Hochul’s new chief judge pick, unprecedented process continues
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Age-friendly Brooklyn report is a model for healthy aging in NYC
(See story on page 6)
Sense
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Wimberly Edwards celebrated at 90
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Urban Agenda by David R. Jones, President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York - See page 5
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liam Chapman Nyaho, a Ghanaian American of Seattle, Washington, and himself a concert pianist, teacher and scholar.
(GIN)––African stars in the pantheon of world music have followers today on almost every continent. We have the albums, the DVDs, videos and tapes of such great singers as Miriam Makeba, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Youssou N’Dour, and Angelique Kidjo to name just a few. Less familiar are the classical music composers from Africa and the African diaspora. Yet their works are so numerous that they filled a five volume anthology of sheet music for piano, collected by Wil-
A recent list of African classical composers put Sister Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou at the top 5 of those named by Kenyan composer and sound artist Nyokabi Kariuki. Guèbrou was described as a gifted composer for the piano, seamlessly mixing forms such as jazz, chamber music and rhythms from her homeland, Ethiopia. Sister Guèbrou, whose compositions were described as a genre-defying blend of Western and Ethiopian influences, abandoned the secular world in 1984 to live in a single room in the Ethiopian Monastery of Debre Genet, or Sanctuary of Paradise, in Jerusalem. She passed away there on March 26. She was 99. Her works––four albums and various compilations since the
1960s––were brought to a larger audience in recent years on the soundtrack for the Oscar-nominated documentary “Time” (2020), a film about a New Orleans woman’s fight to get her husband out of prison; and for the Netflix race-andprejudice drama “Passing” (2021).
Alex Westfall, writing in Pitchfork about that movie and its soundtrack, called the music “the sonic equivalent to infinity—untethered by conventional meter or rhythm, as if Guèbrou’s instrument holds more keys than it should.”
While an admirer of the European classical canon of Frédéric Chopin and Johann Strauss, Guèbrou stayed rooted in the five-note melodic runs common in Ethiopian music.
Offered a scholarship to London’s Royal Academy of Music, Sister Guèbrou found herself blocked for reasons she would not discuss. It was a devastating development for the young artist who refused to eat for
two weeks and nearly died.
After that near-death experience that left her weak and ailing, she left music behind, joining at age 19 the Gishen Mariam Monastery in Ethiopia’s northern highlands.
When Italian forces under Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935, Sister Guèbrou and her diplomatic family were placed under house arrest and later sent to POW camps in Italy for two years. She composed the 1963 piece “The Ballad of the Spirit” for three brothers who were killed in the fighting.
Outside of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie enjoyed enormous prestige and respect but human rights under Selassie's regime were poor. Civil liberties and political rights were low with Freedom House giving Ethiopia a “Not Free” score in the last years of Selassie’s rule.
Emperor Selassie was overthrown in a coup by the Derg, a committee
By JESÚS CHUCHO GARCIA Special to the AmNews
Translated by KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff
As in other countries in the Americas, the Republic of Ecuador saw the kidnapping and enslavement of thousands of Africans during its colonial period. It is today the South American nation with the fourth largest presence of people of African descent––after Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela.
Ecuador’s national census counted Afro Ecuadorian as 7.2% of the population in 2010, but local activists and the London, England-based human rights organization Minority Rights Group International (MRG) have estimated that Afro Ecuadorians are more likely 10% of the population.
The Republic of Ecuador was created in 1830. Its birth was based on the racist-colonial ideology of mestizaje or race-mixing, say Afro Ecuadorian leaders Katherine Chalá Mosquera and José “Pepe” Chalá Cruz. This meant that the population of African descent and the native Indigenous population––because they were considered inferior to the white European and mestizo Creole (ruling elite)––were excluded from the model of the national identity. Each was barred from the enjoyment of citizenship rights, which has forced them to continually struggle between poverty and extreme poverty.
Former deputy of the National Assembly, José “Pepe” Chalá Cruz, argues that “The results of the Census’ Survey on Living Conditions from the year 2006, makes it clear that the conditions of poverty in the Afro Ecuadorian and In-
digenous population are marked by structural racism. According to the data, the levels of poverty in 2006 reached 38.3% of the population. But the self-identified white population (33.2%) and mestizo (34.9%), were registering at a lower rate than the national average. Afro-Ecuadorian people registered at 41.2% and the Indigenous population registered at 70%.
“Because of the struggles upheld by the Afro Ecuadorian social movement, for the first time we are recognized in the constitution of the Republic of Ecuador as a Black or Afro Ecuadorian people, ‘part of the Ecuadorian state, unique and indivisible,’ holders of collective rights. It’s with a problematic caveat that specified ‘in all that is applicable to them.’ (Political Constitution; 1998: 50–51). Still, and in spite of these constitutional recog-
nitions, the Afro Ecuadorian population struggles between poverty, illiteracy, and state neglect.”
Chalá, who also has a degree in applied anthropology, saw a glimmer of hope with the arrival of Rafael Correa to the nation’s presidency.
Rafael Correa Delgado served as constitutional president from 2007 to 2017. One of his first actions was to convene a national constituent assembly, which resulted in the 2008 constitution for Ecuador. One of the important achievements reached by the Afro Ecuadorian and Indigenous social movements was to be recognized by the state. Article 1 mentions that: “Ecuador is a constitutional state of rights and justice, social, democratic, sovereign, independent, unitary, intercultural, plurinational and secular’ (Constitution; 2008: 21).”
Nothing says spring more than cherry blossoms and city council budget talks. This past Tuesday’s rally to close Rikers at City Hall Park featured both. So under falling pink petals, decarceration proponents in the council—along with Campaign to Close Rikers organizers and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams— floated ideas about how they could ensure the legally-mandated closure of the troubled jail complex.
“Today, we just wanted to introduce some ideas that we believe that we should be focusing on, pillars such as mental health, speedy trials, and also housing,” Bronx council member Kevin Riley told the Amsterdam News. “These are issues that we’re seeing within our communities that could potentially decrease the population in Rikers Island. My whole approach is always trying to work with people together in the administration. We’re getting more people involved— people [who are] actually affected, families that [are] actually affected.
“We’re looking at programs that are out there like alternatives to incarceration. Are we funding that program? When we’re looking at issues that hap-
until they’re [processed] into the prison system? So what are we really doing with our judicial system?”
Reducing the city’s jail population by 2027 is critical as the borough-based jails replacing the facilities on Rikers can only hold up to 3,300 people combined. Last month, NYC Division of Criminal Services reported 5,845 people were in New York City jails, a 7% increase from March 2022.
So Riley and several of his colleagues, including Progressive Caucus co-chair Lincoln Restler, are proposing a roughly $300 million game plan to reduce
mentioned pillars. Steps include cutting down pretrial jail time and providing housing to at-risk populations. Correc tion Officers’ Benevolent Association (COBA) union president Benny Boscio reportedly called the plan a “socialist manifesto” according to the Daily News, but Public Advocate Williams provided only glowing remarks for the proposals at Tuesday’s rally.
“If the people who are detained in Rikers, and even those who work at Rikers, were not primarily Black and brown, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” he said. “If they looked [differently] and came
In response to the indictment of former President Donald Trump last week, Assemblymember Monique Chandler-Waterman, has once again spotlighted her assembly bill A5719, called New York No Citizen Is Above the Law Act, introduced last year. She aims to get the law passed in the state and codify that no person, celebrity, or high elected official is above the law once they’ve committed a crime.
“The highest office in our country cannot be a shield for criminal behavior. Donald Trump and his supporters believe being president protects him from being held accountable for alleged felony crimes,” said Waterman in a statement. “I reject that belief because no one is above the law.”
The bill states that if a sitting U.S. President is accused of a crime before or during their time in office, the clock that determines a statute of limitation freezes until the end of their term, regardless of party affiliation. Waterman first introduced it in 2022 in direct response to the idea that a president couldn’t be tried or held accountable, her office said.
Since the bulk of Trump’s alleged crimes occurred within New York state,
On Friday, April 14, the honorable Jessica Rosenworcel, Chair of the Federal Communications Commission, is set to deliver a plenary address at the National Action Network (NAN) Annual Convention in New York City. After the FCC Chair’s remarks, a panel discussion will follow discussing broadband equity featuring representatives from the nation’s largest telecommunications providers. The panel titled The Fight for Broadband and Digital Equity will address the rampant social issue apparent in today’s society: the internet connectivity disparity affecting Black and brown communities across the United States. This issue, which has also exasperated from the global pandemic, will be discussed and moderated by Pastor Steffie Bartley, North East Regional Director, with a panel of experts including Michele Cober, Verizon; Pastor Keith Davis, Camden Dream Center and Cisco Networking Academy Support Center; Anisa Green, AT&T; Nicolaine Lazarre, Charter Communications; Dr. Teik C. Lim, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Sean E. Mickens, Comcast; and Clint Odom, T-Mobile.
he and any official would be impacted if the bill were to pass.
Media and onlookers showed up in droves to Manhattan criminal court to watch Trump’s historic arraignment under the leadership of District Attor ney (DA) Alvin Bragg on April 4. Dueling protests between New York City elected officials and Trump supporters waged outside. Among them were Public Ad vocate Jumaane Williams, Councilmem bers Chi Osse and Sandy Nurse, and US Rep Jamaal Bowman for Bragg, blowing whistles at Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“As the disgraced former president faces his first arraignment for his many alleged crimes, the people calling his in dictment an injustice and attacking Dis trict Attorney Bragg are among the same who called the District Attorney ‘soft on crime’ for his efforts to combat mass incarceration, said Williams.
“Williams referenced an existing double standard in the criminal justice system for white and wealthy individuals that corrupts the process. He said placing the former president above the law while working to rollback reforms in no way benefits historically marginalized communities. Pointedly, he added that Trump supporters who claim that the justice system is being unfair to Trump are among the same “fighting even now to claw back
bail reform and incarcerate more low-income Black and brown New Yorkers.
“Imagine if they had the same outrage on behalf of the thousands of New Yorkers held pre-trial, sometimes for years, on Rikers Island,” said Williams. “Imagine if the same passion had been brought in defense of the wrongly-accused former Central Park Five as is being brought for the man who argued they should be executed.”
Nurse said she also supported the
Over the last year, many migrants traveled to New York City with hopes of finding jobs, but securing stable employment has been much more difficult than they imagined. On April 4 in Queens, dozens of migrants gathered near Roosevelt Avenue and 69th Street, waiting endlessly for a car to pick them up and take them to a nearby job site. Many are in search of the American dream, hoping to create a better life for themselves and their families. However, this dream has become harder and harder to find, leaving many in debt and jobless for weeks. On average, most struggle to get three days of work each week. If they do manage to obtain a job, they will only make $150 per day. Many even regretted their decision of moving to New York City, stating that “they would have found more work in their own country.” Elena Sance, a Guatemala native, has worked every job imaginable. Sance traveled to the U.S. almost five months ago, leaving behind her three children. During her time, she has put down tiles, completed demolition work, cleaned homes, and more. Undocumented migrants face a constant challenge trying to find work as the wait to obtain working papers gets longer and longer.
Chess is all about taking chances and creating opportunities—something Brooklyn Success
President Biden’s trip to Ireland was basically diplomatic, but it was also to refresh connection to his Irish roots and his family ancestry. In a world torn by violence and upheaval, Biden’s brief visit on Wednesday will bolster the Good Friday agreement made a quarter of a century ago to usher in a peace settlement in Northern Ireland.
Speaking in Belfast at Ulster University, Biden told the crowd that “Your history is our history, but more important, your future is America’s future.” Moreover, he said that Northern Ireland will continue to benefit from the current economic transformation, noting that “Peace and economic opportunity go together.”
The stop in Belfast was quickly completed, thereby avoiding any of the troubling ques-
tions that might arise, and merely served as an entry into his re-acquaintance with family and forebears. He emphasized the diplomacy of his mission with little indication of where he stood on the political differences that continue to percolate between those seeking unity and those pushing for separation.
Even so, the pressing issue of the division was on his mind as he asked them to work toward “an effective, devolved government that reflects the people of Northern Ireland and is accountable to them.”
Meanwhile, on the home front, Biden has been far from neutral on promoting his climate agenda, most recently with his aggressive efforts to get Americans to purchase electric vehicles (EVs). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed vehicle pollution standards on Wednesday, and announced via the White House that it will
impact cars from 2027 through 2032. “Cars and truck manufacturers have made clear that the future of transportation is electric,” the White House stated in a fact sheet. “The market is moving.”
Being abroad doesn’t mean the Biden administration is absent on the abortion issue. On Wednesday, Biden proposed new privacy protections to prevent women’s health information from being used to investigate or sue people who obtain or facilitate abortions. Basically the proposal is aimed at protecting women who reside in states where abortion is illegal and choose to travel elsewhere for the procedure. The proposed rule, which is set to be finalized following a 60-day public comment period, strengthens existing privacy protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) which are binding in all states.
Governor Kathy Hochul has announced her nominations for chief judge of the New York State Court of Appeals and other high-level court positions from a shortlist of candidates. If confirmed, Judge Rowan D. Wilson would be the first Black person to be chief judge.
“New Yorkers deserve a strong, effective, and thoughtful leader, and I am proud to nominate Judge Wilson as chief judge,” Hochul said in a statement. “Judge Wilson’s sterling record of upholding justice and fairness makes him well-suited to lead the court at this critical time.”
The confirmation process is usually very streamlined. When a vacancy is an-
All three campuses at Rutgers University are now on strike—the first in the university’s history. The strike started due to university officials failing to reach a new contract for faculty members, leaving many distraught, angry, and even confused.
Due to professors, adjuncts, and other faculty members creating a picket line along College Avenue in New Brunswick, classes were canceled on April 10, only a few weeks before finals. Shortly after, a solidarity rally took place. Reportedly, almost 9,000 people gathered outside Voorhees Mall at the New Brunswick campus, demanding better wages and job security. After 10 months of negotiations with the Rutgers administration and President Johnathan Holloway, the votes led them to strike the system.
nounced, by law, the Senate has 120 days to produce a shortlist of members for the governor to choose from. Then there’s a waiting period of no more than 30 days for the governor to make their pick.
Hochul made her selections on April 10, giving the Senate 30 days to schedule the confirmation hearings and vote.
Hochul’s first choice for the job of chief judge, Justice Hector LaSalle, was rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee during a confirmation hearing on January 18 in a vote of 10–9. This was the first time in state history that had happened, indicating a division between the newly elected governor and a pretty vocal contingent of senators. A coalition formed against LaSalle, based on a scope of cases that were called evidence of him being “anti-woman,” “anti-labor,” and harmful to commu-
nities of color. Hochul filed a lawsuit after the hearing to call for a full Senate vote on LaSalle’s nomination and still lost a vote of 39–20.
Wilson’s nomination, on the other hand, has been met with praises so far and significantly less controversy.
“Serving as chief judge of the Court of Appeals would be the honor of my career, and I am humbled by this nomination from Governor Hochul,” said Wilson in a statement. “Protecting the rights of New Yorkers is my top priority, and I look forward to working with Governor Hochul and our partners throughout the judiciary system to manage our courts and deliver justice.”
Wilson was born in Pomona, California, in 1960, and grew up in Berkeley,
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, some states have made abortion care even harder to access. This week, a Texas judge’s ruling effectively made the abortion drug mifepristone illegal nationwide in one week. Officials in New York State and New York City have sworn to protect women’s reproductive rights.
Last November, a coalition of antiabortion groups sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), demanding a suspension of approval for mifepristone. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas—a Donald Trump appointee—ordered a hold on federal approval of the abortion drug on Friday, April 7, in the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA case. Kacsmaryk also stayed the de-
cision, to give the federal government a week to appeal.
In a separate ruling, a federal judge in Washington ordered the FDA not to suspend mifepristone in the Washington et al. v. FDA case, directly conflicting with the Texas ruling.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) “strongly disagrees with the decision” in Texas and will be appealing, as well as reviewing the ruling in Washington.
“Let me be clear: Abortion continues to be legal in New York and New York will remain a safe haven for anyone seeking abortion care,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James in a statement. “The fight for reproductive justice is not over. New York will continue to do everything within its power to protect reproductive rights, because it should always be your body, and your choice.”
Mifepristone was approved by the FDA 22 years ago. It is used for abortion care
and to treat other health issues, such as miscarriages and gastric ulcers. About 54% of all abortions in the US are conducted through medication. The abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol are usually taken together, according to Planned Parenthood of Greater New York (PPGNY).
It’s projected that at least 40 million women nationwide would be affected should mifepristone be banned.
“The court’s decision does not change the science, and the proven fact that mifepristone is a safe and effective option for abortion and medical treatment of miscarriage,” said PPGNY Medical Director Gabriela Aguilar, M.D. “It is unconscionable that a judge, who is not a healthcare professional, is attempting to revoke 20 years of evidence-based science as part of a politically motivated anti-abortion agenda.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and
A major part of the negotiations that many are fighting for revolves around the treatment of graduate assistants—those who are attending class, researching, and finding the time to teach. Rutgers graduate assistants like Megumi Asada make around $30,000 a year and do not receive health benefits. “After fees, I earned maybe $19,000, which is really not livable here,” Asada said.
The administration responded with new offers, including a 12% raise for faculty and a 20% per credit salary bump for part-timers. But the unions said this offer is not even close to enough.
The unexpected strike left the entire community shocked, especially students who were expecting class on Monday with finals right around the corner. “My professors haven’t really reached out. I’m kind of shocked that my classes are canceled because it’s the most intensive part of the semester,” said one student.
Gov. Phil Murphy is now getting involved in the negotiations. He has called both sides to the State House for an inperson conversation.
After creating several pop hits over the last few years, popular music icon Dionne Warwick is making a return debut in gospel with her latest album, “Songs of Inspiration.”
The album includes a variety of special features, including contributions from another music icon, Dolly Parton. The two created “Peace Like a River,” the first song on the album. The new song “I Kneel,” the second single of the album, is also a duet and collaboration with her son, music producer Damon Elliott. Other features include the voices of the Good Neighbor Baptist Church choir in Newark.
As the release date gets closer, Elliot said, See NEW JERSEY on page 27
By TANDY LAU
Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member
A rising tide lifts all boats. But can a boat lift Black and brown employment? Big City Tourism President Kareem Holmes thinks his vessel—the Franklin D. Roosevelt—is up to the task through ferry tours given from the Hudson to the East River.
“If a person registers for a company, LLC corporation, or sole proprietorship as a ticket-selling business, they get a license that allows them to buy, sell, and trade tickets in a public space throughout New York City,” he said. “Then there’s tour guides. You can acquire any one of these licenses down at the [NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection; DCWP]. I knew it would be great for my community.
“A lot of my friends and family [didn’t] complete school. Some of them have a felony record. It’s hard for them to get a good job. What I learned is that the city does have opportunities down at the DCWP for people like myself.”
As a result of that information, Holmes started Big City Tourism, the city’s only Black-owned business on the water. It’s a family business, with his wife and son both on board with the ferry tours—literally and figuratively. The company boasts an authentic local experience—tour guides and ticket sellers are unabashedly native New Yorkers and Holmes said most of his staff are Black and brown. That background plays into the tours’ experience, allowing guests to engage with not only the city but also the people who live there.
Holmes’s own story starts as a third-generation Lower East Side resident in the Jacob Riis Houses. Back then, he would stare out at the East River from his bedroom window or on picnics with his mom. Now it helps Holmes pay the bills.
But his entrepreneurial journey took some trial-and-error. Holmes is formerly incarcerated himself. He said he turned his life around after leaving jail, but felt unappreciated at his initial audience development job, so he left New York City for Virginia and ended up investing in a taxi cab company that provided future seed money for Big City Tourism.
Holmes spent a few years studying the tourism industry in his hometown.
“I realized the bottom level of tourism are immigrants and African Americans selling the tickets for these big companies, pushing all the money to the top, but [the companies] wouldn’t really give anything back,” he said. “I knew there was a place we needed to have a Black-owned business, so I created Big City Tourism so we can have something fresh.”
He acquired the Franklin D. Roosevelt thanks to a “Shark Tank”-esque audition with local transportation giant NY Waterway. Big City Tourism launched its “Freedom Liberty Tour” last July. The boat ride travels a loop from Hudson River Park to under the Brooklyn Bridge before snaking past the Statue of Liberty and Governor’s Island.
NY Waterway is pretty thrilled with the investment. “The Franklin D. Roosevelt is the most advanced ferry in our fleet and represents our vision of the future of the harbor,” said NY Waterway chair Armand Pohan by email. “We are delighted to share that vision with a high-energy partner like Kareem, who is committed to bringing the sights and sounds of the harbor to visitors from all over the world.
“We immediately understood and admired what he and the Big City Tourism team set out to do, and we believe in their efforts to boost tourism as the region continues to bounce back from the pandemic.”
Holmes’s ferry even doubled as a rescue boat last winter: The Franklin D. Roosevelt responded to a Staten Island Ferry fire in December and was used to evacuate passengers. But the tour promises an authentic New York City experience, so it was back to business moments after the chaos.
“It’s [a] pretty amazing experience because the tour guide was still talking to people boarding [and] making them feel comfortable,” said Holmes, laughing. “Got them over to land and got them [to] safety. Dropped them off at Staten Island. Then we continued with our cruise.”
For more information, go to: www.bigcitytourism.com or email kholmes@bigcitytourism.com.
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1
The Clean Slate Act ensures that stale criminal records do not continue to haunt individuals when they have successfully returned to their communities for years. However, opponents would have you believe the bill would harm public safety.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
As this year’s state budget process winds to an end, supporters of Clean Slate are pressing Albany lawmakers to rise above the fearmongering that typically comes with most efforts to introduce progressive criminal justice reforms and act – through the budget process or before the current legislative session ends in June – to pass automatic records sealing legislation.
A 2020 Brennan Center report estimated the annual and lifetime earning loss of people with criminal records. Those with a felony or misdemeanor conviction earn between 22 percent and 16 percent less each year than their peers, adding up to nearly $100,000 over a lifetime. For those who were incarcerated after conviction, however, the effect is a staggering 52 percent loss in annual earnings and over $480,000 in a lifetime.
Contrast that with a recent study published in the Harvard Law Review which found large improvements in average employment rates and wages for people who had their records cleared with legislation similar to the Clean Slate Act. After a year, they earned an average of more than $4,400 per year in wages, according to the study. This would not eliminate the effect of incarceration on wages, but it would mitigate the racial wage gap perpetuated by the twin forces of generational poverty and mass incarceration.
The Clean Slate Act works because it automatically hides convictions from private employers and landlords after a certain amount of time, but not at the expense of public safety: It doesn’t apply to all jobs, and people only earn Clean Slate sealing by being crime-free for several years in the community.
Clean Slate maintains protections for vulnerable people and sensitive occupations. Convictions will still be visible for such jobs—anywhere a background check is required or permitted or that restricts hiring people with criminal records. So those convictions will follow people who wish to work in a school or with
financial information. And records will never be sealed to law enforcement or for sex offenses.
Clean Slate seals misdemeanors after three years and felonies after seven, but that time does not start running until after conviction or release from incarceration—whichever is later. So individuals do not earn Clean Slate sealing by simply serving their time. They have to serve their time plus remain crimefree in their neighborhoods for several years.
Clean Slate recognizes that a person who hasn’t gotten into trouble for seven years—and for many years while in prison before that—should not be stigmatized by a criminal conviction when they apply for basic jobs and housing. And the three- and seven-year waiting periods are based on decades of criminology research demonstrating that the passage of time is the most reliable predicter of whether someone with a criminal record will commit a new crime.
Employers, of course, want their employees and customers to be safe as well. They don’t want to hire someone who would be a risk. But an employer can only be liable for what it knows, or should know, about, and it can’t know about sealed cases, so Clean Slate reduces negligent hiring liability for employers. And that’s in line with existing barriers to lawsuits against employers who hire people with criminal records, along with longstanding state policy promoting their employment.
That’s why Clean Slate has a broad coalition of support, from large employers and business associations to unions to faith groups to social services organizations. Businesses need workers. Unions want more members. Faith groups want justice. And social services agencies want their client’s accomplishments to lead to real stability—as should we all. People should be rewarded for turning away from crime and contributing to their communities.
We cannot ignore the fact that the criminal punishment system has historically treated Black and Latino New Yorkers differently than their white counterparts, with harmful consequences for their ability to participate in our economy and community as a whole. But we can take progressive steps to restore fairness to the system. A majority in the State Senate support the bill (S.211/A.1029), as do 68 Assemblymembers. This is the year to pass this common-sense bill.
Concourse, Concourse Village, Highbridge, Morris Heights, Mount Eden, Morrisania
• (incumbent) Althea Stevens, $15,111 in private funds
Queens
City Council District 27: Cambria Heights, Hollis, Jamaica, St. Albans, Queens Village, and Springfield Gardens
• (incumbent) Nantasha Williams, $42,677 in private funds
City Council District 28: Jamaica, Richmond Hill, Rochdale Village, South Ozone Park
City Council District 46: Bergen Beach, Canarsie, Flatlands, Georgetown, Gerritsen Beach, Marine Park, Mill Basin, Mill Island, Sheepshead Bay
• (incumbent) Mercedes Narcisse, $48,086 in private funds
Staten Island
By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps MemberAs leaders tout the New York City Council’s diversity, it’s easy to forget that it hasn’t always been that way.
Out of 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs, 14 Black City Council members are running for reelection. Most are in fairly competitive races, although that’s subject to change as petitioning season closes in May and names are cemented on the ballot. Quite a few are running unopposed.
The first Black council member wasn’t elected until the 1940s and the first-ever Black City Council speaker, Adrienne Adams, was just elected in 2022.
Former Harlem Councilmember Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was the first Black man elected to the City Council in 1941, and eventually to Congress in 1944. He was a regular columnist for the Amsterdam News, championing civil rights and union causes.
Former Councilmember Mary Pinkett, a Brooklyn native, was the first Black woman elected to the City Council in 1974. She represented District 35 in Brooklyn and 28 in Queens. She was a strong advocate for labor and Medicare for retired city employees.
New York City has a rich history of Black political clubs, with Harlem and Brooklyn being hotbeds of Black and Caribbean political power for the last several decades. The Vanguard Independent Democratic Club (VIDA) out of Bed Stuy remains one of the oldest Black-run clubs, originally founded by former Councilmember Al Vann in the 1970s. Several of the city’s Black and women-run clubs continue to honor the legacy of activist Shirley Chisholm, a Brooklynite who made history by being the Black woman to get elected to Congress and make a campaign run for U.S. presidential nominee.
“If you aren’t at the table, you are on the menu,” said Martin Luther King Jr. Club President Londel Davis, Jr. “Our community differs in some ways when it comes to what’s most prevalent socially and culturally. As you know, gentrification has impacted Harlem dramatically.”
Davis said historically, communities of color were left out of critical discussions of key issues, like redistricting of voting lines, budgeting, and redistribution of community resources, that require Black representation at the city level.
Harlem’s central District 9 remains the only City Council seat held by a Black official in Manhattan and the North Shore’s District 49 remains the only City Council seat held by a Black official in Staten Island.
On the ballot
Based on New York City Campaign Finance Board (NYCCFB) info from this March, here are the candidates for each race and funds they’ve raised so far. Again, some of these names are likely to drop off the closer to the primary on Tuesday, June 27.
Manhattan
City Council District 9: Central Harlem, Morningside Heights, Upper West Side, East Harlem
• (incumbent) Kristin Richardson
Jordan, $22,213 in private funds
• Inez E Dickens, $82,901 in public funds; $38,673 in private funds
• Yusef Salaam, $23,975 in private funds
• Al Taylor, $69,958 in public funds; $17,345 in private funds
Bronx City Council District 12: Wakefield, Olinville, Edenwald, Eastchester, Williamsbridge, Baychester, Co-op City
• (incumbent) Kevin C Riley, $37,330 in private funds
• Aisha Ahmed, $7,560 in private funds
City Council District 16: Claremont,
• (Speaker, incumbent) Adrienne E. Adams, $539,348 in private funds
City Council District 31: Arverne, Brookville, Edgemere, Far Rockaway, Laurelton, Rosedale, Springfield Gardens
• (incumbent) Selvena N. BrooksPowers, $79,100 in private funds
• Daniella May, $820 in private funds
Brooklyn
City Council District 35: Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant
• (incumbent) Crystal Hudson, $69,293 in private funds
City Council District 36: Bedford Stuyvesant, Northern Crown Heights
• (incumbent) Chi Ossé, $25,957 in private funds
City Council District 40: Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Prospect Park, Prospect Lefferts Gardens
• (incumbent) Rita C. Joseph, $43,570
City Council District 41: BedfordStuyvesant, Ocean Hill-Brownsville, East Flatbush, Crown Heights
• (incumbent) Darlene Mealy, $330
• Reginald H Bowman, $885
City Council District 42: East New York, New Lots, Remsen Village, Spring Creek, Starrett City
• (incumbent) Charles Barron, $61,940 in public funds; $21,422 in private funds
• Chris Banks, $70,490 in public funds; $15,810 in private funds
• Jamilah Rose, $6,660 in private funds
City Council District 45: Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood, Marine Park, Flatlands, Kensington
• (incumbent) Farah Louis, $26,779
City Council District 49: Arlington, Clifton, Clove Lakes, Concord, Elm Park, Graniteville, Livingston, Mariners Harbor, New Brighton, Port Richmond, Randall Manor, Rosebank, St. George, Snug Harbor, Silver Lake, Stapleton, Sunnyside, West Brighton, Tompkinsville
• (incumbent) Kamillah M Hanks, $173,850 in public funds; $112,822 in private funds
• Amoy K Barnes, $3,268 in private funds
• Ruslan Shamal, $50
The City Council elections will use Ranked Choice Voting, which lets a voter select five candidates at one time as opposed to just one. Mark your calendars for upcoming dates.
Deadline to request absentee ballots online or by mail: Monday, June 12.
Voter registration deadline: Saturday, June 17
Early voting begins: Saturday, June 17; ends Sunday, June 25. Find a early voting poll site and hours at findmypollsite.vote.nyc
Deadline to get an absentee in person: Monday, June 26.
June Primary Election Day: Tuesday, June 27. Polls are open 6 a.m.–9 p.m. to vote in person
Last day to drop off absentee ballots: Tuesday, June 27. Absentee ballots have to be received via mail with a postmark no later than Election Day to be counted.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
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On April 7, two-time Emmy nominated actor, producer, comedian, pastor, author , and Christian hip-hop artist Kel Mitchell , released his new single “Go Time,” on all digital streaming platforms. “Go Time” is an upbeat and inspirational hip-hop track and anthem for positive self-talk. The new single arrives on the heels of the recent announcement that Mitchell will reprise his iconic role from the ‘90s cult classic film, Good Burger, alongside Kenan Thompson, in a sequel slated to go into production this Spring. Says Mitchell, “Go Time’ is a daily reminder to use your faith and more when God says move!”….
Keisha Knight Pulliam gave birth to her second child , a boy, on April 9, which was the “Cosby Show” alum’s 44th birthday, according to various news outlets. Pulliam posted a video on social media from her hospital bed, in which her husband, actor Brad James, was still clad in hospital scrubs. Pulliam, who currently stars on “House Of Payne,” also has a six-yearold daughter, Ella, who she shares with her ex-husband, former NFL player Ed Hartwell. Pulliam met James on the set of the TV movie “Pride and Prejudice: Atlanta” in 2019. The couple got married in September 2022…
The Living Legends Foundation (LLF) Presents its 10th Annual A.D. Washington Scholarship Golf Tournament on April 14 at the Crystal Golf & Country Club in Hampton, Georgia, located in the Greater Atlanta area. Golfers from across the country will compete in a day of golf and networking while supporting the mission of the Living Legends Foundation, which also celebrated its 30th anniversary in October 2022. The proceeds from the golf tournament will benefit the Living Legends Scholarship Program for Black college students at any accredited institution pursuing careers in the music industry, specializing in marketing, communications, distribution, and more -affiliated areas….. That was some kind of high-class expensive Easter vacation that Lori Harvey and her boyfriend “Snowfall” star/producer Damson Idris, who is also currently starring on the new “Swarm” series, experienced in the Turks and Caicos Islands, reports the Daily Mail. The hot couple stayed at the luxury resort Amanyara,where two to six-bedroom villas go for over $3,000 per night…
On Saturday, April 9, Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network (NAN), welcomed Korey Wise and Dr. Yusef Salaam to NAN’s Harlem House of Justice to address the community in the wake of the arrest of former President Donald Trump.
“It’s not lost on those of us who were there in 1989 that Donald Trump will likely walk into the same courthouse where the Exonerated 5 were falsely convicted for a crime they did not commit,” Sharpton said. “Let’s not forget that it was Donald Trump who took out full-page ads calling for these five Black
and brown young men to get the death penalty. This is the same man who’s now calling for violence when he has to go through the criminal justice system. The same man will have to stand up in a courtroom and see firsthand what the criminal justice system is like. All I can say is, what goes around comes around.”
During the second week of Ramadan, this past Easter/Passover weekend, the Muhammad Ali Islamic Center hosted a Harlem
On April 12, 2023, Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President of the National Action Network (NAN), opened the annual convention with Mayor Eric Adams, Public Advocate Jumaane Wiliams, Bronx DA Drcel Clark, and more than a dozen New York City and State elected officials. The hyped up ceremonial ribbon cutting officially began four days full of plenary addresses, panels, and events centered on this year’s theme, “Dealing with the Dream Under Threat.” Rev.
Sharpton called the 2023 Convention to galvanize the civil rights movement and fight back against the concerted efforts to undermine democracy.
To that end, he brought together Vice President Kamala Harris and more than a dozen Biden administration officials; Tyler Perry; Earvin “Magic” Johnson; Kerry Washington; national leaders in government, business, and civil rights; the Black Church; and other fields.
For more information, log on to https:// www.nanconvention.net/
Workers went on strike at all three Rutgers University campuses on April 10: faculty, grad workers, postdocs, and medical researchers are all part of the work stoppage.
Under the banner of #WeROnStrike, some 9,000 Rutgers staff members are petitioning at the schools’ New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden, New Jersey campuses for new labor agreements.
Members of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT, Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, and the AAUPBHSNJ say they have been working without a fair contract since June. They are demanding changes like improved job security, access to healthcare coverage for part-time lecturers (PTLs), a 14-week release time for new parents and a child-care subsidy of $5,000 per year, across-the-board salary increases for Camden and Newark campus Arts and Sciences faculty, and more programs to promote diversity and to support faculty working on issues faced by underrepresented students.
The Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union claims in a fact sheet that its members “teach about a third of classes on each campus, including some of the largest core courses in the sciences, humanities, and profession-
al schools” yet “are paid less than a living wage,” “often teach at multiple universities to make ends meet,” “have to be rehired every semester and often don’t know whether their classes will run” and “are not covered by Rutgers health care plans.”
Many of the unions’ proposals for contract changes have so far been rejected by university management. The Associated Press reported on April 10 that instead “the university has offered to increase salaries for full-time faculty members, teaching assistants and graduate assistants by 12% by 2025. The university offered an additional 3% lump-sum payment to all the faculty unions that would be paid over the first two years of the new contract.”
The strike at Rutgers, New Jersey’s flagship state university, is a first in the 257-year history of the school. The turmoil caused Gov. Phil Murphy and his administration to join the negotiations so that they could help mediate a resolution. Since Monday, union bargaining teams have been meeting with Rutgers management at the state capital, Trenton.
“We are encouraged by Gov. Murphy’s request and genuinely welcome his leadership,” University Pres. Jonathan Holloway noted in a letter to the school about the situation. “We are hopeful that we can quick-
ly come to a resolution of the remaining outstanding issues.
“The governor also asked me personally to delay taking legal action asking the courts to order strikers back to work. I agreed to the governor’s important request while it appears that progress can be made.
“Obviously,” though Holloway warned, “if there is no movement towards an agreement, we will have no choice but to take legal action to assure the continued academic progress of our students and prevent irreparable harm.”
The Rutgers University webpage claims that, during the strike, the school remains open for business. The website’s top banner states that “The university is open and operating, and classes are proceeding on a normal schedule.”
Meanwhile, striking union members are upset about the threats of a court injunction against them. “An open letter signed by more than 1,300 leading scholars and academic workers across the country points out just how disappointing such threats are from a labor and civil rights historian,” Rutgers AAUP-AFT said on April 11. “Rather than threatening us, we urge President Holloway to demand movement from his negotiators, who have repeatedly
said no to our core proposals.”
Holloway, who is Rutgers’ 21st president, assumed the post on July 1, 2020. According to a report on NJ.com, the new president was awarded a “$1.2 million … compensation package that includes a house, a car and other perks.”
Supporting protestors yelled,“Rutgers is for education, we are not a corporation.”
Union members voted overwhelmingly in favor of the Rutgers strike: 94% voted yes for the authorization. But while support for the strike might be real, that does not often mean that workers will show up and take shifts on a picket line. So, to give members other options rather than the standard one of marching back and forth with a picket sign, the unions have been engaging wide interest in their cause by featuring different events during their work stoppage. They have held creative writing and poetry readings, screen printing workshops, and exercise classes. They have hosted live DJ sets and musical performances and conducted drag queen-led marches to bring more interest––and bodies––to the frontlines for their strike effort.
As of Amsterdam News press time there was no resolution. Revolting Rutger protestors determined, “RU listening? We are picketing.”
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso convened a gathering at Bed-Stuy’s Restoration Plaza on March 24 to announce the release of a new report that issues suggestions about how New Yorkers can continue to enjoy living in the city as they grow older.
The report is the product of the Age-friendly Brooklyn Task Force, which was first put together by Mayor Eric Adams when he served as Brooklyn’s borough president. Working together with the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM)—and using NYAM’s “Age-friendly Brooklyn: Findings and Recommendations” report from 2019 as a starting point––the task force came up with 10 recommendations that would help make New York City more enjoyable for people of all ages.
It’s no secret that New York City can be a challenging place to live. The physical challenges of subway stairwells and living
among constant street congestion, noises, and pollution emissions; on top of the emotional and financial tolls of health care, high living expenses, the potential of social isolation and worries about financial security can make living here burdensome for a person of any age.
Our city’s elders got together to strategize about ways the city can make it easier to deal with the pressures.
Members of organizations like Age-friendly Central Brooklyn, Bay Ridge Age-friendly Project, Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn-wide Interagency Council on Aging (BWICA), Catholic Charities POP Development Corporation, Chinese American Planning Council, Citymeals on Wheels, Good Neighbors of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, and GRIOT Circle were among many who helped form the Age-friendly Brooklyn Task Force.
“We can improve health outcomes and expand opportunities for all adults,” assured Borough President Reynoso. “As our borough rapidly grows, and
our aging community continues to increase, we must make sure it does so equitably––and that means providing the housing, infrastructure, and resources that encourage health, comfort, and opportunities for our older adults.
The report’s recommendations were the city prioritize:
1. Housing: Expand and promote housing options for older adults, including supportive housing, grandparent housing, and home sharing options.
2. Outdoor Spaces: Ensure safe, clean, and well-maintained sidewalks and safe, well-lit intersections in neighborhoods.
3. Transportation: Provide training to MTA bus drivers and rideshare drivers on working with older riders and/or riders with disabilities.
4. Access to Information: Expand access to information about news, events, health services, and public benefits.
See AGE-FRIENDLY on page 29
We often invoke the expression “What’s past is prologue” to suggest the continuity of the Black experience from one generation to another. Well, a good example of that occurred recently in the Republican-led Tennessee House when two representatives thrust their fists in defiance after being banished for supporting gun control.
No, Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were not on the victory podium like Tommy Smith and John Carlos were in Mexico during the Olympics, but their action, along with brandishing bullhorns on the state House floor resonated with a similar conviction and determination.
They were joined by a white woman Rep. Gloria Johnson, who was not removed from the House, which drew accusations of racism.
This incident comes in the wake of notable Democratic victories in Wisconsin and Chicago, where Brandon Johnson became the Mayor-elect. The expelled Justin Jones has been reinstated, and there’s a good chance Justin Pearson will also return to his seat after a vote by the Memphis commission.
As we move closer and closer to the 2024 elections—and Biden, who has not announced a rerun, though he has told some friends he will—all of these positive developments should not be ignored by the Democratic National Convention. The other day Biden announced that the convention will be held in Chicago which is another indication of the past is prologue.
In several ways the election date is way down the road, but it will be here sooner than you expect. Either way, the DNC has to take advantage of the energy and political savvy employed in Tennessee and make sure an impetus is given to the increasing number of young citizens poised to enter the political arena.
Flavored e-cigarettes designated an epidemic by U.S. surgeon; more must be done against Big TobaccoThe use of flavored e-cigarettes by youth had been designated an epidemic by the U.S. Surgeon General and was threatening to undo decades of progress in reducing tobacco use among the population. Lawmakers acted swiftly—and rightly—to ban the sale of flavored ecigarettes to protect future generations of kids.
But which kids did they protect? And which kids did they fail?
From 2014 to 2019, frequent youth use of ecigarettes showed a 250 percent increase for non-Hispanic white e-cigarette users (14.8% to 36.3%), but the increase was relatively flat for non-Hispanic Blacks (11.8% to 13.5%). For Black and brown kids, the threat wasn’t e-cigarettes. It was the threat they’ve been facing for more than 50 years: the relentless targeting by the tobacco industry to sacrifice their lives in the name of profit. And when it came to those kids, the New York City Council and New York State both took a pass.
Three years later, not much has changed.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has courageously included a proposal in her Executive Budget to ban the sale of menthol cigarettes, but the legislature is dragging their feet (as they’ve done for years). It’s well past time for lawmakers to pass the menthol ban on both city and state levels to protect Black lungs and Black futures.
For decades, Big Tobacco has targeted Black and brown communities to get us hooked on
their most addictive products: menthol-flavored cigarettes. Minty menthol cigarettes mask the harsh taste of regular cigarettes, making it easier to get hooked, especially for young people. They are still available on shelves and the number-one way Big Tobacco hooks young smokers and keeps Black New Yorkers addicted.
Case in point: In New York State, menthol cigarettes are used by over half of all adult smokers—but among Black and Hispanic smokers, that rate is 86% and 72% respectively. That is not because we choose menthols. It is because the tobacco industry chose to target us as children with these insidious products. Half of all young people who have ever tried smoking start with menthol cigarettes. Among Black youth, it’s 90 percent.
Many of those opposed to this proposed ban— often backed by Big Tobacco money—have made the erroneous claims that such a ban will enable police to exploit this law to further criminalize and abuse Black and brown communities.
The notion that we cannot have good public health policy because it will empower bad cops overlooks two facts. First, bad cops are doing what bad cops do right now. More importantly, Assembly Member Bichotte-Hermelyn’s legislation, which prohibits law enforcement from using consumption or non-commercial transfer of tobacco as a predicate for stops, questioning, or arrest, or for determining how the product was obtained, will actually minimize these risks.
Daniel Panteleo lied and said Eric Garner was selling “loosies” and murdered him for it in 2014. Had this provision been in place, it is arguable that Panteleo would have either taken more careful stock of the moment,
chosen a different lie, or exposed himself to greater criminal and administrative liabilities.
Finally, opponents will often say that banning menthols is discriminatory or racist because it’s the cigarette that Black and brown smokers prefer. Again, that was not an accident—that was by design, and it’s killing us. What is discriminatory is the way this industry targeted us. What is racist is that when it comes to protecting kids from Big Tobacco’s flavored products, our lawmakers haven’t protected Black and Brown kids—yet.
The state has a moral obligation to intervene, disrupt, and put an end to predatory and abusive corporate excesses, like Big Tobacco’s menthol marketing; the state has a fiduciary responsibility to be a good steward of public funds, by eliminating a pernicious, wholly preventable threat to the health of our most vulnerable; and the state has a legal obligation to provide for and protect the public health and general welfare from products that have been scientifically proven to cause mortal harm.
As a state, we are enabling and subsidizing Big Tobacco’s exploitation of Black and brown communities. The cost benefit analysis is clear in the immediate, intermediate, and long-term for social justice and equity, healthcare outcomes, and our economic future.
Lawmakers must do more than just say “Black lives matter” in the context of police abuse. They must legislate it across the board and start protecting young Black teens from their most deadly enemy: Big Tobacco.
Reverend Kirsten Foy is the founder of Arc of Justice.
The bastard elites and their allegiance to the colonial patriarchy
The reason why I am writing this piece is born out of honor and pride, and a total understanding of some of the so-called Nigerian elites who feel necessary to report my independent sovereign nation to their daddies abroad: the United States and England.
Elinor R. Tatum: Publisher and Editor in Chief Member
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Some people believe the last election had some issues, but nevertheless, the government has an election tribunal and judicial systems to solve whatever issues we have internally, without outside involvement.
But our so-called Nigerian elites, by birth only and stolen privilege, feel it necessary to call their master in the western world to come help us solve our internal problems. Some of these elitist fools were just insulted in France not long ago. Imagine some French somebody asking me in the 2020s if we have book shops in Nigeria? I guess they are too educated to know what that means.
Nigeria’s independence was won without a single gunshot. Our great leaders Hamad Belo, Obafemi Awolowo, Anthony Inahoro, Tafa Balewa, and Nnamidi Azikiwe, sat and negotiated our independence without a single shot. They will personally swear for you educated fools.
The United States and England have been helping a lot lately i.e: Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Somalia; they are currently helping in Ukraine, and soon in Taiwan.
If you buffoons take some time off your busy schedules, you would understand what those countries are going through. The people that call your country a “shit hole,” that kill most
of our great leaders, the people that create all kinds of war among us, and just because your preferred candidate loses—we should lose 63 years of independence, abi?
A Nigerian reporting Nigeria to any western country because of an internal problem is shameful and disrespectful, and as such they should lose their Nigerian passport. They can move in and stay with the king in England. Nigeria is the pride of Africa, the pride of Blacks all over the world, and her best time is yet to come, with her natural resources and very talented youths contributing to her development in every corner of the globe. Yes, some have issues, but they understand Nigeria is home and we fight and uphold her honor.
I refuse to change the tone of this piece so I can be reported to their new king. May God bless the Federal Republic of indivisible lovely Nigeria.
Lookman O. Afolayan is a businessman with two NYC restaurants. Lookmanmashood@gmail.com
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not represent those of the New York Amsterdam News. We continue to publish a variety of viewpoints so that we may know the opinions of others that may differ from our own.
TikTok has become a global sensation in recent years, with millions of users sharing and viewing a seemingly endless array of short-form videos on the platform. However, the app’s ownership by the Chinese behemoth ByteDance raises grave national security concerns regarding the risks the app presents to the United States and its citizens. As a result, the United States government has considered banning TikTok, citing concerns about data privacy, propaganda, cyberattacks, and disinformation—and here’s the reality: they should.
From a national security perspective, banning TikTok seems to be a reasonable step in protecting U.S. citizens. After all, TikTok is merely a video-sharing app that is widely used by children; thus, its ability to harm us far outweighs its utility. The Chinese government has a history of surveillance and censorship, and based on national security experts, TikTok is collecting data about its users and sharing it with the Chinese government. While the app has denied these claims, ByteDance has yet to present any significant data to show that they aren’t sharing sensitive information with the Chinese government. In fact, reports have shown the exact opposite of what TikTok has professed.
TikTok’s potential use as a tool for Chinese propaganda is a significant national security concern. With the app’s vast, billion-plus user base (many of them children), there is a risk that it could influence young Americans’ political beliefs and opinions, and be used as a highly effective propaganda machine. This is especially concerning given the current political climate in the United States; with tensions between political parties and ideologies at an alltime high, we must ensure that an adversary such as China can’t use digital technology to divide us fur-
ther.
We must also be wary of the potential for hacking and cyberattacks on TikTok. With more than 1 billion users worldwide, the app represents a valuable target for hackers and cybercriminals. If any person with bad intentions were to access their systems, it could potentially put millions of American kids at risk—a risk that parents frankly may be unaware of.
In recent years, we have seen a wave of disinformation campaigns in the USA aimed at undermining our democracy and sowing division between political parties and racial groups. TikTok, with its vast user base and potential for viral content, has the ability to spread disinformation and manipulate public opinion, causing further discord in the USA, which is a benefit to China and its aims. With its sophisticated content suggestion algorithms, if TikTok wanted to, they probably could overtly spread Chinese propaganda to their 1 billion users in a way that would wreak havoc on our social fabric.
The Trump administration issued an executive order in 2020 that would have effectively banned the app in the United States. However, the order was ultimately blocked by the courts. Despite this, bipartisan support is growing for a ban on TikTok, with policymakers expressing concerns about the app’s potential national security risks. The time is now for our lawmakers to do what Trump was unable to do in the interest of national security.
The TikTok ban has also become a symbol of the ongoing U.S.-China trade war. With tensions between the two countries continuing to rise, TikTok has become a point of contention, representing China’s growing influence in the United States. While it may seem like TikTok is “just” an app, a ban would send a clear message that the United
States is taking a hard line against China and is willing to take action to protect its interests. It’s difficult to imagine why China would feel so threatened by the U.S.’s banning of TikTok if they didn’t have some nefarious use for it.
Of course, there are arguments against banning TikTok. Some argue that a ban on the app would be an infringement of freedom of speech and expression. Others argue that a ban on TikTok could lead to a backlash against the United States, damaging relations with China and potentially harming American businesses operating in China.
However, these arguments are outweighed by the national security risks associated with TikTok. Protecting American citizens and ensuring national security should be the top priority for any government. With concerns about data privacy, propaganda, cyberattacks, and disinformation, the United States must take all necessary measures to protect its citizens and ensure national security.
While TikTok has become a cultural phenomenon, the threats it presents to our national security far outweigh any viral sensationalism the app brings. Banning TikTok is necessary to protect American citizens and ensure national security. While the debate over TikTok will undoubtedly continue, policymakers must prioritize national security over other concerns. The United States should take a hard line against China and be willing to take action to protect its interests, and a ban on TikTok is an essential step in this direction.
Armstrong Williams (@ ARightSide) is manager / sole owner of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the year. www.armstrongwilliams.co | www.howardstirkholdings.com
Have you seen “Champion” yet?
Well, Terence Blanchard has done it again. He’s made music, he’s made a new opera at the Met, and he’s made history. Even if you don’t fancy yourself as an opera lover or aficionado, Blanchard’s latest opera is a must see.
The Met describes “Champion” as an “operatic retelling of the dramatic story of boxer Emile Griffith...Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green stars as the closeted young hatmakerturned-prizefighter, who rises from obscurity to become world champion and, in one of the great tragedies in sports history, kills his homophobic archrival in the ring.” As we continue to grapple with questions pertaining to equity and inclusion in the LGBTQ+ community, this opera is important and timely for our continued dialogues.
Many of you may know Blanchard’s work from the countless scores he’s done for Hollywood movies—more specifically, several of Spike Lee’s most poignant films. In so many ways, Blanchard and his trumpet have provided the soundtrack to our lives. If you’ve enjoyed recent films such as “BlacKkKlansman,” “Harriet,” “Da 5 Bloods,” or the “Woman King”— those were all Blanchard originals. And if you remember watching “Red Tails,” “Miracle at St. Anna,” “Inside Man,” or “Bamboozled,” those were also Blanchard original scores.
As I head to the Met to support Blanchard’s latest opera, I am still reflecting on the history he made in 2021 by being the first African American in the century, and the history of the Met, to stage an
opera, “Fire Shut Up In My Bones.” We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. In interviews, Blanchard always shouts out the countless musicians who came before him but did not have the same opportunities, due to a host of structural and institutional reasons…whether it be racism or a lack of acceptance of jazz as a true artform.
What continues to fascinate me are the number of jazz musicians who have a strong foundation in classical music or even opera. As I reflect on “Champion” the opera, I will be listening for Blanchard’s signature notes that seem to awaken the soul in a mixture of history, elation, and wonderment. I can’t fully describe it, but after listening to Blanchard’s original scores on “4 Little Girls” or “Eve’s Bayou,” you’ll know what I mean.
As we celebrate a living legend, be sure to check out “Champion” at the Met Opera. The opera is performed on select nights, so plan accordingly at www.metopera.org. The show runs April 10, 14, 18, 22, 25, and 29, and May 4, 8, and 13.
If we care about increased representation, we must support the efforts of trailblazers like Blanchard. I know the late Wayne Shorter is looking down and smiling…I know I will be.
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream”; and the co-host of the podcast FAQNYC and host of The Blackest Questions podcast at TheGrio.
The 20-plus years of the mass murder trial of former Surinamese military strongman and two-time elected president Desi Bouterse is coming to an end, but sensing that the court could rule against his client, the lead defense attorney has asked the court to patriotically not send him to prison.
The former soldier, who led a 1980 military coup against the then-elected government, had appealed against a 20-year sentence in 2019 for the 1982 executions of 15 government opponents. The Bouterse-led military government had accused the group of 15, including four journalists, labor leaders, and academics, of plotting with western nations to reverse the coup when they were executed by firing squad at a Dutch colonial-era fort in Paramaribo, the capital.
The appeal hearing is now headed to the stage where defense and state attorneys will soon present closing remarks. Once formalities come to an end, it will be up to the Caricom country’s final court to render a verdict. At every other stage of the trial, the court has held that Bouterse and four other ex-soldiers were responsible for the murders, but the former president has said
he only accepts collective responsibility because he was the de facto head of state at the time. He had persistently denied ever personally giving orders to soldiers to execute anyone.
Lead attorney Irvin Kanhai told the panel of judges in his appeal on Bouterse’s behalf at the latest round of hearings in the past week that sparing Bouterse jail time would be an act of “patriotic love” as he pleaded with the court to avoid imposing a prison sentence.
The former president was in court when Kanhai made the plea. The next hearing is scheduled for the end of next month.
Many in the former Dutch colony of
about 600,000 fear riots and other forms of unrest if the courts enforce the jail sentence against the popular opposition leader. Kanhai appears to be urging the court to spare him actual jail time because of his decades of service to the nation.
Patriotic love apart, the lawyer is also laying much of the blame for the executions and for the mayhem in 1982 at the feet of the Netherlands, saying the Dutch were unhappy about a loss of influence at the hands of the military-led government back then and desperate to recolonize Suriname after it had gained independence in 1975.
“The Netherlands is fully responsible for
the events of the second week of December 1982,” Kanhai said. “As head of government and army commander, Bouterse was primarily responsible for national security and he acted correctly at the time by arresting persons suspected of posing a threat to national security.”
Bouterse is leader of the main opposition National Democratic Party (NDP). The attorney also plans to submit that a case has not been made out against his client because no one has testified to him directly ordering the executions.
Meanwhile, Hugo Essed, the attorney for the victims, wants the trial to end soon because it is a main source of simmering political and other forms of division in the country.
“The dividing line of that division runs over Mr. Bouterse’s head.” Essed said. “There is an antagonism. That is a contradiction that cannot be resolved, other than by the disappearance of one of the opposite poles. There is an insoluble contradiction between two parts of society, the dividing line of which runs over Bouterse’s head; a dividing line that stands in the way of brotherhood and cooperation.”
He said this division will come to an end if Bouterse and the others involved are sentenced and jailed in the coming weeks.
As we come off the celebration of Easter, one of the headlines that became national news again emanated from Florida, when the state’s mini Trumpeto governor, anxious to prove just how much like his idol he is, chose the easiest target for political scapegoating: undocumented immigrants and those who show any love to them.
Ron Death Santis, a supposed Christian Catholic, is now pushing what the New York Times on April 10 dubbed the “Toughest Immigration Crackdown in the Nation.” He has moved beyond “banning the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade” and banning books that tell Black history through his “S.T.O.P Woke” act, and has gone back to manipulating the state to “crucify” undocumented immigrants and those who help them.
Death Santis and his band of Pharisees are now set to push through bills in the state that will “expose people to felony charges
for sheltering, hiring, and transporting undocumented immigrants; require hospitals to ask patients their immigration status and report to the state; invalidate out-of-state driver’s licenses issued to undocumented immigrants; and direct the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to provide assistance to federal authorities in enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.”
This is in Florida, a state that has been built by migrants. European colonists quickly decimated the Indigenous population, beginning with the arrival of the Spanish explorer and adventurer Juan Ponce de León in 1513 to become the first migrants. Later, whites from the South migrated there. The difference between then and today is simply 0.07–0.15 mm of epidermis and its pigment. If the new undocumented immigrants of today were of “no color” or “pale white,” we wouldn’t be having this discussion.
The new measures by Death Santis and his Chief Priests, according to the New York Times, “represent the most far-reaching state immigration legislation since 2010, when Arizona, a border state that was the nation’s busiest corridor for human smuggling at the time, passed a law that required
the police to ask people they stopped for proof of immigration status if they had a reason to suspect they might be in the country illegally.”
Death Santis has already separately proposed eliminating in-state college tuition for undocumented students and beneficiaries of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA or Dreamers, who were brought to the United States as young children. This is, of course, on the heels of his kidnapping and transporting immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard.
I’m not sure what Bible Death Santis and his band of supposed Christians in the Florida legislature and the Republican party nationally read, but it’s sure not the same one I do.
On Easter weekend, a time when Christians celebrated yet again one of the greatest love stories of all time, its deeply upsetting to see what is happening in Florida. No right-minded Christian who truly understands what true Christianity is—love of God and neighbor—should stand idly by and let a man who worships at the Temple of Trumpeto, Ambition, Greed, and Power, just like the Pharisees who crucified Jesus,
run rough-shod over all of us in this Sunshine State.
“What would Jesus do” is the question we need to ask ourselves. It certainly is not what we see being pushed by the Florida and GOP Pharisees, using the cover of Christianity to execute Saul-like tactics to destroy and crucify brothers and sisters who do not look like them.
Ron Death Santis is no Christian, and neither is his band of Pharisees in the Florida Legislature. Like Jesus cleared out the Temple, we need to expose Con Ron and his fake Christians for what they really are. The Most High God will take care of the rest and protect all his children—documented or not. Many like Death Santis have tried and failed. He will, too.
The same initiatives used to stop Arizona’s controversial anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, must be used against Florida as soon as the Fake Christians execute their xenophobic vendetta. Death Santis is using weapons against God’s people. But any diabolical assignment of the enemy will be returned to the enemy. Watch out, Mini Trumpeto, because you can bet God is watching you, too!
The writer is publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com – The Black Immigrant Daily News.
“Many in [Surinam] fear riots and other forms of unrest if the courts actually enforce the jail sentence against the popular opposition leader.”
Kwame
132 West 138th Street, Harlem, New York
212-862-7474
Famed photographer Kwame Brathwaite, 85, made his transition peacefully in his sleep on April 1, 2023. As Harlem mourns the loss of African Jazz Art Society & Studio (AJASS) Co-Founder Kwame Brathwaite and his contributions to the Black is Beautiful Legacy, there is a great opportunity upcoming for people to learn more about his contributions and hear from him in film that debuted last year and features rare interviews
with Kwame Brathwaite.
The Herb Lubalin Study Center at Cooper Union in conjunction with Cultural Caravan Productions, Inc., presents a screening of the seven-time award-winning documentary, AJASS: Pioneers of the Black is Beautiful Movement, by Louise Dente.
The AJASS was founded in 1956 by a group of talented creatives inspired by the writings of activist and Black nationalist thinker Marcus Garvey, and his proté -
gé, Carlos Cook of the African Nationalist Pioneer Movement (ANPM). AJASS was a collective of artists, playwrights, designers, musicians, and other Black creatives who sought to produce and promote their own work. Elombe Brath said that one of AJASS’s primary purposes was to “spread the idea of Black unity through appreciation of self, beauty of self — and to establish a Black standard."
Dente’s documentary chronicles
the journey of AJASS from its start in the South Bronx, where they first hosted jazz concerts, to Harlem where their projects expanded, helping to shape the visual landscape of the second Harlem Renaissance in the process. It features commentary from several prominent voices on the impact of AJASS and the Grandassa Models, their modeling troupe that showcased that Naturally Shows.
The office of New York State Assembly Member Edward Gibbs,
will present Proclamation to the Filmmaker, Louise Dente, and several Grandassa Models. The Grandassa Models were the engine of the movement and first debuted in his district over 60 years ago. There will also be a panel and Q&A with Dente hosted by Harold Thomas of the Dwyer Cultural Center following the screening. Panelists include Cinque Brath, the Elombe Brath Foundation; Ajuba Grinage Bartley, Grandassa Model; and Basir Mchawi, Educator/Activist/ WBAI Radio host.
Visitors must show security proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test by a third party (not home test) within three days of their visit to campus or a negative rapid test result taken by a third party (not home test) on the day of the visit to campus.
If you have not seen the film yet, visit Herb Lubalin Center on Friday, April 14th at 5:30 pm, come to the Frederick P. Rose Auditorium, at 41 Cooper Square (on Third Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets).
Have you been told by a doctor that you have high cholesterol?
Are you prescribed medications by your doctor to help lower your cholesterol?
Do you have problems taking your medication as your doctor prescribed?
Do you self-identify as Black/African-American?
Our team is looking for participants interested in taking their statin medication more consistently.
We are currently recruiting participants for a study to help us see how long you need to use a text message intervention in order to help you take your statin medication as your doctor has prescribed
Your participation may last between 5-14 weeks
You will be asked to wear a Fitbit activity tracker, use a Nomi electronic pill bottle for your statin medication and respond to daily prompts delivered by text message You will also be asked to complete surveys about your activity delivered by text message to a secure link
Participants must currently use or be willing to use VIVO Health as your pharmacy for the length of the study
By HEATHER M. BUTTS, JD, MPH, MA Special to the AmNews
Dr. Leslie A. Hayes, deputy commissioner of the Division of Family and Child Health in the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, spoke with the Amsterdam News recently about her role, the Division of Family and Child Health, and health resources for children and families in NYC. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
AmNews: Could you tell us a little about yourself?
Background: I am a Harlemite by birth, born and raised on 139th Street. I went to high school in the Bronx at the Academy of Mount Saint Ursula. After that, I did my undergraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, then came back to New York, to the medical school at what was called Mount Sinai at the time (and is) now the Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
After medical school, I did my residency in pediatrics at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, which is affiliated with
the George Washington University. After my pediatric residency, I did a fellowship in adolescent medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry with Doctor Robert Johnson, who, I’m very proud to say, was the first Black male trained in adolescent medicine. Then I came back to New York to do the rest of my medical career between Brooklyn and the Bronx.
AmNews: Can you talk to us a bit about what got you interested in a medical career?
I witnessed first-hand how social determinants of health, health disparities, and inequities impacted families and communities. I was very fortunate to have a pediatrician and mentor by the name of Frederick Greene, who was considered a social activist back in the day and also provided quality, comprehensive healthcare to citizens of Harlem. He had his private practice on 116th Street. He went on to be appointed by the Johnson administration to the Office of Child Development at the Department of Health and Education and Welfare, and he really inspired me to want to be a pediatrician and to be a social activist in my community.
I’m very passionate about bringing positive change and improving healthcare outcomes and communities. You know, I’ve served for over 30 years as a clinician—someone on the first line, having an impact on the lives of children and their families—and I’ve done that primarily in Brooklyn.
AmNews: Could you talk about your work as a pediatrician and how it informs your current work?
I am an adolescent medicine specialist. I describe it as a pediatrician who has done more training and focuses primarily on providing healthcare to adolescents and young adults—adolescents and young adults between the ages of 11 and 21. The focus of adolescence medicine is ideally to to provide support for young adolescents and young adults to be educated.
[I’ve also done] a lot of program implementation that relates to school health, empowering students in schools, as well as educating young adults and adolescents about sexual reproductive health and education with counseling and parenting in those areas.
My position currently is as deputy commissioner of the Division of
Family Child Health in the New York City Department of Health. Basically in that position, I’m part of a team of other health professionals whose vision is to provide affordable quality care that’s equitable and culturally competent to New York City. Not only children, but New York City families as well. As deputy commissioner, I’m able to do that with a team and be more effective.
AmNews: The last question I have for you has to do basically with resources available to support parents and families with young children.
There are a ton of excellent services. The Division of Family and Child Health comprises four bureaus. One is the Bureau of Maternal and Infant Reproductive health. The other is the Bureau of Early Intervention. The third is the Office of School Health, and then there’s the Bureau of Administration.
In the Bureau of Maternal and Infant Reproductive Health, there’s
the maternal child health unit, there’s a sexual reproductive health unit, and there is the Maternal Health Quality Improvement Network in that unit as well.
A more recently launched program that came about as a response to the overturning of Roe v.Wade is our abortion access hub. It is a call-in center where anyone, not only in New York City or New York State, but even out of state, can call in and receive confidential, no-cost support. [The phone number is 877-692-2482.]
We also have resources for new
Congress’ public health emergency order to keep people automatically enrolled in Medicaid expired on April 1. Nationwide, states have to figure out who is still eligible for coverage. But health advocates warn that the “unwinding” process could disproportionately impact millions of children of color.
For the most part, pre-COVID you’d apply for Medicaid coverage based on your income and those who were ineligible usually had the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to fall back on, especially children, people of color and people with disabilities. During the pandemic the order stated that no one could be kicked off while the emergency was ongoing.
Last December, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations
Act, which significantly changed enrollment requirements for several healthcare programs. Now that the emergency is over, the unwind is required to be completed within 14 months and will likely be completed by May 2024.
About 91.8 million people were enrolled in the healthcare program last year, and as of December 2022, New York’s total Medicaid/Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment was 7,346,992.
Over half of all CHIP recipients in the U.S. are Black, Latino, or live in rural areas. About 7 million children are expected to lose coverage, said the Protect Our Care organization.
“Clearly what it’s shown is how critical Medicaid is for so many people,” said Protect Our Care Chair Leslie Dach about the pandemic. “People purposely try to mischaracterize the people who rely on Medicaid.”
The org (Protect Our Care) pre-
dicts that states may disenroll people from Medicaid because of income changes, language barriers, lack of support and communication from the state, confusing renewal notices, and procedural errors. Children of color are more likely to experience churn or gaps in coverage than their white counterparts, due to parents of color being more likely to work low-wage jobs that are less likely to offer coverage, said the org. Dach said that the safety net that is the ACA really depends on whether the Republican majority in Congress succeeds in taking trillions out of the Obama-era healthcare program.
“It’s in a more secure place because it’s become part of the fabric of America,” said Dach, “but there are still Republican members of the House in particular who have made it their sworn stated objective to repeal the Affordable Care Act or take away a lot of its parts.”
He said that states absolutely have to do persistent outreach to communities to make sure people are covered. So far states that haven’t expanded coverage include Texas, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Tennessee.
“NY State of Health has over 100 assistor agencies serving New York County, prioritizing New Yorkers who are uninsured, communities of color, and hard-to-reach populations. These include Navigator agencies, health plans, hospitals, health care providers, federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and other community-based organizations,” said the New York State (NYS) Medicaid office.
NYS offered Medicaid, Child Health Plus, and the essential plan as the Public Health Emergency (PHE) order.
The state said it was not “required to pause renewals” for Child Health Plus
or the essential plan, but elected to do so during the PHE to ease the burden on customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are resuming the eligibility determining process in phases working community partners in local districts to inform people that they need to reapply.
The state said that several navigator agencies have sites in Harlem, such as the Harlem YMCA, where people can get help with the application and renewal process.
“The end of the public health emergency does not mean a downshift in public health,” said NYS Medicaid Director Amir Bassiri in a statement. “It is our top priority to reinstate eligibility reviews in a way that retains coverage for as many enrollees as possible and limits coverage gaps, particularly for vulnerable populations dependent on services. It is the right of every New Yorker
See HEALTH on page 31
Harlem Stage’s signature dance series EMoves tops this month’s calendar. An integral part of Harlem Stage’s ongoing Black Arts Movement program, Part VI: DANCE: EMoves 2023 (Apr. 13–15) is curated by dancer, choreographer, and Harlem Stage alum Stefanie Batten Bland. E-Moves showcases choreographers experimenting with and responding to the legacy of the past while creating dances that lean into the future.
Featured is Jamal Abrams’s “SAB & The Gatekeeper,” honoring conflict with self and exploring the origin story of SAB, the name Abrams has given to his shadow self. Kayla Farrish’s “In Myths until you hold me” imagines and brings into resolution herself as a Black woman, becoming visceral, solid, and human. Dance and interdisciplinary artist Ogemdi Ude’s “ok, let’s try this again” is a solo in which Ude adapts remnants of past works while addressing grief and loss, creating a character that exists both internally and externally.
For more information, visit https://www. harlemstage.org/.
Also this month
Apr. 6–30: The 18th annual La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival, curated by Nicky Paraiso, will include the New York premiere of Bobbi Jene Smith’s “Broken Theater,” Kayla Farrish’s “Put Away the Fire, dear,” and Loco7’s “Lunch with Sonia.” Two shared evenings will present works by Leyya Mona Tawil, Nora Alami, and Jadd Tank, then Baye & Asa, plus Wendy Perron and Morgan Griffin, with film and photography by Babette Mangolte.
For more information, visit https://www.
lamama.org/shows/la-mama-moves-2023.
Apr. 13–15: Ayodele Casel invites fellow tap dancers Brinae Ali, Gerson Lanza, Caleb Teicher, Naomi Funaki, Amanda Castro, and Michelle Dorrance to share the stage.
For more information, visit https://www. nycitycenter.org/pdps/2022-2023/ayodelecasel-artists-at-the-center/.
Apr. 14–15: Miro Magloire’s New Chamber Ballet’s season includes world premieres set to music by Wong Foo Jeng and Elizabeth Gartman, and repertory works to Mozart and Friedrich Cerha. Performances are at the Mark Morris Dance Center.
For more information, visit https://www. newchamberballet.com/performances.
Apr. 14–25: At the Ailey Citigroup Theater with the World Music Institute, “Dancing The Gods” will feature performances and lectures by Shreelakshmy Govardhanan, Rajika Puri, and Praveen Kumar.
For more information, visit https://www.worldmusicinstitute.org/current-season-calendar/.
Apr. 14–16: At JACK, choreographer Candace Taylor will present “Effervescent Encounters,” which explores “the magic that occurs when the light in one person witnesses and intertwines with another.”
For more information, visit https://www. jackny.org/effervescent-encounters.
Apr. 15: The Danspace Project’s DraftWork series, curated by Ishmael HoustonJones, hosts free, informal showings of new works in varying stages of development. This afternoon will feature Andros ZinsBrowne/Martita Abril. Showings are followed by a reception, conversation, and Q&A between the artists and HoustonJones. Admission: free with RSVP.
For more information, visit https://danspaceproject.org/calendar/.
Apr. 21–May 31: The Boogie Down Dance
Series at the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD) has a diverse lineup of events featuring the artistic community of the Bronx. Slated for this season are the BRIO (Bronx Recognizes Its Own) All Star Dance Concert; Bunny Dance Compilation; works by local choreographers to the music of Puerto Rico’s Bad Bunny; Dancing While Black’s three-part series: “Past, Present, and Future”; and so much more.
For more information, visit http://www. baadbronx.org/baad-ass-women-2023.html.
Apr. 19–23: Dance Theater of Harlem returns to New York City Center for its annual Vision Gala and homecoming season, celebrating 54 years. This is the company’s final season with founding member and former principal dancer Virginia Johnson. Included on the two programs are Johnson’s most-beloved Balanchine ballet, “Allegro Brillante,” plus William Forsythe’s “Blake Works IV,” Tiffany Rea-Fisher’s “Sounds of Hazel,” Christopher Wheeldon’s “This Bitter Earth,” Nacho Duato’s “Coming Together”, DTH resident choreographer and incoming artistic director Robert Garland’s “Higher Ground,” plus repertory favorites.
For more information, visit https://www. nycitycenter.org/pdps/2022-2023/dance-theatre-of-harlem/.
Apr. 20–22: At Gibney, Ogemdi Ude will premiere “Cameo,” a duet about preserving and losing memories. The performance will feature a multimedia installation, a live soundscape, and an improvised score.
For more information, visit https://gibneydance.org/event/ogemdiude/2023-04-20/.
Apr. 21–22: Director/choreographer
Iquail Shaheed’s “Dance Iquail!” comes to the Ailey Citigroup Theater with the world premiere of “Public Enemy.”
For more information, visit https://brown-
Apr. 23: As part of the “Works & Process” series at the Guggenheim, audiences are invited to go behind the scenes for two of the New York City Ballet’s newest commissions by choreographers Keerati Jinakunwiphat and Alysa Pires.
For more information, visit https://www. guggenheim.org/event/works-process-newyork-city-ballet-keerati-jinakunwiphatand-alysa-pires.
Apr. 27–28: For the Trisk’s “Split Bill #40,” Beatriz Castro will share the new work “time, flat circle.” Also on the program is Effy Grey in “Grey Doc.”
For more information, visit https://www. triskelionarts.org/split-bill-40-2023.
Apr. 29: The Art Bath series, which offers immersive performance salons, will showcase flamenco dancer Neilada Tirado; ballet dancer Robbie Fairchild; and Latin-jazz pianist, arranger, and director Arturo O’Farrill of the Afro Latin Jazz orchestra; and more.
For more information, visit https://artbathnyc.ticketspice.com/art-bath-nycspring-2023.
Apr. 29: Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre! under artistic direction of Samar Haddad King will share a work in process of “Gathering: New York City” as part of Snug Harbor’s PASS series.
For more information, visit https:// snug-harbor.org/event/pass-gatheringsnew-york-city-work-in-progress-by-yaa-samar-dance-theatre/?instance_id=6670.
Apr. 29: Curated by Ishmael HoustonJones, this edition of “DraftWork” will showcase mayfield brooks/Yo-Yo Lin. Admission: Free with RSVP.
For more information, visit https://danspaceproject.org/calendar/draftworkbrooks-lin/.
Film at Lincoln Center and the African Film Festival, Inc. are gearing up to kick off the 30th New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) from May 10 to 16. Launched in 1993, the festival was one of the first of its kind in the United States and reflects on the myriad ways African and diaspora storytellers have used the moving image to tell stories with their own nuances and idiosyncrasies.
With a theme of Freeforms, the 2023 festival presents more than 30 films from more than 15 countries that invite audiences to explore the infinite realms of African and diaspora storytelling and embrace its visionary, probing, and fearless spirit.
The festival opens with the New York premiere of Moussa Sène Absa’s “Xalé,” the third film in his trilogy focused on women. The Centerpiece selection is the U.S. pre-
miere of “Hyperlink,” comprised of four short films directed by South African filmmakers Mzonke Maloney, Nolitha Mkulisi, Julie Nxadi, and Evan Wigdorowitz, and reflecting on the seductive, and at times treacherous, illusory reality of the internet.
Four festival features will also be U.S. premieres: Fatou Cissé’s “A Daughter’s Tribute to Her Father: Souleymane Cissé,” an intimate portrayal of the life and career of Cissé, one of Africa’s most celebrated filmmakers; Ottis Ba Mamadou’s “Dent Pour Dent,” a comedic drama placing the unemployed Idrissa in the position of being entirely dependent on his wife after budgetary restrictions imposed by the IMF and seeking revenge; Katy Léna N’diaye’s “Money, Freedom, a Story of CFA Franc,” a revealing account of why a currency holdover resulting from French colonialism is still in use to this day; and Ery Claver’s “Our Lady of the Chinese Shop,” a delicate urban tale that re-
veals a family and city full of resentment, greed, and torment in Luanda, Angola, in part due to a peculiar, holy plastic figure of Our Lady.
Other highlights from the slate include the New York premiere of “Know Your Place,” Zia Mohajerjasbi’s slice-of-life drama set in present-day Seattle when an errand undertaken by Robel, a 15-year old Eritrean American, transforms into an odyssey across the rapidly gentrifying city; and Cissé’s “Den Muso,” an exploration of repercussions of a mute girl’s assault that shines a light on the societal and economic challenges facing women in urban Mali during the 1970s.
The festival also features free talks, including a masterclass by acclaimed Senegalese filmmaker Sène Absa on the impact of migration on familial and community bonds, with particular attention to the perspectives of the mothers of migrants; the
Safi Faye Memorial Talk: Women of African Cinema, a conversation that brings together contemporary African directors and curators to reflect on Faye’s legacy in the wake of the pioneering filmmaker’s death in February, and what her work means for feminist African cinema today; and “In Conversation with Souleymane Cissé,” a special keynote talk with the Malian director about his career and legacy.
The Opening Night premiere of “Xalé”— the story of Awa, a 15-year-old schoolgirl, and her twin brother Adama as they navigate the complexities of family and love in Moussa Sène—will take place at the Walter Reade Theater (165 W. 65th Street). All other films will screen at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center (144 W. 65th Street). NYAFF’s events will take place at the Africa Center and the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, where tickets are available through www.africanfilmny.org.
Michael Jordan’s success story has been a powerful source of inspiration for many, especially those from marginalized communities. Despite the systemic racism and discrimination that is deeply embedded in American society, Jordan’s extraordinary talent and business savvy enabled him to achieve unprecedented success, not only as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, but also as an entrepreneur who built an empire around his brand.
While it’s unfortunate that success of this magnitude is rare for an African American man in the United States, that is not due to any lack of ability, but rather, the result of a lack of opportunities and systemic barriers. By breaking through many of these barriers, Jordan became a trailblazing example for others to follow. His success not only opened doors for future generations of people of color to pursue their dreams and aspirations, but also shed light on the ongoing need to dismantle systemic racism and discrimination in American society.
The film “Air,” directed by Ben Affleck, uses the story of Michael Jordan and the
creation of the Air Jordan line of sneakers to showcase the power of determination, hard work, and perseverance. The film explores how an idea that seemed impossible at the time, due to the rules and regulations set by the shoe industry, became a reality because of the unwavering belief and dedication of a few people.
Casting Viola Davis as Michael Jordan’s mother, Deloris Jordan, was a smart decision by Affleck. Davis, an EGOT winner, brings an undeniable gravitas and authenticity to the role. She portrays Deloris as a strong and influential figure in Michael’s life, a woman who played a vital role in ensuring that her son was not exploited by corporate America.
Matt Damon’s performance as Sonny Vaccaro is exceptional. His portrayal of a man driven by gut instincts and unwavering determination to make the Air Jordan deal happen is compelling. The film effectively captures Damon’s character’s nervous energy, highlighting the risk and sacrifice involved in making such a bold move.
In “Air,” we see the importance of family and friendship, and the obstacles and challenges faced by those who dare to dream
big. Overall, “Air” is a compelling and insightful film that explores the creation of one of the most iconic sneakers in history while showcasing the power of perseverance and determination.
“Air” is now playing.
Nicolas Cage is the famed bloodsucker of all time—the number one “undead” of horror fame, the one, the only Count Drac ula. And that means Cage, with the blood lust of his character, puts his full “Cageness” out for display, flaws and all.
But this comedy horror is really about the cape-wearing demon of death’s assis tant, Renfield (Nicholas Hoult). Did I say “assistant”? He’s more like Dracula’s un willing servant and overworked disciple. In a voice-over, we are told that it takes a lot of gory and hard work to return Dracu la to his previous state, so Renfield’s job is to find him dinner—aka—victims to drain of their blood. That’s his job: to find people to kill, because with enough blood and time, Dracula can come back to his former robust form.
And how did Dracula get into such bad shape? He’s undead, after all. I offer that it was his greed because he seems to be perpetually starving, and we as the audience are shown several action sequences filled with throat-ripping damage in a fast-moving montage that culminates in drapes being thrown open, sunlight illuminating the room, and Dracula bursting into flames.
Is the movie over before it’s begun? No. Of course not: Remember, this is Renfield’s story, and despite the sun leaving Dracula a charred husk (which it does), it’s Renfield’s his job to help bring this bloodthirsty
demon back to life (to death)!
A big task for a mortal man, right? Well, once Renfield devours an insect, he’s transformed and has supernatural powers and can kick ass and take a lot of names. (One of the most entertaining scenes has the frazzled man destroying an entire room of bad guys in a New Orleans bar.)
Here’s the story. Renfield prepares Dracula’s home deep inside the bowels of the Old Charity Hospital. He rents his own place and essentially tries to make himself over. He cuts his hair. Wears a sweater. He dis-
tances himself from the undead evil, stepping into a mundane
To keep the action going (I think), the screenwriter (Chris McKay) added an underworld crimefamily plot. Meet the Lobos family, led by Bellafrancesca (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and her son, Ted (Ben Schwartz), the lead henchman. This is a family of drug dealers being protected by the police.
Now—wait for it— this family forms an alliance with Dracula (stop laughing, or keep laughing), but there’s one noble cop Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina) who’s on her path of revenge because her father (a police officer) was murdered by them. Naturally, when Rebecca connects with Reinfield, an alliance is born.
There’s some charm in watching Renfield try to better himself. He’s reading all about toxic narcissism and reading selfhelp books. There’s an interesting character who knows he’s essentially doomed but is trying anyway. And he’s conflicted because once he chews on a bug, he’s as dan-
gerous as Dracula.
I must admit, there’s some glee in watching an action-horror-comedy. This one is packed with many fight sequences and lots of limbs being torn and blood splattering. You would think by the very title of the movie that the character Renfield would be layered just enough for us to “care” about his fate but somehow, no!
There’s pure delight in watching Cage go full “NICOLAS CAGE” as the vampire of lore. It almost looks like the actor was born to play the role. The makeup and costumes just help him push the performance over the edge, which is saying a lot, because Cage is known for bringing characters to life that live (comfortably) on the edge. Cage is utterly over the top, outlandish but layered. The film might not do the box office it thought it would because there’s no mystery in this film. It’s jammed to the rafters with ideas that have no place to flourish.
The tone of this movie isn’t hopeful. There are no real good guys to root for. Maybe it’s cynical on purpose? I mean how can you care about a human character who (once transformed) is as violent as the undead legend? Answer: You can’t, but there’s enough over-the-top action-paced, bloodsquirting drama, comedy, and horror to keep you entertained.
Rebirth of A New Nation: What was initiated during the north/south nodes beginning on November 19, 2021? A lunar eclipse in Taurus at 27 degrees; a solar eclipse in Taurus on April 30, 2022; at 10 degrees Taurus; a lunar eclipse on May 15, 2022, at 25 degrees Scorpio; a solar eclipse on October 25, 2022, at 2-degree Scorpio; then another lunar eclipse on November 8, 2022, at 15 degrees Taurus. What occurred in your life? What changes developed internally and externally? A season of cancellation, fulfillment, rebirth to find your way back to you while elevating higher. The previews of the solar/lunar eclipse in Aries and Libra begin on April 19, 2023, at 29 degrees in Aries, and lunar on October 14, 2023, at 21 degrees in Libra. 29 degrees is the tail-end degree from switching from one sign to the next sign, starting at 0 degrees. The last of Taurus/Scorpio nodes will complete with a lunar eclipse on May 5, 2023, at 14 degrees Scorpio and another lunar eclipse on October 28, 2023, in Taurus. After the lesson, the homework package was distributed by the end of October and the report card is out. “To be ready for tomorrow’s opportunities, do your homework today. Learn, refine your skills, and focus on growth.” — Author Unknown
It’s a watch-and-learn cycle as you navigate this week being in tune with oneself. Smile at the foolishness, be in love with what feeds you spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and financially to manifest physically. Divine messages are flowing to you in the most unseasonably fashionable way. Financial, educational, career opportunities, and gains are swimming your way to keep you afloat. Make the best decision that is aligned with what you do. In the days leading up to April 20, boundaries are needed to prevent feeling victimized.
Are you traveling somewhere far by train, car, or in your mind? Check in on your loved ones, associates, friends, family like the good ol’ days when folks checked in on one another. Finalize all bets on any work to elevate it to the next stage. Once that occurs, you can take another deep sigh of relief or of excitement, just as when you started your plan. Some form of ancient wisdom or information will come across your desk to connect the dots within your profession, study, or daily aspects. April 13 until around 6 p.m. on April 15, remain grounded when the air is flying in all directions. Listen to the wind and it will guide you.
The process of the transformational period is speaking louder for the change occurring within. You are being pulled by your coattails to the upcoming soul mission. It’s about putting your faith first and standing on your beliefs and on what you truly believe in and are willing to journey down the rabbit burrows for. At some point this month, a conclusion will be made to step forward on to the next assignment. April 15 until 9 p.m. April 17, follow your gut instinct on this one because, as a matter of fact, a purification of death and rebirth is taking place.
When you are swimming in the water, at some point, you must swim to the surface for air. Before coming up for air, what treasure did you discover about yourself as you were sightseeing? What feelings, memories, and ideas came to mind? Gather up the information given in the water to bring it to the surface and solve what seems like a mystery. Ask around when you don’t know and ask the divine creator to assist you. April 17, 9 minutes after 9 p.m. until April 20, some form of revelation sets in that requires you to be alone or in solitude for a moment.
With all the numerical vibrations, frequencies, and stars’ alignments, it is prime time for traveling in a foreign land or unfamiliar territory. This is your getaway card and a spiritual quest to utter out like a bird call. Between any four walls of navigating, you are your own boss this week, leading yourself to right where you are meant to be. Mentally, emotionally, intellectually, ground yourself in the physical realm. In the days approaching April 20 in the a.m., something may keep you awake or astral traveling where your soul wants you to see and be.
You may want to pump the brakes to see if they are working properly after driving in a puddle of water. Listen to how they pump as you travel through the water. Once you diagnose them, you are cooking with gas and running on fire, heating up this talk as folks watch you do your thing. What kind of example and message are you referencing? That part is in the details and only you know the true interpretation while others are figuring it out. It’s not hard when you pay attention and catch the replay after the play to see, hear, and learn. April 13 until around 6 p.m. on April 15, it’s about time someone is taking notes in class.
All four directions of the elements are speaking to you in all their languages and gestures. The details are written all over your face so listen, feel, sense, see as you become aware of the process taking place. This mighty grand-slam plan you envision in your mind—bring it to the light. Follow your passion and allow the heart to guide and stroke the paint brush here, there, over, and behind for the outcome. April 16 until 9 p.m. on April 17, surrender yourself in the mist to be free without holding onto safety. You are your safety, so allow it to flow like you are floating in the water.
The ancestors are floating all around you and their money is dancing at your feet and hovering over your head for protection. Whatever plans, deals, offers are presenting to you, it’s grand and sounds elephantine—yet at what cost? If it is not aligning with your purpose and plan, and you are only receiving a small portion, it’s not worth the nickel-and-diming con game. State your demands and call their bluff. You mean business, no other way. On April 17, 9 minutes after 9 p.m. until April 20, the right offer or whatever you are planning or building will come with no strings attached.
Your words are traveling through the airways, channeling the social media streams and platforms, and here you are and there you go. Some form of accomplishment is taking place and, as soon as you feel the relief, another assignment has your name on it. A great week to travel, speak, make some improvements spiritually and mentally for self-growth. Every day this week, apply extra gratitude and smile while saying great things about yourself. In the hours, minutes, and seconds leading up to April 20 in the a.m., whatever you do, it will be viral, or heard through the grapevine.
Right now is right now, not tomorrow. It’s what you create and do today that counts for tomorrow. This amazing agenda you are pushing is going to happen when it is ready without any force. You play your part, and the rest will follow. Mentally, you may seem challenged due to all the information on your mind. Take a stroll through the park or catch a breeze and allow the sun to beam on you, then come back to the program. Everything is working itself out. From April 13 until around 6 p.m. on April 15, you got this. Work with the energy, not against it.
How have your dreams been lately? Are they vivid enough for you to catch the details, colors, and 411? Are they coming too fast? Do you need the director to slow them down for you? Something is occurring internally and externally this week while another gift is coming through. You’re soulful, and spiritually, you are connecting on a higher realm. You may feel like you are hydroplaning at moments; that’s the divine creator’s way of guiding you and protecting you. From April 15 until 9 p.m. April 17, it’s something about the invisible force that makes the mind wander and ask why that happens.
A change within organizations and obligations is vastly approaching, with a possible change of roles while building new partnerships and alliances. Be sure of the position each person plays, because each person is a key factor for establishing unity and a successful collaboration. You are pursuing a higher mission and the changes occurring are needed for each party involved to progress forward. On April 17 at 9 minutes after 9 p.m. until April 20, the brew is brewing, and the fire is spreading with pressure to make a move.
Deck your kitchen, dining room or patio with bright decor and fun, festive springtime frills - brunch season is here. Whether your weekend morning meal is shared with that special someone or friends, family and neighbors; warm, sunny days can bring out the best of brunch.
Impress your loved one with these Mini Banana Rice Pan -
Mini Banana Rice Pancakes
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Servings: 2
cakes for two, a healthy and satisfying meal made with Minute Brown Rice & Quinoa Cups. This recipe allows for more moments together at the table because the whole-grain combination is ready in just 1 minute and prep time is minimal.
Pairing the crunchiness of red quinoa with the chewy texture of brown rice, these cups earned a spot on the “Men’s
Health” Best Foods for Men Awards in 2022. Plus, packed in single-serve portions, you can eat the grains right out of the BPA-free cup for a simple lunch or snack that provides a good source of fiber with 55 grams of whole grains in each serving. If you need a dish that feeds a crowd, put this Hearty Bacon and Egg Breakfast on the menu. Ready in 35 minutes, it can sat -
isfy brunch cravings for a group of up to 12 as a main course that easily pairs with other morning favorites.
As an ideal complement to the eggs, bacon and cheese, Minute Rice & Quinoa can make this family-style recipe a breeze. In just 10 minutes, the tasty blend of brown rice, red rice, wild rice and quinoa cooks up light and fluffy for a slightly chewy, nutty
Heat rice and quinoa according to package directions. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk milk and lemon juice. Let stand for 5 minutes.
flavor. It’s also a dependable replacement for oatmeal in other breakfast dishes so you can complete your mission to make meals quick and enjoyable. Not to mention, the bag is BPA-free and recyclable via store drop-off in most communities, while the carton is recyclable curbside. Find more brunch inspiration for spring celebrations at MinuteRice.com.
Hearty Bacon and Egg Breakfast
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Servings: 12
1 cup Minute Brown Rice & Quinoa
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 bananas, divided
1 egg, beaten
¼ cup pure maple syrup, divided
4 teaspoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
Mash ½ banana. Transfer to milk mixture. Add egg and 1 teaspoon maple syrup; stir to combine. Stir in melted butter. Pour milk mixture over flour mixture. Whisk just until combined; do not overmix. Fold in rice and quinoa. Let the batter rest for 10-15 minutes.
Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat; brush with 1 teaspoon oil. Once the skillet is hot, reduce heat to medium-low. In batches, adding oil as necessary, scoop 1 tablespoon batter per pancake into the skillet and cook 3-4 minutes, or until bubbles start to form. Flip and cook 1-2 minutes until golden on bottom. Slice remaining half and full bananas. Serve pancakes with
Nonstick cooking spray
1 ½ bags Minute Rice & Quinoa
9 eggs, lightly beaten
5 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
½ teaspoon salt
Black pepper, to taste
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Prepare rice and quinoa according to package directions. In a medium bowl, combine rice and quinoa, eggs, bacon, cheese, salt and pepper, to taste. Divide batter between prepared cups and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until eggs are just set.
Last year, the Metropolitan Opera presented its first opera, “Shut Up in My Bones,” that was composed by a Black composer: trumpeter Terence Blanchard. The Grammy Award-winning production proved to be a triumphant success. Now Blanchard returns to the Met for the company premiere of “Champion,” depicting the dramatic closeted life of Emile Griffith, the five-time middleweight champion from St. Thomas whose title fight with Afro Cuban Benny “Kid” Paret proved to be disastrous.
The libretto was written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Cristofer, and bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green stars as the young prizefighter. Yannick Nezet-Seguin, the Met’s Jeanette Leman-Neubauer music director, leads an exceptional cast that also features bass-baritone Eric Owens as Griffith’s older self, haunted by the ghosts of his past; soprano Latonia Moore as Emelda Griffith, the boxer’s mother (she also played the protagonist mother in “Fire Shut Up in My Bones”); mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as bar owner Kathy Hagen; and the return of director James Robinson and Camille A. Brown, whose dynamic choreography stimulated audiences in “Fire” and “Porgy and Bess,” also returns.
The multi-Grammy winner says he is still surprised that after “Fire,” he was asked to do “Champion.”
“Being at the Met is still new to me,” said Blanchard. “Writing for voices is very difficult, but it has helped me to use those colors and tones to bring the music together.”
All championship fights are filled with twists and turns, uppercuts, and heavy body punches, no matter who wins. But who knew on that evening of March 24, 1962, at Madison Square Garden that Griffith’s angry hurricane of blows would end Benny “Kid” Paret’s life? He died 10 days later at Roosevelt Hospital from the injuries he sustained in the ring.
To witness Blanchard’s operatic expressions of jazz and classical music, and how he blends the emotional concept of forgiveness and redemption with the thoughts that haunted Griffith for 40 years will be moving.
This may be the first time that staged boxing scenes will take place on the Met stage. Boxing and opera—two unlikely disciplines come together. Michael Bentt, former heavyweight champ (1993), helped the actors with their boxing scenes. “Talking with him about boxing and the story of Emile gave me an inside perspective of the boxing game and helped me with the concept,” said Blanchard.
“Champion” premiered at the Met’s 2022–23 season on April 10 and will run for nine performances through
May 13. For tickets
The music of Haiti infiltrated the city some years ago with a wide range of influences reflecting French, African rhythms, Spanish elements, and others who inhabited the island. Wyclef Jean is a popular Haitian artist, along with Val Jeanty, the creative turntablist and Haitian electronic music composer, and singer Misty Jean.
On April 16 from 3 p.m.–5 p.m., the vibrant music of Haiti returns to the Big Apple with Rol’hans Innocent and the Agoci Band at the Bayside Historical Society (208 Totten Avenue, Fort Totten) as part of the Passport Concert Series.
Agoci, which translates as “nurturing the soul,” was founded by dancer, choreographer, and lead singer Innocent. The band performs original songs, in Haitian Creole and English about the joy, love, and struggle of the Haitian people.
Agoci combines traditional Haitian folk music with hip hop, Compas (modern méringue dance music), and calypso flavorings. His choreographies reflect the everyday lifestyle of Haitian people. His dream is to share Haitian arts and culture with people all over the world.
In 2002, Innocent produced his first music album, entitled “Fèt Drapo Ayisyen.” In 2003, he produced the Haitian Dance Festival and that same year, he founded
See JAZZ NOTES continued on next page
Agoci Entertainment LLC.
For ticket visit www.baysidehistorical.org or call 718-352-1548.
On April 23, something special for old school music heads and for you submarine race watchers: a tribute to the “Cousin Brucie Era,” also at the Bayside Historical Society, with a weekend-long tribute to the music of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s.
If you lived in New York City in the 1960s and into the 1980s, you were treated to the best radio in the country. It was a time when DJs played their own music and were hired for their unique, individual personalities. Bruce Morrow, better known as Cousin “Brucie,” was heard on the number-one general market radio station WABC and WCBS. It was a time when DJs made records happen and hosted live shows at the Brooklyn Palace and Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey that featured acts like Bobby Darin, the Four Seasons, the Flamingos, Little Anthony and the Imperials, André Previn, and Frankie Valle.
Segregation was still in the air, but integration was forging ahead. Hal Jackson from the top Black radio station, WLIB, was the first Black DJ to be hired by WABC. During the late 1970s and ’80s, it was Cousin Brucie who kept the oldies music alive and relevant. He is a member of the National Radio Hall of Fame and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
“Cousin Brucie” is a step back in
time to when radio was king, and on television in the ’60s, the Civil Rights Movement was beginning to boil. And the backdrop grooved, from Chubby Checker and the twist to the soul of the Chantels, doing the slow drag to the cha-cha and lindy hop or maybe the slop or the Brooklyn twostep. Nostalgia will be in the air.
Before COVID, my movie attendance had become cost-prohibi-
tive; $30 for admission and popcorn just didn’t seem reasonable. Having to purchase seats online took all the fun out of just walking in and looking for a seat. However, the film “Chevalier” may be worth seeing. Unfortunately, some people aren’t aware that Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was French Creole, the son of a wealthy planter and Nanon, an enslaved Senegalese African woman.
His father took him to France to be educated, where he was acknowledged as a genius violinist and composer. He became the conductor of the leading symphony in Paris. It would be sacrilege to mention Mozart, Bach, or Simon Le Duc and not have Chevalier in the conversation. “Chevalier” is a biographical drama of the life of the first classical composer musician of African descent.
By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews
“Fat Ham” is a delicious comedic feast fit for a king! The way that James Ijames takes on William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” with this 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winner for Drama will have you engaged and hungry for more.
Ijames has taken the Shakespearean story and served us up a Black family with a hot, sizzling tale of sibling betrayal/murder and marrying your dead brother’s widow, with a cool, tasty side of potato salad and a thirstquenching drink of juice to wash it down. He adds to the tale a story of the struggle that young, gay Black men have to face with their families and within themselves.
This delectable dish is being served at the American Airlines Theatre on W. 42nd Street.
We start off in the backyard of the house where Juicy, a Black gay college student, is preparing for a wedding reception for his mother Tedra and his Uncle Rev; a backyard that recently was the location of a memorial for his father Pap.
Juicy is a sensitive young man who is having mixed feelings about the death of his father— a cruel man, who would beat and chastise him for being “soft.” Juicy misses his father, but also feels anger about the way Pap mistreated him.
As Juicy prepares the yard, he is visited by the ghost of Pap, who says that Uncle Rev had him murdered and he wants his son to take revenge. Now, there’s the rub.
As you meet the other characters, each one is
very well-defined and engaging. Rev is as mean as Pap was and has no patience for Juicy’s soft ways. Tedra is the only adult who accepts Juicy, and loves and defends him. There’s also Tio, the pot smoking, porn-watching cousin, who is Juicy’s friend and confidante and is also quite the philosopher when he is high.
Juicy’s Aunt Rabby is very judgmental of him and not willing to recognize the issues of her own children. His cousins Opal and Larry are suffering because they cannot truly be who they are because of their mother Rabby.
One of the marvelous elements of this play is the hilarious and continuous breaking of the fourth wall. It is such fun when the characters speak directly to the audience and question each other as to “what did you say to them?”
One of the many wonderful aspects of this production—which was originally presented at the Public Theater and was magnificent
then—is that the Broadway production maintained the same delightful cast in their entirety.
Marcel Spears is Juicy and he gives one of the most enjoyable, delectable performances you will see on Broadway. He is sensitive, funny, and quite intelligent. Nikki Crawford is sexy, protective, funny, and a bit defensive as Tedra. This lady has the look, the moves, and sweetness to pull off this role with ease and joy.
Billy Eugene Jones plays both Rev and Pap, and he is absolutely amazing! This actor always gives a stunning performance in anything I’ve seen him in. In this play, he can be funny, sexy, and even brutal.
Chris Herbie Holland as cousin Tio is perfectly cast. This actor brings so much silliness, joy and laughter to his character. Benja Kay Thomas is marvelous as Rabby, a judgmental aunt with her own secrets. Adrianna Mitchell is spirited and funny as Opal. Calvin Leon
Smith is engaging as Larry. He plays the role with sensitivity and empathy.
It’s no wonder this cast stayed intact—together they make a delicious combination. This play also has the superb, hilarious direction of Saheem Ali, who also directed it at the Public Theater.
The creative team for “Fat Ham” serves it up right and includes set designer Maruti Evans, costume designer Dominique Fawn Hill, lighting designer Bradley King, sound designer Mikaal Sulaiman, choreographer Darrell Grand Moultrie, hair and wig designer Earon Chew Nealey, and illusions designer Skylar Fox.
“Fat Ham” proves that when something is phenomenal, a lot of others will recognize that and jump on the bandwagon. When the production originated at the Public Theater, it was co-produced by the Public Theater and National Black Theater; for the Broadway run, a lot of companies and individuals have also come aboard. “Fat Ham” is produced on Broadway by No Guarantees, Public Theater Productions, and Rashad V. Chambers; coproducers include National Black Theatre, Colman Domingo, Cynthia Erivo, Tim Levy, Bob Boyett, Cynthia Stroum, Adam Cohen, Blake Devillier, the Forstalls, John Gore Organization, David Miner, and the Wilma Theater. Andy Jones and Dylan Pager serve as executive producers.
“Fat Ham” is a play you will want to sop up with some biscuits and gravy. For tickets, visit FatHamBroadway.com.
By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff
The work of Calgary, Canadabased textile artist Simone Elizabeth Saunders is on view through May 13th at Harlem’s Claire Oliver Gallery in a show titled “Unearthing Unicorns” that relays the gallery’s commitment to nurturing the careers of women and artists of color.
It’s Saunders’ first international solo exhibit, and it demonstrates how Saunders frames large-scale textile portraits of empowered Black women using the style of Art Nouveau advertising and the motif of Europe’s Renaissance-era unicorns.
The Claire Oliver Gallery, in a four-story brownstone (135th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.), presents a regular rotation of works by LGBTIQ, first peoples, and Black and brown artists.
Oliver says her gallery has championed underrepresented voices since its founding in Florida some 30 years ago.
In those three decades, the gallery has moved from Florida to Philadelphia, to Manhattan’s Chelsea district, and has now been in Harlem since 2020.
The gallery aims to bring collectors and artists to its exhibition openings in Harlem, and also welcomes neighborhood locals to join in the festivities. “It’s so interesting—the people who come to openings for the first time here,” Oliver said with a smile. “I get the same response every time: that it’s like a family. It feels very warm here.”
People from down the street bring their kids and a group of older women makes it a regular outing to attend every opening.
One reason the gallery wants to promote a welcoming atmosphere is to make more people feel comfortable in the art world. The art market’s buyers and sellers have sustained the canon of European-oriented art, which only values images that perpetuate white images, for far too long. When the art market stays within that loop, collectors and museums miss out on what other artists have to offer.
Oliver said her gallery has worked with underrepresented artists to get their work placed in more art world institutions. Since 2020, the gallery has placed 300 works of art in col-
“Release in Darkness”
(detail,
“Affirmations of the Day”
(2023) by Simone Elizabeth Saunders. Hand-tufted velvet, acrylic, and wool yarn on muslin warp, 65 x 56 inches,165.1 x 142.24
cm. (Image courtesy of Claire Oliver Gallery)
lections in places like the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Newark Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, LACMA, and Federal Reserve Board.
“I’m a feminist; I’ve always been a feminist,” explained Oliver. “But I've been a feminist not in terms of I’m going to yell about it. I just want to fix it.
“Women artists make about 60 cents on the dollar to the men. Today––today––women artists are still making so much less money
than men. For me, I want to change that. I want to fix that. I want to be able to get people like Simone Elizabeth Saunders, like Gio Swaby… these people who are making huge strides and changing the way people look at contemporary art. I want to get them what they deserve: their just place in the historical canon and a good financial take. They deserve to be paid.”
The Claire Oliver Gallery is at 2288 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., New York, NY 10030, Contact them at 212-929-5949 or visit the website: www.claireoliver.com.
“Break Away at Dawn” in background (Karen Juanita Carrillo photo)
Salary: $56,563 - $110,749
Apply now through May 4, 2023
Exam to be held on September 9 or 10, 2023*
Women, Minorities and Veterans are encouraged to apply.
EDUCATION: HS or equivalency not needed to take exam, but required for appointment.
RESIDENCE: Must be a legal resident of Westchester, Putnam, Orange, Rockland, Bronx or Nassau County at least one month preceding exam and continuously until date of appointment. Preference in appointment may be given to White Plains residents.
US citizenship and NYS driver’s license: not needed to take exam, but required for appointment. May not have reached 35th birthday as of exam date.
Application available at: www.cityofwhiteplains.com
• White Plains Personnel Dept 255 Main Street
• Thomas Slater Center 2 Fisher Court
• El Centro Hispano 346 South Lexington Avenue
FREE TRAINING: for both the written and physical agility portions of the exam. White Plains is hiring under the terms of a Federal Court Consent Judgment
*You will be assigned to Sept 9, 2023 or Sept 10, 2023. Equal Opportunity Employer
2:30 p.m. (6* year olds)
3:00 p.m. (7-8 year olds)
3:30 p.m. (9-10 year olds)
Aaron Davis Hall at City College of New York 129 Convent Ave
Auditions also held in Queens, Bronx, Chinatown and Brooklyn this April.
Classes begin in September. | *Students must be 6 by 9/1/2023 to audition. Substantial scholarship program for students with need.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by grants from the Rose M. Badgeley Residuary Charitable Trust and The Cestone Family Foundation.
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Special to the AmNews
In his autobiography
“Yes I Can,” Sammy Davis Jr. often referred to his mother—who was really his grandmother—Rosa Davis.
Wil Haygood in his biography “In Black and White—
The Life of Sammy Davis Jr.,” the gifted entertainer’s mother, Elvera “Baby” Sanchez, is thoroughly and thoughtfully profiled.
Born Sept. 1, 1905, Elvera was known as “Baby Sanchez.” She began performing as a dancer during her teen years. If Elvera is hardly mentioned in Davis’s autobiography, he did acknowledge her, but explained that she was Puerto Rican and born in San Juan. Haygood wrote that Davis did this in order to avoid being entangled in the politics at a time when anti-Cuban sentiments were raging in the U.S. He elaborated on this point, noting that she was born in Harlem and was the daughter of Cuban Americans Marco Sanchez and Luisa Aguiar.
These revelations Haygood learned only after Elvera was dead and disclosed to him by her grandniece.
Elvera launched her career in the chorus line at the Lafayette Theater in Harlem, and continued it in the chorus line at the Apollo. In 1923, two years after her debut at the Lafayette, she was performing in “Holiday in Dixie,” where she met and married Sammy Davis, Sr. As a tot Davis, Jr. traveled with his parents, making his first appearance on stage when he was three. By the time he was 10, he was deemed a tap dancing prodigy, trained by his father but with genetic help from Elvera. When Sammy finally appeared on the stage of the Apollo, Elvera was in the chorus line.
Being in the various chorus lines meant that Elvera was a versatile dancer capable of executing all
the routines from tap to swing to ‘boogie woogie’. “But her specialty was the soft-shoe,” Haygood said, “a seductive glide across the dance floor in step with the other dancers. The girls in her chorus were doing eight shows a day, and yet, hardly anyone complained. The hours were long, but the work was thrilling. Thrilling to catch a glimpse of Ellington's smile, to see some Negro musicians lined up— your mailing address in their pockets— ready to hit the road, their long coats as kind on their backs as capes. Thrilling to wade into show parties, to hear the illicit whispers, to taste the chilled champagne. But most exciting to simply be up on the stage as the velvet curtains
wrote. “Daniels offered her a job as a barmaid, and Elvera accepted it. She had no savings and was quite happy when her new employer advanced her some money to get settled. She aimed to stay put awhile.”
It was not until 1947, that mother and son got together. But again nothing came of it much as it did with Sammy’s father, who asked for divorce. She told him that the price would “be $10,000.” When her son married May Britt, Elvera was not there unable to take the hastily arranged event seriously. “She stood behind the bar where she worked in Atlantic City,” Haygood noted, “and let an assortment of scenarios flow in and out of her mind about why her son was about to get married. ‘He married her because if he had not, they would have broken his legs,’ she would say years later.
Wil Haygood’s masterful biography of Sammy Davis, Jr. provided an incomparable amount of information on Elvera Davis.
Still would like to know more about the assault she experienced.
Elvera lived right to the edge of a century and her life is one aperture to understanding those halcyon days of yore.
parted and the music rose.”
In 1928, Elvera’s second child Ramona was born and soon she and her husband went their separate ways on the entertainment trail. There was a long separation between Sammy, Jr. and his mother, but one day in 1941 in Boston, she was working the bill with the dance team of ‘Buck and Bubbles’ when the son saw his mother on stage. Even so, the two did not bond and eventually drifted apart once more. “Elvera danced her last paid gig at the Club Paradise in Atlantic City. In Atlantic City, she met and befriended Grace Daniels, a Negro woman who managed the Little Belmont nightclub,” Haygood
In 1963, after Elvera was viciously assaulted, Sammy hurried from Los Angeles to be by her side. One news account reported she had been beaten by her boyfriend. Attempts to confirm this proved futile and so there is no conclusion to this incident. “The last time I saw Elvera Davis,” Haygood wrote toward the end of his book, “she was walking back inside her apartment building. She was leaning on the cane that had been given to her by Sammy—and given to Sammy by Will Mastin.”
Elvera passed away, at home, on September 2, 2000 at 95. According to Haygood, none of Sammy’s children attended her funeral.
“Mark Davis, Sammy’s adopted son, actually confided to his aunt Gloria that he was intimidated by his grandmother’s demeanor.”
The curious among you can go online and see a clip of Elvera dancing and some of her moves could be added to Sammy’s corpus collection of moves by other performers.
April 9, 1898: The great Paul Robeson was born in Princeton, N.J. He died in 1976.
April 10, 1962: Actress Jasmine Guy born in Boston.
April 11, 1933: Journalist Tony Brown born in Charleston, W.V.
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from different communities, it would be unacceptable… the plan that’s been put forth to shut [down] Rikers the time that’s been designated by law is a very good one… it only makes sense, though, if you actually want to shut Rikers down. And I get the feeling from this administration, that is not a priority.
“But I also think that the administration would agree with the three pillars that are in this plan, making sure we’re dealing with the mental health, the housing, and speedy trials of folks. This is a mock up [for] all those who want to talk about it, and those who want to be about it.”
Restler added, “We all know mass incarceration is a policy decision. But it is, in fact, the greatest of epic policy failures. What we need right now is [to] actually invest in the solutions that will drive down incarceration in New York City. Many people are talking about
closing Rikers Island, these are the investments that we need to make…to actually close Rikers Island.”
This week’s rally follows another demonstration at City Hall Park just over three weeks ago where Speaker of the City Council Adrienne Adams and other officials, including Williams, Riley, and Restler demanded the city remain committed to Rikers’ closure in 2027 after the Brooklyn borough jail’s contract seemed to run well past the deadline.
Committee on Criminal Justice chair Carlina Rivera was not present due to her child’s recent birth, but her office provided her written statement at the rally promising to ensure the city meets Rikers’ mandated closure.
“In order to reduce the jail population to meet the needs of closing Rikers and opening borough based jails, I have introduced legislation which would establish jail population review teams for each borough to identify people in custody of the Department of [Corrections] whose cases
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Academy student Geah Jean Baptiste knows very well. Being an avid chess player since she was a child, Baptiste credits her time playing chess for her latest achievement: getting into Harvard.
Eva Moskowitz, the Founder and CEO of Success Academy, said this is the very first time a student has been accepted to Harvard. Baptiste, a senior, spends a lot of time captaining her high school chess team. She firmly believes chess helped her get into not one, but two Ivy League schools, Harvard and Yale. Playing chess regularly strengthens vital skills like abstract thinking, problem-solving, and more. These abilities are also known to contribute to developing a more intelligent person with a higher-than-average IQ. Her perfect grade point average of a 4.0 sets her as an example to this belief.
As a Brooklyn native, she is excited to make her city proud and is looking forward to making her dreams of working in neurosciences become a reality.
Compiled by Morgan Alston
could be resolved or who could be safely released into the community,” she wrote.
“Streamlined case processing is just one way we can reduce unnecessary, even harmful jail time imposed on New Yorkers.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for
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“We always lead by faith in any approach, musically, with my family…It was a very natural progression.” Warwick has said she hopes her gospel album can speak to many and inspire generations to come. The mother-son collaboration of “I Kneel” will be released on Mother’s Day.
America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
It is common to feel overwhelmed by the obstacles of life, causing strong emotions in adults and children. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stress can be a main factor in physical and mental health, resulting in changes in appetite, energy, desires, and interests; worsening of chronic health problems; increased use of tobacco, alcohol, and other substances; difficulty sleeping, and much more. During times of extreme stress, many even find themselves stuck in suicidal thoughts. However, you are not alone. There are resources to help tackle these negative outcomes, thanks to a variety of mental health resources throughout the tri-state, including New Jersey’s 24-hour mental health hotline services, which are available to anyone and everyone:
NJ HopeLine, 855-654-6735
NJ Mental Health Cares, 866-202-4357; email, help@njmentalhealthcares.org
Veterans Counseling Hotline, 866-838-7654
Compiled by Morgan Alston.
Continued from page 3
driving force of account ability behind the bill. She helped organize the whis tle protest against Greene.
“Donald Trump lives and breathes a circus. It’s something he culti vates and works hard to achieve. Chaos, drama, and violence are his bread and butter,” said Nurse.
Waterman’s office said they expect more push back as they reintroduce the bill this session but they are ready to persist.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/ amnews1.
Everything under one roof—here in New York City? The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) hopes the decade-plus “Key to the City” program can serve as the one-stop shop for the city’s new arrivals.
“We noticed that, especially for immigrant New Yorkers, when you’re looking for services, you have to bounce all around the city,” said NYIC’s Theodore Moore. “You have to go to one place for housing assistance, then you’re all the way across the city looking for healthcare. You’re looking for assistance to figure out 3–K and [other] education for your kid and you got to go to a completely different place.
“This is all time-consuming for folks who are really struggling and hustling. Not to mention how much it costs to hop on a train or take a cab. What if we put all of these things in one place, and then we put it directly in the communities where they actually need it?”
Over the past few months, the Key to the City program set up shop at the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Community Center in the Bronx and the Queens YWCA building. The events were laid out like resource fairs,
with immigrant assistance organizations at tables to provide information, services, and free pens. A purple NYIC booth offered hygiene products like deodorant sticks, diapers, tampons, and pads.
Almost 19,000 immigration cases remained open in the Bronx this past February, according to Syracuse University’s TRAC Immigration datasets, and more than 56,000 immigration cases were open in Queens.
There’s a higher demand for services due to the recent influx of asylum-seekers from
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Stacey Abrams will join the faculty at Howard University in Washington, D.C., the next step in her reemergence after the Democrat lost her second bid to be governor of Georgia last year to Republican Brian Kemp.
Howard, one of the nation’s top historically Black colleges, said it was appointing Abrams as the Ronald W. Walters Endowed Chair for Race and Black Politics begin-
ning in September.
“Stacey Abrams has proven herself an essential voice and eager participant in protecting American democracy—not just for certain populations, but for everyone with the fundamental right to make their voices heard,” Howard President Wayne A. I. Frederick said in a statement.
The 49-year-old political activist and lawyer won’t be a traditional full-time faculty member, the university said, but will lecture, invite guest speakers, and host symposiums. Howard said she will work
Dated: Monday, April 10th 2023
across multiple academic departments to focus on “real-world solutions” to problems facing Black people and other vulnerable groups. Abrams will still live in Atlanta.
“We are at an inflection point for American and international democracy, and I look forward to engaging Howard University’s extraordinary students in a conversation about where they can influence, shape, and direct the critical public policy decisions we face,” Abrams said in a statement.
Abrams’s next steps have been closely watched since her loss. She was an international election observer in Nigeria in February; has been promoting her children’s book, “Stacey’s Remarkable Books”; announced a tour for an adult book, “Rogue Justice,” beginning in May; and was named senior counsel at Rewiring America, a group promoting clean energy and electrification.
In January, Abrams left open a return to politics in an interview with Drew Barrymore, saying “I will likely run again,” and adding, “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again. If it doesn’t work, you try again.”
Abrams made history in 2018 as the first Black woman to be nominated by a major party for governor of an American state. Her place in politics now is unclear, though. Georgia isn’t scheduled to have any major statewide races on the ballot
until 2026. Abrams was unchallenged as leader of the state Democratic Party going into the 2022 election, with voters backing her endorsed choices for down-ballot running mates. But while she has lost twice, Georgia now has two Democratic US senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
Abrams, a Mississippi native, graduated from Atlanta’s Spelman College, another top historically Black institution, and has taught there as an adjunct professor. As a former city attorney, she was also the minority leader of the Georgia House, an entrepreneur who tried her hand at multiple startups, and a voting rights activist. A longtime writer who has now published 15 books, Abrams earned $5 million from books and speeches in the years between her pathbreaking 2018 gubernatorial loss and her second run in 2022.
Abrams is filling a chair named for a legendary figure. Ronald W. Walters was a professor of political science at Howard from 1971 to 1996 and later directed the African American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland. As a youth, he organized a lunch counter sit-in to protest segregation in his hometown of Wichita, Kansas. He later advised the Congressional Black Caucus and was campaign manager for Jesse Jackson’s pioneering presidential
Continued from page 11
5. Digital Access: Increase digital accessibility and literacy for older adults, including an expansion of computer and technology classes.
6. Language Access: Expand language access for mental health services.
7. Expanded Partnerships: Establish opportunities for private and public partnerships, including “Adopt-anOlder-Adult Center” programs.
8. Employment: Increase employment opportunities that fit the diverse vocational needs of older adults.
9. Arts & Culture: Increase opportunities and funding for programming at cultural institutions, community centers and spaces, and faith-based organizations.
10. Volunteerism: Cultivate and promote opportunities for volunteerism.
“I am an aging advocate. I am an aging disruptor. I am a member of one of––I think––the baddest and the best aging improvement districts in all of New York state,” bragged Assembly Member Stefani Zinerman when she came to speak before those in attendance.
Zinerman represents New York’s 56th state assembly district, which covers Bedford-Stuyvesant and portions of Crown Heights.
Elana Kieffer, director at the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) Center for Healthy Aging , lauded the elders from Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood who, she said, are “the vanguard of the age-friendly neighborhoods movement. There are about 15 other age-friendly neighborhood organizations across New York City that really looks to Bed Stuy, and hope to replicate your achievements and your work and your progress and your successes right here, and we’re really, truly honored to be standing here today and to be among you all.”
Assembly Member Zinerman noted that her predecessor, former Assemblyman and City Council Member Al Vann , was the city council member who helped NYAM start the first aging improvement district.
“The reason why this report is so important is because the most important people in the world were at the table,” Zinerman said. “The older adults in this community and throughout Brooklyn stood up and said ‘We are going to be respected. We are going to be included.’ And, in the words of Shirley Chisholm, we’re going to pull our chair up to the table, take a seat, and tell everybody what it is that we need. And so, we already know what to do. We brought the best resources to the table, now it is about the implementation: it is about the next steps.”
buses charted by southern border state officials like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. This past February, City & State reported long lines of migrants awaiting their immigration court hearings, many navigating a complicated bureaucratic system without a lawyer.
Nora Melendez, who manages NYIC’s community programming, said in a recent onsite interview provided by the organization that legal services are crucial at the moment.
“There’s over 190,000 open cases in the immigration court [and] over 65,000 people who don’t have access to legal representation,” she said. “When someone has access to a lawyer, they’re 10 times more likely to win their case than when they don’t have access to a lawyer. Being able to provide someone [with] that initial consultation, and let them know what the resources and services are available for what they need, goes a long way [toward] making sure they get the right services and the right information to win their case.”
The program boasts “linguistically relevant” services, said Moore. Spanishspeaking assistance is readily available for neighborhoods with large populations of southern border migrants while Haitian Creole-speaking help is available in com-
munities like East Flatbush.
According to Moore, the City Council— in particular, Speaker Adrienne Adams—is a strong partner of the program.
“The Council is a proud supporter of the Key to City Program and its role in connecting immigrant New Yorkers, including recent arrivals, to the resources and services they need to succeed and thrive,” said a City Council spokesperson.
Moore confirmed that refreshments are served at Key to the City events.
“Food serves multiple purposes because you are there for a couple of hours,” he said. “People get hungry, but it’s also supplying an immediate need [as] people may be coming hungry. And quite frankly, as an organization that deals [with] the immigrant population [and] communities of color, food is just a way to bring people together.”
Two Key to the City events will return to the Bronx and Queens over the next two weeks: family resource fairs at the Riverdale Library next Tuesday, April 18, and at the Beach 41st Cornerstone Community Center in Far Rockaway next Friday, April 21.
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1
Colleagues, friends, and family of New York City educator and activist Wimberly Edwards gathered on Sunday, April 9, to celebrate her 90th birthday with a great home-cooked dinner served at Bed Stuy’s Sista’s Place and an evening of great music, memories, and conversation. Speakers took to the microphone to shower praise on Edwards, co-founder of the occupational therapy program at York College.
As folk revelled in her 90-year life and
people-centered careers, Edwards reflected upon her work in the community and her commitment to aiding and educating young people in all the various avenues she has taken.
Speakers included fellow members of the Board for Education of People of African Ancestry (BEPAA), the Harlem-based nonprofit organization that purchased Clarke House at 286 Convent Avenue, Harlem, 20 years ago. The educational space was
named after scholar historian Dr. John Henrik Clarke, and is used by members and the community to expand and teach African culture through cultural and educational workshops and programs.
Calling in from afar was educator Dr. Adelaide Sanford, former vice chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, and activist Betty Dobson, co-founder of the Committee to Eliminate Media Offensive to African People (CEMOTAP).
Adding to the tributes were former Assembly and City Councilmember Inez Barron and the December 12th Movement’s Viola Plummer, Roger Wareham, Omowale Clay, and Shaheed Muhammad. Edwards received not one but two delicious cakes, a framed Harriet Tubman picture, and a Dr. John Henrik Clarke T-shirt by hosts Lateefa Carter and Omowale Clay. Everyone in the packed room wished her the best, and 90 more years of a life well-lived.
Continued from page 2
In the same 2008 constitution, explains Katherine Chalá Mosquera, a professor at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, "We are recognized as Afro Ecuadorian people, with 21 collective rights. We are recognized as having the right ‘not to be subjected to racism and any form of discrimination (...);’ we also have the right to ‘recognition, reparations and redress to the communities affected by racism and other related forms of intolerance and discrimination.’”
According to the last population census conducted in 2010, the Ecuadorian state has a total population of 14,483,499 inhabitants, of which 71.9% of people self-identify as mestizo, 7.4% as montubia (mestizo who reside in the countryside of coastal Ecuador), 7.2% as Afro Ecuadorian (1,041,559 people), 7% as Indigenous and 6.1% as white.
Official data from the last census conducted post-pandemic 2022 are not yet known, so we have to rely on the data from 2010.
President Correa made a social investment never seen before in Ecuador: he increased
Continued from page 2
of low-ranking military officers and enlisted men. He was assassinated on Aug. 28, 1975.
By the 1960s, Sister Guèbrou had returned to her family and was recording some of her music. She made several other records over the next 30 years, donating the proceeds to the poor.
In the mid-1980s she left Ethiopia and set-
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parents. Mothers who are just delivering their first child can be referred for home visiting services where someone will support them and their significant other in setting up cribs, teaching them about breastfeeding and supporting them in getting to their well-child visits. All of that is under our new family home visiting services, and that is another resource that I think is important for families to know about.
We have services in the Office of School Health, which is another bureau within the Division of Family Child Health. I think what’s important for parents to know is the ability
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to have access to insurance, and we remain committed to keeping this right intact.” Additionally, the state has requested waiver options for individuals with disabilities and the elderly 65 and up, and proposed an expansion of its basic health plan through a 1332 Waiver. NYS will send out renewal notices this Spring 2023 on a rolling basis and renewal deadlines will be based on the enrollees' en-
access to public education, with the Afro Ecuadorian population making up average enrollment and attendance. Girls and boys received from the central government textbooks, school meals, and uniforms. Modern educational units were built with well-equipped laboratories, there was internet service, more teaching staff and improved remuneration.
Similarly, in terms of public secondary education, the Afro Ecuadorian population between 2007 and 2017 was very close to the national average in terms of enrollment and class attendance.
In the case of third-level university education (bachelor’s degrees, engineering, etc.), and fourth level (master’s degrees and doctorates), the gaps in terms of the national average were extended by the structural difficulties that have been carried since the colonial and republican-neoliberal exclusionary era.
President Correa’s government initiated a scholarship program at the national and international level, many of which were accessed by Afro Ecuadorian youth. We await the qualitative and quantitative results of the 2022 census to officially know the status of Afro Ecuadorians with respect to undergraduate and graduate university education. Regarding public health coverage, the
tled into an Ethiopian Orthodox monastery in Jerusalem, spending the rest of her life there.
She impressed the musician Norah Jones who, after hearing the album “Éthiopiques 21,”––a collection of Sister Guèbrou’s piano solos that was part of a record series spotlighting folkloric and pop music from Ethiopia––called the album “one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard: part Duke Ellington, part modal scales, part the blues,
to get services, medical care, and preventive health screening from the school.
The Office of School Help is responsible for promoting the health of those students and getting them enrolled in our schools that have school-based clinics. We have nurses in every school who provide case management for chronic diseases like diabetes. There’s preventive health screening, as well as urgent care counseling and contraceptive counseling.
In providing service to not just a few families, but to New York City as a whole, we are dedicated to giving every family in New York City the best start in their life, which is what I tried to do as a pediatrician, as well as provide support.
For more resources, visit https://www.nyc. gov/site/doh/index.page.
Correa government made a very significant investment in this area by building hospitals, and sending equipment and medical provisions to the population free of charge.
In regard to home ownership, according to the 2010 census, the national percentage suggests that 63.6% of heads of household stated that they live in their own residence, while 164,421 heads of household identified as Afro Ecuadorian have their own homes, that is, 42.9%. Now, of that 42.9% of fully paid residences, 93.3% have access to electricity, 71% have potable water and 47% have public sewage service. Also, 21 out of every 100 AfroEcuadorian homes have access to telephone service (CODAE 2014).
Despite the formidable investment by the government of President Correa, Afro Ecuadorians were still below the national average.
The Lenin Moreno Garcés administration governed Ecuador from May 2017–2021.
Moreno had been supported by the political movement founded by Rafael Correa, but Correa was betrayed by Moreno. The latter assumed the neoliberal government plan of the losing candidate in those elections, Guillermo Lasso, who became Moreno’s successor. The country was changed with reforms, social investment in education and health
part church music,” Jones told The New York Times in 2020.
“Hers were some of the most extraordinary 99 years ever lived on this earth,” Kate Molleson, who wrote about Sister Guèbrou in her
was paralyzed, housing programs decreased, and there was zero investment in roads and educational infrastructure—all significantly affecting the Afro Ecuadorian population.
Guillermo Lasso became president of Ecuador in 2021. He has made no investment in state social services, decreased the budgets in education, health, and housing, and instead of creating new jobs his administration has closed them due to its ideology of “reducing the size of the State,” that is, having fewer teachers, less doctors, a reduction of the public force, elimination of national and international student scholarships, and deinstitutionalization of the country.
The political and legal crisis that Lasso has led Ecuador to is unprecedented in the country's modern history, barely 9% approve of his management. The crisis is aggravated by permanent corruption scandals in his government that have led the National Assembly call for his impeachment.
In the last regional elections on February 5, the Citizen Revolution, the new political party of Rafael Correa, won important victories in the nation’s provinces and districts. This raises the expectation that in 2025, the Citizen Revolution, with popular support, will be able to take over the government of Ecuador.
book “Sound Within Sound: Radical Composers of the 20th Century” (2022), said on Twitter.
“We can’t always choose what life brings,” Guèbrou told the BBC. “But we can choose how to respond.”
rollment end dates. Those dates range from June 30, 2023, through May 31, 2024.
For more info on NYS Medicaid coverage, check out NY State of Health and the Department of Health website. Or call 1-855-355-5777.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News.Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
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This is to announce that the next meeting of the Harlem Children's Zone Promise Academy II Charter School Board of Trustees will occur in person on Tuesday, April 18th at 7:30am. The meeting will transpire at 245 West 129th St, NY, NY.
This is to announce that the next meeting of the Harlem Children's Zone Promise Academy I Charter School Board of Trustees will occur in person on Tuesday, April 18th at 7:30am. The meeting will transpire at 245 West 129th St, NY, NY.
NOTICE OF SALE
SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK, CAPITAL ONE, N.A., Plaintiff, vs. KENNETH D. LAUB, ET AL., Defendants.
Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly entered on October 7, 2022, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse, on the portico, 60 Centre Street, New York, New York on May 3, 2023 at 2:15 P.M., premises known as 163 EAST 64TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10021. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County, City, and State of New York, Block: 1399 , Lot: 25. Approximate amount of judgment is $10,653,559.26 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 159315/2017. If the sale is set aside for any reason, the Purchaser at the sale shall be entitled only to a return of the deposit paid. The Purchaser shall have no further recourse against the Mortgagor, the Mortgagee, the Mortgagee's attorney, or the Referee.
DORON A. LEIBY, Esq., Referee
Roach & Lin, P.C., 6851 Jericho Turnpike, Suite 185, Syosset, New York 11791, Attorneys for Plaintiff
NOTICE OF SALE
SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK
HILTON RESORTS CORPORATION, Plaintiff -against- LOUIS L. GIORDANO, ANTOINETTE R. GIORDANO, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated February 21, 2023 and entered on February 23, 2023, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Courthouse located on the portico at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on May 17th, 2023 at 2:15 p.m. premises being an undivided ownership interest as tenantin-common with other owners in the Timeshare Unit in the building located at 102 West 57th Street, New York, NY. Together with an undivided .015171% interest in the common elements. This a foreclosure on ownership interest in a timeshare unit, a studio penthouse on a floating use basis every year, in accordance with and subject to declarations. Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions dated October 10, 2008 and October 31, 2008 as CFRN # 2008000426142 as recorded in the Office of the City Register, County, City and State of New York. The Timeshare Unit is also designated as Block 1009 and Lot 37. The Foreclosure Sale will be conducted in accordance with 1st Judicial District’s COVID-19 Policies and Foreclosure Auction Rules. All bidders must wear a face mask/shield at all times and social distancing must be observed by all bidders at all times. Bidders who do not comply with the face mask and/or the social distancing mandate will be removed from the auction.
Said premises known as 102 WEST 57TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY
Approximate amount of lien $53,650.70 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale.
Index Number 850079/2022.
JERRY MEROLA, ESQ., Referee
DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP PLLC Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 242 Drexel Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590
SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. SHEILA G. SCOTT, CRANFORD L. SCOTT, Defts.Index # 850311/2018. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated March 2, 2023, I will sell at public auction Outside the Portico of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Thursday, May 11, 2023, at 2:15 pm, an interest of an undivided 9,000/28,402,100 tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as Phase I of HNY CLUB SUITES located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York. Approximate amount of judgment is $55,796.05 plus costs and interest as of April 22, 2018. Sold subject to terms and conditions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale which includes annual maintenance fees and charges. Mark McKew, Esq., Referee. Cruser, Mitchell, Novitz, Sanchez, Gaston, & Zimet LLP, Attys. for Pltf., 341 Conklin Street, Farmingdale, NY.
We the Trustees of the 1928 Vast Estate Express Trust whose names are: Dwight Cory with surname Lewis, doing business as Dwight Cory Lewis, Mark Andrew with the surname Ahart doing business as MARK ANDREW AHART, Jamelah Johari with the surname Arnold doing business as JAMELAH JOHARI ARNOLD, Asah Saleem with surname Ahart doing business as ASAH SALEEM AHART here by proclaim we are Moslems of the West. We the Trustees of the 1928 Vast Estate Express Trust proclaim we are the descendants of the original inhabitants of the Americas, and we are the free holders in due course of the fee simple absolute vast estate. The fee simple absolute vast estate was placed in an Irrevocable Express Trust for the heirs in Succession and we are those heirs. All heirs are fiduciaries and beneficiaries of said Trust; A religious body politic and corporate was also created for the heirs by filing an affidavit of organization under Hurd’s Smith Revised Statutes Chapter 32 section 36. The affidavit was filed August 1, 1928 at approximately 2:52 p.m. in Cook County, in the state of Illinois. Please refer to document # 10105905, BK 521, pg 579 recorded in the Torren’s system of Cook County Illinois recorder of deeds. We the Trustees of the 1928 Vast Estate Express Trust here by are proclaiming liberty through out the lands and we are making a claim of postliminy under General Orders No. 100 Article 43; We are not subject to: any color of law, taxes, nor any encumbrances. We the Trustees of the 1928 Vast Estate Express Trust are proclaiming our ancestral and religious names which are Nobel Dwight Cory with surname Lewis el, Nobel Mark Andrew with surname Ahart Bey, Nobel Jamelah Johari with surname Arnold Ahart Bey, noble Asah Saleem with surname Ahart Bey. The Trustees of the Vast Estate Express Trust here by proclaim our free national name as the members of the religious body politic and corporate is Moorish Science Temple of America not to be confused with any irregular Moorish Science Temple of America, sovereign citizens, or any other organization not following the principles of love, peace, freedom, truth and justice. The Trustees of the 1928 Vast Estate Express Trust are proclaiming our nationality to be Moorish American and we are proclaiming we are part and parcel of the United States of America Republic. We the Trustees of the 1928 Vast Estate Express Trust has taken the oath of Amnesty and Reconstruction signed by Abraham Lincoln. The following persons Lewis, Dwight Cory, Dwight Cory Lewis, Dwight C Lewis, Dwight Cory Lewis 156-73-312056, Dwight Cory Lewis 384 293 431, Dwight Cory Lewis xxx-xx-5580, Asah Saleem Ahart, Ahart, Asah Saleem, Asah Saleem Ahart 156-14-046091, Asah Saleem Ahart 674722120, Asah Saleem Ahart xxx-xx-0612, Andrew, Mark Ahart, Mark Andrew Ahart, Mark Andrew Ahart 156-66-128962, Mark Andrew Ahart xxx-xx-1037, Mark Ahart Al Bey 597 674 943, Jamelah Johari Arnold 156-71-332559, Jamelah Johari Arnold xxx-xx-7871, Al Bey Jamelah, Johari Ahart 106 021 945, Jamelah Johari Arnold-Ahart 525309579, Arnold, Jamelah Johari, Jamelah Johari Arnold, Mark Andrew Ahart L8100582, Jamelah Johari Arnold new surname Ahart L8100582 has been conveyed into the 1928 Vast Estate Express Trust and is now the property of said Trust. We the Trustees of 1928 Vast Estate Trust extends our hand of fellowship to all United States of America government officials and to all other governments from near and far lands.
Notice is hereby given that a license, serial #1360630 for beer & wine has been applied for by the undersigned to sell beer & wine at retail in a restaurant under the ABC Law at 65 Sherman Ave., Bronx, NY 10040 for on-premises consumption; Casa Emilio Restaurant Corp.
Notice of Formation of ALTO NEW YORK FLEET 6 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/23/23. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 141 Manufacturing St., Dallas, TX 75207. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
NOTICE OF FORMATION OF Level Engineering, PLLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/7/22. Office address: 575 Lexington Avenue 17th Fl, New York City and County, NY 10022. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 320 Cleveland Avenue, Loveland, CO 80537. Purpose: any lawful act.
Notice of Formation of ALTO NEW YORK FLEET 5 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/23/23. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 141 Manufacturing St., Dallas, TX 75207. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK - COUNTY OF NEW YORK
HSBC BANK USA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR WELLS FARGO ASSET SECURITIES CORPORATION, MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2006-AR19,
V.
SUSAN PROCTOR, ET AL.
NOTICE OF SALE
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN pursuant to a Final Judgment of Foreclosure dated April 27, 2020, and entered in the Office of the Clerk of the County of New York, wherein HSBC BANK USA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR WELLS FARGO ASSET SECURITIES CORPORATION, MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2006-AR19 is the Plaintiff and SUSAN PROCTOR, ET AL. are the Defendant(s). I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction RAIN OR SHINE at the PORTICO OF THE CIVIL SUPREME COURTHOUSE, LOCATED AT 60 CENTRE STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10007, on May 17, 2023 at 2:15PM, premises known as 350 WEST 42ND STREET, UNIT 35C, NEW YORK, NY 10036: Section , Block 1032, Lot 1340:
ALL THAT CERTAIN PLOT, PIECE OR PARCEL OF LAND, SITUATE, LYING AND BEING IN THE BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN, COUNTY, CITY AND STATE OF NEW YORK
Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 850039/2015. Mark Arthur Berman, Esq. - Referee. Robertson, Anschutz, Schneid, Crane & Partners, PLLC 900 Merchants Concourse, Suite 310, Westbury, New York 11590, Attorneys for Plaintiff. All foreclosure sales will be conducted in accordance with Covid-19 guidelines including, but not limited to, social distancing and mask wearing. *LOCATION OF SALE SUBJECT TO CHANGE DAY OF IN ACCORDANCE WITH COURT/CLERK DIRECTIVES.
MULTIFACETED MASTERMINDS LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 03/02/2023. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served & shall mail process to: 228 Park Ave S#240777, NY, NY 10003.
Purpose: Professional services that involve collaboration and innovation or to engage in any lawful act or activity.
NOTICE is hereby given that a license, number 1345690 for liquor, wine, beer & cider has been applied for by the undersigned to sell liquor, wine, beer & cider at retail in a restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 28-02 21st Street, Astoria, NY 11102, Queens County for on premises consumption. SNN Food Corp d/b/a Astoria Taco Factory
SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK
Plaintiff designates NEW YORK as the place of trial situs of the real property SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS
BOARD OF MANAGERS OF THE 200 CHAMBERS STREET CONDOMINIUM, Plaintiff -against- ERIC R. BRAVERMAN, DARYA BRAVERMAN, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated February 24, 2022 a nd entered on March 21, 2022, I, the und ersigned Re feree will se ll at public auction at the New York County Courthouse located on the portico at 60 Centre Street, New York on May 3, 2023 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, Unit being de signated and described as Unit No 26C in the condo minium known as "The 200 Chambers Street Condominium" together with an undivided 0.8256% in terest in the common elements.
Block: 142 Lot: 1183
Mortgaged Premises:
10 LITTLE WEST STREET, UNIT PH1C, NEW YORK, NY 10004
Block: 16, Lot: 9111
ALSO, Unit being designated and described as Unit No ST14 in the condominium k nown as "The 200 Chambe rs Street Condominium" together with an undivided 0.0103% interest in the common elements.
Block: 142 Lot: 1375
All bidders must wear a face mask/shield at all times and so cial distancing must be observed by all bidder s at all times. Bidders who do not comply with the face mask and/or the social distancing mand ate will be removed from the auction.
Said pr emises known as 200 CHAMBERS STREET, UNIT 26C , NEW YORK, NY and UNIT ST14 (a storage un it), 200 CHAMBERS STREET, NEW YORK NY
Plaintiff, vs.
SHUIGUN CHEN, if living, and if she/he be dead, any and all persons unknown to plaintiff, claiming, or who may claim to have an interest in, or general or specific lien upon the real property described in this action; such unknown persons being herein generally described and intended to be included in the following designation, namely: the wife, widow, husband, widower, heirs at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors, and assignees of such deceased, any and all persons deriving interest in or lien upon, or title to said real property by, through or under them, or either of them, and their respective wives, widows, husbands, widowers, heirs at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors and assigns, all of whom and whose names, except as stated, are unknown to plaintiff; MINGSEN CHEN, if living, and if she/he be dead, any and all persons unknown to plaintiff, claiming, or who may claim to have an interest in, or general or specific lien upon the real property described in this action; such unknown persons being herein generally described and intended to be included in the following designation, namely: the wife, widow, husband, widower, heirs at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors, and assignees of such deceased, any and all persons deriving interest in or lien upon, or title to said real property by, through or under them, or either of them, and their respective wives, widows, husbands, widowers, heirs at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors and assigns, all of whom and whose names, except as stated, are unknown to plaintiff; GUIXIN HONG, if living, and if she/he be dead, any and all persons unknown to plaintiff, claiming, or who may claim to have an interest in, or general or specific lien upon the real property described in this action; such unknown persons being herein generally described and intended to be included in the following designation, namely: the wife, widow, husband, widower, heirs at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors, and assignees of such deceased, any and all persons deriving interest in or lien upon, or title to said real property by, through or under them, or either of them, and their respective wives, widows, husbands, widowers, heirs at law, next of kin, descendants, executors, administrators, devisees, legatees, creditors, trustees, committees, lienors and assigns, all of whom and whose names, except as stated, are unknown to plaintiff; BOARD OF MANAGERS OF MILLENNIUM POINT CONDOMINIUM; NEW YORK CITY ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BOARD; NEW YORK CITY PARKING VIOLATIONS BUREAU; NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT ADJUDICATION BUREAU; THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
"JOHN DOE #1" through "JOHN DOE #12," the last twelve names being fictitious and unknown to plaintiff, the persons or parties intended being the tenants, occupants, persons or corporations, if any, having or claiming an interest in or lien upon the premises, described in the complaint, Defendants.
To the above named Defendants
YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the Complaint in the above entitled action and to serve a copy of your Answer on the plaintiff’s attorney within twenty (20) days of the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service, or within thirty (30) days after service of the same is complete where service is made in any manner other than by personal delivery within the State. The United States of America, if designated as a defendant in this action, may answer or appear within sixty (60) days of service. Your failure to appear or to answer will result in a judgment against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint. In the event that a deficiency balance remains from the sale proceeds, a judgment may be entered against you.
THE OBJECT of the above caption action is to foreclose a Mortgage to secure the sum of $2,350,000.00 and interest, recorded on February 16, 2012, in CRFN 2012000064492 , of the Public Records of NEW YORK County, New York., covering premises known as 10 LITTLE WEST STREET, UNIT PH1C, NEW YORK, NY 10004.
The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the premises described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above. NEW YORK County is designated as the place of trial because the real property affected by this action is located in said county.
If you do not respond to this summons and complaint by serving a copy of the answer on the attorney for the mortgage company who filed this foreclosure proceeding against you and filing the answer with the court, a default judgment may be entered and you can lose your home.
Speak to an attorney or go to the court where your case is pending for further information on how to answer the summons and protect your property.
Sending a payment to the mortgage company will not stop the foreclosure action.
YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT.
Dated: March 22, 2023
ROBERTSON, ANSCHUTZ, SCHNEID, CRANE & PARTNERS, PLLC Attorney for Plaintiff
Matthew Rothstein, Esq. 900 Merchants Concourse, Suite 310 Westbury, NY 11590 516-280-7675
Approximate amount of lien $702,840 07 plus interest & costs.
Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale
Index Number 162556/2015
MARK MCKEW, ESQ., Referee Armstrong Teasdale LLP
Attorney(s) for Plaintiff
7 Times Squar e, 44th Floor, New York, NY 10036
SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK
HILTON RESORTS CORPORATION, Plaintiff -aga in st- KEITH R. HUGHES, et al Defendant(s).
Pursuant to a Judg ment of Foreclosure and Sale dated October 12, 2022 and entered on October 20, 2022, I, the under signed Referee will sell at public auction at the New York County Co ur thouse lo cated on the portico at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on May 10th, 2023 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, being an und ivided owne rship interest as tenant-in-common with other owners in the Timeshare Unit in the building located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, Ne w York, NY; kn own as The NYH Condominium. Together with an appurtenant u ndivided 1.4182% common interest percentage. This a foreclosure on ownership intere st in a timeshare un it, a studio penthouse on a floating use basis every year, in accordance with and subject to de clarations Declaration of Covenants, Conditio ns and Re strictions dated October 27, 2003 and Novemb er 3, 2003 as CFRN # 20030004 42513 as recorded in the Office of the City Register, County, City and State of New York. The Timeshare Unit is also designated as Block 1006 and Lot 1303.
The Foreclosure Sale will be conducted in accordance with 1st Judicial District's COVID-19 Policies an d Foreclosure Auction Rules.
All bidders must wear a face mask/shield at all times and so cial distancing must be observed by all bidder s at all times. Bidders who do not comply with the face mask and/or the social distancing mand ate will be removed from the auction.
Said premises known as 1 335 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, NEW YORK, NY Approximate amount of lien $117,987 17 plus interest & costs.
Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale
Index Number 850159/2020
ROBERTA E. ASHKIN, ESQ., Referee
DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP PLLC Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 242 Drexel Avenue, Westbury, NY 1159 0
NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK
HILTON RESORTS CORPORATION, Plaintiff -aga in st- MICHAEL SCOTT FERRARO, NANCY ANN FERRARO, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated October 4, 2022 and entered on October 7, 2022, I, the un dersigned Refe ree will sell at public au ction at the New York County Courthouse located on the portico at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on April 26, 2023 at 2:15 pm premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County of New York, City and State of New York, being an undivided ownership intere st as tenant-in-common with other owners in the Timeshare Unit in the bu ilding located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY; known as The NYH Condominium. Together with an appur tenant undivided 1.4182% common intere st perce ntage. This a foreclosure on ownership interest in a timeshar e un it, a studio penthouse on a floatin g use ba sis every year, in a ccordance with and subject to declarations Declaration of Coven ants, Cond itions and Restrictions dated September 22, 2014, October 6, 20 14 as CFRN # 2014 00 0330111 as record ed in the Office of the City Register, County, City and State of New York The Timeshare Unit is also de signated as Block 1006 and Lot 1303
The Foreclosure Sale will be co nducted in accordan ce with 1 st Judicial Districts COVID-19 Policies an d Foreclosure Auction Rules.
All bidders must wear a face mask/shield at all times and so cial distancing must be observed by all bidder s at all times. Bidders who do not comply with the face mask and/or the social distancing mand ate will be removed from the auction.
Said premises known as 1 335 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, NEW YORK, NY
Approximate amount of lien $142,531 81 plus interest & costs.
Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale
Index Number 850161/2020
ALLISON FURMAN, ESQ., Referee
DRUCKMAN LAW GROUP PLLC
Attorney(s) for Plaintiff
242 Drexel Avenue, Westbury, NY 1159 0
No tice of Formation of WALNUT HILL HOUSING DEVELOPER, LLC Ar ts of Org. filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/27/23. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC : 30 Hudson Yards, 72nd Fl., NY, NY 10001. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail pr ocess to Corporation Service Co ., 80 State St., Alban y, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawful activity
No tice of Formation of WALNUT HILL HOUSING CL ASS B, LLC Arts of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/27/23. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 30 Hudson Yards, 72nd Fl., NY, NY 10001. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail pr ocess to Corporation Service Co ., 80 State St., Alban y, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawful activity
No tice of formation of Lodeco Books LLC Arts of Org with the Secy of State of New York on 3/3/2023 New York (SSNY) Office lo cation : NY Co un ty SSNY ha s been designat ed as an agent upon wh om process against it may be serv ed and to which th e SSNY shall mail a copy of an y process against the LLC served upon is C/O the LLC/LLP 1390 Lexington Ave, #4 ; New York, NY 10128. Purpose: Any lawful activity
Notice of Qualification of EMPASS MANAGEMENT, LLC
Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/28/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/14/23. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
Notice of Qualification of PENNBRIDGES TRANSPORTCO
LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/23/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/21/23. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Jeffrey W. Bullock, Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste.4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
Notice of Qualification of NONNAS PRODUCTIONS D&S, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/27/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/16/23. Princ. office of LLC: 9560 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Jeffrey W. Bullock, 401 Federal St., Ste. 3, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Film and television production.
Zobuilden LLC filed Arts of Org. with the SSNY on 02/05/2023. Office: New York Co un ty SSNY ha s been designat ed as a gent of the LL C upon whom process against it may be serv ed and shall mail to: Reindaldo Alvarado, 3556 Webster Ave. Purp ose: any lawful act.
He ar t & Seoul Food Co LLC filed Ar ts of Org. with the SSNY on 11/08/2022. Office: Ne w York County. SSNY has been designated as agen t of the LL C upon whom process against it may be serv ed and shall mail to: Heart & Seou l Co LLC, 55 W 95th Str eet, Ne w York, NY 10025 Purpo se: Food Ma nufacturing.
Formation of NORTHERN STANDARD CONSULTING, LLC filed with the Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/17/2023. Office loc.: NY
Co un ty SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The address SSNY shall mail process to 517 W. 147th St., Apt. 32, New York, NY 10031. Purpose: Any lawful activity
Queen's Ransom Media LLC
Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 02/16/23. Office located in Ne w York Co SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Queen's Ransom Media LLC, 360 W. 36th Street, Apt 7N, New York, NY 10018. Purpose: any lawful activity
Ru by and Rosey LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 01 /07/23. Office located in New York Co SSNY de signated agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail pr ocess to: United States Corp oration Agents Inc., 7014 13th Ave, Su ite 202, Brooklyn, NY, 11228. Purpose: any lawful activity
Sprezz atura Pa rtners, LLC
Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 01/13/23. Office located in Ne w York Co SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: United States Co rporation Agents, Inc., 7014 13th Avenue, Suite 202, Brooklyn, NY 1 1228. Purpo se: any lawful activity
UTOPIAN COLLECTIVE LLC filed Ar ts of Org. with the SSNY on 11/11/20 22 Office location: NY County. SSNY ha s been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and sh all mail process to: Elitia Mattox, 19 90 Lexington Ave., Ap t. 3K, New York, Ne w York, 10035. Purpose: Any lawful activity
Ra mli Jewellery LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) 02 /17/22. Office located in New York Co SSNY de signated agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. First Agent LLC, 447 Broadway 2nd Fl 18 7, New York, NY 10013. Purp ose: an y lawful activity
ROLECKS LLC Articles of Org. filed NY Se c. of State (SSNY) 07 /26/22. Office located in New York Co SSNY de signated agent of LLC upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail pr ocess to: 156A 83rd Street, Ne w York, NY 10028. Purpo se: any lawful activity
Notice of Formation of MIPH HOLDINGS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/22/23. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: c/o Yekaterina Poyarkova, 524 E. 72nd St., Apt. 37F, NY, NY 10021. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: To hold real estate.
LYNX ASSET SERVICES, LLC, Plaintiff -against- PEGGY NESTOR, MARIANNE NESTOR, et al., Defendants. Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision and Order on Motion, signe d by the Honorable Francis A. Kahn, III on September 27, 2022, and entered in the Office of the New York County Clerk on Octobe r 5, 2022, and an Amended Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and Decision and Order on Motion, signed by the Hono rable Francis A. Kahn, III on October 12, 2022, and entered in the Office of the New York County Clerk on October 12, 2022, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at pu blic auction at the New York County Courthouse located on the por tico at 60 Centre Street, New York, New York, on April 26, 2023 at 2:15 p.m., all that certain plot, piece or par cel of land, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, bounded and described as fo llows: BEGINNING at a point on the northerly side of East 63 rd Street distant 124 fe et 6 inches westerly from the corner formed by the intersection of th e no rtherly side of East 63rd Street and the westerly side of Madison Avenue; RUNNING THENCE northerly pa rallel with the westerly side of Madison Avenue and part of the distance through a party wall 100 feet 5 inches to the center line of the block between Ea st 63r d and East 64 th Street; THENCE westerly parallel with the nor therly side of East 63rd Street 25 feet; THENCE southerly and again paralle l with Madison Avenue part of th e distance through another party wall 100 feet 5 inches to the northerly side of East 63rd Street; THENCE easterly along th e northerly side of East 63 rd Street 25 feet to the point or place of BEGINNING Block: 1378 Lot: 12 on the Tax Map of the Borough of New York, County of New York All bidders must wear a face mask/shield at all time s and social distancing must be ob served by all bidd ers at all time s. Bidder s who do not comply with the face mask and/or the social distancing ma ndate will be removed from the auction.
Said pr emises known as 15 EAST 63RD STREET, NEW YORK, NY
Approximate amount of mortgage lien: $17,251,886.48 plus interest & costs.
Premises will be sold subject to provisio ns of the Amended Judgment and Terms of Sale, posted at the auction, and subject to (i) the prior mortgage held by Emigr ant Mortgage Company, In c., as recorded in th e Office of the City Register of the City of New York, C ounty of New York, on September 9, 2010 as CRFN: 2010000304435, (ii) the pr ior judgmen t he ld by Joseph Defino dated September 12, 2014, in the amount of $395,604.57, and (iii) the prior judgmen t held by DeLuca as Public Administrator of New York County and Administrator CTA of the Esta te of Oleg Cassini dated November 27, 2015, in the amount of $1,046,214.59.
Index Number 850129/2019
MARK L. MCKEW, ESQ., Referee
Attorney(s) for Plaintiff:
McGRAIL & BENSINGER LLP
888-C Eighth Avenue, # 107, New York, NY 1 0019 Ilana Volkov, Esq. Telephone: ( 201) 931-69 10, Email: ivolkov@mcgrailbensinger.com
Ha ar ex Laboratorie s LLC filed Ar ts of Org. with the SSNY on 12/22/2022. Office: Ne w York County. SSNY has been designated as agen t of the LL C upon whom process against it may be serv ed and shall mail to: Firstbase Agent LLC, 477 Broad way, New York, NY 10013. Purp ose: an y lawful act.
NOTICE OF SALE
Co ntinuums Strategies LLC
Arts of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/30/20 22 Office location: New York Coun ty SSNY designated as agent of LLC upo n whom process against it may be serv ed & shall mail to: 440 W. 34th St., #5A, New York, NY 10001. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. continuumsstrategies.com
SUPREME COURT: NEW YORK. RIMBAMBITO LLC, ET AL
V. L.I. BUILDERS CORP., ET AL Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale filed on September 27, 2022, bearing Inde x No 850 012/2022, I will sell at public auction on Wednesda y, April 19, 2023 at 2:15 pm on the portico at the New York Co un ty Supreme Court, 60 Centre Str eet, New York, NY 10007, the premises known as 59 John Street, Unit 4F, New York, NY 10038 (Block: 78, Lot: 1622) Premises is being so ld subject to a filed Judgment of Foreclosure an d Sale and Terms of Sale. Judgment amount $1,543 ,053.58 plus interest and costs. The foreclosure sale will be conducted in accordance with the 1st Judicial District's Covid-19 Policies. All parties attending must wear a mask and practice social distan cing. SCOTT SILLER, Esq., Re feree. Harry Zubli, Esq., attorne y for plaintiff (516) 487-5777.
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according to Hochul’s office. He attended Harvard and took the bar exam in 1985 in California and in New York in 1987. He served as a judicial law clerk and a lawyer until former Governor Andrew Cuomo nominated Wilson to be an associate judge of the Court of Appeals in 2017.
“I commend Governor Hochul on the selection of Judge Rowan D. Wilson to serve as Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals and congratulate Judge Wilson on this tremendous accomplishment,” said Attorney General Letitia James in a statement.
“As the first Black Chief Judge of our state’s highest court, Judge Wilson will bring valuable perspective and years of experience to this most critical role.”
Hochul also nominated Caitlin J. Halligan to fill Wilson’s seat as associate judge and Judge Joseph Zayas as chief administrative judge. Halligan is a leading appellate attorney and has served as the first chief of the New York Attorney General’s Internet Bureau, NYS solicitor general from 2001 to 2007, and a lecturer at Harvard Law School. Electeds, lawyers, and advocates alike approve of the nominations.
Wilson and Halligan are well-suited and “exemplary” based on their experience in the opinion of Appellate Litigator Brian Ginsberg, although he noted his belief that other members on the shortlist and LaSal-
le would have been qualified nominations as well. He worked in the solicitor general’s office, has argued cases presided over by Wilson, and has been following the selection process closely.
“As a practicing lawyer, as someone who represents clients not causes in the court of appeals, my overarching criterion is will the judges give my client a full and fair day in court,” said Ginsberg. “[That] means will they approach the case with an open mind, will they diligently prepare and read all the relevant materials that the parties give them and that they find through their research? Will they ask incisive questions? Will they issue or join at the end of the day a decision that reflects an application of the law to the facts without popularity or politics?”
Ginsberg suggested that the confirmation process is likely to move much more quickly this time around. Technically, there’s no law that the state has to confirm a chief judge within a certain amount of time. If Wilson is rejected, said Ginsberg, the cycle just starts over again until someone is found. Ginsberg said that the position being left vacant so long has definitely strained the court system.
Hochul said she’s nominating Halligan as well to “ensure the Court continues to function effectively” amid a “clogged” court system that’s been backed up since the pandemic.
Confirming two candidates at once is also an unprecedented move in the state’s histo-
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ry, and Hochul proposed a bill to do that.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Brad Hoylman believes the confirmation could happen as early as next week, and will make for a “smooth process.” He said he’s not going to publicly state his vote as he did previously with LaSalle’s nomination before the hearing.
“My colleagues in the Senate have already confirmed Judge Wilson, so we’re familiar with him and his record. We know about his background and qualifications, and since we confirmed him, I think many have been impressed with his opinions, as well as dis sents,” said Hoylman.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea StewartCousins said in a statement that the Senate takes the role of filling these positions very seriously. She looks forward to the hear ings, considering Wilson’s “distinguished” record and Halligan’s “impressive legal résumé and a strong legal mind.”
Similarly, Center for Community Al ternatives (CCA) applauded the Wilson nomination. CCA Director of Judicial Ac countability Peter Martin said that Wilson’s opinions have defended and expanded the rights of workers, wrongfully convicted people, workplace injury victims, and victims of gun violence.
“Since last summer, we have called for a nominee who has demonstrated a commitment to safeguarding the rights of New Yorkers and protecting the most vulnerable,” said Martin. “As an associate judge on the Court of Appeals for the last six years, Judge Wilson has distinguished himself as a tireless champion of marginalized people. ”
Martin added that Halligan’s nomination “offers less to celebrate.” He acknowledged that Halligan has represented plenty of progressive clients, but said she is still
Continued from page 4
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams vowed to help fight the federal court ruling. The city recently expanded abortion access for free at city-run health clinics, with more than 2,000 women having had medication abortions at NYC Health + Hospitals facilities last year. Should the law change next week, city hospitals will switch to misoprostol-only treatment.
“Today’s ruling by a federal judge in Texas
unpredictable. “Her representation, instead, of a prosecutor’s office and of major corporations in disputes against their employees and others raises concerns,” said Martin. He advised that her record should be watched closely.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
to invalidate the FDA’s approval of mifespristone is an outright attack on abortion and reproductive healthcare,” said Speaker Adams. Mayor Adams called it a “clear act of war on women.”
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
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A little over 10 games into the Major League Baseball season, the Yankees and the Mets have had mixed results. The Yankees began a three-game series on Monday versus the Cleveland Guardians with a 3–2 loss. They went into Tuesday night’s game with a record of 6–4 with ace Gerrit Cole on the mound. The 32-year-old righty has been characteristically stingy, boasting a 2–0 record and 0.73 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 12.1 innings pitched before facing the 7–4 Guardians, who were leading the American League Central division.
The Yankees, who have taken all three of their series before meeting the Guardians, winning two of the three against the San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, and Baltimore Orioles, were in Baltimore this past weekend to play an ascending young team. The Orioles have not been to the postseason since 2016, but are on the rise with cornerstone players, led by center fielder Cedrick Mullins, catcher Adley Rutschman, and shortstop Gunner Henderson.
The Yankees lost the opening game by 7–6 but bounced back and won the next
two, 4–1 on Saturday and 5–3 on Sunday.
Giancarlo Stanton’s third home run of the season powered the Yankees in Game 2 and Aaron Judge’s two solo homers the following day—he had four going into Tuesday’s game—led the charge in the series finale.
On Monday night, the Yankees bats were stifled by Guardians starter Shane Bieber, who went seven innings and gave up just five hits and two earned runs. “I thought we swung the bats well against him. We just obviously couldn’t break through,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone.
After closing out their series in Cleveland last night (Wednesday), the Yankees will begin a 10-game homestand tonight in the Bronx hosting the Minnesota Twins for four games. The Los Angeles Angels will be at Yankee Stadium next Tuesday through Thursday and the Toronto Blue Jays April 21–23.
The Mets began a three-game series at Citi Field on Monday versus the ultra-talented San Diego Padres, which defeated them in a National League Wildcard matchup last season. The Mets’ No. 1 starter, Max Scherzer, took the mound against the Padres’ five-time MLB All-Star Yu Darvish, looking to redeem himself not only from last Octo-
ber’s playoff performance when he gave up seven earned runs in a 7–1 Game 1 loss to San Diego, but a 9–0 April 4 trouncing by the Milwaukee Brewers in which he was rocked for three homers in three straight atbats and five earned runs.
Scherzer indeed resembled a three-time Cy Young Award winner on Monday by going five innings and holding the Padres to one hit and zero runs, striking out six in a 5–0 Mets victory. “Thought I was able to avoid the big hit and was able to sequence well enough, and I had all my off-speed pitches going,” said Scherzer.
The Mets were 6–5 before the final game of their series with the Padres yesterday afternoon and will now be in California for the next 10 days as they begin a 10game road trip tomorrow against the Oakland A’s. Manager Buck Showalter’s crew will take on the Los Angeles Dodgers for three games next Monday through Wednesday and the Giants for four next Thursday through April 23.
It’s well documented that Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid immensely wants to win his first NBA regular season MVP. The 7-foot highly skilled native of Cameroon, who topped the league in scoring this season with a per game average of 33.1 points per game, says any elite player who says it’s not a personal desire or goal is being disingenuous.
"One thing I'll say is that if people tell you they don't care about it, they're lying,” Embiid said recently to journalist Rachel Nichols on the new Showtime series, “Headliners with Rachel Nichols.”
“That's the best award you can get as a basketball player. It means a lot," said the 29-year-old future Hall of Famer. "But if I were to win it, it would validate all the work that I put in, that's why I cared about it, because you put in so much work and if you get that recognition, it just validates that you didn't waste your time. But like I said, if someone tells you that they don't care, that's bulls--t."
What Embiid has in common with the Denver Nuggets reigning back-to-back MVP, center Nikola Jokic, 28, is neither has won the league’s most coveted prize:
an NBA championship. Jokic, the engine of the Nuggets, the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, are the other leading candidates for this season’s most valuable player. However, the latter’s resume is much more complete. All basically the same age, Antetokounmpo, 28, is a two-time league MVP (2019, 2020), and NBA champion, and a 2021 Finals MVP. The title and Finals award have already cemented his legacy as a winner.
Same for the Los Angeles Lakers’ Lebron James, a four-time champion, four-time Finals MVP, and four-time league MVP; Stephen Curry, a four-time title winner and last season’s Finals MVP; Kevin Durant, now with the Phoenix Suns, who took home the league MVP as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2014, and won two NBA championships and two Finals MVPs with the Warriors; and the Los Angeles Clippers Kawhi Leonard, who twice captured a Finals MVP—in 2014 with the San Antonio and in 2019 when he carried the Toronto Raptors.
Even with so much hardware, to whom much is given, much is expected, and each of the aforementioned greats will be under intense scrutiny to take their teams deep into what is a wide open postseason.
“This is, I think, one of the most exciting nights on the WNBA calendar,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. In a surprise to no one, Aliyah Boston of the University of South Carolina was the first pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft, chosen by the Indiana Fever, a team that has struggled over the past few seasons. Although the Gamecocks didn’t defend as National Champions, Boston’s prowess and potential are undeniable.
“I’m thankful, first, to God just for putting me in this position, but also thankful to everybody in Indiana, just because they saw something in me, and I’m just ready to get there and get to work,” said Boston, whose parents accompanied her to the draft while other family members held a watch party in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“[Fever General Manager Lin Dunn] was very welcoming, and I got to talk to the entire staff, and it just almost made me feel at home even before this was a reality,” said Boston, who will be reunited with her South Carolina teammate, Destanni Henderson, who joined the Fever last year. “Honestly,
super excited to be with Henni again. It was really great playing with her in South Carolina. To already have that type of connection, I think it really is just going to help us.”
Boston said her South Carolina coach, Dawn Staley, a former WNBA player and USA Olympic coach, has helped prepare her for this move to the pros. “Over the past four years she has been able to help guide my steps into what it is to be a pro, guide my habits, and for her to be in the crowd [at the Draft] with the rest of our South Carolina crew is just amazing,” said Boston.
A name on many people’s lips on draft night was the top pick 10 years ago, Brittney Griner, who missed the 2022 WNBA season while detained in Russia. “Nothing more important than having Brittney Griner back here, home safely with her family and preparing to come back on the court to the game that we all know that she loves,” said Engelbert.
The WNBA will play its first international game this season, a preseason competition in Toronto, Canada, on May 13. There will be an increase in charter flights, most notably during the playoffs. A major focus of the player-led Social Justice Council will be maternal and women’s health.
Following some impressive trades in the off-season, the New York Liberty had only one pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft, selecting Okako Adika of the University of Southern California in the third round. There were, however, two players with local ties who followed right after Aliyah Boston in the first round.
New Jersey native Diamond
Miller of the University of Maryland was the second pick, chosen by the Minnesota Lynx, which is in a rebuilding year after the retirement of Sylvia Fowles. A 6-foot3 guard, Miller played most of her junior year with a fractured kneecap, but this year earned AllAmerican honors.
“All the growing pains made me who I am today, and I’m super grateful for it,” said Miller. “Just a lot of hard work and determination and having a coach that
is constantly attacking you to get better is something that helps you and motivates you to be who you can be…Transitions are always scary, don’t get me wrong, but I think I’m excited and ready for a new journey in life, as well.”
With the third pick in the WNBA Draft, the Dallas Wings selected Maddy Siegrist of Villanova, the highest-ever pick for the university. Siegrist grew up in Poughkeepsie and played her collegiate basketball in the Big East Confer-
ence, so she is well known in the New York/New Jersey area. In addition to All-American honors, she led the nation in scoring.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Siegrist. “You’ve got a million things going through your mind. But I’ve been surrounded by good people, good teammates, and I wouldn’t be here without any of them.”
At a time in women’s college basketball when the transfer portal is hopping and some players play at three institutions during their col-
legiate careers, both Miller and Siegrist have played their four years at a single university. With all collegiate athletes who competed during the 2020–21 school year eligible to play a fifth year, both declined and decided the time was at hand to move on.
“I love Villanova; that’ll be home forever,” said Siegrist. “Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever, and I feel like God had opened a door, and it was time for me to walk through.”
Wendy Hilliard, Hall of Fame gymnast and founder and CEO of the Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation, will be honored tomorrow with the Annual Dianne Durham Humanitarian Award & Presentation on the eve of the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas.
The award is in remembrance of Dianne Durham, a pioneering athlete who in 1983 became the first Black gymnast to win the USA all-around title at the senior national championship. Born in Gary, Indiana, in 1968, Durham
passed away at the age of 52 in Chicago in February 2021 after a short illness.
A native of Detroit, Hilliard was the first Black rhythmic gymnast to represent the U.S. globally. She was a two-time Rhythmic Gymnastics National Team captain, competed in three World Championships, and was a four-time U.S. National Team coach. In 1995, Hilliard became the first Black president of the Women’s Sports Foundation. She also served as the director of Sports for New York City’s 2012 Olympic Bid, the Executive Committee of USA Gymnastics for over 10 years, and was an Olympic broadcaster for NBC.
In 2008, she was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
She established the Wendy Hilliard Foundation in New York City in 1996. Now based in Harlem and Detroit, the organization provides free and low-cost gymnastics classes for girls and boys ages 18 months and older, as well as to adults in the disciplines of rhythmic, artistic, tumbling, and trampoline gymnastics.
The WHGF’s mission is to improve the physical and emotional health of young people through the sport and has served over 25,000 youth in its 25 years, many from the expansive Harlem community.
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Twin sisters, both high jumpers and competing on the same team, but also having a bit of school rivalry. Barnard College, the women’s undergraduate school of Columbia University, and Columbia College, the university’s coed undergraduate school, compete together under the ColumbiaBarnard Athletic Consortium. This allows Anna Jordahl-Henry, a Barnard senior, and twin sister Julia, a Columbia senior, to root for each other while having a bit of competition.
“We always had this plan to go to college together, but at the same time, had very different boxes that we wanted a school to check off,” said Anna. “I wanted somewhat of a smaller, more intimate school, and Julia wanted a big college, but not too big. She really loved Columbia. When I came to visit, I liked the track coach, but I wasn’t in love with Columbia. It felt very big and kind of overwhelming. Then my coach said, ‘Let’s go check out
Barnard,’ and I loved the atmosphere.”
Anna said it has given her and Julia a chance to be apart, but also together. Barnard is literally across Broadway from the Columbia campus. While each does her own thing, they’ve also been able to support each other as student-athletes.
“A lot of people ask, ‘How do you compete against each other?’ I think it really pushes both of us,” said Anna. “We’re both trying to reach the school record. Having each other there motivates us to push each other to higher heights.”
Their father was a track and field athlete at Harvard and competed in the high, long, and triple jump events. His nickname was “Shoes” because he needed different shoes for every event. At an early age, he put the girls into a track and field program.
Their athletic prowess was obvious from the start. Julia picked up high jump first and Anna soon after. In high school, Anna was predominantly a sprinter, and
still holds the 200-meter outdoor record for Massachusetts.
Barnard is the only women’s college that gives student-athletes the opportunity to compete at the Division I level. There is a
relatively small number of student-athletes at Barnard, but that enables them to be a closeknit group.
“It’s definitely a community,” she said of Columbia’s track and
field team. “If I didn’t have such a great relationship with my teammates and the Barnard women, it would be a lot harder to push through all the time and energy I put into track and field.”
The NBA playoffs are an unmistakably different animal than the regular season. Teams are preparing for a singular opponent. Scouting is meticulous and centrally focused on eliminating or minimizing opponents’ strengths, and exploiting their weaknesses. Nuanced and evident adjustments are made from game to game.
Ultimately, exceptional players and notable performances determine outcomes of long series. So as of today, discount that the Knicks defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers three out of the four times they played each other during the regular season. The teams are evenly matched and their best-of-seven playoff series that begins this Saturday, with Game 1 in Cleveland tipping-off at 6 p.m., could surface as the most compelling of all the Round 1 matchups.
The storyline prominently discussed is the Knicks failing to acquire New York native Donovan Mitchell in a trade last summer, and the Cavaliers ultimately swooping in to obtain the four-time All-Star guard who was 10th in the NBA in scoring in this season at 28.5. But new scenarios will emerge as the series progresses.
The Cavaliers, which were 51-31 in the regular season, are the No. 4 seed in the East. The Knicks, winners of five of the final seven games, ended at 47-35, the franchise’s best record since going 54-28 in the 201213 campaign, and entering the playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s No. 5 seed.
The Knicks’ prospects of winning four games over the next roughly two weeks against the Cavaliers will be determined by the performances of All-Star forward Julius Randle and point guard Jalen Brunson has been sensational in the lead role, especially as a first-time, full-time
starter this season after leaving the Dallas Mavericks and signing with the Knicks as a free-agent last summer.
Randle, the Knicks’ leading scorer and rebounder at 25.1 and 10 rebounds, respectively, hasn’t played since March 29 after spraining his left ankle at Madison Square Garden against the Miami Heat.
“He did some [at practice]. Making steady progress. Taking it day-to-day,” said Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau on Tuesday, non-committal on Randle’s return for Game 1. “So when he’s ready to go, he’s ready to go.” Brunson, posting impressive stats of 24.2 points and 6.2 assists, missed the Knicks’ last three regular season games to rest a sprained right hand. Displaying mental and physical toughness all season, Brunson has declared he’s ready for the postseason.
“Good, getting better. I'm able to do whatever I need to do,” he told reporters earlier this week.
The Brooklyn Nets will face another difficult challenge as they have had to overcome obstacles all season when they play the Philadelphia 76ers in the opening round of their best-of-seven playoff series this Saturday at 1p.m. The Nets will be on the road as the No. 6 seed in the East for Games 1 and 2 to begin the postseason while the 76ers will have home court advantage at the Wells Fargo Arena as the No. 3 seed.
The complete Round 1 schedule detailing dates and times will be announced tomorrow. The Nets, which finished the regular season 45-37, and the Sixers, which went 54-28, met four times this season with the Sixers going 4-0. The Nets’ greatest concern is Sixers center Joel Embiid, who is a good bet to win his first career league MVP award. Embiid topped the NBA in scoring at 33.1 points, to go along with 10.2
rebounds and 4.2 assists. Team defense will be critical in slowing down the 7-foot Embiid, but Nets center Nic Claxton, who has had a strong season on the defensive end, will be the primary defender.
The Nets and 76ers’ recent history includes the trade of James Harden for Ben Simmons last September in a deal that so far has been one-sided if it’s based on the production of the two players. The 33-yearold, 6-foot-5 Harden played in 58 games this season averaging 21 points, 6.1 rebounds, and a league-high 10.7 assists.
Simmons, a, 26, a 6-foot-10 point-forward, appeared in just 42 games, the last on Feb. 15, due to knee and back issues. He ended his season averaging 6.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 6.1 assists.
"Ben will not be joining us the rest of the year and through the playoffs," said Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn a little over two weeks ago in announcing Simmons was being shut down. “After consulting with our doctors, multiple specialists, he's just going to begin a rehab program. Our doctors and the specialists feel and think that he'll have a full recovery so that starts now."
A trade that has worked out well for the Nets’ present and future was the acquisition of forward Mikal Bridges from the Phoenix Suns. The centerpiece of the deal was Kevin Durant, whose Suns are the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference and will meet the No. 5 seed Los Angeles Clippers in Round 1. Since coming to the Nets at the NBA trade deadline, Bridges has averaged 26.1 points for Brooklyn, roughly nine points above his pre-Nets average of 17.2.
The Philadelphia native is excited to get to play against the team he grew up loving. “I was a huge Sixers fan. I mean, everybody knows that,” said Bridges this week. “Just grew up in Philly and grew up going to all the games in the world.”