer numbers. The question is, why did his happen, and how can we keep the party going? The negative narrative on HBCUs has been stuck on repeat for almost 40 years. The schools peaked in the 1970s (pdf), but integration into predominantly white institutions, federal funding discrimination, financial mismanagement and administrations that make the DMV look efficient plagued what were once the crown jewels of black academic and cultural achievement. In fact, if you type “crisis” and “HBCU” into Google, you get hits for days. However, the narrative
no longer matches up to the facts. North Carolina A&T, the largest HBCU in America, posted a record-breaking incoming class of 2,300 students this fall, giving A&T its largest student population ever. Kentucky State saw a 162 percent increase in its freshman class from summer to fall registration. Spelman College saw first-time applications jump from just over 5,000 in 2015 to over 8,000 for the 2017 fall semester, on top of a record 47 transfer students.
HBCUs that had been posting losses for years saw their numbers jump, too. Virginia State University’s incoming Class of 2017 is 1,139 students, a 50 percent increase over just two years ago; and Elizabeth City State posted its first net growth for incoming freshmen in seven years. And these aren’t the only schools. Top tier to bottom tier, HBCUs have seen double-digit increases in their freshman enrollments in the last two years: 49 percent at Shaw University, 22 percent at
Dillard, 39 percent at Tuskegee and 32 percent at South Carolina State. Why are black students suddenly coming to HBCUs again in droves? “They want to be on a campus where they’re valued and appreciated,” Tiffany Nelson, director of admissions at Spelman College in Atlanta, told The Root. She notes that the whole attitude toward HBCUs has been changing among high school students who are making college choices. Whereas maybe even a decade
cial equality and criminal justice reform as “Black Identity Extremists,” who pose a domestic terrorist threat to police officers. Hold up! We have seen domestic terror threats, though there are those of limited intelligence, who cannot fathom them. The man who shot up an Orlando, Florida nightclub was a domestic terrorist. Dylan Roof, who worshipped with the parishioners at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. then murdered nine of them, was a domestic terrorist so highly regarded by law enforcement, that they bought him a meal from Burger King. The man I will not mention in Las Vegas was a domestic terrorist, but the FBI is manufacturing evidence to focus on African Americans, who embrace our Black identity and social activism. “Foreign Policy,” the magazine and website that broke the story of this
new classification of “woke” Black people, shared the FBI document online that links Black identity with extremism and threats to police officers. The document mentions Black Lives Matter, although the connection between Black Lives Matter and anti-police violence has not been established. For the FBI to identify “Black Identity Extremists” (BIE) as domestic terrorists is to declare war on Black people. After all, what does it mean to be a “Black Identity Extremist?” Does it mean we love our Blackness and refuse to back down when we are attacked? Does it mean that we revel in our identity and use every available platform (thank you, Colin Kaepernick) to lift our voices up against injustice? Why is this embrace of Blackness so frightening to melanin-deficient people? They prefer us silent, docile, grateful and acquiescent. They demand no such
acquiescence from their melaninimpaired friends, who gleefully walk through civilized streets of places like Charlottesville and parry racist chants like “You will not replace us, Jews will not replace us!” That’s domestic terrorism, Beauregard. Call it like it is, instead of inventing a Black movement that does not exist. Andrew Cohen wrote about the FBI report for the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University and said that “there is no “BIE movement,” because it only exists in the barren minds of those within the Trump Administration that want you to believe that there is some sinister, Black force out there bent on attacking police officers. No journalists or academics have discovered and chronicled such a movement or its leaders. No such leaders have come forward to say they are a part of such a movement. No one has killed a cop in the
ago some African-American students, especially those whose socioeconomic status gave them options, would pass up HBCUs as “black schools” that wouldn’t prepare them for the “real world,” now, according to Nelson, “They’re walking up to the [college recruiting] table before we even say anything.” HBCUs have always played a role in lifting up African-American students who may not come out of the best schools, investing in our community in ways that PWIs may dismiss or deride, but this trend speaks to a more fundamental change in how African Americans are viewing college education. According to several administrators and parents I spoke with, black students are no longer simply choosing between going to the University of Maryland, College Park, and Morgan State University, state institution to state institution. They’re choosing Howard over Penn State; they’re choosing Spelman instead of Stanford. HBCUs are no longer just safety schools, or options for only “certain kids”; they have become viable, equal options in the eyes of the student-parent educational consumer team, even in comparison with seemingly untouchable “elite” institutions. “A lot of it is just cost,” said Jessica Johnson, head of the Scholarship Academy, a decade-old nonprofit that trains students and parents on how to develop a sustainable scholarship plan for going to college. Johnson herself is a bit
Did the FBI Just Declare War on Black People? By Julianne Malveaux, NNPA Newswire Columnist
While White men are beating Black men on the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, while a “lone” White wolf is shooting people from the Mandalay Bay Hotel, and while the word “terrorist” is hardly used to describe these men, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), under the leadership of the racist Attorney General Jeff Beauregard Sessions, has thought up a new way to oppress Black people. Despite the fact that there is no evidence of an organized “movement,” the FBI has described Black people that have rallied for ra-
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name of such a movement. The only citations to the movement, Foreign Policy tells us, come from “internal law enforcement writings made over the past two months.” Journalist Sam Fulwood III, writing for the Center for American Progress Action Fund news site ThinkProgress.com, described the FBI report as an “ominous siren call coinciding with President Donald Trump’s penchant for stoking racial divisions in the country.” He says that “the administration views criminalizing communities of color as a way to shield police from scrutiny and score points with a base of White voters.” We’ve walked down this path before. We can start with Marcus Garvey, who dared to dream of Black independence and paid a horrible price for it. Fast forward to the Nation of Con’t on page 17
THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
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THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
Colin KaapernickHas Reportedly Signed a $1 Million Book Deal
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nation. But his protesting was silently done in the form of kneeling, and soon after, many other NFL players were inspired to do the same. The protest has inspired a popular hashtag #takethekneel, and has even become the topic of several controversial tweets sent out by President Donald Trump himself. Meanwhile, Colin has remained unemployed with the NFL since initiating the protest, and he has recently filed a grievance against the NFL accusing team owners of colluding to keep him out of the league. Pursuing his goals as an entrepreneur, Colin is also selling merchandise bearing his name, slogans, and messages via his official web site at www. kaepernick7.com
NFL quarterback turned civil rights activist, Colin Kaepernick, is not playing professional football right now, but he has found another way to generate revenue. He reportedly has been offered $1 million by one of Random House’s imprints, One World, to publish a book. This is the same publishing company that has previously published books by Jay-Z, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and other notables in the African American community. Colin’s new book, however, has not yet been given a title, but no doubt, it will be about his heroic actions that have brought nationwide attention to the injustices that African Americans have to deal. Last year, Colin began protesting during the national anthem to highlight police brutality and systemic discrimi-
Giant Steps TV Show — America’s First Jazz Sitcom Launches on Amazon
New York, NY — Giant Steps, a new sitcom starring three very accomplished Black jazz musicians, has just been released on Amazon Prime. Dubbed “America’s First Jazz Sitcom,” Giant Steps, which is shot in Harlem, is an old-school comedy in the spirit of Sanford and Son and stars legendary bassist Mickey Bass, Duke Ellington Orchestra alum and creator Gregory Charles Royal, and Ms. Lauryn Hill’s saxophonist Brent Birckhead. “In the tradition of Black creativity, where we always find a way to express ourselves in fresh ways, the sitcom format allows us to hit America with jazz in a brand new flavor,” says Royal. Giant Steps centers around three older guys: Mickey, the legendary bassist, his longtime student Chuckie, and Mickey’s best friend and manager Manny, who share a Harlem apartment where, as the tagline states, “Every day is a rollercoaster”. Their arch rival is a young braggadocious sax player named Brent, who thinks the old cats need to step aside and let some new blood into the game. The unique nature of the show allows the main actors to actually perform, something that has never been attempted in modern television and a tradition lost from the early movies of Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and others.
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The aspect of the musician-actors is not a coincidence, as it is the primary mission of its creator Gregory Charles Royal, who has championed the concept with his organizations New York Jazz Film Festival and American Youth Symphony. “Just like Def Comedy Jam did with comedians, jazz musicians need to also adapt and branch
out into the current mediums of the 21st century,” says Royal. The first season is a 3-part episodic titled ‘April Fools Jazz’ and can be viewed free with an Amazon Prime membership. Royal hopes that an African American outlet such as a Bounce or a BET will see the value in the programming to produce season two.
THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017 Con’t from page 14
War on Black People?
Islam, the Black Panther Party, and so many others identified as “enemies of the state.” J. Edgar Hoover submitted a five-line request to get Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s phone lines tapped, because he was an alleged Communist. Was Dr. King perceived as a “Black Identity Extremist,” because he preached about economic justice for all “and” for the rights of Black people? The FBI report said that the “Black Identity Extremist” movement began after a Ferguson, Missouri police officer unnecessarily killed Michael Brown. Andrew Cohen noted that the FBI report listed six cases where socalled BIE perpetrators killed police officers. These cases were so isolated, that if these men had been White, they would have been classified, as Dylan Roof was, as mentally ill or troubled, and handed a Happy Meal from McDonald’s. Instead, the FBI figured out another way to demonize Black people. Meanwhile, according to The Washington Post, 180 Black people have
been shot and killed by police, so far, this year. Six instances of BIE folks allegedly (do we know they are BIE, or just crazy) killing police officers is a pattern, but 173 Black folks being shot by police officers is what? Business as usual? This so-called BIE nonsense is diabolically racist and pathologically creative. It suggests that any Black person, who has issues with socalled law enforcement is suspect. I stand with my people, who choose to protest ignorance, ugliness and nonsense. Those who embrace their Black identity are not terrorists; we are healthily self-confident. We are at risk, as we have always been, when injustice prevails. Julianne Malveaux is an author, economist and founder of Economic Education. Her latest book, “Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy,” is available to order at Amazon.com and at www. juliannemalveaux.com. Follow Dr. Malveaux on Twitter @drjlastword.
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10/24/17 4:34 PM
THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
GEN. KELLY IS NOT MAN ENOUGH TO APOLOGIZE TO REP. WILSON Oscar H. Blayton, Attorney At Law, Williamsburg, VA It is not easy to admit when you are wrong. But the mark of the character of a man is when he can do so. A man who cannot, or will not, apologize when he is in the wrong is not a real man no matter how many ribbons are pinned to his chest. On Oct. 19, Gen. John Kelly, Donald Trump’s chief of staff, publicly made an erroneous statement about U.S. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson. The statement was meant to show her in a poor light and to damage her credibility. But the statement was factually incorrect and did more to damage the public perception of John Kelly than Congresswoman Wilson. This incident arose from a botched condolence call from Donald Trump to the widow of La David Johnson, a Green Beret soldier killed in action the week before. The story was
in the headlines for over a week until reporters and pundits began focusing on more recent events to serve to their viewers and readers. But John Kelly’s role and the subsequent ugliness that unfolded should not be so easily forgotten or dismissed. Kelly, often characterized by White House observers as one of the “adults in the room,” is thought by many to be a stabilizing influence within the Trump Administration. But his recent actions have proven that he is infected with the foolishness and dishonesty that hangs around Donald Trump like an odorous fog. For starters, Kelly used his white privilege to assert who is and is not allowed to be with a grieving family while they mourn the loss of a loved who has fallen in combat. Knowing nothing of the relationship between La David Johnson’s family and Congresswoman Wilson, the former Marine general dictated that the congresswoman was not worthy to accompany the fallen soldier’s family at their time of distress. The optics of a white man, who knew nothing of a Black soldier who was killed in action or his family relationships, believing himself to have the competence to vette that sol-
dier’s friends and family raises a great deal of resentment within the Black community. The unmitigated gall of General Kelly to attempt to assert such authority is disgusting and illustrates in yet another way how many white Americans believe they can control every aspect of Black folks’ lives. But this bit of Kelly’s presumptuousness is not the extent of his bad behavior. After having clearly made himself to appear the fool by trying to
regulate who could and could not grieve with the Johnson family, he then took it upon himself to attack a member of Congress who has a close relationship with La David Johnson’s family. This attack took the form of inferring that Congresswoman Wilson is a liar and an “empty barrel;” the latter term being one he has claimed his mother used to refer to individuals with little or no substance. In order to give weight to his accusations against Congresswoman Wilson, Kelly
purported to give witness to an incident where the Congresswoman falsely took credit for having secured the funds necessary to construct an FBI building. Soon after Kelly claimed to have witnessed this incident, it was proven not to have happened. Kelly was wrong, and he had given false witness against Congresswoman Wilson in a very public way. The facts surrounding John Kelly’s lie are well known and need not be detailed at length here. But what needs to be pointed out is that nearly a week after having been proven a liar, John Kelly refuses to apologize to Congresswoman Wilson for blatantly bearing false witness against her in an effort to besmirch her character. There is only one way to explain Kelly’s behavior. John Kelly is not man enough to apologize to Congresswoman Wilson. He is either too dishonest or too weak to do so. It may be that he is too dishonest to admit that he clearly lied in an attempt injure Congresswoman Wilson’s reputation or it may be the case that he is too weak to stand up to a twisted and despicable boss who pressures him to stick to his lie. In either case, Kelly’s behavior is not the behavior of a real man.
Congresswoman Wilson is a long time African affairs expert By Joseph Hammond, Urban News Service
Most Americans had not heard of Rep. Frederika Wilson until she accused President Trump of making insensitive remarks in a condolence call to the widow of an American soldier killed in Niger. But her connection to the military’s often secretive work in work in Niger came as little surprise to intelligence officers who know the Florida Congresswoman as a long-time supporter of U.S. counter-terrorism missions in Africa. Since her election to the House in 2010, Wilson has become one of the staunchest advocates for U.S. support in the fight against the jihadist group Boko Haram. In an exclusive interview with the Urban News Service days before the attack in Niger, she said she is especially concerned about the threats Boko Haram and other terrorist groups could pose to America’s homeland. “What you are going to see is little black boys in communities that Boko Haram will [target by] sending people in to change the
trajectory of what’s happening in our inner cities and they too will become terrorists,” she said. African security has long been an issue for the congresswoman. Wilson was part of the first congressional delegation to go into another African country, Nigeria, after Boko Haram
abducted 276 girls in 2014 from a school in the town of Chibok, stirring international outrage and inspiring the social media hashtag #bringbackourgirls. Boko Haram has released many of the girls, but 113 remain missing. In a Facebook posting following the death of four Americans soldiers in
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Niger at the hands of Islamic terrorist on Oct. 3., Wilson framed their losses as part of a larger struggle against Boko Haram and Da’esh (ISIS) in Africa. She also noted that she had sponsored a successful piece of legislation which directs the United States to aid Nigeria and its neighboring countries, including Niger, in developing a five-year strategy to fight Boko Haram. Although that legislation did not call for a direct role for American troops. She has outlined financial moves and controversial arms sales as moves the Trump administration could take to help Nigeria. “We have money in our banks that was confiscated from Nigeria - its dirty money and it’s now up to us to return the money to the Nigerian government so they can use the money to help international displaced people,” she said. “There are thousands of them who have been rooted from their homes because of Boko Haram.” Like insurgencies around the world, Boko Haram’s ability to launch raids in one country and seek safety in another has made the group especially difficult to confront. Wilson stressed that U.S. must
make sure “that the Multinational Joint Task Forces that we put in place is working with Chad, Niger and Nigeria and make sure it’s working and make sure they can cross boundary lines to chase Boko Haram.” The congresswoman has also supported the controversial sale of warplanes to Nigeria a stance that contrasted sharply with some in her own party. Nigeria has long sought to purchase a dozen Super Tucano A-29 aircraft for its use in its campaign against Boko Haram. The propeller plane is produced by Brazil and the United States and is designed for counter-insurgency operations and aerial reconnaissance. The Obama administration initially approved a sale of the aircraft to Nigeria, but put it hold in January after the Nigerian air force mistakenly bombed a refugee camp along the NigerianCameroonian frontier that killed 115 people and 100 people injured. The Trump administration approved the sale this summer. The sale has proved controversy for Con’t on page 22
THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
ARTS FUNDING NEIGHBORHOOD CULTURAL VITALITY GRANT
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grant DEADLINES Letter of Intent: November 22 | Application: December 20 MORE INFO/APPLICATION: 203.946.7172 UPCOMING INFORMATION SESSIONS Nov. 1 - Mitchell Library. 5:00pm. Nov. 8 - Wilson Library. 5:00pm. Nov. 9 - Fair Haven Library. 5:30pm. Nov. 13 - Ives (Main) Library. 5:30pm. Nov. 14 - Stetson Library. 5:00pm.
Questions about your bill? Yale New Haven Hospital is pleased to offer patients and their families financial counseling regarding their hospital bills or the availability of financial assistance, including free care funds. By appointment, patients can speak one-on-one with a financial counselor during regular business hours. For your convenience, extended hours are available once a month. Date: Monday, November 20 Time: 5 - 7 pm Location: Children’s Hospital, 1 Park St., 1st Floor, Admitting Parking available (handicapped accessible) An appointment is necessary. Please call 203-688-2046. Spanish-speaking counselors available.
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THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport Invitation for Bid (IFB) Three Tab Roof Replacements at Various Sites Solicitation Number: 093-PD-17-S The Housing Authority of the City of Bridgeport d/b/a Park City Communities (PCC) is requesting sealed bids for Roof Replacements at Various Sites. A complete set of the plans and technical specifications will be available on October 23, 2017. To obtain a copy of the solicitation you must send your request to bids@parkcitycommunities.org, please reference solicitation number and title on the subject line. A MANDATORY pre-bid conference will be held at 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604 on November 8, 2017 @ 10:00 a.m., submitting a bid for the project without attending conference is not in the best interest of the Offeror. Additional questions should be emailed only to bids@parkcitycommunities.org no later than November 20, 2017 @ 3:00 p.m. Answers to all the questions will be posted on PCC’s Website: www.parkcitycommunities.org. All bids must be received by mailed or hand delivered by December 7, 2017 @ 2:00 PM, to Ms. Caroline Sanchez, Sr. Contract Specialist, 150 Highland Ave, Bridgeport, CT 06604, at which time and place all bids will be publicly opened and read aloud. No bids will be accepted after the designated time.
Experienced Construction Laborer Position requires a minimum of 2 years experience in general construction work. Competitive salary and benefits available. Must hold a current OSHA 10 certificate to apply for job and a current valid CT driver’s license. Position requires taking and passing a drug test/ background check. To apply send resume to TadeMarkLLC@att.net. Women & Minority applicants are encouraged to apply. Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Employer
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**
Public Notice The Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) hereby announces its 49 CFR Part 26 Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) plans related to FAA-assisted contracts for professional services and construction projects for federal fiscal years 2017-2019 for Bradley International and federal fiscal years 2018-2020 for the five General Aviation Airports. The proposed plan, which includes the 3-year goal and rationale, is available for inspection between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday at Bradley International Airport, Administration Office, Terminal A, 3rd Floor, Windsor Locks, CT 06096 or on CAA’s website http://www.ctairports.org, the Bradley International Airport website http://www. bradleyairport.com for 30 days from the date of this publication. Comments on the DBE goal will be accepted for 45 days from the date of availability of this notice and can be sent to the following: Laurie A. Sirois Manager of Grants, Procurement and Insurance Programs Connecticut Airport Authority Bradley International Airport Administration Office Terminal A, 3rd Floor Windsor Locks, CT 06096 lsirois@ctairports.org
or
Mr. Thomas Knox DBE & ACDBE Compliance Specialist FAA Western-Pacific Regional Office Los Angeles, CA 90009-2007 thomas.knox@faa.gov
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 RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.
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.
Project Manager Environmental Remediation Division 3-5 years exp. and Bachelor’s Degree, 40-Hr. Hazwoper Training Req. Forward resumes to RED Technologies, LLC, 10 Northwood Dr., Bloomfield, CT 06002;
Fax 860.218.2433; or Email to HR@redtechllc.com
RED Technologies, LLC is an EOE.
Class A CDL Driver
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.
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.
Proposal documents can be viewed and printed at www.
norwalkha.org<http://www.norwalkha.org> under the Business section RFP’s/RFQ’s 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/.
Wait list Coventry Housing Authority is accepting applications for its Section 8 Elderly/Disabled housing until November 30, 2017. To qualify, you must be either 62 years of age or disabled. Annual income limit is $19,250 (one person) & $22,000 (two people). Interested parties may pick up an application at the Coventry Housing Authority, 1630 Main St., Coventry, CT, or have one mailed. Completed applications must be returned no later than 3 p.m. on November 30, 2017. For more information call 860-742-5518.
Wait list Coventry Housing Authority is accepting applications for its State Elderly/Disabled housing until November 30, 2017. To qualify, you must be either 62 years of age or disabled. Annual income limit is $47,600 (one person) & $54,400 (two people). Interested parties may pick up an application at the Coventry Housing Authority, 1630 Main St., Coventry, CT, or have one mailed. Completed applications must be returned no later than 3 p.m. on November 30, 2017. For more information call 860-742-5518.
Certified Police Officer
The Town of Wallingford is currently accepting applications for current Connecticut P.O.S.T.C Certified Police Officers. Applicants must be active P.O.S.T.C Certified Police Officers in good standing with their current department, or have retired in good standing, still having a current certification status with P.O.S.T.C. This Process will consist of Written, Oral, Polygraph, Psychological, Medical Exam, and Background Investigation. The Town of Wallingford offers a competitive pay rate $62,753.60$ 74,963.20 annually. Application deadline will be November 9, 2017 Apply: Personnel Department, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main St., Wallingford, CT. phone: (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**********
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THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
The Town of East Haven
is currently accepting applications from qualified candidates to participate in the Civil Service Examination for the following positions: General Clerk Grade Level 10: $39,421/year. Requires a high school diploma or equivalent and 2 years’ experience in office work of a responsible nature. Must be computer literate.
Accountant I: $58,366.44/year.
A Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting plus 2 years of experience required. Candidates bilingual in Spanish are encouraged to apply. The town offers an excellent benefit package. Applications to participate in the examination are available at The Civil Service Office, 250 Main Street, East Haven CT or online at http://www.townofeasthavenct.org/civiltest.shtml.
The deadline for submission is November 3, 2107
The Town of East Haven is committed to building a workforce of diverse individuals. Minorities, Females, Handicapped and Veterans 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:
http://www.cfgnh.org/About/ContactUs/EmploymentOpportunities.aspx EOE
The Glendower Group, Inc
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
Assistant Facilities Manager Common Ground seeks an Assistant Facilities Manager/Custodian to be responsible for the care, upkeep and maintenance of Common Ground’s facilities. The Assistant Facilities Manager/Custodian will supervise part time custodial staff. This is a full time, year round 40-hour per week position with benefits. Work hours will generally run from noon until 8 pm with some weekend hours required. For a more detailed job description and how to apply, please visit http:// commongroundct.org/2017/10/common-ground-seeks-an-assistant-facilitiesmanager/Common Ground seeks an Assistant Facilities Manager/Custodian to be responsible for the care, upkeep and maintenance of Common Ground’s facilities. The Assistant Facilities Manager/Custodian will supervise part time custodial staff. This is a full time, year round 40-hour per week position with benefits. Work hours will generally run from noon until 8 pm with some weekend hours required. For a more detailed job description and how to apply, please visit http://commongroundct.org/2017/10/common-ground-seeks-an-assistantfacilities-manager/
Construction Truck and Equipment Head Mechanic
Large CT based Fence and Guard Rail contractor looking for experienced, self-motivated, responsible Head Mechanic. Responsibilities will include maintaining and repairing all company equipment and vehicles, updating asset lists and assuring all rolling stock is in compliance with state and federal regulations. Must have extensive diesel engine, electrical wiring and hydraulic systems experience. Top wages paid, company truck and benefits. AA/EOE
Please send resume to Mpicard@atlasoutdoor.com
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.
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
ELM CITY COMMUNITIES Invitation for Bids
Snow Removal ServicesWestville Manor and 295 Wilmot Road The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is currently seeking Bids for Snow Removal ServicesWestville Manor and 295 Wilmot Road. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Wednesday, November 1, 2017 at 3:00PM
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.
!
FY 2017 State of Connecticut Low-Income (80%) Limit (LIL) 1 person
2 person
3 person
4 person
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.
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!
Union Company seeks: Tractor Trailer Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction Equipment. Must have a CDL License, clean driving record, capable of operating heavy equipment; be willing to travel throughout the Northeast & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits Invitation for Bids Phone: Contact: Dana Briere Email: Snow860-243-2300 Removal ServicesValley dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com and Waverly Townhouse Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply The Housing Authority ofAction/ the City ofEqual New Haven d/b/a Elm City ComAffirmative Opportunity munities is currently seekingEmployer Bids for Snow Removal Services-Valley and Waverly Townhouses. A complete copy of the requirement may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Wednesday, November 1, 2017 at 3:00PM
ELM CITY COMMUNITIES
s
GARRITY ASPHALT RECLAIMING , INC Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks: Reclaimer Operators and Milling Operators with current licensing and clean driving record. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits Contact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860243-2300 Email: rick.tousignant@garrityasphalt.com Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming Inc Employer
seeks: Construction Equipment Mechanic preferably experienced in Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory Garrity Reclaiming Inc trainingAsphalt on equipment we operate. seeks: Construction Equipment Mechanic Location: Bloomfield CT preferably in Reclaiming and Contact:experienced James Burke Phone: 860Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory 243-2300 training on equipment we operate. email: jim.burke@garrityasphalt.com 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 Company seeks: Tractor Trailer heavy equipment; be willing to travel Driver for Heavy & Highway Construction throughout the Northeast & 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 & excellent benefits Women & Minority Applicants 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 November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
Public Schools Are More Segregated than They Were 40 Years Ago
By Rushern Baker, County Executive, Prince Georges County, Md.
On November 4, 1952, Dr. Helen Kenyon addressed the Women’s Society of Riverside Church in New York City and opined that, “Eleven o’clock Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. often paraphrased the quote. Today, sadly, our public schools best reflect Dr. Kenyon’s and Dr. King’s sentiment as the most segregated place in America. The rampant re-segregation of American public schools poses a greater threat to the trajectory of America’s progress than terrorism, nuclear proliferation, and Russian meddling in our elections. Sixty-two years after Brown v. Board, the GAO (Government Accountability Office) reported that from the years 2000-2014, both the percentage of K-12 public schools in high-poverty and the percentage of African American and Hispanic students enrolled in public schools more than doubled, and the percentage of all schools with so-called racial or socioeconomic isolation grew from 9 percent to 16 percent. Research shows that racial and socioeconomic diversity in our classrooms leads to higher than average test scores, greater college enrollment rates, and the narrowing of achievement gaps. These gains don’t just apply to poor and minority children either—every student benefits from learning and engaging with peers from different backgrounds. Despite the evidence, today our public schools are more segregated than they were 40 years ago. As an advocate for children and families, and as a public servant, who has fought for more resources for students, I believe we must act boldly to save free, high-quality public education for all. Some of the very leaders tasked with solving the negative effects from school re-segregation offer shortsighted policies that exacerbate racial and economic divisions. The ripple-effect, consequences of their misguided thinking remains the greatest policy foible of the modern era. Lazy logic behind bad policy feeds a perception that that the achievement gap exists simply, because poor and minority students learn differently than their wealthier, White peers. Rather, it is directly tied to declining enrollment, lower property values, and the dwindling resources available to tackle mounting challenges in the communities that surround underperforming public schools. The greatest irony remains that those
promoting harmful education policies use the same language of “giving every child a chance at a high-quality education” to pitch their tax-dollarpoaching and resource-pilfering experiments to desperate parents. Rather than making public education a number one priority, a HungerGames-like competition for vouchers and charter schools leaves parents and students fending for themselves. The families that lose the education lottery end up at schools with increased needs and declining resources. In Maryland, our Governor’s BOOST voucher program set aside $5 million dollars of public money to help 2,400 families pay for their child’s education. Yet, 80 percent of the families receiving these grants had children who were already enrolled in private schools. Vouchers, whose American roots can be traced back to some Southern states’ attempts to avoid integration, perpetuate segregated education and are nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt to cut off funds to public schools. It gets even worse. Some communities have simply seceded from the larger school district, as we’ve seen in Alabama and Tennessee, to keep from integrating their schools. Since 2000, the U.S. Justice Department has released 250 communities from their desegregation orders and consequently facilitated their financial and administrative se-
cession from their school districts. After all those factors lead to a dip in school performance, students and their communities are stigmatized as “failing.” Schools close. Quality of life drops; economic prospects dwindle; public safety decreases; and the cycle repeats, so that higher needs populations receive even fewer resources. I know. I’ve lived through it. It’s time to back up the big talk of “opportunity for all” with policies that don’t ask parents to compete for a few spots, but instead, make public dollars work for every child. We’ve embraced this mission in my home of Prince George’s County, Maryland where I serve as County Executive. Though we know our best days are to come, we’ve seen incredible progress: increased enrollment; higher graduation rates; an increase in innovative academic programs; and more students receiving college scholarships. The debate over how we improve public education can’t begin with statefunded segregation, which harms communities and students, especially our most vulnerable. Let’s secure our children’s futures and the future of America by making a meaningful investment in quality public schools for all. Rushern Baker, a graduate of Howard University, is the county executive in Prince George’s County, Maryland. You can follow him on Twitter at @ CountyExecBaker.
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Con’t from page 14
The Black Renaissance
of an expert—she’s one of those kids who scored over $250,000 in scholarships to pay for her four years at Howard. HBCUs are, on average, $6,000 less a year than PWIs and are, in many cases, more willing to work with students in financial distress than other institutions. Further, despite former President Barack Obama’s horrible revision of the Plus One Loan program, which harmed many HBCUs, black colleges are getting more innovative in tuition funding. Many historically black colleges and universities are starting to recruit students as early as ninth grade, and are reaching out to parents about long-term financial planning so that tuition is more affordable. “Even if the government doesn’t perform, we can and do more,” Nelson told The Root, referring to creative financial strategies that schools are starting to employ. Another large reason for the change is the cultural mood in the country. As racial hostility increases, black students are more likely to consider quality-of-life issues, not just among other students but even among faculty. “There’s this whole cultural environment that’s making HBCUs and their rich history of cultural activism more attractive,” Johnson said. This is a generation that is coming of age during the Black Lives Matter era, the #OscarsSoWhite era, the Colin Kaepernick-kneeling-for-racial-justice era. Students want to be in an environment where they can explore these ideas and be challenged, but not harassed, for speaking out. Who wants to pay $60,000 a year to live in a dorm named after a slave owner or to have to post the hashtag #ItooAmHarvard for people to realize they’re on campus? Even before President Donald Trump was elected, Dillard University President Walter Kimbrough stated on NPR that campus racial tension increased the attractiveness of historically black colleges. The Southern Poverty Law Center documented over 140 incidents of hate crimes on campuses across America in just the first 10 days after Trump was elected. That was on top of the 780 hate crimes reported on campus from 2015 to 2016. Open threats at the University of Missouri, the killing of Richard Collins III at the University of Maryland, and Charlottesville, Va., being turned into spring break for terrorists like the Ku Klux Klan make hanging out on the quad or the yard in Golden Bear, Bison or Pirate gear all the more attractive. Of course, not everything on every single HBCU campus is perfect. Not all HBCUs are equal in terms of student quality, administration or management. However, improvements have to start from somewhere, and after years of decline, with all that is happening in America, there couldn’t be a better time for black colleges to have a renaissance. Jason Johnson is a professor of politics and journalism at a historically black university, Morgan State University, in addition to being political editor at The Root.
Con’t from page 18
Congresswoman
other reasons. Two Senators Corey Booker (D- New Jersey) and Rand Paul of Kentucky (R-Nigeria) have also opposed over the concerns regarding the Nigerian government’s violent treatment of its Shia Muslim minority. “We are concerned that the decision to proceed with this sale will empower the government to backtrack even further on its commitments to human rights, accountability, and upholding international humanitarian law,” the two senators wrote in a joint letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in June. Asked about her sale of the warplanes Wilson put the issue in the context of the corruption in the former administration of President “Goodluck” Jonathan Taylor. He was defeated in 2015 elections by the current president, Muhammadu Buhari, a former military strongman who has made defeating Boko Haram a priority. Wilson expressed confidence that Bukhari had addressed corruption and other concerns that had plagued the sale in the past. “It takes a while for them to get the planes and it will take a while for Nigerian soldiers to be properly trained,” she said, [but} we should see that very soon in Nigeria.” Bukhari is potentially open to military assistance from the U.S., which then President Taylor halted in 2014. Nigeria, however, was not listed on a list of countries where U.S. forces are deployed in a letter the Trump Administration sent to congress this summer. Under Bukhari, the Nigerian military in concert with its regional allies has put Boko Haram on the defensive in Nigeria. Boko Haram first emerged in 2002 amongst disaffected members of the Kanuri tribe. Ironically the place where Boko Haram may have its best chance to regain the initiative is in Niger. The recent withdrawal of Chadian forces from Niger could mean that Boko Haram could potentially form a tactical alliance. Niger is the only country in Africa where Boko Haram, Da’esh and Al-Qaeda have all launched attacks. It remains unclear if members of AlQaeda, Da’esh (ISIS), or another terrorist group operating in Niger were responsible for the attack. A Pentagon statement linked the attack to Al-Qaeda. As of press-time, no terrorist group has taken responsibility for the deadly October 4th attack.
THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
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THE INNER-CITY NEWS November 01, 2017 - November 07, 2017
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