Latest news with #RevAlSharpton
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mamdani heads to Harlem after stunning New York City primary results
Zohran Mamdani spoke at a rally in Harlem on Saturday as he sought to build on momentum from New York City's Democratic primary, telling the crowd that people struggling to pay for housing, groceries and bus fare are hungry for change. Mamdani appeared at a National Action Network rally days after declaring victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the presumed favorite in the primary. Results will be finalized after the city's ranked choice vote-counting resumes Tuesday. 'What our victory showed on election night was less a victory between one man and another, but a victory for a city that New Yorkers can afford,' Mamdani said at a rally attended by Black clergy and filmmaker Spike Lee The Rev. Al Sharpton, the influential leader of the network, praised Mamdani for coming to the rally, despite reports that he lost some of the city's most solidly Black neighborhoods in the primary. 'He could have went the other way and said, 'It's me against them.' But he came this morning and he proclaimed something. And I gave him a lot of credit for that,' Sharpton said. The winner of the Democratic primary advances to November's election. Mayor Eric Adams is running for reelection as an independent candidate. Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the crime-fighting Guardian Angels, is running as a Republican. Cuomo, who has conceded defeat in the primary, also could run as an independent candidate. In Harlem, the 33-year-old state lawmaker stuck to a cost-of-living theme that skyrocketed him to political stardom, weaving in quotes from Martin Luther King Jr., the Bible and the city's first Black mayor, David Dinkins. He said people question whether the city will become 'a museum' of a place where working people could once thrive. 'What we have seen in the last two weeks is a hunger from New Yorkers to move beyond the days of museums and relics and make this city a living, breathing testament to what is possible.'

Associated Press
4 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Mamdani heads to Harlem after stunning New York City primary results
Zohran Mamdani spoke at a rally in Harlem on Saturday as he sought to build on momentum from New York City's Democratic primary, telling the crowd that people struggling to pay for housing, groceries and bus fare are hungry for change. Mamdani appeared at a National Action Network rally days after declaring victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the presumed favorite in the primary. Results will be finalized after the city's ranked choice vote-counting resumes Tuesday. 'What our victory showed on election night was less a victory between one man and another, but a victory for a city that New Yorkers can afford,' Mamdani said at a rally attended by Black clergy and filmmaker Spike Lee The Rev. Al Sharpton, the influential leader of the network, praised Mamdani for coming to the rally, despite reports that he lost some of the city's most solidly Black neighborhoods in the primary. 'He could have went the other way and said, 'It's me against them.' But he came this morning and he proclaimed something. And I gave him a lot of credit for that,' Sharpton said. The winner of the Democratic primary advances to November's election. Mayor Eric Adams is running for reelection as an independent candidate. Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the crime-fighting Guardian Angels, is running as a Republican. Cuomo, who has conceded defeat in the primary, also could run as an independent candidate. In Harlem, the 33-year-old state lawmaker stuck to a cost-of-living theme that skyrocketed him to political stardom, weaving in quotes from Martin Luther King Jr., the Bible and the city's first Black mayor, David Dinkins. He said people question whether the city will become 'a museum' of a place where working people could once thrive. 'What we have seen in the last two weeks is a hunger from New Yorkers to move beyond the days of museums and relics and make this city a living, breathing testament to what is possible.'


The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Mamdani heads to Harlem after stunning New York City primary results
Zohran Mamdani spoke at a rally in Harlem on Saturday as he sought to build on momentum from New York City's Democratic primary, telling the crowd that people struggling to pay for housing, groceries and bus fare are hungry for change. Mamdani appeared at a National Action Network rally days after declaring victory over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the presumed favorite in the primary. Results will be finalized after the city's ranked choice vote-counting resumes Tuesday. 'What our victory showed on election night was less a victory between one man and another, but a victory for a city that New Yorkers can afford,' Mamdani said at a rally attended by Black clergy and filmmaker Spike Lee The Rev. Al Sharpton, the influential leader of the network, praised Mamdani for coming to the rally, despite reports that he lost some of the city's most solidly Black neighborhoods in the primary. 'He could have went the other way and said, 'It's me against them.' But he came this morning and he proclaimed something. And I gave him a lot of credit for that,' Sharpton said. The winner of the Democratic primary advances to November's election. Mayor Eric Adams is running for reelection as an independent candidate. Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the crime-fighting Guardian Angels, is running as a Republican. Cuomo, who has conceded defeat in the primary, also could run as an independent candidate. In Harlem, the 33-year-old state lawmaker stuck to a cost-of-living theme that skyrocketed him to political stardom, weaving in quotes from Martin Luther King Jr., the Bible and the city's first Black mayor, David Dinkins. He said people question whether the city will become 'a museum' of a place where working people could once thrive. 'What we have seen in the last two weeks is a hunger from New Yorkers to move beyond the days of museums and relics and make this city a living, breathing testament to what is possible.'
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Remembering George Floyd, Five Years After His Death
Commemorations were held across the U.S. to mark five years since George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, sparking global protests. In Houston, Floyd's hometown, his family gathered near his grave for a memorial service led by Rev Al Sharpton. Meanwhile, Minneapolis hosted a gospel concert and church service as part of its annual Rise and Remember Festival at George Floyd Square. Floyd's aunt, Angela Harrelson, urged the public to keep fighting for justice and reform, saying the movement must continue. Floyd was murdered in 2020 by Officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on his neck for over nine minutes during an arrest.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Thousands remember George Floyd on fifth anniversary of death
Americans across the country remembered George Floyd five years after he was killed by police, with special gatherings in the city where he grew up and the one where he died. The murder of Floyd, a black man, in Minneapolis by police officer Derek Chauvin led to nationwide protests against racism and police brutality. On Sunday, Floyd's family gathered in their hometown of Houston near Floyd's gravesite for a service led by the Rev Al Sharpton, while Minneapolis held several commemorations. What many hailed as a national "reckoning" with racism after Floyd's death, though, seems to be fading as President Donald Trump starts to roll back police reforms in Minneapolis and other cities. The Associated Press reported that thousands of people, including police reform and civil-rights activists, gathered on Sunday for the anniversary. In Minneapolis, a morning church service and evening gospel concert were part of events to mark the events of 25 March 2020, at the annual Rise and Remember Festival in George Floyd Square, the intersection where Floyd was murdered and which has since been named to honour him. "Now is the time for the people to rise up and continue the good work we started," Angela Harrelson, Floyd's aunt and co-chair of the Rise and Remember nonprofit, said in a statement about the festival. In Houston, where Floyd grew up and where he is buried, local organisations held poetry sessions, musical performances and speeches by local pastors. Rev Sharpton, a civil rights leader, held a press conference and memorial service with Floyd's family, as well as elected officials and friends. They called for changes begun in the wake of Floyd's to continue, especially pushing President Donald Trump to keep up federal police reform agreements. Floyd was murdered in 2020 during a police arrest in Minneapolis when Chauvin, a white police officer, stood on his neck for more than nine minutes. The killing - captured on a bystander's phone camera - sparked global outrage and a wave of demonstrations against racial injustice and police use of force. Chauvin has been serving a 22-year prison sentence after he was convicted of murdering the 46-year-old. Other officers were convicted for failing to intervene in the killing. In a post on X, Rev Sharpton said Floyd's death had "forced a long overdue reckoning with systemic racism and galvanized millions to take to the streets in protest". "The conviction of the officer responsible was a rare step toward justice, but our work is far from over," he said. In the wake of Floyd's death, under former President Joe Biden, the justice department opened civil investigations into several local law enforcement agencies, including Minneapolis, Louisville, Phoenix and Lexington, Mississippi, where investigators found evidence of systemic police misconduct. The department reached agreements with both the Louisville and Minneapolis police departments that included oversight measures like enhanced training, accountability, and improved data collection of police activity. But last Wednesday, the Trump administration said those findings relied on "flawed methodologies and incomplete data". Administration officials said the agreement were "handcuffing" local police departments. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, though, said this week that his city would still "comply with every sentence, of every paragraph, of the 169-page consent decree that we signed this year". Since returning to office, Trump has also taken aim at Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DEI) measures intended to reduce racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination. Early in his tenure, Trump signed an executive order to eliminate DEI policies in the federal government, some of which were the result of protests during what is often called "Black Lives Matter Summer", held after the deaths of Floyd and others, Critics including Trump say such programmes can themselves be discriminatory. Addressing West Point on Saturday, he said that in ending DEI in the military the administration was "getting rid of the distractions" and "focusing our military on its core mission". Meanwhile, the mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, removed Black Lives Matter Plaza, a strip of road that was emblazoned with the phrase near the White House. This week, a famous mural of Floyd in Houston was destroyed as part of a building demolition, as well, according to Houston Public Media. Recent surveys suggest Americans believe there have been few improvements for the lives of black people in the US five years after Floyd's passing, including a May survey from Pew Research Center in which 72% of participants said there had been no meaningful changes. The number of Americans expressing support for the Black Lives Matter movement has also fallen by 15% since June 2020, the same survey suggests. Trump administration to scrap police reform measures in some US cities Chauvin sentenced for violating George Floyd's rights Minneapolis police 'engaged in pattern of racism'