What’s Going On 11/18

NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Mayor elect Eric Adams announced his transition team which will be led by Sheena Wright, United Way of NY President/CEO, with 9 co-chairs, including Kyle Bragg, SEIU; Charles Phillips Infor CEO; Felix Rodriguez, CUNY Chancellor; Stephen Scherr, Goldman Sachs CFO; and Darren Walker, Ford Foundation President. Interested in a job, Visit ADAMSTRANSITION2021.COM.

Adams will announce his choice for School Chancellor (perhaps Dr. David Banks, co founder Eagle Academy) and NY Police Commissioner, (perhaps Juanita Holmes, NYPD Chief of Patrol) next week. Will Sheena Wright and Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez be deputy mayors?
BROOKLYN: Brooklyn is the center of gravity in the NYC political world. Boro denizens Mayor-elect Eric Adams, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Comptroller-elect Brad Lander will be at the city’s power politics helm. There are some fences that have to be mended between borough’s African American and Latino electeds. Tensions are rising among Brooklyn Democrats political class, between the Party’s Progressive/Reform wing and the Party machine who argue for more inclusion and transparency and between Blacks and Latinx politicos, who want more inclusion. Latino electeds called a press conference on 11/12 to articulate a recent grievance, a derogatory, sexist reference, presumably to Latina Assembly member Maritza Davila, during a Zoom meeting, in a song delivered by Haitian-American Edu Hermelyn, a district leader married to Assembly member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, who is also Boro Democratic Party Chair.
Moreover, Bichotte-Hermelyn was accused of calling Davila “stupid.” Bichotte Hermelyn denies the accusation. Husband denies understanding that the Spanish (not his first or second language) song included anything untoward. Press conference called for Bichotte-Hermelyn to step down from her Chairmanship.
Media has had a field day with the Brooklyn Blacks/Latino melee. Some of the post conference headlines read “Brooklyn Democrats engage in civil war.” and
“Brooklyn Democratic Party Leadership Fight Re-ignites Over a Raunchy Song.”
I do not envy Mayor–elect Eric Adams who will have to broker this nascent Brooklyn Black/Latinx ill will. Democrats cannot afford ethnic divisions as we cruise into 2022. PS. Republicans attracted lots of NYC Asian American voters on 11/2.

HARLEM: The Business Improvement, BID 125 held its 28th Annual Harlem Holiday Lights Ceremony on Tuesday, November 16 and began Happy Holidays. Entertainer/entrepreneur Nick Cannon served as Grand Marshal. A procession of floats with celebs, DJs lined the streets along circuitous route from West 125 Street to Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, to 110 Street to Malcolm X Boulevard back to 125 Street.

HARLEM: The developer who bought Harlem’s landmarked All Saints Catholic Church on Madison Avenue at 129 Street, found a tenant Sean (Puff Daddy) Combs, who plans to use the building for his Capital Prep Harlem school, for Grades 6-12, Capital Prep has campuses in East Harlem and the Bronx.

ONLY IN AMERICA
What’s going on in the “46” White House? Is it the conservative media which runs nonstop stories about a frosty relationship between President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris? His poll numbers have plummeted since the Afghanistan exit and he cannot come up for air, the $1.7 trillion infrastructure package notwithstanding. He had a 31% approval rating last week. Same pollster gave Vice President Kamala Harris a 27% rating. Biden is talking about a second term candidacy. He seems to be distancing himself from Harris. Her big task to date is to minimize immigration at the Mexican border. That is a pretty tall order, something which none of the white males in Congress or the White House have been able to accomplish. Underlying factors are worth more research. Must check more sources to determine if a frost exists or is it just conservative media disinformation.

ELECTION INFO: FLORIDA: Ken Welch was elected St. Petersburg mayor, a first for an African American. He captured 60% of the vote. MICHIGAN: The East Lansing City Council elected its first Black Mayor, City Councilman Ron Bacon.

ARTS/CULTUREFILM: NY filmmaker Stanley Nelson directs film documentary, ATTICA, which was to hit markets on the 50th Anniversary of America’s most deadly prison uprising during the watch of NYS Governor Nelson Rockefeller and President Richard Nixon. Attica, a small town in eastern NY with a prison of the same name, which housed Black and Brown inmates with an all-white correction staff a combustible mix of racism to explode. A hostage situation led by the inmates developed. A rescue operation was deployed; and 43 people were killed both inmates and corrections personnel. Nelson’s documentary ATTICA aired on Showtime Cable Network and opened in select theaters last month.
Senegalese fine artist and lawyer Bara Diokhane adds another feather in his career cap. He directed a documentary, “RANDY WESTON, An African Born in America,” about the jazz pianist/composer, which recently premiered in Dakar.

THEATER: The 49th Annual AUDELCO Awards, which celebrates Black Excellence in the theater arts in New York, will be a virtual live stream on November 29, at 7:30 pm. Special AUDELCO 2021 honorees include Ebony Jo- Ann, Laurence Holder, Ron Cephas, Ty Jones, and a special tribute to Woodie King, Jr.
BOOKS: Remember Attorney Anita Hill at the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearing in October 1991? Her new book, BELIEVING: OUR THIRTY-YEAR JOURNEY TO END GENDER VIOLENCE is not a memoir. It is filled with uncomfortable truths and the problem of misogyny in America. Anita Hill is Professor of Social Policy, Law, and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University.

NEWSMAKERS
Belated birthday greetings to NY Scorpios retired educator Carrie Simpson and to Birthday and to NYS Supreme Court Judge Verna Saunders who celebrated her 50th in grand style at the Bronx Museum of the Arts joined by hubby Christopher, son Elijah, family, friends, Deltas, judges, law clerks and other well-wishers.

RIP: Trinidadian Leroy Clarke 82, passed away in July. Fine artist extraordinaire, Clarke was recognized locally and internationally. His work was exhibited in some of New York’s top galleries. Multitalented, he was an educator, actor, vocalist, a philosopher and an Orisha leader.RIP: Photographer Zachariah Risasi Dais, 72, passed away last month. His funeral/memorial service will be held Saturday 11/20 from 4-6:30 pm. Zoom link https://us02webzoom.us/j/81208398567.

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