Home Blog Page 38

Mayoral Race Tightens

Nayaba Arinde
-
0
Mayoral Race Tightens

New York City in Global Spotlight

By Mary Alice Miller

Voters could be forgiven if the 2025 NYC mayoral race resembled their favorite telenovela. But it is serious business to elect the chief executive officer of one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.

NYC voters are taking their mandate seriously. Early Voting broke turnout records for previous mayoral elections. Day 1 had a 79,409 voter turnout. Day 2 turnout was 84,781. Day 3 saw 59,078. The first three days had a cumulative turnout of 223,268.

There are nine candidates for mayor, but only three are actively running: Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and Curtis Sliwa. Mayor Eric Adams suspended his re-election campaign after a series of incidents that led to him not obtaining matching funds to run a credible campaign.
Prior to ending his re-election campaign, Adams and Cuomo were forcefully attacking each other presumably because they were going after the same electorate: Black voters.

During the campaign, Adams attacked Cuomo by stating that Cuomo had made “a career of pushing Black candidates out of races”, particularly former Governor David Paterson and former State Comptroller H. Carl McCall. Adams went on to call Cuomo a “snake and a liar”, then endorsed him.

Meanwhile, Cuomo has been courting conservative voters, Muslim voters, and moderates in an attempt to chip away at Mamdani’s frontrunner status. Approximately half of early voters are Boomer age, which could benefit Cuomo.

But, Mamdani was born in Uganda and would likely attract the growing African vote. He is of Indian descent, which would attract voters with attachment to that subcontinent. He would likely get strong support from Muslim voters, in addition to young and disaffected voters who contributed to Mamdani’s primary win.

Mamdani has been subjected to racial and religious dog whistles from those who oppose/fear him.
A Cuomo mailer depicted Mamdani with a darkened beard to make him look foreign and scary. Sliwa has said Mamdani encourages “global jihad” and Eric Adams compared Mamdani to “violent extremists.”
In an emotional speech outside his mosque in the Bronx last Friday Mamdani addressed the issue.


“To be a Muslim in New York is to expect indignity. But indignity does not make us distinct. There are many New Yorkers who face it. It is the tolerance of that indignity that does,” said Mamdani. “Since I announced my candidacy for mayor one year ago, I have sought to be the candidate to fight for every single New Yorker, not simply the Muslim candidate.”

Mamdani added, “While my opponents in this race have brought hatred to the forefront, this is just a glimpse of what so many have to endure every day across this city. While it would be easy for us to say this is not who we are as a city, we know the truth: this is who we have allowed ourselves to become.”

In response, Cuomo said, “Don’t disrespect New Yorkers. What he is doing is the oldest, dirtiest political trick in the book: divide people by race, by religion, by sexual orientation. I’ve seen it in dozens of campaigns.”

Mamdani is undaunted.
“The Bangladeshi community is supporting Zorhan Mamdani. Being a journalist I found about 90%, a significant amount of voters in the Bangladeshi community in New York City, will want to give him a victory. About 100% of Bangladeshi vote in New York City. They are really behind Zorhan Mamdani,” said Abu Taher, publisher of Bangla Patrika and editor of Time Television, a digital Bangeli language platform. “There are a very few, maybe 8-9%, who may vote for some other candidate. But most of them are supporting Zorhan Mamdani.”

The two-page ballot contains other races and proposals.
Incumbent Jumaane Williams is running for re-election as Public Advocate on the Democratic and Working Families lines, and is bring challenged by Gonzalo Duran on the Republican and Conservative/United Alliance lines, and Marty Dolan on The Unity line.
City Comptroller is a citywide open seat. Mark Levine is running on the Democratic line, Peter Kefalas is running on the Republican and Conservative Party lines, and Ismael Malave Perez is running on The Unity line.

Incumbent Eric Gonzalez is running for re-election for Brooklyn District Attorney on the Democratic and Working Families line.
Incumbent Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso is running for re-election on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines, and is being challenged by Janine Acquafredda on the Republican and Conservative lines.

Central Brooklyn Member of the City Council Contests
35th Council District: Incumbent Crystal Hudson is running on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines, and is challenged by Benny Rosenberger on the Conservative line and Hector Robertson on the United Alliance line.
36th Council District: Chi Osse is running unopposed on the Democratic Party line.

37th Council District: Sandy Nurse is running for re-election unopposed on both the Democratic and Working Families lines.
40th Council District: Incumbent Rita Joseph is running on the Democratic and Working Families lines.

41st Council District: Incumbent Darlene Mealy is running for re-election on the Democratic Party line and is challenged by Yehuda Shaffer on the United Alliance line.
42nd Council District: Chris Banks is running for re-election on the Democratic line and is being challenged by Davon Phillips on the Freedom line.

45th Council District: Incumbent Farah Louis is running on the Democratic Party line, challenged by Joshua Elijah Diaz on the Republican and Conservative lines and Hatem El-Gamasy on the Safe & Affordable line.

46th Council District: Incumbent Mercedes Narcisse is running on the Democratic Party line and is challenged by Athena Clarke on the Republican line and Dimple Willabus on the Conservative line.
There are also Judicial races and proposals on the front and back of the ballot.

Zohran’s Mayoral Race to Lose?

Nayaba Arinde
-
0
Zohran’s Mayoral Race to Lose?

By Nayaba Arinde
Editor at Large

“With early voting underway, it’s important for all of us to vote for my friend Zohran Mamdani for Mayor. He wants to make New York a more affordable city for all of us, and keep our communities safe and growing,” New York Attorney General Letitia James told Our Times Press, as she fends off what supporters call President Donald Trump’s retaliatory fraud indictment. She noted the Obama-esque energy surrounding the campaign.

“Zohran has generated enthusiasm I have not seen since what then-candidate Barack Obama did in 2008. Zohran’s campaign is one of joy and hope, of community and humanity, of power and purpose. He is going to be a mayor for all of us, so I am humbly asking for you to vote for Zohran Mamdani during early voting or on Election Day, Tuesday November 4.”

Democrat Mamdani is 10 points ahead of Independent line former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s 34 percent, with Republican Curtis Sliwa at 11 percent.
There are several other races on the General Election ballot: Public Advocate, District Attorneys, judges, and then the 6 proposals.

Specific Black issues are not on the ballot. Mamdani touts affordability across the everyday living gamut, Cuomo spouts something similar. Bringing up the rear, Sliwa is talking about being the realest public safety candidate.

Yet, some Black folks’ conversations focus on the glaring absence of a ratio-equivalent Black people presence at any of Zohran’s big events.
Even at the 13,000 person Forest Hill event on Sunday night, there was only a smattering of Black folks, but not enough to instill confidence in certain areas that Mamdani has a concern, understanding, or even curiosity about what even a minimal Black Agenda might be.
That being understood, there is perhaps no alternative for some. Cuomo and Sliwa may split the angry, or slightly perturbed white, and Black right-of-center vote.


CUNY Professor Rosemari Mealy told Our Time Press, “Mamdani has a lot of support amongst the youth, and also rising support in the Black community.”
As for the Black agenda, or his lack thereof, Mealy continued that Mamdani “needs to raise this issue around what’s happening where slave labor is occurring in the prisons in New York State, he needs to address that question.

He needs to address the educational system in this country, about what’s happening and how so many of our young Black kids do not have access to the more ‘advanced’ public school systems. He needs to look at the issue of charter schools and how they are taking over public schools spaces. Of course the question is around healthcare, and what’s happening with the aging population.”

Early voting began on Saturday, March 25th, 2025, 220,000 folks had voted by Monday – 22,105 in Brooklyn, second in the City to Manhattan’s 24,046.
With Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, 50-somethings casting most of the votes, Cuomo, 67, and Sliwa, 71, may feel they have an edge over Mamdani, 34, and his relatively young squad of 50,000 volunteers and active supporters.
Meanwhile, Trump’s border control czar Tom Homan has threatened to flood New York with ICE agents should Mamdani win.

“What I find troubling is the lengths people are going to go to steer the way people will vote,” artist Danny Simmons told Our Time Press. “While I’m not a NYC resident any longer, what happens in the city I still love is important to me, and the ability to make up one’s mind without the spread of outright lies and misinformation–attempting to misdirect the voters is vitally important.”

The former Bed Stuy resident, and brother of Run DMC Rev. Run, and former music executive Russell Simmons continued, “I’m hoping the people of New York see past this, and really look at the candidates positions on the issues and let that inform their voting.

I hope that the fear tactics being used, like if this person is elected we will punish the city in various ways, is a dangerous precedent to set if it is successful. Whoever you vote for shouldn’t be guided by the fear of revenge for your vote.”

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said that the Suffolk University polls “shows exactly what we’re seeing on the ground: This is a two-man race, momentum is on our side, and the more New Yorkers learn about how dangerously inexperienced Zohran Mamdani is–and about his extremist agenda, the less they like what they see.”


Azzopardi continued, “In just a month, Andrew Cuomo has cut Mamdani’s lead in half, and the early voting is going our way. This is exactly where Mamdani was at this point in the primary, and it’s clear that Andrew Cuomo’s message of competent leadership–along with his agenda to increase public safety, end the housing and affordability crisis, and strengthen our economy and education system–is resonating.”

With his “vote, vote,vote,” mantra Cuomo says that he is confident that he “will not stop fighting for every vote in every corner of this great city between now and Election Day. Together, we can and will win the fight to save the city.”

The Constitutional Law professor, and Civil rights attorney Professor Gloria Jene Browne-Marshall told Our Time Press, “I work at CUNY, and CUNY was not treated well under the Cuomo administration….Also, do you want a politician that is so strong-willed in their own mind, that they are not going to listen to the will of the people?”

As for Mamdani? The educator replied, “I think he’s right now, he’s a bit of a wild card. But…I think there are a lot of people who are willing to take the chance on a wild card.”
Meanwhile, the outsider coming in hot on the inside track “Curtis Sliwa is running to be the People’s Mayor because he’s the only candidate in this race who actually puts New Yorkers first, not special interests,” Sliwa spokesperson Daniel Kurzyna, told Our Time Press. “Unlike Mamdani and Cuomo, he isn’t bought and paid for — he’s powered by the people, and we’re going to shock the world on November 4th.”

There is less than a week for folk to get to their decision–even less if they intend to take advantage of early voting until Sunday.
General Election Day is on November 4th, 2025.


Black Solidarity Day traditionally occurs on the first Monday of November, and every four years it coincides with heralding in election day. This Sunday, November 2nd, 2025, the December 12th Movement will be hosting their traditional rally at Bed Stuy’s Bethany Baptist Church. Omowale Chairman Clay told Our Time Press that a collective of Black organizations determined that as a united front they agreed on their tentative support for Mamdani despite
“reservations about other parts of his platform, which temper our support. Our position is that it is important for all registered voters to vote and that no one should vote for Cuomo or Sliwa.”

Clay added, “We encourage all Our Time Press readers to attend the Pre-Black Solidarity Day Citywide Rally on Sunday, November 2nd at 3 pm, at the historic Bethany Baptist Church, 460 Marcus Garvey Boulevard, in the People’s Republic of Brooklyn.”

Zohran Mamdani Versus the Economic Royalists

Roger Green
-
0
Zohran Mamdani Versus the Economic Royalists

By Roger L. Green
As we enter the final days of one of the most consequential political campaigns in New York City’s history, an election the nation and world are watching, voters of African heritage are being called to discern between two distinct visions for our city’s future.

In one corner stands Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a young, progressive candidate whose campaign dares us to believe that the wealthiest city in the world can finally govern with compassion and equity. He envisions a New York that provides universal childcare and free bus service for working-class families, the working poor, and those struggling to remain in an increasingly unaffordable city. Mamdani’s message is clear; it is possible to build a city that works for the many, not the few.

Roger L. Green


In the opposing corner stands a familiar political machine, a tradition of racist demagoguery and economic elitism that sustains the ambitions of former Governor Andrew Cuomo and his allies. This coalition of economic royalists defends the privileges of a “rich and shameless” class that thrives while the majority struggles.

It is a perverse arrangement that allows billionaires to hire Black nannies, travel by limousine between Manhattan and the Hamptons, and live behind the velvet rope of exclusivity, while working families pay over $2,200 a month for child care and face rising transportation costs. And still, we are told “don’t tax the rich.”.

To confront this widening divide, Mamdani urges us to embrace a progressive imagination. He proposes a fair and moral tax structure, one that asks New York’s wealthiest residents, who control more than 60 percent of the nation’s wealth, to contribute their share.

The resources gained would support programs that lift those being crushed by the city’s affordability crisis.
Andrew Cuomo, by contrast, remains a servant of the donor class, the same class that bankrolls candidates to protect an inequitable status quo. He has perfected a transactional politics that rewards opportunism and insulates billionaires while communities of African heritage are displaced from once-affordable neighborhoods.

This alliance of economic royalists has grown more brazen. When billionaire Bill Ackman, an unbending supporter of Donald Trump, wired $1 million to support racist ads benefiting Cuomo’s campaign, the moral contrast could not have been clearer.

Ackman earns roughly $110 million per day; the median daily income for a New Yorker of African heritage is $145.

Sensing that voters are rejecting the old politics of privilege, Cuomo has resorted to the ugliest form of campaigning; fear and prejudice. On October 23, 2025, during an interview with radio host Sid Rosenberg, a known Islamophobe, Cuomo was asked, “God forbid, another 9/11, can you imagine Mamdani in the seat?” Rosenberg added, “He’d be cheering.” Cuomo laughed and replied, “That’s another problem.”


Such rhetoric dishonors the office he once held and the moral legacy of his father, Governor Mario Cuomo, with whom I had the privilege to serve during my 26 years in the New York State Assembly. Mario Cuomo possessed a moral compass; Andrew Cuomo, by contrast, is a transactional operative driven by power and ambition, not purpose or justice.

Andrew Cuomo’s mindset mirrors a disoriented Democratic Party, too often willing to elevate opportunists over visionaries. This feeble posture has made New York less livable and less affordable for working people, especially for African-Diasporic residents whose neighborhoods now bear the brunt of gentrification, displacement, and exclusionary economics.

In stark contrast, on October 14, 2025, the Coalition for a Democratic and Just New York presented Assemblyman Mamdani with a comprehensive policy framework rooted in community empowerment and democratic self-governance. In a thoughtful dialogue, Mamdani and his team embraced the coalition’s principles, pledging to co-create policies that transmit real power to the people and institutions serving African-Diasporic communities.

It was a conversation grounded in mutual respect and shared purpose, not political opportunism.
The question before us on November 4 is therefore not simply who will be mayor; it is whether New York City will continue to serve the comfort of the few or the dignity of the many. Will we remain hostage to the economic royalists and political opportunists who created our present crisis, or will we summon the courage to chart a new course toward justice and shared prosperity?

In the tradition of our ancestors, we must unleash our best instincts, to think critically, act collectively, and apply conditional yet committed support to a Mamdani administration that honors our communities’ needs and aspirations.
The time for passive politics is over; the time for moral courage has arrived. The choice is clear; Mamdani or the Economic Royalists.

Kofi Osei Williams: Creating an African Diaspora Legacy for Young Dancers and Drummers

Fern Gillespie
-
0
Kofi Osei Williams: Creating an African Diaspora Legacy for Young Dancers and Drummers

Fern Gillespie
Brooklyn youth creatively learn the African Diaspora legacy dance and drum through Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation’s School of the Arts. This artistic inspirational instruction encompasses history, arts, and culture for young people from ages 2 to 18. The school’s legacy of nurturing talented Black youth is embraced in its 14th anniversary theme –”Legacy in Motion.”

“Dance and dance schools have always been attached to the teachers. Like when we start talking about some of the great teachers of the dance world like Alvin Ailey. A lot of people would think about his dance company.

But if you think about the amount of great people that came through his company that were taught by him, his legacy is being passed on,” said Kofi Osei Williams, Chief Executive Officer of the Asase Yaa Entertainment Group and a renowned drummer, told Our Time Press.

“We are based in Bed Stuy and I grew up in Bed Stuy. Some of the legacy is right here like the International African Arts Festival, which was earlier the African Street Festival, and was earlier The East. That’s part of our legacy, and all of those things die if we don’t teach the kids that are under us.”

Dance classes cover the African Diaspora. There’s traditional African dance from West Africa to South African styles. Dance classes also include jazz, modern, hip hop, ballet, tap, and salsa. There’s the dance choreography by legends from Katherine Dunham to Alvin Ailey to Misty Copeland.

“African dance is the most popular, because that’s where we started,” said Williams. “But the kids now are really getting into Dunham’s style of dance. They really appreciate it. My mother-in-law Elendar Barnes was a certified Katherine Dunham Dancer. She took classes taught by Dunham.”

Williams balances his career as a performer, educator, and company administrator. He continues to travel to Ghana for drumming classes. His work with African drums has had him performing with artists ranging from jazz greats Pharoah Sanders and Dianne Reeves, gospel’s Vanessa Bell Armstrong, and new age guru Paul Winters to Djembe Drum innovator M’Bemba Bangoura, soul chanteuse Erykah Badu and conscious hip hop star Talib Kweli.

He studied African drums at Dinizulu African Dancers, Drummers & Singers – the oldest African Dance company in America and attended high school at the prestigious Professional Performing ARTS School in Manhattan, which permitted him to perform as a professional drummer. He even played Carnegie Hall as a teen.

He continues to be a musician for the dance theater and the summer camp, where he encourages theatrical professionals from Broadway to Brooklyn to teach at affordable prices so kids can benefit and flourish in the arts.

“I’m a drummer, so as a musician that that’s where I thought my whole life would be. But sometimes you want to do a little bit more. When my wife and I started having children, I wanted to be there for them. I’ve done tours where we did 30 weeks and I’ve been to probably about 40 different countries. In the middle of one tour, I quit.

I said I have to go home and take care of my kids. I was coming home and my kids barely knew me. I knew that I needed to raise my kids,” he said. “So being a musician was one of the greatest things ever. And sometimes I’ll still go on the road, but I can never go on a road for more than a week now.”

Last week, he took a father-daughter HBCU road trip and escorted his teenage daughter to visit the Spelman College campus in Atlanta. “She loves Spelman. She’s like ‘Daddy, sign me up now,” he said. “We come from a family of educators. Like my mother-in-law was an educator. My grandmother was an educator. My mother was an educator. My wife is an educator. So, we take education very strongly in our family. Our school even gives 4 to 5 scholarships every year.”

This year, he wrote the play ‘The HBCU Show’ for their Summer Camp, which teaches the value of historical black colleges and the culture behind them.

At Asase Yaa, Williams oversees the creative and business direction of the affiliated Asase Yaa African-American Dance Theatre, Asase Yaa School of the Arts, Asase Yaa Children’s Arts Camp and the non-profit Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation. As Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation celebrates its 25th anniversary, Williams and Zakiya Harris, Artistic Director of the School of the Arts, have introduced new creative initiatives.

The Toddler Program is for two-year-olds and their caregivers that introduces the joy of movement at an early age. Ready, Set, Move Partnership is an engaging preschool dance curriculum designed to build coordination, confidence, and a lifelong love of dance through music and play. The Legacy Programs is a pre-professional training track designed to prepare advanced students for future careers in the performing arts.

This is the second year of the school’s operation at its modern Bedford Stuyvesant community arts center (506 Macdonough Street), which functions as a hub for learning and connection. It features three dance studios, a music room, a community lounge, office space and fitness classes.


“When children are brave, you get to see a different part of them. Children could only be brave when they feel safe,” said Williams. “We promote that children are always looking to be creative. They are looking to have community, they want to have friends. We want to build a full community of people that could be brave, because they’re in a safe community. We are using the arts to build friendships.”

The 2025–26 School of the Arts season runs from October 2025 through June 2026 at 506 Macdonough Street, Brooklyn, NY 11233. To register children for classes visit https://www.asaseyaaent.org/school/.

Democratic Leader Jeffries Compels Republican Speaker Johnson to Act

Mary Alice Miller
-
0
Democratic Leader Jeffries Compels Republican Speaker Johnson to Act

By Mary Alice Miller
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced in a press conference on Monday that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (both from Louisiana) is working to craft a Republican health care plan with the chairs of three House committees. The committees with jurisdiction over health care plans are Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Workforce.

Johnson’s stance since the shutdown began on October 1 is that he only approves of a ‘clean’ continuing spending bill. But, forces beyond his control may have convinced him otherwise.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a phone town hall attended by more than 9,000 people.

Referring to Republicans in the House and Senate, Jeffries said, “They would rather keep the government closed than provide affordable health care for the American people. The Democratic position is firm and clear: we want to reopen the government and believe it needs to be done immediately. We want to enact a spending agreement that is bipartisan. But it has to be an agreement that makes life better for the American people.”


Jeffries said, “It is critical that we address the Republican health care crisis which includes the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. The Republican refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which means many of the people that I am privileged to represent are going to experience dramatically increased premiums, co-pays, and deductibles which is unaffordable for so many.”

“Remember,” Jeffries said, “Donald Trump in late January of this year promised to ‘love and cherish’ Medicaid. Then Republicans passed their One Big Ugly Bill and cut Medicaid by almost a trillion dollars and as a result perhaps a million people in New York are at risk of losing their health insurance. Because of what Republicans have done. There are hospitals and nursing homes and community based health centers and home care services that are also at risk because of this cut.”

Jeffries made a point to state that included in the Democratic spending bill is a reversal of Medicaid cuts “so that people all across the country – more than 14 million people – don’t lose their health insurance because of devastating cuts to Medicaid that Republicans put in their One Big Ugly bill.”

“We are fighting for everyone,” said Jeffries, “because hospitals, nursing homes, and community based health centers and Medicaid recipients are found everywhere.”
One week after the shutdown began firebrand Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia said she is “disgusted” at the possibility of Affordable Care Act insurance premiums doubling if government subsidies are allowed to expire.

Greene wrote on X “I’m going against everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire this year my own adult children’s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district.”
Polling suggests the shutdown is a liability, with more Americans blaming Republicans than Democrats, especially in the lead up to next year’s midterm elections.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 50% of respondents blame Republicans and 43% blame Democrats. And a recent Quinnipiac poll found that Democrats in Congress have boosted their approval rating among Democratic voters to 58%, up from 39% in July.

It’s been a month since the federal government shut down. Republicans wanted a ‘clean’ bill with enhanced security for federal elected representatives. Democrats want an extension of ObamaCare subsidies scheduled to expire at the end of the year and a reversal of cuts to Medicaid.


The Senate needs 60 votes to pass the House Republican ‘clean’ bill but Democrats have stood firm in their insistence that health care funding be included, refusing to join Republicans to pass the bill. Despite almost a dozen votes held, neither the Rupublican nor Democrat bills have passed.

Looming in the November 1 open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act. Without the subsidies, millions of people will see their health insurance costs double.

In addition, as long as the shutdown holds, SNAP (Food Stamp) benefits will not be funded commencing November 1. On Monday, recipients received a text message stating “November SNAP Benefits may be delayed due to the federal shutdown.” The New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance website states “SNAP benefits cannot be issued for November unless federal funding is authorized.”

Federal housing subsidies are also impacted. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which directly funds public housing authorities under Section 9, will likely run out of money after November payments are issued unless a spending bill is passed.
Section 8 rental assistance subsidies are funded until the end of the year.

NYCHA, which administers the nation’s largest Section 8 program, receives around $200 million per month in federal funding. HUD provides $100 million per month for NYCHA’s operating budget, about two-thirds of its total operating budget. Across the five boroughs, about 96,000 people are covered.

HUD also provides $55 million per month for smaller Section 8 developments that cover about 36,000 households.
Add the 1.4 million civilian federal employees who missed a paycheck last Friday due to the shutdown. About half of those employees have been furloughed, while the other half are deemed essential and must continue to work without a pay check.

1...373839...1,303Page 38 of 1,303