INNER-CITY NEWS

INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, 2016 - August

02, 2016 THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

Financial Key Focus at Confidence 2016 NAACP Convention Push is On to Justice Increase a African American in COVID Vaccine New Haven, Bridgeport

INNER-CITYNEWS Volume 28 . No. 2420 Volume 21 No. 2194

“DMC” Arts & Ideas

Malloy Malloy To To Dems: Dems:

Ignore Ignore“Tough “ToughOn OnCrime” Crime”

Stirs Up Holiday Cheer

Color Struck?

Snow in July?

Riverside Rallies

FOLLOW US ON

To Deliver Xmas To Teen Parents’ Kids

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

Hotel Worker Recall Law Wins Final OK

by THOMAS BREEN

New Haven I ndependent

With promises to combat racism as a public health crisis and protect the economic livelihoods of working-class New Haveners, alders unanimously approved a new “recall law” that requires local hotels give laid-off former employees first dibs at returning to their old jobs.

The Board of Alders took that vote Monday night during the local legislature’s latest bimonthly meeting.

The virtual meeting took place on Zoom and YouTube Live.

The new law represents perhaps the most direct local legislative response yet to the widespread economic fallout caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

It requires local hotels that have 50 or more rooms to offer to rehire employees who have been laid off during the pandemic as soon as their old jobs or similar jobs are available again.

Local hotel operators must prioritize rehiring former employees based on their seniority.

And laid-off workers who believe their former employer has violated this new law can sue their respective former employers in state court.

East Rock Alder and Legislation Committee Chair Charles Decker kicked off what would be a common refrain among the bill’s backers Monday night. He stated that the hotel industry has been dispro-

LAURA GLESBY PHOTO Housekeeper Everlana Allen with fellow workers at a protest outside the Omni earlier this year.

portionately hard hit by the pandemic. He said that the industry’s workers are disproportionately Black and Hispanic and female. He noted the many workers who have suffered from unemployment and lost healthcare have zero control over the pandemic that cost them their jobs.

Earlier this year, he continued, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a Min-

neapolis police officer and a subsequent nationwide uprising against police brutality, the Board of Alders joined dozens of cities around the country in declaring racism a public health crisis.

“This ordinance is one concrete step to address this crisis.”

Supporters: Working Towards A “More Equitable” Recovery

Alder after alder who followed Decker agreed.

None addressed the concerns raised by at least one outside legal expert that the recall law pushes the bounds of Connecticut employment law through a creative interpretation of local governments’ stateimbued right to promote the “general welfare.”

Instead, they zeroed in on the economic hurt they have seen first-hand in the communities they represent. That hurt has been borne overwhelmingly by working class Black and Hispanic women, alders said. And the local legislature must do what it can to address that harm.

“Studies show that violence is linked to poverty and a lack of opportunity,” said Beaver Hills Alder Jill Marks. And back in June, the Washington Post reported that one in three Black adults knew someone who had died from Covid.

“The workers recall bill will help laidoff hotel workers and it will help families in New Haven sleep better at night,” she said.

Hill Alder Carmen Rodriguez quoted a recent New Haven Register op-ed by University of St. Louis health law professor Ruqaiijah Yearby about the potential public health benefits of such a worker recall law.

People often lose access to health insurance when they are laid off and are subsequently unable to get healthcare they need, she said. Hotel workers are more likely to be Black and Latino, and the loss of a job creates increased stress and anxiety among already vulnerable populations. And experienced employees are more likely to comply with public safety guidelines and to speak up if violations occur.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

Riverside Rallies To Deliver Xmas To Teen Parents’ Kids

by COURTNEY LUCIANA New Haven I ndependent

Riverside Academy Principal Derek Stephenson and special education teacher Steve Mikolike have organized the school’s first annual toy drive to collect gifts for 12 teen students’ children.

“How can we not have a toy drive this year?” Stephenson said. “It allows us to keep going forward and building together.

This is a very difficult time. I’ve been in personal contact with students. and they’ve expressed the need for finances, support, and basic needs.”

The drive took place Saturday. Staff plan to deliver the gifts personally this Wednesday to students, to adhere to Covid-19 guidelines. The drive is aimed at relieving financial pressure on families to allow a refocus on academics.

“Today is about giving our students hope,” Stephenson said. “We want to not only offer support to their families during the holidays but also to reengage them to think about school, and to know that we’re here for them.”

New Haven teachers and residents Saturday dropped off enough gifts to fill three tables of baby wipes, educational games, and books. Over $800 in electronic contributions and and gift cards were donated.

Fair Haven School teacher Denise Mikolike, who teaches first grade, dropped off goody bags donated from Vox Church.

The bags included a reindeer antler headband and an arts and craft project. She said that her classroom lessons have collaborated with her husband’s work at Riverside Academy.

“We both want to connect with our students because they need to know that they are seen,” Mikolike said.

“I’ve personally been in situations where

I wasn’t able to take care of my kids during Christmas time,” said Tracy Casiero, who worked on Saturday’s drive as well.

“At Christmas time, it’s generally hard for some people but especially this year with Covid-19. To see the outpouring of people that want to help and donate is what the holiday season is all about.”

As winter break approaches, Riverside Academy students and staff have been reflecting on the hardships the pandemic has caused, including the struggles of remote learning. Steve Mikolike said that if the students feel like the staff cares about their situations at home, then deeper bonds will be formed.

“We’re finding out that even as adults during this time, we’re struggling,” he said.

“So you think of students who are parents. They’re struggling and also their parents are too. If we could lighten their load just a little bit then it’s a hit. We’re doing anything that we possibly can to stay connected.”

Mikolike noted that before Covid-19, students were already facing challenges in their everyday lives. He has connected with students by being open with his background of recovery while growing up, so that they don’t feel ashamed of their personal struggles.

“We need to remind each other that we’re not alone” Mikolike said. “Not only as our students, but as people going through everyday life, [who] already had barriers to stay focused, do the right thing, and to be productive. Now, you throw in Covid and not being able to come to school. It multiplies the struggles that we’re already there.”

Riverside senior Shevon Patterson said she wanted to volunteer at Saturday’s

Riverside Academy staff and students.

drive to help her fellow classmates because of her own experience in struggling to get by this academic year.

“It’s really difficult staying focused in my home environment,” Patterson said.

“I keep in touch with three of my classmates. I lost contact with a couple. Some have kids or younger children that they have to take care of. Some have newborns and one of them is currently pregnant. I know that it’s really hard for them and they’re just pushing through as best as they can.”

Math teacher Mel Campbell said being a teacher means building relationships.

He has been improvising for the loss of a physical classroom experience by offering one on one office hours every Wednesday to his students.

“I do feel like it’s hard for the students

that have kids. I respect them,” Campbell said. “Having a screaming baby next to you at home while you’re trying to learn isn’t easy.”

Teacher Jenifer Blemings said schools Superintendent Iline Tracey has been pushing the schoolwide effort in remaining in contact with students’ by asking about their basic needs at home and to advise them in their academics.

Stephenson has assigned the staff to conduct weekly check-ins for their students.

“Many of these kids live in the trenches.

We have staff that climb right into the trenches with them. We ask our students: Is there food in the house? Do you have a laptop and does it work, or do you need one? Are their basic needs being met?”

Blemings said “It’s not just about core academics. This

gift drive is very much of who we are at Riverside.”

Riverside is a family, said student liaison Chance Jackson. “Within this family, there’s this judgement free policy that we regulate. Nobody is better than anyone else. We all kind of came from the same areas and it’s easier for students to relate to us in that regard.”

“One student of mine has kids at home, and it’s loud. She sometimes has to log off real fast and take care of her business at home,” said first-year gym teacher Nathan Russell. “We’re on the same page.

It’s hard for me to get things done too when my son is jumping on my back and he thinks I’m a playground. It’s not an easy thing to deal with for everybody.”

Russell said that he makes it a priority to talk about real life with his students so that they can feel comfortable opening up to him.

“I’m in health class and talking to students about drug sales and getting arrested, and how horrible it is,” Russell said.

“They’re like, ‘Yeah whatever.’ Unless I tell them that I’m from the ‘hood. Once I mention my background is when we connect a lot more.”

The school district’s supervisor of professional learning, Tessa Gumbs-Johnson, delivered a baby doll toy and LeapFrog Alphabet interactive books Saturday.

Gumbs-Johnson said that she wanted to support the drive because she’s committed to the students.

“We don’t even say, ‘Oh, that’s my student’,” Gumbs-Johnson said. “No, we say ‘Our kids!’. That’s a different impact.

We never know what others are going through and it’s imperative that we support all of our kids.”

Aleta Staton Named Director of Learning & Community Organizing at Trailblazing Playhouse

AN ACCOMPLISHED THEATREMAKER JOINS LONG WHARF THEATRE LEADERSHIP

After a nationwide search, Long Wharf Theatre is thrilled to welcome Aleta Staton as the Director of Learning & Community Organizing. Prior to joining LWT, Staton was the Louise Endel Community Engagement Manager at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, where she oversaw all aspects of the festival’s community development efforts, including the NEA Big Read, Neighborhood Festivals, and High School Fellowship Program, as well as festival interns and volunteers.

Staton is an established arts leader in Greater New Haven and beyond, having held administrative positions at Arts4Learning Connecticut, Artist’s Collective in Hartford, Oddfellows Playhouse in Middletown, ACES Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven, Arts Council of Greater New Haven, as well as New Haven Public Schools. As Managing Director Kit Ingui shares, “Staton is a highly respected New Haven artist, leader, and

educator, with a proven dedication to building community through the arts.”

While her experience in the arts has traversed media, theatre is where Staton has defined her career in public arts. She serves as an adjunct professor and director in the theatre department at Quinnipiac University, a Board Member of the Legacy Theatre of Connecticut, and is also a member of the nationally renowned August Wilson Society and the Black Theatre Network. She earned her Bachelor of Arts with High Honors in Theatre from Wesleyan University, which she followed with a Master of Arts in Arts Administration from Goucher College.

Long Wharf Theatre’s learning and community organizing department spearheads a multitude of initiatives that enrich the lives of people of all ages in the Greater New Haven community. As the head of the department, Staton will lead Long Wharf Theatre in all aspects of its work

in the community. She will launch, curate, and lead programs that engage the city of New Haven through unique partnerships in schools, colleges, and with other cultural institutions. In addition, she will oversee the existing programs that engage the next generation of theatremakers through the August Wilson Monologue competi-

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tion, student matinee series, school residencies, and youth development program called Stage Squad. She will work closely with Artistic Director, Jacob G. Padrón, to launch a generation-of-access, a new multiyear program that will make the work of Long Wharf Theatre accessible to young people throughout the state. As Padrón explains, “Aleta Staton is a trailblazer— she is a passionate, thoughtful, and gifted theatremaker. To say it’s an honor that she will join Long Wharf Theatre to lead our work in community is an understatement.

We are overjoyed. She will be instrumental in shaping our future and launching us into a new era for all to partake in. She understands deeply the transformative power of storytelling.”

This enthusiasm is mirrored by Staton herself: “I am beyond thrilled to join Long Wharf leadership as their Director of Learning and Community Organizing.

I look forward to forging deeper connec-

tions with the Greater New Haven and other Northeastern communities. Most importantly, I’m excited to work with Jacob Padrón and Kit Ingui to realize the dreams of a strong artistic team. Long Wharf Theatre continues to stand as a premier artistic institution that I’ve always looked to for challenging, intuitive work that enlivens the stories of the nation and the world. Theatre speaks through all experiences, including this pandemic. Long Wharf Theatre will grow with this time and become stronger than ever. I want to be a part of that.”

With Staton at the helm of its learning and community organizing efforts, Long Wharf Theatre’s leadership team grows even stronger. United by a vision of equity and inclusive storytelling, this multitalented team shows what the American theatre is capable of when leaders are motivated not only by the power of the theatre, but by the power of the people.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

Thabisa Makes Sorrow Sweet rebuild myself.”

by BRIAN SLATTERY

New Haven I ndependent

“Sweet Sorrow,” the newest song from Thabisa, begins with a pulsating guitar line that suggests both melancholy and movement “Even in strange times, I’ll find my strength,” Thabisa sings. “Even when I’m down, I’ll stand tall / Do you ever feel you don’t belong? / Sometimes I wish I wasn’t born.”

That’s all before the rhythm comes sneaking in — and, in time, crashing in — as the song builds in intensity, and Thabisa uses her voice to become an entire chorus.

A shot of resilience is what anyone might expect who has seen the South-African born and now New Haven-based musician perform. Thabisa has lit up every stage in town she has been on, from Best Video to Cafe Nine to the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.

The profound sadness that accompanies that resilience is a newer ingredient in Thabisa’s songwriting. As it turns out, it signals a new direction in her music.

“Sweet Sorrow” is part of a burst of creativity for Thabisa (who also hosts “Thabisa and Friends” on WNHH), compelled by her husband Charlie Rich creating a studio for her in the attic of their house. “I can make all the noise I need to make,” she said.

Not long after, Long Wharf asked her to take part in its latest iteration of the New Haven Play Project.

“This is still my year of yes — if someone asks me to do something, I say yes,” Thabisa said. “Just so I can learn how to do things I would not otherwise do.” She delivered a raw story about growing up in South Africa. Whatever music was to accompany her story, she needed to write it herself, and did. “I ended up recording two songs,” she said. That happened in August. She used GarageBand to produce the music, and (of course) did all the singing herself.

“I was so excited about this adventure of creating my own music from start to finish,” Thabisa said. She found she loved the process of not only writing the music, but programming and producing it; to “make the sounds that I want to hear,” she said. “You can experiment and go beyond your imagination.”

She wrote and produced “Sweet Sorrow” in a full 24 hours.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she said. At the end of that period, she put the song away, in effect to let it rest. “Sometimes I overdo things,” she said. “My daughter said, ‘Don’t play with it anymore. You’re going to ruin it.’”

But taking the song back out, she realized it needed one more element, “something to bring it home, more into the spiritual world.”

She added parts of the spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” but also aspects of

mantras. At the very end, she also asked for another musician — Jeff Moro of The Recess Bureau — to lay down a bass part “just to tighten it up a bit.” And the song was done.

“This song is a chant for me,” Thabisa said. “What I felt in my spirit was a release of those thoughts, a release of pain.

They need to be put to bed, to be forgiven, so I can move forward and embrace what’s in front of me.”

The song is something of an encapsulation of where Thabisa stands as a musician.

“That’s why I decided to call this song ‘Sweet Sorrow,’” she said. “It is beautiful, but it is coming from a place of sorrow.

It embodies both of those traits.” That

mixture is drawn directly from her own experiences. “I’ve lived a good life, but I’ve lived a painful life, too. I don’t want to dwell on those pains and hardships,” she said. “I finally can forgive all of those things — I’m not really there yet,” but this song, and her music, could serve as “my spiritual mantra to get to that place.”

Thabisa has found the pandemic to be a time of introspection. “I’m learning not to be too hard on myself,” she said. “We’re so mean to ourselves.” In the months of relative quiet, she said, “I’ve managed to talk to myself more. I’m trying now to understand what it means not to be too harsh,” and at the same time, “trying not to inflate my ego with self-righteousness…. I call attention to myself so I can

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“It’s exciting but at the same time it’s scary,” she continued. “I’ve been trying to create a path, even though I’m not sure what that path is. I’m finding the answers little by little, putting down the bricks one at a time. I’m on a journey, and maturity is catching up with me…. What am I about?

What is my purpose, and how do I link the music to that purpose?”

These questions are central to the music Thabisa wants to make next. Having written, performed, and produced three songs herself, she sees an album in the making.

“When I recorded my two albums, I was young,” Thabisa said of the two albums she made in South Africa, The Journey (2013) and Eyodidi (2015). “I wasn’t exposed to conversations that really make me think about what life is all about.”

Now, she said, “I really have to think before I sing.” Why perform? Why do the work? “My music is for everyone,” she continued. “My music is for you, because I realize that I am somebody, and I have a story.” Presented the right way, her story can “help open up their minds. It’s for inspiring.”

Part of her audience is still in South Africa, among the people she grew up with.

“When I think about my peers that I left in the township I came from, I want to inspire them.” Thabisa’s own story is familiar to them because they lived it with her. “We were all together, playing,” she said, even as they were surrounded by abuse and hardship, unemployment and teen pregnancies.

She still calls her childhood friends to keep in touch, and “they tell me they are proud of me,” she said. “I tear up every time…. I want them to realize their own dreams.”

Thabisa wants the next miles on her musical path to reflect these truths. “This is where my maturity comes in,” she said.

“When you are going to to truthful, it’s not always going to be nice.”

So “the album that’s going to come — I want it to be something unique. I’m over trying to create to just satisfy people, while creating with a heavy heart.” She is aiming for her third album to be something different, more nourishing. “I know it’s going to heal me. This is going to be my church, my soft place of landing.”

Thabisa also has ideas about how to present the music, in a staging that’s centered as much on storytelling as music. “I want it to be like a book, a film,” she said.

“I want to be able to act it. Sometimes I envision myself at Long Wharf Theatre, performing my album. That is my vision for it. I’m going to cross my fingers and hope that I can make it the way I want.”

She wants her next album, in short, to be “a place where people discover who Thabisa is. I’m hoping with my third album I am able to introduce myself.”

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Arts & Ideas Stirs Up Holiday Cheer THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

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

Chris “Big Dog” Davis’ hands were flying on the keyboard. Beside him, vocalist Dana Lauren lifted her arms and threw her head back, scat-singing in time with the music. Brown hair flew past her shoulders. In the velveteen folds of her voice, Lauren turned a song into an urgent promise. COVID-19 be damned, Santa Claus was still coming to town.

Tuesday night, Davis’ performance flowed through “Holiday Vibes,” a virtual Christmas concert and at-home cooking lesson from the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, Anchor Spa, Sandra’s Next Generation, and several musicians Davis has come to call friends and colleagues.

It is one of the ways that the festival is using COVID-19 to expand its yearround programming, and support local economic development and Black-owned businesses during the pandemic. All proceeds go directly to the restaurants.

“I can’t imagine working in any other way,” said Executive Director Shelley Quiala in a phone call before the performance. “I believe really deeply that during a crisis, that your strengths come from a strong foundation. So that’s where we invest first. We invest in the strengths of the foundation, and that’s in the community that exists.”

Tuesday, that foundation started with Davis, who ushered in the holiday spirit from an empty Cafe Nine decorated with bright lights, a makeshift curtain, and small trees that glowed silver and pink in the light. This time of year, he’s typically on the road touring with musician Gerald Albright and prepping for a reading and concert at the Stetson Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library.

This year, COVID-19 had other plans.

Davis started the year at Smilow Cancer Center for stage four lymphoma. When he left the hospital in March, New Haven was in the midst of entering lockdown. As travel became untenable, he worked on recording from home. When he met Quiala in the fall and told her he was working on a Christmas album, the two clicked.

Cafe Nine was the right fit to record, he added. Owner Paul Mayer has opened the empty bar to artists since August, as a way to make a little money while music venues remain largely shuttered. Davis, who grew up nearby in Waterbury, also loves the local history of the spot. In lieu of hits from his 2016 Christmas hophopera, he planned a set of classic carols infused with gospel and jazz.

“It was exciting,” he said. “It was good to do something musical. We still have to find a way to do music. There’s no travel.

There’s no feedback. It’s empty—you’re not feeding off the audience. It’s not only in music. sports—there’s no stadium. No hot dog stand. This, it’s different, but I

think it went over well.”

As Davis played viewers in with a smooth take on “Deck The Halls,” attendees milled around their kitchens, setting out ingredients for macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, steamed green beans, and a cocktail for which Anchor Spa provided a prepackaged kit. On screen, two boxes popped up beside each other.

In one, Tours Manager Denise Santisteban got ready to learn how to make a Kentucky Refresher. In the other, Anchor Owner Karl Franz Williams and Bar Manager Raasikh Muhammad stood behind a thick layer of plexiglass, greeting Santisteban as she beamed into the bar.

They waved their hands over containers of lemon juice, bourbon, simple syrup, and sage and mint leaves as if they were casting a spell. The scent of ginger, cut with cardamom seeds, rose from the prepackaged kits. Williams, hands in motion, ran through an abridged history of bourbon.

As he whipped out a muddler, he encouraged attendees to work with what they had at home. Any blunt object would do, he said. In this reporter’s kitchen, an old and unused wooden rolling pin appeared from the inner depths of a cabinet.

“You can use a rolling pin,” he said as if on cue, starting to laugh. “You can put it in a towel and bang it with a hammer. Or whatever! The whole idea is you just want to crush these ingredients, and get those

flavors mashed in there.”

He held out a single sage leaf, emerald green as he laid it flat on his palm. He brought his other hand down on it. The sound came sharply across the video feed.

“You generally don’t want to muddle your herbs,” he said as Muhammad measured out simple syrup and lemon juice.

“You just want to spank ‘em and get them in there.”

Tuesday afternoon, Muhammad said he and Williams were excited to participate in the event. Since March, Anchor has offered at-home cocktail kits and menu items for takeout. From June through November, the bar saw more business than it had before COVID-19, thanks largely to College Street terrasse seating and a new influx of regular patrons who replaced Yalies.

Since the state’s rollback in early November, patrons have slowed to a trickle.

Muhammad said that shift is hard after the bar went “through extreme financial lengths to make sure people were safe.”

“We never really closed,” he said. “I think we’re trying to keep that sense of normalcy. It’s huge. As a small business, we don’t have that pot of gold that huge businesses have. We try to be as involved in the community as possible, and this is part of that.”

Just a few miles away on Congress Avenue, Sandra Harris-Pittman started preparations for mac and cheese, the first dish

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she learned to make with her mom (Harris-Pittman’s mother is Mary Harris, after whom Mama Mary’s on Whalley Avenue is named). When Anchor’s feed unexpectedly dropped, she greeted viewers from a kitchen stocked with eggs, heavy cream, cheese, and butter. Jars of pink salt and paprika sat nearby like old friends.

She started to pour heavy cream over a huge dish of elbow macaroni, and instantly viewers could have been in her kitchen.

She took them back to her beginnings on Edgewood Avenue, where her mother’s mac and cheese and fried chicken became legendary in a house “filled with a lot of love.” She jumped into the present, recalling how the dish is the first thing her grandchildren ask for when they enter the restaurant.

“There’s nothing wrong with extra,” she said, eyeing a generous two cups of cheddar cheese. “Extra means creamy. More cream. So that’s fine … and don’t worry, ladies and gentleman. We’re going to add more cheese as we go.”

Praise filled the chat. As Harris-Pittman slid the dish into the oven, Santisteban moved back to Anchor, where the cocktail was almost ready. The frame shifted again: Davis and Lauren filled the frame with a rush of sound. On screen, they shimmied and wailed to the music as if they were in front of a full house.

Later in the evening, Davis returned with “Heal The World,” a new song that dou-

bled as a Christmas benediction. He said that he tried to take the same verve that he usually puts into his annual “Rudolph” performance for young readers at Stetson library. This year, his Christmas will be quieter. To stop the spread of COVID-19, he plans to FaceTime with his five daughters instead of gathering in person.

“When you think you are the weakest in life sometimes, you become the strongest,” he said. “Rudolph got bullied until he grew up, and all of a sudden they needed his nose. That lesson is for the kids—and adults too. That’s what it’s all about to me. Just sharing stories.”

Both Quiala and Director of Programming Malakhi Eason said they are thinking about how to add more year-round events to the festival’s lineup. Following the summer months, they rolled out a program around voting and the election in October. Tuesday’s event was one of two holiday-themed activities this month.

Quiala joked that she’s throwing things at the wall to see what sticks.

“I have a passion for community,” Eason said. “The restaurants and the artists that are in New Haven are community. That’s the thing that heals people. If we’re not feeding into them, giving back to them, allowing them to live, what are we doing?

When we do that for them, we the people are healed by the art. As we keep those things running, we are able to survive.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

New Haven In Step With Biden’s Ed Pick

SAM GURWITT PHOTO Miguel Cardona, President Biden’s pick for education secretary, shown at an Oct. 21 Hamden school mock presidential election.

New Haven Public Schools Superintendent Iline Tracey said that Cardona’s experience, commitment to equity and personable approach will make him a good education secretary. Tracey said that she and the commissioner are on a texting basis and that he checks in regularly on how the superintendents are doing.

“I know him as a person who fights for equity and access for students. He has gone out on a limb, making sure that we have connectivity for our students and the technology for one-to-one access,” Tracey said.

Under Cardona, the Connecticut State Department of Education helped New Haven Public Schools go from a district where 70 percent of students did not have a computer at home to a district where every student has their own laptop or tablet for their remote classes.

The transformation happened over the course of six months between March and September and is one of the most successful efforts to close the “digital divide” between students from different income levels in the nation.

Cardona also pressed New Haven charter schools to follow disciplinary rules that other public schools must follow. The state Board of Ed placed three Achievement First schools under a three-year probation this February as a result.

More controversial is Cardona’s role in the New Haven reopening debate. Initially, Cardona indicated that the state would decide whether local districts could reopen for virtual-only classes this fall. After protests from New Haven teachers, paraprofessionals and parents, he retreated from that position and said that the state would help districts with the resources they needed to reopen safely.

This decision faced criticism at the time from those like Tracey who wanted to final-

ize New Haven’s plans. Others, like Board of Education member Darnell Goldson, have since criticized the state for being too stingy with the resources New Haven needs to reopen in person.

However, both Tracey and Rivera said that they appreciate how he has worked to get New Haven those resources. And they appreciate that his years in different roles in public education give him a clear perspective on what needs to happen next.

“It’s going to be a big job. Compared to who is there now—to have a true educator in the position is one of the best things for the country,” Tracey said. “Betsy DeVos doesn’t know anything.”

Billionaire Devos, President Donald Trump’s current education secretary, billionaire has made her mark as an advocate of public support for private school and parochial schools. She dropped efforts to prevent discrimination against students of color. Instead, she tried to use her department to ban Connecticut transgender athletes from their school sports teams. “[Cardona] has gone through the process.

I think he understands what the education system looks like and should like. I think he would be more sympathetic. He has lived it,” Tracey said.

Tracey hopes that Cardona will ensure public schools get more funding.

“We’ve been shortchanged so many times,” she said.

Rivera added that she hopes his advocacy for bilingual education will continue in the nation’s top education office.

“In New Haven, we have more than 40 languages spoken at home, and on a national level I’m sure that number is far higher.

I would hope addressing the needs of an increasingly diverse student population will be among his top policy priorities,” Rivera said.

eventually led to a specific officer, according to Reyes; he said no other officers were involved.

The officer, Gary Gamarra, resigned last week.

A criminal investigation is underway.

Reyes said he couldn’t speak about specifics of an ongoing investigation.

“We knew it was critical to identify this individual, even though we [started] with limited information,” Reyes said. “We felt strongly there was substance to the allegations. We had an obligation to uncover it. This is one individual that violated the public’s trust and dishonored the badge.

There’s absolutely no tolerance for any officer that will break the law.”

Reyes said that if the officer hadn’t resigned, he would have called for a special session of the Board of Police Commissioners to move to fire him. (The officer would have had the right to appeal, which

declined to discuss the specifics of the allegations.

Gamarra, who’s 27, said he felt pressured to resign last Thursday. “I felt they were coming at me hard,” he said. “I broke down. I was nervous. I was incoherent. I’m probably going to go through therapy. I’ve been depressed.”

He said that he has been going through a tough time in his personal life, including dealing with the death of an aunt from colon cancer.

“People make mistakes,” Gamarra said.

“The fact that I made a mistake, whether it was good or bad, I’ve been a cop in Fair Haven for four years. I’ve always done the job the best way I can. In uniform, I always treated everybody with respect. Even outside of uniform. I try to do my best. I was always raised with, ‘You are able to give a second chance, for forgiveness.”

Beatrice Codianni, who organizes sex

workers through the Sex Workers and Allies Network (SWAN), said she originally brought the allegations to the police department’s attention. She said she accompanied the women to their interviews with police investigators.

She said they didn’t want to come forward at first.

“They said they were forced to have sex.

They were really, really distraught and scared. They didn’t want to say anything because they thought there would be repercussions,” Codianni said. She said they eventually agreed to cooperate because they trust the head of internal affairs, Lt. David Zannelli. They remembered Zannelli from when he served as Fair Haven’s district manager. “He was always up front with them, never harassed them, was always respectful,” Codianni said. She welcomed the news about the officer’s resignation.

by EMILY HAYS

New Haven I ndependent

Miguel Cardona — who has helped New Haven schools close the digital divide during the pandemic, while retreating from forcing the schools themselves to reopen — may soon steer education policy nationwide.

President-elect Joe Biden Tuesday chose Cardona, currently serving as Connecticut education commissioner, to serve as his U.S. secretary of education.

If confirmed by the Senate, Cardona, a public-school advocate championed by Latino advocates and someone who enjoyed a good working relationship with New Haven officials, would replace an advocate of publicly supported private schools who clashed with New Haven over civil rights.

Yesenia Rivera, president of New Haven’s Board of Education, celebrated the news.

“I am incredibly proud and honored to know him. He started out as an educator and has risen to the top with hard work, dedication and always putting children and families first. New Haven has a strong friend and ally in Washington,” Rivera texted between Zoom meetings on Tuesday.

Rivera said that her household has been buzzing with the news.

“His appointment is historic. and as someone who is of Puerto Rican decent I cannot be prouder. I truly believe he will continue to make us proud!” Rivera wrote.

Cardona grew up in Milford. His parents were originally from Puerto Rico. His father was a tobacco field worker. Miguel enrolled in Meriden public schools without knowing English. He started his career as an elementary public school teacher and moved into principal, assistant superintendent and university professor positions before becoming the state education commissioner.

Cop Resigns After Sex Allegation

by PAUL BASS

New Haven I ndependent

A Fair Haven cop has resigned amid allegations that he coerced a sex worker to have sex with him on repeated occasions.

The resignation followed a months-long internal investigation. The investigation was sparked by an allegation that a Fair Haven officer was forcing a Fair Haven sex worker to have sex with him. Both on and off duty, he would allegedly find the woman, tell her to get in his car, and order her to have sex with him.

A second sex worker made similar allegations.

Alerted to the allegations, Police Chief Otoniel Reyes ordered an internal investigation. The investigation took months because of difficulties finding cooperating witnesses.

“We cast a net” to try to identify the officer involved, Reyes said. The investigation

Chief Reyes: Officer faced firing.

could have cost the city thousands of dollars and dragged on for months.)

With his resignation, Gamarra loses his state certification, which he would need to obtain employment with another department. The resignation does not protect him from potential criminal charges.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Gamarra

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Ed Board Prez OK’d For New Term THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

by THOMAS BREEN

New Haven I ndependent

Yesenia Rivera overwhelmingly won reappointment to serve another four years on the Board of Education, with a diverse array of supporters praising her work ethic and commitment to local public schools — and a handful of critics slamming her summertime vote to resume in-person classes during the pandemic.

The Board of Alders took that reappointment vote Monday night during its most recent bimonthly meeting.

The virtual meeting took place online via Zoom and YouTube Live.

With a voice vote overwhelmingly in support, the alders gave a final approval for Mayor Justin Elicker’s reappointment of Rivera to serve on the Board of Education through Dec. 31, 2024.

The director of a school-based childcare program, Rivera has been on the Board of Education since former Mayor Toni Harp tapped her to fill an empty seat in early 2019. She has served as the board’s president since January.

A late November committee hearing on Rivera’s reappointment saw alders grill the school board president for what they described as chaotic and undisciplined Board of Education meetings under her leadership. They questioned her about all of the students left behind by online-only education, and called on her to improve communications between the school board, the

Board of Alders, and neighbors, parents, and students in need.

Supporters: “Give Her A Chance To Do A Better Job” On Monday night, a majority of alders who spoke up about Rivera’s reappointment repeated many of the words of that many community members shared during the public hearing section of November’s committee meeting.

Reading from a paragraph submitted by former school board member Carlos Torre, Fair Haven Alder Jose Crespo described Rivera as honest, ethnical, fair, emotionally mature and purposeful, and an “exceptionally reliable and knowledgeable individual.”

“I have known Ms. Rivera for some years and I can vouch for her dedication to New Haven Public Schools and New Haven’s youth,” agreed Westville Alder Adam Marchand. “She is smart. She works hard.

And she is committed to the goal that all students have the opportunity to succeed.”

Hill Alder Evelyn Rodriguez noted that Rivera is the only Hispanic member of the school board, which serves a student body that is over 45 percent Hispanic. Rivera was raised in New Haven. She graduated from Hill Regional Career High School and Albertus Magnus College. And all three of her children are in or have gone through the public school system.

“I would urge my colleagues to give her a chance to do a better job, if we feel she’s

not doing the job we would like her to do,” said Edgewood Alder Evette Hamilton.

“Give her the opportunity.”

Fair Haven Alder Ernie Santiago said the same. “We all make mistakes,” he said. In defense of Rivera’s vote in support of starting the fall semester with a hybrid in-person and online learning model, as opposed to the online-only model which ultimately prevailed by a 4-3 school board vote, Santiago noted that every other school district in the state except for New Haven’s had some form of in-person schooling this fall.

“Just give her a chance to improve,” he said. “I’m fully confident she’s going to do a great job.”

Critics: Hybrid Learning Vote Was Bad Call The only two alders to speak out against Rivera before the full board took a voice vote were West Rock/West Hills Alder Honda Smith and Newhallville Alder Kim Edwards.

Both critics zeroed in on Rivera’s vote to have some form of in-person education this fall as the grounds for their opposition to her reappointment.

“It’s not based on gender, ethnicity, or race,” Edwards said about her “No” vote.

“It is simply based on the decisions that have not been made. Decisions based on life and death. In the middle of a pandemic, where our children are at high risk and schooled were voted to be open, I have a problem with that.”

CHRISTOPHER PEAK PRE-PANDEMIC PHOTO Yesenia Rivera.

Smith agreed. She disapproved of Rivera’s vote to “reopen school during the pandemic.” And she lambasted Rivera for hiring an outside law firm to investigate allegations that fellow Board of Education member Darnell Goldson harassed NHPS CFO Phillip Penn over a dispute about a schools contract. “We have to protect the taxpayers,” Smith said.

Rivera responded to that criticism during the committee hearing by stating that she had a legal obligation to investigate the complaint, since it was filed by a school system employee.

Ultimately, the “yay” votes far outnumbered the “nay” votes, sending Rivera back for another four years on the school board.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

Redemption Behind Bars? Man Who Killed His Cousin Seeks A Sentence Reduction

by Lisa Backus Ct. News junkie

HARTFORD, CT — Clyde Meikle senselessly killed his 30-year-old cousin Clifford Walker over a parking space in 1994.

Meikle had started drinking at the age of 10 and doing drugs by 14, his attorneys said. He had taken to carrying loaded weapons and never finished high school after being expelled in ninth grade. He had been in and out of jail when he shot Walker in the stomach as the two argued over a parked car in Hartford.

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But it was in Walker’s death that he would find his redemption.

“Twenty-six years ago I killed my cousin,” Meikle said while on video Friday from Cheshire Correctional Institution. “I am as responsible for his death today as I was then.”

While serving a 50-year prison sentence for the murder, Meikle has become a beacon of peace, hope and inspiration to not only the other members of the T.R.U.E. Unit at CCI, but to his college professors, correction officers, and advocates for prison reform.

A team of attorneys and interns at Yale

Law School have taken up his case, seeking a sentence reduction that would likely get him out of prison possibly within weeks if the move is approved by Hartford Superior Court Judge David Gold.

But his early release is not an easy sell to Walker’s family, who said during an emotional virtual hearing Friday that they still suffer the pain that was foisted on them

by Meikle’s actions and by his immediate family who until recently refused to apologize or reach out.

“If Clyde were out he wouldn’t have done what he did (in prison),” said Kimberly Walker, Clifford’s younger sister as she sobbed openly. “We have to live with this pain over and over. You think it’s okay because he has a degree? If he were out, he wouldn’t have gotten a degree.

How are we supposed to cope with this to see him come out? Our family has never been the same.”

Gold is expected to announce his decision on the sentence reduction during another virtual court date on Jan. 15.

Meikle cried as he spoke of the pain he’s caused his family. “My actions that led to the death of Clifford are unspeakable,” he said before adding, “my presence will always be tinged by his absence.”

His incarceration forced him to “examine who I had become,” he said. “I had to be honest with myself on what I had done

to my family.”

“I had to take agency for my actions and my life,” he said.

He’s now dedicated his life to learning and to inspiring young inmates to turn their lives around. He has a job offer from Mayor Luke Bronin’s office in the city of Hartford working with re-entry and violence prevention, said city Chief Operating Officer Thea Montanez. If that falls through, he has an offer with a national initiative to bring programs like T.R.U.E. to prisons throughout the country.

Meikle’s sentence reduction is supported by state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection Commissioner James Rovella, who was the Hartford detective who investigated Walker’s murder.

It’s also supported by Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Donna Mambrino who worked with Rovella to prosecute Meikle.

She gained a murder conviction and a 50year sentence in 1998 in the case. After reviewing the 500 pages of information on Meikle’s transformation and good works sent to her by Yale Law School Clinical Professor of Law Miriam Gohara and a team at the Jerome Frank Legal Services Clinic, Mambrino had discussions with the Hartford State’s Attorney and

OLIVIA DRAKE / PHOTO Clyde Meikle shares a hug with Giulio Gallarotti, professor of government, co-chair of the College of Social Studies, following Meikle’s graduation.

Chief State’s Attorney before concluding that Meikle deserved a sentence reduction, she said.

After prosecuting 47 murders, including 12 capital felony cases, it was only the second time Mambrino had agreed to a sentence reduction hearing. “This is the first time I’ve agreed to a sentence reduction,” she said. “It’s not a decision I’ve

entered into lightly.”

Former state Department of Correction Commissioner Scott Semple, along with then Gov. Dannel Malloy, initiated and supported the formation of T.R.U.E, Truthfulness (to oneself and others), Respectfulness (toward the community), Understanding (ourselves and what Con’t from page

Clemente Connects With Families At Drive-Through Giveaway

by MAYA MCFADDEN

New Haven I ndependent

Michelle Smith is struggling to help her second grader learn from home. She got some help Tuesday from her son’s school, Roberto Clemente Elementary School.

Smith’s was one of 234 families that stopped by the Columbus Avenue K-8 school for a grab-and-go holiday distribution of supplemental learning handouts, gifts, and holiday spirit.

Like many other parents and students Smith came to the holiday event to meet her son’s teacher for the first time in person. Smith made the stop at the school before heading to work “Usually while he’s in school I’m at work. so it was nice to meet the person who’s working with him for hours everyday,” she said.

Smith’s high schooler is usually the one around to help her brother out when his focus drifts from his virtual class. Smith picked up the work packets and is remodeling her kitchen to make it brighter and more colorful like a classroom to help her son, and to and keep her high schooler from falling behind in her schooling due to her helping her brother.

The Clemente staff jumped into high gear to make holiday-themed work packets and gifts for each of their students during the second marking period.

Students received age-appropriate holiday gifts and instructional material hand-

outs based on their work done so far this school year. Gloves, hats, coats, and a healthful snack were also handed out. All of the distributed gifts were donated from the Clemente staff and local churches.

This wwas Clemente’s second grab-andgo distribution of the year. Staff provided students with a new batch of pencils, crayons, and books/ “We based this around wanting to have a conversation with our families and getting

instructional material in the kids hands,” said Principal Mia Edmonds-Duff.

Students left with their hands full and some holiday joy.

“We miss them so much,” said Climate and Culture Leader Stephanie Pacelli.

“It’s like a breath of fresh air to know they’er safe and healthy.”

Students squealed with joy at the sight of their teachers, whom they’d previously seen only through a computer screen.

8

Some couldn’t help but jump out their cars to hug and take pictures with Santa.

A first grader, Tessa, had her mother deliver a snowman drawing made for Santa.

Teachers like Kelly Hebraak asked parents how things are at home.

“It’s to see if they are OK with logging on easily and have the necessities like wifi and pencils,” said Edmonds-Duff.

The school staff plans to do a grab-andgo event each marking period this year to

provide students with fresh supplies and supplemental work materials.

Twelve-year-old Jordan Miranda picked up his gift and school work all while in the back seat of the car in class.

Hebraak made sure to ask her English-language learning students about the Imagine Learning platform the school uses.

“Can you still get into imagine learning ok?” she asked Zeba and Shughaib Hayat. The two knodded while slipping their hands into their new pair of gloves.

Kindergartener Jaiden was gifted a Mickey Mouse hat, gloves, and multiple books to add to his home library.

Aliana Lopez, 8, picked out a grey glove and scarf set for herself and helped her sister Gloriana, 7, pick out a yellow set.

Many students came to the event with personal updates to share with their teachers about losing teeth, growing three inches, and getting a new pair of shoes.

A single father, Shankin, brought his son Micah, 9, and his son’s cousin, Nara, 2, to the event to get out of the house and treat them to early Christmas gifts. Shankin is a chef; the restaurant where he worked closed during the pandemic. “It’s been hard, but I need to keep a smile on their faces,” he said. Shankin was also able to pick up a hot lunch for the kids from the school.

More than half of the school’s student population’s families made it to Tuesday’s event.

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THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

Neal-Sanjurjo Tapped For Housing Role

by THOMAS BREEN

New Haven I ndependent

Serena Neal-Sanjurjo, who promoted inclusive and affordable homeownership as the former chief of New Haven’s neighborhood anti-blight agency, has been tapped to serve as an inaugural member of the city’s new Affordable Housing Commission.

Board of Alders President and West River Alder Tyisha Walker-Myers submitted a communication to her colleagues on Monday with a formal recommendation that Neal-Sanjurjo be appointed to the new permanent commission.

“I am confident she will serve the citizens of New Haven in a most conscientious and productive manner and that her tenure on this commission will provide a great deal of expertise on this issues that it

THOMAS BREEN PRE-PANDEMIC PHOTOSerena Neal-Sanjurjo, at a Newhallville management team meeting before the pandemic.

tackles,” Walker-Myers wrote.

If approved by the full board, NealSanurjo — who helped recommend the creation of the Affordable Housing Commission in 2019 through her work on the city’s Affordable Housing Task Force — would serve on the still-in-theworks commission through Aug. 1, 2022.

The nascent commission is charged with studying and issuing policy recommendations around affordable housing in the city.

Neal-Sanjurjo, a Hillhouse High School graduate, grew up in the Dixwell neighborhood’s Florence Virtue Homes and previously held community-development posts in New Orleans and Baltimore. She ran the city’s Livable City Initiative (LCI) from 2014 until this fall.

She formally retired from her post on

Oct. 9, and has stayed in the city working as a consultant for the quasi-public Economic Development Corporation.

During a brief interview Monday morning, Neal-Sanjurjo said that, if approved to the commission, she would prioritize pushing for “opportunities for equity, homeownership, and giving people an opportunity to purchase homes here in the city where they’ve not had the opportunity before.”

“This is one of my babies,” she said about the commission. She praised other local housing advocates and experts who have been appointed to and confirmed for the commission.

“This is all part of the vision of the mayor and the Board of Alders for housing for all,” she said.

Connecticut Joins 49-State Coalition Alleging Facebook Abuses

by Christine Stuart Ct. News junkie

HARTFORD, CT — Connecticut will join 48 attorneys general in filing a lawsuit against Facebook, Inc. for allegations that it has stifled competition.

The Federal Trade Commission filed its own suit against the social media giant in federal court in Washington, D.C. Support authentic, locally owned and operated public service journalism!

The lawsuit, which will be led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, alleges that over the last decade, Facebook illegally acquired competitors in a predatory manner and cut services to smaller competitive threats, depriving users from the benefits of competition and reducing privacy protections and services along the way — all in an effort to boost its bottom line through increased advertising revenue.

“Facebook has used its market power and trove of consumer data to unlawfully acquire and squash its competition,” Attorney General William Tong said in a statement. “Their exclusionary and predatory conduct suffocates innovation, and stymies small businesses and start-ups from getting their apps off the ground. In the process, the social media titan has degraded consumer privacy and protections.”

In order to guarantee its market dominance, Facebook, according to the lawsuit, “has coupled its acquisition strategy with exclusionary tactics that snuffed out competitive threats and sent the message to technology firms that, in the words of one participant, if you stepped into Facebook’s turf or resisted pressure to sell, Zuckerberg would go into ‘destroy mode’ subjecting your business to the ‘wrath of Mark’.”

Facebook called the lawsuit “revisionist history.”

“Antitrust laws exist to protect consumers and promote innovation, not to punish

successful businesses,” Jennifer Newstead, vice president and general counsel, for Facebook, said.

Two of Facebook’s acquisitions mentioned in the lawsuit include Instagram and WhatsApp. “Each had enormous and rapidly growing user networks, and each was well positioned to encroach on Facebook’s dominant market position,” the lawsuit states.

“Facebook kept both services running after the acquisitions to fill the void, so they would not be replaced by another app with the potential to erode Facebook’s dominance.”

When an entity refused to sell to Facebook, according to the lawsuit, the company would change “its practices and policies to close the application programming interfaces (“APIs”) on which those services relied, and it took additional actions to degrade and suppress the quality of their interconnections with Facebook.”

An app that suddenly loses access to Facebook is harmed not only because its users can no longer transfer their friend list to the new app, but also because a sudden loss of functionality — which creates broken or buggy features — suggests to users that an app is unstable. In the past, some of these companies experienced almost overnight drop-off in user engagement and downloads, and their growth stalled.

“Instagram and WhatsApp became the incredible products they are today because Facebook invested billions of dollars, and years of innovation and expertise, to develop new features and better experiences for the millions who enjoy those products,” Newstead said.

Facebook’s market power also impacted the privacy of its users.

“Facebook’s unlawfully maintained monopoly power gives it wide latitude to set the terms for how its users’ private infor-

Teacher Pact Wins Final Approval

by THOMAS BREEN

New Haven I ndependent

The Board of Alders granted unanimous final approval to a new teachers union contract that trades a pay freeze this year for no layoffs or medical premium increases over the next three.

Local legislators took that vote Monday night during their latest bimonthly full board meeting.

The virtual meeting took place online via Zoom and YouTube Live.

The alders unanimously backed a new three-year collective bargaining agreement between the New Haven Board of Education and the New Haven Federation of Teachers, Local 933.

The labor pact extends from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2023, and is essentially an extension of the existing agreement—no general wage increases, no medical pre-

mium increases, no layoffs.

The deal does include a step increase in its second year, including $2,000 added to the top step, as well as another step increase in the third year, with $1,000 added to the top step.

Overall, the agreement adds roughly $9.3 million to the union’s previous $129.7 million contract, representing a roughly 7.18 percent increase.

Click here, here, here and here for background on the contract, negotiations, and teachers’ thoughts.

Finance Committee Chair and Edgewood Alder Evette Hamilton urged her colleagues to support the new contract during her brief remarks before the final vote.

“Overall, this agreement ensures a stable teacher workforce and it’s fiscally responsible,” she said.

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mation is collected, used, and protected,” according to the lawsuit. “In addition, because Facebook decides how and whether the content shared by users is displayed to other users, Facebook’s monopoly gives it significant control over how users engage with their closest connections and what content users see when they do.”

The lawsuit goes on to allege that Facebook also hurt advertisers.

“By eliminating, suppressing, and deterring the emergence and growth of personal social networking rivals, Facebook also Con’t from page

Wins Final OK

“This is a time of enormous pain in our city, and we need to be taking all action possible to give families stability,” Rodriguez said.

Such a law “takes a step towards making our recovery from Covid more equitable in the city.”

Wooster Square Alder Ellen Cupo said that, while the pandemic has hit so many parts of the city’s and country’s economy, it has “decimated the hospitality industry,” with nearly 40 percent of leisure and hospitality workers nationwide reporting being laid off this spring.

And while Black and Hispanic people make up 29.9 percent of the total national workforce, she said, they make up 49 percent of the traveler accommodation sector.

“We are approaching a very painful winter for our neighbors. This ordinance is one step out of many that we as a city can take to make our recovery rom this disease more just.”

West Rock/West Hills Alder Honda Smith said that she had an opportunity last week to listen to a group of local hotel workers tell their stories about getting laid off and struggling during the pandemic.

Man

Con’t from page

Who Killed

brought us here) and Elevating (into success) as a way of rehabilitating young inmates by providing intensive psychological help and pairing them with a mentors who are serving life sentences.

Semple, who testified during Friday’s hearing, called the 49-year-old mentor a “founding member” of the T.R.U.E. unit who had “been redeemed and belongs in the community.” Semple told Gold that he didn’t take his decision to testify on behalf of Meikle lightly, but he felt that he “wasn’t a public safety threat.”

“This is a really important decision, not only for Clyde, but for every incarcerated person in Connecticut and for staff,” Semple said.

Meikle had already begun his transformation years before he was chosen as a mentor in the T.R.U.E. unit in 2016, professors and advocates said. Since 2009, he’s earned his associate and bachelor’s degrees with a major in Philosophy through the Wesleyan Center for Prison Education and was awarded a Propel Justice Fellowship, which provides opportunities for formerly incarcerated college students to further their studies or professional development.

He has a calm demeanor that allows him to respect all views and opinions and he influenced how T.R.U.E. was created while also supporting the arts in prison, said Ryan Shanahan, research director for the Vera Institute which helped the DOC shape the T.R.U.E. unit.

He was also instrumental in crafting Restoring Promise, a national program promoted by the Vera Institute that is centered on many of the basic tenets of T.R.U.E., Shanahan said.

“Talking to Clyde is like talking to a college professor in his study and talking to a social worker,” Shanahan said. “Clyde has taught me that love is infinite and we must be responsible with it,” Shanahan said.

It’s a side of Meikle that Walker’s family was not able to see until the past few months when the drive to get him a sentence modification gathered steam. “I wouldn’t wish this agony on anybody,” said Natasha Walker, Clifford’s oldest daughter who was nine when her father was killed. “There’s not a day that doesn’t go by that I don’t think about my dad.”

She stubbornly celebrates her father’s birthday each year, even though it causes her pain, she said. This week she was able to have a 45 minute phone conversation with Meikle, her first since he was incarcerated 26 years ago. They both cried, she said.

“This is so painful for me,” she said.

“I’m listening to these people who don’t know this man at all.”

“It doesn’t matter to me if he comes home today, tomorrow or after doing all 50 years,” she said. “I’m still going to be hurt.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

Black Woman, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, Developed the Scientific Approach to the Coronavirus Vaccine

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease doctor and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, addressed the African American community’s fears of accepting the new coronavirus vaccine.

“To my African American brothers and sisters … this vaccine that you’re gonna be taking was developed by an African American woman. And that is just a fact,” Dr. Fauci proclaimed during a recent National Urban League event.

Dr. Fauci noted that Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, a Black woman, has been at the forefront of the vaccine process.

He added that it is vital to recognize the U.S.’s history of racism that’s led to great mistrust from the Black community.

Dr. Fauci exclaimed that the vaccine is safe.

“The very vaccine that’s one of the two that has absolutely exquisite levels – 94 to 95 percent efficacy against clinical disease and almost 100 percent efficacy against serious disease that are shown to

be clearly safe – that vaccine was actually developed in my institute’s vaccine research center by a team of scientists led

by Dr. Barney Graham and his close colleague, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, or Kizzy Corbett,” Dr. Fauci stated.

Dr. Corbett, 34, is an accomplished research fellow and the scientific lead for the Coronavirus Vaccines & Immuno-

pathogenesis Team at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Vaccine Research Center (VRC).

According to her biography, Dr. Corbett received a B.S. in Biological Sciences, with a secondary major in Sociology, in 2008 from the University of Maryland – Baltimore County, where she was a Mey-

erhoff Scholar and an NIH undergraduate scholar.

She then enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she obtained her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology in 2014.

A viral immunologist by training, Dr. Corbett is known for using her expertise to propel novel vaccine development for pandemic preparedness.

Appointed to the VRC in 2014, her work focuses on developing novel coronavirus vaccines.

Dr. Corbett has 15 years of expertise studying dengue virus, respiratory syncytial virus, influenza virus, and coronaviruses.

Along with her research activities, Dr. Corbett is an active member of the NIH Fellows Committee and an avid advocator of STEM education and vaccine awareness in the community.

“History books will celebrate the name and achievements of Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, the Black Woman who was the leader in developing the COVID-19 Vaccine,” Barbara Arnwine, president and founder of Transformative Justice Coalition, wrote on Twitter.

“She developed the specific scientific approach to mitigating the coronavirus.”

COVID-19 has disproportionately affected African Americans, who make up a large percentage of the more than 290,000 U.S. residents to die from the virus.

One study released by the COVID Collaborative, the NAACP and UnidosUS revealed that 14 percent of Black Americans trust a vaccine will be safe, and 18 percent trust it will be effective.

Much of the concern stems from pervasive racism in medical research and healthcare, notably the 1932 Tuskegee experiment.

“I would say to people who are vaccinehesitant that you’ve earned the right to ask the questions that you have around these vaccines and this vaccine development process,” Dr. Corbett told CNN. “Trust, especially when it has been stripped from people, has to be rebuilt in a brick-by-brick fashion. And so, what I say to people first is that I empathize, and then secondly is that I’m going to do my part in laying those bricks. And I think that if everyone on our side, as physicians and scientists, went about it that way, then the trust would start to be rebuilt.”

Stressed? Overwhelmed?

We are here to help.

1-844-TALK-4CT

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11

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

Been avoiding seeing your orthopedic specialist?

Maybe it’s time to stop putting it off.

At Yale New Haven Health, we’ve instituted a comprehensive 10-step safety program in all of our facilities to ensure that everything is clean, safe, and ready to treat you at a moment’s notice.

There’s never been a better time to take advantage of our world-class medical expertise in the presence of new, world-class safety measures. ynhh.org

12

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

OP-ED: Better Angels and How They Travel

By Ray Curry, Secretary-Treasurer, UAW

What is the distance a good deed can travel? What does a warm bowl of soup mean? What does a warm bed mean? A new bike or a kind gesture from a stranger?

All these things are small in and of themselves, but the smallest gesture to someone in need can move all the markers.

If you are cold and someone offers you a warm sleeping bag, is there a measure for that? If you are hungry, and someone gives you a warm meal, how far does that go? To anyone who has suffered, who has been in need or has seen their children go hungry, how far does a helping hand go?

I would say it reaches all of us — it goes all the way to making the world a better place.

Taking Solidarity on the Road As we go into the holiday season in the long and unimaginable year that has been 2020, I would like to reflect a bit on the small kindnesses we can show one another and, when you add them up, how far we have traveled. This holiday season I want to reflect on our collective journey.

On our union’s long trek across time to make where we live a decent and better place. To reflect on a UAW that steps up when our brothers and sisters are suffering and in need.

We saw it in the early ‘30s when people were going hungry as this nation suffered through the agony of the Great Depression. We saw it in the late ‘30s and ‘40s, when Solidarity was the only thing we had to rely on as we stood up to the mega powerful auto bosses and demanded — through blood, sweat and tears — that they respect our workers and sit at the

table to negotiate the first contracts.

We saw it in the ‘50s and ‘60s as our communities were torn apart by racial inequality and my UAW sisters and brothers stood strong, stood courageous with only the idea of what was right on their side. And we marched before the world.

We saw it through the dynamic ‘70’s and well into the ‘80’s when the UAW led the way in following in our fallen leader, Walter Reuther’s footsteps, and soldiering on to build and solidify America’s middle class, while building prosperity and mobility and a better way of life for so many.

When our courageous brothers and sisters stood together in 1990 alongside Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years of his life in prison fighting to end apartheid in South Africa. Upon his release, he came almost immediately to Detroit to thank our union members in person for taking a real role in his human rights struggle for justice and telling those assembled at Local 600, “Sisters and brothers, friends and comrades, the man who is speaking is not a stranger here. The man who is speaking is a member of the UAW. I am your flesh and blood.”

And our values held fast as we stood by one another in a changing world with automation and globalization and anti-union politics challenging our gains, making them harder to come by, but not putting a dent in our determination, in our Solidarity or in our support for one another and for all of America’s workers.

Brothers and Sisters, look at us in the early 2000s, moving forward together to save the auto industry by making enormous sacrifices for the greater good. And here we are again just last year, mounting the biggest auto strike of the last 50 years, with UAW men and women marching side by side across this nation — 49,000+

— in heat, rain, sleet, and snow to once again tell an auto boss, “NO! We will take no more concessions as you make billions on the backs of the products we build.”

And, in all these instances, we were on the good road. In all these instances we made the world a little bit better place. We reached out to one another, we took care of one another and we marched in Solidarity for every working man and woman in this country. As we have always done.

As we will always do. It is in our DNA. Going the distance So, here we are in 2020 and going

through the teeth of a virus that has not begun to let go, that has taken so many from us, that affects the way we work, live and learn. It has been a year of terrible loss, of tremendous social upheaval and unimaginable grief. But here we are once again closing ranks, pushing on through it, helping one another.

Our UAW family was, as always, among the first to step up when our nation was in need. Our sisters and brothers volunteered to go back into the plants to make the critical life-saving Personal Protective Equipment needed to fight this pandemic; we started food banks; community support projects; served on the front lines of this crisis in health care facilities and pub-

lic safety; and got to work in our living rooms and kitchens making masks. And once again, we stood together and with the strength of our Solidarity, told the companies that the safety of our members comes first as we looked to get our nation back to work last spring.

This holiday I want to recognize every hard-working woman and man in this country, especially our UAW family and fellow Labor Union families, and remind us all of how far we have come and what we have achieved. I am proud to say that we are all on this road together and I cannot imagine better traveling companions.

Wishing each and every one of us a safe and happy holiday.

Push is On to Increase African American Confidence in COVID Vaccine

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

Former President Barack Obama has vowed to take the new COVID-19 vaccination on live television. Dr. Ebony Hilton, a physician in the critical care and anesthesiology department at the University of Virginia Health, is also publicly taking the vaccine and documenting how she’s coping on YouTube.

On Day 1 of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, Queens, New York, critical care nurse Sandra Lindsay received the first dose of the two-shot vaccine at about 9:20 a.m. EST on Monday, December 14.

What Obama, Dr. Hilton, and Lindsay all have in common is that they are African American.

Intentional or not, the rollout has featured prominent Black people.

The mistrust in medicine and science in

the Black community remains palpable for lots of well-founded reasons.

“Truth and transparency are going to start with me,” Dr. Hilton declared. “I want you to see me in real-time as I undergo this process, and as my body adapts as I have this medicine in my body.”

Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker, an African American, also urged Black people to get vaccinated.

Baker praised Meharry Medical College President Dr. James Hildreth, one of the world’s leading immunologists and an African American who sat on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s panel that approved the rollout of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine.

“There was an African American doctor that was in charge of the vaccine,” Baker said during a video call.

“I felt more comfortable that he and other African Americans were on the boards to come up with the vaccine. And he guaran-

teed that it wouldn’t be another Tuskegee kind of experiment. And he urged Black Americans to use the vaccine.”

Because of the Tuskegee experiment, the notorious 40-year study that began in 1932, where U.S. Public Health officials misled African Americans about their health status.

The study’s participants were infected with syphilis, and health officials withheld treatment like penicillin, leaving some to die.

“The Tuskegee Experiment ended ten years before I was born, and we still have heavy metal laced water in Flint, Michigan, we still have not fixed,” Dr. Hilton offered.

However, she offered optimism about the new coronavirus vaccine.

“So, join me, and I’ll be as open and honest as possible. We have one time to do this right, and I’m hoping it’s this time.”

13

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s foremost infectious disease physician, also championed the work of Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, an African American scientist, whom Dr. Fauci said was at the forefront of the development of the vaccine.

“So, the first thing you might want to say to my African American brothers and sisters is that the vaccine that you’re going to be taking was developed by an African American woman. And that is just a fact,” Dr. Fauci remarked.

More than 300,000 Americans have died, and nearly 17 million have contracted the coronavirus. Some reports indicate that as many as 25 percent of COVID-19 victims are African American.

However, that hasn’t stopped the skepticism about the vaccine among many Black people.

“We saw early on that vaccine acceptance and willingness to enroll in vaccine clinical trials were going to be a major

challenge,” Dr. Reed Tuckson, a former public health commissioner in Washington, D.C., and the leader of the Black Coalition Against COVID-19, a D.C.based effort to spread information about the virus and potential vaccines to Black Americans, told NBC News.

Over the past several months, the coalition has worked with several Washington community organizations, historically Black colleges and universities, and community leaders, to share information about Covid-19 prevention.

They also drafted a public “Love Letter to Black America” that calls for people to be open to vaccines when they are available.

“The African American community needs to understand that 2020 is not 1930 or 1940,” Tuckson said. “There were no African American physicians or scientists or health policy leaders in the past. Today is a different situation.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

Police Detain Innocent Black Man at Mall Food Court in Virginia Beach BlackNews.com

Nationwide — A police officer in Virginia is now regretting his actions after he dragged and handcuffed Jamar Mackey, an innocent man, in front of his family and others in a crowded mall food court after he mistook him for another person wanted for credit card theft. The man reportedly matched the description of the real suspect.

Mackey was with his fiancee, baby, and 13-year old son at Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach when a police officer suddenly went behind him and put on handcuffs, saying he had to talk to him outside.

Mackey’s fiancee took a video of the encounter as police officers walked him out of the mall while several people were

looking, despite them saying he had the wrong person.

After the humiliating incident, Mackey, who was already furious, was released.

Police then explained that they were looking for a Black man with dreads wearing black clothes who stole credit cards. That description matched Mackey but police also said the suspect was driving a black truck, which his fiancee repeatedly said they don’t own.

When the video moved to the right side while the police explained, it showed another group of police officers with the actual suspect.

Police Chief Paul Neudigate apologized two days after the incident, saying the police should have handled the situation better. He said the department will review

its policies and procedures and that the incident is now under investigation.

“No one wants to be handcuffed in front of their family, in front of the public, like the officer did on Saturday,” Neudigate said, according to 13 News Now. “We apologize for the discomfort that was caused in this incident. As a result, we are focusing on two main areas: Was the initial approach and stop justified, and was the use of handcuffs justified?”

Afterward, police reportedly arrested the real suspect, 28-year old Markee Smith.

He was charged with four counts of credit card fraud, receiving stolen goods, and two counts of felony probation violation.

Moreover, Mackey himself said it was a “very traumatic experience” and he wouldn’t wish it to happen to anyone.

President-Elect Biden Selects Fmr. Ambassador Susan Rice for Top White House Post

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

President-Elect Joe Biden has continued to maintain a campaign promise, even exceeding his pledge for a diverse staff and cabinet. Shortly after naming a Black man to lead the Department of Defense and a Black woman to serve as head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Biden said he’s appointing former U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, a Black woman, to serve as Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council.

“With years of experience working at senior levels in the executive branch, Ambassador Rice knows government inside and out and will carry through the President-elect’s vision of a newly empowered Domestic Policy Council and turbocharge the effort to build back better,’ the Biden transition team wrote in a news release.

The team noted that Rice is among the nation’s most senior and experienced government leaders with the skills to harness the power of the federal government to serve the American people.

As a former member of the Cabinet, they said she also understands the challenges and opportunities of running an agency and has extensive experience working with other key members of the BidenHarris White House team, including the heads of NSC and NEC.

Ambassador Rice’s appointment comes as Biden announced key members of his administration, including Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture; Congresswoman Marcia Fudge for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Denis McDonough as Secretary of Veterans Af-

fairs, and Katherine Tai, as United States Trade Representative.

The diverse and accomplished team will work around the clock to deliver immediate relief to the American people — including working families, veterans, farmers and producers, and everyone fighting for their place in the middle class, the transition team promised in the release.

As the nation emerges from the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath, Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris expressed that the team will “bring the highest level of expertise and the bold vision necessary to help all Americans seize new opportunities and build back better.”

“This dedicated and distinguished group of public servants will bring the highest level of experience, compassion, and integrity to bear, solving problems and expanding possibilities for the American people in the face of steep challenges,” Biden stated.

“The roles they will take on are where the rubber meets the road — where competent and crisis-tested governance can make a meaningful difference in people’s

lives, enhancing the dignity, equity, security, and prosperity of the day-to-day lives of Americans.

“This is the right team for this moment in history, and I know that each of these leaders will hit the ground running on day one to take on the interconnected crises families are facing today.”

Added Harris: “Over the past few weeks, President-elect Biden and I have announced members of our administration who will help contain this pandemic, responsibly open our economy, and keep our nation safe and secure.

“The administration members we are announcing today will help us meet a range of other challenges — from helping make sure no American goes hungry to putting affordable housing within reach for all to caring for veterans and their families and advancing our ideals of opportunity and equality. These deeply experienced public servants reflect the best of our nation and will be ready to hit the ground running on day one to rebuild our country in a way that lifts up all Americans.”

Biden Top Advisor Rep. Cedric Richmond Tests Positive for COVID

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), who as much as any other Democrat helped guide President-elect Joe Biden to victory in November, has tested positive for COVID-19.

“On Thursday, December 17, we confirmed that incoming White House Senior Advisor and Director of the Office of Public Engagement Cedric Richmond tested positive for COVID-19,” Biden transition team spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield confirmed.

“Richmond was not in close contact, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with the President-elect,”

Bedingfield stated.

Biden did undergo testing, and the results were negative.

Rep. Richmond, who formerly led the Congressional Black Caucus, is widely credited with delivering the African American vote for Biden.

He signed on early to the campaign the day Biden announced his run for the presidency, even as his congressional colleagues and peers wrangled with a large field of Democratic candidates to back.

The 47-year-old New Orleans native has embraced his role with Biden and has said he plans to offer the incoming president advice whenever it is warranted.

“This new role will allow me to offer advice to the president when he wants it —

maybe sometimes when he doesn’t want it,” Richmond said in an earlier interview.

The transition team said Rep. Richmond traveled to Georgia on Tuesday, December 15, for a campaign event with Democratic Senate Candidates Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Stacey Abrams, and others also attended the event, but none have tested positive for the virus.

“Richmond’s interactions with the President-elect happened in open-air were masked and totaled less than 15 consecutive minutes, the CDC’s timeframe for close contact,” Bedingfield stated.

“He developed symptoms on Wednesday and took a rapid test which came back

14

positive,” Bedingfield continued.

“As is our standard protocol after an initial positive test, he took a [second] test on Thursday, which also came back positive. We initiated contact tracing protocols immediately and have determined that he was in CDC-defined close contact with two individuals, neither of whom are Biden, Warnock, or Ossoff staff.

“Those individuals, two people who drove his car during the campaign trip, have been notified and are self-quarantining consistent with CDC guidelines.”

Rep. Richmond will quarantine for 14 days and will not return to in-person work in Congress or on the transition team until he produces two negative tests, the transition team noted.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

President-Elect Biden Nominates First Black Secretary of Defense

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, the former U.S. Central Command commander, as secretary of defense.

If confirmed by the Senate, Gen. Austin would be the first Black man to lead the Department of Defense.

The selection also would make Gen. Austin one of the most prominent members of the incoming Biden-Kamala Harris Cabinet.

The secretary of defense controls the country’s largest government agency, commanding troops worldwide and the Pentagon’s internal workings.

It also keeps with Biden’s promise to have a staff and cabinet that reflects America’s diversity.

“I know firsthand from our time together on the [United Technologies] board that General Austin will be a wonderful choice for Secretary of Defense,” former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman tweeted.

The decorated 67-year-old has accumulated many awards and decorations, including five Defense Distinguished Service

OP-ED:

Medals, the country’s highest noncombatrelated military honor, and three Distinguished Service Medals; the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest award for valor in combat; and two Legions of Merit.

According to his biography, Gen. Austin began his career in the U.S. Army in 1975 as second lieutenant in the infantry and rose through the ranks to command troops in combat at the 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-star levels.

Gen. Austin served in numerous command and staff positions in the U.S. and around the world.

These include Operation Safe Haven in Panama with the 82nd Airborne Division; Operation Iraqi Freedom, spearheading the 2003 invasion of Iraq as the assistant division commander for the 3rd Infantry Division; and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan as the commander of the 10th Mountain Division (Light).

In 2008 Gen. Austin returned to Iraq as the commanding general of the Multi-National Corps-Iraq during the period when the surge forces were drawing down under Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In 2009 Gen. Austin was named director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.

Following that assignment, Gen. Austin

served another tour in Iraq as the commanding general of United States ForcesIraq, responsible for the transition of all U.S. and Coalition military forces and equipment out of the country by the December 2011 deadline.

In 2012 General Austin served as the 33rd vice chief of staff of the Army, culminating his military career as the 12th commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) from 2013 to 2016.

As CENTCOM commander, he was responsible for military strategy and joint operations throughout the Middle East and Central and South Asia. He was also the architect and oversaw the military campaign’s execution to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. He retired from the military on May 1, 2016, and is now the founder and president of The Austin Strategy Group.

Gen. Austin also worked with the President-Elect as vice chief of staff of the Army when Biden served as Vice President under Barack Obama.

Gen. Austin would require a congressional waiver for confirmation to the civilian post because he retired from active-duty service only four years ago.

Federal law requires seven years of retirement from active duty before taking on the role.

Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis received a waiver from Congress in 2017 to serve as President Donald Trump’s defense secretary.

“Very good news for national security,”

Retired Four-Star Gen. Barry McCaffrey stated. “Ret Gen. Lloyd Austin is a towering figure in Armed Forces. Enormous global experience. Joint Staff and Army staff Pentagon. Very easy to deal with.

Loved by the military. Silver Star Valor.

West Point. M.A. Auburn. MBA.”

Black Voters Should See Themselves in Congressional Staff

By Dr. LaShonda Brenson

As the new Congress prepares to take office and members of the U.S. House and Senate make key staff hires, it’s time for careful scrutiny of the diversity reflected within the ranks of congressional staff.

This is particularly true following an election in which Black voters were critical to its outcome.

More than 70 civil rights groups, including African American Mayors Association, Black Futures Lab, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF), and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), have formally called on new members of Congress to increase the numbers of staff of color within the mid-level and senior ranks of congressional offices. Our advocacy is particularly important right now, in the period between Election Day and the formal start of the new Congress when most key staff are hired.

While we saw marginal improvement in senior staff diversity after the election in 2018, the lack of diversity among senior congressional staff of both parties is longstanding.

The data is sobering, if not surprising.

People of color account for nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population. Yet, Joint Center research found that people of color account for just 11 percent of Washington, D.C.-based senior staff in Senate personal offices. These include positions like chief of staff, legislative director, and communications director – the most influential staff positions in Congress.

Unfortunately, our 2018 report also found that the House was only narrowly more representative with staffers of color comprising just 13.7 percent of senior roles.

And this inequity remains true for Republicans who represent large numbers of Black voters and for Democratic members who often depend on Black voters as a

critical component of their electorate.

There’s not a single Black senior staff member in the personal offices of the Republican Senators who represent Mississippi and Louisiana, despite the fact that African Americans account for a third or more of the population in these states.

Similarly, though Black voters made up 37 percent of Democratic voters in Virginia in 2016, and 47 percent of Democratic voters in Maryland, there’s not a single Black person holding a senior staff position within the offices of the Democratic Senators who represent these states.

Meanwhile, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is leading by example among congressional Democrats, with Black staff representing just over 53 percent of CBC top staff – compared to just 2.1 percent of the senior staff of White Democratic members of the U.S. House. Only 35 percent of African Americans in the United States live in districts represented by CBC Mem-

bers, but 78.5 percent of the Black top staff in the U.S. House are employed by CBC Members.

This data is particularly troubling at a time when we desperately need more, not fewer, Black staff who can advise Members of Congress in better understanding and responding robustly to structural inequality, racism, and anti-Blackness.

Yet, there is an opportunity for change.

There will soon be at least 60 new members of the U.S. House and there could be as many as nine new Senators. With each appointing a chief of staff, legislative director, and communications director, that amounts to 207 senior positions. Far more of them should be filled by talented African Americans.

Continued progress will require that congressional leadership bring real resources to bear. More Congressional offices should formalize diversity and inclusion plans and

measure progress. And all offices should focus on diversifying mid-level positions like press secretary and legislative assistant to further bolster the pool of talent that can eventually step into top positions.

Without question, some members can rightfully point to Black staff serving as state or district directors, or to improvements in the diversity of non-senior staff.

But at a time when the pandemic and economic turmoil has fallen disproportionally on Black people, robust representation of Black Americans in senior roles matters now more than ever.

Real progress is possible, but it will require that Members of Congress choose action over the status quo. And it demands that we hold them accountable for doing so.

Dr. LaShonda Brenson is the Senior Fellow for Diversity and Inclusion at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

After 43 Years, Dr. William Harvey of Hampton University Announces Retirement

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Contributor He began as President of one of the most storied Historically Black Colleges and Universities in America in 1978. On December 15, Hampton University President Dr. William R. Harvey announced his retirement after 43 years, effective June 30, 2022.

Dr. Harvey is 79 years old. In 1986, he was the first African American owner in the business of soft drink bottling along with his wife. That historic business move solidified his standing as a businessman.

After four decades at Hampton University Harvey is one of the longest-serving leaders

Hampton University President Dr. William R. Harvey

in American higher-education.

During his tenure as President, Harvey led the initiation of 92 new academic degrees – 12 new doctoral programs – the building of 29 buildings and the launch of four satellites. He also increased SAT scores by more than 300 points. The endowment of Hampton moved from $29 million to $300 million. A release from the university said Dr. Harvey ran Hampton like “a business for educational purposes.” He also ran it on high standards and a deliberate effort to make Hampton on the leading and sought after universities in America.

“The formula for any success that I have

15

had is based on five priorities: character traits of honesty, integrity, respect, trustworthiness and good personal behavior; high standards and values; a good work ethic; service to others; and appreciating and utilizing the team approach,” Harvey said.

Harvey transformed Hampton University and the university enjoys high enrollment and between 15,000 and 20,000 applications annually and a steady enrollment. There have been over 36,000 students who have graduated from Hampton since Harvey took over. The university is classified as a ‘High Research Activity’ institution.

Dr. Harvey moved to Hampton with his

wife Norma and they have been married to for 53 years and she is known for her service as a board member of the American Heart Association, the Virginia Symphony and Board of Visitors of the College of William and Mary.

He holds degrees from Talladega College, Virginia State University and Harvard University.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent journalist for NNPA and the host of the podcast BURKEFILE. She is also a political strategist as Principal of Win Digital Media LLC. She may be contacted at LBurke007@ gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020 INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, 2016 - August 02, 2016

Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Inc seeks:

Listing: Commercial Driver

Construction Equipment Mechanic preferably experienced in Full time Class A driver for petroleum deliveries for nights Reclaiming and Road Milling Equipment. We offer factory and weekends. Previous experience required. Competitive training on equipment we operate. Location: Bloomfield CT We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits wage, 401(k) and benefits. Send resume to: HR Manager, VALENTINA MACRI RENTAL HOUSING PRE- APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE Contact: Tom Dunay P. O. Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437.

APARTMENTS FOR RENT

NOTICE

Phone: 243-2300 HOME INC, on behalf of860Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, ********An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer********** is accepting pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom apartments at this develEmail: tom.dunay@garrityasphalt.com opment& located at 108 Frank Street, Haven. Maximum Women Minority Applicants are New encouraged to apply income limitations apply.Affi Pre-applications willEqual be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y State of Connecticut rmative Action/ Opportunity Employer 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have Office of Policy been received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon request by calling HOME INC at 203-562-4663 during those hours. Completed pre- and Management Garrity Asphalt Reclaiming, Incoffices seeks: applications must be returned to HOME INC’s at 171 Orange Street, Third Reclaimer Operators and Milling Operators with current licensing Floor, New Haven, CT 06510. and clean driving record, be willing to travel throughout the NorthThe State of Connecticut, Office of east & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits Policy and Management is recruiting for

NOTICIA

an Agency Labor Relations Specialist position.

Contact: Rick Tousignant Phone: 860- 243-2300 VALENTINA MACRI VIVIENDAS DE ALQUILER PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES Email: rick.tousignant@garrityasphalt.com

242 Fairmont Avenue, New Haven Spacious 2 bedroom townhouse $1,225.00. Tenant pays all utilities including gas for heat, hot water, elec.stove, balcony and private entrance, off street parking. Close proximity to restaurants, shopping centers and on bus line. Section 8 welcome. Security Deposit varies. Call Christine 860-985-8258.

APARTMENTS FOR RENT 241 Quinnipiac Avenue, New Haven

Spacious 2 bedroom townhouses with hardwood floors. 1.5 baths. Select with basements and washer/dryer hookups. On-site laundry facility. Off street parking. Close proximity to restaurants, shopping centers and on bus line. No pets. Security deposit varies. $1,425-$1,450 includes heat, hot water and cooking gas. Section 8 welcome.

Call Christine 860-985-8258.

Further information regarding the duties,

HOME INC, en nombre de la Columbus House y de la New Haven Housing eligibility Authority, estárequirements and application Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply instructions are available at: aceptando pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en este desarrollo Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos máximos. Las pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles 09 a.m.-5 p.m. comenzando https://www.jobapscloud.com/ Martes 25 CT/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1= julio, 2016 hasta cuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) en lasTrailer oficinasDriver de HOME INC. & Las pre-solicitudes serán enviadas petición Tractor for Heavy Highway Construction Equip- por correo a201214&R2=5257MP&R3=001 llamando HOME INCLicense, al 203-562-4663 duranterecord, esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse ment.

Must ahave a CDL clean driving capable of State of Connecticut is an equal . a las oficinas de equipment; HOME INCbe enwilling 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, 06510 operating heavy to travel throughout theNew Haven , CTThe opportunity/affirmative action employer Northeast & NY. We offer excellent hourly rate & excellent benefits and strongly encourages the applications of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities.

Email: dana.briere@garrityasphalt.com

Union Company seeks:

Contact Dana at 860-243-2300

ELM CITY COMMUNITIES Invitation for Bids

Fire Pump and Vestibule Upgrades at George Crawford Manor The Housing Authority of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is currently seeking Bids for fire pump and vestibule upgrades at George Crawford Manor. A complete copy of the requirements may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway

Women & Minority Applicants are encouraged to apply

NEW HAVEN

CITY OF MILFORD

242-258 Fairmont Ave Townhouse, 3BR, 1vacancies level , 1BA Seeking2BR qualifi ed condidates 1.5 to fillBA, numerous to include,

All Health new apartments, new appliances, carpet, I-91informa& I-95 Public Nurse, Mechanic Sewernew Line and close more.toFor nearinstructions, bus stop & shopping center tion and detailedhighways, application visit www.ci.milford.ct.us Pet under 40lbon allowed.

Interested parties MariaTITLE. @ 860-985-8258 Click SERVICES, JOBScontact and JOB

Real Estate Controller

CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s Certificate Program. This is a 10 month program designed to assist in the intellectual formation of Candidates in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:303:30 Contact: Chairman, Deacon Joe J. Davis, M.S., B.S. Fusco Management is seeking a Real Controller.

Candidate should have (203) 996-4517 Host, General Bishop Elijah Davis, Estate D.D. Pastor of Pitts Chapel U.F.W.B. Church 64 Brewster

leadership, communication and supervisory skills. Controller should have 6+ St. New Haven, CT year’s hands on accounting experience and have a BS in Accounting.

Duties and Responsibilities:

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

Oversee the activities of the Accounting Department for the accurate and timely dissemination nancial by management reports including andSeymour external Sealed bids of arefiinvited the Housing Authority of theinternal Town of monthly financial statements, and annual budgets. until 3:00 pm on Tuesday,annual Augustaudits 2, 2016 at its office at 28 Smith Street,

Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement at the Desired Skills and Experience Smithfield Gardens Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour.

Qualifications: • • • •

Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, Timberline and Timberscan, BNA, TValue.

A pre-bid conference willand be good held communication at the Housing skills.

Authority Office 28 Smith Discretion, good judgment Street general Seymour, CT at 10:00 am, on Wednesday, 20, 2016.

Strong ledger, accounts payable and accountsJuly receivable.

Real Estate experience a plus.

Bidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority OfEducation and Experience Required: fice, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579.

Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance. CPA certification a plus. Must have 6+years of hands-on accounting managerial experience. Fusco Management ofThe Housing Authority reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids, to fers a competitive benefit package. Fusco is an Affirmative Action/ Equal Opreduce the scope of the project to reflect available funding, and to waive any portunity Employer

informalities in the bidding, if such actions are in the best interest of the Housing Authority.

Invitation to Bid: nd Notice

Town of Bloomfield2

beginning on Monday, December 14, 2020 at 3:00PM

Listing: Commercial Driver

need for a full time Class B driver for petroleum deliveries for days and SAYEBROOKEImmediate VILLAGE weekends. Previous experience required. Competitive wage, 401(k) and benefits.

Lead Building Maintainer - Facilities

Old Saybrook, CT Send resume to: Full Time - Benefited (4 $31.26 hourly Buildings, 17 Units)

HR Manager, P. O. Box 388, Guilford, CT 06437.

********An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer********** Taxdrug Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project Pre-employment testing.

For more details, visit our website – www.bloomfiWood eldct.org New Construction, Framed, Housing, Selective Demolition, Site-work, Cast-

Town of Bloomfield

in-place Concrete, Asphalt Shingles, Vinyl Siding, Flooring, Painting, Division 10 Specialties, Appliances, ResidentialDeputy Casework,Town Engineer Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing and Fire Protection. $75,909 to $117,166 Seeking qualified condidates to fill This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements.drug testing. AA/EOE. Pre-employment numerous vacancies to include, For Details go to www.bloomfieldct.gov Benefits & Pension Coordinator Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 and more. For information and Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016 detailed application instructions, Project documents available via ftp link below:ELM CITY COMMUNITIES visit www.ci.milford.ct.us http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage Click on SERVICES, JOBS and Invitation for Bids JOB TITLE. Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com

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16

of the City of New Haven d/b/a Elm City Communities is currently seeking Bids for plumbing services agency-wide.

A complete copy of the requirements

may be obtained from Elm City’s Vendor Collaboration Portal https://newhavenhousing.cobblestonesystems.com/gateway beginning on Monday, October 26, 2020 at 3:00PM

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 232016 , 2020 - December 29, 2020 INNER-CITY NEWS July 27, - August 02, 2016

Notice of Public Hearing NOTICE

The Bristol Housing Authority is developing its 2021-2025 Agency Plan in compliance with the HUD Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of VALENTINA PRE- APPLICATIONS 1998.

A Public MACRI HearingRENTAL will beHOUSING held by telephone conferenceAVAILABLE (due to public health and safety concerns) on February 1, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. Dial-in HOME INC, on behalf of Columbus House and the New Haven Housing Authority, Number: (508) 924-3009.

An in-person meeting may replace the telephone is acceptingshould pre-applications for studio and one-bedroom at thiswill develconference government guidelines permit – apartments such a change be opment located at 108 Frank Street, New Haven. Maximum income limitations apduly posted. ply. Pre-applications will be available from 9AM TO 5PM beginning Monday Ju;y 25, 2016 and ending when sufficient pre-applications (approximately 100) have Information is available for review and inspection at Bristol Housing Aubeen received at the offices of HOME INC. Applications will be mailied upon rethority, 164 Jerome Ave., CT during regular business hours. prequest by calling HOME INCBristol, at 203-562-4663 during those hours. Completed Please call (860) 582-6313 foroffices an appointment. applications must be returned to HOME INC’s at 171 Orange Street, Third Floor, New Haven, CT 06510.

The Town of East Haven is currently accepting applications for the position of

NOTICIA Firefighter D/EMT. Salary-$58,057/year.

Candidates must possess a valid Driv-

er’s License from the State of Connecticut; a High School Diploma or GED; EMTVALENTINA Certification from the StateDE ofALQUILER Connecticut; must be 18 years of age; and MACRI VIVIENDAS PRE-SOLICITUDES DISPONIBLES have a valid CPAT Card issued after December, 2018; pass a physical examination, drugINC, screening anddebackground checky de in laaddition to Civil Service Testing.

HOME en nombre la Columbus House New Haven Housing Authority, está Candidate not use tobacco products.

The application for testing available aceptandomust pre-solicitudes para estudios y apartamentos de un dormitorio en esteisdesarrollo online at www.FirefighterApp.com/EastHavenFD. The deadline for submission ubicado en la calle 109 Frank Street, New Haven. Se aplican limitaciones de ingresos Las2021. pre-solicitudes estarán disponibles p.m. comenzando Martes 25 is máximos.

January 8, The Town of East Haven09isa.m.-5 committed to building a workjulio,of2016 hasta cuando se han recibido suficientes pre-solicitudes (aproximadamente 100) force diverse individuals.

Minorities, Females, Handicapped and Veterans las oficinas de Las pre-solicitudes seránisenviadas porOpportunity correo a petición areenencouraged to HOME apply. INC. The Town of East Haven an Equal Emllamando a HOME INC al 203-562-4663 durante esas horas.Pre-solicitudes deberán remitirse ployer. a las oficinas de HOME INC en 171 Orange Street, tercer piso, New Haven , CT 06510 .

Elm City Communities, the Housing Authority of the City of New Haven (ECC/HANH) is proposing to amend sections of its Low-Income Public HousNEW HAVEN ing Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policy (ACOP) and 242-258 Fairmont Ave the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Administrative Plan (Admin Plan). 2BR Townhouse, 1.5 BA, 3BR, 1 level , 1BA

All new apartments, new appliances, new carpet, close to I-91 & I-95 highways, near bus stop & shopping center Copies of the amendment to the ACOP and the Administrative Pet under 40lb allowed. Interested parties contact Maria @ 860-985-8258

Plan will be made available on Tuesday, December 22, 2020 on the agency website www.elmcitycommunities.org or via Twitter, CT. Unified Deacon’s Association is pleased to offer a Deacon’s www.twitter.com/ECCommunities via www.faceCertificate Program. This is a 10 month program designed toor assist in the Facebook intellectual formation of Candidates in response to the Church’s Ministry needs. The cost is $125. Classes start Saturday, August 20, 2016 1:30book.com/ElmCityCommunities.

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

St. New Haven, CT You are invited to provide written comments addressed to: ECC/ HANH, ACOP & Admin Plan Revisions; Attn: Maza Rey, 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06511 or via email to: mazrey@ elmcitycommunities.org.

Sealed bids are invited by the Housing Authority of the Town of Seymour 3:00 hearing pm on Tuesday, 2016 at its office Smith Street, Auntil public whereAugust public2,comments will at be28accepted and Seymour, CT 06483 for Concrete Sidewalk Repairs and Replacement the recorded is scheduled for Tuesday, January 19, 2021 at 3:00atPM, Smithfield Gardens https://meetings.ringcentral.com/j/5274955065.

Assisted Living Facility, 26 Smith Street Seymour. via RingCentral: Or dial:(773) 231-9226, Meeting ID: 527 495 5065.

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

Any requiring a Reasonable to par-

SEYMOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY

ticipate in the hearing may call the Reasonable Accommodation Bidding documents are available from the Seymour Housing Authority OfManager (203) 498-8800, ext. 1507 or at the TDD Number (203) fice, 28 Smith Street, Seymour, CT 06483 (203) 888-4579.

497-8434.

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

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

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SECRETARY- The Town of Wallingford is seeking a highly qualified individual to perform a variety of confidential and responsible administrative duties in support of the Economic Development Commission and its staff. Must possess a High school diploma or GED. Plus 5 years’ experience in responsible office work with 1 year of the above experience being in economic development, planning, public relations/marketing or related field. 25 hours per week. Wages: $ 22.37 - $ 26.78 (Hourly) plus an excellent fringe benefit package. Apply to: Department Human Resources, Town of Wallingford, 45 South Main Street, Wallingford, CT 06492.

Fax #: (203) 294-2084. The closing date will be December 28, 2020, EOE.

Help Wanted - Full Time Category:

Municipal Services Manager/Regional Planner

As Municipal Services Manager, the selected candidatewill manage, coordinate, and develop SCRCOG’s regional inter-municipal shared services program which includes coordinating with municipal employees in a working group atmosphere. The employee will work directly with any consultant(s) hired through SCRCOG to administer these initiatives. The Municipal Services Manager will also coordinate any related grant opportunities and assist the senior-level transportation and regional planning staff.

Applicant must possess strong writing, conceptual, analytic and quantitative skills and have at least two yearspreferred of relevant work experience with regional inter-municipal shared services, municipal services and operations, project management, grant writing, and government financial management and budgeting.Familiarity with regional planning activities preferred. Graduate degree in public administration/policy or another closely-related field required. Salary - $55,000/yr. Full position description can be found at www.scrcog. org. Send cover letter and resume to Carl Amento, Executive Director, South Central Regional Council of Governments, by email to scrcog@scrcog.org by no later than 12 noon, on December 31, 2020. SCRCOG is an Affirmative Action/ Equal Opportunity Employer.

Elm City Communities, the Housing Authority of the City of New Haven (ECC/HANH)

está proponiendo revisar secciones de su Política de Admisiones Vivienda Pública de Bajos Ingresos y Ocupación Continuada Invitation de to Bid: nd (ACOP) y el Plan Administrativo de Vales de Elección de Vivi2 Notice KMK Insulation Inc. enda (HCV) (Admin. Plan).

Email Resume: Rose@qsrsteel.com Hartford, CT AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

SAYEBROOKE VILLAGE

1907 Hartford Turnpike North Haven, CT 06473 Old Saybrook, CT Las copias de la enmienda al ACOP y el Plan Administrativo esMechanical Insulator position.

(4 Buildings, 17 Units) tarán disponibles el martes 22 de diciembre de 2020 en el sitio web Insulation company offering good pay Tax Exempt & Not Prevailing Wage Rate Project and benefits. Please mail resume to de la agencia www.elmcitycommunities.org o vía Twitter, www. above address. MAIL ONLY are an AA/EO Employer NewWe Construction, Wood Framed, Housing,twitter.com/ECCommunities Selective Demolition, Site-work, Cast-o vía Facebook www.facebook.com

ElmCityCommunities. in-place Concrete, Asphalt/ Shingles, Vinyl Siding, LEGAL NOTICE of10 Specialties, Appliances, Residential Casework, Flooring, Painting, Division Se leandinvita a proporcionar comentarios por escrito dirigidos a: Electrical, Plumbing Fire Protection.

TOWN OFMechanical, PORTLAND, CT Town of Portland has amended its Citizen ParticiECC / HANH, ACOP & Admin Plan Revisions; Attn: Maza Rey, This contract is subject to state set-aside and contract compliance requirements. pation Plan for the purpose of informing the public 360 Orange Street, New Haven, CT 06511 o por correo electróniabout its intent to apply for CDBG, Covid-19 funding. For a copy of the amended Plan go to www. co a: mazrey@elmcitycommunities.org.

Bid Extended, Due Date: August 5, 2016 portlandct.org.

Anticipated Start: August 15, 2016 Estáviaprogramada Project documents available ftp link below: una audiencia pública en la que se aceptarán y http://ftp.cbtghosting.com/loginok.html?username=sayebrookevillage grabarán los comentarios del público para el martes 19 de enero de 2021 a las 3:00 p.m., a través de RingCentral: https://meetings.

Fax or Email Questions & Bids to: Dawn Lang @ 203-881-8372 dawnlang@haynesconstruction.com ringcentral.com/j/5274955065.

O marque: (773) 231-9226, ID de HCC encourages the participation of all Veteran, S/W/MBE & Section 3 Certified Businesses reunión: 527495 5065.

Haynes Construction Company, 32 Progress Ave, Seymour, CT 06483

DELIVERY PERSON

NEEDED

AA/EEO EMPLOYER

Part Time Delivery Needed One/Two Day a Week,

Must Have your Own Vehicle If Interested call

(203) 387-0354 17

Cualquier individuo que requiera una Adaptación Razonable para participar en la audiencia puede llamar al Gerente de Adaptación Razonable (203) 498-8800, ext. 1507 o al número TDD (203) 497-8434.

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

Roland Martin Makes Strides with Digital Newscast

By Valerie Fields Hill and Allana J. Barefield, Texas Metro News/Garland Journal, I Messenger

Digital media and television journalist Roland S. Martin has much to celebrate: He turns 52 this week and his popular digital newscast recently celebrated its second anniversary. And there’s more. Martin’s daily podcast, #RolandMartinUnfiltered, recently reached 675,000 YouTube subscribers – a significant milestone for both the veteran journalist and for the varied online platforms on which the show is streamed.

Martin’s podcast is streamed live five days a week on Facebook and YouTube with multiple rebroadcasts. It also can be viewed on the iHeartPodcast Network and other digital networks. Over the last 30 days, the #RolandMartinUnfiltered podcast has been viewed 9.2 million times, a 10 percent increase over the prior 30-day period, according to SocialBlade.com, an industry outlet which tabulates viewership of programs on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Twitch.

SocialBlade.com projects that Martin’s podcast will reach 110 million views by the end of the year, according to data the outlet published Friday on its Web site. Meanwhile, as of Nov. 6, subscription sales to #RolandMartinUnfiltered were up a whopping 44 percent for the last 30 days, SocialBlade. com published. Some industry watchers said rising interest in Martin’s podcast is no surprise: Viewers increasingly are choosing to get their information from digital sources – not from television.

“More and more people are depending on YouTube for their news,” said Hanaa’ Tameez, a staff writer at Nieman Journalism Lab, a Harvard University-based research laboratory which studies new ways to deliver news and information to viewers, readers and listeners. “For the most part, a lot of people are equally dependent on cable news as they are on YouTube,” said Tameez, 25.

Black viewers, she said, increasingly are less interested in network television broadcasts because producers fail to consistently include diverse guests or offer content of interest to minority viewers. As a result, African American consumers have shifted to watching online digital content, said Tameez, who worked at the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth as a diversity writer covering social equity issues in 2018 and 2019.

“For communities of color and marginalized people, there is distrust with legacy media or traditional news outlets,” she said. “They have poorly covered or ignored communities all together or have gotten stories wrong or only go into their communities for crime or violence.” Tameez said increases in paid viewer subscriptions to shows such as #RolandMartinUnfiltered also can be attributed to relatability: Black viewers relate to reporters who don’t perpetuate racial stereotypes.

Recent research supports her point of view.

According to a recent study, the State of Consumer Engagement, 74 percent of Black viewers watch ethnic media occasionally and 44 percent watch frequently. The findings, released Aug. 12, were conducted by New York based Horowitz Research.

Adriana Waterston, Horowitz’s senior vice president of Insights and Strategies, said in a news release announcing the results of the study that the country’s social environment

contributes to the increasing popularity of multicultural podcasts like #RolandMartinUnfiltered. “With the sociopolitical climate so charged – from Black Lives Matter to COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on diverse communities…targeted multicultural media provides coverage and perspective that more directly reflects the needs of the communities they serve,” she said. “On the entertainment side, while representation and relevancy are always improving in mainstream media, there’s still a long way to go. Targeted media offers an authentic voice.”

While traditional television networks may have left a void for Black viewers, Martin was the ideal journalist to fill it: an author and popular lecturer, Martin has built a career delivering historical and social perspectives that reflect the myriad and nuanced opinions of African American audiences.

On the show Martin assembles a panel of experts, Black experts, on any and every topic. Scholars, economists, scientists, college presidents, elected officials, activists; you name it and they show up to answer the tough questions and provide perspectives missing from the so-called “mainstream.”

“Everyone knows Roland Martin,” said Faith Jessie, 28, a reporter at New York’s Newsday. “He was one of the few Black faces to be able to reach a national audience.

He’s one of Black journalism’s legends.”

Jessie said she and her Generation Z peers consume much of their content from digital sources, such as #RolandMartinUnfiltered.

None of them watch television or cable, she said. “I haven’t had a cable bill since high school,” Jessie said, laughing. “The internet gives us access to millions of eyeballs.”

Martin is happy to appeal to Jessie’s generation – and her African American demographic. His podcast is decidedly aimed at Black viewers. “We are 23 years away from America being the nation of a majority of people of color and the world can’t be shown through a White prism,” Martin said in his interview with Texas Metro News. “It can’t be done that way.”

Martin began the Unfiltered podcast in

2018. Prior to doing so, he was host for four years of TV One’s News One Now, a cable television news program that featured political stories of interest to African Americans.

The show folded on Dec. 21, 2017.

When that door closed, Martin opened another in 2018: #RolandMartinUnfiltered. As creator of his own show, Martin is the sole on-air anchor and the undisputed star. He is an outsized personality: Martin delivers immediate coverage on each day’s socially sensitive topics, from politics to race, from gender to religion.

His sources and guests hail from the White House to state houses and from Washington, D.C. to Hollywood.

Martin doesn’t bite his tongue: His commentary often is loud, cutting and delivered with street style, brutal honesty. The show’s programming engages African American viewers, who type in their own observations on guests’ commentary – as if they themselves are part of a given broadcast.

According to SocialBlade.com, an average of nearly 314,000 viewers tuned in daily over the last 30 days via their cell phones, laptops, tablets or other devices to watch the Unfiltered live streams.

“I just love the show,” said Robert James, 57, of Farmerville, La. “Some of the racial issues that he brings up during the show resonate with me. James, a husband and father of two adult daughters, who works as an automobile salesman, said he tunes in to #RolandMartinUnfiltered about three times per week. The show is “not like everybody else’s” and “it speaks to our Blackness.”

Martin’s show appeal’s broadly to African Americans who live in rural towns as well as those who live in the nation’s urban centers.

Martin, himself, is a favorite of many Black news sources, political figures and entertainers.

National Urban League President Marc Morial has described Martin as “one the most important voices in Black America today.”

“His insight and no-nonsense approach to bringing news and opinion to, for, and about Black America is a welcome alternative to

18

the sameness of many other journalists,” Morial told Black Enterprise in an article on Martin last year. “His voice is respected, vital, and essential,” Morial said. Martin grew up in Houston, the great-grandson of Haitians who moved to Louisiana. His mother’s family later moved West to Texas.

A 1987 graduate of Jack Yates High SchoolMagnet School of Communications, Martin attended Texas A&M University, where he pledged Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He also earned a master’s degree in Christian communication at Louisiana Baptist University and Seminary.

Martin worked stints as a reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Austin American-Statesman. He moved into newsroom management at Black-owned publications, including as editor at the Dallas Weekly and Houston Defender; publisher of Dallas-Fort Worth Heritage, a Christian-focused monthly newspaper, and editor of the historic, longrunning Chicago Defender, once considered the most important voice in the country reporting news about and to African Americans.

Along the way, the avid golfer has been recognized four times with an NAACP Image Award. Fellow communicators celebrate Martin for his awareness of and sensitivity to issues affecting Black Americans. They also applaud him for leading new pathways along the uncharted digital frontier. Dorothy Tucker, president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), an industry group of nearly 4,000 professional communicators, recalled that when Martin worked for the Chicago Defender, he pleaded with its leadership and other Black owned newspaper executives to produce digital content, podcasts and user-friendly websites.

Tucker was sympathetic that the publications, at the time, often were understaffed.

Martin understood, she said, but responded that limited resources simply meant the publications must pivot. They still needed to get the job done.

“He told them they weren’t using the re-

sources already at their fingertips,” recalled Tucker, who has been a reporter for CBS 2 Chicago since 1984. Tucker said Martin set high standards for colleagues – the reporters, editors, photographers and graphic artists who worked at peer news outlets – whom he associated, mentored or worked with.

“He talked about journalists having an entrepreneurial mindset and owning their content,” she said. The two served together as NABJ leaders between 1989 and 1991, when he was the student rep. “His daily digital show, now two years old, is a testament to that.” Martin joined the Black journalist’s group as a student and later became a city chapter and a national leader. He’s been a vocal advocate for newsrooms to hire, promote and retain Black communicators who are committed to diverse community coverage.

In the mid-’90s, Martin was among the leaders of the Dallas-Fort Worth affiliate of the NABJ, the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators (now Journalists). He, Dallas Morning News editor and chapter president John Yearwood, and Dallas Weekly Executive Editor and chapter vice president Cheryl Smith approached Dallas’ CBS affiliate, KTVT-Channel 11, which, at that time, had been slow to hire Black reporters in its newsroom. The station’s managers complained that they were unable to recruit talented African Americans to the station.

Martin characteristically lugged a backpack with him at all times. He pulled out a demo tape showcasing Steve Pickett, a Black reporter who was working at a station in Portland, Oregon. Martin challenged station executives to interview Pickett. They did. And they hired him.

“Twenty-five years later, I’m still here,” Pickett said recently. “Mr. Martin was a central figure in making it all happen.” Pickett said he respects Martin’s boldness and willingness to display his personality while the cameras roll. “I call him the Audacious Agitator,” Pickett said. “He shakes things up, unapologetically. His heart is in the right place, he holds people accountable, including himself.”

In recent months, Martin has been encouraging emerging journalists to join him on the digital front lines. Jessie, the Newsday reporter, is among those heeding the call. Jessie launched Newsday’s digital news show just prior to last week’s Presidential election, streaming on Roku, Apple TV and Newsday. com. Martin inspired her, she said, to make the leap from print media content development to digital content development.

Named NABJ’s 2013 Journalist of the Year, Martin said he wants emerging journalists to keep chasing their dreams and to dismantle any fears of the digital landscape. The opportunities, he said, are endless. He’s one half of a power couple, married to Rev. Jacquie Hood Martin and they are raising their nieces.

What’s on the horizon for him? Martin wants to morph his show into a network and bring additional personalities into its fold.

“People are just looking for a shot,” he said.

“They are looking for an opportunity and I think you have to create the space for them to have an opportunity. “That’s what’s it all about,” Martin said, “that I’m able to build something that’s sustainable, and then for it to grow and flourish.”

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - Deceber 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

19

THE INNER-CITY NEWS - December 23, 2020 - December 29, 2020

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