The Union Square Greenmarket is already a sunny-day staple for New Yorkers and now the lively park and public plaza is going to be taking over your evenings, too, with a brand-new night market set to debut this July. 

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As part of the Union Square Partnership’s annual Summer in the Square series—weekly outdoor programming that includes free movie screenings, fitness classes, CityPickle courts, family-friendly activities and more—Union Square will host its first-ever Night Market during summer evenings beginning in July. The open-air market will run for four Thursdays at the park’s South Plaza, starting July 11 and stretching through August 1. It will be presented by Urbanspace, the same folks who puts on the square’s Holiday Market each year, so you already know that they know what they’re doing. 

Though a full food vendor lineup is still to come (watch this space!), the Union Square Night Market by UrbanSpace will feature the tasty wares of 20 independent and local vendors. The nearby UrbanSpace Union Square food hall boasts tasty food options like Playa Bowl smoothies, Bobwhite Counter fried chicken, Summer Salt’s Baja-style tacos, Casa Toscana’s focaccia sandwiches and more, so we’d be surprised if one or more of those don’t pop up in the Night Market lineup. 

And the Night Market is just one of many new activities and activations happening in Union Square in the coming weeks, from new outdoor art pieces—including an interactive sculpture that wants you to spell out the word “LOVE”, a gorgeous 7,500-square-foot Talisa Almonte mural stretching across 14th Street and free subway-station art courtesy of The Whitney Museum—to zany events, like the chance to meet the viral Cheeseball man in person at the park this Friday.

* This article was originally published here

An iconic stalwart and a progenitor of nonviolence in the civil rights movement, the Rev. James Lawson, Jr. who inherited a Methodist ministry from his father and grandfather, died on June 9 in Los Angeles, Calif. from cardiac arrest. He was 95.

Rev. Lawson’s deep immersion in nonviolence that he learned during his study in India was instrumental in giving Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. the ballast he needed during the turbulent sixties and the struggle for civil rights. His teaching and particularly his brilliance as a tactician were indispensable for a cadre of activists such as John Lewis, James Bevel and Diane Nash, to name but a few.

He was born on September 22, 1928 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania to Philane May Cover and James Morris Lawson, Sr., the sixth of nine children and was raised in Massillon, Ohio. Given his lineage and connection to the Methodist church, a ministry license he acquired in 1947, while still in high school, was inevitable.  

At Baldwin Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, Lawson studied sociology. When he was drafted to serve in the U.S. military, he resisted and was convicted of evasion. He was sentenced to two years in prison, serving 13 months before returning to college to earn his degree.  After becoming a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), he joined the CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), all of which prepared him for his missionary trip to India, to study the ideas and practice of Mahatma Gandhi.  

Upon his return to the States in 1956, he enrolled at Oberlin College’s Graduate School of Theology. It was there that he was formally introduced to Dr. King who a year later urged him to move to the south, convincing him of his uniqueness and how vitally important an asset he would be to the evolving movement. Lawson heeded the request and moved to Nashville, where he attended Vanderbilt University and began teaching the tactics of nonviolence, incorporation with the Nashville Christian Leadership Conference as well as an affiliate of SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference).  Through these entities he began launching workshops at selected churches in Nashville.

“In 1960, intensive role-playing and discussions among Lawson, John Lewis, C.T. Vivian, Diane Nash, Bernard Lafeyette, and others in the Nashville student movement helped to launch sit-ins at lunch counters, to spark mass marches, and to fill the jails in an attempt to desegregate downtown Nashville,” Michael Honey wrote in the Introduction of Lawson’s book Revolutionary Nonviolence: Organizing for Freedom (2022). One of the significant developments of this activism was the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

In February 1960, with the sit-in underway at the Woolworth’s stores in Greensboro, North Carolina, Lawson and several other activists were arrested, but their action proved pivotal in desegregating several lunch counters. Subsequently, these activities led to his being expelled from Vanderbilt. Such an expulsion came as a result of misleading stories published in the Nashville Banner newspaper.  This action was supported by the Chancellor Harvie Branscomb who later regretted that he did not delay the decision until it was reviewed by a committee at least for three months until Lawson’s graduation.

After the initial wave of sit-ins, Lawson strategized with the students for a second advance of Freedom Rides from Alabama in which he joined. When they arrived at the whites-only waiting room they were arrested. They refused the bail payment offered by the NAACP, choosing to wait for trial. In September 1961, President Kennedy ordered that passengers be allowed to sit anywhere. A year later, Lawson played a critical role in uniting Dr. King and Rev. Bevel, with them agreeing to set aside their differences and work together. One of the consolations was Bevel’s appointment as SCLC’s Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education.

In 1962, he was the pastor of Centenary Methodist Church in Memphis; six years later when the sanitation workers began striking for higher wages and union recognition, Lawson served as chair of the strike committee and it was he who extended the invitation for Dr. King to speak in Memphis where he delivered his famous “Mountaintop” and speech was killed the following day.

He became pastor of Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles in 1974 and remained there until his retirement in 1999. Meanwhile, his commitment to civil rights never wavered with involvements in the labor movement, civil liberties, gay and reproductive rights. His activities included media formats where his radio and television helped promote social and human rights issues.

When Vanderbilt University sponsored a three-day Freedom Ride commemorative program in 2007 Lawson participated.  A year before this event, during a graduation ceremony, the university apologized for its treatment of him and he later returned to teach at the college. His papers were donated to Vanderbilt in 2013. For several years he served as a visiting scholar at California State University Northridge (CSUN), where he taught a semester-long course on nonviolence.

He was part of a team at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict conducted an eight-day seminar on civil resistance facilitated by Lawson in 2013 and 2014. A class Lawson taught inspired UCLA students to publish Nonviolence and Social Movements, a book that focused on the principles of nonviolence and social change that Lawson taught. Awards and commendations flowed ceaselessly to him for his tireless advocacy for civil and human rights, and some of this remarkable life was captured in the film The Butler and he was the subject of the film “Love and Solidarity: Rev. James Lawson and Nonviolence in the Search for Workers Rights,” bJamesy Michael Honey.

The post Rev. James M Lawson, Jr., bellwether of nonviolence in the civil rights movement appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

Navigating JFK or LaGuardia Airport just got a bit easier: Governor Kathy Hochul announced this week that the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles has launched the New York Mobile ID, a secure digital version of a state-issued driver license, learner permit or ID on a smartphone. And, yes, the new form of mobile identification will be accepted by The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at participating checkpoints nationwide. 

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First thing’s first: yes, you’re still going to need to have a license, permit, or non-driver ID card issued by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. But you can now freely download the secure Mobile ID app on IOS and Android devices through Google Play or the App Store, upload photos of the front and back of your physical card as well as a selfie of yourself, and then use the digital ID in lieu of your physical photo ID and boarding pass at TSA security checkpoints. The Mobile ID has already been approved for use at nearly 30 participating airports across the country, including all terminals at LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports. 

“We’re thrilled to give New Yorkers access to this cutting-edge technology which provides convenience and added security for Mobile ID users and those who accept it,” Governor Hochul said in a statement. “Not only will New Yorkers be able to quickly display their IDs, but they will have control over the personal information they share.”

Cutely called “MiD,” the free digital identification card will be unlocked through FaceID, TouchID, or a 6-digit PIN that you set up and will be registered to a user’s phone number; data like date of birth and home addresses can be kept private. 

“Digital credentials are the future of identity verification, and New York is proud to be among the States leading this innovation in partnership with the TSA,” said DMV Commissioner Mark J.F. Schroeder, per a press release. “This is an exciting way to prove who you are without having to dig through your wallet or purse to find your physical document. Rather than handing over your physical ID with lots of personal information, the Mobile ID gives you greater control over what personal data you share, making it both more convenient and much safer for you,” he said.

Outside of air travel, the DMV is currently working with various businesses, organizations, associations and state government partners to expand the scope of the New York MiD. 

* This article was originally published here