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Inmates get important change when calling from NY state prisons
By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff
New York state prisons stopped charging incarcerated individuals for phone calls starting this month. The New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) now fronts the bill at a lowered rate of 1.5 cents a minute from service provider Securus Technologies. Previously, incarcerated individuals paid 2.4 cents a minute plus service fees to place domestic calls.
“We recognize the critical role that strong family bonds play in an individual’s rehabilitation and long-term success after incarceration,” said DOCCS Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello in a statement. “By eliminating the financial burden associated with phone calls, we not only are removing a barrier to communication, but are actively promoting stronger connections between those in our care and their loved ones.
“Understanding the value of family ties while in prison is crucial — not only for emotional support, but for improving an individual’s outcomes while incarcerated and when returning to society, thus reducing recidivism.”
According to Securus, family members will no longer need an AdvanceConnect account and can request a refund for their remaining balance.
The free phone calls from prison stem from New York State’s Reentry 2030 blueprint, which was announced last year to decrease recidivism among returning citizens. Federal funding, as well as philanthropic backers like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, help
bankroll the initiative, although the DOCCS operating budget funds the free phone calls. Under Reentry 2030, free calls would lift barriers to outside communication, allowing incarcerated individuals to prepare for
See PRISON CALLS on page 35
Ben Jealous fired as Sierra Club’s first Black executive director; many say racism at play
By JASON PONTEROTTO Special to the AmNews
The Sierra Club board of directors voted unanimously to fire its first Black and overall person of color executive director, Benjamin (Ben) Jealous, after he was placed on leave in July.
Club Board Chair Patrick Murphy announced the August 11 decision to terminate the employment of Jealous with cause in an email to staff. It comes after public disagreements between Jealous and staff members from local chapters.
The Sierra Club has operated as one of the largest and oldest environmental justice organizations in the United States since its founding in 1892. Jealous took on the role in 2023.
Representatives from the group have not provided details about why Jealous was terminated. However, Jealous released a statement pushing back. He highlighted his record in his short tenure, including bolstering membership and staff positions in several red states where there had been none.
“It is disheartening, unfortunate, but perhaps not surprising that the board has chosen an adversarial course that the facts so clearly cannot support. I have begun the process
See BEN JEALOUS on page 36
In this Nov. 27, 2017 file photo, incarcerated individual Lance Shaver talks on the phone at the Albany County Correctional Facility in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)
Benjamin Jealous speaks to members of Sierra Club in New York City for Climate Justice March on September 17, 2023. (AmNews Photos)
Harlem Legionnaires’ outbreak: People must be ‘vigilant’ in prevention, says City Council member
By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff
City officials and lawmakers are warning New Yorkers to stay alert as investigations continue into a deadly cluster of Legionnaires’ disease that has infected dozens of people in Harlem.
“I know how we are as a people,” said City Council Member Yusef Salaam. “This is not the time to say, ‘let me just go to the grocery store and get some ginger ale, and let me lay up somewhere.’ This is the time for you to actually go to seek medical attention. That’s how serious this is.. Those who are over 50, especially with the underlying conditions, we need to make sure that they are vigilant.”
While acting health commissioner Dr. Michelle Morse expects the infection count to rise, she says any “new” cases, likely, stem from exposure before the city treated the 11 tainted cooling towers last week with antibacterial agents. Legionnaires disease, which is a type of pneumonia, can take up to 14 days to show symptoms. NYC Department of Health and Mental Health Hygiene’s (DOHMH) will continue monitoring the situation through cluster testing from the agency’s Public Health Lab.
On Aug. 8, Morse and Harlem officials including Salaam held a press conference on the impact of the spread. The Health Department reports since July 25 there have been three deaths, and 81 infections reported, with 24 people hospitalized. Morse refused to provide the exact buildings where the city found legionella, the bacteria responsible for Legionnaires’ disease.
The city traced the bacteria to 11 cooling towers across five zip codes in the Harlem area (10027, 10030, 10035, 10037, and 10039). Mist spreads the disease, which does not transmit person to person.
To be clear, Legionnaire’s disease is highly treatable. The earlier an infected individual receives a diagnosis and seeks treatment, the better the outcomes.
Morse says wearing a protective face mask is not proven to prevent and reduce the spread. She adds that Harlemites can safely drink and cook with their tap water, as well as use their air conditioning units.
“The most important information to know is that everyone who lives in these five zip codes, unfortunately, is at risk,” said Morse. “And so I don’t want anyone to be concerned that if they’re in one building or another, there may be more or less at risk,
Trump said he’s just ‘starting with D.C.’ Democrats who run other cities worry they’re next
By SHIFRA DAYAK and EMILY KENNARD NOTUS (via TheCity.nyc)
Elected Democrats at every level of government are watching the Trump administration’s moves to police the District of Columbia closely, worrying that the president’s efforts to exert more power will reach their cities next.
President Donald Trump on Monday announced that he put the city’s police department under federal control and activated the National Guard to patrol the city, evoking another instance from earlier this year that put Democrats on edge: Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles. As Trump paints U.S. cities as “violent” and “drugged out,” he said his administration plans to crack down on homeless encampments and crime in America’s urban centers with full force “starting with D.C.”
He promised that federal involvement would “go further,” and suggested cities could avoid federal action if they “clean up” their crime rates. Democrats say they’re starting to identify a pattern of federal overreach from Trump, particularly in the affairs of cities in states run by Democrats.
“With Donald Trump, you can get any level of reaction on any given day, and he believes that he has some special privilege to interfere and meddle with the functions of New York City,” Keith Powers, a New York City
council member, told NOTUS. “He did it on congestion pricing and transportation, and certainly he’ll do it again in the future when it comes to deploying the National Guard.”
Part of Trump’s argument is that he’s putting a stop to crime. But in the District of Columbia and other large cities run by Democrats, city officials have spent months
boasting about their dropping crime rates. That’s prompting fears from officials there that the improving statistics they’re citing won’t be enough to fend off the threat of Trump sending in the National Guard.
“We’ve seen great results over the last few months of decreasing major crimes and keeping people safe here in the city,” Powers
said. “So even the timing of this feels strange to me, and feels like another attempt for Donald Trump to just threaten people that don’t agree with his ideology.”
Democratic lawmakers in some blue states were already gearing up to respond to military enforcement after Trump in June called for expanded deportations in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. But Monday’s announcement prompted a new wave of concerns, especially after Trump said he was going to “look at” the administration’s next steps for those three cities, as well as in Oakland and Baltimore. He added that the administration will “do the same thing” if necessary in other cities.
Oakland City Council member Charlene Wang told NOTUS that she is not “anticipating it’s going to happen in the next day,” but that she is taking Trump’s comments seriously.
“It’s time to start thinking how we as a city need to respond if this becomes a reality,” Wang said, adding that she plans to have conversations with her city government colleagues about legal recourse and other potential responses.
The White House did not respond to questions about its plans for other cities, but an official pointed NOTUS to Washington’s 2024 crime rates.
“In just a few nights, President Trump’s bold actions to Make DC Safe Again have
Legionnairespress
Public officials hold press briefing on Legionnaires’ disease at Harlem statehouse (from left to right): Acting health commissioner Michelle Morse, Council Member Yusef Salaam, Assemblymember Jordan Wright, State Senator Cordell Cleare. (Tandy Lau photo)
(Pierre Miyamoto/Pexels)
TAKiR project looks to reunite Africans across the diaspora
By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff
When Black people were trafficked from Africa and enslaved in the Americas, contact with blood relatives on the continent was essentially eliminated. But a new genealogical project called The African Kinship Reunion (TAKiR) is looking to help reconnect families separated by the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Research by biological anthropologist Dr. LaKisha David of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, conducted while she was working on her PhD in Human Development and Family Studies, has led to the use of genealogical tools that can connect people in the Americas with others they share DNA with in Africa.
The TAKiR genealogical initiative compares an individual’s DNA with that of others in its database, looking for shared genetic material that can go back 4 to 20 generations, with a particular focus on the last 500 years.
TAKiR, whose principal investigators include David, along with Dr. Carter Clinton of North Carolina State University and Dr. Richael Odarkor Mills at the University of Cape Coast, has compiled a database that currently includes DNA samples from all of Ghana. Genetic profiles have been collected from Cape Coast, the northern regions of the country, and from historical DNA samples found at former slave camp sites like Elmina Castle, where more than 30,000 enslaved Africans were chained before being shipped to the Americas.
The project expects to expand and also
get DNA samples from nations in Central Africa, the Caribbean, and Brazil. TAKiR’s collection of these DNA profiles is regulated by data privacy rules under the National Institutes of Health’s Institutional Review Board. The data is only accessible to TAKiR team members and not shared with law enforcement or outsiders without the individual’s active consent.
Ancestry tracing
Dr. David noted that her mother’s constant references to their African heritage, along with her own experiences in graduate school — seeing social media posts by African Americans who had been able to find living relatives in Africa — inspired her to look into studying genetic genealogy. Knowing that the ancestry tracing compa-
ny African Ancestry uses genetic markers to identify a person’s relation to specific African countries or ethnic groups, she decided to focus her graduate studies on African American identity and well-being, and to train in genetic analysis.
The TAKiR project differs from African Ancestry, Dr. David explained, because “They test about 1% of the genome and only a few markers. But there are newer technologies out. The array we’re using, just like with Ancestry.com and 23andMe, allows us to test more places along the genome. And that should give us better results, it captures more of the ancestors that are in our genome.”
During their tracing process, if TAKiR identifies relatives who want to connect, it can establish contact between them. “We
can exchange phone numbers and other details to help people get in touch,” she added.
Family
roots
The project is already active in Illinois.
TAKiR is now part of the Family Roots Genealogy Pilot Program, an Illinois statefunded initiative introduced by State Rep. Carol Ammons, which provides free DNA tests to Illinois residents interested in exploring their African ancestry.
“Approximately 15% of Black adults in the U.S. have taken consumer genetic genealogy tests,” the text of Ammons’ bill, House Resolution 453, points out, “African Americans should not be economically burdened to obtain information regarding their ancestral history, which was forcibly taken from them through practices of slavery that economically benefited the growing United States.”
Ammons says she plans to present HR 453 for adoption at the next conference of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. And since the African Union is taking up the issue of reparations, “We are working with our partners to promote DNA work with the African nations to get more continental Africans in the [DNA] pool,” she said.
TAKiR also plans to offer its testing beyond Illinois, reaching more people across the United States. It has already received interest from representatives in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland, and a policy brief is being prepared to model the program for both national and international expansion.
More information about TAKiR can be found at https://takir.org.
Four Black Women judges set their sights on Brooklyn’s Supreme Court
By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff
Brooklyn has a new slate of nominated justices for the upcoming New York State Supreme Court races in November’s general election. Of the nine candidates, four are decorated Black women judges. Nearly 150 delegates gathered at the 2025
Kings County Judicial Convention on August 7 to nominate Supreme Court candidates. Here are the four Black women in the running this year for a spot on the the New York Supreme Court 2nd Judicial District.
Judge Derefim B. Neckles — Born and raised in Grenada, she earned her bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College and her Juris Doctor degree from the Miami School of Law
in the U.S. She is an acting justice of the Supreme Court in Kings County, where she handles foreclosure cases, tax liens, jury trials, and arraignments. For the last four years, she served in Criminal and Civil Courts in Brooklyn. Earlier in her career, she practiced civil rights, housing, and employment law.
Judge Claudia Daniels-DePeyster — Raised by Guyanese parents, she graduated from the
State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo and received her law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was a solo practitioner with a concentration in criminal and civil law, an attorney with the Bureau of Investigations and Trials of the New York City Fire Department, and assistant deputy commissioner of trials with the NYPD for 11 years. She was appointed to the county’s Criminal Court in April 2015. She is a lifelong member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Judge Norma Jean Jennings — Raised in public housing by a single mother, Jennings became the first in her family to attend college, matriculating from the Columbia Law School. She is the first openly LGBTQ+ Black elected judge in all of Brooklyn. She is also a former Housing Court supervising judge, community advocate, and proud wife and mother. She was elected as a Kings County Civil Court judge in 2024.
Judge Jacqueline D. Williams — Born at an Air Force base in California, she grew up with her family in East New York. Williams is an Afro-Latina jurist, proudly rooted in her Panamanian heritage. She earned her bachelor’s degree in history from Yale
See JUDGES on page 25
La Kisha Latham, a community member who attended both hearings on HR 453 and led the first DNA collection on June 14 in Chicago, drops off DNA kits to Dr. LaKisha David from Family Roots Genealogy Pilot Program collection events in Evanston and Chicago.
(TAKiR project photo)
A Voice for the Voiceless: Phil Desgranges’ journey in legal advocacy
By JANAE ANTRUM Special to the AmNews
Growing up in a Haitian American household on Long Island, Phil Desgranges was influenced to always do good for others which was instilled by his religious mother. Her teachings about the importance of helping others inspired him to pursue a career devoted to serving those in need. He recognized law as a powerful tool for achieving justice and making a difference in communities.
After all those years of learning to do what’s right from his mother, Desgranges, 40, now serves as the Attorney in Charge of Criminal Law Reform at the Legal Aid Society, embodying the ideals of service and advocacy that have defined his career. His educational background, which includes a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from Boston University and a Juris Doctorate from New York University, laid the foundation for his journey into law.
Desgranges has dedicated many years to civil rights law, meticulously working to improve the lives of New Yorkers and address the entrenched issues in the criminal legal system. His fulfillment comes from time spent both in the courtroom and out in the community, striving to create solutions through litigation, policy advocacy, and educating the public on their rights.
“When you find solutions to these problems, the end result is a hopefully better society and a more empowered community,” he states, reflecting his commitment to change.
Desgranges has faced challenges throughout his career, including a lack of diversity in the legal field. Navigating as a Black attorney brings its own com-
Black
New Yorker
THE URBAN AGENDA
By David R. Jones, Esq
A Broken Ladder: NYC’s Elite High Schools Continue to Shut Out
Black and Latino Students
Another admissions cycle has come and gone, and once again, New York City’s specialized high schools have failed to reflect the diversity of the city they serve. The latest data released on July 31 by the NYC Department of Education paints a grim picture: just eight Black students were admitted to Stuyvesant High School, down from ten the previous year.
Across all eight specialized high schools, Black students—who make up 20 percent of the city’s public-school population—received only three percent of the seats, a drop from 4.5 percent last year. Latino students, who represent 42 percent of the system, accounted for just 6.9 percent of admissions, also down from 7.6 percent. These numbers are not just statistics. They are a stark indictment of an admissions policy that continues to reward privilege and punish potential.
socioeconomic divides that plague our city’s public education system.
What’s worse, this is happening at a time when the federal government is aggressively attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion in education. From rolling back affirmative action to defunding DEI programs, the national climate is increasingly hostile to efforts aimed at leveling the playing field. In this context, New York City’s refusal to reform its admissions policy is not just disappointing—it is a betrayal of its professed values of fairness and equality.
plexities, requiring him to work harder to achieve recognition and respect.
“You need to be great, not just good enough,” he explains, noting that this standard often isn’t equally applied even beyond careers in law, but in general for most minorities in any role. Yet, he views this extra effort as an opportunity to rise above and contribute significantly to the field.
Desgranges acknowledges the importance of connecting with others and has made it a priority to give back to the next generation of lawyers.
“I always want to be available for mentoring because I want to make sure the next generation has guidance and can achieve their full potential,” he shares. His commitment to supporting young people aspiring to work in law, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds, stems from his experiences and the invaluable mentorship he received in his own journey.
Desgranges is focused on several pressing issues in his role, including advocating against police misconduct, addressing the brutality in Rikers Island, and expanding access to mental health treatments. His goals include leading law reform efforts and fostering collaboration across various programs he oversees to tackle societal issues in transformative ways.
Going forward, Desgranges aims to position the Legal Aid Society’s Law Reform team as a pillar of civil rights advocacy, ensuring it is recognized as an exceptional place for legal work and a supportive environment for its staff. Desgranges has a true commitment to service, mentorship, and transformational change that seeks to uplift the community and empower those he serves.
The Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), the sole criterion for entry into these elite institutions, has long been criticized for favoring students whose families can afford expensive test prep courses. These courses, often costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars, give students a significant leg up -- not because they are more capable, but because they are more prepared. And preparation, in this case, is a commodity not equally distributed.
Multiple studies have shown that standardized tests like the SHSAT are not reliable predictors of long-term academic success. They measure test-taking ability, not intellectual curiosity, resilience, or creativity—qualities that define great students and future leaders. Yet, the city clings to this outdated metric, perpetuating a system that filters out talent based on zip code and income level.
The consequences are profound. These specialized high schools—Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, Staten Island Tech, Brooklyn Latin School, The High School of American Studies at Lehman College, The High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College and Queens High School for the Sciences at York College —are not just prestigious institutions; they are gateways to the nation’s top colleges and universities. To be excluded from them is to be denied access to a powerful ladder of opportunity. And when Black and Latino students are systematically shut out, it sends a dangerous and false message: that they are not worthy, not capable, not destined for greatness.
This narrative is not only wrong—it is harmful. It undermines the confidence of students who, despite their brilliance and drive, are told by the system that they don’t belong. It reinforces stereotypes and deepens the racial and
City leaders have had countless opportunities to act. Advocates have long called for a more holistic admissions process—one that considers grades, teacher recommendations, interviews, and other indicators of student potential. Yet, meaningful reform has stalled, often due to political cowardice and fear of backlash. Some opponents of change argue that altering the admissions process would unfairly target Asian American students, who currently make up 53.5 percent of those admitted.
But this is a false dichotomy. Equity is not a zero-sum game. We can -- and must -- build a system that honors the achievements of all students while expanding access to those who have been historically marginalized.
The city’s inaction speaks volumes. It suggests that maintaining the status quo is more important than ensuring every child has a fair shot at a quality education. It suggests that prestige and tradition matter more than justice and inclusion. And it suggests that, despite its progressive rhetoric, New York City is content to let its public school system remain one of the most segregated in the country.
This is not just a policy failure—it is a moral one. We owe it to our children to do better. We owe it to the Black and Latino students who dream of walking the halls of Stuyvesant and Bronx Science, not as exceptions, but as equals. And we owe it to the future of our city, which depends on nurturing the talents of all its young people, not just the privileged ones with resources.
The time for half-measures and empty promises is over. If New York City truly believes in equity, it must dismantle the barriers that keep its elite schools out of reach for so many qualified Black and brown students. It must replace the SHSAT with a fairer, more inclusive admissions process. And it must confront the uncomfortable truth that segregation, in all its forms, is still alive and well in our schools.
Until then, the ladder will remain broken— and the dreams of too many Black and brown students will remain deferred.
Attorney-in-charge Phil Desgranges (Courtesy Phil Degranges)
Why do you carry a gun? How a simple question is transforming lives in a Pennsylvania prison
By SHANNON CHAFFERS
Amsterdam News Staff, Report for America Corps Member
A few years ago, Stevie Wilson, an incarcerated writer and avid news consumer, began to notice something frustrating about the coverage of gun violence in Philadelphia.
“I realized there [were] some voices that were missing,” he said. “We heard from elected officials, we heard from law enforcement, we heard from community organizations, but I wasn’t hearing from the people who authored, experienced, [or] witnessed gun violence. I wasn’t hearing from them, but I was surrounded by them.”
Wilson, 52, is currently incarcerated in SCI-Dallas prison in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. He’s been in prison for nearly 16 years for a sexual offense, but maintains that he is innocent. Before being incarcerated, he was a community organizer in Philadelphia. He has taken on a similar role in prison, hosting various study groups and doing mutual aid work.
Through his community-building efforts, Wilson has gotten to know many young men incarcerated for gun-related crimes. While he witnessed gun violence growing up, he never participated in it. When he realized that several of the men he met planned to continue carrying a gun once they were released from prison, he wanted to know why.
“If you already knew what the consequences are of carrying a gun, because you’re a convicted felon now, why would you still [be] willing to do this?” he wondered. “And I thought that in that answer [was] a possible pathway to solutions to gun violence in Philadelphia.”
With that guiding question, Wilson began organizing weekly roundtable discussions with young men who had been involved in gun violence. He estimates that around 15 people regularly attend the sessions, many of whom he recruited via a survey about their experiences with gun violence. The discussions range from their reactions to gun violence coverage (including from the AmNews’ “Beyond the Barrel of the Gun” project) to their thoughts about root causes and potential solutions to this epidemic.
“The goal [is] to give them a platform to speak about their experiences and what they [think are] solutions to gun violence,
because I feel if they don’t buy into whatever solution we’re talking about, it’s not going to work,” Wilson said. “You can pass all the laws you want to pass. You can sit there and make it harder to legally get a gun all you want to. But these young men are still going to find a way to get a gun and carry it. You have to figure out why. Why are they still willing to do that? What is their concern that’s not being met?”
The answer, Wilson has learned, revolves around safety.
“The number one reason why these young men are carrying guns is because it makes them feel safe … If we as a public don’t include them in the term ‘public safety,’ this is why they’re going to carry their guns.”
Wilson’s conclusions align with research on this topic. A study that surveyed Brooklyn youth about why they carried guns found that 75% of respondents did so because they feared being killed. Black Americans are disproportionately affected by gun violence, which is concentrated in underresourced neighborhoods across the U.S. In many cities, Black men are also more likely to be arrested for firearm possession.
As Wilson has found, this criminalized response to gun carrying does not necessarily
lead to behavioral change. In fact, a meta analysis of studies of the effects of incarceration on recidivism found that incarceration does not reduce recidivism and can actually have a criminogenic effect. Another study found that individuals initially arrested for gun-related offenses were more likely to be arrested for a gun-related offense in the future than those initially arrested for non-gun-related offenses.
The roundtables’ impact
When Ibrahim Sharif, 28, began participating in Wilson’s roundtables, he was confronted with a question he had never considered before: What would have to change for you to put your gun down?
“The way [Stevie] asked it, you just thought it was a regular question, but if you think deeply, this is a solution to your problems,” Sharif recalled. “Because if you can figure out a way to put your gun down, without thinking about some fake fantasy, and [using] your intellect, that’s all you had to do the whole time.”
For many years, Sharif had cycled in and out of juvenile detention and prison for various offenses, including robbery, assault, and possession of a firearm. Growing
up in poverty in Wilkes-Barre, Penn., Sharif said he was initially exposed to crime as a child when older people in his neighborhood gave him drugs to sell, which he saw as a way to make money. After his brother died by suicide, he became more involved in illegal activities, and began using drugs to cope with his grief.
“I was about 13 years old. I wasn’t in the street life, I wasn’t really wrapped up or caught up into that stuff. That was the turning point for me,” he said.
In that environment, carrying a gun felt like a necessity.
“The lifestyle and the mindset I grew up on, I felt and believed that I had to carry a firearm to protect myself,” Sharif explained. Wilson’s roundtables forced Sharif to “slow down,” he said. He had to confront his past choices and his past trauma, including his experience as a victim of gun violence: In 2019, he was shot in the abdomen and required life-saving surgery.
“You start to come to the realization [that] I’m not gaining nothing from this. I’m not winning, it’s not working,” Sharif said.
Wilson said that Sharif’s experience as both a perpetrator and victim of violence is
See ROUNDTABLES on page 29
Stevie Wilson, an incarcerated writer in Pennsylvania, started a gun violence roundtable group to understand why some of the men he had met in prison carried guns. (Photo courtesy of Stevie Wilson)
After participating in gun violence roundtables, Ibrahim Sharif realized he had to move from his home in Wilkes-Barre, Penn., to put his gun down. (Photo courtesy of Ibrahim Sharif)
Trump said he’s just ‘starting with D.C.’ Democrats who run other cities worry they’re next
By SHIFRA DAYAK and EMILY KENNARD
NOTUS (via TheCity.nyc)
Elected Democrats at every level of government are watching the Trump administration’s moves to police the District of Columbia closely, worrying that the president’s efforts to exert more power will reach their cities next.
President Donald Trump on Monday announced that he put the city’s police department under federal control and activated the National Guard to patrol the city, evoking another instance from earlier this year that put Democrats on edge: Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles. As Trump paints U.S. cities as “violent” and “drugged out,” he said his administration plans to crack down on homeless encampments and crime in America’s urban centers with full force “starting with D.C.”
He promised that federal involvement would “go further,” and suggested cities could avoid fed-
eral action if they “clean up” their crime rates. Democrats say they’re starting to identify a pattern of federal overreach from Trump, particularly in the affairs of cities in states run by Democrats.
“With Donald Trump, you can get any level of reaction on any given day, and he believes that he has some special privilege to interfere and meddle with the functions of New York City,” Keith
Powers, a New York City council member, told NOTUS. “He did it on congestion pricing and transportation, and certainly he’ll do it again in the future when it comes to deploying the National Guard.”
Part of Trump’s argument is that he’s putting a stop to crime. But in the District of Columbia and other large cities run by Democrats, city officials have spent months boasting about their
dropping crime rates. That’s prompting fears from officials there that the improving statistics they’re citing won’t be enough to fend off the threat of Trump sending in the National Guard.
“We’ve seen great results over the last few months of decreasing major crimes and keeping people safe here in the city,” Powers said. “So even the timing of this feels strange to me, and feels like another attempt for Donald Trump to just threaten people that don’t agree with his ideology.”
Democratic lawmakers in some blue states were already gearing up to respond to military enforcement after Trump in June called for expanded deportations in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.
But Monday’s announcement prompted a new wave of concerns, especially after Trump said he was going to “look at” the administration’s next steps for those three cities, as well as in Oakland and Baltimore. He added that the administration will “do the same thing” if necessary in other cities.
Oakland City Council member Charlene Wang told NOTUS that she is not “anticipating it’s going to happen in the next day,” but that she is taking Trump’s comments seriously.
“It’s time to start thinking how we as a city need to respond if this becomes a reality,” Wang said, adding that she plans to have conversations with her city government colleagues about legal recourse and other potential responses.
The White House did not respond to questions about its plans for other cities, but an official pointed NOTUS to Washington’s 2024 crime rates.
“In just a few nights, President Trump’s bold actions to Make DC Safe Again have already removed dangerous weapons and illegal drugs from DC streets — and that’s not even taking into account the countless potential crimes that were deterred thanks to a large, visible law enforcement
City moving forward with NYCHA FEC Houses demolition, but some speak out against plan
By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff
The environmental review process for the proposed demolition of New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA’s) Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea (FEC) Houses in Manhattan has wrapped with the publishing of the record of decision (ROD) and findings statement. However, numerous tenants and organizers were opposed to the plan.
The city’s $1.9 billion redevelopment plan is to demolish and replace 24 buildings, which contain 2,056 existing units, and create up to 3,454 new units in seven acres of public housing development land –– one of the largest planned public housing demolitions in the city’s history –– and ideally move displaced, primarily Black and Brown, residents back in once reconstruction is complete.
The plan was launched back in 2019; the NYCHA Board enacted the Bridge Plan, which was supposed to provide additional security, pest control, building system
repairs, and common area and in-unit repairs for the FEC before and during the construction of the new buildings, in 2024. The environmental review process also began in January 2024.
To summarize the ROD, NYCHA considered “all alternatives” plans and public comments, deciding to proceed with the “rezoning alternative” or the “preferred alternative.”
This means that they are moving forward with the FEC demolition, as well as rezoning the area.
With this rezoning alternative, NYCHA has vowed to set aside Section 8 units for existing FEC residents; build new mixed-use, mixed-income buildings with both market-rate and affordable housing units; and provide a range of Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) of 20 to 30% of affordable housing.
With the chosen plan, there will also be “adverse” environmental impacts to local transportation and pedestrian foot traffic, and unavoidable significant noise impacts due to construction, according to the environmental
impact statement.
Anti-demolition tenant organizers continued to speak out against the demo at last month’s NYCHA annual public hearing.
Both Jamie Rubin, chair of the NYCHA Board, and NYCHA CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt said they pride themselves on listening, but those who testified said they felt officials were disengaged and dis-
missive at the meeting.
“And what’s happening here is not policy. It’s violence,” said Renee Keitt, president of the Elliott-Chelsea Tenant Association, in her testimony. “It’s demolition by neglect. Racial capitalism. The commodification of housing.”
Celines Miranda, second vice president of the Elliott-Chelsea Tenant Association, added that,
“From day one, our efforts to stop demolition have been consistently sabotaged, every step of the way, including disregarding our petition of over 950 tenants who signed against the demolition.”
“It is not fiscal prudence. It is not sound housing policy. The tenants deserve better. No demolition. The public deserves better. No demolition,” said Democratic District Leader Layla Law-Gisiko in her testimony. “NYCHA must cancel this demolition plan and return to its original mandate: rehab and preserve public housing.”
Other people who testified at the hearing spoke of a fear of private developers seizing public housing land for market-rate housing and being permanently displaced during the demolition.
Those opposed to the demolition banded together recently to launch a GoFundMe for the Chelsea Public Housing Legal Defense Fund. Their aim is to raise $75,000 to pay for legal representation for disabled and senior FEC residents.
New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Robert Fulton Houses Complex at Chelsea along West 16th Street between 9th and 10th Avenue in New York City, N.Y. on Friday morning, June 25, 2021. (Photo by Elvert Barnes Photography) See
(Pierre Miyamoto/Pexels photo)
Harlem residents enjoy ‘Great Day in Harlem’
By ESMERALDA MORAN
Special to the AmNews
Harlem residents gathered on Aug. 10 as the 51st annual Harlem Week continued with its first outdoor event: A Great Day in Harlem. The event was hosted at the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial Park in Manhattan and featured live musical performances and vendors throughout the day.
The outdoor celebration hosted a number of performances, ranging from gospel to of African and Caribbean performances.
The Caribbean Cultural Center and African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) was also part of the Afribembé Festival. Their performances aimed to connect the audience with their diasporic roots and celebrate Black roots.
“We want to make sure that we represented different groups throughout the diaspora and showed that, just like in a con-
stellation, that we’re all interconnected just in terms of our roots and ancestry from the motherland Africa,” said Sabine Blaizin, deputy director of the CCCADI, in speaking about the importance of being able to share the stage with Harlem at the event.
Harlem Week co-founder William “Tony” Rogers reflected on the history of the week and how it has flourished since its initial conception in 1974. “It started out as a day in 1974, so as we started adding on, and other people were looking for other things that they wanted to do, we understood that the media was looking at us, and this is a way for us to promote the positive aspects of the Harlem community,” said Rogers.
Multiple guests made the stage, including Voza Rivers, who co-founded Harlem Week with Rogers and Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce President Lloyd Williams. She spoke to
guests as they celebrated. Taking the stage shortly after was Assemblymember Jordan Wright, one of the younger members in the assembly, with his father Keith L.T. Wright joining him.
Despite Williams’s death last week, Rogers and other Harlem Week organizers have found newfound hope in the future of the festival.
“It’s a good feeling,” said Rogers. “I feel comfortable knowing the work that we’ve done, no matter whether no one knows when their time comes. It could be 20 years from now, it could be in a couple of hours. You’d never know, but I feel comfortable that people now are in the position to continue.”
Harlem Cultural Tourism Summit to bring a royal guest and introduce new tech
By ESMERALDA MORAN Special to the AmNews
The Harlem Tourism Board is hosting a delegation from Ghana at the Cultural Tourism Summit on Aug.14, and they plan to partner with the group in order to facilitate a link to the African nation. One of its special guests is His Royal Majesty Buipewura Abdulai Jinapor II, Vice President of Ghana’s National House of Chiefs, who will be on hand to promote the 2025 Cultural Oneness Festival in Ghana’s northern region.
According to the Harlem Tourism Board website, HRM Jinapor II will also receive a key to Harlem; visit the Harlem African Burial Ground; and announce the cultural travel partnership with Harlem and northern Ghana.
is
feature
The tourism board has also been working on using social media in their favor to create an
app that would provide information on different attractions within the Harlem area. There will be a showing of the app the day of the Summit.
“The process is to create an app that would allow for the different locations that we’re talking about, all of the museums, all of the restaurants, all of the different festivals, all of the historic landmarks, someone can have on their phone,” said William ‘Tony’ Rogers, co-founder of Harlem Week.
The app is an upgrade from the first Harlem Map created in 1979 by Rogers and fellow co-founders to put Harlem on the tourism map. The tourism board has been working since 1979 to show Harlem in its truest size, and bring it to the same level of tourism that other parts of the city have.
“The tourism board is creating a marketing campaign, a city within a city, which actually allows for us to promote Harlem to that 600,000 people. And that we hope will create an economic development opportunity for those individuals who are businesspersons and have tourism-related businesses,” said Rogers.
Rogers also notes that as time goes on, it is important to trust the rapid growth in technology and use it to one’s advantage.
“As we go into the new age of data, which I’m not necessarily familiar with, it’s a new way to reconnect because that mapping guide connected Harlem on paper and created tourism. We hope that this app will not only help those 600,000 plus people within the city, but anybody in the world.”
That
just one
of the Summit at the Renaissance Hotel taking place during Harlem Week.
Stilt walkers, known as Moko Jumbies, make their way through the event. (Esmeralda Moran photos)
Attendees watch Afribembé performance.
Attendees sit in the shade. (Esmeralda Moran photo)
Even Black tech workers face challenges in AI-driven future
By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff
The number of Black students enrolling in technology-oriented higher education programs has been decreasing, leaving challenges when it comes to bringing them into STEM-related fields.
Figures from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) also indicate a decline in the number of Black graduates in engineering and mathematics, and that has advocates concerned.
“One way to analyze the racial and ethnic representation in the STEM workforce is by comparing the distributions to those in the total U.S. workforce,” the NCSES noted in a May 2024 report.
“Using this comparison, in 2021, STEM workers were disproportionately Asian and White ... In 2021, Black or African American workers comprised 8% of workers in STEM occupations, which was lower than their percentage of the total workforce (11%).
The percentage of STEM workers that were Hispanic was 15%, compared with 18% of all workers.”
Black communities, with limited exposure to STEM careers and restricted access to essential K–12 computer science courses, remain underrepresented in STEM fields. This situation could affect employment opportunities for Black workers in an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven future.
Even those currently seeking jobs in tech have faced challenges. Pariss Chandler, founder and CEO of Black Tech Pipeline, said her organization started because a community of Black tech workers had formed on Twitter back in 2018. Black Tech Twitter brought awareness to the fact that there were Black people who wanted to launch their tech careers, but companies weren’t hiring them. There appeared to be a pipeline problem: Tech companies said they couldn’t find Black workers. Black Tech Pipeline essentially became a solution to that problem.
“There’s a sign-up process for job
seekers or opportunity seekers,” Chandler said, “and then there’s a sign-up process for actual companies. [For] opportunity seekers –– that would include Black technologists, Black people looking for work, or others seeking opportunities –– it’s free for them to sign up on our platform and subscribe to our newsletter. And then companies will partner with us so that they can hire those Black technologists.”
The last several years of layoffs in the tech industry, combined with recent reduced support for DEI programs, have led to fewer companies looking to post on the Black Tech Pipeline job board. At the same time, there has been an increase in tech workers signing up and looking for jobs.
“I want to say there was a lot of overhiring during COVID,” Chandler said, “and now AI is in place, and [companies are] replacing workers with AI and not needing to hire as many people as before.
Then you have the anti-DEI mandates where companies are scared to lose funding [or] stakeholders,
or not get backing from partners because they work with companies like Black Tech Pipeline or have certain initiatives, so I think all of those three factors together are the issue.
“It’s really hard to say if anything can be done about that because it’s a human problem. It’s up to a person to decide, ‘I am going to commit to these initiatives regardless of what happens. I am willing to lose funding. I am willing to lose stakeholders who are against practicing DEI.’ It’s hard. It’s not a problem that a solution can easily fix. It mostly depends on the person in charge to say, ‘I will still support these businesses and initiatives no matter what.’”
Still, most tech companies recognize that hiring employees from diverse backgrounds benefits their organization.
“A lot of companies — actually, most companies who have worked with me, and I’ve worked with over 200 companies — are already very aware of the importance of hiring diverse people,
regardless of their appearance,” Chandler said. “When I partner with companies, they’re not just working with Black Tech Pipeline; they might also partner with organizations serving the LGBTQ+ community, the Latinx community, or other groups.”
She noted that hiring a diverse workforce is the right thing to do for businesses to not only reflect a diverse world, but also, from a market standpoint, as a way to attract consumers who wil purchase their products.
“This can also improve retention because your products or services serve a wider range of people, not just one or two demographics,” said Chandler. “If you want to make more money, you should hire people to help develop inclusive products — since a wider market reach ultimately leads to higher profits. Different people view this from various angles; sometimes it’s just about business, and other times, it’s about understanding how the world works and what should be done.”
(Lara Jameson photo)
Trump sics National Guard on D.C. — it’s time for our own boots on the ground
Genocide in Palestine? Fascism in America? The arrival of uncontrovertible proof of both is becoming more evident each moment, and it will no longer be a question of incipient fascism in the U.S. but the full manifestation of it.
A new repressive example looms on the horizon in D.C as the National Guard has been activated by Donald Trump. His rationale (not that he needs one) is that Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Black woman, has lost control of law enforcement in the city, that it’s filthy and overflowing with immigrants and homeless people, and has been “taken over by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals,” present company obviously excluded.
Trump’s announcement of the federal takeover of the capital is, like so much of his policies, based on misinformation and contrary to Bowser’s data revealing that crime “is at a 30-year low.” Of course, as we know so well, his numbers are only accurate when they are favorable for him. We now know how far his threats go, and because this move takes place in the seat of the nation’s government, there is no immunity for the rest of the country.
Many pundits believe this is nothing more than another arrow from his quiver of “mass distraction” — a way of federalizing a city while he deflects the media from the unsealing of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Even if those files are finally revealed, though, they will be less than transparent and probably so heavily redacted that the ink runs.
All of this is occurring as we reel from the further evisceration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, with only a tottering Section 2 pillar still in place, and as we witness what remains of the democratic process crumbling all around us.
The rumble you hear is the sound of tanks grinding their way to the complete militarization of the so-called nation of freedom, justice, and equality. Ah, tanks for the memory, but who needs to be reminded of totalitarian repression? In fact, we knew it was on the way long before this most recent shot across the bow. To match the tanks in the street, it’s time to put our boots of resistance on the ground!
The crisis that looms over classrooms in the coming school year
By NAZILA RAMJAN
As thousands take to the streets to protest across the nation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids are perpetuating a quieter crisis that looms over the upcoming school year for New York City students: chronic absenteeism. In my Jamaica, Queens, classroom, something more profound has been driving my and many other students away: fear of ICE, of family separation, and of what might happen just in walking to school.
Chronic absenteeism is no longer just about truancy or disengagement. It’s a crisis rooted in worry, driven by policies that make schools feel unsafe. In January, President Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security to revoke protections for “sensitive locations” like schools, stripping them of their longheld sanctuary status. This marked a seismic shift in federal guidance.
The result? Schools like mine, once considered safe havens, are now potential sites of immigration enforcement and deportation. A study by the Migration Policy Institute shows that crackdowns on immigration and absenteeism are increasingly interconnected: As stricter immigration enforcement happens, anxiety levels rise and kids miss school out of fear.
Near the end of last school year, I saw a student quietly crying during my English class. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me she was distracted by an upcoming court date that could lead to her deportation. Although my colleague wrote her a letter to help her stay in New York, there was nothing I could do to ease her anxiety at that moment or make the importance of my English lesson compete with that of her uncertain future. Each day, when arriving at school, I seek her out, ensuring she hasn’t joined my school’s ranks
of students who have disappeared overnight without warning or explanation. Nationally, 96% of teachers report that chronic absenteeism affects learning. When students miss more than 10% of school days in a year, they forego lessons that significantly affect their longterm success. In my school alone, where more than 200 students live in temporary housing, the average attendance is only 70%. Even those who show up often arrive late — they’re working jobs, lacking reliable transit, or navigating unstable lives at home. Ensuing absenteeism stalls classroom momentum, weakens peer relationships, and widens the achievement gap.
The fear being felt right now ripples beyond immigrant families. Students in class face disrupted learning environments, while also being uncertain of whom they can trust, and worrying about their classmates. They cannot focus in class, and as I’ve witnessed, they’re increasingly lingering in empty hallways, even afraid to walk home.
While one could point to the fact that schools like mine offer students language support, legal aid, and community outreach, even those supports can’t undo the broader effects of the Trump administration’s assault on school and student protections, and the impact on
chronic absenteeism. Instead of focusing on other distractions like book bans or censorship on campus, the administration should be creating environments where students feel safe to learn, with a sense of belonging. Teachers overwhelmingly agree with this premise: 74% support the guaranteed right of undocumented students to attend public school.
No student should have to choose between education and safety. Yet, that is precisely the choice many are forced to make, fueling a national absenteeism crisis and undermining the foundation of public education. This is not a partisan issue; it’s an issue of humanity.
My New York City classroom shouldn’t be a battleground for politics. While schools nationwide stand firm in protecting students and their education, educators and community leaders must continue advocating for policies that keep students learning, regardless of immigration status.
And we, both as a country and right here in New York City, must demand that leaders guarantee schools are the safe havens for learning that they ought to be.
Nazila Ramjan is a New York City educator and member of Educators for Excellence–New York.
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Diabetes is a crisis for New Yorkers — and extreme heat heightens risks
By THERESA RENART
New York City is sizzling and the extreme heat presents a significant threat for New Yorkers living with diabetes that we don’t talk about nearly often enough. Dehydration spikes blood glucose levels and can reduce kidney function. Diabetes damages nerves in the sweat
glands, and overall, is a condition harder to manage in the heat.
Combatting the mounting diabetes crisis in New York City amid this era of rising temperatures requires more public awareness, proactive policy changes, and investments in public health.
As a nurse specializing in diabetes education, I’m on the frontlines and see
how this disease alters lives — often in ways that could have been prevented with earlier intervention. Black New Yorkers are particularly vulnerable and more likely to succumb to the disease than their white counterparts.
More than a million New Yorkers live
(U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement photo)
Another spot marks the impact of Malcolm X in Harlem
By HERB BOYD
It seems that every so often, at least each quarter of the year since his assassination in 1965, Malcolm X (ElHajj Malik El-Shabazz) has been in the news; mainly because of an incident related to a family member, governmental affairs lawsuits, activists commemorating or celebrating some facet of his extraordinary brief stay among us.
On Aug. 10, when Gov. Kathy Hochul renamed the subway station at 110th Street and Central Park North to 110th Street-Malcolm X Plaza, we received a fresh reminder of his life and legacy.
“One of the best ways to celebrate
the rich history and community of Harlem is to recognize the contributions of Malcolm X and the Harlem Renaissance to New York and to the world,” Hochul told a throng of onlookers. “From the struggle [for] civil rights and equality to boundary-breaking cultural impacts of American icons like Zora Neale Hurston and Duke Ellington, Harlem has been at the center of progress in our nation for generations.” The governor didn’t have to look too far to be reminded of Ellington, whose statue hovered nearby. However, this was another Malcolm moment and three of his daughters were there, including Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz, who has been indefatigable in
keeping her father’s memory alive.
An inscription above the stairs leading into the subway presents Malcolm’s words: “I believe in a society in which people can live like human beings on the basis of equality.”
As a nation, we continue to struggle to live up to these words, but it’s a meaningful step in that direction to see another landmark honoring a freedom fighter and human rights activist. From this plaza, you can look down 110th Street and see another plaza bearing his name. We are accumulating places with his name — now it’s time to make his legacy resonate in our school system and echo in the halls of justice.
I am a Discovery student at Bronx Science. My SHSAT score doesn’t define me
By MARIAM MUSA Chalkbeat
First Person is where AmNews partner Chalkbeat New York features personal essays by educators, students, parents, and others thinking and writing about public education.
As a student at the Bronx High School of Science who scored below the cutoff on that school’s entrance exam, it’s easy to feel like I don’t belong.
I attend one of the city’s nine elite specialized high schools. For eight of them, admissions are based on one number: an applicant’s score on the SHSAT, which stands for the Specialized High School Standardized Admissions Test.
The exam has been compared to the SAT, but most colleges take more than just test scores into account, also considering high school classes, grades, extracurricular activities, and volunteer work.
When I took the SHSAT along with about 26,000 eighth graders, I remember feeling like my whole academic future depended on how I did.
Although I didn’t score high enough to get an automatic offer at Bronx Science, today I am a rising junior there. That’s thanks to the Discovery Program, which offers specialized high school access to economically disadvantaged students who score just below the admissions cutoff. Discovery students are invited to complete a month-long summer program to earn a specialized high school seat. Currently, about 20% of specialized high school seats are reserved for students in the Discovery Program, which the city expanded in 2018 as part of a broader initiative to increase diversity at these elite schools.
I am what other specialized high school students sometimes call a “Discovery kid.” Feeling worthy of being at Bronx Science and surrounded by students who outscored me is a challenge that takes more than studying to overcome.
From the first day of school, I sheepishly pledged to myself that I would never, ever reveal my SHSAT score (471).
This number stayed with me throughout much of my freshman year. At times, it felt like a reminder of how far I had to go academically. I was worried that my peers would see
me differently if I revealed that I was a “Discovery kid.” I found myself engaging in intellectual comparison. From test scores to IQ, from class rank to my student ID, it felt like I was defined by cold, hard, unchangeable numbers. While I was busy doubting myself, my peers didn’t seem to be judging me. Not once during my first semester of freshman year did anyone ask me my SHSAT score. However, they did ask me to join in many of the clubs and extracurricular activities at Bronx Science. I’ve since joined the school’s Legal Society, Muslim Student Association, National Organization of Women, and Model U.N. Each group is a way to engage with like-minded students and develop valuable connections.
By sophomore year, busy with schoolwork and extracurriculars, it was finally sinking in: I am more than any number. I am worthy of going to Bronx Science alongside some of the brightest minds in New York City. Are my grades perfect? No. But is the number scribbled in red pen atop an exam paper the numerical embodiment of my intellect or self-worth? Also no.
I call what I feel now “fulfillment with imperfection,” and it means letting go of the pressure to be flawless. It means understanding that joy comes from personal growth, not from comparing yourself to others or trying to prove yourself to them.
Mariam Musa is a rising junior at the Bronx High School of Science. She has a passion for law, art, and literature, and is a member of the Anti-Bullying Committee at her school.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
Climate change is real
CHRISTINA GREER, PH.D.
I have been so overwhelmed by some of the natural disasters affecting communities in New York, around the United States, and throughout the world. The floods, the fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and more, all seem to be more frequent and more severe each year. I am genuinely curious what it will take for some people to take climate change seriously and act.
At the beginning of the year, my dear friend lost his home in the Altadena fires. The aftermath of those fires was among the most destructive I had seen firsthand when I visited California in March. I could not believe communities all over California had been dealing with the effects of fires for years. I thought about the lives lost and historic communities destroyed. So much history was lost in an instant, and some factors contributing to the deadly fires stem from climate change that has worsened with each passing year.
I also cannot stop thinking about the recent floods in Texas. I think about all of the people still missing and their loved ones who do not have closure. I think about flash floods that took people’s lives in the blink of an eye and how places like Maryland, D.C., and even New York are experiencing the same aggressive patterns with increasing speed. I think about all of the little girls at camp who are still missing and those who are back home and will forever be traumatized by these events. All because we as a nation refuse to take the changes to our
climate seriously. It makes no sense that we have warm and balmy weather in November and freezing rain in late May. Flowers don’t know when to bloom. Birds are getting confused as to when to begin their migration journeys. Ocean waters are warming and killing fish and ocean life at rates that are not sustainable. And forests are burning to the ground, reducing the trees we need for survival and clean air.
Even though things are dire, we must still work toward making changes. We must pressure our elected officials to work on legislation that will protect the planet for us and those who will come after us. The polar ice caps (aka the world’s air conditioner) are melting and creating the adverse effects we are experiencing today. The problems are massive, but the solutions can start on a minor level. We can be the change we hope to see. We must recycle, reduce our electrical consumption, and educate ourselves about the way increased AI usage affects our communities and resources. Most importantly, we must remember that we absolutely can make a difference.
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University; author of book “How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams” and “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream” and is co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.
Mariam Musa (Mariam Musa photo)
Caribbean Update
Jamaica to vote soon
BY BERT WILKINSON Special to AmNews
Two Caribbean Community (Caricom) nations head to the polls early next month, and a third head of government is readying to name a date, capping one of the busiest electoral years for the 15-member bloc in recent history.
Guyana, which hosts the Caricom, will vote on September 1, while on Sunday night, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness ordered the nation to get ready to cast ballots on September 3, two days after Guyana.
In St. Vincent in the Eastern Caribbean, the regional subgrouping of Caricom is awaiting a date from Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves for when the multi-island federation will vote with the Grenadines — the constitutional deadline is November.
When done and dusted, 2025 might be one of the busiest electoral years for the bloc and its associate members in recent memory, with elections already completed in Trinidad, Suriname, Belize, Anguilla, Curacao, the Turks and Caicos islands, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands.
As Guyana and Jamaica step up campaigning, Prime Minister Phillip Davis of the Bahamas recently ended speculation
that his archipelago off Florida will vote this year, saying his administration has much more work to do and will face the polls next year rather than 2025, as the main opposition had been demanding.
Speaking at a mass rally in the capital on Sunday, Holness ended speculation about which day in September Jamaicans will vote. His administration’s constitutional mandate runs out in September, meaning he had little choice but to name a date quickly. Nominees for parliament will present their lists on August 18.
Holness, 53, is chasing history in seeking a third consecutive term. If he succeeds, he would be tied with elder statesman P. J Patterson, who racked up three consecutive terms before retiring nearly two decades ago.
“I don’t need to tell you that this is the best-performing government in the history of Jamaica. This is the strongest, most active, and most strategic government ever,” Holness told a sea of party supporters clad in green party attire. He noted that his labor party (JLP) successfully guided the nation through the Covid pandemic and last year’s battering from Hurricane Beryl, “and we never missed a beat. We take the resources and we make them more. We are good stewards and we ask you the people, the masters,
to make a judgement, to make a choice on who will steward your affairs.”
The main opposition People’s National Party (PNP), led by white Jamaican attorney Mark Golding, is fancying its chances of a major turnaround from 2020 when it performed so poorly that it picked up only 14 of the 63 parliamentary seats. Its confidence has been buoyed by its strong showing in recent local government elections, where it had competed competitively with labor. Polls are also showing that the electorate might be tiring of labor, with a slew of corruption scandals at the feet of Holness and other party functionaries. Still, Holness said he is confident of a third term.
“In just a decade, we have transformed Jamaica from the brink of economic collapse into the strongest economy since our independence,” he said. “We have conquered the challenges of macroeconomic stability and debt reduction — hard-fought victories that have freed us from the cycle of crisis after crisis. It is now time for us to build on the strong foundation that we have created to focus on generating robust growth that will deliver more opportunities for all Jamaicans to pursue their God-given talents and fulfil their dreams and aspirations.”
For his part, Golding said his party is ready to take the government. “Comrades, we have
been waiting for this moment for a very long time. We have been walking the length and breadth of Jamaica,” Golding said. “The highways and byways, the hills and the valleys, and everywhere we go as a united party, the people say they are ready for change, and all we have wanted for so long is for the government to change and to call the election so that we can move forward as a nation. Obviously, they were running scared because no government leaves it to the 11th hour, and really, the election called itself because they were out of time,” he said, in direct response to Holness’s announcement.
Donald Trump’s census power grab is direct threat to democracy
I spent more than 12 years leading CARIB ID, the organization I founded in 2008 to ensure Caribbean immigrants could be recognized and counted accurately in the U.S. Census. In 2020, our fight paid off: For the first time in Census history, immigrants — and anyone in the U.S. with foreign heritage — could write in their identity and be counted as they truly are.
The U.S. Census Bureau itself has long stressed that every person counts, regardless of immigration status, because the Constitution demands it. Now Donald Trump is moving to undo that promise and weaponize the census for partisan gain, much as he tried to do in his first term.
Last week, Trump instructed the Commerce Department to change the way the U.S. Census Bureau collects data, explicitly ordering the department to exclude immigrants who are in the United States without legal status.
In his own words, the next count will be based on “modern-day facts and figures” and “information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024” — a chilling signal that he intends to
inject his political agenda into what should be a nonpartisan, constitutional process.
Make no mistake: The goal here is not accuracy; it’s power. Removing millions from the count will shift congressional seats, redraw political maps, and funnel federal dollars away from communities with high immigrant populations, disproportionately affecting states like New York, California, Florida, and Texas. This is not a census. It’s a nationalist maneuver designed to intimidate, disenfranchise, and tilt future elections.
Experts say Trump’s plan is riddled with legal and logistical problems. Under the Constitution and the Census Act, he cannot unilaterally order a new census. Congress would have to approve any major changes, and the Census Bureau would face enormous operational hurdles to carry out a mid-decade headcount. Even if attempted, such a process cannot legally be used for congressional apportionment in a year that does not end in zero.
“This isn’t something you can do overnight,” said Jeffrey Wice, a census and redistricting expert at the New York Law School. Terri Ann Lowenthal, a former congressional staffer and census consultant, called it a “half-baked idea.”
In the past six to seven months, however, we’ve seen how quickly things we once thought untouchable can be undone. The real danger lies not only in whether it can be done,
but in why it’s being done. Trump has a long history of trying to manipulate the Census for political advantage. In 2019, the Supreme Court blocked his attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census after the administration failed to justify it. The Census Bureau’s own experts warned that such a question would drive down participation among Hispanic and immigrant communities, resulting in an undercount of millions.
When that effort failed, Trump tried another end run: ordering that undocumented immigrants be excluded from the apportionment count used to divide up seats in Congress. Courts ruled the plan illegal, and the Supreme Court ultimately sidestepped the issue after Trump lost re-election.
This latest push fits into a broader pattern of undermining federal statistics to suit his political narrative. Trump recently fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after standard revisions to the monthly jobs report undercut his claims of an economic boom. As Margo Anderson, a historian of the Census, put it, “Trump is basically destroying the federal statistical system. He wants numbers that support his political accomplishments, as he sees them.”
The stakes could not be higher. The Census is not just a headcount — it’s the foundation of American democracy. It determines congressio-
nal representation, shapes political maps, and directs $2.8 trillion in federal funding for schools, hospitals, roads, and disaster recovery. If immigrants — documented or not — are erased from that picture, so too are the communities they help build, sustain, and pay taxes into.
I have seen firsthand how hard it is to convince people — especially undocumented immigrants — that they can trust the system enough to be counted. Trump’s proposal would undo decades of outreach in an instant, replacing reassurance with fear. And fear is exactly what he wants, because fear keeps people silent, invisible, and powerless.
America cannot afford a politicized Census. Every person must count, because every person matters. To manipulate that truth for partisan advantage is not just bad policy — it is an attack on the Constitution itself.
The fight to protect a fair and accurate Census is not over. We must resist any effort to turn this essential democratic tool into a weapon of voter suppression, because if Trump succeeds, the damage will not last one election cycle — it will last a decade or more. And democracy may not survive the count.
Felicia J. Persaud is the founder and publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com, the only daily newswire and digital platform dedicated exclusively to Caribbean Diaspora and Black immigrant news across the Americas.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness giving joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at his office in Kingston, Jamaica, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)
Saved from militants, Timbuktu’s famed manuscripts return home after 13 years in Mali’s capital
By BABA AHMED Associated Press
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — The Malian military government on Monday started returning home the historic manuscripts of Timbuktu, which were spirited out of their fabled northern city when it was occupied by al-Qaidalinked militants more than a decade ago. Islamic radicals destroyed more than 4,000 manuscripts, some dating back to the 13th century, after they seized Timbuktu in 2012, according to the findings of a United Nations expert mission. They also destroyed nine mausoleums and a mosque’s door — all but one of the buildings on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
The majority of the documents dating back to the 13th century — more than 27,000 — were saved by the devotion of the Timbuk-
tu library’s Malian custodians, who carried them out of the occupied city in rice sacks, on donkey carts, by motorcycle, by boat and four-wheel drive vehicles.
The first batch of manuscripts was brought to Timbuktu by plane from the capital of Bamako, authorities said, adding that the return was necessary to protect them from the threats of Bamako’s humidity.
The shipment consisted of more than 200 crates and weighed some 5.5 tons. The rest would be shipped in the coming days, officials said.
About 706 kilometers (439 miles) from Bamako, Timbuktu sits on the edge of the Sahara Desert and has a dry climate. For years, the local municipal and religious authorities have asked for the return of the manuscripts.
Diahara Touré, Timbuktu’s deputy mayor,
said the famous documents are important to the local people as they “reflect our civilization and spiritual and intellectual heritage.”
“This is the first stage” of the return, said Bilal Mahamane Traoré, a local official.
In February, the military government made a commitment to return the manuscripts, according to Bouréma Kansaye, the Malian Minister of Higher Education. He described them as a “legacy that bears witness to the intellectual greatness and crossroads of civilization” of the city of Timbuktu — “a bridge between the past and the future.”
“We now have a responsibility to protect, digitize, study, and promote these treasures so that they continue to enlighten Mali, Africa, and the world,” Kansaye said during Monday’s return ceremony.
The manuscripts, which UNESCO has designated as part of the World Cultural
Heritage, cover a myriad subjects, from Islamic theology and jurisprudence, astronomy, medicine, mathematics, history, and geography. They are a testimony to the rich cultural heritage of the Mali and Songhai empires in West Africa.
Mali, along with neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, has long battled an insurgency by armed militants, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following two military coups, the ruling junta expelled French troops and instead turned to Russia for security assistance.
Still, 13 years after the occupation of Timbuktu, the security situation in Mali remains precarious and analysts say it has worsened in recent months. Although the city is back under government control, militants continue attacking its surroundings, including as recently as last month.
Manuscripts from Timbuktu rescued and taken to the Malian capital of Bamako. (Mark Fischer, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
Arts & Entertainment
Your 2025 Emmy Awards Ranked-Choice Guide
Category: Outstanding Television Movie
By MARK WINSTON GRIFFITH Special to the AmNews
The 77th Emmy Awards will be held this September 14 and broadcast on CBS and Paramount+. Chances are, you haven’t seen all of the nominated productions. That’s a good thing, trust me.
So starting today and over the following four weeks leading up to the Emmy Awards broadcast, I will release my ranked choices of the nominees, from least favorite to most favorite, in four marquee categories: Outstanding Television Movie; Outstanding Limited Or Anthology Series; Outstanding Comedy Series; and Outstanding Drama Series.
These choices are NOT predictions of what will win, nor am I trying to tell you what is the objectively “best” television film or series. Hopefully, reading these mini reviews will simply help you be a more informed and discerning viewer.
This week: Outstanding Television Movie
5. Netflix’s “Nonnas”
Inspired by real events, “Nonnas” tells the story of Brooklynite Joe Scaravella (a sleep-walking Vince Vaughn), who works through the mourning of his mother and a mid-life crisis by risking his job, life savings, and friendships to open an Italian restaurant in Staten Island. Rather than hiring professional chefs, Joe recruits his favorite Italian-American mothers and grandmothers from around the way, and brings their feisty personalities and cherished cooking skills from the old country to life.
Well, that sums up the screenwriting goal at least. With so many shows these days offering inside views of commercial kitchens, not to mention “The Bear” and its darkly comedic dive into the fooddrenched lives of an Italian-American family, you would hope “Nonnas” would invite us to sit down and dine on some gourmet-level storytelling. Instead, we’re issued a can of expired Chef Boyardee.
“Nonnas” most notably features every recognizable, albeit slightly faded, Italian Hollywood name you can think of (Talia Shire, Lorraine Bracco, Brenda Viccaro, Linda Carddinelli, Joe Manganiello, Drea de
Matteo) and is headlined by some italianadjacent types (Vaugh and Susan Sarandon). In other words, it’s an ensemble of otherwise talented performers shoved recklessly into a casting dumpster. The cast members don’t so much act as animate a series of Italian schticks and tropes set to an Italian score worthy of air quotes. Mama mia, that’s a lousy meatball!
4. Apple TV’s “The Gorge”
What if a private defense contractor was secretly hiding a No Man’s Land gorge filled with mutants cultivated to produce super soldiers? No, this is not a chapter out of
“X Men,” but the shaky premise for “The Gorge.” Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy play American Levi Kane and Lithuanian Drasa, two unwitting snipers, recruited to contain a modern-day “Island of Dr. Moreau,” and keep it out of sight from humanity. Sigourney Weaver rounds out the film’s star power, but she’s wasted in a role that is the evil corporate sellout twin to her Ripley from the “Alien” franchise.
The first half of the film takes place at the opposite ends of the gorge’s peaks, where Levi and Drasa make googly eyes and share messages across the expanse of the gorge’s canyon. Their placement as dual sentries and their love connection represent, by far, the film’s most effective moments, and it’s a shame Levi and Drasa can’t hold their positions on the watch. The secondhalf action takes place at the bottom of the murky valley where freaky creatures, military secrets, and chase scenes await, but the shoddy science fiction and half-baked story simply can not sustain any plausible suspension of disbelief. Look away.
3. HBO Max’s “Mountainhead”
Two years after his triumph with “Succession,” Jesse Armstrong has written and directed “Mountainhead” as a satirical look into the souls of tech overlords. If nothing else, Armstrong is a student of the excesses of power and privilege, and “Mountainhead” follows a bro reunion of four disgustingly wealthy tech titans as they spend a mountain retreat scheming to make
(L-R): Lorraine Bracco, Talia Shire, Brenda Vaccaro and Vince Vaughn in “Nonnas.” (Jeong Park/Netflix photo)
Cory Michael Smith, Jason Schwartzman, Steve Carell in “Mountainhead” now streaming on HBO. (Macall Polay/HBO photo)
Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy in “The Gorge,” now streaming on Apple TV+. (Photo courtesy of Apple TV+)
Emmy Awards
markets, world order, and each other bend to their insatiable wills. Each have distinctive features that shape their group dynamic: Ven (Cory Michael Smith) is the world’s richest person, with an arrogance befitting Elon Musk’s and Mark Zuckerberg’s love child. Jeff (Rami Youssef), the thoughtful disrupter among them, has created a revolutionary app that can fact-check A.I., including Ven’s chaos-sewing disinformation machine. Randall (Steve Carell), the oldhead and wannabe mentor, is looking to reverse his terminal cancer diagnosis and outsmart death itself. Souper (Jason Schwartzman), the lowest one in the pecking order, regularly convenes the group at his mountain resort to compensate for the fact that he, unlike the others, is not a billionaire.
Armstrong’s absurdist screenplay makes incisive observations about the talents of these men. The “brilliance” that led them to amass unfathomable amounts of wealth is little more than a randomly winning combination of neurodivergent tics, narcissism and emotional underdevelopment. By the time they turn on one of their own with a Keystone Cops murder conspiracy, their ability to fail upward reaches peak levels. Armstrong once again successfully reveals the misguided frailty of the .1% who shape our global reality. But unlike “Succession,” which gifted us a parade of ridiculously terrible people we were entertained by and even felt sorry for, the Mountainhead four are so utterly devoid of redeemable humanity that they’re just plain childish and boring. The dialogue is predictably snappy, and the writing is consistently smart, but maybe this time, Armstrong is a bit too cynically clever for his own good.
2. Netflix’s “Rebel Ridge”
With Trump on the anti-DEI warpath, we could all use a sturdy, brilliant Black Man to swoop in and push back against cracka tomfoolery. And boy, does “Rebel Ridge” deliver. Aaron Pierre (So this is where the next James Bond has been hiding. He’s British y’all! Just sayin’...) stars as Terry Richmond, an archetypal Black-man-justminding-his-own-damn-business before getting ensnared and ripped off by a racist, crooked sheriff (an exquisitely sinister Don Johnson) in a Louisiana backwater. But this sheriff went ahead and messed with the wrong mutha! When he is pushed too far and prevented from rescuing his unjustly imprisoned cousin, Terry proceeds to, literally, wreck shop. With the help of a court employee, Summer McBride (AnnaSophia Robb), he also uncovers a law enforcement corruption ring with the sheriff at the center.
Terry is — why, of course — a former Marine and Close Combat Specialist, which serves to not only provide highly effective — and realistic — action sequences, but also adds a John Rambo-esque, put-upon
military vet dimension. The plot makes for some surprisingly insightful racial dynamics and micro social commentary, even if it inevitably begins to strain credulity the further down the conspiracy road it gets. But Pierre’s steely presence and his antagonistic chemistry with Johnson are so compelling, you will joyfully suffer the ride, while cheering for some racialized comeuppance along the way.
1. Peacock’s “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” Since 2001 Renée Zellweger, in the role of our favorite hapless blonde, Bridget Jones,
has reliably streaked across our skies every few years like a dimpled comet. Over the course of three movies we’ve watched Jones build a career, declare her sexual independence, fall in love, break up, reunite, get married, and have children.
At the start of the fourth installment, “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” Jones is mourning the untimely death of the love of her life, the endearingly uptight Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). With the support of her raucous friends, including the exuberantly rakish Daniel Cleever (Hugh Grant), Jones struggles to move on emotionally while juggling single parenthood
and earning a living. True to the Bridget Jones formula, Jones triangulates a love adventure, this time with a swoony young hunk (Leo Woodall) and a more mature, brainy, and socially awkward hunk (Chiwetel Edjiofor).
Charming, guffaw-inducing romantic comedies are in short supply these days, and I’m a sucker for one. “Mad About the Boy” is pretty lightweight viewing and you can see most of the plot points a mile away, but Zellweger, Grant, and this latest Bridget Jones episode, like old comfy sweaters, still fit quite nicely and are sentimentally soft to the touch.
Aaron Pierre in “Rebel Ridge.” (Allyson Riggs/Netflix photo)
(L-R) Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mr. Walliker, Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones in “Bridget Jones Diary: Mad about the Boy.” (Jay Maidment/ Universal Pictures photo)
Grammy-winner Bilal performs free concert for Wagner Park reopening
By TANDY LAU Amsterdam News Staff
“Soul Sista” overlooking the Hudson River on a cozy summer night might be enough to fall back in love. At least Bilal hoped so when he performed his 2001 babymaking classic for a free show last Thursday, Aug. 8, at the new and improved Wagner Park in Battery Park City.
The Philly-born artist seemed just as keen about showing off his new music as simply falling back on his Soulquarian pedigree (although he did shout out to the legendary J Dilla, who produced his longing “Reminisce”).
Bilal (full name Bilal Sayeed Oliver) took the stage after 2024’s “Adjust Brightness,”
his first album release in eight years and a departure from his earliest works, with bouncy electronic soundscapes inspired just as much by Aphex Twin and Jai Paul as his church and jazz roots.
“I wanted to create music that challenges the digital age — music that confuses the algorithms and speaks to our humanity,” said Bilal in a press release. “‘Adjust Brightness’ is about love, warmth, and intimacy. It’s an intimate, human record that speaks to the heart in an era of cold, digital sounds.”
A Bilal performance had long topped the wishlist of Maril Ortiz, Battery Park City Authority parks programming director. She pointed to early exposure to his work dating back to her time at a Brooklyn
jazz club that he and his friends frequented. Ortiz later came across Bilal’s post-pandemic renaissance, including the “Bilal: Live at Glasshaus” documentary, which she watched during a flight.
“I just called his management, and the days worked out,” said Ortiz over the phone. “I told them that it’s a new park and it was really special and right in front of the Statue of Liberty — that it would be very welcoming. They loved it and it worked out really well.”
Like Bilal’s two-decade-plus discography, lower Manhattan’s Wagner Park remains a work-in-progress. A $296 million renovation that kicked off in early 2023 aimed to keep up with climate change-fueled coastal flooding after Superstorm Sandy devastated the area
in 2012. Wagner Park reopened in late July; included in the 3.5-acre green space’s facelift are flood barriers and stormwater drains, as well as a new pavilion that will open in phases (a classroom will come this fall and a dining spot will open next year).
“The reopening of Wagner Park is a powerful reminder that investing in climate resilience can — and must — go handin-hand with creating beautiful, inclusive public spaces,” said City Comptroller Brad Lander. “Resilient design, environmental responsibility, and community access are not trade-offs, but the blueprint for a fiscally and socially sustainable city where all New Yorkers can thrive.”
For more info about upcoming programming at Wagner Park, visit bpca.ny.gov.
Endea Owens creates community & connection at annual Community Cookout Aug. 17
By JOHNNY KNOLLWOOD Special to the AmNews
Bassist and educator Endea Owens is bringing her annual Community Cookout to Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park on August 17. The event, presented in partnership with the Marcus Garvey Park Alliance, the National Jazz Museum in Harlem (NJMH), and the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, seeks to create “inclusive spaces that are accessible to anyone no matter their race, gender, or background. Through music, activism, and meals,” according to the NJMH website. “This event strives to make New York a better place.”
Owens, who is based in NYC but was raised in Detroit, has collaborated with industry giants that include Diana Ross, John Batiste, and Wynton Marsalis, and is a member of the Louis Cato-led band for “Stephen Colbert’s Late Show.” She studied at Julliard and was mentored by legendary bassists Ron Carter, Rodney Whitaker, and Marcus Belgrave, and has since appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk, and
as a part of H.E.R.’s band for her 2021 Super Bowl halftime show performance.
In 2020 Owens started the Community Cookout, a non-profit organization that aims to provide communal and cultural connection through music, meals, and education. The organization has hosted dozens of events including free concerts, and has community members in Harlem, Queens, Newark, NJ, and more.
The event, hosted in Marcus Garvey Park from 2-4 p.m., will feature free food on a first-come, first-served basis, as well as a performance by Owens’ group, The Cookout, who will bring their soulful blend of contemporary jazz to the Harlem park. The Community Cookout is only blocks away from the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, which features a variety of free and lowcost programming annually. The museum’s entry fee is donation based, making the institution a fun and accessible destination for the whole family. For more info about the Community Cookout, and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, visit jmih.org.
Endea Owens (Anthony Arti photo)
Grammy-winner Bilal performing at Wagner Park in Battery Park City. (Alexander Noll photos)
Eddie Palmieri, innovator of Afro-Caribbean music, dies at 88
Eddie Palmieri, the percussive pianist, bandleader, composer, and arranger who expanded the concept of Latin music while restructuring the sound of New York City’s salsa landscape, died on Aug. 6 at his home in Hackensack, N.J. He was 88.
The New York Times confirmed via his youngest daughter, Gabriela Palmieri, that his death came after “an extended illness.”
During his career, Palmieri earned distinction as an NEA Jazz Master, with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Recording Academy, and was a recipient of 10 Grammy Awards. In the early 1990s, he introduced vocalist La India with the album “Llegó La India via Eddie Palmieri” (“La India has arrived via Eddie Palmieri”) (Soho Sounds, 1992). She has since become one of the famous Latina voices, following in the footsteps of greats like Graciela and Celia Cruz.
Palmieri consistently explored new terrain. In 1994, recording without vocalists, he featured two former Art Blakey Jazz Messengers — trumpeter Brian Lynch and alto saxophonist Donald Harrison — on the album “Palmas.” The Province labeled the album “infectious African-Caribbean
music with unmistakable jazz roots.” Harrison commented during a phone interview, “I affectionately called him ‘The Maestro.’ Eddie Palmieri shared immense love and understanding with his musicians and audiences, spreading joy, truth, and the vision of a better humanity worldwide.”
Palmieri tailored his own sound by employing a jazz aesthetic based on the Cuban “descarga” (jam session) concept. Like Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver, he engaged creative musicians and allowed them to play inside out while he intuitively played in their kaleidoscope of rhythms. His ensemble, Conjunto La Perfecta, founded in 1961, was one of the first Latin bands to feature multiple trombones for a heavier, more in-depth sound, a thunderous characteristic of salsa music. Key La Perfecta members included mainstay vocalist Ismael Quintana, trombonist Barry Rogers, and the wood flute of George Castro. Palmieri debuted “La Perfecta” (self-titled) in 1962 (Alegre).
Throughout the 1960s, Palmieri was influential in the development of the New York City salsa scene. The pianist’s boisterous trombones and high-flyin’ flute transformed the Latin dance crazes of the cha cha, mambo, charanga, and Pachanga into a more energetic salsa dance style; grooving with fast-paced steps, intense swings, and outrageous turns all done with effortless finesse. That big salsa sound and hypnotic dance moves had the Bronx blazing — it was the place for swingers to be; Palm-
ieri and many Latin musicians were raised and resided in the borough. The hardcore salsa dancers made their way downtown to the Palladium, then the salsa mecca; similar to Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom, the earlier mecca for the acrobatic lindy-hop.
Salsa’s South Bronx birthplace had an abundance of music venues, like Hunts Point Palace, Longwood Casino, Carlton Terrace, Colgate Gardens, and Concourse Plaza. It was where residents, and teenagers like myself, could see Palmieri with La Perfecta, his older brother Charlie (also a pianist), along with ensembles led by Willie Colón, Ray Baretto, and Manny Oquendo.
By 1965, the whispers of Palmieri’s innovative genius had turned to shouts as his definitive album “Azucar Pa’ Ti (Sugar for You)” was released on Tico Records. It was his most successful recording and while all seven tracks were gems, the 8-minute track “Azucar” became and remains the national salsa anthem. Palmieri’s intense percussive solo was one of the best-ever recorded; with Rogers’s raging trombone and soaring flute, the invigorating vocals of Quintana and Oquendo on timbales and bongo, “Azucar” clouded the dance floor like an improvisational explosion of Latin funk and when the smoke cleared, they were still dancing. To this day, La Perfecta and La Perfecta II (with whom he recorded the CD “Ritmo Caliente” (Hot Rhythm) are known as one of the most innovative instrumental danceable groups of its era.
As a teenager living in the east Bronx, it was mandatory to have a few albums under your arm if you considered yourself
to be cool. The compulsory list had to include Miles Davis, Cal Tjader, and Eddie Palmieri’s “Azucar” (just to prove, or at least front, that your salsa moves were in full effect, which you could be obligated to perform on request). In 2009, the track was added to the National Recording Registry as a landmark of American culture. During his success with La Perfecta, Palmieri collaborated with the popular West Coast Latin jazz-engrossed vibraphonist Cal Tjader; together, they released two noteworthy albums: “El Sonido Nuevo” (Verve 1966) and “Bamboleate” (Tico 1967). They were the perfect Latin jazz duo, leaning in for intense solos on the track “Picadillo” and easy sailing on traveled standards like “We’ve Loved Before.” Although both albums displayed a West Coast coolness, Palmieri’s fiery flair was consistent throughout. He was an intense, percussive pianist. He told me during an interview some years ago, “I am a frustrated drummer. I love piano, but somewhere in my mind, I hear those drum beats.” Influenced by pianist McCoy Tyner, he made use of his chord voicings in fourths, which became Palmieri’s signature sound. He later joined forces with seasoned trumpeter and band member Brian Lynch to record the Artistshare CD release “The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project: Simpático” (2005).
“Eddie Palmieri stretched the boundaries of music theory, broke through musical nationalism, uniting instead of dividing Latino communities while stretching racial
Eddie Palmieri arrives for Latin Grammy Awards in New York, Nov. 2, 2006. (AP Photo/ Stuart Ramson, file)
Eddie Palmieri, January 2013. (Goffredo Loertscher photo)
limits of cultural and sonic identities,” said journalist and Latina music historian Aurora Flores Hostos. (You can find her Salsa Diaries on Substack.)
Eduardo Palmeri was born on Dec. 15, 1936, in the borough of the [South] Bronx, where his mother, Isabel Maldonado Palmieri, a seamstress, and his father, Carlos Palmieri, who owned an ice cream parlor, settled after moving from Ponce, Puerto Rico, in 1926. His older brother, Charlie Palmieri, was also born in the Bronx.
Eddie began studying the piano at an early age, like his brother Charlie. The two often participated in local talent shows, but at age 13, Eddie started playing timbales in his uncle’s orchestra, although he eventually returned to playing piano. He was influenced by Monk and Tyner, and inspired by his big brother Charlie, who was playing with elite Latin bands led by Tito Rodriguez and Vincentico Valdes. Charlie later formed his own band called Charanga La Duboney, which gave Eddie even more incentive to one day have his own band.
Palmieri attended P.S. 52 in the South Bronx. Ironically, the school was an incubator for soon-to-be exceptional Latin musicians like Nicky Marrero, Johnny Pacheco, Orlando Marin, and Joe Torres. The school also held weekly dances. They all lived in the same close-knit Puerto Rican and Black community, and often hung out at the local candy store El Mambo (named by Eddie), owned by his father. The thriving neighborhood was also home to the noted Casalegre and Casa Amadeo record stores.
During the 1950s,while still a teenager, Palmieri played in various bands, including Eddie Forrester, Johnny Segui, and the Tito Rodriguez Orchestra.
In 1971, Palmieri recorded “Vamonos Pa’l Monte” (“Let’s Go to the Mountain”) with his brother Charlie playing organ (Charlie died in 1988). That same year, he also recorded “Eddie Palmieri & Friends in Concert, at the University of Puerto Rico.” With his unconventional percussive approach to playing piano and constant search for new music, he formed the ensemble Harlem River Drive, which was a combination of Black and Latin patterns that encompassed elements of salsa, funk, soul, and jazz. Their first self-titled album was released in 1971 (Roulette), followed by two volumes of “Recorded Live at Sing Sing” on Tico Records,
released in 1972 and ’74 respectively. In 1975, Palmieri won his first Grammy Award for Best Latin Recording for “The Sun of Latin Music” with singer Lalo Rodríguez. Palmieri released the album “Masterpiece” in 2000, teaming up with the legendary Tito Puente, who died that year. The album won two Grammy Awards.
Palmieri was a composer, musical stargazer, visionary, agitator, and mentor in boundless pursuit, who influenced generations of musicians. He was a cultural warrior, who accepted his role as a Nuyorican, Puerto Rican to carry on the tradition of Latin music in his own inventive fashion.
He recorded over 40 albums, and played well into his octogenarian years. Palmieri didn’t care for the word “salsa.” He described his music as “Afro-Cuban,” he said in a 2012 interview with the Smithsonian Oral History Project. Through the participation of Puerto Ricans and Nuyoricans like himself, he explained, it had become “Afro-Caribbean. And now it’s Afro-world.” Palmieri is survived by Gabriela and three other daughters, Renee, Eydie, and Ileana; a son, Edward Palmieri II; and four grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife of 58 years, Iraida (González) Palmieri, who died in 2014.
Eddie Palmieri (left) with Luquez Curtis at Marcus Garvey Park Bandshell on May 21, 2015, during a performance of “Harlem River Drive.” (Jonathan Chimene photos)
Eddie Palmieri (left) with Randy Weston at May 7, 2018, Jazz Gallery Honors Gala, where both were honored.
Tito Puente Jr. (center) speaks after Eddie Palmieri, left, and Tito Puente win Grammy for best salsa album for “Masterpiece/Obra Maestra” at 43rd annual Grammy Awards, Feb. 21, 2001, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, file)
When it’s free to get free: Robert Pruitt, Fat Man Scoop, Brandee Younger, and Shakespeare in the Park
By NICOLE M. MOORE Special to the AmNews
The price of eggs may be the only thing that has gone down in the last six months. Between climate change, tariffs, and supply chain issues, the rent isn’t the only thing that’s too high, so when it comes to entertainment, I try to watch my coins — I’ve become a fiscal entertainment snob. Of course, I want to be down with the hotness, but I don’t want to break the bank to do so. That’s why I absolutely love summer in NYC. There are so many exciting performances and things to do and see, and most of these activities are free.
Just this past weekend, the Lyricist Lounge presented Raekwon The Chef at BRIC, Spike Lee hosted a Pop-up Stoop Sale, the Whitney held “Free Second Sundays” where folks caught the last day of Amy Sherald’s fantas-
tic “American Sublime,” and of course, the hottest ticket in NYC may be Shakespeare in the Park. And none of these events costs more than the lint in your pockets. With “no charge” as my compass, I kicked off my weekend with art, and I found myself dashing into Salon 94, 15 minutes before closing, to see Robert Pruitt’s mesmerizing exhibit, “Son Sun Sun Syn Sen Zen Zenith,” which closed the same day. This Texas-raised current Harlemite conjured all the feels with this exhibit. Using nature as metaphor and swag as symbol, he visually gives us what Raekwon (and RZA) served up 30 years ago on wax in their seminal “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…”: the surreal, yet crazy-real interiority of Black angst and desire. This show featured 11 works that alluded to the vast nuance of our resilience as traumatized Black folk by showing, breathtakingly, how that
fortitude is hinged by our hustle and our frustrations; our determination and our vulnerability; our losses and what we can’t afford to forget. I’m so glad I caught it. Saturday saw me making the most of Summer Streets, again, where I enjoyed a concert by the Mama Foundation for the Arts before hopping on a bike and heading south, where I made a pitstop at 109th and Fifth Ave. for the street co-naming ceremony in honor of beloved rapper and hypeman Isaac “Fatman Scoop” Freeman III. Ironically, despite there being a great deal of hype for the renaming of the subway station across town at 110th Street and Central Park North after civil rights icon Malcolm X that took place the following day, there wasn’t so much fanfare for this occasion. Even still, so many hip-hop heavyweights and neighbors showed up to honor a local hero whose big-
gest flex was knowing how to get hip-hop’s usually hard-to-move crowd amped. I spotted Treach from Naughty by Nature, Funkmaster Flex and the legend Kurtis Blow, along with NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Harlem’s own Melba Wilson. Scoop’s childhood friend from 109th, Bobby Smith, stood next to me and remarked, “I remember when he used to work down the street at Mount Sinai, but he wanted to be a deejay. His dedication and perseverance were key because the next thing I knew, I was hearing him at midnight on Hot 97.”
Sunday was a fun day in the park. I started off in Madison Square Park for the inaugural NoMad Jazz Festival, where I caught my Harlem neighbor and harpist extraordinaire, Brandee Younger. Reminiscent of jazz icon Alice Coltrane, Brandee and her trio brought the house down and all the folk to the
yard, including Harlem socialite Lana Turner and preeminent photographer Dawoud Bey. To close out my free-kin weekend, I headed to the newly renovated Delacorte Theater in Central Park to see this year’s Shakespeare in the Park performance of “Twelfth Night.” It was reported that people had been lining up in the park at 5 a.m. to snag tickets, so when my friend Novella Ford, the head of programming at the Schomburg Center, invited me to join her, it was an immediate yes. Where else can you see Lupita Nyong’o (“Black Panther”), Sandra Oh (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”), and singer Moses Sumney for free? I’ll wait. Under a wondrous full moon with a frosé in hand, it became abundantly clear to me that even in the most turbulent of times, there is joy to be had and it doesn’t have to cost a thing.
“Princess with a plague of Grackles” by Robert Pruitt. (Photo courtesy of Salon 94)
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Treach of Naughty By Nature at street co-naming ceremony. Shanny Herrera, William Allen, and Melba Wilson.
Lana Turner, Dawoud Bey, and Dennis Antrobus at NoMad Jazz Festival. (Nicole Moore photos)
Living Colour’s Vernon Reid celebrates 67th birthday with Burnt Sugar Arkestra
By JOHNNY KNOLLWOOD
Special to the AmNews
Guitarist, composer, and longtime New Yorker Vernon Reid celebrated his 67th birthday with a series of concerts at experimental venue space the Stone (55 W. 13th Street) on August 6–9. The virtuoso guitarist, well-known as a member of avant-rock group Living Colour, works in a wide span of musical spaces ,from free jazz to punk and funk — in the last three years alone.
New Yorkers have had the opportunity to see Reid on stage with Living Colour, George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic, Carlos Santana & Jack DeJohnette, a Bad Brains tribute, and so much more. The eclectic nature of Reid’s body of work was on full display at the Stone as he was joined by improvisational group the Burnt Sugar Arkestra Chamber, for an evening of musical exploration that blurred genre lines and pushed the boundaries of the musicians onstage.
The performance featured multi-instrumentals Laaraji, who Reid described onstage as “a true innovator of ambient music,” and included musicians Shelley Nicole (vocals), Miss Olithea (vocals, electronics), Lewis Flip Barnes (trumpet), V. Jeffery Smith (alto, tenor, baritone saxes), Leon Gruenbaum (keyboards, samchillian, vocoder), Ben Tyree (electric guitar), Chris Eddleton (trap
drums, electronics), LaFrae Sci (trap drums, electronics), Shawn Banks (congas, percussion), Jason DiMatteo (acoustic bass), and Jared Michael Nickerson (electric bubble bass), with Reid conducting and playing guitar. “This ensemble is very special,” he said to the sold-out audience. “It was started by Greg Tate.”
Burnt Sugar was created by Tate, a writer, musician, and Harlem native who had a long-running column in the Village Voice. He died in 2021. The group features a revolving door lineup of some of New York’s most fearless and experimental musicians, fusing elements of jazz, funk, rock, ambient drones, and unusual noises to create a beautiful amalgamation of sonic exploration. Reid praised Tate as “one of the most unique individuals I ever met in my life” before the show’s performance. “His thoughts, his vision — people like that don’t come around often.”
The band performed a short set, less than 60 minutes, but audience members who lined up in the hot, muggy lobby for more than an hour before the show were not disappointed — they grooved to the rhythms and met each song with enthusiastic applause. The giant pole in the middle of the venue that obstructs the view of the musicians for many seated behind it did not stop attendees from taking in the peaks and valleys of sound that emanated
from the musicians onstage, who showcased their dynamic range throughout the performance. Improvisational music sometimes has a reputation of being harsh, noisy, even unstructured, but listening to the group’s shining vocal harmonies and melodic ideas, it was hard to know where the improvisations ended and the compositions began. Layers of sound woven together seamlessly, and simplicity became intricacy as seemingly un-complex parts began to fuse together to create an
amorphous sonic landscape. The music, while beautiful, was also at times irreverent, with sounds like players laughing incorporated into the performance.
The Stone is an experimental venue space started by avantgarde saxophonist John Zorn in 2005 that moved to the Glassbox Theatre at the New School in 2018.
“He’s a trip — he’s lovely, he’s very patient,” Reid said to the AmNews in a post-show interview. “He was just wearing me out about when I was going to do my residency, and
we got it together!”
Reid has a long history with the Stone and Zorn, curating performances at the venue as early as 2013. “We’re a community — those of us that play the more radical music,” he told the AmNews “We’re a loose affiliation of weirdos. It’s a beautiful thing.” As experimental venues grow fewer and farther between, the Stone provides a space for uniquely voiced musicians to showcase their spontaneity onstage. True, unabashed expression is a central tenet of free music, and the environment of the Stone. Improvisation has long been used as an element of music that is socially and politically resistant, by pioneers like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and Archie Shepp. “With what’s going on right now, y’all better learn to improvise,” he told the audience near the performance’s end. “Now let’s hit one massive, ignorant chord.” The band blared, with smiles on their faces that mirrored the audiences. At the end of the night, Reid stressed why experimental music, and the space for it, are integral to the artistic community. “We have to have alternative ways to be — we have to have alternative ways to express ourselves,” Reid told the AmNews. “Whatever you’re into — if you’re into metal, freeform, or classical, it’s super-important to have the freedom to choose how you want to speak.”
Vernon Reid performing with Burnt Sugar Arkestra Chamber at the Stone on August 6.
Vernon Reid (fourth from right, in hat) with members of Burnt Sugar Arkestra Chamber at the Stone on August 6. (Photos by Johnny Knollwood)
The legendary Vernon Reid spoke with the AmNews after his recent performance with Burnt Sugar Arkestra Chamber at The Stone in Manhattan.
Blacktronica Festival, Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues, more are among upcoming SummerStage shows
By JOHNNY KNOLLWOOD Special to the AmNews
The end of summer inches closer with each passing moment, but there are still plenty of free concerts and interesting programming presented by Capital One City Parks SummerStage to jam-pack into your schedule before the season comes to a close. Highlights include Flo Fair, a health and wellness fair hosted by Harlem rapper Ferg; the 32nd annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, featuring performances by jazz legends like Ron Carter and Gary Bartz; and Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues experience, narrated by the Academy Award-winning actor.
“For me, it’s always about finding the right artists who are simply New York, and wherever possible, connecting them to communities and parks that resonate with them on a very human, and personal level” said Erika Elliot, executive artistic director of SummerStage for more than two decades, to the AmNews in a phone interview.”
The City Parks Foundation has brought music and art to New York City since 1989 through their annual SummerStage series, which offers connective pathways to culture and community through a diverse array of programming. So far this year, the stage has hosted legendary jazz fusion bassist Marcus Miller; activist and Afrobeats pioneer Femi Kuti; and contemporary funk/jazz drummer Yussef Dayes, who performed selections from his 2023 album “Black Classical Music,” each taking audiences on a journey into the storied artistic history of New York and beyond — tracing Black contemporary art back to its roots in the city and on “the Continent.”
Flo Fair, on August 14 at Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park, will feature yoga classes, sound baths, interactive art, and performances by Harlem rapper Ferg, who wanted to bring wellness practices he learned on the road back to his neighborhood. The event is free, and fans can sign up for wellness activities here.
The next day, August 15, famed jazz drummer Terri Lyne Carrington will take the stage in the same park, performing a reimagination of Max Roach’s “Freedom Now Suite,” a landmark artis-
tic work of the Civil Rights Movement.
On the 16th, “Run It Back: The Art of the Sample” will take place at the Harlem park, hosted by Soapbox Presents, which was founded in the wake of the George Floyd murders and champions “Black and Brown expression.” August 16–17 are jam-packed with celebrations and festivals, so there are multiple opportunities to access free music based on your taste or location. The Blacktronicka Festival, started by artist Charlie Dirk and featuring performances by house legend Phuture, will celebrate Afrofuturism and electronic music at Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield off 72nd Street. Famed DJ and NYC legend Funk Flex will celebrate his birthday at the Coney Island Amphitheater with a plethora of special guests, bringing hip-hop to the spotlight in the city where it was born.
The Charlie Parker Jazz festival, named after the famed genre titan who revolutionized be-bop in Harlem during the mid-20th century, will return for its 32nd year August 22–24. The event will be hosted at Marcus Garvey Park on the 22nd and 23rd, featuring headlining performances by Ron Carter, bassist of Miles Davis’s “Second Great Quintet,” and saxophonist Branford Marsalis. The third day will be held at Tompkins Square Park on the Lower East Side and features former Miles Davis saxophonist Gary Bartz. The next week, on August 27, Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman will narrate a Symphonic Blues Experience at Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield, offering fans a unique way of engaging with cross-disciplinary art and one of film’s most beloved actors.
On August 31, IZA will bring Afro-Brazilian rhythms to the same stage, closing out an incredible season of diverse programming. “Art is for everyone, and in New York, we are so lucky to have been the center of so many important cultural movements,” Elliot told the AmNews. “We live in the best city in the world, I think! And nothing says that better than being able to walk into your neighborhood park and see top-tier talent performing for free … I think it’s a really big celebration of the diversity and beauty of our city and its people.”
For more info, visit cityparksfoundation.org/summerstage.
Femi Kuti and Positive Force at Capital One City Parks SummerStage in Central Park on July 27. (Johnny Knollwood photo)
Rapper Ferg will host Flo Fair on August 14, merging art, wellness, and community in Harlem. (Photo courtesy of Ferg)
Legionnaires
it’s all five zip codes. And in a public health response, it is very important that everyone understand what their risks are.”
Harlemites feeling ill should call or see a doctor as soon as possible. Symptoms are flu-like and include fever, chills and muscle aches. Older and immunocompromised New Yorkers are at highest risk, along with those who smoke or are diagnosed with a chronic lung disease.
Assemblymember Jordan Wright told the AmNews residents in the affected area are advised to run their showers for about five minutes at the hottest temperature possible before getting in. He also recommends
Judges
University, her Juris Doctor from the UC Berkeley School of Law, and her master’s in hospitality management from Cornell University. She serves as an acting Supreme Court justice and Family Court judge in Kings County.
The full slate of nominees also includes Judges Jill R. Epstein, Maria Aragona, Brian L. Gotlieb, J.C.C., Betsy Barros, and Carl Landicino.
them to check the NYC Health Department website and to keep a look out for more public awareness campaigns like an information session scheduled for Aug 12.
Previous outbreaks in 2019 and 2021 were limited to specific buildings or housing developments due to plumbing issues. The current outbreak’s scale is significantly larger due to the number of contaminated cooling towers and zip codes impacted.
According to Manhattan Community Board 10, the late Hazel Dukes penned a letter to the health department over legionnaires concerns more than three years ago. Vice chair Shatic Mitchell says greater public outreach is needed and requested a formal update on the situation.
“We also believe that there must be greater transparency around the location of
Judicial seats tend to be open every year, but judicial races are not the same as political elections for other citywide or county offices. Candidates running cannot ask for or accept campaign contributions, make fancy promises, or be involved in politics (except for a specific period of time during the race). Political parties can use closed-off screening committees to evaluate candidates, fundraising goes through committees, and there is no public financing program as there is for city offices.
To run for a judgeship, candidates must be licensed to practice law in New York for at
cooling towers and other systems linked to these types of outbreaks,” said Mitchell. “People need the tools and knowledge to protect themselves and awareness is the first step towards prevention.”
State Senator Cordell Cleare questioned why Legionnaires’ disease continued breaking out in Black and Brown communities like Harlem. The lawmaker recently introduced a bill mandating building certification for cooling tower legionella testing.
“It’s very mysterious in the way that people are getting it, but not only that, it’s mysterious that it seems that these cases continue to occur in Black and Brown communities at this level. So we’re just trying to figure out what it is, this time, that has made this spread in these particular zip codes. The answers are slow and they’re not there.”
least 10 years. If elected, they serve 14-year terms or until they reach the 70-year age limit.
“Very often, we don’t get a chance to select who is going to be representing us in the court system, but when we do have an opportunity, we need to be involved, we need to vote,” said Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party and the Executive Committee of the Kings County Democratic County Committee, at the judicial Supreme Court forum. “We need to ask our nominees or candidates what they stand for.”
New York City voters play a role in elect-
Quick facts about Legionnaires’ disease:
-Legionnaires symptoms include: fever, chills, muscle aches, cough, headaches, fatigue, loss of appetite, confusion, diarrhea
-People ages 50 or older are at risk, as well as those who are immunocompromised or smoke.
-Those with related symptoms living in 10027, 10030, 10035, 10037 and 10039 should seek medical advice as soon as possible. Nearby hospitals and clinics include: Harlem Hospital (506 Lenox Ave.), Gotham Health - Sydenham (264 W. 118th St.), Metropolitan Hospital (1901 First Ave.) and Ryan Health (138 W. 143rd. St.).
-The outbreak is traced back to 11 cooling towers throughout the Central Harlem area, which were treated with antibacterial agents last week.
ing the delegates of a political party, who then go on to attend a judicial nominating convention and select the party’s candidates for Supreme Court. Voters also vote for the nominated candidates that appear on the back of the ballot in November’s general election.
Bichotte Hermelyn is currently pushing legislation, Assembly Bill A7163, that reforms the election and petitioning process for housing court judges in particular. She said it is imperative that the community is involved in selecting who presides over homeowner, tenant, and property issues.
Education
Good news: Mayor Adams expands student loan reduction program
By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff
As federal student loan interest payments restart this month, Mayor Eric Adams has decided to give eligible New Yorkers a break and expand the student loan reduction and college savings program.
“A college education can help New Yorkers go far, but the financial burden of that education can be overwhelming,” said Adams in a recent op-ed. “For far too many New Yorkers, pursuing a college degree leads to a lifetime of debt.”
The city announced a loan pilot program in May with Summer — a local company focused on simplifying student loan and education assistance for employees — in an effort to help public servants and their family members keep up with payments.
In the few months it’s been operational, the pilot program has helped thousands of city employees at the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), New York City Department of Social Services (DSS), and New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) agencies apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Income-Driven Repayment Plans, according to the city.
The program is expanding to include eligible city residents — an estimated 1.4 million New Yorkers who have student loan debt or are enrolling in college with assistance, said the city. The program could lower student loan payments by an average of $3,000 per year and $7,000 per year for people with advanced degrees.
For loans, Summer will help borrowers check eligibility for the DOE’s income-driven repayment plan and loan forgiveness
programs, manage student debt, and avoid default and/or forbearance. To save on college costs, Summer connects borrowers to financial counselors and trained experts.
“Student loan repayment and college cost planning are increasingly complex processes to navigate,” said Summer Founder and CEO Will Sealy in a statement. “Thankfully, the City of New York is stepping up to provide additional access to resources, tools, and programs to reduce that complexity. In just the first three months of the city employee program, the city has achieved $13.8 million in savings and a $3,800 average reduction in annual student loan payments.”
The U.S. Department of Education initially paused federal student loan payments back in March 2020, due to the COVID pandemic. Former President Joe Biden then implemented a one-year grace period and
launched the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan, which put eligible loans in forbearance with a 0% interest rate, in 2023. In 2024, a Republican-led effort to block the SAVE plan played out in the courts. Earlier this year, a second federal court injunction ended the 0% interest rate. The Education Department restarted the collection process for outstanding loans on August 1.
“We applaud New York City for stepping up and providing a service to help borrowers navigate the current uncertainty and chaos in the student loan system,” said Winston Berkman-Breen, legal director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, in a statement. “New York continues to set the standard nationally for how cities can address the student loan crisis, especially by meeting borrowers where they are and offering individualized assistance.”
Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga, and New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) Commissioner Louis Molina announce first-of-its-kind municipal student loan
City residents. Brooklyn Public Library, Coney Island Branch. Thursday, August 7, 2025. (Ed
Photography Office)
already removed dangerous weapons and illegal drugs from DC streets — and that’s not even taking into account the countless potential crimes that were deterred thanks to a large, visible law enforcement presence,”
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson wrote in a statement. “This is just another promise made, promise kept for President Trump.”
In the District of Columbia, there seemed to be little shock about what was happening across her city from Mayor Muriel Bowser, who said she’d been forced long ago to consider the possibility of Trump trying to take power away from her administration.
“While this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can’t say that, given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we’re totally surprised,” Bowser told reporters Monday, later briefly referencing Trump’s moves in California.
Without statehood, the District of Columbia isn’t afforded the same constitutional protections as most other places to fight back. But how far the administration can go in exerting itself in other places remains an open question.
The Trump administration is embroiled in legal battles over its deployment of the California National Guard and the U.S. Marines into the streets of Los Angeles. Bypassing Gov. Gavin Newsom, Trump issued sweep-
ing orders earlier this summer for troops to crack down on protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. Federal judges are actively considering the legality of those orders in an ongoing trial.
Los Angeles City Council member Monica Rodriguez told NOTUS that the administration’s previous actions in her city make the threat of yet another round of federal law enforcement expansion especially concerning.
“You see individuals with semiautomatic weaponry and fatigues roaming your street,” Rodriguez said. “It’s intended to inflict fear among residents, and that’s, sadly, apparently been the posture of this president.”
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson’s office told NOTUS that city officials have been “closely monitoring” the situation unfolding in the District of Columbia.
“Portland remains a proud Sanctuary City within a Sanctuary State, and we continue to actively oppose federal overreach through coordinated legal efforts,” a spokesperson for Wilson wrote, adding that the city has also seen violent crime decrease this year thanks to “local strategies and communitybased interventions.”
Elected officials in other parts of the country are also nervous, citing fears that the president could set his sights on other blue cities, including those outside his initial list of targets.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas guessed that his city was not named in Trump’s announcement because it’s in a Republican-controlled state, affording it a level of
protection against the administration’s law enforcement agenda.
“They don’t really care about scaring Missourians or Kansans, because they’re already voting this way, at least the majority,” Lucas told NOTUS.
Trump did not explicitly name several redstate cities with high homicide and other crime rates, like Memphis or New Orleans, in his announcement, focusing instead on cities in Democratic strongholds.
But Lucas added he’s worried that if Trump follows through on expanding federal troops in more cities, Kansas City could see a growing cycle of “retaliatory violence,” while issues like the need for more law enforcement at big events go ignored.
Chicago alderman Raymond Lopez told NOTUS he wasn’t convinced that “Trump is going to weaponize the National Guard against cities like Chicago.”
He said he was more fearful that the city’s mayor and Illinois’s governor, who have been high-profile critics of the administration, are provoking Trump, which could lead the president to retaliate against the city in other ways. One of his worries was that the administration would pull federal funds, which Trump has already threatened.
“It’s long overdue for our mayor and governor to go meet with Donald Trump to see where there are any areas of cooperation possible,” Lopez said. “Continuously poking the bear is going to wind up getting Chicago bit by that bear.”
Gov. JB Pritzker (Illinois) and Mayor Bran-
don Johnson (Chicago) did not respond to a request for comment.
Some Democrats in Congress joined in with local Democratic lawmakers in decrying Trump’s eagerness to send troops to U.S. cities.
“With D.C. crime at a 30-year low, he’s sending in the Guard in an authoritarian power grab. We must stand against it, or other cities will be next,” Rep. Nydia Velázquez, who represents part of New York City, posted Monday on X.
The threat of Trump sending soldiers into their backyards puts Democrats in a precarious situation as they weigh their next moves.
Several leaders were reticent to comment. Spokespeople for Philadelphia’s and Phoenix’s mayors declined to comment when reached by NOTUS, and spokespeople for the mayors of other major blue-state cities, including Denver, Boston, and San Diego, didn’t respond.
Some of that silence from local officials could be because they are figuring out how to move forward strategically, said LiJia Gong, policy and legal director at Local Progress, a progressive organization that works on economic policy and promoting racial justice at the local level.
She argued that city leaders should take Trump’s threats seriously.
“Everyone should be preparing, and the threats should be taken at face value,” she said.
This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and The City.
Health
EMPATHS program – Help always there for maternal mental health
By HEATHER M. BUTTS, JD, MPH, MA Special to the AmNews
Rachel Schwartz is the Senior Director of Maternal and Child Health at Public Health Solutions (PHS). Ashley Powell is a social worker for its EMPATHS program, a maternal mental health research network that addresses the needs of pregnant and postpartum parents. They spoke with the Amsterdam News about their EMPATHS program and work to improve public health in New York City.
AmNews: Can you give me some background about the work that Public Health Solutions does?
Rachel Schwartz: We are the largest public health nonprofit serving New York City. Our vision is healthy families, thriving communities and health equity in New York City. In our maternal child health unit we make that happen through implementing proven approaches that we know improve pregnancy outcomes, that improve child devel-
opment, and central to all of that is positive parent child interaction.
A lot of the work that we do is really relationship-based because we know that makes a difference outside of the maternal child health unit where we have about 10 home visiting programs and several other initiatives. PHS is also the largest provider of WIC in New York State, the special supplemental program for women, infants, and children. We do a lot of benefits enrollment.
PHS does a number of other things in terms of supporting smaller nonprofits with what’s called contracted management services so we are the master contractor for the New York City Department of Health and we receive funds and then distribute them and provide technical assistance to hundreds of community-based organizations across the city.
PHS’s most well-known initiative at this point is called WholeYouNYC. It brings together everything that we have historically done ranging from those contract man-
agement services and direct work in our neighborhood health division working in communities. WholeYouNYC is a community resource network and a social care network to support New Yorkers with connecting to social care-related needs. So that is kind of the newest approach that PHS has taken and we’ve been building on this work to create community resource networks and make it easier for individuals and families to connect to services throughout the city.
AmNews: Please tell us about the EMPATHS program.
Schwartz: EMPATHS is actually a loose acronym for enhanced perinatal mental health spectrum of support. It is the important part because we know that not every individual needs or wants to be connected to a licensed psychotherapist. Some people are seeking community. I think the example I give a lot of the time is new parents who have recently arrived to the country. We work with hundreds, if not thousands,
of recent arrivals in this country or people who’ve moved from other boroughs. They don’t have the support of their community around them when they’re pregnant, birthing and postpartum and so we wanted to make sure in that spectrum that it started off with peer-based, communitybased support groups for pregnant folks , for postpartum folks and then that spectrum ranges to referral partners who are social worker-led groups. . . One of the most important things for EMPATHS is we also put emergency resources into every person’s hand so every person we talk to, we make sure that they know about the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline.
Ashley Powell: I think since the navigators have kind of opened up this conversation with the screening, a lot of people have felt more seen and heard and I’ve been hearing that also from the navigators as well, so we do work as a team to get the clients the support and the services that they need. Part of my role is just almost like that immediate support. As Rachel mentioned, there’s a screener involved in the conversation. It is okay to talk about how you’ve been feeling. Once we see the clients are open to talking with someone, we work together to see what services are beneficial for the client. . . It’s just been great to see once they open up that conversation with them, just how much they’re getting the support that they need in real time so I [have] been able to meet with the clients, connect them to long-term services, provide groups. . . Postpartum Support International [trained] our navigators on how to have these difficult conversations.
AmNews: What else should people know?
Schwartz: One of the things that I often say is mental health is experienced by everyone and so . . . having a huge community around you is not necessarily protective of someone’s likelihood of experiencing a mental health disorder or just needing more community. What we would love people to know is that here is always help available. Powell: I feel like letting people know that they’re not alone in their experience and that there [are] resources because the thing that I’ve noticed is that a lot of people really don’t know what the resources are, and they’re almost shocked. I’ve even heard this from the navigators. They’re shocked. ‘Oh I didn’t know this was here, I didn’t know there were so many things available to me.’ I didn’t know . . . I could get diapers, I didn’t know all of these things. It’s okay to open up the conversation about how you are doing, and it’s okay to not be okay.
Editor’s Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Roundtables
Continued from page 6
common among roundtable participants.
“People put these young men in boxes as perpetrators of gun violence, not realizing they’ve actually been victims, and they’ve witnessed it, and all the trauma that they’ve experienced,” he said. “The [Department of Corrections] is not going to ever look at them as victims of violence, and this roundtable brings them into an area where they can talk about being victims.”
Eventually, Sharif realized that putting his gun down would require moving away from Wilkes-Barre once he was released from prison. The support from Wilson and the other participants gave him the belief that he could succeed elsewhere, even though he would be separated from his family and support system.
“[Stevie] helped us write plans out and [gather] resources and build resumés to show that we were putting in work before we were released, to show that we wanted to change before we came [out],” he said.
Since his October 2024 release from prison, Sharif has been living in Philadelphia. He decided to use construction and building certifications, which he earned from Johnson College as part of a prison re-entry program in 2016, to start a home improvement company. His legitimate income stream, and the fact that he has no prior relationships with people in Philadelphia, means he no longer feels the need to carry a gun.
“A lot of the stuff that I got going on now, if I wouldn’t have stopped and slowed down and sat at that roundtable, I wouldn’t be able to do it right now,” he said.
Sharif wants to play a part in steering others away from the streets. He plans to offer jobs at his company for youth at risk for violence, and become a mentor for them.
“They need to understand and know that they are capable of making money legally … That [is] a big problem, too, with gun violence, because when you’re working, you’re not around [the streets],” he explained.
Like Sharif, Andre Johnson, 25, also had a transformative experience from participating in Wilson’s roundtables. Johnson grew up in Philadelphia and Norristown, Penn. His troubles started after he was kicked off of his football team at 14 for misbehavior.
“Once I stopped playing football, I just had more time to be in the streets and it was like, sports and the streets were playing tug of war with my life, and the streets won,” he said. “Money was what really drew me to the streets, and everything else just came with it. You start getting addicted to the lifestyle.”
At 18, Johnson was incarcerated for robbery and criminal use of a communication device, and sentenced to 13-and-a-half to 27 years in prison. He will become eligible for parole in 2031.
Last year, Johnson got to know Wilson through an Islamic studies course he was
participating in.
“One day, [Stevie] just heard me talking, and he was just like, ‘Why do you still have that same mindset?’ And we just started talking about that, [and he was] telling me how to leave the streets alone and everything,” Johnson recalled.
After the conversation, Wilson asked him to write an article about his experiences with gun violence. Initially, Johnson was reluctant.
“I told him, ‘Why would I do that?’ It would be like I’m a hypocrite, because I knew when I come home, I’m going to have a gun on me,” he explained. “[But Stevie] was like, ‘No, I want you to write about why do you have a gun on you? What’s the reason for you not putting your gun down?’
And when I looked at it, I was like, ‘Damn, nobody really asked me that. It was always ‘put the guns down, a gun is bad,’” Johnson said. “So then we just went from there.”
Johnson began participating in the roundtables. Last May, he co-published an article with Wilson for The Abolitionist, a magazine published by Critical Resistance, a prison abolitionist organization. Johnson said he is now more open to changing his lifestyle when he does get released from prison.
“It showed me that there’s more to life than just the streets — like I can do better, doing something good instead of doing something bad. And I can make a change within myself,” he said.
Bridging the gap
Going forward, Wilson says his goal is to bridge the gap between imprisoned people’s experiences and those on the outside working to implement systemic solutions to gun violence.
“I’m hoping that this project creates a connection between the community organizations, the institutions, and currently imprisoned people so that we can come to a real solution, a solution that the people who are currently incarcerated, who are coming home, can buy into. And they’ll put their guns down,” he said.
While building those connections is an ongoing challenge, Wilson says the project has been rewarding on its own terms.
“To actually watch these young men — some of them who have been shot multiple times, they’ve been shot at even more times, they’ve shot at people — to be able to get to a space and feel safe enough to open up and be vulnerable, and talk about their fears and their hopes and their desires for safety, and how they want to be able to walk around and not have to carry a gun. That to me is so important ... and that has actually been a pathway to healing for so many of these young guys,” he said.
Shannon Chaffers is a Report for America corps member and writes about gun violence for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
*Based upon the number of persons in household. **Subject to change. OCCUPANCY STANDARDS: ONE BEDROOM: One to three persons, TWO BEDROOM: Two to Four persons, THREE BEDROOM: Four to Six persons IMPORTANT NOTICE: (FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING WILL RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION)
• Applications are not transferable.
• Applicants must be financially responsible.
• Current Shareholders are not eligible to apply.
• Applicant/Head of household must be at least 18 Years old at the time of the lottery.
• Preference will be given to documented veterans selected in the lottery that are NY State residents only.
• Any applicant that does not have the proper family composition will automatically be disqualified.
• Applicants can only be on one waiting list at a development. If applicants have the right family composition, they can apply to more than one lottery. However, if they are selected for more than one lottery, they will have to choose which waiting list they prefer.
• ONE REQUEST ONLY PER APPLICANT. Any applicant placing a duplicate request will not be entered into the lottery. An applicant can only submit a paper entry or an on-line entry. If applicants enter on-line and also mail in a letter or postcard, they have submitted a duplicate request and will not be eligible for the lottery.
• An applicant whose name is selected in a lottery cannot be included in the family composition of any other applicant who is selected in the same lottery for that particular housing company development. Failure to comply will result in the disqualification of both applicants.
Additional Information: A non-refundable $75 application fee will be required from applicants selected through the lottery. A waiting list will be established based on a limited lottery. A maximum of 500 applicants will be drawn for the One-Bedroom and Two-Bedroom units, and 300 applicants will be drawn for the Three-Bedroom units. HOW TO APPLY: ONLINE You can now apply to a lottery online through Housing Connect. Applying is fast, easy and you will be able to check the status of your entry to see if you have been selected. To apply on line go to: https://housingconnect.nyc.gov/PublicWeb/
and
Andre Johnson, a participant in Wilson’s gun violence roundtables. (Photo courtesy of Andre Johnson)
Harlem’s 110 St. subway station finally renamed for Malcolm X
By ARIAMA C. LONG Amsterdam News Staff
The 110 St-Central Park North subway station has been officially renamed to honor one of Harlem’s greats: El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, known to all as Malcolm X.
“One of the best ways to celebrate the rich history and community of Harlem is to recognize the contributions of Malcolm X and the Harlem Renaissance to New York and to the world,” said Governor Kathy Hochul, who attended the bill signing and commemoration event on Sunday, August 10.
The renaming falls on the momentous occasion of the 51st annual HARLEM WEEK and the 100th anniversary of the Harlem Renaissance. “It is especially meaningful to be here as we celebrate Harlem Week and mourn the passing of its co-founder, Lloyd A. Williams, whose life was dedicated to championing this community,” continued Hochul.
The adjacent Malcolm Shabazz Plaza on West 110th Street was designated for the civil rights leader more than 20 years ago. It’s been a vibrant gathering space for the community since, but many wanted the subway station at the corner of the plaza to also be a permanent landmark in the city’s public transportation system.
To get the ball rolling, State Senator Cordell Cleare introduced Bill S.1204/A.5339, renaming the 110 St-Central Park North 2/3 subway station to 110 St-Malcolm X Plaza, and Bill S.7152A/A.8220A, which designates the Harlem Renaissance Cultural District as a region of cultural significance from 110th St to 155th St and from 5th Avenue to the Hudson River. Both bills were signed into law this week.
“I can’t tell y’all how many times I’ve cried today,” said Cleare at the podium. “This is a multi-level project, and it means a lot of things to this community. When you see this happen, not only is this the sign of an accessible, modernized, beautiful subway station, which is badly needed. Not only is this a tribute to one of our greatest legends and heroes, it’s also a center of enlightenment, and of upliftment of programming, of education, of information, services, and resources.”
Malcolm X lived in Harlem for more than a decade, first in 1943, and then from 1954 until his assassination at 39 in the Audubon Ballroom (now “The Shabazz Center”) in Washington Heights in 1965. The signing ceremony was attended by Friends of Malcolm X Plaza, community leaders, and three of his daughters: Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz, Malaak Shabazz, and Gamilah Lumumba Shabazz.
“The naming of 110th Street in his memory is more than a signpost to his family and the community. It is a symbol of hope rooted deep in Harlem’s soul. Harlem has always been more than geography,” said I. Shabazz at the event. “Harlem is an idea, a cultural epicenter, the birthplace on Black art, Black thought, Black spiritu-
ality, Black resistance, Black brilliance. The people, these neighborhood blocks, these buildings and subway stations, they don’t just hold history, they make history. And this subway station now carries his name and our shared legacy.”
Elected officials in attendance included State Assemblymember Jordan Wright, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stuart-Cousins, City Councilmember Yusef Salaam, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) President Demitrius Crichlow, the first Black person to hold his position.
“I grew up coming in and out of this station,” said Wright, who sponsored the Assembly version of the legislation. “And it means a lot to me as a former educator, that when I used to walk the street saying, ‘I’m going between Lenox and Seventh Avenues.’ Now young people say, ‘I’m between
Malcolm X Boulevard and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard.”
“As we reflect on a moment, on the life of our brother, we need to reflect that right here among us are Malcolms,” said Adams. “We need to reclaim our young people, who are just feeling as though society has abandoned them.”
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins reflected on her relationship with Dr. Betty Shabazz, who briefly lived in Yonkers, and her husband. “I was around in 1965. I was a teenager. I knew the battle for our liberation as Black people,” she said. “And one of the things that Brother Malcolm taught us is that you had to free your mind.”
Crichlow, in his remarks, spoke about X’s history as a New Haven transit railroad worker in 1941. X worked a series of jobs on the railroads from Boston to New
York such as a restaurant worker, at a shoeshine stand, and in a jewelry store. “Malcolm understood that transit is the ultimate equalizer. It gives millions of people the opportunity for freedom, to travel, the way you need to get,” he said. “So what better way to honor Malcolm than to have this great man, in this great community, a transportation employee, an icon, have a station with his name on it.”
Cleare’s office said that further ambitious plans for the plaza and station include installing a permanent statue of Malcolm X, a fully renovated and accessible subway station at 110th Street, and expanded beautification of the plaza.
Similar legislation to rename the Utica Avenue subway station on the A and C lines in Brooklyn after Malcolm X, proposed by Senator Zellnor Myrie and
ber
Assemblymem-
Stefani Zinerman, is also in the works.
Gov. Hochul signs the proclamation renaming the 110th Street subway station in honor of Malcolm X. (Bill Moore photos)
Gov. Kathy Hochul joined Malaak Shabazz, Ilyasah Shabazz, Gamilah Lumumba Shabazz, Harlem electeds, and community leaders at the unveiling of the Malcolm X plaza renaming on 110th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard on Aug 10, 2025. (Ariama C. Long photo)
Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins (left) with Sen. Cordell Cleare. Sen. Cordell Cleare with friends at Malcolm X Plaza.
