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New York’s Ceiling

Eddie Castro
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New York’s Ceiling

By Eddie Castro
In last week’s Column, the New York Knicks had the tough task of attempting to complete a 3-1 deficit against the Indiana Pacers. Last Thursday night, in a packed house at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks, led by Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony-Towns, were able to defeat the Pacers and force a Game 6 in Indiana.

Unfortunately, last Thursday’s game would prove to be the last home game for the Knicks this season.


New York was trying to make its first trip to the NBA Finals since 1999. In Game 6, fatigue appeared to be a contributing factor amongst other issues the team faced as to why they were eliminated by the Pacers in the postseason for the second year in a row. There are a few reasons why the Knicks weren’t able to take down Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers. First was New York’s failure to win the first two games at home.

I reiterated it during last week’s podcast: Game 1 could be the ultimate reason why the Knicks lost this series. In the fourth quarter of Game 1, they were up by 17 points with a little more than six minutes to go and up by 9 points with 58.8 seconds to go.

The second reason was the team trying to match Indiana’s tempo style of play. All season long, the Knicks’ identity was to play good enough defense and slow the pace of games.

In this Pacers series, it appeared Coach Tom Thibodeau was trying to match their speed instead of controlling the game’s pace. The game plan obviously failed. During the regular season, the Knicks ranked 27th in pace at 97.64 possessions per 48 minutes, where Indiana ranked 7th at 100.76. Last but not least were the turnovers and the defense.

New York gave up the second-most points per 100 possessions of any team in a Conference finals in the last 18 seasons. Their defense was just downright horrible. In Game 6, New York committed 18 turnovers. In this series, the Knicks committed more turnovers than the Pacers did, with the exception of one game.

Overall, the Knicks lost the turnover margin 93-75. With turnovers came instant, easy offense for Indiana. Those turnovers turned into points as Indiana crushed New York in points off turnovers by a score of 140-61.


So the question is, was this the Knicks’ highest ceiling to reach the NBA finals? This will be one of the most important off-seasons for the Knicks in recent memory. General Manager Leon Rose must address many things with this current roster.

The first duty should be adding depth. Indiana’s ability to play 10 to 11 players and get consistent minutes out of them became a huge advantage for them. In this Conference Finals, the Knicks had five players who averaged 8 points per game while the Pacers had eight. Having a bench is essential in today’s NBA.

Another question mark that will surround the team is whether they can add another star next to Jalen Brunson. The Knicks gave up a good portion of first-round (5 first-rounders 4 unprotected picks) to Brooklyn to acquire Mikal Bridges. Bottom line is there needs to be a huge upgrade to the roster if the team hopes to take the next step towards championship supremacy.


Sports Notes: (Basketball) although the New York Knicks are out of the playoffs, there is still two teams left. The NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. (Baseball) The Yankees wrap up a three-game set tonight vs the Cleveland Guardians at Yankee Stadium.

The team will then play the rival Boston Red Sox for the first time this season tomorrow night. As we go to press, the New York Mets have won four straight games and 7 out of their last 8. The team will wrap up their three-game set with the Dodgers tonight, then head to the Mile High City for a three-game set vs the Colorado Rockies.


Our Time Press universe, tune in to talk sports with Eddie in a brand new episode tonight at 5 PM live on our YouTube channel. Call in as I’ll discuss where the Knicks go from here and just how good the New York Mets can be this year if healthy.

Why Black Voters Should Consider Supporting Eric Adams for Reelection-

David Mark Greaves
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Why Black Voters Should Consider Supporting Eric Adams for Reelection-

By Renee Collymore

Eric Adams stands at a pivotal moment in New York City’s history—not only as a mayor managing complex urban challenges, but as the second Black mayor in the city’s history. Historically, Black leadership in high office has often been met with outsized scrutiny and a lack of patience. David Dinkins, the city’s first Black mayor, served only one term, and his legacy has often been overshadowed despite his measured approach to governance and the groundwork he laid for the city’s future stability.

When President Barack Obama completed two terms as President, it wasn’t just a political victory—it was a psychological and symbolic triumph for millions of Black Americans who saw, for the first time, that the highest office in the land was within reach. It expanded the realm of possibility for what Black leadership could achieve when given the opportunity to govern without premature dismissal.

Eric Adams may not be perfect, and fair criticism of his policies is part of a healthy democracy. But in deciding whether to support him for a second term, Black voters should weigh not just individual policies but also the broader implications of continuity in Black leadership. Denying him a full two terms without affording him the same latitude historically given to white mayors could reinforce the harmful perception that Black leaders are unequipped for long-term governance.

Reelecting Adams could serve as both a practical and symbolic investment in the visibility, credibility, and viability of Black leadership—not just for New York, but for the nation.

THE OTHER JUNETEENTH

David Mark Greaves
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THE OTHER JUNETEENTH

New 2025 Lien Sale: June 3rd

by Renee Turner-Gregory
New York City Department of Finance has extended the tax lien date to June 3rd. Homeowners now have until June 2nd to make financial arrangements to settle their tax and water lien debt.
Currently, there are close to 700 homes in our community that are on the 10-day list. Homeowners need to know that they still have an opportunity to make financial arrangements. Our last door to door outreach was quite successful. Scores of homeowners attended the tax lien meeting sponsored by Councilmember Chi Osse.

We still have work to do.
Bridge Street has an updated flyer regarding the new dates. We will not knock on doors, however we will be dropping flyers with updated information at the homes on the list.
I am volunteering to drive a team to addresses. Stephanie Faulkner has also volunteered to drive a team around. Again, we will not be knocking on doors. You will only drop off a flyer in the mailbox.
Our neighbors need us. We cannot afford to see 700 neighbors risk foreclosure. Foreclosures impact on neighborhood stabilization. Brownstoners strive to maintain overall neighborhood quality.

Please contact me at:
646.209.7314 to volunteer.
(Renee Turner-Gregory
is President of The Brownstoners of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Inc.)

The Brooklyn Summer Kicks-off with Community, Culture, Roots, Arts

David Mark Greaves
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The Brooklyn Summer Kicks-off with Community, Culture, Roots, Arts

By Nayaba Arinde
Editor at Large

“There is something completely unique about Brooklyn,” veteran photographer Hollis King told Our Time Press.
Snapping away at the beautifully-adorned attendees at the Bazaar outside Dance Africa in Fort Greene, this Memorial Day weekend, he said, “It stands in who it is, and is populated by people who look like each other, and they understand the threat and they are under, and this is a way of planting a flag where they live.”


With gentrification knocking on every door, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams told Our Time Press, “We have to celebrate our culture whenever, wherever, however–particularly now when they are trying to erase who we are altogether. The vibrancy is amazing. But as Brooklyn changes, we can see how the community has changed, and we have to make sure we hold on to the cultural aspect of it, and the heart of what Brooklyn is.”


Founded by Chuck Davis in 1977, Memorial Day weekend DanceAfrica is an annual Brooklyn cultural staple, embracing African Diasporic dance, and the global Black cultural bazaar on the surrounding streets
Last holiday weekend was just as vibrant, with locals, visitors, vendors from all over the borough, city, nation, and African continent.


Hundreds saw the shows, adding to the thousands who shopped outside, where there were dance classes, community-participatory drumming, art and film, vendors with carvings, clothing, and delicious cuisine.


“This is New York City’s Black kick off for summer,” said Firefighter Keron Alleyne. The former East New York District Leader told Our Time Press, “It’s important to be here because we have to enrich the culture and reconnect before the seasons change.”


“The Dance Africa festival is the beginning of my year, and it’s when we are starting to be outside,” Doriel Inez Larrier, an entrepreneur and Flatbush section President of National Council of Negro Women declared, “We get to see all of the cultural wonderment and excellence in one spot, with no trauma when no issues–just people loving each other and celebrating each other and coming with all of their glory.

What better time to start the summer by seeing all of the beautiful hues, shapes, and sizes and Black excellence in business entrepreneurship and love in one space. Celebrate, celebrate.”


And then there is the economic aspect. Thousands of dollars are spent by Black folks supporting Black vendors.
“It is culture, it is community, it is family, Dr. Torian Easterling told Our Time Press,
The former first Deputy Commissioner at the NYC Health Department was there with his own young family. The One Brooklyn Health Senior Vice President added, “This is an annual experience for us, and we want our kids to understand who they are, which is why I think it is so important that they come out here.”


Garifuna activist Pablo Blanco celebrated the unity, “In our environment now it feels like we’re being hit by a constellation of things as a community coming from the federal government like DEI, and all these different things that are going on in geopolitics too, like Ibrahim Traore.”

The Honduran-born, Bronx resident told Our Time Press, “This is why we should create more coalitions with each other, and it’s something that we started with the Garifuna community that I am from. We have a lot of synchronization with the African American community. And we love Blackness.”


Former City Council and Assemblywoman Inez Barron said, “It gives us the opportunity to come together, to celebrate our culture, to reinforce one another and get revitalized and see people we haven’t seen since the last cultural gathering, and support the vendors in these very challenging times. We have to support our own and talk about longevity, and the history, and make it continue to go forward.”


Haitian writer Danielle Boursiquot said she was there for “community, culture, and roots. Amongst all of the ruin in society–the way we have been treated and oppressed, and robbed of our identity, when I come to a place like this, I get renewal. These types of environments remind us who we are.”


Writer and singer Ty Allen proclaimed, “I believe in culture, and the elevation and application of art, and I am a Pan Africanist. So any moment we can have with the beauty of Black nationalism–I am there.”


Giving out scrumptious ginger shots, African in Harlem publisher and photojournalist Isseu Diouf was also selling beautiful wares from nations like her native Senegal, and told Our Time Press, “It is important to promote Africa and products from Africa in the West.

Now it is changing because of social media, but for a very long time we would only see the bad side of Africa, very stereotypical images, and it’s beautiful to come in this type of event where people value Africa, value things that are coming from Africa, and value the African culture and their roots. So it’s always inspiring to come here and see so many people who love Africa.”


Rocking a ‘Where your Blackness is enough’ T-shirt, activist Monique Thomas told Our Time Press, “I had the honor of performing in Dance Africa in 2002. That was an amazing experience. I am now a marathon runner. I have run 6 marathons thus far, and my first international marathon was in Ghana last year.”


She continued that the festival with the international energy is vital, “Celebrating us is important to us. As long as we understand that, this festival will continue. This is a family business. I love to see people bringing their children so that they can be educated in the culture and feel our energy, and know that we can be peaceful, even though our block may be chaotic. You know you can come somewhere where Black people are peaceful, loving, and respectful, and in fellowship towards each other.”


Shivenze, with her “Revolutionize your look,’ Kenyan fashion line, said, “We get to tell our African stories with our garments and with our artifacts and celebrate our culture, which can never be taken away from us.” The designer continued with clothes, bags, and jewellery from Kenya, Guinea, and Tanzania, “The energy here is vibrant, is love, it is hospitality, and I just love as we embrace creativity. I can tell all the stories that I have in my pieces.”


Busy Sylvie from Sylvie Creations with African jewelery and handmade clothing from Burkina Faso told the paper that with the country’s President Ibrahim Traore in the news as he challenges French colonial rule on every level, “Coming here I was scared, because the way things were going on I thought you guys weren’t going to support it. But I’m overwhelmed because even though they’ve been talking about it in the media, it’s totally something different. We are grateful for the community’s support.”


Great cultural event. Next stop is the July 4th weekend with Brooklyn’s 54th International African Arts Festival at Commodore Barry Park.
https://www.iaafestival.org/

Flossy Founder Jibreel Jalloh: Advocating for Canarsie’s Underserved from Ferry to Families

David Mark Greaves
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Flossy Founder Jibreel Jalloh: Advocating for Canarsie’s Underserved from Ferry to Families

Fern Gillespie
A group of Canarsie residents held a rally along the waterfront this May to showcase the necessity for a ferry dock in their community. Canarsie has limited mass transit and is described as a “transportation desert.”


The lead organizer was community advocate Jibreel Jalloh, a lifelong Canarsie resident and founder of The Flossy Organization, a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to closing the advocacy gap in underserved communities.


“Since the ferry program was started in 2017, there’s been multiple stops opening along the North Shore of Brooklyn. For example, Williamsburg has two ferry stops. It’s a ‘transit rich’ neighborhood. They have multiple train lines, multiple buses, they have multiple ferry stops,” Jalloh told Our Time Press.

“When we reach out to the he mayor’s office about a ferry in Canarsie, they always hit us with the question: “How we got to make sure the system is efficient. Cost effective. How are we laying equity in that equation of where to open up stops?’”


“Canarsie is a community that’s working class. That’s along the waterfront,” Jalloh said. “How are you going to continually open stops in transit rich neighborhoods and not even consider bringing it here?” The ferry rally was attended by Public Advocate Jumanne Williams and Canarsie City Council representative Mercedes Narcisse, who announced she will be introducing a bill for the ferry.


Community advocacy is Jalloh’s personal mission. While studying political science and economics at Baruch, he held summer internships in Washington, D.C. with Brooklyn Congressional Representatives Hakeem Jeffries and Yvette Clarke. After jobs in Mayor de Blasio’s office as an urban fellow and special assistant, by 2019, he was hired by Public Advocate Jumanne Williams as the Brooklyn Borough Advocate.

“Essentially, I was the eyes and the ears of the office, which is actually tied directly to what we do in The Flossy,” he said. “My job was to literally go throughout the borough to places like Park Slope, Bed Stuy, Bensonhurst and help accelerate campaigns of people fighting against their landlords, getting street safety or anti-gun violence. What I realized was that in Canarsie, we didn’t have that organic organizing base.”


After he left the Public Advocate’s office, he launched The Flossy Organization, organizing Canarsie grassroots’ advocacy needs from gun violence to environmental justice to transportation to city ordinances. While balancing his nonprofit advocacy, he was studying for a Masters in Public Administration at NYU.


Last year, Jalloh had to postpone his NYU masters. He was awarded the prestigious 2024-2025 Obama Foundation Scholars Program at Columbia University. It brings together rising leaders from the United States and around the world who have demonstrated a commitment to finding solutions to challenges in their communities and countries.

The Columbia fellowship is an asset to growing The Flossy. “They look for leaders who are doing some sort of social impact work that aligns with the value of Barack Obama and ideas to help accelerate your impact,” he explained. “It’s one of Columbia’s fellowships that give people the opportunity to utilize the campus research and technical facilities.”


In December, Jalloh traveled to Chicago with Obama scholars to attend the Obama Foundation’s Democracy Forum. “We had the opportunity to have a 40-to-45-minute round table discussion with President Obama,” he recalled. “It was just incredible. Just a real surreal moment. You know, I’m a son of immigrants from Sierra Leone. My dad is a taxi driver and my mom was a home health aide. And here I am sitting with the former president of the United States. It was really super surreal.”


Like President Obama, Jalloh is a grassroots community organizer. At The Flossy, he instructs the Advocacy Academy. “To really have deep transformational change in Canarsie, we need to start training other folks in the science and art of local community organizing. That’s what led us to running the Advocacy Academy,” he said.

“We’ve been to a couple schools and taught student assemblies on organizing. Anyone can apply from Canarsie and we train them in the work of organizing, how to do a power map, how to effectively canvas, how to do research. The goal is to training people so they can perform.”


This summer, The Flossy is piloting the Mobile Advocacy Hub. Using his contacts and skills from the Obama Foundation and Columbia University, the mobile outreach will help Canarsie residents be their own advocates through AI. “We can train people on how to engage with government on a way to get started on bringing about change on a hyper local level,” he said.

“The Mobile Advocacy Hub will be located by the park or the L Train or bus stops. It will have WiFi enabled tabling so people can come to us during office hours. You can tell us what government issues you are facing and we can work with you right there. We will use AI and language models to work through the steps on what you are trying to solve.”


The work of The Flossy Organization continues to get recognition. It was a part of South By Southwest Festival’s student pitch program looking for sponsors for the Mobile Advocacy Hub. This year, it earned a Brooklyn Org social justice grant. This fall, Jalloh is returning to NYU to complete his MPA for nonprofits.


To bring its message to the community, The Flossy Organization outreaches to local Canarsie businesses from coffee to ice cream to smoothie merchants to host their events. There are sometimes free giveaways for attendees that is promoted on Evites.

“I recommend it highly. If you don’t have space, instead of booking a conference room at the library or something else that’s more traditional, see if you can do something at a local business. You may even get some in kind donations,” said Jalloh. “You know, we bring them some business and we have a space to build up programming. It’s a win-win all around.”

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