Black Lives Matter

New Havener Of The Year

by | Dec 24, 2023 9:06 am | Comments (17)

Laura Glesby photos

Gaylord Salters offers "Truth With Proof" on Church Street.

Gaylord Salters imagined the event years before it took place, back when he was still fighting for his freedom. 

Then, during a year in which newly-freed Black men put New Haven’s criminal justice system on trial, Salters made the event happen: Seven days in a row of calling public attention to how law enforcement manipulated evidence to pin crimes on himself and others.

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250 Calls Later, Crisis Team Continues

by | Feb 17, 2023 3:34 pm | Comments (10)

COMPASS outreach specialists Sarah Alkire, Nanette Campbell and Jennifer Vargas.

When someone camping out on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard called 911 last month to report their makeshift shelter had caught fire, they weren’t just connected with the fire department — but also to social workers stocked with blankets, pillows, clothes, comforters and a new tent.

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Black Panther History, Legacy Revisited

by | Feb 1, 2023 1:00 pm | Comments (30)

Zoom image

At Tuesday's online book talk for Revolution in Our Time.

A dive into the history of the Black Panthers once again reverberated loudly into the present — from the Black Lives Matter movement to the backlash against critical race theory to the killing of Tyre Nichols — as educators and community members gathered online to hear award-winning author Kekla Magoon talk about her new book, Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People.

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"Black Joy" Film Fest Bids Farewell To Former Stetson

by | Jan 27, 2023 3:52 pm | Comments (0)

Kimberly Wiplfer photos

Kolton Harris and film student Joaquín Morales.

At Thursday's BITE kickoff.

Who would have ever thought I’d be back in here watching a film?” asked Tracey Massey, in a hushed whisper, in the back row of a film screening at the former Stetson Branch library building in the soon-to-be-demolished Dixwell Plaza.

On the projector played Black Joy,” a musical short film by Kolton Harris, which tells the story of a group of Black students in detention who find pride and celebration in their Blackness through song and dance. 

I came to this library 40 years ago as a child growing up in this neighborhood. It is here where we learned the first stories of Black joy. Here’s where we read books about Martin Luther King Jr., where we heard the first Michael Jackson song, the first Nina Simone song. We learned about Malcolm X. All of those stories generated out of this library.”

It was joy. It was magic. [Harris] is reminding us of that. It was really just like it is in his film,” said Massey.

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Teen Conference Message: "Stay Around The Right People," "Away From Guns"

by | Oct 6, 2022 10:06 am | Comments (20)

Maya McFadden Photos

Asst. Chief Ettienne at Black and Brown Male Empowerment Conference: "Who knows someone who has died from gun violence?"

Street outreach worker William "Juneboy" Outlaw.

Surround yourself with people who help you thrive — and watch out for those around you who are up to trouble.

Marshawn Moore first learned that lesson three years ago soon after his older brother was shot and killed. The 13-year-old New Havener learned that lesson a second time during a college-campus panel discussion with city cops.

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Cop Critics Join Cop Commission In Hamden

by | Jan 19, 2022 9:21 am | Comments (9)

Paul Bass photo

Newly approved Commissioner Rhonda Caldwell at a 2019 rally calling for the firing of Hamden Police Officer Devin Eaton.

Five Hamden residents with diverse policing perspectives have officially taken over Hamden’s Police Commission — after a final debate over whether citizens who question police policies should be involved in decision-making on public safety.

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Auguring New Direction, Hamden Cop Commission Nominations Advance

by | Jan 4, 2022 1:48 pm | Comments (3)

Paul Bass photo

Nominee Rhonda Caldwell at a 2019 rally calling for the firing of Hamden Police Officer Devin Eaton.

A new day for Hamden’s police commission has come into view after five nominees won the first of two needed votes to take over — and promised to bring heightened transparency and a more diverse outlook on public safety.

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The Amistad Comes Home

by | Oct 11, 2021 8:27 am | Comments (5)

Lisa Reisman Photo

Discovering Amistad leader Paula Mann-Agnew at return event. In background, CT Freedom Trail Chair Charles Warner, Jr.

Paula Mann-Agnew looked across the waters of New Haven Harbor at the 78-foot Baltimore Clipper replica of the Spanish schooner, La Amistad, docked, in all its majesty, at Long Wharf Pier.

Sankofa,” Mann-Agnew, executive director of Discovering Amistad, told a gathering Saturday of 50 people in the cool autumn air. It’s a West African concept that focuses on the fact that in order for us to move forward in a positive way, we need to look back on our history.

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How Winfred Rembert Made It Home

by | Oct 1, 2021 1:56 pm | Comments (4)

Estate of Winfred Rembert / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Looking for My Mother, 2019; reprinted in new book about the art and life of Newhallville’s Winfred Rembert.

The railroad tracks stretched ahead for miles and miles. Winfred Rembert walked them all day and half the night, searching.

It would take a full 60 years for him to reach his destination, to find what he was truly looking for. He found it right before he died. And laid it out for the rest of us to see.

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