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Tony Lawrence hosts the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969, featured in the documentary SUMMER OF SOUL. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. 2021 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved

By Dwight Brown

It was a volatile time. Malcom and Martin had been assassinated in recent years. Civil uprisings and riots had just simmered down. The summer of 69 was a chance for a much-needed cultural break and reawakening.

That happened in Harlems Mt. Morris Park, when program director Tony Lawrence created the summer long Harlem Cultural Festival. Three-hundred thousand music lovers attended. Few to no cops in sight. The Black Panthers provided security. It was a mellow celebration.

The Tonight Show musical director Ahmir Questlove Thompson has flicked the moth balls off the never-before-seen, decades-old footage of the festival. The 2-inch video tapes were shot by producer/director Hal Tulchin for an unreleased 1969 doc called Black Woodstock. The tapes had languished in a basement for 50 years and Tulchin signed the rights to the masters over to Questlove just before he died in 2017. The bandleaders task of screening, editing and assembling clips couldnt have been an easy task. His efforts were augmented by music supervisor Randall Poster, editor Joshua Pearson and director of photography Shawn Peters.

Among the many stellar performances: R&B artists (BB King, Little Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & The Pips); pop stars (The 5th Dimension); jazz greats (Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone); Latin legends (Mongo Santamaria) and gospel singers (The Staple Singers, The Edwin Hawkins Singers, Mahalia Jackson). Mayor John V. Lindsay makes a cameo and activists like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton share their opinions on music and the state of Black life. Sharpton: Gospel was more than religion. Gospel was the therapy for the stress and pressure of being Black in America.

The vintage performances are edited in with news footage and new interviews from fest musicians recollecting their performances and attendees recalling their experiences. Of particular interest is the interview with Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., who were determined to connect with a black audience who had been reluctant to embrace The Fifth Dimension, their pop group.

Together, these interviewees perspectives add insight and footnotes to the social/political history surrounding these unforgettable outdoor concerts. Before there was Prince there was Sly. Before Yolanda Adams, Mahalia. Before Bad Bunny, Mongo Santamaria. We know this because Questlove and his rousing, thoughtful documentary links us back to the past with this precious and rare archive.

There is something so spiritual, uplifting and motivating about watching 300,000 black folks, over the course of a summer, gathered around a stage to vibe and rejoice. You need to watch this doc in a theater or on the streaming service Hulu. Why? Because the revolution will not be televised!

The rest is here:
Summer of Soul ( Or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) - Seattle Medium

The statues of George Floyd in Brooklyn and Newark were defaced late Thursday night, as the long-awaited sentencing of former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of Floyds murder, was finalized on Friday, June 25.

Chauvins last effort to request a new trial was denied by Judge Peter A. Cahill of Hennepin County District Court hours ahead of the sentencing, reported The New York Times.

Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison.

As the sentence was handed down by Cahill, a gathering of Black Lives Matter supporters, nonviolence organizations, and Councilmember Farah Louis (D-Brooklyn) surrounded the taped off statuea six-foot wooden bust of Floyd atop a five-foot pedestalas it was being repaired on the corner of Flatbush and Nostrand Avenues intersection in Brooklyn.

The sculpture was created by artist Chris Carnabuci and unveiled June 19 by Louis for a Juneteenth celebration this year.

It was so disrespectful for someone to come into our community because we cant go into nobody elses community, right? But you can come into our community and disrespect us. We were so devastated, said Louis at the gathering. I was pissed off for our community because for us George Floyds statue being here was a local landmark for our district. It was an opportunity for schools to bring students and have class trips.

Artist Chris Carnabuci, ConfrontART, the We Are Floyd Foundation, and National Action Network (NAN), a not-for-profit, civil rights organization founded by Rev. Al Sharpton in 1991, helped organize the peaceful demonstration and repair of the statue.

Its a modern-day lynching what he did to George Floyd, said a NAN organizer. All over the world we will never, ever forget this momentum, this moment, this occasion, this situation that has brought us all to our knees as we continue the fight.

Shanduke McPhatter, founder of Gangstas Making Astronomical Community Changes (G-MACC Inc.), which is a nonprofit that battles gun violence, said that incidents like this only encourage more violence in the community.

When we, the Cure Violence Crisis Management System and our partners in the city, see somebody defacing our community, that means we have to step up and do more in our community as well, said McPhatter.

NYPD said the vandalism was reported to police on Thursday at around 3 a.m. Four unidentified males used black spray paint to deface the monument and text on the pedestal and white spray paint was used to stencil PATRIOTFRONT.US on the pedestal over it, said police.

Last night a far-right extremist group vandalized a statue of George Floyd in Brooklyn. A racist, loathsome, despicable act of hate, tweeted Mayor Bill de Blasio. The City Cleanup Corps is repairing the statue right now and a hate crime investigation is underway. We will bring these cowards to justice.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said hes calling for a federal investigation into the incident in Brooklyn and Newark, as well as any potential connection to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol this past January.

While vandalism can be cleaned, the desecration of the George Floyd statue in Flatbush is a lasting insult to every New Yorker, said Adams in a statement. Just days after its unveiling on Juneteenth, and a day before the sentencing of Floyds murderer, this defacing that appears connected to a white supremacy hate group may have been an attempt to strike terror into our communityand it should be investigated accordingly.

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Excerpt from:
Floyd statues defaced on the eve of Chauvin sentencing - Amsterdam News

Martin Luther King III and the Rev. Al Sharpton will hold a nationwide march against voter suppression on Aug. 28 the 58th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington.

The event, dubbed March On for Voting Rights, comes as legislatures across the country move to tighten up voting rules.

Just under 390 bills have been introduced across 48 states aimed at restricting voting access in some form in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, the marchs organizer, March On, said in a statement.

King in a statement said his father, Martin Luther King Jr., would be greatly disappointed in where we are at this particular moment, but he would not give up on the nation.

He believed in the power of people, the power of young people, and the power of change to come, and I am proud to support March On for Voting Rights to help carry out that change and recommit ourselves to finishing my fathers unfinished work, he said.

Demonstrations are planned in Atlanta, Houston, Miami and Phoenix cities in GOP-led states that have passed controversial voting reform measures since the 2020 elections.

There will also be a march in Washington, D.C., to call for passage of federal voting rights legislation.

March On said the need to pass federal voting rights protections has increase dramatically since the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, when supporters of former President TrumpDonald TrumpAOC said she doubts Biden's win would have been certified if GOP controlled the House Trump aides drafted order to invoke Insurrection Act during Floyd protests: report Overnight Defense: Intel releases highly anticipated UFO report | Biden meets with Afghan president | Conservatives lash out at Milley MORE stormed the buildingon the baseless premise that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

The danger since then has only increased, as numerous elected officials have now codified such lies into law, citing nonexistent voter fraud and public doubts they themselves encouraged, the group said.

The march is being held in partnership with Kings Drum Major Institute, the Service Employees International Union, Sharptons National Action Network and the Future Coalition.

See more here:
Martin Luther King III, Al Sharpton to hold nationwide march against voter suppression | TheHill - The Hill

TheRev. Al Sharptonhas decided not to endorse in the hotly contested 2021 NYC mayoral primary race, but just two days before the June 22 election hes criticizingfrontrunner Maya Wileys diversity record.

When Wiley left the de Blasio administration in 2016 where she served as both Hizzoners counsel and the citys Minority/Women Owned Business Enterprise (WMBE) director less than 5percent of public spending went to those firms even though they account for 30 percent of Big Apple-based companies.

During her two years at City Hall, the portion of total WMBE procurement for the city actually dropped from 5.3 to 4.9 percent, according to the city comptrollers office.

"Ive not reviewed the contracts but much of our work at NAN is aroundeconomic equity and fighting to get MWBE contracts up, not down," Sharpton told The Post about his National Action Network civil rights group.

NYC'S GREENWICH VILLAGE TAKEN OVER BY CRIME, ANARCHY

City Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo, who is supporting Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams for mayor, had harsher words for Wileys inability to boost the bucks to minority businesses during her tenure.

"That is a disgrace. Black and brown New Yorkers need economic opportunity, not empty rhetoric," Cumbo said.

Robert L. Greene, head of the National Association of Investment Companies, questioned whether Wiley, a civil rights attorney, is a true progressive given the lack of minority contracting progress under her leadership.

"It is difficult to predict what any candidate will do when they are in office," Greene told The Post.

The Rev. Al Sharpton has decided not to endorse in the hotly contested 2021 NYC mayoral primary race, but just two days before the June 22 election hes criticizing frontrunner Maya Wileys diversity record.

"However the two best indicators seem to be track record and what are the priorities of their biggest supporters. The fundamental question is what did you do when you had an opportunity to lead?

"Unfortunately very little has been done in NYC to more broadly engage with minority business. Despite a progressive agenda the facts are that minority business enterprise (MBE) utilization rates have remained flat, leaving many minority contractors out of getting full and fair consideration.

"I hope the voters in this years NYC mayoral race understand that and elect a mayor that will provide broader opportunities for those that continue to be left behind," Greene said.

And while the MWBE work is in the past, opponents point to her current backing by the 1199 SEIU health care union as evidence that her lack of focus on boosting minority businesses will continue if shes elected mayor.

Greene said less than 2% of the unions $20 billion pension fund is with diverse asset managers.

A recent New York Post poll found Wileyin second placejust behind Adams in the hotly-contested Democratic primary race.

Other critics have attacked Wileysprogressive bona fides. The former NAACP attorney has put her own children in selective and private schools while advocating for a desegregated education system, her exclusive Prospect Park South, Brooklyn neighborhood has private security while she presses to defund the NYPD and shes raked in six-figure salaries as a career "activist."

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Wiley spokeswoman Julia Savel said, A rep for Wiley said, "As head of the MWBE program, Maya Wiley brought together every New York City agency and took New York from $500 million in contracts to $1.6 billion in just two years an unprecedented jump that reflects her deep commitments to creating a New York that lifts up every community.".

To read more from the New York Post, click here.

Continued here:
Al Sharpton and other black leaders attack Maya Wileys diversity record - Fox News

I think that Vice President Harris herself personifies the need for voting rights to be extended, the Rev. Al Sharpton, who attended the speech in Tulsa, said in an interview. When shes on the phone or walks into an office, were looking at the reason we need voting rights.

Michael Waldman, the president of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, said that the decision to elevate Ms. Harris as the face of the administrations work on the issue was a pivotal moment for the Biden White House given the number of voter suppression efforts that were moving forward 389 bills in 48 states and counting, according to a tracker maintained the Brennan Center.

It has been decades since a Democratic White House has made voting rights and democracy reform a central goal, Mr. Waldman said, but he added, the clock is ticking.

Ms. Harriss impact on the hand-to-hand politics of the Senate is expected to be limited, but she often drew attention to voting rights during her four years as a senator. During her last year in the Senate, Ms. Harris introduced legislation that would expand election security measures, require each state to have early in-person voting periods and allow for an expansion of mail-in absentee ballots.

In 2020, Ms. Harris was also a co-sponsor of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would restore a piece of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that relied on a formula to identify states with a history of discrimination and require that those jurisdictions clear any changes to their voting processes with the federal government. The protections were eliminated by the Supreme Court in 2013.

Still, Ms. Harris, who spent a chunk of her time in the Senate running for president, was not known for building especially close relationships with colleagues, and Mr. Manchin and Ms. Sinema are no exceptions.

Several Democratic aides who work closely with the senators scoffed on Wednesday at the idea that Ms. Harris, known as a staunch liberal, would be the one to persuade either moderate lawmaker to change the filibuster rule. Nor is Ms. Harris a likely candidate to broker the kind of compromise on the substance of the bill needed to persuade Mr. Manchin, the only Democrat who has not sponsored it, to back it.

Read more from the original source:
VP Kamala Harris Asked to Lead on Voting Rights, and It's a Challenge - The New York Times