Author: tourist_yp6g7u

Throughout the film “Sing Sing,” characters “trust the process,” whether putting together a comedy production or challenging a wrongful conviction. Doubts are met with patience, even if the system gives Black and Brown men incarcerated in New York State little reason for faith.

“It’s just trusting that if we do everything as it aligns itself, it’s going to turn out right,” said Sean Dino Johnson, who plays himself in the film. “Working in the theater, we tend to want to just catch it when we catch it. And sometimes it’s not meant for you to catch that. You might be practicing [and] rehearsing, and then the day before the show is chaotic.

“And [it’s] like that with our lives, too. We’re so busy saying it’s not gonna work, but if we just relax and trust in the hard work that we put in, something magical just happens. And that’s the process.”

Now, Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), the real-life program featured in the movie, will also “trust the process” as last month’s nationwide release of “Sing Sing” brings unprecedented momentum. As the film depicts, the nonprofit organizes stage plays in New York State prisons starring the very people incarcerated there, including Johnson, who was held at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, where the program began.

Charles Moore, RTA’s director of programs and operations, says people as far as Japan and the United Kingdom line up to volunteer or pitch in following the film’s release. But RTA remains a plucky New York-based operation housed on the SUNY Purchase campus and reliant on teaching artists commuting to remote prison towns — with travel sometimes almost as long as the classes themselves.

“We would like to grow, but sometimes growth could be dangerous,” said Moore. “As long as we grow slowly and smartly, we’ll be alright. You can’t have this film come out and say, ‘Oh my god, this is our opportunity, here’s all this money [to] be in 50 states.’”

The organization’s first major grant showed Moore the pitfalls of success. The bigger the budget, the more money needs to be raised the following year. Still, many communities can benefit from a prison arts program, and the ambition is certainly there.

John “Divine G” Whitfield — a founding member of RTA who served as an executive producer for “Sing Sing” and is played by Colman Domingo as the lead protagonist in the film — is excited at the prospect.

“When we came into the program, that was our mission of expansion,” said Whitfield. “We wanted to share it, because if it was helping us, we knew it could help other people. This movie is giving us what we’ve been always trying to do, but now we get ready to take it to a whole new level. I think pretty big. Everybody [tells] me to reel it in a little bit…this is a step by step process [but] I believe we need to take something as good as this and share it with the world.”

RTA members perform “Thoughts of a Colored Man” at Green Haven Correctional Facility in the program’s most recent production. (Video courtesy of RTA)

Behind the Curtain

The nonprofit continues to expand at a healthy pace, now operating core programming in eight medium-to-maximum security prisons across the state — six men’s facilities and two women’s. Beyond theater, courses in other mediums like dance, music composition, and visual arts are offered.

Last spring, RTA launched a reentry program called Reimagining Myself, which was recently enlisted out-of-state by the Sierra Conservation Center, a California state prison. It is also offered at the Greene and Otisville correctional facilities here in New York. Jermaine Archer, RTA board member and alumnus, believes post-release programming was necessary.

“We provide resources for people to become their best self, and we realize what happens when they walk out of prison, we don’t have that community,” he said. “I can yell across the aisle to someone else, and we can talk about the experience. And I had someone there 24 hours a day that could connect with me on these things, with shared experiences.

“When you come home, you’re in the rat race in the subways [and] the grocery store, it’s people all in your space, and people have those freakout moments. And we realized we needed more than just an alumni base.”

In fact, plays only represent a small portion of RTA drama programming. Acting workshops occur multiple times a week and will never make it in front of an outside audience. Course exercises focus on tying improv and character study with personal development, rather than hitting the stage. The actual rehabilitation starts there.

“[Most of] RTA’s work [are] these little magical reckonings that happen in back classrooms and facilities that no one but the 12 members of that classroom and the teaching artists will ever see,” said teaching artist Margaret Ables. “It’s not the day that ‘12 Angry Men’ goes up at Sing Sing, and everybody comes and applauds. It’s the constant transformation that’s happening, 12 men or women at a time, [at] 6 p.m. [in the] back of [a] Green Haven classroom.”

The “Sing Sing” cast boasts many alumni who play themselves, including Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, who co-stars alongside the lead man Domingo. Both performances garnered early Oscar buzz, according to award odds aggregator GoldDerby. But there is no RTA prison-to-Hollywood pipeline.

“Even when we take this film into the facilities for our participants to see, we don’t want them to get the misillusion that they’re going to be the next person to be in a film like this and [that] RTA is about producing big-time actors,” said Moore. “This is a dream come true for Clarence [Maclin]. We never knew that such a great film would be written about RTA and it would have the impact that it’s having.

“We do not promise any of our participants that you’re going to become an actor, a visual artist, or professional dancer. But what we can offer you is an opportunity to improve your life skills and give you a couple tools that will help you make it through this incarceration, and hopefully make you successful as a tax-paying citizen upon your release.”

Fewer than 3% of RTA participants return to prison after release. Comparatively, the state’s overall three-year recidivism rate stands at around 19%, the lowest in four decades. And while arguments and disagreements are expected in such an emotionally-charged environment, not a single physical fight has broken out in RTA programming throughout its history.

“These creative outlets provide incarcerated individuals with the opportunity to reflect on their life experiences and thoughtfully discuss and share those reflections through their work,” said a spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. “By engaging in these collaborative art projects, incarcerated individuals acquire valuable skills and self-awareness, fostering personal growth; which is essential for their successful reentry to the community and helps reduce recidivism.”

Rehabilitating Through the Arts

Moore participated in RTA himself, usually as a perennial supporting cast member. But he says his role didn’t matter — for him, boosting his self-esteem and confidence came first. Ultimately, he was hired by RTA post-release, the first alumnus to work full-time on the nonprofit side.

Both Archer and Moore recall first encountering the program as audience members and mistaking the cast as professional actors before bumping into them later in the yard. They initially wondered what the thespians did to get themselves locked up.

A close friend compelled Archer to interview in his place for the program after being transferred to another facility the year he got off RTA’s waitlist. Archer was reluctant, but wanted to fill his time. Similar to Maclin’s portrayal in the film, the Brooklynite was a known troublemaker. And it was Maclin who vouched for him given their similar backgrounds.

“As a matter of public safety, RTA allowed me to release my inner bozo and allowed me, in prison, to have the childhood that I never had,” said Archer. “I was able to be a child again. I was able to have fun. We used to roll around on the floor. We used to dance. We used to do a bunch of foolish stuff that you can’t do in a maximum security prison, the projects, in the hood.”

“It allowed us to understand, this is the life I probably should have had all this time.”

Despite his early reservations for singing and dancing, Archer found himself playing Riff in “West Side Story” for his first role. Yet he felt himself the most portraying characters who weren’t gangsters. Playing George from John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” allowed him to explore a man burdened with a dear friend holding him back. It was too real.

Archer came home in 2020 after serving 22 years. He now works on a criminal justice grant-making team and sits on the RTA board. While his fellow alumni hail Archer as a magnetic presence, he never auditioned for “Sing Sing.” He spent the time challenging his conviction. This past July, it was vacated.

Humble Origins of RTA

Rehabilitation Through the Arts dates back to the mid-’90s and was initially known as Sing Sing Theater Workshop, recall Johnson and Whitfield, two of the founding members. In fact, the program wasn’t initially intended for rehabilitation; the guys just wanted to put on a play.

Whitfield hopped at the opportunity as a former High School of Performing Arts student with a penchant for ballet, breakdancing, and martial arts choreography. Johnson needed more convincing, initially picturing himself in a leotard outrageously reciting Shakespeare while held in a maximum-security prison.

In reality, the program kicked off with script reading. Early on, participants cliqued up, with some groups refusing to intermingle due to longstanding prison history.

“Everybody just sticks to their own, so we start giving out scripts and we start reading,” said Johnson. “Next thing you know, everyone just got so lost into the material, reading the scripts and acting it out. We enjoyed it, we all learned something about ourselves. We learned some things about other people. And we also learned that we all had a lot in common.

“That was the beginning of the RTA community.”

Through theater, a diverse group held at Sing Sing gathered to put on a performance for the ages and left an impression on everyone from the prison population to the corrections officers. Something special was happening.

As shown in the film, Whitfield knew the ins-and-outs of creating a prison program thanks to his experience in grievance work and as a jailhouse lawyer. They turned to founder Katherine Vockins. Soon bylaws and mission statements were drafted.

Before the program, Johnson rarely spoke more than two words in 10 minutes. Now he works as a marketing director and sits on the RTA board. Whitfield credits the program’s creative writing courses for his success as a novelist. He has since won five national writing competitions.

“Sing Sing” is an extension of RTA’s mission to create change through the arts. Putting back on prison greens for the movie was tough for Johnson. But he says he needed to show the public how humanity exists behind bars. Whitfield, who makes a cameo in the film, hopes audience members take away a simple message:

“Love is the power,” said Whitfield. “I think because we had that element of love within us that circulated through us when we interacted with each other, when we envisioned this program, when we put it on its feet and got it moving. The motivating force behind it all was love.”

Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.

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The New York City Council voted to pass a package of reparations bills last week that would study the city’s role in the enslavement of Africans, indigenous Americans, and their descendants in U.S. history and address continuing racial injustices — a movement that’s been met with resistance in some cities.

New York State took the historic step of creating a nine-member Community Commission on Reparations Remedies last December. The state commission is tasked with producing a written report examining the state’s legacy of slavery and making recommendations within a year. It’s only the second state after California to launch a reparations commission.

“I want to see this happen in my lifetime,” said Iyafin Olatunji, a 95-year-old Crown Heights resident, at the press conference.

There have been numerous local and citywide reparations efforts across the nation, including in Providence, Rhode Island; Evanston, Illinois; Asheville, North Carolina; and Greenbelt, Maryland.

“This monumental step will address the persistent disparities that continue to affect Black communities,” said Councilmember Farah Louis at the Sept. 12 press conference.

“The reparations movement is often misunderstood as merely a powerful compensation for the enslaved Africans, who built this country and this city, but it is far more than that,” Louis continued. “It is a testament of our unwavering commitment to acknowledging and addressing the deep rooted injustices that have plagued our societies for centuries. Generations of oppression need and require study into generations of harm.”

New York City legally sanctioned the practice of slavery for more than 200 years, and in 1730, had one of the highest rates of slave ownership in the country outside of Charleston, South Carolina, according to the New York Public Library (NYPL) Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Wall Street, between Pearl and Water Streets, hosted a world-renowned slave market for decades. The enslaved population, as the library put it, “literally built the city and was the engine that made its economy run.”

Even though the Wall Street slave market closed in 1762, Black men, women, and children were still bought and sold throughout the city. This continued well past the statewide slavery ban in 1827, said the NYPL.

“The Declaration of Independence proudly declares that all Americans are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Yet, this promise has been repeatedly denied to Black and Brown Americans,” Louis said. “We see other groups receive restitutions for generational disenfranchisement while Black Americans are met with resistance. Told that reparations are too difficult, too controversial, too expensive. But we must defy these dismissals. I stand firm and our belief that injustice cannot be deferred. Our fight for reparations is about ensuring that the dream of equality becomes the reality for all of us.”

Louis sponsored Intro. 279-A, which would require the NYC Commission on Racial Equity (CORE) to study the city’s role in perpetrating and perpetuating slavery and other racial injustices, and then recommend potential measures to help remedy or redress associated harms.

Intro. 471-A, sponsored by Council Members Nantasha Williams and Christopher Marte, will establish a task force designated to create two Freedom Trails commemorating historical sites tied to abolition and civil rights. One path will be citywide while the other will concentrate on lower Manhattan.

“When you find out that the first commodity on Wall Street was actual human beings that looked like myself and my relatives, that does a lot to you,” said Williams.

Marte, who represents lower Manhattan, told the AmNews the trails will map out a history the city often attempts to ignore.

“We need to highlight the civil rights activists who walked these streets, who lived in our buildings and had historic events here in New York City,” he said.

The New York Historical Society, where Marte himself learned about the city’s role in the slave trade, offers a substantial archive. Individual historians will also play a role in putting together trails, and the Landmarks Commission can identify buildings with historical significance. The taskforce will help gather these different institutions in order to put together a recommendation within a year.

Other bills in the reparations package include Intro. 242-A, sponsored by Councilmember Crystal Hudson, and Intro. 833-A, sponsored by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams This legislation comes after a majority voted to pass the 2022 Racial Justice Commission’s (RJC) ballot measures that called for an address to racial inequity.

Senator James Sanders Jr. and Assemblymember Michaelle C. Solages, who sponsored the state reparations commission bill, along with local racial justice groups like the December 12th Movement and BLIS (which stands for Black Liberation-Indigenous Sovereignty) Collective also attended the rally to show their support.

Since the reparations movement started making earnest legislative strides, there has been resistance from the right.

In Chicago, Evanston became the first local municipality to offer $20 million reparations to Black Americans for past housing discrimination in 2021. Eligible residents and their descendants could receive $25,000 in direct cash payment towards buying a home or housing related debts.

Currently, a conservative legal group filed a lawsuit against Evanston claiming that the reparations package is a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and unconstitutionally discriminates against non-Black residents. This is an extension of the ramped-up Republican backlash against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and affirmative action practices on college campuses and universities.

Most recently in Atlanta, a Black-owned, women-led venture capital firm called Fearless Fund was forced to reach a settlement after being hit with a lawsuit. Yet another conservative group, the American Alliance for Equal Rights under Ed Blum, had filed alleging that their grant contest to support Black women business owners was discriminatory on the basis of race, the Associated Press reported.

In liberal New York’s Republican pockets, conservative city officials and residents are stewing over the state and city bills and have vowed to never pay reparations.

“These are just tactics to reinstitute white supremacy,” said Nicole Carty, executive director of Get Free Together, about the Republican pushback.

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe into the city’s top leaders is ramping up, leaving voters and electeds to ponder — equally out loud and in hushed whispers — the impact this will ultimately have on next year’s mayoral election. 

The big question: Will Mayor Eric Adams, the second Black mayor to ever lead New York City, go down as a one-term like his historic predecessor, the late David Dinkins? 

Thus far, more than a dozen people in the Adams administration and other city agencies have been thrust into the multiple investigations into City Hall, prompting resignations from city commissioners and staff, and subsequent indictments related to the FBI probe of Adams campaign finances. This includes city aides and their relatives: Timothy Pearson, Dwayne Montgomery, Philip Banks III, David C. Banks, Sheena Wright, Edward Caban, Winnie Greco, Brianna Suggs, Eric Ulrich, Rana Abbasova, James Caban, and Terence Banks. 

“Our hallmark is not being distracted,” said Adams at Tuesday’s in-person press conference. “Stuff comes up in the city and we’re not going to be distracted. One of the distractions is answering the same question over and over and over and over again, like you’re going to get a different answer. I’m just not going to do that. I got a city to run.”

Since 2023, Adams and his administration has been under intense scrutiny from law enforcement, mostly because of alleged fraud in his 2021 mayoral campaign and a ​​sexual assault case brought against him. 

It began last July, when Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Alvin Bragg indicted six people, including retired Deputy Inspector Dwayne Montgomery and a consulting company, for participating in a straw-donor scheme — meaning a person or entity illegally evades campaign finance contribution limits. These indictments really set the ball rolling and drew more attention to Adams campaign finances. 

Before that, Adams had only been hit with New York City Campaign Finance Board (NYCCFB) fines for accepting prohibited donations and failing to properly respond to requests for documentation in May 2023. 

In June 2023, former NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell, the first Black woman to head the agency, announced that she was stepping down with little warning. She was replaced by former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, the first Latino to head the department.

In September 2023, former New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) Eric Ulrich was charged for using his position to dole out favors in exchange for cash and other bribes, the Associated Press reported. 

The legal situation ratcheted up to an 11 in November 2023, when the FBI suddenly raided the Brooklyn home of Adams’s chief election campaign fundraiser, 25-year-old Brianna Suggs, while Adams was heading to a meeting with the White House about the migrant and asylum seeker influx. Suggs worked for Adams during his time as Brooklyn Borough president. As a teenager, she reported directly to her godmother, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, a longtime Adams ally who currently serves as the mayor’s chief advisor.

Adams distanced himself from both cases, which were brought in state court and did not directly implicate his campaign or administration. He also had his electronic devices seized by the FBI but no charges were brought against him directly. He has still not been charged directly for any wrongdoing. 

Because the FBI probe was left deliberately vague, the rumor mill swung to life. Adams was determined not to comment on the ongoing investigations, though, and has said repeatedly that he was cooperating completely. 

The AP reports there were FBI subpoenas for Adams’s schedule, his overseas travel, and potential connections to the Turkish government. It’s assumed that this was to determine whether the Adams campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive donations from foreign sources, funneled through straw donors, but the FBI did not confirm. Other news outlets reported that the investigation was examining whether Adams tried to assist the Turkish government in getting city approval to open a Manhattan building for diplomatic facilities in 2021, despite concerns about the skyscraper’s fire safety systems, before he was mayor.

By February 2024, FBI had raided the Bronx homes of former director of Asian affairs and campaign fundraiser Winnie Greco, reported the AP. They once again seized Adams’s phones and iPad as well. 

In June 2024, a former Brooklyn pastor, Bishop Lamor Whitehead, was indicted and sentenced to nine years for wire fraud, attempted wire fraud, attempted extortion, and making false statements to federal law enforcement agents. Whitehead had said Adams was a mentor and confidante, although Adams had very publicly distanced himself from Whitehead during the investigation. 

This September, in rapid succession, First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright; Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks, his brothers Schools Chancellor David Banks and political consultant Terence Banks; and mayoral adviser Timothy Pearson, who’s former NYPD, were all raided by the FBI. 

FBI agents also seized devices from Caban, prompting his swift resignation from office. He has been criticized for moves made as he departed. 

“New Yorkers need accountability and transparency from the NYPD because building public trust is the key to public safety,” said City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Public Safety Committee Chair Yusef Salaam in a joint statement. “For outgoing Commissioner Caban to lessen penalties for police misconduct and abuses on his way out of office, amidst an ongoing federal investigation, is an alarming misuse of power. The Council enacted the creation of a disciplinary matrix with the NYPD to help ensure proper and standardized penalties for misconduct. Yet under this administration, we continue to see the erosion of accountability and safeguards designed to protect New Yorkers.”

Around the same time, retired FDNY Chiefs Brian Cordasco and Anthony Saccavino were indicted by the FBI after a yearlong corruption investigation and City Hall’s legal counsel Lisa Zornberg, a former federal prosecutor, also abruptly resigned. 

Zornberg reportedly was pushing for Pearson, whom the mayor has described as a “good friend,” to be fired. Pearson is currently facing multiple lawsuits accusing him of sexually harassing female employees, and is facing a separate investigation for his role in a physical fight at a shelter for homeless migrants, said the AP. 

The ongoing FBI probe has definitely rattled support for Adams among the more progressive city officials and political clubs in the city, but many argued that some of his public safety and solitary confinement policies, flooding the streets with NYPD officers while cutting the city budget, his handling of the immigration crisis, and the “power grab” battle between him and City Council members is the real reason for that move.

“Raids, corruption allegations, and chaos have become hallmarks of the Adams administration,” said New York Working Families Party Co-Directors Jasmine Gripper and Ana María Archila in a joint statement. “Under Adams, the people of New York are sandwiched between a constant stream of budget cuts and FBI raids. New Yorkers need a mayor who can govern to make people’s lives better, not a mayor who’s fighting a laundry list of corruption allegations. Today’s news is the latest example of the Eric Adams administration’s questionable morals and values. We deserve better. We can do better.” 

So far, two progressive Democrats — Brooklyn’s Senator Zelnor Myrie and Queen’s Senator Jessica Ramos — have announced plans to run against Adams in 2025 and have started campaigning. 

“I think all of New York City is concerned about all of the allegations that we’ve seen about the FDNY, about the NYPD, across city agencies,” said Ramos, whose campaign slogan is riding on rooting out corruption. “When I started this race a few days ago, I talked about how people are losing faith in our institutions, losing faith in government — none of this helps. We need a path forward to show people that government can work, that government can do good for them.” 

Ramos was spotted at this week’s post-Democratic National Convention (DNC) breakfast, held at Junior’s Cheesecake restaurant in Brooklyn by the Brooklyn Democratic Party. Adams has been noticeably absent from many national political events for Vice President Kamala Harris as she makes a bid for president, despite being a New York State delegate. 

Ramos said that city aides, like Pearson and Banks, should have resigned as well as Caban. “The mayor should know better — to know who he’s vetting and hiring for such important posts.”

However, while deeply concerned about the legal matters, not everyone has rushed to drop Adams. 

At the post-DNC breakfast, many attendees said that they are withholding judgment of Adams until he is officially charged. This, said sources, is mostly because of his upbringing as a native New Yorker and the city’s second Black mayor. No one, particularly in Brooklyn among Black and Brown voters, wants to see another Black man whom they view as one of their own embroiled in scandal or leave office after one term. However, many declined to speak on the record about their feelings about Adams or have actively distanced themselves from him and City Hall. 

“You know, every mayor I have communicated with says that there are moments of crisis in an administration. I think that when you do a reflection, you’re going to see that I am the person that I stated I am,” Adams said. “My North Star is improving the city that I love, that I wore that bulletproof vest for 22 years [for].”

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Leaders of New York City’s Haitian-American community, which claims the largest concentration of Haitians in the country and one of the largest outside the island itself, are rallying to condemn presidential candidate Donald Trump’s lies about immigrants eating pets in Ohio and other hateful rhetoric, while also hastily making plans to travel from the five boroughs to the Midwest to show their solidarity and support for Vice President Kamala Harris, who is seeking to be elected to the Oval Office in November.

“We’re going to help people in Springfield, and we’re going to educate them on voting,” New York Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the first Haitian-American to hold such a post, told the AmNews in an interview this week, referring to the Ohio city that found itself thrust into the national spotlight after Trump and Harris’s televised debate, where the former claimed Haitian immigrants were “eating the dogs [and] eating the cats” in front of millions of viewers.

Trump’s comments have spun Springfield, a city of nearly 60,000 that has seen an influx of thousands of Haitians seeking refuge from the conflicted island nation, into fear and turmoil. A bomb threat was called into the city’s municipal offices, local events have been canceled, and residents have reported increased fear-mongering geared toward its newest residents. For Haitians across the world, however, Trump’s comments are nothing new.

“Being a Haitian American, growing up in this country was very difficult because there were always these stigmas thrown at us,” said Bichotte Hermelyn, who was born in New York City after her parents immigrated to the U.S. “We were the people that come from a witchcraft country, we are a ‘shithole’ country, we eat trees, all sorts of things.

“The stigma kind of stayed with us for a very long time,” she added. “It’s something that we as a people are, unfortunately, used to.”

Trump’s comments have galvanized Haitians across the world. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who penned an op-ed for the AmNews earlier this year, called Trump’s rhetoric “bizarre” and “hateful” during a recent press briefing, saying “our country deserves better.” Actress and reality TV star Garcelle Beauvais, perhaps the most visible Haitian-American celebrity in Hollywood, took to her social media accounts in tears, saying that “we must condemn this kind of hatred — this kind of racism — for anyone. I have always been a proud Haitian immigrant. Coming to America, working hard — that’s what we do. Coming from gratitude. And I will not sit by and let people talk about my community in any way they want for their own gain.”

The ripple effect those comments could have politically could unfold in the coming days as Haitian-American elected officials across New York state come together to “look into what kind of legal consequences we can impose on this man,” Bichotte Hermelyn said.

A long history in New York

Haitians have a rich yet tumultuous history in New York, having contributed to the Black diaspora while simultaneously being demonized within it.

“The reason [Trump] gets away with it is because we as Americans allow him to get away with it,” Bichotte Heremlyn said.

In 1990, thousands of Haitian New Yorkers marched across the Brooklyn Bridge after their community was identified as the source of the then-widespread AIDS virus — “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” as Bichotte Hermelyn characterized it. In the years since, Haitians have had to fight that stereotype and others, while their accomplishments went overlooked.

“We are a very accomplished group of people, no matter how quote-unquote ‘poor’ … people make (our country) to be,” Bichotte Hermelyn said. “No matter how hard it is to maintain within the working class … we still produce the largest (number of) doctors in the Black diaspora, the largest (number of) healthcare workers in the Black diaspora.”

According to Darnell Benoit, founder and director of the Flanbwayan Haitian Literacy Project, in an email to AmNews, there is a persistent concern across the boroughs about discrimination against Haitian students and limited resource allocation to Black immigrant students in general.

“For too long, our students have faced ridicule and prejudice based on their language, culture, and identity,” Benoit wrote. “This has impacted their ability to thrive in a safe and supportive learning environment.

“We are committed to ensuring that this cycle of anti-Haitian hate does not spill into the public schools. Haitian students have been and continue to be a vital part of the rich cultural tapestry of New York City. Yet, too many have been targets of harmful stereotypes, xenophobia, and isolation. This has a lasting impact on their academic success and emotional well-being.

Benoit called on NYC public schools to “remain vigilant in addressing and preventing hate,” especially against Haitian students. She also asked that schools promote inclusivity and respect for all immigrant communities through cultural awareness and anti-bullying programs.

“Haitian students deserve to be celebrated for their history and contributions, not ostracized or bullied because of them,” Benoit wrote. “We stand against anti-Haitian immigrant hate, and hate of any kind. We stand with Haitian youth and their families, and we are committed to working with school officials, educators, and other community organizations to foster environments where every child, regardless of background, can succeed without fear of hate or discrimination.”

Meanwhile, Bichotte Hermelyn is looking toward a future of working with the White House should Harris take office. The Biden administration allowed Haitian immigrants into the country to reunite with their families, “better than most presidents,” she said.

“If VP Harris becomes the president, I’d like to see her continuing to open borders to Haitian people,” Bichotte Hermelyn said. “We’d definitely like immigration reform policies that are more sympathetic to Haitians. We have let thousands of Ukrainians in due to political instability, and we’d like the same for Black immigrants.”

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Question: “How do you feel about students having phones in schools?“

Siyaka Taylor-Lewis photos

Sehu – Bed-Stuy, 75

“Things jump off in school. Kids need access to the outside world. If you took them away, kids would be emotionally distraught. It’s not like it was 20 years ago. Even 10 years ago. I think teaching kids how to properly use their phones should be a part of their education.”

Jelani – Bed-Stuy, 36

“That’s complicated. They can be super-productive but also super-distracting. If there is a way to monitor them, then yes, but monitoring would have to be tested. If the teachers and curriculum are on point, it’s smooth sailing. We adapt to the technology.”

Lewis – Bed-Stuy, 24

“Some might believe it causes a distraction to education. Because of the turbulent and outrageous circumstances we find ourselves in, in this country, recently with another mass shooting — those students weren’t able to use their phones. I would say that, just based on the fact that we have such loose and reckless gun laws, children, unfortunately, need to have some kind of access to their phones in school.”

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* This article was originally published here

Congressman Ritchie Torres and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hosted a roundtable discussing $50 million in environmental justice grant money to be doled out to local clean energy organizations.

These climate initiatives are funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA’s Justice40 section is specifically focused on uplifting disadvantaged communities impacted by climate change and pollution in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and eight federally recognized Native American nations. 

“As many of you know, the IRA is the boldest piece of climate legislation ever conceived anywhere in the world. It’s going to set the United States on a trajectory to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030,” Torres said. “It is the first law in history that is specifically designed to proactively prioritize the lowest income communities — the communities that need the money the most and have been most affected by catastrophic climate change.”

This is broken down into two major sections for nonprofits, churches with a 501(c) status, local government, and community-based organizations in the city and state: the EPA Community Change Grants (CCG) and the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking program. 

Track 1 of the CCG grants range from $10 million to $20 million, while Track 2 entails smaller, $1 million to $3 million payouts for organizations. Most of the funding is intended for community-based projects, like local clean-up efforts or workforce development in clean energy, that directly address environmental concerns. 

“The main goal is to reshape communities that are facing deeply rooted environmental issues,” said EPA Region 2 Deputy Regional Administrator Alyssa Arcaya.

Eligibility for who qualifies as “disadvantaged” is determined by a combination of census tract information, income data and historical poverty levels in a neighborhood, energy and housing costs, unemployment and education levels; and proximity to flooding, lead paint, diesel particulate matter exposure, wastewater discharge and underground storage tanks, traffic pollution, and other hazardous risks. 

The application period for CCG is open until Nov. 21. Harlem’s WeACT for Environmental Justice has been appointed as the region’s technical assistance provider to help organizations sign up, fill out applications, find collaborators, and get projects off the ground until 2028. 

The Thriving Communities Grantmaking is run through Fordham University, giving local organizations subgrants ranging from $75,000 to $350,000. Projects will be evaluated by a convened board of organizers of about 20 people from region 2, led by Mothers on the Move Executive Director Wanda Salamán.

“With strong Environmental and Community Activist Leadership, we ensure that everyone in our community has a fair and equitable chance to apply for this funding. It is especially important that disadvantaged communities, often the most affected by environmental and social inequities, are in leadership roles in this process,” said Salamán, who’s originally from Puerto Rico. She’s been a community organizer in the Bronx since she immigrated to the U.S. in 1975. 

“By having a voice in reviewing applications and shaping the direction of these initiatives, we can ensure that the funding reaches those who need it most and that our communities are leading the way toward a more just and sustainable future,” Salamán said. 

The application portal will open for the Thriving Communities Grantmaking online for interested organizations this September. Information on how to apply for grants can be found through the Thriving Communities form.

“I think this is a really important step forward for Fordham to live its social responsibility. That we are an institution, not just in the Bronx, but of the Bronx. We have tremendous resources at our fingertips. We have a big, vibrant university population. We do a lot of teaching, learning, and research, but we also have the infrastructure that allows us to support programs like this to distribute funding and to offer support and technical assistance to community organizations that need it most,” said Dr. Julie L. Gafney, Fordham’s associate vice president of Strategic Mission Initiatives. 

“I’m so excited and I’m so humbled to serve as a partner to the federal government,” she continued. “And as a trusted partner, more importantly, to the organizations here, in the Bronx. Trying to get that funding to the front line communities that are doing the real work on the ground.”

For more information about Community Change Grants, please visit communitychangeta.org/how-do-i-apply. For the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking program, please visit Fordham’s website and fill out the form. 

If you need help navigating grant information, contact WE ACT’S EPA Region 2 Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center at www.weact.org/tctac/.

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Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor has proven to be a candidate for the National League’s Most Valuable Player award this season. Switched to the leadoff position on May 18 after a slow start, he’s been the catalyst of the New York Mets drive for a wildcard spot. However, an injury to his lower back, which forced him to miss Monday’s 2-1 10-inning win against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field, could be the main reason the Mets don’t earn one of three league wildcard positions.

The Mets’ 11th walk-off victory on a single by outfielder Starling Marte tied them for most in Major League Baseball and improved their record to 82-68 before the second game of the three-game series on Tuesday. The Mets were one game in front of the Atlanta Braves, which were 81-69 before facing the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday. The San Diego Padres and Arizona Cardinals, 86-65 and 83-67 respectively when Tuesday’s schedule began, held the top two slots. Yet how much more Lindor will play for the remainder of the regular season, which ends on September 29, is questionable. 

MRI results revealed on Monday showed no structural issues. Lindor’s back has been nagging him for well over a week and the discomfort became more intense as he was running the bases last Friday in an 11-3 win versus the Philadelphia Phillies, causing him to sit out his first game of the season on Saturday. He returned on Sunday but left the field in the second inning.

Lindor has been as important to his team as any player has been to theirs. He began this week ranked  in the top 10 in the league in at least five major categories: home runs, runs scored, hits, slugging percentage, and doubles. 

Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, his main competition for MVP, is having a tremendous season. His quest for 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases would make him the first player in history to accomplish that feat. However, the Dodgers were virtually certain to make the playoffs this season when this was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Mets. 

Their first-year manager, Carlos Mendoza, who has done an admirable job of guiding the team and should receive some votes for NL Manager of the Year, changed the trajectory of the Mets when he moved Lindor from third to first in the lineup — a bold move — and Lindor rose to the challenge. Lindor, second on the team to first baseman Pete Alonso (32 homers as of Tuesday) with 27 home runs, led the Mets in at-bats (601), batting average (.271), RBI (86), hits (163), and on-base percentage to open the Nationals series.
Defensively, Lindor has had an equally important impact. He is presently fourth in the league with a .980 fielding percentage and has been a stabilizing force in the Mets’ infield. 

It’s often said that health is always a critical part of any team’s fortune. In the midst of a battle to make it back to the postseason after a wildcard appearance in 2022 — a 2-1 series loss to the Padres, the Mets, who have ridden Lindor’s ailing back for the past four months, know it’s just not a baseball cliché.

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* This article was originally published here

he Howard University Bison of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) moved to 2-1 and kept the Morehouse College Maroon Tigers of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) (0-3) still seeking their first win of this season with a 35-21 victory on Saturday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the HBCU NY Classic.   Kasey Hawthorne, a fifth year senior running back/wide receiver for Howard, opened the scoring with a three-yard run at 9:43 of the first quarter that gave the Bison a 7-0 lead. Sophomore wide receiver Se’Quan Osborne’s 12-yard touchdown pass from redshirt senior quarterback Jaylon Tolbert, his first of TD throws on the day, put Howard up 14-0 with 5:49 left in the quarter. 

Morehouse sophomore quarterback Miles Scott connected on a 16-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Ajani Williams to cut the deficit to 14-7 at 7:46 of the second quarter, but a little over three minutes later, Tolbert hit freshman tight end Ke’Untae Mosley for a 33-yard touchdown and Howard pushed its lead back to 14. Morehouse would not get closer.

The Maroon Tigers had two fourth quarter touchdowns on passes from Scott — 21 yards to Williams at 8:33 and 27 yards to freshman receiver Kamrin Brunson at 1:54 but it was merely academic by that point.

HBCU football is not just about what happens on the field, but off. Before, during, and after the game, sponsors including Toyota and Walmart, and radio stations like WBLS entertained enthusiastic attendees with giveaways and music.

The Sing Harlem Choir performed the Black National Anthem “Lift Every Voice” before the game and singer and recording artist Honey Bxby performed the national anthem. Actress Marsai Martin handled the pregame coin flip to determine the first possession. Marching bands from each side performed at halftime, and Grammy-winning performer Sean Paul had a 30-minute postgame concert. Hip-hop legend Slick Rick performed at Toyota’s after party at the nearby Dream Wheel at the American Dream retail and entertainment center.

Howard will take on another HBCU this Saturday when they face the Hampton Pirates in the Truth and Service Classic at Audi Field in Washington D.C., before meeting up with the Princeton Tigers on the road on Sept. 28. Morehouse will be in Chicago this Saturday to battle Kentucky State University, before heading home to Atlanta to host Benedict College on Sept. 28.

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* This article was originally published here