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MY'STORY

The MOVE Fire

This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985 Philadelphia police fired thousands of rounds at the MOVE house, city officials approved dropping an explosive device on the roof, the resulting fire was allowed to burn, 11 people—including five children—died, and 61 homes were destroyed. Philadelphia City Council later called it a “brutal attack carried out by the City of Philadelphia on its own citizens” and acknowledged that no individual faced criminal consequences for the bombing. One timeline correction worth preserving for the BHP record: the major previous MOVE-police confrontation was August 8, 1978, about seven years before the bombing, not a year or two earlier. Officer James Ramp was killed, other police and firefighters were wounded, nine MOVE members were later convicted, and television cameras recorded police beating Delbert Africa during his arrest. The 1985 MOVE Commission later specifically criticized city planners for failing to adequately use lessons from that 1978 confrontation. And that actually strengthens the point you’re making: 1985 did not happen without precedent or institutional memory. There had already been a deadly confrontation with MOVE, years of conflict, negotiations and police involvement before Osage Avenue.

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BLACK FACTS
The Truths They Never Taught You...

Shirley Chisholm — Unbought and Unbossed

In 1968 Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress. In 1972 she launched a campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, breaking another political barrier.

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BHP gathered finds from its connected research sources. Showing the 4 strongest Black History matches.
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Wikipedia

James Sanders Jr.

For other people named James Sanders, see James Sanders (disambiguation).

James Sanders
Member of the New York State Senate
from the 10th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 1, 2013
Preceded byShirley Huntley
Member of the New York City Council
from the 31st district
In office
January 1, 2002 – January 1, 2013
Preceded byJuanita Watkins
Succeeded byDonovan Richards
Personal details
Born (1957-08-14) August 14, 1957 (age 69)
Far Rockaway, New York, U.S.
PartyDemocratic
SpouseAndrea Stevenson
EducationBrooklyn College (BA)
WebsiteState Senate website

James Sanders Jr. (born 1957) is a member of the New York State Senate, serving since January 2013. He represents the 10th district, which includes the Queens neighborhoods of Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park, Jamaica, Rochdale Village, Rosedale and parts of Far Rockaway.

Early life and education

[edit]

Sanders was born at the Hammel Houses in Far Rockaway. He attended public schools throughout the Rockaways then attended Brooklyn College.[citation needed] Sanders served as a Marine.[1] He married Andrea Stevenson.[2]

Career

[edit]

In 2001, Sanders won election to the 31st district of the New York City Council in an underdog win against powerful candidates James Blake and Charlotte Jefferson. Blake had received the support of incumbent councilwoman Juanita Watkins. On the council, Sanders was the first African-American to sit as Chair of the Economic Development Committee'.[3] In July 2009, Sanders was reported to have shown up for only 61% of City Council meetings for fiscal year 2009, the second-fewest on the list.[4] However, he has attributed this to the near fatal car crash that he had in the fall of 2008 which also injured his staffers, Donovan Richards and Mike Duvall.[4][5]

In 2009, he was challenged for reelection from candidates Michael Duncan, Jacques Leandre, and Frederick Lewis.[6] He was re-elected with 40% of the vote, with his next leading opponent, Jacques Leandre, receiving 19%.[7] He was succeeded in the council seat by his former District Manager Donovan Richards, the Queens Borough President as of 2025.

In early 2007, Sanders endorsed then-Senator Barack Obama for President and traveled to Pennsylvania, Ohio, and South Carolina to campaign for him. He became an Obama delegate and represented his district at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.[3] In 2015, Sanders endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States in the 2016 Democratic primaries and the 2016 general election.[8] He endorsed Bernie Sanders again for the 2020 Primary.[9][10]

New York Senate

[edit]

In 2012, Sanders, who would have been term-limited in the City Council and unable to run again in 2013, opted to primary Senator Shirley Huntley, who was facing corruption charges.[11] He would go on to win with 56% of the vote,[12] winning the general election unopposed. He has been unopposed in the general election ever since.

In December 2015, Sanders filed papers to challenge Congressman Gregory Meeks in the Democratic primary for New York's 5th congressional district.[13] However, he dropped out of the race in March 2016, accusing Meeks of leaking information to the New York Post about a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into Sanders' use of slush funds and alleged solicitation of a $250,000 kickback from a non-profit.[14][15][16][17] Sanders was never charged with any wrongdoing, and he successfully ran for reelection to his Senate seat despite the Queens Democratic Party backing an opponent, Adrienne Adams.[18]

When Democrats took control of the state senate in 2019,[19] Sanders was named chair of the Committee on Banks.[20]

In 2019, Sanders introduced a resolution to recognize October 1, the National Day of the People's Republic of China, as "China Day" in New York State.[21][22] The resolution in the state senate was attended by China's counsel general for New York State, Huang Ping, who praised it.[23][24][25]

Personal life

[edit]

In 2005, he married his former chief of staff.[26] He has two children from a previous marriage.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Wisloski, Jess (2007-11-13). "10 questions for Queens City Councilman James Sanders Jr". Daily News. Archived from the original on 2010-10-23. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  2. ^ "Andrea Stevenson-Sanders". Daily News. New York.
  3. ^ a b "James Sanders Jr". Archived from the original on 2009-07-25. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  4. ^ a b Goldenberg, Sally (2009-07-20). "AWOL At City Hall: Council Truants Are Rarely There". New York Post. p. 8. Archived from the original on 2009-08-22. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  5. ^ Paybarah, Azi (2008-11-18). "Sanders Released From Intensive Care". PolitickerNY. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-07-30.[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ "City Council District 31". Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved 2009-08-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). boropolitics.com
  7. ^ NY1 Online: 2009 New York City Primary Returns Archived 2009-09-22 at the Wayback Machine . NY1.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-15.
  8. ^ "KING: Senators in Harlem, Queens support Sanders — EXCLUSIVE". New York Daily News. 30 December 2015. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  9. ^ Marans, Daniel [@danielmarans] (June 13, 2019). ".@berniesanders announces New York endorsements: City Councilman Rafael Espinal; state Sens. Julia Salazar and James Sanders; Assemblymen Ron Kim and Phil Steck" (Tweet). Retrieved June 13, 2019 – via Twitter.
  10. ^ "Who are prominent New Yorkers endorsing for president?". CSNY. 2020-03-05. Archived from the original on 2020-04-16. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  11. ^ Gormley, Michael; Gingras, Brynn (25 August 2012). "NY Senator Shirley Huntley Arrested". NBC New York. Archived from the original on 2019-01-30. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  12. ^ "Our Campaigns - NY State Senate 10 - D Primary Race - Sep 13, 2012". www.ourcampaigns.com. Archived from the original on January 30, 2019. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  13. ^ Short, Aaron (2015-12-13). "Scandal-plagued politicians will battle for Queens congressional seat". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2019-04-02. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  14. ^ Short, Aaron (2016-03-20). "'Bribe' politician drops bid to unseat Gregory Meeks". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2019-04-02. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  15. ^ Short, Aaron; Vincent, Isabel; Klein, Melissa (2016-02-07). "We were blacklisted for refusing politician $250K bribe". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2020-05-30. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  16. ^ Short, Aaron; Vincent, Isabel; Klein, Melissa (2016-02-14). "Politician used $1M of taxpayers' money to host 'parties'". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2019-08-10. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  17. ^ Klein, Melissa (2017-10-21). "Councilman, state senator eyed by feds in criminal probe". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2019-08-12. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  18. ^ Coltin, Jeff (2019-04-01). "Meet Gregory Meeks: Queens' new boss". City & State NY. Archived from the original on 2019-04-02. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  19. ^ Wang, Vivian (2018-11-07). "Democrats Take Control of New York Senate for First Time in Decade". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-09-28.
  20. ^ "The New York State Senate". August 2023.
  21. ^ "Sanders' Resolution Recognizing "China Day" Celebrated with Ceremony in Brooklyn". NY State Senate. 2019-07-23. Archived from the original on 2020-08-23. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  22. ^ Yan, Flora (December 2, 2021). "'China Day' in New York: A Case Study in United Front Work". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 2024-06-09. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
  23. ^ "New York state to set up China Day to strengthen friendship". Xinhua News Agency. June 19, 2019. Archived from the original on January 9, 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  24. ^ Wenzheng, Kong (June 20, 2019). "Empire State marks China Day". China Daily. Archived from the original on June 5, 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  25. ^ "New York State's establishment of China Day celebrated in NYC". Xinhua News Agency. July 21, 2019. Archived from the original on July 21, 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-21.
  26. ^ "The New King of Queens?". Queens Tribune. 2014-09-18. Archived from the original on 2017-02-05. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
[edit]

Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.

Wikipedia

James Sanders Jr.

James Sanders Jr. (born 1957) is a member of the New York State Senate, serving since January 2013. He represents the 10th district, which includes the Queens neighborhoods of Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park, Jamaica, Rochdale Village, Rosedale and parts of Far Rockaway.

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Wikipedia

New York's 10th State Senate district

New York's 10th State Senate district is one of 63 districts in the New York State Senate. It has been represented by Democrat James Sanders Jr. since 2013, following his defeat of incumbent Shirley Huntley in the 2012 Democratic primary election.

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Wikipedia

James Sanders

James Sanders may refer to:

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Wikipedia

James Lawson (activist)

James Morris Lawson Jr. (September 22, 1928 – June 9, 2024) was an American activist and university professor. He was a leading theoretician and tactician of nonviolence within the Civil Rights Movement. During the 1960s, he served as a mentor to the Nashville Student Movement and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He was expelled from Vanderbilt University for his civil rights activism in 1960, and later served as a pastor in Los Angeles for 25 years.

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TOPIC OF THE DAY

Greenwood / Black Wall Street

Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.

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TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY

Which Black woman became the first elected to the United States Congress?

Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.