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The Black Star News Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

www.BlackStarNews.com

The Black Star News Honors Leaders From The Community At Annual Dinner Awards 2015

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Publisher’s Commentary 2

The Black Star News Salutes 2015 Honorees ■ By Milton Allimadi

Greetings Sisters and brothers. hank you all for joining us this year for our Black Star News Annual Awards dinner where we recognize and honor people from our community who excel in their professions or chosen endeavors and inspire the next generation.

This year’s honorees are a mix; including our elders Mayor David Dinkins and Rep. Charles Rangel, who are recognized for Lifetime achievement. And we have the survivors of one of New York’s most tragic episode of miscarriage of justice, the young men who endured the so-called “Central Park” case. They were falsely accused and charged, demonized by tabloid media, and railroaded by the so-called “justice” system.

The five men Yusef Abdus Salaam; Raymond Santana Jr., Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, and Kharey Wise-spent many years incarcerated for a crime they did not commit.

Even after the perpetrator of the rape stepped forward they still spent a long time in prison and endured many more years of

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being second-guessed because New York City wouldn’t do the right thing. It was only after the election of a new mayor, Bill de Blasio, that the City settled with these brave survivors. Their story is one of remarkable endurance and survival. They continue to conduct themselves with great serenity and dignity.

From the business world, we honor R. Donahue Peebles, a leading developer and founder of The Peebles Co., the nation’s largest African American-owned real estate firm with $3.5 billion worth of properties under development or management. He’s a champion of Black business empowerment through equal and fair access to government contracts. He’s contemplating a possible run for mayor.

Also from the political arena, we honor Rep. Yvette Clarke, well-known in New York City before she went national in Washington. She was once a New York City Council member -- having succeeded her mother the legendary Una Clarke in the Council.

And from the current New York City Council we honor Inez Barron, a fighter for educational

justice and against police brutality. She is the other half of the dynamic duo that includes Assemblyman Charles Barron.

We also honor a man who needs no introduction in this city where he’s been broadcasting since the 1960s -- the legendary Imhotep Gary Byrd who is now heard on WLIB/WBLS and WBAI radio.

We also honor a fighter for civil rights and social justice, Barbara Arnwine, who for 26 years was executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and now leads the Transformative Justice Coalition; fighting discrimination in all arenas and the attempts to disenfranchise voters throughout the country.

We also honor several educators this year, including nationally-renowned Dr. Rudy Crew, the president of Medgar Evers College. He is noted for innovative approaches to education to academically empower African American students.

We honor two educators who teach skills that our young ones can’t live without in the 21st century. Sabrina Lamb, the founder of World of

Money teaches young people the meaning of money, how it’s generated, how it’s invested, how it’s managed and how it can be developed into wealth. We also honor Natasha Green, a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (S.T.E.M.) educator.

Then from Broadway we have Stephen Byrd, founder of Front Row Productions and his business partner Alia JonesHarvey; the two are the only full-time professional African American producers on Broadway and in 2016 will bring Eclipsed, with Oscar Academy winner Lupita Nyong’o. They made history by producing Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with an African American cast to Broadway and Street Car Named Desire with a multi-ethnic cast.

We congratulate all of our honorees and wish them and all supporters of The Black Star News happy holidays and a great New Year.

We also ask you as readers to continue supporting us in 2016.

■ www.blackstarnews.com

Contents: 1. The Black Star News Salutes 2015 Honorees.......................................2 2. Black Star News Honoree: Developer R. Donahue Peebles — Visionary Entrepreneur........................................................................3 3. Mayor David Dinkins — Lifetime Achievement Honoree ..................4 4. Representative Charles B. Rangel — Lifetime Achievement Honoree .5 5. Representative Yvette D. Clarke — Making History............................6 6. Councilmember Inez Barron -- Fighting For Education Justice and Against Police Brutality .......................................................................7 7. Dr. Rudy Crew, Leading Educator And Medgar Evers’ President, Honored..............................................................................................8 8. Black Star News Honoree: Natasha Green, S.T.E.M. Educator............9 9. Sabrina Lamb Develops Financially Responsible Adults, One Child At a Time...............................................................................................10

10. Barbara R. Arnwine, Renowned Civil Rights Lawyer Honored .........11 11. Stephen C. Byrd, Pioneering Producer of Broadway Plays With multiEthnic Cast........................................................................................13 12. Alia Jones-Harvey, Broadway Producer..............................................16 13. Imhotep Gary Byrd, Broadcast Legend .............................................17 14. Black Star News Honorees: The “Central Park 5” .............................18 15. How New York City Is Using A Fake Map To Steal Queen’s Homeowner’s Private Land ...............................................................19 16. “Lord Slum” Landlord Claims HPD Encourages Infractions To Elude Rent...................................................................................................21 17. “Home Invaded”: Bronx Man Says Life Destroyed After Feds’ Search And Seizure.......................................................................................23 18. The Black Star News Annual Excellence Awards Dinner 2015...........28

3 Business

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Black Star News Honoree: Developer R. Donahue Peebles — Visionary Entrepreneur

■ R. Donahue Peebles

Special To The Black Star News ecognized as one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the nation, R. Donahue Peebles is Founder, Chairman and CEO of The Peebles Corporation, one of the country’s few national privately held real estate investment and development companies with a multi-billion dollar portfolio of projects in New York, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Boston, Miami and Miami Beach.

In addition to his role as CEO of The Peebles Corporation, Mr. Peebles is a top-selling author (The Peebles Principles and The Peebles Path to Real Estate Wealth), a regular guest on CNN, CNBC and FOX, and a highly sought-after speaker

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who has addressed educational, business and professional audiences across the United States.

Mr. Peebles is an avid supporter of mentoring to expose youth to the value of entrepreneurship, as well as an active political supporter and fundraiser for local, state and federal campaigns of both major parties.

He is currently the Chairman of the Board of the Congressional Black Caucus, serves on the Board of Directors of YMCA of Greater New York, MiamiDade County Mayor Gimenez’s Business Roundtable, is a twotime former member of President Barack Obama’s National Finance Committee, and is former Chairman of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau.

R. Donahue Peebles has been acknowledged for his

entrepreneurial leadership, community service efforts, and development abilities. Select awards and honors include: “Developer of the Year” at the Women Builders Council 11th Annual Champion Awards National Executive Service Corps Award for “Outstanding Service to the Non-Profit Community” “Entrepreneur of the Year” at the Best of Black Business Awards “Entrepreneur of the Year” from South Florida Business Journal “Entrepreneur of the Year” Miami Dade Chamber of Commerce Honored by Miami-Dade Career Specialist Association for Dedication to Career Enhancement Named among 40 “Business Titans who shaped our World”

by Black Enterprise

Reginald F. Lewis Award for Entrepreneurship Entrepreneur of the Year presented by Rev. Jesse Jackson at the 11th annual Wall Street Project Economic Summit Inducted into the Martin Luther King International Board of Renaissance Leaders Hall of Fame at Morehouse College Honorary doctorate degree from Johnson and Wales University Honorary doctorate degree from Sojourner-Douglass College ■ www.peeblescorp.com

For The Black Star News’ interview with Peebles about the lack of diversity in New York City’s contracting with Women and ethnic minority vendors please go to www. blackstarnews.com

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Civil Rights And Social Justice 4

■ David Dinkins

Mayor David Dinkins —

Lifetime Achievement Honoree Special To The Black Star News David N. Dinkins is Professor in the Practice of Public Affairs at the Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs (SIPA), serves on its Advisory Board, and hosts its Annual Dinkins Leadership & Public Policy Forum.

n 2003, the David N. Dinkins Professorship Chair in the Practice of Urban & Public Affairs was established at Columbia University.

Mr. Dinkins began his public service career in 1966 as a member of the New York State Assembly. He was president of the New York City Board of Elections, and served as City Clerk for 10 years before his elections as President of the Borough of Manhattan in 1985 and 106th Mayor of the City of New York in 1989.

As Mayor, Mr. Dinkins was responsible for the establishment of numerous widely heralded

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cultural staples such as Fashion Week, Restaurant Week, and Broadway on Broadway. His administration initiated the revitalization of Times Square and secured an unprecedented deal to keep the U.S. Open Tennis Championships in New York for the next 99 years. This arrangement generates more annual financial benefits to the city than the Yankees, Mets, Knicks, and Rangers combined.

Mayor Dinkins also instituted “Safe Streets, Safe City: Cops and Kids,” a comprehensive criminal justice plan for reducing crime and expanding opportunities for the children of New York.

Mr. Dinkins has received

numerous awards and accolades throughout his career and is associated with a variety of civic and charitable organizations that assist children and young people. He currently serves on the boards of the Association to Benefit Children, Children’s Health Fund, Coalition for the Homeless, The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, New York City Global Partners, and Posse Foundation. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Advisory Board of the International African American Museum and is on the steering committee of the Association for a Better New York and the New York Urban League’s

Advisory Council. Mr. Dinkins is a founding member of the Black & Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus of New York State and The One Hundred Black Men. He was formerly vice president of the United States Conference of Mayors, is a Member-at-Large of the Black Leadership Forum, and is also chairman emeritus of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDs. He is an Honorary Life Trustee of the Community Service Society of New York, an Honorary Trustee of the Friends of Harlem Hospital, and a Lifetime Member of the NAACP. In 2013, Mr. Dinkins published his memoir A Mayor’s Life: Governing New York’s Gorgeous Mosaic, which chronicles his career as a devoted public servant and New Yorker in love with his city.

Mr. Dinkins graduated with honors from Howard University in 1950 with a B.S. in mathematics and received an LL.B. from Brooklyn Law School in 1956 and maintained a private law practice prior to entering public service. He is a recipient of The Congressional Gold Medal for his service as a Montford Point Marine in the United States Marine Corps, during World War II. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, on July 10, 1927, Mr. Dinkins was a long-time resident of Harlem and still resides in New York City with his wife, Joyce Burrows Dinkins. They have two children – David Jr. and Donna Dinkins Hoggard – and two grandchildren – Jamal Hoggard and Kalila Dinkins Hoggard. ■

5 Civil Rights And Social Justice

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Special To The Black Star News

Charles B. Rangel, war hero, history-making Congressman, master lawmaker. founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, he made history as the first African American member of Congress to lead the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

Now serving his 23rd term in the House of Representatives, he has been cited as the most effective lawmaker in the House, leading all of his colleagues in passing legislation. He was a prime contributor to President Obama’s historic health care reform law.

Black Star Annual Awards: Please join us on December 18, 2015 at MIST Harlem at 46 W 116th St, New York, N.Y., 10026 from 6PM to 10PM when Rep. Charles Rangel joins Mayor David Dinkins, Rep. Yvette Clarke, the Central Park 5 and others as one of this year’s Black Star News Annual Excellence Awards Dinner honoree.

Growing up on the other side of the tracks on Lenox Avenue in Harlem, he was transformed

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■ Charles Rangel

Representative Charles B. Rangel — Lifetime Achievement Honoree from high school dropout to war hero after volunteering for service in the Army during the Korean War. Wounded in an attack by waves of Communist Chinese troops, he was awarded a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for Valor after leading his surviving comrades from behind enemy lines.

Congressman Rangel with the aid of the G.I. Bill, earned degrees from New York University and St. John’s University Law School. He began his public service as an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and was later elected to the New

York State Assembly. He went to Washington in 1971 to serve in the House after defeating the legendary Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. In Congress, following Saint Matthew’s teaching, he has been a stalwart champion for the “least among us,” advocating powerfully and persistently to improve the lives of working people. He is a defender of veterans and has treated education as a national security issue.

A leading advocate for equal rights and equal opportunity, Congressman Rangel has boosted the incomes of millions of working families with the Earned Income Tax Credit, and

pumped billions of dollars into revitalization of communities across the nation, including Harlem. Demonstrating his commitment to education, he has created financial mechanisms to construct and rehabilitate public schools across the country.

Congressman Rangel’s unparalleled foreign policy record has focused on Africa and the Caribbean. In 1986, he sounded the death knell for apartheid in South Africa with the “Rangel Amendment,” which forced the largest U.S. investors to abandon the country. He has created trading and investment opportunities for struggling nations in the Caribbean and

Africa. In 2010, he successfully promoted vital investment incentives for earthquake ravaged Haiti.

Among his proudest achievements is founding the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program in the State Department, in cooperation with Howard University. As of 2013, there are 160 Rangel Fellows serving as U.S. State Department Foreign Service Officers in U.S. Embassies around the world.

Congressman Rangel still resides with his wife Alma in Harlem where he was born. They have two adult children and three grandchildren. ■

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Civil Rights And Social Justice 6

Representative Yvette D. Clarke — Making History

■ Yvette Clarke

Special To The Black Star News ongresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, a Brooklyn native proud of her Jamaican heritage, attended the New York City public schools, graduated from Oberlin College, and was a recipient of the prestigious APPAM/Sloan Fellowship in Public Policy and Policy Analysis.

Congresswoman Clarke was elected to the United States House of Representatives in November 2006 and today represents the Ninth Congressional District of New York, which includes the communities of Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, Ocean Hill, Park Slope, Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts

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Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.

Black Star Annual Awards: Please join us on December 18, 2015 at MIST Harlem at 46 W 116th St, New York, N.Y., 10026 from 6PM to 10PM when Rep. Yvette Clarke joins, Rep. Charles Rangel, Mayor David Dinkins, the Central Park 5 and others as one of this year’s Black Star News Annual Excellence Awards Dinner honoree.

Prior to being elected to the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Clarke served on the New York City Council, representing the Fortieth District in Brooklyn. She succeeded her pioneering mother, former City Council Member Dr. Una S. T. Clarke, making them the first mother-daughter succession in the history of the City Council.

As the representative of the Ninth Congressional District of New York, she has dedicated herself to continuing the legacy of excellence established by the late Honorable Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman and Caribbean American elected to Congress. As an activist, a community organizer and now as a legislator, Congresswoman Clarke’s boldness, compassion and love for the people has allowed her to become an effective leader and an outspoken advocate on numerous issues of great importance to her constituents.

In the 114th Congress, Congresswoman Clarke serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee, responsible for consumer protection, food safety, energy development, public health, communications, the

environment, and interstate and international commerce.

In the 111th and 112th Congress, Congresswoman Clarke served on several Committees including Education and Labor, Homeland Security and Small Business. In the 113th Congress, Congresswoman Clarke served on the Committees of Homeland Security, Ethics, and Small Business.

An unwavering champion of her native Brooklyn, she has worked with non-profit organizations, local community groups and appropriators to secure millions of dollars in essential federal support for the district. As a result, major institutions received funds, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Brooklyn Public Library, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Prospect Park Alliance and the New York State Department of Transportation.

As a testament to what Representative Clarke has accomplished in her first term, she received an “A” rating from the Drum Major Institute and TheMiddleClass.org; a 100 percent rating by Peace Action, The Brady Campaign and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU); and was the only Member of Congress in the New York Congressional delegation to receive an “A+” rating from the Institute of Policy Studies.

She was also named After-School Hero by The After-School Corporation for her work on the House Education and Labor Committee. In May 2009, Rep. Clarke was also presented with an honorary Doctorate Law Degree from St. Francis College.

Congresswoman Clarke currently resides in the neighborhood where she grew up, in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. ■

7 Civil Rights And Social Justice

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Councilmember Inez Barron — Fighting For Education Justice and Against Police Brutality

Special To The Black Star News nez Barron was elected to the NYC Council in 2013, after having served 5 years in the NYS Assembly.

Her political service follows a distinguished career of public service in the NYC Department of Education. Inez is the daughter of George and Margaret R. Smith, who raised her to “put God first.”

Inez credits her parents with instilling in her the value of education and pride in her culture. Their encouragement to her was “always give your best, do your best, be your best and expect the best.” Inez Barron is succeeding her husband, Hon. Charles Barron as Council Member of the 42nd Council District. Inez and Charles are the parents of Jelani Johnson and Jawanza Barron.

For more than fifty years, Ms. Barron has been actively engaged in protesting against civil and human injustices such as segregation, discrimination, apartheid, exclusion of Africa from the NYC curriculum, police misconduct and environmental racism.

Inez has a long history of community activism. Through participation in various community organizations, she has been involved in closing a store selling illegal drugs;

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■ Inez Barron

stopping the construction of a wood-burning incinerator that would have spewed tons of particulate matter into the air; ending the use of coal-burning furnaces in public schools; and maintaining affordable rents.

As Assemblymember, she is the Assembly author of the State legislation that maintains affordable rents in Spring Creek/“Starrett City” for the next 30 years. Inez was born and raised in public housing and attended the New York City public schools. She is a graduate of Hunter College of the City University of New York (Bachelor of Science in Physiology) and Bank Street College of Education (Master of Science in Reading

and Special Education). Ms. Barron’s philosophy is that children should be valued and motivated to achieve, and teachers have a responsibility not only to provide the skills necessary to be life-long learners and become productive and critical members of society, but also to challenge and stimulate children’s thinking.

During her 36 year tenure with the NYC Board of Education, Inez held various instructional positions, including classroom teacher (elementary, junior high school and college levels), reading teacher and math lab teacher. Inez held a variety of administrative and supervisory positions, including teacher

trainer, district coordinator for early childhood, executive assistant to the community superintendent, and assistant principal. Ms. Barron retired as a principal.

Inez’ affirmation is “I believe God.” ■

Education 8

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Dr. Rudy Crew, Leading Educator And Medgar Evers’ President, Honored

■ Dr. Rudy Crew

Special To The Black Star News udy Crew is President of Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York.

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A lifelong educator and author, Dr. Crew’s career has spanned from the classroom to the chancellorship of the nation’s largest school district, New York

City Public Schools. In 2012, Dr. Crew was selected to serve as Oregon’s first Chief Education Officer. Dr. Crew is a renowned leader and reformer who has

made it a mission to improve student achievement, especially for poor and minority students.

The Chancellor’s District, The Parent Academy and the School Improvement Zone are among Dr. Crew’s innovations that are considered national models for reform. These successful strategies have engaged parents, business and political leaders, and the community, ensuring students achieve higher levels of success and are prepared for the global challenges ahead.

Dr. Crew has served on numerous boards, including the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Communities in Schools, Al Shanker Institute, and the Public Education Network. He is the recipient of many awards, including the NAACP Educational Leadership Award, the Arthur Ashe Leadership Award, and the AASA National Superintendent of the Year.

Dr. Crew’s acclaimed book, “Only Connect: The Way to Save Our Schools,” continues to guide a vital public discussion.

Black Star Annual Awards: Please join us on December 18, 2015 at MIST Harlem at 46 W 116th St, New York, N.Y., 10026 from 6PM to 10PM when Dr. Rudy Crew joins Mayor David Dinkins, Rep. Charles Rangel, Rep. Yvette Clarke, the Central Park 5 and others as one of this year’s Black Star News Annual Excellence Awards Dinner honoree. ■

9 Education

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Black Star News Honoree: Natasha Green, S.T.E.M. Educator

■ Natasha Green

Special To The Black Star News atasha Green is a Tech-preneur for “We Intervene,” an online Referral Management System for Schools. “We Intervene” focuses on empowering school counselors and parent-coordinators to share opportunities and resources with students and families in order to enable students to reach their potential socially and academically.

“We Intervene” began in November 2014. Within a year it had won startup funds in two competitions. “We Intervene” was a runner-up in the New York StartUP! 2015 Business Plan Competition and won the NYC BigApps Battlefield competition.

The next step is creating a board to develop strategies to accomplish our current and

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future goals.

Formerly, Natasha was a Mathematics Teacher for the New York City Department of Education and a Dean of Discipline. It was during this time that she got the idea for “We Intervene.” Natasha believes that at-risk students in urban communities should to be supported by community resources that will mediate on their behalf and resolve negative behaviors before these students are faced with detention or suspensions.

Natasha is also continuing her own education. She studies molecular diodes at Long Island University. She realizes that as more transistors fit into smaller spaces, it will become necessary to develop new materials that are not silicon based. This only can be done is by using the laws of

Quantum Chemistry to observe conductance at the atomic level. A transistor controls the movement of electrons meaning it controls electricity and this correlates to speed of technological devices. In order to pack more transistors in the same surface one will have to miniaturize the components that are used to make transistors while not impacting output.

Output related to computers must have the same or faster speed when receiving, storing or manipulating data. As they build the transistors smaller and smaller, electrons no longer behave as classical particles and one has to have an understanding of quantum mechanics. Natasha’s analysis examines how we can create molecular diodes that can be constructed into transistors to ensure computers are working at

optimal speed and potential.

Volunteerism: Natasha Green is a Community Leader for the Anita Borg Institute, NYC Chapter. She is on the Advisory Board of The Knowledge House in the South Bronx. The Knowledge House focuses on teaching over-age and undercredited minority students the skills necessary for entry-level jobs in technology. Besides volunteering for Girls Who Code & Black Girls Code, Natasha leads Meetup groups and creates events that allow attendees to share and implement their ideas and improve their education.

Education: Natasha holds a Masters in Mathematics Education and Educational Leadership. She is currently a Masters Candidate for Computational Chemistry.

She has a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry. She graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School from the Macy’s Einstein Program. Natasha taught herself Computer Science and took General Assembly’s 12-week Web Development Immersion program.

Entrepreneur: Natasha has an archery business located in Brooklyn, NY. Natasha was inspired by her belief that all people are gems who need the proper setting and support for their talents to flourish. Archery was not easily accessible to all New Yorkers until she got involved. Natasha’s mobile archery unit, her Brooklyn spot and her team consisting of Candice, Caro, Bryant, Richard, Quailin, Jolene and Andrew has impacted hundreds through the sport of archery. She envisions Hidden Gems Archery diverse team taking the Archery World by storm. ■

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Education: Financial 10

Sabrina Lamb Develops Financially Responsible Adults, One Child At a Time Special To The Black Star News

Commissioner Foster. Sabrina is one of the 2013 NBC News/ The Grio 100, a Huffington Post contributor and one of Essence Magazine’s Shining Moments of 2013: “50 Women Who Made Us Proud”.

She was designated as New York 1 television’s “New Yorker of the Week” and is a member of

abrina Lamb is the Founding Chief Executive Officer of the WorldofMoney.org, dedicated to the financial education of youth in the Tri-State New York City area. The organization was selected as a Promise Place by America’s Promise Alliance and

by AOL Impact as one of ten top social good organizations in America.

Under her leadership, since 2005, she has spearheaded the annual Youth Financial Education Training Institute, attracting financial experts adept in teaching youth disciplined saving, stocks/bonds, real estate investment, insurance, wealth mindsets, philanthropy, et al.

Sabrina has frequently presided over the NASDAQ Opening/ Closing ceremonies and testified before the House Sub-Committee Financial Services on Capitol Hill. Sabrina is a 2014 NAACP Image Awards nominee in Outstanding Literary WorkInstructional for her book “Do I Look Like An ATM? A Parent’s Guide To Raising Financially Educated African-American ■ Sabrina Lamb Children” and the satirical “A Kettle Of Vultures...Left Beak Marks On My Forehead”.

Who’s Who in Black New York.

Sabrina has received commendations from Mayor Bill Sabrina is the recipient of the 2011 Rainbow Push/Wall Street De Blasio, Manhattan Borough Project Honors, the BDPA Small President Gale Brewer, New Business Innovator Award, New York City Comptroller Scott York State Z-Hope Award, and Stringer, Congressmembers: National Black MBA New York Meeks and Rangel; Westchester Metro Chapter Entrepreneur of County Board of Legislators. the Year Award, and the “2014 Her other political supporters Citizen of the Year Award” from include Senator Gillibrand, the Alpha Upsilon Chapter of Representative Lee, New York Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. State Assemblymembers: Wright She was named 16th on the and Robinson, New York City list of 50 Top Black Women in Councilmembers: Rosenthal, Entertainment in Black Noir Levine and Dickens; and New magazine. She has received the York State Human Rights

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“Economic Security Award” at the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated 83rd North Atlantic Regional Conference. Sabrina is a member of Master Your Card’s African-American Advisory Board.

Sabrina was a WBLS-FM correspondent at the 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2013 Democratic

National Conventions and Inaugurations. She also cohosted “The Morning Show” on 1600 WWRL in New York City, interviewing cultural figures to government officials. Sabrina also co-hosted and contributed to the highly-rated “Open Line,” “Week In Review” and “Wake-Up Club” on WRKS-FM. Sabrina, a former stand-up comedian, starred in Lifetime Television’s Girl’s Night Out, where she wove her comedic skills around serious issues.

Other credits include CNBC-

TV, Fox Business, News One Now with Roland Martin, NBC’s Saturday Night Live and BET’s Comicview. Sabrina has written cover stories for Essence, Heart and Soul and Black Elegance.

Sabrina was featured on CNN’s Nancy Grace, Fox Business Network, Australian Television, WNBC-TV, WCBS-TV, Tom Joyner Morning Show, Russ Parr Morning Show, BET’s “Meet The Faith” and “Tonight with Ed Gordon”, HOT 97’s Street Soldiers, HLN’s Show Biz Tonight. KOGO San Diego, Fox and Friends, CBS Atlanta, WXIA-Atlanta. She has been quoted or featured in the Washington Post, Philadelphia Tribune, Kansas City Star, Rolling Out, New York Newsday, Huffington Post, New York Post, New York Times, Yahoo Shine, The Grio, The Root, Technorati, Ebony, Essence, Forbes, Hello Beautiful, Rolling Out, Roland Martin Reports, The Mo Kelly Report, Philadelphia Tribune, Daily Beast and the Philadelphia Sun. Sabrina also hosted/ produced “Laughing, Lying and Signifying: The History of Black Comedy” on WBAI-FM. Sabrina was a political satirist on Phil Donahue-owned America’s Talking Network.

Sabrina is also a solo performance artist. Most notably, her sold out show “Marissa Alexander” debuted OffBroadway at the United Solo Festival and at the Cherry Lane Theater. Sabrina is a graduate of Lincoln University and has attended St. John’s University School of Law. Sabrina is active in the New York Road Runner’s Club, completing three New York City Marathons and is a practitioner of Bikram Yoga. ■

11 Civil Rights & Social Justice

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Barbara R. Arnwine, Renowned Civil Rights Lawyer Honored Special To The Black Star News arbara R. Arnwine, president and founder of Transformative Justice Coalition, is internationally renowned for contributions on critical justice issues including the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the 2006 reauthorization of provisions of the Voting Rights Act. She also created the legendary Voting Rights “Map of Shame” in 2011, which remains popular. A graduate of Scripps College and Duke University School of Law, she continues to champion civil rights and racial justice issues nationally and internationally in the areas of housing and lending, community development, employment, voting, education, and environmental justice.

Ms. Arnwine’s work also includes women’s rights, immigrant rights, judicial diversity, criminal justice reform, racial profiling, health care disparities and LBGTQ rights. A prominent leader in the civil and human rights community, she continues to fight for the preservation of affirmative action and diversity programs.

Black Star Annual Awards: Please join us on December 18, 2015 at MIST Harlem at 46 W 116th St, New York, N.Y., 10026 from 6PM to 10PM when Barbara Arnwine joins Mayor David Dinkins, Rep. Charles Rangel, Rep. Yvette Clarke, the Central Park 5 and others as one of this year’s Black Star News Annual Excellence Awards Dinner honoree.

In addition to Ms. Arnwine’s instrumental work leading to the passage of the 1991 Civil Rights Act, she has served in numerous other prestigious capacities, including international civil, human and women’s rights matters. Under her leadership, the

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Lawyers’ Committee continues to participate in monitoring treaty compliance and responding to reports written by the United States regarding the requirements of both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

The EP Hotlines, 1-866-OURVOTE and 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA, the centerpieces of the program, received more than 200,000 calls in the 2012 Election cycle.

Additionally the EP and Lawyers’ Committee websites and social media received millions of visits in 2012. EP hosted 38 call centers across the country on Election Day

■ Barbara Arnwine

following the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review. Ms. Arnwine is a prominent leader of Election Protection (EP), the nation’s largest nonpartisan voter protection coalition, launched in 2004 to assist historically disenfranchised persons to exercise the fundamental right to vote.

Today, the coalition consists of more than 100 organizations and thousands of attorney volunteers.

The 2012 elections marked the third Presidential election in which EP played a vital role in supporting and protecting voters.

with more than 5,300 trained legal volunteers and 2,300 grassroots volunteers in 22 states and more than 80 voting jurisdictions.

In early 2011, Ms. Arnwine and the Lawyers’ Committee began tracking suppressive voting legislation nationwide, and created the now well known “Map of Shame,” which served as a wake-up call to the American people about states’ proposals or disenfranchising legislation that primarily threatened the right to vote of minorities; students; low-income, disabled and elderly persons. Ms. Arnwine was at the

vanguard of speaking out about this injustice and educating the public about these efforts to undermine our democracy – when no one was paying attention, including the mainstream media.

In 2001, Ms. Arnwine represented African descendants from the Americas in helping to draft provisions of the program for action of the UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa.

In 2000, she convened the third national conference of African American Women in the Law in Washington, D.C. Some 250 participants in 15 workshops provided input into the preparation of a Report and Action Agenda for advocacy before the UN General Assembly Special Session on Women.

In 1995, Ms. Arnwine served as the national convener of the National Conference on African American Women and the Law held in Washington, D.C. and subsequently led a delegation to the UN’s NGO Forum and Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Her efforts there contributed to a UN Platform for Action that provides protection for women who confront multiple forms of discrimination. She has received numerous national, regional and local awards. In 2015, Ms. Arnwine received the prestigious “Charles Hamilton Houston Medallion” award along with Co-honoree Ruth Bader Ginsburg. During the National Bar Association’s 2014 Annual Convention, Ms. Arnwine received the Vince Monroe Townsend, Jr., Legends Award and the Women Lawyers Division’s Walking the Walk: Women Lawyers Still Making It Happen Award. In 2013, she received the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Fearless ■ Continued on page 12

Civil Rights & Social Justice 12

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Trailblazer Award and during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s (CBCF) 2013 Annual Legislative Conference, the CBCF, the women members of the CBCF and the Sojourner Truth Legacy Project awarded Ms. Arnwine with the Sojourner Truth, “Woman of Truth” Award. In May 2013, she received the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights’ coveted Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human Rights Award and in March 2013, Trice Edney Communications, LLC honored her with its inaugural Stateswoman for Justice Award.

In October 2011, she was one of five recipients of the prestigious Gruber International Justice Prize for her excellence in defending and promoting civil rights and gender equity throughout the U.S. In April 2011, the National Bar Association bestowed upon Ms. Arnwine the esteemed Gertrude E. Rush Award and in March

2011, she received the National Black Law Students Association’s prestigious Sadie T. M. Alexander Award. In 2009, Ms. Arnwine received two prominent awards: the Washington D.C. Freedom’s Sisters Award (sponsored by Ford Motor Company, the Smithsonian Institution and Cincinnati Museum Center which honors contemporary leaders who have fought for equality for people of color) and the Keeper of the Flame Award from the Boston Lawyers’ Committee.

In 2008, Ms. Arnwine was selected as a prestigious Rockwood Institute Leadership Fellow.

She is also the recipient of the National Bar Association’s Equal Justice Award and the C. Francis Stradford Award in 2007, the highest honor bestowed by that organization. In 2002, she received the Charlotte E. Ray Award from the Greater Washington Area Chapter, Women Lawyers Division ■ Continued on page 26

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IN

13 The Arts Section

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Stephen C. Byrd, Pioneering Producer of Broadway Plays With multi-Ethnic Cast Special To The Black Star News nspired by the progressive ethnic fusion of Merchant and Ivory, the touchstone producing duo he idolized, Stephen C. Byrd endeavored to shine the spotlight of diversity upon the Broadway stage.

Ignoring the naysayers, in 2008 Byrd and his partner, Alia M. Jones-Harvey mounted the first African-American Broadway production of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which became the highest-grossing play on Broadway that season – earning them a trophy case of awards including the prestigious Lawrence Olivier Award for Best Revival of a Play. Since then they have captivated both critics and audiences with their elegant literary adaptations of classic dramas featuring racially-inclusive casts.

Black Star Annual Awards: Please join us on December 18, 2015 at MIST Harlem at 46 W 116th St, New York, N.Y., 10026 from 6PM to 10PM when Stephen C. Byrd joins Mayor David Dinkins, Rep. Charles Rangel, Rep. Yvette Clarke, the Central Park 5 and others as one of this year’s Black Star News Annual Excellence Awards Dinner honoree.

Blazing new paths is nothing new for Byrd, who’s done so both in the boardrooms of Goldman Sachs and in the producer’s chair for a variety of forward-focused theater, film and television projects. He brings his financial acumen and exceptional management skills, developed over more than two decades of leadership in the global financial sector, to his role as founder and partner in Front Row Productions, Inc. His background

I

makes him uniquely qualified to handle all aspects of production, from raising funds to procuring performance venues to hiring staff from the director to the public-relations specialist. Byrd recounts their recipe for success thusly: “We are granularly involved in every aspect of the production. We are creative producers from start to finish, the first producers of color to prevail upon the theatre world’s most incandescent stage.”

Byrd’s dual acumen has resulted in programming that’s met with both critical acclaim and financial success. Yet Byrd aspires to even greater ambitions, featuring groundbreaking inclusive casting along with racially-diverse production staffs. As the only full-time African American lead producers currently working on Broadway, Byrd and Jones-Harvey have transported a unique brand of diversity to New York – and beyond. Byrd subsequently transferred the Production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to London’s West End, where he replicated his success, becoming the only African-American producer (along with Jones-Harvey) ever to win the prestigious Olivier Award.

In 2012, Byrd and JonesHarvey engaged with another classic, launching a multiracial production of A Streetcar Named Desire., The Play, which received radiant reviews and a Tony nomination, enjoyed an immensely successful run, attracting large, diverse audiences to its performances, many of whom had never been to Broadway before. Byrd and

■ Stephen Byrd

Jones-Harvey also comprised the producing team for The Trip to Bountiful, the critically-acclaimed production which starred the legendary Cicely Tyson, who won Tony, Outer Critic’s Circle and Drama Desk awards for her heartstirring performance. During its run the production played consistently to a crowded house..

Front Row has proven their immensely adaptative talents with such racially-inclusive remakes of the classics as Romeo and Juliet, directed by five-time Tony Award nominee David Leveaux.

International film star Orlando Bloom made his Broadway debut alongside Tony Award nominee Condola Rashad as the starcrossed lovers in this version of Shakespeare’s timeless love story.

The show opened on Broadway on Thursday, September 19, 2013 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, following preview performances.

The new production marked the first time in 36 years that Romeo and Juliet was produced on Broadway. This version of the classic tale retains Shakespeare’s original language set in modern times in which members of the contentious Montague and

Capulet families come from different backgrounds and races.

Front Row also partnered with The Public Theater to produce a powerful new play, Eclipsed, by Danai Gurira, featuring Academy Award Winner Lupita Nyong’o in her Off-Broadway debut. The play will debut at The Public Theater as a result of the generous support of Stephen and his partner Alia-Jones Harvey.

Byrd and Jones-Harvey are currently in development of a new musical for Broadway —Black Orpheus.. Based on the original play by Vinicius de Moraes and the internationally acclaimed film released in 1959, Black Orpheus is the enchanted re-telling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice set in romantic Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval and featuring the music of bossa nova kings Vinícius de Moraes and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Byrd and Jones-Harvey are planning on future productions in both Brazil and South Africa.

Byrd has pursued his passion for delivering high-quality raciallydiverse entertainment to the public for years. As he explains, ■ Continued on page 26

Renewing Struggling Schools

by Michael Mulgrew

President, United Federation of Teachers

Cities and school districts across the country have tried a range of strategies to deal with the problems of poor children and struggling schools.

Under former Mayor Bloomberg, New York City relied on a “shut­ down” strategy, eventually closing 150 schools, including some that the Bloomberg administration itself had created.

While Bloomberg’s cheerleaders lauded his approach, the fact is that many of our schools – both older ones and those started during Bloomberg’s tenure – continue to struggle.

In contrast, the de Blasio administration has listened to teachers and members of school communities. We know that it is difficult, but struggling schools can succeed – if provided the proper support and resources, and a team approach that brings all a school’s stake­ holders together.

The city’s new Renewal program, created with input from stakehold­ ers, is designed to focus on some of the neediest schools in the sys­ tem. Early returns show that many of these schools have stabilized and in some cases are started on the road to improvement.

Students in these schools start out with deficits. Nearly 20 percent are English Language Learners and almost a quarter are classified as special education. Thousands live in shelters or are doubled up with relatives. Many are hungry, lack winter clothes, or have medical needs, including glasses and hearing aids. Many have parents who are unemployed or who work long hours at minimum­wage jobs.

Teachers at these schools see these problems not as excuses, but as issues that need to be addressed to ensure that all kids have an equal opportunity to learn.

Renewal schools are being paired with non­profit agencies to deliver services like health care and counseling to students and their fam­ ilies. What’s more, the nearly $400 million the administration is investing in these schools over the next three years includes funds for hiring teachers, academic coaches, social workers and other pro­ fessionals, along with professional development for the staff on the skills necessary to work with children facing these challenges.

The City University of New York congratulates

The Black Star News and distinguished honoree

Dr. Rudy Crew, President of Medgar Evers College on the occasion of

The Black Star News Annual Awards Dinner 2015 December 18, 2015 Benno Schmidt

CHAIRPERSON, BOARD OF TRUSTEES

James B. Milliken CHANCELLOR

While in 2013­14 nearly one­third failed to meet targets for student achievement, the 2014­2015 School Quality Report shows that now 87 percent of the renewal schools are moving in the right direction, measured by better attendance, more family involvement and other criteria. As a group, they showed gains in both reading and math on state tests.

Many of these schools have a long way to go. Turning them around is difficult, particularly in the face of years of cutbacks and systemic indif­ ference. These schools will require a multi­year strategic intervention built on sound education practice, including custom­tailored supports for each school’s particular needs. With its Renewal program, New York City is taking on tough work that no one in the country has attempted before on this scale.

1-800-CUNY-YES United Federation of Teachers

A Union of Professionals

CUNY.EDU

CUNY TV-Channel 75

15

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

The Black Star News Honors Leaders From The Community At Annual Dinner Awards 2015

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

The Arts Section 16

Alia Jones-Harvey, Broadway Producer Special To The Black Star News lia Jones-Harvey entered the theatre world combining her strong entrepreneurial drive with a creativity and passion for the arts.

Today she is an Olivier Award Winning and Tony-nominated Producer, and partner at Front Row Productions, a progressive theatrical production company devoted to bringing classic works performed by actors of color to the Broadway stage. Along with her partner and the founder of Front Row, Stephen C. Byrd, she proudly stands as one of the only two African American lead producers on Broadway.

Black Star Annual Awards: Please join us on December 18, 2015 at MIST Harlem at 46 W 116th St, New York, N.Y., 10026 from 6PM to 10PM when Alia Jones-Harvey joins Mayor David Dinkins, Rep. Charles Rangel, Rep. Yvette Clarke, the Central Park 5 and others as one of this year’s Black Star News Annual Excellence Awards Dinner honoree.

For 15 years prior to joining Front Row Productions, Jones-Harvey accrued a wealth of business expertise working in financial analysis, reporting and marketing campaign development for prominent consumer brands, financial products, web-based educational curriculum and most significantly, arts organizations.

As Jones-Harvey explains, this uniquely prepared her to meet the challenges of the Great White Way: “I compare producing to being the CEO of a startup business, which evolves from conceptualization to realization of the end production. At Front Row we are immensely performance-driven and focused on results for our investors, and the fact that my partner Stephen and I approach this industry from

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■ Alia Jones-Harvey

a business background provides us with a financially-informed perspective when we are working to market our shows.”

Jones-Harvey made her Broadway debut in 2008, co-producing the first-ever African-American revival of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which became the highest-grossing play that season. The production’s celestial cast featured James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Terrence Howard and Anika Noni Rose, with Debbie Allen as director.

Jones co-produced the play when it transferred to London’s West End for the 2009-2010 season. The West End observed record new audiences for the production and it received the

2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Revival of a Play.

In 2012, Byrd and JonesHarvey brought a multiracial adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ classic, A Streetcar Named Desire, to Broadway for a successful run that garnered rave reviews and a Tony nomination. Byrd and Jones-Harvey then teamed up to produce Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful, which enjoyed a successful run on Broadway in 2013. The critically-acclaimed production starred celebrated actress Cicely Tyson, who won a Tony Award, Outer Critic’s Circle Award and Drama Desk award for her heart-stirring performance in the play. The duo followed up

with a Broadway production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by five-time Tony Award nominee David Leveaux. International film star Orlando Bloom made his Broadway debut alongside Tony Award nominee Condola Rashad, as the star-crossed lovers in Shakespeare’s timeless love story.

Front Row partnered with The Public Theater to produce a powerful new play, Eclipsed,

by Danai Gurira, featuring Academy Award Winner Lupita Nyong’o in her New York stage debut. The play debuted at The Public Theater as a result of the generous support of Alia and her partner Stephen Byrd. Following its sold-out engagement at The Public Theater, Byrd and JonesHarvey will now be bringing the critically-acclaimed production of Eclipsed to Broadway’s Golden Theatre, for first preview on February 23, 2016.

Byrd and Jones-Harvey are currently in development of a new musical for Broadway — Black Orpheus. Based on both the original play by Vinicius de Moraes and the Academy-Award winning film, Black Orpheus is the enchanted re-telling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice set in romantic Rio de Janeiro during Carnival and featuring the music of bossa nova kings Vinicius de Moraes and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

Originally from Largo, Maryland, Jones-Harvey earned, concurrently, a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics from Spelman College and a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Tech. She completed her MBA in Finance and Marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business. Her business career started with Procter & Gamble in interactive marketing and ■ Continued on page 26

17 The Arts Section

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Imhotep Gary Byrd, Broadcast Legend Special To The Black Star News

Award-Winning Radio Broadcaster, Poet & Songwriter, Executive Producer mhotep Gary Byrd is the award-winning host, creator, and executive producer of The GBE, the longest running Black radio broadcast in the history of New York City.

His career as a multi-media radio personality, spoken word and recording artist, songwriter, and motivational speaker has always focused on “raising human consciousness through communications.”

In a career that spans over 40 years, Byrd, a highly respected modern day griot, is known for breaking barriers as he stays focused by “telling our story and lifting every voice.” For his lifelong embrace of African culture, Nana Byrd has been enstooled as honorary chief in two villages in Ghana – positions he cherishes deeply.

As a message-in-the-music oriented songwriter and producer, Imhotep has been widely recognized and has received numerous awards and honors. Among them is the prestigious Hal Jackson Award from the International Association of African American Music. He has also been inducted into the National Black Sports and Entertainment Hall of Fame, along with the legendary Frankie “Hollywood” Crocker and Byrd’s brilliant musical collaborator, Stevie Wonder. Most recently, Imhotep was named as a Black Media Legend for McDonald’s Faces of Black History 2011 Tribute.

Background in Radio Born in Buffalo, New York, Byrd was raised by his grandmother Loree Byrd. At an early age he demonstrated

I

■ Imhotep Gary Byrd

a keen interest and skill in public speaking and won numerous city-wide speaking championships.

As a child, his grandmother gave Byrd a number of gifts: a short wave radio, a record player, a tape recorder, a camera, a typewriter, and a portable television. Her support and this equipment would prepare Byrd to become the multi-media phenomenon that is his today.

Hank Cameron, a teacher and broadcaster in Buffalo, saw a young Byrd acting in a local play and gave Byrd his first break in radio. As a teenager in the 1960’s, Byrd worked at WUFOAM, the city’s first Blackoriented radio station, home of radio legends Eddie Ojay, Frankie Crocker, and Gerry Bledsoe. From there he became the first African American to broadcast on a general market mainstream station WYSL AM/ FM Radio.

In 1969, Byrd followed his mentors and went to the top

was standing-room-only and Byrd cites this celebration as one of his most treasured career moments.

The Wonder-Byrd Connection Imhotep and Stevie Wonder have collaborated on several songs that have stood the test of time. The Wonder-Byrd connection has produced five classic songs, including Village Ghetto Land from the multiplatinum album Songs In The Key Of Life (1976). Pop superstar George Michaels performed Village Ghetto Land at Nelson Mandela’s 70th Birthday Celebration, garnering a worldwide audience of over 600 million people in nearly 70 countries. At this event, Wonder also performed Dark n Lovely, an anti-apartheid theme song from the Characters CD, written

by Wonder-Byrd. The duo also co-wrote Black Man, also from Songs In The Key of Life.

Black radio station of the day: At the 40th Annual NAACP WWRL-AM in New York City.

Image Awards, this bi-centennial He became the youngest Black tribute song was performed by radio personality in history to Stevie Wonder, with an added work in New York City. It was tribute to the newly elected there that he launched The GBE, President of the United States, The Gary Byrd Experience.

Barack Obama. Michael Jackson Byrd was invited to Inner said in Jet magazine: “Black Man City Broadcasting’s WLIB-AM is my favorite song.” by the late Chairman Emeritus Songs In The Key of Life Percy Sutton and legendary is named by Rolling Stone broadcaster and Vice Chairman Magazine as one of the “500 of ICBC, the late Hal Jackson.

Greatest Albums of All Time.”

From there he broadcasted Byrd narrates the album’s DVD, live from the World Famous which serves as content for Apollo Theatre in Harlem and VH1’s Classic Album programs. became even more respected Other Wonder-Byrd in his field, nationally and collaborations include internationally. It was there that Misrepresented People for the Byrd instituted an endearing opening score on Spike Lee’s program innovation enjoyed feature film Bamboozled --Byrd by millions: the daily recital also appears as himself in the of the Nguzo Saba, the Seven film, interviewing the star of Principles of Kwanzaa. At the film, Damon Wayans-WLIB, Byrd transformed The and The Crown, a 10-minute GBE into The Global Black spoken-word motivational Experience. His popularity was rap classic celebrating African growing steadily, as evidence history and culture. The Crown, in the 1992 birthday tribute performed by Imhotep & The to Imhotep at The Apollo. It ■ Continued on page 26

18

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Black Star News Honorees: The “Central Park 5”

onorees, the socalled Central Park 5, are collectively and individually heroes. They are survivors of one of the ugliest miscarriage of justice in New York’s history; having been railroaded and unjustly convicted for a crime they did not commit and for which they served long prison sentences ranging from seven years to 13 years before being exonerated when the actual rapist confessed. They are: Yusef Abdus Salaam; Raymond Santana Jr., Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, and Kharey Wise.

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■ Kharey Wise, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Yusef Abdus Salaam

19 Black Star News Investigations

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

How New York City Is Using A Fake Map To Steal Queen’s Homeowner’s Private Land ■ By Posr Posr

ew York City is using a phony map to justify an arrest for blocking public

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street.

Block 14228 in Howard Beach, Queens, has approximately 70 lots on it.

In 2006 Mr. Kris Gounden, a Black East Indian of Guyanese origin, bought one of those lots in Howard Beach and attempted to fence off his property.

Then New York City Council Member Joseph Addabbo Jr., then a City Council member, now a State Senator, showed up and claimed there was a “public street,” later called Broadway, running through Gounden’s newly-acquired property. Addabbo has been a licensed bar-admitted attorney since 1993 under registration number 2555555.

A few weeks later Addabbo showed up with the consulting Borough Engineer, Thomas Campagna, who produced a map and flashed it at Gounden attempting to convince him that a proposed sewer project gave the City a public street through Gounden’s property.

When Gounden asked for a copy of the map, Campagna falsely claimed he was not authorized to provide Gounden with a copy.

The flashing of the map was the legislative version of three card monte: Now you see it, now you won’t, first you did, now you don’t.

After nine years of persistence Gounden, through Herculean research, finally has a copy, obtained from the City, of Campagna’s map -- the one Campagna claimed showed that Broadway ran through Gounden’s property.

The map --a copy now in Gounden’s possession-- shows that Broadway never run through

■ Kris Gounden

Gounden’s property.

Gounden also obtained from the City through research official city alteration maps #4979 and #3651, and the official city Final Section Map 177; they show that there hasn’t been a public street in the entire Block since 1915.

Alteration maps track City changes to City streets. Official Alteration Map #3651 was signed on May 29, 1953. Alteration Map # 4979 was signed with a final revision on April 20, 2005.

The 1953 alteration map shows no public land in Block 14228.

Fifty-five years later the 2005 alteration still shows no public land in Block 14228; yet, the Law Department of the City of New York claims there is public land in Block 14228, Gounden’s property.

In a 1963 case Di Biasi v City of New York, the court quoted L.1962, ch. 998 § 202 of the Charter of the City of New York: “ No street, avenue, highway or public place, the layout of which

has not been approved as provided in this section shall be deemed to have been accepted by the city of New York as a street, avenue, highway or public place, unless, such street...highway [etc.] shall lie within the ....the duly adopted and filed final maps of the city of New York.”

In Gounden’s nine years in the courts fighting this case, the city has never cited any case that disputes Di Biasi.

Further the Di Biasi court had held: “”Since 1916, ultimate approval of changes and additions [to the Final City Map] has remained vested in the Board of Estimate.”

Alteration maps #4979, #3651 and Final Section map 177 are all signed by the Board of Estimate.

The Official Final Section map 177 was created in 1915 and shows no public land in Block 14228. In nine years in court the City has never produced a map approved by the Board of Estimate

that shows a public anything in Block 14228.

Background: In 1889 Jacob Ryder made a map of his land that he divided into 10 Boathouse lots.

The map was called “Map No. 1 of the Boathouse Lots.” All the lots and all the boardwalks in the southern peninsula in the Block were privately owned by Jacob Ryder who sold the lots to private individuals as time passed.

Because there were no public streets on Ryder’s private land, Ryder created deeds with a system of private walkways through each lot so each Boathouse lot owner could reach a public street or his/her or any other individual boathouse lot owner.

These walkways were like private streets in a gated community.

On Feb 3, 1938 and on Dec. 19, 1993 City surveyor James F. Deehan created official city surveys depicting the private ■ Continued on page 20

20

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

boardwalk Broadway running straight through property that is not Gounden’s. Certified pictures

by Sister Sonia Duthoit in the archives of the Queens Public Library confirm the three-foot wide private boardwalk, Broadway, in the pictures taken in 1965.

The City surveyor, Deehan, printed the words “Property on Map No. 1 of the Boathouse Maps at West Ramblersville” on his 1938 survey. Deehan printed the words “Lot # 4 refers to Map # 1 of the Boathouse Lots at West Ramblersville” on his official 1939 city survey.

Fastforward to Gounden’s case.

Recently when Gounden asked Al Clarke of the Queens Borough Topographical Unit for “Map # 1 of the Boathouse Lots at West Ramblersville” he produced a map that looked nothing like Deehan’s surveys. The minutes, degrees and boardwalks clearly depicted on city surveyor Deehan’s maps did not appear on the purported “Map # 1 of the Boathouse Lots...” that Al Clarke produced.

When Mr. Clarke was asked to certify the “Map # 1 of the Boathouse Lots...” in the Topographical Unit’s possession, Mr. Clarke said he could not do so because he did not possess the original.

When asked where his copy of what he purports to be “Map # 1...” came from he said he did not know. There is also another question. What kind of an borough engineer would have a city surveyor’s maps in a project folder and not check the map that the surveyor’s survey came from?

While Mr. Gounden was checking the deed for lot 771 in Block 14228 Department of Finance, he observed the deed which referred to “Map No. 1 of the Boathouse Lots.” Gounden asked to see the map but was told the original map was in the Queens Borough President’s Office. The Queens Borough President’s Office claims the original Map No. 1 is not in the Queens Borough President’s Office.

Unless there is another “Map # 1...” somewhere, the “Map # 1...”

in the Queens Borough President’s Office is not a true representation of the map city surveyor Deehan got his information from.

In plain language, it appears as if the “Map # 1...” in the Queens Borough President’s Office is fake.

When Campagna and Addabbo told Gounden there was a “public street” on Gounden’s property in 2006 they both must have known there couldn’t legally have been a public street in the entire Block -the City Charter prevents the city from considering any land public unless and until the land exists as public land on the city’s Official Final Map. Mr. John Cicciariello of the Queen’s Topographical unit testified in federal court in the City’s case against Gounden and he said that the public street process starts with the City Planning Commission. Yet, nine years after taking control of Gounden’s land the City Law Department has not claimed that the City Planning Commission has even received an application.

So how did Deputy Inspector Pascale justify arresting Gounden for unlawfully “imprisoning” a Con Edison worker when Gounden parked his van, on his own private property, for the purpose of preventing Con Ed from trespassing onto his private land?

What’s more, allegedly in 1996 the City Law Department issued a so-called “Opinion of Dedication” claiming that some unknown owner before Gounden had dedicated the land to the City of New York.

The Law Department’s opinion was based on a sworn affidavit

by Michael DiVierniero of the Department of Transportation.

DiVierniero’s affidavit claimed that for 10 years DiVierniero had “observed” the public use Gounden’s land and that DiVierniero had observed the city providing services to the land for 10 years.

In a pre-hearing deposition, DiVierniero admitted, under oath, that from his desk job he had not observed for 10 years what he swore he had observed in the field

some ten miles away. DiVierniero’s affidavit became perjured testimony.

In spite of Gounden’s land not having been placed on the city’s official final map, and in spite of DiVierniero’’s perjure of Gounden’s land not having been placed on the City’s official map, and inspite of DiVierniero’s perjured testimony to the witness stand then Vidal claimed that Town Highway law § 189 authorized Gounden’s land as a public street in 1996.

However Town Highway law § 189 reads: “the town superintendent shall open all such highways....” Town Superintendents are elected positions in towns. The City of New York is not a town.

The City Charter does not authorize the election of town superintendents. No one has ever voted for a Town Superintendent in the City of New York. As a result, there is no official in the City of New York who is authorized to execute Town Highway law § 189 and you would think a lawyer for the City Law Department would know

that the City of New York is: not a town; and, has no elected Town Superintendent of Highways.

In addition to no elected Town Superintendent of Highways, since 1978 the New York State’s Eminent Domain Procedure law [EDPL] requires all local governments, like the City of New York, to comply with the notice, hearing, appraisal and payment provisions of the EDPL before a public street can appear on the city’s Official Final Map. The City claims to have taken the land in 1996 which is 18 years after 1978 and the City has never complied with the EDPL to acquire Gounden’s land.

On Jan 12, 2016 Gounden is set to appear in court to prosecute his false arrest case, against Deputy Inspector Anthony Pascale formerly of the 106 precinct, now of Internal Affairs Bureau, and the City of New York.

Federal Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom has ordered the city to explain the legality of its claim to have legally acquired Gounden’s land. The City controls Gounden’s land not by any visible law, but by the law of the gun. ■

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21 Black Star News Investigations

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

“Lord Slum” Landlord Claims HPD Encourages Infractions To Elude Rent ■ By Milton Allimadi

New York landlord who was dubbed “Lord Slum” in a full-page spread in The New York Daily News claims that the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development is out to smear him in order to get out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in back rent he’s owed for housing tenants sent to his properties through City-run programs.

The January 15, 2014 article reported that Housing Court Judge Kimberly Moser had issued a warrant for the landlord’s arrest for contempt of court related to numerous violations on his property, ordering that he be jailed for five days.

Judge Moser, formerly of King’s County is now in Richmond County, on Staten Island. Attempts to reach her for comment Friday were not successful. The Black Star News also left a voice mail message and sent an e-mail message with questions to David Bookstaver, spokesperson for the New York Unified Courts System; there was no response by the time this article was posted.

The landlord, Kris Gounden, says the City owes him more than $600,000 in years of unpaid rent for tenants sent to him from homeless shelters on HPD)- and New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)administered programs that later stopped making payments.

Gounden claims Judge Moser also didn’t have jurisdiction over the case. He claims she denied him a traverse hearing, which, in his case, would have determined his contention that he was not properly served with the plaintiff’s summons and complaint, which were sent to the wrong address.

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■ Kris Gounden

Gounden says tenants owe him a total of $269,181.78 in back rent for his property on 864 Elton Street in the East New York section of Brooklyn. The six-unit building was the subject of The Daily News article.

He claims the City actually encourages tenants to make infractions so that it can then avoid rent payments. Two tenants quoted in The Daily News story and HPD, which administers their subsidy programs, owe him $40,359 in back rent, Gounden claims.

Gounden even he took one tenant, Ana Garcia, who went to another one of his properties through a NYCHA program to court and won the case for the $49,700 in outstanding rent, he didn’t see a dime. The Housing Court judge on that case to collect the money from Garcia, not the City. “What the City wants me to do is operate

a homeless shelter for free,” Gounden says.

The $382,000 figure that The Daily News reported Gounden owes the City were mostly based on “bogus violations” written by HPD inspectors who are under pressure to fulfill a quota, he claims.

In one case, which he was able to document and keep records of, Gounden says he challenged an HPD lawyer over alleged violations that came to $44,000, on another one of his properties located in Queens. After weeks of haggling with the HPD attorney, Ronald Smith, and disputing the validity of the violations the lawyer agreed to drastically reduce the amount by $42,000, he says.

“Dear Mr. Gounden,” Smith, the lawyer, wrote, in an e-mail message to Gounden, dated November 15, 2012. “I will forward a proposed stipulation

of settlement for $2,000.00.

However the judge will not approve any settlement made outside of the courtroom. You or your attorney must personally appear before the judge to finalize the agreement. Thank you sir.”

Court papers prepared by Smith called for Gounden to make four monthly payments of $500; if he defaulted a judgment of $20,000 was to be entered against him, the documents show.

Ultimately, the fine was dropped to zero, Gounden says.

“What kind of legitimate violation is that where the City is owed $44,000 but agrees to reduce it to zero? Was I expected to really pay? Would this money have gone to the City? Does a City official have the right to give away $44,000 that is legitimately owed to New York City? It seems like it’s HPD that should be answering some questions,” Gounden says.

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The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Gounden compares HPD’s alleged quota system for writing violations to the ones exposed in recent years at the New York Police Department (NYPD); and years ago, during the Koch administration when traffic cops who wore brown uniforms were notorious for writing parking violations.

The January 15 Daily News article reported that the City received so many complaints about Gounden’s East New York property that in 2007 it was put in a City program that monitors land lords with excessive complaints.

“The tenant who was quoted in the article saying how terrible I was, Latoir Green, was sent to me in 2010 by the City through one of its programs,” Gounden says. “Another tenant quoted in the article, Oneather Folks, was sent in 2012. If I was that bad, why was the City still sending me tenants?”

“HPD wants to demonize me in the public’s eye through media so it doesn’t have to pay me for the hundreds of thousands I’m owed,” Gounden adds. He says Green hasn’t been paying her share of the rent, which is $366; the city, which is supposed to pay the remaining $1,389, also stopped paying. Between the city and the tenant, he’s owed $27,509.55 in back rent for Green, Gounden says.

A printed breakdown he provided two weeks ago when The Daily News article appeared show’s tenant Folks’ share of the monthly rent as $235 and the City’s as $1,736. Gounden says he’s owed $16,654 on Folks’ apartment.

“How do I know HPD is trying to demonize me? Look at the photos in the article,” he says.

According to Gounden the photo which showed a padlock placed on a door leading to the basement and the building’s hot water boiler, allegedly placed

by Gounden to deny HPD technicians access to make repairs, “actually shows a padlock put there by HPD.” The photo of the boiler in

the basement covered in water was taken by HPD after its technicians botched the repair, he says. “If you look carefully at the picture, you’ll see that they put in a wrong boiler heater gun.

I have the right gun but the City prevented me from accessing my own building to repair the boiler. The City says it now controls the building. How can I be held responsible or liable for a building HPD says is under its control?”

Gounden claims because HPD didn’t use a licensed technician, the boiler emitted toxic carbon monoxide fumes so the New York Fired Department rushed to the building and shut down the boiler.

Gounden first approached The Black Star News about the building early last year. He reported that on January 4, 2013 HPD employees had “illegally entered” it without a warrant or authorization, broken the lock to the basement, and replaced it with their own. It was the lock shown in the photo in The Daily News story, he says.

Last year, on January 27, 2013, The Black Star News left a voicemail message for Oscar Bhagwan, an HPD official who was handling the matter, inquiring about the replaced lock.

Bhagwan did not return that voicemail message.

Gounden says HPD’s Bhagwan was in his building last year on a regular basis, telling tenants not to pay rent.

Another photo in The Daily News article shows a car, a white 1983 Monte Carlo with three blue stripes running on it from front to back. The caption says the car was parked over the heating oil cover to prevent it from being refilled. “That car belongs to my neighbor and hasn’t been parked there since last July. And the heating oil cover is about 10 feet where that car was parked and photo taken,” Gounden says.

The final photo used to illustrate the story shows Gounden holding a young boy.

“That photo was actually taken

over six years ago by The Daily News when the newspaper did an article about the racist attacks my family encountered when we moved to Howard Beach. Those attacks were covered by several media outlets including ABC television,” he says. “That boy I’m holding is now seven years old and in second grade. They could have at least photo-shopped my son out of the picture.”

The original Howard Beach harassment story by The Daily News is still on the paper’s website and shows Gounden wearing the same shirt as the one used in the photo on the January 15 story. (The harassment at Howard Beach still continues, Gounden reports).

“You see photos can tell 1,000 stories,” Gounden adds. “But they can also tell 1,000 lies.”

“You know, it’s a very interesting coincidence that all my troubles with HPD started after my Howard Beach incident in 2007,” Gounden adds. “Before that, I had no such problems.”

New York City Housing Commissioner RuthAnne Visnauskas is quoted in the January 15 Daily News article saying: “If you’re trying to be in the club of very bad building owners, this person would be in that club.”

“How could that even be true when The Daily News has done stories about multi-millionaire slumlords with thousands of units?” Gounden says.

“I would love for HPD to deny to The Daily News that I’m not owed a huge sum in unpaid rent,” Gounden says. “Second, how does a legitimate violation of $44,000 go to zero? How much more of the $328,000 the City claims I owe based are based on phony violations? Finally is the City trying to drive me out of business so someone who doesn’t look like me can get my property?”

“I wish an independent mediator could examine what the City claims and what I claim. My family, beginning with my father who’s not retired, has owned this building for 30 years,” he says.

Gounden says Judge Moser wouldn’t let him subpoena HPD inspectors to take the stand.

The Black Star News contacted HPD Commissioner Visnauskas’s office and sent several questions related to Gounden’s claims: whether he was indeed owed hundreds of thousands in back rent; whether HPD inspectors are pressured into meeting a quota; whether tenants are encouraged to intentionally damage apartments; and whether some of the fines were “fraudulent”, including the one handled by the HPD lawyer Ronald Smith.

Visnauskas, who was appointed by former mayor Michael Bloomberg last August, responded through spokesperson Eric Bederman.

“Mr. Gounden shirked his legal responsibilities as a landlord, obstructed the City’s efforts to restore services for his tenants and defied court orders to repair his property,” Bederman said, in an e-mail message to The Black Star News on January 24.

“We are pleased that the Judge ordered Mr. Gounden to provide services and make repairs, held that he was in criminal and civil contempt, and imposed incarceration, fines, and sanctions for his egregious conduct. We feel that the Court’s decision and the punishment it imposed accurately reflect Mr. Gounden’s actions.”

Bederman did not answer any of the questions sent via e-mail message for Commissioner Visnauskas about the specific claims by Gounden.

Gounden says his battle with HPD dates back over several years. He says typically, the City would pay for the first few months or for the first year of the lease when a tenant is sent. Then either during the lease period or at the end, the City encourages tenants to sue the landlord for alleged violations.

“I can’t evict the tenant,” Gounden says. “In the meantime, the tenant and the City stop paying rent. Meanwhile, the City continues to send inspectors ■ Continued on page 27

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The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

“Home Invaded”: Bronx Man Says Life Destroyed After Feds’ Search And Seizure Black Star News Investigates: Originally published July 13, 2012] ■ By Milton Allimadi

enjamin Cunningham’s world was turned upside down seven years ago when about a dozen agents from the United States Marshals Service raided his Bronx, New York, home without a warrant or his consent, he says.

On the early morning hours of November 29, 2005 the agents first raided the home of his mother, Theresa Cunningham, in search of his fugitive brother Terrence Cunningham. Within about 10 minutes after his mother called him around 5AM to inform him of the raid, the agents, who had no warrant to were knocking on his door.

“Open up the door! Open up the door,” Cunningham says he heard the shouts. He says he found several guns pointed at him when he opened the door; a hand then yanked open the screen door and he was grabbed and thrown outside.

“I was wearing nothing but my underwear and my undershirt,” Cunningham recalls in one of several interviews with The Black Star News. Cunningham says the agents, including one female, didn’t announce who they were; didn’t produce a warrant; and, didn’t ask permission to enter his three-story house. One agent stayed outside and restrained him while the others entered and searched the home he shared with his wife Reena, who had then traveled to her native India; they had tenants on the top two floors.

Thirty minutes later, the agent restraining him took him inside and told him they were searching for the brother, Terrence, who

B

had jumped bail in North Carolina, on a drug-related matter. “I couldn’t believe what I saw when I went back inside,” Cunningham recalls. “They were tearing my place down.

They were pulling out drawers, they were going through the closets and drawers, searching through even my wife’s panties. They were also logged on my computer going through my documents.

Why would they be searching drawers if they were looking for a fugitive?”

Cunningham says he wasn’t convinced the raiders were federal agents. When he protested, an agent ■ Ben Cunningham whose name he later learned was Nicholas Ricigliano, punched him the agents hadn’t pursued him. in his stomach, threw him on a “This means they were up to no chair and placed handcuffs with good and didn’t want anyone to his hands behind his back. see them,” he says.

Thirty minutes later, handcuffs The cadets returned with some and all, Cunningham made a of the U.S. Marshals who then wild dash out the door, fearing forcefully carried him back, he for his life, he says. He didn’t get says. “The U.S. Marshals ordered far; as he ran between two parked the driver of the bus not to file a cars, he was struck by a bus, bus accident report,” he recalls. he says. It was a Metropolitan “Then they carried me, like I was Transportation Authority (MTA) a piece of hog tied to a pole, and vehicle with dozens of uniformed took me back.” Cunningham’s cadets from the New York Police eyes still well with tears as he Department academy. “I yelled recalls the incident. He says it out that there was a bunch of threw his life on a downward men with guns tearing up my spiral, disrupting his employment house and holding me against my as a nurse, and causing intense will and that I needed help,” he emotional pain and marital recalls. woes. After the agents returned The NYPD cadets helped him him to his house, one of the into the bus while a few went men removed the handcuffs. to his house. Curiously, he says, “They just said ‘go get medical when he’d fled from his house, treatment,’ and jumped into

their unmarked cars and sped off like they were leaving the scene of a crime,” Cunningham says.

“Just like that, they disappeared.”

Cunningham says he immediately dialed 911, as did neighbors who had earlier been ordered by the Marshals not to call police during the raid. Police officers came from the 48th precinct as did EMS personnel. He was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx where he was treated and released. Cunningham then went to the New York office of the Federal Marshal Services and told a Supervising officer, John Svinos, about the incident.

Svinos’s computer system only showed records for an authorized search on Theresa Cunningham’s home based on a North Carolina warrant for Terrence; there was no record authorizing a search on

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The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

Benjamin Cunningham’s home.

“He did not believe me when I said there had been a raid on my own house and ordered me to leave,” Cunningham says.

Back at the 48th precinct, Cunningham was told to return with an inventory the next day.

“When I searched my house, I found that there was $4,600 in cash missing,” he says. “My two months mortgage payment. I was also missing a gold bracelet, my social security card, my passport, my birth certificate, and my wife’s immigration documents.”

Cunningham filed a police report about the missing items the next day.

Cunningham hired an attorney, Gary S. Fish, who filed a $20 million federal lawsuit against the agents and the U.S. Marshals Service, in the Southern District of New York, on December 5, 2005. He alleged that his fourth amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure had been violated.

(Such cases are covered under a Bivens action, based on a groundsetting case; it allows a plaintiff to state a cause of action for money damages against federal officers for violating certain constitutional provisions).

Cunningham also included the bus incident, which he said caused him injuries, on the lawsuit.

The case was eventually assigned to Justice Deborah A. Batts, an African American who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton, in 1994.

Judge Batts had numerous clashes with Cunningham’s attorney, Fish, regarding procedural matters. She ultimately dismissed the case, with prejudice, because she ruled that Fish had failed to properly serve the government.

Cunningham hired an appellate attorney, Daniel A. Eigerman. While the case was still on appeal, in July 2007, he learned some critical information during discovery on his wife’s own separate case.

Reena Cunningham had filed a lawsuit on account of her

missing immigration documents.

Cunningham now learned that the U.S. Marshals Service had obtained his confidential medical records from St. Barnabas Hospital, without his knowledge or permission, on November 29, 2005, the same day as the raid.

Cunningham also learned that his medical records had been used in an Internal Affairs hearing at the Marshals Service headquarters, in Washington, D.C., on February 26, 2006 and March 6, 2006. Neither Cunningham, nor Fish, who was still his attorney at the time of the Internal Affairs hearing, had been informed. Records show that Cunningham was portrayed as “emotionally disturbed” at the hearing. All the officers were cleared of wrongdoing.

“That’s when I was convinced we live in a police state,” Cunningham recalls. “For someone not to be informed of an administrative proceeding that has impact on his life? Is this the old Soviet Union?”

Separate from the lawsuit itself, records show that Bruce M. Goodman, a senior inspector with the Marshal Service’s Office of Internal Investigations, in Arlington, Va., handled a complaint by Cunningham against the agents. Goodman wrote a report dated March 15, 2006, clearing all the officers.

The investigation, records show, was based on interviews with the agents themselves.

“According to USMS Task Force personnel,” Goodman wrote, in part, referring to the U.S. Marshals Service, “Cunningham granted them access to his home, but immediately became uncooperative.” He concluded: “None of the sworn interviews corroborated injury or loss of property claims contained in Cunningham’s lawsuit.”

It’s interesting to note that at no stage during the trial or in any of their court papers did the agents claim that Cunningham actually “granted them access to his home.”

Goodman is now an Assistant Chief. A call to his office in

Arlington, Virginia, was referred to a spokesperson, who declined to comment on the case by publication deadline.

Meanwhile, before there was a decision on Cunningham’s appeal, Judge Batts herself wrote a letter to the appellate judges.

She now claimed she had not grasped the full facts of the case and that she had erred in dismissing it; she asked that the case be returned to her.

Judge Batts’ order dismissing the case with prejudice was reversed; however, the case was returned to Judge Batts. “I didn’t understand why my case was returned to this same judge who had dismissed my case with prejudice. It was like I was being set up,” Cunningham now recalls.

He asked for the judge to recuse herself; his motion was denied.

Cunningham says his request for a copy of the letter written but Judge Batts was denied.

A call to Judge Batts’ chamber seeking comment by The Black Star News was referred to a spokesperson for the court.

A voicemail message was not returned by the spokesperson.

Before she had dismissed the case, Judge Batts had removed Cunningham’s claims against the U.S. Marshals Service agency itself and claims against one agent, Timothy O’Callaghan, who insisted he had remained with Theresa Cunningham, while the other agents had raided Benjamin’s home. Judge Batts allowed the claims against six individual marshals to remain.

After the case was restored to Judge Batts following his appeal, Cunningham moved for the Marshals Service to be restored as a defendant because, he alleged, the agency had wrongfully used his medical records. The motion was denied.

At this point, Cunningham had run out of money and was representing himself. He filed a motion to the appeals court, asking that the Marshals agency be restored as a defendant; and that New York City, ,and St. Barnabas Hospital, be added as defendants. The court ruled

that the appeal was premature; he would have to wait for a final decision on the case by Judge Batts.

After Judge Batts declined to recuse herself, she then assigned the case to Magistrate Judge Kevin Nathaniel Fox, who handled the discovery deposition.

Judge Fox scheduled a settlement hearing during which the U.S. government offered $30,000, Cunningham says. “I rejected the offer,” he says. “Judge Fox himself said ‘why don’t you start at a six figure offer? The government’s lawyer said ‘your honor, the government feels that this case is worth $30,000.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District declined to comment on the case for The Black Star News.

The government then filed a motion to dismiss the case arguing that the agents had raided Cunningham’s home based on information from a reliable confidential informant in North Carolina and that the agent placed Terrence, the fugitive, either at the home of his mother, or with his brother.

Judge Fox asked that the government produce the information from the confidential informant on five separate occasions and the government failed to comply, Cunningham says.

The government asked for summary judgment based on a qualified immunity claim.

Judge Fox later wrote a Report and Recommendation dated June 22, 2011 to Judge Batts.

On the matter relating to the bus incident and the allegations of excessive force use, Judge Fox recommended that the government’s motion for summary judgment be granted.

With respect to 5th amendment violations related to invasion of Cunningham’s privacy and deprivation of property, the judge recommended that the government’s motion for summarily judgment be granted; he wrote that Cunningham had failed to avail himself of postdeprivation relief under the

25 Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA).

However, on Cunningham’s 4th amendment violation claims, it’s clear that Judge Fox had trouble with the credibility of the Marshals because of the inconsistent and even conflicting evidence provided. The judge noted that the government initially said it received a tip from a confidential informant in North Carolina on November 16, 2005, that Terrence, the brother, spent “most of his time” at the mother’s home at 2420 Hunter Avenue in the Bronx and basically lived with her and was mostly inside.

“Although the CI advised the USMS that Cunningham also lived in the Bronx area,” Fox wrote in his report and recommendation, referring to the informant by the initials and the U.S. Marshals Service, “nothing in the November 16, 2005 investigation report indicated that the CI told the USMS that Terrence resided with Cunningham.”

Judge Fox also noted that, according to an investigation report dated December 1, 2005, three days after the raid itself, and authored by Ricigliano, the U.S. Marshals Service in North Carolina “received information, from a CI that Terrence was in the Bronx and ‘staying with his mother or his brother.’”

Because of the conflicting reason for the basis of the Marshals’ raid, provided by the U.S. Marshals Service itself, Magistrate Judge Fox recommended that a jury should determine whether Cunningham’s 4th amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure had been violated.

Meanwhile, Cunningham, acting as his own researcher, reviewed other cases in which the Marshals had been involved, including Ricigliano. It turns out that Judge Fox’s skepticism wasn’t without foundation.

Ricigliano was involved in another case where a judge threw out evidence he gathered during a warrantless search, while searching for another fugitive, records in that case, United States

The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

v. Thomas Luckey, show.

In that case, unrelated to Cunningham’s, Ricigliano and other marshals entered a Harlem apartment building on September 3, 2009, in search of DuRon Perry Lee, a fugitive from Georgia.

Ricigliano later told a federal judge at a suppression of evidence hearing that the fugitive had been traced to the building through an IP address and that the building’s super had directed him and other law enforcement agents to a specific apartment, which they entered at 6.20 AM. The super denied that he had directed Ricigliano to a specific apartment.

The fugitive wasn’t in the apartment that, to borrow the words of the judge on that case, Ricigliano “barged” into, without a warrant. Ricigliano said he recovered drugs and weapons from the apartment. Two males, who were not subjects of the fugitive search, were found asleep in the apartment. One of them, Thomas Luckey, moved to suppress the evidence through his attorney.

The judge on the case, Shira A. Scheindlin, also of the Southern District, didn’t seem to find Ricigliano’s testimony credible at the November 9, 2009, hearing, and even sounded incredulous as one exchange, according to the transcript, shows: “Why did you enter the apartment?” Judge Scheindlin asked.

“Well, your honor, we believed that there was going to be a chance that DeRon Lee was going to be in the apartment,” Ricigliano had responded.

“Did you think that gave you the right to enter the apartment?” the judge asked.

“It was my belief, acting in good faith, to try to arrest this guy, your honor,” Ricigliano responded. Ricigliano claimed the doors of the apartment had been unlocked and that he and another officer simply walked in.

“There wasn’t a reason in the world to believe that man was in that apartment at that

time,” Judge Scheindlin, said, at one point. She said there had been no consent and called it a “warrantless, nonexigent entry.” She even asked why the Marshals had not posted officers to monitor the apartment they “barged” into while others had gone to secure a warrant.

Judge Scheindlin suppressed the evidence recovered by Ricigliano and the U.S. Attorney moved to dismiss that case. The ruling became a part of case law.

“The right of officers to thrust themselves into a home is also a grave concern, not only to the individual but to a society which which chooses to dwell in reasonable security and freedom of surveillance,” Judge Scheindlin later wrote, in her order granting Luckey’s motion to suppress.

“When the right of privacy must reasonably yield to the right of search is, as a rule, to be decided by a judicial officer, not by a police [officer] of Government enforcement agent.”

When Judge Fox wrote in his Report and Recommendation that Cunningham’s 4th amendment claims be determined by a jury, Judge Batts issued her own order.

Summary judgment on qualified immunity was appropriate, Judge Batts wrote, citing a case, Cerrone v. Brown, when “a jury, viewing all the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, could conclude that offices of reasonable competence could disagree on the legality of the defendant’s actions.”

Judge Batts adapted Judge Fox’s recommendations on the other issues at stake, and on her own, granted qualified immunity on the 4th amendment matter.

So, in an order dated August 8, 2011, Judge Batts granted the government immunity in its entirety, despite the recommendation of Judge Fox. With respect to Cunningham’s claims of being injured as a result of being hit by the bus when he fled from his home, Judge Batts ruled that it was basically his own fault. She wrote that Cunningham’s complaint had

not contained any claim for relief based “on the alleged accident.”

“Accordingly,” Judge Batts wrote, “Plaintiff’s objection based on the alleged bus accident is without merit and appears to have been raised in bad faith, to harass, or with a purpose to delay resolution of this action.”

“Moreover, were the Court to reach the merits of Plaintiff’s claim for damages based on having run into a bus while fleeing custody,” Judge Batts continued, “it would find the claim to be without merit, since Plaintiff’s unprovoked, independent, and unforeseeable decision to run into the road while handcuffed was a superceding cause of his injuries, if any.”

“It was all like a knife into my heart five years after my life was ruined,” Cunningham says.

“But I could have predicted it, since Judge Batts had dismissed my case with prejudice in 2007.

She did not want my case to be decided by a jury so they found another way.”

After trying to handle the appeal himself, Cunningham, who is now heavily indebted and fears his house will soon be foreclosed on, again hired Eigerman, the attorney who handled the initial appeal.

When Eigerman put down his name as attorney of record and paid the fees the Second Circuit Appellate Court responded with a one page decision saying the appeal was frivolous and dismissed.

“We file for reconsideration, saying it cannot be frivolous if the appellant is taking the same position as the magistrate judge,” Eigerman says, referring to Judge Fox’s Report and Recommendation to Judge Batts.

“And a fourth amendment case is a serious case. So the court should reconsider and read the briefs. They responded and said they have reconsidered and restate that this matter is frivolous and dismiss it.”

Eigerman filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to ■ Continued on page 27

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The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015 ■ Continued from page 11

■ Continued from page 17

Barbara R. Arnwine, Renowned Civil Rights Lawyer Honored Imhotep Gary Byrd, Broadcast Legend of the National Bar Association.

Ms. Arnwine is a featured columnist with Trice Edney News Wire and serves as a frequent conference orator. She has penned numerous articles and is regularly quoted and featured by national and local media outlets such as the American Bar Association (ABA) publications, the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC and NBC Network News, Rev. Jesse Jackson’s “Keep Hope Alive” radio show, Sirius Satellite Radio shows, BET, TV One, Radio One and other major national and local media, including many African American newspapers, magazines, radio stations and Web sites. She is active on social media on Twitter and Facebook.

Ms. Arnwine launched

“Igniting Change with Barbara Arnwine” in March 2015 on Radio One’s WOL 1450 AM. The hour-long show, which airs on Tuesdays from 12-1 p.m.

EST, provides provocative and empowering information and discussion designed to ignite change and inspire action in achieving racial justice, social justice and equality.

Ms. Arnwine is board vicechair of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and serves on the board of directors of MomsRising and Independent Sector. She is an honorary board member of Welcome. us and is also a member of the American Bar Association’s Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities. ■

■ Continued from page 13

Stephen C. Byrd, Pioneering Producer of Broadway Plays With multi-Ethnic Cast “There’s an audience between Tyler Perry and August Wilson that hasn’t been addressed.” As President/ CEO of the American Cinema Group, Inc., he has raised capital for, and invested in several such television and film projects.

He was recently a Principal in StoneHedge Capital, Inc., a Private Equity firm. Previously Byrd was an Investment Banker in M&A with Goldman, Sachs & Co. As a Principal, he was instrumental in the formation of a Private Equity LLC, Thurn & Taxis, for Prince Karl Von Taxis of

Austria.

A native of Philadelphia, PA., Byrd received his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Temple University and MBA in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

He has also attended the Alliance Française in Paris. He supports several community and nonprofit organizations, including Safe Horizon and The National Urban Technology Center. He is a member of The Broadway League and The Society of London Theatre. ■

■ Continued from page 16

Alia Jones-Harvey, Broadway Producer transitioned to hedge fund marketing after business school. With a commitment to education, innovation and the arts, Jones-Harvey serves on the Board of The National Urban Technology Center, the New Worlds Theatre Project and is a Tony voting member of The Broadway League. She has been honored with the Beverly Hills/ Hollywood NAACP Theatre

Trailblazer Award, the Atlanta Black Theater Festival Trailblazer Award, the inaugural Harold Washington Cultural Center of Chicago Arts Achievement Award, the Salute to Black Broadway Vanguard Award. She is married to Phillip Harvey, a member of the Africana Studies Faculty at John Jay College of the City University of New York.

■

GBExperience, became a top five record on the pop charts in the UK and a smash hit throughout Europe in the 80’s. To date, The Crown is the only record ever released on Stevie’s record label, Motown-Wondirection Records.

Spoken Word and Recording Artist; Songwriter Imhotep Gary Byrd has always been an innovator in the spoken word/rap genre. He has numerous recordings as a spoken word poet on Real Thing, RCA, and Motown Records.

As a songwriter, Imhotep has over 30 published songs. His first recording was the classic Every Brother Ain’t A Brother, followed by his first album of spoken-word poetry Presenting The Gary Byrd Experience. Are You Really Ready For Black Power? was the back side of Every Brother and was released in the UK on a compilation called Stand Up & Be Counted featuring Nikki Giovanni and the legendary James Brown.

The Godfather of Soul was a friend and fan of Imhotep and dedicated his song Mindpower to that “young man up in New York with the GBE.” As a recording artist, Byrd also recorded Soul Travelin’ with producer and funk legend Jimmy Castor. Soul Travelin has been sampled by various including Jazzy B of Soul II Soul and Nas --see discography below.

A strong advocate and supporter of the independent artist movement, Imhotep Gary Byrd produced his last CD Words Of Power From Planet Africa on his own label.

Beyond these shores, Byrd has enjoyed consistent success oversees. He hosted the American Chart Countdown Show on the BBC, which broadcast in New York and

England over BBC Radio One. He also hosted Sweet Inspirations, a live weekly transAtlantic broadcast from New York to England. The gospel radio show spawned an album of the same name.

Currently On the Air Imhotep Gary Byrd is the first radio personality since his mentor, the great Hal Jackson, to broadcast from three different stations - WLIB, WBLS, and WBAI - in New York City, the nation’s number one radio market.

On WBLS FM, Byrd hosts Express Yourself, a weekly call in show heard Sunday evenings on from 7-9:00 pm. Broadcast to millions of listeners in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, the show is simulcast over WLIBAM WBLS-FM. The show also features an infotainment segment based on the popular Imhotep’s Guide To Black Events carried in the Amsterdam News, a historic Black weekly newspaper.

The Byrd Man, as he is affectionately called, also executive produces and hosts the Radio GBE: The Global Black Experience and The Global Beat Experience, a two hour message and music show, airing Fridays from 6:00-8:00pm on listener supported radio station WBAI Radio 99.5FM. Today, Imhotep remains active with writing, publishing, and is currently planning the launch of an online GBE radio network under his company, Imhotep Gary Byrd Enterprises.

Mr. Byrd is also a creative consultant and a life creativity coach. He is frequently called upon to serve as Master of Ceremonies, keynote Speaker, lecturer and Performance Poet.■

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The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

■ Continued from page 20

“Lord Slum” Landlord Claims HPD Encourages Infractions To Elude Rent who write violations such as the phony $44,000 one. That’s how they can come up with the $382,000 figure HPD gave The Daily News.”

Gounden claims some of the intentional violations that HPD encourages tenants to commit includes destroying smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, windows, doors, the floor, and the walls of the apartment.

“If these damages are not encouraged how is it that they happen in pretty much every apartment occupied by tenants from homeless shelters? Are you telling me that every family from a homeless shelter does not know how to keep an apartment or don’t take pride in the place where they live,” Gounden says.

Gounden says the apartment where the tenant Green lives is “very busy” with “the kind of activity that used to go on in Times Square.” He adds: “I have

reported these activities to the police and to HPD and nothing has been done.”

Bederman, the HPD spokesperson also did not respond when asked about this specific allegation in the e-mail message.

Gounden says the tenant Folks actually filed the lawsuit against him and the City but once they were in court he became the only defendant. “The City should be the only defendant, not only for failing to pay it’s share of Folks’s rent as agreed on the lease, but for also instructing Folks not to call me about any damages in the apartment as required by the lease,” he says. During the trial Folks testified that she stopped contacting Gounden to report damages. ■ Editor’s Note: If you’re aware of similar cases involving HPD or NYCHA please contact The Black Star News via email message at mallimadi@gmail. com or (646) 261-7566

■ Continued from page 23

“Home Invaded”: Bronx Man Says Life Destroyed After Feds’ Search And Seizure review Cunningham’s case. He hopes the Court will review the case when the new calendar year starts in September., “Generally the Supreme Court rejects 19 out of 20 cases,” he says. “They don’t just accept because a case is wrongly decided. It is not for correcting errors. It is for declaring the law of the land.”

“If law enforcement has qualified immunity where there have been violation of the 4th amendment, the basis has to be clear,” Eigerman continues.

“And the standard for summary judgment has to be strong. You have to wipe out any contested facts. The Supreme Court should sort this out.”

Additional to the U.S. Supreme Court, Cunningham has been pursuing other strategies. Since federal employees, including judges, are mandated under the federal crime

reporting statutes to report all crimes that are brought to their attention, Cunningham says Judge Fox and Judge Batts should have reported the bus accident when he fled from the marshals.

“This is called misprision of felony, or concealing knowledge of a crime from federal law enforcement agencies,” he says.

He filed a complaint to Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs against both judges; it was dismissed as harassment.

Cunningham is certainly persistent and dedicated.

Since Congress is responsible for judges’ salaries, he contacted the offices of Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the judiciary committees in both houses of Congress, and the ethics committee in Congress. Cunningham also prepared packages about his case and has traveled so many times

to Washington, D.C., to deliver them to aides of Congressional Representatives, that some of the Capital police officers now know him by name.

Meanwhile, the case has taken a tremendous personal, emotional, and financial toll.

Cunningham says he’s visibly aged; from black hair seven years ago, to fully gray. All his savings are depleted. He survives on welfare benefits. He says his marriage is on its last legs and that he and his wife, who have a three-year-old daughter, have basically become roommates.

Ironically, Terrence, the fugitive brother, was arrested on January 12, 2006, not in New York, but in Maryland. He later provided an affirmation dated November 29, 2010, from federal prison stating that he had never resided with Benjamin Cunningham. He also said he

had never informed anybody that he resided with his mother in the Bronx.

“No one should be victimized in such a cruel way by a government that is not restrained or bound by the laws of the United States of America,” Cunningham says. “I have to finish this journey. I have to finish it on behalf of my parents, who have now both died since that 2005 raid. And on behalf of many other people who may have been, or who will be, similarly victimized by the government.”

“If a man and his family can’t be safe in his home, then what?” he says. ■ NOTE: Cunnningham says he plans an online fund-raising campaign to try and climb out of debt, pay his legal expenses and try to keep his home and family. He can be reached at coolpatus@yahoo.com

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The Black Star News

Issue Dec. 18, 2015—Dec. 24, 2015

The Black Star News Annual Excellence Awards Dinner 2015 MIST Harlem. 46 West 116 Street. NYC, 10026 DECEMBER 18, 2015.

PROGRAM OF THE EVENING. 6PM - 10PM 6PM - 7PM 7:05 - 7:10 7:10 - 7:20 7:20 - 7:30

Cocktail Hour. Entertainment by Will Galison on harmonica.

Welcome/Introduction -- Milton Allimadi, Publisher The Black Star News.

R. Donahue Peebles, CEO, Peebles Co. accepts award.

Sabrina Lamb, Founder/CEO World of Money, accepts award -- handed by renowned artist the pianist, composer and bandleader Onaje Allan Gumbs.

7:30 - 7:40 Natasha Green, S.T.E.M. educator, accepts award.

7:40 - 7:50 U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke accepts award.

7:50 - 8:10 Break To Serve Food -- Buffet Style Dinner

Entertainment by Opera Singer Cassandra Douglas 8:10 - 8:20 8.20 - 8:30 8:30 - 8:40 8:40 - 8:50 8:50 - 9:00

Barbara Arnwine, Exec Director, Transformative Justice Coalition, accepts award.

NYC Councilmember Inez Barron accepts award.

Dr. Rudy Crew, Medgar Evers President, accepts award.

Mayor David Dinkins accepts award.

U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel accepts award.

9:00 - 9:10 Alia Jones-Harvey, Broadway Producer, accepts award.

9:10 - 9:20 Stephen Byrd, Broadway Producer, accepts award.

9:20 - 9:35 CP5 accept award [Yusef Salaam, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray, Kharey Wise].

9:35 - 9:50 Imhotep Gary Byrd, Radio Broadcast Legend, WBLS-WLIB, WBAI, accepts award.

9:50 -10.00 Closing Remarks: Milton Allimadi.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS. HAPPY 2016.

We are thankful for support for this event from: The City University of New York (CUNY) United Federation of Teachers (UFT) Eclipsed The Gin Game The Color Purple Mother Courage and Her Children www.blackstarnews.com ‘Speaking Truth To Power’