Broadway, The World’s Most Famous Street, became one of the world’s cleanest streets during The Great Broadway Sweep, which concluded today in Times Square. The weeklong effort by volunteer neighborhood Clean Teams up and down Broadway collected thousands of pounds of trash in what was New York City’s biggest volunteer cleanup ever. The Sanitation Foundation is…
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As ambassadors of the country where breakdancing originated 50 years ago, members of Team USA have something to prove — and potentially to lose — when the hip-hop dance form makes its official debut at the Paris Games in 2024.
That’s because for U.S. breakers like Carmarry Hall, Victor Montalvo and Jeffrey Mike Louis, it’s more than just nailing the right moves; it’s about preserving breaking’s soul.
“When I started breaking, it wasn’t about competition; it was about culture, it was about Black dance,” said Hall, an African American Team USA member. “The Olympic platform is not going to appreciate the understanding. It’s structured in a certain way, and in that structure, you lose a little bit of the heart.”
But it is precisely that structure that international competitors to the U.S. have zoned in on while battling for a shot at Olympic gold in head-to-head contests over the past year. And at the moment, Team USA’s squad of b-boys and b-girls, the term for male and female breakers, is trailing in rankings tabulated by the World DanceSport Federation, the International Olympic Committee-approved body that administers breaking battles.
As of Friday, the top three b-boys in the world are Canada’s Philip Kim, known as B-Boy Phil Wizard; Japan’s Shigeyuki Nakarai, known as B-Boy Shigekix; and France’s Danis Civil, known as B-Boy Dany. The top three b-girls in the world are Japan’s Ami Yuasa, known as B-Girl Ami; China’s Qingyi Liu, known as B-Girl 671; and Lithuania’s Dominika Banevič, known as B-Girl Nicka.
“Everybody else has surpassed the United States, so we better go out and do some workout camps,” said Chuck D of the iconic hip-hop group Public Enemy. “The United States probably ain’t going to gold, silver or bronze. … Other places, they’ve been training for years. It’s like martial arts.”
Dancers need to win or perform well at WDSF-sanctioned events to earn the points that will eventually qualify them for the Paris Games. The next World Breaking Championship is taking place this weekend in Leuven, Belgium, just outside of Brussels.
The top b-boy and the top b-girl from the championship will automatically gain spots in the Olympics. After the Belgium event, Olympic-qualifying competitions are scheduled in China and Chile, through mid-December. Additional Olympic trials will be held in the early part of next year and run through June 2024. At the end of the process, 16 b-boys and 16 b-girls will be allowed to compete over two days at Paris’ iconic Place de la Concorde.
Montalvo, a 29-year-old from Kissimmee, Florida, who also goes by B-Boy Victor, is not discouraged.
“We have a big chance, a really big chance,” he said. “We always make the podium.”
Montalvo, who is ranked No. 5 in the world among competitive breakers, and nine others have already been named to Team USA, even though they haven’t yet qualified for the Paris Games. Competing alongside Montalvo this weekend in Leuven will be No. 7-ranked Team USA member Sunny Choi, aka B-Girl Sunny; Team USA member and No. 40-ranked Morris Isby, aka B-Boy Morris; and Logan Edra, aka B-Girl Logistx, a native of San Diego, California, who is ranked No. 13 in the world but is not a member of Team USA.
It’s widely understood in the competitive breaking community that judges favor dancers who master the foundations of breaking: “toprock” moves, footwork, “downrock” moves done closer to the floor, “power” moves showing acrobatics and strength, along with the classic “headspins,” “windmills” and “freeze” poses.
In the past, judging in hip-hop breaking competitions has always been very subjective. But that won’t be the case with the Paris Olympics, where officials will use a newly developed system to decide which b-boy or b-girl has bested their opponent in one-on-one battles.
The Trivium judging system, created for the debut of breaking at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, is a digital scoring platform that allows judges to react in real time to breakers’ physical, artistic and interpretative qualities — their “body, mind and soul.” A panel of five judges scores each breaker on creativity, personality, technique, variety, performativity and musicality. The scores can adjust throughout the battle, based on how breakers respond to their opponents.
Scores can be lowered if a breaker “bites,” or copies, a set of moves from their opponent. Misbehavior, such as deliberate physical contact with an opponent, and other unsportsmanlike conduct can also lower a breaker’s score.
The scoring system could not have been developed without the input of the breaking community, said Alexander Diaz, a Boston-based member of Team USA.
“It’s hard to get all the dancers, all the breakers on the same page,” said Diaz, who is also known as B-Boy El Niño.
“Part of it was getting the older generation, the guys that started this in the mid- to late ’70s, and then the second generation from the early ’80s, to respect the route,” he said. “And then the new generation, they were just ready. A lot of us feel like we’re just as talented as Olympic basketball players or as gymnasts. We feel like what we do is just as hard and deserves to be on that platform.”
The International Olympic Committee’s announcement three years ago that breaking would become an official Olympic sport divided the breaking community between those excited for the larger platform and those concerned about the dance form’s purity.
Hall found the changes brought by breaking’s entry into the Olympics challenging to deal with.
“It wasn’t helping me to express the loudness, to be the funkiest, to embody the story,” she said.
Louis, a Houston-based dancer also known as B-Boy Jeffro, said the U.S. competitors want to be seen as innovators at the Olympics.
“I think the reason why we’re different from a lot of the countries is because we carry a lot of the essence of breaking in hip-hop, as far as being your own individual, having a lot of personal style, having flavor,” Louis told The Associated Press earlier this year.
“The goal is to have your own image,” he continued. “If you can’t see my face, and it’s just a silhouette of me, you should be able to say, ‘Hey, that’s Jeffro.’ But in a lot of places, it’s just about replicating: Learn this, learn that.”
Montalvo hopes to be able to compete with the technical expertise honed by his international competitors while also teaching them the original nature of breaking.
“I hope they see the essence, the style that I bring,” he said. “I want them to understand I learned from the roots, from the originals, and it’s important for all of us to learn from them.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some of the nation’s most influential Black leaders on Thursday said many threats to democratic institutions in the U.S. appear to be aimed squarely at their community, including efforts to make voting more difficult, censor lessons around race and weaken social safeguards such as affirmative action.
They used a wide-ranging forum at the annual meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation as a call to action to ensure that the interests of Black Americans are not further eroded.
“The attacks on our democracy are happening on all fronts,” said Nicole Austin-Hillery, president & CEO of the foundation.
She said they are grounded in “a racist view of America, and they all depend on misinformation and often downright deceit.”
Several members of the Black Caucus, along with voting rights advocates and community activists spoke about how mostly Republican-led actions to dismantle affirmative action in higher education, ban books in schools and restrict voting are particularly harming Black Americans.
As one example, they referred to the state and local controversies over critical race theory, an academic concept centered on the notion that racism is inherent in the country’s institutions. It has become a familiar talking point for Republican lawmakers across the country as they have restricted how race can be taught – even though there is little evidence that critical race theory is being taught in K-12 schools.
Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, a law professor who helped develop the concept, said it was part of a widespread attack on Black history, wisdom and knowledge.
“We have to recognize that what we’re fighting for right now is not just the next election or the election after that,” she said. “We’re fighting for our right to be here for the rest of this century and beyond.”
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation said 18 states have limited how race can be taught. Florida, whose governor, Ron DeSants, is running for the GOP presidential nomination, has made headlines around its efforts to curb how schools teach about race and to block Advanced Placement courses on African American studies.
Several speakers also criticized the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year ending affirmative action in college admissions. That is forcing campuses to look for new ways to diversify their student bodies.
Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, called out what he saw as a double standard, with the end of affirmative action but the continuation of so-called legacy admissions, the practice of favoring applicants with family ties to alumni.
“We fought for it because we know that it’s not a handout,” Hewitt said of steps to boost minority enrollment. “It’s what we deserve.”
Several leaders also cited efforts at the state level since the 2020 election to make voting more difficult, steps in mostly Republican-led states that have had a disproportionate impact on communities of color and drawn numerous lawsuits.
LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, drew on the struggle for civil and voting rights as inspiration to push back harder against restrictive laws and to expand the ability to vote. She noted how Black Americans had once been denied even the ability to learn to read and write.
“And in this country, power is not something that is earned. You’ve got to take power in this country,” she said. “We’re operating in this political context like we’re not fighting for our very lives.”
Virgin Islands Rep. Stacey Plaskett spoke out against attacks made by many Republicans against the country’s core institutions, especially calls to dismantle the Justice Department in the wake of charges brought against former President Donald Trump, including those related to his attempts to remain in power despite losing the 2020 election.
She said the attacks on fundamental pillars of democracy and the suggestion that some people should not be held legally accountable were creating widespread distrust in the federal government and deepening the political divide.
“We can’t have that,” she said.
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The Associated Press coverage of race and voting receives support from the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s education chief said he’s open to using “whatever levers” are available — including federal money — to discourage colleges from giving admissions preference to the children of alumni and donors.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said legacy admissions must be revisited for the sake of diversity on campuses following the recent Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action. In a step beyond his previous comments, Cardona said he would consider taking stronger action to deter the practice.
“I would be interested in pulling whatever levers I can pull as secretary of Education to ensure that, especially if we’re giving out financial aid and loans, that we’re doing it for institutions that are providing value,” Cardona said Wednesday. He made the remark when asked about using federal money as a carrot or rod on legacy admissions.
Legacy admissions, long seen as a perk for the white and wealthy at selective colleges, have come under renewed fire since the ruling in June that colleges can no longer consider the race of applicants. By banning affirmative action but allowing legacy preferences, critics say the court left admissions even more lopsided against students of color.
Cardona didn’t elaborate on his options, but the federal government oversees vast sums of money that go to colleges in the form of student financial aid and research grants. The Education Department can also issue fines for civil rights violations, including racial discrimination.
The agency recently opened an investigation at Harvard University after a federal complaint alleged that legacy admissions amount to racial discrimination.
A handful of small colleges have disavowed legacy admissions in the wake of the affirmative action decision, but there’s been no sign of change in the upper echelons of America’s universities.
Some colleges and alumni defend the practice, saying it builds community and encourages fundraising. And as campuses become more diverse, they argue, the benefit increasingly extends to students of color and their families.
Cardona, who attended a technical high school and earned his bachelor’s degree from Central Connecticut State University, has added his voice to the advocates, civil rights groups and Democratic lawmakers denouncing the practice.
“Your last name could get you into a school, or the fact that you can write a check could get you into a school,” he said. But using affirmative action to promote diversity — “that tool was taken away.”
Still, he shied away from supporting a ban of the type proposed by some Democrats in Congress and in several states. Cardona sees it as a matter of local control, with universities having the final decision.
“There is no edict coming from the secretary of Education,” he said.
Without action, Cardona warned that the nation could face the same setbacks seen in California after it ended affirmative action in 1996. The state’s most selective colleges saw steep decreases in Black and Latino enrollment, and the numbers never fully rebounded.
“If we go the route that California went when they abolished affirmative action, what chance do we have competing against China?” Cardona said. “This is more than just ensuring diverse learning environments. This is about our strength as a country.”
Advocates have also pushed the Education Department to start collecting data showing the number and demographics of legacy students.
“I was hopeful we’d be seeing more colleges volunteering to drop it,” said James Murphy, a deputy director at Education Reform Now, a nonprofit think tank. “I think I think they’ve got to keep the pressure on and shine a light on it.”
On other issues:
— Cardona said during the interview that students should be taught about the impact of slavery, including effects that linger today. When slavery ended, it didn’t end the belief in some that African Americans were inferior, and the country is still seeing the effects of unfair housing and lending policies adopted in more recent decades, he said.
“What we don’t want to do is hide the truth and act as if it didn’t happen, or that when it ended, everything was fine. I definitely don’t want to teach that there were some benefits to that for those who were enslaved,” he said.
His remarks were a veiled reference to new education standards in Florida, endorsed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, that require instruction that enslaved people developed skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit.”
Conservatives in many states have pushed for restrictions around how schools address topics related to race and slavery.
— He said “schools should be open, period,” even if there is a new COVID-19 surge. “I worry about government overreach, sending down edicts that will lead to school closures because either folks are afraid to go in or are infected and can’t go,” he said.
He said the sense of community was lost when schools closed early in the pandemic, and that in-person instruction “should not be sacrificed for ideology.”
— Cardona declined to speculate on what the administration’s new student loan forgiveness proposal might look like or whether a final regulation could be in place before the 2024 presidential election. “We are going to work as quickly as possible,” he said. “We know there are students that are waiting, borrowers that are waiting. So many folks are struggling right now to get back up.”
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The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
HOUSTON (AP) — The debate over whether a Black high school student in Texas should be serving in-school suspension for wearing twisted dreadlocks to class intensified this week as the student’s family and his school district both took legal action.
Darryl George, 17, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, has been serving an in-school suspension since Aug. 31 at the Houston-area school. School officials say his dreadlocks fall below his eyebrows and ear lobes and violate the district’s dress code.
George’s mother, Darresha George, and the family’s attorney deny the teenager’s hairstyle violates the Barbers Hill Independent School District dress code and have accused the district of violating a new state law that outlaws racial discrimination based on hairstyles. The new law, the CROWN Act, took effect Sept. 1.
On Tuesday, Darresha George and her attorney filed a formal complaint with the Texas Education Agency, alleging that Darryl George was being harassed and mistreated by school district officials over his hair and that his in-school suspension was in violation of the CROWN Act.
On Wednesday, the agency notified Darresha George and her attorney that it will investigate the complaint.
Later Wednesday, the Barbers Hill school district announced it had filed a lawsuit in state district court asking a judge to clarify whether its dress code restrictions limiting student hair length for boys violates the CROWN Act. The lawsuit was filed in Chambers County, located east of Houston.
“Although we believe the new law does not govern hair length, we are asking the judicial system of Texas to interpret,” Barbers Hill Superintendent Greg Poole said in a statement.
The superintendent had previously said the dress code is legal and teaches students to conform as a sacrifice benefiting everyone.
Darresha George said the fight to have her son return to class has taken a toll on her mentally and physically. She said she was recently hospitalized after a series of panic and anxiety attacks brought on from stress.
“I try not to show everything because I have to stay strong for my son. I have to stay strong and stay in the fight,” Darresha George said. “But it is draining.”
Darryl George did return to his regular first-period class on Wednesday morning, was welcomed by his teacher and classmates, and for a moment he “felt free for a little bit,” his mother said.
But soon after his return, the school principal pulled him out of class and returned him to in-school suspension over his hair and for allegedly wearing an earring, which his mother said he does not wear to school.
“So (the principal) snatched his freedom right back away,” Darresha George said.
In a statement, the school district said it would not enhance the current punishment against Darryl George while it waits for a ruling on its lawsuit.
The CROWN Act, an acronym for “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” is intended to prohibit race-based hair discrimination and bars employers and schools from penalizing people because of hair texture or protective hairstyles including Afros, braids, dreadlocks, twists or Bantu knots. Texas is one of 24 states that have enacted a version of the CROWN Act.
A federal version of the CROWN Act passed in the House of Representatives last year, but was not successful in the Senate.
Darryl George’s school previously clashed with another Black male student over the dress code. Barbers Hill officials told a student he had to cut his dreadlocks to return to school or participate in graduation in 2020, which garnered national attention. The student’s mother withdrew him from the school and a federal judge later ruled the school district’s hair policy was discriminatory.
Darryl George’s family has said it plans to file a federal lawsuit against the school district.
“Barbers Hill, the hammer of accountability is coming. You will no longer discriminate or be racist or ignorant to no child on our watch,” said Candice Matthews, national minister of politics for the New Black Panther Nation, who is a family spokesperson.
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