THE = RECLAIMING PRIDE — P4 = INDYPENDENT #247: JUNE 2019 • INDYPENDENT.ORG

A TEMP WORKER’S LIFE P8 FACEBOOK’S LATEST RUSE P16 WHEN WAS QUEER P20

REDEFINING JUSTICE SUE BRISK TIFFANY CABÁN HAS TRANSFORMED THE QUEENS DA RACE. NOW SHE WANTS TO WIN IT. BY LIBBY RAINEY, P12 2 COMMUNITY THE INDYPENDENT CALENDAR

THE INDYPENDENT, INC. 388 Atlantic Avenue, 2nd Floor Brooklyn, NY 11217 212-904-1282 www.indypendent.org Twitter: @TheIndypendent facebook.com/TheIndypendent

BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Ellen Davidson, Anna Gold, on the verge of ing all night long. Alina Mogilyanskaya, Ann collapse, only to be BROOKLYN MUSEUM Schneider, John Tarleton rebuilt as if nothing 200 Eastern Pkwy, Bklyn had happened. EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: JUNE PARK AVENUE WED JUNE 12 John Tarleton ARMORY 7:30PM– 9:30PM • $29–$32 THRU JUNE 15 643 Park Ave., Mnhtn PERFORMANCE: A CELEBRA- ASSOCIATE EDITOR: TUE–FRI, 1PM–6PM • $5 TION OF JAMES BALDWIN Peter Rugh EXHIBITION: RACE, MYTH, THU JUNE 6 Writer James Baldwin grappled ART, AND JUSTICE 6:30PM–9PM • FREE directly with the most painful CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Twelve photographers engage MEETING: THE FIGHT FOR truths of the African-American Ellen Davidson, Alina with the premise of “race” as a LATER CARE ABORTION experience. This evening will Mogilyanskaya, Nicholas social construct rooted in myth, Come learn about this commonly feature a wide range of material Powers, Steven Wishnia while simultaneously interro- misunderstood type of abor- from Baldwin’s works delivered gating its profound implications tion care and why it’s critical in by actors including Nathan ILLUSTRATION DIRECTOR: and indignities on our 21st- the fi ght for abortion rights and Hinton (Madam Secretary), Joe Frank Reynoso century lives. bodily autonomy. Morton (Scandal), Carra Pat- terson (Straight Outta Comp- DESIGN DIRECTOR CARIBBEAN CULTURAL CENTER MAYDAY SPACE & BIRTHDAY BOY: (CCCADI) 176 St Nicholas Ave., Bklyn ton), Anthony Rapp (Star Trek: Mikael Tarkela 120 E. 125th St., Mnhtn Discovery), and Charlayne THU JUNE 6 Woodard (Pose). DESIGNERS: THRU JUNE 16 7PM–10PM • $15 SYMPHONY SPACE Leia Doran, Anna Gold THU–SAT 7PM–9PM, SAT SCREENING: CREATURE FROM 2537 Broadway, Mnhtn 3PM–5PM • $25–$30 THE BLACK LAGOON ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER: THEATER: THE HAUNTING OF All hell breaks loose when THU JUNE 13 Dean Patterson LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA a group of scientists led by 6:30PM–8PM • $18 Ishmael Reed’s new play brings ichthyologist Dr. David Reed PANEL: I’M YOUR MAN: AU- GENERAL INQUIRIES: to the forefront those charac- decides to capture a prehis- THORS’ ROUNDTABLE [email protected] ters who are absent from Ham- toric gill-man for study, only to Learn about Leonard Cohen’s ilton, The Revolution: slaves, fi nd it taking a King Kong-like relationship to place, text and SUBMISSIONS & NEWS TIPS: Native Americans, indentured fancy to the doctor’s girlfriend, spirituality in this discussion [email protected] servants and Harriet Tubman. Kay. Author and horror fi lm with authors Sylvie Simmons NUYORICAN POETS CAFE director Mallory O’Meara will (I’m Your Man: The Life of Leon- ADVERTISING & PROMOTION: 236 E. 3rd St., Mnhtn be on hand for the screening ard Cohen), Alan Light (The Holy [email protected] with her book The Lady from the or the Broken), Chantal Ringuet THRU SEPT 19 Black Lagoon, a copy of which (Les Révolutions de Leonard VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTORS: TUE & THU, 6:30PM–7:30PM • comes with the ticket. Cohen) and music producer Linda Martín Alcoff, Charlyne FREE THE METROGRAPH John Lissauer. Presented in Alexis, Bennett Baumer, Sue conjunction with the exhibi- Brisk, Valerio Ciriaci, Rico EXERCISE: YOGA IN THE PARK 7 Ludlow St., Mnhtn Cleffi , Renée Feltz, Lynne Stretch, breathe, and fi nd your tion “Leonard Cohen: A Crack Foster, Emma Gaffney, inner peace. Bring a mat. SAT JUNE 8 in Everything” on view through Esteban Guerra, Lauren RANDALL’S ISLAND PARK 8PM–12AM • $15-35 Sept. 8. Kaori Gurley, Theodore 20 Randall’s Island Park, Mnhtn PARTY: PAPI JUICE PRESENTS THE JEWISH MUSEUM Hamm, Maia Hibbett, David BROOKLYN PRIDE 1109 Fifth Ave., Mnhtn Hollenbach, Manvi Jalan, JUNE 3–JUNE 9 Kick off Brooklyn Pride with Derek Ludovici, Leonardo MON, THU–SUN, times vary • Brooklyn’s beloved dance THU JUNE 13 March, Gary Martin, Lydia $40 & up party centering queer and trans 6:30PM–8PM • FREE McMullen-Laird, Charina PERFORMANCE: EVERYTHING people of color. Enjoy sets from TALK: MAPPING BLOOMSDAY Nadura, Farid Nassif, Brady THAT HAPPENED AND WOULD resident DJs Oscar Nñ and “If [Dublin] suddenly disap- O’Callahan, Tiffany Pai, HAPPEN Adam R. with special guests peared from the earth, it could Donald Paneth, Libby Rainey, Part-performance, part-con- Dee Diggs, Mazurbate, and be reconstructed from my Mark Read, Reverend Billy, struction site, this groundbreak- Zenobia, plus drinks and curator book,” wrote James Joyce of Chelsey Sanchez, Steven ing work from German composer tours of the exhibition “Nobody Ulysses. In honor of Blooms- Sherman, Naomi Ushiyama, Heiner Goebbels is a poetic re- Promised You Tomorrow: Art 50 day, an international com- and Isobel van Hagen. COUP D’OREILLE enactment of a Europe always Years After Stonewall” happen- memoration of Joyce’s novel VOLUNTEER DISTRIBUTORS: Erik Anders-Nilssen, Eric Brelsford, Chris & Pam Brown, Hank Dombrowski, Joseph Epstein, Kim Frazcek,

June 2019 Lew Friedman, Mindy Gershon, Tami Gold, Priscilla Grim, Laura Kaplan, Michael Korn, Jane LaTour, Dave ADVERTISE IN THE INDY Lippman, Ashley Marinaccio, UNIQUE AUDIENCE • AFFORDABLE RATES • PERSONAL ATTENTION Christine Miller, Saul Nieves, FOR MORE INFORMATION, EMAIL [email protected] OR CALL 212-904-1282 Caroline Rath, Liam Reilly, Norm Scott, Carol Smith, and

THE INDYPENDENT Becky Vaughan. THE INDYPENDENT 3 IN THIS ISSUE BETTY TSANG on the day it takes place in 1904, FORD AMPHITHEATER experts examine the many ways AT CONEY ISLAND HIGH TIDE: There’s always a good time to in which the author’s masterful BOARDWALK be had at the Mermaid Parade. work was inspired by, and func- 3052 W. 21st St., Bklyn A TRUE SENSE OF PRIDE, P4 tions as, a map. Queer liberation activists say it’s THE PUBLIC LIBRARY JUNE 20–JULY 8 ENTER THE WU: RZA and the rest of the time to protest, not just party. at 42nd St., Mnhtn Dates and times vary killer bees swarm Brooklyn this summer. • $12 BOZO PUBLISHER HIT WITH THU JUNE 13 FILM: PRISON IM- MON JUNE 24 BOYCOTT, P6 7PM–10PM • FREE AGES: INCARCERATION AND THE 8PM–9PM • FREE Yemeni-run bodegas are PERFORMANCE: NYC DOES DADA CINEMA PERFORMANCE: SNACK TIME making the NY Post pay for its Prepare for an evening of disrup- Spanning the 1950s to today, this PRESENTS PROM NIGHT Islamophobic reporting. tive, challenging and controver- series brings together a broad Time to get gussied up and go back sial art and writing hosted by selection of fi lms, each refl ecting to that one magical, lustrous, and BRIEFING ROOM, P7 Three Rooms Press. The event different aesthetic and critical re- unforgettable night at this variety There’s lead in the water, the will feature performances by lationships to the prison institution: show, featuring drag, burlesque, planet is on fi re, a killer cop is modern-day Dadaists whose from provocative, activist documen- music, comedy and so much more. on trial, the mayor is running for work continues the spirit of the taries to inmate-made fi lms, from STARR BAR president. All this and more… avant-garde art movement sprung commercial exploitation cinema to 214 Starr St., Bklyn from the horror of World War I. classic escape dramas, and more. ON CALL, P8 Costumes encouraged. ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES THU JUNE 27 In NYC and across the country, (LE) POISSON ROUGE 32 Second Ave., Mnhtn 6PM–11:30PM • $18–$22 bosses are increasingly relying 158 Bleecker St., Mnhtn PARTY: DISCOVOGUE WITH ES- on temp workers. SAT JUNE 22 CORT, DJ LINA & MIKEQ SUN JUNE 16 1PM • FREE Ahead of the weekend’s NYC Pride SUNNYSIDE UP, P10 7PM–9:30PM • Donations wel- PARADE: MERMAID PARADE March, this celebration will fea- Plans for a sprawling new come A one-of-a-kind celebration of ture an extended live set by Escort development in this Queens READING: CARTA MONIR WON’T ancient mythology and honky-tonk as well as house and club tracks neighborhood have locals up in STOP SCREAMING rituals of the seaside. This year’s provided by East Village icon DJ arms. Award-winning cartoonist Carta King Neptune and Queen Mermaid: Lina and underground sensation Monir reads some of her most Arlo and Nora Guthrie. MikeQ and members of the Qween THE LAW ON OUR SIDE, P12 intimate work, and debuts a new CONEY ISLAND Beat collective. Meet Tiffany Cabán, the public zine. Content warning for child- Surf Ave. & W. 21St., Bklyn DAMROSCH PARK defender who wants to be a hood abuse, gender dysphoria, and 60 Lincoln Center Plaza, Mnhtn people’s DA for Queens. parental death. SAT JUNE 22 BLUESTOCKINGS BOOKSTORE, 6:30PM–8PM • $35 FACEBOOK ON STEROIDS, P16 CAFÉ, & ACTIVIST CENTER PERFORMANCE: ANDY SUMMERS, Mark Zuckerberg says his 172 Allen St., Mnhtn A CERTAIN STRANGENESS company is reforming itself, Guitarist Andy Summers weaves an actually it’s become even more SUN JUNE 16 audiovisual spell by combining sur- diabolical. 8PM • $75–$99.50 real imagery and innovative guitar MUSIC: WU-TANG CLAN: 36 techniques. ALL I WANT FOR FATHER’S DAY CHAMBERS 25TH ANNIVERSARY THE MUSEUM OF IS PLANET EARTH, P18 CELEBRATION TOUR ART Refl ections on parenting in an It’s on. 1000 Fifth Ave., Mnhtn era of global warming. GAY OLD BROOKLYN, P20 A new book examines the borough’s oft overlooked queer history. AFTER AN UPRISING, P21 On the 50th anniversary of the revolt, a new exhibition highlights SUBSCRIBE TODAY! art made post-Stonewall. GET THE INDY DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR DOOR EVERY MONTH. 12 ISSUES/$30 • 24 ISSUES/$54 DREAMING THROUGH RAZOR WIRE, P22 2019 June Poet Deborah Tobola takes GO TO readers into the California prison where she taught

INDYPENDENT.ORG/SUBSCRIBE INDYPENDENT THE OR SEND A CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO creative writing. THE INDYPENDENT//388 ATLANTIC AVE, 2ND FL// THE TRUMP DEPRESSION HOTLINE, P23 BROOKLYN, NY 11217 Advice columnist Rev. Billy THE on what happens when your movement goes mainstream INDYPENDENT and more. 4LgBTQ+ RIgHTS

no Cops, no CorporaTe sponsors 50 years afTer sTonewall, prIde Goes BaCk To ITs rooTs

By Emma Gaffney

rustrated that the annual Gay Pride parade has become dominated by corporate fl oats, a group called the Re- claim Pride Coalition announced in May that it will mark the 50th anniversary of the with a separate march. Reclaim Pride’s Queer Liberation March will begin 2.5 hours beforeF the offi cial parade on June 30, and will not allow either corporate or police contingents. “The use of the word ‘parade’ signals a celebration,” said Reclaim Pride member Leslie Cagan, a longtime activist who organized some of the biggest protests in the city’s recent history, against the Iraq War and the climate crisis. “We are calling this a march because while we certainly have things to celebrate… there is a lot more fi ght to be had.” The organization’s biggest complaint is that the offi cial parade has become more like a corporate party and less about politics, community solidarity and liberation. Last year’s parade had more than 150 corporate fl oats, and this year’s corporate sponsors include T-Mobile, Mastercard, TD Bank, Delta Airlines, Target, HSBC, Skyy vodka and the Omnicom- Group corporate-marketing agency. Last year, , the offi - cial parade organizers, instituted a policy that limited community contin- QuEER gents to 200 marchers, while corporate sponsors were allowed up to 800. For corporations, says Reclaim Pride member Robin Scott, a trans Brooklyn-based designer, the event “has stopped being something that is LIBERATIOn dangerous for them and just something that is a smart marketing move.” Tensions have escalated since the Trump administration came into offi ce. In 2017, a number of community groups organized a Resistance June 2019 MARCH contingent to protest the administration’s anti-LGBTQ+ policy changes. But last year, Heritage of Pride tried to ban them from participating in the JunE 30, 2019 parade, Cagan says. The Resistance contingent was eventually allowed to THE QuEER LIBERATIOn MARCH IS A PEOPLE’S march, but at the back of the parade, behind all of the corporate fl oats, starting fi ve hours after it kicked off and after all of the live broadcasting POLITICAL MARCH. AnYOnE CAn JOIn — was over. EVERYOnE WILL HAVE An EQuAL PLACE. “We bring what we think is a more comprehensive view, not only

The IndypendenT about the queer struggle, but how we are part of it and in relation to oth- 5 Stonewall at 50 GAY LIBERATION IN THE US & GERMANY

A Conversation with Marc Stein Jamie & Phyllis Pasker Prof. of History at San Francisco State University and Patrick Henze aka Patsy l’Amour LaLove (Berlin) Moderated by Ellen Broidy Co-founder of the First Annual Gay Pride March Friday, June 21 2019 at 7:00 pm 147 W 24th St, 3rd Floor, New York reclaimpridenyc.org Free Admission er struggles,” Cagan says. and “flame queens.” “The queer movement Among them were READY TO doesn’t even talk about lib- Marsha P. Johnson MARCH: eration anymore, let alone and Sylvia Rivera, Members of the For additional no Cops, no positioning itself as part of transgender women Reclaim Pride STONEWALL AT 50 many communities.” Re- of color who emerged Coalition rally in programming, visit claim Pride met with Heri- as leaders as the gay- the West Village www.rosalux-nyc.org tage of Pride several times liberation movement across from the CorporaTe earlier this year to encour- grew. Those issues . age it to incorporate some haven’t gone away: A of these concerns in the pa- 2015 survey of more than 27,000 trans peo- rade, she adds, “and they ple by the National Center for Transgender sponsors said no.” Equality found that 58 percent of those who “The reason the New reported having an interaction with police 50 years afTer sTonewall, prIde York City Pride march in the previous year said they’d been mis- matters is because Stone- treated, from being repeatedly referred to by Goes BaCk To ITs rooTs wall happened here,” says the wrong gender to being forced to engage Reclaim Pride member in sexual activity to avoid arrest. William Dobbs, a veteran The parade was never just about pride, gay-rights activist who worked with Cagan says Reclaim’s Robin Scott, but is about po- organizing demonstrations in the 2000s and litical action. The “corporatization of Pride was a member of the Occupy Wall Street has gotten in the way of that mission.” By press team in 2011. The 1969 Stonewall ri- holding the Queer Liberation March, she ots, which began when police raided a gay adds, Reclaim Pride is attempting to revive bar in and patrons resist- the community spirit of the first Gay Pride ed arrest, were not the first time LGBTQ+ parade in 1970 and to put the politics back people resisted or protested, but catalyzed into the event. a larger, sustained movement. “Without “Most of us would say victories like the organizing that Stonewall sparked, this the right to be in the army, or the right to event would have been a footnote in his- marriage — those are not the kind of vic- tory,” Dobbs says. tories we are talking about,” says Cagan. That, he explains, means that the Pride “We would like a more comprehensive and march should be about supporting justice thorough analysis of the institutions that and human rights, not banks and fast-food oppress people.” chains. “How are you going to get economic On June 30 at 9:30 a.m., the Reclaim justice when you are dancing with Fortune Pride marchers will attempt to reignite that 500 companies?” Dobbs asks. revolutionary spirit and desire for change, Another of Reclaim Pride’s concerns is not just inclusion, by taking the same route the police presence in the official parade. as the 1970 march, then called the Christo- Last year, Heritage of Pride incorporated a pher Street Liberation Day March — begin- police contingent, which saw a large number ning on near the Stone- of officers acting as official marchers. “Not wall Inn, and going up to

just out and gay officers, but an official -po Central Park. 2019 June lice contingent, with officers in full uniform “It’s about structural change, instead and with weapons,” Cagan says. of just a seat at the table,” says Dobbs. “I That, Reclaim Pride believes, is incon- hope the march sends a message about jus- gruent with the parade’s original mission, tice, about something that’s as big as the IndypendenT The which, after all, commemorates LGBTQ+ sky: liberation.” resistance to police brutality. No one knows who at Stonewall threw the first bottle or was the first one to kick back, but many in the bar and the crowd were transgen- der women, drag queens and more subtly gender-nonconforming “scare queens” 6MEDIA BounCed froM DOnE WITH THEM: You won’t fi nd the ny post at Mohammed The BodeGas Almontaser’s bodegas. yeMenI GroCers dITCh ‘raCIsT’ than when referencing Christians. Forty-four percent of the Post’s ar- ny posT ticles with the word ‘Muslim’ also contained a variation on the word ‘terror,’ compared to just 16 percent By Ben Weiss with the word ‘Christian.’ Almontaser isn’t taken aback. “The data just presented n 2007, the New York Post ran a photograph of does not surprise me at all,” she said. “It’s what I and oth- Debbie Almontaser on its front cover, describ- er activists and organizers across the country have been ing her as a “sheik.” At the time, Almontaser was saying all along.” caught up in a controversy that soon blew over, but A spokesperson for the Post declined to comment for not before costing her her job as principal at the this article. Nor are they speaking with the bodega own- IKhalil Gibran International Academy. Her resignation ers. “We emailed them requesting a meeting. They never was in no small part thanks to the tabloid’s reporting, responded,” says Almontaser. which accused her of running the Brooklyn-based, Ara- The publication’s lack of engagement has added fuel to bic-language school as a kind of radical madrasa. the Yemeni-American boycott’s fi re. What was planned Flash forward to 2019: Almontaser now heads the Ye- as a limited 30-day affair has turned into a protest with meni American Merchants Association (YAMA) and she no end in sight. says the Post has used its front page to attack the Muslim- Despite the Post’s silence, the drop in revenue is prob- American community again — this time, by placing an ably getting their attention. With 900 stores currently out-of-context quote from Minnesota Congresswoman participating in the boycott, Almontaser estimates the Ilhan Omar, a practicing Muslim, over a photograph of newspaper lost about $270,000 during the boycott’s fi rst the World Trade Center in fl ames. two months, based on the estimate that bodegas sell be- “I was just absolutely outraged,” Almontaser tells tween 10 and 15 papers per day for $1 each and split the The Indypendent. proceeds. The Post typically sells about 150,000 copies of While she and other Muslim Americans didn’t ex- its print edition a day. plicitly challenge the Post in 2007, they are this go Of the approximately 10,000 bodegas in New York around. Almontaser’s nephew, Mohammed Almontas- City, 4,000 to 6,000 are Yemeni-American owned, so er, and approximately 900 Yemeni-American bodega there’s plenty of room for the boycott to spread, ex- owners have banded together in an indefi nite boycott plains Almontaser. of the publication. The effort to boycott the Post isn’t limited to the Yeme- Among their demands, as reported by Bklyner when ni-American community, either. YAMA has formed a co- the boycott kicked off in April: that the Post “change their alition with Black Lives Matter’s New York chapter, Rise cheap and sensational tabloids that undermine national and Resist, the Council on American-Islamic Relations unity and [incite] violence and hate for the sole purpose (CAIR) and other anti-hate groups. The organization is of circulation and sales against minority communities.” also reaching out to other ethnic groups in the city who “They’re very racist,” said Mohammed, 29, speaking sell newspapers to form a broader boycott, including the with The Indy at Downtown Gourmet Deli, one of his Bengali and Dominican bodega operators. four bodegas. Her nephew, Mohammed, though, needs no more con- An analysis of the Post’s archives backs up both aunt vincing. “I don’t want them in my store. I’m never gonna and nephew. Sorting through thousands of articles pub- deal with them again.” lished over the past fi ve years, The Indy found that the Post was almost twice as likely to use words like “ter- rorist” or “extremist” when referring to Muslims rather

HATE BY THE nuMBERS Percentage of NY Post articles from 2014 to 2019 that allude to Muslims and Christians respectively and also include the following terms:

FUNDAMENTALISM

BARBARIAN

FANATIC

MILITANT

REFUGEE

EXTREMISM

JIHAD

MURDER

VIOLENCE

RADICAL June 2019 TERROR 0% 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 CHRISTIAN MUSLIM source: neW york puBlic liBrary digital archives The IndypendenT Ben Weiss Indypendent Ad 5x7 06-23-15.pdf 1 6/23/15 1:56 PM 7 BROADCAST ON MORE THAN 1,300 PUBLIC TV AND RADIO STATIONS WORLDWIDE A Daily Independent Global News Hour with Amy Goodman and Juan González

DEMOCRACYNOW.ORG

sue Brisk Tune In Live Every Weekday 8-9am ET • Audio, Video, Transcripts, Podcasts nOT fORgOTTEn: BRIEfIng Activists demanding justice • Los titulares de Hoy (headlines in Spanish) for Eric Garner shut down ROOM FDR Drive. • Find your local broadcast station and schedule BY InDYPEnDEnT STAff • Subscribe to the Daily News Digest DYIng fOR STILL nO JuSTICE CLIMATE ACTIOn Follow Us @ DEMOCRACYNOW fOR ERIC gARnER Youth activists concerned with climate The NYPD disciplinary hearing for Daniel change took part in mass school walkouts Pantaleo, the white offi cer captured on vid- on May 24. According to organizers, 1.8 eo placing Eric Garner in a fatal chokehold million people participated in the protest, in 2014, continues to drag on. One of the up from an earlier climate strike in March more recent hold-ups in the delay-plagued in which 1.5 million people took part. In trial came after the defense asked presiding New York, several hundred children and Judge Rosemarie Maldonado for a recess teens marched from Columbus Circle to so that Pantaleo could use one of his va- Times Square where they staged a die-in. cation days. The judge initially refused but Young activists laid on the pavement for 11 eventually granted a two-day recess when minutes, representing the 11 years scientists Pantaleo’s lawyers couldn’t produce the say the world has to slash greenhouse gas witnesses they called. As The Indy went to emissions before the catastrophic effects of press, the trial was in the midst of a two- global warming are irreversible. week hiatus, because a Missouri-based medical examiner expected to dispute the cause of Garner’s death — homicide — was nOT SO unavailable. A Staten Island grand jury de- REfRESHIng clined to indict Pantaleo and a federal civil Early results of lead tests conducted at the rights investigation into Garner’s death city’s public drinking fountains indicate petered out, making the disciplinary hear- concentrations of the contaminate exceed- ing the only legal setting at which Pantaleo ing the federal safety threshold at a number will be held accountable for his actions. watering holes. Lead levels from one foun- If found guilty, he could be fi red or, at a tain at ’s Pelham Bay Park were minimum, lose vacation time for killing the 50 times the federal standard of 15 parts black father of six. per billion (ppb). At Cunningham Park in Queens the water was 23 times above the limit. The NYC Department of Parks and HOMETOWn ZERO Recreation is conducting the tests as part Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he is of the LeadFreeNYC campaign initiated by making a presidential bid May 16, mak- the Mayor’s offi ce. So far about 500 foun- ing him one of 23 Democrats seeking the tains have been tested with nearly 5 percent job. Seventy-six percent of New Yorkers do containing dangerous amounts of the metal not believe the mayor should run, an April known to cause learning disabilities in chil- Quinnipiac University Poll found. Mean- dren and heart disease in adults. Testing on while, zero percent of Democratic voters in all park fountains is expected to conclude 2019 June the early primary states of Iowa and New by June 15. Regular updates are available Hampshire say they would vote for him, at nycgovparks.org. according to virtually every major polling agency. While the mayor campaigns out IndypendenT The of state, school segregation, deteriorat- ing public housing and homelessness are among the pressing issues awaiting him when he decides to return. Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan, an unelected bureaucrat few New Yorkers have heard of, will run the city while the Blaz is away. 8CAPITALISM arson l hristine c

Agencies that act as employ- Workers at large pay the price. The greater the ease at ers rather than middlemen became which employers can hire flexible workforces with minimal more popular after World War II. rights, the more they are used, and the greater the pressure They promise to provide workers to on businesses to compete by using this model, thus desta- dIsposaBle businesses on-demand and for tem- bilizing traditional employment and associated rights and porary periods, without the client privileges on a grand scale. having to endure the costs of pro- Donald Trump’s Department of Labor has come down cessing payrolls, workers’ compen- strongly on the side of reducing regulations that limit em- laBor sation insurance, retirement benefits ployers’ power to set the terms of how they hire workers. and health insurance. The department recently issued an opinion letter siding My Journey InsIde The $450 BIllIon- In the 1990s, with the goal of with an employment agency and another siding with Uber, promoting “flexible” employment stating that their respective workers are independent con- per-year TeMporary-help IndusTry and production, both President Bill tractors, not employees. Trump’s appointees on the Na- Clinton and Federal Reserve chair tional Labor Relations Board are also trying to reverse an Alan Greenspan backed policies that Obama-era ruling that Browning-Ferris was legally a “joint By David Van Arsdale allowed these agencies to flourish. Many became publicly employer” of workers who were technically employed by a traded global corporations, part of a temporary-help in- temp agency. n the waiting room of an employment agency in dustry that today generates $450 billion in annual revenue, If Uber and hiring agencies are not responsible as em- Queens, laborers gather to be dispatched to ware- the lion’s share of it in the . ployers, and the business clients of the agencies are not houses and factories in New Jersey and upstate New In 2018, according to the American Staffing Associa- responsible either, workers are left without basic protec- York. Only their names are recorded before white tion, temporary-help companies supplied more workers to tions and rights, including minimum wage and overtime vans arrive and the workers step in, cramming into U.S. businesses than ever before: 3.28 million per week, pay, various health and safety standards, and the right to seatsI and crouching on the floor to be transported to the 16.8 million annually. Meanwhile, the average length of collectively bargain for better working conditions. day’s job. The job might last a day or two, and the agency their job assignments ticked down to ten weeks, likely the This is not the first time this has occurred in the United acts as the workers’ employer. It deducts transportation result of an increasingly flexible economy dependent on a States, but there are precedents for reform. Hiring agen- costs and the fees it charges for the job from their pay- host of new staffing firms, including many who operate cies supplied both indentured servants and slaves until checks, which they provide. through online apps. the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution prohib- Other types of employment agencies record the skills The staffing industry’s lobbying power has grown too, ited these classes in 1865. In 1910, the Mann Act, also and personal information of workers before attempting to helping ensure that “flexible” employment policies remain called the White Slave Traffic Act, sought to criminalize arrange a more permanent position for them. In this situa- the law of the land. It is thanks to these lax labor regula- the trafficking of women (mostly immigrants) into broth- tion, the agencies make money through some combination tions that I was able to cram into vans in Queens and land els and prostitution, which some intelligence offices were of a charge to the worker or a charge to the business client on factory floors upstate and in New Jersey, where I manu- involved in. for supplying labor. factured and packaged goods with hundreds of other temps In a 1914 referendum, voters in Washington State out- Once called an intelligence office, this type of hiring without one factory manager knowing my name. lawed employment agencies, given their mistreatment and agency helped launch the at-will employment relationship Most of my colleagues had migrated earlier in their lives abuse of laborers. Around the same time, unions, par- in feudal Europe and one of the oldest newspapers in the from further south in the Americas. They depend on the ticularly dockworkers and the building trades, began ex- world, La Gazette, which began in Paris in 1630 by ad- jobs and work incredibly hard, often earning their agen - panding hiring halls to serve as a fairer way of connecting vertising the skills of servants. During the British Empire, cies a reputation for providing good workers. There are workers and employers. Various benevolent and worker- intelligence offices proliferated in London to supply the likely hundreds of such agencies in the New York met- run associations have also existed as alternatives. Reviving unemployed and migrants to the colonies as servants, in- ropolitan area. Many of them, like the one I worked for, these solutions would take us much further toward truly dustrial workers and to crew on colonial ships. In colonial are small, independent operators, whose workers are not helping working families, rather than granting business New York, intelligence offices mimicked the English proto- always counted among staffing industry statistics. more power to hire workers on one-sided standards. type and, after independence, grew to supply nearly every Over the last few decades, the employee-employer rela- type of worker, including slaves. tionship has been hollowed-out — and lobbied out — by the David Van Arsdale, author of The Poverty of Work, is a Immigrants have always depended on this type of hir- staffing industry and businesses that want to “hire” work- sociologist and labor scholar. He can be reached at the ing agency. In fact, Castle Clinton in Battery Park, which ers without the regulations and obligations that come with [email protected] or followed on Twitter @ June 2019 was the depot for immigrants arriving in New York be- officially employing them. This enables companies to take theworkingbeat. fore Ellis Island opened in 1890, housed an intelligence on workers when demand requires more labor and to dump office on site. There were many intelligence offices in them after that demand is met — without providing a single lower in that era. They awaited the arrival of employee benefit — and at no cost beyond paying the agency. ships loaded with immigrants in search of work. Much Companies such as Amazon and the trash-processing giant like today, they’d dispatch workers to a job for a fee. More Browning-Ferris Industries have used this model to insulate often than today, they’d swindle workers into unsavory themselves from the responsibility of wage and safety laws,

The IndypendenT employment relationships. and to make it difficult for workers to unionize. 9 WE STAND UP FOR WORKERS. AND WE WON’T BACK DOWN.

The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection fights for the rights of all workers in NYC regardless of job or immigration status.

To ask questions or file a complaint, call 311 and say “worker” or visit nyc.gov/workers. You can remain anonymous.

We fight for every worker in NYC. June 2019 June The IndypendenT The 10CITY PLAnnIng arch leonardo m

anchor them to the deck or the who headed the Department ground below the platform. of City Planning’s Manhat- WE WOn’T BE Like the city and state effort tan office during the Bloom- RAILROADED: to have Amazon build its satellite berg administration, gave a Emily Sharpe, a resident The dark sIde headquarters in Long Island City, similar answer to neighbor- of Sunnyside, Queens and the plan has drawn substantial op- hood residents at a public founder of Stop Sunnyside position from area residents. The planning meeting March 26. Yard. public meetings to discuss it have Emily Sharpe calls meet- of sunnysIde been very contentious. ings like that, supposedly to get input from neighbor - Because building on the site hood residents and businesspeople, “a sham.” “The EDC would be so expensive, “the only or Department of City Planning meet with residents and thing that would support its cost ‘stakeholders’ multiple times over the course of a year yard and still be lucrative for developers or so and keep a tally, which they frequently tout, and and investors would be luxury hous- intimate that that means approval of their plan by the Queens MeGa-proJeCT MeT wITh ing and national and international community,” she explains. businesses,” says Emily Sharpe, a “Are we going to be a pale imitation of Midtown East?” suspICIon resident of Sunnyside and founder of asks local historian and Astoria resident Mitch Waxman. Stop Sunnyside Yards. “The problem we have is Manhattan. Manhattan does not Many don’t believe the project present the solution. Manhattan is how we ended up in the By Derek Ludovici will actually deliver affordable housing. “Units promised situation we are in right now municipally. never materialize, or the federal guidelines for setting the “Part of the way that you get away with doing develop- f a New York City Economic Development Corpora- income brackets are much higher than most people can af- ment projects in areas that you shouldn’t in north Brook- tion proposal goes through, western Queens would ford here,” says Joanne, an elderly resident of Sunnyside lyn and western Queens” he adds, “is by creating a very become the site of a massive development eight times who asked that only her first name be used. “We’ve tried narrow, almost looking-through-a-soda-straw view of the the size of the recently completed Hudson Yards. [looking] before when the first buildings went up in Long particular lot you want to build on, and you stop looking Like Hudson Yards, the project would require Island City, and the income rates were ridiculous.” at things holistically in terms of transit, where the drainage Ibuilding a deck over an active railyard: Sunnyside Yard, a Accessibility and transit will also be major issues. The and parts of the deck are going to go.” 180-acre site owned mainly by Amtrak and the Metropoli- deck will sit up to three stories above Sunnyside. Most ac - As with the Amazon plan, local elected officials are also tan Transportation Authority, now used for train storage, cessibility points will be pedestrian stairways, with fewer becoming suspicious of the proposed mega-development. Long Island Railroad tracks, and Amtrak’s routes to West- ways in and out for vehicles. The EDC study also suggests “My issue is always the same, if they want to do this, they chester County and New England. building a new station for the #7 subway line and the LIRR. better explain to us first how the neighborhood is going to The new neighborhood built on top of that deck could Another concern of residents is the environmental im- handle it,” state Sen. Michael Gianaris told residents April hold 14,000 to 24,000 new market-rate units, according to pact. The federal and state Environmental Protection 6, in his mobile office at the Woodside Library. “How the an EDC feasibility study completed in 2017. “The initial Agency has named Amtrak and the LIRR as “potentially trains are going to handle the people. Where the schools phase of market-rate residential development at Sunnyside responsible parties” for the nearby Newtown Creek Super- are going to be.” Yard could reach current price levels observed in the Court fund site. “You are doing exactly what you need to be doing,” Square/Queens Plaza submarkets,” the study said. Residen- The EDC feasibility study also projected that the de- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told project opponents at tial condominium sale prices, it added, are expected to be velopment would have 0.97 acres of public space such as that meeting, “because you are right. What happens is that comparable to those on the Long Island City waterfront, parks per 1,000 residents, less than the city Environmental we’ll go out and take that bold stance and as we saw [with “given the level of amenities and finishes expected.” Quality Review target of 1.25 acres. It says that would be Amazon] what happens is people turn around and try to Another 4,200 to 7,200 apartments would be perma- “equal to or above what is provided by other large-scale slam you with ‘This is wrong. Everybody disagrees with nently “affordable,” in order to receive tax breaks and gain developments in New York City.” you.’ I feel very confident in our position, because we know permission to build taller under the de Blasio administra- Both the EDC and the lead consultant, Practice for Ar- the community organized against it.” tion’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing guidelines. What chitecture and Urbanism, discount the feasibility study. The surrounding communities are gearing up for what is “affordable” would be determined by the federal area “There is no plan for Sunnyside Yard — yet,” the project’s could be a long fight. “Even many homeowners feel that the median income for the metropolitan area, so those apart- website says. “We are in the middle of an 18-month pro- predicted increases in home values will not be worth living June 2019 ments could rent for more than what most city or neighbor- cess to collectively develop a plan for the site and determine in the towers’ shadows,” says Sharpe. hood residents actually could afford. what would be built there over many decades.” The actual The cost of building the deck is estimated at $16 to master plan, it goes on to say, will build “off the technical $19 billion, depending on what kind of structures are findings of the Feasibility Study” and take “a fresh look at to be constructed on top of it. It would require recon - the site in partnership with local and regional stakeholders figuring the railyard, creating enough space between the to create affordable housing, open space, transportation, tracks to build the deck supports. Larger towers would schools and more in Western Queens.”

The IndypendenT require additional planning, and it would cost more to Practice for Architecture founder Vishaan Chakrabarti, 11

From International Publishers

Now available from IP a new book by Professor Gerald Horne, his monumental history; STONEWALL 50 years later WBAI applauds the pioneers who took a stand.

A day of commemorative programming Saturday, June 2, 11am-6pm

Listen: 99.5fm or streaming at wbai.org

… it should be required reading for all who want to understand Africans and the people of African de- 2019 June scent Simbi Mubako, former Ambassador of Zimba- bwe to the USA IndypendenT The Order via the IP Leonard Thom Website; www.intpubnyc.com Tickets: or call: LOPATE + HARTMANN LIVE! give2wbai.org 212-366-9816 Sat., June 8, 7pm · Commons Café 12NYC PolitiCs 13 Sue BriSk

Endorsements from grassroots orga- president in 2013, has endorsements from several politician or a career pros- nizations and local politicians began powerful unions, including the United Federation ecutor, or it can be a pub- CAMPAiGNiNG: to stack up. Her volunteer base grew of Teachers, and a slew of local elected officials. lic defender,” Cabán said Tiffany Cabán speaks from dozens to hundreds. Viewed by many as the race’s frontrunner, she has in her closing statement. outside a 7 train station “When I decided to run, I said it moved steadily left as Cabán has gained momentum. “Who do you trust?” in Corona, Queens. would be a win if we are just mov- Initially, Katz only promised to end cash bail for mis- ing the conversation to center the demeanors and nonviolent felonies. Now she’s vow- RevolT of The experiences of my clients and their ing to eliminate cash bail completely. She has also • • • MoVEMENt communities, if we are holding peo- walked back her approval of the city’s plan to open CANDiDAtE: ple’s feet to the fire,” Cabán toldThe new jails in Queens and three other boroughs after Tiffany Cabán (center) Indypendent. “What surprised me closing Rikers Island. Cabán has supported the No The stakes are high with sex workers from quickly early on is we got to a place New Jails movement since early in her campaign. for communities of color Make the Road Action. where we can and will win this.” “It’s really shaping up to be us versus Katz, and in Queens that have long Cabán has garnered ouTsIdeRs Just weeks before the June the contrast is pretty strong,” said Cabán’s campaign faced overpolicing and support from a number of 25 Democratic primary, Tiffany manager, Luke Hayes. “The machine does have its discrimination by law groups whose members fIRsT IT was aoC. now TIffany Cabán, a CaReeR Cabán has emerged as one of the influence and it’s working hard with Katz, but a lot enforcement. ICE arrests have negatively impacted top candidates in a field of seven of people have soured on what the machine says and and deportations in the by the harsh policies of contenders, all of whom are prom- what they actually do.” borough have increased the Queens DA’s office. ising reform. If she wins, she’ll be Cabán is looking to rack up votes in the western exponentially since Presi- publIC defendeR, Is suRgIng In The hoTly on the road to becoming one of the Queens neighborhoods — Astoria, Long Island City, dent Donald Trump was most progressive prosecutors in the Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, elected in 2016. While tHE country, managing around 350 as- Corona — that powered Ocasio-Cortez to her upset most of the prosecutors FRoNtRUNNER: ConTesTed Queens dIsTRICT aTToRney RaCe. sistant district attorneys and a bud- victory. Katz has greater name recognition through- and judges in Queens are Queens Borough get of nearly $40 million. out the borough and can expect to do especially well white, the majority of President Melinda Katz In late May, Rep. Ocasio-Cortez in affluent, predominantly white enclaves like her na- those funneled through has the backing of the By Libby Rainey Cabán would have balked at the idea of running for dis - endorsed her. “Our criminal justice system needs to change. tive Forest Hills. The large black vote in southeastern the courts and jails are Democratic Party machine trict attorney. If Tiffany Cabán wins, things are going to change,” Oca- Queens could prove decisive. people of color. Transgen- in the DA race. But in 2019 iffany Cabán stood in front of a crowd in Jack- Born in the borough’s Richmond Hill neighborhood, sio-Cortez said in a statement. “We deserve a district at- Also running are Councilmember Rory Lancman, der women of color are is that enough?

son Heights, megaphone in hand. she had spent her career as an adversary of prosecutors, a torney that understands that to make our community safer as well as Greg Lasak, Betty Lugo, Mina Malik and disproportionately target- Sue BriSk It was the first beautiful day of spring, and public defender in Manhattan who believed the criminal- we help people prosper. We deserve Tiffany Cabán.” Jose Nieves. All seven candidates — even Lasak, a ed by the criminalization of sex work. families were gathered at Travers Park on 34th justice system was set up to fail the people she represented. That endorsement is likely to bolster Cabán’s campaign career prosecutor and judge backed by police unions These disparities were at the forefront of state Sy Avenue to protest a car dealership that was She saw her own community reflected in her clients, who with more volunteers, money and visibility. But it’s also and the most conservative of the group — have Senator Jessica Ramos’s mind when she went out to Tservicing vehicles in a spot where the city had promised faced prosecution for offenses as small as jumping a sub- a warning to the city’s political establishment. If Cabán pledged to bring progressive reforms to the borough. campaign for Cabán on a Saturday morning in May. Courte car-free park access. And Cabán, a grassroots candidate way turnstile or possessing marijuana. Cabán would some- wins, it will be a sign that the grassroots groups that helped Community members gathered to hear the details Ramos, who represents the Jackson Heights-Corona for Queens district attorney who has risen from long shot times refer to her job as being “one of the good guys.” elect Ocasio-Cortez are developing lasting political power. of these plans at the Jamaica Performing Arts Cen- area, was one of six candidates who unseated incum- to top contender, was there to show her support. Then a wave of progressive prosecutors won election “We’re so used to operating in a politics of fear and ter on a Wednesday night in mid-May. The forum bents from the Independent Democratic Conference “This epitomizes all of the things we have been fighting in other cities, such as Rachael Rollins in Boston and ‘let’s not make it worse’ that we don’t support and back was moderated by activist Nicole Paultre Bell, less — eight Democrats whose alliance with the Repub- for in my campaign,” she told the protesters. “We need to Larry Krasner in . And in January, longtime bold, visionary candidates that are really going to dis- than a mile from the street where her fiancé, Sean licans had enabled the GOP to retain control of the start putting our children first, our community first, our Queens DA Richard Brown, who increasingly stood out as rupt things,” said Alyssa Aguilera, executive director of Bell, was shot and killed by police in 2006, on what Senate — in last year’s primaries. people first, over profits, always.” a hardliner compared with the prosecutors in Brooklyn, VOCAL-NY Action Fund, a group that has endorsed would have been their wedding day. Three of the of- Cabán credits her political activation in part to It wasn’t the sort of event where one might expect to find Manhattan and the Bronx, announced that he wouldn’t Cabán. “It’s exciting that the progressive community and ficers involved were acquitted, and others never faced that campaign, and Ramos was there to return the a candidate for the borough’s top prosecutor. But Cabán, seek re-election after nearly 28 years in office. Cabán saw so many people are lining up behind Tiffany and really charges. Now, Paultre Bell was asking the candidates favor. While the new state senator stood with a small 31, is not running to be a typical district attorney. The an opportunity that had previously seemed unthinkable: going for what we want.” before her why they were the best choice to reform an group of volunteers on Corona Plaza preparing to queer Latina public defender is promising to end cash bail, radically changing the system she’d spent years fighting office that for decades has sowed distrust in the most knock on doors, street vendors nearby sold corn and fully decriminalize sex work and prosecute violent cops, from within. diverse borough in the country. Cabán went first. tamales to passers-by. People occasionally stopped to abusive landlords and immigration agents. In a race where The time was ripe for a candidate like Tiffany Cabán. • • • “I am running to reduce recidivism, I am running pick up campaign flyers. most candidates are calling themselves “progressives,” she Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s upset win in the 2018 con- to decarcerate,” she said. “You’re going to hear a lot “This is the epicenter of deportation in Queens. prefers the label “decarceral.” Her goal is to keep as many gressional elections had rocked the Queens Democratic of similar-sounding ideas tonight, but the differences We’re surrounded by hundreds of undocumented

people as possible out of jail. machine and activated a politics of hope. A few months Like Ocasio-Cortez before her, Cabán is taking on between me and the others here tonight are massive.” people right now, including street vendors, who are 2019 June “[We must make] sure we’re investing all of our re- later, community organizers celebrated another victory a candidate backed by the powerful Queens Democratic To win, she’ll not only have to convince Queens to continuously persecuted by the police, and small sources into creating spaces that are safe for our children when Amazon announced it would not be opening a new establishment. Her leading rival is Borough President approve a radically new direction for a district attor- businesses that need to thrive,” Ramos said. “I repre- to grow, that allow us to not survive, but thrive,” Cabán headquarters in Long Island City. And activists across New Melinda Katz, who has received more than $1 million in ney’s office known for the tough-on-crime policies of sent the largest transgender community in the coun- June 2019 told the crowd. York City had been steadily building a coalition to draw at- campaign donations, including a quarter-million from real Richard Brown, who died in May. She’ll also have to try. Everybody here is just trying to survive. We need IndypendenT The Children and parents cheered. She had their attention. tention to the power and abusive practices of prosecutors. estate developers and related interests. Cabán, who is not persuade voters she’s the best reformer for the job. At to ensure that people can do so in a way that is safe, So, with the encouragement of a small group of friends accepting corporate PAC donations, has more individual the Jamaica forum, all seven candidates pledged to and ensuring that we have a district attorney who un- and supporters, in late January Cabán launched an outsider donors than all the other candidates combined. As of May end the school-to-prison pipeline, not prosecute low- derstands that struggle, who understands those lived • • • bid to become district attorney, promising to stop prosecut- 24, she had raised around $215,500 from 2,545 people, an level offenses, and implement more alternatives to in- experiences, is crucial to us.” ing low-level offenses, create a community advisory board average of $84 per donation. carceration. But they offered vastly different models Born to Puerto Rican parents, Cabán spent her and advocate investing in health care, housing and educa- Katz, who served six years in the Assembly and eight for making these reforms a reality.

The IndypendenT If you had asked her a couple years ago, Tiffany tion while seeking shorter sentences for felony convictions. years on the City Council before being elected borough “You can vote and have your new DA be a career Continued on next page 14

been mobilizing formerly incarcerated peo- TIffany CaBán ple to join the campaign. Carl Stubbs, an ac- Continued from previous page tivist who spent decades in and out of prison and years on Rikers Island, has become one childhood playing at the Woodside Houses of Cabán’s most ardent supporters. where her grandmother, a foster parent, “Tiffany is what we need because she lived. She experienced both the overpolicing works with the people,” Stubbs said. “I of her neighborhood and the transforma- thought DAs were always bad, regardless, tive power of community-based solutions. but after listening to her, she inspired me.” When she was a child, her family allowed Stubbs is a volunteer with Court Watch her grandfather, an alcoholic Korean War NYC — a project that formed after the veteran who had physically abused her 2017 elections, when Manhattan DA Cyrus grandmother, to rejoin the family after a Vance Jr. and Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez prolonged estrangement. He would tell both won new terms with promises of re- Cabán stories, make her laugh and play gui- form. Court Watch monitors New York tar for her. City courtrooms to hold DAs accountable to That relationship taught Cabán that peo- their promises and inform the public about ple were not simply the sum of their worst the power prosecutors hold. The group soon actions. As she got older, she wondered joined Queens for DA Accountability, a co- what it might have meant for her family if alition dedicated to monitoring and chang- there had been public services to help her ing the district attorney’s office through grandfather when he returned home from community organizing. combat traumatized. Instead, the main gov- It’s efforts like these that have pushed the ernment presence in her neighborhood was Queens DA race into the spotlight and mo- often police. bilized more than 300 volunteers to canvas Cabán left New York to study at Penn for Cabán at subway stations, schools, street State, and then earned her law degree back corners and doorways for months. Some are home at New York Law School. Despite be- veteran activists. Others were inspired by ing advised not to, she then became a public Ocasio-Cortez’s win. defender. She saw her clients trapped by the “Our standard narratives about who criminal-justice system. One man faced jail wins and who needs to win are no lon - time for jumping a turnstile to get to a meet- ger gospel,” said Susan Kang, an asso - ing with his parole officer, and spent more ciate professor at John Jay College of than a year in court fighting the charge. An- Criminal Justice and Queens DSA mem- other, who was struggling with his mental ber who has been regularly canvassing. health, was arrested multiple times at the “Cabán has the strongest volunteer base emergency room after going there seeking — that’s not questionable.” medical attention. Some of these volunteers gathered on a Cabán returns to those stories again and sunny Saturday in May in Cabán’s Jackson again. Her voice tends to speed up as she Heights campaign headquarters to prepare rattles off examples of how the system has for a day of door-knocking. Sasha Wein- failed people she knows. When she talks stein, a Cabán staffer, was there advising about the reforms that she wants to imple- volunteers on talking points. ment, she slows down to make her case. “A lot of people don’t know that they can “This new way of prosecuting is actually vote for district attorney. There’s this whole the thing public defenders have been fighting pre-conversation that you have to get to be- for, for decades,” Cabán said. “A lot of these fore talking about why Tiffany is good,” July 4–7 | Chicago things are common sense.” Weinstein says. “When you present the DA McCormick Place as this person (who) chooses which cases socialismconference.org go through the system, you see this look on • • • people’s faces that are like, ‘Yeah I do have opinions on this.’ We get to entirely redefine the DA in this race.” The result of the Queens DA race will Cabán told The Indypendent that if she likely depend on turnout. With community wins, she plans to throw out the typical JOIN US FOR SESSIONS ON organizations behind her, Cabán’s cam- metrics of success for prosecutors, such as Ecosocialism | Black and Latinx liberation | Indigenous and paign is following a model laid out by the percentage of convictions won, and instead insurgents of 2018, such as Ocasio-Cortez judge them by their ability to reduce recidi- anti-colonial struggles | Socialist Feminism and Trans Liberation and state Senators Ramos and Julia Salazar: vism, decarcerate, and apply the law fairly Debates on the Left | Class struggle and the labor movement focusing on reaching voters that are often regardless of class or race. She promises to Building socialism in Trump’s America | Fighting imperialism ignored by campaigns. This means mobiliz- create units within the office to release and ing young voters and people who generally clear the records of people incarcerated for Socialism 101 | History of radical movements haven’t voted in primary races, instead of offenses no longer being prosecuted, and International movements today | Justice for Palestine exclusively targeting the small pool of voters end civil asset-forfeiture practices. She’ll who regularly show up to the polls. also work with communities to distribute SPEAKERS INCLUDE This sort of voter mobilization in a bor- the more than $100 million the Queens DA ough as vast and diverse as Queens is no has received from federal forfeiture seizures Naomi Klein | Mike Davis | Amy Goodman | Bhaskar Sunkara small challenge, and a growing grass-roots to local groups, using a participatory bud- Donna Murch | Frances Fox Piven | Imani Perry | Astra Taylor coalition, including the Democratic Social- geting process. Russell Rickford | David Harvey | Dave Zirin | Justin Akers Chacón ists of America, New Queens Democrats “This is a once-in-a-generation opportu- and the Working Families Party has teamed nity to transform our criminal justice system Asad Haider | Eric Blanc | Charlie Post | and many more! up to get out the vote. These groups are cen- here in Queens and really be a model for the June 2019 tering people who have felt the consequenc- rest of the country,” Cabán said. “This is es of tough-on-crime policies directly. Sex not a time for meeting in the middle and in- workers with the community organization cremental change. We can have restorative Make the Road Action have been regularly change right now, and we may not get this campaigning for Cabán. VOCAL-NY Ac- opportunity in our lifetimes again.” Democratic Socialists of America tion Fund — a statewide group that mobiliz- es low-income people affected by issues like

The IndypendenT homelessness and mass incarceration — has CRIMInAL JuSTICE REfORM 15 fIGhTInG Mass

InCarCeraTIon LARRY KRASnER

RACHEL ROLLInS roductions g p froM InsIde The WESLEY BELL andelori/B sysTeM CHESA BOuDIn michael c proGressIve das lead The way As Rollins faces a spectrum of critics who accuse her of being both too soft on crime and on police, she has ramped up By Renée Feltz her opposition to the arrests of immigrants in the state’s court- houses. She filed suit against Immigration and Customs Enforce- iffany Cabán’s attempt at an upset victory in the ment over the “chilling effect” these arrests have on immigrants Queens District Attorney race comes as voters who are victims, witnesses and defendants and now frequently around the country have already elected other pro - avoid coming in to testify, making it much more difficult to gressive prosecutors with platforms of police ac- prosecute cases. Rollins has also instructed prosecutors to avoid countability and racial justice. Below we look at charges that could hurt the immigration status of a defendant. Tsome of their efforts to dismantle the broken criminal justice system from the inside. WESLEY BELL ST. LOuIS LARRY KRASnER Perhaps the clearest link between the movement demanding po- PHILADELPHIA lice accountability and the rise of activist district attorneys can The push for criminal justice reform reached a turning point af - be found in last November’s election of Wesley Bell as St. Louis ter outrage over police violence failed to result in accountability County Attorney. Bell is an African-American son of a police for killer cops in court. One of the earliest confirmations of officer, as well as a public defender, municipal court prosecu- the potential for change through the ballot box came in 2017, tor and Ferguson city councilmember who loudly criticized the when Philadelphians with seven candidates for District Attor - decision not to prosecute officer Darren Wilson for shooting un- ourtesy

c ney to choose from elected a career criminal defense and civil armed teenager Michael Brown, calling it an example of why po- rights attorney who had sued the police department more than lice and prosecutors should remain “separate and independent.” 75 times on behalf of groups like Black Lives Matter. Before he was sworn in, prosecutors in Bell’s office voted to Almost immediately after Larry Krasner took office in Janu - join the local police union, which had endorsed his opponent. ary 2018, he rolled out a series of policies described as “an ef - On his second day in office, Bell fired longtime assistant pros - fort to end mass incarceration.” He has since replaced dozens of ecutor Kathi Alizadeh, who was largely responsible for present- old guard prosecutors with young radical lawyers, eliminated ing evidence to the grand jury that declined to indict Wilson. most cash bail, diverted low-level offenses from the justice sys - He also fired prosecutor Ed McSweeney, who posted on Face - tem and charged crimes at a lower level. book after the primary that “voters will soon regret what they Krasner now appears open to overturning more than one- did” and wrongfully claimed Bell was a “Ferguson councilman third of the death sentences for the 45 Philadelphians on death with no trial experience.” row based on claims that they lacked effective lawyers, or Bell previously worked with the Department of Justice to im- should have been found intellectually disabled and ineligible plement recommendations from its report that found Ferguson for capital punishment. profited from demanding large fines from low-income residents One of his next priorities is to address correctional supervi - of color for petty misdemeanors like traffic violations. After sion in Philadelphia, where one in 22 adults were on probation his election he issued instructions to stop prosecuting the pos - or parole in late 2017 and 40 percent of the city’s jail popula - session of less than 100 grams of marijuana and failure to pay tion was held for related violations. Prosecutors have sought child support. He also told prosecutors not to overcharge de - shorter sentences under Krasner and he says parole “should not fendants to pressure them into pleas or threaten witnesses to be longer than the period of incarceration.” force them to participate in prosecutions. In April he tweeted that during his first 100 days in office, “we’ve reduced the jail population by 12% which is the lowest since 2002.” ourtesy

c RACHEL ROLLInS BOSTOn In Suffolk County, Massachusetts, which includes Boston, the WHO ELSE IS nExT? push for criminal justice reform led last November to the elec - In addition to Tiffany Cabán in Queens, Chesa Boudin in San tion of Rachael Rollins, a longtime lawyer who campaigned Francisco appears to have a chance of being elected District on ending cash bail and said non-violent property crimes were Attorney on a progressive platform in the county’s first open often “crimes of desperation.” race for the position in more than 100 years. The job was a Soon after taking office in January she issued a 65-page springboard for Democratic senator and presidential hopeful, memo mandating that low-level offenses such as trespassing Kamala Harris. should “always be declined, even when attached to another As a deputy public defender, Boudin led a major challenge to charge,” along with shoplifting, larceny, disorderly conduct, money bail and pretrial detention, but perhaps most interest - possession of alcohol for minors, possession of non-marijuana ing is his personal story: he is the Yale Law School-educated drugs, destruction of property, breaking and entering to escape son of Weather Underground radicals David Gilbert and Kathy

cold or sleep, driving with a suspended license and other charg - Boudin, who are in prison and on parole, respectively, for their 2019 June es. In an accompanying statement, Rollins said: “We start with role in a botched 1981 robbery that left two policemen dead. a presumption that, in most cases, these charges don’t need to Boudin has vowed to make “public safety” encompass the be prosecuted. Dismissal, diversion, treatment and services are rights of both victims and defendants, amid a campaign domi - much more often the appropriate outcomes.” nated by candidates who are tough-on-crime. He counts Larry IndypendenT The This prompted the National Police Association to file a com- Krasner among his supporters. plaint with the state’s bar association that she had “authorized certain illegal conduct.” But an analysis of Rollins’ first 100 days in office conducted by CourtWatch and co-sponsored by the ourtesy

c ACLU found nearly half of the cases it observed in municipal court involved charges from Rollins’ “do not prosecute” list and that assistant district attorneys were still making bail requests. 16AnTI-SOCIAL MEDIA ach B ollen david h

sake and related platforms toward across large portions of the developing world — is also what more personal interactions. makes it such an effective propaganda tool. “Facebook has proven itself a A coalition of wealthy business interests backing Bolso- bad actor and I don’t take any- naro spent millions of dollars on WhatsApp disinformation you’ve Been thing they say or do at face value,” campaigns ahead of voting. Drawing on data — some of it Douglas Rushkoff, a professor of collected through Facebook — marketers established asro- digital economics at City University turf WhatsApp groups and flooded cell phones with doctored of New York and host of the Team photos and fake news that the average Brazilian had limited ZuCked Human technology podcast, tells means of validating. The Indypendent. “Propaganda is very effective when you do not have the faCeBook says IT Is ChanGInG. IT Is. IT’s According to a March blog post possibility to either fact check or to receive different kinds of from the Zuck himself, Instagram, information,” notes Luca Belli, a professor of internet gov- GeTTInG even sCarIer. Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp ernance at Fundação Getúlio Vargas’ School of Law in Rio chat services will be integrated. All de Janeiro. messages will be handled with end-to- In response to a report in São Paulo’s Folha newspaper, By Peter Rugh end encryption, meaning their contents will be visible solely Facebook said it deleted thousands of fake accounts, but the to the sender and receiver — a privacy tool already baked damage was already done. acebook is like a bar that used to be a fun place to into WhatsApp. Taking another page from WhatsApp, users Exactly how much of a role WhatsApp played in the presi- hang out with friends until the owner put cameras on Facebook’s other networks will have the option of allow- dential vote is difficult for researchers to gauge, says Belli, in the bathroom and replaced the tchotchkes with ing their communications to disappear after brief intervals. given that the messaging service is encrypted end-to-end and genocidal slogans and anti-vaccine propaganda. Meanwhile, Facebook itself will shift the emphasis it places the plethora of pathways the false information could have You look around and all of a sudden all the patrons on its news feed, the bottomless scroll of friend and advertiser traveled, but he’s worried for other democracies in the Global haveF hair coming out their ears, velcro shoes and are sipping distraction, to group and person-to-person networking. South — and for the United States — where similar condi- prune juice to ward off constipation. The McGuire sisters are “I do think there’s some sense in them returning to the idea tions exist: weak data protections and a monopolized internet on the jukebox. of being a social network, rather than a propaganda publish- landscape void of net-neutrality laws that prevent the walling Young people are leaving Facebook in droves. They’re go- er,” says Rushkoff. “But the only way I will believe they are off of the web. ing over to that hip new joint down the block, WhatsApp, serious is if they liberate themselves from the need to achieve Yet despite the potential for spawning political rumor and showing off their faux-vintage photos on Instagram. But continued exponential growth. If they need to keep growing, mills, end-to-end encryption means that at least the Zuck- everything old is new again. It turns out these new spots then they will need to find new ways of violating our privacy erberg and his cronies won’t be tracking our conversations, are owned by the same guy, a milquetoast twerp to whom and eroding our social integrity.” right? Sort of. Sending encrypted messages won’t prevent the the forces of capitalism and deregulation have contrived Zuckerberg seems to have anticipated the scepticism he’s Zucker from gathering your metadata, i.e. the who, when and to grant dominion over the communications of a third of been met with and attempted to get ahead of it, acknowledg- where behind your supposedly private communications. Earth’s population. ing that “frankly we don’t currently have a strong reputation “Without transparency about how Facebook will monetize With the 2020 presidential elections just around the bend, for building privacy protective services, and we’ve historically its end-to-end encrypted services,” writes Gennie Gebhart of we should be so lucky if Facebook were just a watering hole. focused on tools for more open sharing.” the Electronic Frontier Foundation, “users and advocates can- Instead it’s a vast multimedia company, harvesting data on When it comes to open sharing, the Zucker has lost his not scrutinize the various pressure points that business model its 2.6 or so billion users and lending a megaphone to Rus- appetite for it. His March post directly contradicts another, might place on privacy and security.” sian bots, Brazilian proto-fascists and the worst excesses published four months earlier, in which he pledged Facebook The integration of Facebook’s platforms appears to have of the Myanmar military. If only it would have remained a would be more vigilant in rooting out disinformation. Now less to do with generating more meaningful connections than place where grandma could post photos of her little munch- he’s pushing it into the shadows instead. How can Zucker- it does with the Zuck’s desire to build a super app, à la China’s kins, while her grandkids share pics of their Smorgasburg berg’s sites root out disinformation if the messages they carry WeChat — one all encompassing, self-contained intraweb pizza cupcakes through an Amaro filter on Insta. Facebook’s are private and temporal? The answer, so far, is they can’t. within the internet through which all manner of communica- founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, may still have the plac- Evidence of this comes to us from Brazil, where the tion and commerce take place. id face of a China doll, but Facebook itself lost its innocence, Trump of the Tropics, Jair Bolsonaro, landed in the presi- “That at this moment is the dream of Facebook,” says Bel- if it ever existed, long ago. dential palace on Jan. 1 in what observers have termed the li. “Facebook is the only social network that has the critical The company’s business model is based on the endless ex- WhatsApp election. mass of users that could turn out to be a super app.” June 2019 pansion of its sweeping data harvesting cartel that turns the Broadband happens to be costly in the country, where the We’ll have to bide our time to see what kinds of social me- consumer into a commodity. We all know this, but many of average household income per capita comes to just $400 a dia chicanery lie in store for us as the 2020 presidential elec- us keep using Facebook and the other apps in the Zuckerverse month. But mobile carriers offer plans through which cus- tion heats up, but at least one of the candidates, Sen. Elizabeth because, as Margaret Thatcher might put it, “There is no tomers can access the internet on the cheap through select Warren, has pledged to break up the Facebook monopoly. In alternative.” They’ve monopolized a vast chunk of the once apps — WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter. Thus, 120 million the meantime, look out folks. It’s Zuckerberg’s world. We’re wide open world wide web. Brazilians, or nearly 60 percent of its population, use What- just living in it. And so it is with suspicion that critics have greeted Zucker- sApp to connect to the web. The limited internet access that

The IndypendenT berg’s plans to redesign his scandal-plagued company’s name- has led to WhatsApp’s popularity — not just in Brazil but 17

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Puerto Rico and relatives vanished. He didn’t ask for any of it. No phone. No e-mail. Nothing. I He didn’t ask to be born. It A PLACE On THIS went to the island, drove around was our selfish decision and EARTH: What kind of until I found them. Along the way, I we both would be gone as he world will this little fellow dIaper ChanGe, saw mothers alone with children in faced nightmare Earth. inherit? hilltop homes with no gas or food. I began to celebrate the I saw fathers waiting in lines for ice smallest things. When he held up his head, I danced like and water for their families. a clown. When he babbled “ma ma” and “da da,” I wrote ClIMaTe I came back shaken and angry. it on the calendar. If the future was going to be painful, The world was filled with forces so I clipped the moments of joy and held them to my chest. much stronger than any of us. Just Today was what mattered. And when grief spilled into my one superstorm, one war or finan- thoughts like drops of ink, I joked it off. ChanGe cial collapse and we’d be begging “Just remember,” I told him as he gobbled an egg, “in the for food. I hated how America be- future when you buy Soylent Green, it’s made from people.” a parenT’s love & a planeT In CrIsIs trays the poor and vulnerable. By the time my son was born, I was humbled. The doctors passed action By Nicholas Powers him to me, I held him like a breathing pearl, beautiful and fragile. I just wanted him to be safe. He grew so fast. He was a tree sapling rising in fast mo - ust as I took off his diaper, my son shit again. It tion. Our faces moved like two suns across his sky. His happens. But he focused and pumped out of his tiny hands reached for us. anus a mudslide so deep it was Biblical. I gave up on Bargaining Tired from exploring, he climbed on my chest and slept changing him. “When global warming destroys the there for hours. I kissed the top of his head and smelled Jsoil,” I said, “let’s grow potatoes in your shit, like “What about Canada,” I asked. “Isn’t the ice going to melt? his new baby smell. One day, after being bathed and fed, Matt Damon did in The Martian.” Let’s move. Let’s grab land.” She nursed our son and made after we played peek-a-boo for forever, he put both hands Raising a child in the Anthropocene and the possible the calculations. We saw the writing on the wall. Fires in on my face, pulled me in and gave me a wet gummy kiss end of an inhabitable Earth at human hands requires a the west. Superstorms wrecking the coasts. White people on the nose grim sense of humor. I like to think of it as acceptance, elected Trump. How long before America collapsed? We changed each other. A deep magnetic force pulled the last stage of grief. I’m not sure if it is but I do know, She shrugged. “Then what? Live behind a barbed wire, us together. Whenever he crawled away, he came back. I’ve gone through the other four stages — denial, anger, steel fence gate?” A dark vision crossed her face. “People Whenever I went to work, I felt his absence as if my heart bargaining and depression. Laughter was closure. I had will get hungry and eating the rich won’t be a metaphor.” was stretched miles from my chest. It was love. And I saw let go of hope. I was bargaining. What if we fled? What if we moved it everywhere, in every degree. It is the magnetic force Then my son forced me to reach beyond grief. We inland? What if we stockpiled guns? They were dreams that makes friends hug on the street and a cashier smile at were in the park and he let go of my hand. Legs wobbly, of privatized escape, 1990s militia survivor stuff. Needle a favorite customer and drives adults to wheelchair their he looked at me. We were both scared as he unsteadily those dreams with a logical question and they popped. aging parents into the park to feel sunlight. Love binds walked. Pride burst in me like fireworks. I wiped away None of us, not even the rich, can escape the climate cri- the human universe. tears and cheered. Each new footstep took him into a fu- sis. Some can hide for a while, but no safe zone, no walls, Walking him in the park, I watched him touch trees ture I won’t be alive to see. In that instant, I felt love, gi - no borders can keep out millions of refugees desperate to in wonder and realized being afraid of the climate crisis ant, immense, immeasurable love for him that forced me live. We’re all in this together. won’t stop it, but loving the Earth can inspire us to heal to go beyond acceptance to action. it. My barely one-year-old son taught me that I don’t need to “accept” the end times. Depression & acceptance Today, we went to an art store and got billboards, Denial & anger markers and paint. It will be a summer of action. My son “I, I, I…” my throat knotted. Around the table friends and I will join the Sunrise Movement and Extinction Re- “He’s kicking,” she said, and pressed my hand to her belly. looked at each other, then me. We were talking about the bellion. Together, we’ll protest at Wall Street and Trump He was. He was pushing out to the world. I leaned close climate crisis and I was in professor mode until I men- Tower. We’ll look like trees, growing in fast motion, new June 2019 and told him how much we loved him. In those months, I tioned my son. Sorrow choked me. ideas blossoming on our signs like wild flowers. was delirious with joy. When I got home, I hugged my son as if to apolo - I was so full of fatherhood, I thought I was big and gize for the hell he was going to inherit. He slept on my strong enough to protect him. I had a job. I had good chest and I kissed him over and over. We were trapped health. I could take care of my son. I would do a hell in systems that left us little room to maneuver. Every of a lot better than my no-show father ever did. Denial plane in the sky, every car in the street, all meat in stores insulated me. — all the ways in which capitalism polluted the planet

The IndypendenT Months into the pregnancy, Hurricane Maria ripped up were sold to us as the good life. Disaster was coming. 19 June 2019 June The IndypendenT The 20 BOOKS bluestockings radical bookstore | activist center | fair trade cafe 172 ALLEN ST • 212-777-6028 bluestockings.com ye olde Queer Brooklyn mosexuality in their fi rst Diagnostic and When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders By Hugh Ryan (DSM), thus classifying it as a mental St. Martin’s Press, 2019 illness. The police crack down on cruis- ing, using entrapment to arrest men for “disorderly conduct —degeneracy.” Dis- By Jessica Max stein persed by these social forces, queer mi- lieus can’t survive the borough’s physical changes. Ryan lays much of the blame at EVERY THURS • 6:45–7:30AM ugh Ryan got the idea to write When Brooklyn Robert Moses’ feet. The arrogant city planner sees Brooklyn as YOGA: Start your day with sun Was Queer when he held pop-up queer history a mere obstacle for Long Islanders commuting to Manhattan, salutations and a vinyasa fl ow. exhibit parties in his Brooklyn apartment; when ringing the waterfront with roads. The on-ramp to the Brooklyn- one such event drew 300 people, and another Queens Expressway wipes out great swaths of queer Brooklyn TUES JUNE 11 • 7–9:30PM was shut down by the police, he knew he was on history “in one vicious swoop,” knocking down February House BOOK LAUNCH: The Five Hundred Year Hto something. Contemporary queer Brooklyn was hungry for as well as Hart Crane’s former home. By the time of Manhat- Rebellion: Indigenous Movements and its history. tan’s Stonewall uprising, the queer people and places of Brooklyn the Decolonization of History in Bolivia. Ryan has cooked up a delicious fi rst taste of Brooklyn’s pre- aren’t just gone, they are forgotten. THURS JUNE 20 • 7–9:30PM Stonewall LGBTQ+ community history, a fun read of narra- Ryan has his work cut out for him excavating such a well-buried SKILLSHARE: Marshal training for the tive nonfi ction. Ryan history. Biographer Stacy annual NYC Dyke March on June 29. shows clear respect and Schiff describes this daunt- Marshals help marchers stay safe and affection for his colorful ing task as “writing around have fun, and get a free Dyke March cast of characters, honor- the holes.” At times I want- T-shirt. ing their identities (such ed the book to be less anec- as their presumably pre- dotal and more comprehen- ferred pronouns) as well sive — which might frankly as their idiosyncrasies. He be impossible given the lack generously uses “queer” of material available. Once as a catchall term to dis- you accept the holes, how- cuss both sexuality and ever, Ryan is exemplary at gender identity, which en- deftly guiding you over and ables him to observe how around them. He cherry- the two have historically picks illustrative details to interacted, as well as to spin into vivid scenes, such expand who he can in- as his cinematic description clude in his motley crew. of a bustling Fulton Ferry The geographic narrative Landing, back when the is also a thoughtful, fl ex- ferry was how you got to ible framing, allowing Brooklyn. He also engag- Ryan to discuss how phys- ingly guides you around ical and social changes in the possible holes in your the city landscape affected own historical context, of- where queer people lived, fering effi cient off-the-cuff and worked and played. explanations and modern- Law Ryan’s spry, chatty nar- day parallels: one mid-19th ration makes you feel like century Manhattan queer Disorder he is walking you through bar is likened to “a candlelit radio one of his exhibits. As he version of CBGB — the hot- Mondays at 9am tells it, the urbanization of test hangout for the city’s Brooklyn in the late 1800s most outré artists”. Occa- WBAI enables queers to discover sionally Ryan stretches his 99.5 FM each other, as people in- defi nitions in order to in- creasingly participate in clude material. While this the public sphere — par- fl exibility is refreshing when Download Podcasts at ticularly around the water- he discusses 19th century lawanddisorder.org front, where many queers Boston marriages between work as sailors, artists, women, which many his- “Our basic constitutional rights sex workers, entertainers torians don’t read as queer are in jeopardy. "Law and or factory workers at the because they were ostensi- Disorder” is an excellent Brooklyn Navy Yard. But bly sexless, it doesn’t quite magazine format radio show, having found each other, work for Marianne Moore, hosted by progressive lawyers queers are in turn discov- who neither lived nor iden- who analyze the state of civil ered — by straight people. tifi ed as queer, at least ac- rights in this post-9/11 period.

The narrative arc rises as esteBan Jimenez cording to her biography. FrFrom attacks on Muslims at home to torture abroad, "Law increasing visibility trig- But Ryan is not trying and Disorder” puts these gers a backlash from doc- to be the be-all end-all, constitutional attacks into tors, the judicial system and zealous “moral” reformers. Ryan just the beginning. He understands the book’s place in an ongo- perspective” populates the pages with colorful characters, from the poet Walt ing dialogue, a shared stewardship of community history. The - AMY GOODMAN Whitman to the black lesbian dancer Mabel Hampton, with book is an open thank you to those who preceded him in this HOST, DEMOCRACY NOW! a keen eye for how each person exemplifi es their times. Hart work, such as George Chauncey and Allan Berubé, as well as Crane, who wrote the earnest ode “To Brooklyn Bridge,” ex- those who might want to take up the torch. “I look forward emplifi ed the 1920s: the passionate poet burns bright and then to the book that comes after this, and the one that comes after burns out. For things are never quite the same once the Great that, and the one that maybe you’re going to write,” Ryan affec- Depression hits, particularly for queers already on the economic tionately dares the reader. Let the conversation begin. margins. Yet havens remain, such as February House, a queer

Co-founded by: house in Brooklyn Heights inhabited by a “literary menagerie” Michael Ratner (1943-2016) from Carson McCullers to W.H. Auden to Gypsy Rose Lee (who June 2019 President, Center for Constitutional Rights; later inspired the play Gypsy). Queer sailors and female factory and hosted by movement lawyers: workers, in particular, fi nd respite during World War II — but Heidi Boghosian, see it snatched away again when the war ends. Executive Director, A. Muste Memorial Institute; Ryan puts it best: “After 1945, the physical and mental sub- and Michael Steven Smith, urbanization of America would rip right through the heart of New York City attorney and author. queer Brooklyn (sometimes literally).” The Lavender Scare (it wasn’t just a Red Scare) forces queers out of government and en- NOW ON FACEBOOK.COM The IndypendenT tertainment. The American Psychiatric Association includes ho- ART 21 ChIldren of sTonewall Nobody Promised You Tomorrow: Art 50 Years After Stonewall triptych, We Cannot Live Without Thru Dec. 8 at Brooklyn Museum Our Lives, STAR 2012 and Police David Antonio Cruz (American, born 1974). runlittlewhitegirl, 200 Eastern Pkwy, Brooklyn, NY Van, Trans Day of Action. The joy- portrait of the girls, 2016/2017. Oil and enamel on birch panel, ful, delightful depictions of queers 30 × 40 in. (76.2 × 101.6 cm). Courtesy of the artist. © David continue in the work clustered un- Antonio Cruz. By Jessica Max stein der the theme of “Care Networks,” with Mohammed Fayez’s lively, colorful cartoon Armory next to Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski (French, born 1985). instructions obody Promised You Tomorrow: Art 50 flyers for Papi Juice parties, both featuring queer POC for a Freedom, 2015. Gouache, watercolor, tea, and marker Years After Stonewall,” now showing at Brooklyn parties in full glory. The show even nods to the on paper, 41½ × 96 in. (105.4 × 243.8 cm). Private collection. © “ the Brooklyn Mu- Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski seum, seems like a direct response Nto Hugh Ryan’s affectionate chal- Tuesday Smillie (American, born lenge to rediscover our queer his- 1981). the hudson river Jordan, 2018. tory and to create our queer future. Textile, tarp, beads, fake flowers, spray The 28 LGBTQ+ artists, all born paint, sequins, grommets, plastic, after 1969 and currently working safety pins, 72 1/2 x 111 3/4 in. (184.2 in Brooklyn, use everything from x 283.9cm). Courtesy of the artist. © oil paints to photographs to light Tuesday Smillie boxes to the artist’s own used, in- dented foam mattress topper to art form of zines with the inclusion weigh in not just on what is queer of Camille Godoy’s Amigx. and what is contemporary, but the The centerpiece of the exhibit — very question of what is art. or certainly of the Care Networks The first room honors the art- room — is LJ Roberts’ gargantuan ists’ activist ancestors, playing with textile piece, The Queer Houses of themes of “Stonewall Uprising,” Brooklyn in the Three Towns of “Heritage” and “Revolt.” Some Breukelen, Boswyck and Midwout pieces directly correct the myth of during the 41st Year of the Stone - Stonewall, the three-day police- wall Era, previously shown at the raid-turned-revolt that is widely Smithsonian. Picture a fabric recre- considered the beginning of the ation of Brooklyn, a three-dimen- American queer movement — and sional quilt made largely of knit- widely whitewashed in the retelling. ted bundles. Appliqued across it, I particularly appreciated Tuesday thick and readable, are the names Smillie’s The Hudson River Jor- of Brooklyn’s old neighborhoods dan, a banner in homage to Street and the names of 24 contemporary

Transvestite Action Revolutionaries lvarez) queer houses. It looks like a three- (STAR), whose members included a dimensional quilt, a relic from the Stonewall leaders Sylvia Rivera and 19th century, particularly intrigu- nthony

Marsha P. Johnson. The multipur- a ing from the same artist who did pose textile piece is made of blue the light box installation, comfort- tarp, silver fabric, a pretty hint of able both in textiles and high-tech. pink, and bedecked with a bouquet The queer house theme is used of fake flowers. “The banner alludes slightly less effectively in the wall to the lived experiences of STAR display devoted to Lavender Hill, a and its members — marked by both 1970s queer house in Ithaca, New precarious material conditions and York. While I enjoyed the photos glamour,” explains the museum. and flyers and chore calendar and You can appreciate it on the wall other fun ephemera, it feels more as art — but you could also wrap it like artifact than art. Similarly, around your shoulders or sleep on/ in the last room, a catch-all with under it. Similarly, LJ Roberts’ light the wide theme “Desire,” Mark box installation Stormé at Stone- Aguilar’s I’d Rather Be Beautiful wall literally illuminates the white- Than Male is little more than glit - washing of Stonewall history — in- ter script on a white background, spired by a suggestion from Hugh even if the lettering does evolve Ryan (small world). The flashing perfectly from blue to pink as the on-screen cut-and-paste collages viewer reads left to right. But most New York Times articles about creative use of materials goes to black butch lesbian and Stonewall Constantina Zavitsanos for I think veteran Stormé Delarverie, those we’re alone now (Host). Inside the that feature her as well as those that frame is the artist’s own foam mat- erase her, thus questioning how the tress topper, indented like a curv- story gets told. ing human form — creating a sur - The exhibition can’t quite decide prisingly resonant and sexy visual. whether it’s an art show, an activist In keeping with being both an vehicle or a random archive. This art show and a history project, the works, most of the time. The best exhibit also has an “Our House” pieces are those that maximize room with books and iPods, to

both the medium and the message. learn more — and, of course, to 2019 June I was particularly captivated by meet your fellow queers. David Antonio Cruz’s gorgeous oil paintings of STAR’s modern-day counterparts: Black trans women IndypendenT The who were murdered in 2017 and 2018. They stare directly at the viewer with a gaze that is part se - duction, part implication. Similar- ly, I appreciated the detailed small drawings of haimisch queers with expressive faces in Smillie’s collage 22MeMoir JaIlhouse poeTs Hummingbird in Underworld: Teaching in a Men’s Prison into your bedroom in the timately stifles this and other discussions — by Deborah Tobola middle of the night and and constantly threatens to halt the program She Writes Press puts his hand over your for fiscal and ideological reasons — Tobola July 2019 mouth so no one can hear persists, eventually provoking the inmates to you scream. Do I want to write and revise not only poems but original be locked up with theater pieces. Everyone, she says, is enriched By Eleanor Bader this guy ten hours a by the experience. Indeed, Tobola ultimately day? No.” left the prison system to found the Poetic Jus- Thankfully for tice Project, the country’s first theater com- rom 1992 to 2008, award-win- guilty of “L&L Tobola, most of the pany for the formerly incarcerated. ning poet and playwright Debo- — lewd and las- men in her classes Throughout, her goal has been the consis- rah Tobola taught writing to in- civious acts with — as well as the tent. Using the hummingbird as an example, mates at several men’s prisons in a minor. He’s a men she hired — she describes the tiny creature as “a quick- California. Her memoir about this child molester.” had been incarcer- hearted warrior who beats back the darkness experience,F Hummingbird in Underworld, This detail gives ated on drug charg- with iridescent wings/Hummingbird sucks not only indicts the inhumane U.S. criminal Tobola pause as es. “Substance the evil out of men/Leaves them with a thirst justice system, but offers a deeply moving re- she contemplates abuse underlies for beauty and the trick of flying while ap- flection on the frustrations and joys inherent hiring him to as- their criminal ac- pearing to stay perfectly still.” in this work. sist her in running tivity,” she writes, While I wish that the memoir had pro- Her own story, as the oldest daughter of the Arts in Edu- and it is clear that vided more insight into how racial dynam- an unconventional band of hard-working, cation Program, the help they need ics impacted her classroom, Hummingbird hard-drinking, working-class immigrants, a plum assign- is nowhere to be in Underworld nonetheless depicts teaching is interwoven with tales of the incarcerated ment that pays be- found within the as a calling, and Tobola’s account is beauti- men who spent hours under her tutelage. The tween $42.50 and prison walls. fully wrought. Her belief that a different fu- juxtapositional mash-up is sometimes jar- $52.50 a month. Unless, of ture for the men in her classes is possible, and ring, but it’s also inspiring. As she considers course, redemp- that they might live free from violence, drug In fact, Tobola notes that her father had his application, tion can be found use, alcoholism and economic instability will worked as a guard at the Men’s Colony, a she has to confront through word play. likely strike many readers as unrealistic. Not post he held while attending college. “He her biases and as- Tobola starts Tobola. “In one legend,” she writes, “the god liked the inmates better than the guards,” sess feelings both her classes with a of music and poetry became a hummingbird she writes, a lesson that was not lost on To- rational and not. poetry unit and uti- and flew to the underworld where he learned bola as she began the job. This, she reports, happened frequently. lizes a poem by Seamus Heaney: “Once in a the secret of transformation.” But this is not to say that the prison- To wit: one man she interviews had been lifetime/The longed-for tidal wave/Of justice And if a bird can do it, why not men? ers were easy to deal with. Tobola admits convicted of rape. As she peruses his file, she can rise up/And hope and history rhyme.” to fear. “Urkel,” she writes, “is smarmy.” learns that he was not what she calls “a he Is this true? Tobola asks. Although the Smiley, she continues, has been found said/she said rapist, but the kind who climbs Department of Corrections bureaucracy ul- June 2019 The IndypendenT 23 JON QUILTY TrUMP DePreSSioN HoTLiNe

Hi Bill, I was pleased to learn that the Wil- celebrate the strides our movement’s make liams Pipeline won’t be pumping fracked without being co-opted? gas through New York Harbor anytime soon. But I worry we keep fi ghting these — Dexter, Paramus small battles while a larger war is under- way for our planet. How do we know what to prioritize? Is there a better way? Dear Dexter, Earthalujah! Let’s cut the shit. You say Pride is “so corpo- — HEATHER, Red Hook rate.” What do you mean? Let’s ask: What corporations are sponsoring the Pride pa- rade in 2019? Let’s go to the website. There, Dear Heather, clear as day, is the sky-blue hexagon logo of Every small victory builds toward the JPMorgan Chase, the number one funder of Earth Revolution. But we are out-matched fossil fuel in the world. LEADING by the fossil fuel industry, their bankers Let this number sink in: 250,000. That’s and the police. the most-quoted estimate of dead in 2018 WHILE The average person in the United States from climate-caused fl oods, wildfi res, MUSLIM has lost their sense of courage. Our stron- drought and superstorms. People are burned gest form of courage starts from the gentlest alive because of Chase. They drown. Roofs CHALLENGES AMERICAN MUSLIMS FACE source, our love for children, neighbors, cave in and babies are crushed in basements. FROM THE SCHOOLHOUSE TO THE WHITE HOUSE from the Earth around us. This ain’t no hall- Chase puts millions of tons of carbon diox- mark card. The revolutionary coming from ide in the air. They make profi ts for their a theory or a paycheck is never as fi erce as speculator stockholders by moving money the one who arrives from love. into oil wells, open pit mines, pipelines and Our loving isn’t igniting our warrior-ness cluster bombs. (War is the human event that WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26 7-9PM right. The capitalism matrix sees this inti- hurts the climate the most.) Chase is a city- mate place as a profi t center and pours in state of ghouls in suits. CEO Jamie Dimon Join us for a fireside chat with super heroes with no politics, luxury condos makes $31 million a year. and 10,000 ads a day. Product-life! Can we stop pretending for a minute? DR. DEBBIE ALMONTASER Our urge to survive and to protect our The reason Jamie Dimon isn’t in prison is Dr. Almontaser will discuss how global loved ones is embedded in our common because the laws are not being enforced and sense, our quiet sense of self, what we natu- most of us know this. It’s people like the or- events, political discourse, and the media rally have within us. I remember a rally ganizers of Pride who accord respect to Di- coverage of Islam and Muslims post 9/11 against the Williams Pipeline at City Hall mon, this Al Capone crossed with Idi Amin, have affected American Muslim school just two days before the postponement of by taking his money. By playing along we principals. She will explore the adversities the metal snake. Ladonna Brave Bull Allard keep his performance going. We keep his act spoke to us. She is the mother of the Stand- real. So yeah, Pride is so corporate and we American Muslim school principals have ing Rock Movement, making a proclama- all are. experienced post-9/11 and how to address them. tion alone that summer of 2016 that became Try the Reclaim Pride march, Dexter. a gathering of hundreds of Earth peoples Same day, different route, and very differ- Copies of her book Leading While Muslim: The Experiences of standing in the way of the Dakota Access ent feel. American Muslim Principals After 9/11 will be available for sale. Pipeline. Before sending us off marching Half of the proceeds will be donated to ‘mercy bakery’ to assist 2019 June over the Brooklyn Bridge she told us to REVEREND BILLY IS AN ACTIVIST AND POLIT- “stand up with the Earth!” ICAL SHOUTER, A POST-RELIGIOUS PREACHER people in Yemen. “You are the Earth!,” she said. “You OF THE STREETS AND BANK LOBBIES. HAVE have the power!” A QUESTION FOR REVEREND BILLY? JUST Brooklyn Commons // 388 ATLANTIC AVE, BROOKLYN NY 11217 IndypendenT The — Earthalujah! EMAIL [email protected] AND UNBURDEN YOUR SOUL. • • • BROOKLYN FOR PEACE FIND US ON: Dear Billy, I look forward to Pride every BROOKLYNPEACE.ORG year. The energy of the parade is incredible [email protected] | 718-624-5921 At brooklyn4peace but it has gotten so corporate. How do we