Opinion:The Hall Monitor is the blog and print voice of Urban CNY founder/publisher Ken Jackson – If you have an issue to report send Ken an e-mail. Click here
For African Americans, A. Phillip Randolph is the father of our inclusion and ascension to power within the American labor movement. It took until 1937 to gain Collective Barging rights. Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American More »
“It’s only a movie” was my thought, when I first heard the buzz about Black Panther. An action hero movie set in a fictitious wonderful land hidden in the heart of Africa. It soon became a cultural phenomenon, people from 8 to 80 dressed in Wakanda inspired fashions, groups of young Black children flooded theaters More »
Police -$6,393,089 Fire -$4,728,486 DPW -$4,438,861 Those who are supportive of Syracuse Police and Fire Departments need only look to our representation in Washington DC. Their failure to come to a deal that supports state and local governments has placed states, counties, cities, and towns in grave danger of losing much needed services. Those services More »
This is not shouting fire in a crowded building; this is about COVID-19 a serious pandemic that has taken 204 lives of our neighbors and friends. At first, I assumed it was an off-campus party and university officials can’t “monitor” their students 24/7 they’re young adults. However, when you can see tents and the fuzzy More »
When I think of Home I think of place Where they’re cats overflowing Can’t wish I was home Can’t wish I was back there With the things I’m knowing Growth to street the tall branch Bend into leaning Suddenly, the sewer that leaks Has a meaning Sprinklin’ the scene It ain’t at all clean Now More »
This was conceptualized to increase our city’s level of participation in the US Census. It was recently announced the effort scheduled to end in October had its deadline changed to September, a 30 day reduction in data collection time. That almost guarantees a massive under-count of populations in cities across the country, especially Syracuse. This More »
A generation of Syracuse Residents aren’t good enough to help resurrect our community Observing the political landscape in Syracuse and Onondaga County, it’s safe to assume that there’s been a change in direction regarding who’s in charge of running our day-to-day government, based on most accounts our community’s latest attempt at embracing diversity has been More »
As an opinion writer the hardest struggle is to put emotions into words. The pandemic has not only unleashed a disease that disproportionally attacks African Americans, there’s still no national strategy as COVID-19 has raced through the south like Union soldiers during the Civil War. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and the list goes on as More »
20 Cities across the country experienced some level of unrest, what occurred next was the carnivorous feeding frenzy by our collective news media A Riot is the Language of the Unheard “Certain conditions continue to exist in our society, which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a More »
“We’re All in This Together” became the official slogan of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The slogan is homespun, warm and fuzzy like a hot bowl of oatmeal on a cold winter’s day. Where you were before the pandemic hit determines how much of the “We’re all in this together” anyone can embrace. With the sudden More »