The 44 Percent: New Year’s Eve ‘watch night’ services, ‘Ebony Alert’ law, Claudine Gay

Happy New Year!

The start of the new year is a time for reflections, resolutions and celebrations. There are countless ways to bring in the new year, with different cultures having their own unique customs to mark the occasion. One African-American tradition of attending church on New Year’s Eve, also known as “watch night” services, can be traced back to the Civil War when African Americans packed churches, praying for the freedom of the enslaved.

On Sept. 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation after Union troops stopped the advance of the Confederacy in the Battle of Antietam — the bloodiest day of the Civil War. It declared that enslaved people in the Confederate states were legally free. However, the decree would not take effect until the stroke of midnight on the new year.

On Dec. 31, 1862, African-Americans, both enslaved and free, gathered in churches and other venues to celebrate. The 1942 book “They Knew Lincoln,” a classic in African-American history, includes the accounts of formerly enslaved people who attended the first “watch night” services and spoke of attendees crying and praying to God to lead them from bondage.

Like many of my childhood friends, I grew up attending “watch night” services at our respective churches on New Year’s Eve. While most of us didn’t know the historical significance of the occasion, we understood it to be a time for fellowship, faith and the hope for a brighter tomorrow.

Inside the 305

‘The family is now the city.’ The Poetry Potluck to host Family Cookout in Miami Gardens

The Poetry Potluck began in Calvin Early’s backyard as a meet-up for those active in South Florida’s spoken word scene. Just fve years later it has morphed into a partnership with the city of Miami Gardens for the first “Family Cookout” coming on Jan. 13 at the Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex.

The event will include a marketplace, live performances, food vendors, along with a bounce house and crafts for adults and children.

The atmosphere immediately stood out to Miami Gardens Councilman Reggie Leon when he attended a potluck in April. Within a month, he reached out to Early about how they could bring the potluck to his community.

Although the expansion makes Early a bit nervous, it will give him the opportunity to accomplish one of his main goals — “to host potlucks in primarily Black spaces.” Plus, it’s not like he hasn’t brought the potluck to Liberty City, Allapattah and even Brooklyn.

Where Tyreek Hill stands in his quest for 2,000 yards after Dolphins’ loss to Ravens

Before football season began, Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill announced his intention to be the first player in NFL history to record 2,000 receiving yards in a season.

At an average of 114.5 yards per game, Hill is now on pace for 1,831 yards over 16 games assuming he plays Miami’s season finale against the Buffalo Bills on either Saturday or Sunday.

To get to 2,000 yards, Hill would need at least 283 receiving yards against the Bills. There have been 11 instances in NFL history in which a player has had a game with at least 283 receiving yards…Hill’s single-game career high is 269 receiving yards on Nov. 29, 2020, while with the Kansas City Chiefs. He has one game with at least 200 receiving yards in two seasons with the Dolphins, getting 215 yards in the season opener this year on Sept. 10 against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Outside the 305

California’s ‘Ebony Alerts’ for missing Black youth go into effect

California’s first-of-its-kind “Ebony Alerts” law went into effect on Jan. 1 and created a notification system for law enforcement agencies designed to bring heightened awareness to missing Black people, aged 15-25. It resembles a California law that created “feather alerts” for missing Indigenous peoples.

The bill’s author, California state Sen. Steven Bradford, cited data from the Black and Missing Foundation, which found that 38% of children reported missing in the United States are Black; that Black children are disproportionately classified as “runaways” as compared to white children, who are classified as “missing”; and that Black children, as a result, often don’t get Amber alerts or media attention when they do go missing.

Highly publicized stories of missing white people, like the disappearance and death of 22-year-old Gabby Petito in 2021, have helped to highlight the disparate treatment of white and Black people, and women in particular, who go missing… Petito’s disappearance drew attention to the phenomenon sometimes known as “missing white woman syndrome,” a reference to the unequal media coverage of missing white women, as compared to missing nonwhite women.

Claudine Gay resigns the presidency of Harvard University amid plagiarism allegations

Claudine Gay, Harvard’s first Black president in its nearly 400-year history, announced her resignation amid plagiarism accusations and backlash for her response to a question at a congressional hearing about antisemitism.

Gay announced she was stepping down on Tuesday, ending the shortest tenure atop the renowned Ivy League university in history, after weeks of criticism reignited when The Washington Free Beacon published new accusations that she had lifted language she used in a paper 20 years ago from another professor.

Her departure comes nearly a month after Gay and other university presidents were asked in a congressional hearing whether calls for genocide against Jews in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza violated their schools’ codes of conduct.

Culture

Festivities for the South Beach Jazz Festival will kick off this weekend.

The Eighth Annual South Beach Jazz Festival (SBJF) will offer a kaleidoscope of musical, artistic and cultural experiences for the entire family to enjoy. Sponsored by the humanitarian group Power Access, the festivities kick off the New Year on January 4-7 at venues across Miami Beach. Participants can expect best-in-class, Grammy Award-winning jazz artists, complimentary art gallery tours and a showcase of emerging jazz students. In addition, the public is invited to virtually participate in a panel discussion addressing accessibility and inclusion in the arts for persons living with disabilities, the core mission of the festival.