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August in Review
This month PFT5 celebrates the creation of art. PFT5's Online Concert Series gives a platform to musical artists making waves here on Staten Island. Our new Small Business Spotlight series discovers a local business selling homemade crochet items. Below are our August publications: PFT5's Online Con...
Justy performed a smooth jazz-hop set from from her new debut album, Pain with Benefits, for Plea for the Fifth’s Online Concert Series. Hyo-won Nakashio accompanied on the guitar. Watch the full set and an interview with Justy on this link ➡️ https://www.pleaforthefifth.com/justy/
Justy
Justy, a jazz-hop artist from Staten Island, performed a set from her debut album accompanied by guitarist, Hyo-on Nakashio, as a part of Plea for the Fifth’s Online Concert Series. Each act in the series was selected and interviewed by a different Plea for the Fifth member with the
Check out our Small Business Spotlight on Triple A Stitches, a local Staten Island brand under which Sasha Rodriguez sells her handmade crochet creations with her nieces, Aniya, age 14, and Adriana, age 17. Since April of 2021, the trio has been selling their wares and developing their business model through daily meetings and constant experimentation with their craft.
Sasha first began crocheting about eight years ago and has shared her skills with her nieces since they were young. However, it was earlier this year when they started to transition their shared hobby into a business, toying with more marketable designs, such as halter tops, water-bottle holsters, Carnival and festival-wear, etc. “I would send [Adriana and Aniya] a text and say ‘Here, try this!’ YouTube videos and stuff, and suddenly we started creating all these amazing little pieces,” Sasha said.
A family of artisans brings unique crochet creations to Staten Island
👑 Queen Blizzy on Hip Hop Culture 👑
Check out Queen Blizzy’s full interview and performance for Plea for the Fifth’s Online Concert series ➡️ pleaforthefifth.com/queen-blizzy/
Queen Blizzy
Rapper Queen Blizzy performed a four-song set as a part of Plea for the Fifth’s Online Concert Series. Each act was selected and interviewed by a different Plea for the Fifth member with the goal of showcasing a diverse range of artists. Plea for the Fifth reporter, Danny O.
July in Review
Our summer concert series is here!Queen Blizzy's is the first performer of PFT5's summer concert series featuring six amazing local artists. Produced by Valeriana Dema; Videographer: Kasson Colon-Mangin; Audio Engineer: Kenneth Paul Graham Queen Blizzy and Legacy Garner, Eric Garner's youngest daugh...
Extended: Meet Plea for the Fifth and founding member Sean Ghazala
Read Sean Ghazala's extended interview below. Sean Ghazala with his Nephew.PFT5 is a grassroots news and media outlet based out of Staten Island, N.Y. The platform is a cooperative(co-op). At its inception, PFT5 founder Sean Ghazala envisioned it as a tool for making change possible in existing
Queen Blizzy performs a set and speaks about her craft in an interview. Check out more Queen Blizzy: www.youtube.com/user/YCS718Subscribe to Plea For The Fif...
Show up today to honor Eric Garner 🙏🏾 202 Bay Street, Staten Island, NY 12 PM- 7 PM
Check out our teaser video of Queen Blizzy's performance of Killer Cops featuring Legacy Garner 🙌🏾 Stayed tuned for the full concert coming soon.
June in Review
PFT5 commemorates Juneteenth with an exploration of grassroots movements happening in Staten Island.Christian Smalls has an intimate discussion with PFT5 on his fight for workers' rights despite Amazon's retaliation and intimidation tactics. PFT5 member Zeta reflects on the June 2020 marches in Stat...
![City Council D-49 Candidate's Forum [Video]](https://external.fymy1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/safe_image.php?d=AQEyOFKAeAX-Hyy4&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pleaforthefifth.com%2Fcontent%2Fimages%2F2020%2F08%2FPlea-for-the-Fifth-Masthead.png&_nc_oe=6ea4a&_nc_sid=64c8fc&ccb=3-5&_nc_hash=AQH6vbBudePUbZAf)
City Council D-49 Candidate's Forum [Video]
Today, Tuesday June 22 is Primary Election Day. We are sharing our D-49 Candidate's Forum with full transcription for your convenience. Polls are open until 9 PM, find your poll site, and don't forget to vote. Monday April 19, 2021 we spoke with the candidates vying to represent the North
Today, June 22, is election day for the #NYCPrimary. With $334,820 donated to District 49, it is officially the most expensive election in the history of the district. Read about campaign financing in the final edition of our D-49 Follow the Money series.
Tomorrow is the final day to vote in the Democratic Primary for District 49, Let’s see how much money flowed into the race.
Fighting For Power: The Movement to Independently Unionize Amazon (Subscriber Bonus)
In an extra for our paid subscribers, we provide the pamphlet Amazon Labor Union organizers distribute to workers they're organizing.
Daily, from 4 AM to 9 PM, Christian Smalls and the other Amazon Labor Union (ALU) organizers sit along 5th Street, between Amazon’s fulfillment and sort centers, to collect signed union authorization cards at their table. Some workers can be wary of approaching ALU’s table, fearful that Amazon officials may be observing them. To encourage fearful signees, organizers periodically hold cookouts with free food to draw workers over, and open conversation. A day after their first cookout drew over 200 workers, temporary chain link panels were erected obstructing access to open space in the area. Organizers have since shifted their tables a few feet over to an MTA bus stop, which is public land and cannot be fenced-off.
ALU is a newly formed, worker-led, independent union that, according to their website, will be “protection from Amazon’s exploitative business practices and wrongful terminations.” Unlike traditional unions, which would send in paid staffers to organize the workers, ALU is an independent union that organizes in a grassroots fashion. It’s led by current and former workers, and volunteers from the community showing solidarity.
Amazon fired Christian Smalls during the pandemic, and now he’s leading a nonstop protest to unionize workers in Staten Island.
A year ago last week, in response to George Floyd’s murder, Staten Islanders peacefully marched for Black lives in some of the largest demonstrations the Island has ever seen. Remarks at the demonstrations glossed over police wrongdoing, instead focusing on calling for peace and requesting collaboration with police to “find a solution.”
Leadership and power are often given to those who take advantage of political and moral ambiguities by failing to choose a real side. Yes, organizers may be planning the marches and leading the “no justice, no peace” chants, but they have only done so after voiding those words of any meaning. What does “no justice, no peace” mean when you ask the police to es**rt your marches? What does it mean when you say “no peace” and simultaneously denounce non-peaceful resistance? What does it mean when you take pictures with your fist raised for Black power, but refuse to use it in defense of Black life?
A year ago, in response to George Floyd’s murder, Staten Islanders marched for Black lives in some of the largest demonstrations the Island has ever seen.
What Started When Hundreds of Islanders Marched To Save The Graniteville Wetlands
Photographs from one of Staten Island’s most visible struggles for climate justice: The march to save the Graniteville wetlands. Photographs by Stephen Obisanya
May in Review
PFT5 stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine as they endure the current oppressive occupation of their land at the hands of the state of Israel. Below are our May publications. Free PalestineWritten by Editorial Committee Illustration by XioWe are an organization that supports indigenous s...
Plea for the Fifth stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine as they endure the current oppressive occupation of their land at the hands of the state of Israel. We are an organization that supports indigenous sovereignty both domestically and abroad.
Since its creation in 1948, the state of Israel has worked continuously through acts of genocide to expel Palestinian Muslims, Jews, and Christians from their land and created an apartheid state -- a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Over the last two weeks Israel has committed several war crimes against Palestine including attacking civilians and their homes, attacking the Al-Aqsa mosque, destroying roads to a hospital in Gaza, and attempting to silence journalists by bombing the office building of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera under unfounded claims of terrorist presence within the building.
Read our full Free Palestine statement on the link below.
Plea for the Fifth stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine as they endure the current oppressive occupation of their land at the hands of the state of Israel. We are an organization that supports indigenous sovereignty both domestically and abroad. Since its creation in 1948, the state of
Missed the Earth Day March on the Graniteville Wetlands? Catch the video on our youtube page. Subscribe for future videos.
https://youtu.be/mpzbW3xwHeQ
Plea for the Fifth covers a demonstration by the people of Staten Island against development of natural lands by corporations.
Utilizing a Strength-based Approach to Teaching Students with Disabilities in Staten Island Schools
A Staten Island special education teacher describes how she utilizes a strength-based approach to teach students with disabilities.
Check out news letter: April in Review!
In anticipation of the June 22 primary, last month was very politics-focused for PFT5: A District-49 City Council Candidates Forum, the battle to save the Graniteville Wetlands, and more. Below are our April publications A Last Stand for The WetlandsWritten by Jacqueline Caruso PC Paul Moakley for P...
Missed the City Council Candidates Forum for District 49 or want to watch it again? Catch the full event on our Youtube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL_whVFiUjs&t=18s
The Plea for the Fifth candidate's forum for city council district 49 on April 19, 2021Moderated by Sean GhazalaCandidates participating included Amoy Barnes...
Plea for the Fifth is an entirely grassroots run, people powered organization. For $7 a month, you can help support the work of our reporters, photographers, editors, and other team members. Click the “Subscribe” button on pleaforthefifth.com to sign up for the paid subscription feature and access our bonus audio content.
On Saturday, April 24 there will be a march bringing awareness to the effort to save the Graniteville Wetlands. Plans to build a BJ’s Wholesale Club store, gas station, and an 838-car parking lot at the site have faced strong opposition in recent years. In the past few months, however, many more groups and individuals on the Island have been mobilizing to protect the Wetlands as destruction approaches.
In December 2020 the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) gave the developer Josif A LLC – a frequent commercial developer on the North Shore – permission to start clearing the forest, but activists have been exploring litigation to halt the demolition. The BJ’s project, which would remove 18 acres of marshland, could put thousands of homes and businesses at greater flood-risk, threaten local waterways with possible oil spills, and remove thousands of carbon-absorbing trees.
Between a march and looming litigation to stop construction of a big box store, activists are urgently calling to save Graniteville wetlands
📣 Join us TONIGHT for our District 49 City Council Candidate Forum from 7 to 9 PM.
Nine candidates will be attending: Amoy Barnes, Ranti Ogunleye, Selina Grey, Kamillah Hanks, Kelvin Richards, Troy McGhie, Michael Schnall, John McBeth, and Aidan Rivera.
We hope to see you there too!
Click the link to RSVP and receive the zoom information for the forum.
Plea for the Fifths first ever City Council Candidate's Forum begins with the crowded race for District 49.
Hear from moderator Sean Ghazala about Plea for the Fifth’s Forum for District 49 City Council Candidates
RSVP for tomorrow’s event➡️ bit.ly/District49Forum
#D49Votes
The effects of the pandemic and remote learning have burnt out and disheartened both CSI faculty and students.
“I have a lot of empathy for students dealing with a health crisis, a pandemic, people getting sick, if not dying, and then you're not leaving the house, [and] you don't have work,” said George Emilio Sanchez, Chairperson of the Department of Performing and Creative Arts and Vice Chair of the Executive Committee of the College Council. “It's a challenge and some professors’ methodologies haven't adjusted to the new format.”
CSI students, like all CUNY students, have been learning virtually since last March, but the pandemic threatens the campus in unique ways.
City Council D-49 Candidates Forum
Join Plea for the Fifth on Monday April 19, 2021 as we speak with the candidates vying to represent the North Shore in the city council now represented by the term-limited Councilwoman Debi Rose. The forum will be held from 7 PM to 9 PM, in a three-part format of
During our community-based forum for District 49 City Council Candidates:
✅ Input from our community survey will be incorporated
✅ Community members will have the opportunity to directly ask candidates questions
✅ Community members will be polled on issues concerning District 49
RSVP for the April 19 event at bit.ly/District49Forum
Plea for the Fifths first ever City Council Candidate's Forum begins with the crowded race for District 49.
📣 We’re one week away from our community-based forum for District 49 #CityCouncil candidates!
This year’s ranked choice voting enables you to rank up to 5 candidates in order of preference.
In order for you to make informed decisions come primary day, we’re hosting a large array of candidates and will be discussing a range of different issues. Public health, transportation, land use/ development, policing, education, and the arts will all be on the forum’s agenda.
bit.ly/District49Forum ⬅️ RSVP for our April 19 event
bit.ly/D49CommunitySurvey ⬅️ Fill out our community survey to let us know what questions you want answered by candidates during the forum
📣 We’re one week away from our community-based forum for District 49 #CityCouncil candidates!
This year’s ranked choice voting enables you to rank up to 5 candidates in order of preference.
In order for you to make informed decisions come primary day, we’re hosting a large array of candidates and will be discussing a range of different issues. Public health, transportation, land use/ development, policing, education, and the arts will all be on the forum’s agenda.
bit.ly/District49Forum ⬅️ RSVP for our April 19 event
bit.ly/D49CommunitySurvey ⬅️ Fill out our community survey to let us know what questions you want answered by candidates during the forum
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