Mayor Baraka celebrates 1 million rides on NewarkGo
Mayor Ras J. Baraka announced that NewarkGo, the city’s first-ever shared e-scooter and bike program, has surpassed 1 million rides since its 2021 launch.
“Providing up to 2,000 affordable scooters and bicycles to Newarkers, the program has attracted more than 70,000 individual riders between the two operating companies––Bird Rides and Veoride,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.
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New Jersey Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards
The New Jersey Business Immigration Coalition is accepting nominations for the 2023 New Jersey Immigrant Entrepreneur Awards.
There is no fee to enter, and nominations close on June 1. Awards will be given in these categories: Growth, Advocacy, Innovation, Sustainability, Leadership, Nonprofit Entrepreneurship, and Entrepreneur of the Year.
Go to https://njbusinessimmigration.org/nominations/ to nominate an entrepreneur.
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Gibson hosts prom season giveaway
To cap Bronx Week, Borough President Vanessa Gibson and partners hosted their first-ever prom dress and suit giveaway last Friday at Bronx Borough Hall. Hundreds of Black and brown teens lined up around the block to get gear-and-glammed out for free.
“This is a wonderful time to celebrate young people,” said Gibson. “Many families face hardships and can’t afford to go hard at prom for their kids, especially if they have more than one kid. It brings such joy to my heart to see these kings and queens. I want them to look and feel beautiful.”
Inside the borough hall, about 2,000 prom dresses and hundreds of young men’s suits hung on racks along the walls. Down the middle of the space were tables adorned with free jewelry, shoes, and accessories. Adjacent to that was a huge red carpet runway lined with festive balloons. In the back, volunteers led students to changing rooms where they could try on the donated outfits.
District Attorney Darcel Clarke’s office donated about 300 dresses and more than 100 suits to the event. She said everyone from staff to vendors and community members was eager to donate outfits. From a public safety angle, Clarke said that the giveaway gets teens engaged during a crucial time for them.
RELATED: Sen. Kevin Parker hosts 12th annual Prom Dress Giveaway
“They want to look their best—to be encouraged and valued,” said Clarke. “It’s empowering for them.”
Every student who found an ensemble they liked got the chance to be introduced in the outfit to the buzzing crowd, strut down the runway, and be crowned as they posed for pictures. The event had a giddy energy that blended seamlessly with the vibrant dance music. Wide smiles were in abundance.
Rahmatu Sulley, 20, was the first person to find a dress she liked. She skipped down the runway and then hugged volunteers before searching for matching shoes. According to her aunt, who accompanied her, Sulley is autistic and her mother had died.
“I’m going to cry,” said Sulley’s aunt.
Destini Nixon, 17, a student at the Bronx High School of Business, modeled a long black gown with her white braids pinned up. She laughed and waved at the cameras on the carpet when it was her turn to walk. “Black is my favorite color,” she said about why she chose the dress.
Lesly Calixto, 18, is a student at Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics. She came to the giveaway with her father, who chose a bright-magenta dress for her. She said he’s been choosing her clothes all her life and she trusts his fashion sense.
Barbers offered free haircuts and a beauty glam van parked outside offered free makeovers, lashes, and henna tattoos.
The event was sponsored by Gibson and community partners, and mainly coordinated by Not On My Watch Executive Director Pamela Damon.
Damon said she’s been working in prom impact and nonprofit events centered around youth empowerment for more than 10 years. She began organizing her first prom dress giveaway with a girls’ group in Queens. It grew so much in popularity that eventually the NYPD assisted in sponsoring and hosting with her. When she moved to the Bronx, she continued her work at the girls’ empowerment center.
Eustace Collens, an over-50 male model and former correctional officer, was assisting on the boys’ side. He said he turned to mentorship because he feels nobody is teaching and listening to kids.
Someone who has not had much feels left out, Collens. “I didn’t have name brands and kids laughed at me, but with a new dress or a suit, you can just feel like a new person.”
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her 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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Communing with the ancestors at the Shabazz Center
“Ancestors” was a word that resonated from speaker to speaker Friday evening at the 98th Annual Birthday Celebration for Malcolm X (El Hajj Malik El Shabazz) Day at the Shabazz Center. It was a tribute to Malcolm in words and music that evolved into something much more than honoring him. Dr. Betty Shabazz, his wife, was cited on numerous occasions, along with other long-gone and recent ancestors.
Dr. Ilyasah Shabazz established a tone of reverence with her opening remarks, after the Afrikan Healing Circle and remarks delivered by Rev. Dr. Mother Khoshhali, and she continued the Circle call to the ancestors. As expected, Malcolm was the main ancestor summoned again and again, his name and memory musically evoked in song by soprano Brittany Logan—her voice as resplendent as her gown—of the Metropolitan Opera, accompanied by pianist Katelan Terrell. The song was Anthony Davis’s “Golden Day” from the X opera composed with his cousin Thulani Davis.
Dr. Regina Jackson, chair of the board of trustees, issued the Call to Action, and it was duly answered by Gwen Carr, the mother of the slain Eric Garner. She recounted how our ancestors gave their lives for us to have the vote today, and when she announced that the State Assembly had passed the Eric Garner anti-Chokehold Act, she received a standing ovation.
The Trust for Public Land (TPL) may not be a well-known entity, but Dr. Jocelyn Imani, the first national Black history and culture director at the helm of TPL, demonstrated that it will get wider recognition as she recounted how “our ancestors endured unthinkable horrors” in the quest for self-determination.
RELATED: Malcolm X remembered on his birthday
JoAnna Leflore-Ejike, executive director of the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation in Omaha, Nebraska, said she makes it clear to all who ask whether there were African Americans in her state that “Malcolm X was born in Omaha.” She piggy-backed on Imani’s aim to preserve trusted land, noting that Omaha was among the sites earmarked for such recognition. She was the first of several honorees to receive a Vanguard Award.
When the Repair American Collective was called to the stage, it was as a quintet that included a tiny tot, who was animated while Aziza Robinson-Goodnight, chair of the Boston-based organization, and colleagues Saskia Vann James, Jaylyn Conway, and Harrison Clark provided a semi-PowerPoint presentation to highlight the role they play in the reparations movement.
Dreisen Heath represented another region of the West—Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been a driving force in the realm of reparative justice, and reminded the overflow audience of the significance of the Tulsa Massacre of 1921, particularly the survivors and rebuilding of the Greenwood district that was destroyed.
As master of ceremonies, Dr. Marc Lamont Hill spearheaded the third call for action, so to speak. Like a seasoned auctioneer, he asked if anyone in the crowd was ready to donate $25,000. It didn’t take long for Spike Lee to take care of that request, and Hill himself followed up with $10,000.
“It’s time to put down the fake crowns,” Arnstar recited, and then rapped that Malcolm had “found a sound that existed before I was born.” He was followed by Drew Drake, who exuded words with a similar pace and insight, saying that “the ancestors are watching.”
Trumpeter Keyon Harrold and his guitarist and bassist provided a musical interlude, with the leader putting his horn aside and singing about “finding your peace.”
Before Frederick Joseph offered his appreciation for being saluted as a Vanguard award recipient, he asked for a moment of silence in memory of Jordan Neely, among our more recent ancestors. Joseph, straight out of Yonkers, has penned two bestsellers: The Black Friend and Patriarchy Blues: Reflections on Manhood. “I owe my life to Dr. Betty Shabazz,” he said.
In her remarks at the podium, Nikole Hannah-Jones, perhaps best known nowadays for her anthology 1619, quoted Malcolm X and his comment that “we didn’t land on Plymouth Rock—Plymouth Rock landed on us.” She mentioned the influence the late historian and journalist Lerone Bennett had on her career and closed by promising that right to her last breath, “they will not bury our history.”
It was wonderful to see and hear Carol Jenkins, communicator and media commentator. She too praised Betty Shabazz, saying that “she was a real true leader…and there will be no peace without freedom,” she concluded.
Filmmaker Spike Lee presented the keynote address, and he took time to honor the recent deaths of Harry Belafonte and Jim Brown. “They were freedom fighters,” he added. Most of his time was devoted to the backstory of making the bio-pic of Malcolm’s life; the money hassles with Warner Brothers; and how a number of wealthy African Americans, including Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Peggy Cooper-Cafritz, Tracy Chapman, Janet Jackson, Prince, and Magic Johnson, came to the rescue. He drew laughter when he recounted what he did when Cosby said he would mail the check: “I went to his place and knocked on the door.” There was extended praise for Denzel Washington’s performance as Malcolm, even though “he didn’t get the award.”
Before he could leave the stage, Lee was presented with a Vanguard award, as was Hill.
Imam Muhammad Jaaber and the Afrikan Healing Circle brought the educational evening to a close, their drums matching the marching footsteps descending the stairs as participants chatted to each other about communing with their ancestors.
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