Vanessa Handy, Author at Pavement Pieces https://pavementpieces.com From New York to the Nation Thu, 16 Dec 2021 21:24:14 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Sonic Serenity: A review of the music that carried Black folks through 2021 https://pavementpieces.com/sonic-serenity-a-review-of-the-music-that-carried-black-folks-through-2021/ https://pavementpieces.com/sonic-serenity-a-review-of-the-music-that-carried-black-folks-through-2021/#respond Thu, 16 Dec 2021 21:23:07 +0000 https://pavementpieces.com/?p=27194 Music has the power to soothe and re-situate. The right song can transport you back in time to a place […]

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Music has the power to soothe and re-situate. The right song can transport you back in time to a place that exists merely as a memory, a place of peace. Amid tumultuous moments for Black America, many turn to music’s transcendent power as a refuge.

“If I didn’t have my stereo system, then I would feel like something is wrong,” said Kwami Coleman, a musicologist and assistant professor at New York University. “You know, music has the ability to comfort, it has the ability to kind of put us in a mood that might be better than the one that we woke up with.”

Before embarking on 2022, Black people reflected on their music tastes this year, what sparked joy and what was sonically significant. 

“I’m a New Yorker, which means that the kind of rap music I grew up listening to was a very New York base rap style,” Coleman said. “If anything, it was New York, New Jersey and Philly. And because we were in lockdown, and things like that, I had ample time to catch up on ‘Hip-Hop Evolution’.”

 Coleman took time this past year to educate himself about rap—a genre he loves. Through documentaries and podcasts, he dove deep into rap and trap history. 

“It was interesting for me to learn about the roots of trap music in the south, whether it’s like T.I. in Atlanta, or the Memphis sound, Three 6 [Mafia], or what’s happening in Houston,” he said. “I always knew that the waves of rap in the last five to seven years had been influenced by the South. But to hear how particular styles of drum programming—because I love the drums—have influenced so many people has been really interesting.” 

Exploring musical histories reminded Coleman of the impact music dissemination has, how old sounds get reinvented in contemporary contexts and piqued curiosity about the ways that artists experiment.

“Sometimes we don’t think about some of these musical artists, in more popular music, as being experimentalists,” he said. “Experimentation is definitely at the root of a lot of new sounds. In listening to new trends, my question is, was that something that somebody might have arrived at experimentally, then people heard it and kind of latched on to it?”

As artists explore and experiment with their sounds, Coleman was encouraged to do the same in his listening.

“Staying home and being still, I think invited me to explore and really go vast,” Coleman said. 

When recounting the artists that held his attention this year, Coleman cited an interest in Los Angeles producers Iman Omari and Knxwledge for their ability to create a groove and keen eye for samples, respectively. He mentioned another L.A. native, Georgia Anna Muldrow, as one that he sees as a guide for how independent artists of all levels can appeal to their community. Branching out a bit, his Dominican heritage built an interest in bilingual artists, and American rapper BIA is one that Coleman says “is a reminder for us of how vast the Afro-descendant community is.” 

Some of the most popular artists referenced by Black listeners in their twenties were newly formed funk and soul duo Silk Sonic, comprised of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, Doja Cat with her album “Planet Her,” British-breakout star PinkPantheress, who found her start on Tik Tok, rapper Aminé and Adele, who closed out the year with the release of her long-awaited album “30.” Among some of the most praised albums by these listeners was the three-time Grammy-nominated “Heaux Tales,” by Jazmine Sullivan, which Rolling Stone calls “a complete constellation of love and loss.”

Other listeners focused on artists that are slightly less in the mainstream, under indie and alt genres, and pop variations. Avery Reyna, 21, had their attention on releases from The Marías, Faye Webster, Remi Wolf and Men I Trust. These artists, according to Reyna, set the scene for the rest of the decade by melding stylistic influences to “explore their sound without needing to fit into one rigid box.” Reyna also mentioned Spellling—a Black, female artist who creates experimental or art-pop music—thriving, as a significant cultural moment. There’s something to be said about the relationship between a fan and an artist. Through a deep appreciation of an artist and their work, their success becomes a personal win for fans. 

“I think Spellling finally getting her flowers for her role in pushing the boundaries of art-pop with her last album has really caught my eye,” they said. “She is one of the very few Black artists in art-pop and combines so many sounds together that finding projects [to listen to this year] which attempted the same thing she did was actually really hard.” 

Maureen Zeufack, 20, grew up in a household with global music influences and continued to cultivate her interest in non-American artists this year. 

“Music is not just an American thing,” Zeufack said. “It [international music] really just broadens your horizons and makes you a better person, and better a listener.” 

Zeufack took pride in seeing her favorite international artists—particularly Black female artists like Tems, Bree Runway and Lous and the Yakuza—start to gain traction among American audiences.

“Dark-skinned Black women—especially if they’re international—they don’t get that shine that a lot of people are getting,” Zeufack said. “These women deserve every single thing in the world because they are so talented. For Tems, I think her big break was through ‘Essence,’ through WizKid. It was really cool to have her come through and break out into mainstream because as I discovered she is a consummate performer and artist in her own right.” 

Average listeners and musicologists alike, music kept a lot of us sane this year. With 2022 around the corner, Black music fans are looking forward to the future: groundbreaking artistry, the continuing return of live music, more love, life and most important, more listening. 

“The world is a lot smaller when we get to share music and share different vibes and feelings,” said listener Maureen Zeufack. “I don’t know, it’s just a great thing! And I think more people should do it.”

Listen below  to all the artists referenced in the piece and many others recommended by the Black community,

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For young Indo-Caribbean adults, culture is complex and a source of pride https://pavementpieces.com/for-young-indo-caribbean-adults-culture-is-complex-and-a-source-of-pride/ https://pavementpieces.com/for-young-indo-caribbean-adults-culture-is-complex-and-a-source-of-pride/#respond Sun, 28 Nov 2021 15:40:58 +0000 https://pavementpieces.com/?p=26819 Ambivalence to Indo-Caribbean culture is reflected in systems of racial identification, as seen on the census or official U.S. documents, that have historically reduced racial and ethnic identities to a matter of boxes and labels.

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There was a microcosm of Indo-Guyanese culture tucked away inside 20-year-old Maryam Ramjohn’s childhood home in Richmond Hill, Queens. Boisterous by the weekend, the space brimmed with grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins preparing meals together. The tickling aroma of curry—chicken, goat, seafood or duck on any given day—and roti wafted throughout. It was proximity to family which made the house feel like home and made leaving it all the more challenging. 

“Living together in that way is a part of my culture because it’s customary for parents and their children to live together well past adulthood,” said Ramjohn, who left Queens at age nine. “When my family moved, we lived in a suburb of New Jersey where I struggled to find anyone that I truly related to. At this point, my culture played a more confusing role for me. It was not something I took pride in the way I do now.” 

Pride came easily for Ramjohn in Queens, where Guyanese Americans make up the second-largest immigrant population and Indo-Caribbean culture, in particular, is salient. After her parents immigrated from Guyana to the U.S., her family planted roots in a somewhat demographically homogenous community. When they left, Ramjohn was suddenly among unfamiliar faces and races, searching for a sense of pride again. Knowing herself was never an issue, but promoting understanding among others was. 

“My culture consists of Indian culture, African culture and European culture,” said Ramjohnn, who is also Muslim. “Not many people outside of the Caribbean know what Guyana is unless they are from a part of the U.S. that is heavily populated by Caribbean people. When this [misunderstanding] happens, I have to run through my country’s history so they can understand where I’m from and why I look the way I do.”

Understanding the history of nations with large Indo-Caribbean populations like Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad means understanding the coerced labor that shaped their diverse demographics according to Aisha Khan, an anthropology professor at New York University. 

“The people who were already there were indigenous peoples,” said Khan, who also works within NYU’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. “The Europeans, Africans and Asians who have had called Guyana home for over 300 years, came with the systems of slavery and indenture, forced labor systems that populated much of, if not all, the Caribbean region.” 

Khan added that Middle-Eastern populations arrived in the Caribbean by the mid-19th century, primarily as merchants.This same forced labor is what brought variegated religions to the Caribbean too.

  “In the mid-19th century, you have the indentured people from India that the British bring over,” said Khan. “A minority of those indentured people were Muslim, the majority were Hindu. So it’s a really fascinating set of historical streams.” 

The presence of Indo-Caribbean culture is commonplace for someone like Khan who has studied the topic, and those of Caribbean descent. For those who don’t interact with the community, Indo-Caribbeans may remain an anomaly.

“It doesn’t make much of a difference if no one knows what it means to be Indo-Caribbean,” Ramjohn said. “This ignorance and lack of representation can be attributed to several factors, namely demographics and history of divide enforced by colonization. 

“It’s partly a demographic issue because the Caribbean is by far more populated by peoples of African heritage,”  said Khan. “The political angle would be that it is much to the benefit of colonizers to create a kind of divide and rule strategy, and often the differences among groups are couched in racial or cultural terms. This is ideology and a strategy on the part of colonizers, but it does influence post-independence societies in the Caribbean.”

Ambivalence to Indo-Caribbean culture is reflected in systems of racial identification, as seen on the census or official U.S. documents, that have historically reduced racial and ethnic identities to a matter of boxes and labels. If you don’t choose to label yourself by the options provided, your only other choice is typically “other”. Being the “other” sends negative messages about the value of those who select it. The label echoes the seemingly innocuous, “what are you really” inquiry that non-white people often get. For many Indo-Caribbeans, it’s a moot question.

“There’s no perfect ‘Indo-Caribbean’ spot to check off,” said Alyssa Harrynanan, 21, who is Indo-Trinidadian and Hindu. “I’ve typically checked off Asian, but that didn’t feel right to me. In fact, I remember a teacher in high school telling me that was wrong, that it was like lying. Recently once or twice, I’ve seen ‘Caribbean’ on forms that I’ve filled out, which feels so good because it actually feels like I’m represented. Even though it should technically be Indo-Caribbean.” 

Both Harrynanan and Ramjohn attend Union College in Schenectady, New York, where they embrace their culture through their school’s Caribbean Students Association and the town’s considerable Indo-Caribbean population. Despite facing continued ignorance, they celebrate. From Bollywood to dance hall, their expansive culture provides joy that a few checked boxes can never encompass. 

“There’s so much that I love about my culture,” Harrynanan said. “I love the positive atmosphere that is created, one that promotes just living life and having a good time. I love Caribbean music, dancing, the food, visiting Trinidad, my family, speaking with a Trinidadian accent. I’m very grateful that I’m able to embrace it so wholeheartedly.”

 

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The quest to diversify NYC’s specialized high schools  https://pavementpieces.com/the-quest-to-diversify-nycs-specialized-high-schools/ https://pavementpieces.com/the-quest-to-diversify-nycs-specialized-high-schools/#respond Thu, 11 Nov 2021 18:36:37 +0000 https://pavementpieces.com/?p=26785 Black and Latinx students make up 3.9 percent of Stuyvesant High School’s student body according to recent statistics by U.S. News.

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In pop culture, the American high school experience is romanticized. High school is oft-depicted through scenes of teenage escapades: shenanigans with your best friends; an insolence evidenced by the exploration of personal identity. This is all before higher education supposedly thrusts you into the “real world.” For 16-year-old Arlette Duran, high school is as real as it gets.  

“It’s nothing like the movies,” lamented Duran, a junior at New York City’s Stuyvesant High School.

Ranked 44th among high schools in the nation this year by U.S. News, Stuyvesant High School is one of the city’s eight specialized high schools. Inundated with test prep and pressure to bolster their resumés before they even begin college, students like Duran are wistful for a “normal” high school experience. 

“In New York, specialized high schools have a different environment than other schools,” Duran said. “When I see people’s Instagrams or hear their stories about their schools I feel so jealous. They get less work and get to have much more fun and have a better social life.” 

The stress associated with the city’s specialized high schools begins far before students enter the doors. While these prestigious, highly competitive schools are public, admission is only granted to those who achieve top scores on the high-stakes Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT). Along with the test, students rank these schools by preference. Depending on their test score, school preferences and seats available at each school, they are offered admission. Some students spend full summers at pricy test prep centers ahead of taking the SHSAT, while others know little info about the test or these coveted schools. 

“I spent less than two months in total preparing for the SHSAT,” Duran said. “My math teacher during the seventh grade offered tutoring to my class twice a week after school starting in late May. After school ended I just spent around a week doing practice because I didn’t have much resources.” 

Academic pressure is just one stressor impacting some students at these sought-after high schools. For Duran, who is Afro-Latina, her experiences look different from that of most of their peers. She says it’s because she looks different.

“As a non-Asian student of color I feel very underrepresented because there aren’t that many of us who can connect and become a family,” said Duran, who is Vice President of ASPIRA, the school’s Hispanic Students Association.

Black and Latinx students make up 3.9 percent of Stuyvesant High School’s student body according to recent statistics by U.S. News. In April 2021, the latest admission cycle, only eight Black and 20 Latinx students were offered admission, the lowest count in the last three years. Asian and white students comprise 91.5 percent of Stuyvesant’s student body. To explain the racial disparities that Stuyvesant and other specialized high schools report, researchers from NYU’s Research Alliance for New York City Schools conducted a study that observed NYC students’ academic pathways.

In their policy brief they stated, “the sobering reality is that disparities in the specialized schools mirror larger, system-wide achievement gaps that exist prior to middle school.” Researchers found that a long legacy of sorting students as high or low-achieving—testing and then segregating children from an early age—exacerbates the achievement gap. In turn, the illustrious reputation of elite high schools comes with a reputation of sparse diversity, this remains one of their biggest critiques.

“When I came to Stuy I was surprised,” said Stuyvesant junior Samantha Farrow, who is Black. “There was no one coming up to my face and calling me the N-word or being blatantly anti-Black. As time went on, I noticed that there are definitely anti-Black sentiments at play at Stuy, but they operate so lowkey.” 

Some of the anti-Black sentiments that Farrow refers to, range from comments about her appearance and demeanor to asides referring to Black students as “others.” Due to her race, she feels denied of simple joys like high school dating or romantic crushes. Trivial as it may seem, she says that “when you are a high schooler, petty things like this matter.”

These woes do not reflect the experiences of all Black and Latinx students across the specialized high schools. For Brooklyn Technical High School (BTHS) junior Opeyemi Omoboye, who is Nigerian, race feels like no object. 

“I don’t feel like being Black changed the way I was treated,” Omoboye said. “When I first came to Brooklyn Tech, I was the only Black girl in most of my classes but all of my teachers were nice and always supported me.” 

Compared to other specialized high schools, BTHS admits more Black and Latinx students on average, with these groups making up 12.9 percent of its student population. Still, White and Asian students represent the majority at all eight schools, but it wasn’t always this way.

“Back in the day, Brooklyn Tech was a very diverse school,” said Horace H. Davis, a BTHS Alumni and board member for the school’s Alumni Foundation. “Demographics was just not something that was relevant. When you attended the school, other children from your middle school, from your borough, from your community, were represented in the schools”

In 1984, Davis’s graduation year, Black and Latinx students made up 59% of the BTHS student body; he noted a strong presence of Caribbean students like him. Along with demographic shifts, Davis believes that the quality of education among New York City’s public schools has deteriorated.

“The public schools [back then] were at a higher level,” Davis said. “Students were placed in grades or classes in their grades based on performance. So, the teachers could really meet the students where they were.”

Davis also cited accelerated learning programs for high-performing students, as a success of the city’s public schools in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Now, these programs are being eliminated and redesigned by soon-to-be-former Mayor Bill de Blasio. The SHSAT could be next on the chopping block, with claims that it’s inequitable for students from underfunded schools. While the city’s government is moving forward, not everyone is on board with the plan. 

“I feel that eliminating the test is the wrong thing to do,” Davis said. “As far as other criteria that would be considered outside of the test, I think that’s one of the problems. What are the other things that you can do to assess a student and their preparation, and be fair about it?”

Researchers would say that Davis is somewhat correct. 

“While there is a clear need to improve access for under-represented groups, our analyses suggest that a narrow focus on the SHSAT is largely misguided,” NYU’s Research Alliance for New York City Schools reported, in its policy brief. “The SHSAT does appear to be a barrier to diversity in the specialized high schools, but our analysis of the pathway into these schools suggests that there are opportunities for increasing diversity, even within the confines of SHSAT-based admissions.”

The study concluded that anti-testing policies as proposed by Mayor de Blasio, would likely increase the share of Latino, White and female students, but “would not appreciably increase the share of Black students nor reduce the concentration of offers in a small number of middle schools.”

Another point of debate is the value of specialized high schools. NYU researcher Sean Cocoran, who worked on the study, told The Atlantic that “prestige is hard to quantify” and that the presence of selective schools creates “a perception that there’s a small number of schools that are worth going to while the others aren’t so great.”   

This perception of prestige that Cocoran mentions is something that educational justice advocate and Brooklyn Technical High School alum Tajh Sutton, sees as pressure for students of color when it comes to selecting which high school to attend.

“In my experience, I realized that the resources available really weren’t worth a lot of the trauma that we were experiencing as Black and Latino youth in these spaces,” said Sutton, the Programs Manager for Teens Take Charge. “I think a lot of young people, particularly young people of color, we get that story that says these are the schools that you have to go to to be successful. And so we buy into that, and we plan our lives around that, but there’s more to education.”

Eliminating the state-mandated test that has stood since 1972 brings these specialized high schools into uncharted territory. Its proposed removal has prompted Sutton, who is also the president for Community Education in the city’s council district 14, to reimagine admissions criteria. For her, it’s simple: putting students’ interests first.

“We often categorize children and track them in one place throughout their educational careers,” Sutton said. “Just asking kids what they’d like, what their education would look like, if they were in control of that, I think we’d find we have a lot more kids who are enthusiastic about things.”

NYU researchers’ promising solutions for increasing diversity include ensuring that more Black, Latinx and low-income students take the SHSAT by providing ample preparation resources, or implementing the “Top 10% Rule,” which grants each middle school’s top students, admission to specialized high schools. It’s unclear if these changes will be put into practice any time soon, but NYU’s researchers say that “addressing this challenge will likely take years, more knowledge, and a much greater commitment of resources.”

The students—Arlette Duran, Samantha Farrow and Opeyemi Omoboye—are nearing the end of their time at the specialized high schools. For students to come, the path to educational equity continues to be riddled with uncertainty.

 

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Liberation through imagination https://pavementpieces.com/liberation-through-imagination/ https://pavementpieces.com/liberation-through-imagination/#respond Sun, 10 Oct 2021 17:48:55 +0000 https://pavementpieces.com/?p=26375 This torrent of emotions evolved into “Philosophy,” a poem about the value of Black life, that earned 27.6k views when performed

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One look at activist and poet Ava Marshall’s Instagram account makes a few things clear. Her affinity for brilliant colors and body art. The limitless options of hairstyles available to Black folks. The joy and radiance of Black femininity in each post, a mere glimpse into Marshall’s world—but last year, the 20-year-old’s world was anything but bright. 

“We always recognize and see how Black death is a part of our society, and it’s something that we’re desensitized to,” said Marshall, a third-year student at New York University. “It seemed like everyone was all of a sudden, caring.” 

She’s referencing the summer of 2020 and global outrage following the killings of many Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement. This period prompted an awakening, where some individuals unpacked racism for the first time. Despite society’s new cultural competency, not much changed for Black people. 

“It was this feeling of being super visible, but no one’s really having care for me or recognizing how this moment was for so many black people,” Marshall said.  

This torrent of emotions evolved into “Philosophy,” a poem about the value of Black life, that earned 27.6k views when performed on Marshall’s Instagram page, and a feature from NowThis News. The poem came with no intention of acclaim, instead, it was a means of survival— a release.

“What the poem was, was just me being upset,” Marshall said. “It took a life of its own, which is crazy.”

Such is the case of many movements that gain traction on social media; nearly instantaneously they explode into an entity. In the past five years, youth activism has done the same. 

“It’s really important for young people to understand that they have rights, and how to exercise them in various situations,” said Kenny Nguyen, youth programs manager for the ACLU of New York’s Education Policy Center. “They do have a voice, and what they’re experiencing does matter.” 

The saturated online market for activists can be intimidating, but as a community broadens, so does the consideration of what an activist can be and achieve. 

 “Being an activist really is dependent on who you know, your network, your community,” Nguyen said. “It’s just about doing what you can and gaining the skills from that. Realizing that every single action or thing that you do when it comes to activism, you’re gaining a skill.”

Marshall sees beyond political action as the sole component of activism, now she’s focused on cultivating community and what she calls “the imagination.” She explores this in a path of study that she devised “poetry, prose and community organizing.” Whether she’s mobilizing the fellows of the Homegirl Project or planning her newest outfit, her activism is inspired by a desire to be utterly herself. 

“I love to be loud,” Marshall said. “My presence is to be disrupting the things that be, or taking up space, being loud and bright, and kind of just demanding attention in that way.”

Ava Marshall’s rebellion is as vivid as her candy-colored, red braids. Her liberation resides in the hobbies she pursues; in the feeling of music tantalizing the body, as she dances on video for her Instagram story. It lives in vinyasa yoga flows and deep, intentional breaths. No matter what space she occupies, Marshall encourages others to come as they are when it comes to activism. She is vying for a different kind of radical revolution, one of jubilation. One where self-care can be the most liberatory. That’s her philosophy.

 

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Young voter from Maryland can’t find meaning in the vote https://pavementpieces.com/young-voter-from-maryland-cant-find-meaning-in-the-vote/ https://pavementpieces.com/young-voter-from-maryland-cant-find-meaning-in-the-vote/#respond Tue, 03 Nov 2020 23:08:59 +0000 https://pavementpieces.com/?p=24619 “I utterly despise both candidates."

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With polling for the 2020 presidential election underway, many Americans proudly donned “I voted” stickers as they left their polling locations, feeling validated by their civic duty. 

The rally to vote this year has been resounding, with reports of a record turnout for early voting making headlines. Nationwide, people are voting like their lives depend on it and are proud of it too, but on Election Day, you won’t find Joshua Olujide flaunting a sticker or ballot selfie online. 

“I was close to not voting at all,” Olujide, 20, of Maryland said. “Not to make some kind of statement or something, but just because the entire system of voting in America is riddled with complexities and suppression that a lot of votes often end up useless anyways.”
Despite voting for former Vice President Joe Biden, Olujide made one thing clear–he’s not pleased about it. 

“I utterly despise both candidates, as both will continue to uphold the white supremacist systems that continue to oppress many of the groups that we all claim to advocate for,” Olujide said. “However, Trump has proven time and time again to be an incompetent president, so anything that i can do to remove him, I’ll do.”

After his mail-in ballot never arrived, Olujide headed to a nearby high school in Howard County, Maryland to participate in early voting. The voting process itself was simple–Olujide left his polling location in less than 10 minutes–everything leading up to it was not.

“I never once considered voting for Trump, but the decision to actually vote at all for Biden wasn’t easy,” Olujide said. “He said several things that made me almost not vote entirely, but again, Trump gotta go.”

Morale is remarkably low for Olujide, but his expectations for the future of the U.S. post-election are even lower.

“The stupidity of this country never ceases to amaze me,” Olujide said. “It’d be nice for Biden to win, but I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Trump got reelected.”

Regardless of the election’s outcome, Olujide is focused on the bigger picture of systemic change, change that he feels neither candidate can provide. 

“The net effect on the country would still be the same,” Olujide said. “The revolution will happen one way or another.”

 

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