thursday, feb. 20, 2025
celebrating 121 years
free
N • Teaching leaders
C • The Cherry Pit closes
S • Coach Carter
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Tashia Thomas Neal created SCORE to give students an outlet to educate and empower themselves and others about racial injustice.
On Feb. 28, the four co-owners of The Cherry Pit, a vintage clothing store, will close the store to pursue individual endeavors in fashion.
Assistant coach Khyreed Carter’s personable and player-oriented style helped SU to consecutive 20-win campaigns from 2022-24.
Answering ‘the call’
After decades in faith and public service, the Bishop of Syracuse believes in action
bishop dr. h. bernard alex is a community leader in Syracuse, blending faith, politics, and social justice advocacy. He’s led numerous community service initiatives aimed at positively transforming the city. surya vaidy staff photographer By Arabella Klonowski asst. copy editor
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rom an early age, Bishop Dr. H. Bernard Alex felt strong ties to his Syracuse community and quickly learned the power of dedication. Growing up with seven siblings, Alex watched his father work the night shift as a janitor at the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, now the Everson Museum. Not knowing how to read his supervisor’s cursive handwriting, his father would wait for the museum guard to fall asleep and run home to have his wife read his assignments to him before returning to work. His father dedicated 35 years to his work at the museum to ensure his eight children could pay for college. “If we wanted to go to college, he was going to do what he had to do for us to get there,” Alex said. “So if we didn’t go, we couldn’t say it wasn’t because we didn’t have an opportunity.” Now, Alex serves as the Bishop of Syracuse and pastor of the Victory Temple Fellowship Church. In 2023, he was elected DeWitt Town Board member and continues to serve as its first Black representative.
Alex said his work in the community allows him to combine his faith and political involvement throughout the Syracuse area into similar efforts. “I see my faith to be a faith of action in a political setting, not religious,” Alex said. “(It’s a) big difference because I like religious people and I don’t like church people.” Alex’s childhood home on South Townsend Street looked up at the hill Syracuse University stands on. He said he grew up in the projects and attended church with his family. Alex spent his childhood days reading editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica from front to back, leading to his “love of words” and decision to study English at Tuskegee University. Laurie Kingsberry, an SU alumni and former student director of the Black Celestial Choral Ensemble at SU, worked closely with Alex as a member of the choir while they were in college. Alex attended SU for just over a year while recovering from gastrointestinal surgery. “He came in as a leader,” Kingsberry said. “You know that some people just come in and they sort of sit and watch, but he came in immediately giving us corrections and direction … and we appreciated that.” Kingsberry said Alex takes every opportunity to help arrange choir events and finds quality speakers to strength-
en programming. He said Alex even comes in to speak to the choir when he has the chance. Alex’s wife, Jahnjae Alex, said the two met during their high school’s music department practice. She recalled a young Alex whose commitment to civic engagement was ever-present back then. “(His work is) exhausting and it takes a lot of time and energy, but I know it’s for the good of many others,” Jahnjae said. “He is the voice for those who don’t have a voice, either because they don’t know how to use the voice or they just don’t have the platform to speak for themselves.” Despite holding the title of doctor, bishop and formerly, pastor, Alex said he prefers to not be addressed by them. He said his strength lies within his actions, not his title. “They have learned to trust me,” Alex said. “If you can trust me to cook for you, if you can trust me to come to the school and help get your kids out of trouble or help you with a housing issue or whatever, then you’ll trust me in empowering you to understand this political process.” Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens said she first met the bishop over 30 years ago, when he was her pastor, and has stayed in contact with him ever since. see alex page 5
city
Syracuse common councilors address city lead water crisis By Duncan Green news editor
As city officials, advocates and third-party sampling groups work to address the ongoing lead water crisis in Syracuse, Daron Medley, a local elementary schooler diagnosed with lead poisoning in 2018, has repeated the same question to anyone who will listen: “My brother and I have already been lead poisoned,” Medley said.
“Why do you want to poison us again?” In a special committee meeting Tuesday, Robert Brandt, Syracuse’s deputy commissioner of water, presented updated lead water data and proposals to expedite the pipe replacement process to the city’s Common Council. Brandt said the city is aware of at least 14,000 private lead service lines, though that number could be as high as 30,000. The Public Works committee discussed short-term plans,
I understand entirely where ... residents are coming from. Anytime you hear the word lead, that’s a scary thought.
Sol Muñoz
city spokesperson
including refabbing 2,700 homes in the coming year, while acknowledging the need to test homes with unknown statuses. Between 2005 and 2007, Syracuse replaced the public side of the city’s water lines, covering every pipe from the main to the curb stop where the line is then considered “private,” Brandt said. Under the United States Environmental Protection Agency guidelines, all lead pipes — private or public — must be replaced by 2034.
Brandt refuted many of the claims made by Elin Betanzo in an analysis of the city’s lead water data last week, including allegations that the city’s efforts caused delays in pipe replacement. Brandt said the city is ahead of EPA standards but acknowledged that mismanaged sampling efforts last year contributed to a lack of trust throughout the community. “I’m trying to fix this problem,” Brandt said. “I’m willing to do whatsee lead page 5