Early in the evening of June 3, 2020, Mattie Barber-Bockelman marched from Barclays Center in Downtown Brooklyn towards Cadman Plaza, near the Brooklyn Bridge. This was Barber-Bockelman’s first protest after months of lockdown, but she knew what to do from posts on Instagram and Twitter. Barber-Bockelman is white, and positioned herself at the edge of the crowd, between Black protesters and the police. More →
As the sun set over south Brooklyn Tuesday is night, most polling sites were quiet. In contrast to the lines that plagued early voting sites, voting locations like PS160 and PS105 were empty, blue and red stickers on the sidewalk urging non-existent waiting voters to socially distance. But at the Borough Park YMHA, a crowded line stretched down the block. Waiting voters, primarily members of the Orthodox Jewish community, wore few masks and stood inches apart, despite poll workers and signs reminding them to distance. More →
In the last few days of July, black-and-white photos began filling up Instagram feeds around the world. Generally, they were solo, selfie shots of women, with hashtags like #womensupportingwomen and #challengeaccepted. Many celebrities jumped on the trend, including Cindy Crawford, Kerry Washington, Kristen Bell, and Jennifer Aniston, using everything from old glamour shots to close-up selfies in order to, ostensibly, demonstrate their general solidarity with women. In a pandemic rife with internet challenges and online activism, it seemed, at first glance, another trend meant to bind us together with a vaguery, when everyone was looking for some form of connection. More →
As the sweltering July heat baked the streets of Bed-Stuy Monday morning, mourners dressed in black and white filed out of Pleasant Grove Baptist behind the three-foot-long, cartoon-covered casket of one-year-old Davell Gardner, Jr, who was shot and killed in Brooklyn on July 12. The procession, led by Rev. Al Sharpton, spilled onto Fulton Street with a visible weariness; the weariness of a community wracked by death, facing another loss so horrific it is difficult to even comprehend. More →
Davell Gardner Jr., the one-year-old boy who was shot and killed at a cookout on July 12, was laid to rest in Brooklyn yesterday, at a service presided over by Rev. Al Sharpton and Bishop Albert L. Jamison. In a somber ceremony, attended by members of the community and prominent New York politicians and public figures, speakers remembered the short life of Gardner, while calling for an end to gun violence in the community. More →
In the early morning hours yesterday after the New York City Council approved the City’s 2021 budget, NYPD officers advanced on Occupy City Hall protesters that had filled Centre and Chambers streets in downtown Manhattan, pushing them into City Hall Park. Though efforts by the police remained largely non-confrontational, many of the structures and stations set up by organizers were destroyed or damaged in the process. More →
A third weekend of protests against police brutality in New York City saw some of the largest crowds to date, with calls for action only intensifying in the wake of the killing of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta on Friday, and the killing of two black trans women, Riah Milton in Ohio and Dominique “Rem’Mie” Fells in Pennsylvania. More →
As New York was hunkering down for the Covid-19 pandemic on March 21, the city Department of Health released a statement advising New Yorkers on how to have sex while saying safe and healthy. The guide, which advised residents to abstain from rimming and to engage in virtual sex, circulated widely on social media. Now, as we’ve entered phase 1 of reopening and New Yorkers are looking to restart their romantic and sexual lives, the Department of Health has updated those guidelines. More →
As George Floyd was buried in Minneapolis, at a memorial service presided over by the Reverend Al Sharpton, protesters in New York took to the streets for a 10th day of protests in defiance of a citywide 8pm curfew last night. The day of protests began with a memorial service for Floyd at Cadman Plaza– the site of Wednesday night’s police crackdown– and ended in another show of police force that led to 270 arrests, the NYPD said. More →
Thousands protesting police brutality once again took to the streets after curfew Wednesday night, and were met with widespread police resistance. Approximately 180 arrests were made over the course of the night, the NYPD said. More →
