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What’s Going On

US ELECTION COUNTDOWN
There are 41 days from September 24 to November 3, ELECTION DAY.

More than 200,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and according to media reports that number may be an undercount. Americans would benefit more from a more proactive national policy towards the containment of the coronavirus pandemic which would include a $2-3 trillion stimulus package, to be approved ASAP by an indifferent Republican Senate. The pandemic and its economic disruption arrived and continues during the Trump/Republican’s watch. The GOP is more interested in a Supreme Court veering uncontrollably to the right than it is about the general welfare of the American people. An 11/3 victory for Presidential hopeful Joe Biden is the RX for America.

Early voting has began in Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota and Virginia are early voting states. Lines are uncharacteristically long. Saw African American MAGA protesters in Virginia at a site where lots of Blacks were on line at the polls. Voters said they felt intimidated. The 2020 Presidential debates are set, September 29 in Cleveland, October 15 in Miami and October 22 in Nashville. The Vice Presidential debate will be held on October 7

Last week FBI Chief Christopher Wray told House Homeland Security Meeting that the biggest threat to national security is Russian election interference and white supremacist groups. Yet US Attorney General Barr has designated NYC, Portland and Seattle as “anarchist jurisdictions” which will be denied federal funds. NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo, a lawyer by training, says neither Barr nor executive branch has authority to deny funds to a state. NYS Attorney General Tish James vows to sue the feds if they take that action. What do those three cities have in common, Americans who still protest about grievances.

Brian Benjamin

NEW YORK
NYS Electeds: Do you know NY electeds, who represent your area, who are on this year’s ballot? NYS Assembly members Inez Dickens, Carl Heastie, Michael Blake, Kimberly Jean-Pierre, Rodneyse Bichot, Nick Perry, Charles Barron; NYS Senators Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Brian Benjamin, John Liu, Zellnor Myrie, Kevin Parker, Leroy Comrie, Kevin Thomas, Michael Gianaris, and Robert Jackson; Congress Representatives Hakeem Jeffries, Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, Yvette Clarke, Gregory Meeks, Adriano Espaillat, and Democratic hopefuls Jamaal Bowman and Ritchie Torres.

Job Opps: Brooklyn’s Community Board 9 (Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Wingate and North Flatbush) resumes its search for a District Manager, a full-time Civil Service position, which pays $75,000 to $90,000. Submit resume and cover letter to infobk09@cb.nyc.gov or call 718.779.9280.

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The NASA office of Stem Engagement at the Columbia University based NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, GISS, is recruiting NYC High School STEM teachers to apply for a NASA Climate Change Research Institute’s part-time, year-round associate researcher position, which offer a $7,650 stipend per semester, beginning as soon as October 5. Associate researcher will work in tandem with NASA scientists on projects. Visit The NASA Climate Change Research Initiative online.

Kudos to NYS Senator Brian Benjamin, who represents Central Harlem and Upper West Side in Albany, for his Benjamin Bulletin, September Newsletter, which includes a voter guide intended to help New Yorkers navigate the NY/USA election cycle: registration, election deadlines and requesting absentee ballots.

ARTS/CULTURE
Film: Film buffs are encouraged to see documentary film “KING OF STAGE: The Woodie King Jr. Story- The Star Maker” with narratives about actors Denzel Washington, Anna Maria Horsford, Glynn Turman, Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, Laurence Fishburne, Chadwick Boseman, Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, and Morgan Freeman, to name a few. Access it free online at tubitv.com/movies/544578/king_of_stage_the_woodie_king_story? It is a 95-minute cinematic orgy re: Black American theater history. King founded the storied NY based New Federal Theatre, headquarters for Black theater, which celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year.

NEWSMAKERS
Birthday greetings to all Libran natives, including Cardi B; realtor Al Cunningham; Senegalese fine artist/attorney Bara Diokhane; actor Donald Glover; Our Time Press publisher David Greaves; 2020 Democratic Vice President nominee, US Senator Kamala Harris; Dani J Horsford; Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley; Will Smith; Rev. Jessie Jackson; Bruno Mars; fine arts photog Hakim Mutlaq; writer Ron Scott; Rev. Al Sharpton; special event curator Angela Smith; Jeanine Tate; Jeannette Torruella; Harlem News Publisher Pat Stevenson; and Serena Williams,

Andre Crouch

RIP: Brooklyn-born, US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, died last Friday. She was the second woman to join the US Supreme Court, she was confirmed in 1993 with a Senate vote of 96-3. Often called “the Thurgood Marshall of Supreme Court feminism” it was also noted, “Among the 20th Century justices, only Thurgood Marshall played such a powerful role as an advocate, Marshall in cases involving racial equality and Ginsberg involving gender equality.” She enjoys pop star status by her Gen X and Millennial admirers who call her “Notorious RBG,” a term borrowed from Notorious BIG, the late Brooklyn rap star. Justice Bader, a dissenter on the 2013 SOTUS decision – which removed the muscle from the Voting Rights Act of 1965, wrote that “by invalidating the provision that required Southern jurisdictions to receive federal permission preclearance before making any changes to voting procedures …was a disservice to the Law.”

The GOP dominated US Senate is poised to confirm a RBG’s successor ASAP. Trump will announce his nominees by 9/26, preferring not to wait for election results, which was one of Notorious RBG’s last messages to her granddaughter.
RIP: Black American writer/journalist. Stanley Crouch, 74 , died last week. A native Californian, a Watts Riot survivor, who took NY by storm. Crouch, a household word in jazz and social criticism circles, was a NY Village Voice and NY Daily News columnist. Race and jazz were key words for the iconoclastic Crouch, a recipient of a MacArthur Genius Award. A co-founder of Jazz At Lincoln, he lusted for subjects to criticize like Toni Morrison, Alex Haley, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Minister Farrakhan. A prolific writer, some of his book titles include “Notes of a Hanging Judge,” “Don’t the Moon Look Lonesome, A Novel in Blues and Swing’ and a poetry collection, “Ain’t No Ambulances for No Nigguhs Tonight,” his Watts Riot remembrances.

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A Harlem-based media/branding specialist, Victoria is reachable at Victoria.horsford@gmail.com

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