Beacon

New York’s 

Beacon 

website: 

NewYorkBeacon.net 

Showing the Way to Truth and Justice 

E-Mail 

newyorkbeacon@yahoo.com 

Vol. 23 No. 9 March 3 - March 9, 2016 

75 Cents 

THE CAUCUS ROOM CONSPIRACY 

To derail President Obama’s platform 

“The single most 

important thing 

we want to achieve 

is for President 

Obama to be a oneterm 

president.” 

said U.S. Senator 

Mitch McConnell 

page 3 

Signed the Fair 

Sentencing Act, which 

reduced the sentencing 

disparity between crackcocaine 

versus powder 

cocaine possession 

Signed the Dodd-Frank 

Wall Street Reform and 

Consumer Protection Act 

to re-regulate the financial 

sector 

Passed Obamacare and Still I Rise…….. page 6

2 

BEACON, March 3 - March 9, 2016 newyorkbeacon.net 

Educational pipeline 

helps disadvantaged 

students succeed 

By J. Zamgba Browne 

Special to NY Beacon 

Brooklyn Borough President 

Eric Adams and 

the President of Medgar 

Evers College Dr. Rudy Crew 

have joined forces to lift up 

thousands of students across 

the borough through a groundbreaking 

pipeline program at 

the institution. 

The goal of the program 

is to help thousands of local 

students from disenfranchised 

communities in and around 

Central Brooklyn to succeed 

in college and careers. 

Adams said he was proud 

to oversee a true research and 

development administration, 

where we are not afraid to tackle 

big problems with outsidethe-box 

pilot approaches that 

have game-changing potential. 

“Our partnership with Dr. 

Crew and Medgar Evers College 

has fostered a unique education 

solution to previously 

intractable challenges in Central 

Brooklyn and throughout 

the borough,” said Borough 

President Adams. 

He said he dedicated millions 

of dollars to schools in 

the Pipeline last year, and this 

year he intends to do even 

more as Brooklyn Borough 

Hall and the college formalize 

the partnership to improve 

outcomes for children and 

families that need wraparound 

educational support. 

Dr. Crew called Medgar 

Evers an oasis of hope in 

Central Brooklyn, where too 

many students in our backyard 

are living in the shadow of an 

economic boom. 

“Each year, vast numbers 

of students arrive on campus 

requiring years of remedial 

education. With the help of 

Borough President Adams, 

we are attaching that situation 

head-on,” said Dr. Crew. 

“We are building an ambitious 

pipeline that will help 

our most disadvantaged kids 

succeed in school, starting in 

kindergarten and continuing 

all the way past graduation,” 

he added. 

Dr. Crew, who served as 

New York City Schools Chancellor 

from 1995 to 2000, said 

that shortly after arriving at his 

post at Medgar Evers in 2013, 

he was alarmed that nearly 86 

percent of the school’s freshmen 

were receiving one to two 

years of remedial education 

each year. 

“The developmental 

coursework they needed was 

consuming limited financial 

aid and delaying their ability 

to earn a degree,” he added. 

Eric Garner to receive additional $1M 



The Eric Garner family has finally begun to 

reap some benefits from his violent death 

at the hands of New York City police. 

Garner died a year ago following a choke hold 

by police on Staten Island. 

The medical center that sent paramedics and 

treated Garner as he died after a police choke 

hold, has agreed to pay a whopping $1 million 

to his family, according to the Associated Press. 

No specific details were provided about the 

settlement between the Gardner family and the 

Richmond University Medical Center, except 

that everything is highly confidential. 

But the New York Beacon has learned that 

the $1 million offered by the medical center is 

definitely not part of the $5.9 million agreement 

announced by New York City last July. 

The million dollar offer is the maximum 

claim allowed under the hospital center’s liability 

insurance policy. But neither the Gardner 

family nor the hospital center would say how 

the money will be dispersed. 

The hospital center had not comment on 

the settlement, and William Smith, Garner’s 

lawyers didn’t respond to repeated telephone 

messages. 

Garner, a 43-year-old Black father of six, 

died during an encounter with police. Video 

of the arrest that has been widely circulated 

online shows the asthmatic, overweight man 

yelling, “I can’t breathe” as he was wrestled to 

the ground, and a white officer places his arm 

around Garner’s neck. 

Emergency workers arrived after officers 

called 91l, checked his pulse and made sure 

he was breathing before placing him on the 

stretcher. 

Later, when a bystander reportedly asked 

why they weren’t trying to resuscitate him, an 

officer was quoted as saying that this was due 

to the fact that Gardner was breathing. 

Two paramedics and two emergency medical 

technicians were initially suspended without pay 

by the hospital, but they were reportedly reinstated 

into roles that did not involve patient care. 

Meanwhile, here is how the $5.9 million 

agreement announced by the city would be 

dispersed. Garner’s widow will receive about 

$2.4 million. His children will receive sums 

ranging from $195,000 to $996,000. His 

mother, Gwen Carr, will receive $124,000 

for acting as administrator of his estate, and 

the law firm that represented the family will 

receive $2.3 million, or one-third, which is a 

common attorney fee. 

Free Pre-K for All programs still available 

African American Clergy head to the U.S. 

Supreme Court to pray for Supreme Justice 

W 

ashington, 



With just two weeks 

left in the first round 

of applications for 

Pre-K for All, Mayor Bill de 

Blasio on Tuesday urged families 

across the five boroughs 

to apply immediately. 

The Mayor reported that 

he toured the pre-K center 

at Windsor Terrace’s Bishop 

Ford campus, where 

there are now over 20 

free, full-days, high-quality 

pre-K for the school 

year that began September 

2015. 

The average family saves 

$10,000 per year in childcare 

costs through the free Pre-K 

for All programs. The program 

opens up a life-changing educational 

opportunity to their 

children. 

“Ask the children, the parents 

and the teachers about 

the difference Pre-K for All 

has made in their lives. This 

is one of the best choices any 

family will ever make for a 

DC - Tuesday, 

March 1, 2016 

Over one hundred 

African American clergy from 

around the nation will gather at 

the steps of the U.S. Supreme 

Court as representation to pray 

for the U.S. Supreme Court 

justice selection process. 

Eminent Supreme Court 

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes 

famously described his fellow 

judges as “nine scorpions in a 

bottle.” 

However, with the passing 

of Justice Antonin Scalia that 

number has been reduced to 

eight. 

When Republicans began 

proclaiming that President 

Obama should not appoint 

the late justice’s successor, 

President Obama countered 

that he would perform 

his constitutional duty and 

nominate a successor to Scalia, 

adding, «Your job doesn›t stop 

until you are voted out or until 

your term expires. 

“With continued political 

fighting and bickering, faith 

leaders, after gearing up for 

a national voter registration 

campaign, will head to the 

U.S. Supreme Court to pray for 

President Obama and his constitutional 

power to nominate a 

justice that has the professional 

merit and ideological attitude 

that represents people of races, 

gender and faith. 

Rev. Jamal Bryant, Pastor 

of Empowerment Temple 

Church, located in Baltimore, 

Maryland leads the 

‘Praying for Supreme Justice’ 

rally at the steps U.S. 

Supreme Court. 

Dr. Jamal-Harrison Bryant 

is Minister of the New Millennium 

Pastor Jamal Bryant has 

lead social justice campaigns 

for Trayvon Martin, Michael 

Brown and Freddie Gray. 

child,” said Mayor de Blasio. 

“It is lifting up so many 

people by building a stronger 

educational foundation for 

our kids and our schools, and 

saving parents money and 

helping them work. We are 

here to help you find the right 

program today and put your 

child on a path to success,” 

he added. 

All New York City families 

with children born in 2012 are 

eligible to apply to pre-K for 

the 2016-17 school years. This 

includes children with disabilities 

and children whose home 

language is a language other 

than English. 

There are enough free, 

full-day, high quality seats 

to meet the demand of every 

four-year-old in New York 

City, according to Mayor de 

Blasio. 

To make the enrollment 

process even easier, the Department 

of Education moved 

up the application timeline so 

that families can apply more 

than a month earlier than last 

year. 

Beacon (USPS 011-156), serving Metropolitan New York is published weekly by SHGM at 600 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10016. Periodicals postage paid at New York, 

NY. POSTMASTER; send address changes to The New York Beacon - 600 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10016. 

(212) 213-8585 , Web Site: www.newyorkbeacon.net, Email:NewYorkbeacon@yahoo.com, The New York Beacon Subscription rate: $35.00 per year.

Remarks at Academy Awards: 

Vice President to Americans - 

help stop sexual abuse 

The Caucus Room 

Conspiracy to derail 

Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood 

& Highland Center 

Los Angeles, California 

THE VICE PRESIDENT: .) 

Good evening. Good evening, 

and thank you very 

much. Despite significant 

progress over the last few 

years, too many women and 

men -- on and off college 

campuses -- are still victims 

of sexual abuse. 

And tonight I’m asking 

you to join millions of Americans, 

including me, President 

Obama, the thousands of 

students I’ve met on college 

campuses, and the artists here 

tonight to take the pledge -- a 

pledge that says: I will intervene 

in situations when consent 

has not or cannot be given. 

Let’s change the culture. 

(Applause.) We must and we 

can change the culture so that 

no abused woman or man, 

like the survivors you will see 

tonight, ever feel they have 

to ask themselves, what did I 

do? They did nothing wrong. 

(Applause.) 

So, folks, I really mean this. 

I’m sincere. Take the pledge. 

Go look at, visit ItsOnUs.org. 

Now, performing her Oscar-nominated 

song, “Til It 

happens to you,” written with 

Diane Warren, for the film 

“The Hunting Ground,” welcome 

my friend and a courageous 

lady herself, Lady Gaga. 

(Applause.) 

President Obama’s platform 

O 

n 

the night of January 

20, 2009, as President 

Obama and First Lady 

Michelle were smiling and 

dancing and waving hands 

with the celebrants and good 

wishers at the inauguration 

balls, celebrating the end of the 

Bush years, something sinister 

was unfolding. 

In a private room at the 

Caucus Room Brasserie in 

Washington, DC, Republican 

bigwigs were planning the demise 

of the new president. Over 

prime, juicy steaks and fancy 

cocktails they promised to 

filibuster and obstruct any and 

all legislation proposed by him. 

It was there that they concocted 

a plan to sabotage 

President Obama at every point 

possible and deny him any sort 

of legacy. 

They decided to obstruct 

legislation that even the Republicans 

themselves had supported. 

But still I rise….. continued 

page 6 

President’s weekly address: 

degrading and destroying ISIL 

The White House 

Hi, everybody. This 

week, we continued 

our mission to destroy 

ISIL. This remains a difficult 

fight, and the situation in Syria 

and Iraq is incredibly complex. 

ISIL is entrenched, including in 

urban areas. It uses innocent 

civilians as human shields. 

Despite these challenges, I 

can report that we’re making 

progress. And this week, I 

directed my team to continue 

accelerating our campaign on 

all fronts. 

Our 66-member coalition, 

including Arab partners, continues 

to grow stronger. More 

nations are making more contributions. 

Every day, our air 

campaign—more than 10,000 

strikes so far—continues to 

destroy ISIL forces. And we 

continue to go after ISIL leaders 

and commanders—taking 

them out, day in, day out, one 

after another after another. 

In Iraq, ISIL has now lost 

more than 40 percent of the 

areas it once controlled. In 

Syria, a coalition of local forces 

is tightening the squeeze on 

ISIL’s stronghold of Raqqa. As 

we bomb its oil infrastructure, 

ISIL’s been forced to slash the 

salaries of its fighters. Thanks 

to the work of many nations, 

the flow of foreign terrorist 

fighters into Syria finally appears 

to be slowing. In short, 

in Syria and Iraq, ISIL’s territory 

is shrinking, there are fewer 

ISIL fighters on the battlefield, 

and it’s harder for them to recruit 

and replenish their ranks. 

Still, the only way to deal 

ISIL a lasting defeat is to end 

the civil war and chaos in Syria 

upon which ISIL thrives. A 

cessation of hostilities in the 

civil war is scheduled to take 

effect this weekend. We’re 

not under any illusions. There 

are plenty of reasons for skepticism. 

Even under the best 

of circumstances, the violence 

will not end right away. But 

everyone knows what needs 

to happen. All parties must 

end attacks, including aerial 

bombardment. Humanitarian 

aid must be allowed to reach 

areas under siege. Much will 

depend on whether the Syrian 

regime, Russia and their allies 

live up to their commitments. 

The coming hours and days 

will be critical, and the world 

is watching. 

That said, there will be 

absolutely no cease-fire in 

our fight against ISIL. We’ll 

remain relentless. Beyond 

Syria and Iraq, we continue to 

use the full range of our tools to 

go after ISIL wherever it tries 

to take root, as we showed with 

our recent strike on an ISIL 

training camp in Libya. With 

partners around the world, 

we’ll continue discrediting 

the ideology that ISIL uses to 

radicalize, recruit and inspire 

people to violence, especially 

online. 

Finally, we’ll continue to 

stay vigilant here at home, including 

for lone actors or small 

groups of terrorists like those 

in San Bernardino, which are 

harder to detect. Our homeland 

security and law enforcement 

professionals are hard 

at work—24/7. At the same 

time, we’ll keep working to 

build partnerships of trust and 

respect with communities to 

help them stay strong and resilient. 

That includes upholding 

our values—including freedom 

of religion—so that we stay 

united as one American family. 

Again, this fight against 

ISIL will remain difficult. But 

we’ll continue to draw on all 

elements of our national power, 

including the strength of our 

communities and our values as 

Americans. And I’m confident 

that we will prevail. We will 

destroy this barbaric terrorist 

organization and continue to 

stand with those around the 

world who seek a better, safer 

future. 

Farrakhan to hip-hop community: “Put it out there” 



Minister Louis Farrakhan 

of the Nation of 

Islam has vowed to 

protect Grammy Award Winning 

recording artist Beyonce 

against threats from police law 

enforcement union. 

The union expressed outrage 

that Beyonce showed up 

for a Super Bowl halftime 

performance early last month 

with her backup dancers all 

decked out in Black Panther-esque 

garb. 

Now the law enforcement 

labor union is calling for a 

boycott of Beyonce’s world 

tour. That was when Minister 

Farrakhan stepped up to the 

rescue with the following 

statement during a recent 

sermon. 

“Because she started 

talking that black stuff...and 

white falks said, ‘We don’t 

know how to deal with that.’ 

“He said. 

Minister Farrakhan said 

when his organization questioned 

the treatment being 

given to Beyonce, the union 

responded as follows: You 

gonna picket. You are not 

going to offer her police protection? 

But Minister Farrakhan 

said if the police fail to provide 

protection then the Fruit 

of Islam which is the security 

wing of the Nation of Islam 

will provide the protection 

Beyonce needs for her world 

tour. 

In the past Minister Farrhankan 

said he used to be 

less supportive of the award 

winning recording artist because 

he felt she “needed to 

cover up and be more modest 

in her dress. 

“Today, you strip the 

woman of her clothes,” he 

said. “How can a man think 

straight, looking at the beauty 

of Beyonce”? 

Minister Farrakhan praised 

rapper Kendrick Lamar who 

appeared with Beyonce during 

her SuperBowl halftime performance. 

He said that Lamar’s 

politically charged 

Grammys performance was 

all about black pride. 

“We say to the hip-hop 

community, tour our cultural 

giants, say what you feel,” 

said Farrakhan. “Put it out 

there with strength. They allowed 

you to call your women 

‘bitches and whores so now 

put it out there how you love 

your black selves and you 

want to see Black people 

free. We will back you up,” 

he added. 

3BEACON, March 3 - March 9, 2016 newyorkbeacon.net

4 New Yorkers claim they were scammed by Trump, Trump University 


NEW YORK - Attorney 

General Eric T. Schneiderman 

filed a lawsuit 

in 2013 against presidential 

front runner Donald Trump, 

The Trump Entrepreneur Institute 

-- formerly named Trump 

University LLC (“Trump University”), 

and Michael Sexton, 

former President of Trump 

University for engaging in 

persistent fraudulent, illegal 

and deceptive conduct in connection 

with the operation 

of Trump University and for 

defrauding consumers out Of 

$40 Million With “Sham University.” 

It said, Trump Appeared 

In Ads That Falsely Claimed 

Trump University Would Use 

His Handpicked Experts” To 

Teach Get Rich Real Estate 

Techniques, Bilking Students 

Out Of Thousands Of Dollars 

A.G. Schneiderman: “No 

Matter How Rich Or Popular 

You Are, No One Has Right 

To Scam Hard Working New 

Yorkers; Anyone Who Does 

Will Be Held Accountable” 

Between 2005 through 

2011, Trump University operated 

as an unlicensed educational 

institute that promised 

to teach Donald Trump’s real 

estate investing techniques 

to consumers nationwide but 

instead misled consumers into 

paying for a series of expensive 

courses that did not deliver on 

their promises. 

“More than 5,000 people 

across the country who paid 

Donald Trump $40 million to 

teach them his hard sell tactics 

got a hard lesson in bait-andswitch,” 

said Attorney General 

Schneiderman. “Mr. Trump 

used his celebrity status and 

personally appeared in commercials 

making false promises 

to convince people to spend 

tens of thousands of dollars 

they couldn’t afford for lessons 

they never got. No one, no 

matter how rich or popular they 

are, has a right to scam hard 

working New Yorkers. Anyone 

who does should expect to be 

held accountable.” 

The petition filed in New 

York Supreme Court in Manhattan 

by Attorney General 

Schneiderman details the advertisements 

run by Trump 

University in major newspapers 

across the country and the 

direct mail solicitations sent 

to entice consumers to attend 

a free workshop. These ads 

prominently displayed Donald 

Trump’s photograph and signature, 

or were styled as letters 

written by Trump himself. The 

advertisements were replete 

with false claims, including 

claims that consumers would 

learn “from Donald Trump’s 

handpicked instructor a systematic 

method for investing 

in real estate that anyone can 

use.” Other ads promised “my 

handpicked instructors will 

share my techniques” or “learn 

from my hand-picked expert” 

and “just copy exactly what 

I’ve done and get rich.” 

An investigation by Attorney 

General Schneiderman 

revealed that Donald Trump 

did not handpick even a single 

instructor at these seminars and 

had little or no role in developing 

any of the Trump University 

curricula, or seminar 

content. The investigation also 

revealed that officials used the 

name “Trump University” even 

though they lacked the charter 

necessary under New York law 

to call themselves a University. 

They were also unlicensed under 

New York State Education 

Law, evading an array of legal 

protections designed to protect 

New Yorkers from fraud. 

Even though Trump University 

was notified by the New 

York State Education Department 

(“NYSED”) as early 

as 2005 that these practices 

violated New York law, Trump 

University did not change its 

name until May 2010 and never 

received a license to operate 

in the state. As a result, many 

students believed they were 

attending a University, when 

they were not. This misconception 

was reinforced by 

Trump University’s use of a 

University-like seal on much 

of its material and awarding 

diploma-like Certificates of 

Completion bearing Donald 

Trump’s signature. 

Despite Trump University’s 

advertised claims, consumers 

attending free seminars did not 

learn Donald Trump’s real estate 

techniques. Instead, Trump 

University’s instructors made 

multiple misrepresentations 

to convince consumers to sign 

up for a $1,495 three-day seminar. 

These misrepresentations 

included false claims about the 

three-day seminars such as: 

consumers would learn “everything 

[they] need[ed] to 

know” to become successful 

real estate investors; 

consumers would quickly 

recoup their investment by 

doing real estate deals, with 

some instructors claiming that 

consumers would earn tens of 

thousands of dollars within 

thirty days; 

instructors were “handpicked” 

by Donald Trump; 

consumers would be taught 

Donald Trump’s very own 

real estate strategies and techniques; 

consumers would receive 

access to private sources of 

financing (“hard money lenders”); 

and 

the three-day seminar would 

include a year-long “Apprenticeship 

Support” program. 

Instructors also insinuated 

Donald Trump himself would 

appear at the three-day seminar. 

In reality, many of the promises 

made at the free seminars 

went unfulfilled. Despite 

claims to the contrary, consumers 

who paid for and attended 

the three-day seminars were 

not taught everything they 

needed to know about real 

estate investing. For example, 

consumers did not receive substantive 

instruction on how to 

raise money from hard money 

lenders or receive an extensive 

“apprenticeship support” 

program. 

Instead of providing the 

sustained support promised by 

Trump University’s instructors, 

consumers were provided a list 

of lenders from a commercially 

available magazine. Instead of 

a personal appearance from 

Donald Trump as some consumers 

were led to expect, 

some participants got their 

photographs taken with a lifesize 

photo of Mr. Trump. 

Instead of providing all 

of the promised services, instructors 

used the three-day 

seminars to pitch consumers an 

expensive Trump Elite mentorship 

programs costing $10,000 

to $35,000. Trump University 

promised that the mentorships 

provided one-on-one training 

during which students would 

have personal assistance until 

they executed their first real 

estate deal and recouped the 

cost of the program. While 

consumers were encouraged to 

call their credit card companies 

during breaks, to increase their 

credit limits to have access to 

funds to do real estate deals, the 

real reason Trump University 

asked consumers to request 

higher credit limits was so they 

could use the credit to pay for 

the expensive Elite programs. 

Many consumers who made 

the costly investments did not 

receive the individual mentor 

attention promised. After an 

initial three-day session, many 

mentors failed to return phone 

calls or emails and provided little 

to no follow-up assistance. 

Despite diligent efforts, many 

consumers were unable to conclude 

even a single real estate 

deal and were left worse off 

than they had been before enrolling 

in the Trump University 

programs. Some consumers 

faced thousands of dollars of 

debt due to the expensive cost 

of the Elite Programs. Many 

felt they had been victims of 

an elaborate scam. 

Trump University also committed 

violations of federal 

consumer protection law. Federal 

law provides a three business-day 

right of cancellation 

for the type of purchases at 

issue here, but Trump University 

repeatedly failed to honor 

consumers’ timely requests to 

cancel. 

The lawsuit seeks full restitution 

for the more than 5,000 

consumers nationwide who 

were defrauded of over $40 

million in the scheme, disgorgement 

of profits, as well 

as costs and penalties and injunctive 

relief prohibiting these 

types of illegal practices going 

forward. 

Consumers with complaints 

against Trump University 

should file a complaint with 

the OAG. Complaint forms are 

available here. 

Republic Airlines files bankruptcy due to shortage of pilots 

R 

epublic 

Airways ), which flies 

smaller regional jets for United 

Airlines, Delta Air Lines 

and American Airlines said the shortage 

of pilots has caused it to ground 

many of its planes and causing it to file 

for bankruptcy protection. 

“We worked hard to avoid this step,” 

said CEO Bryan Bedford. He said the 

airline plans to continue normal operations 

during the reorganization. 

Republic has a fleet of about 240 

regional jets and operates about 1,250 

flights a day to about 100 cities in the 

U.S. and Canada. They fly under the 

American Eagle, Delta Connection 

and United Express names. It has about 

6,000 employees, of whom 2,100 are 

pilots. 

But for the first three quarters of 

last year the number of hours it flew 

dropped by about 5%. And it faces a 

lawsuit from Delta charging it with 

breach of contract for failing to operate 

all of the flights it had contracted to fly. 

Regional carriers are a key part of 

the nation’s air service, operating 45% 

of the flights and being the sole provider 

of service to many smaller cities. 

Schneiderman filed a $40 million lawsuit against Trump claiming 

Trump University was a classic ‘bait and switch’ scam. 

Republic pays its new hires about 

$40 an hour under a new contract that 

took effect in November, nearly double 

what they were paid under the previous 

contract. It also offers a $7,500 signing 

bonus. 

But Kit Darby, an expert on pilot 

pay, said regional pilots can only 

fly about 1,000 hours a year, so the 

$40 an hour isn’t as much pay as it 

appears. 

“The pay is coming up very quickly, 

and it needed to,” said Darby. “They 

were woefully underpaid before, making 

maybe $23,000 a year. But just 

increasing the pay doesn’t create any 

more pilots.” 

Darby said safety rules have 

tightened in recent years, and new 

regional airline pilots today must 

have 1,500 hours of flying experience 

compared to 250 hours previously. 

So filling the shortage of 

pilots at regional carriers won’t be 

fixed quickly. 

“All the regional airlines are dealing 

with shortages,” he said. “We’ve had 

shortages in the past, but they didn’t 

last very long. This is different.”

It’s Happening at 

Columbia 

inMarch 

TUESDAY, MARCH 1 

Screening: Enclave 

6:30 P.M. TO 9:00 P.M. 

1219 International Affairs, 

Morningside campus 

Enclave looks at the legacy of ethnic 

cleansing through the eyes of a 

small boy, who, determined to create 

a proper burial for his grandfather, 

crosses ethnic and religeous lines and 

makes friends in war-torn Kosovo. 

For more info, email lms2274@ 

columbia.edu. 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2 

Feminist to the Core 

NOON 

754 Schermerhorn Ext., Morningside 

campus 

Historical musicologist Ellie Hisama 

discusses the social and political 

roles of music, comparing traditional 

and current usages and inspiring new 

ways of thinking about classic texts. 

For more info, call (212) 854-1556 or 

email k.belly@columbia.edu. 

Job Readiness Training 

3:00PM 

Columbia University Employment 

Information Center, 3180 Broadway 

Training sessions are held the first 

Wednesday of each month and 

include interviewing skills, résumé 

building, job search strategies 

and tips on dressing for success. 

Upcoming sessions will be held April 

6, May 4 and June 8. Registration 

required. For more info and to register, 

call (212) 851-1551, email 

communityjobs@columbia.edu 

or visit www.community-jobs 

.columbia.edu. 

Columbia also has outreach programs 

for local youth ages 16-24. 

Columbia Community Impact offers 

GED (TASC), ESL and SAT classes 

along with the College Road program, 

which adds tutoring, college 

prep and mentoring. For more info, 

call (212) 854-5710 or visit www 

.communityimpact.columbia.edu. 

SATURDAY, MARCH 5 

Men’s Basketball vs. Yale 

7:00 P.M. 

Francis S. Levien Gymnasium, Dodge 

Physical Fitness Center, Morningside 

campus 


visit www.gocolumbialions.com. 

MONDAY, MARCH 7 

Photography and Urban History 

1:30 P.M. TO 3:30 P.M. 

208B Butler Library, Morningside 

campus 

Rio de Janeiro’s modernization has 

shaped not only its urban space but 

also its modes of sociability and 

imagery. Photographer Sérgio Burgi 

explores the shaping of the city’s 

public image through historical photographs 

and discusses the possibilities 

offered by digital georeferencing 

systems . For more info, email 

vt2103@columbia.edu or call (212) 

854-1833. 

The Impact of the 

Internet in China 

11:00 A.M. TO NOON 

207 Low Library, Morningside campus 

Charles Chen, co-founder of Tencent, 

the largest Internet service portal 

in China, discusses the nation’s 

strategy to drive economic growth 

by integrating internet technologies 

with manufacturing and business. 

Registration required, and photo ID 

required for access to event. For more 

info, visit earth.columbia.edu or email 

hmartinez@ei.columbia.edu. 

TUESDAY, MARCH 8 

Jon Jang: The Sounds 

of Struggle 

5:00 P.M.TO 6:30 P.M. 

701C Dodge Hall, Morningside campus 

Speaker: Composer and pianist Jon 

Jang. This event is part of the lecture 

series “Music from the 1960s Black 

Liberation Movement to the 1980s 

Asian American Movement.” For more 

info, email kdf2116@columbia.edu. 

FRIDAY, MARCH 11 

Manning Marable: Scholar, 

Activist, Mentor 

6:00 P.M. TO 8:30 P.M. 

6th Flr. East, Butler Library, 


A panel discussion and reception 

mark the opening of an exhibition 

on Manning Marable, the influential 

black studies professor, Pan-Africanist 

and scholar-activist. For more info, 

call (212) 852-2232 or visit www 

.libraries.columbia.edu/events. 


Ethical, Legal and Social 

Implications of Genetics 

NOON TO 2:00 P.M. 

6601 Herbert Pardes Building, 

Medical Center campus 

Barbara Evans from the University of 

Houston Law Center speaks on contemporary 

issues surrounding genetics. 


email sps-events@columbia.edu. 


Bill Griffith, A–Z 

6:00 P.M. 

523 Butler Library, Morningside 

campus 

Cartoonist Bill Griffith has had a storied 

career, from his early underground 

comics featuring Mr. the Toad, to 

the long-running character Zippy the 

Pinhead. Griffith discusses his career 

with fellow cartoonist Art Spiegelman. 


email klg19@columbia.edu. 


A History of Abolition 

6:00 P.M. 

523 Butler Library, Morningside 

campus 

Professor Manisha Sinha discusses 

her new book, The Slave’s Cause: 

A History of Abolition, which documents 

the influence of the Haitian 

Revolution and the centrality of slave 

resistance in shaping the ideology 

and tactics of abolition. For more 

info, call (212) 854-9616 or email 

tsj2001@columbia.edu. 

Columbia Community 

Scholars Program 

Columbia University offers independent, 

community-based scholars from 

Northern Manhattan access to a range 

of University services and resources at 

no cost to participants. These include 

access to all University libraries— 

including online access, course auditing 

privileges, dialogue with scholars in 

their field of study and the ability to 

participate in seminars and social events 

developed specifically for the group. The 

application deadline is Friday, April 29. 

For more info, call (212) 854-4289, 

email communityaffairs@columbia.edu 

or visit http://gca.columbia.edu. 


Screening: The Holocaust: 

What the Allies Knew 

5:30 P.M. 

The Italian Academy, 1161 

Amsterdam Ave., Morningside campus 

After the film, a panel of historians, 

media experts, and human rights scholars 

discuss how knowledge of mass killings 

during World War II did not initially 

spur intervention. The discussion resonates 

with current political situations. 

Today, violence, refugee crises, and 

war unfold before everyone’s eyes. Yet 

the challenges of intervention remain 

and are similarly divorced from the 

knowledge of facts. For more info, visit, 

www.italianacademy.columbia.edu. 

THURSDAY, MARCH 24 

Works by Hans 

Abrahamsen 

8:00 P.M. 

Miller Theatre, Morningside campus 

Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen’s 

magnum opus Schnee (Snow) is a wealth 

of delicate sounds, pristine yet colorful. 

For tickets or more info, call (212) 854- 

7799, email miller-arts@columbia.edu 

or visit www.millertheatre.com. 


There Is a Field 

7:00 P.M. 

World Room, Pulitzer Hall, 


In There is a Field, older sister Nardeen 

narrates the life and killing of her brother 

Aseel Asleh, a 17-year-old killed 

by police in October 2000. Suggested 

donation $20. For more info, visit www 

.events.columbia.edu. 

THURSDAY, MARCH 31 

The Lost Photographs of Ralph 

Ellison and Gordon Parks 

7:00 P.M. 

101 Prentis Hall, 632 W. 125th St. 

Ralph Ellison’s influential work Harlem 

Is Nowhere was initially intended to 

be accompanied by pictures by legendary 

photographer Gordon Parks. 

Professor Jean-Christophe Cloutier 

discusses the invisible photographic 

history around which the essay was 

crafted. Registration required. For 

more info and to register, email ym189 

@columbia.edu. 

5BEACON, March 3 - March 9, 2016 newyorkbeacon.net 

www.events.columbia.edu (212) 854-2871 

For disability services, call (212) 854-2284 prior to the event. 

Columbia University 

in the city of new york

6 

Editorial 


Beacon 

Walter Smith: Publisher & Editor-in-Chief 

Miatta Haj Smith: Co-Publisher & Executive Editor 

William Egyir: Managing Editor 

Why President Barack Obama 

Is One of the Best Ever 

.By Jeffrey L. Boney 

NNPA News Wire 

Columnist 

President Barack Obama 

will go down in history, 

as arguably one of the 

most successful presidents of 

the United States. What he has 

been able to accomplish over 

his nearly eight years in office 

is remarkable – especially 

when you consider the level 

of obstructionism and racism 

he has had to endure. 

It is no secret that his Republican 

counterparts have 

sought to fight President 

Obama since the day he was 

sworn in to office. As a matter 

of fact, they wanted to make 

things so difficult for him, that 

they concocted a strategy and 

a plan to ensure that he would 

not make it past his first term. 

Don’t believe me? Well, let 

me provide you with a little 

proof. 

“The single most important 

thing we want to achieve is for 

President Obama to be a oneterm 

president.” 

This was the bold statement 

made by U.S. Senator Mitch 

McConnell on October 23, 

2010, prior to the midterm 

elections, in an interview with 

the National Journal. 

Senator McConnell practically 

informed the world 

that he and his Republican 

colleagues had no sincere intentions 

or desire to work with 

President Obama to deal with 

the issues that America was 

faced with. Senator McConnell 

let us know that their only 

focus was seeking to make this 

newly-elected, African American 

president, a one-term president. 

It was shameful. 

Going even further, author 

Robert Draper released a 

jaw-dropping book, “Do Not 

Ask What Good We Do: Inside 

the U.S. House of Representatives,” 

where he claims that 

the Republicans anti-Obama 

campaign began on the night 

of his inauguration. Talk about 

cold-blooded. 

As President Obama was 

smiling, waving and dancing 

with First Lady Michelle 

Obama at the numerous inauguration 

balls he had to 

attend, Draper asserts that top 

Republican lawmakers and political 

strategists held a secret 

meeting where they plotted and 

devised an elaborate scheme to 

bring the president down, and 

make things so difficult for 

him that the American people 

would never re-elect him for a 

second-term. 

According to Draper’s 

book, a little over 15 of those 

lawmakers and strategists met 

up at a swanky, high-end establishment 

called the Caucus 

Room for several hours where 

they kicked around ways to 

not only take the White House 

back, but also win back political 

power in the House and 

Senate. One of the biggest 

items on their agenda, however, 

was developing a strategy to 

do everything in their power to 

collectively obstruct every single 

one of President Obama’s 

legislative agenda items on his 

platform. 

In spite of these deliberate 

and concocted acts of obstructionism, 

President Obama 

never wavered. In his firstterm 

as President of the United 

States, President Obama accomplished 

a great deal. 

While having a Democrat-controlled 

House and Senate 

during the first two years 

of his presidency, President 

Obama was able to sign several 

pieces of legislation into law 

and make many executive decisions 

that have helped move 

this country forward. 

In 2009, President Obama: 

• Signed the Credit Card 

Accountability, Responsibility, 

and Disclosure Act, which 

prohibits credit card companies 

from raising rates without 

advance notification, and also 

mandates a grace period on 

interest rate increases, as well 

as places strict limits on overdrafts 

and other fees 

• Signed the Claims Resolution 

Act in 2009, which provided 

$4.6 billion in funding for 

a legal settlement with African 

American farmers who the 

government had been found 

to have cheated out of loans 

and natural resource royalties 

for years 

• Made the decision to inject 

$62 billion in federal money 

into two of the three Detroit 

automakers, which helped 

stabilize the American automotive 

industry and helped save 

and create new jobs 

• Signed the Children’s 

Health Insurance Program 

Reauthorization Act, which 

was designed to strengthen the 

Children’s Health Insurance 

Program (CHIP) program and 

provide coverage to significant 

numbers of uninsured children 

and to improve the quality of 

care they receive 


• Signed the Fair Sentencing 

Act, which reduced the 

sentencing disparity between 

crack-cocaine versus powder 

cocaine possession from 100 

to 1 to 18 to 1 – a disparity that 

has disproportionately impacted 

African Americans in this 

country for decades 

• Signed the Dodd-Frank 

Wall Street Reform and Consumer 

Protection Act into law 

in order to re-regulate the financial 

sector after they caused 

the catastrophic financial crisis 

• Health Care and Education 

Affordability Reconciliation 

Act, which prevents insurance 

companies from denying 

anyone insurance because they 

have a pre-existing condition; 

allows children to remain 

covered by their parents’ insurance 

until the age of 26; 

and requires health insurance 

plans to disclose how much of 

the premium actually goes to 

patient care 

• Signed the Patient Protection 

and Affordable Care Act, 

or as we affectionately call it, 

Obamacare, into law, which 

now allows over 32 million 

uninsured Americans to get 

health coverage 


• Had known terrorist leader, 

Osama bin Laden, captured 

and killed by U.S. Special 

Forces 

• Ordered all U.S. military 

forces out of Iraq, where the 

last troops left in December 

2011 

• Signed the FDA Food 

Safety Modernization Act, 

Blackonomics: Hillary 

and Bernie discover and 

re-discover Black people 

By James Clingman 


Columnist 

One thing is for sure; 

Black folks are enjoying 

this latest political 

mating dance with Bernie 

Sanders and Hillary Clinton. 

Sanders is discovering Black 

people in South Carolina and 

Georgia, and Clinton has reopened 

the “leading Blacks” 

vault to rediscover their 

loyalty and willingness to 

present her to the Black electorate 

one mo’ time, y’all. 

Sanders, after years without 

doing anything specific 

for the 1 percent Black population 

of his state, much 

less for Black people in 

general, has now discovered, 

and some would say 

rediscovered his love and 

concern for us. In the vast 

majority of cases it is really 

a case of Black people discovering 

Sanders, because 

most Blacks knew absolutely 

nothing about him prior 

to a few months ago, but 

for Ed Schultz and Black 

folks’ penchant for watching 

MSNBC. Sanders started out 

by traipsing up to Harlem, 

cameras in tow of course, 

to sip tea with Sharpton at a 

Black restaurant. I am sure 

that boosted his “street cred” 

bona fides with Black voters. 

Uncle Bernie then goes to 

MLK’s alma mater, Morehouse, 

and tells thousands 

of Black folks how much 

he loves them now and how 

much he will do for them— 

now. It’s almost like he is 

waking up from his five-decade 

“I marched with MLK” 

respite and discovering that 

Black people exist and, yes, 

they are important to court 

because he cannot win without 

them. He is pulling out all 

the condescending platitudes 

to get the Black vote, and 

Black folks are lovin’ it. 

Hillary, far more knowledgeable 

and adept at getting 

Black voters, reached 

into her bag of politricks 

and pulled out an old, triedand-true, 

sleight of hand 

tactic. She met with the 

Great Triumvirate of Black 

“civil rights” leaders, folks 

who will hurt you if you get 

between them and a news 

camera, to subliminally suggest 

she is “down with the 

bruthas.” Sitting at a table 

with Morial, Sharpton, and 

a guy Black folks have yet 

to discover, Cornell Brooks, 

was her springboard to vie 

for the Black vote. 

Mama Hillary called on 

old stand-by, John Lewis, to 

tell Black folks that Sanders 

has no street cred, because 

James Clingman says that 

the Black community should 

be asking candidates about 

how much campaign money 

they’ve spent with Blackowned 

media, i.e. newspapers, 

radio. 

Lewis “never met him” back 

in the days of fire-hoses, 

dogs, and Billy clubs. (Maybe 

Lewis had a concussion 

back then and simply forgot.) 

Hillary then got members of 

the Black Caucus to endorse 

her, a monumental victory 

that will surely bring home 

the ultimate victory. After 

all, we cast from 93 percent 

– 95 percent of our precious 

votes for Barack in both 

elections, and he won; why 

not the same thing this year 

for Clinton? 

Black folks are discovering 

and being discovered 

by Bernie; we are also being 

rediscovered by Hillary. And 

while we are making political 

campaign ads, going to 

rallies and cheering for the 

Democratic candidates, as 

Gil Scott-Heron said in reference 

to Richard Nixon and 

the Republicans, “All is calm 

and quiet along the white 

sands of San Clemente.” In 

today’s political world that 

simply points to the Republicans 

continued strategy of 

ignoring Black people by 

saying absolutely nothing 

on our behalf or in support 

of issues that specifically 

pertain to Black voters. But 

why should they? We are “all 

in” for the Dems. 

Hype is meaningless unless 

it is accompanied by 

real accountability and substantive 

results. If the Black 

vote is so important and so 

precious, as we like to say, 

then why is it literally given 

away for a song and a dance 

or a rousing speech? Saying 

how bad it is for Black people 

is not doing something 

about it. Glad-handing and 

hobnobbing with two or three 

Continued on page 14 Continued on page 14

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: Citibank 

ordered to refund $4.9M, 2,100 consumers 

By Charlene Crowell 


Columnist 

Last year, the Federal 

Trade Commission 

(FTC) launched a national 

initiative, dubbed Operation 

Collection Protection, to 

further protect consumers from 

unlawful practices related to 

debt collection. 

Now, in a report to the 

Consumer Financial Protection 

Bureau (CFPB), FTC summarized 

its results on behalf of 

consumers and additionally 

pledged to continue efforts 

with more joint actions with 

law enforcement partners. 

In a February 12 letter to 

CFPB, FTC highlighted its 

most successful efforts to eliminate 

illegal debt collection 

practices that include: 

• Coordination of the first 

federal-state-local enforcement 

effort dedicated to targeting 

deceptive and abusive 

debt collection practices; 

• Obtaining nearly $94 

million in judgments; 

• Filing 12 new cases against 52 

new defendants – a record number 

for FTC in a single year; and 

• Banning 30 companies and 

individuals that engaged in 

serious and repeated legal violations 

from ever working in 

debt collection again. 

The two agencies joined 

forces to work with the Department 

of Justice and state 

Attorneys General to fight 

illegal and abusive practices 

that affect nearly 30 million 

consumers. 

This inter-governmental 

collaboration minimizes duplicated 

efforts while maximizing 

opportunities for successful 

prosecutions. This coordination 

yields early benefits to 

consumers in Georgia, Illinois, 

New York, Oklahoma 

and Texas. Additional efforts 

are expected for consumers 

nationwide. 

Since Operation Collection 

Protection began, over 130 

new law enforcement actions 

by federal state and local law 

enforcement resulted in prosecution 

against collectors that 

used illegal practices such as 

wage garnishment, harassing 

phone calls, and false threats 

of litigation or arrest. 

Illinois Attorney General 

Lisa Madigan worked with 

FTC to stop rogue collection 

enterprises. There defendants 

used a host of business names 

to target consumers who either 

applied for or obtained payday 

and other short-term loans. 

Ultimately, those charged 

agreed to pay a $6.4 million 

judgement and were banned 

from working in any debt collection 

business. 

In cooperation with the 

New York Attorney General 

Eric Schneiderman, a debt 

collection case that began in 

2014 was resolved in 2015 

with an $8.5 million judgment 

and additionally required that 

defendants forfeit assets associated 

with the scam. 

As law enforcement and 

regulators investigate and, 

where appropriate take action 

against illegal debt collections, 

legislative and court actions in 

states such as California, Minnesota, 

New York and North 

Carolina are enacting reforms 

to ensure that debts are collected 

from people who actually 

owe them. State Attorneys 

General are currently pushing 

for reforms in Missouri and 

Maryland, while additional 

legislation is pending in a 

number of other states. 

In a related and separate 

action on February 23, the 

Consumer Financial Protection 

Bureau (CFPB) ordered 

Citibank to pay $4.89 million 

to about 2,100 consumers and 

a $3 million penalty. Citibank 

was charged with selling credit 

card debt with inflated interest 

rates and then failing to 

promptly forward consumer 

payments to debt buyers. The 

delays resulted in consumers 

being subjected to collection 

attempts for bills already paid 

from 2010-2013. 

“In order to effectively 

address debt collection abuses 

and the harms they cause, consumers 

need law enforcement 

to step up at every level,” said 

Lisa Stifler, a senior policy 

counsel with the Center for 

Responsible Lending. “Rules 

for fair debt collection require 

the participation of state legislatures, 

regulators and courts. 

Enforcement actions by Attorneys 

General are critical to 

ensuring that common-sense 

rules are followed by debt 

collectors and that consumers 

are treated fairly.” 

Charlene Crowell is a communications 

manager with 

the Center for Responsible 

Lending. She can be reached 

at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org. 

Super Tuesday: Is Bernie Sanders’ campaign on life support 

By Roger Caldwell 


Columnist 

There are twelve states 

holding primaries or caucuses 

on Super Tuesday, 

which is March 1, 2016. The 

Democrats and the Republicans 

will both have voters go to 

the polls, and make their preferences 

known in the 2016 race 

for president. Super Tuesday is 

a big deal, because more than 

a quarter of Republican Party’s 

delegates are up for grabs, and 

a fifth of the Democratic Party’s 

delegates are up for grabs. 

The Republicans have new 

rules for Super Tuesday, and 

it appears that Donald Trump 

will win big in a number of 

states. He is spending somewhere 

around $2 million in 

ads around the country, and the 

Republican Party leadership 

is hoping the other candidates 

can stop Trump’s success in 

the primary. There are still five 

Republican candidates running 

for the nomination, but by 

March 15, it is expected that 

the race will turn into a threeman 

contest. 

The Democrats are down 

to only two candidates, and 

many pundits think Hillary will 

deliver some crushing blows to 

Bernie’s campaign on Super 

Tuesday. Across the country, 

Hillary’s campaign has more 

than 100,000 volunteers who 

have made more than 8 million 

voter contact attempts 

nationwide. Hillary is using 

Bill Clinton’s philosophy of 

taking nothing for granted and 

always running from behind. 

“It was around late summer 

and early fall, I began to see 

the Obama campaign’s long 

ballgame. That appreciation 

is all part of the plan to mimic 

Obama’s 2008 organization, 

which ultimately overwhelmed 

an unsuspecting Clinton campaign 

that started building 

in-state operations too late in 

many of these states,” says Mo 

Elleithee, Executive Director 

of Georgetown University 

Institute of Politics and Public 

Service. 

Without a doubt, Hillary 

is smarter this time around, 

and she also has deep pockets. 

Clinton’s campaign paid 

staffers for the first 10 weeks 

of her campaign, to build organizations 

in all 46 states that 

vote after February. Hillary has 

been incorporating Obama’s 

tactics in her campaign, and 

she is getting stronger as the 

race continues. In South Carolina, 

there was a major push for 

the Black vote, and Congressional 

Black Caucus Member 

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) is 

using has political influence 

Roger Caldwell says that many people in the Democratic leadership 

think Sanders’ platform is too radical, and too far to the 

left. 

to help Mrs. Clinton win the 

Black vote. 

Bernie Sanders is late to 

the campaign trail, and the 

Black community does not 

know what he stands for, and 

the final numbers in the South 

Carolina primary indicate his 

shortcomings. Many in the 

Democratic leadership think 

Bernie’s platform is too radical, 

and too far to the left. His 

plan to make college free, and 

expand the ACA to universal 

healthcare looks good on paper, 

but most liberals think it 

Charlene Crowell says that as law enforcement and regulators 

investigate and take action against illegal debt collections, legislative 

and court actions in some states such are enabling reforms 

to ensure that debts are collected from people who actually owe 

them. 

is not realistic. Since Hillary 

has beat Bernie convincingly 

in the South Carolina primary, 

by fifty points, it appears that 

her campaign is on a roll. 

In the Democratic primaries 

and caucuses, 1,007 of the 

4,764 Democratic delegates 

to the party’s national convention 

in Philadelphia are at 

stake on Super Tuesday 2016. 

That’s almost half of the 2,383 

delegates needed for the nomination. 

The states holding primaries 

and caucuses for Super Tuesday 

are as follows; Alabama, 

Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, 

Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, 

Oklahoma, Tennessee, 

Texas, Vermont, and Virginia. 

Some these states are heavy 

hitters in terms of delegates 

and Hillary has a ground game 

in all of the states. Even though 

Bernie is holding massive rallies 

in liberal cities, it has not 

stopped Hillary from keeping 

large leads in the national polls. 

On Super Tuesday, Bernie 

will be competitive in four or 

five states such as Vermont, 

Colorado, Minnesota, and 

Massachusetts, but Hillary 

will win the majority of delegates. 

Bernie is not going 

to give up, but his campaign 

will get weaker as Hillary’s 

campaign gets stronger. After 

Super Tuesday Hillary will 

continue to throw hay-makers 

and punches, until she wins the 

nomination. 

Roger Caldwell is the President/CEO 

of On Point Media 

Group, a marketing and public 

relations firm located in Orlando, 

Florida. He is a graduate of 

Howard University in political 

science. As a stroke survivor, 

author, and community journalist, 

his passion is national 

and statewide politics. Follow 

him at rogerpoliticalblogs. 

wordpress.com or e-mail comments 

to jet38@bellsouth.net. 


8 

African Scene 


Boycott Israel movement gains support, charges human rights violations 

N 

ew 

York, United States 

- Since January, the Boycott, 

Divestment and 

Sanctions(BDS) movement, 

which calls for the economic and 

cultural isolation of Israel until it 

complies with international law 

on Palestinian rights, has seen a 

lot of action. 

The United Methodist church 

joins BDS movement amid 

growing global campaign from 

activists to boycott Israel. 

In January, the United Methodist 

Church’s General Board 

of Pension and Health Benefits 

(GBPHB) announced its decision 

to divest from five Israeli 

banks it said failed to meet its 

2015 investment criteria based 

on human rights and excessive 

sustainability risks. 

According to the GBPHB, 

holdings in Bank Hapoalim, 

Bank Leumi, First International 

Bank of Israel, Israel Discount 

Bank, and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank 

were all sold because of their 

financial involvement in Jewish-only 

Israeli settlements in the 

occupied West Bank. 

The GBPHB’s move was still 

greeted with excitement by BDS 

activists across the US, who see 

a changing tide in US activists’ 

fight for Palestinian justice. 

“When we started demonstrating 

in support of the Palestinian 

call for BDS, it was a real 

victory to get BDS mentioned in 

the press. Now, the movement 

is making a real impact,” said 

Ethan Heitner, a political cartoonist 

and activist,. He works 

with Adalah-NY, an all-volunteer 

collective that campaigns 

in support of the Palestinian call 

for BDS. 

He sees, in the near future, 

an end to the Israeli occupation. 

“We’re getting closer every day.” 

Adalah-NY is a coalition 

of organizations campaigning 

against Israeli policies since 

2006, during the last war with 

Lebanese militants Hezbollah. 

The group is without hierarchy, 

and has been active in organizing 

street protests and other 

campaigns. 

For Heitner, artists are integral 

to advancing the movement: 

“Every cultural worker has a 

platform, and they speak at the 

level of narrative. They don’t 

know how to speak the language 

of ledger books or profits.” 

Among those were pushes 

to make cultural workers and 

international organizations take a 

stand on Israeli human rights violations. 

For example, Adalah-NY 

was part of a large coalition campaigning 

against the actress Scarlett 

Johansson’s dual role as 

ambassador for Oxfam, a British 

rights group that works to find 

solutions to worldwide poverty 

and injustice, and spokesperson 

for SodaStream, an Israeli soda 

company with factories in the 

occupied West Bank. 

“Obviously, Johansson chose 

SodaStream but she was forced 

to make her priorities known,” 

Heitner said, referring to her 

decision to step down from her 

post at Oxfam after the group 

asked her to choose between 

advertising and human rights. 

Now, Adalah-NY is focusing 

on the relationship between the 

billionaire diamond mogul Lev 

Leviev and the pop star Taylor 

Swift. 

A subsidy of Leviev’s Africa-Israel 

diamond company 

is known to have constructed 

settlements in the occupied West 

Bank, and has been accused of 

human rights violations through 

his company›s mining operations 

in diamond-rich Angola. 

Swift was seen wearing Leviev 

diamonds in a September 

2015 photoshoot for Vanity Fair. 

The singer hasn’t responded to 

BDS activists’ calls to distance 

herself from Leviev. 

In response, members of Adalah-NY 

adjusted their nine-yearold 

protest outside Leviev’s New 

York location, singing versions 

of Swift›s songs with pro-BDS 

lyrical changes. 

One of the reasons that the 

cultural boycott is so important 

for the BDS movement is that it 

hits home for the Israeli public. 

“The cultural sphere is something 

very near and dear to Israeli 

society,” Heitner continued. 

“Every time an artist chooses to 

boycott … it causes Israelis to 

notice the creeping isolation surrounding 

Israel due to its human 

rights abuses.” 

Victor Vazquez, aka Kool 

AD, a rapper, novelist, and artist 

who challenged The New Yorker 

to a cartoon competition (and 

won), endorses the boycott. 

Vazquez said that the “brutal, 

violent, nigh fascistic occupation 

of Palestine” had been tolerated 

for far too long. 

The list of cultural workers 

who endorse the BDS movement 

is growing, with both internationally 

renowned and underground 

artists voicing their support of the 

boycott. Among them are filmmakers 

Ken Loach and Jean-Luc 

Godard, and musicians Brian 

Eno and Roger Waters. Others, 

such as Lauryn Hill and Stevie 

Wonder, have cancelled concerts 

after pressure from activists. 

Vazquez sums this up matter-of-factly: 

“I’m pretty sure any 

reasonable person would protest 

[or] boycott Israel if the facts 

were put to them.” 

The more than 200 Jewish-only 

settlements in the occupied 

West Bank, punitive 

housing demolitions, three wars 

on besieged Gaza that have 

killed thousands of Palestinians, 

limitations on freedom of 

movement, the chokehold 

on Palestinian water, among 

other things, were all in the 

rapper›s mind while discussing 

the boycott. 

Vazquez said that cultural 

and academic efforts must be 

“part and parcel” of an economic 

boycott. 

“The weapons, bulldozers, 

ammunition, walls, checkpoints, 

manpower, [and] bureaucracy 

that holds this system in place 

is funded largely by American 

and European corporations,” he 

concluded. 

Anti-BDS legislation ‘ripe 

for challenge’ 

As BDS activists have seen 

gains, they’ve been met by pressure 

from American and European 

governments. The United 

Kingdom has announced a plan 

to forbid public institutions from 

Desmond Tutu: reflects on SA after apartheid 

A 

rchbishop 

Desmond 

Tutu, the famous Nobel 

Peace laureate, and one 

of the world’s most respected 

church leaders, was a central 

figure in ensuring an end to 

white minority rule in South 

Africa. 

He was instrumental in the 

struggle against apartheid, also 

acting as chairman of South 

Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation 

Commission (TRC). He 

has since gone on to play a role 

as one of Nelson Mandela’s 

handpicked ‘Elders’ along 

with others like former US 

President Jimmy Carter. 

In a recent interview with 

David Frost, the archbishop 

takes Frost on a tour of South 

Africa; he talks about his time 

in the anti-apartheid struggle 

movement, his work with the 

TRC, and his alarm over recent 

The BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement active 

in numerous countries aims to put pressure on Israel to end its 

engagement in the Palestinian territories 

developments in the “rainbow 

nation”. 

As a defiant campaigner 

against apartheid, Tutu is one 

of the world’s most prominent 

defenders of human rights. 

Growing up in a racially 

divided state he tells Frost how 

hard it was to explain South 

African politics to his children: 

“We’d just come back from 

England with our youngest 

child. The youngest was born 

in London and she saw some 

children playing on swings 

and she said, ‘I want to go and 

play’ and, we had to say, ‘No 

sweetheart, you can’t’. 

“And she said, ‘But there 

all the children playing’, and 

it was incredibly difficult. It 

really just made you feel, ‘I 

wish the ground could open 

and swallow me up’. How do 

I tell my child that, yes you are 

a child, but you’re not a child 

like those other children who 

are on the swings?” 

The archbishop recalls how 

the injustices he saw under 

apartheid tested his Christian 

faith: 

“I really got very angry with 

God, and would rail at God and 

say: For goodness sake, how 

can you allow such and such 

to happen?” 

But he later says: “Someone 

up there must really have been 

on our side or batting for us 

.... After [Nelson Mandela’s] 

release and the build-up to our 

first democratic election, it 

was one of the roughest, one 

of the bloodiest, periods in our 

history.” 

Tutu hails Mandela as an 

“incredible guy!” - after all 

Mandela was a prominent participant 

in the negotiations that 

led to South Africa’s peaceful 

transition from apartheid to 

democracy. 

“His contribution is immeasurable; 

his stature,” says Tutu. 

“I mean for someone who was 

the commander-in-chief of the 

military wing of the ANC to be 

at the forefront of persuading 

people that it would be better 

for us to negotiate; it is better 

for us to lay down our arms. 

And then to try to live that.” 

Moving forward, Tutu expresses 

his concerns about the 

direction the current government 

in South Africa is headed. 

He has also become more 

outspoken about his criticism 

of the ruling party, and the 

rainbow nation, of what he was 

once so proud. 

“We are a wounded people,” 

Tutu says, recalling the 

painful testimonies he heard as 

boycotting businesses over ethical 

concerns. 

Last June, US President 

Barack Obama signed a law for 

the controversial Trans-Pacific 

Partnership law which included 

anti-BDS provisions that 

condition free trade agreements 

on the rejection of the boycott. 

Representative Peter Roskam, 

one of the authors of the measure,- 

said that it «will force companies 

like telecom giant Orange», 

whichannounced its plans to 

withdraw from Israel and is 

partially owned by the French 

government, «to think twice 

before engaging in economic 

warfare against Israel». 

The Israeli government did 

not respond to Al Jazeera’s request 

for comment. 

Similar laws have been 

passed or are being debated in 

state legislators across the nation, 

including New York, Illinois, 

Indiana, Tennessee, and South 

Carolina. 

However, this sort of legislation 

is “ripe for challenge”, 

according to Omar Shakir, an 

attorney and legal expert for the 

NYC-based Centre for Constitutional 

Rights. 

“There’s a lot of grounds 

on which these measures could 

be attacked, including vagueness 

and violation of the first 

amendment,” Shakir continued, 

referring to the first amendment 

of the constitution that guarantees 

freedom of speech and 

expression, including political 

boycott. 

Though Shakir concluded by 

saying that these laws could have 

a “chilling effect”, discouraging 

companies and individuals from 

taking a stand on the Israeli 

occupation, “the movement for 

Palestinian rights continues to 

grow. 

Unions, churches, and student 

bodies are all taking stands 

against investment in bodies that 

continue the occupation.” 

chairman of the TRC hearings. 

“Things could have been a 

great deal worse but I still have 

this sense that they could have 

been a great deal better,” he 

says of South Africa’s political 

transition. 

“I think we have let the people 

down, in so far as you have 

an elite that has done very, 

very well for themselves, who 

have got quite quite rich, and 

the bulk of the people are still 

where they were, or sometimes 

worse off.”


10 


Advice: Ask Alma 

Alma Gill says that trying 

to regulate your significant 

others close friendships can be 

hazardous. 

By Alma Gill 


Columnist 

Dear Alma, 

I hate my husband’s best 

friend. They are total opposites 

and I just don’t get it. I 

understand they grew up together 

and went to the same 

high school, but really, it’s 

time for this relationship to 

end. My husband graduated 

and went on to college. His 

friend didn’t and has been in 

and out of jail. He does drugs 

and my husband doesn’t do 

drugs. This guy is a total 

loser. As long as I’ve known 

him, he has been a terrible 

friend to my husband. 

For example, we had a 

dinner party and had invited 

a few friends and 

our neighbors. During the 

dinner, the neighbors were 

robbed. Although he has 

never admitted it, I know 

my husband’s friend did it. 

He left the party right away, 

never came back and when 

our neighbors went home 

they had been robbed. 

I’ll give you another one. 

We were at another mutual 

friend’s birthday party; everybody 

was jamming, having 

a great time. Later on, we 

found out someone had gone 

through the ladies purses and 

stolen the cash. It was him! 

A family member who 

doesn’t even know his history 

saw him upstairs around 

the coats and bags. Whenever 

he’s around you better bet 

something gets stolen. He is 

awful towards women, he 

uses them and takes them 

for everything they have and 

then breaks up with them. At 

what point will my husband 

wake up and let go of this 

guy? It’s just not funny anymore. 

We’re almost 30 and 

it’s time for things to change. 

We’re about to start a 

family and I don’t want him 

around my children. How 

can I tell my husband he has 

to pick between me or his 

friend? I’m at the end. I just 

can’t take it anymore. 

Signed, 

Choose Me or Lose Me 

Hold on Honey Lamb, 

you’re about to get your feelings 

hurt. Your predicament 

reminds me of the artwork 

hanging on Chris’ desk. 

Chris is a guy I work with. 

His son drew it and it says, 

“I love mommy & daddy and 

my buddies!” LOL! Lawd, 

that cracks me up every time, 

because even a four-year old 

recognizes the importance of 

your buddies. 

I know, slow your roll, we 

aren’t talking about a four 

year old, and I get that. But 

the loyalty and dedication 

to your buddy never fades. 

I’m sure your Boo and his 

BFF have some stores to tell, 

some stories to keep, some 

stories they’ll never forget 

or repeat. I can’t help but 

wonder: why are you now 

ridding him of someone he’s 

held dear, long before you 

met him? 

I think if we check the 

Handbook of Marriage 101, 

you can’t regulate a friendship 

that existed before your 

marriage. Unless that said 

friend is an ex-girlfriend or 

ex-boyfriend. That’s just like 

asking him to stop eating 

PB&J’s because they’re not 

your favorite. 

The evidence shows, this 

is his dude and dudes aren’t 

easily replaceable. Men aren’t 

like women, they don’t 

have multiple, BFF’s designated 

by rank and associations. 

Bromances are built 

and broadened over years. 

They see each other 

through up and downs, health 

issues and handcuffs. Your 

husband most likely uses this 

friendship as an anchor, it’s 

unconditional, a reminder 

that we all walk by faith. I’m 

sorry to break the news, but 

their ride or die Kawasaki 

doesn’t have a seat for you. 

And that’s okay. 

Be wise, Sunshine, and 

reverse your anger. I know 

you wanna glass of Novocain 

to ease the pain every 

time you see him coming, 

but you may have to let this 

one run its course. You said 

he and your husband are 

opposites and that may be 

true. But there’s some common 

ground, deep down in 

there somewhere you aren’t 

recognizing. 

Don’t offer him an ultimatum, 

because you know 

as well as I do, you ain’t 

leaving. And stop giving 

your husband’s friend the 

power to dictate the path of 

your family. Until you have 

proof your husband has become 

someone you don’t 

recognize, don’t hold him 

accountable for a crime he 

hasn’t committed. 

It’s your responsibility to 

have faith in your husband. 

If a situation ever arises, 

he surely will choose his 

family, there should be no 

question about that. Allow 

your husband to handle is 

compadre. 

Sometimes, the best thing 

you can do is not ponder or 

obsess over it, and instead, 

just believe that it will work 

out for your best. 

Alma Gill’s newsroom 

experience spans more than 

25 years, including various 

roles at USA Today, Newsday 

and the Washington 

Post. Email questions to: 

alwaysaskalma@gmail.com. 

Follow her on Facebook at 

“Ask Alma” and Twitter @ 

almaaskalma. 

Obama hosts last performance 

concert at White House 

Over the past seven years, 

President and Michelle 

Obama have honored 

the music that shaped America 

-– classical and country, blues 

and Broadway, gospel and Motown, 

the women of soul and 

the sounds of the Civil Rights 

Movement. 

Obama said, “This has become 

one of our most cherished 

traditions, and I want to 

thank PBS for helping us to put 

on these wonderful events.” 

Thanking the crown that 

packed the East Room of the 

White House.” The President 

vowed that he will not be singing 

as he welcomed them to 

the final performance concert 

of his administration. 

Obama said , “Tonight is a 

little bittersweet because this 

marks our final In Performance 

This week’s article is a 

gentle reminder, from me to 

you, to take care of yourself. It 

may sound like a very simple 

concept: Taking care of yourself 

may sound like a very 

simple concept, and many of 

us think that we do, but we 

really don’t. We work out for 

a stronger, healthier body. We 

take the time for manicure’s, 

pedicure’s, facials, waxing, 

going to the beauty shop . . . 

all the things that help us to 

create the appearance that everything 

is in order. Looking 

waxed, buffed, polished and 

spit-shined on the outside just 

isn’t enough. How about your 

insides? Are your tissues pink 

and healthy? Have you done 

everything possible to insure 

that your veins and arteries, 

your muscles . . . and all your 

vital organs are functioning at 

optimum capacity? And yes, 

have you checked for lumps, 

bumps, lesions and other abnormalities? 

If you haven’t 

then shame on you! The one 

thing you should never do 

at the White House and for 

our last one, it is fitting that 

we pay tribute to one of our 

favorites, and one of the most 

brilliant and influential musicians 

of our times: the late, 

great genius himself, Mr. Ray 

Charles.” 

THE ADAMS REPORT© 

Are You As Healthy As You Think? 

is to play games with your 

health. Your physical, mental 

and emotional well-being are 

essential to the quality of your 

life. So, the reminder . . . Take 

Care of Yourself! 

Maybe you have lost a 

friend, relative or know of 

someone who has battled, is 

battling or survived a health 

challenge. Maybe you have 

had to deal with a challenge of 

your own yourself. One thing 

is for sure; it might be scary to 

think about the possibility of 

having an issue but even scarier 

is . . . not knowing. There 

is no excuse for not assuming 

the responsibility for your own 

health. Don’t stop reading now. 

I know that you know what I 

am talking about! We tend to 

ignore health issues until it 

happens to happen to us. 

Why is it that we have to 

wait for a “Disease Awareness 

Month” to think seriously 

about any aspect of our health? 

Maintaining your health is a 

full time, year round job. You 

owe it to yourself to take the 

time to maintain your insides 

as well as you do your outside. 

If you aren’t afraid to 

change your hair color or consider 

losing a few pounds by 

embarking on a weight-training 

program, than surely you 

can take a few precious moments 

out of one day in 364 to 

be good to yourself by getting 

a mammogram. Your breasts . 

The performance of 

“What’d I say” was led by 

Usher and at the end of the 

song, Obama, backing down 

on his promise, with the first 

lady nearby, led the crowd 

through the song’s famous heyho 

call and response. 

Melissa Harris-Perry off the air, MSNBC. 

S 

hortly 

after the host’s 

private fight with management 

went public, an 

MSNBC spokesman confirmed 

that the channel is “parting 

ways” with Harris- Perry. 

Earlier she posted a photo 

on Twitter and said “Farewell 

#Nerdland,” a nickname for 

her weekend show, “Melissa 

Harris-Perry.” 

“Inviting diverse new voices 

to table was a privilege,” she 

Continued on page 14 

. . no your family, friends and 

most importantly, you will be 

relieved and happy even, that 

you did. 

Now, I don’t know you 

personally and you don’t know 

me, but woman to woman . . . 

Please take care of yourself! 

Be a good friend; remind 

your BFF to take care of herself! 

Stop thinking that it 

happens to everybody else . . 

. it can happen to you. Think 

about it. See you next week. 

CONNECT: TALK! with 

AUDREY is now on FACE 

BOOK and TWITTER. I 

invite you to say hello or share 

your thoughts with me on my 

Face Book Fan Page and on 

Twitter. 

VISIT: TALKWITHAU- 

DREY.com and checkout my 

online radio show, TALK! 

with AUDREY for a weekly 

interviews that will inform, 

motivate and inspire you. 

Audrey Adams is the host 

of TALK! with AUDREY a 

weekly, radio show about 

issues that empower women, 

featuring entertaining, 

inspiring and interviews with 

experts and authors from the 

health, fitness, financial, and 

travel industries. TALK! with 

AUDREY provides insightful, 

intelligent, information to 

encourage viewers to improve 

the quality of their life and 

pay it forward. THE ADAMS 

REPORT©

Wednesday’s Woman 

Compiled 

Southern hummingbird Tweet 

makes musical return with 

new album, Charlene 

by Woman's Editor 

Audrey J. Bernard 

11 


Kelly Rowland 

Kelly Rowland rocks Hollywood’s Oscar red 

carpet, Elton John Aids Foundation’s Oscar viewing 

party and Kevin Hart’s post-Oscar party wearing a 

dazzling LaQuan Smith gown and Manola Blanik 

shoes; jewelry by Lorraine Schwartz. (Photo courtesy 

Chris Chambers) 

Tweet Charlene album cover 

Entertainment One through all the ups and 

Music celebrates the downs of real life. Writing 

formal release of the on every song, Tweet has 

highly-anticipated album reteamed with longtime 

Charlene, from the acclaimed 

singer/songwriter Craig Brockman, John 

producers Charlie Bereal, 

Tweet, which is available “Jubu” Smith, and Nisan 

online and in stores now, Stewart, as well as Missy 

Elliott/Timbaland on 

and is #1 on iTunes R&B/ 

Soul Albums Chart. Fans “Somebody Else Will,” in 

and critics alike have been bringing out her signature 

hailing Tweet’s return with style and voice that have 

her unflinching honest made her an unforgettable 

favorite among R&B 

songwriting, emotional 

journey and refreshing lovers everywhere. Tweet 

soulful artistry, upon previewing 

songs such as the the country in anticipation 

has continued to crisscross 

singles “Won’t Hurt Me” of the release of Charlene, 

and “Neva Shouda Left including performances 

Ya,” the sweet love song on Let’s Talk Live DC, 

“Magic,” the confessional Good Day Philadelphia, 

“I Was Created for This,” SiriusXM’s Heart & Soul, 

and the upbeat empowerment 

jam “Somebody Else ances in Dallas, Chicago, 

and upcoming appear- 

Will” (feat. Missy Elliott). and more. Tweet’s album 

Born Charlene Keys, Charlene is available instores 

now and online. For 

Tweet delivers a 15-track 

personal and evocative more information contact: 

project on Charlene, her W&W Public Relations, 

third studio album, baring Syreta Oglesby / Syreta@w-wpr.com; 

Jacinda 

a passionate, inspiring, 

and reflective look at love, Chen / Jacinda@w-wpr. 

hurt, and staying strong com 

Kelly Price releases new single Everytime 

(Grateful) from upcoming album 

S 

even-time 

GRAM- 

MY-nominated singer 

and songwriter Kelly 

Price makes a declarative 

statement with the release 

of her new single “Everytime 

(Grateful),” which is 

available now via all digital 

retailers, and just released 

to radio. Driven by her beloved 

voice, Price penned the 

song, with co-writers Troy 

Taylor, Johnta Austin, and 

James Foye III. Price performed 

the song on national 

TV for the first time earlier 

this year on the 24 th Annual 

Trumpet Awards, which is 

airing around the country now 

(check local listings). “Everytime 

(Grateful)” will be 

featured on the forthcoming 

Saints & Sinners album, the 

soundtrack for the new Saints 

& Sinners television series. 

The first-ever drama series 

from Bounce TV will begin 

airing on Sunday, March 6, 

2016 at 9:00 p.m. (ET). Currently, 

Price is working on 

a new album, the follow-up 

to Sing, Pray, Love, Vol 1: 

Sing, which was released 

on Entertainment One Music. 

Price is also featured on 

Kanye West’s newly-released 

album The Life of Pablo, and 

recently joined West on stage 

at Saturday Night Live, for his 

performances of “Ultralight 

Beam” and “Highlights.” 

For more information and 

the latest updates on Kelly 

Price, visit: W&W Public 

Relations, Aliya Crawford / 

Aliya@w-wpr.com ; Jacinda 

Chen / Jacinda@w-wpr.com 

Essence Festival recently 

announced it’s all-star lineup 

of performers for the nighttime 

concerts at the 22nd 

annual celebration which 

will take place in New Orleans, 

LA, from June 30 to 

July 3. Kelly Price has been 

confirmed to perform at the 

Superdome. 

Mariah Carey 

Mariah Carey attends Elton John Aids Foundation’s 

Oscar viewing party wearing a stunning 

Brandon Maxwell gown and Christian Dior shoes. 

(Photo courtesy Chris Chambers) 

Kelly Price 

Everytime 

(Grateful) new 

single release cover

12 


36th Annual 

Hundreds attend One Hundred Black Men of New York, Inc. gala 

By Audrey J. Bernard 

Society Editor 

O 

ne 

OHBM’s Executive 

Director Diallo Shabazz, 

MC Sade Baderinwa 

of the classiest 

events held during 

February Black History 

Month was hosted by 

the esteemed gent group 

One Hundred Black Men, 

Inc. of New York (OHBM) 

on Thursday February 18, 

2016 at the New York Hilton 

Hotel, 1335 Sixth Avenue, 

New York City. The event 

marked the 36 th annual benefit 

gala that was attended 

by scores of prominent New 

Yorkers and young scholars. 

This is the all-male, 

non-profit membership organization’s 

signature event 

that provides scholarships, 

educational support, economic 

empowerment, mentoring, 

health and wellness 

initiatives, and serves as an 

overall voice of the African 

American community. The 

exciting evening featured a 

cocktail reception followed 

by dinner and awards program 

and culminated in a 

post reception with a live 

entertainment performance 

by Philadelphia’s legendary 

Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes 

soulful group. 

The “Guiding The Way 

For Future Leaders” themed 

gala began with powerfully 

performed anthems by 

Sheimyrah Mighty who 

tore the roof off of the ballroom 

ceiling and received 

a thunderous standing ovation. 

OHBM’s President 

Michael Garner explained 

this year’s theme. “The 

founding chapter of One 

Hundred Black Men’s mission 

is to develop the future 

leaders of tomorrow. Our 

college scholarship, mentoring, 

and internship programs 

are funded by our annual 

awards dinner and golf outing.” 

Lovely Sade Baderinwa, 

anchor, WABC New 

York, served as mistress of 

ceremonies for the event. 

There were many highlights 

of the movingly enriching 

program filled with 

amazing anecdotes. New 

York City Mayor Bill de 

Blasio delivered passionate 

remarks about his support 

of OHBM’s Eagle Academy 

for Young Men. Actor, 

Comedian and TV personality 

Chuck Nice provided 

entertainment with a raise 

the paddle live auction benefitting 

OHBM’s scholarship 

initiatives. 

Each year the organization 

recognizes individuals 

with an outstanding track record 

for serving in their community. 

“We look beyond 

simple fame to acknowledge 

the true visionaries. Each 

honoree exemplifies professional 

leadership and has 

a personal commitment to 

transforming the world,” explained 

OHBM’s Executive 

Director Diallo Shabazz, on 

what qualifies the selected 

honorees for the coveted 

awards. The 2016 honorees 

include: 

George W. Brooks, 

United Parcel Service, 

Inc., president of UPS East 

Region (Robert Mangum 

Corporate Partnership 

Award); Cyrus R. Vance, 

Jr., New York County, District 

Attorney (Hon. David 

N. Dinkins Civic Partnership 

Award); Rodney 

Williams, Moet-Hennessy 

USA, executive vice president 

(Robert Mangum Corporate 

Partnership Award); 

Horace Barker, Morgan 

Stanley (Member of The 

Year Award); James Peterson, 

Environmental Agricultural 

Training, Culinary 

Arts (EAT) (Mentor of The 

Year Award); and Monifa 

Bandele, senior campaign 

director, Moms Rising.org 

(Betty Shabazz Community 

Service Award). 

The OHBM benefit gala 

Mayor Bill de Blasio, OHBM’s 

President Michael Garner 

Michael Garner and James Peterson with OHBM Members 

Robert B, Brown, Aldrin Enis, Sade Baderinwa, Will Brown, 

Diallo Shabazz 

Maxim Thorne (Founder, 

JusticeInvestor), Cesar 

Francia (Associate, 

Arent Fox, LLC) 

is supported by a number of 

partners and sponsors, including: 

NewsCorp, Miller- 

Coors, Turner Construction, 

UPS, Moet Hennessy, Macy’s,Fox 

News, Bloomberg 

Philanthropies and Scholastic. 

Kudos to event producer 

Bee Season Consulting 

with special mention to ace 

publicist Jennelle Hamilton 

(JHBeeseason@Gmail. 

com). (Photos by Jamel 

Martin) 

Aldrin Enis (VP, BNY Mellon), Michael Garner (President, OHBM, Inc.), 

George W. Brooks (President, UPS East Region), Robert B. Brown (VP 

CFO, NY Yankees), Will Brown (President, Brown Companies & Associates, 

Inc.) 

Michael Garner, OHBM Mentees 

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., John Mosley 

(Sr. Mgr., NY Yankees) 

Deirdre Brown, Robert 

B. Brown 

Chuck Nice 

Monifa Bandele 

About One Hundred Black 

Men, Inc. 

Founded in New York City in 1963, today the organization 

is affiliated with more than 100 chapters in the United States, 

England and the Caribbean. Its dedicated members form an international 

network of mentors focused on creating educational 

opportunities, promoting economic empowerment, addressing 

health disparities, and creating positive, nurturing mentoring 

relationships within the African American community. Visit 

https://www.facebook.com/100BlackMen/ to learn more.

13 

Forest Whitaker makes Broadway debut in Eugene O’Neill’s ‘Hughie’ 


Theater Reviewer 

Eugene O’Neill’s Hughie 

Booth Theatre Marquee (Photo 

by Walter McBride) 

Theatergoers are breathing 

a sigh of release as Hughie, 

the highly anticipated 

Broadway revival of iconic Pulitzer 

Prize-winning playwright 

Eugene O’Neill finally opened 

on Thursday, February 25, 2016 

at Broadway’s Booth Theatre, 

222 West 45 th Street, New York 

City to a star-studded crowd! 

Hughie is also the long-awaited 

Broadway debut of Academy 

Hughie two-hander stars Forest Whitaker and 

Frank Wood, 

“down on his luck” behavior is an 

outwardly non-caring night clerk 

(Wood) whose cold demeanor 

adds to the production’s eeriness 

along with a larger than life dark 

and dank set design. As “the quiet 

man” Whitaker breaks your heart 

in this moving portrayal of a man 

wallowing in the bowels of his 

aloneness. Hughie is emotionally 

draining and a reality check into a 

silent killer -- loneliness. 

Summer, 1928. New York 

City. Beyond the bright lights of 

the Great White Way, a smalltime 

gambler and big-time drinker 

returns to the faded hotel he has 

made his home. He encounters 

a new night clerk at the front 

desk and as the early hours of 

the morning give way to another 

Hughie star Forest Whitaker takes his 

first official Broadway bow. 

dawn, he continues to chase the 

American Dream in order to 

survive. Hughie is a rarely seen 

theatrical masterpiece that beautifully 

investigates the themes of 

loneliness and redemption and 

offers a unique insight into the 

human condition. 

Hughie’s creative team reunites 

Grandage’s Tony-winning 

design team from the hit 

play Red: Christopher Oram 

(set & costume design); Neil 

Austin (lighting design); Adam 

Cork (composer & sound design); 

and 101 Productions, 

Ltd (executive producer). Polk 

& Co. is the press representative 

Ṁany of the producers joined 

other luminaries at the fabulous 

Opening Night jam at the lavish 

8 ½ restaurant on tony 57 th 

Street off Fifth Avenue where I 

encountered head producer Darren 

Bagert who talked glowingly 

about his friend Whitaker and 

the strong arm role he played in 

encouraging him to take this role 

marking the fourth revival of the 

O’Neill one-act classic. In so 

Marin McCallum, Debbie 

Bisno, CJ E&M, Jeffrey Finn, 

Hagemann Rosenthal Associates, 

StaceyMindich, Bob 

Boyett, Seaview Productions, 

BEN BRANTLEY 

Hughie stars Frank Wood and Forest 

Whitaker pose with director Michael 

Grandage. 

Taylor Weinstein Theatricals, 

Julie Boardman, Falkenstein 

Simons Ltd, Michael Watt and 

The Shubert Organization. 

(Photos by Getty Images) 

YOU MUST SEE “THE EXCELLENT 

FOREST 

WHITAKER’S 

TRANSFIXING BROADWAY DEBUT 

in Michael Grandage’s 

DREAM OF A REVIVAL. ” 


“An extraordinary kind of 

HEAVEN TO WATCH! ” 

HERMIONE HOBY 

Hughie set and costume designer 

Christopher Oram. 

Award winner, Golden Globe 

Award winner and BAFTA winner 

Forest Whitaker (The Last 

King of Scotland, The Butler, 

Southpaw). The two-hander 

drama also features Tony Award 

winner Frank Wood (Side Man, 

Angels In America, Clybourne 

Park) with Peter Bradbury as 

his standby for a strictly limited 

engagement to June 12, 2016. 

The dramatically disquieting 

production is directed by the 

incomparable Tony and Olivier 

Award-winning visionary director 

Michael Grandage (Red, 

The Cripple of Irishman, Photograph 

51, Frost/Nixon) who 

manages to showcase Whitaker’s 

charismatic compassion as he 

emotionally draws the audience 

into his web of seclusion making 

what appears to be one of 

the legendary thespian’s most 

challenging roles to date. To see 

this imposing figure of a man 

reduced in stature as he takes inventory 

of his life is emotionally 

chilling. Adding to his disturbing 

Frank Wood celebrates with 

his wife Kay Gayner. 

Forest Whitaker, Producer 

Darren Bagert (Photo by: 

Patrick McMullan) 

Actress Angela Bassett 

Moet-Hennessy USA's Director 

of Private Client Management 

Jacquie Lee and Executive Vice 

President Rodney Williams. 

doing, Whitaker became the first 

African American actor to star in 

this drama preceded by Jason 

Robards, Jr., Ben Gazzara and 

Al Pacino. 

The other producers of Hughie 

include: Michael Grandage 

Company, Adam Zotovich, 

Joan Raffe & Jhett Tolentino, 

Arielle Tepper Madover, 

Photo: Marc Brenner 

EUGENE O’NEILL’S 

HUGHIE 

STRICTLY LIMITED ENGAGEMENT 

TELECHARGE.COM 212.239.6200 O BOOTH THEATRE 222 WEST 45TH ST 

HUGHIEBROADWAY.COM 

25 

SEATS AT 

$ 

25 

EVERY 

PERFORMANCE 

GET TICKETS TODAY

14 


Why President 

Barack Obama 

Is One of the 

Best Ever 

From page 6 

which aims to ensure the U.S. 

food supply is safe by shifting 

the focus from responding to 

contamination to preventing it 

• Released new fuel standards 

to increase fuel efficiency 

for all new cars and trucks 

sold in the U.S., which will 

cover cars and light trucks 

through 2025, and will save 

consumers money, reduce our 

dependence on oil, and protect 

the environment 

All of this was done during 

President Obama’s first-term. 

There are so many other outstanding 

things that President 

Obama has done, that it would 

require more space on the page 

and more time to discuss. Oh, 

and don’t forget that President 

Obama managed to get 

re-elected a second time, in 

spite of the elaborate schemes 

and deliberate attempts by his 

many detractors, who were 

hell-bent on destroying his 

astonishing legacy before it 

truly even began. 

I just want to say congratulations 

to President Obama, 

who I believe will go down 

in the history books as the 

most successful and impactful 

president America has ever 

elected. And guess what? His 

legacy will become stronger 

and increasingly more relevant 

as time passes on. 

Not bad for a guy who had 

an obstructionist group of legislators 

in the House and Senate, 

along with other external 

forces, wanting to make him a 

one-term president, huh? 

Jeffrey L. Boney serves 

as Associate Editor and is an 

award-winning journalist for 

the Houston Forward Times 

newspaper. Jeffrey is a frequent 

contributor on the Nancy 

Grace Show and has a daily 

radio talk show called Real 

Talk with Jeffrey L. Boney. He 

is a Next Generation Project 

Fellow, dynamic, international 

speaker, experienced entrepreneur, 

business development 

strategist and Founder/CEO of 

the Texas Business Alliance. 

If you would like to request 

Jeffrey as a speaker, you can 

reach him at jboney1@forwardtimes.com. 

Blackonomics: Hillary and Bernie 

discover and re-discover Black people 

From page 6 

leading Blacks is not doing 

anything to elevate Black 

people to a state of economic 

empowerment—and not even 

political empowerment. Feeling 

our pain and walking in 

the streets with us does nothing 

to alleviate that pain or 

stop the injustices we suffer. 

It is embarrassing to see 

our people fawning over 

folks who, when they get 

what they want from us, 

will return to the political 

status quo. If that were not 

true, we would have seen 

huge benefits by now. It’s 

tweeted. “Grateful for years of 

support and criticism.” 

Harris-Perry confirmed 

that her representatives are in 

talks with MSNBC about an 

exit deal. 

Harris-Perry said she felt 

for months that MSNBC was 

trying to squeeze her off the 

air and take away her editorial 

point of view. 

On Friday, she spoke out 

about the treatment, saying 

she had been “silenced” by 

MSNBC and placed in a form 

of cable news purgatory, having 

been pre-empted for two 

weekends in a row. 

always, “this time it will be 

different,” when it comes to 

Black voters. 

One practical question 

to ask candidates who are 

running around our neighborhoods, 

churches, and college 

campuses seeking our votes: 

“How much campaign money 

have you spent with Blackowned 

media, i.e. newspapers, 

radio?” 

That’s just one of many 

acts of reciprocity and the 

bare minimum of what we 

should demand. If they do 

as the current POTUS did 

in 2012, spend one-tenth of 

1 percent with Black media, 

“Our show was taken -- 

without comment or discussion 

or notice -- in the midst of an 

election season,” she wrote in 

a letter to staff that was shared 

with her fans. 

MSNBC and its rivals are 

all trying to squeeze higher ratings 

out of the chaotic primary 

season. The channel pre-empted 

her for campaign coverage 

with a “Place for Politics” title. 

The same thing has happened 

to other shows, too, 

MSNBC said in a statement 

responding to her letter on 

Friday. The channel called her 

reaction “surprising, confusing 

and disappointing.” 

But Harris-Perry said the 

don’t support them until 

they increase that amount, 

and then move on to the next 

demand. Stop allowing 

them to use and insult you, 

and stop slobbering over 

this latest discovery process; 

Black people have been in 

this country since the show 

started. 

James Clingman is the 

nation’s most prolific writer 

on economic empowerment 

for Black people. His latest 

book, Black Dollars Matter! 

Teach your dollars how to 

make more sense, is available 

on his website, Blackonomics.com. 

Melissa Harris-Perry off the air, MSNBC. 

From page 10 

February pre-emptions were 

merely the most visible manifestation 

of the channel’s 

marginalization of her show. 

In the letter, she said “no 

one on the third floor,” where 

MSNBC’s executives work at 

30 Rockefeller Center, “has 

even returned an email, called 

me, or initiated or responded 

to any communication of any 

kind from me for nearly a 

month.” 

She also pointedly noted 

a “dramatic change” in the 

“editorial tone and racial composition 

of MSNBC’s on-air 

coverage.” 

Harris-Perry’s MSNBC 

contract expires in October. 

before anything else, we’re all human 

rethink your bias at lovehasnolabels.com

AUDREY'S 

SOCIETY 

WHIRL 

Stars come out to celebrate Essence 

Black women in Hollywood 

15 



Lifestyles Editor 

On Thursday, February 

25, 2016, Essence -- the 

preeminent brand for 

African American women – 

hosted its 9 th annual Essence 

Black Women In Hollywood 

Luncheon honoring remarkable 

women in film and television 

and, in the spirit of diversity, 

presented the 2016 Essence 

Black Women In Hollywood 

Awards to Tracee Ellis Ross, 

Debbie Allen and Nina Shaw. 

Debbie Allen 

Skin Girl.” 

During the amazingly inspiring 

program, actress Tracee 

Ellis Ross was presented 

with the Fierce & Fearless 

Award by her sister Rhonda 

Ross and Zendaya. Multi-talented 

producer, director and 

actress Debbie Allen was 

presented the Legend Award 

Tracee Ellis Ross 

Since its debut in 2008, the 

Essence Black Women in Hollywood 

Luncheon has honored 

some of the most cherished 

figures in the industry, including 

Oprah Winfrey, Lupita Nyong’o, 

Ava DuVernay, Halle Berry, Viola 

Davis, Jada Pinkett-Smith, 

Angela Bassett, Queen Latifah, 

Alfre Woodard, Regina King, 

Zendaya, Tracee Ellis Ross, Rhonda Ross 

Kendrick 

Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, 

Jennifer Hudson, Zoe Saldana, 

Mary J. Blige, Gabourey 

Sidibe, Quvenzhané Wallis, 

Jurnee Smollett, Ruby Dee, 

Diahann Carroll, Cicely Tyson, 

Loretta Devine, Naomie Harris, 

Gabrielle Union, Mara Brock 

Akil, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ruth 

E. Carter, Gina Prince-Bythewood 

and Suzanne de Passe. 

The Essence Black Women 

in Hollywood Luncheon was 

presented by The Lincoln Motor 

Company and sponsored by 

L’Oréal Paris, Colgate® Optic 

White®, Geico, Walmart and 

AT&T. 

(Photos by Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty 

Images) 

Essence President Michelle Ebanks, Oprah Winfrey, Essence 

Editor-in-Chief Vanessa De Luca 

Essence President Michelle Ebanks, Nina Shaw 

Marketing executive and Founder of The Sister 

Accord Sonia Myles; comedian Chris Rock; Essence 

President Michelle Ebanks; Lincoln Multicultural 

Marketing Manager Rajoielle Register 

Oprah poses with members of the Amazing Grace Conservatory 

The stylish star-studded 

luncheon was attended by 

A-1 celebrities attracting the 

likes of Oprah Winfrey, Chris 

Rock, Jurnee Smollet-Bell, 

Nate Parker, Meagan Good, 

Kelly Rowland, Tika Sumpter, 

Keke Palmer, Amber Riley, 

Serayah, Lala Anthony, Margaret 

Avery and many others. 

Grammy-award nominated 

R&B singer Leon Bridges, 

performed “River” followed by 

a stirring rendition of “Brown 

by Shonda Rhimes. Entertainment 

attorney Nina Shaw 

was presented the Power 

Award by ABC Entertainment 

President Channing Dungey 

and Nick Cannon. 

The Essence Black Women 

In Hollywood Luncheon was 

televised as an Essence and 

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network 

special, on Saturday, 

February 27 at 10 p.m. ET/PT 

on OWN and received favorable 

ratings. 

Shonda Rhimes, Debbie Allen 

Leon Bridges performs 

About Essence Communications Inc. 

Essence Communications Inc. (ECI) is the 

number one media company dedicated to African 

American women, with a multi-platform 

presence in publishing, live events and online. 

The company’s flagship publication, Essence 

magazine, is the preeminent lifestyle magazine 

for African American women, generating 

brand extensions such as the Essence Festival, 

Essence Black Women in Hollywood and Black 

Women in Music, Window on Our Women 

and Smart Beauty consumer insights series, 

the Essence Book Club, Essence.com, and 

ventures in digital media (mobile, television 

and VOD). For 45 years, ESSENCE, which 

has a brand reach of 14.2 million, has been 

the leading source of cutting-edge information 

and specific solutions relating to every area of 

African American women’s lives. Additional 

information about ECI and Essence is available 

at www.essence.com.

16 

#HotOffThePress 

By Dedra N. Tate 


Dedra N. Tate 

Always looking for new 

ways to empower her 

membership and understanding 

their #1 bucket 

list item is to tell “their” story, 

Odyssey Media (OM) founder 

& CEO Linda Spradley Dunn 

created the Odyssey Media 

Writer’s Boot Camp (OM- 

WBC). With an initial group 

of 20 women Spradley Dunn 

enlisted 12 storytellers, from 

producers to play writes, to 

share their expertise with those 

wishing to pen their story at the 

Salamander Resort & Spa in 

Middleburg, VA. 

The success of the pilot 

program spread through the 

Odyssey network, hence the 2 nd 

Annual OMWBC experience 

was put into motion. The OM 

team was tasked with assembling 

a dynamic group of 14 

professionals at the top of their 

respective fields and registration 

was extended to 50 attendees. 

They all came together from 

Wednesday, February 24-26 , 

2016 at the beautiful Hotel Monaco 

Baltimore for the ultimate 

learning experience that was 

mutually beneficial for both the 

presenters and attendees. 

OMWBC kicked-off with 

a heartwarming welcome from 

OM’s Executive Vice President 

Cheryl Walker-Robertson, 

who stressed the importance of 

knowing “who is in the room.” 

To that end, Walker-Robertson 

named 10 specific professions 

represented in the room and 

played a networking game to 

see who could identify the 

most. A reverend, entertainment 

icon, shoemaker, Philadelphia 

real estate attorney, event 

designer, naturopathic doctor, 

2 chefs, Long Island-based 

physician and Kung Fu expert 

were amongst the audience. 

Two winners identified 9 of the 

10. However, little did they 

know that the Kung-Fu expert 

was actually Walker-Robertson 

herself. The tone was now set 

for networking, fellowship, education 

and bonding during the 

3-day experience. 

The New York Times bestselling 

author Zane, considered 

one of the most powerful 

African American females in 

the publishing industry, served 

as keynote speaker during the 

kick-off luncheon. Author of 

32 titles, she also helms Strebor 

Books International, an imprint 

of ATRIA Books/Simon and 

Schuster, and is responsible for 

acquiring and publishing 3-6 

Odyssey Media assembles the 

“Dream Team” for aspiring authors 

NBCUniversal’s Karen Horne 

Tim “Film” Gordon, Dr. Stacey Eadie, 

Sherida McMullan, Dr. Michele C. Reed 

Curtis Taylor, Gina Paige, Steven E. 

Bullock, Esq., Candace Sandy 

titles per month. In addition to 

Zane’s Sex Chronicles’ translation 

into a successful Cinemax 

series and her bestselling novel 

Addicted, adapted for the big 

screen, the award-winning author 

is also the publisher of The 

New York Times Bestseller Mayor 

for Life: The Incredible Story 

of Marion Barry, Jr., which was 

penned prior to his death and became 

one of Zane’s true career 

highlights. 

Later that evening, OM hosted 

a private dinner screening of 

Little White Lie and talkback 

on How to Produce a Compelling 

Documentary with Lacey 

Schwartz who directed, wrote 

and produced the award-winning, 

critically acclaimed personal 

documentary about the 

legacy of family secrets, denial 

and the power of telling the 

truth. Schwartz pieced together 

her family history using home 

videos, archival footage and 

interviews. The layers of her life 

were gradually unraveled as her 

identity, the White daughter of 2 

Jewish parents, was questioned 

as she discovered her biological 

father was a Black man with 

whom her mother had had an 

affair. 

On Day 2, after enjoying a 

lavish breakfast buffet it was 

time for everyone to roll up 

Lisa Davis, Esq., OM EVP Cheryl 

Walker-Robertson, Lacey 

Schwartz 

Dr. LaJoyce Brookshire 

Keynote Speaker Zane 

Howard U. film student Brandy Bruce, OM’s Erica 

Ortiz and Elissa Gabrielle 

Dr. Larthenia Howard 

Nona Hendrix, 

Kenya Cagle 

their sleeves to partake in the 

robust breakout sessions that 

ran through the day. OM- 

WBC corporate sponsor Karen 

Horne, senior vice president of 

programming, talent development 

and inclusion for NBC 

Entertainment and Universal 

Television Studios, held 

a master class on Writing for 

Television. Horne’s presentation 

fueled her captive audience 

with enough ammunition to 

assist them in the execution of 

penning a script that will peak 

the attention of network executives. 

Horne also expressed to 

the hopefuls that Los Angeles 

is the place to be if you want to 

write for TV. 

The esteemed list presenters, 

who traveled from near and 

far to share their knowledge and 

advice, was as diverse as their 

topics: The Business of Writing 

with entertainment attorney 

Lisa E. Davis, Esq.; Documenting 

your Ancestry with 

AfricanAncestry.com founder/ 

CEO Dr. Gina Paige; Literally 

Speaking with publicist and 

Serendipity Literary Agency’s 

Dawn Michelle Hardy; The 

1, 2, 3s of Self -Publishing with 

entertainment executive/author 

Shanti Das; Story Structure: 

101 with author Dr. LaJoyce 

Brookshire; Critically Speaking 

with film critic & The 

Black Reel Awards founder 

Tim Gordon; Cradle to Grave 

with Prophet: The Nat Turner 

Story author/playwright/producer 

Kenya Cagle; What’s 

the Deal? with entertainment 

attorney Steven E. Bullock, 

Esq.; Honoring Your Gift with 

author/publisher Elissa Gabrielle; 

Discovering Your Story 

& The Power of Marketing 

with author/publisher Candace 

Sandy; Ignite Your Brand with 

journalist/author/ghostwriter 

Curtis Taylor; and How to 

Write a Book in 31 Days with 

Dr. Larthenia Howard, whose 

book bears the same title. 

Day 3 ended with a farewell 

mix-n-mingle that was full of 

hugs, tears and praise for the 

friendships formed and the 

Shanti Das 

Dawn Michelle 

Hardy 

OM’s Stephanie Spradley Sears & 

Raymond P. Lewis 

Akissi C. Lewis, OM’s 

Imani Johnson 

knowledge gained. Accountability 

groups were created, 

contact information exchanged 

and now only time will tell how 

many new authors the world 

will experience in as short as 

31 days! 

About Odyssey Media: 

Odyssey Media is a marketing 

& communications company, 

focused on connecting and empowering 

influential and affluent 

multicultural women around the 

world. For the last 17 years, 

Odyssey’s unparalleled blend 

of conferences, business retreats, 

boot camps, philanthropic 

initiatives, digital forums, resources, 

adventure activities, 

and networking opportunities 

has helped amass a database of 

thousands of women. (Photos 

By: Dedra N. Tate)

WHAT’S GOING ON 

By Victoria Horsford 

WOMEN’S MATTERS 

Cheryl Wills, NY1 news 

anchor, wrote a new children’s 

book, THE EMAN- 

CIPATION OF GRANDPA 

SANDY WILLS, a deft 

retelling of her encounter 

with her great, greata great 

grandfather, once an enslaved 

African in Tennessee, 

who won his freedom after 

serving in the American 

Civil War. The beautifully 

illustrated book about Sandy 

Will’s life is thick on courage, 

hope and inspiration. 

Wills travels to schools 

throughout NYC, reading 

her story to young people, 

encouraging them to dig 

deeper into their ancestors 

lives. THE EMANCIPA- 

TION OF GRANDPA SAN- 

DY WILLS is infectious. It 

BUSINESS WEEK/USA 

The nation’s top Black 

website is MADAMENOIRE. 

com which boasted 7.1 million 

unique visitors monthly 

during 2015. A sophisticated 

lifestyle magazine aimed at 

African- American women, 

its contents run the gamut 

from the latest fashion and 

beauty trends, to entertainment 

news, parenting tip 

and health protocols. It is 

Black owned and its content 

is not celebrity centric. Other 

top Black oriented websites 

include theroot.com; BET- 

Network; WorldstarHiphop; 

Bossip; Hellobeautiful.com; 

Essence.com Huffington- 

Post.Com/Black voices; Media 

Takeout.com; Newsone. 

com. 

Reginald Wilson 

SPECIAL EVENTS 

The UNCF hosts “A Mind 

Is” Gala on March 3, honoring 

former NYC Schools 

Chancellor Joel Klein and 

civil rights advocate Reverend 

Al Sharpton. The 72th 

Anniversary event also honors 

the Fund II Foundation, 

for its efforts to advance 

education. Held at the Grand 

Hyatt Hotel NY, the Benefit 

proceeds will support the 

UNCF’S 37-member historically 

Black colleges and 

Melissa Harris Perry 

demands re-reads. Wills’ 

first book, DIE FREE, A 

Heroic Family History, also 

delves into Grandpa Sandy 

Wills’ life. 

Professor Melissa Harris 

Perry’s public affairs 

MSNBC show was canceled 

after 4 years. A 2/27 

Longtime Broadway and 

Off Broadway theater angel, 

Willette Klausner, is back to 

the Great White Way with a 

vengeance , putting her money 

where it counts. A few of 

her producer credits include 

“Trip to Bountiful,” “Romeo 

and Juliet,” and “Three Mo’ 

Tenors.” She will participate 

as an investor in the revival 

of Eugene O’Neill’s one-act 

play, HUGHIE, about illusions 

men create to fill their 

hapless lives, which stars 

Oscar winner Forest Whitaker 

at the Booth Theatre. 

Klausner is co-producer of 

the highly-acclaimed drama, 

ECLIPSED, transported from 

the Public Theater to Broadway’s 

Golden Theater, a story 

NY Times story reported 

a feud aborning between 

MHP and MSNBC brass 

about pre-empting her show 

for more ad nauseam 2016 

Presidential political coverage. 

political powers that 

be at MSNBC. Article also 

said that MLP was invited to 

host her show last weekend 

and she refused, stating that 

she is no token mammy, etc. 

She continued sayingthat the 

preemption has nothing to 

do with race. The 2/29 NYT 

indicated that her show is 

canceled. Last weekend Joy 

Reid hosted the MHP time 

slot with aplomb and sharp 

analysis. The Obama era is 

winding down and opportunities 

for Blacks will not be 

as plentiful come 2017. 

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT 

The world premiere of 

the one-man theater piece, 

SUGAR RAY, starring 

Reginald Wilson packed 

a powerful punch. The 

SRO audience was in a 

trance as the welterweight 

champ’s story unfolded at 

Harlem Besame Restaurant 

at 2070 Seventh Avenue. 

Written by Laurence Holder 

and directed by theatre 

impresario Woodie King, 

universities and more than 

400 scholarship internship 

and fellowship programs. 

The nation’s largest and 

most effective minority education 

organization, the 

United Negro College Fund, 

UNCF, supports more than 

60,000 students at more than 

1100 national colleges and 

universities. For more info 

or reservations, call UNCF 

212.820.0140, email uncf@ 

pepnyc.com, or visit UNCF. 

Willette Klausner 

about women held captive 

by a military officer during 

Liberia’s second civil war, 

starring Oscar winner Lupita 

Nyong’o. 

SUGAR RAY runs through 

March 28. The audience 

was like a playbill of theater 

and literary types like 

All Walter Mosely, George 

Faison, Kim Moran Weston, 

Rome Neal, Phyllis Stickney, 

Rome Neal, Sir Louis 

Jones. Kojo and scores of 

New Federal Theatre alum. 

SUGAR RAY is a welcome 

addition to uptown nightlife. 

org 

Ṡchomburg Center for 

Research in Black Culture’s 

executive director Dr. Khalil 

Muhammad will be keynote 

speaker at Columbia 

Teacher’s College Minority 

Post Doctoral Fellowship 

Program’s 20 th Anniversary, 

which will be followed by 

a panel discussion. Event 

location is 520 West 120 

Street/ on March 4, 2:30 to 

5 PM 

THE 2016 ELECTIONS 

HARLEM: The second 

13 th Congressional District 

debate, a Community Forum 

on Education with the Candidates, 

Achieving Educational 

Excellence and Access will 

be held at the Abyssinian 

Baptist Church at 132 West 

138 Street, on Thursday, 

March 3 at 7 pm. Candidates 

Michael Gallagher, 

Assemblyman Keith Wright, 

Ambassador Suzan Johnson 

Cook, Assemblyman Adam 

Clayton Powell IV and former 

US Presidential adviser, 

Clyde Williams confirmed 

attendance. The first debate, 

held last week, in Washington 

Heights, was spirited with 

candidates routinely being 

booed. NYS Senator Bill 

Perkins has withdrawn his 

candidacy for the Congressional 

post. 

THE NATION: March 1, 

SUPER TUESDAY, is a big 

day on the road to the White 

House. There will be 12 states 

holding primaries where 50% 

of the delegated needs to win 

the GOP presidential nod and 

more than 33% of delegates 

required for the Democratic 

nod. The Super Tuesday 

states are Alaska, Alabama, 

Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, 

Massachusetts, Minnesota, 

Oklahoma, Tennessee , Texas, 

Vermont and Virginia. 

Delegates will be determined 

proportionately with no winner 

take all outcomes. 

The GOP campaign trail is 

akin to a Barnum and Bailey 

side show. Now Trump and 

Rubio trading insults about 

hand size vs. penis size. 

Ughh! No one in the GOP 

presidential hopeful group 

is worthy of White House 

consideration. Reality show, 

maybe! 

For Election 2016 reading, 

I recommend the following 1) 

the Ross Douthat NY Times 

op-ed, FROM OBAMA TO 

TRUMP. It talks about “ a 

liberal president’s role in a 

Republican populist’s rise. 2) 

Noam Chomsky interview on 

“Trumps Rise due to a breakdown 

of Society” and says 

that he would absolutely vote 

for Clinton over a Republican 

nominee. 3) Michelle Alexander’s 

Nation Magazine 

essay, “Why Hillary Clinton 

Doesn’t Deserve the Black 

Peoples Vote,” citing the 

Clinton Era policies, from 

the crime bill to welfare reform. 

Ms. Alexander wrote 

the best-selling book, “THE 

NEW JIM CROW.” 

US SENATE 2017: Will 

US Senate 2017 include 4 

African Americans? US Senate 

has two African American 

Senators, NJ Democrat Cory 

Booker and SC Republican 

Tim Scott. Prospects look 

good for US Senate candidates 

Democratic California 

Attorney General Kamala 

Harris and Maryland Congresswoman 

Donna Edwards. 

Chuck Schumer, US Senator 

from New York, is up 

for re-election this year. If 

the Democrats take back the 

Senate, Schumer would be 

the Senator majority leader, 

a first for a New Yorker. 

RIP: The Honorable Barbara 

Clark, 76, died last week. 

A NYS Assemblywoman, she 

represented a Queens, NYC 

district that bound Bellerose, 

Cambria Heights, Hollis and 

St. Albans, for more than 20 

years. Public education was 

the signature issue for the 

mother of 4, especially the 

even distribution of school 

financing between poor and 

rich districts in NYS. Her funeral 

was held at the Greater 

Allen AME Church on February 

29. 

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 

JAMAICA: Jamaica held 

its general elections last 

week; and Prime Minister 

Portia Simpson Miller’s ruling 

Peoples National Party 

was defeated. Former Prime 

Minister Andrew Michael 

Holness, head of the Jamaica 

Labour Party, was sworn in 

on March 1. Election outcome 

was a surprise to both 

parties. Voter turnout was 

below 50%. 

HAITI: Former president 

Michel Martelly stepped 

down, leaving the nation 

without a successor, after 

serving one term in office. 

Haiti now has an interim 

President, Jocelerme Privert, 

Barbara Clark 

Andrew Michael Holness 

62, former Senate leader and 

opponent of Martelly, who 

serves through April 24, 

when new presidential elections 

are scheduled. 

17 


A Harlem-based journalist, Victoria Horsford can be contacted at victoria.horsford@gmail.com

18 

Entertainment 

By Don Thomas 

A Family Affair 

Ludacris speaks at Leadership Workshop 


Christopher Ludacris Bridges 

Rapper/Actor Christopher 

Ludacris Bridges and 

The Ludacris Foundation 

recently spent the day 

giving back to a group of high 

school students at the Carrie 

Steele Pitts Life Learning Center 

in Atlanta, Georgia. Through 

the use of his foundation the 

prolific superstar shared tips on 

how to be an effective leader 

and the power of giving back. 

Ludacris spent the day 

working and inspiring a group 

of high school students from 

Banneker High School and 

Westlake High School. The 

event was all about inspiring a 

group of more than 200 young 

people to take on the mantle 

of leadership and understand 

the importance of community 

service and giving back. 

Entitled “Leading From 

Within ... Leadership and 

Building Your Brand” the day 

was an uplifting occasion for 

the young men and women in 

attendance. 

The event was powered by 

The Ludacris Foundation and 

supported by his team and the 

good people over at Camp New 

Look. The youth had the opportunity 

to connect with Ludacris 

a/k/a Luda, his wife Eudoxiee 

Bridges, his mother Mama 

Bridges, and DC Young Fly. 

The young people were 

able to ask questions and get 

real answers. This event allowed 

the students to embrace 

leadership and a wonderful 

Ludacris (center) surrounded by the students 

(Luda) with youth and parents during Q&A session 

memory that will stick with 

them forever. 

“We at the Ludacris Foundation 

realize that not every youth 

can visualize success. Not 

every young person believes 

that tomorrow can be better 

than today. I believe that every 

young person should have an 

opportunity to be the best that 

they can be. Our communities 

are hurting. Our systems need 

fixing. We can’t wait on the 

government, institutions, social 

programs and policies alone to 

meet community needs. 

“We have to look within. It 

is in our hands, That is why we 

do what we do at The Ludacris 

Foundation. Over the last 5 

years 96,000 students in GA 

have dropped out of school. 

GA analytics show 70 percent 

of inmates are high school 

dropouts. That is evidence that 

student dropouts immediately 

become the incubator that 

feeds the prison system. 

“A game changer is needed. 

My foundation, The Ludacris 

Foundation, is launching 

a Leadership Development 

Program targeted at middle 

and high school students. Our 

initial focus is with 4 middle 

and high schools in GA. As 

we design implement a proven 

successful business model we 

will expand our efforts,” said 

Ludacris. To learn more about 

the foundation visit http:// 

wp.me/pinY (Photos: Freddyo) 

Veteran Anti-Violence Activist Erica Ford (4 th second row) and hundreds of her LIFE Camp Peace 

Ambassadors joined RadioShack Chief Creative Officer Nick Cannon (front row center) as he 

launched NCREDIBLE, an exclusive line of products available at RadioShack in the Village of 

Harlem and stores nationwide and online. Cannon presented LIFE Camp with a $5,000 donation 

as he announced a series of community-focused initiatives that will take place at RadioShack locations 

nationwide. RadioShack committed to matching Nick Cannon’s contribution to help fulfill 

the mission of engaging young people around peace as a lifestyle 

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in the Bronx presents 

two Living Salsa Legends, Vocalists Ismael Miranda and Andy 

Montanez as they perform selections from their vast repertoires 

on Sat., Mar., 19 th at 8pm.

AUDREY'S REEL WHIRL 

with Film Reviewer 

Audrey J. Bernard 

WGN America’s ‘Underground’ screened 

and celebrated at the White House 

19 


WGN America and Tribune 

Studios 

WGN America, the flagship 

entertainment network 

of Tribune Media Company 

(NYSE: TRCO) is nationally 

distributed in nearly 80 million 

homes via cable, satellite 

and telco, with high-quality 

entertainment programming 

including the breakout 

hit series “Outsiders” and 

“Salem,” and the upcoming 

scripted drama “Underground.” 

The network also 

brings its audience a strong 

slate of popular first-run syndicated 

series and blockbuster 

movies. Through Tribune 

Studios, the creative development 

arm of Tribune Media, 

original content is produced 

for WGN America and Tribune 

local stations nationwide. 

Follow the network on 

Twitter @wgnamerica. For 

additional information, please 

visit www.wgnamerica.com. 

Jamie Erlicht (President, U.S. Programming and Production, Sony Pictures Television); 

Matt Cherniss (President and General Manager, WGN America); Executive 

Producer John Legend; Zack Van Amburg (President, U.S. Programming and 

Production, Sony Pictures Television) 

Actors Jessica de Gouw, Amirah Vann, Alano Miller, Christopher Meloni, Senior Advisor Valerie 

Jarrett, Actors Aldis Hodge, Jurnee Smollett-Bell 

Actors Alano Miller, Amirah Vann, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Aldis Hodge, Jessica de 

Gouw, Christopher Meloni 

WGN America screened 

its highly anticipated 

original series 

“Underground” Monday evening, 

February 22, 2016 at the 

White House, as part of the 

White House Office of Public 

Engagement’s Black History 

Month event, “These Hallowed 

Grounds and ‘Underground’ 

Screening,” highlighting landmarks 

and monuments around 

the country significant to the 

African American community, 

including stops on the Underground 

Railroad. The gripping 

premiere episode was lauded by 

attendees at the event held in the 

White House’s South Court Auditorium. 

In addition to the cast 

and creative team, the White 

House event was attended by 

Senior Administration Officials 

and led by Valerie Jarrett, 

Senior Advisor and Assistant 

to President Barack Obama. 

Deputy Secretary O’Dell, Deputy 

Director, National Park 

Services, provided additional 

remarks before the panels and 

screening commenced. American Life & History; Dr. 

Other notables in attendance 

also included: Dr. Ev- 

University of Maryland Col- 

Cheryl LaRoche, Professor, 

elyn Brooks Higginbotham, lege Park; Dr. Leslie Harris, 

Professor, Harvard University Professor, Emory University; 

and President of The Association 

for the Study of African President of the National 

Dr. Clarence G. Newsome, 

Underground 

Railroad Freedom 

Center; Richard Dana, Attorney 

and Professor Adjunct 

at Kent State University; Dr. 

Salamishah Tillet, Professor 

at the University of Pennsylvania; 

Jeff Johnson, Moderator, 

Principal JLJ Communications; 

Peter Liguori, President 

and CEO, Tribune Media; Matt 

Cherniss, President and General 

Manager, WGN America; 

Zack Van Amburg, President, 

Programming & Production, 

Sony Pictures Television; Jamie 

Erlicht, President, Programming 

& Production, Sony 

Pictures Television; Anthony 

Hemingway, Director and 

Executive Producer of “Underground”; 

and Akiva Goldsman, 

Tory Tunnell, Joby Harold 

and Mike Jackson, Executive 

Producers of “Underground.” 

Prior to the screening, the 

“Underground” cast and creative 

team, including Executive 

Producers John Legend 

and Akiva Goldsman, Creators 

and Executive Producers Misha 

Green and Joe Pokaski, Director 

and Executive Producer 

Anthony Hemingway, along 

with President and General 

About Sony Pictures 

Television 

Sony Pictures Television 

is one of the television 

industry’s leading content 

providers, producing and 

distributing programming 

worldwide in every genre and 

for every platform. In addition 

to managing one of the 

industry’s largest libraries of 

award-winning feature films, 

television shows and formats, 

SPT is home to a thriving 

US production business and 

Manager of WGN America, 

Matt Cherniss, and stars Jurnee 

Smollett-Bell, Aldis Hodge, 

Christopher Meloni, Alano 

Miller, Jessica de Gouw and 

Amirah Vann, participated in 

panel discussions in which they 

elaborated on the inspiration 

behind the escape thriller, premiering 

Wednesday, March 

9, 2016 (10 p.m. ET/PT) on 

WGN America, and produced 

by Sony Pictures Television 

and Tribune Studios. 

Set in a desperate and dangerous 

time, WGN America’s 

original series “Underground” 

follows a group of courageous 

men and women who use their 

ingenuity, power and perseverance 

to attempt the greatest 

escape in history and break free, 

despite the dire consequences 

that awaited them on the other 

side. The 10-episode, hour-long 

program follows a courageous 

blacksmith who covertly organizes 

a small group of his fellow 

slaves and pieces together a 

daring plan of escape across 

hundreds of miles to freedom. 

The odds of success are razor-thin 

for those who make 

it off the plantation, while the 

risks, dangers and obstacles 

multiply each step of the way. 

(Photos by Larry French) 

operates 18 wholly-owned 

or joint venture production 

companies in 11 countries 

around the world. SPT’s 

worldwide networks portfolio 

includes 150 channel 

feeds, which are available in 

178 countries reaching more 

than 1.3 billion cumulative 

households worldwide. Sony 

Pictures Television (SPT) is a 

Sony Pictures Entertainment 

Company.

20 Flick-Chat 

Chris Rock pokes fun at both 

the Boycott and the Academy 


By Kam Williams 

Senior Movie Critic 

“Spotlight” upsets 

“The Revenant” 

for Best Picture 

O 

n 

a night when the 

Academy Awards were 

overshadowed by the 

absence of Black nominees, 

“Spotlight” upset “The Revenant” 

for the big prize, Best 

Picture, although “Mad Max” 

netted the most trophies (6) 

overall. But from his opening 

monologue clear through his 

the close of the evening’s festivities, 

master of ceremonies 

Chris Rock kept the pedal to 

the medal, reminding viewers 

at every opportunity of the conspicuous 

absence of African 

Americans honorees. 

He began by welcoming the 

audience to the “White People’s 

Choice Awards” before 

launching into a 10-minute 

stand-up routine in which he 

was careful to level barbs at 

both sides of the controversy. 

For example, he chided 

the members of the Academy 

for being racists, suggesting, 

“If they nominated hosts, I 

wouldn’t even get this job.” 

On the other hand, he was 

just as tough on the supporters 

of the protest, insinuating that 

they ought to lighten up since 

things were far worse back in 

the ‘50s and ‘60s when their 

grandmothers might have been 

lynched. 

Host Chris Rock 

Rock reserved his most 

caustic comments for Jada 

Pinkett Smith, saying “Jada 

boycotting the Oscars is like 

me boycotting Rihanna’s panties,” 

the crude implication being 

that Jada is untalented and 

about as likely to be nominated 

as he is to have sex with the 

attractive pop diva. 

Next, he took a swipe at 

Jada’s husband, Will Smith, 

prefacing his remarks by announcing, 

“I’m not hating.” 

After conceding that Will had 

been snubbed for “Concussion,” 

Rock pointed out that 

it was equally unfair that he’d 

been paid $20 million for his 

poor performance in “Wild 

Wild West.” 

The profusion of race-based 

humor had its share of awkward 

moments, like when 

Chris announced that the “In 

Memoriam” package would 

be devoted to “Black people 

shot by cops on their way to the 

movies.” Just as awkward was 

when he introduced actressturned-Black 

conservative 

Stacey Dash, as the Director of 

the Academy’s newly-created 

Minority Outreach Program. 

Stacey came on stage to say 

she couldn’t wait to help her 

people out, before wishing everybody 

“Happy Black History 

Month!” The joke fell flat and 

was met with total silence. 

Another headscratcher involved 

Chris’ introducing the 

Oscars’ African American orchestra 

conductor “Just so he 

can get laid at the Governor’s 

Ball.” As the curtain came 

down on the festivities, Rock 

finally seemed to take sides 

by defiantly bidding farewell 

Actress Stacey Dash 

with “Black Lives Matter!” to 

the tune of Public Enemy’s anti-establishment 

anthem “Fight 

the Power” which played for 

the duration of the closing 

credits. To see Chris Rock’s 

opening monologue, visit: 

https://www.youtube.com/ 

watch?v=GBadiCVY-tk. To 

see Stacey Dash’s awkward 

moment at the Oscars, visit: 

https://www.youtube.com/ 

watch?v=n9XvWFU0F3Q 

Mobsters blackmail crooked cops 

By Kam Williams 

(Senior Movie Critic) 

Irina Vlaslov (Kate Winslet) 

assumed the reins of 

an Atlanta-based crime 

syndicate after her husband 

Vasili (Igor Komar) was sent 

up the river. Despite the jailing 

of the ruthless mobster, the 

gang’s operations have continued 

to flourish with the help 

of corrupt police officers and 

ex-Marines. One crooked cop, 

Marcus Belmont (Anthony 

Mackie), even has a young son 

(Blake McLennan) with Irina’s 

sister, Elena (Gal Gadot), 

which makes him all the more 

vulnerable to manipulation. 

Like a Russian version of 

the Mexican drug lord El Chapo, 

Vasili is just itching to get 

out of jail. So, Irina hatches a 

plan to spring him from prison 

with the help of the various 

authorities she already has in 

a compromising position. 

In 25 words or less, the 

scheme involves issuing a 

phony 9-9-9, the police code 

for “officer down,” since every 

police car would be immediately 

dispatched to the 

scene not only to assist the 

wounded brother in blue but 

to apprehend the perpetrator. 

Theoretically, at least, that 

drain on available resources 

would afford Irina’s henchmen 

an opportunity to strike. 

Actors Anthony Mackie and Aaron Pau in scene from “Triple 9” 

Thus unfolds “Triple 9,” a 

rather riveting cat-and-mouse 

caper directed by Aussie John 

Hillcoat (The Road). The overthe-top 

action thriller featuring 

an intriguing plot was written 

by first-time scriptwriter Matt 

Cook. 

It’s cast includes an array 

of A-list actors topped by Kate 

Winslet, Woody Harrelson, 

Chiwetel Ejiofor, Casey Affleck, 

Anthony Mackie, Teresa Palmer 

and Michael Kenneth Williams. 

Having so many talented thespians 

pays off in spades for a 

picture which proves compelling 

from beginning to end. 

At heart, “Triple 9” is a 

nihilistic adventure set in a disturbing, 

urban dystopia filled 

with nothing but untrustworthy 

backstabbers. That makes it 

darn near impossible to find a 

protagonist to root for besides 

Sergeant Jeffrey Allen (Harrelson), 

a clean detective capable 

of smelling a rat. 

The wily veteran in charge 

of the investigation must negotiate 

his way down a dangerous 

gauntlet while sorting 

out suspects right in the ranks 

of his own department. What 

makes his plight even dicier is 

the pyrotechnics-driven flick’s 

“When in doubt, blow it up!” 

philosophy. An alternately 

visceral and cerebral, high 

body-count crime thriller not 

to be missed! 

Excellent (4 stars). Rated 

R for nudity, graphic violence, 

drug use and pervasive 

profanity. Running time: 115 

minutes. Distributor: Open 

Road Films.

THEATER TALK with First Night Reviewer Audrey J. Bernard 

‘Noises Off’ is filled with machine gun laughter 

21 


Noises Off at the American 

Airlines Theatre Marquee 

The ground buzz is still 

strong for Roundabout 

Theatre Company’s 

(Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) 

production of Michael 

Frayn’s hilariously funny Noises 

Off starring Andrea Martin, 

Campbell Scott, Tracee 

Chimo, Daniel Davis, David 

Furr, Kate Jennings Grant, 

Megan Hilty, Rob McClure 

and Jeremy Shamos, that 

officially opened on Thursday, 

January 14, 2016 for a limited 

engagement through Sunday, 

March 13, 2016 at the American 

Airlines Theatre, 227 West 

42 nd Street, New York City to 

machine gun laughter. Directed 

by Jeremy Herrin, the non-stop 

production is filled with outrageously 

fun stints and gut-busting 

humor. Noises Off is the 

Noises Off cast during Opening Night Bow 

Noises Off gentlemen: Campbell Scott, Jeremy 

Shamos, David Furr and Rob McClure. 

classic show-within-a-show. 

The opening night performance 

of the farce Nothing On is just 

hours away, and as the cast 

stumbles through their final 

dress rehearsal, things couldn’t 

be going any worse. With lines 

being forgotten, love triangles 

Noises Off set designer Derek McLane, director 

Jeremy Herrin, star Andrea Martin. 

unraveling and sardines flying 

everywhere, it’s complete pandemonium…and 

we haven’t 

even reached intermission! 

Noises Off ladies: Kate Arrington, Linda 

Lavin, Greg Keller, John Procaccino & 

Lynne Meadow 

Can the cast pull their act together 

on the stage even if they 

can’t behind the scenes? This 

side-splitting production’s last 

day is Sunday, March 13 th so 

if you want to laugh harder 

than you are from the unbelievable 

buffoonery going on 

in the electoral process, rush 

to see this “must see” production! 

Noises Off creative 

team features: Derek McLane 

(set design); Michael Krass 

(costume design); Jane Cox 

(lighting design); Christopher 

Cronin (sound design); Todd 

Almond (original music); Paul 

Huntley (hair & wig design); 

and Lorenzo Pisoni (comedy 

stunt coordinator). Polk & 

Co. is the press representative. 

(Photos by Bruce Glikas @ 

Broadway.com) 

Audra McDonald honored by Roundabout Theatre Company 

Audra McDonald, Todd 

Haimes 

David Nathan 

Roundabout Theatre 

Company presented its 

Spring Gala 2016: Celebrating 

50 Years of Extraordinary 

Theatre on Monday, 

February 29, 2016 in the grand 

ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria 

Hotel in New York City hosted 

by popular thespian David Lane 

Phylicia Rashad 

and celebrated the company’s 

achievements and recognized 

the accomplishments of Audra 

McDonald and Roundabout 

Theatre Board Chair Tom Tuft 

who was accompanied by his 

wife Diane Tuft. The honorees 

received the coveted Jason Robards 

Award for Excellence in 

Helen Mirren 

Theatre which is named after 

the late Jason Robards for his 

longstanding relationship with 

Roundabout and memorably 

body of stage work. The award 

is given to those who have made 

an indelible impact on both 

Roundabout and the theatre 

world. McDonald, who was 

Audra McDonald 

named one of Time magazine’s 

100 most influential people, has 

won Tony Awards for her roles 

in Carousel, Master Class, Ragtime, 

A Raisin in the Sun, The 

Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and 

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & 

Grill. (Photos courtesy Roundabout 

Theatre Company) 

Tom & Diane Tuft

22 Off-B’way 

‘DOT’, is a well-acted production 


By Ernece B. Kelly 

Drama Critic 

“She’s in and out. In and out. 

And eventually she’ll be completely 

out,” is the description 

Shelly (Sharon Washington) offers 

of her mother, Dotty (played 

flawlessly by Marjorie Johnson) 

who’s slipping relentlessly into 

dementia. It’s the Christmas season, 

and Dotty’s other children 

--Donnie, played by (Stephen 

Conrad Moore), has come from 

New York City with his husband, 

Adam (Colin Hanlon) who is 

white. 

His sister Averie (Libya 

V. Pugh) lives nearby, and all 

have gathered at the matriarch’s 

home in West Philadelphia--a 

neighborhood keenly realized 

in the stage curtain painted with 

iconic Philly rowhouses. Windows 

are convincingly lit from 

within before the play begins. 

(Kudos to scenic designer Allen 

Moyer). 

At opening, we’re in Dotty’s 

kitchen where she strikes out in 

irritation, saying to Shelley, “You 

look like a mean pineapple”, 

referring to her recent blond 

dye job. Perhaps it’s her defense 

against this daughter who practically 

bullies her --within only five 

minutes--to take her medicine, 

sign legal papers, eat her breakfast, 

and on and on. 

When an old neighbor, Jackie 

(Finnerty Steeves) bursts in, Dotty 

eventually recognizes her, but 

asks about her mother who died 

years ago. Jackie is the second 

white character--she and Adam 

provide playwright Colman 

Domingo fodder for several hilarious 

white jokes. “White people 

love fried chicken” we’re assured 

as the two white characters dash 

off to the kitchen for some leftover 

bird. 

At another point, Donnie 

insists he doesn’t want a drug 

that “sounds like your best white 

girlfriend”, like Molly. The final 

character in this ensemble is Fidel 

(Michael Rosen) a part-time aide 

to Dotty, from Karastan who’s 

seeking legal asylum. They have 

a close, touching relationship, 

enabling them to sit together 

silently, simply holding hands. 

The two have discovered a 

Virtual Dementia Experience 

which they spring on the children 

in an effort to help them 

understand what Dotty’s going 

thru. But the theatre audience is 

let in on the nature of the game 

a beat too late--making it more 

confusing than enlightening. This 

“DOT” cast 

touches on a central shortcoming 

of “DOT.” 

There’s simply too much 

crammed into this two act drama. 

In an effort to accommodate them 

all, Domingo has occasional/ 

throw-away lines that contain 

important information, and characters 

reaching improbable resolutions/insights, 

and long patches 

of dialogue which feel preachy. 

Technically, “DOT” is an 

overall successful. There’s 

Moyer’s meticulously designed 

kitchen and living room, the 

noteworthy costume designs of 

Kara Harmon, and Tom Morse’s 

music--ranging from soft jazz 

to traditional Christmas songs- 

-which helps sustain the play’s 

various moods. 

Even with its problems, 

“DOT” is a well-acted production 

that’s unapologetically aimed at 

helping audiences understand the 

ravages that dementia visits on 

the victim and the family. “DOT” 

is at the Vineyard Theatre off 

Union Square in Manhattan 

until March 20. 

‘Buried Child’, is slow as molasses 

By Ernece B. Kelly 

Drama Critic 

Slow as molasses is an apt 

description of this revival 

of Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer 

Prize winning play (1978) 

“Buried Child.” (Shepard recently 

called it a “clunky play”). 

Long on exposition--a perennial 

feature of his dramas--this one 

is lifted somewhat by the superior 

caliber of acting and the 

occasional humor. Meanwhile 

surreal elements--corn and 

carrots growing in a barren 

field--only confuse, rather than 

enlighten. 

An white farming family 

in Illinois consisting of Dodge 

(Ed Harris) his wife Halie (Amy 

Madigan) and their two grown 

sons Bradley (Rich Sommer) 

and Tilden (Paul Sparks) have 

flinty relations, thriving on 

sarcasm, insults, and threats. 

A grandson, Vince (Nat Wolff) 

enters late in the play accompanied 

by girlfriend Shelly 

(Taissa Farmiga). She pushes to 

discover a secret they’re hiding. 

Unfortunately, for astute 

“Buried Child” cast 

audience members, that secret 

is revealed in the play’s title, 

robbing us of what might have 

been a key suspenseful element. 

And a violent act is so shrouded 

in sound effects, that only those 

already familiar with the drama 

will understand what’s going on. 

Jeremy S. Bloom’s dreary, 

tired set with its worn furniture/ 

furnishings reflects and intensifies 

the hopelessness pervading 

this family, while Susan Hilferty’s 

costume design captures 

perfectly their working class 

status. (An exception is Father 

Dewis played by (Larry Pine). 

Dressed in traditional Catholic 

garb, he carries the bulk 

of the play’s humor as he tries 

desperately to remove himself 

from the increasingly volatile 

family setting. “This is not my 

domain”, he insists.) 

“Buried Child” looks at 

the strong pull of family, over 

generations, despite the consequences. 

Here it’s not a pretty 

picture. The play is at the 

Pershing Square Signature 

Center on West 42nd Street 

until March 27.

AUTO DONATIONS 

Donate your car to Wheels 

For Wishes, benefiting 

Make-A-Wish. We offer free 

towing and your donation is 

100% tax deductible. Call 

(855) 376-9474 

CAREER TRAINING 

NATIONAL TRACTOR 

TRAILER SCHOOLS 

NTTS.EDU Buffalo/Liverpool 

NY 

Full/Part Time P.T.D.I. Certified 

Courses Student Loans, 

Pell Grants, Post 9/11 GI 

Bill® 

Benefits, Housing, Local and 

National Employment Assistance 

if Qualified 800-243- 

9300 

HELP WANTED 

AIRLINE CAREERS Start 

Here –Get trained as FAA 

certified Aviation Technician. 

Financial aid for qualified 

students. Job placement 

assistance. Call AIM for free 

information 866-296-7093 

HELP WANTEd 

Can You Dig It? Heavy 

Equipment 

Operator Career! We Offer 

Training and Certifications 

Running Bulldozers, 

Backhoes and Excavators. 

Lifetime Job Placement. VA 

Benefits Eligible! 1-866- 

362-6497 

LEGAL 

SUPREME COURT OF THE 

STATE OF NEW YORK 

COUNTY OF NEW YORK 

Index No. 850174/2013 SUP- 

PLEMENTAL SUMMONS 

WITH NOTICE FEDERAL 

NATIONAL MORTGAGE 

ASSOCIATION (FANNIE 

MAE), A CORPORATION 

ORGANIZED AND EXIST- 

ING UNDER THE LAWS 

OF THE UNITED STATES 

OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, 

against KRISTOPHER 

DAVID KOBIN, BOARD 

OF MANAGERS OF THE 

230 RIVERSIDE CONDO- 

MINIUM C/O R.A COHEN 

& ASSOCIATES INC, NEW 

YORK CITY PARKING 

VIOLATIONS BUREAU, 

NEW YORK CITY ENVI- 

RONMENTAL CONTROL 

BOARD AND NEW YORK 

CITY TRANSIT ADJUDI- 

CATION BUREAU, NEW 

YORK STATE DEPART- 

MENT OF TAXATION AND 

CLASSIFIED 

FINANCE, AND UNIT- 

ED STATES OF AMERI- 

CA-INTERNAL REVENUE 

SERVICE, Defendants, To 

the above named defendants: 

YOU ARE HEREBY 

SUMMONED to answer the 

amended complaint in this 

action and to serve a copy of 

your answer, or, if the amended 

complaint is not served 

with this supplemental summons, 

to serve a notice of 

appearance, on the plaintiff’s 

attorneys within 20 days after 

the service of this supplemental 

summons, exclusive 

of the day of service (or 

within 30 days after the service 

is complete if this summons 

is not personally delivered 

to you within the State 

of New York); and in case of 

your failure to appear or answer, 

judgment will be taken 

against you by default for 

the relief demanded in the 

complaint. NOTICE YOU 

ARE IN DANGER OF LOS- 

ING YOUR HOME If you 

do not respond to this summons 

and complaint by serving 

a copy of the answer on 

the attorney for the mortgage 

company who filed this foreclosure 

proceeding against 

you and filing the answer 

with the court, a default judgment 

may be entered and you 

can lose your home. Speak to 

an attorney or go to the court 

where your case is pending 

for further information on 

how to answer the summons 

and protect your property. 

Sending a payment to your 

mortgage company will not 

stop this foreclosure action. 

YOU MUST RESPOND 

BY SERVING A COPY OF 

THE ANSWER ON THE 

ATTORNEY FOR THE 

PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE 

COMPANY) AND FILING 

THE ANSWER WITH THE 

COURT. The foregoing supplemental 

summons is served 

upon you by publication 

pursuant to an Order of the 

Honorable Cynthia S. Kern 

Justice of the Supreme Court 

of the State of New York, 

Suffolk County, dated the 22 

day of December 2015 and 

duly entered in the office of 

the Clerk of the County of 

Suffolk, State of New York. 

NOTICE OF NATURE OF 

ACTION AND RELIEF 

SOUGHT The object of the 

above captioned action is to 

foreclose a Mortgage to secure 

$400,000.00 and interest, 

recorded in the Office 

of the City Register of New 

York County on May 1, 2007 

in CRFN 2007000226560, 

which mortgage was assigned 

to CitiMortgage, Inc. 

by assignment of mortgage 

dated September 20, 2011 

which will be recorded in the 

Office of the City Register of 

New York County, covering 

premises known as 230 RIV- 

ERSIDE DRIVE 7C, CITY, 

COUNTY AND STATE 

OF NEW YORK (BLOCK 

1253, LOT 1390). The relief 

sought in the within action 

is a final judgment directing 

the sale of the premises described 

above. The Plaintiff 

also seeks a deficiency judgment 

against the Defendants, 

KRISTOPHER DA- 

VID KOBIN, for any debt 

secured by said Mortgage 

which is not satisfied by the 

proceeds of the sale of said 

premises, unless discharged 

in bankruptcy. Premises situate 

lying and being in the 

Borough of Manhattan, City 

County and State of New 

York. In the Condominium 

known as THE 230 RIV- 

ERSIDE CONDOMINIUM 

together with an undivided 

.4515 percent interest in the 

common elements assigned 

to Unit No. 7C. BLOCK 

1253, LOT 1390 Dated: 

Rego Park, New York 

_______________, 2016 

DAVID A. GALLO & AS- 

SOCIATES, LLP. By: 

Rosemarie A. Klie, Esq. Attorneys 

for Plaintiff 95-25 

Queens Boulevard, 11th 

Floor Rego Park, New York 

11374 (718) 459-9000 

LAND FOR SALE 

ABANDONED CATSKILL 

MOUNTAIN FARM! Farmhouses, 

barns, streams, 

views! 5 to 40 acres! Under 

$100K! 2 1/2 hrs NY City! 

Financing avail! 888-905- 

8847 newyorklandandlakes. 

com 

VACATION RENTALS 

OCEAN CITY, MARY- 

LAND. Best selection of affordable 

rentals. Full/ partial 

weeks. Call for FREE brochure. 

Open daily. Holiday 

Resort Services. 1-800-638- 

2102. Online reservations: 

www.holidayoc.com 

NEW 

FLORIDA 

HOMES 

FROM THE $170s 

On Top of the World in Ocala is 

Florida’s Premier Active Adult Community 

• Over 250,000 sq. ft. of amenities 

• 54 holes of golf on three courses 

and much more 

Call us at 1.855.458.7447 or 

visit OnTopoftheWorld.com 

On Top of the World Communities Inc., Ocala, Florida a 55+ community. On Top of the World Communities reserves the right to change or withdraw any offer at 

any time. Prices, features and specifications are subject tochange without notice. Certain conditions may apply. Void where prohibited by law. NY Registration 

#H13-0004, NJ Registration #09-04-0018 and #NJ12-04-2019. 

DONATE YOUR CAR 

Wheels For 

Wishes Benefiting 

Make-A-Wish ® 

Metro New York and 

Western New York 

100% Tax 

Deductible 

*Free Vehicle/Boat Pickup ANYWHERE 

*We Accept All Vehicles Running or Not 

*Fully Tax Deductible 

WheelsForWishes.org Call: (917) 336-1254 

* Wheels For Wishes is a DBA of Car Donation Foundation. 

Obituary 

We regret to announce the 

passing of Pierre Florestal 

in his 80th year. He 

died peacefully at home 

on February 21, 2016 surrounded 

by his loving family. 

He was born in Haiti 

on October 10, 1936. He 

is survived by his loving 

wife of 56 years, Melanie 

Oscar, one son, Oscar 

Raphael Florestal, two 

daughters, Leonie Marie 

Miffin, Berline Florestal 

one son in law, Lorenzo B. Miffin, Jr, (Leonie Marie 

Miffin) one daughter in law, Murielles Elis Florestal 

(Oscar Raphael Florestal), two grand children, Tatiana 

Dieujuste ,Jayden Jayda, Ariel Florestal. Calling hours 

will be from 10am to 12pm At Lawrence H Woodward 

Brooklyn NY Funeral Home. Burial will take place 

be in Haiti on Saturday March 5, 2016 

23 

BEACON, March 3 - March 9, 2016 newyorkbeacon.net

24 

Marc Rasbury 

SPORTS 

BEACON 


Grumpy Old Men 

Oscar Robertson is one of the best to ever lace up the sneakers! 

By Marc Rasbury 

The hot topic last week 

centered on whether Stephen 

Curry would be as 

successful in previous generations 

as he is in this generation. 

Several vanguards including 

Oscar Robertson, Isaiah Thomas 

and Phil Jackson have come 

out since the All Star Break and 

suggested in so many words, 

no. While present day players 

and their fans claim that old 

school folks are just jealous 

of the New Kid on the Block. 

In my humble opinion, both 

camps are right to a certain 

extent. What do you say? 

I never wanted to be that 

guy that always bellowed that 

things were always better back 

in my day. However, I will 

go to my grave thinking that 

old school R&B like Earth, 

Wind & Fire, Marvin Gay and 

Harold Melvin and the Blue 

Notes is way better anything 

that is being produced today, 

Now a similar debate is being 

pondered in the sports world 

and Curry and his Golden State 

Warriors are the epicenter of 

that discussion. 

Perhaps the biggest story 

of past year is whether the 

Warriors are going to break 

the 1997 Chicago Bulls record 

of 72 wins in a single season. 

With 55 victories before 

March, they are on pace to do 

so. Now with reigning MVP 

just making a joke of nearly 

every offensive category on 

the books, the newest debate 

evolving out of this season 

is whether Curry would have 

enjoyed the same success 20 

or 30 years ago? 

The game has changed over 

that span. Not only are the 

current players wearing baggy 

shorts verses the skintight 

version that their predecessors 

wore, they are more physically 

gifted than players back in the 

day. The rules have been modified 

that also benefit the current 

players, so that would lead 

one to think that players today 

would be more successful than 

the old schoolers. 

I grew up in an era where 

I went from idolizing Walt 

Frazier, Earl Monroe, Julius 

Erving, Benard King to Magic 

Johnson. I also respected 

and loved watching Isaiah 

Thomas, Larry Bird, Dominique 

Wilkins, Jack Sikma 

and Reggie Miller. Can you 

put Curry in the category of 

these afore-mentioned players? 

I say hell yeah, but he 

would not be dropping 40 and 

50 points before the end of the 

third quarter. 

Over the last week, NBA 

Legends Oscar Robertson, Phil 

Jackson and Isaiah Thomas 

have gone on record and indicated 

that Curry would not 

have been able to score as 

many points and make it look 

it as easy as he does it. They 

respect his skill set but that 

they feel that he would not be 

Stephen Curry would have been a lethal scorer in any era. 

smiling as much if he had 

played during their era because 

he would be on his back from 

hard play that was allowed 

back then. 

Back then, defensive players 

would be able to hand check 

you the length of the court and 

once you crossed half court, 

the offensive players found 

forearms in their back as they 

tried to maneuver their way 

to the basket. You had tenacious 

defenders like Norm 

Van Leir, Jerry Sloan, Frazier, 

Gary Payton, Michael Jordan, 

Fat Leaver, Derrick Harper, 

Darrell Walker and Phil 

Chenier who took it personal 

when you scored on them. You 

might have scored on them but 

somewhere during the course 

of the game, you were going 

pay for it. It was a much more 

physical game and eventually 

would wear you down physically. 

Today you can’t use your 

hands or forearms while playing 

defense making it much 

easier for offensive players to 

navigate their way around 

the court making it easier to 

score. Curry would have gotten 

his in any era. He has a lethal 

combination of jump shooting 

and ball handling. Some already 

rate him as one top five 

jump shooters in NBA history 

and he has unbelievable ball 

handling skills. If you play up 

on Curry, he has the ability to 

blow by you. If you play off of 

him, he will drill the jumper as 

you helplessly watch him drain 

the three from 30’ and beyond. 

Then Curry could blow by you 

and drive by you, stop on a 

dime, do a step back and then 

drill a fade away 30’. That skill 

set would translate to success 

in any era. 

Not only does he take advantage 

of his skill set and 

rules changes, he is the beneficiary 

of the system that 

he plays in and teammates 

that he rolls with. His backcourt 

partner, Klay Thompson, 

has unlimited range as 

well and the swing players 

open the court for Curry. 

And do not forget that Draymond 

Green is one the best 

players at making the extra 

swing pass that is like setting 

a blindside pick for a great 

shooter. Now The only difference 

between this era and days 

gone by, the frail Curry would 

have been put on his ass a lot 

more during Thomas’, Frazier’s 

and Jordan’s eras. Let’s 

be realistic. Can you imagine 

Curry dances around Harper 

and rolling into the lane only to 

meet Patrick Ewing, Anthony 

Mason or Charles Oakley? 

Okay, he would not have perhaps 

scored 35 points, but I’m 

sure he would average at least 

23-27. 

I respect Robertson’s and 

Thomas’ viewpoints. I think 

that they are onto something. 

I think that Curry’s production 

would have been limited due 

the physical aspect of play 

back in the day. However, 

Del’s son would have still 

been effective and an All-Star. 

Robertson and Thomas might 

sound like the old men on your 

on your block screaming “Get 

off my lawn!” They earned the 

right to voice their opinions but 

they should give the Kid his 

due. He is only playing by the 

rules of his era.

Beacon

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?