Good Morning, Brooklyn: Thursday, March 10, 2022

March 10, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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‘BROOKLYN IS AFRICA’ CELEBRATES ARTIFACTS FROM DIASPORA: Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso has officially opened the “Brooklyn is Africa” exhibit at Brooklyn Borough Hall, running now through March 21. The exhibit, which is in partnership with the Cultural Museum of African Art (CMAA), will feature a selection of Eric Edwards collection of rare and historical African artifacts, carrying the themes of maternity, music, and awareness.

The free exhibit, representing the diaspora of the borough will be open to the public weekdays but RSVP is required via www.brooklyn-usa.org/bk-is-africa.

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso views artwork at the newly-opened ‘Brooklyn Is Africa’ exhibit at Borough Hall.
Photo by Office of the Brooklyn Borough President

Participants in the opening reception of the “Brooklyn Is Africa” exhibit.
Photo by Office of the Brooklyn Borough President

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NYCHA HEATING SYSTEM WAS 78 YEARS OLD: A 78-year-old central heating system in the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)’s Whitman Houses is finally being replaced, thanks to a just-completed, $18.8 million installation of four new boilers and related upgrades at this campus on Myrtle Ave. just south of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Collectively, the investments ensure more reliable heat and hot water service to more than 6,000 residents. An additional 600 boilers will be upgraded through NYCHA’s PACT program.

The Whitman Houses renovation was part of a wider $28.6 million project in large-scale heating system upgrades, with a $9.8 million installation of eight new steam and condensate pipes at Taft Houses in Harlem.

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AFTER 200 FAILED ATTEMPTS, CONGRESS PASSES ANTI-LYNCHING BILL: The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill on Monday that criminalizes lynching and makes the violent hate-crime punishable by up to 30 years in prison. President Biden is expected to sign the bill, which last month sailed through the House of Representatives. While it eased through both chambers of Congress this time with virtually no opposition, the path to passage took more than a century and 200 failed attempts including, most recently, in 2020.

Named the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act to memorialize the 14-year-old boy from Chicago who was lynched while visiting family in Mississippi, a crime can be prosecuted as a lynching when a hate crime results in a death or injury, said Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., a longtime sponsor of the legislation.

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‘A MOMENT OF HISTORIC CONSEQUENCE’: The Congressional Black Caucus, of which Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-9th District) is first vice chair, released the following statement upon the passage of the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act (H.R. 55): “This is a moment of historic consequence. The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act passed the United States House of Representatives in a vote 422–3 and unanimously in the Senate,” said Congressional Black Caucus Chairperson Joyce Beatty. “…This bill clearly conveys our nation will no longer ignore this shameful chapter of our history, and the full force of the U.S. federal government will be brought to bear against those who commit this heinous act.”

“Lynching is a longstanding and uniquely American weapon of racial terror that has for decades been used to maintain the white hierarchy,” said the bill’s sponsor Congressmember Bobby Rush (D-Illinois). “Perpetrators of lynching got away with murder time and time again — in most cases, they were never even brought to trial. “

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INDICTMENT IN ROBBERY SERIES: A 10-count superseding indictment was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Robert Rodriguez with Hobbs Act robbery, Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy, and related firearms crimes. Arrested yesterday, Rodriguez is charged with planning and executing four armed robberies of more than $1 million, targeting the owner and patrons of a Queens check-cashing business in July 2020 and September 2021. (See story, page 1.)

Rodriguez’s co-defendant, Raymundo Heyaime Sanchez, who is currently detained pending trial, was previously arrested and indicted for Hobbs Act robbery and related crimes for his role in one of the four robberies charged in the superseding indictment.

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WOODHULL HOSPITAL UPDATE: An update from the CEO of Woodhull Hospital on its operations and services for the community and a Bushwick Avenue Traffic Safety Study Presentation are on the agenda for Community Board 4’s Meeting and Public Hearing, next Wednesday, March 16 at 6 p.m., with a Zoom registration link available on the Community Board 4’s web page. Gregory Calliste, CEO, NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull will speak about his medical center’s outreach at the virtual meeting.

Brooklyn Community Board 4 serves Bushwick.

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SOLIDARITY SERVICE FOR UKRAINE: Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, executive vice president of the New York Board of Rabbis and senior rabbi emeritus of Congregation Mount Sinai in Brooklyn Heights, was among a group of interfaith clergy who joined with Orthodox Christian leaders, ambassadors, and elected officials yesterday to express solidarity with Ukrainians as they resist the ongoing invasion of their country, reports the Religion News Service. “When we said never again after the war, we didn’t put a question mark after it — we put an exclamation mark,” Potasnik said, rejecting Putin’s attempts to justify the invasion as an effort to “denazify” Ukraine. “On the contrary, what you are doing in assaulting Ukraine is Nazification.”

Noting that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish, Rabbi Potasnik recalled the horrors of the Holocaust during World War II in which he lost family and honored the memory a grandfather who fought the Nazis with the Soviet Union’s Red Army.

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RALLY TO SAVE BROOKLYN VIA MEDICAL CENTER: U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-11^th District) will lead a rally this Sunday against the Department of Veterans Affairs’ proposed closure of the Brooklyn VA Medical Center. The rally begins at 2 p.m. on March 13, outside Brooklyn VA Medical Center, 7th Avenue & Poly Place in Dyker Heights.

According to the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs’ website (which was most recently updated this Tuesday, March 8), The Brooklyn Campus of the VA NY Harbor Healthcare System [official name] is a tertiary care, medical center affiliated with State University of New York-Downstate (SUNY), and with bed services in acute medicine, surgery, psychiatry and residential substance abuse. Specialized programs exist in comprehensive cancer care and non-invasive cardiology.

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CORRECTION: The political party of U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis was misstated in yesterday’s news brief about a joint discussion she was holding with oil refinery owner John Catsimatidis. Rep. Malliotakis is a Republican who represents New York’s 11th Congressional District, which includes parts of southern Brooklyn and all of Staten Island. She is currently the only Republican member of Congress serving New York City. The Eagle regrets the error.

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CUNNINGHAM RECEIVES MORE ENDORSEMENTS: Former State Assemblymembers Karim Camara and Michael Blake have announced their support for Brian Cunningham in the special election for Assembly District 43, being held on March 22. Karim Camara served in the Assembly on behalf of the 43rd District from 2005-2015 and is now the senior pastor at Abundant Life Church in Brooklyn. Michael Blake served in the Assembly in the Bronx from 2014-2020 and was a Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2017-2021.

Brian has previously been endorsed by the Brooklyn Democratic Party, State Senator Kevin Parker, NYC Council Member Rita Joseph, former NYC Council Member Robert Cornegy, New York Progressive Action Network, and the Brooklyn Progressive Alliance.

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GRIMALDI NAMED VICAR GENERAL BY DIOCESE: Monsignor Joseph R. Grimaldi has been named as the new Vicar General of the Diocese of Brooklyn, replacing retired Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Chappetto, as part of a set of key appointments that Bishop Robert Brennan announced yesterday. A native of the Diocese who attended parishes in Queens, Msgr. Grimaldi has served in several Brooklyn parishes, including as pastor of St. Bernard Church in Mill Basin since 2017. He holds a degree in Canon Law from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

A vicar general exercises his bishop’s ordinary executive power over the entire diocese and is the highest official in a diocese or other particular church after the diocesan bishop or his equivalent in canon law.

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ADDITIONAL DIOCESAN APPOINTMENTS: Bishop Robert Brennan has also appointed the Very Reverend Patrick J. Keating, Esq., as Moderator of the Curia. Father Keating also serves as the Econome, Vicar for Financial Administration, and General Counsel for the Diocese of Brooklyn. The Rev. Monsignor Steven Aguggia, who holds a degree in Canon Law, J.C.L., has been appointed Vicar for Canonical Affairs. And Maryellen Quinn has been appointed Director for the Office of Protection of Children and Young People and Temporary Victim Assistance Coordinator.