Category: PostNews

Marsha McWilson  will bring her own unique brand of vocal excellence to the African American Cultural Center   when she performs “An intimate Affair with Marsha McWilson: A One Woman Show”  on the stage of the Paul Robeson Theatre  inside the African American Cultural Center, 350 Masten Avenue. The show will take place Friday, July 29 at 7 p.m.

The first Black woman artist to be inducted into the Niagara Falls Music Hall of Fame,  Marsha began singing when  she was 6 years old as  a member of the St. John’s AME Church choir. Over the years her niche style ultimately went from gospel to blues and today she sings nationally and inter- nationally to appreciative audiences who can’t get enough of the personable vocalists’  “inspirational Blues” as she aptly describes her style.

Marsha literally changes the atmosphere with her music.     Indeed. Marsha McWilson  has made a name for herself as an accomplished singer, appearing on the Bobby Jones Gospel TV show and singing in concert with greats like David & Tamela Mann, Yolanda Adams, Kim Burrell, Donnie McClurkin and many others. Marsha has met several fellow entertainers like Tyler Perry, Bobby Brown, comedian Luenell, the cast of Menopause: The Musical, and CeCe Peniston. She has lead a Gospel choir down the runway at Fashion Week in Toronto. You might have heard her as a radio host on WUFO-Buffalo.

She won an acting contest on the Tom Joyner Cruise which lead to an appearance in Tyler Perry’s TV show, If Loving You Is Wrong. Lately she has been paying tribute to Etta James with standing-room-only concerts in places like Lewiston, NY, along with recording her Blue Sky Blues CD, a follow-up to her hit song on iTunes entitled “Balance.” She also played the role of “Athena” in “The Odyssey” at Artpark during the summer of 2018 and sang during the Lewiston Jazz Fest at What’s The Point Ministries. 

Having trained under Les Brown, Marsha is also a motivational speaker, talking to young people about making good choices in life. Her giving spirit garnered her a Humanitarian Award from the City of Niagara Falls in 2002.  

She has rubbed elbows with the greats but maintains her sense of humility So when  she’s not in the spotlight on stage, Marsha – who is also an entrepreneur/stylist – is  shining another kind of light on her customers and those she mentors. 

During the Coronavirus Pandemic, Marsha  wrote and recorded the song “Rona Mae Blues,” which received a lot of media attention, especially since she lost her sister Vanessa and several other friends and relatives to the deadly virus.      

She is best known for her hit song “Balance.”

An evangelist at Zion Dominion Global Ministries, serving under Bishop Roderick L. Hennings, she is married and the mother of two.

As a musical minister, MarshaMcWilson  is the kind of artist who walks into a room radiating light, love and laughter. 

You don’t just hear her sing– you experience her! 

Tickets for the July 29 show are $35. RSVP by July 22 at (716)884-2013.

         

By Stephen Tucker and Rhianna C. Rogers

Buffalo is the sixth-most segregated city in the country. While racial segregation has declined slightly over the years, disparities in health, education, income, and quality of life are getting worse. East Buffalo—which is 85% African American—is a well-documented food desert and residents suffer from a lack of basic resources like access to medicine, quality housing, education, and jobs that pay family-sustaining wages.

Long before the mass shooting at Tops Supermarket highlighted Buffalo’s struggles with racial inequity, the segregation throughout communities in Western New York (WNY) was creating the conditions that allow hate to fester, grow, and, ultimately, boil over into violence. One way to measure these conditions is something called a dissimilarity index, which compares one racial group to another by showing how the first racial group would need to relocate to be distributed across a metro area in a way similar to the second. A value of “0%” reflects absolute integration; a value of “100%” reflects absolute segregation. In the case of Buffalo’s Black community, the dissimilarity index shows how much it would have to relocate to be more fully integrated across WNY. In 2010, Buffalo-Niagara had a Black-White dissimilarity index of 73.2%, which makes it the sixth most segregated Black population in the nation.

This is not, however, a problem exclusive to the Black community. Segregation affects all. And, indeed, the dissimilarity index shows that White isolation in WNY is even higher—about 88%, meaning that the average White resident in the region lives in a census tract in which nearly 90% of all residents are also White. When we have two communities living so separately, it’s no wonder we struggle, especially when basic resources for one community are so fraught. It’s simply too easy for the White community to remain mostly unaware of the struggles of their Black neighbors. 

So how might we begin to integrate? How can we ensure that these two separate and unequal communities come together? You can’t force people to move, just as you can’t force more interaction and understanding. You can, however, support an increase in interaction and understanding in the two spaces where folks of all kinds meet: in schools, and in workplaces. 

In 2016, mayor Byron Brown recommended that schools in Buffalo begin adopting “cross-cultural awareness” activities and curriculums to celebrate the city’s diverse populace. Out of this recommendation, projects, studies, and surveys arose (we were involved in several) and out of these came an idea of “deliberative conversations” as a way for schools to give students space to discuss their thoughts in order to create a safe space for developing and expanding cross-cultural learning. Without these sort of spaces, and this sort of learning, research indicates that some students—particularly underrepresented populations and students of color—participate less in school overall, and are less likely to succeed in their studies. This is not merely an issue of supporting the academic success of our diverse population, it is ultimately about the success of our schools and society as a whole. 

In the workplace, the issue is often that potential employers are simply passing over a talented pool of potential employees due to implicit biases against that population. One of us runs an industry-driven, public-private partnership between employers, educational institutions, community and faith-based organizations, and state and local governments that trains and maintains a skilled and diverse workforce to meet the needs of the advanced manufacturing and energy sectors in WNY. These careers provide gainful employment, career advancement opportunity, and economic sustainability for Western New Yorkers. Yet we are surprised, again and again, at how often potential employers say they or their employees harbor “serious concerns” about the ability of our trainees to fill open, entry-level roles. It often becomes apparent, on further questioning, that their reservations have everything to do with their implicit biases and negative perceptions towards inner city youth and young people of color, and nothing to do with our trainees’ skills, which are quite high.

These obstacles—to keeping kids in school; to finding good steady employment—are far from impossible to overcome. And they are meaningful steps to begin undoing the segregation that plagues our society. If we support these spaces in society where we can come together, then we might save ourselves from tearing one other apart.  

Stephen Tucker is the President & CEO of Northland Workforce Training Center, located in East Buffalo. Rhianna C. Rogers is the director of the RAND Center to Advance Racial Equity Policy at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation. 

map image Source: U-Va. Cooper Center analysis of 2010 Census data

On Tuesday, July 5 Rochester will celebrate Austin Steward Day  in celebration of  one of the first great black teachers, freedom fighters and business persons in the early days of Rochester. This day will include theatrical monologues, storytelling, a “Freedom Now” panel discussion, black owned business vendors and giveaways of Austin Steward’s book.

The event will be held from 4-7 p.m. at the  Thurston Road YMCA, 597 Thurston Road, in Rochester,.

Education is crucial. Celebration of Culture makes us whole. It helps us take pride in who we are, as a larger community and as black people in particular. 

Brother Stewart escaped from enslavement and was one of Rochester’s first Black business owners, first public school educators, and first anti-slavery activist. 

His anti-racist July 5 speech helped pave the way for the ideas of freedom, citizenship and abolition of  the great Frederick Douglass. He is considered one of the crucial forefathers of Black Rochester who still inspires us to fight for and center Black nationhood. Besides, Austin Stewart is one of the forefathers of Black Rochester and he is thoroughly under acknowledged and under celebrated. This stops now. We hope this spawns great interest in bringing his narratives into local schools and other impactful arenas of thought.

The Austin Steward Day is being hosted by  #COMMUNITYJUSTICEINITIATIVE,  an Afrikan centered, nation-building collective who utilizes Kwanzaa, Juneteenth, Malcolm X Day, Austin Steward Day and others as vehicles for the progress of our people. 

Austin Steward is remembered today for his work as a great abolitionist. In the city of Rochester, a bronze bust of Steward, designed by Calvin Hubbard, can be seen on the second floor of the Radisson Hotel, the site where his own business was once located. Further downtown, Steward’s portrait, by artist Shawn Dunwoody, can be seen on a pier of the Interstate 490 bridge over West Main Street. Alongside the images of Nathaniel Rochester, Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass, Steward’s message of integrity still inspires us today.

For more information or inquiries text or call Diallo Payne at 585-355-7884 or email communityjusticeinitiative@gmail.com   or  Vanessa Martell of the Thurston Road YMCA.

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WIVB) — Independence Day Weekend is one of the busiest boating times of the year for the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office and their Marine Patrol Unit.

“It’s usually one of the busiest weekends in the summer boating season, so we try to get as many boat patrols out as we can and we expect a lot of activity,” Lieutenant Ron Steen said. “Basically, we are looking for people who are operating their vessels in a reckless manner. Maybe going a high rate of speed closer to shore or bow riding.”

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With the beautiful weather and the holiday weekend, many Western New Yorkers are taking to the water. Sheriff’s deputies will be out on the water all weekend and they have patrol boats in the Upper Niagara River, Lower Niagara River and in Lake Ontario. They also serve as an assisting unit for water rescues in Lake Erie with the Erie County Sheriff’s Office.

They say this weekend can be dangerous for boaters and passengers. It is important to take the proper safety precautions before putting a boat in the water.

“If you get the wrong people out on the water, it can be very dangerous because again the lack of education, the reckless decision making and not having the proper safety equipment it creates a hazard [on the water],” Captain Tom Huff said. “It is our job to go out and respond to those hazards.”

This increased patrol is part of Operation Dry Water, a national campaign to keep the waterways safe for the holiday weekend.

“Our stepped up enforcement trying to reduce the number of incidents and accidents involving alcohol and drugs,” Lt. Steen continued.

Last year, more than 600 boaters were arrested for boating under the influence over the July 4 weekend across the country. More than 500 agencies and 7,500 officers participated.

“Be careful of how much alcohol you consume and we’d rather that you save it for when you’re on land,” Lt. Steen continued.

They also say personal flotation devices are extremely important to wear in case of an accident or rough waters.

“If you’re intoxicated, it’s not going to help you if your motor skills are shot if you are too far away from land. It’s deceptive how far you are away from shore when you’re out there in the middle of the water,” Capt. Huff explained.

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Distances on the water can be hard to judge. For example, it is 0.75 miles from the Gatwick docks in North Tonawanda to Grand Island. That is a far distance to swim, and Capt. Huff says it is even more challenging when alcohol and drugs are involved. Boating education and understanding the rules of the water are key before operating a vessel.

“It’s almost like you don’t know what you don’t know when you’re out there,” Huff added. “If you’ve never had any experience with boating and you just hop out and think it is as easy as turning the key and pushing the throttle down. Get educated.”

Quick Boating Checklist:

Make sure there is personal safety gear on board for all passengers. Children under the age of 12 should wear one at all times, according to the New York State Parks Department. Boating Certificate: Classes can be taken online or in-person. Under Brianna’s Law, anyone born after Jan. 1, 1988 is required to have a boating license to operate. The Niagara Sheriff’s Office offers in-person boating safety courses.Do not operate the vessel while intoxicated, and have a designated operator.

BERGEN, N.Y. (WIVB) — A West Seneca woman was arrested around 4:30 a.m. Saturday after crashing her vehicle in Bergen while intoxicated, according to the Genesee County Sheriff’s office.

Elizabeth Ahl, 28, was charged with DWI, driving with a BAC of .08% or more, speed not reasonable and prudent, and moved from lane unsafely. The charges came after a crash investigation, in which Ahl allegedly drove while intoxicated on Rt. 490. No further information was provided regarding the crash.

Ahl was released on appearance tickets and is scheduled to return to Bergen Town Court on July 13.

NORTH HARMONY, N.Y. (WIVB) — Chautauqua County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the area of Stedman-Sherman Road and Havercamp Road in North Harmony around 1 a.m. Saturday for a reported person with a weapon.

Alexander Latta, 27, of Mayville was arrested at the scene after a Sheriff’s office K9 reportedly located a loaded pistol thrown to the side of the road. Latta was taken into custody and transported to Chautauqua County Jail for centralized arraignment.

Latta was charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, a Class C felony, and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, a Class A misdemeanor.

BUFFALO N.Y. (WIVB) — On this week’s Wakeup! Wags, we met Sadie. She’s a 1 and a half year old Doberman/Terrier mix. She was saved from a kill-shelter in Texas by Buddy’s Second Chance Rescue.

Email BuddysRescue@yahoo.com to meet her.

Legislator Johnson with some of the players

Local athletes and their families gathered Saturday to participate in a 3-on-3 summer youth basketball tournament sponsored by Legislator Howard Johnson and Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski.

This tournament was the first of three to be held at Franczyk Park this summer, with the next taking place on July 23rd and August 13th. “I am proud to be a co-sponsor and host for this event. With everything going on in our community, our children need an outlet for their energy and somewhere they can have fun.”

Legislator Johnson said. “We had a great time today playing basketball with everyone. With 22 teams and over 200 people in attendance, a great time was had by all who attended. I hope the young people in this community will come out and participate in the tournament on July 23rd and August 13th.”

 “All too often, as we get lost in the busyness of each season and summer plans, we forget that kids need a place where they can just be kids, have fun, and create lasting bonds with the wider community. Given current events, I believe we must give our youth the tools they need to process the uncertainty around us.

This tournament will provide that outlet and allow teens a safe, healthy competition and outlet for physical fitness” said Councilmember Nowakowski.

G.I.R.L.S. Sports Foundation Inc. is sponsoring The Girls Sports Camp this summer.  Free registration  is being held July 11-15 from 7:30am-2p.m. at Masten Park, 369 Best St. The camp offers lacrosse, basketball, soccer, flag football, mentoring, volleyball and swimming. Breakfast and lunch, shirts and prizes will also be offered. The Girls Sports Camp is being sponsored by the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, Project Play WNY, CHCB, the City of Buffalo and County of Erie.  go to gsfwny.org for more info .

 

The 2022 D.A.D.S. Summer  Co-Ed Basketball Camp, Training  & Tournament will be held July 11 thru August 24 at Wende Park on Spring St. & Broadway every Monday & Wednesday from 6-7:30 p.m. for age groups 7-9, 10-12, and 13-15. The entry fee is $125 per person for July thru  August. Application and money deadline is July 8.

Make all checks payable to D.A.D.S  Program. 

For more information contact Dwayne Ferguson at (716)563-1834