Author: UB Center for Urban Studies

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NAACP ‘coming back home’ to African American Heritage Corridor

By Mark Sommer

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

The 106-year-old Buffalo branch of the NAACP is “coming back home,” branch president Rev. Mark Blue said Tuesday of the organization’s imminent relocation to a rehabilitated 19th century building in the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor.

“This is kind of like a dream come true,” said Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, who grew up on the East Side never knowing about the history of the corridor, including the start of the Niagara Movement, the precursor to the NAACP, or the role of the Underground Railroad at the Michigan Street Baptist Church.

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With a community on edge, the trial over the killing of Ahmaud Arbery begins.

By Richard Fausset

Read the full article from The New York Times, here.

The jury, which is made up of residents from Glynn County, where more than a quarter of the population is Black, includes 11 white people and one Black person. Anxiety over the jury’s racial makeup was palpable among observers and participants during the more than two weeks that the jurors were being chosen.

Lawyers have said the trial could last a month. The extraordinarily long jury selection process, a grueling process that took two and a half week and included the seating of four alternate jurors, has already underscored the explosive nature of this case. That is particularly true in coastal Glynn County, where many of the 85,000 residents are connected by bonds of family, school or work, and where racial tension and harmony are deeply laced.

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Joe Biden Is Giving Us the Presidency the Left Always Predicted

By Luke Savage

Read the full article from Jacobin, here.

Joe Biden ran for president as the “Stop Bernie” candidate who promised that “nothing would fundamentally change” under his watch. Now, with his ambitious policy agenda being whittled down to a fraction of a loaf, he’s returning to his centrist roots.

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Covid-19 vaccination rate climbs statewide; so do positive test rates in WNY

By Scott Scanlon

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

Covid-19 vaccination rates continued to climb across New York State over the weekend as children ages 5 to 11 began to receive their first smaller dose of the Pfizer vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration authorized such doses for children in that age range last month.

“The weather is getting colder, and friends and family will be spending more time indoors, increasing the risk of transmission and threatening the incredible progress we’ve made so far,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday afternoon as she reported almost 111,500 new vaccines were given during the previous 24 hours.

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Why India Walton’s candidacy could pave way for left-leaning politics in Buffalo

By Robert J. McCarthy

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

When India B. Walton acknowledged Wednesday that she would lose her campaign for mayor, she seemed resolved to avoid ending up as a footnote in Buffalo’s political history.

Instead, the nurse-turned-candidate who captured national attention with her challenge to incumbent Byron W. Brown served notice on the city’s political establishment. While unsuccessful, she said, her campaign had accomplished “ending the era of complacent Buffalo politicians.”

Why voters rejected plans to replace the Minneapolis Police Department – and what’s next for policing reform

Policing Reform / Selected Media

Why voters rejected plans to replace the Minneapolis Police Department – and what’s next for policing reform

By Michelle S. Phelps

Read the full article from Yahoo News, here.

Michelle Phelps at the University of Minnesota leads a project looking at attitudes toward policing in the city. The Conversation asked her to explain what happened in the Nov. 2, 2021, vote and where it leaves both Minneapolis’ beleaguered police department and police reform movements nationwide.

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In a setback for Black Lives Matter, mayoral campaigns shift to ‘law and order’

By Tim Craig

Read the full article from The Washington Post, here.

Mayoral candidates across the country are closing out their campaigns pledging to restore law and order, a major setback for racial justice protesters who only a year ago thought they had permanently reshaped the debate on policing in American cities.

As voters head to the polls Tuesday, local elections are dominated by discussions about safety and law enforcement amid a surge in violent crime. The tone of the debate, even in many liberal urban communities, highlights how major policing reforms have stalled.

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Who are the top 10 donors to India Walton, Byron Brown?

By Mary B. Pasciak

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

India Walton’s top donors are about as different as Byron Brown’s biggest backers as the candidates are themselves: academics and progressive activists back her, and developers and local business leaders supporting him.

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India Walton beat Buffalo’s mayor once. Can she do it again?

By Carolyn Thompson

Read the full article from AP News, here.

When India Walton beat Buffalo’s four-term mayor in a Democratic primary last June, New York’s second largest city looked like it was about to get a leader like no other in its history.

She’d be its first female mayor and the first to identify as a democratic socialist. After becoming a mother at age 14, she grew up to be a nurse and strived through a lifetime of financial hardship that continued through the campaign, when her car was impounded for unpaid parking tickets.

But rather than pack up his City Hall office of 16 years, Mayor Byron Brown has stayed in the race in pursuit of his own superlatives: He’s trying to become the first person to win a major race as a write-in candidate in New York state, and — if he gets a fifth term — Buffalo’s longest-serving mayor.

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