The Metropolitan Transit Authority seeks multiple East Harlem properties along 125th Street and/or Second Avenue—both for temporary easements and permanent full taking—in the planned expansion of the Q line. The eminent domain claim to obtain nine East Harlem lots was filed on April 19. Such a process allows the power of the government to seize private property for public use without the owner’s consent in exchange for financial compensation. Governor Kathy Hochul finally announces, on May 2, that a budget agreement has been struck with the state legislature. They approve the $229 billion budget after the deadline is pushed back from the past month, mostly due to contention over bail reform rollbacks.
Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams releases his $106.7 billion fiscal year executive budget 2024, which focuses on fiscal responsibility and remaining balanced in the coming years.
New York City’s pedestrians and cyclists are more at risk on the streets as the city’s traffic fatalities reach record-breaking levels. The Vision Zero plan, initiated under former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2014, was intended to dramatically improve street safety through comprehensive data and engineering. According to Vision Zero data as of March 31, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx have the highest rates of traffic fatalities and injuries this year. Citywide, there’s been a total of 51 deaths and 11,043 people injured so far.
The City Council passes a bill to require the New York City Police Department to train officers to be better at identifying and engaging appropriately with New Yorkers with autism spectrum disorder as rates have risen in recent years.
Adams appoints Jasmine Blake as the city’s new lead compliance officer and releases a report about the city’s efforts to combat lead exposure.
Downtown Brooklyn parents are informed that a neighborhood staple, the Navy Yard Madison Boys & Girls Club, has filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 and will be closing at the end of the school year. After it was originally scheduled to close on May 12, recent announcements are that the clubhouse site will stay open through June 27 and close at the end of the school year.
January is now Muslim Heritage Month in New Jersey. Governor Phil Murphy signs a joint resolution, sponsored by Senators Joe Pennacchio and Brian Stack, and Assemblymembers Angela McKnight, Shanique Speight, and Annette Chaparro, to designate the month during an Eid celebration on April 29.
The name of Afro Puerto Rican activist María Civico, a native of Cabo Rojo, is scheduled to replace the name of a U.S. Confederate officer on a municipal building in Puerto Rico.
Harry Belafonte, who died on April 25, is celebrated outdoors at Lincoln Center on April 28, 2023. Homegoing services were held at Abyssinian Baptist Church on May 1, 2023, celebrating the life of Alton Maddox Jr., who joined the ancestors on April 23. Maddox was known by his nom de guerre “Attorney-at-war” and as the “People’s Legal Warrior.”
The community comes out to celebrate the life of Thomas “Blood” McCreary, Black Panther/Black Liberation Army member, at a tribute at the Schomburg Center in Harlem on April 28. A massive turnout of activists, artists, and Pan-Africanists assemble at the Abyssinian Baptist Church on April 24 to pay their respects to Kwame Brathwaite, who joined the ancestors on April 1. He was 85.
The Phoenix Mercury hosted Brittney Griner’s April 27 press conference where she spoke about her December 2022 release from a Russian penal colony. Griner notes that there were more media representatives in attendance than what she normally sees at a Mercury press conference, and she encouraged the media to cover the WNBA throughout the 2023 season. “I expect to see this same coverage because we have a great product,” she said.
Boxing champion Hector Camacho, Jr. returns home to his Spanish Harlem roots to make a special announcement: He will join EntroBox, American Dream Presents, and Harrell Media Inc., in launching the Macho Cup Boxing event, which is named in honor of his father, Hector “Macho” Camacho, the legendary Puerto Rican world champion boxer.
Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James and Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry face each other for the sixth time in the NBA playoffs. The New York Jets acquires four-time league MVP Aaron Rodgers in a trade with the Green Bay Packers and on draft night, the Jets improve an already formidable defense by selecting edge rusher Will McDonald IV from Iowa State with the 15th pick. The Giants address three areas of need by taking University of Maryland defensive back Deonte Banks with the 24th pick in the first round, offensive lineman Michael Schmitz in the second round (No. 57), and wide receiver Jalin Hyatt from the University of Tennessee in Round 3 (No. 73).
Jordan Neely was the in-need-of-services homeless man known around the city as a Michael Jackson impersonator. He is killed when former Marine Daniel Penny puts him in a chokehold for a reported 15 minutes after he tells F train commuters he had no food or drink. Penny is interviewed by NYPD officers and immediately released. The medical examiner deem it a homicide. At press time, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is still determining whether he would convene a grand jury.
Councilmembers Chi Ossé, Tiffany Cabán, Sandy Nurse, Shahana Hanif, and Alexa Avilés boo throughout most of a New York City Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) meeting. They chant “Shame on you,” and take to the stage, yelling “Rent rollbacks.” Despite the chaos during the preliminary vote, the RGB still decides to increase rents from 2–5% for one-year leases and 4–7% for two-year leases. If finalized, the decision will go into effect October 1.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports more than 104 million COVID-19 cases in the United States, but only 66% of those cases include race or ethnicity information. For comparison, the same data miss only 2% of sex data. Demographic data like race and ethnicity tell agencies and policymakers who’s vulnerable at different stages of the pandemic and helps them decide how and where to allocate resources like vaccines and testing. Understanding the extent of COVID-19’s impact on Black and brown communities remains incomplete due to a lack of federal data about race and ethnicity.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is sinking $500 million in investments to revitalize the Broadway Junction station and make it an inclusive and accessible space for commuters.
The AFL-CIO says in its latest report, “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect,” that among the number of worker deaths in 2021, the union found that “Black workers died on the job at the highest rate in more than a decade” and “Latino workers continue to be at greater risk of dying on the job than all workers.”
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, which started on May 2, sees WGA members picket HBO and Amazon offices on Wednesday, May 10, in Manhattan’s midtown neighborhood of Hudson Yards. Union leaders say that after trying to negotiate with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for weeks, there is no resolution.
A jury of nine in Manhattan federal court took only three hours to find former president Donald Trump guilty of sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million in compensatory damages. The former Elle magazine advice columnist had accused him of raping her in the mid-1990s. He then defamed her by calling her a liar.
Seton Hall University students stage a sit-in outside the office of the school’s president under the banner of Protect AFAM to demand that the school direct more funding toward its Africana Studies (AFAM) program and hire up to four full-time faculty for its courses. Protect AFAM claims they have asked to speak with the administration about how AFAM appears to be being defunded.
Seven-time Olympic medalist Simone Biles marries Houston Texans safety Jonathan Owens on May 6 at Nobu Los Cabos in Mexico in front of 144 guests.
The coronation of the United Kingdom’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla was a sumptuous display of pageantry that meets with many people waving signs reading “Not My King!” As the coronation took place, Belize and—surprisingly—Grenada say they were actively considering joining Guyana, Trinidad, Dominica, and Barbados to move from independent nations to full-fledged republics in the coming months.
“Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” has its debut, serving as both a prequel and spinoff to the beloved Netflix series. This intellectual property is based on Julia Quinn’s Regency-era romance novels and produced by Shonda Rhimes’s production company, Shondaland.
Saturday, May 6, 2023, sees the janazah of Soke Ali Abdul Karim, martial artist and community treasure, who passed on Friday, May 5.
In a hotly contested matchup that went to the scorecards, UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling defeats Henry Cejudo by split decisions 47–48, 48–47, and 48–47 in the main event of UFC 288 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. For Sterling, a native of Long Island of Jamaican descent, his domination of Cejudo at the end of the first round seems to provide the margin of victory.
Skater, coach, and choreographer Rohene Ward is honored with the Choreography Award by the Ice Theatre of New York (ITNY), given to a choreographer who has contributed to skating as a performing art.
Dozens of City University of New York (CUNY), the Professional Staff Congress (PSC-NY) faculty union, and elected officials crowd the steps at the Tweed Court-house last week to protest against Mayor Eric Adams’s $60 million cuts to CUNY funding in the city budget.
Families are searching for a missing 11-year-old Bronx boy, Alfa Ousmane Barrie, and Harlemite Garrett Warren, 13. Alfa was reported missing on Sunday, May 14. Warren was reported missing on Monday, May 15.
Freshman Councilmember Kristin Richardson Jordan decides not to run for reelection, leaving her Harlem seat in District 9 up for grabs in a highly scrutinized City Council race.
Luxury fitness gym company Equinox is found to have discriminated against and unlawfully fired fitness trainer Röbynn Europe. Europe said she was subjected to a hostile work environment when she worked as a trainer at Equinox’s East 92nd Street location, which Europe alleges Equinox knew about. But instead of disciplining workers who violated company policy, Equinox fired Europe herself for “lateness,” even though some seven other managers at the Equinox on East 92nd Street regularly clocked in late and were never disciplined. A jury of five women and three men found that Equinox was at fault and had fired Europe based on both her race and gender. Europe was awarded $11,250,000 in the verdict: $1.250 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages.
Right-wing efforts are fomenting the idea that racist harassment and violence against Asian Americans is coming from Blacks, when “75% of the perpetrators of violent anti-Asian hate crimes were white.” Meanwhile, Citizens for Sanity and American First Legal—two nonprofits aligned with former Trump administration advisor Stephen Miller—spent millions of dollars on ads and outreach mailers promoting narratives falsely accusing the “left” of ignoring anti-Asian violence and promoting Asian American-Pacific Islander (AAPI) exclusion through Critical Race Theory and diversity initiatives. The right-wing increasingly uses Asian Americans as a wedge on affirmative action issues.
On May 10, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs Senate Bill 1718. This new law now makes any Floridian “who knowingly and willfully transports an undocumented individual into the state” a human smuggler, which comes with serious criminal penalties, including allowing for prosecution under the Florida Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act.
Former First Daughter Sasha Obama graduates from the University of Southern California (USC) on May 12 with a degree in sociology.
The 33rd annual Malcolm X Black Power “Shut ’Em Down!” Rally and March takes place on Friday, May 193. This yearly action commemorates and shows respect for the legacy of Malcolm X—El Hajj Malik El Shabazz—on the anniversary of his birth.
Fans attending the Wednesday, May 10, Anita Baker concert at Newark’s Prudential Center are disappointed when the opening set by Babyface is canceled so Baker would have more time for her set.
BAM’s annual DanceAfrica Festival will offer a program titled “DanceAfrica 2023 Golden Ghana: Adinkra, Ananse, and Abusua” at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, May 26–29.
The movie “CROWN” premieres on Friday, May 12, at the Betty Carter Auditorium in the Major Owens Community Center in Brooklyn. The 20-minute coming-of-age story, written and directed by Karisma Jay and Love “Nofisat” Nafi, follows an aspiring teen ballet dancer dealing with the challenges of taming her natural hair into “submission” during an important audition.
Former Councilmember and State Senator Bill Perkins, an advocate for civil and human rights, joins the ancestors at 74. Perkins is remembered as a relentless advocate for the marginalized and a member of the City Council, where he served Harlem’s District 9 from 1998 to 2005 and again from 2017 to 2021, and in the State Senate from 2007 to 2017, representing the 30th District in Harlem.
Hinchliffe Stadium, one of five still-standing Negro Leagues stadiums, is being updated and refurbished so it can be used again. In the 1930s and ’40s, the Paterson, N.J.-based stadium was the homefield ballpark for the New York Black Yankees, New York Cubans, and often the Newark Eagles baseball teams.
The apparent drowning deaths of two young students—Ala Ousmane Barrie,11, and Garrett Warren, 13—rock NYC all the way to Africa’s west coast. There are so many unanswered questions in this case of the two uptown youths, who went missing on May 12 and whose bodies were found in the Harlem and Hudson Rivers—opposite sides of the city.
Harlem celebrates the life of Jordan Neely—the unhoused Black New Yorker killed on the subway by white passenger Daniel Penny—in a homecoming service Friday, May 19, at Mt. Neboh Baptist Church. He is laid to rest in a pearl-white coffin while family and friends remembered him as a promising basketball player and joyful street performer.
Rubu Zhao is the second person to die on Rikers Island this year. The 52-year-old was “severely injured” while detained at the George R. Vierno Center (GRVC) jail and pronounced dead at Elmhurst Hospital two days later (Wednesday, May 16).
Community members are urged to file objections to the sale of the Navy Yard Madison
Boys & Girls Club at 240 Nassau Street in Brooklyn. The clubhouse’s building is set to be offered as an assent in bankruptcy court.
New York State and New York City are doggedly trying to coordinate in their handling of asylum seekers but continue to meet roadblocks at every turn. Nearly 30 upstate counties have declared states of emergency over Mayor Eric Adams’s relocation plan to offset the city’s burden to shelter individuals. Adams is also forced to walk back plans to house asylum seekers in school gyms and possibly on Rikers Island because of backlash.
On Friday, May 19, in honor of what would have been Malcolm X’s 98th birthday, the December 12th Movement organizations are joined by community and activist groups such as Lifecamp and Man Up Inc. as they marched along 125th Street. They asked stores along that stretch of Harlem’s busiest thoroughfare to adhere to the 34-year annual tradition of closing from 1 to 4 p.m. The action—with pro-Black self-determination chants aloud, and a sea of red, black, and green flags hoisted high—celebrates the words and works of the great icon. Just about every store and bank closed, as usually has been the case for the last 34 years, with only a few defiant holdouts. The 98th Annual Birthday Celebration for Malcolm X (El Hajj Malik El Shabazz) Day at the Shabazz Center is a tribute to Malcolm in words and music that evolves into something much more than honoring him. Dr. Betty Shabazz, his wife, is cited numerous times, along with other long-gone and recent ancestors.
The second session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) is set to take place at the United Nations’ New York headquarters from May 30 to June 2, 2023.
The murder of radio journalist Ralikonelo “Leqhashasha” Joki of Lesotho has stirred commentators from shore to shore. Joki, host of the current affairs show “Hlokoana-La-Tsels” (“I heard it through the Grapevine”), worked for Ts-enolo FM radio station and covered government, agriculture, and corruption. He was shot at least 13 times on May 14 by unknown assailants as he left the studio at 10 p.m. after his Sunday evening show.
The characters, dialogue, and narrative in the new film version of “The Little Mermaid”––starring actress Halle Bailey––are extensions of Disney’s brand, which champions love and inclusion, as opposed to fear and exclusion. This live-action adaptation of the 1989 animated Oscar-winning film dives deep into current culture wars.
In the 76th Annual Tony Awards (to be held Sunday, June 11), Black folks are truly abundant, receiving 25 varied nominations. Productions that stand out are “Some Like It Hot,” “Topdog/Underdog,” “Between Riverside and Crazy,” August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson,” “Fat Ham,” and “Ain’t No Mo.”
Jim Brown, one of the greatest running backs in the history of the NFL, dies on May 18 at 87 in Los Angeles. His wife Monique posts on Instagram: “To the world he was an activist, actor, and football star. To our family he was a loving and wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. Our hearts are broken…”
Tina Turner, 12-time-Grammy award winner, who Rolling Stone ranked as one of the greatest artists of all time, dies on May 24.
The wake and funeral services for the late advocate Bill Perkins are held at Rev. Michael Walrond’s First Corinthian Baptist Church on Thursday May 25.
The Connecticut Sun celebrates the career of one of its founding members, Taj McWilliams-Franklin, who began her 14-year WNBA career with the Orlando Miracle (the team that relocated to Connecticut in 2003). Her time with the franchise—four of those years in Connecticut—included five WNBA All-Star appearances, two-time All-WNBA Second Team, and the WNBA Sportsmanship Award. The ceremony included hanging her No. 11 jersey in the rafters of the Mohegan Sun arena.
Historic Hinchliffe Negro Leagues stadium officially reopens in Paterson, N.J. Political, community, entertainment, and athletics dignitaries were among the large contingent of attendees at a ceremony to rededicate the renovated Negro Leagues Baseball venue.
A day of action is held outside City Hall on Thursday, May 25, in opposition to solitary confinement to commemorate the 30th birthday of Kalief Browder, who spent over two-thirds of his time on Rikers secluded in a tight room, which decarceration advocates directly attribute to his suicide, along with alleged abuses by guards and other detainees when he wasn’t isolated.
Dr. James de Jongh, director of the Black Studies Program at City College of New York, dies on May 5 in the Bronx. He was 80.
Director/cinematographer Jessie Maple makes her transition on May 30, 2023, at her home in Atlanta, Georgia, in the company of family members. She was 76 years old. Maple is known throughout the film world for having been the first Black woman to join the entertainment industry’s camera operators’ union, the International Photographers of Motion Picture & Television (IATSE), in 1975. After becoming a camera operator, Maple published the book “How to Become a Union Camerawoman: Film-videotape” (1977) to help steer others toward information they needed to know so that they could also join the union.