Second Saturday! And Beacon Open Studios Season Starts :: Retail Therapy Guide 7/8/2022
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HUDSON VALLEY FOOD HALL
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Mr. Bell's & Amy's Braids Salon Businesses Destroyed In Fire On Main Street In Beacon
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UPDATE 7/12/2022: GoFundMe fundraisers have been created!
Click here for Mr. Bell’s GoFundMe Fundraiser.
Click here for Amy’s African Braids GoFundMe Fundraiser.
On Wednesday afternoon (7/6/2022) at around 3pm, several fire engines pulled up to Main Street and Willow Street, and did not leave. Several more fire trucks from other fire engine companies pulled into town, including Rombout Fire Company, an all volunteer company serving the Town of Fishkill, as well as multiple trucks from Central Hudson.
With such a collection of trucks over the course of several hours, one might have expected to see flames billowing out of a building on Main Street. But no such flames were seen, nor billows of black smoke against the blue sky.
However, inside of Mr. Bell’s Unisex Main Street Beauty Salon, a line of fire had spread up a wall to the back going up the ceiling, with smoke coming out the bottom of the front door, according to a local person who spoke with the woman who first reported the fire.
Mr. Alvin Bell’s shop, before the fire. Read all about his decades-long history with Beacon.
No one was inside the shop, and no one was hurt. Mr. Alvin Bell and his wife Shirley were at home, done for the day, and the stylists of Amy’s Braids had left the shop and locked up, according to Mr. Bell and a stylist from Amy’s Braids. If you don’t know Mr. Bell, he is iconic, and a deep part of Beacon, having opened his shop decades ago after being laid off as the lead pressman at the Nabisco box printing factory, which is now Dia. He restarted his career at the age of 54, following his wife in hair styling, which was his passion at a very young age.
According to a local person, a woman was handing out free pizza from Big Vinny’s, the new pizza and cannoli shop (not new to New York, however), and noticed a line of fire traveling up the right side wall and up the ceiling, with smoke pouring out of Mr. Bell’s and called 911.
The fire engines arrived and worked to control and put out the fire. According to a firefighter, Beacon’s Chief Gary VanVoorhis will put out a media release soon, as the investigation is ongoing.
According to a neighbor, some smoke spilled into neighboring units, including John’s Shoe Repair, the cobber ALBB has blogged about before. When approached to see what of his business assets were damaged, the cobbler was the most concerned about retrieving customer’s shoes for them, rather than commenting about any loss.
After the fire was put out, Mr. Alvin Bell and his wife Shirley stood outside of their shop, bewildered. Shriely what as a total loss, saying they had lost everything. Furniture, photos, memorabilia. On the walls were photos of their lives as they grew the salon business in Beacon, as well as Shirley’s career. She started as a stylist, and pivoted to West Point, where she retired as a government inspector. The photo of that retirement, she said, seemed to be gone in the now rubble of the shop.
Mr. Bell was chipper as usual, in his ever-dapper clothes, but he expressed the most concern about his photo with Pete Seeger, as well as his boxing gloves. A Dutchess County Fire Investigator brought to Mr. Bell a stack of jewelry boxes, with at least one containing cuff links. His next recovered item was a suitcase that Mr. Bell was quite excited about.
However, the inspector could not yet find the photo of Pete Seeger, but suggested that a pair of boxing gloves might be salvaged.
The stylist at Amy’s Braids was equally stunned, amazed this had happened. When asked if she lost anything, she only commented that she was simply grateful she was not inside to get hurt. When asked where she could be found braiding again, she slightly shook her head and suggested her home.
New York State Lawmakers Revive & Pass Equal Rights Amendment To Protect Right To Abortion In State Constitution, Advancing To Next Step
/The New York State Senate and Assembly advanced the first passage of an amendment, S.51002, to codify the right to an abortion and the right to contraception in the New York State Constitution. After this first step of passing this resolution, it “must be passed by two successive legislatures, and supported by a majority of voters in a public referendum,” said Senator Anna Kaplan, a co-sponsor, with the earliest for a referendum coming to a vote being November 2023.
The Resolution that passed on July 1, 2022 would codify the right to an abortion and the right to contraception, in addition to protecting New Yorkers from various forms of discrimination, as well as protecting from future action by the Supreme Court dismantling rights for LGBTQ+ people, according to a press release by Senator Kaplan. "The resolution expands equal protection under the law to several new identity classes, including on the basis of ethnicity, national origin, age, disability and sex,” she said. “Sex includes sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, reproductive healthcare and autonomy."
The lead sponsor is Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
Is Modifying The State Constitution To Protect Abortion Rights, Women, Girls, And All Birthing People New?
According to the New York Times, 15 states including California are seeking to amend their state constitutions to protect the right to save the life of the woman, girl or birthing person for any reason, including financial, wrong time in life, wrong potential partner, and mental and physical health. New York State had tried this before, but failed. During the creation of that effort back then, the lead sponsor, Senator Liz Krueger, said they learned many things while drafting it.
Back in February 2022, The Times Union reported on that earlier proposal that the "inclusive Equal Rights Amendment" is different than the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) at the federal level. Said Senator Krueger then, it was very different than the 45-year-old federal effort, because the state-level amendment "would expand on the federal ERA language to include protections for race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and pregnancy."
According to reporting in Politico, the earlier version of the proposal stalled because over disagreements of recognition based on religion. Politico pointed out that this version was “modified to address critics’ concerns over potential effects on religious freedom.”
The Assembly passed broad state Equal Rights Amendment with 98-43 vote Friday evening, and the Senate “hours earlier swiftly approved the resolution on a 49-14 vote after just minutes of floor discussion,” reported Politico. “The amendment would add explicit protections for New Yorkers to access abortion care,” as well as the right to contraception.
Why Now?
New York Governor Kathy Hochul called for a special session after the Supreme Court struck down New York's open-carry gun law. The Supreme Court then struck down Roe V. Wade, and New York's Equal Rights amendment was added to the agenda for the special session shortly thereafter.
As reported by Politico, the lead sponsor of this version of the bill, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins “told reporters that the Supreme Court’s ruling last week ratcheted up lawmakers’ urgency to finally move the proposal after years of debate in Albany. She noted that Friday’s vote came on the anniversary when New York’s abortion law took effect more than 50 years ago.”
After the extraordinary session on Friday called by New York Governor Kathy Hochul to address New York’s gun laws and abortion, she told reporters: “It’s part of our fighting back to protect women’s reproductive freedoms here in the state of New York. That [amendment] is going to protect reproductive health in the state of New York for generations to come.”
In defense of both votes, Governor Hochul said: “We're not going backwards. They may think that they can change our lives with the stroke of a pen. But we have pens, too," as reported by The Poughkeepsie Journal.
Abortion Rights Protection At The Federal Level In The Constitution
The Times Union interviewed Wilfred Codrington, an assistant professor at Brooklyn Law School and a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, to discover more about the federal effort to add an equal rights amendment for women to the U.S. Constitution. According to him, it has been in the works since the 1920s.
Codrington said "the Constitution doesn't require women be treated equally." He explained that "if there’s nothing permanent and enshrined in the Constitution protecting those values, a number of statutes we’re seeing being contested in the courts and eviscerated or struck down that also were meant to be enduring."
Senator Krueger was starting with New York state by attempting a broader reach than just women, which "would make New York state, I believe, the first in the nation to recognize that all of our populations should have nondiscrimination protections within our Constitution ... (for) a broader universe of categories of humans and for a broader range of issues than gender," she said as reported by The Times Union.
With Senator Krueger’s bill “There's all kinds of precedent that we need to make sure we have the language correctly on, that we are not impeding one right by protecting another right. So I have found that attempting a complex change in a Constitution is a much more difficult assignment than I had originally hoped for," Krueger said.
Supreme Court Stripped New York Of Its Gun Protection; NY Democrats Pushed Back By Signing New Regulations
/In special session called by New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Friday, after the Supreme Court voted to neuter New York of protections in its open carry gun law, the Democratic-led Legislature gathered to enact new restrictions on carrying guns in public, as reported in the Poughkeepsie Journal. The New York law that Justice Thomas and the other justices struck down cast doubt on lawmaker’s ability to restrict carrying guns in public places. A Little Beacon Blog first explored this law when it reported on this truck with the pistol mounted to the flagpole.
According to SCOTUS Blog: “Thomas rebuffed New York’s effort to justify its proper-cause requirement as an effort to regulate guns in ‘sensitive places’ – specifically, crowded urban areas, like Manhattan, where people are likely to gather. Thomas agreed that, as a historical matter, there have long been laws restricting guns in places like courthouses and polling places. Moreover, he continued, restrictions that apply to the modern versions of ‘sensitive places’ may also pass constitutional muster. Although Thomas left open exactly what might qualify as a ‘sensitive place,’ he made clear that urban areas do not meet that definition. The state’s ‘argument would in effect exempt cities from the Second Amendment and would eviscerate the general right to publicly carry arms for self-defense,’ Thomas concluded.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul Responded To Justice Thomas With More Defined Restrictions
The pistol mounted to the flagpole of this truck prompts the question of if it is legal, and if it being real or decorative matters. Read more here.
While Justice Clarence Thomas felt that any person had a right to bear arms outside of the home, without needing to prove anything including the need for self-defense, Governor Hochul and many New Yorkers disagreed. When signing the law, the Governor “warned that easing restrictions on carrying guns would endanger New Yorkers by multiplying the number of hidden guns being carried in public places,” the Poughkeepsie Journal reported.
The new law signed Friday in New York, after the Supreme Court made its alteration, identifies gun-free zones that includes houses of worship, schools and colleges, stadiums, theaters, parks and playgrounds. “That prohibition applies to all types of firearms - rifles and shotguns in addition to handguns - and covers private properties unless a business owner posts a sign saying that they are allowed, or a homeowner grants permission. Those caught carrying guns in prohibited places could be charged with a felony,” reported the Poughkeepsie Journal.
Additional restrictions in New York’s new gun law include (as reported by the Poughkeepsie Journal):
“Applicants for concealed-carry licenses must undergo 16 hours of training and pass a proficiency test.”
“Guns must be locked up in vehicles as state law already requires for those in homes with children.”
“The state will do monthly checks of license holders for criminal convictions and other disqualifying acts.”
There are exemptions to who can carry firearms in public in the listed location types, which include retired police officers, on-duty security guards and military service members.
In terms of votes, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported that the” Senate voted 43-20 on the gun bill, with Democrats in support and Republicans in opposition. Several hours later, the Assembly approved the measure in a 91-51 vote after holding its own marathon debate with a stark partisan contrast. Hochul signed the bill shortly afterward. It's to take effect Sept. 1.”
Union For Healthcare Workers 1199SEIU Demands Abortion Rights Be Restored With Federal Law
/On June 24, 2022, the United Healthcare Workers East 1199SEIU, the largest union of healthcare workers in the United States, sent a statement to the press in response to the overturning of Roe vs Wade, which fundamentally changed the control people who give birth have over their bodies and future lives.
“Large majorities of Americans support abortion rights. Yet the Supreme Court, stacked with extremist voices totally out of step with our nation’s values, has radically undermined the right of every person who can get pregnant to control their own bodies.”
Their statement from George Gresham, President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East reads as follows:
“As a union of healthcare workers, we recognize that the right to an abortion is fundamental to reproductive health, overall health, and bodily bodily autonomy. 1199SEIU is appalled that the US Supreme Court has erased half a century of legal precedent allowing people to make the most basic decisions about their bodies, lives, and families. While much of the world is moving forward to secure greater reproductive rights, we have taken a tremendous step backward.
“Large majorities of Americans support abortion rights. Yet the Supreme Court, stacked with extremist voices totally out of step with our nation’s values, has radically undermined the right of every person who can get pregnant to control their own bodies.
Hello, World!
“Those who can afford it will travel out of state or out of country for abortion procedures; those with the least financial means will have nowhere to go. The same politicians who herald the end of reproductive freedom will not raise a finger to improve pre- and post-natal care and ensure that health services are universally available.”
“The ramifications of overturning Roe vs. Wade are as gut-wrenching as they are predictable: there will be an immediate wave of abortion bans in states around the country as trigger laws go into effect. People will seek out alternative and dangerous ways of ending their pregnancies. Rape victims, including children, will be forced to carry to term. Those who can afford it will travel out of state or out of country for abortion procedures; those with the least financial means will have nowhere to go. The same politicians who herald the end of reproductive freedom will not raise a finger to improve pre- and post-natal care and ensure that health services are universally available.
“This decision must be a glaring wake-up call to the dysfunction of our nation’s political life and the grave threat of authoritarianism to our democracy, our laws, and institutions.
“1199SEIU stands firmly behind the right to choose and we will continue to fight tooth and nail to preserve this most basic freedom. We call on Congress to codify abortion rights into federal law immediately.
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the largest and fastest-growing healthcare union in America. They represent over 450,000 nurses and caregivers throughout Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Florida. Our mission is to achieve quality care and good jobs for all.
Main Street Businesses Berte & Hyperbole Host "Aid & Abet Abortion" Fundraiser
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Ushering in July’s First Friday this weekend, a new fundraiser popped up between Berte and Hyperbole. Beacon’s First Friday’s are a new initiative from all shops on Main Street who want to be involved. It’s a night to shop “late night,” which in Beacon means past 6pm. This is an especially great opportunity for locals who are already here and can settle in after hitting up their favorite shops, or ones they haven’t walked in yet.
The Aid & Abet Fundraiser On The East End Of Town Near The Mountain
Created by Amy at Berte in partnership with Hyperbole, this fundraiser let people in the community know where they as people and as their business stands. Usually risky for a business to do that, this issue has surpassed this veil of caution. Read more about why Amy created it here.
The owners of Hyperboleny shared this with their Instagram community:
“SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade, a horrible nightmare for birthing people in this Country. Now is the time to branch out to your communities, organize, and take real action towards the right to abortion care.
“We're teaming up with @shopberte and @wildbowerstudio for a helpful and necessary raffle, by including our "Abort the Supreme Court" merch created in collaboration with @dzandone as a prize. Come to Hyperbole or Berte this #FirstFriday and buy a $10 raffle ticket (or multiple $10 raffle tickets) and your donation will go directly to @abortionfunds. Take a look at what you can win, and come support this incredibly dire cause. Low on cash? Share this post to spread the word!"
”Thank you Aimee (@shopberte) for creating this fundraiser. Community is everything.”
While the raffle may be over, now you know it happened. Follow them on their Instagrams and sign up for their newsletters to stay ahead of what they got going on.
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Registration Open For The Beacon Pool
HUDSON VALLEY FOOD HALL
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3rd Annual Chalk Art Protest - July 4th, 10am-12pm - Intersectional & Intergenerational
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Several readers of A Little Beacon Blog have written in, asking “Where is the protest in Beacon? Where can I go to express? How do I get a permit for a protest? I can’t stay quiet on this one!”
Well friends - you are in luck. The 3rd Annual Chalk Art Protest created and produced by Moraya Seeger DeGeare, MA, LMFT is this Monday, July 4th, at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park from 10am-12pm. Did you just see that last name, Seeger, twice? You did. Moraya is a marriage and relationship therapist with BFF Therapy; she’s a relationship and sex columnist for Refinery29; she’s a parent of two young children in the Beacon City School District; and she’s a granddaughter of Pete and Toshi Seeger, the musical and poetic activists who were crucial in the civil rights movement and restoring climate justice to the Hudson Valley.
About The July 4th Chalk-In Protest
In this riverside protest, Moraya will be leading a chalk-based therapy protest in a way most likely none of you have experienced in a protest before. This chalk-in is about getting in touch with yourself to find your message, and most importantly to speak it loudly (or at all). Moraya, a human of multi-races (her grandmother is half Japanese and half from the USA’s South, her father is Black, and her mother and grandfather are White), maintains a very special lens for viewing the world. Her mission is to share it with you so that you can experience your surroundings more broadly.
“While you may be coming to this chalk-in protest for abortion-rights rage, you will be leaving with racial injustice rage that you should also be speaking about. Oppression is everywhere, and one person’s oppression that is unique to them cannot be ignored for another person’s oppression just because someone hasn’t experienced it. ”
One of her specialties is spotting intersectional morphisms. According to Wikipedia: “Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of advantage and disadvantage.”
While you may be coming to this chalk-in protest for abortion-rights rage, you will be leaving with racial injustice rage that you should also be speaking about. Oppression is everywhere, and one person’s oppression that is unique to them cannot be ignored for another person’s oppression just because someone hasn’t experienced it. If you feel an ounce of it here, recognize an ounce of it there. Respect it and do something.
This chalk-in can be an outlet for the rage anyone is feeling right now with the latest Supreme Court ruling that strips birthing people of the rights and independence to their bodies, as well as upcoming rulings the Supreme Court has reached out on (voting rights, redistricting, climate justice). Says Moraya about the chalk-in: “Identity work is understanding all the different parts of self. My persional view is that it builds from the values in your childhood home along with your location in the world aka culture and society. Sexual, race, gender, age, it’s constantly evolving.”
Kids Are Welcome & Encouraged To Attend
Part of Moraya’s mission in this is to encourage conversation between parents and caregivers with their children. But also with their own inner child. From her website of the movement:
“The heart of this project is to have deeper conversations about systemic issues with children so that they can grow up having language and confidence to continue to talk about racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, sexism, climate change and the list goes on. One of the main things I experienced in 2020 was the number of White people in my life who reached out with emails, texts, people from decades ago sliding into my DMs, and leaving outrageously long apology voicemails saying they had no idea that Black people have been navigating so much racism.
“I’ll be honest, each time someone who I have known for years said those words it nearly hurt worse than watching the news and seeing another Black person murdered. After talking to my Black friends, it turns out I was getting a particularly high number of these messages – I am talking hundreds of them in the spring of 2020. Even my 1st-grade teacher reached out with a story that only centered on her White experience as a teacher to me, her only Black student.
“I didn’t need to hear about how she learned so much from me, a 6-year-old, as I dealt with racism in her class. I needed her to say: ‘I am so sorry for not protecting you. For creating an environment you felt safe to learn in.’
“I got off the phone with her, I was 9 months pregnant, doing remote school with my kindergartener who also was struggling to learn to read, and I just cried. I wept for 6-year-old Moraya who was in all-White education environments her whole childhood.
“I cried for my own children, who are now living in a pandemic and civil unrest. My Black son just hugged me and said ‘let’s go garden and pick some tomatoes mom.’ I looked at him and thought, I have taught you to love the earth, to have a voice, to know that your birthright is to feel joy. A radical act for Black children in America. But I cannot keep you safe once you leave this little house in the woods, with our streams and waterfalls. I can’t protect you from other kids saying your skin is too dark to play their games.
“All of these moments fueled me. It told me that I need to do something to help folks understand that these conversations can and need to happen from a young age. If my kids can experience racism since birth, with their Black mother almost dying in the hospital, yours can certainly talk about it.
“This year’s project is focusing on the idea that if ALL of us are doing our own identity work, we will have deeper empathy and curiosity in ourselves, to hopefully have a deeper desire to understand and connect others who are navigating complex and marginalized identities.”
Chalk-In Schedule
10am: Start. Do any kind of chalk art, writing, scribbles, whatever comes out of your brain/hand.
11am: A little lesson on identity, intersectional identity and the value in understanding your own identity in your activism work.
Then back to chalking.
12pm: The chalk-in ends, “but people can chalk longer,” Moraya says.
Follow @stampouthate for updates.
Kids Classes Guide Updated - Tons Of Opportunities For Summer Classes And Activities
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Beacon is filled with opportunities for kids and families to attend a variety of classes, from Mommy and Me, to drop-off art classes, to various vacation Camps, reading camps, gaming camps, and so much more! This inspired ALBB to create a Kids Classes Guide; for people who attend classes in town as well as anyone who drives to neighboring areas for popular programs. We highlight Guide Updates on the blog in different articles and keep this list updated throughout the year.
We recently updated our Kids Classes Guide with a bunch of classes for toddlers, kids, and teens. Classes from writing, reading, and gaming to babysitting classes, arts & crafts classes, music classes, and outdoor classes. You can check it all out here > but if you want a quick sneak peek, keep scrolling down!
Let's Ride! Car Engineering
Day: Monday, July 11, 2022
Time: 3pm
For children 4 years old - 5th Grade. Join us to put together a simple car kit! Supplies are limited. Registration is required. Paid for in part by Dutchess County. Register by using our online registration form.
Register here >
Introduction to Babysitting
Day: Monday, July 11, 2022
Time: 10:30am
Interested in babysitting? Join us for this 3-hour course where you will learn interviewing tips, communication skills and the basics of childcare. Topics will include ages and stages of young babies and toddlers, safety and first aid tips, feeding and caring for children, including diaper changing. Certificates of completion will be distributed to those who complete the course. Paid for in part by Dutchess County. Registration is required. Register by using our online registration from.
Register here >
Tiny Tots
Days: Fridays in July of 2022
Time: 10:30am
Starting July 8, 2022. For ages 6 months to 4 years old. Join Miss Stephanie in the Community Room for 15 minutes of songs, finger plays and stories, plus some play time for you to share with your child. Meet other parents and caregivers. Register for a reminder email by using out online registration form.
Register here >
Summer Stories
Day: Tuesdays from July 5th - August 9th, 2022
Time: 3pm
For children in PreK-2nd grade. Join Miss Stephanie in the Children's Room for this weekly family storytime! Stories are geared toward children who are in PreK-2nd grade, but all ages welcome. Register for a reminder email by using our online registration form.
Register here >
The classes listed above are a quick preview. Check out all of the classes added to the Kids Classes Guide here! A Little Beacon Blog on all updates, be sure you are subscribed to our free newsletter!
Is your amazing class or business not on this list? If you have a class or workshop you'd like to submit for consideration, please submit it to editorial@alittlebeaconblog.com. To enhance your listing with pictures and to get it featured in our weekend newsletter, click here for details.
Bans Off Our Bodies Protests For Abortion Rights, Happening This Week In Corning, NY & Kingston, NY - Happening This Weekend In Kingston, NY & Poughkeepsie, NY
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Abortion rights supporters will continue to gather for a “Bans Off Our Bodies” day of action in support of abortion access and reproductive freedom. We won’t go back!
“The events are part of a nationwide response after a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion revealed the court soon plans to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate constitutional protections for abortion rights - a move that would likely lead 26 states to swiftly ban abortion.”
When:
Centerway Square, Corning, NY from 8pm-9pm TONIGHT, Monday, June 27
YWCA, Kingston, NY from 6pm-7pm Tuesday, June 28
Academy Green Park, Kingston, NY at 11:00am Saturday, July 2
Corner of Main & Market Streets, Poughkeepsie, NY at 1:00pm Saturday, July 2
#wewontgoback
Pistols Mounted To Flagpoles On Cars - Is It Legal? Defensive Driving To Extreme?
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While coming off the exit ramp of I-84 into Beacon from Poughkeepsie, a 12 year old child and their mother were behind a black Chevy Silverado pickup truck with two billowing flags mounted in its bed: one traditional American flag with stars and stripes; and the other a black combo 2nd Amendment/”Don’t Treat On Me” statement flag with a white rifle in the middle as its logo. On the back window, there was a sticker decal of a dog pooping on something, and bumper sticker saying “Fuck Communists.” Mounted atop the flag pole with the 2nd Amendment/“Don’t Tread On Me” flag was pistol hand gun.
By this day, 10 Black people had already been shot and killed by an 18-year old White teenager on a mission to kill Black people in Buffalo, NY, and 19 children and two teachers had been shot to death at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas by an 18-year old Hispanic teenager who had been regularly bullied by family and friends.
Back in Beacon, the 12 year old child in the car on the I-84 ramp looked at the pistol mounted atop the flag pole and asked the mother driving the car: “Can he do that? Can he have a gun up there?” The child had already done numerous lock-down drills in school, and the Beacon City School District had dedicated a Board of Education Meeting to informing the people about safety measures they have been making after numerous school and public places shootings.
Not sure on the legality of the gun, an inquiry was made by ALBB to the Beacon Police and the City Administrator Chris White. This City Administrator has instructed all City department heads to not respond to questions from A Little Beacon Blog without his permission based on an earlier article.
The black Chevy Silverado pickup truck with the American flag on the left, and the black rifle flag on the right, with the pistol mounted atop the rifle flag pole. This taken on the west-bound exit ramp of I-84 getting off to turn left for Beacon.
Thankfully, the police officer, Lt. Figlia, responded: “This is an interesting question and the City Administrator asked that I address it. The law prohibits the carrying of a handgun without a permit and New York does not issue permits for the open carry of a handgun. I would say, therefore, that if this were a real, functioning handgun, then it would be a violation of the law and also extremely irresponsible. On the other hand, if it is a replica handgun, which I very much hope that it is, then it would not be illegal.”
This was two weeks ago, before the decision this past week when the Supreme Court handed down a 6-3 ruling that struck down New York’s law pertaining to carrying a gun in public.
According to SCOTUS Blog: “The state law at the heart of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen required anyone who wants to carry a concealed handgun outside the home to show ‘proper cause’ for the license. New York courts interpreted that phrase to require applicants to show more than a general desire to protect themselves or their property. Instead, applicants must demonstrate a special need for self-defense – for example, a pattern of physical threats. Several other states, including California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New Jersey, impose similar restrictions, as do many cities.”
Justice Clarence Thomas led the ruling striking down New York’s law, and wrote that “the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the right ‘to keep and bear arms’ protects a broad right to carry a handgun outside the home for self-defense.”
Further, according to SCOTUS Blog: “Thomas rebuffed New York’s effort to justify its proper-cause requirement as an effort to regulate guns in ‘sensitive places’ – specifically, crowded urban areas, like Manhattan, where people are likely to gather. Thomas agreed that, as a historical matter, there have long been laws restricting guns in places like courthouses and polling places. Moreover, he continued, restrictions that apply to the modern versions of ‘sensitive places’ may also pass constitutional muster. Although Thomas left open exactly what might qualify as a ‘sensitive place,’ he made clear that urban areas do not meet that definition. The state’s ‘argument would in effect exempt cities from the Second Amendment and would eviscerate the general right to publicly carry arms for self-defense,’ Thomas concluded.”
According to CNBC, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said, “This decision isn’t just reckless, it’s reprehensible.”
Hochul said that because “the federal government will not have sweeping laws to protect us ... our states and our governors have a moral responsibility to do what we can and have laws that protect our citizens because of what is going on — the insanity of the gun culture that has possessed everyone all the way up to the Supreme Court.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said: “This decision has made every single one of us less safe from gun violence.”
President Joe Biden said he was “deeply disappointed” in the ruling, which he said, “contradicts both common sense and the Constitution, and should deeply trouble us all.”
Not sure how the Supreme Court’s new decision impacts Lt. Figlia’s answer for the truck here in the Hudson Valley region.
Where Did This Legal Case Come From?
According to CNBC, “the case was brought by the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association and two of its members, Robert Nash and Brandon Koch, whose applications for concealed-carry handgun licenses for self-defense purposes were rejected. New York Supreme Court Justice Richard McNally ruled that neither man had shown proper cause to carry guns in public because they failed to demonstrate that they had a special need for self-protection.”
According to the NPR Legal Correspondent, Nina Totenberg, this Supreme Court is looking for cases it can make national changes on. This observation was supported by this reporting in CNBC regarding this gun law: “After a federal judge in New York dismissed the case, the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that judgment. The U.S. Supreme Court then took the case.”
As for this truck pulling into Beacon: it was spotted again headed south on 9D on Juneteenth afternoon, which was June 19, 2022. The truck pulled into Buffalo Wild Wings and parked alongside the resteraunt. A White man with a close clipped brown beard in a long sleeved cotton jersey walked around the truck, checked the 2nd Amendment flag pole with the pistol mounted on top, and went about his day.
Had the driver of this truck been a Black man, or an Arab man, or a Hispanic man, or an Indian man, or an Asian man, would the vehicle still be out on the road?
Bans Off Our Bodies Protests For Abortion Rights, Happening In Newburgh, NY Tonight
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“On Friday, June 24th, in Newburgh, NY, Rhinebeck, NY and nationwide, abortion rights supporters will gather for a “Bans Off Our Bodies” day of action in support of abortion access and reproductive freedom.
The events are part of a nationwide response after a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion revealed the court soon plans to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate constitutional protections for abortion rights - a move that would likely lead 26 states to swiftly ban abortion.”
When: Friday June 24th, 2022
Rhinebeck Village, corner of Route 9 and Market St. from 7pm-8:30pm
Downing Park, Newburgh at 7:30pm
Centerway Square, Corning, NY from 8pm-9pm
Dewitt Park, Ithaca, NY from 8pm-9pm
Nassau County Courthouse, Mineola, NY from 6:30pm-7:45pm
Union Square, New York, NY from 8pm-9:30pm
Congress Park, Saratoga, NY from 8pm-9pm
YWCA, Kingston, NY from 6pm-7pm on Tuesday, June 28
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HUDSON VALLEY FOOD HALL
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Listening To Imani Perry Speak of Juneteenth At Bardavon in Poughkeepsie
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Imani Perry has published many books, earned many degrees, traveled to many states within these United States, all to translate and tell the story of the characteristics and developments that happened here and before "here" was here as we know it today. As she says in her book, South to America: A Journey Below The Mason-Dixon To Understand The Soul Of A Nation in reference to the birth of America: "There are so many birth dates: 1492, 1520, 1619, 1776, 1804, 1865, 1954, 1964, 1965."
On Juneteenth 2022, Imani was standing alone on the Bardavon Presents stage in a long black dress with a capped shoulder sleeve, her curly bangs spilling out of her bun and her nails painted a light glossy pink, serving as a focal point as she rubbed her hands together before letting her fingers fly open when she told the audience her story of Juneteenth and what it has meant in her life as a Black woman living in America.
The theater was about a third full with a mixture of older Black women and men, and many more older White women and men who came as a couple or separate. She thanked Poughkeepsie for having her, and let us know she had been here many times to visit friends and family.
Editor’s Note: Grammatically for this first time in this blog, the “W” is capitalized in White because Imani has declared in her book she is doing it, even though it’s not been formally adopted by style guides yet. ALBB has also wanted to capitalize it, and will follow her style.
Imani was at Bardavon to promote her books with a book signing at the end, but she spoke with dedication about Juneteenth, aka Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, Black Independence Day. The date of this author talk was June 19, 2022, which also happened to fall on Father’s Day this year. Immediately, Imani connected the two holidays by sharing how her father, an social justice mover, would not let her family celebrate the Independence Day of July 4th. His reasoning, Imani said, was that Independence Day on July 4th established in 1776 was not inclusive of African Americans at that time, as they remained enslaved. As a compromise, her child self asked her father if she could celebrate July 4th in the form of a protest.
Imani went on to share thoughts on how fathers might have felt when they learned about the Emancipation Proclamation. Imani imagined how a the African descended father might feel when he learned he was free, as his thoughts traveled to his children and how they were free. But his children most likely had been taken from him and sold at auction, so he did not know where they were.
Imani also wondered how the father might feel about having the ability to name his own child. She took that moment to expand on the roll of the grandmother in enslaved families; how the grandmother was often at the center of the remaining family because so many different family members were taken out of the group at any given time to be sold.
Imani insisted that Juneteenth was a day of jubilation. That it is celebrated with red food, like red velvet cake and watermelon (also a resistance food for Palestinians). In Beacon, the group Beacon4Black Lives organized a BBQ of jubilation for all community members to attend, making a point to say that it was not a protest this time, but a day of joy. Beacon4Black Lives organized a majority of protest marches down Main Street followed by speaking opportunities at open mikes in 2020.
Back in the Bardavon, Imani, in her cheer for the day of jubilee, did quietly say that Juneteenth was also “a day of rage.” Perhaps she was feeling the words in her book, South To America, where she writes in her Introduction: “A flock of black skimmers might have flown over the slave pens that night. Or rested there, callow jailbirds. How could they know their presence taunted, that the people inside wished they could fly? Or that the nights they were up, bodies rubbed with beef tallow, hair painted to gleaming black, faces scrubbed, had the most terrible foreboding? Sale tomorrow.”
After reading images like these, recalls of history, the sentances helps give meaning to regularly listened to songs, like “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free” when sung by Nina Simone, written by Billy Taylor and released in 1967. Particularly this passage that Nina Simone sings resonates with Imani’s detail about wishing to fly:
Well, I wish I could be like a bird in the sky
How sweet it would be if I found I could fly
Oh, I'd soar to the sun and look down at the sea
And then I'd sing 'cause I'd know, yeah
Then I'd sing 'cause I'd know, yeah
Then I'd sing 'cause I'd know
I'd know how it feels
I'd know how it feels to be free, yeah, yeah
Imani suggested why deep belly laughs in the community were so important - to release stress in order to go to sleep and wake up to face another day. Each day had hope. She encouraged us to read the Emancipation Proclamation - it’s very short - to see how it was worded. Abraham Lincoln’s executive order specifies certain states, leaves out others, and recommends African Americans to continue laboring but for “reasonable wages” this time, create no violence “except in self-defense,” while making it very clear that they will be received into the military should they want to pick up arms and serve in several parts of the military. The involvement of Black soldiers helped the Union win the war, as well as battles and wars before and after the Civil War.
Imani concluded her talk, and opened the one-way dialogue up to a Q+A session with the audience. Several hands flew up, and she took questions graciously asked from vulnerable places and provided her responses from her perspective in a non-judgement zone.
About Imani Perry
Imani is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and a faculty associate with the Programs in Law and Public Affairs, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Jazz Studies.
She is a scholar of law, literary and cultural studies, and an author of creative nonfiction. She earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from Harvard University, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an LLM from Georgetown University Law Center and a BA from Yale College in Literature and American Studies.
Her writing and scholarship primarily focuses on the history of Black thought, art, and imagination crafted in response to, and resistance against, the social, political and legal realities of domination in the West. She seeks to understand the processes of retrenchment after moments of social progress, and how freedom dreams are nevertheless sustained.
Her book: Vexy Thing: On Gender and Liberation (Duke University Press 2018) is a work of critical theory that contends with the formation of modern patriarchy at the dawn of capitalism, the transatlantic slave trade, and the age of conquest, and traces it through to the contemporary hypermedia neoliberal age. Her book More Beautiful and More Terrible: The Embrace and Transcendence of Racial Inequality in the United States (NYU Press, 2011) is an examination of contemporary practices of racial inequality that are sustained and extended through a broad matrix of cultural habits despite formal declarations of racial equality.
I Am Beacon Is Offering A Summer Youth Art Program & It Has Been Added To ALBB's Summer Camp Guide - Only 8 Seats - Reserve A Spot Now
/ALBB is constantly working to update the Summer Camp Guide to make sure we are getting you the information you need and getting it to you ASAP!
If you run a Summer Camp and want to add more details and photos, consider upgrading to a sponsored listing so that we can show those lovely photos and gush about the themed weeks you have planned! Learn more here >
But first, we wanted to share with you that I Am Beacon is offering a Summer Youth Program!
They will be offering the program on Saturday mornings from 11am - 12:30pm to explore digital art using iPad Pros and Procreate.
Sessions run on Saturday mornings from July 9 to August 13
Over 6 weeks, you will work on iPad illustration, create a digital poster design, create in augmented reality (AR), and then show it all off and display them at the back to school block party!
Spaces in the program will be limited with only 8 spots! However, if you own an iPad and Apple Pencil, you can be accommodated too.
There is no cost to participate in this course.
You can find more info in ALBB’s Summer Camp Guide or click here >
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