Mt. Vernon, NY – May 20, 2024 – The Antigua & Barbuda International Cultural Association (ABICA) in partnership with the City of Mt. Vernon and the Recreation department are thrilled to announce their highly anticipated food festival, set to take place on May 25, 2024, at Hartley Park in Mt Vernon, NY from 12:00PM – 7:00PM. This vibrant celebration promises to be a culinary extravaganza, showcasing the rich and diverse flavors of the Caribbean and beyond.
Dwight Christian, ABICA’s President stated, ‘This Food Fest, Cultural Explosion will be a time to remember. The only thing you are required to bring is a healthy appetite and you will leave quite contented!!! We look forward to a great time and a successful event!”
Adding to the festive atmosphere and bringing the high energy, the DJ lineup promises to set the stage on fire. Antigua’s renowned DJ MoBetta and Lyve Energee are among the talented disc jockeys ready to ignite the dance floor with electrifying beats.
A wide variety of food vendors await, presenting an eclectic selection ranging from delectable seafood to mouthwatering BBQ, savory vegan delights to irresistible cupcakes, and more. From the renowned Cousins Maine Lobster and Yumbro to the Cupcake Cutie Boutique and Dr. Moss Jamaica, among others, there’s something to satisfy every palate.
Mt Vernon Commissioner of Recreation, Kathleen Walker-Pinckney, notes “We are delighted to co- sponsor the ABICA international food festival at Hartley Park, as it brings residents and visitors alike together for food, music and family fun. Wear your dancing shoes!”
Paddy “The Griot” Simon, Antigua & Barbuda historian, emphasized the significance of the event: “Ah a wa say, a who say.” (Swahili). English translation: “It’s not what is said, but it’s who said it.” This proverb highlights the importance of cultural authenticity and the value of experiencing the true flavors and traditions directly from those who embody them, making the festival a unique and enriching celebration of heritage.
The ABICA food festival is made possible through the generous support of sponsors: Sidewalk University, Antigua and Barbuda Association United, Pure Raw Honey, Studio 52 Laundry Ltd., Double Door Event Space and Linkridge radio, whose contributions have helped bring this event to life.
The ABICA food festival promises to be an afternoon filled with delicious food, lively music, and cultural performances, making it a family-fun admission-free event for all.
For more information about the ABICA food festival, please visit www.abicassociation.com or call 914- 315-9539.
About ABICA: Antigua & Barbuda International Cultural Association (ABICA) is a newly established organization committed to promoting cultural experiences and nurturing unity among Antiguan and Barbudan communities in Westchester County and beyond. ABICA serves as a platform for Antiguan and Barbudan nationals, as well as individuals interested in their culture, to unite, celebrate heritage, and engage in cultural exchange. Our mission is to preserve, promote, and showcase the rich cultural traditions, art, music, cuisine, and history of Antigua and Barbuda.
On May 4th, for the Tenth Annual Yonkers Arts Weekend, Sarah Lawrence College Theatre & Civic Engagement presented A Tribute to Langston Hughes, conceived and directed by Sarah Lawrence Alum Paul Kwame Johnson.
A Tribute to Langston Hughes occurred at the Sarah Lawrence College Classroom on the Urban River at Beczak (CURB). CURB is located at 35 Alexader Street in Yonkers on the shore of the Hudson River. CURB aims to advance research, environmental knowledge, and education for the local community. It is also a welcoming community space for civic and artistic activities—ideal for an intimate Saturday afternoon performance.
Stepping into CURB for this homage to one of America’s literary goliaths, Langston Hughes, was like stepping through a portal where time, poetry, and performance aligned the past with the present, the old with the new.
Paul Kwame Johnson’s celebrated career spans over fifty years. He is a distinguished teacher, actor, director, playwright, and mentor in Yonkers, Westchester County, and beyond. Numerous awards from the City of Yonkers, New York State, and elsewhere acknowledge his many accomplishments that fill the walls of his lovely country home.
Langston Hughes was photographed in Greenwood Forest Farms, Warwick, New York 1952. Photo by James Gilbert Johnson, permission granted by the family of Paul Kwame Johnson.
With a Tribute to Langston Hughes, Johnson draws from his unique lineage with Langston Hughes – Hughes and Johnson’s father were contemporaries who corresponded. Johnson shared, “My father met Langston Hughes when he vacationed at Greenwood Forest Farms in 1952 where we have our family home in Warwick, New York. My father took a wonderful photo of him here. I am proud to have notes on a postcard Langston sent to my father in our family’s possession.”
Johnson’s devotion to community work began as an undergraduate student at Sarah Lawrence, studying with visionary faculty Emeriti, Shirley Kaplan, whose Theatre Outreach Program is one of the first theatre education programs of its kind in the country and has reached thousands of people over the years. Soon after, Johnson joined his friend, musician James Hill, at the Yonkers Community Action Program’s ‘School 12’, which led to the founding of Youth Theatre Interactions. This performing arts cultural institution still exists today.
Paul Kwame Johnson is a recurring faculty guest at Sarah Lawrence in Theatre & Civic Engagement courses. He annually brings performances to campus to celebrate Black History Month, which, in recent years, has highlighted performers of all ages from the Theodore D. Young Community Center.
Photo by Allen Lang Cast – Sydney Collins, Denise-Smith Fraser, Paul Kwame Johnson, Brianna Coombs, Debra Brooks, and Makea Farley
Paul Kwame Johnson is a socially engaged theatre artist who weaves his intrinsic community-building skills and passion for social justice with his love for creating and sharing theatre. As a mentor, Johnson has terrific instincts for awakening the inner resources of those who study with him. Johnson has been working with the Tribute to Langston Hughes cast for two years, and for some cast members, this performance marks the beginning of their performance careers. This outstanding cast brings their lived experience, vitality, and pleasure for performance to the stage. Regarding Johnson’s exceptional mentorship, cast member Sydney Collins shared, “We trust and rely on each other. Kwame picks poems that fit our personalities, and we go from there. But we love each other as a family.”
Under his accomplished direction, Johnson reimagines Hughes’ poetry into inventive imagery for the stage. When asked why this piece, Johnson responded, “My love for the work of Langston Hughes started as a child at six years of age when my mother used to read me his poems at bedtime. When I was old enough to know that my father knew him and that he had visited my home and written postcards to my father, I became enthralled. As a director whose work has been based on mime, it was my intention to give the poems a powerful visual effect in order to help impact the audience with the power of Langston Hughes’s beautiful and poetic words”. The poems covered in the program include Merry-Go-Round, Ballad of the Landlord, African-American Fragment, I Too Sing America, Dream Variation, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, Cross, Let America Be America Again, Yesterday, Mother to Son, Hold Fast to Dreams, I Look to the World, My People, and Harlem Sweeties.
The remarkable ensemble of women performers rehearse with Johnson at the Theodore D. Young Community Center in Greenburgh, New York. The actors Debra Brooks, Brianna Coombs, Sydney Collins, Makeda Farley, and Denise Smith-Fraser underline the poetry of their lived experiences with the resonance of Hughes’ timelessness, deeply with a clarity and openness that drifts effortlessly from poem to poem.
Intergenerational theatre is a form of theatre that brings together people of various ages to create and perform. It can involve players of all ages and aims to break down barriers between generations and foster understanding and connection, and has been a trademark of Johnson’s for years. A Tribute to Langston Hughes features three generations of women, ages twenty-nine to seventy-five. This collaborative ensemble shares the stage seamlessly, creating a beautiful collage of voice and movement, and the pleasure and joy emanating from this lovely quintet is palpable. The women speak the words of Langston Hughes from the heart, as they do here, and the poetic imagery lingers in space like sculpture.
A Tribute to Langston Hughes was presented without fancy lights, sound cues, and elaborate costumes, just the actors’ voices and the gentle background murmur of the aquariums housing various species of turtles and fish, but with the undeniable power of strong interconnected women telling their truth and allowing Langston Hughes’ words to speak for themselves. About her involvement with this project, cast member Makeda Farley remarked, “I was looking for something to do, and God brought me to this great group of women who have become my theatre family. I thank God every day for bringing me to this group.”
In the program’s final poem, ‘Harlem Sweeties,’ the cast members joyfully celebrate their confidence, style, grace, and beauty with the audience. However, this being a Kwame Johnson show, the end is not the end but an invitation for the community to share their reactions to this Yonkers Arts Weekend show. Here is a sampling of the responses shared by the audience members:
LaShann DeArcy Hall, U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of New York, opined, “As a black woman, I felt so empowered by this performance from five beautiful black women. As a resident of Sugar Hill, I loved the poem Harlem Sweeties, paying homage to the array of beautiful black women who inhabit Sugar Hill in Harlem.”
A member of Pam’s Place Shelter in New York City spoke about the significance of this work by saying, “I came to this show to get out of the shelter, but it was God’s will that I see this beautiful production by these glorious women. Thank God I came here today.”
Cast member Denise Smith-Fraser added, “I would like to thank Paul Kwame Johnson for his kindness, his patience, and his ability to motivate us to be the best that we can be.”
Allen Lang is the Director of the Sarah Lawrence College Theatre & Civic Engagement Program and a Theatre Faculty Member
According to a CNN report, The International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent conflict in Gaza. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan revealed this information in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.
In addition to Sinwar and Netanyahu, the ICC is pursuing warrants for Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, as well as two other senior Hamas leaders: Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, known as Mohammed Deif, leader of the Al Qassem Brigades, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader.
This marks the first time the ICC has targeted the leader of a close U.S. ally, putting Netanyahu in the same category as Russian President Vladimir Putin, who faces an ICC arrest warrant over Moscow’s war on Ukraine, and the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was under an ICC warrant for alleged crimes against humanity at the time of his death in October 2011.
By issuing arrest warrants for both Israeli and Hamas leaders, the ICC risks criticism for equating a terror organization with an elected government.
A panel of ICC judges will now review Khan’s application for the warrants.
Khan stated that the charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh, and al-Masri include “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape, and sexual assault in detention.” He highlighted the atrocities of October 7, where people were forcibly taken from their homes in Israel, causing enormous suffering.
The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant involve “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, and deliberately targeting civilians in conflict,” Khan told Amanpour.
In response to earlier reports of potential ICC action, Netanyahu described any such warrants as an “outrage of historic proportions,” emphasizing Israel’s independent legal system that investigates all legal violations rigorously. Khan replied, “Nobody is above the law,” and suggested that Israel challenge the ICC’s jurisdiction before the court’s judges.
Although Israel and the United States are not ICC members, the court claims jurisdiction over Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank, following the Palestinian leaders’ 2015 agreement to adhere to the ICC’s principles.
This announcement is separate from the ongoing case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding South Africa’s accusation of genocide against Israel following the October 7 attacks. While the ICJ deals with disputes between nations, the ICC prosecutes individuals for war crimes or crimes against humanity.
In March 2021, Khan’s office initiated an investigation into potential crimes in the Palestinian territories since June 2014 in Gaza and the West Bank. The ICC, based in The Hague, Netherlands, was established by the Rome Statute, an independent treaty involving 124 countries, excluding Israel, the US, and Russia.
If the ICC grants the arrest warrants, member countries would be obligated to arrest and extradite the accused to The Hague. This would significantly restrict international travel for Netanyahu and Gallant, including to allied countries like Germany and the United Kingdom.
Check out the captivating 395th episode of Black Westchester presents People Before Politics Radio with your hosts Damon K. Jones and AJ Woodson. Tune in as they discuss the most pressing issues affecting our community. The recently surfaced video of Diddy attacking Cassie in a LA hotel and the questionable apology he issued as the video surface, racism in Westchester Politics and the 99th birthday of el–Hajj Malik el–Shabazz better known as Malcolm X and much more!
Black Westchester presents the People Before Politics Radio Show every Sunday night 6-8PM, streaming live on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube and archived on BlackWestchester.com. Giving you that Real Talk For The Community since 2014.
To support the Black Westchester and the People Before Politics Radio Show, that provided the News With The Black Point Of view and gives you the real talk for the community since 2014 for free, make a donation via PayPal at www.PayPal.me/BlackWestchesterMag. In the words of Ray Charles, “One of these days, and it [might not be] long, You’re gonna look for [us], and [we’ll] be gone.” Support independent, Black-free media!
[Article updated Tuesday, May 20, 2024 at 12:45PM to include email statement from Nick Bader, Vice President of the strategic communications & reputation management firmRubenstein]
A group of influential New York business executives and investors reportedly created a WhatsApp and discussed with New York City Mayor Eric Adams to deploy the New York Police Department (NYPD) to Columbia University’s campus to disperse anti-Israel protesters. This came in the wake of an attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
According to a report from the Washington Post, business leaders, including CEOs and billionaire investors such as Howard Schultz (Starbucks), Michael Dell (Dell), Bill Ackman, and Joshua Kushner (Thrive Capital), created a WhatsApp group chat to discuss ways to influence the mayor and the NYPD. The chat, initiated by real estate investor Barry Sternlicht, grew to nearly 100 members.
The group discussed various strategies, such as hiring private investigators to assist the NYPD, making donations to Mayor Adams’ campaign, and raising awareness about Hamas’ actions through the screening of films containing footage from the terror attack. Some members claimed to have received briefings from the Israeli government.
On April 26, 2024, a week after the first deployment of law enforcement to the Ivy League campus, some of the leaders, including Daniel Lubetzky (Kind), Daniel Loeb, Len Blavatnik, and Joseph Sitt, participated in a Zoom call with Mayor Adams.
In an email to Black Westchester regarding the article, Nick Bader, Vice President of Rubenstein on behalf of his client Pershing Square Capital Management clarified, “Mr. [Bill] Ackman was not on the April 26 Zoom call.” The Washington Post story only states that Mr. Ackman who is the CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, was on the chat and that he helped facilitate a screening of the October 7 footage. Additionally, Bader informed Black Westchester that Mr. “Ackman had not participated in the chat since January and never spoke to Adams about the Columbia protests.”
City officials denied plans to use private investigators and stated that the dispersal of protests was not influenced by donor requests but was a response to requests from campus leaders. Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy strongly criticized the Washington Post for suggesting that Jewish donors secretly plotted to influence government operations, calling it an “all too familiar antisemitic trope.”
According to the Washington Post,spokespeople for some of the business leaders confirmed their participation in the Zoom call but denied making donations to Mayor Adams’ reelection campaign, with the exception of Blavatnik, who donated $2,100 in April 2024.
The WhatsApp group was eventually shut down in May 2024, as conversations had strayed from the original intent and the founders had become inactive seven months after the group’s launch.
On a momentous day, twenty-five high school students were honored with a certificate of completion, marking their successful journey through Environmental Leaders of Color’s (ELOC) first computer class. This event, held on Saturday, May 4, 2024, was made possible by the generous sponsorship of Con Edison and the TRC Companies.
The ceremony was graced by esteemed guests, including Shayne Brooks, Mount Vernon’s Director of Sustainability; Ramona Burton, Director of SUNY Westchester Mount Vernon; and Randall Hayden, Vice-Chairperson of the ELOC Board of Directors.
The atmosphere was filled with excitement as proud parents and friends cheered on the graduates.
Dr. Diana Williams, ELOC’s Executive Director, congratulated the students on their accomplishments. Marvin Church, ELOC’s co-founder, who attended every class, commended the students’ performance and commitment to finish the program. Randall Hayden emphasized the importance of learning computer science because technology will play a substantial role in their personal and professional lives. The students were awarded certificates from ELOC, certificates of merit from the Westchester County Board of Legislature supported by Hon. Tyrae Woodson-Samuels, and certificates of completion from the Mount Vernon City School District supported by Lorna Kirwan, President, Mount Vernon Board of Education and Dr. K. Veronica Smith, Acting Superintendent of Schools, Mount Vernon City School District.
Parents expressed their gratitude for their children’s participation in the first phase of the Advanced Computer Class and pledged their continued support for the fall semester.
Students eager to continue their learning journey can now register for the upcoming fall session at https://eloc.earth/advanced-computer-science-program/. After the ceremony, guests were treated to a delightful lunch courtesy of Sweet Potato Restaurant, New Rochelle, NY.
Seventy years ago the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education changed the trajectory of public education and sparked the end of segregated schools.
Before the Brown decision was handed down in 1954, there was Plessy v. Ferguson. In 1892 Homer Plessy, a Black man of New Orleans, Louisiana, volunteered to test the legality of railroad car segregation in that state. He sat in a “whites only” car, refused to move to a segregated car, was arrested, and sued in court. When Plessy was arrested, he contested that Louisiana’s law violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 1896 that segregation was legal as long as the accommodations were “separate but equal.”
The 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision further reinforced the rise of segregation. The Court rendered this decision despite the reality that separate areas provided for African Americans rarely were equal. John Marshall Harlan, the only dissenting justice, argued against the decision: “The arbitrary separation of citizens, on the basis of race … is a badge of servitude wholly inconsistent with the civil freedom and the equality before the law established by the Constitution.”
Despite the refusal of the courts or politicians to support them, African Americans continued to challenge segregation and demand their equal rights under the Constitution. They pressed forward their fight in the belief that their efforts might eventually result in change.
In 1952, five different cases from across the nation came before the high court. They would all be condensed under Brown v. The Topeka Board of Education explained Tona Boyd, associate director-counsel for the Legal Defense Fund.
“Oliver Brown was the father of Linda Brown, who was at the time trying to attend third grade in a school that was just around the corner from her. But because the school was all white, she was rejected,” Boyd said.
Thurgood Marshall, who would later become a justice on the high court, led a group of esteemed lawyers — Robert Carter, Jack Greenberg, Constance Baker Motley, Spottswood Robinson, Oliver Hill, Louis Redding, Charles and John Scott, Harold R. Boulware, James Nabrit, and George E.C. Hayes — in arguing the case before the court.
And when they won, Boyd said, it opened the door for changes across the country. “Brown was a case that was brought to challenge that malignant doctrine that had been endorsed by the court and allowed state sanctioned segregation to be permitted in almost all areas of American life, from public schools to trains, cars, to places of public accommodation,” she said.
“Though segregation is illegal, our schools still remain segregated today,” Jalisa Evans, chief executive officer and founder of The Black Educator Advocates Network, told The Hill. “As white students fled school districts to avoid integration, redlining continued to create segregated schools through housing. Today, schools with large numbers of Black students are underfunded.”
In December 2022, the Education Trust found that districts with predominantly non-white students receive more than $2,000 less per student than predominantly white districts. In a district with 5,000 students, that would equate to $13.5 million in missing resources.
Advocates also point to recent Supreme Court decisions they say disrupt the 1954 decision. Now, 70 years after the landmark ruling, leading Black voices are concerned that the ruling is slowly being chipped away.
“While we celebrate 70 years of the first Supreme Court decision to break down Jim Crow in education — and the implications were beyond education — that celebration is dampened by the fact that we now have a Supreme Court that has taken out affirmative action and attacked voting rights,” the Rev. Al Sharpton told The Hill. “If this Supreme Court was sitting in 1954, they probably would have not voted for Brown versus the Board of Education,” he added.
“We’ve come a long way since the Supreme Court ruled that school segregation was unconstitutional,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “But today, the most segregated school systems in America can be directly traced to policies put in place in the aftermath of Brown v. Board of Education.”
“Today, we carry the torch by fighting for that history to remain in our nation’s classrooms. The effort to establish equitable access to education continues to be an uphill battle for Black Americans as we witness modern-day attacks on educational rights, such as the erasure of Black history in schools and elimination of affirmative action in higher education,” Derrick Johnson, President and CEO, NAACP shared.
“As we mark the 70th anniversary of the Brown v Board becoming law, we honor the courageous individuals who have fought tirelessly for racial equity and justice in our country’s educational system — long before this landmark ruling, and long after it, too. Brown v. Board was a pivotal moment in our nation’s history, not only striking down the doctrine of ‘separate but equal,’ but also catalyzing a movement towards equality and inclusion in our schools,” Congressman and Former Principal Jamaal Bowman. “But, as we reflect on this milestone, we must also recognize that this critical work is ongoing. We must continue working to dismantle the systemic barriers that still hinder educational opportunities for far too many children: here in New York, and across the country. Let us honor this anniversary and the work of all those who came before us with action, and recommit ourselves to the pursuit of a truly equitable education system, where every child has the opportunity to thrive and succeed.”
The Desegregation of Yonkers
Here is Westchester County, there was a school and housing desegregation case in Yonkers. The initial complaint was filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1980, and the Yonkers branch of the NAACP intervened in 1981 to make the case a class action. After 27 years, the parties settled in 2007, with Yonkers agreeing to build 800 units of public housing in predominantly-white East and Northwest Yonkers. This case was highly contentious: in the late 1980s, Yonkers defied the court’s desegregation orders, resulting in contempt fines that reached $1 million per day and brought Yonkers to the brink of bankruptcy. HBO dramatized this conflict in the 2015 series Show Me a Hero.
In 1980, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division brought this case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against the City of Yonkers, New York, alleging that the City had intentionally segregated its schools by deliberately concentrating public housing in Southwest Yonkers. Specifically, the complaint was brought to enforce Titles IV and VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and it alleged violations of Title VIII of the Fair Housing Act, the 14th Amendment, Department of Education regulations, and contractual assertions made by Yonkers to access federal educational funds. By preventing public housing from being built in majority-white neighborhoods, Yonkers officials had ensured that Yonkers schools were almost entirely segregated by race. According to the opinion available at 518 F. Supp. 181, the complaint also alleged that the City and the school board enabled segregation through racially discriminatory policies and through the repeated appointment of school board members who opposed integrating Yonkers schools. The complaint aimed to desegregate Yonkers schools by desegregating Yonkers housing – specifically, by requiring Yonkers to build public housing in majority-white neighborhoods.
The Yonkers branch of the NAACP intervened in 1981, on behalf of a child in the Yonkers public school system. Thereafter, the school desegregation aspect of the case was certified as a class action, with the class defined as all black or Hispanic children attending a Yonkers public school. The housing desegregation aspect of the case was also certified as a class action, the class defined as any Yonkers resident eligible for or living in public housing in Yonkers. 518 F. Supp. 191.
Because of the divisiveness of the litigation and its potential cost, Judge Leonard B. Sand appointed a Special Master in September 1982 to help the parties negotiate a settlement to both the housing and schooling prongs of the case.
This case occurred in parallel with a case to desegregate the Yonkers Police Department. For more information about that case, see United States v. City of Yonkers, 609 F. Supp. 1281 (1984).
Mount Vernon NAACP & City School District Celebrate 70 Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Ed
The Mount Vernon City School District and the Mount Vernon branch of the NAACP celebrated the 70th Anniversary of the landmark decision that made school segregation illegal in America, at Mount Vernon High School (100 California Rd.), Friday, May 17, 2024. Panelists included Civil Rights Attorney Mayo Bartlett who discussed the Brown case and its impact, Mount Vernon City Court Judge Nichelle Johnson who discussed the history and what was happening before Brown and Mount Vernon City Court Judge Tamika A. Coverdale who discussed the important of women around Brown.
Civil Rights attorney Mayo Bartlett said there is not enough honest conversation about why it has been hard to desegregate schools. At a recent panel he discussed the generational wealth gap between Black and white people, which often leads them to live in different places. He shared that Black families being systematically steered to buy homes in certain neighborhoods away from white families.
“More affluent schools will have more resources. Poorer schools will have fewer resources. That means it’s never going to be separate but equal. It’s always going to be separate, and the haves will have more and the have-nots will have less,” he shared with Black Westchester after panel discussion.
Panelists and attendees at the Mount Vernon High School event reflected on how many school districts are failing to integrate 70 years since the Brown v. Board of Education decision. You can view video of the panel discussion on the Mount Vernon NAACP Facebook page.
Kings House of Fire, co-founded by mother/son duo Joan and Walter King, is a lifestyle, cannabis brand focused on delivering the highest quality cannabis and cannabis-infused products in a unique environment where each individual customer is seen, heard, and understood. Being one of the largest cannabis dispensaries in New York, they pride themselves with catering to a wide variety of consumers where they can safely purchase, learn, and enjoy cannabis culture.
Joan and Walter King, together they hold the CEO/CFO positions at the first legal dispensary in northern Westchester, located at 3006 E. Main Street in Cortlandt Manor, between Kohl’s Department store and a NAPA auto parts business.
“Walter King got the entrepreneurial chance of a lifetime when his mother Joan received a license from the state of New York to open a cannabis dispensary. But as the founder and CFO of the new business, his first inclination was to dispense with the family name for the retail location on Route 6,” the Peekskill Herald reported. His hesitation stemmed from the types of other businesses his family ran involving child care and a children’s entertainment space. But the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to be transparent about who exactly was behind Kings House of Fire, the first legal dispensary in northern Westchester.
“We understand people’s concerns about doing two things that may contradict each other,” said Walter. “We make kids’ safety our first priority in our businesses. We will apply that same standard to the business of distributing cannabis. We’re giving people an opportunity to purchase a product in a legal, safe and controlled environment,” said Walter about the location that received approval from the Town of Cortlandt to open in the only section of the town zoned for a cannabis dispensary.
Joan has been an entrepreneur in upper Westchester County, NY for the past 30 years. She is a breast cancer survivor who chose natural healing as opposed to medicinal treatment. In her lifetime, Joan never used any drugs and always opted out of medicinal treatments which she even refused to use cannabis as part of the healing process. One thing Joan loves most about Kings House of Fire is that it changed her outlook on the cannabis industry in its entirety.
This is not a new journey for them as Joan has always believed in Walter’s vision and to date has supported him fully in all of his business endeavors.
Walter has been instrumental in managing and growing the family businesses since graduating college in 2019. Walter is well-known for his athleticism on the basketball court however off the court, he is a true visionary and entrepreneur. What Walter loves most about the cannabis industry is that it brings people together from all walks of life. You can be any race, gender, skin complexion or religion but share an interest in cannabis. Walter has big plans for Kings House of Fire. “You must have a divine purpose in this industry. It must be bigger than just selling cannabis. Yes, the opportunity is cool, but you must stand for something!”
The King family, from left Wykeima, Walter Jr., Wyquasia, Joan and Walter. (Photo courtesy of the LuxuRay Experience Inc/TLC Shoots LLC)
Joan and Walter have always been about helping the community and it is evident through the family businesses. Collectively the King family owns and operates five local businesses throughout Westchester County stemming from childcare, amusement, event planning, car repair and hair services. They are a true inspiration in family entrepreneurship.
Kings House of Fire intends to hire 15 people to work the dispensary and since his father runs a security business he will be vetting the employees and training them. “There will be identification checks at the point of sale, security cameras that New York state will have access to and licensed armed security guards,” said Walter. He is familiar with how that works from the daycare centers his sisters operate, where people are permitted to enter only via a buzzer door system.
For more information on King’s House of Fire visit their website and follow them on IG.
Tara Somersall’s creativity serving children of all ages has made Yonkers Public Library a community leader in meeting kids’ needs and preparing them for a lifetime of reading.
Over the past 22 years, Library Journal’s Movers & Shakers awards have offered a compelling snapshot of what’s up and coming in the library world, as well as how it has changed. Their 2024 Movers cohort represents a range of innovative, proactive, and supportive work; they are imaginative and kind and brave in a world that needs those qualities—and the results they produce—very much.
Library Journal (LJ) has revealed the winners of the 2024 Movers & Shakers awards, celebrating a dynamic group of Advocates, Community Builders, Change Agents, Innovators, Educators, and Ban Battlers representing diverse realms within the library profession.
Tara Somersall received this prestigious national award in the Innovator category for her work in early literacy while she was head of youth services at the Riverfront Library. During her tenure, she helped develop a comprehensive outreach program to local daycares, worked with local hospitals to connect new parents and babies with reading resources, and assisted in renovating The Cove and Sensory Room. In late 2023, she was promoted to Branch Administrator of the Grinton I. Will Library.
She is one of only 40 Movers & Shakers this year, and joins an esteemed group of over 1,000 librarian professionals across the nation and world that have been inducted over the last 22 years.
Tara Somersall’s creativity serving children of all ages has made Yonkers Public Library (YPL) a community leader in meeting kids’ needs and preparing them for a lifetime of reading.
Putting the “early” in early readership, Somersall worked with doctors and clinicians at Saint Joseph’s Medical Center to launch the Born to Read program, which focuses on parents reading, singing, and bonding with their baby. Her favorite part of that? “The ‘prescription to read’ that doctors provide to new families to promote the library and early literacy,” she says.
Somersall has collaborated with the Family Services Society of Yonkers (FSSY) on workshops for parents and caregivers, covering topics including mental health, nutrition, and financial literacy. FSSY’s intergenerational mentorship program, Summer Reading Buddies—which Somersall worked to expand—has volunteers read with and to elementary students, mentoring them for six weeks to develop relationships and track progress. In 2023, YPL hosted 110 mentors and 397 students who read 1,822 books.
She also partners with local childcare organizations to provide library cards and run the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program. “It seems so simple—bring story times to the daycare centers,” Somersall says, “but it really expanded our ability to serve more children and families.”
Somersall’s changes to the children’s department have been “transformational,” says YPL Deputy Director Shauna Porteus—not only helping redesign and open The Cove, a multipurpose indoor play and learning space for pre-K kids and their caregivers, as well as the county’s first Sensory Room, but also through her emphasis on hiring presenters and developing programs that are representative of the communities the library serves. “One mother told Tara that seeing someone that looks like her and her daughter meant the world to them,” says Porteus.
Ella Baker, “The Mother of Civil Rights” earned her bonafides by the influence she had on shaping the Civil Rights Movement. Hers was not a charismatic flame like Dr. King’s, but nearly as instrumental! From teaching Rosa Parks how to protest, to being one of the female voices of the SCLC, she quietly had her fingerprints all over the Civil Rights Movement.
The fact that she was a female leader in the testosterone filled room was an impediment. The historical publication All Things Interesting [ATI.com] delineated her struggles,“All the odds were against her as a Black woman in her time.” In 1958 she worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Their flare ups were noted in Time, “Her relationship with Dr. King, however, was tense: Despite her level of experience and proven track record, he had difficulty allowing a woman’s decisions to trump his own, and her idea was that the organization should devote its resources more to promoting and enabling its overall mission rather than celebrating a charismatic leader.”
ATI.com wrote, “Baker often clashed with King, though. King balked at the notion that a woman may have ideas beyond his own. An early SCLC member said of King’s behavior that it was just a consequence of his time and circumstance: ‘unless someone was male and a member of the inner circle of the church, it could be difficult to overcome the preacher’s ego.’”
Born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1903, she was raised in rural North Carolina. Blackpast.org recounts the guidance she received from her Grandmother. “… told young Ella stories of the cruelties she endured at the hands of slave owners… But she bore the beatings with pride and resilience…” That common thread among the downtrodden is what propelled Miss Ella in her quest for Black equality. She graduated class valedictorian in 1927 from Shaw University, and moved to New York City. Britannica; noted her early activism began, “In the early 1930s, in one of her first efforts at implementing social improvement, she helped organize the Young Negroes Cooperative League.’
From 1940 to 1946, Miss Ella worked exhaustively in the NAACP. She rose from a job as field secretary to national director of various branches. Her role was to fundraise for the NAACP, and she traveled all over the country, trying to convince people that they deserved a voice. Many of the people she met had grandparents who were slaves, so they were skeptical that their effort could stop the constant degradation. Miss Ella used the shared lineage to slavery to inspire people to stand strong. The “Mother of Civil Rights” would not be deterred. To learn more read Ella Baker: Leader Behind the Scenes by Shyrlee Dallard.
“Give light and people will find the way.” – Ella Baker
