The New York Amsterdam News Issue # 32 August 11-17, 2022

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THE NEW BLACK VIEW

Vol. 113 No. 32 | August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

©2022 The Amsterdam News | $1.00 New York City

The sculpture Non Violence also known as The Knotted Gun by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reutersward (Tim Brakemeierpicture-alliancedpa AP Images)

THE AMNEWS STEPS UP TO HELP FIND SOLUTIONS TO GUN VIOLENCE (See story on page 12)

Harlem Week—‘Inspiration, Impact and Legacy’ (See story on page 29)

Cold fries, hot button: Mayor Adams questions bail reform after McDonald’s shooting

Mayor wins Education Budget cut appeal for now (See story on page 28)

(See story on page 6)

(Ariama C. Long photo)

(Ariama C. Long photo)

48TH ANNUAL HARLEM WEEK RETURNS AUGUST 12-21 TO CELEBRATE ARTS, CULTURE, RESILIENCE OF THE HARLEM COMMUNITY First Week Kicks off with Percy Sutton Harlem 5K Run & Anti-Gun Violence Health Walk; Appearances and Performances from Kenny Lattimore, Lenny Green with Special Guest Tank, Ray Chew and the Harlem Music Festival All Stars, and More

2 • August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

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INDEX Arts & Entertainment ���������������� Page 17 » Dance ����������������������������������������������Page 18 » Astro/Numerology �����������������Page 22 » Jazz ��������������������������������������������Page 24 Caribbean Update ���������������������� Page 14 Career/Business �������������������������Page 32 Classified ������������������������������������� Page 33 Editorial/Opinion ��������������������Pages 12,13 Education ������������������������������������ Page 28 Go with the Flo ����������������������������Page 8 Health ������������������������������������������� Page 26 In the Classroom ����������������������� Page 25 Nightlife ������������������������������������������Page 9 Religion & Spirituality �������������������Page 16 Sports �������������������������������������������Page 40 Union Matters ������������������������������� Page 10 MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS INFORMATION U.S. Territories & Canada weekly subscriptions: 1 year $49.99 2 Years $79.99 6 months $30.00 Foreign subscriptions: 1 year $59.99 2 Years $89.99 6 Months $40.00

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Petro and Márquez—the new government in Colombia

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Special to the AmNews

On Aug. 6, one day prior to being featured in a livestreamed inauguration ceremony as Colombia’s new president and vice president, Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez took part in a “Popular and Spiritual Possession” ceremony hosted by members of the country’s Indigenous, Afrodescendant, and labor groups.

In Bogota’s Third Millennium Park, the organizations presented Petro and Márquez with a “People’s Mandate” that, according to the groups, is an attempt “to harmonize the beginning of this new cycle in the history of the Colombian people with ancestral spirituality.”

The symbolic “Popular and Spiritual Possession” ceremony led to the inauguration ceremony on Sunday, Aug. 7—a historic

The lawyer Francia Márquez Mina took office Aug. 7 as vice president of Colombia. (César Carrión photo)

Vice President Francia Márquez Mina took her oath “before God, the people of Colombia, and my ancestors” at the Plaza de Bolívar.

(Nelson Cardenas photo)

the possible,” Petro announced as he took office. “We are here against all odds, against a history that said we were never going to govern… against those who did not want to moment when Colombia, for the let go of power.” first time in its history, became a Petro later swore his vice presination governed by a left-leaning dent into office. When accepting administration. her oath, Francia Marquez said: “Today begins the Colombia of “I swear before God, the people

International ASIANS RECALL EXPULSION FROM UGANDA 50 YEARS AGO (GIN)—It remains a bitter memory for Asians, some lifelong and others more recent residents of Uganda, of their sudden, unexpected expulsion from the African country they called home 50 years ago this month.

They had just 90 days to pack up and leave, then President Idi Amin declared in a televised speech. For now, he was “giving Uganda back to ethnic Ugandans.”

In a recorded video from the Command Post in Kololo on Aug. 6, Idi Amin unleashed a torrent of charges—that the Asians refused to integrate, that their main interest was to exploit the economy of Uganda and the Ugandan Africans. “They have been milking the economy of the country,” he declared.

He made no distinction between Asians born in the U.K., born in India or born in Uganda.

Properties left behind were taken over by the ‘Departed Asians Custodial Board,’ which soon became Uganda’s biggest landlord.

For Amin, the ‘Economic War’ was an enduring victory.

Throughout the 1970s his government commemorated the expulsion of August 1972 with military parades and popular celebrations.

But the Indians weren’t new arrivals in Africa. In the 1890s, around 40,000 Indians, mostly Punjabis, were brought in as immigrant workers to build the Uganda Railway connecting Mombasa in Kenya to Kampala in Uganda. The 600 mile railway took more than 30,000 laborers six years to build, and cost over 2,000 lives. It has since been replaced by the Chinese.

Many of the expelled Asians fled to the U.K. and concentrated in the area known as Leicester.

A major exhibit Rebuilding Lives: 50 Years of Ugandan Asians in Leicester at the Leicester Museum and Art Gallery will recognize for the first time those who fled the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

“We’re so grateful to the Ugandan community here in Leicester and across the U.K. for sharing their stories and items with us,” said project director Nisha Popat. “We’ve also managed to reunite long lost friends and family—it’s been amazing.”

of Colombia, and my ancestors, to respect the Constitution and to work for Colombians who have been historically excluded—so that dignity becomes our new normal.”

Francia Márquez Mina is the first Afro-Colombian woman to serve as vice president in Colombia’s history.

News

BRITISH DIRTY TRICKS SMEARED KENYA’S FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT, DECLASSIFIED DOCS SHOW (GIN)—As election fever is cresting in the East African nation of Kenya, declassified documents have been published exposing the spread of fake news by the U.K.’s propaganda arm against the country’s first vice president, for his leftist views.

Oginga Odinga’s son, Raila Odinga, may be elected president this week when Kenyans go to the polls. Odinga was seen as a threat to British interests by the Foreign Office in the 1960s. He was a major figure in the struggle against British colonialism.

After independence in 1963, the British identified pro-west president Jomo Kenyatta as their preferred leader. Vice-president Odinga was leftwing and open to relations with the communist bloc. Concerned that Odinga might replace Kenyatta, constitutionally or otherwise, the British tried to undermine him. The declassified files reveal four “black” operations against Odinga. In September 1965, the Daily Telegraph ran a story headlined “Revolution Doc-

ument in Kenya” using a fake pamphlet attacking Kenyatta’s government as “reactionary, fascist and dishonest.”

In fact, it was a sophisticated propaganda operation that increased suspicions that Kenya’s vice-president was in league with communist China.

The Information Research Dept (IRD)—the longest-running covert government propaganda department in British history— sent 80 copies of its pamphlet to “leading personalities and the press,” recorded the Special Editorial Unit, a highly secretive “dirty tricks section” of the IRD. Kenyan newspapers gave it massive coverage.

“At its heart it was an effort by those in London to continue to exert control over a former colony well after it had become independent,” observed Prof Scott Lucas, a University of Birmingham specialist.

Raila, who followed his father into politics, was repeatedly imprisoned without trial before Kenya returned to democracy in 2002. It remains to be seen whether he will realize his father’s ambition and become president of Kenya.

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Bragg-ing rights: Manhattan D.A.’s office picks 10 gun violence prevention initiatives to receive $20,000 award

By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

Results are in. This past Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg revealed the 10 winners of his $20,000 youth gun violence prevention award announced earlier this summer.

The money goes to nonprofits Urban Youth Alliance/BronxConnect, The Children’s Village, The Community Initiatives, Emergent Works, Exodus Transitional Community, Grand Street Settlement, Henry Street Settlement, SCAN-Harbor, Street Corner Resources and Uptown Grand Central.

Funds go toward paying at-risk youngsters stipends for partici-

pating in gun violence prevention programs or beautifying shooting “hotspots.” The money comes from Bragg’s Criminal Justice Investment Initiative, a modern-day Robinhood enterprise funded by the millions seized from major banks during the Manhattan D.A. Office’s investigations.

“It’s good to see groups from the Lower East Side, Harlem and other places throughout the borough who are all doing similarly impactful work together in one space,” said Bragg. “You saw on display the leadership and the love and the patience [from] all of our folks doing this work: the counselors, the clergy, the mentors.”

So what are the winners pro-

posing? Janet Cohen, program director of The Community Initiatives of New York says it’s essential to listen to the youth.

She’s seen well-funded programs remain empty because they focused on the decisionmaking adults rather than their children.

“What we realized is before we can start bringing forth programs that’s going to benefit these youth in the communities, we have to hear from them—we got to hear their stories, we got to share with them empathy and compassion,” said Cohen.

“So our motto was always ‘meet the kids where they are and elevate them to where we know See BRAGG on page 27

NYPD watchdog PROP reports rise, disparities in Black New Yorker arrests under Adams’ administration

By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

New York City kicked off 2022 with a newly elected Black mayor and newly appointed Black police commissioner. Six months later, Black arrest rates skyrocketed.

Under Eric Adams and Keechant Sewell, police arrested Black New Yorkers for 3,348 more felonies and 3,935 more misdemeanors between January and June compared to the first half of 2021, according to statistics from the New York State Division of Crimi-

nal Justice. And through such data, NYPD watchdog Police Reform Organizing Project (PROP) finds increased patterns of discriminatory “broken windows” practices.

“It’s not the personnel, it’s the policy—and the policy is ‘broken windows’ aversive policing, which essentially involves arresting, harassing, intimidating low-income communities of color,” said Robert Gangi, PROP’s director. “Focusing on punishing people arrested, people who are charged with low level offenses that have been decriminalized in white communities, that’s the policy.”

And policy is seen through the numbers. PROP found New Yorkers of color made up roughly 90% of arrests for minor infractions like fare evasion, possession of forged instruments and assault of the third degree. According to Gangi, these crimes often sound worse than they are, and are usually plead down to lesser charges or outright dismissed. Assault of the third degree, the leading arrest cause for Black New Yorkers, typically involves fighting and is only a misdemeanor.

See BROKEN WINDOWS on page 27

Nadler, Maloney, Patel battle for Congress NY-12

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member

U.S. Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, along with attorney Suraj Patel, are neck-and-neck in the race to be the next congress member of newly formed congressional District 12 in Manhattan ahead of the Aug. 23rd primary.

An Emerson College Polling/ Pix11/The Hill poll finds that Nadler is leading the race with Maloney right behind and Patel following in third place. Accord-

ing to the poll, 17% of voters are currently undecided. District 12 voters, said the poll, said that guns and crime are the most important issue for them in the race. After that, abortion rights and same-sex marriage are their determining issues.

In Tuesday’s congressional debate on Pix 11, Nadler, Patel and Maloney were in agreement on quite a few subjects. They all unequivocally supported abortion rights, “packing the court” with more Supreme Court justices, federally funding a crackdown on gun violence and gun

control, and implementing congestion pricing.

And, in a turnaround from last week, all candidates said they would support President Joe Biden in his reelection campaign in 2024 when Nadler and Maloney had shown real hesitation in a prior debate. Despite Biden’s approval rating in District 12, voters in the district are “nearly split” about him being the Democratic nominee for president in 2024.

“I wish I didn’t have to run See BATTLE on page 27

August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022 • 3

MetroBriefs Metro Briefs New York Cares volunteers to fill backpacks with school supplies at Salvation Army New York Cares, in partnership with the Salvation Army Greater New York Division, hosted a back-to-school event where 130 volunteers filled nearly 8,000 backpacks with essential school supplies to help prepare New York City public school students for the upcoming school year at The Salvation ArmyHarlem Temple Corps Community Center in Harlem.

Volunteers stuffed backpacks with supplies that will be useful to families and students as they prepare for the new school year. All backpacks will include scissors, markers, pencils, glue sticks, folders, crayons, erasers, and other school supply items. The assembled backpacks will be delivered to schools and community partners in-need across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.

The volunteer program kicked off New York Cares’ third annual Stand with Students campaign, an initiative that highlights the organization’s support of New York City students and schools during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Adams announces curbside composting in Queens Mayor Eric Adams and Department of Sanitation (DSNY) Commissioner Jessica Tisch have announced the launch of the nation’s largest curbside composting program starting this fall, as weekly collection of compostable materials becomes automatic and guaranteed for every single resident in the borough of Queens.

Beginning Oct. 3, all residential buildings in Queens will automatically receive weekly collection of leaf and yard waste, food scraps, and foodsoiled paper products. This is the first time that an entire borough will receive this service—coming to an area that produces significant amounts of leaf and yard waste in particular, as Queens is home to 41% of New York City’s street trees.

The city has developed new extreme routing efficiencies for this program, allowing DSNY to service Queens—the geographically largest of the five boroughs—at the lowest cost-per district of any curbside composting program to date. Queens was selected because of the diversity of communities and housing stock. The borough also includes large leaf and yard waste districts in the east, dense multifamily homes in the west, and a variety of historically underserved neighborhoods that have suffered the consequences of environmental injustice.

Black VegFest to hold ‘Unapologetically Black Vegan Festival’ in Commodore Barry Park Black VegFest will hold a free outdoor festival focusing on Black liberation, animal welfare, healthier living, and a better planet. The event, which takes place Saturday, Aug. 13, will include more than 30 vendors and community organizations, lots of good vegan food from Black/ BIPOC vegan chefs, speakers, performances, DJ DP ONE spinning music live, free giveaways of PPE and vegan food coupons, and more.

Black VegFest was founded by Omowale Adewale who, like other Black vegans, found himself not reflected in mostly white vegan festivals and spaces. Seeing the need to elevate and provide space for Black vegan artists, chefs, performers, thinkers and organizers, Black VegFest was born.

As an organization, Black VegFest holds events that nurture and support new vegans and provide opportunities and new realities for veteran vegans. BlackVegFest is also a homage to Black August—a month Black people dedicate to our freedom fighters and collective fight against oppression.

New York native elected international president of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. elected Dr. Stacie N.C. Grant as its 26th international president and chief executive officer during the organization’s biennial international convention in Philadelphia.

A New York native, Grant received the Presidential Lifetime Achievement See METRO BRIEFS on page 27

4 • August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

FBI executes search warrant on Trump’s property in Florida

By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews

After FBI agents raided, or searched, his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida for classified documents Monday night, Trump called it a “witch hunt.” And those words are common ones in his vocabulary as is his promise to cite the Fifth Amendment and not answer questions about his business practices.

The purposes of the siege have not been explained by the FBI or the Department of Justice. Neither Trump nor any member of his family was at the residence when the search occurred.

“These are dark times for our nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago…is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” Trump voiced in a statement. “Nothing like this has ever happened to a president of the United States before.”

Approval for the search was clearly authorized by the DOJ and Attorney General Merrick Garland, but nothing is forthcoming and

even President Biden said he was not aware of the action before it happened.

What precipitated the search may be the results of Trump removing boxes with him when he left the White House. Those documents, according to experts, are required to be turned over to the federal government. All of this comes on the heels of the Jan. 6 hearings and possibly related to some of the issues raised there during testimony, particularly from a number of close associates and members of Trump‘s staff.

A number of allegations have surfaced suggesting the intersection of the Jan. 6 probe and the quest to get Trump’s tax records, and the seizure may benefit both.

Sen. Kevin McCarthy, Republican House minority leader, immediately backed Trump’s claims that the search was the state’s “weaponized politicization,” vowing to investigate the DOJ and the AG Merrick Garland.

“Attorney General Garland,” McCarthy said, “preserve your documents and clear your calendar.”

FBI raid on African Peoples’ Socialist Party denounced

By AMADI AJAMU Special to the AmNews

On Aug. 5 a press conference was held by the December 12th Movement International Secretariat in Brooklyn, New York, in defense and solidarity with the African People’s Socialist Party/UHURU Movement. “On July 29th the FBI broke into the St. Louis home of African People’s Socialist Party Chairman Omali Yeshitela and his wife, Ona Zene Yeshitela, drug them into the street and forced them to sit for hours on the curb in handcuffs. They employed similar tactics at the St. Petersburg, Florida and St. Louis offices of the UHURU Movement.

These illegal and fascistic attacks are not just an assault on the African People’s Socialist Party/UHURU Movement (APSP) but on the entire Black Liberation Movement.

“These attacks occur now because the U.S. is in the midst of a severe political economic crisis. Domestically, the living conditions, the quality of life of most people are deteriorating. Internationally, U.S. political and economic influence is waning,” stated spokesperson Roger Wareham.

The press conference garnered a large, diverse group of organizations and elected officials who stood in solidarity and in defense of the ASPS including, the International Democratic People’s UHURU Movement, Black Is Back Coalition, Malcolm X Commemoration Committee NY, KOMOKODA NY (Haiti), Struggle La Lucha, People’s Organization for Progress (POP) NJ, Cuba Sí, Friends & Family of Mumia Abu Jamal (MOVE) PA, National Lawyers Guild, Al Awda NY (Palestine), NYC Councilman Charles Barron, NYS Senator Jabari Brisport, and many others.

Brother Fyc, of the International Democratic People’s UHURU Movement stated, “We say Uhuru because Uhuru means freedom and it’s used as a greeting amongst our comrades.

Because freedom needs to be on our minds 24/7/365. That’s exactly why the FBI raided our offices in St. Petersburg and St. Louis. There are many different institutions that the movement has built and these are the things that caused the FBI to come down on us.”

Black Is Back Coalition spokesperson, Lisa Davis, declared, “There is no place I’d rather be this morning. Since we live under this racist, disgraceful, oppressive government. I’d rather be living free, but there is no place else rather than standing here on this side of the struggle with all my comrades.

The Black Is Back Coalition is 100 % behind our Chairperson Omali Yeshitela. That vicious scurrilous attack, although nothing new, was a warning shot to let us know that COINTELPRO never went anywhere and we know that. It is fully operating.”

Focusing on the legal issues, Colin Pariot of National Lawyers Guild international committee explained, “The FBI has claimed that these raids were intended to root out foreign influence in U.S. policy. Specifically attacking community activists who dare to express solidarity with people oppressed by the U.S. and its allies across the globe.

This is not the first time that the FBI has used these same kinds of charges under the Foreign Agent Registration Act to criminalize international solidarity. But you do not have to be a foreign agent to recognize the role of U.S. imperialism to understand the material interests of communities here in the U.S. are directly tied to those of people living under the boot of imperialism around the world.”

NewJerseyNews Acting AG Platkin establishes Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion within Department of Law & Public Safety

By CYRIL JOSH BARKER Amsterdam News Staff Acting Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today issued an Executive Directive that formally establishes the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within the Department of Law & Public Safety (LPS), which will be led by Assistant Attorney General Lora Fong, LPS’s current and first Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer.

“As the Department of Law and Public Safety has broad oversight of the State’s legal and law enforcement matters, we recognize how important it is that the Department reflects the diversity of the more than 9 million New Jersey residents we are sworn to serve,” said Platkin. “By formally establishing this Office we further demonstrate our commitment to an organizational culture that values and facilitates diversity, equity, and inclusion and that enables transparency and accountability, which in turn will help us advance our goals for a more representative Department.”

Under the Directive, the Office will be responsible for the overarching strategy, oversight, and implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within and across the Department, which is comprised of 18 divisions and approximately 7,700 employees, and whose work touches the lives of nearly every New Jersey resident.

“Transforming a culture takes topdown commitment and resources, and I thank Acting Attorney General Platkin for his leadership and dedication to diversi-

ty, equity, and inclusion,” said Fong. “The Acting Attorney General has made diversity a priority in the appointments of his executive team and division leadership, and the changes announced today will solidify our efforts to infuse equity and inclusion in the Department’s DNA.” In addition, Platkin is releasing the Department’s most recent year-end workforce demographic data in the form of a comprehensive report reflecting the race and ethnicity of LPS employees plus gender identity metrics Department-wide and within each of LPS’s divisions, and examining representation within law enforcement, attorney, and civilian roles along with comparative benchmarks. Platkin has also released the 2021 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion plans for each of the Department’s divisions.

New Jersey is one of the most diverse states in the nation, ranking among the top 10 U.S. states with the highest diversity index, as measured by the 2020 U.S. Census.

In addition, the state reflects great diversity across socioeconomic factors, such as household income and educational attainment, as well as cultural or religious aspects, for example, in the languages spoken or faiths observed in the Garden State.

Decades of research findings establish that diverse and inclusive organizations are more successful, more innovative, and more likely to attract and retain top talent. In addition, the Department’s commitment to working with and understanding the needs and concerns of diverse communities has never been more crucial to the effectiveness and the ability of LPS to carry out its mission.

Tool chest from South Jersey’s last enslaved African American on display

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff The African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey (AAHMSNJ) has been gifted a tool chest, once owned by Lucy Harris-Jackson, a woman believed to have been the last enslaved African American in southern New Jersey. The Atlantic City-based AAHMSNJ will display the tool chest in the exhibit “LUCY’s Chest— The Legacy of South Jersey’s Last Slave” through Sept. 12, 2022.

The museum has termed the tool chest “a major, historically significant donation from a descendent of the family with connections to those who enslaved Lucy Harris/Jackson. Keeta Kay Cole of Lititz, PA has gifted Lucy’s woodworking tool chest and more to the museum’s growing

collection. Lucy was the last person formally designated by the U.S. Census as a slave in South Jersey, and her chest has been passed down through Cole’s family since Lucy’s death in 1875.”

“This is one of the most historically significant contributions our museum has received,” said Ralph Hunter, AAHMSNJ founder and president. “We are extremely grateful to Keeta Kay and Robert Barnett for choosing our museum to preserve this extraordinary piece of South Jersey’s Black history.”

The AAHMSNJ owns more than 11,000 African American heritage treasures and showcases them on a rotating basis. It is located at Noyes Arts Garage, 2200 Fairmount Ave., Atlantic City, NJ 08401; phone: 609-350-6662; email: info@aahmsnj.org; website: https://www.aahmsnj.org/

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022 • 5

The deep roots of Bronx County D.A. Darcel Clark

By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member The first time Darcel Clark left the Bronx was also the first time anyone from her family attended university. And before she became the borough’s chief prosecutor, she was a lifelong resident, going to city public schools throughout her youth and living in the same NYCHA building her father maintained. So she came back home, with a political science degree from Boston College and a J.D. from Howard University. It just made sense.

“When I left Howard, I guess I could have gone anywhere,” said Clark. “But I grew up in the Bronx, that’s who made me who I was.”

She got her start in the legal world as an assistant D.A. in the same office she now heads. But it was the late ’80s, a time when maximum sentences and overzealous policing ran rampant. Clark is candid about the roles of prosecutors played back then.

“When we look back, that’s what was part of mass incarceration,” she said. “As a person who was part of that era, we thought that was what was keeping the public safe, because that’s what they taught us to do. I know better now, after 13 years as an assistant D.A. and rising up to a deputy bureau chief.”

Today, Clark’s Conviction Integrity

Bureau regularly exonerates wrongfully convicted New Yorkers. As district attorney, she works with community partners to bring in resources uptown and applies affordable housing, employment and mental health awareness as forms of crime prevention. And Clark says she wears many hats as D.A.—her job ranges from prosecuting murderers to talking to kids about bullying.

She’s served as Bronx County district attorney since 2015, when she stepped away as an associate justice of the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, a cushy elected position.

“A judgeship [is a] 14-year term,” said State Sen. Jamaal Bailey. “I’m not sure where she was within that term, but that is a major sacrifice of ‘job security’ to aspire to do the right thing.”

Before her time as district attorney, Clark spent a decade-and-a-half on the bench, originally appointed as a criminal court judge by ex-mayor Rudy Guiliani. She laughs, recalling her journey as a lifelong Democrat only to catch her break thanks to the Republican figure. Bailey, who represents the 36th district and considers Clark a constituent, says the district attorney owns a special connection with the Bronx—one only possibly developed as a native daughter of the northmost borough.

“There’s no issue that people in my community have gone through that I can’t un-

derstand because I am one of the residents of the community as well,” said Clark. “I didn’t just drop in here and take this job.

I grew up with the very same people that have a lot of these problems. When my neighbors hear gunshots, guess who else hears them? I hear them, too.”

She’s also a trailblazer, the first female Bronx County D.A. and the first woman of color ever to serve as district attorney in the state of New York.

“Darcel Clark represents that glass ceil-

ing breaker,” said Bailey. “There’s another young, Black woman prosecutor out there, watching what she does and now that she knows that’s possible, it’s real, right?”

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 today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w

Darcel Clark speaking at her inaugural mental health summit this summer (Photo Credit: Bronx D.A.)

Black

New Yorker

August Primary Election On the Ballot: • U.S. House of Representatives • State Senate

Don’t wait until Election Day.

VOTE EARLY! • You have 9 more days

• Extended hours and weekends to vote • Bring your Fast Pass Tag

for faster and easier check in

Early Voting: August 13 - 21 Election Day: August 23

Find your pollsite and hours:

VOTE.NYC or call 866-VOTE-NYC

6 • August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Cold fries, hot button:

Mayor Adams questions bail reform after McDonald’s shooting

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member Mayor Eric Adams and the NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell came under fire after his comments in a press conference on Aug. 3 and calling for rollbacks to bail reform sparked heated debate among advocates and public officials.

Adams said that though arrests have increased and the police have taken thousands of guns off the streets, crime is still a problem because of the bail reform laws allowing people out of jail on bail. And that these people who get out tend to be recidivists, or a convicted criminal who’s a repeat offender.

“As a result of this insane, broken system, our recidivism rates have skyrocketed and those who say that the predicted wave of recidivism wouldn’t happen and the studies that claim to show that the rate of

arrests for violent felonies has not changed since the reforms were passed, have one word for you, wrong,” said Adams.

“You are wrong.”

The presser was held a few days after a shooting occurred at a McDonald’s in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn on Monday, Aug 1.

McDonald’s employee Matthew Webb, 23, was shot in the neck, and later died, over a customer dispute regarding cold fries. The mother of 20-year-old Michael Morgan had reportedly argued with Webb over the quality of the food. Her son, Morgan, came to the restaurant and got into a fight with Webb outside before shooting him with a weapon his girlfriend, 18-year-old Camellia Dunlap, had in her possession.

Morgan has also been charged in a separate homicide from 2020.

Keechant said that recidivists cause New Yorkers to suffer needlessly. “Their efforts are increasingly aided by the fact that after the NYPD

has arrested them, the criminal justice system fails to hold them appropriately accountable for their actions. These offenders face very few, if any, repercussions, despite committing crime after crime and the number of victims continues to go up,” said Keechant.

A week after the shooting, the Brooklyn-based McDonald’s remains busy with customers. Local residents recall frequent police presence outside the fast food joint, long before the killing. The NYPD confirms officers periodically visit the location during routine patrols.

This year the bail reform laws were changed specifically to make more low level ‘repeat offenders’ eligible for bail. Under the current law judges are not allowed to consider whether someone is a threat to public safety when deciding whether or not to hold them in custody. Adams maintained that he was not attacking the bail reform laws, but targeting a small group

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of violent repeat offenders or people who have multiple serious arrests that are “exploiting” the bail reforms. He said that judges are not using all the tools they have to determine if a person is “dangerous.”

However, criminal justice advocates, such as VOCAL-NY, and other officials condemned Adams for shifting blame for the spike in crime onto judges and prosecutors.

Senator Zellnor Y. Myrie said that the mayor’s calls to changes on bail reform “aren’t based on facts.” Myrie said that Adams keeps asking for a “vague dangerousness standard” that’s proven to worsen racial disparities in the justice system.

“Instead, we gave judges a clear set of objective criteria to consider when determining whether to set bail. But the loudest voices against reform will never be satisfied—there will always be someone or something else to blame for rising crime,” said Myrie.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said in a statement responding to the mayor that the Senate has taken steps to address these issues. “Especially his concerns regarding repeat offenders and gun offenses. We are always willing to work with the mayor and all our partners in local government,” said Stewart-Cousins.

Jon McFarlane, a leader with VOCAL-NY’s Civil Rights Union, accused Adams of fear-mongering and cherrypicking cases to justify more rollbacks to bail reform.

According to an analysis of the first six months of 2022 by the Police Reform Organizing Project (PROP), the NYPD has increased its “discriminato-

ry broken windows practices” by arresting people for misdemeanors and felonies, such as fighting, fare evasion, fake licenses, petty larceny, mischief, weapon possession, and holding drugs. PROP finds that in 2022, “87.5% of misdemeanor arrests involved New Yorkers of color.”

“These are the police department’s own numbers, we don’t get them from the police department—we get them from another government agency, the Division of Criminal Justice Services but [these are] the department’s own numbers,” said PROP director Robert Gangi. “So if the numbers are showing that 87.5% of misdemeanor arrests are of New Yorkers of color, and some categories of arrest like a forged instrument and assault of [third degree], it’s 90% or more, those numbers tell us the NYPD is targeting certain populations.”

“Adams should look to his own failed pro-carceral policies in explaining the uptick in crime, while also stepping up to explain his silence with regard to officers leaving teenagers bloodied in the subway,” said McFarlane in a statement.

“Instead of pulling out outlier cases to argue for tweaks to bail reform, Mayor Adams should invest in resources that will uplift the most marginalized communities dealing with an unprecedented rise in poverty, a collapsing infrastructure, substandard educational resources, and employment levels that are at its lowest in years.”

Still, it seems like the average New Yorker hasn’t drawn a hard and fast connection to bail reform and the rise in crime.

Across the street from the shooting at McDonald’s, Life Levi, 28, helps run his father’s shoe store called Fulton Cobbler. The store has been in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood for 22 years. He said that shootings don’t happen very often and there’s little violence outside of the occasional fight between adolescents at the McDonald’s. He thinks the shooting or a general rise in crime is “unrelated” to the shooting.

Ebonee Smith, 42, a teacher at Restoration Academy closeby, believes that the issues of overcrowded jails, lower education graduation rates, and a lack of jobs are definitely “interconnected” reasons that lead to a rise in crime but not bail reform.

“They end up in jail as children and still come out as children with not enough resources. And inmates come out and end up in homeless shelters so of course they’re going to commit crimes,” said Smith.

Smith added that Adams has only been in office for seven months and hasn’t been in office long enough to be effective.

Additional reporting contributed by reporter Tandy Lau.

Ariama C. Long and Tandy Lau are Report for America corps members and write about politics and public safety in New York City for The Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep them writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w

Curbside compost to fight climate change in Queens

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member Mayor Eric Adams signed off on a huge curbside composting program in Queens set to start this October.

The program is a climate

change initiative for all homes in the borough, including NYCHA residents.

“This will make New York City home to the largest curbside composting program in the nation,” said Adams in Monday’s presser on Aug. 8.

The composting program has

been suspended in the past. On May 4, 2020, former Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the composting program and curbside pickup of hazardous materials would be discontinued due to sanitation budget cuts and the COVID-19 crisis. Residents were encouraged to hold onto See CLIMATE on page 36

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August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022 • 7

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THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS O U T & A B

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August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022 • 9

Nightlife Harlem hosts celebration of Life...

MTV awarding video creativity Born Allah of The Five Percent Nation

Written by David Goodson

Family and friends honored Born Allah (Ralph Taylor) with a Five Percent Nation Home Going. The celebration was held at Unity Funeral Chapel on Frederick Douglass Blvd.

in Harlem. State Sen. Cordell Cleare spoke, Dr. Bernard Gassaway honored him, and childhood friend and jazz legend Bill Saxton played a special selection. The chapel was packed.

(Bill Moore photos)

The 2022 MTV Video Music Awards are only a couple of weeks away and news of the show is still pouring in. Kendrick Lamar, Lil Nas X and Jack Harlow not only represent various aspects of hip hop music, but by numbers of nominations they represent the best visual presentations in the music industry. The three rappers have racked up a total of seven nods, with both Lil Nas X and Harlow being nominated together with their smash duet “Industry Baby” in five different categories. Lamar has been nominated in Best Cinematography for not just one but for two of his music videos: “Family Ties” and “N95.” Behind them, both Doja Cat and Harry Styles tie for the second-most nominations with six each. Video Music Award veterans—Billie Eilish, Drake, Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, and The Weeknd—follow with highlights in five categories.

The 2022 MTV Video Music Awards will return to New Jersey’s Prudential Center in Newark on Sunday, Aug. 28.

The ceremony previously hit the Garden State in 2019 when it was hosted by comedian and actor Sebastian Maniscalco; last year’s show aired from Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Peep here for some of the highlight categories; and journey to vma.mtv. com for the full list of 2022 VMA nominees and be sure to vote for your favorites while there.

Jack Harlow – Generation Now / LVRN / Interscope Records Atlantic Records The Weeknd: “Out Of Time” – Lil Nas X – Columbia Records XO / Republic Records Lizzo – Atlantic Records Best Cinematography Best New Artist Baby Keem, Kendrick Lamar: Baby Keem – Columbia Records “Family Ties” – Columbia Records Dove Cameron – Disruptor ReCamila Cabello ft. Ed Sheeran: cords / Columbia Records “Bam Bam” – Epic Records Gayle – Atlantic Records / ArtHarry Styles: “As It Was” – Cohouse Records lumbia Records Latto – Streamcut / RCA ReKendrick Lamar: “N95” – cords pgLang / Top Dawg EntertainMåneskin – Arista Records ment / Aftermath / Interscope Seventeen – Pledis Entertain- Records ment / Geffen Records Normani ft. Cardi B: “Wild Side” – Keep Cool / RCA Records Best Collaboration Taylor Swift: “All Too Well” (10 Drake ft. Future, Young Thug: Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) “Way 2 Sexy” – OVO / Republic – Republic Records Elton John, Dua Lipa: “Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)” – EMI / InBest Choreography terscope Records BTS: “Permission to Dance” – Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow: “Industry Bighit Music / Geffen Records Baby” – Columbia Records Doja Cat: “Woman” – Kemosabe Megan Thee Stallion, Dua Lipa: Records / RCA Records “Sweetest Pie” – 300 EntertainFKA twigs ft. The Weeknd: ment “Tears in the Club” – Atlantic RePost Malone, The Weeknd: “One cords Right Now” – Mercury Records / Harry Styles: “As It Was” – CoRepublic Records lumbia Records Rosalía ft. The Weeknd: “La Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow: “Industry Fama” – Columbia Records Baby” – Columbia Records The Kid Laroi, Justin Bieber: Normani ft. Cardi B: “Wild Side” “Stay” – Columbia Records – Keep Cool / RCA Records

Best Hip Hop Eminem, Snoop Dogg: “From the D 2 the LBC” – Shady / Aftermath / Interscope Records Future ft. Drake, Tems: “Wait for U” – Freebandz / Epic Records Kendrick Lamar: “N95” – Video of the Year pgLang / Top Dawg EntertainDoja Cat: “Woman” – Kemosabe ment / Aftermath / Interscope Records / RCA Records Records Drake ft. Future, Young Thug: Latto: “Big Energy” – Streamcut “Way 2 Sexy” – OVO / Republic / RCA Records Ed Sheeran: “Shivers” – Atlantic Nicki Minaj ft. Lil Baby: “Do We Records Have a Problem?” – Young Money Harry Styles: “As It Was“– Co- / Cash Money / Republic Records lumbia Records Pusha T: “Diet Coke” – G.O.O.D. Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow: “Industry Music / Def Jam Baby” – Columbia Records Olivia Rodrigo: “Brutal” – Geffen Best R&B Records Alicia Keys: “City of Gods (Part Taylor Swift: “All Too Well” (10 II)” – AKW Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) Chlöe: “Have Mercy” – Park– Republic Records wood Entertainment / Columbia Records Artist of the Year H.E.R.: “For Anyone” – RCA ReBad Bunny – Rimas Entertain- cords ment Normani ft. Cardi B: “Wild Side” Drake – OVO / Republic – Keep Cool / RCA Records Ed Sheeran – Atlantic Records Summer Walker, SZA, Cardi B: Harry Styles – Columbia Records “No Love” (Extended Version) –

Now comes news of the recipient of the BIG award for the night as it was released that winner of seven consecutive BET Awards for Female Hip Hop Artist, Queens’ own, Nicki Minaj will receive MTV’s Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award and perform for the first time since 2018. The 17x nominated and 5x “VMAs” winner, took home her first Moon Person for Best Hip Hop Video in 2011, and is nominated this year for “Best Hip Hop.” Said Bruce Gillmer, president of Music, Music Talent, Programming & Events, Paramount and chief content officer, Music, Paramount+. “Nicki has broken barriers for women in hip hop with her versatility and creative artistry. She has shifted the music industry and cemented her status as a global superstar with her crossover appeal, genredefying style and continuing to be unapologetically ‘Nicki.’” Minaj’s next single, “Super Freaky Girl” will be released Aug. 12.

Over and out. Holla next week.

Til then, enjoy the nightlife.

10 • August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Union Matters Parks and Recreation and public safety

By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member A Parks Department employee was attacked with a metal chair in Brownsville this past Saturday. The 38-year-old woman was struck while preparing to clear off the sidewalk with a leaf blower at Betsy Head Park. She says the assault was unprovoked, according to the NYPD. Police are currently searching for the attacker.

So how protected are park workers? District Council 37 (DC 37), the city’s largest public employee union, says it’s an essential matter.

“We take workplace violence and worker safety very seriously,” said Thea Setterbo, DC 37’s director of communications. “It’s an ongoing process to educate our members on their rights and ensure the Parks Department is upholding their obligation to keep our workers safe in the course of performing their jobs.”

Currently, park workers are encouraged to call their supervisors or 911 when they feel unsafe.

They’re told to remove themselves from any situation where there’s a source of aggression. As of now, there are no specific, gendered protections for women workers.

The attack comes at a time where parks are experiencing their “peak season.” Around half of the Parks Department maintenance staff is seasonal during the summer. So communication is key to ensure such assaults remain aberrations.

“The work that we do in operations, whether it’s cleaning a playground or cleaning a bathroom, or grooming a ball field or mowing the grass, that’s all work we can come back to after the situation resolves itself,” said Parks Department Deputy Commissioner Mark Focht.

“There’s nothing we need to do in the moment that we can’t come back to, so the paramount issue is the staff removing themselves from the situation.”

Attacks on park workers this summer are sparse but notable. In June, a Riverside Park worker was punched in the face. In a turn (or spin?) of events, the employee defended himself with a series of roundhouse kicks, earning himself 15 minutes of viral fame. Last month, a Washington Square Park supervisor was beaten during a confrontation.

As for Saturday’s victim, she’s doing okay. At least physically. She was released from the hospital the same day according to the Park’s Department and is experiencing minor pain in the head and back according to police. Counseling is available should she need it, says Focht.

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 today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w

Long Island Starbucks fires union leader

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Special to the AmNews

The Starbucks store at 6 Great Neck Road in Great Neck, Long Island has fired Joselyn Chuquillanqui, a union leader who stood out in recent efforts to file for union representation at the store.

Workers at the Great Neck Starbucks— store No. 0884—filed petitions to work with Workers United (an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union) for representation just this past February. Great Neck had joined other Starbucks locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn in filing with the National Labor Relations Board.

At the time, Chuquillanqui was out in the forefront of what amounted to 15 unionready workers. Chuquillanqui was featured in a Workers United press release as stating: “I have been with Starbucks for almost seven years. I have worked at three stores across two districts with nine different store managers. The problems at Starbucks are not about one particular store or manager but from the way this corporation as a whole is structured.

“Starbucks claims to have a humanitarian approach to the way they do business. They call us‘partners’ and create an image that they care about us and that we have a voice and

can speak about our concerns. But every time I have raised a concern I have been ignored or vilified. I am tired of being exploited and I am tired of seeing other baristas being chastised when they care about their own safety or about the safety of their families and community. These problems are not new, but they have gotten worse with COVID-19. I am joining the union because we deserve a voice, we matter. We are not cogs in a machine; we are people who deserve to get a say in our work.”

The Great Neck Starbucks unionization vote, which took place in May, failed when workers voted 6-5 against the union. That vote result is being challenged by Workers United who have claimed management engaged in unfair labor practices. But ever since store employees started petitioning for the union vote, Joselyn Chuquillanqui claims she has been targeted by management and in April she received her first write-up—for arriving late to open the store. “I was the main opener for my store,” Chuquillanqui told the AmNews, “and there was another person who at some point was opening the store also. He had been late, like 30 minutes to an hour late, to open the store causing our customers to wait for our opening time because he had been so late, and he wasn’t written up until he did that for his fifth or sixth time.

I had one instance where I did something similar, looking at the wrong schedule, and I was written up like the next day for a onetime thing. What they did was, at least from the manager, it seemed very retaliatory.”

Chuquillanqui received a termination letter from Starbucks on July 27.

“This is the first firing of a Starbucks Workers United leader on Long Island and the second in downstate NY,” the New York City Central Labor Council said in a statement.

“With this firing and the firing of Austin Locke in Queens earlier this month, it is clear that the company is becoming even more aggressive in their union busting in NY.” The union plans to file an unfair labor practice complaint over Chuquillanqui’s termination, a Workers United spokeswoman said.

“I don’t want to stay in the company forever,” Chuquillanqui told the paper, “but I do want to finish growing within my role. I feel like I had just gotten started with like my promotion, I felt like I wasn’t being adequately trained and I just wanted the experience. My manager, before all this—before the union campaign—had said I was like a fast learner, and I had been doing really well. But then after that I started being micromanaged: everything I was doing, and on my shifts … she would push people back on my shift. So, I just want a fair opportunity to do well in my role.”

Inflation Reduction Act welcomed by unions

By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Special to the AmNews “The yays are 50, the nays are 50,” noted Vice President Kamala Harris: “the Senate being equally divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative–– and the bill, as amended, is passed!”

VP Harris cast the deciding vote for President Biden’s Build Back Better bill—which has now been retooled and renamed as the Inflation Reduction Act. After more than a year of party infighting, the Democrats in the Senate passed Biden’s bill which is designed to fight inflation; lower prescription drug costs; create millions of good-paying union jobs; and push the nation toward using affordable clean energy. The bill has been sent to the House and should next make it to Biden’s desk for signature.

Labor unions are generally welcoming the new $739 billion bill, because it is expected to help their membership.

“This historic bill will cut energy costs, invest in new and emerging technologies, and tackle inflation head on—all while creating family-sustaining union jobs,” the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry (UA) said

in celebration of the Senate’s passage.

“This bill will reshape the future and deliver real help to working families by reducing rising energy and health care costs,” assured AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler.

“Enacting clean energy tax incentives with labor standards and domestic content requirements will create good-paying jobs in construction and manufacturing right here in America. And this legislation will address long overdue changes to our tax system that will finally make the most profitable corporations pay their fair share.”

“It could never have passed with a majority in the Senate and the White House if not for the hard-fought victories by the housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers, and other working people in the 2020 General Election—and the Georgia Senate runoffs,” UNITE HERE!, the hospitality industry union, pointed out in a statement. “Much ink has been spilled over the struggles to get fifty Senate Democrats to agree on the path forward for their agenda, but as we head into this fall’s election season, we need to make sure working people understand that ZERO Republicans supported these measures that will ease inflation and tackle some of the biggest issues facing our country at this moment. In fact,

they all voted to deny caps on insulin prices so vital for the health of millions of Americans. This is the GOP—they put politics over the health of their constituents.” “[T]he Senate took a monumental step in delivering for America’s working families, including the essential workers who make up the UFCW,” the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union President Marc Perrone stated. “Our hardworking members across the country have been calling for action on these issues since day one of the Biden administration and, finally, it’s on its way to being delivered.”

The BlueGreen Alliance—a coalition of labor unions and environmental organizations—declared: “The Inflation Reduction Act demonstrates that we don’t have to choose between good jobs and a clean environment, as some falsely claim. This legislation supports both. The bill does not include some critical investments, like support for dislocated energy workers and good-paying, union jobs in the care economy, which we will continue to fight for moving forward.

“We applaud the work that has been done to assemble this bill and are ready to work with you to get it over the finish line.”

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

July2022 14, 2022 - July17, 20,2022 2022• 11 •1 August 11, - August

AS YOU PREPARE TO HEAD TO THE POLLS FOR THE MID-TERM ELECTIONS, WHAT ISSUE(S) MATTER MOST TO YOU? FOR EXAMPLE: • Are you concerned about the rising cost of living?

• Is crime a top concern?

• Does the impact of COVID-19 remain a concern?

• Is climate change top of mind?

• Are you concerned about prescription drug costs?

• Are you concerned about the future of abortion rights?

The New York Amsterdam News is partnering with WNYC Public Radio to amplify the voices of residents in communities throughout the New York metropolitan area.

Tell us what’s on your mind ahead of the mid-term elections in the form of a 400-to-700-word first-person essay. Selected essays will be published in (Your Publication Here).

WNYC’s Community Partnerships & Training Editor George Bodarky may also work with you to create an audio version of your essay to air on WNYC Public Radio and appear on Gothamist.com

WHAT MAKES FOR A GOOD ESSAY? • •

Get to the point quickly. Tell us what matters to you

•

Embrace your own personal voice. Talk it out while

right away.

writing. Think about how you would say it to a friend

Provide examples and anecdotes to help the audience

or family member.

understand the impact of the issue(s) on your life.

•

Use short sentences and paragraphs.

Please submit essays no later than Friday, August 26, 2022

12 • August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Editorial Opinion Beyond the Barrel of the Gun Dear Readers, Mass shootings have become a sad and chronic part of life in America.

The shock and anger we feel upon learning of yet another attack have become like an involuntary reflex for most of us and all too often we can only remember the names of the perpetrators and not the victims, their families or even their communities.

But what has had a lesser focus, yet

more deadly results, are the daily incidents of gun violence in Black and brown communities across America. Every day the news leads with the shootings that have occurred in the prior hours. Over the July 4th holiday weekend in New York City there were 52 people shot in 36 separate incidents, and 9 were killed. The numbers in Chicago for the same weekend were even higher.

We shall not be moved EDITORIAL

After listening to more than seven hours of testimony from investigators and witnesses last week to indict Carolyn Bryant Donham on charges of kidnapping and manslaughter of Emmett Till, the grand jury declined to indict her.

Seven hours may be the time given to the grand jury, but the Till family and African Americans have been waiting much longer for a verdict they knew would be a disappointment, knew would not be one that would set the record straight and bring at least a modicum of justice.

Insufficient evidence they decided are just recent words we hear from Leflore County, Mississippi where the grand jury was seated, but they toll endlessly across the ages here in America, and it’s sad to relate that we have not heard the last sobs of disgust and outrage.

The Rev. Wheeler Parker, Till’s first cousin who was with Emmett that afternoon when they ventured into the Bryant’s grocery store in Money in 1955, told the press that the outcome was “unfortunate, but predictable.”

Unfortunate and predictable are two words inextricably joined and how many times have they echoed from Black Americans waiting helplessly and hopelessly for a different ending.

There was a glimmer of possibly getting Mrs. Donham before the bar of justice a few weeks ago when a warrant was found for her arrest that had never been served. But the family and activists knew that was a long shot since most of the witnesses alive when the brutal murder occurred were long gone.

Long gone, too, is that she, at 87, will ever be tried, convicted and imprisoned for her role in Till’s death.

“The prosecutor tried his best, and we appreciate his efforts, but he alone cannot undo hundreds of years of anti-Black systems that guaranteed those who killed Emmett Till would go unpunished, to this day,” said Rev. Parker.

“Hundreds of years of anti-Black systems,” he said, and even undoing just a few of those years remains impossible, and all we can do is be like that tree planted by the waters and stay unmoved, and relentless in our demand for justice.

Elinor R. Tatum: Publisher Member

Alliance for Audited Media

and Editor in Chief

Kristin Fayne-Mulroy: Managing Editor Nayaba Arinde: Editor Cyril Josh Barker: Digital Editor Damaso Reyes: Investigative Editor Siobhan "Sam" Bennett: Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Advertising

Wilbert A. Tatum (1984-2009): Chairman of the Board, CEO and Publisher Emeritus

Each day, on average, 30 Black Americans are killed by guns and in New York City in 2020 90% of gun victims were Black or Hispanic according to Everytown For Gun Safety.

But afterwards we rarely hear anything else about the shooting that happened in the Pink houses, or East New York, or in Harlem, or the South Bronx. We don’t hear about what is going on in the communities where the violence is erupting, where our children are dying. We know it is happening, we see it every day, we live it every day. And we at the Amsterdam News try our best to cover it every week, but we know we must do better.

It is easy to write that six people were shot on a summer weekend but it is much harder to explain how the families of these victims have been shattered and their communities torn apart. It is simple to quote statistics as if each number was not an individual dream erased, a hope snuffed out at the end of a barrel of a gun.

And for far too many of us, especially in the media, it is too easy to demand that the perpetrators be found, but never hold prosecutors or elected officials to account when fewer than half of gun murders and less than a third of nonfatal shootings were cleared by the NYPD in 2020.

We know that gun violence impacts more than just the victims and perpetrators. Each shot fired ripples out, harming families and schools, disrupting businesses and the ability of our communities to function. Each child killed, each mother murdered, every neighborhood shaken tears at our civic fabric, leaving us unable to fight the poverty and racism which keeps our communities down.

For too long our politicians and pundits have looked at the violence ravaging our communities and have shaken their heads, promising to “get tough” and then doing nothing. They would have us believe that the deaths of Black and brown Americans is inevitable; that the daily drumbeat of shootings and killings is endemic.

But we know better.

We know that there are solutions and we see some that are working.

We know that people like Erica Ford at Life Camp and AT Michell of Man Up and now the official New York City “Gun Czar” are working day in and day out to change our streets.

The sculpture Non Violence also known as The Knotted Gun by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reutersward (Tim Brakemeierpicture-alliancedpa AP Images)

They make a difference and are changing lives. But the resources they need are not being allocated.

We know Jackie Rowe Adams and Harlem Mothers Save are out there working with families who have lost children to violence.

These leaders are part of the solution, but our teachers, our schools, our parks, our health care, our politicians, our police and our communities all have a role to play in preventing what has become a daily catastrophe in our communities.

That is why we have created our initiative “Beyond the Barrel of the Gun: Reducing Gun Violence in Black and Brown Communities by Empowering Solutions.” For over a decade the New York Amsterdam News, America’s most influential and oldest continuously published Black newspaper, has recognized the gun violence epidemic for what it is: a public health crisis.

Through our Beyond the Barrel of the Gun initiative, the New York Amsterdam News will be instrumental in raising awareness not just of the

root causes of this epidemic but of how gun violence can be reduced in Black and brown communities in New York City and nationwide.

This three year, three million dollar initiative, when fully funded, will be the largest ever investment in Black media on this issue.

With our visionary approach we will embed journalists in changemaking, frontline organizations and produce thought-provoking national research and reporting as well as bring together researchers, community leaders, victims, lawmakers, media and general public to facilitate further change and growth in the hopes of healing the wounds of decades of violence.

We ask you now, as our loyal readers and supporters, to join us as we embark on our journey to change the shape of journalism and gun violence coverage and bring to you Beyond the Barrel of the Gun. -Elinor Tatum, Publisher The New York Amsterdam News

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS O P I N I O N

August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022 • 13

The establishment has emerged Museums, museums, museums! from the shadows. They’re betting that you won’t care.

CHRISTINA

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.

ARMSTRONG

WILLIAMS

Our nation is under siege. But this siege is not the result of some domestic or foreign terrorist threat. This siege on our great republic comes from within the very institutions for which we have entrusted our nation with— the establishment in concert with their allies within the Department of Justice have conducted an unanticipated, unprecedented raid on the Mar-a-Lago residence of former President Donald Trump.

Our institutions have betrayed us. They have engaged in conduct that is more becoming of a third-world country where opposition battalions regularly raid the residences of their political adversary and often kill them. They have proven themselves wolves, but they have no donned sheep’s clothing.

This is a clear attempt to indict Donald Trump for political gain; the establishment has shown their cards, and they know that most will not bat an eye.

A federal grand jury need only find probable cause to believe that Trump broke some nebulous federal statute in order to indict him. This is a timehonored tradition of the Justice Department

and the establishment; the criminal bar is so low to indict that even the innocent are often entangled in the criminal process because of it, and they are invariably compelled to undergo years of litigation because of it.

Since he became president, this game has continued. Investigation after investigation yielded indictment after indictment and guilty plea after guilty plea against respectable and benign officials whose only transgression was supporting Trump and opposing the establishment.

The Department of Justice is fully aware that politicians are presumed guilty in the United States, regardless of evidence to the contrary and they will use this fact to engage in absolute thuggery to utilize their vast resources to punish anyone who threatens their authority.

Just as with the two political impeachments that Trump faced, so too will Democrats use this raid to justify that Trump is a criminal and involved in high-level crimes.

They will do the exact same thing that they did during the impeachments; they will use their hatred for

Trump as evidence of criminal conduct, they will decide for themselves that he is deserving of punishment, they will punish him, and they will use that punishment as proof that he is a criminal. It is an unforgiving circle.

The establishmentrun Department of Justice will do just the same. They will use this raid and inevitable indictment—one that they concocted themselves—as proof that Trump is a criminal.

And guess what? People will buy it.

Trump committed many despicable acts while in power.

He riled up his supporters which eventually resulted in a riot, he maligned his vice president, he uttered vicious things about fine people, and aligned himself with some awful characters. However, this does not make him a criminal, nor does it make him, as a past president, worthy of such punishment. Instead, the establishment has shown to the American people that there is such a thing as a political criminal—someone despised by the establishment.

In politics, it seems, if you can’t beat them, put them in prison.

Regardless of how the White House or Department of Justice spin this, the public’s faith in our institutions has been compromised. This incident has shown that our institutions will bend a knee, and the people who undertake such action will do so out of fear of suffering the same fate.

Today is a dark day for the United States.

I lament the demise of institutions that were meant to aid us. But America is still here.

It is an ever-present power that will dispel the darkness forged by the wicked. The dreams of a beautiful America will whisper from behind the shoulders of honorable men who will forgo the seduction of power and rise to defend our nation’s values. The virtues of liberty, hope, and freedom will lead us past these dark days and on to a brighter future.

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

GREER PH.D. As summer comes to a close, I hope you can squeeze in some time to visit museums in New York City or wherever you may reside. I have stumbled upon a few exhibits that have piqued my interest and I cannot wait to visit. Just like books, museums remind me of our connected interests and shared commonalities. The old adage, “We read to know we are not alone” is often attributed to C.S. Lewis. I feel the same way about museums, we visit culture and art to know we are intricately connected to others through time and place.

I recently visited the National Museum of American Indian in New York, which is part of the larger Smithsonian Museum. I absolutely love this museum.

First things first, it’s free!

It’s in an old beautiful customs building which serves as quite the juxtaposition to the art and artifacts housed in the museum.

The museum is located at the southern tip of Manhattan so viewing the famous bronze bull, getting a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, or swinging by Wall Street are all within a stone’s throw from the museum.

Until September 11, 2022 they have an exhibit entitled “Dakota Modern: The Art of Oscar Howe.” Breathtaking just doesn’t do the exhibit justice. Oscar Howe had several phases of his career, and the museum perfectly curates his various time periods where his style shifts and his focus on Native American modern art comes into clear focus.

This museum provides such a service to the art world not just because of the price, but for the permanent exhibits of Native American

art and artifacts as well as the other exhibits that are accessible for young and older museum goers.

The National Museum of American Indian also currently has an exhibit “Native New York” which they describe as a journey “through city and state to explore the question ‘What makes New York a Native place?’” The exhibition encompasses 12 places in present-day New York, introducing visitors to the Native nations that call the region home.” This exhibit shows contributions of Native communities, debunks myths about Native culture, and shows the areas in and around New York City where Native communities once thrived.

Be sure to visit the museum and the exhibits before they leave. For more information go to: www. americanindian.si.edu/ visit/reopening-ny.

My next museum adventure will take me to the New Museum where I am excited to view “Art and Race Matters: The Career of Robert Colescott” featuring paintings which span his 60-year career. Colescott is best known for “works made during the 1970s in which he reimagined iconic artworks to examine the absence of Black men and women as protagonists in dominant cultural and social narratives.” I cannot wait to check this out. For more information go to: www.newmuseum.org.

Art is our connector, and always will be.

Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University, the author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream,” and the co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.

14 • August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Caribbean Update

Snap election backfires in St. Kitts-Nevis; new government takes office

By BERT WIILKINSON Special to the AmNews Don’t call snap elections in the Caribbean without being assured of your fate.

For the second time in less than two months, a regional government has been evicted from office after calling snap elections years ahead of their constitutional due date.

In the case of Prime Minister Timothy Harris of the St. Kitts-Nevis federation, he was forced to do so after his three-party coalition had collapsed back in May in the midst of public bickering linked to allegations of a dictatorial management style by the PM and his alleged light regard for the views of other partners.

Harris had fired six of his rebellious cabinet colleagues, replaced them with others, asked the gov-

ernor to dissolve parliament and named Aug. 5th as election date, three years ahead of schedule, thinking he would be returned to office, even with a reduced majority. The Team Unity coalition had won nine of the 11 parliamentary seats back in 2020 and had also worked with a reasonable majority after defeating the venerable St. Kitts Nevis Labor Party (SKNLP) in 2015 after 20 consecutive years in power.

When elections results were announced on Saturday morning, more than 12 hours after polling stations had closed, it had emerged that Harris would no longer be prime minister, as his People’s Labor Party (PLP) had only won a single of the 11 seats on offer. His defeat made way for the SKNLP to make a grand return to office, picking up six of the

“When elections results were announced on Saturday morning, more than 12 hours after polling stations had closed, it had emerged that Harris would no longer be prime minister, as his People’s Labor Party (PLP) had only won a single of the 11 seats on offer.”

11 seats as citizens apparently voted for governmental stability. Harris won his constituency and might now not even be opposition leader as the People’s Action Movement (PAM), the third major player in the race, also picked up a single seat.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Keith Mitchell of Grenada named June 23 as election date, a year ahead of its due date. He had calculated that he would catch the opposition National Democratic Party (NDP) off guard. Heading into the

polls having won all 15 seats in March of 2108, a confident Mitchell, 75, had said he would retire after winning his last elections.

But voters chose the NDC of attorney Dickon Mitchell, 44, sweeping the older Mitchell out of power, giving the NDC nine of the 15 seats and setting the stage for Mitchell’s impending retirement.

As Grenada settles into a new government and a new political era, Cubantrained medical doctor Terrence Drew was at the

weekend sworn in as prime minister of St. Kitts-Nevis.

He immediately declared Monday as a holiday and said he would name a full cabinet this week.

“I fully recognize that the office of prime minister is one of service,” said Drew. “I also recognize that it is an office which I do not own but I am at the desk of the people. I vow to work closely with my cabinet colleagues, with those who are in other positions in government and our citizens of St. Kitts-Nevis so that what-

ever issues there are we can solve them.”

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados rode on the enthusiasm of Barbados becoming a republic in November and called snap general elections in December to take advantage of a divided and poorly funded opposition.

Her labor party won all 30 seats, one more than the results of the 2018 polls, leaving the Eastern Caribbean island nation without a viable opposition for a second parliamentary term in living memory.

In the wake of Mottley’s sweeping victory in nearby Barbados, Antigua’s Gaston Browne had begun to publicly toy with the idea of also calling snap elections but was advised against it and will likely do so before the deadline of next March.

Florida: The new ‘Southern Border’ entry point for immigrants FELICIA PERSAUD

IMMIGRATION KORNER While Florida’s Death Santis governor, who has foolish dreams of becoming president, has been busy slamming current President Joe Biden over opening the “southern border,” he seems to be missing the fact that Florida is fast becoming the new ‘southern border’ for illegal entry by immigrants––via the sea.

No longer is it just illegal land entry via the U.S.-Mexico border. In the past four weeks alone, almost 500

immigrants have landed in boats––some makeshift and rudimentary––via the open seas. Most are Cubans and Haitians seeking to flee from violence and economic woes at home.

The Coast Guard says more than 3,369 Cubans alone have been intercepted in trying to make the dangerous crossing so far, this fiscal year––that is October to July. Another 3,700 are estimated to be Haitians. That’s a total of over 71,00. The fiscal year ends in September.

That is a significant increase of over just 838 in the last fiscal year and 49 the year before that. In fact,

the illegal landings in Florida have now reached levels not seen since 2016.

The immigrants choosing sea crossings to Florida are trying to make it to shore in even pedal boats across the FloridaStraits, which is 93 mi (150 km) wide at the narrowest point between Key West and the Cuban shore.

In a recent case, the U.S. Coast Guard said it intercepted a sailboat carrying a large number of migrants off the coast of South Florida late on the morning of July 21st. Most were Haitians, packed on to the vessel like sardines. Crews discovered the vessel, which became grounded

in the sand off Boca Chita, near southern MiamiDade County.

A day later, on July 22, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted and detained 14 Cuban migrants after they came ashore in Long Key State Park, Fla., in a rustic tiny boat. The previous weekend, nine more were picked up after landing in Jupiter, Florida, and before that, three migrants from Cuba were stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard aboard a makeshift vessel made out of a toy car south of the Florida Keys.

All of them braved the dangerous open seas to get here on boats not even fit for

a complex community lake.

One Cuban woman died, after suffering an injury on the migrant boat she tried to enter the U.S. on.

Ramón Saúl Sánchez, leader of the Miami-based Cuban exile group Democracy Movement, told the Miami Herald that she was struck in the leg by the homemade migrant boat’s propeller shaft, which broke sometime during the dangerous journey.

Meanwhile all the immigrants are now in the custody of immigration authorities and will be repatriated by the Coast Guard.

This latest arrival is just another in a long series of

landings and interceptions at sea lately around Florida.

There’s been nothing on this from Death Santis or his right-wing cohorts, including the January 6th inciter-in-chief and expotus. Of course, there is also the matter of playing to the Cuban exile vote ahead of August 23rd Primary Elections.

For now, Death Santis is happy to instead pretend the problem is not at Florida’s doorsteps but is actually at the Mexican border.

Sadly, the now daily landings are proving otherwise.

The writer is publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com – The Black Immigrant Daily News.

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022 • 15

Affordable Housing for Rent

43-46 51st Street Apartments 23 NEWLY CONSTRUCTED UNITS AT 43-46 51st St. Queens, NY 11377 SUNNYSIDE/WOODSIDE

Amenities: on-site resident manager, recreation lounge, gym, outdoor roof terrace, in-unit laundry and dishwasher, bike storage (no fees apply) Transit: Trains: 7 - Buses: Q32, Q60, Q104, B24.

No fee to apply • No broker’s fee • Smoke-free building • More information: https://www.fifty11nyc.com/ This building is being constructed through the Inclusionary Housing Program and is expected to receive tax exemption through the 421a Tax Incentive Program through the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Who Should Apply?

Individuals or households who meet the income and household size requirements listed in the table below may apply. Qualified applicants will be required to meet additional selection criteria.

Applicants who live in New York City receive a general preference for apartments.

A percentage of units is set aside for: o Mobility–disabled applicants (5%) o Vision/Hearing–disabled applicants (2%) Preference for a percentage of units goes to: o Residents of COMMUNITY BOARD 2 (50%) o Municipal employees (5%)

• •

Studio

1 bedroom

2 bedroom

Monthly Rent1 $1,197

2

$1,509

$1,820

8

4

→

→

Household Size2

Annual Household Income3

1 person

$43,612 - $74,720

2 people

$43,612 - $85,440

1 person

$54,618 - $74,720

2 people

$54,618 - $85,440

3 people

$54,618 - $96,080

2 people

$66,172 - $85,440

3 people → 4 people 5 people

1 2 3 4

Minimum – Maximum

4

$66,172 - $74,080 $66,172 - $106,720 $66,172 - $115,280

130% AREA MEDIAN INCOME (AMI) UNITS

Unit Size

80% AREA MEDIAN INCOME (AMI) UNITS

AVAILABLE UNITS AND INCOME REQUIREMENTS Units Available

Monthly Rent1

Units Available

N/A

0

$2,350

$2,850

6

3

→

→

Household Size2

Annual Household Income3

N/A

N/A

Minimum – Maximum4

N/A

N/A

1 person

$80,572 - $121,420

2 people

$80,572 - $138,840

3 people

$80,572 - $156,130

2 people

$97,715 $138,840

3 people

$97,715 – $156,130

4 people

$97,715 $173,420

5 people

$97,715 $187,330

→

Tenant pays for electricity.Rent includes gas for cooking, heat and hot water.

Household size includes everyone who will live with you, including parents and children. Subject to occupancy criteria.

Household earnings includes salary, hourly wages, tips, Social Security, child support, and other income. Income guidelines subject to change.

Minimum income listed may not apply to applicants with Section 8 or other qualifying rental subsidies. Asset limits also apply.

How Do You Apply?

Apply online or through mail. To apply online, please go to https://www.housingconnect.nyc.gov/ To request an application by mail, send a self-addressed envelope to: UHAB C/O 43-46 51st St. Marketing, 120 Wall St. 20th Floor New York, NY 10005. Only send one application per development. Do not submit duplicate applications. Do not apply online and also send in a paper application. Applicants who submit more than one application may be disqualified.

When is the Deadline?

Applications must be postmarked or submitted online no later than October 4th. Late applications will not be considered.

What Happens After You Submit an Application?

After the deadline, applications are selected for review through a lottery process. If yours is selected and you appear to qualify, you will be invited to an appointment of eligibility to continue the process of determining your eligibility. Appointments are usually scheduled from 2 to 10 months after the application deadline. You will be asked to bring documents that verify your household size, identity of members of your household, and your household income.

Español

Presente una solicitud en línea en nyc.gov/housingconnect. Para recibir una traducción de español de este anuncio y la solicitud impresa, envíe un sobre con la dirección a: UHAB C/O 43-46 51st St. Marketing, 120 Wall St. 20th Floor New York, NY 10005. En el reverso del sobre, escriba en inglés la palabra “SPANISH.” Las solicitudes se deben enviar en línea o con sello postal antes de 4 de octubre 2022.

简体中文

访问 nyc.gov/housingconnect 在线申请。如要获取本广告及书面申请表的简体中文版，请将您的回邮信封寄送至：UHAB C/O 43-46 51st St. Marketing, 120 Wall St. 20th Floor New York, NY 10005.. 信封背面请用英语注明“CHINESE”。必须在以下日期之前在线提交申请或邮寄书面申请2022年10月4日.

Русский

Чтобы подать заявление через интернет, зайдите на сайт: nyc.gov/housingconnect. Для получения данного объявления и заявления на русском языке отправьте конверт с обратным адресом по адресу UHAB C/O 43-46 51st St. Marketing, 120 Wall St. 20th Floor New York, NY 10005.. На задней стороне конверта напишите слово “RUSSIAN” на английском языке. Заявки должны быть поданы онлайн или отправлены по почте (согласно дате на почтовом штемпеле) не позднее 4 октября 2022.

한국어

nyc.gov/housingconnect 에서 온라인으로 신청하십시오. 이 광고문과 신청서에 대한 한국어 번역본을 받아보시려면 반송용 봉투를UHAB C/O 43-46 51st St. Marketing, 120 Wall St. 20th Floor New York, NY 10005. 으로 보내주십시오. 봉투 뒷면에 “KOREAN” 이라고 영어로 적어주십시오. 2022년10월4일 까지 온라인 신청서를 제출하거나 소인이 찍힌 신청서를 보내야 합니다.

Kreyòl Ayisyien Aplike sou entènèt sou sitwèb nyc.gov/housingconnect. Pou resevwa yon tradiksyon anons sa a nan lang Kreyòl Ayisyen ak aplikasyon an sou papye, voye anvlòp ki gen adrès pou retounen li nan: UHAB C/O 43-46 51st St. Marketing, 120 Wall St. 20th Floor New York, NY 10005. Nan dèyè anvlòp la, ekri mo “HATIAN CREOLE” an Anglè. Ou dwe remèt aplikasyon yo sou entènèt oswa ou dwe tenbre yo anvan dat oktòb 4, 2022.

Polskie Français

বা​াংলা

‫ العربية‬UHAB C/O 43-46 51st St. Marketing, 120 Wall St. :‫ أرسل مظرو ًفا بالعنوان إلى‬، ‫ لتلقي ترجمة باللغة العربية لهذا اإلعالن والتطبيق المطبوع‬.nyc.gov/housingconnect ‫إرسال طلب عبر اإلنترنت على‬ 2022 ،‫ أكتوبر‬4 ‫ يجب تقديم الطلبات عبر اإلنترنت أو عن طريق ختم بريدي قبل‬."ARABIC" ‫ اكتب باللغة اإلنجليزية كلمة‬، ‫ على ظهر المظروف‬20th Floor New York, NY 10005.

Aby złożyć wniosek online, przejdź na stronę nyc.gov/housingconnect. Aby uzyskać polskie tłumaczenie tego powiadomienia oraz wniosek w wersji wydrukowanej, wyślij kopertę z własnym adresem: UHAB C/O 43-46 51st St. Marketing, 120 Wall St. 20th Floor New York, NY 10005. Wpisz słowo „POLISH” w j. angielskim na odwrocie koperty. Wnioski muszą posiadać stempel pocztowy lub zostać przesłane online nie później niż 4 październik 2022.

Pour déposer votre demande en ligne, rendez-vous sur le site nyc.gov/housingconnect. Pour recevoir une traduction en français de cet avis ainsi qu’un dossier de demande papier, envoyez une enveloppe libellée à votre nom et votre adresse à l’adresse suivante : UHAB C/O 43-46 51st St. Marketing, 120 Wall St. 20th Floor New York, NY 10005. Inscrivez le mot « FRENCH » au dos de l’enveloppe. Les demandes doivent être envoyées par la poste ou soumises en ligne au plus tard le 4 octobre 2022, le cachet de la poste faisant foi. অনলাইনন আনেদন করনে, অনুগ্রহ কনর nyc.gov/housingconnect এ যান। এই বেজ্ঞবির বা​াংলা অনুোদ এেং আনেদনটি ছাপাননাভানে পপনে এই টিকানায় একটি স্ব-সম্বাধিত খাম পািান: UHAB C/O 43-46 51st St. Marketing, 120 Wall St. 20th Floor New York, NY 10005. । খানের বপছনন “BENGALI” শব্দটি ইংনরজিনে বলখুন। অ্যাধিম্েশনগুধল অ্বশযই

অক্টোবর 4, 2022 এর েনযে প াস্টমােক করনে হনে বা অ্নলাইম্ন জমা ধিম্ত হম্ব। ‫ اپنے ذاتی پتے کا اردو‬،‫ پر جائیں۔ اس نوٹس کا اردو زبان میں ترجمہ اور پرنٹ شدہ درخواست موصول کرنے کے لیے‬nyc.gov/housingconnect ‫ہ کرم‬ ِ ‫ برا‬،‫آن الئن اپالئی کرنے کے لیے‬ ‫" انگریزی میں تحریر کریں۔‬URDU" ‫ پر بھیجیں۔ لفافے کی پشت پر لفظ‬UHAB C/O 43-46 51st St. Marketing, 120 Wall St. 20th Floor New York, NY 10005. :‫حامل ایک لفافہ‬ ‫ سے زیادہ تاخیر سے آن الئن جمع نہ کرایا جانا الزم ہے۔‬2022 ،‫ اكتوبر‬4‫درخواستوں کے لیے پوسٹ مارک کردہ ہونا یا‬

Mayor Eric Adams • HPD Commissioner Adolfo Carrión Jr.

16 • August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Religion & Spirituality

Motown songwriting legend Lamont Dozier dies at 81 Lamont Dozier Jr. (left) and Lamont Dozier (Photo Courtesy of NNPA)

By STACY M. BROWN NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

“R.I.H.P. Dad!!” Lamont Dozier Jr. wrote on Facebook. The post accompanied a photo of his famous father.

Lamont Dozier, who counted While teaming with Holamong the iconic songwriting trio land-Dozier-Holland, Dozier of Holland-Dozier-Holland, has helped write some of the most died at the age of 81. memorable tunes for groups Dozier’s family confirmed the such as Martha and the Vandeath on social media. dellas, the Four Tops, and the

Isley Brothers.

He also penned “Baby Love,” and “You Keep Me Hanging On,” by the Supremes.

“Another man that sat down and taught me a lot about music is gone. The great Lamont Dozier,” music producer Brandon Williams wrote on Twitter.

A nonprofit organization in New York City, located on the Upper West Side is seeking sealed bids for the sale and installation of security related enhancements. The project includes installation of Closed-Circuit Television equipment and card readers. The selection criteria will be based on your company’s knowledge of surveillance and security, adherence to projected work schedule, prior experience, references, and cost.

Specifications and bid requirements can be obtained by contacting us at upgrades2022@gmail.com M/WBE owners and operators are specifically invited to apply. All interested firms will be required to sign for the proposal documents and provide a primary contact, telephone, and email address.

Bids will be accepted until 12 noon on Friday, September 30, 2022 and work is to commence by November 30, 2022 and be completed by November 30, 2023.

“I’ll never forget meeting and working with him along with the Holland Brothers in 2006,” Williams wrote. “Thank you for all you did for me and for the world at large. You definitely made this place better.”

Inducted into the Songwriters

Hall of Fame in 1988, Dozier and his songwriting team also crafted such mega-hits as “Baby I Need Your Loving,” “Stop! In The Name of Love,” and “How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You.” In 1990, the trio earned induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Arts & Entertainment Theater pg 17 | Dance pg 18 | Film/TV pg 19 | Jazz pg 24

August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022 • 17

Pg. 22 Your Stars

‘The Kite Runner’ will make your spirit soar

By LINDA ARMSTRONG Special to the AmNews “The Kite Runner” will make your spirit soar! Based on a book by Khaled Hosseini, the production has a beautiful adaptation courtesy of Matthew Spangler. It tells the story of a special friendship between two boys from Afghanistan who grew up together. It is a story of loyalty, betrayal, guilt and redemption. As I sat in the theater with my 20-year-old daughter, we were incredibly touched by this moving play. Amir, the son of a rich merchant in Afghanistan grew up with his servant Hassan. Between these boys you see the separation of class, but also a bond that they share as human beings. Hassan is someone who does not have the advantages of Amir—being able to read and write—but he worships everything that Amir does. He is someone who will put his life and well-being on the line to protect Amir. Amir is a young man who has real Daddy issues. Since his mother died giving birth to him and he is not a manly man—he doesn’t play sports like soccer— he knows that his father is disappointed in him on several levels. Then add to that the fact that he wants to be a writer of fiction, that just makes his father think that something is wrong with him.

The character of Amir is the narrator of the play and he takes the audience on a moving journey to his childhood in Afghanistan. He describes the beauty of the country and where he lived. He speaks of the joys of being a kite runner, a sport I had never heard of. There are two parts to this sport, the person who flies the kite and cuts down other kites and the person who runs to catch the kites that have been cut. There is skill involved in both. Amir is skilled at cutting the kites, and Hassan is the best kite runner, he’s able to know where the kite will land. The play set between 1973 to 2001 takes the audience from Afghanistan and the boys’ childhood, to the political unrest, the Russian takeover, the people fleeing and the takeover by the Taliban. The audience gets to hear how the regular citizens were impacted when these situations happened. You sympathize with the loss of all of one’s possessions and property as you flee to go somewhere safe. You sympathize with people being crammed into trucks, terrified of being stopped by soldiers and being abused. You also marvel at the dignity of these refugees who are trying to find a new place to start over again and then them finally making it to the U.S.

Amir Arison and Eric Sirakian in “The Kite Runner”

(L-R) Azita Ghanizada, Amir Arison, Eric Sirakian and Houshang Touzie in “The Kite Runner”

and taking up residence in places like San Francisco.

This play was marvelously done! It opened one’s eyes to the customs of the people from Afghanistan, from their wedding ceremonies, to their dress, to the tightly neat community that struggled together sharing their spaces at flea markets to raise some money. You also saw the pride of people who did whatever work they could find to take care of their families.

Watching this play touched my heart and my daughter’s as she was often in tears. This is a play I really don’t want to explain a lot about. To tell you all the in’s and out’s would deprive you of the chance to experience them fresh and new. “The Kite Runner” is something to be experienced because it is a delicate and powerful portrayal of the beauty that can be in the human spirit, but also the fear, guilt and shame. But, no matter what happens in our lives, we are always given an opportunity to redeem ourselves.

This cast is absolutely stunning to watch and includes Amir Arison as Amir.

His character is fighting many demons and has much to struggle with; Eric Sirakian is Hassan, a character to whom he brings a lovely, childlike trust and innocence; Sirakian later also plays Sohrab with a great deal of feeling and depth; Faran Tahir is strong and harsh on Amir as his father. Evan Zes is Ali, Hassan’s father and the servant to Amir’s father for over 40 years; Dariush Kashani plays multiple roles with a great deal of heart; Azita Ghanizada is marvelous as Soraya, the general’s daughter who aspires to be a teacher; Houshang Touzie is commanding as General Taheri, Soraya’s father; Amir Malaklou plays Assef, a bully to Amir and Hassan. Other cast members include Salar Nader; Danish Farooqui; Beejan Land; Christine Mirzayan and Joe Joseph. This play delivers on so many levels, with an authenticity that can’t be denied. There is a feeling of reverence for the Afghanistani people’s culture, traditions and shared sense of the value of ones’ history.

This play was a beautiful production to behold and it touched my soul on so many levels, in addition to teaching me so much. Go to the Hayes Theater on W. 44th and experience this phenomenal play—there is nothing on Broadway like it. Giles Croft’s direction brings everything together in an engaging package.

For more info, visit www.thekiterunnerbroadway.com.

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Black dance companies bring sizzle to NYC’s summer stages

By ZITA ALLEN Special to the AmNews This summer, dance in the city is, like the weather, hot. Need proof? Check out A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham at Lincoln Center (August 11-13), or innovative choreographer Rennie Harris’ blend of gospel music and hip hop dance at the Joyce Theatre (Aug. 9-14), or the five stellar dance companies, including Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, at the Lincoln Center BAAND Together Dance Festival (Aug. 9-13). The Amsterdam News recently checked in with some of these spectacular troupes to learn what delightful treats they have in store for audiences this month.

Visionary choreographer and MacArthur Fellow Kyle Abraham has teamed up with pioneering producer, composer, and electronic dance music artist Jlin to create “Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth,” an Afro-Futurist exploration of death, reincarnation, and the after-life set to an electronic movement transcription of Mozart’s “Requiem in D minor.” For the New York premiere of this commissioned work, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham’s 10 dancers and Jlin’s live performance of his electronic opus create a magnetic piece as Jlin transforms Mozart’s music into an electronic opus that memorializes ritual, mourning, and rebirth.

Speaking to the Amsterdam News from Venice, Italy where “Requiem” was being performed, Abraham talked about his excursion into Afro-Futurism and the fact that for the Black artist creative freedom can be a constant struggle. “As a Black dance maker, I’m always up against it when a white critic or whoever has this notion that Black art always has to speak to our pain.” Giving voice to

DTH Company Artist Ingrid Silva in “Return” (Rachel Neville photo)

what some believe is mainstream critics’ tendency to see Black art as only racial documentation and testimony thereby ignoring the innovative and imaginative aspect of their work, Abraham speaks of the need to be free to address a range of issues and express a gamut of emotions. “I’ve addressed a lot of the injustices that we face in, if not every dance, the majority of the dances I’ve made.”

He has also focused Black Love, Black Joy, and, yes now Black/Afro-Futurism.

“Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth,” Abraham says, and its relationship to Afro-Futurism allows him to exercise the power of the imagination and acknowledge the Black presence in science fiction. Evoking images of writer Octavia Butler, filmmaker Jordan Peele, and movies such as “Black Panther,” Abraham says, “Yeah, I can tap into a lot of the authors of that art.

I can also look at the filmmakers that address it too.

I can take inspiration from the fact that I literally grew up reading comic books at a very young age.” Referencing sci-fi subjects currently on trend he adds, “A lot of that information is what

Ingrid Silva in “Return” (Dinah Rogers photo)

I have been interested in playing with for years. But this work, ‘Requiem’ felt like a safe space and a fun space to focus on that.” After all, we who protest also dream and dream big.

Just ask another innovative dance maker, Lorenzo “Rennie” Harris, who takes audiences along for the ride as he explores new territory in the land of hip hop.

Known as a leading ambassador of that universally popular dance form, Harris never stops find-

ing new ways to bring its vibrant, mold-shattering beauty to the stage. Having grown up entrenched in the hip-hop culture and immersed in all its forms, he’s bringing an innovation that promises to amaze with this upcoming Joyce Theatre performance of “LIFTED: A Gospel House Musical.” It’s an evening-length seamless fusion of live gospel music, hip-hop dance theater and house dance that tells the story of a young Black man and his path to healing and

redemption through the ballet “Return.” Exuding a goodness of community palpable excitement over and the grace of faith. the company’s first New Harris says this produc- York performance since the tion comes out pandemic and of his soul and the birth of her his lived experidaughter Laura, ence. “It’s a tribDTH princiute to my Mom pal Ingrid Silva who passed says, “I think away a couple it’s a great gift of years ago. to New Yorkers When I was DTH’s Ingrid Silva to see DTH and growing up, we (Theik Smith photo) the other comwere very poor panies as each and although we were Cath- one of us brings something olic, on Sunday we would go different to the table.” to the Baptist church service The Brazilian-born Silva and stay all day because in stands out in this dynamic the Baptist church they company of young dancers give you breakfast, lunch, whose infectiously enerand dinner.” “LIFTED” also getic enthusiasm and comcomes out of the world of mand of the technique hip hop, Harris adds, ex- dazzles fans and attracts plaining that among its new audiences to their many connotations, the unique embodiment of this title also refers to the fact classical artform. “By being that back in the day “when multi-racial, DTH definitefolks were going to dances ly adds an important layer they’d say they were going to the dance world…When to church.” With his raw we talk about diversity it is authenticity, Harris’ work so important to realize that touches audiences wheth- when you see yourself in er set in his own compa- the bodies on stage that is ny, or modern dance or extremely powerful,” says ballet companies. His hon- Silva, recalling a key obesty speaks volumes and servation of DTH foundtranslates across genres, er Arthur Mitchell. “Being after all, as Harris says, “Hip a Brazilian, and an Afro-Lahop is a universal language. tina, it’s really amazing to It’s everywhere.” see how day after day we’re The Amsterdam News also always challenging people caught up with another to think of diversity in this company whose ballet art- artform and bringing the istry transcends boundar- unexpected to the table.” ies as it proves, as Artistic Silva continues, “We’ve Director Virginia Johnson become this legacy that has said, “that this beau- inspires other companies tiful art form actually be- to see dancers of color. We longs to and can be done bring the power of our diby anyone.” In a few days, versity to the stage and DTH, which is currently on it’s inspiring. In addition tour, rolls into New York for to the dancers who come the Lincoln Center BAAND from everywhere along the Together Dance Festival African diaspora, our repwhere it will share the spot- ertory is also very diverse. light and an outdoor stage I think that’s why our dancwith the Alvin Ailey Amer- ers are so versatile. We can ican Dance Festival, Ballet do everything. Audiences Hispanico, American Ballet have a lot to look forward Theatre, and New York City to with DTH.” Ballet. During the Festival, In fact, audiences have a DTH dancers will perform lot to look forward to—all resident choreographer of the exciting dance taking Robert Garland’s spirited place this summer.

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‘Bullet Train’—go on and get on this train

By MARGRIRA Special to the AmNews There are quirky characters on board this “Bullet Train” going from Tokyo to Kyoto, and I sincerely suggest that you take this ride! It’s a fast-moving two hours and 15 minutes with enough over-the-top action and about half a dozen assassins trying to do their job for a perfect summer movie choice.

Here’s the deal: these wellskilled killers for hire are trying to snag a briefcase stuffed with cash, and David Leitch (“Atomic Blonde”), a stuntman-turned-director, has crafted an exciting, beautifully choreographed game of hot potato, with Brad Pitt playing a self-deprecating character, Ladybug, dressed in a colorful bucket hat and oversize specs, as the lead. Ramping up the fun are actors Brian Tyree Henry (Lemon) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson

(Tangerine) playing bickering “twin” hitmen, and Joey King (Prince) is an inventive killer who can toss in a fake cry on demand.

There are more interesting characters on the train, mixing it up like Hornet (Zazie Beetz) and the Wolf (Benito A. Martínez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny) where they are hilariously identified using giant on-screen labels superimposed over their flash-frozen mugs.

The film is based on the novel “MariaBeetle” by Kotaro Isaka, and flips the story to scoop in a mostly Western cast; Leitch and screenwriter Zak Olkewicz took the opportunity to make all of the characters uniquely eccentric. I can only imagine what the Hollywood elevator pitch sounded like: “We’re going to turn this novel into ‘Snatch’ smashed into ‘Kill Bill’ but still on a moving bullet train but with Brad Pitt in a bucket hat!”

“Bullet Train” (Courtesy photo)

The voice in Pitt’s ear is Maria (Sandra Bullock) who is in charge of guiding the newly nonviolent killer through what’s supposed to be the easiest job of his long career. He’s literally only supposed to get on the bullet train in Tokyo, grab the case and get off at the next stop; that’s it. But Ladybug’s luck has changed from bad to worse with him

now stuck on a train that’s packed with killers.

There are a few innocent people on the train but mostly it’s just backed by hungry and frustrated assassins who are happy to kill to get the briefcase, including using a poisonous boomslang snake, whose venom kills in 30 seconds, making victims bleed from their eyes.

Thank you director Leitch

who keeps throwing deadly obstacles at Ladybug, a brash character who is great at improvising his way out of deadly situations.

For action junkies, “Bullet Train” is pure eye candy.

Kudos and hats-off to the clever fight scenes that feel original and fresh.

These killers are so focused on the task at hand that they don’t stop to ask why there

are so many of them in one, vulnerable place. This is not a coincidence and it’s revealed that it’s an laborate plan cooked up by the underworld boss, White Death (Michael Shannon) to avenge the death of his wife.

Stylistically, the inventive Leitch delivers a film packed with action and unexpected charm and laughs.

Ten out of ten.

FIN AL W E E KS !

AROUND THE TABLE: STORIES OF THE FOODS WE LOVE

On View Now–Sept 11 An Exhibition Celebrating the Art and Science of Edible Plants

20 • August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022 • 21

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THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS A R T S & E N T E R T A I N M E N T

HOROSCOPES BY KNOWYOURNUMB3RS

By GODDESS KYA

August 11, 2022 — August 17, 2022 Rebirth of A New Nation: Shine your light on the darkness. The full moon in Aquarius at 19-degree conjunct Saturn is a wake-up and shake-up with a knee-jerk reaction as to what lessons you have learned from your experiences.

By month’s end, Pluto is at 26 degrees Capricorn, Saturn is at 20 degrees Aquarius, Neptune is at 24 degrees Pisces, Jupiter at 7 degrees Aries, and Uranus at 18 degrees Taurus soon to gladly join the retrograde party. Chiming in the north node at 16 degrees Taurus, south node 16 degrees Scorpio, either you are in illusion or living the reality; also, spiritual initiation and messages are chiming in to spread the word of your soul mission. The energy playing out is power play and power to the people for those who are bringing something essential to the table and not just talkVinateria or a plaything. What systems do you have in place? Useful information that can be applied is a game changer.

As we enter Virgo season the tone of the music is getting louder, as your ancestors send out the birdcalls and sounds of triumphs and drums, playing with the musical band on key with the right tone and pitch for alignment and ascension. “Music may be the activity that prepared our pre-human ancestors for speech communication and for the very cognitive, representation flexibility necessary to become humans.” Daniel Levitin

These weekly cycles require discipline, commitment, structure, and There is no plan when the universe intervenes to straighten out matters elimination of outdated material things, places, and people, to clear your of the heart. Your focus is redirected and your emotions are on steroids space. Apply a touch of your organizational skill to complete tasks. Capfilled with love and change. This indicates a commitment to self and finally Capricorn ricorn, your intuition is heightened and the need for concentration with Cancer making the changes needed to evolve yourself in family, health, career, and Dec 22 June 22 stillness is vital to score a touchdown. Your health, appearance, family personal development. A soul-to-soul conversation that feels more like a Jan 21 July 23 obligations, and trimming down the fat can assist in your affairs. Around spiritual initiation is giving you a lesson and a review of your life. Being August 16th-18th continue to make the short-term investment for the tested to stay true to yourself. August 12th-13th is time for a change and to long-haul rewards forthcoming by the end of August. take accountability for your actions and who you allow in your environment.

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This cycle is a game-changer by bringing value to the table with your The energy is ripe to address and respond to situations that needed clarskills, talent, and within your profession. You are building your founity. Adjustments within the home, appearance, remodeling, and thoughts dation and team while showcasing your service. Your services are your of relocation are featured as you head in a new direction. As you embark Aquarius amenities, and you are the resources. Tie your shoestring, fasten on your Leo on this new journey, outlining and brainstorming are helpful. New conJan 22 July 24 Feb 19 suspenders, and apply your happy feet, putting in the footwork to build cepts bring new innovative adventures and dynamic, sudden, spontaneAug 23 the foundation. August 10th-11th the full moon is ripe, upping your ante ous, meetings, training, traveling, etc. August 14th-15th, seize the moment in your sign to utilize your skills just as you did on the new moon on February 1, 2022. and live for the experience of life to advance you.

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You are the boss, founder, and CEO. Just as the board of directors you On your mark, get set, go as Virgo season is right around the corner. The are in meeting with, you have a say in the business direction and conexperiences and messages for your season are bringing an interesting topic tracts. August indicated being grounded, preparing for your grand openfor discussion at a round table or starting a course or even a survey. The Pisces Virgo ing, or finishing up a project you have been working on. An exciting, shakeup in your mental faculties is asking you to decipher the information Feb 20 Aug 24 productive week meeting new people and also those with a high profile. before spilling the beans. Virgo, you love facts and figures for demonstraSept 23 Mar 20 Get involved in the community, be it on social platforms, networking tion and as a resource. The love department receives a spike of romance or events, or Zoom to get to know your audience better. August 12th-13th, listen careful- a romance for a hobby or even a pastime. August 16th-18th, do what’s in your best interest. ly before responding.

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Divine timing with alignment as data is coming to you to take heed and record the information. Your spirit guides and ancestors are giving you clues Libra about upcoming scenes playing out for you not to be caught off guard.

Sept 24 There is only so much information given and the rest is up to you. Any legal Oct 23 or partnership matters are best resolved by the 22nd towards the end of the month. August 14th-15th, allow bygones to be bygones while working on lence for a bit.

It’s a time to put in the work as you will experience some odd, unanticipated knee-jerk reactions in your body. That’s a sign from the divine creator for you to learn something about yourself. It requires you to make adjustments, and you know exactly what they are. The trigger is real. It’s a learning experience getting you uncomfortable with your comfortability. It’s time for a change. August 10th-11th, listen carefully and move in si-

your inner self.

An inquisitive week of things, people unveiling information in the most Publicly how folks see you, you are building and securing your foundaunimagined way to you. Remain still as you continue to go about your tion. Internally, of course, people do not see the work, time, dedication, daily affairs, rather than being pulled by your coattail by the divine creator.

Scorpio discipline, and the self-accountability to get where you are today. A slight Polish up on a course, research a field of study, and visit a body of water Oct 24 Taurus Nov 22 feeling of health concerns causes a knee-jerk reaction to get you to pay atfor purging and cleansing as you may shed a few tears as things come to a Apr 22 May 21 tention to information for your growth. Slow the pace down a bit making a head. A burst of inspiration and motivation follow suit after shedding a few smoother structure with coordination as you walk, talk, and your appear- tears with laughter. August 12th-13th, enjoy yourself while planting new seeds. ance matches your frequency. August 16th-18th, your words are powerful and impactful.

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This is the green-light special week; even as you are driving the speed limit A whole lot of information is passing through your ears and people gosyou catch all the lights. The businesswomen/men with a plan are on a move siping from the grapevine to inform you. Gemini you usually hear the news strategically as you enhance and extend your foundation. A harvest time to Sagitarius think big and score a touchdown for the team. A cycle where people are scoutbefore it reaches you so you are prepared and aware. How you respond will Nov 23 Gemini be the follow-up; also gossip is good to a certain point. You like to be informed ing out your talent who are willing to make an investment, offer, or collaboraDec 21 May 22 on a need-to-know basis and discard the rest. It’s time you take the lead and tion. New things are on the horizon maybe, getting your TV show, podcast, or June 21 have one to three hands upbringing facts, figures, and documents to the table. something in the public arena. August 14th-15th, you have what it takes; it’s your birthright, and August 10th-11th is a very interesting storyline sending mixed signals of truth and false. your passion naturally calls you so that you dance to it and live out your potential.

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WWW.KYAFRENCH.COM | CONSULTATIONS 866-331-5088

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20th annual ImageNation Outdoors Fest continues!

The 20th annual ImageNation Outdoors Festival has kicked off and continues through Sept. 10, 2022. The summer-long festival offers free film screenings and music in outdoor venues including a new series held in partnership with the Frederick Douglass Blvd Alliance (FDBA) themed “The Soul of Harlem” primarily featuring films about Harlem such as “Forty Year-Old Version” by Harlem’s own Radha Blank (Aug. 27), and a talkback and special advance screening of Harlem-based director Stanley Nelson’s “Becoming Frederick Douglass” (Sept. 10).

Launched in 2002 with a single screening for 300 people, ImageNation Outdoors has grown to draw nearly 10,000 attendees each summer. ImageNation Outdoors is the only summer-long festival dedicated to films and music about the global Black experience.

New initiatives include an NFT art sidebar and Black Anime Con. “This is our 20th annual ImageNation Outdoors Festival, we couldn’t be happier about launching our FDBA partnership with ‘Soul of Harlem,’ a focus on Harlem artists and experiences,” said Moikgantsi Kgama, executive director of ImageNation.

“Locating on Frederick Douglass Boulevard allows us even more direct contact with our audience.”

“And, after 20 years of programs, we are also focused on cultivating opportunities for the Black community through exposure to emerging and popular media,” said Gregory Gates, executive producer of ImageNation. “Our new Black Anime Con was created to encourage youth of African descent to explore opportunities for themselves within this extremely popular Japanese genre. Our NFT sidebar is designed to expose new audiences to this new block-chain-based artform.”

Highlights over the years have included drive-in movies during COVID-19, the world’s longest Soul Train line, the 100th Anniversary of South Africa’s African National Congress in Central Park, talk backs with heralded talent such as Jesse Williams, ASAP Ferg and live performances by Talib Kweli, Goapele, Les Nubians, and more.

Masks are recommended for all participants. Social distancing is required. This policy may change as stipulated by the government. All events are free and open to the public. Please note the schedule is subject to change.

ImageNation has hosted film screenings, live music performances and other cultural events for more than 150,000 people worldwide since its inception in New York City in 1997. In addition to hosting year-round programs at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the world-famous Apollo Theater, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and in New York City Parks, ImageNation has presented internationally in South Africa, Scotland and Canada and domestically at Harvard University, MASS MOCA, and in Dallas; Los Angeles; Baltimore; and Washington, D.C. Programs have

featured appearances by leading filmmakers such as Spike Lee, Lee Daniels, Stanley Nelson and Ava DuVernay.

All programs are free and open to the public. Unless otherwise stated, music/discussions begin at 7 p.m. and films begin at 8:30 p.m. or sundown.

NY 10027 Synopsis: Narrated by Keith David, African Redemption presents the life of Jamaican civil rights activist Marcus Garvey and his fight for the equality of Black people worldwide.

Co-presenters: Black Star Line Films, Jazzmobile | SUMMERFEST, and HARLEM WEEK

NY playwright, who is desperate for a breakthrough before 40. Reinventing herself as rapper RadhaMUSPrime, she vacillates between the worlds of hip hop and theater in order to find her true voice.

An ImageNation x FDBA program.

Sunday, August 28, 2-10 p.m.: Black Anime Con, varied artists, 145m, 2021, USA Location: Herbert Von King Park, Marcy Ave., Saturday, August 20: ImageNation Cele- Tompkins Ave., between Greene Ave. and Labrates Harlem Week! fayette Ave. August events include “Soul Train Tribute to Freedom,” New York premiere of “African Redemption: The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey,” Harlem Week, Black Anime Con (Courtesy photo)

“Judas and the Black Messiah” (Courtesy photo)

Thursday, August 11: A Soul Train Tribute to Freedom featuring Academy Award-Winner “Judas and the Black Messiah” dir. by Shaka King, 126m, 2021, USA Location: Marcus Garvey Park Amphitheater, 18 Mt. Morris Park W, New York, NY 10027 Synopsis: Featuring DJ Stormin Norman, the Soul Train Tribute—arguably the hottest Jam in the park for 10 years—celebrates the soundtrack of American social movements with a tribute to Freedom Songs from the Soul Train Era! Enjoy the music and then watch “Judas and the Black Messiah.” In this award-winning historic drama Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), a young, charismatic activist, becomes chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, putting him directly in the crosshairs of the government, the FBI, and the Chicago police. But to destroy the revolution, the authorities place a man on the inside.

Co-presented with Injoy Enterprises.

Saturday, August 13: “The Man by the Shore” (A Tribute to Michelle Materre) dir. by Raoul Peck, 106m, 1993, France/ Canada/Haiti/Germany Trailer: https://www.velvet-film.com/en/ films/the-man-by-shore/ Location: 120th Street and Frederick Douglass Blvd., near Chocolat Restaurant Synopsis: An imaginative girl (Jennifer Zubar) escapes the horrors of living in dictator Francois Duvalier’s 1960s Haiti.

This ImageNation x FDBA program is copresented with Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival.

Wednesday, August 17: New York premiere of “African Redemption: The Life and Legacy of Marcus Garvey” Trailer: https://youtu.be/d01FqfFaO9g Location: Marcus Garvey Park Amphitheater, 18 Mt. Morris Park W, New York,

Location: St. Nicholas Park—St. Nicholas Synopsis: Celebrating the Black presAve and 135th Street on the Great Hill ence in anime, ImageNation’s Black Presented in partnership with Harlem Anime Con will feature CosPlay, Anime Week!

Market, Japanese Soul fusion food, film screenings and more.

Thursday, August 25: “Drumline” Co-presented with the City Parks Dedir. by Charles Stone III, 111m, 2002, USA partment.

Trailer: https://youtu.be/3J_LqCnPvgI Location: Herbert Von King Park, Marcy Ave., Saturday, September 10, 2022: “Becoming Tompkins Ave., between Greene Ave. and La- Frederick Douglass” fayette Ave. dir. by Stanley Nelson, 90m, 2022, USA Synopsis: Starring Nick Cannon and Zoe This Special Advance Screening will be Saldaña, “Drumline” brings the world of preceded by a talk with director Stanley “show-style” marching bands (popular at Nelson and Professor Natasha Lightfoot, Cotraditionally Black, Southern colleges) to the lumbia University, Department of History. big screen for the first time when a band diTrailer: https://www.pbs.org/video/exrector recruits a Harlem street drummer to tended-trailer-jly62g/ play at a Southern university. The story was Location: 120th Street and Frederick Douinspired by the high school drumline ex- glass Blvd., near Chocolat Restaurant periences of executive producer/executive Synopsis: Using Frederick Douglass’ own music producer Dallas Austin. words, this documentary film tells the story Co-presented with Fun w/ Friends and the of how a man born and raised in slavery City Parks Department. became one of the most prominent elder statesmen and powerful voices for freedom Saturday, August 27: “Forty Year-Old in America.

Version” This ImageNation x FDBA program is codir. by Radha Blank, 123m, 2020, USA presented with Firelight Films. preceded by a talk with director Radha Blank and ImageNation founder MoikganPlease join the conversation on social tsi Kgama and the short film “One Step At a media: Time,” 8:30 m, 2022, USA #ImageNationOutdoors20, #ImageNaTrailer: https://youtu.be/RRpGNnaDzeE tionOutdoors, #iLoveSoulCinema Location: 120th Street and Frederick DouWebsite: Imagenation.us; TW: @Imaglass Blvd., near Chocolat Restaurant geNationUS; IG: @ImageNation.US; FB: Synopsis: Radha is a down-on-her-luck @ImageNationFoundation

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THE GREAT HILL, HARLEM WEEK, MONONEON Jazzmobile and the Central Park Conservancy return with one of Harlem’s favorite jazz affairs— the Great Jazz on the Great Hill returns Aug. 13 in Central Park (West 106th Street). This year’s event will feature the Jimmy Heath Legacy Band, Antonio Hart Quartet and Chicago songtress Tammy McCann (4 p.m. - 7 p.m.).

The late Jimmy Heath, saxophonist, composer and arranger (who passed in 2020), was a familiar and welcomed regular leading his self-titled big band on the Great Hill. In recognition of Heath as a longtime contributor to Jazzmobile as a performer and instructor, the Jimmy Heath Legacy Band with musical director Antonio Hart will continue in preserving his legacy. Saxophonist Antonio Hart, a protégé of Heath, will perform with his quartet.

In a jazz sea of saxophones Hart has effortlessly managed to find and maintain his own unique alto sax voice. He refuses to rely on his laurels and each performance demonstrates yet another side to his musicianship. He toured and recorded with his good friend, trumpeter Roy Hargrove for three years. In his 20 year-career he has performed and recorded with a variety of musicians from Nancy Wilson to Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner and Dave Holland.

While the Chicago vocalist Tammy McCann is not a stranger to the Apple, having performed at Dizzy’s jazz club and Carnegie Hall, this will be her debut performance for Jazzmobile’s Great Jazz on the Great Hill. She arrives with a reputation that precedes her with a host of accolades from Chicago to Europe. Her sultry timbre paints pictures and tells stories by merging classical vocal technique and gospel esthetic with jazz to create a sound that is completely her own.

The concert is free; bring chairs or a blanket for a nice jazzy picnic.

HARLEM WEEK began as Harlem Day, the international family event returns for its 48th anniversary Aug. 12-21, for a 10-day live virtual experience celebrating the historical culture of Harlem, its people, arts, and entertainment, the mecca of the

Harlem Renaissance and inter- For more info, visit www.harlemnational Black cultural capital of week.com. the world.

The first weekend of HARLEM When discussing jazz we have WEEK will conclude Sunday, to reiterate, hey y’all we talkAug. 14 with “A Great Day in ing about Black music, it overHarlem,” which will include per- laps the blues to funk, R&B and formances and MonoNeon (Kii Arens photo) appearances

by R&B artist Kenny Lattimore, salute to 90-year-old Caribbean Legend Lord Nelson (aka The Soca Daddy), Uptown Dance Academy, Artz, Roots & Rhythm, Impact Repertory Theater, The Mama Foundation’s Sing Harlem Choir, Isn’t Her Grace Amazing Choir, and a Concert Under the Stars Salute to Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” album (51year anniversary) featuring Ray Chew and the Harlem Music Festival All Stars.

Centered around the theme, “Inspiration, Impact, and Legacy,” this year’s celebration will also commemorate the 75th anniversary of the NBA, legendary Rucker Park gospel up and down the genre and Harlem inductees into the tree. The point, who is MonoNeNaismith Memorial Basketball on? Never heard of him until this Hall of Fame. morning upon receiving a link “All New Yorkers are invited to to an Instagram which stated “is take part in the HARLEM WEEK this what the Blue Note has come experience from Aug. 12-21 as we to? Wow.” The link was to a recent pay tribute to key elements of our Blue Note jazz club performance city. Both seniors and children by MonoNeon, as a band member will be able to celebrate local ed- in a jumpsuit quickly stripped ucation, restaurants, technology, down to his briefs, and offered a and theater,” said Lloyd Williams, wild tirade about farting, as the chairman of HARLEM WEEK. band played fart notes. Yes, after You’ll hear music ranging from seeing such an outrageous video jazz, gospel, R&B, hip hop, soca, one would earnestly ask what Latin, Caribbean, Afrobeat, and at the Blue Note is not possible, more. Remember—you haven’t on the same sacred stage where done this town ‘til you’ve done it Dizzy Gillespie, Carmen McRae, Uptown, so do it up in Harlem.” Stanley Turrentine, Oscar Pe-

terson, Roy Haynes and Sarah Vaughan performed.

So, who is this group with the audacity to sprout such bathroom language on Blue Note’s storied stage? MonoNeon is the stage name of the bandleader, bassist, lyricist and singer Dywane Thomas Jr. He is by my research the most impressive electric bassist on today’s music scene (Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers has referred to Mono as “the greatest f**king electric bass player”).

He recently made his debut performance at the Newport Jazz Festival. No, he isn’t a jazz musician but be assured he plays a crazy bass and that’s my opinion after watching a string of his Youtube videos. While not present at Newport, MonoNeon probably gained new fans just based on the earlier success of the group Snarky Puppy, who infused jazz rhythms to their multitextured sound of rock and world music. The Memphis-born Thomas is an experimental musician, his colorful videos take you back to the days of MTV. His music is a combination of rock, funk, blues and R&B (he comes out of a Buddy Miles, Jimi Hendrix, 21st century Memphis funk thing). He was inspired by his father Thomas Sr., who was the electric bassist for the BarKays funk group. Aside from the group’s hits, the band molded the great Memphis sound (the studio band) that became the dynamic soul for Stax Records and its many artists.

“I don’t think of myself as a

bass player—I just play, this bass calms me down,’ said Thomas on his video short “Try to Blend In.” “I just play and put out stuff sometimes I don’t even like it but it’s part of me so I let it go. I first started playing stuff from the Bar-Kays, the SOS band, blues and funk.” During his brief stay at Berklee College of Music he studied with David Fiuczynski, who he says was his primary influence for the experimental microtonality. In 2015 MonoNeon began playing bass with Prince and also became a member of Prince’s Paisley Park After Dark Jam Sessions. In some circles he’s called an avant garde musician.

He doesn’t care he just wants to play bass badass music.

Thomas, who has a heavy online YouTube cult following, has recorded more than 20 solo albums as a leader including “Basquiat & Skittles Album” (2021) and “Put on Earth for You” (2022). He is a Grammy Award-winner, for his participation on the 2020 Nas album “King’s Disease.”

“They see me with the bright hood and they think it’s a gimmick but it’s me. I wanted to stand out,” says MonoNeon. “I wear a high visibility beany and bright colors to be seen from far away. I think the bright colors are like a force field for me.” The sock on his bass, he says, was inspired by the artist Marcel Duchamp from a parody painting he did of the Mona Lisa.

Now, we know MonoNeon but without the crazy audacious antics at the Blue Note, we wouldn’t be here. And as my friend explained, he can play, it’s the gimmicks and the Blue Note acceptance. Maybe pre-COVID-19, the young bassist would have never been booked. But isn’t it musicians, who take us out and into the gone, it’s the world of social media not always in good taste or respect. Maybe being a young cat he just wanted to go off at the world established Blue Note just for the laughs and shock of it all. His playing is most refreshing, his riffs sound as though he took personal music lessons from Jimi Hendrix. I am looking forward to seeing him perform but please no guy in briefs screaming about farts. Go to YouTube and check him out performing “Invisible” or his single “Breathing While Black,” very insightful. It’s MonoNeon, a voice worth checking.

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CLASSROOM

Actor Laurence Criner, an early matinee idol and leading man

By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews If I had paid closer attention to “The Duke Is Tops,” the 1938 film starring Ralph Cooper and Nina Mae McKinney, I would have noticed that Laurence Criner was the character Doc Dorando, whose allpurpose elixir Cooper is hustling like a snake oil salesman. His name popped up in last week’s column on the actress Kathryn Boyd, where the two of them were the stars in “The Flying Ace.” Criner now gets his profile and as you will see he had a very productive and highly respected career on screen.

“The Flying Ace” may have been Criner’s most successful film and it certainly secured his place as a leading Black male actor in the 1930s and 1940s. From “The Flying Ace” in 1926 to “The Jackie Robinson Story” in 1950, Criner appeared in 19 films and several performances on stage. In the earliest films he was usually the leading man and later a supporting actor or in a few cameo roles.

Laurence Criner (and sometimes listed as Lawrence) was born July 19, 1898, in Waco, Texas. Not much has been reported of his early life but he did serve in the Army in World War I and the Navy in World War II. His acting career began with the famed Lafayette Players in Harlem and later joined with Richard Norman and his troupe in Jacksonville, Fla. Just a list of his leading ladies beginning most notably with Kathryn Boyd, and including Lena Horne, Ruby Dee, and Dorothy Dandridge is enough to distinguish him on film.

We have offered considerable information on his role as Billy Stokes in “The Flying Ace,” and it should be noted that his role there had a tremendous impact on young men who later became members of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen. In 1927, he worked with Oscar Micheaux in “The Millionaire,” and then continued with Norman films.

“Black Gold” is where we left off last week with Ms. Boyd in his arms; in 1934 he was Kala in “Black Moon.”

He is the high priest in the film which centers on voodoo rituals

Laurence Criner in “The Flying Ace”

and his injury riles up his followers, leading to an interminable series of chases for revenge. Interestingly, the film stars Jack Holt and Fay Wray, who a year before starred in the classic “King Kong.”

In 1937, a year before “The Duke Is Tops,” Criner was featured with Cooper in “Bargain with Bullets,” one of many Harlem gangster films produced by Million Dollar Productions, with an all-Black cast. “Gang Smashers” (1938) finds Criner as an undercover cop assigned to expose a Harlem nightclub owner who is also strong-arming local businesses for protection money. He shares the screen with the lovely Nina Mae McKinney and Mantan Moreland, as he will do in several other films. A succession of films continued the gangster theme before he starred in “Midnight Shadow” (1939). I watched this film on YouTube and Criner plays Prince Alihabad, a mind reader arrayed in a turban, who courts the beautiful Frances E. Redd. Her parents want her to be happy but are disturbed that her suitor worships Allah. Ruby Dandridge, Dorothy’s mother, has a supporting role.

“Four Shall Die” is a supernatural crime film released in 1940, in

which Criner shares the billing with Dorothy Dandridge in her debut on screen. Comedian Mantan Moreland is among the supporting actors. Two years later Criner is Chief Mojobo in “Law of the Jungle,”

an adventure film where he comes to the rescue of two lovers caught in a deadly jam. In 1948, Criner joined Stepin Fetchit and William Greaves, and leading lady Sheila Guyse in “Miracle in Harlem.” Guyse is suspected of killing the business magnate who swindled her out of her family-run candy business.

Greaves, later to become a successful producer and director, plays her boyfriend.

Curiously, in the biopic “The Jackie Robinson Story,” in which Robinson plays himself, Criner is not in the cast listing, though there is information that he was in the film, and in fact plays the minister that encourages Jackie to pursue his baseball dream. Also featured in the film is Louise Beavers as Jackie’s mother, and other veteran screen and television actors include Dick Williams and Bernie Hamilton.

UCLA football star Kenny Washington also has a small part as a manager. Ruby Dee is outstanding as Rachel Robinson, giving the film some star and acting wattage.

There is no record of Criner’s life after his role in “The Jackie Robinson Story,” and there’s a stretch of 15 years before his death in 1965.

ACTIVITIES FIND OUT MORE If there is more to be found on Criner, it’s probably in the Norman Studio files in Jacksonville, Florida, though several authorities on early Black films seemed to have thoroughly scoured the studio.

DISCUSSION Why he’s not listed in the cast on several sites for his appearance in “The Jackie Robinson Story” is puzzling.

PLACE IN CONTEXT Born at the close of the 19th century, Criner lived to see some of the developments from the Civil Rights Movement.

THIS WEEK IN BLACK HISTORY Aug. 7, 1923: Olympic great Alice Coachman was born in Albany, Ga. She died in 2014.

Aug. 8, 1866: Matthew Henson, co-discoverer of the North Pole, was born in Maryland. He died in 1955.

Aug. 10, 1858: Noted scholar and activist Anna Julia Cooper was born in Raleigh, N.C. She died in 1964.

26 • August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Health Factcheck: COVID-19 vaccines do not cause infertility Claim: The COVID-19 vaccine should not be administered to individuals who want to get pregnant or are currently pregnant due to concerns that the vaccine may cause infertility.

Fact: No evidence has been found that suggests that COVID-19 vaccines have any effect on fertility or pregnancies.

By ELLEN PARK and SAHEEL MITHA Special to the AmNews

believe or are unsure whether COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to cause infertility. Moreover, researcher Abbasi finds As the novel COVID-19 virus progressed that about a third of pregnant adults in at dangerous rates with the threat of a new the U.S. still remain unvaccinated as of variant emergence in 2020, a not so novel early February 2022. This is particularanti-vaccine myth emerged that targeted a particularly vulnerable group: those who are wanting to become or are pregnant. In the midst of the first COVID-19 vaccines receiving emergency authorization, misinformation was circulating on social media, falsely claiming that the COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility. One false claim was attributed to a discredited former head of Pfizer research alleging a mechanism through which the vaccine causes infertility. Unsubstantiated reports such as these have fueled COVID vaccine hesitancy and misinformation, instilling fear and uncertainty in individuals who want to get pregnant or who are currently pregnant.

When asked why vaccine misinformation like this finds credibility, Dr. Taraneh Shirazian, MD, director of the division of global women’s health in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine said, “Vaccine misinformation may [seem] credible for some individuals due to political reasons, social reasons, and the individualization of the United States spread within social media.” The unattributed example of misinformation spread the rumor that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines can train the female body to attack the placental protein called syncytin-1, which causes in- ly concerning as the communities at risk fertility. However, there is no data to sup- are mainly the marginalized and minoriport this argument. tized, due to the historical mistreatment According to Dr. Shirazian, “The vac- and long-standing disparities. cine or virus has no affinity to the placenIn order to tackle vaccine misinformatal protein. The mRNA vaccine is simply a tion and mitigate people’s mistrust of code that teaches cells to create antibodies healthcare providers, “healthcare providwithout exposure to the virus.” In addition, ers need to have more dialogue around there is no concrete evidence that sug- healthcare and vaccines, go into commugests that the COVID-19 vaccine will have nities with health education programs, any effect on fertility; individuals who are and uplift individuals to make their own planning or trying to get pregnant can and choices and find places that will provide should receive the vaccine.” the appropriate resources needed,” stated While the widespread use of mRNA vac- Dr. Shirazian. cines are fairly new, it is important to note Many pregnant people incorrectly do not that human trial studies using mRNA vac- think that receiving the vaccine is necescine have been conducted since 2006. sary, due to a multitude of different reaDespite the plethora of research conduct- sons. One reason is that some individuals ed on debunking the myth that vaccines may be wary due to the fact that the vaccause infertility, according to a KFF report, cine itself can change the menstrual cycle. nearly three-in-ten of surveyed U.S. adults “Any new change introduced into the

body will cause a disturbance, requiring the body to accommodate. Additionally, changes in the menstrual cycle does not equate [to] changes in fertility” said Dr. Shirazian.

Another reason is that people may think because they already had COVID-19, they may have immunity from the virus. However, the latest trends show that many people are becoming reinfected due to the prevalence of different viral strains as well as the prolonged stay of the virus. Previous exposure to one strain of COVID19 does not necessarily mean that someone will be immune against future reinfections, but receiving the vaccine and getting boosted can better protect an individual and can mitigate the negative health effects that are experienced if someone tests positive. “In addition, the antibodies that the mother generates through being vaccinated can be passed onto the newborn,” states Dr. Shirazian. Therefore, to build immunity from COVID-19 in a newborn infant, the mother should get vaccinated.

With the evolution of the virus, Dr. Laith Abu-Raddad, an infectious disease epidemiologist studying COVID-19 reinfection patterns from Weill Cornell Medicine at Qatar, said in an interview, “There is strong immune evasion that reduces protection from the virus at 50% or more.

As the virus is evolving and new strains emerge, immune evasion increases.” Because of this, “receiving a vaccination with the booster is the most effective way

to protect yourself from reinfection, in addition to using masks and social distancing,” Dr. Abu-Raddad added.

Pregnant people are a very vulnerable group, as the body is undergoing change, and should get vaccinated in order to build protection against severe symptoms and resistance from the virus—for them and their newborns. If you are pregnant or considering getting pregnant and have doubts about the impact of a COVID19 vaccine you should speak with your doctor or a qualified medical professional to get the facts.

To get a vaccination or booster, visit https://covid19vaccine.health.ny.gov/ or call 1-833-NYS-4-VAX (1-833-697-4829).

These and other resources can also be accessed on the AmNews’ COVID-19 page: www.amsterdamnews.com/covid/

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Metro Briefs

Bragg

Continued from page 3

Continued from page 3

Award from President Barack Obama. She is a CEO, award-winning author, international speaker, and trainer. A life member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Grant has served on every level of the organization as an active and financial member for 33 consecutive years. She brings decades of professional and business development expertise with corporate and notfor-profit entities nationwide, as well as community engagement partnerships to her new role.

Grant will focus on building technology and innovation while elevating engagement with existing partnerships, memberships and alliances for longevity and alignment with Zeta’s strategic plan. Leveraging the organization’s more than 40-year partnership with the March of Dimes, Grant will also explore expanded educational options related to fertility and other pre-pregnancy planning.

that they’re destined to be.’”

Cohen’s Central Harlem nonprofit offers T.A.G. Nights, where local youth meet every Thursday to chat about life at home, in school and through the community. The acronym doubles for “Teaching a Generation” and “Teens Against Guns.”

Street Corner Resources founder Iesha Sekou says the ability to employ youngsters will be lifesaving. Her Harlem organization is famed locally for providing youth work and offering rapid response support for victims and their families.

Roughly two weeks ago, she sat bedside next to a teenager, comatose from a gunshot wound.

“This is a 14-year-old kid laying in a hospital, bullet in the head, his mother

Broken Windows

who served 22 years on the force, ran on his police credentials. So more aggressive policing is in line with his mayoral Forged instruments tend to be outdat- campaign. But Adams also promised to ed or self-administered license plates, ac- reform the NYPD. Gangi hopes PROP’s cording to Gangi. And fare evasion is, well, findings offer a pathway to change. evading fares on public transportation.

“Our purpose is to educate the public But “broken windows” don’t mean and put pressure on the politicians rebroken promises. Gangi says Adams, garding police arrest practices, which Continued from page 3

Battle

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August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022 • 27

doesn’t even know he’s shot—this could have been prevented with greater resources,” she said. “This grant allows us to employ more young people. It gives us an opportunity to pull in some young people that, if we didn’t have a job, may not even want to talk to us.”

Sekou also credited Bragg for his work with youth gun violence prevention even before he became district attorney and said local youth are thrilled to hear he’s also from Harlem.

As for Bragg himself, he says he knows the importance of such a fund. He recalls talking to an at-risk youth his office was paying an unrelated stipend.

The youngster talked about the support he received from his mom, and the district attorney, wearing his “parent hat,” recommended he convey to her his gratitude. But thanks to his stipend,

are starkly racist in their implementation every day,” he said. “There’s no question that the cops target and harass low income people of color on a regular basis. And also vulnerable groups within that general population. So unhoused people, people who are mentally challenged, people who are unemployed.

Those New Yorkers are the people, for

the young man was already ahead of the father of two.

“He said to me, ‘You know, I took her out to dinner last week,’ and one of the other people in my office was like ‘you got your stipend last week’ and he [said] ‘yeah,’” said Bragg. “It’s not this programming, but the notion that summer stipend would allow someone doing a positive impact…so they can do something like this, express [their] gratitude to the people who helped them get there this far.”

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 today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w the most part, who the NYPD arrest.”

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 today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w

the Amsterdam News caught up with him, donation to match our RFA grant helps keep er making a tax-deductible gift of any amount he was busy with his pre-debate workout her writing stories like this one; please consid- today by visiting: https://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w routine, he said.

“I lift weights before any debate or forum.

I’m a big believer in endorphins and mental clarity,” said Patel.

Patel said he feels like the energy and momentum in the race is leaning his way with an “absolutely electric feeling out there for change.” Patel’s main push in the race is for generational change or “fresh” leadership, jabbing at his opponents who have both been congress members for decades and are in their seventies. He said in the debate that in all that time neither Nadler nor Maloney could codify Roe v. Wade in terms of abortion rights or same-sex marriage rights.

Patel said he’d be honored to be a person of color to represent a majority white district in Manhattan, outside of Harlem, and one of the few South Asian representatives.

“This is not a time for rookies,” said Maloney, 76, in Tuesday’s debate. “This is a time Open enrollment is October 15th to December 7th, 2022. for our best team going forward to combat During this period, you can sign up for or switch your an extreme Supreme Court.”

Maloney chairs the United States House Medicare Prescription Drug Plan and/or Medicare Committee on Oversight and Reform. She Advantage Plan. You may also be eligible for programs that said in the debate that in her time in Conhelp with your Medicare costs. Give us a call. We can help. gress she has accomplished many things, including building the 2nd Avenue subway.

For more information, call Aging Connect She hopes to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment if she returns to Congress. at 212-244-6469 Maloney couldn’t be reached directly for and ask for “HIICAP” or “SHIP” comment by post time.

against my longtime friend and colleague, Congresswoman Maloney, but I’ve been in competitive primaries before and this is nothing new,” said Nadler, 75, ahead of Tuesday’s debate on Pix 11. “I’m very glad to have the chance to speak to New York voters—on both the East and West sides— and I’m feeling very good about my chances of winning reelection.”

Nadler criticized the congressional redistricting process, in which Democrats in trying to gain power have thrown other Democrats for a loop by changing their districts. Nadler said that there was no doubt that the legislature “overreached.” He said the redistricting process is in desperate need of reform and has supported legislation in Congress that would ban gerrymandering and take politics out of redistricting.

“My vision of NY-12 is one that I’ve been fighting for throughout my entire career: a New York City with green parks, efficient public transportation, affordable housing, and streets safe from the threat of gun violence. I’ve worked relentlessly to turn this vision into reality in Congress and you better believe I’m not done yet,” said Nadler in a statement.

In the debate, Nadler said that “seniority brings clout” and experience is essential to getting laws passed. Nadler currently chairs the House Committee on the Judiciary. He said it would be devastating if New York lost two committee chairs because of the race.

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps Patel, 38, is a bit of a wildcard as a young- member and writes about culture and politics er, progressive of color in the race. When in New York City for The Amsterdam News.Your

People with Medicare,

Mark Your Calendars!

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28 • August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Education Mayor wins Education Budget cut appeal for now

By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member After a group of teachers and parents jointly filed a lawsuit against the city over education budget cuts in June, a judge ordered the Department of Education (DOE) to “vacate” the city’s education budget. To which Mayor Eric Adams immediately appealed, ending a brief stalemate.

The budget process was on hold this week because of the city’s court appeal, but as of Wednesday, Aug. 10, an appellate judge ruled that schools could move forward with the 2023 budget cuts.

They were supposed to be back in court at the end of August.

“We’re urging the city, the mayor, and city council to immediately work on a budget modification to restore funding to public schools to ensure that public education is adequately and effectively funded,” said Education Law Attorney for Advocates for Justice Laura D. Barbieri on Tuesday.

When Adams and the City Council agreed to the adopted budget early in June there was an immediate backlash over cuts

to schools. The cuts were based on the Fair Student Funding formula and projected decreases in schools enrollment. Two teachers and two parents resorted to filing a lawsuit to stop the cuts.

The lawsuit states under the law that a mandated process, called Panel for Educational Policy, was violated when Schools Chancellor David Banks issued a vague “Emergency Declaration” on May 31 to adopt the budget without any board vote. The petitioners said that there was no real emergency though.

Last Thursday on Aug. 4, a public hearing was held. Barbieri said it was over an hour of “exciting” argument by the city and petitioners. She said that the court was ultimately swayed to listen to the teachers and parents about the city violating the law.

By Friday, Aug. 5, the judge ruled to vacate, or get rid of, the school budget for fiscal year 2023, said Spectrum News. It essentially asks for the City Council to revote on the budget while following the rules. The city then filed an appeal and got an “automatic stay” meaning that the budget cuts are at an impasse since the

city is a political subdivision of the state.

Barbieri said that politically the mayor is “suffering” because of his actions surrounding the education cuts.

Just before the hearing Adams, the DOE, and Banks announced $100 million in federal stimulus as “additional flexibility of existing funding for schools for the upcoming school year” with $50 million in school budget appeals being sent to schools, a reallocation of existing funds.

“As two former New York City public school students ourselves, Chancellor Banks and I know there is nothing more important than providing the children in our public schools the resources they need to learn, grow, and thrive.

The truth is that the city is facing a 120,000 drop in student enrollment, which had clear budget implications since February when the preliminary budget was released,” said Adams in a statement.

“We are committed to providing every available resource to our students. Still, we also must acknowledge the changing conditions that so many are unwilling to recognize and, just as impor-

Photo of New York City school bus parked in Brooklyn (Photo Credit: Ariama C. Long)

tantly, that there is no hidden pool of city money or additional federal stimulus funds, as has been previously inaccurately reported, that we can tap,” continued Adams.

In response to the flexibility of funding, Speaker Adrienne Adams, Councilmember Justin Brannan, and Education Committee Chair Rita Joseph slammed the DOE for “pulling the wool over the public’s eyes” in a joint statement.

They said that the DOE had avoided transparency and accountability during the city budget process.

After the judge’s ruling, Speaker Adams and Mayor Adams’ office got into heated exchanges over the DOE budget.

Speaker Adams blamed the DOE for a lack of transparency and cutting more from schools than they were letting on. She said the City Council is considering legal action as well to ensure that cuts are restored.

“Mayor Adams and Chancellor Banks are risking the health of our school system and students, and they must resolve this issue immediately,” said Speaker Adams in a statement. “The Council and school stakeholders

have been seeking such a resolution for weeks without a constructive partner at DOE. It is time for DOE to stop the chaos and confusion that its actions have created.”

Adams’ Press Secretary Fabien Levy fired back at the City Council about the “continued false attacks” on the budget process and the funds. He said the funding has been clear for months and that the City Council knew what they were voting for.

“The city charter is clear: The mayor puts forward a budget, and the City Council votes on it— that is one of its most important duties. Both sides did their job, except now the Council refuses to stand by its vote and is, instead, repeatedly issuing misleading and irresponsible statements,” said Levy in a statement.

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about culture and politics in New York City 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://tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS H A R L E M W E E K

August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022 • 29

48TH ANNUAL HARLEM WEEK RETURNS AUGUST 12-21 TO CELEBRATE ARTS, CULTURE, RESILIENCE OF THE HARLEM COMMUNITY

First Week Kicks off with Percy Sutton Harlem 5K Run & Anti-Gun Violence Health Walk; Appearances and Performances from Kenny Lattimore, Lenny Green with Special Guest Tank, Ray Chew and the Harlem Music Festival All Stars, and More NEW YORK CITY (Aug. 5, 2022) – The 48th annual HARLEM WEEK returns August 12-21 for a 10-day live and virtual experience celebrating the people, arts, culture, entertainment, and history that Harlem is known for throughout the world. Centered around the theme, “Inspiration, Impact, and Legacy,’ the first week of this year’s HARLEM WEEK celebration will also include salute to Harlem luminaries, featured musical performances , virtual dance parties, livestreams and cornerstone events such as the Percy Sutton Harlem 5K Run/Anti-Gun Violence Health Walk, and A Great Day in Harlem. This year’s celebration will also commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the NBA, legendary Rucker Park and Harlem inductees into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

“All New Yorkers are invited to take part in the HARLEM WEEK experience from Aug 12 - 21 as we pay tribute to key elements of our city. Both seniors and children will be able to celebrate local education, restaurants, technology, and theater,” said Lloyd Williams, Chairman of HARLEM

ADDITIONAL MARQUE EVENTS INCLUDE: • NBA & Rucker Park Salutes: The Ruckers Pro Legends–Each One Teach One Reunion and Hall of Fame Induction, Alhambra Ballroom (Aug. 6); Harlem Basketball Legends Gala honoring Tom “Satch” Sanders, Salem United Methodist Church (Aug. 13); Philadelphia vs. Harlem All-Star Game, Rucker Park (Aug. 14) • Senior Citizens Day (8/12): Recognizing that Harlem would not be the cultural staple it is today without the historic contributions of our elders, HARLEM WEEK will honor our seniors by providing an array of live and virtual summits and activities including health services, the Demystifying Technology panel, the Senior Hat Fashion Show Seniors, and more. (10-3pm; Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building.

Watch portions online via the HARLEM WEEK website.)

• Teen Takeover: The Code (8/12): Apollo Teen Takeover returns live

WEEK. You’ll hear music ranging from Jazz, Gospel, R&B, Hip-Hop, Soca, Latin, Caribbean, Afrobeat, and more. Remember - you haven't done this town ‘til you've done it Uptown, so do it up in Harlem. We look forward to seeing you!”

HARLEM WEEK kicks off Friday, August 12, with the first major public event, Senior Citizens Day. Taking place at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building, Senior Citizens Day events will include health demonstrations, health testing, performances, a Demystifying Technology panel, a Senior Hat Fashion Show, and more.

The first weekend of HARLEM WEEK will conclude Sunday, Aug. 14 with “A Great Day in Harlem,” which will include performances and appearances by R&B artist Kenny Lattimore, Uptown Dance Academy, Artz, Roots & Rhythm, Impact Repertory Theater, The Mama Foundation’s Sing Harlem Choir, Isn’t Her Grace Amazing Choir, and a Concert Under the Stars Salute to Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” album featuring Ray Chew and the Harlem Music Festival All Stars.

The celebration continues Saturday, August 13 with the Percy Sutton Harlem 5k Run & Anti-Gun Violence Health Walk. Centered around the theme “Save Our Children,” the 2022 race and Health Walk serves as a call to action against gun-violence in our communities. Participants are encouraged to register here.

HARLEM WEEK will also be experienced around the world virtually through its website, HARLEMWEEK.com with additional performances, summits including Economic Development Day, the Health Summit, a Broadway Summit, the Harlem On My Mind Conversation series and the new Harlem Virtual Village where visitors can shop with exhibitors and vendors online as well as watch activities from the stage in an interactive platform on the site.

on the soundstage of the iconic Apollo Theater for a one-night-only, exclusively teen event. On this magical night, guests are transported through music, dance, and visual arts produced and presented by teens.

and Tammy McCann. Enter Central Park at 106th Street and Central Park West. This event is presented by Jazzmobile and the Central Park Conservancy. (4-7pm; Great Hill in Central Park West)

• Percy Sutton Harlem 5k Run & Anti-Gun Violence Health Walk: SAVE OUR CHILDREN (8/13): The Percy Sutton Harlem 5k & Anti-Gun Violence Health Walk “SAVE OUR CHILDREN” Health Walk, sponsored

by New York Road Runners and The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, has attracted runners and walkers from the Tri-state area.

With the theme “SAVE OUR CHILDREN,” everyone is invited to join the walk and make a statement against gun violence in our communities.

(8-12pm)

• A Great Day In Harlem (8/14): The day will begin at 12pm with the opening of the International Village featuring vendors and exhibitors with items for sale ranging from arts & crafts, jewelry, clothing, unique accessories, international foods, and more. Entertainment from the stage is presented in four segments. Artz, Rootz & Rhythm featuring local, community, and emerging performers of varying genres; The Gospel Caravan featuring local, national, and international gospel performers; and the day closes with the Concert Under Under the Stars featuring national and international performers performing backed by the Harlem Music Festival All-Star Band led by “Music Director to the stars” Ray Chew. (12-7pm; Ulysses S Grant National Memorial)

• Great Jazz on the Great Hill (8/13): Bring a picnic, blanket, and dancing shoes for Great Jazz on the Great Hill, featuring live music and swing dancing in a beautiful park setting. The event will feature performances by Jimmy Heath Legacy Band, Antonio Hart Quartet,

For a complete list of events, please visit www.harlemweek.com.

About HARLEM WEEK: HARLEM WEEK is an annual celebration of the best of Harlem which works to promote its rich African-American, African, Caribbean, Hispanic, and European history, as well as arts, culture, religion, business, entertainment, and sports. HARLEM WEEK began in 1974 as HARLEM DAY, a one-day event of encouragement and fellowship in Harlem for New Yorkers and beyond. Given the huge success of the celebration, additional days were added to showcase the community’s rich economic, political, and cultural history.

HARLEM WEEK 2022 Presenting Sponsors include The City College of New York and The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce.

Sponsors include: Mayor’s Office of Media Entertainment, MTA, National Park Service, NYC & Co.,& West Harlem Development Corp.

Co-Sponsors include: Apollo Theater, Ben & Jerry's, Carver Federal Savings Bank, Coca-Cola, Columbia University, DASNY, Enterprise, Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement,HCDC, IEI, Jazzmobile, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lexus, Lincoln Ctr, Memorial Sloan Kettering, MetroPlusHealth, NYC Parks & Recreation, NYCT, NYPD, NYS Office of General Services, Office of Assemblyperson Inez Dickens, Office of Congressman Espaillat, Office of Assemblyman Al Taylor, Office of State Senator Cordell Cleare, Rise Up NY, Spectrum, Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, United Federation of Teachers, United Way, WBLS-FM, West Harlem Innovation Network and Zipcare.

Partners include: Alex Trebek Foundation, Evetta Petty, Flame Keepers, Fox 5 TV, Harlem Brownstone, Harlem Hospital, Harlem Mothers SAVE, Her Game 2, ImageNation Cinema Foundation, Irene Gandy Furs, Jazz at Lincoln Center, LDI, Macy's, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, Metropolitan Opera, National Action Network, NBA,NY County DA,NY Liberty, NYC Office of Small Business Services, New York Urban League, NYS of Health ,Office of NYC Councilperson Kristin Jordan, One Hundred Black Men, P.C. Richards & Sons, Police Benevolent Association, Shubert, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The Cliffs at Harlem and WPIX-11 Supporting partners include: Charter, Mt. Sinai Hospital, and the NAACP. HARLEM WEEK Media Partners: 94.7FM The Block, 1010 WINS, ABC-7, AM New York, Bway World, Carib News, Caribbean International Network ,CBS-NY, TV, Harlem Community News, New York Christian Times, MY9 TV, NY Amsterdam News, NY Beacon, NY Daily News, NY Times, NY1 News Playbill, Positive Community Magazine, Simply Me, Telemundo, The Block, WBAI-FM, WFAN and WHCR-FM.

30 • August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS H A R L E M W E E K

Harlem Week—‘Inspiration, Impact and Legacy’

By HERB BOYD Special to the AmNews That old expression about not keeping a good thing down has a fresh currency when it comes to HARLEM WEEK. Promoting a theme of “Inspiration, Impact, and Legacy,” the 48th annual event, which is known to last an entire month, will be a 10-day live and virtual experience, Aug. 12-21.

Several of the usual festivities are scheduled, including the Percy Sutton Harlem 5K Run/Anti-Gun Violence Health Walk, A Great Day in Harlem, and salutes to a diverse ensemble of luminaries and civic leaders. Rucker Park, along with a commemoration of the NBA’s

75th anniversary and Harlem’s inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, are highlights of the eventful WEEK. “All New Yorkers are invited to take part in the HARLEM WEEK experience from Aug. 12-21 as we pay tribute to key elements of our city. Both seniors and children will be able to celebrate local education, restaurants, technology, and theater,” said Lloyd Williams, chair of HARLEM WEEK. “You’ll hear music ranging from Jazz, Gospel, R&B, Hip Hop, Soca, Latin, Caribbean, Afrobeat, and more. Remember—you haven’t done this town ‘til you’ve done it Uptown, so do it up in Harlem. We look forward to seeing you!”

On Friday, Aug. 12, HARLEM WEEK gets underway on Senior Citizens Day, which will take place at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building. This is always a well-attended public event with the elderly looking forward to health testing, health demonstrations, and just a chance to renew acquaintances since the advent of COVID. The pace picks up on Aug. 13 when runners and walkers test their new sneakers at the Percy Sutton 5K event, which this year has the theme of “Save Our Children,” as well as a call to action against the menacing spread of gun violence. And if you still have legs, get to the Great Hill in Central

Park West where the Jimmy Heath Legacy Band, the Antonio Hart Quartet, and Tammy McCann are featured acts, from 4-7 p.m.

At the conclusion of the first weekend of HARLEM WEEK on Sunday, Aug. 14 “A Great Day in Harlem,” a signature moment, will include performances and appearances by R&B artist Kenny Lattimore, salute to 90-year-old Caribbean Legend Lord Nelson (aka “The Soca Daddy”), Uptown Dance Academy, Artz, Roots & Rhythm, Impact Repertory Theater, The Mama Foundation’s Sing Harlem Choir, Isn’t Her Grace Amazing Choir, and a Concert Under the Stars Salute to Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” album

featuring Ray Chew and the Harlem Music Festival All Stars.

For those unable to experience the events in person, HARLEM WEEK can be experienced around the world virtually through its website, HARLEMWEEK.com with additional performances, summits including Economic Development Day, the Health Summit, a Broadway Summit, the Harlem On My Mind Conversation series and the new Harlem Virtual Village where visitors can shop with exhibitors and vendors online as well as watch activities from the stage in an interactive platform on the site. Next week we will bring you up to date on events, meanwhile for a complete list of events, please visit www.harlemweek.com.

BIPOC interior designers and the Kaleidoscope Project’s Firehouse Showhouse

By JA’TAE JOYNER Special to the AmNews

four BIPOC designers and design teams, including Everick and Lisa Walker Brown, Everick Brown Amy Lynn Schwartzbard, found- Design; Denise Gordon, Tanya er of the Kaleidoscope Project, Lewis and Marilyn Lavergne, The will be presenting another col- Austin Gray Design Group; Virginlaborative project, the Firehouse ia Toledo, partner in Toledo Geller; Showhouse, on Aug. 20 in Pitts- and Rasheeda Gray, Gray Space field, Massachusetts, along with Interiors.

The Kaleidoscope Project’s upcoming showhouse venture, the Firehouse Showhouse, constitutes the revitalization plan to help continue to build “community identity” and “stimulate economic growth” within this TDI district. In the last eight years there has been a timely, concentrated invest-

ment in the Pittsfield community ing evaluat[ing] sites, properties, that dates back to an agreement housing stock, and buildings for made by the City of Pittsfield and appropriate reuse.” Standing in MassDevelopment signed in 2014 between greenery and deteriothat states by receiving “Trans- rating buildings, the Firehouse formative Development Initiative Showhouse is distinct from its assistance,” MassDevelopment neighbors with its rich, vibrant apwill account for providing a dis- proach to residential living, protrict revitalization plan includ- See KALEIDOSCOPE PROJECT on page 32

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THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS H A R L E M W E E K

August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022 • 31

32 • August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Kaleidoscope Project

2 • May 26, 2022 - June 1, 2022

on a project whether commercial or residential, we have to pull from the history…I am a firm believer Continued from page 30 in energy that is left in a state.” All viding four separate units unique and commercial homes that last four designers and design groups to each designer. beyond their showings. On Aug. agree through their personal stoBelow are mood boards of each 20, the Firehouse Showhouse will ries that as a designer, there is an room designed by the four BIPOC transition a once abandoned fire integral relationship between dedesigners and design groups. station to a newly formed four- signer, client, and the space in Unlike the typical design show- unit residential home for the Tyler which they’re undertaking, in adhouse, The Kaleidoscope Project Street community. Designer Vir- dition to the relationships they ventures out to recruit BIPOC de- ginia Toledo describes this tran- have built among each other THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS signers and showcase residential sition stating, “Whenever we take through their work with The Kaleidoscope Project. Tanya, of the Austin Gray Design Group and founding board for The Kaleidoscope Project, speaks openly of her Executive Security & experience in the design inExecutive Exotic Limo Limo Service dustry earlier in her career Author Fleet: Fleet: “not having a network…

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These qualities show up in each of the designers Announcing and design groups work, as it seems without these An African characteristics the success American Philosophy each designer encountered (904)442-3810 may not have continued of Medicine Dawnmcdermott32218@yahoo.com or shown up as it has now.

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August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022 • 33

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SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK, NYCTL 2018A TRUST, THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON AS COLLATERAL AGENT CUSTODIAN FOR THE NYCTL 2018-A TRUST, Plaintiff, vs. WINNIE YEE, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated on January 5, 2022 and duly entered on January 10, 2022, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the on the portico of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, New York, NY on September 7, 2022 at 2:15 p.m., premises known as 630 1st Avenue, Unit 6A, New York, NY. 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 of New York, City and State of New York, Block 968 and Lot 1036. Approximate amount of judgment is $40,865.59 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 152994/2019. COVID-19 safety protocols will be followed at the foreclosure sale.

Roberta Ashkin, Esq., Referee Bronster, LLP, 156 West 56th Street, Suite 902, New York, New York 10019, Attorneys for Plaintiff SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF NEW YORK NYCTL 1998-2 TRUST AND THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON, AS COLLATERAL AGENT AND CUSTODIAN, Plaintiffs -against- HJ OWNERS, LLC, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered herein on March 21, 2022, 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 on September 7, 2022 at 2:15 p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, City and County of New York, State of New York, and designated as Block 0723 Lot 1064 on the New York County Tax Assessment Map and being further known on such tax roles as 263 9th Avenue, Storage Unit 14, New York, NY 10004.

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 263 9TH AVENUE, STORAGE UNIT 14, NEW YORK, NY Approximate amount of lien $4,411.66 plus interest & costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale.

Index Number 158905/2020.

GEORGIA PAPAZIS, ESQ., Referee Phillips Lytle LLP Attorney(s) for Plaintiffs 28 East Main Street, Suite 1400, Rochester, NY 14614 SUPREME COURT-NEW YORK COUNTY- HILTON RESORTS CORP., Pltf. v. SIDDIQ MAHMOOD MALIK, Deft.- Index #850290/2017. Pursuant to Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale dated March 11, 2022, I will sell at public auction Outside the Portico of the NY County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, NY, NY on Wed., September 7, 2022, at 2:15 pm, a 6,000/16,783,800 tenant in common interest in the timeshare known as Phase 1 of HNY CLUB SUITES located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas, in the County of NY, State of NY. Approximate amount of judgment is $32,841.45 plus costs and interest as of April 30, 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. Notice of Formation of FIRECOM NY MERGER SUB 4 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 06/21/22. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543, regd. agent upon whom and at which process may be served. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of FIRECOM NY MERGER SUB 6 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 06/21/22. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543, regd. agent upon whom and at which process may be served. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK SECOND SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS AND NOTICE Index No. 850241/2019 Date Filed: 5/5/2022 JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, Plaintiff, -againstWinston Dzose a/k/a Winston K. Dzose, if he be living or dead, his spouse, heirs, devisees, distributees and successors in interest, all of whom and hose names and places of residence are unknown to Plaintiff; The Board of Managers of Hamilton Heights Condominium Homeowners Association; Citizens Bank, N.A.; City of New York Environmental Control Board; City of New York Parking Violations Bureau; City of New York Transit Adjudication Bureau, State of New York, and JOHN DOE, said name being fictitious, it being the intention of Plaintiff to designate any and all occupants of premises being foreclosed herein, and any parties, corporations or entities, if any, having or claiming an interest or lien upon the mortgaged premises, Defendants.

PROPERTY ADDRESS: 443 West 151st Street Unit 5A, New York, NY 10031 TO THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANTS: YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your answer, or a notice of appearance on the attorneys for the Plaintiff within thirty (30) days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service. The United States of America, if designated as a defendant in this action, may appear within sixty (60) days of service hereof. In case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the complaint.

TO THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANTS: The foregoing Summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an Order of the Hon. Francis A. Kahn III, a Justice of the Supreme Court, New York County, entered May 4, 2022 and Order entered August 4, 2022 and filed with the complaint and other papers in the New York County Clerks Office.

NOTICE OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT THE OBJECT of the above captioned action is to foreclose a Mortgage and to secure $222,000.00 and interest, recorded in the New York County Office of the City Register on November 12, 2008 in CRFN 2008000437802 covering premises known as 443 West 151st Street Unit 5A, New York, NY 10031 a/k/a Block 2066, Lot 1016.

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.

Plaintiff designates New York County as the place of trial.

Venue is based upon the County in which the mortgaged premises is situated.

NOTICE YOU ARE DANGER OF LOSNG YOUR HOME 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 FILNG 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 TIE SUMMONS AND PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY. SENDING A PAYMENT TO YOUR MORTGAGE COMPANY WILL NOT STOP THIS 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 17, 2022 Frank M. Cassara, Esq. Senior Associate Attorney LOGS LEGAL GROUP LLP F/K/A SHAPIRO, DICARO & BARAK, LLC Attorneys for Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (585) 247-9000 Fax: (585) 247-7380 Our File No 19-084158 #99685

101 LEGAL NOTICES Notice of Qualification of DF FUND 5, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 06/27/22. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 06/10/22. Princ. office of LLC: 152 W. 57th St., 26th Fl., NY, NY 10019. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, State of DE, Dept. of State, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of EM REVIVAL FUND GP, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 06/16/22. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/07/22.

Princ. office of LLC: 1 Rockefeller Plaza, Ste. 1610, NY, NY 10020. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of DE, Dept. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: Investments.

Notice of Qualification of EVERGREEN RESIDENTIAL MANAGEMENT, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 06/21/22. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/11/21.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to c/o 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., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

FrenchCocco LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Sec'y of State (SSNY) on 06/21/22. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC for process & shall mail copy to: 35 W 90th St, 5K, NY, NY 10024. Purpose: Any lawful.

Notice of Formation of GCK ART LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/13/22. Office location: NY County. 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. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice is hereby given that a license, number 1348465 for beer, liquor and/or wine at retail in a restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 683 Ninth Avenue New York City, NY County for on premise consumption.

Two Guys & Tom Inc. DBA Bodega HK NYC Notice of formation of 130 WEST 131st STREET., LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the Sec'y of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/26/2022. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail a copy to: 130 W. 131st St., Ste. 1, NY, NY 10027. Purpose: To engage in any lawful act or activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF Akselrod Investigations, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 6/27/22. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The P.O. address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon is: 226 E 74th St. #5D New York, NY 10021. The principal business address of the LLC is: 226 E 74th St. #5D New York, NY. 10021.

Purpose: any lawful act or activity NOTICE OF FORMATION of Alicia Young-Collins LLC. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 06/21/22. Location: Manhattan. SSNY designated as agent for service of process on LLC. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: 2103 8th Ave, Apt 5A, NY, NY 10026.

Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

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Notice of Formation of EXCEED TALENT CAPITAL LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/13/22. Office location: NY County. 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: Any lawful activity.

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Notice of Formation of JAGUAR HOLDINGS 1 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/23/21. 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, 347 5th Ave., Ste. 300, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

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Notice of Formation of JAGUAR HOLDINGS 2 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/23/21. 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, 347 5th Ave., Ste. 300, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

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Notice of Formation of JAGUAR HOLDINGS 3 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/23/21. 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, 347 5th Ave., Ste. 300, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

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NOTICE OF FORMATION of NYCNCC SUB-CDE 16, LLC (the “LLC”) filed with the Secretary of State of the State of New York (“SSNY”) on 05/16/2022. Office location: New York County. The principal business address of the LLC is: One Liberty Plaza, New York, New York 10006.

SSNY has been designated as the agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail service of process to c/o New York City Economic Development Corporation, One Liberty Plaza, New York, New York 10006, Attention: General Counsel. Purpose: any lawful purpose.

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NEW YORK County is designated as the place of trial. The basis of venue is the location of the premised encumbered by the mortgage to be foreclosed herein. NOTICE: YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME. 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 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 your mortgage company will not stop this 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. 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. McCabe, Weisberg & Conway, LLC, Attorneys for Plaintiff, 145 Huguenot Street, Suite 210, New Rochelle, NY 10801. 914-636-8900. 914-636-8901 facsimile. HELP FOR HOMEOWNERS IN FORECLOSURE New York State requires that we send you this notice about the foreclosure process. Please read it carefully. SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT. You are in danger of losing your home. If you fail to respond to the Summons and Complaint in this foreclosure action, you may lose your home. Please read the Summons and Complaint carefully. You should immediately contact an attorney or your local legal aid office to obtain advice on how to protect yourself. SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE The State encourages you to become informed about your options in foreclosure. In addition to seeking assistance from an attorney or legal aid office, there are government agencies, and non-profit organizations that you may contact for information about possible options, including trying to work with your lender during this process. To locate an entity near you, you may call the toll-free helpline maintained by New York State Department of Financial Services at 1-877-BANK-NYS (1-877-226-5697) or visit the Departments website at WWW.BANKING.STATE.NY.US. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED TO LEAVE YOUR HOME AT THIS TIME. You have the right to stay in your home during the foreclosure process. You are not required to leave your home unless and until your property is sold at auction pursuant to a judgment of foreclosure and sale. Regardless of whether you choose to remain in your home, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR PROPERTY and pay your taxes in accordance with state and local law. FORECLOSURE RESCUE SCAMS Be careful of people who approach you with offers to save your home. There are individuals who watch for notices of foreclosure actions in order to unfairly profit from a homeowners distress. You should be extremely careful about any such promises and any suggestions that you pay them a fee or sign over your deed. State law requires anyone offering such services for profit to enter into a contract which fully describes the services they will perform and fees they will charge, and which prohibits them from taking any money from you until they have completed all such promised services.

File# 19-300697

101 LEGAL NOTICES Notice of formation of REASSURE FUNDING LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 07/14/22. Office: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail copy to: Thomson Ollunga LLP, 41 Madison Ave., 31st Fl., NY, NY 10010. Purpose: Merchant cash advance.

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Notice of Formation of SE LUXE LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 4/18/22. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: 315 E. 5th St., #3B, New York, NY 10003.

Purpose: any lawful act.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of NYCNCC SUB-CDE 17, LLC (the “LLC”) filed with the Secretary of State of the State of New York (“SSNY”) on 05/16/2022. Office location: New York County. The principal business address of the LLC is: One Liberty Plaza, New York, New York 10006.

SSNY has been designated as the agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail service of process to c/o New York City Economic Development Corporation, One Liberty Plaza, New York, New York 10006, Attention: General Counsel. Purpose: any lawful purpose.

101 LEGAL NOTICES

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK COUNTY OF NEW YORK INDEX # 103164/2008 FILED 6/10/2022 SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS Mortgaged Premises: 158 West 130th Street, New York, NY 10027. Tax Map ID: 1914-55. U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR THE CERTIFICATEHOLDERS OF BANC OF AMERICA FUNDING CORPORATION, MORTGAGE PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2007-6, Plaintiff, GREGORY STEPHENSON AS HEIR AT LAW AND NEXT OF KIN OF DEBORAH A. STEPHENSON, VINCENT STEPHENSON AS HEIR AT LAW AND NEXT OF KIN OF DEBORAH A. STEPHENSON; DWIGHT STEPHENSON, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS HEIR AT LAW AND NEXT OF KIN OF DEBORAH A. STEPHENSON "JOHN DOE" AND "JANE DOE" 1 THROUGH 50, INTENDING TO BE THE UNKNOWN HEIRS, DISTRIBUTEES, DEVISEES, GRANTEES, TRUSTEES, LIENORS, CREDITORS, AND ASSIGNEES OF THE ESTATE OF DEBORAH A. STEPHENSON, WHO WAS BORN IN 1964 AND DIED ON MARCH 25, 2011, A RESIDENT OF NEW YORK COUNTY, WHOSE LAST KNOWN ADDRESS WAS 605 WEST 147 STREET NY, NY 10031, THEIR SUCCESSORS IN INTEREST IF ANY OF THE AFORESAID DEFENDANTS BE DECEASED, THEIR RESPECTIVE HEIRS AT LAW, NEXT OF KIN, AND SUCCESSORS IN INTEREST OF THE AFORESAID CLASSES OF PERSON, IF THEY OR ANY OF THEM BE DEAD, AND THEIR RESPECTIVE HUSBANDS, WIVES OR WIDOWS, IF ANY, ALL OF WHOM AND WHOSE NAMES AND PLACES ARE UNKNOWN TO THE PLAINTIFF Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc, Greenpoint Mortgage Funding, Inc, NYC Parking Violations Bureau, AMERICAN EXPRESS CENTURION BANK, NEW YORK CITY ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BOARD, NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION AND FINANCE, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA O/B/O INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, Defendants. To the above-named defendants: 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 after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service, or within thirty (30) days after completion of service where service is made in any other manner 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 hereof. Jn case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint.

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Notice of formation of BLOCKSURGE LAB LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/5/22. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served. The address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: Song Law Firm, LLC., 400 Kelby St., Suite 1900, Fort Lee, NJ 07024. Purpose: to engage in any lawful act or activity within the purposes for which limited liability companies may be organized pursuant to Limited Liability Company Law provided that the limited liability company is not formed to engage in any act or activity requiring the consent or approval of any state official, department, board, agency, or other body without such consent or approval first being obtained.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF NEW YORK HSBC Bank USA, N.A., Plaintiff AGAINST Pedro D. A. Alvarez Arenas, if living and if dead, the respective heirs at law, next of kin, distributees, executors administrators, trustees, devisees, legatees, assignors, lienors, creditors and successors in interest and generally all persons having or claiming under, by or through said defendant who may be deceased, purchase, inheritance lien, or otherwise or any right, title or interest in and to the premises; et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated March 15, 2022 I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Portico of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre St, New York, NY 10007 on September 14, 2022 at 2:15PM, premises known as 15 William Street, New York, NY 10005. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Manhattan, County, City and State of New York, Block: 25 Lot: 1503.

Approximate amount of judgment $792,245.73 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index# 810049/2012. The auction will be conducted pursuant to the COVID-19 Policies Concerning Public Auctions of Foreclosed Property established by the First Judicial District. Mark McKew, Esq., Referee LOGS Legal Group LLP f/k/a Shapiro, DiCaro & Barak, LLC Attorney(s) for the Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (877) 430-4792 Dated: April 22, 2022 71800

101 LEGAL NOTICES

2

Notice of formation of ENGAGE CONSULTING SERVICES LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/14/22. Office location: NY County. SSNY has been designated as an agent upon whom process against it may be served. The address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is: Chialing Yang, 243 W. 21st St., Apt 4D, New York, NY 10011. Purpose: to engage in any lawful act or activity within the purposes for which limited liability companies may be organized pursuant to Limited Liability Company Law provided that the limited liability company is not formed to engage in any act or activity requiring the consent or approval of any state official, department, board, agency, or other body without such consent or approval first being obtained.

D

101 LEGAL NOTICES

Notice is hereby given that a license, serial # 1349309 for beer, wine & liquor has been applied for by the undersigned to sell beer, wine & liquor at retail in a restaurant/bar under the ABC Law at 23 Park Pl., NYC 10007 for on-premises consumption; Brickyard Craft Kitchen and Bar Inc.

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101 LEGAL NOTICES

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Continued from page 6

their brown bins or make their own compost in the meantime.

Adams said the goal was to bring the program back in a more equitable and cost-efficient way. The new program will include all leaf and yard waste as well as all food scraps and food-soiled paper products, such as napkins, paper towels, and unlined plates. Unlike past composting programs, there is no sign-up required for the new program, said Adams.

Queens in particular “produces significant amounts of leaf and yard waste” and has about 41% of New York City’s street trees, said the Mayor’s Office. It was also selected for the pilot program because of its large geographic area, diversity of communities, and housing stock.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards joked that it was a “historic” day to “talk trash in Queens.”

Richards said that immediate and decisive action to combat climate change is necessary, and he’s excited for the program to begin.

“We’re taking all that composting material and turning it into rich soil for plants that soak up carbon dioxide as they grow. It can also be used to produce renewable energy and

from a discarded apple core or falling leaves that would normally go into the garbage, we can now use it to improve our environment,” said Adams.

“I have a composting bin right on my countertop at the office and at Gracie Mansion.”

The Department of Sanitation (DSNY) Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that the compost will be turned into soil at the city’s Staten Island compost facility, which produces soil packs year round for the parks department, community groups, and landscapers.

In an effort to address the city’s rat problem, Adams and DSNY also moved to add 250 smart composting bins to parts of Northern Manhattan, the South Bronx, Central Brooklyn and Staten island.

Rats often feed on organic material in trash bags on the curb. Composting bins are more secure and make waste more difficult to get to for the rats, said the Mayor’s Office. Adams said the bins have been successful in pilot programs, so they’re adding more than the previous commitment of bins in a permanent fashion.

“Today that organic material goes in the black trash bags where it’s com-

mingled with all the other household trash and it sits on the curbs, serving, as we’ve said before, an all-you-caneat buffet for rats,” said Tisch. “Adding more insult to injury, it then gets landfilled, where the material decomposes and produces harmful methane gas for years to come. The new program that we’re announcing today changes all of that.”

Tisch said that the program is designed to “rat-proof” and cut down on toxic greenhouse gasses.

“If you don’t order a bin from us, no issue; you can use any bin that you want. We just ask that the bin have a lid to keep out the rats,” said Tisch.

Weekly service starts Oct. 3 and runs through December. DSNY said they will automatically send bins and bags to buildings with 10 or more apartments.

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Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about culture and politics in New York City 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:// tinyurl.com/fcszwj8w

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THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS S P O R T S

August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022 • 37

Brittney Griner’s sentencing brings outrage

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews Last week, women’s basketball star Brittney Griner was found guilty of drug possession and drug smuggling with criminal intent and sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison. Charges are based on Russian customs officials allegedly finding .702 grams of cannabis oil in her luggage when she arrived in Russia to rejoin the team with which she plays during the WNBA off-season. Numerous individuals and organizations are speaking out on Griner’s behalf.

Jotaka Eaddy, founder/convenor of #WinWithBlackWomen, called it a moral outrage. Last month, more than 1,100 Black women signed a letter in support of Griner. “Black women leaders have remained clear that we firmly believe that Brittney is being wrongfully detained and used as a political pawn. We fully support President Biden’s call for Brittney Griner to be immediately released and urge the BidenHarris administration to continue their diplomatic negotiations to secure her safe and immediate

statement. “We remain grateful to and confident in the public servants working every day to return her to her family and us.

We remain faithful the administration will do what it takes to end her wrongful detention. We are inspired every day by BG’s strength and we are steadfastly committed to keeping her top-of-mind publicly until she is safely back on American soil.”

Kierra Johnson, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, called the sentence excessive and wrong. “We have watched for months as Brittney Griner has been used as a political pawn, even as she has made clear that she did not intend to break any laws,” said Johnson. “It is time for the U.S. government to do everything they can to bring Brittney home. The trial is over. More serious negotiations to bring her home safely must begin now. We must advance the negotiations in process, out of concern for her return home,” said Eaddy. has played professionally in Russia verdict a sobering milestone in this safety and to get her home to her Griner is an Olympic gold med- for several years. Her teammates unrelenting nightmare. wife and family as soon as possialist, World Champion, WNBA on the Phoenix Mercury contin“We remain heartbroken for her, ble. … We support her appeal and Champion and NCAA Champion. ue to express their concern for her as we have every day for nearly six stand with Brittney and her family, During the WNBA postseason, she health and welfare. They called the months,” was written in a team friends and supporters.”

Brittney Griner is facing nine years in a Russian prison (WNBA photo)

The Armory readies for another record-breaking track & field season

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews The Armory Foundation recently announced its meet schedule for indoor track and field season, and it is jam-packed. The Armory Track in Washington Heights is part of track and field history, and athletes such as Ajeé Wilson, Sydney McLaughlin and Athing Mu (all from New Jersey) have competed there since they started running.

Events for the 2022–23 season begin Oct. 16 with the Armory Trials, an opportunity for high school athletes to shore up their collegiate prospects. The Uptown Games will take place Oct. 29, providing a showcase for children who participate in the Armory’s CityTrack (sixth through eighth graders) and Little Feet (second through fifth graders) youth programs. Rita Finkel, Armory Foundation co-president, said there is surely a future Olympian among those kids.

“We are so looking forward to being able to say, ‘Track is back’

Olympic champions such as Athing Mu grew up running at the Armory (John Nepolitan photo)

For the last six years, 100% of the high school seniors have been accepted into four-year colleges.

Millrose Games will take place Feb. 11, preceded by Millrose Games Trials on Jan. 11 and the Millrose Games Youth Clinic on Feb. 9. Four collegiate championships featuring athletes from colleges and universities in New York and New Jersey will take part in the winter. The HBCU Showcase will be held on Jan. 14.

“It’s such a fun thing to go upstairs during any given day during track season and see such talent,” said Finkel. Athletes from Columbia University, Monroe College, NYU and other schools train at the facility.

“Every year a new crop of middle school, high school and even younger students step onto the track for the very first time and are excited by the standards set by and having everybody back in University Medical Center. … This programs for middle school and Athing Mu, Ajeé Wilson, Sydney the building,” said Finkel. “We’re is a whole new endeavor and reg- high school students. The middle McLaughlin and Rai Benjamin,” starting a new seniors’ program istrations are very robust.” schoolers train on the track and said Jonathan Schindel, co-presfor the neighborhood senior citSummertime has been busy participate in educational pro- ident. “The sky is the limit for izens who are ambulatory in with community programming, grams. The high schoolers have them. … The enthusiasm, desire conjunction with the Columbia including the Armory College Prep largely academic programming. and hunger lives on.”

38 • August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS S P O R T S

The Mets firmly establish themselves as authentic contenders

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor There should be little to no debate as to whether the New York Mets are World Series contenders. Every aspect of their team, most notably their collective pitching staff, has the makeup of a group poised to be a champion, led by starter Max Scherzer and closer Edwin Diaz, the latter who has been the best in baseball at his job in 2022, accumulating 29 saves in 45 appearances with a 1.39 ERA. Last Saturday’s 6-2 Mets’ win over the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field in Queens was a reminder of why Scherzer is an all-time great pitcher and the reason the organization signed him to a three-year, $130 million freeagent contract nine months ago that pays him an annual salary of $43,333,333, the largest in baseball history.

After Mets manager Buck Showalter had to exhaust his bullpen last Thursday and Friday in a split of the opening two games of a five-game series against their National League

East rival Atlanta Braves, who were at the their neck for the division lead, and stretch it even further in an 8-5 win in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Scherzer took the ball in the nightcap and was resolutely masterful.

The 38-year-old veteran righty, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, four-time league wins leader and 2019 World Series champion with the Washington Nationals, knew his charge. To give the Mets length and put them in position for a victory. Scherzer delivered with seven scintillating innings, giving up just four hits, no runs and striking out 11 to lift his team to a 6-2 victory. The win bettered the future Hall of Famers record this season to 8-2 with a miniscule 1.98.

“This is what you play the game for,” Scherzer said. “You play to face the best, especially deep in the season. You grind it out here in the NL East.” His counterpart, Braves starter Max Fried, who took the loss despite six strong innings allowing six hits and two earned runs, gave

Scherzer his flowers.

“He’s one of the best pitchers in baseball,” said Fried. “Has been for a long time.”

The next day, in the series finale, pitcher Jacob deGrom, making just his second start of the season and first at Citi Field, reaffirmed his status as one of the best hurlers of his generation. The 34-year-old has battled arm and shoulder injuries for most of last season and this season, so there was warranted uncertainty among the Mets faithful if he could return to his near unhittable form.

Sunday was a resounding yes.

DeGrom’s performance was astounding. He was perfect through five innings and ended up going 5.2 innings, surrendering two runs and striking out 12. The right hander’s fastball, hitting triple digits, and biting slider were virtually untouchable as the Mets finished off the Braves taking four of the five games. They are now 8-4 this season versus their main division rival.

By the time the Mets took the field at home yesterday after-

Max Scherzer has proven to be one of Major League Baseball’s best free-agent signings as he has been sterling for the Mets this season (Wikipedia (All-Pro Reels from District of Columbia, USA))

noon with Tijuan Walker on the mound, they had captured the first two games of a threegame series against the Cincinnati Reds, were on a five-game winning streak, and were 14-2 over their previous 16 games.

Additionally, at 72-39, the Mets held a seven-game advantage over the Braves and had the

second best overall record in MLB behind the 76-33 Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Mets begin a three-game series tomorrow at Citi Field against the Philadelphia Phillies then will have a four-game rematch with the Braves in Atlanta next Monday through Thursday.

It’s not panic time for the Yankees, but concern is fitting

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor Although the Yankees were 2-7 over the previous nine games before facing the Seattle Mariners yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon on the road, the last game of a three-game series, they still had a comfortable 10.5 lead over the second place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East and at 71-40 tied with the Houston Astros for the best record in the AL. Still, there is a sense of panic if not deep concern that now permeates the Yankees fan base because they are no longer the dominant ball club that was steamrolling all comers––with the exception of the Astros––from the start of the season until the beginning of July.

(The Yankees concluded their headto-head games this season against the

Astros 5-2). But chinks in their armor began to be exposed heading into the All-Star break despite pounding the Boston Red Sox 14-1 on July 16 and 13-2 the following day.

Those beatdowns somewhat masked that they were 3-5 over an eight game stretch immediately before the break began. But it became evident the Yankees had lost their mojo when they dropped five of their first seven games coming out of the short All-Star hiatus, including going 0-4 in games against the Astros and Mets. A five game losing streak from August 2 through August 9, first losing two out of three at home versus the Mariners followed by getting swept three games by the St. Louis Cardinals on the road confirmed the Yankees were vulnerable.

Acquiring outfielder Andrew Benintendi (Kansas City Royals), starting

pitcher Frankie Montas and reliever Lou Trevino from the Oakland A's prior to the Major League Baseball trade deadline hasn’t stemmed the Yankees slippage. Not having outfielder Giancarlo Stanton (24 homers) in the lineup has been a factor. He was placed on the 10-day injured list late last month with Achilles soreness.

First baseman Anthony Rizzo (27 homers, 66 RBIs) has been hampered by back issues and outfielder Matt Carpenter, a top candidate for the league’s Comeback Player of the Year award, suffered a fractured foot in the first inning of Monday’s 9-4 win over the Mariners.

He will be out indefinitely.

There are natural ebbs and flows to the MLB season and the Yankees remain a strong World Series contender.

But the path to a title is decidedly much more arduous than it was a month ago.

The Yankees are hoping starting pitcher Frankie Montas, formerly of the Oakland As, will help bolster the World Series aspirations (Wikipedia (Keith Allison, Hanover, MD)

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS S P O R T S

August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022 • 39

New York Liberty fighting for playoff spot

By LOIS ELFMAN Special to the AmNews Two huge home court wins over the Los Angeles Sparks (102-73 on Aug. 2 and 64-61 the following night) put the New York Liberty back into playoff contention. But they fell back out of a postseason spot with two straight road losses, falling to the Phoenix Mercury by 76-62 last Saturday and 86-77 on Monday dropping the Liberty out of the top eight. The WNBA regular season concludes on Sunday with the Liberty facing must-win scenarios in tomorrow’s (Wednesday) road game against the Atlanta Dream and again in a homecourt face-off on Sunday.

On Saturday night, the Liberty played the Mercury, a team also on the playoff bubble, with Phoenix missing Diana Taurasi and Skylar Diggins-Smith. The Liberty was playing with a full roster for the first time this season.

“I just don’t think we played

with a sense of urgency,” said Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello. “We didn’t execute the plays at the start, so that was disappointing because we worked on it so much here. We just got passive. We gave them a lot of confidence. I thought they played well, so credit to them. We did not come ready to play, and it’s really disappointing because at this time of the year you expect a bit of a fight here. None of us were good. I can’t say any of us were good tonight, and that’s disappointing. Credit to Phoenix, they’re down key players, but they really came to play and made it hard for us.”

The game marked the return to action of Betnijah Laney, who was the Liberty’s scoring powerhouse in 2021. “Just trying to be my best self while I am out there and do everything to the best of my ability,” she said. “I am trying to continue to find my rhythm and get my legs back under me.

I am trying to go out there to play hard and do everything I can.”

Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu became the first player in WNBA history to record 500plus points, 200-plus rebounds and 200plus assists in a single season. In the game against the Mercury, Ionescu finished with a team-high 20 points and had five assists, five rebounds, a steal and a block. As always, Ionescu stayed focused on team goals.

“We have to continue to grind away and be the best that we can in the games we have left,” she said.

Sunday’s season finale at the Barclays Center will be Fan Appreciation Day.

Betnijah Laney made her return to the New York Liberty lineup (Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)

Nets owner Joe Tsai, for the moment, takes a stand against Durant

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor Joe Tsai, the Brooklyn Nets’ owner/governor (governor is becoming an increasingly more common designation for owner in NBA circles), has seemingly taken a firm stand against Kevin Durant dictating the terms of the franchise’s hierarchy.

The two reportedly met in London in the United Kingdom last week and the outcome was Durant issuing Tsai an ultimatum after having already demanded to be traded on June 30. The 33-yearforward informed the 58-year-old former Yale University lacrosse standout a choice had to be made: choose between him and general manager Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash.

The explicit terms were met with a public response of support for Marks and Nash by Tsai, the co-founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. “Our front office and coaching staff have my support. We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brook-

lyn Nets,” Tsai posted on his Twitter account, @JoeTsai/1999, on Monday night.

It is difficult to make a compelling argument against Durant not bearing an unconditional love of the game of basketball and paying him the highest compliment a player could receive of being a true baller.

He embodies the quintessential P.G. County, Maryland/Washington D.C. hooper who would play on a darkened court at midnight for no money if he wasn’t getting hundreds of millions of dollars to be on the short list of the best players in the world.

But he is engaging in what is seemingly classic passive-aggressive behavior and misplaced frustration. It is a reasonable premise that the source of Durant’s grievance is his friend and current Nets teammate Kyrie Irving, who is the primary source of why Durant is a Net. Irving sold Durant on joining him to sign with the franchise as free-agents in July of 2019 with the vision of the duo winning multiple titles.

Both inked deals with the Nets,

Durant foregoing re-signing with the Golden State Warriors, with whom he won two championships and two Finals MVPs in 2017 and 2018. Irving moved on from the Boston Celtics after playing for them from 2017 to 2019. The irony is those two teams met in the NBA Finals in June with the Warriors winning their fourth title in the past eight seasons. Today, the Warriors and Celtics are built to be title contenders for years to come.

The Nets? They have become the NBA’s top rated soap opera.

They traded for superstar guard James Harden in January of 2021 only to see him grow disgruntled with the team’s dysfunction in large part due to Irving taking leave of absences for personal reasons and being unable to play home games in Brooklyn for most of last season as a result New York City’s rigid COVID vaccine mandates, which weren’t roll backed until late March.

Irving was steadfast in his position to remain unvaccinated and consequently did not make

his home debut until March 27, 75 games into the regular season with the 39-36 laboring to remain at .500. By then Harden had forced a trade from the Nets to the Philadelphia 76ers for Ben Simmons in a deal that consisted of a total of six players and two first round picks. Simmons never took the court for the Nets last season resulting from his ongoing mental health issues and a herniated disk in his back, for which he had surgery in May. So here the Nets and Durant are, roughly nine weeks from the start of the 2022-23 regular season, at an impasse. On the surface, Durant has little leverage. He’s under contract with the Nets for four more years. It is nearly impossible right now for the Nets to get equal value for Durant in a trade to some of his preferred destinations. Irving opted into the final year of his contract earlier this summer, although rumors of him being traded still permeate the media.

Another episode of the saga is coming soon.

Nets forward Kevin Durant has reportedly requested of team owner Joe Tsai that he fire general manager Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash (Bill Moore photo)

40 • August 11, 2022 - August 17, 2022

THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS

Sports Serena Williams’ illustrious tennis career is approaching the end

By JAIME C. HARRIS AmNews Sports Editor Serena Williams will always be connected to the sport of tennis. It’s part of her DNA. She is arguably the greatest player, man or woman, to ever swing a racket.

Even more than her brilliance on the court, Williams has been one of the world’s instrumental figures over the past four decades since her professional debut in October 1995, redefining sports, popular culture and the limitations placed on women in dominant white patriarchal societies.

Now, a little under seven weeks away from turning 41 on September 26, she is ready for the next phase of her life. In an as-told-to interview in Vogue Magazine published on Tuesday, Williams introspectively revealed she will be retiring from competitive tennis soon after the upcoming US Open, a tournament in which she has captured six singles titles, the last in 2014.

The Open will be held from Aug. 29 In an as-told-to interview with Vogue Magazine, tennis great Serena Williams said through Sept. 11 at the sparkling USTA upcoming U.S. Open tournament taking place in Queens (USTA photo) Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, featuring herself and four-year- ucational app she likes,” said Queens. Given Williams’ open- old daughter, Williams weighs Williams. “This robot voice ing round loss at Wimbledon in the choice between parenthood asks her a question: What do late June, then her first singles and her career, one that is un- you want to be when you grow match in 364 days, it stands to equally imposed on women up? She doesn’t know I’m lisreason she won’t make a deep much more than men. tening, but I can hear the run at the Open. Williams’ last “This morning, my daugh- answer she whispers into the Grand Slam singles victory, No. ter, Olympia, who turns five phone. She says, ‘I want to be 23, second all-time to Margaret this month, and I were on our a big sister.’”

Court, came at Wimbledon six way to get her a new passport Williams continues, “Olymyears ago. before a trip to Europe. We’re pia says this a lot, even when In the Vogue piece, told to in my car, and she’s holding my she knows I’m listening. Somewriter Rob Haskell with photos phone, using an interactive ed- times before bed, she prays to

it’s fair. If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family.

Maybe I’d be more of a Tom Brady if I had that opportunity…

“I loved every AM NEWS 01284 second of beingAM pregNEW 07/07/22 nant 7with Olympia.

I 07/07/22 0 74470 22784 was one of those annoying women who adored being pregnant and was working until the day I had to report to the hospiAM NEWS tal—although 01294 things AM NEW got super complicat07/14/22 0 ed on7 the other07/14/22 side.

74470 22784 And I almost did do the impossible: A lot of people don’t realize that I was two months pregnant when I won the Australian Open AM NEWS in 2017. 01304 But I’m turnAM NEW ing 41 this month, 07/21/22 07/21/22 0 7 and something’s got 74470 22784 to give.”

What gives is perhaps the most incredible athletic career in sports history. Rising from the tough enviAM NEWS ronment01314 of Compton, AM NEW 07/28/22 California to earning 07/28/22 0 7 74470 22784 more prize money— $94.59 million—than any women’s tennis player in history. As well as hundreds of she will retire soon after participating in the millions more in endorsements AM NEWS 01324and business ventures.AMAnd NEW 08/04/22 Jehovah to bring her a baby 0 oh, second on 7that prize 08/04/22 list at 74470 22784 sister. (She doesn’t want any- $42.28 million is big sister Venus. thing to do with a boy!) I’m the Simply put, she is the reyoungest of five sisters myself, markable Serena Williams. and my sisters are my heroes, so this has felt like a moment I need to AM NEWS listen very carefully to.

01334 AM NEW “Believe me, 08/11/22 I never 08/11/22 0 7 wanted to have to 74470 22784 choose between tennis and a family,” she expounded. “I don’t think