The search for Power—lifelong Lower East Side resident Power Malu—started in hip-hop. Recognizable by his big hair, the Afro-Boricua New Yorker was a staple “Where’s Waldo” cameo in 1990s music videos like Digable Planets’ “9th Wonder” (Blackitolism) and De La Soul’s “Itzsoweezee.”
These days, Malu is mostly sought by the city’s incoming migrants as a grassroots organizer known for connecting them to resources and championing family reunification. He spoke with the Amsterdam News at the Port Authority as he greeted newly arrived asylum seekers, his trademark hair often the first thing they see as they get off the bus.
Beyond cameos and advocacy, Malu has done seemingly everything, from hosting MTV shows to influencing run meets in Yugoslavia to operating the city’s first plant-based community fridge. His “CVS receipt” of a résumé is best broken down by the name of his organization: Artists Athletes Activists.
“From a young age, I was always a mediator—I got along with the entire neighborhood,” he said. “I would roam the streets and I would know people from different blocks. By default, sometimes people have issues with each other. We would be in a park or another location [with] both parties…they saw that whatever beef that they had, it would be squashed organically.”
Pounding the pavement soon opened more doors for Malu, who ended up handing out fliers in clubs. He found himself hosting shows and developing friendships with artists coming into New York City. His community-building skills led to a public access show where Malu interviewed high-profile artists and DJs. Malu soon found himself invited to music video sets, where his cameo became a “stamp of approval.”
But he said he’s stepped away from the “ego system” in favor of the ecosystem. Malu’s advocacy now largely forms around what current issues are—the son of a boxer, he learned to pivot at a young age, so when southern border states started busing asylum seekers to New York City last year, he stepped up.
“The emergency is really when people are here and they’re not getting access to services or then there’s no outreach being done,” said Malu. “People are coming back here to the Port Authority for services, information, and help with their asylum cases, help with enrolling their kids in school, [and getting] culturally sensitive food.
“We have moms [whose] babies are being born here in New York City. We’re helping them get to their appointments. We’re helping them get food.”
His work is only more pressing with the recent lifting of Title 42, a measure used by both the Trump and Biden administrations to restrict asylum seeker entry under the pretense of COVID-19 safety. A recent Mayor’s Office memo asked for potential emergency site ideas to address dire housing needs for the more than 36,500 migrants in the city’s care. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg for Malu.
“You have people here in New York City [who] are just sitting in hotel rooms, or sitting in their shelters because they can’t travel,” he said. “They want to work. They’re not legally allowed to work, so they’re getting exploited, a lot of them, when they actually do find work. We’re constantly advocating to keep families together. We’re advocating to be able to support these families. The majority of them are people [who] have already been in the system, but they’re not receiving the services. They’re not getting the services that they need.”
More about Malu’s work can be found at https://artists-athletes-activists.org/. Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and 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 visitinghttps://bit.ly/amnews1.
When India Bradley steps onstage at Lincoln Center to dance in George Balanchine’s “Agon”this season for the New York City Ballet (NYCB), she will bring the same sparkle to this well-known masterpiece that she has brought to other roles since joining the company several years ago, but this performance will offer a little something extra.
This season, Bradley dances one of the work’s fast-paced, intricately structured pas de trois, bringing to it her brisk, long-legged attack and adding another dazzling dimension to this exciting ballet masterpiece and another important milestone in dance history.
Bradley joined New York City Ballet in 2017 after attending the Academy of Russian Classical Ballet not far from her Detroit, Michigan, home before coming to New York, first to attend Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Summer Program in 2012 and enter the Professional Training Program under the direction of Andrea Long-Naidu In 2014, she attended the summer session at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the NYCB’s official school, before enrolling as a full-time student later that year. In August 2017, she became a NYCB apprentice and in August 2018, she joined the company as a member of the corps de ballet. In addition to “Agon,” her slightly shortened season due to a slight injury, includes dancing in Justin Peck’s “Partita”and Balanchine’s “Swan Lake.”
Not only is “Agon”known for what in 1957 was viewed as Balanchine’s revolutionary interracial casting, pairing Arthur Mitchell, the company’s first and, at the time, only Black dancer, in an intimate and evocative pas de deux with a white ballerina, Diana Adams. It also has an Igor Stravinsky score, specifically created for the NYCB.
In a recent conversation, Bradley’s commitment to ballet and her excitement about this current NYCB season were obvious as she touched on a range of topics that included life as a Black ballerina at the predominantly white NYCB, her experience as a young aspiring dancer studying briefly at Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), and the realization that her determination to pursue her passion is also meaningful to other budding young Black ballerinas. Here is what she had to say.
On joining NYCB: As a young ballerina, I remember telling everyone, there is no other option for me other than getting into New York City Ballet. That was just my thing. I had other companies I wouldn’t have minded dancing for, but I didn’t have a Plan B, so frankly, I remember being very excited at being chosen to join NYCB.
On being an aspiring young Black ballerina: I knew my whole life I was going to be an artist. I was dancing from 3 or 4 years old, but I was a very nonchalant kid. I loved ballet, but I wasn’t ready to make it my whole life. But, when I got into SAB, I was like, “Oh, I want to be better than everyone else.” The first time I remember saying I was going to be a ballet dancer I was around 14. As for race and racism, when I was young, I just had no idea. I wasn’t ignorant of racism, of course, but I had a really good support system behind me and my parents were very supportive and Andrea Long (a teacher at DTH who had danced with the NYCB) was the first person who told me I needed to go to SAB. I think, too, my innocence…at the time it didn’t occur to me that it wouldn’t happen because I was Black. I just knew that I wanted to get into the company.
On studying at Dance Theatre of Harlem: I was really young and I remember the company was still on a hiatus. Virginia was there—she was the one who told me to come. I was dancing with the DTH Professional Training Program and I think you had to be 17 or 18 to be in that program, but I was 13 going on 14. Everyone was older than me. And we did a ton of performances. EndalynTaylor choreographed for us. Francesca Harper came. It was a lot of fun.
The first time I met Virginia Johnson, she was teaching at a college. I was 11 and that was when she told me to come to the summer program…
I also remember conversations they had with my mom about possibly a future in the company at DTH, but DTH as a company was still on hiatus. But my time at DTH was great. I always say that I could not have attended the school of SAB had I not spent that time at DTH. When I went to DTH, like every Black kid who studied ballet in predominantly white ballet schools, I was like “Oh, I didn’t know it could feel like this at all.” It felt like family.
On Arthur Mitchell’s advice: Oh, my gosh! At DTH, he would come in and watch class, but for him, watching class meant offering his input every 5 seconds, so it was more like taking his class. In addition to classes, we did a ton of studio showings and performances in small venues here and there. I was only 13 years old, but I learned a lot working with Mr. Mitchell. Of course, he was a very demanding teacher. I would cry. I would cry during. I would cry after. I would cry before his critique, out of fear. I was so young—a child—and I didn’t always understand what tough love was. I think I’m a very tough person. I don’t think anybody who knows me would call me emotional, but Mr. Mitchell would get the waterworks going.
Then, as I got older, during my apprenticeship at NYCB, I would work with him, and he would give me advice. I learned so much. Once, when we were having lunch a few days before he passed away, he told me, every time I walk into a room, I’ve got to walk in like I’ve got Double G cups…“You don’t have anything there, but every time you walk into the rooms at NYCB, you’ve got to walk in like you’ve got Double G cups ’cause people need to see you.” I was like “OK, (pause) sure.” He was wonderful!
On being at New York City Ballet in the era of diversity, equity, and inclusion: NYCB when I was 18 is very different from NYCB now. Obviously, before I wouldn’t say I was naïve; I was just a very nonchalant teenager and young person, to a point where I wanted to be a people pleaser. I wanted everyone to be happy. I wouldn’t say I was a very outspoken activist type as a younger person, but you know, racism was different in 2017 than it is now. When I first got into the company, it wasn’t always to the surface and things would happen and I just didn’t always realize they were intentionally and unintentionally saying things that shouldn’t be said, or doing things that were kind of passive-aggressive. Since I’ve gotten older and with all these meetings on diversity, equity, and inclusion lately, after the pandemic, things have changed…Jonathan Stafford (artistic director with associate artistic director Wendy Whelan) and I have had a lot of interesting and really good conversations.
I think City Ballet did a lot of work to try to come back to a place that wasn’t hurtful to people of color and was sensitive to people who wanted to be considered with different pronouns, trying to take certain things out of certain productions. Things that make you look better as an institution.
On being a Black ballerina with the New York City Ballet: I have thought long and hard about my place in this company and not just my place, but about my friends in the company and the young Black girls coming after us. There are only three or four of us here in the first place in terms of women of color. It’s so weird that we’re having this conversation. I looked around at “Agon”—it used to be just me in the studio, and now there’s another girl—one of my closest friends, another Black girl—in the room and it’s just us. When I think of when it was just Andrea Long-Naidu, or Debra Austin, or Aesha Ash—it had to be lonely for them.
A few days ago, I went to the Dance Theatre of Harlem season at City Center and there was a little girl who goes to the DTH school. She came up to me with tears in her eyes during intermission and she said, “I had to tell you, you’re the entire reason I started doing ballet. I just had to tell you that.” I was like, “Oh my God!” I almost started crying. It’s such a generic answer, but that’s literally the only thing you could want. It made me realize there is still so much to do. Sometimes, even when I’m having a terrible day, like Arthur Mitchell used to say, [I remember that] this has to do with so much more than just me—my being at New York City ballet is about so much more than just me.
Friends and family from all walks of life came out on May 1, 2023, to the famed Harlem Abyssinian Baptist Church to bid farewell to attorney Alton Maddox, Jr., who joined the ancestors on April 23, 2023.
Newark, New Jersey — In a hotly contested matchup that went to the scorecards, UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling defeated Henry Cejudo by split decisions 47-48, 48-47, and 48-47 in the main event of UFC 288 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. For Sterling, a native of Long Island of Jamaican descent, it was probably his domination of Cejudo at the end of the first round that seemed to be the margin of victory. All three judges gave the first round to the champion.
Sterling, who successfully defended his title for the third time, discussed the win with the media after the match, and discussed the strategic battle outside the Octagon between the two combatants.
“The guy is freaking smart,” Sterling expressed of his fallen foe. “I don’t think a lot of people could even appreciate what was going on in the middle of that Octagon. Both of us, making adjustments to each other’s adjustments. It was a high-level, physical chess match and thankfully, I think I came out just a little bit better.”
When asked if he thought he earned the victory as it went to the scorecards, Sterling, who has now won nine in a row, had a positive mindset.
“I definitely feel like I won that (match) 3-2,” he said. “Close fight, but I definitely thought I won and edged it out, in my personal opinion.”
What’s next for Sterling? A showdown with Sean O’Malley in Boston, which was confirmed as the future target by Dana White when he spoke to the media after the event.
“My thoughts on Sean O’Malley is that [expletive] is frail, frail,” Sterling exclaimed. “Frail. If I can take down a short, stocky guy like Henry, who is a gold medalist and has good takedown defense, what am I going to do to Sean O’Malley? Let’s be honest here, guys.
Yeah, he been promised a title shot. He opted not to take the title shot and gave Henry a chance to come back and chase history. I beat Henry and now there is no more running.
You either want to swim with the big boys or you don’t. If you don’t, get the [expletive] out of the pool and go up a weight class or some [stuff]. Don’t keep sitting around here talking and barking and not saddling up and taking the opportunities that are given.”
With three UFC events in the New York/New Jersey area since August 2022, a return to the New York and/or New Jersey area, outside the annual card at Madison Square Garden, seems possible. The Amsterdam News asked UFC President Dana White about that. White said he plans to host a card in Atlantic City, New Jersey, later this year.
In the co-main, Belal Muhammad, a Muslim who accepted the fight while fasting during Ramadan, defeated Gilbert Burns, winning 13 of the 15 rounds on the three scorecards.
White said the winner would get a title shot, with Leon Edwards currently holding the UFC lightweight championship after defeating Kamaru Usman twice.
Knicks All-Star forward Julius Randle came into Game 5 of his team’s Eastern Conference semifinals playoff matchup versus the Miami Heat at Madison Square Garden as the emotionally charged home fan base’s scapegoat. The No. 5 seed Knicks were down 3-1 and staring at being eliminated by the No. 8 seed Heat in what was a distressing and unforeseen circumstance for their devoted followers.
By his own admission, Randle’s cumulative postseason performance had been sub-par. In eight games prior to Game 5, the 6-8 power forward, who sat out the Knicks’ 108-101 Game 1 loss to the Heat due to a sprained left ankle, was averaging 16.7 points shooting a meager 34.1% overall and acutely deficient 27.1% on 3-point attempts. Randle’s 9.6 rebounds were roughly the same as his regular season average of 10 per game but the 2021 All-NBA Second Team selection had seen a precipitous decline in his offensive production and efficiency.
The Knicks and their committed fans were looking for the version of Randle that put up 25.1 points per game and shot at a 46% clip in 77 games entering the playoffs. He was getting less opportunities from the foul line as well, dipping from 6.9 shots and 5.2 makes to 4.5 and 3.1 respectively. Then, after fouling out of Game 4 on Monday night in Miami with 3:08 remaining in the fourth quarter with a solid stat line of 39 minutes played, 20 points on 8-13 shooting and nine rebounds, Randle gave an assessment of the Knicks’ 109-101 setback, specifically the Heat grabbing seven offensive rebounds to their one in the final quarter, that stirred anger in the squad’s exacerbated supporters.
“Maybe they wanted it more. I don’t know,” the 28-year-old with nine years of NBA experience said matter-of-factly. It was a tone deaf and revealing comment, one that simultaneously could be construed as defeatist and detached. It wasn’t the message that needed to be sent regardless of the intent. Randle not choosing his words more prudently stoked Knicks fans’ emotional arsenal with more ammunition to demand that the franchise’s chief decision makers, namely CEO James Dolan and president Leon Rose, rid the team of a perceived problem.
What struck a deep chord for those that have closely watched the Knicks this season is the fact that their exceeding effort and intensity have been their calling card. They have been consistently more physical and outworked their opponents from tip-off to the ending buzzer, grinding them into submission. Until meeting the Heat, a team led by superstar forward Jimmy Butler and directed by 52-year-old head coach Eric Spolestra, one of the best ever by any measure. Miami is the mirror image of the Knicks in the relentless physicality and dogged energy with which they play. However, the distinction between them has been evident.
The Heat have the offensive balance and 3-point shooting the Knicks glaringly lack. After Game 5, the Knicks were hitting just 28.2% on 3-point tries in the playoffs and only 43.2% on all shot attempts. Their frequently stagnant player and ball movement in favor of isolation sets which have Jalen Brunson, Randle and RJ Barrett dominating the ball, contracts the floor instead of optimally spreading it, ceding strategic and schematic advantages to the Heat’s swarming defense. Brunson had a game-high 32 points and Barrett 24 Game 4.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, who has implored his players to cut, screen and pass with more crispness and fluidity throughout this season has not seen it manifest versus the Heat. Meanwhile, he had made minimal discernible adjustments in the four games before last night to counter the Heat’s superior execution and collective abilities.
Perhaps the most confounding issue is that he had not played guard Evan Fournier in the series despite the Knicks dire 3-point shooting. Fournier holds the franchise’s single-season mark of 241 3-pointers made, set a year ago. The 30-year-old Fournier, who started 80 games last season, has been buried on the bench this year, appearing in only 27 games. But it’s plausible to argue his potential offensive efficiency would outweigh his possible defensive liability.
Following Game 4, Thibodeau took a pragmatic view in stating the obvious of the Knicks’ dilemma. “You’ve got to win four to win a series,” he said. “So, all we’re thinking about is win the next game. Go quarter by quarter. Win the first quarter, win the second quarter, win the third, win the fourth. And then the next day we’ll think about the next day.”
