RIGHT 2 THE CITY Blog

Selected Media

Erik Brady: The incredible resilience of Mamie Kirkland and the story she rarely told Buffalo

By Erik Brady

Read the full article from Buffalo , here.

The arc of his mother’s life tells the story of the African American experience in the 20th century. Granted, it took Kirkland a lifetime to realize. And even when he did understand, it wasn’t easy to get his mother to go along with a movie.

The award-winning result is “100 Years From Mississippi,” a documentary that is playing at film festivals across North America — and this week is coming to Buffalo, where Mamie Kirkland died in 2019 as our oldest citizen, at 111.

The hourlong documentary will be shown at the Buffalo International Film Festival at 1:45 p.m. Sunday at the North Park Theatre. Kirkland will be there for a Q&A. The last time he was in Buffalo was for his mother’s funeral. That was a celebration of her life. So is the movie.

Selected Media

Fruit Belt land trust touted by India Walton ‘performing fine,’ funder says. Byron Brown is unimpressed

By Jonathan D. Epstein

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

Walton cites her work as founding head of the Fruit Belt Community Land Trust as evidence of her experience, and she sees the organization as a model to protect residents from gentrification in the city’s other neighborhoods.

Citing the land trust’s motto of “development without displacement,” she has called for a citywide federation of such independent entities, as part of a platform focused on workers, lower-income residents and the disadvantaged. And she says that’s central to her housing and development strategy.

Selected Media

‘We’re not out of danger’: A threat lingers even as new U.S. cases and deaths decline

By Adeel Hassan

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

He worries about people dropping their use of masks and traveling more, as they have after earlier drops in new cases — actions that could help fuel a fresh surge in December and January.

The number of new daily cases in the United States has fallen 35 percent since Sept. 1, according to a New York Times database. The drop was especially stark in Southern states that had the highest infection rates during the Delta variant surge that started in June.

Florida, which averaged more than 20,000 new cases a day during much of August, is reporting fewer than 6,000 infections a day. Louisiana, which weeks ago was averaging more than 5,000 cases daily, has about 1,000 cases each day.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor / Selected Media

MacArthur Foundation fellowship recipients include two Black women who say Chicago shaped their work

By Jason Beeferman

Read the full article from Chicago Sun Times, here.

Historian and author Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Jacqueline Stewart, who studies the history of cinema, both focus their work on the Black experience and uplifting Black voices. They are among 25 recipients of the no-strings-attached $625,000 fellowships, unofficially dubbed the “genius grants,” announced Tuesday.

Taylor has lived in Chicago for more than a decade. Stewart was born and raised in Hyde Park. Both said their experiences with Chicago’s Black neighborhoods played a pivotal role in their intellectual development.

Selected Media

Biden’s Immigration Policy Picks Up Where Trump Left Off

By Aída Chávez

Read the full article from The Nation, here.

Around 14,000 Haitians will soon be expelled from the United States and flown to Haiti, a country the US itself deems unsafe. Haiti recently suffered a deadly earthquake, a tropical storm, and political instability exacerbated by the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Despite Biden’s promises to “undo the moral and national shame of the previous administration,” his approach to immigration has been equally aggressive.

Another Voice: Brown’s experience matters in mayoral race

Selected Media

Another Voice: Brown’s experience matters in mayoral race

By Barbara Miller-Williams & Patricia B. Pierce

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

Point duty in policing is holding a key location to control the flow of traffic. In the military, it’s the most dangerous position at the head of a maneuver. In a lifetime of service, we’ve taken points of control and recognize the importance of leadership.

We believe Mayor Byron W. Brown should remain on point representing Buffalo. He is the most qualified candidate in the race measured by integrity, experience and results.

Selected Media

The Delta variant is detected in 99% of U.S. cases, according to C.D.C.

By Víctor Manuel Ramos

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

The C.D.C.’s Covid Data Tracker, reporting results for the two-week period ending on Sept. 11, put the B.1.617.2 lineage of Delta at 99.4 percent among variants of concern, with two other Delta lineages tracked at 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent, the Mu variant — first detected in January in Colombia — at 0.1 percent and several other, unidentified variants at 0.2 percent. That data is based on thousands of sequences provided every week through the C.D.C.’s national genomic surveillance efforts, according to the agency’s website.

Selected Media

Walton wants more money for Buffalo schools; Brown says he already increased funding

By Deidre Williams

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

Still, the scope of Buffalo’s support of the school district figures to be a campaign issue leading up to the November general election. Indeed, it already has played a pivotal role. Walton’s stance earned her an important endorsement from the Buffalo Teachers Federation – a union that represents more than 3,800 teachers – and contributed to her surprising victory over four-term incumbent Mayor Byron W. Brown in the June 22 Democratic primary.

Brown does not support the funding model Walton has touted, pointing out the city has increased its payments to the district since he took office 2006. The Buffalo district already receives a share of the county sales tax – as do all districts – and receives “a significant” chunk of the city’s property tax revenue, he said.

Beth Kwiatek / Selected Media

Another Voice: Brown and his party disrespect the tenets of Democracy

By Beth Kwiatek

Read the full article from Buffalo News, here.

Byron Brown’s write-in campaign and the Democratic Party’s lack of support and protection for India Walton reflect a dangerous and growing trend within our nation: the subversion of democratic rule. Alarmingly, they have disguised those actions, including Brown’s behavior before and after the primary, as political strategies.

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