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What’s Going On

Victoria Horsford
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CORONAVIRUS 2020
America, like the rest of the world, is in a state of flux, owing to the unwelcome visitor, a coronavirus pandemic and its attendant ills, widespread unemployment, poverty and a global recession. Few world leaders, least of all POTUS 45, were prepared for the virus devastation. Scientists are working feverishly for a vaccine. Consequently borders were closed and war was declared against the germ. For almost three months, most Americans in lockdown were quarantined at home, or face-masked and social distancing when hitting the streets. Since early June, most of the United States is returned to business in measured steps, proceeding with caution, lest the epidemiologists prove that they know a thing or two about virus behavior.


While uncertainty permeates the economic landscape as the virus seems to be arrested, everyone – employers, employees, unemployed – proceeds with caution. The COVID-19 report card through June 22 is filled with lessons about gloom and doom. Globally, more than 9,125,615 people have been infected by the virus with 469,964 deaths. In the USA more than 2,388,225 people have been infected with 122,611 deaths, roughly 20% of the worldwide stats, a worrisome figure for a nation that represents about 4% of the planet’s population and the erstwhile leader of the world. In New York State there has been 388,488 infections with 24,739 deaths. The NYC infection rate is 212,741 with 22,321 deaths. The City lost 940,000 jobs since March. Alas, Governor Andrew Cuomo has discontinued his informative updates about the smart way to battle a relentless enemy.


Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a social movement virus infected Americans and has impacted the world. It began with the 5/25 murder of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, while he was in police custody, which was filmed and then went viral in social media and throughout the world. The death symbolized one of the many fault-lines in American society, police culture and brutality vis-à-vis Black people. The tragic death elevated a renewed importance to the Black Lives Matter movement, which came front-stage-center in the American media world. Protests all over the US displaced fears of COVID-19. Blacks, whites, young and old marched against police culture and other societal discontent in Europe, Australia, South America and many nations that do not treat many of its indigenous people fairly. Millions of dollars flow to Black Civil Rights and social equality organizations since the culture of protest started to infect America, almost a month ago. Protests brought about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act. America was/is feeling good again. The George Floyd ethos seemed to have spilled over to two US Supreme Court rulings last week, one that upheld DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and the other that states that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects the LGBTQ employees from discrimination. The two rulings are Trump Doctrine averse.

ELECTIONS 2020
All Of The Presumed Presidential Nominee’s women: Joe Biden has a baker’s dozen of women under consideration as his VEEP, seven of whom are African American and Latino, which include the usual suspects: Stacey Abrams, former Georgia Gubernatorial candidate; Atlanta Mayor Keshia Lance Bottoms; US Senator Kamala Harris; Former US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice; Congress member Val Demings and Latina Michelle Grisham. California Congress member Karen Bass was added to list on 6/22. It was nice of US Senator Amy Klobuchar to withdraw from the race. She lost all credibility when stories unfolded about her life as a Minnesota prosecutor too cozy with its police culture, which was predicted in this column last week.


The June 23 Primary season is over. About 700,000 absentee ballots still have to be counted. Joe Biden handily won the Presidential race. The obvious Congressional winners are incumbents Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Bronx; Andriano Espaillat, Manhattan; Yvette Clarke, Brooklyn and Gregory Meeks, Queens. Two surprises in the Primary was the race for 16-term Congressman Eliot Engel’s seat. He was defeated by newcomer African American principal Jamaal Bowman, and the open seat race to replace Bronx Congressman Jose Serrano, which was won by progressive NYC Councilman Afro Latino Ritchie Torres, who vanquished NY politicos Michael Blake and Councilman Ruben Diaz, Sr. More on final results soon. Brooklyn NYS Assembly member Diana Richardson dashed the comeback hopes of ousted NYS Senator Jesse Hamilton. More on those final outcomes soon.


The NY Board of Elections is the worst. Hope that it is not a forecast of things to come in November. Many friends complained about requesting mail-in ballots, and getting no responses. Three days before the 6/23 Primary, a notice arrived about a polling place change of venue. A change of venue was put into effect in 19 polling places. NYS Attorney General Tish James advised DOE that all people who came out to vote could not be turned away at 9 PM. The NY BOE practices, like the change of poll venues and failure to deliver mail-in ballots must be investigated. Those practices would benefit incumbents.

ARTS/CULTURE
Read poet/scholar Elizabeth Alexander’s meditation, “The Trayvon Generation” in the June New Yorker magazine. She defines not just an era, but the long history of violence against Blacks in America and our survival tools and skills.


Robin Hood Foundation President Wes Moore, the Rhodes Scholar and author of The Other Wes Moore, penned a new book, Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of An American City which is about Baltimore resident Freddie Gray, who died in police custody.
DW Solutions, LLC and Attorney Sylvia Gail Kinard will host a Zoom Meeting, I OWN IT, a discussion for and by Women Business owners, featuring Moronke Oshin-Martin, and Leith ter Meulen, founder/owner of LandAir, on June 25, 12-1 pm ET. Meeting ID 813-4454-6759 Password 189173. Register at dwsolutions2020@gmail.com.
The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce presents The Harlem Summits, a 3-part series to be livestreamed at Facebook.com/HarlemChamber/Live from 6-8 pm. The Summits’ subjects are Fathers Summit; Gay Pride on 6/24; and Black Music Month, 6/30.

A Harlem-based branding and media consultant, Victoria can be reached at victoria.horsford@gmail.com

A Black Progressive Beat a 16-Term Democrat in a Heated New York Congressional Primary

Editor, Our Time Press
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A Black Progressive Beat a 16-Term Democrat in a Heated New York Congressional Primary

Addy Baird – Ryan Brooks,
BuzzFeed News Reporters
Jamaal Bowman, a former educator and middle school principal from the Bronx, declared victory Wednesday over Rep. Eliot Engel, a 16-term member of Congress who represents New York’s 16th congressional district.


The primary win is a galvanizing moment for national progressives, just two years after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who backed Bowman, sparked a new wave of progressive organizing to push the Democratic Party further left. And, like with Ocasio-Cortez’s success in 2018, it is another win for a challenger who cast the incumbent as too out of touch with their district.


“I’m a Black man who was raised by a single mother in a housing project. That story doesn’t usually end in Congress. But today, that 11-year old boy who was beaten by police is about to be your next Representative,” Bowman said in a statement Wednesday morning. “I cannot wait to get to Washington and cause problems for the people maintaining the status quo.”
New York is still counting votes and may be for days, with a huge increase in absentee voting during the coronavirus pandemic. But Decision Desk HQ and others have found that Bowman’s lead over Engel is too great for the incumbent to make up.


Engel released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying he did not believe Bowman should declare victory before absentee ballots have been counted. “Any declarative statement on the outcome of this race right now is premature and undermines the democratic process,” the statement said.
Bowman’s candidacy was propelled over the last month by national protests against police brutality and a surging Black Lives Matter movement. He was one of several Black candidates to have a strong result in Tuesday’s elections.


“Tonight as we celebrate, we don’t just celebrate me as an individual, we celebrate this movement,” Bowman said during a speech Tuesday night. “A movement designed to push back against a system that’s literally killing us. It’s killing Black and brown bodies disproportionately, but it’s killing all of us.”


During his remarks, Bowman said he would only mention his opponent once.
“Eliot Engel, and I’ll say his name once, used to say he was a thorn in the side of Donald Trump. But you know what Donald Trump is more afraid of than anything else? A Black man with power,” he said.

Election Results:

Editor, Our Time Press
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Election Results:

Brisport Takes Senate Seat, Richardson and Salazar Triumph, Mosley, Lentol, Ortiz Win

By Stephen Witt, KCP

The upstart Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) continued to show their muscle in Brooklyn tonight as Jabari Brisport appears to have enough votes to overcome and mail-in ballot votes to win the Democratic primary for the 25th District state senate seat.
The seat opened up with the retirement of State Sen. Velmanette Montgomery (D-Fort Greene, Boerum Hill, Red Hook, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Sunset Park, Gowanus, Park Slope). As Brooklyn, with the exception of parts of Southern Brooklyn, is a one-party borough, the Democratic Primary is for all practical purposes the election that decides who will be elected in the November general election.


According to the unofficial Board of Election (BOE) results, Brisport had 52.70% or 17,113 votes to second-place finisher Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright who had 40% or 13,301 votes. Jason Salmon garnered 1,857 votes.

“It’s a new day in New York Politics and working-class people are taking charge of our government to build a future where all of us can not only survive but thrive,” said Brisport’s campaign manager Fainan Lakha.


While Brisport appeared to win handily in a rapidly gentrifying district, his DSA counterpart Phara Forrest narrowly lost to incumbent Assemblyman Walter Mosley (Fort Green, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights) in a district that overlaps with the senate district.
According to the unofficial results Mosley received 7,301 votes (52.36%) to Forrest’s 6,606 (47.37%).
“I’m honored to win and have both the Democratic Party and Working Families Party line in the general election. We’ve accomplished a lot in strengthening tenant laws and dealing with the issue of police misconduct and we have more to do,” said Mosley. “I look forward to continuing the dialogue with those who voted for me, but more importantly with the people that didn’t vote for me as I represent everybody in the 57th district.”


Also winning big in their primary re-election was DSAer State Sen. Julia Salazar  (Bushwick, Cypress Hills, Greenpoint, Williamsburgh, parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, East New York) and Assemblywoman Diana Richardson (Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens).
According to the unofficial BOE results, Salazar had 14,557 votes or 85% of the electorate to her challenger, Andy Marte’s 2,512 votes.


In one of the more interesting races, Richardson ran against former State Sen. Jesse Hamilton and was the only incumbent running who did not get the endorsement of the Kings County Democratic Party. This hardly mattered, though, as she soundly beat Hamilton in getting over 71% percent of the vote (8,570) to Hamilton’s 3,447 votes.
Also retaining the Democratic nomination were veteran Assemblymembers Joe Lentol (D-Greenpoint, Williamsburg) and Felix Ortiz.

Clarke Wins Primary in a Landslide

Editor, Our Time Press
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Clarke Wins Primary in a Landslide

By Ariama Long, KCP

U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach, Prospect Lefferts Gardens), last night crushed the field as she cruised to a landslide victory in the Congressional Democratic Primary.
According to unofficial numbers, with 80 percent of the vote counted, Clarke received 29,254 votes or 60.8 percent of the electorate. 
Adem Bunkeddeko, who has challenged Clarke for the second time and narrowly lost to her two years ago, had 19.1 percent or 9,180 votes of the electorate. 
City Councilman Chaim Deutsch (Brighton Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Gravesend, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, Midwood, Plum Beach, Sheepshead Bay) finished in third place with 4,725 votes or 9.8 percent of the electorate.
“I’m very excited about the possibilities, and looking at the numbers right now, we’re doing very well,” said Clarke at her election watch party.
This year’s turbulent election season came amid a health crisis leaving the city’s Board of Elections (BOE) scrambling.
The BOE distributed 75,653 mail-in ballots and a total of 1,210 ballots were returned for the Democratic Party in Brooklyn. There were also some reported polling place issues. At the polling site located at Success Academy, 72 Veronica Place, a source said this morning that no keys were available to unlock ballot scanners. A site coordinator tried to resolve the problem in a timely fashion but ended up handing out affidavits to voters. 
But Clarke and her followers were happy to claim victory. 
“I’m glad the people of the 9th Congressional District saw in her [Clarke] what I’ve always seen in her. She is a powerful, dignified, legislator,” said Assemblywoman Latrice Walker (D-Brownsville), who worked for Clarke in government as a young attorney. 

Eateries Entering Phase Two

Maitefa Angaza
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Eateries Entering Phase Two

By Maitefa Angaza

COVID-19 has taken more than precious lives from us. It’s also taken livelihoods and some of the aliveness we feel in the physical company of others. So people are excited about returning to their neighborhood restaurants to enjoy their favorite dishes with friends and family members they haven’t seen off-screen for months.


Phase Two of the City’s return to “normal” rollout began this Monday, with the reopening of retail businesses (apart from malls) and restaurants (restricted to outdoor seating). As we know, cafes, dinner establishments and larger chain restaurants have all been relegated to takeout and delivery for the past few months. Now those restaurants that can — those with available sidewalk or backyard space — will serve customers al fresco. More than 4,000 restaurants are certified to begin reopening this week according to Mayor de Blasio.


The scenarios for accommodating the new ordinances vary. Diners sitting outside will not be required to wear masks before or after eating, but health experts advise that we do so anyway. Social distancing between parties will likely be in place at some restaurants, but is not mandated, and hand sanitizer is highly recommended for the sake of all.


Outside of the state some restaurants have recently reopened only to close again after a staff member tested positive for the coronavirus. In New York, however, numbers have steadily declined, aside from a few spikes here and there. And the state has done as much testing as possible given the resources allocated by the government. New York City, which once had the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the nation, now has less than one percent of the population testing positive.
But it’s been a struggle for restaurants to survive and not all have made it. Welcome as it is, outdoor seating will account for only a fraction of the business these establishments can usually accommodate. The website National Restaurant Association forecasts that by the end of June roughly 11 percent of New York City’s 25,000 restaurants will have permanently closed, unable to recover from the financial devastation of COVID-19.

Challenges, Giving and Gratitude
Among the many neighborhood restaurants still standing are the Peaches Hothouse chain of soul food restaurants, Natural Blend Vegan Café and Brooklyn Tea.
Our Time Press spoke with Ben Grossman of the B&C Restaurant Group. He and business partner Craig Samuel, who met as chefs at Picholine in Manhattan, opened The Smoke Joint in 2006. It quickly became known as one of the premier places to get barbeque in the neighborhood and beyond. The pair later opened the original Peaches Hothouse on Tompkins Avenue followed by Peaches Shrimp and Crab on Grand Avenue in Clinton Hill, and a Hothouse on Lewis Ave. They closed The Smoke Joint at 87 South Elliott Pl to open another Peaches Hothouse in its place. The new venues showcase the range of soul food capable of satsfying high-standard palates.


Grossman says his restaurants had been doing takeout and deliver since March 17th. During that time, however, they were highly active in preparing and donating many thousands of meals. They fed hospital workers, firefighter, police stations and people in emergency need.
“We fed 400 residents at a NYCHA housing project on Vernon Blvd that lost gas. And now, out of that location we paired up with Heartshare St. Vincent’s Services, an outreach for foster kids, During this time a lot of us have family that we can fall back on, they don’t have that.”
As for this outdoor-seating phase, Grossman says they’ll be rolling out gradually, carefully and purposefully.


“Our industry is all about socialization, being together, celebrating, laughing, enjoying good drink, good food,” he said. “COVID took that away from us. So I’m hoping we can come together and follow these regulations and slowly, slowly, get back to some kind of normalcy.”
Ben’s partner Craig Samuel was out of town, but spoke briefly with Our Time Press, and is also eager to begin a return.


“You know, people see my wife’s grandmother Peaches on the wall and ask if all the recipes are hers. I say they are not, but the restaurants are named after her because of the way she made me feel. She was always extremely warm, welcoming and loving; that’s the atmosphere we strive to offer our diners.”


Deonne Wallace and Dave Wallace’s Natural Blend Vegan Café has grown to four locations since first opening on Washington Ave in Crown Heights 16 years ago. The second store, at 243 Malcolm X Blvd., opened in Feb. of 2016. Church and Flatbush opened last year and the location at 302 Nostrand Ave, a few months later.
He says Natural Blend is 95% percent vegan, with a couple of salmon dishes and saltfish to go with ackee. The vegan options are plentiful, from dinners to soups, patties, baked goods, juices and smoothies.


Deonne looks forward to resuming sit-down service. Sidewalk seating for Washington Ave and Nostrand Ave isn’t yet certain, as space is scarce. But things are progressing at the other two locations.
“We have a nice yard at Malcolm X Blvd. It’s been a hotspot for dining in Bed-Stuy, beginning as early as March and all the way into November. We’re replanting the garden for dining starting July. We also have backyard dining at Church Avenue.”
Brooklyn Tea, owned by fiancés Alfonso Ali Wright and Jamila McGill. Avenue is a beloved sanctuary on busy Nostrand Ave in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Wright, a tea sommelier by training, is gratified when he convinces a tea novice or certified coffee drinker to expand their horizons a bit. They’ve been open a year and a half. They were doing takeout and delivery during the pandemic shutdown.


“Our customers have come by just to make sure we stay open. There have even been times when customers have come in to put $20 in the tip jar, then walk right out. They literally kept us open, for sure. Other customers would bring Jamila and I lunch and dinner, cause they knew we were stressing out over how to stay open. This people in this neighborhood really did everything they could to make sure we still existed.“
Wallace says they won’t be able to do sidewalk seating because the sidewalk isn’t very wide and other conditions disallow it at the moment. But they remain open for takeout and delivery. In addition to teas, the restaurant sells sandwiches, wraps, pie, vegan waffles and cookies with Biggie Smalls’ face. The owners also have a retail store online.
These neighborhood businesses are eager to welcome you back, so consider treating yourself while you support.

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