Women In Politics: Fighting for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Women In Politics: Fighting for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Women In Politics: Fighting for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Women In Politics: Fighting for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Women In Politics: Fighting for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Women In Politics: Fighting for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Political sexism and racism keeps the glass ceiling unbroken

Although recent presidential elections have seen more diverse women on both sides of the political aisle jockeying for party nominations, the fact remains that in more than 240 years, the U.S. has never elected a female president. The prevailing sexist joke is that if you were married to the president as First Lady, like Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, then you’ve already “been in control of the White House.”

Vice President Kamala Harris is the first, and only, woman, Black American, or South Asian American to be elected to her position, as was the case when she served as district attorney of San Francisco and U.S. Senator for California. When she was elected alongside President Joe Biden in 2020, women of all backgrounds got one step closer to running the White House rather than just residing in it.

America’s history of overt political sexism and racism is still holding women back from the presidency, so the question is simple: If a candidate like Harris were a white male and not a Black woman, would they be president? The polls say: Most likely.
“Women have always faced systemic barriers of sexism and misogyny that hinder our opportunities, and women of color face the additional obstacle of racism,” said New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, the first Black person to hold her position. She currently leads a historic women-majority City Council from 2022. She’s seen firsthand the disparate treatment women leaders receive, the challenges women face, and how their decisions and leadership are portrayed, she said.

“Time and time again, our city and country have witnessed the way women seeking higher office have been portrayed, questioned, and dismissed compared to their male counterparts,” said Adams. “We continue to see and experience these obstacles today, and it is not coincidental that there has never been a woman elected to serve as mayor of New York City or president of the United States.”

Trying to break the hardest glass ceiling

Contrary to popular belief, women have a long history of running for president in the U.S. The first woman to run for president was a stockbroker and publisher named Victoria Woodhull, who ran on the Equal Rights Party ticket in 1872. Belva Lockwood, the first woman admitted to practice law, also ran for president on the same ticket in 1888. Journalist Charlotta Spears Bass was the first Black woman nominee for vice president, in 1952 on the Progressive Party ticket.

“It was so out of the box. There were so few role models of women who even considered it,” said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). “It’s important to remember that this was the period where if a woman went in and tried to vote, she would get arrested.”

In Miami in 1972, Brooklyn native and Congressmember Shirley Chisholm changed the game when she ran for president in the Democratic primaries and garnered 151.25 delegate votes before Senator George McGovern clinched the nomination.

Longtime Harlemite and former national president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Dr. Hazel N. Dukes, who is the current president of the organization’s New York State chapter, recalled the night Chisholm announced her nomination.

At the time, Dukes was a member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and a delegate. She went to dinner that night with the Helen M. Marshall, the first Black borough president of Queens (now deceased); former Council member Mary Pinkett, the first Black New York City Council member; and former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton. On the way back, they passed by a distraught Chisholm in the green room behind the stage at the convention. When they inquired about what had happened, Chisholm told them that U.S. Rep Ron Dellums of California, the first Black person elected to Congress in north California, was supposed to nominate her for a presidential bid. He was directly told by higher-ups that if he did, he risked career suicide, said Dukes, so he backed down.

“Mr. Sutton said, ‘What?! Well, would you like for me to do that?’” said Dukes, chuckling at the memory. “So he looked at me and Mary and Helen, and he said, ‘I’m going to nominate her, would you all second?’And you know me, I’ve always been brave. So we said yes.”

Chisholm was on the ballot in 12 primaries, and although she didn’t win, she used her platform as a candidate to talk about women’s rights, civil rights, education issues, and the Vietnam War. Her activism, outspoken voice, legacy, and ambitions continue to inspire countless others.

“My mentor, Shirley Chisholm, broke glass ceilings so Black women like myself, Vice President Harris, and countless others can be leaders in our democracy. The impact of Shirley Chisholm’s legacy is still felt today,” said U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee of California in a statement. “With GOP extremists out to take away our freedoms and turn back the clock, we are pressing forward, and fighting for our voices to be heard and respected on all fronts. From grassroots activists to Supreme Court justices, women are forging the path for the next generation to strengthen our democracy and protect our freedoms.”

Over the next several decades, women in both the Democratic and Republican parties tried for the presidency and vice presidency.

In 2003, former U.S. Senator and Ambassador to New Zealand Carol Moseley Braun announced her intentions to bid for the 2004 election, but she withdrew her name the following year. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin became the first woman on a national Republican line for vice president, alongside Senator John McCain, in 2008. Former First Lady and then-Sen. Hillary Clinton came pretty close to holding the oval office. She was the first woman to win a major party’s Democratic presidential primary, at the same time as Palin, in 2008. By 2016, she was a formidable political figure. Clinton then threw her hat in the presidential ring again, becoming the Democratic nominee for president and earning the popular vote in the general election by almost 3 million votes. Clinton had only 227 votes in the electoral college, though. She ended up conceding to Donald J. Trump, who had clinched the electoral college with 304 votes. In 2019, in preparation for the 2020 presidential election, six women formally announced their candidacy for president: U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand from New York, Sen. Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota, Sen. Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts, author Marianne Williamson, and Harris. This was the first time in history that more than two women competed in the same major party’s presidential primary process. Walsh considers the fact that other countries have elected women to be heads of state more than once is an indication that the U.S. as a nation is “behind.”

Challenges for Women remain

One of the biggest challenges women candidates face in general is raising enough money. A report by CAWP highlighted how underrepresented women’s voices are in American politics because they are underrepresented as donors, even though they are often “formidable fundraisers.”

“In American politics, money, unfortunately, is an important factor; one that has been a challenge for women candidates—one they do overcome, but it’s harder for them to raise money,” said Walsh. “They come from less-money networks, they make less money than men, and so running for office [is hard]. They are able to raise the money—we know that they do it, but it’s a lot more work to get it done.”
According to the report, “Men give a disproportionate amount of all money contributed, with women giving one-third or less of all money contributed to gubernatorial, statewide executive, and state legislative races from 2019 to 2022.” In places that were considered abortion battlegrounds, men’s campaign contributions far exceeded women’s contributions to state races.

There are also partisan differences among women donors. Women are more likely to give to Democrats and are “poorly represented” as donors to Republican state candidates. The total amount contributed by men to Democratic state candidates also exceeds the total amount contributed by women, according to the CAWP report.

Despite these financial challenges, a record number of Black women have been running for and winning political offices—although no Black woman has ever served as governor.

“Over the past decade, Black women have seen representational gains across all levels of office, including in the federal executive, and achieved milestones as candidates and officeholders within states and nationwide,” said Glynda C. Carr, president & CEO of Higher Heights for America. “However, while we have made gains, the underrepresentation of Black women in American politics persists. The 2022 election illuminated these realities. Record numbers of Black women ran for congressional and statewide elective executive offices and, as a result of the election, a record number of Black women now serve in Congress, in the statewide elective executive office, and [in] state legislatures.”

Statistically, the Black woman voting bloc is also a loyal and consistent voting base that has been a deciding factor in elections for years.

More than two-thirds of Black women turned out to vote in the 2020 presidential election, which was the third-highest rate of any race-gender group, said CAWP. They overwhelmingly voted for Biden, and about 90% or more of Black women voters cast their ballots for the Democratic ticket.

Walsh considers Black women the backbone of the Democratic party.

“We know that Black women can serve in these roles. When Black women are at decision-making tables, better decisions are made,” said Carr. “More work needs to be done to understand and address the hurdles these Black women candidates confront en route to political office.”

Carr added that biases, racism, and sexism in American politics create systemic barriers that make it harder for women candidates to succeed, and can lead to a lack of support and resources for Black women candidates, making it more difficult for them to run competitive campaigns. In 2022’s mixed-gender non-incumbent gubernatorial primaries, white women fared better in terms of how much money their campaigns were able to raise compared to women from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. Women from historically underrepresented groups were less likely to enter competitive races than white women, the CAWP report found.

“Black women in American politics have come far, but not further enough to build the type of presidential profile, war chest, and more to be competitive in a national election,” said political strategist and veteran campaign manager Donna Brazile. “For now, the goal is to get more Black women elected to Congress [House and Senate] and statewide. The bigger the pipeline, the larger the crop of viable candidates who one day may build the type of profile and candidacy to compete for the Presidency of the United States. Barack Obama did it.”

Another major challenge women in politics face is perception.

Pew Research Center analysis indicates that women candidates in the U.S. are punished more than men for showing emotions and having young children at home, as well as their perceived levels of physical attractiveness, assertiveness, and experience.

“The words that I am most allergic to and that I hate that we use as metrics are words like ‘likable’ or ‘authentic’ or ‘electable’ because what you’re talking about if you say someone is not one of those things is fundamentally that they are not what I am used to,” said EMILYs List Senior Vice President of Communications and Content Christina Reynolds.

Reynolds noted that for years, women who ran for office tried to “fit in a male shaped box” by wearing pantsuits, cutting their hair short, and being more inflexible on political issues. They often strove to appear more subjectively “likable” and “experienced” in order to be thought of as credible to voters.
“The reality is in this country we have never elected a woman president. We’ve had one—and only one—woman win her party’s nomination. We’ve had one—and only one—woman serve as vice president,” said Reynolds. “And so when we think of those positions, we think of a guy in a suit because that’s what we’re used to. So the truth is, what I like to remind people of is that most men who have run for president have lost, and yet we don’t consider them unelectable.”

Reynolds loved that the 2020 elections had so many different kinds of women with different ideologies running. She hopes that the more women are seen running for president, the more voters will confront their own internal biases from the media and polling.

Women candidates are also seen as too “risky” to vote for, meaning that in really competitive races people assume that women will lose and therefore voters would rather save their vote for a candidate they think might win—which is usually a man, said Walsh.

“2020 was a particularly strong example where Democrats felt desperate, like we cannot elect Donald Trump again, and so they wanted the safest possible candidate. And there was this fear that if you went outside of the most, in many ways the traditional, old school Democrat, that it would be too risky,” said Walsh. “And I think women and candidates of color were risky. And she [VP Harris] was both.”

Vice President Kamala Harris visits Restoration Plaza in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn in August 2022. Credit: Ariama C. Long photo

What does the VP say?

In an televised interview with “60 Minutes” last November, Harris did address the unique and added pressure her position as the first Black woman vice president has. She also acknowledged the rumblings that donors would not “naturally” fall in line to support her should she inadvertently become president if Biden dies, per the Constitution’s rules of succession by default.

“I hear from a lot of different people a lot of different things, but I am focused on the job. I truly am. Our democracy is on the line. I, frankly, in my head, do not have time for parlor games,” she continued, sidestepping the question. The AmNews reached out to Harris’ office for further comment. Her press office declined.

“Women, particularly Black women, confront bias at nearly every turn our lives take,” said U.S. Rep Yvette D. Clarke in a statement. “And so, when a strong Black woman makes the bold, brave choice to seek higher office, these sorts of accusations come as no surprise to her—nor should be of any concern to her. We do not burden ourselves with the opinions of the intolerant, for even the flawless record of an undeniably competent woman would not deter the most prejudiced individuals. Out of thin air, they conjure detractions and complaints and aim to smear our stories for no reasons beyond that we are born with.”

Vice President Kamala Harris exits Air Force 2 at New Jersey airport in 2021. Credit: Ariama C. Long photo

In terms of the future beyond the 2024 presidential elections, there’s a sense that a woman head of state is closer than ever in the U.S. Dukes hypothesized that a woman as president of the U.S. is not inconceivable. “There will be a breakthrough,” said Dukes. “A woman will win the presidency, sooner or later.”

“To any woman facing the same discriminatory slanders that have persisted since long before Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm’s historic run for the presidency, I urge her to follow the lead of our distinguished Vice President Kamala Harris—and that is to ignore them,” continued Clarke. “Day by day, success by success, these outdated ideas are fading into the past. All we can do is stay resilient and brilliant and expedite their end.”

Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.

The post Women In Politics: Fighting for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

NYC’s viral Swedish candy store just quietly opened a new spot in Brooklyn

NYC’s viral Swedish candy store just quietly opened a new spot in Brooklyn

Perhaps you’ve seen the lines snaking around the block. Or the viral TikToks. Or the pastel pink bags with BonBon in blue cursive writing. Swedish candy is having a moment in New York City right now, and BonBon – A Swedish Candy Co is at the center of it. 

The store, which we at Time Out have loved for a long time, has recently gained mega popularity on the Internet and at its three stores in New York City. It just quietly opened a fourth store—this one in the Columbia Street Waterfront District near Red Hook in Brooklyn.

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BonBon’s new store (66 Degraw Street) is actually inside its warehouse. Inside the industrial space, they’ve added BonBon’s signature shelving packed with candy. You’ll find plenty of gummy candies, chocolates, and licorice, which you can scoop into a pink bag for your very own pick-and-mix. All the candies are imported from Sweden and some (like the Swedish fish) are even made exclusively for BonBon. 

The new store joins BonBon’s other locations in the Lower East Side, Williamsburg, and Upper East Side. While each store is dedicated to serving up delightful and decadent candies, the design of each offers its own flair. For this location, expect a major candy library and the home to the local chain’s treasure vault of candy. 

Though the rest of BonBon’s stores are open late (10am-midnight daily), the location near Red Hook offers limited hours on weekends only. The HQ retail hours are on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 11am-5pm—which makes sense considering it’s also an active warehouse during the week. 

In addition to candy, this shop will also serve BonBon’s Swedish-style hot dogs on Sundays during store hours.

A portrait of the shop's owners Selim Adira, Bobby Persson and Leo Schaltz
Photograph: Courtesy of BonBon | The shop’s owners Selim Adira, Bobby Persson and Leo Schaltz

With a passion for sweet treats, friends and fellow Swedes Selim Adira, Bobby Persson and Leo Schaltz founded the company in 2018. In Sweden, candy is a pretty big deal, especially on the weekends as children there traditionally only eat candy on Saturdays. There’s even a word for it: Lördagsgodis, which translates to Saturday sweets, as the BBC explains

Candy is a way of life.

“For the owners, candy is a way of life,” a spokesperson for the shop said. “The owners are Swedish, and Swedes consume the most candy out of any country in the entire world.”

After six years in NYC, BonBon has become a darling of social media this year. As of mid-January, they added a disclaimer on the website noting that shipping orders have been delayed by up to three weeks. The company went from handling 50 online orders at a time more than 1,000, practically overnight, per a TODAY article. They even had to airlift candy from Sweden because they ran out.

A pink roll-up door at BonBon.
Photograph: Courtesy of BonBon

While shipping and delivery options (think Grubhub, Uber Eats, etc.) are an option for New Yorkers, we recommend actually going into the shop itself for the full experience. In the new location especially, you’ll enter through a roll-up pink door into a land that feels like Willy Wonka himself will pop out at any moment. And even if he doesn’t, BonBon’s candy concierges in their colorful aprons and formal uniforms are ready to help with candy recommendations and tips to make your BonBon experience magical.

* This article was originally published here

URBAN AGENDA – A Familiar American Practice: Suppressing The Black and Brown Vote

David R. Jones (137830)

Tuesday, April 2nd, is New York’s presidential primary election. Regardless of what anyone may think of the options, or lack thereof, put before voters next week, any opportunity to cast a vote in a free and fair election is a precious commodity – one that countless Americans have fought and died to protect throughout our history. However, this privilege and fundamental constitutional right is routinely denied to incarcerated voters.

The right to full civic participation for all New Yorkers is a core value for my organization, Community Service Society of New York (CSS). CSS began the drive to register and empower voters in the 1980s when the late Richie Perez, a community activist and former member of the Young Lords, started our Voter Participation Project (VPP) in the Bushwick-Cypress Hill sections of Brooklyn. Perez would later become CSS’s political director and take the program citywide. In the decades since, our efforts have registered hundreds of thousands of voters in low-income communities, reversed discriminatory voter purges, and helped people with conviction histories get back their rights to vote and serve on a jury.

The struggle continues as we fight back against the systematic disenfranchisement of incarcerated people. In New York, anyone who is incarcerated for a misdemeanor conviction or because of pretrial detention is eligible to vote. On Rikers Island, there are currently 6,237 individuals detained and nearly every single one of them is eligible to register to vote. Many recent races have been decided by fewer votes than the number of eligible voters in jails. Nonetheless, these incarcerated voters will be deprived of their fundamental right next week simply due to underfunded programs and ineffective policies. 

There are no voting sites in city jails and, therefore, incarcerated New Yorkers struggle to participate in elections. The current voting process relies on Department of Correction (DOC) staff to ferry registration forms and absentee ballots between the jails and the local Board of Election (BOE) offices. Incarcerated voters have no choice but to put their faith in the goodwill of the DOC staff, as this process is not governed by any official policy or procedure. As a result, requests for absentee ballots often go unfulfilled. When absentee ballots are actually delivered to the BOE, they are frequently rejected, and voters are not provided an explanation or opportunity to cure.

CSS proudly supports the work being done by the Vote in NYC Jails coalition, which goes into Rikers, speaks with hundreds of potential voters, provides vital education, and helps to complete paperwork for voter registration and absentee ballot requests. Last month, the Coalition penned a sign-on letter demanding that the DOC and BOE invest and commit to making sure all people in New York city jails have their ballots cast and counted. The coalition correctly identified common sense policy changes that would go a long way towards restoring the right to vote in jail. But the coalition is doing work that is the responsibility of government.

The BOE must provide detailed reasons why voting ballots from Rikers are rejected, and make meaningful efforts to reduce the number of rejected ballots in future elections. We also call on the DOC to devote more resources to facilitate people registering to vote and requesting, receiving, and returning absentee ballots. This includes working with the BOE to provide incarcerated voters with the opportunity to cure rejected ballots. The BOE and the DOC must also work together to offer a voter education program and provide non-partisan resources on voting.

Finally and most significantly, the BOE should provide voters at Rikers with the opportunity to vote in-person, as they do for other similarly situated groups that are physically unable to vote at their neighborhood polling place. Current election law provides special accommodations for nursing homes, residential health care facilities, and facilities operated or licensed, or under the jurisdiction of the Veterans Administration. In short, the BOE will go to seniors, veterans, and medically vulnerable voters where they are to ensure that they can vote in-person but will not do the same for people incarcerated at Rikers. This needs to change. BOE must appoint election inspectors to preside over portable voting machines on-site at Rikers Island so that registered voters can cast their ballot directly, as they already do in nursing homes and at VA hospitals.

Let us speak clearly about who these policies impact. Nearly 90 percent of individuals currently detained in New York City jails are non-white. The votes of Black and brown New Yorkers are being suppressed by current DOC and BOE policies and procedures. These policies must be viewed as what they truly are – part of an effort that dates back to the founding of this country that seeks to exclude Black people from full participation in American life. If we truly care about fair and free elections and full participation in the democratic process, we must ensure the right to vote for incarcerated citizens.  

David R. Jones, Esq., is President and CEO of the Community Service Society of New York (CSS), the leading voice on behalf of low-income New Yorkers for more than 175 years. The views expressed in this column are solely those of the writer. The Urban Agenda is available on CSS’s website: www.cssny.org.

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* This article was originally published here

DiVincenzo and the Knicks surge toward the playoffs

On HBCU night at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo brought heat and flavor to the building that was symbolic of the festive atmosphere that traditionally permeates historically Black college and universities sporting events.

DiVincenzo hit 11 3-pointers, establishing a new Knicks single-game franchise record and scored a career-high 40 points to boost his team to a 124-99 blowout of the Detroit Pistons. As entertaining and stimulating DiVincenzo’s performance was for the home crowd, more importantly, it was the Knicks’ sixth win in their previous seven games heading into last night’s meeting with the Toronto Raptors on the road.

The Knicks were 43-28, 24-13 at the Garden and 19-15 away from home, and the No. 4 seed in the East, only one half game behind the No. 3 seed Cleveland Cavaliers. However, they were just one game ahead of the No. 5 seed Orlando Magic in a tight race in the stretch run for playoff position. The Knicks have 10 more games remaining before their regular season schedule ends on April 14. They’ll face the San Antonio Spurs on the road tomorrow, host the Oklahoma City Thunder at MSG on Sunday, then travel to Miami to take on the Heat next Tuesday.

The Knicks have been consistently relentless in their effort in the four years Tom Thibodeau has been the team’s head coach. But this level of effort has been even more essential in the last few months as the Knicks have fought to maintain their place in the upper fourth of the East standings with Julius Randle (right shoulder dislocation) OG Anunoby (surgically repaired right elbow) and Mitchell Robinson (left ankle surgery) still all out and working their way back into the lineup from injuries.

But in their absence, there has been a collective mindset to keep surging ahead. DiVincenzo has represented it in his leadership and production. He has proven to be one of last summer’s best NBA free-agent signings as Jalen Brunson was in the summer of 2022. The Knicks inked him to a four-year, $50 million contract after he spent last season with the Golden State Warriors. Going into last night, the 27 year old, 6-4 guard from Villanova had played in 70 games this season, starting 52, and was averaging 14.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists.  

Monday highlighted his ability to be a secondary scorer for the Knicks when needed. He also registered a team-leading 31 points in a 105-93 Knicks win against the Brooklyn Nets at the Garden last Saturday. His 3-point record was urged on by the fans in attendance that amped up DiVincenzo as he approached the mark.

“Yes, it’s an amazing feeling having the crowd behind you,” DiVincenzo said, “but also like every time you touch the ball, they’re like, ‘Shoot! Shoot!’”

The energy generated by those that wanted to witness Knicks history had DiVincenzo wrapped up in the moment. 

“Yeah, honestly, Jalen was telling me, ‘bro slow down.’ I was like ‘the crowd’s speeding me up,’” DiVincenzo admitted. “That emotion where you get a sliver of space, knock down  nine and then 10 of them, and as soon as you catch the ball, you can hear the crowd. I’ve said it, it’s the best fans in the league.”

The post DiVincenzo and the Knicks surge toward the playoffs appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

Racial disparities endure despite steep decline in city’s minor arrests, finds Brennan Center for Justice

police officer putting handcuffs on another person

What are broken windows in a house divided? There were 101,881 minor offense charges against Black New Yorkers in 2016. In 2022, there were just 48,300. Yet Black New Yorkers’ likelihood of facing a low-level offense case compared to white New Yorkers actually increased during that span: from roughly a fivefold in 2016 to around a sixfold in 2022.

The disparity was identified by NYU’s Brennan Center for Justice through data obtained from the New York State Office of Court Administration in findings on misdemeanor enforcement released last Thursday, March 21. The gap was the widest in Manhattan, with Black New Yorkers 15 times as likely to face a minor offense compared to white New Yorkers. 

But because Black New Yorkers face the most low-level charges, they also see the largest dropoff in raw number cases due to the NYPD’s declining enforcement for misdemeanor crimes, which made up around three-quarters of all citywide criminal cases filed between 2016 and 2022. Minor offense cases cratered by 54% during the span, even with small increase during the post-pandemic years. 

“They’re most likely due to the substantial criminal justice reforms in New York City like growing numbers of diversion and court alternative programs,” said the report’s coauthor Josephine Wonsun Hahn. “Which have continued across these administrations’ decriminalization efforts like marijuana, which was decriminalized in 2019 [and] legalized in 2021. We also saw large drops in fare evasion which was moved over to civil summonses in 2018.”

Court alternatives offer defendants charged with low-level offenses a “decline to prosecute” from collaborating district attorneys in exchange for graduating diversion programs like the Midtown Community Justice Center’s Project Reset

“So they show up to court and instead of going before a judge, and even potentially getting a dismissal, they do a one session program,” said Danielle Mindess, Midtown Community Justice Center’s project director. “[They] can get connected to services or support if they need something and they get a ‘declined to prosecute’…we’re really trying to come up with innovative ways to close the gap and get a preponderance of folks who are eligible for that program the opportunity to to complete it and never have to go before a judge.”

But Mindess says referrals often come from the same judges and defense attorneys. And reaching qualifying individuals can be challenging. The programming expedites a cumbersome process that costs the city between $2,190 to $5,896 in policing and court expenses for each misdemeanor offense. Additionally, alternatives to incarceration cut down on the roughly three months needed to resolve each case, which the report refers to as a “process of punishment” where defendants lose earnings, jobs and housing due to court appearances. 

And the “mark of a criminal record” fuels recidivism, even if individuals are not convicted of a felony. The Brennan Center cited another study on Suffolk County—the one in Massachusetts, not Long Island—examining how those who weren’t prosecuted for a nonviolent misdemeanor were 53 percent less likely to be rearrested than those who were prosecuted. In the studied area, which includes Boston, charges are bookkept upon arraignment and accessible to employer background checks even if there is no conviction or guilty plea, says NYU Professor of Politics Anna Harvey, who co-authored the 2021 report.

“One of the things that our work is showing is that even not having a conviction and particularly even for non violent misdemeanors, it still matters both for employer behavior, but also for the way that individuals think employers are going to react—it changes their own behaviors,” said Harvey.

There was also a drastic change in the percentage of low-level offense cases ending in convictions or guilty pleas, from 51% in 2016 to just 25% in 2022. Dismissals skyrocketed from 18% in 2016 to 50% in 2022. Low-level cases resolved by trial, either through a conviction or acquittal, were nominal. Why exactly remains to be seen, says Hahn. 

Minor offense enforcement remains consistently prevalent in Black and brown areas like the South Bronx and Upper Manhattan—zip codes in East Tremont/Morrisania and East Harlem rank first and second in minor arrests. Of the white majority neighborhoods with high low-level enforcement like Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen, Black and brown people remain the majority of those charged. 
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.

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* This article was originally published here

Feast your eyes on these gorgeous photos of Macy’s Flower Show 2024

Feast your eyes on these gorgeous photos of Macy's Flower Show 2024

Larger-than-life red lilies, orange daisies, and wispy green leaves have taken over the front of Macy’s flagship store in Herald Square. An annual rite of spring, the Macy’s Flower Show is back for 2024 with a bevy of beautiful installations.

While the oversize decor out front isn’t real, the hydrangeas, orchids, and roses inside the store are, so the show is only available for a limited time. Go see it now through April 7 (except for Easter Sunday when the store is closed) at Macy’s Herald Square (151 W 34st Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues). The show is free to visit, so be prepared for crowds.

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This year’s show was created in partnership with Dior, with one section paying tribute to the floral fragrance Miss Dior. Other installations feature glittery strawberries, a red-and-black butterfly, and a ladybug with a kaleidoscope on its back. Don’t miss the larger-than-life watering cans with cascading pink foliage.

Here’s a sneak peek at what to expect at this year’s Macy’s Flower Show. 

A pink floral display inside the Macy's windows for the spring flower show.
Photograph: By Rossilynne Skena Culgan for Time Out | Inside the Macy’s windows for the spring flower show.
Larger-than-life green watering cans with pink flowers.
Photograph: By Rossilynne Skena Culgan for Time Out | Larger-than-life green watering cans with pink flowers.
A red-and-black butterfly with light-up antennae.
Photograph: By Rossilynne Skena Culgan for Time Out | A red-and-black butterfly with light-up antennae.
Yellow and orange flowers burst from a floral display.
Photograph: By Rossilynne Skena Culgan for Time Out | Yellow and orange flowers burst from a floral display.
A display of glittery pink strawberries with burgundy orchids.
Photograph: By Rossilynne Skena Culgan for Time Out | A display of glittery pink strawberries with burgundy orchids.
A ladybug display with a kaleidoscope on its back.
Photograph: By Rossilynne Skena Culgan for Time Out | A ladybug with a kaleidoscope on its back.
A display of pink hydrangeas in the Macy's windows
Photograph: By Rossilynne Skena Culgan for Time Out | A display of pink hydrangeas in the Macy’s windows.
A Miss Dior display bedecked with pink roses.
Photograph: By Rossilynne Skena Culgan for Time Out | A Miss Dior display bedecked with pink roses.
An installation featuring the aromas in Miss Dior perfume.
Photograph: By Rossilynne Skena Culgan for Time Out | An installation featuring the aromas in Miss Dior perfume.
A pillar of red and purple flowers.
Photograph: By Rossilynne Skena Culgan for Time Out | A pillar of red and purple flowers.

* This article was originally published here

Underfed watchdog: CCRB asks for $15 million more to keep up with rising police misconduct complaints

Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) interim chair Arva Rice requested a $15 million proposed budget increase at a city council hearing last Wednesday, March 20. The NYPD independent oversight agency needs the funding to keep pace with an uptick in police misconduct allegations.

“A priority for the agency was to reduce investigation timelines, which last year, we were able to bring down by 22%,” said Rice in her testimony. “Yet, in 2023, civilians filed 50% more complaints than in 2022, a 10-year high. So far in 2024, we have received even more complaints, 14% more than the already increased rate of last year. We are on pace to receive 6,300 complaints in 2024 which will inevitably cause timelines to increase again, which is worse for officers and civilians alike.”

The CCRB is asking for a total of $37.7 million. That’s $13 million more than last year’s budget to police the police. Specifically, the agency needs to hire 73 investigators to fulfill the growing workload. Meanwhile, the NYPD’s proposed budget sits at $5.4 billion—with a ‘B.’ 

According to Rice, the CCRB could not investigate every complaint within its jurisdiction for the first time in agency history in December due to cuts. This year, the agency ceased investigating some allegation types like “refusal to provide name or shield number” and “forcible removal to a hospital” unless they were attached to other allegation types within the CCRB’s jurisdiction. That led to 459 police misconduct complaints getting closed and another 73 referred back to the NYPD due to budget. 

To be clear, it is currently unknown whether the increased complaints stem from a significant rise in police misconduct or the CCRB’s recently expanded jurisdiction; over the past few years, investigations over body-worn cameras and racial profiling were added to the docket. But civil lawsuit payments over misconduct are generally going up according to Jennvine Wong, staff attorney of the Cop Accountability Project at the Legal Aid. 

“In this particular cycle, Mayor [Eric] Adams [has taken] so many different agency budgets to the chopping block except for NYPD,” added Wong. “For an agency whose budget has grown year over year, it [doesn’t make] a lot of sense that the one independent oversight agency for the NYPD continues to have [its] budget cut and resources limited.”

“The reality also is that while the CCRB is an independent agency, they also have a limited jurisdiction. Most NYPD misconduct is actually investigated by the NYPD themselves either by [Internal Affairs Bureau] or other investigative agencies. And so the vast majority of disciplinary proceedings and investigations and misconduct investigations are actually still secret because the NYPD is not not transparent in the way that CCRB is.”

Beyond hiring investigators, the $15 million could go towards finding a policy director whose research would provide a better understanding on why police misconduct complaints are at a decade high, according to a CCRB spokesperson. 

Staffing the CCRB is no easy task. New talent needs to be recruited and trained. Retaining existing investigators is more challenging with the lack of funding for promotions and raises. Stretching the roster means more overtime hours. And burnout is imminent for a role that already requires watching hours of body-worn camera footage featuring graphic, violent incidents. Grants currently fund a single therapist for just seven hours a week, according to the agency.
And speaking of body-worn cameras, the CCRB continues to advocate for direct access to all recorded footage, which is common practice across police oversight agencies, according to Wong. A bill introduced by Council Speaker Adrienne Adams would make it local law. But the NYPD fears evidence could be unsealed illegally if the legislation passed. At the moment, 75% of CCRB investigations are closed with access to body-worn camera footage. Just 26% are closed without that access.

Of course, the CCRB still faces the challenge of enforcing disciplinary actions—even if misconduct is fully investigated and proven, the ball is in the court of the NYPD Commissioner to impose punishment. Wong says it’s certainly demoralizing for police misconduct victims when a recommendation is not backed up by discipline, but she believes the requested budget is critical.

“It doesn’t matter how much you expand their jurisdiction or authorize them with more power, you’re cutting them off at the knees, and you’re undermining their ability and authority to hold the police accountable by not committing necessary resources to an agency like the CCRB,” said Wong. 

More than three decades ago, divorcing the CCRB entirely from the NYPD into a fully independent oversight agency led rioting cops and racist attacks to the doorstep of former Mayor David Dinkins, the city’s first Black mayor. 

In her testimony, Rice reminded local lawmakers of such a history: “Thirty years ago, New York City was at an inflection point,” she said. “The City Council was faced with the decision to reimagine what safety and accountability should look like in this city and determined that the people of New York deserved more. Together that City Council and Mayor Dinkins created the CCRB. Today, this city is facing another inflection point. There is a fork in the road. 

“One path leads us down the same trajectory we have followed for 30 years, incremental changes that still leave us with a chronic issue of misconduct and lack of accountability. The other path would allow this city to realize the vision that this council and Mayor Dinkins had 30 years ago when they went out on a limb to create this agency.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.

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* This article was originally published here