Top of the Rock continues on its quest to conquer the city’s skyline with a new ride called Skylift that will allow guests to soar nearly 900 feet in the air above street level.
Officially debuting on October 1, Skylift is built at the Top of the Rock observation deck, on the 70th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. As seen in the renderings, the ride is basically a revolving, open-air platform that stands about three stories taller than the topmost floor of 30 Rock.
“Once elevated, the platform will continue to turn for a 360-degree experience and a panoramic photo moment, creating a thrilling sensation of floating among skyscrapers,” reads an official press release.
Rendering: Courtesy of Tishman Speyer
Designed to mimic Rock Center’s classic art deco architecture, the platform features marble-like tiers that are perfectly complemented by the 96 LED pixel flutes that “cast a magical light show that can be seen across the city skyline […] day or night and can be customized to commemorate notable dates and holidays.”
Although you’ll be itching to grab your phone while floating above the ground, we suggest putting the device away—tickets, which start at $35 each right here, include a video of each guest at the pinnacle of the ride, anyway!
Rendering: Courtesy of Tishman Speyer
In addition to offering New Yorkers and tourists alike the chance to unobstructedly glimpse at the city from above, the new gimmick has led to one of the funniest social media exchanges we’ve seen on the Internet in the past few weeks.
Responding to Rockefeller Center’s Skylift announcement on X, the Empire State Building—a “competing” skyscraper—wrote: “Imagine paying to be turned into a rotisserie chicken.”
New York City’s iconic buildings are fighting—and we’re absolutely here for it.
On September 28th, 2024, Helene Nomsa Brath will receive one of the city’s highest honors: a street naming, to be installed at 112th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) in Harlem, outside her former residence and in the community, she uplifted and lived in. Cinque Brath, son of Nomsa and Elombe Brath, proposed the idea to Yusef Salaam, City Councilman of District 9, shortly after her passing on October 30th, 2023. Councilman Yusef Salaam, is one of the Exonerated Five, who Nomsa and Elombe Brath were instrumental in advocating for thirty-five years ago. Nomsa was specifically responsible for forming “Mother’s Love,” a group of women organized to address wrongfully accused Black male youth in New York City.
The story of the Central Park Five, now the Exonerated Five, and those who advocated for them is depicted in the #1 most-watched Netflix miniseries “When They See Us” (2019). In addition to actress Adepero Oduye’s portrayal of Nomsa Brath in “When They See Us,” her life and activism are the subjects of several documentaries and films, including “You Say You Want a Revolution: Records & Rebels 1966-1970” (2019) by UK director Emily Harris and “AJASS Pioneers of the Black is Beautiful Movement,” the award-winning documentary by Louise Dente (2022). Harris’ film was screened in the UK at the Victoria and Albert Museum in conjunction with an exhibit by the same name, highlighting Nomsa Brath’s prowess as a skilled organizer and activist. “AJASS: Pioneers of the Black is Beautiful Movement,” produced and directed by Louise Dente, has received awards nationally and internationally and engages the full scope of African Jazz and Arts Society and Studios (AJASS) as an organization that had great social, cultural, and political implications in and beyond the Black community, still evidenced in contemporary society. However, this dynamic documentary is not the culmination of Louise Dente’s work, which includes Helene Nomsa Brath. Ms. Dente is currently working on a new documentary, entitled “Nomsa Was Her Name,” which will focus on Nomsa through the eyes of her friends and family, set to be released this fall.
The accolades accredited to Helene Nomsa Brath are extensive and include her early life as one of the original Grandassa Models, a modeling ensemble created by African Jazz and Arts Society and Studios (AJASS), founded by Elombe Brath and Kwame Brathwaite in 1956. The Black Arts Movement can be best understood in three waves; AJASS were pioneers of the second wave (1950-1970s) that swept the nation, invoking all aspects of the African aesthetic with music, motif, imagery, painting, and more. Initially, AJASS began by organizing and securing the African musical tradition and genre known as Jazz to Bronx communities. The production quickly expanded to include a modeling troupe called the Grandassa Models, who donned African attire, motif, and natural hair.
Nomsa Brath, a founding member and original Grandassa model, has been prominently featured on numerous magazines and record albums, as well as replicated by community artists and exhibited at esteemed institutions, including The New York Historical Society, as part of the groundbreaking Black is Beautiful Tour, showcasing images by Kwame Brathwaite. An all-around natural beauty and representative of the African aesthetic, Nomsa Brath toured the nation with the Grandassa models, showcased in the “Naturally Shows: The Original African Coiffure.” The Black is Beautiful Movement played an essential role in the positive transformation of the Black community nationally, raising collective self-esteem through artistic expression. Today, images of Nomsa Brath and the Grandassa models are a source of inspiration found in the aesthetic of contemporary clothing lines like Fenty, created by artist and singer Rihanna.
Helene Nomsa Brath’s impact extended well beyond her contributions to the Black is Beautiful Movement. Nomsa was an exceptional mother, a “mother of activism,” as she created and worked with numerous educational committees and organizations. She served as President of the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) and chair of the Parents Committee at two local public schools in Harlem. A diligent force in education reform, when she decided to homeschool her last two children, she added that agenda to her list of efforts. In 1997, Nomsa Brath represented parents on a panel for Education Reform on C-SPAN as part of their special coverage on U.S. Education of Urban Residents. In addition to this, she became the spokesperson for the New York Urban League’s Partners for Reform in Math and Science initiative.
One of the greatest challenges Nomsa Brath undertook and overcame was the removal of asbestos from New York City public schools. She led the effort for asbestos abatement in the community and schools closest to her, where her children attended in Harlem. As a whistleblower and activist, when Nomsa realized that education officials were ignoring scientific studies indicating that 20% of NYC schools had detectable levels of asbestos, a known cause of mesothelioma, she sprang into action. When New York City Department of Education officials refused to provide the necessary equipment for testing in public schools, Nomsa responded by organizing and raising funds through community efforts. Her son, Cinque Brath, recalled telling his younger brother, “Mommy had our school shut down,” when he saw on the local news that his school, PS 185 and 208, had been closed due to asbestos detection. Consequently, numerous local schools were closed due to asbestos detection in the Harlem community. Nomsa worked with the Superintendent of Schools to protect children’s health, ensuring that schools were inspected and locations with asbestos were closed. In open letters between the United Teachers Federation (UTF), parents, and staff, Nomsa Brath is recognized as the whistleblower who single-handedly led the fight to address the asbestos issue. As a result of her efforts, federal guidelines and regulations on asbestos testing and detection have been revised and expanded nationally.
Helene Nomsa Brath was married to Elombe Brath, with whom she shared a partnership in love and struggle; she was a mother to six biological sons, one daughter, and her niece. On September 28th, 2024, she will take her rightful place in history, with a street named in her honor, Helene Nomsa Brath Way (112th Street & Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard/7th Avenue). In the tradition of the African culture she represented, Helene Nomsa Brath is Maa Kheru (true of voice/justified), a title bestowed upon those whose lives have exemplified the principles of Maat (balance, justice, truth, and reciprocity). Helene Nomsa Brath’s name will forever be remembered.
Dr. Tyrene Wright (@DrWright24) is a scholar-activist and author of “Booker T. Washington & Africa: The Making of a Pan-Africanist”.
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to end affirmative action, Black high school seniors are facing a new college admissions reality — particularly at some of the nation’s most elite institutions.
Predominantly white, elite institutions such as Amherst College, Tufts University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have all reported notable drops in Black student enrollment for their incoming classes. At Amherst, the percentage of Black students in the incoming freshman class plummeted from 11% last year to just 3% this year. Similarly, Tufts University saw a drop from 7.3% to 4.7%, while the percentage of Black students in the MIT freshman class dropped from 15% to 5% in just one year. In addition, the Brown Daily Herald recently announced that Brown University’s Black freshman enrollment dropped by 40%, dropping from 15% to 9% this year.
These reductions suggest that the removal of race-conscious admissions had an immediate and negative impact on Black student representation at these selective institutions. However, other universities, like Harvard University, whose Black enrollment fell from 14% last year to 10%, and Emory University, 13% to 12%, only saw moderate to slight declines, while institutions such as Princeton University, Duke University, and Yale University showed little to no decrease or small increases.
Experts have been confused about why some institutions have shown an increase in Black enrollment, attributing it to changes in how colleges identify students or weigh application elements, such as the essay. However, many elite institutions saw significant decreases after the affirmative action ruling.
“Their decision moved the nation backward and upended decades of precedent that allowed America’s colleges and universities to build diverse environments,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during a recent press conference.
Indeed, the declining Black student enrollment at elite colleges and universities is more than just a statistic — it signals that the pathway to these institutions may be narrowing. This shift in college demographics is not only reducing the racial diversity of students at prestigious universities but also affecting K–12 education.
Ripple effects on Black K–12 students
In predominantly Black K–12 schools, where resources are often limited, Allison Wiltz, an English teacher in New Orleans, La., said the motivation to pursue admission to the Ivy League or other top-tier schools “will wane as students see fewer examples of their peers succeeding in this pursuit.”
“Depriving Black students of equal access to those opportunities means there will be fewer Black students with access to that network,” Wiltz told Word In Black. “Black K–12 schools receive significantly less funding, and research has demonstrated there is a connection between funding, grades, and test scores.”
Black students are more likely to attend underfunded schools with fewer experienced teachers and academic resources. “They can’t be expected to have grades and test scores that compete with those of students who received more funding,” Wiltz said.
The surge in HBCUs
At the same time that predominantly white colleges and universities are becoming less accessible to Black students, there is a renewed interest in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) — institutions that have long provided a supportive and culturally affirming environment for Black students.
According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, HBCU enrollment has risen by 4% this fall. In 2024, several HBCUs have experienced record enrollment increases: Bethune-Cookman University saw a 24.13% jump in enrollment, growing from 2,516 students in 2023 to 3,123 in 2024. Hampton University expects about 1,200 new students, bringing its total undergraduate population close to 4,000.
Regarding increased applications alone, Howard University received 37,000 applications for the incoming class of 2,500 freshmen, a 12% increase from the previous year, and Florida A&M University has seen applications nearly double over the last two years.
Angela Nixon Boyd, associate vice president of enrollment and dean of admission at Hampton University, emphasized the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision on Black students.
“I think that many students recognize that this ruling impacted them personally, and so they, again, want to be in an environment where they feel welcomed, feel safe, and … feel that they will have an opportunity for success,” she told WAVY in early September.
Where we go from here
Although the Supreme Court’s decision to end affirmative action in college admissions has introduced a new barrier to higher education for college-bound high school students, Kiara Wilson, a high school guidance counselor in Atlanta, Ga., said there are solutions.
“Educators and administrators must work to foster an environment where Black students continue to see higher education as an attainable goal,” she said. “This includes addressing the psychological impacts of seeing fewer Black faces at elite institutions and reinforcing the value of pursuing academic excellence.”
Wilson said that regardless, all parties must make a concerted effort to ensure that Black students remain competitive applicants despite the ruling’s impact.
Voting is taking place right now for the election of the next president of Teamsters Local 237. With the counting of votes set to take place Oct. 8, Local 237’s President Gregory Floyd spoke with the AmNews about some of the initiatives he’s worked on over the years to keep the nation’s largest local Teamsters union relevant.
Floyd has served as president of Local 237 since 2007. He says that over the years he has worked with various governing boards to increase union members’ salaries, implement programs like longevity pay, and maintain the member’s vaunted $5 co-pays for medical visits.
“We’ve managed over the last 30 years, including during my 17 years, to keep our prescription co-pays to our members at a minimum. While prescriptions have gone up, we’ve managed to maintain that cost. We’ve also managed to negotiate increased annuities for our members, which remains in a separate account for them, and they get interest on it so that when they leave work, they’re leaving with, I would say, tens of thousands of dollars each.”
Floyd touts his ability to negotiate with the various entities that play a role in the functioning of his union members’ jobs. He says it has given Local 237 the ability to forge contracts that keep members safe and able to work. Local 237 has more than 24,000 members. They work as public hospital police, elevator mechanics, school safety agents, custodians, cooks, NYCHA caretakers, water use inspectors, civil service attorneys, and cement masons/mason helpers. When union members have job issues, dealing with them often means negotiating with several different entities.
Contract negotiations can be challenging. “I wouldn’t say it’s combative,” Floyd said. “But in the public sector, there are factors that are involved. What are the factors? We have to look at what is the pattern and how do we get close to the pattern. How do we structure a contract that is, I would say, conducive to the needs of our members? Those are the factors.
“When you negotiate a CUNY contract for example –– a City University of New York contract –– you’re negotiating with three entities. It’s CUNY; it’s the city of New York, because two-year colleges are funded by New York City; and you’re negotiating with the state because the four-year colleges are funded by the state. All three entities have to agree. That’s why CUNY is the most difficult contract to negotiate and the state pattern tends to be less than the city pattern, yet the city pattern has to be taken into account and so does the state’s. So that’s why it ends up as a blended rate, CUNY got less, a little less than the city employees, because of the state contract.”
Floyd is this year on the ballot against Mohamed Alshami, a City University of New York (CUNY) peace officer. As Local 237’s president, Floyd says he can do more for his membership. “When we go into negotiations [for healthcare prescription co-pays], we offset a lot of the costs by negotiating with the city to get additional money for our benefits. The second thing is we invest the money we get and through investments, we’re able to extend the cost. We also look for subsidized discounts in our prescription plan that allow us to get rebates. So with all that combined, it allows us to keep the cost down for our members, and keeps it at the same price that we have had now for 30 years.”
Floyd’s challenger’s claims that he would come into office and try to change the way Local 237 functions is not realistic, he said.
“If he happened to win, he doesn’t have control of the executive board. So how would he accomplish any of the things that he says he wants to accomplish? The bylaws state, you can make recommendations, but you have to get the approval of the executive board, which he does not have.”
President Floyd says he is expecting more progress with the upcoming contracts he and the board are currently working on for union members. The challenge from Alshami, who he still says he has never physically met, has come out of nowhere.
Congress got the ball rolling on H.R.6852 — a bill to designate Harlem’s Holcombe Rucker Park as a national commemorative site — as the legislation passed through the House this past Tuesday, September 24. If made into law, the bill would federally enshrine what is arguably the world’s most famous public basketball court.
“That legislation is more than just a symbolic gesture,” said sponsoring Rep. Adriano Espaillat over the phone. “It’s really a commitment to recognizing the historical and cultural significance of one of Harlem’s most cherished landmarks, Rucker Park. Back in the 50s, Holcombe Rucker, a World War II veteran, had a vision for Harlem’s youth.
“And he sought to create this space for young people as a refuge from the streets, and for them to push not only their basketball skills, but to push people towards higher education.”
Rucker organized street basketball tournaments around Upper Manhattan throughout the mid-1900s, ultimately drawing some of basketball’s biggest stars like Wilt Chamberlain and Harlemite Lew Alcindor, best known today as NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Through hoops, more than 700 athletic scholarships sprung from his events by the ‘50s.
While performances on the park’s hardtop court, now named after another prominent tournament organizer Greg Marius, do not count on an NBA statline, they remain pivotal to basketball lore. Kobe Bryant lives on through oral accounts of his 2002 appearance, down to the sunglasses and chain he wore.
From contemporary international superstars like LeBron James and Kevin Durant to New York-bred talent like Jamaica Queens’ Rafer Alston and Coney Island’s Stephon Marbury, Rucker Park allowed legends to grow even taller.
But while Rucker Park served as a staging ground for NBA players, it was a proving ground for streetball legends. Notably, Harlem’s Joe “The Destroyer” Hammond is said to have put up 50 points against Hall of Famer Julius “Dr. J” Erving during a tournament.
A national commemorative site designation recognizes a place’s contributions to American history on a federal level. It also allows the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to partner with local organizations to drive educational initiatives for the park. Partnerships could range from schools to nonprofit organizations to the NYC Parks Department, according to Espaillat.
The congressman adds that he hopes such a designation will provide more opportunities for the surrounding community, particularly the NYCHA developments which often have some of the best seats in the house for tournaments.
“First, there will be a federal plaque recognizing the park installed in the park,” he said. “Second, it leaves the book open to educational activities [that] could be developed around the park, between the Department of Interior and [potentially] the New York City Department of Education or Parks Department, or even places like the Polo Grounds and the Rangel houses, which are right across the park.”
While the DOI’s National Park Service has previously designated national commemorative sites, Rucker Park would not be placed under the agency through Espaillat’s bill.
The bill now hits the Senate floor. If passed, it goes to the White House for the president to sign into law.
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.
