NYC NOW - February 23, 2024 : Midday News

Episode Date: February 23, 2024

When Democrat Tom Suozzi won his special election last week, he thanked a lot of people. WNYC’s Brigid Bergin reports Asian American voters were high on his list. Meanwhile, for the first time in the city’s history, Staten Island will host an LGBTQ+ friendly St. Patrick’s Day Parade, in addition to the original parade. Plus, tonight, the Juilliard School will present a special musical performance to honor Seneca Village, a 19th-century predominantly black community in Manhattan. Also, this weekend, a figure ice skating team from Howard University will make history as the first team from an HBCU to take part in an intercollegiate competition. WNYC’s Michael Hill speaks with Sharon Cohen, founder of Figure Skating in Harlem to learn about the event.

NYC now. Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Friday, February 23rd. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. When Democrat Tom Swazzi won his special election last week, he thanked a lot of people. WNMC's Bridget Bergen reports Asian-American voters were high on his list. Census data show Asian American voters make up more than 20% of the third congressional district. Swazi's campaign hired two dedicated staffers to reach out to these voters and worked with Congresswoman Grace Mang to build relationships among Chinese and Korean Americans. An independent expenditure group hired Democratic strategist Tripp Yang to reach out to other Asian Americans.

We targeted 40,000 voters of Muslim, South Asian, and Arab American descent. four languages, English, Hindi, Urdu, and Arabic. A survey by Yang's firm found that voters contacted in their first language were 26% more likely to vote than those who were not. For the first time in New York City's history, Staten Island is getting a St. Patrick's Day parade open to LGBTQ plus delegations. The new inclusive parade will take place March 17th. That's a couple weeks after Staten Island's other St. Patrick's Day parade on March 2nd. Island is the last borough in the city to continue to ban LGBTQ plus groups from the traditional St. Patrick's Day celebration due to opposition from some Catholics. A spokesperson for Mayor

Adam said the city is, quote, thrilled to be collaborating with the Staten Island Business Outreach Center to make the more inclusive parade of reality. Forty-six with clouds and light rain out there, a slim chance of rain today, cloudy, and upper 40s, Chile this weekend. Stay close. There's more after the break. In the 19th century, Seneca Village was a thriving, predominantly black community in the center of Manhattan. But by 1857, the city had ordered it cleared to make way for the development of Central Park. WNYC's Arun Vendigal Paul says tonight that history will once again be brought to life in a musical performance by students of the Juilliard School. When Thomas Flippin composed the Lost Village of Seneca, he drew from a wide range of musical styles, dissonant jazz a la Charles Mingus, as well as 18th century classical music.

But the first movement in the performance evokes Juba. It's actually a plantation song that a lot of enslaved Africans did because they weren't allowed to have drums for fear of sending coded messages. Over Zoom, he gave a little demonstration. One slap to the chest, two to the thigh. So that rhythm would be like this. And I thought, how cool would it be to have this traditional African-American plantation dance performed by these pre-college and music advancement program students in Julia? One of the most prestigious music schools in the world in a bastion of European classical music.

Last year, Juilliard students performed Flippin's composition. Just music, no actual dancing, with members of the New York Philharmonic. The performance took place at the Mother AME Zion Church in Harlem. Flippin's composition is designed to challenge students in new ways. It's also meant to illuminate the history of Seneca Village, which formed in 1825 and included a disproportionate number of black homeowners, people of relative wealth, who even managed to vote despite racial hurdles. Efforts to confront black history and culture through classical music gained ground after the killing of George Floyd in 2020. They also prompted a backlash from conservatives who argued that classical music was under racial attack. But Juilliard officials say they're encouraged by the results.

I've heard so many amazing things from our students. Weston Sprott is the dean and director of the preparatory division of the Juilliard School. Some of them came back from concerts, said this was the best day of my life. And Sprott says some students came through the process, understanding that this is exactly what they want to do. Harun Van de Gopal, WNYC News. The Lost Village of Seneca is being. performed at the Chelsea Factory this evening, you can find a live stream at Juilliard's

Instagram page. This weekend, a figure skating team from Howard University will make history as the first team from an HBCU to take part in an intercollegiate competition. New Yorker Cheyenne Walker is one of the two founders of the club. She told NPR she learned the skill through a Harlem organization dedicated to helping girls of color learn to skate. I was fortunate enough to be in figure skating in Harlem, which was unique of its kind because it was an organization for women of color. So I grew up seeing women of color and people of color skate and being present in the sport. Sharon Cohen is the founder of figure skating in Harlem, and she joins us now. Sharon, I know you'll be watching Cheyenne and her team this weekend.

Anything special you'll be watching for? Oh, I'm so proud of them. I can't wait to see them compete. I'm so thrilled that they established the first skating. Club for an HBCU. Go Howard. Would you briefly tell us what figure skating in Harlem does and why you founded it? Sure. It's the first skating and education organization of its kind.

It serves girls of color from age six to 18. We've been around for over 25 years. And our alums like Cheyenne have gone on to great universities like Spelman and Howard and Georgetown and Brown and fantastic colleges. And the fact they're continuing to skate after the sports. through us is really thrilling. Cheyenne labeled that it was difficult in while she's at Howard, trying to get places to practice and so forth because there aren't a lot of skating rinks in that area.

I'm just curious, what are some of the challenges black girls face when trying to participate in skating, and especially in Harlem and in general? Well, figure skating has traditionally not been very accessible for girls of color. When I came more than almost 30 years ago now, it was because there were community leaders and parents in East Harlem that wanted their girls to learn to figure skate, and they've only really seen it on television. And so we began teaching them and really develop a community and a sisterhood over the years. Skating is a discipline. It's hard, but finding ice is really the crux of the problem. You know, it's expensive. We ended up forming this nonprofit where education is really the

heart of our work, but skating is the vehicle and the hook. And now we can say there are generations of young black and Latina skaters that have come through our program. And, you know, they're continuing to skate, and some of them are going to all kinds of great careers ahead of them. Anything you'd like to say to Cheyenne and her team ahead of this weekend? You are amazing. Chey Ann was in our program for 12 years. I saw her grow up from the time you were six to, you know,

in your early heading off to, you know, complete college at Howard. and the fact that you left this mark for others to follow in your footsteps. We couldn't be more proud of you. Go compete, work hard, and keep it up. Sharon Cohn is the founder of Figure Skating in Harlem. Sharon, what a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you.

Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. Also subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.