12 • February 3, 2022 - February 9, 2022 THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS NYC—Mayor Eric Adams is the leading protagonist in our collective horror film By ADOFO A. MUHAMMAD Ed.D I woke up this morning and had a profound epiph- any. It wasn’t a new thought, but it was a persistent thought that I have been unable to escape. New York City needs order. The rise in criminal activity, un- employment coupled with fear and anxiety in the midst of an ongoing pandemic are the perfect ingre- dients for the continued decline of a nation whose claims to American exceptionalism have faded long ago in the eyes of those who truly study the history of the American experiment. We are all collectively living in a horror movie that was thought to be unthinkable prior to March of 2020, when even the greatest city in the country ostensibly shut down under the crushing weight of COVID-19. In any horror film, there exist several basic elements. A main character, a terrifying entity or individual, a scary setting and multiple plot twists. In a good horror story, there is a protagonist who has the uncanny ability to face adversity, endure personal anguish and provide hope to those who have lost it. America, and in particular New York City, has been a horror show for some. What the pandemic has revealed is the hidden shame of America, the haves strive no matter the conditions, while the have-nots suffer due to their station in life, whether it’s a lack of adequate health care, access to a quality education, or being trapped in the vicious cycle of the ghettoization of their commu- nities. There is true suffering that is taking place every day in our once great city. I believe, in this day, in this time, Mayor Eric Adams is the leading protagonist in our collective horror film. Mayor Adams embodies the hope and aspirations of so many in the Black and Brown communi- ty who have faced almost insurmountable odds, but still persevere, no matter the con- ditions they have emerged from. The city is out of control; law and order must exist or there will be sheer anarchy and further de- cline will take place. We cannot afford for that to take place. It’s simply not an option. A lot of Black and Brown New Yorkers re- member Stop-and-Frisk, we remember how the nation’s largest police force often feels like an occupying force that serves, protects, and breaks a brother’s neck. It’s a fine line to navigate, the upholding of the constitutional rights of New York City citizens and the need to rid the streets of individuals who are seeming- ly running wild engaging in barbarous behavior and terrorizing some of our communities. This must stop. If we were able to better police our own communities and check the behavior of those who we know are bastardizing the neighborhoods we live in, this long-standing dilemma of Black and Brown self-induced destructive behavior would not exist, but like it or not, it does. I don’t want Mayor Adams to suc- ceed just because I have personal affection and admi- ration for him. I want him to succeed because we all need him to. The stakes are high. We have seen this story unfold before. In several Hollywood films, the Black man only seems to ascend to the highest polit- ical office during a catastrophic event. Morgan Free- man was the president in the film “Deep Impact.” The plot centered around an extinction level event. We are in our own extinction level event, however this is not a Hollywood film. This is our reality. It’s only been one month since Mayor Adams’ as- cendency to the mayorship. Eric Adams is only the second person of African descent to be mayor of New York City in its 398 year history. I have seen firsthand what a lack of order can do to a community, and what racism and classicism can do. I have witnessed the Dinkins era, the Guiliani era, the Bloomberg era and the de Blasio era. I have never been more confident in a mayor as I am confident with Mayor Eric Adams. We need to give him time to implement his strategies, tactics and agenda. But make no mistake about it, we need buffoons, miscreants and those who are afflict- ing skulduggery against our communities to be dealt with. Our children, wives, sisters and brothers must be safe, there is no debate regarding this fact. They de- serve it. I believe Mayor Adams is the right man at the right time and in the right place to manifest this into existence. Like it or not. Adofo A. Muhammad Ed.D serves as principal of Brooklyn’s Bedford Academy High School. Opinion A Black woman for SCOTUS Discussing or attempting to balance controversial viewpoints is never an easy task, and ones on Critical Race Theory, or the opinions of Joe Rogan, Whoopi Goldberg or the objections raised by those on the right about President Biden’s promise to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, are a few of the recent iterations erupting on media platforms. Let’s take the latter of these issues, and perhaps the most pertinent one for many Americans concerned about the course of social and political developments. Currently, Biden has not chosen a candidate and three names have been bandied about as possible choices—J. Michelle Childs, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina; Ketanji Brown Jackson, a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Dis- trict of Columbia Circuit; and Leondra Reid Kruger, an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California. Each one is highly regarded and would expand the notion of diversity considerably with the addition of the first Black woman on the bench. Depending on what part of the country you favor, the age, or the political connections of the candidates, all three almost comprise a virtual tie in recommendations and qualifications. On the surface, Biden has a no-lose proposition, but to hear the volume of dissent on the right from such prominent elect- ed GOP members as Sen. Ted Cruz and a chorus of media commentators, the women are not representative of the over- all American population. Well, these naysayers don’t have to look too far back to recall President Reagan’s choice and how he justified nominating Sandra Day O’Connor in 1981, an ob- vious choice to bolster his presidential bid. We see very little difference between Reagan’s decision to place a woman on the Court than Biden’s choice to place a Black woman on the highest court. No, it won’t change the ide- ological outlook, which would remain at 6 to 3. But it is a step toward balancing the court, a far cry from trying to balance the differing opinions mentioned at the start of this editorial. No matter which candidate of the three is nominated, there is sure to be more pushback from members of the Senate Ju- diciary Committee, where Sen. Dick Durbin has the gavel. But when the rancor dies down, it will be time to raise a different roar of celebration as we welcome the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. EDITORIAL The pandemic and the babies By ADOFO A. MUHAMMAD Ed.D I have long regarded the New York City Department of Education as an entity that has mastered the purposefulness of failure. Any measure of success children and schools have enjoyed has been gar- nered despite the system from which they operate from. Successful schools func- tion as silos in the midst of the weight of a bloated bureaucracy that profess- es to have the interest of every child as its No. 1 priority but episodic leadership, promotions of individuals to positions of power who wallowed in mediocrity, cou- pled with wasteful spending and a top- down leadership paradigm have plagued the system for years. I come from an era where you had to prove your mettle as an educator based on student outcomes. Student outcomes reveal themselves in a variety of ways—they can be test scores, graduation rates, scholarship reports, attendance rates or even a parents’ or scholars’ smile or a visit after a graduate enters college and comes back and thanks you for the sacrifice, time, and structure you provided. When I started in District 13 in March of 1998, the first books I received were from the legendary educational giant, Dr. Lester Young. The books would lay the foundation for my educational career. The first book was called “The Dreamkeep- ers: Successful Teachers of African Amer- ican Children” by Gloria Ladson-Billings which spoke to what is called Critical Race Theory, which, simply put, is the ability for an educator to craft a lesson that in- corporates the culture and values of the children that the educator is charged with teaching. On a deeper level, it is the es- sence of cultural plurality and the in- tersectionality between race, class and gender. An educator who has embraced Critical Race Theory understands that there must be an inclusivity where every historically undervalued American can see themselves in the curriculum that is being taught. The second book was by Charlotte Dan- ielson, it was titled “Enhancing Profes- sional Practice.” The framework was based See STUDENTS on page 29