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Racing to escape the rain, I reached my building in the Bronx and positioned my face in front of the facial recognition entrance system. Despite multiple attempts, the screen repeatedly failed to identify me. As a Black woman, I had experienced the inconvenience of the system taking longer to recognize me than it did for lighter-skinned individuals. But stuck outside alone at night, this was the first time I truly felt endangered by this technology and felt aware of the omnipresent surveillance in my neighborhood. This experience forced me to confront the disturbing realities of how much personal biometric data I was relinquishing, who was accessing it, and the inefficacy of a system that barred me from my own home.
Across New York, countless tenants with landlord-installed facial recognition share these concerns about surveillance and racial discrimination. The prevalence of facial recognition technology in residential buildings not only infringes on personal privacy and puts tenants’ biometric data at risk, but it also exhibits racial biases against overpoliced Black and Brown communities. It is imperative New York State legislators ban its use this session to ensure the safety, privacy, and dignity of all New Yorkers in their homes.
Surveillance is especially prevalent in public housing. According to the Washington Post, there is one camera in New York City public housing for every 19 residents, comparable to one for every 20 visitors to the Louvre in Paris. This level of surveillance saturation goes hand in hand with the extreme gentrification occurring in Brooklyn and Manhattan, but also beyond the city, in places like Yonkers and Buffalo. Adding facial recognition technology to their surveillance arsenal is part of landlords’ efforts to attract wealthier, predominantly white tenants to these neighborhoods, making them feel safer, while closely monitoring current, mainly Black and Latinx public housing residents. This increases the likelihood of these tenants being punished or evicted for minor rule violations, including when misidentified.
The NYPD can access surveillance footage through its dystopian Domain Awareness System (DAS), which consolidates private and public camera feeds and intelligence data, regardless of its origin. This system includes video footage from cameras around the city, including in residential buildings, infringing upon the freedom of residents, particularly Black and Latinx communities who are already disproportionately targeted by discriminatory policing. With the NYPD’s track record of using facial recognition technology against children, who are more prone to misidentification by the technology, it comes as no surprise that residents feel threatened at the idea of the police having access to their biometric data and movements without consent.
Tania Acabou, a single mother from New Bedford, Massachusetts, found herself evicted on the grounds that she had violated a guest policy, as determined by the facial recognition camera, when the “guest” was her ex-husband providing childcare so that she could attend school. New Yorkers, threatened by similar actions, have resisted non-consensual installation of these systems by landlords. In 2019, residents of Atlantic Plaza Towers in Brooklyn organized against the implementation of facial recognition technology that forced them to surrender their biometric information. The power these systems give to landlords is boundless, forcing tenants to grant access to their biometric data to third parties with no security assurances.
Protests by community members have successfully led to the introduction of a bill in the New York State legislature which prohibits the use of facial recognition by landlords on any residential premises. To protect New York residents from the threat of being tracked by landlords and not having control over their data, this bill needs to be advanced to the Assembly and Senate floors for voting. At a time when protecting the rights and privacy of New Yorkers is paramount, legislative intervention is more crucial than ever to prevent discrimination and safeguard the homes of residents.
Renwick-Archibold is a Research Intern at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.) and a 2024 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in computer science and cognitive neuroscience.
This past Saturday, there was a special baseball game at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y., home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The 2024 Hall of Fame East-West Classic featured 30 former Black Major League Baseball players honoring the history and legacy of the Negro Leagues, representing the long and deep tradition of the American cultural institution by wearing the jerseys of Negro Leagues teams. More than 5,700 fans came out to watch former All-Star and Hall of Fame players.
The East defeated the West 5-4 in six innings.
Philadelphia Phillies legend Ryan Howard, the 2005 National League Rookie of the Year, 2006 National League MVP, and 2008 World Series champion, was named the Classic’s MVP after hitting a go-ahead three-run homer in the fifth inning to give the East the lead.
“It’s always been a fraternity,” Howard said after the game. “The cool part about it is you have your teammates that you play with coming up in the Minor Leagues, and a lot of the guys you play against at each level in the Minor Leagues, so in a sense, you’re coming up together with them, as well…And just to have this kind of brotherhood and continue to have it is special.”
Curtis Granderson, a 16-year MLB veteran from 2004–19, during which he was a three-time All-Star, hit the first home run of the 2024 game, wearing a Newark Eagles jersey.
“It’s cool,” he said. “Anytime I got a chance to play in these [Negro League throwbacks] throughout the course of a season, I always looked forward to it and loved it, so I’m happy to get a chance to put it back on again today.”
Edwin Jackson, who pitched for more than a dozen MLB teams from 2003–19, registering 1,508 career strikeouts, took the mound to start the game. The home run derby contest preceded the game as Adam Jones, who is most remembered for his years (2008–18) with the Baltimore Orioles in a career that spanned from 2006–21, defeated Prince Fielder.
The son of Cecil Fielder (1985–98), a two-time AL home run leader and 1996 World Series champion with the New York Yankees, Prince Fielder had a notable career. He played in MLB from 2005–16 and was a six-time All-Star.
One player who received a lot of recognition from the crowd was Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr., widely considered one of the greatest players in baseball history.
Along with the game, the weekend featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the “Souls of the Game” exhibit. Rowan Ricardo Phillips, an award-winning poet, was one of the consultants who was included in the development of the project, and he was pleased to see the support.
“The fact that people really want to start and think about the roots of the story, the voices, from the beginning, people we don’t often think about—Bud Fowler, Octavius Catto, those types of players—it really excites me,” he said.
“I think what’s really wonderful about the exhibit is, we can rethink the story of baseball that we want to tell to ourselves and to our future selves, instead of thinking, ‘Well, let’s pick this up from 2020 or 2024 or whatever.’”
For more about the East-West Classic, visit MLBbro.com.
They began a three-game series Tuesday night on the road versus the Los Angeles Angels with Nestor Cortes’s turn in the rotation holding a 1 1/2 lead over the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East division standings. The Yankees were 37-18 and 11-3 in their 14 previous games, a sizzling clip for a club that has only lost three straight games once this season, from April 14-16, over six weeks ago.
The Yankees have been bolstered by their depth of talent of position players and pitchers. They have been one of the best teams in Major League Baseball despite being without their ace Gerrit Cole, the 2023 Cy Young Award winner. Cole has yet to make his 2024 regular season debut as he works his way back from right elbow nerve inflammation and edema. On Saturday, the 33-year-old righty threw two innings against minor league players at the Yankees player development facility in Tampa, Florida. Last season, Cole was arguably the best pitcher in MLB, registering 33 starts, a 15-4 record, 2.63 ERA, 0.981 WHIP and 222 strikeouts. His 209 innings pitched were the second most in Cole’s 11-year career.
In his absence, the Yankees’ pitching staff went into Tuesday with the lowest ERA (2.77) in MLB. The collective five man rotation of Cortes, Marcus Stroman, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, and Luis Gil has been capable but surprisingly superlative. As of Tuesday, all but Cortes, at a solid 3.29, had ERAs under 3. Long Island native Stroman, who the Yankees signed to a two-year, $37 million free-agent deal in January, has epitomized the team’s strength and resolve in withstanding Cole’s injury. The 33-year-old Duke University alumnus is scheduled to start tomorrow on the road against the San Francisco Giants boasting a 4-2 record with a 2.76 ERA.
Stroman, who had a combined 44 starts for the Mets in 2019 and 2021, and a member of the Chicago Cubs in 2022 and 2023, giving them 50 starts, went six innings allowing just three hits and no runs last Saturday in his most recent appearance in a 4-1 Yankees victory over the Padres in San Diego.
“The other starters have been incredible,” Stroman said following the win. “We’re all doing this without having the best pitcher in baseball, Cole, who we’re all dying to get back.” The Yankees end a three-game series against the Angels today and will play the Giants three games tomorrow through Sunday. They are back home in the Bronx for a three-game set beginning Tuesday versus the Minnesota Twins before the World Series favorite Los Angeles Dodgers visit New York for three June 7 through June 9.
With her freshman year of high school at a Pennsylvania boarding school completed, 14-year-old Hazel Pratts is looking forward to demonstrating her equestrian skills this summer.
At age 4, the Brooklyn native revealed to her parents a desire to learn how to ride a horse, which proved more than a simple childhood wish. She has since immersed herself in equestrian competitions, winning major events for her age group.
The lessons of riding competitively have been significant to her social and academic development—she ended the school year with a 3.7 GPA. The high achiever transfers her love of being a rising equestrian scholar-athlete to her classmates and teammates.
“I actually really do like watching my friends ride, and cheering them on is my favorite thing,” said Pratts. “Also, recording them—I love getting good videos and talking about them after the horse shows. I really do enjoy winning and (take away) from losing because it’s all about the improvement.”
Pratts explained that she has a visceral connection to the horses she rides and feels their energy and spirit. “Mine is very energetic, very friendly, and very emotional,” she said. “It’s really cool being around so many horses. You can see the different types of emotions and back stories just by looking at them.”
Hazel’s mother, Hasoni Pratts, a member of the New York State Board of Regents, told the AmNews that her daughter has been committed to riding ever since she was first introduced to colts.
“Hazel truly knew what she wanted to do,” said Pratts. “Her father (Michael Pratts) and I thought maybe when she had to clean stalls, that would change her mind, but it didn’t deter her at all. She soaked up every experience of being around stables.”
The young Pratts found it challenging to fulfill her desire to become an accomplished equestrian within the five boroughs, so the family decided that she would attend an equestrian boarding school. There, Pratts was assigned a horse and she said they clicked instantly. The school is also academically demanding, which she appreciates, and the opportunity to ride during the school day is gratifying.
“I couldn’t ask for more,” she said.
Pratts competes year-round. The school arranges for the students to attend shows, to which she and fellow students travel as a team. Pratts said she was fortunate to ride in multiple shows. She also participates in individual competitions, in two divisions. One is equitation, a discipline in which judges focus on how the rider controls the horse and executes movements.
“Showing is the best thing,” Pratts said. “No matter what, riding is amazing, but showing is incredible. I’m very competitive.”
Her immediate goal is to jump higher and then move to a higher level of competition. Her career goal is to become a veterinarian. She doesn’t anticipate riding during college, but will resume afterward.
“I always want to be a part of the equestrian world,” Pratts said.
