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Phillis Wheatley honored with stamp By NOAH PERETZ Correspondent
Angelina Zingariello/Herald
nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman is the Republican Party’s nominee for governor.
Republicans united around Bruce Blakeman County executive is GOP gubernatorial candidate for upcoming election By CHRis COluCCi, ABigAil gRiECO & ANgEliNA ZiNgARiEllO Of the Herald
After three days of official business, rallying the party faithful and nominating the state Republican slate, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman was front and center at the party’s convention in Garden City last week, and accepted the GOP’s nomination to be its gubernatorial candidate. If elected, Blakeman would be only the second Long Islander to become governor, 127 years after Teddy Roosevelt did so, and the first Nassau County executive to hold the state’s top office. Blakeman criticized Gov. Kathy Hochul and pledged to cut income taxes for middle-class families, reduce electricity bills by rolling back state-imposed fees and mandates, and redirect spending he said is being wasted to instead fund schools, infrastructure, hospitals and services for veterans.
“Taxes are soaring, electric bills and insurance premiums keep climbing out of control,” Blakeman said on Feb. 11, the third and final day of the convention. “Crime is rising. Businesses are leaving the state in record numbers. Families and seniors are being priced out of their homes. New York ranks dead last for economic development, and number 45 out of 50 states in the nation for affordability, and it’s all a direct result of Kathy Hochul’s failed policies.” He vowed to oppose congestion pricing, protect Second Amendment rights and support law enforcement, including keeping violent offenders in prison and revisiting criminal justice policies such as cashless bail and parole standards. “I will bring the experience, leadership and focus on public safety,” Blakeman said. “We will make you safer in your homes and your communities, and we will continue to fight for your families. I will be governor for all the people, COntinued On Page 7
Phillis Wheatley, considered to be the first African American author of a published book of poetry, was honored with a 2026 U.S. Postal Service Black Heritage Stamp, the 49th stamp in the collection. Hempstead community leaders, students, and educators gathered at the Joysetta and Julius Pearse African American History Museum of Nassau County in Hempstead on Feb. 11 to celebrate Wheatley. She was brought to the American colonies as a slave in 1761 and rose to relative prominence in the colonies and Britain after publishing Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral in 1773. Her enslavers, the Wheatleys, freed her after the publication of her book, but she passed in poverty just over a decade later in 1784. Empire State After-School Program Coordinator Barbara Powell, Hempstead school district Superintendent Gary Rush, and Rev. Dr. Sedgwick Vaughn Easley spoke at the ceremony. Powell and Rush highlighted the importance of preserving Black history, using that knowledge to highlight the people who uplift the community, and joining them in that effort. Rush emphasized the importance of engaging in historical education outside of school in methods not covered in the typical curriculum. “Whenever we give students the opportunity to connect their performances to the acknowledgement of Black History Month, especially in this stamp ceremony, it’s really what school is all about,” he said. Easley delivered a speech he titled “Signed, Sealed, and Delivered,” in clear
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reference to the stamp honoring Wheatley and as a testament to acknowledging the importance of Black history in the larger story of America, and the dangers of not doing so. “Bondage does not always mean shackles and chains; it often means laws and policies,” he said. “We are fighting against the whitewashing of Black history, and for the rolling back of Black education.” Easley also spoke to the importance of preserving history in times of censorship and erasure, and honored Wheatley for her courage to write about the experience of being enslaved. “Wheatley understood the importance of writing yourself into history; she wrote all of our story into history,” he said. “They took her freedom, but they could not take her voice; she resisted with the power of the pen.” The ceremony, dubbed “A History of Firsts,” honored Wheatley and other Black people who were the first to break into their field, chiefly in New York, such as New York State Sen. Julius A. Archibald, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, New York City Mayor David Dinkins, President Barack Obama, and boxer Muhammad Ali. A stamp honoring Ali was also revealed at the ceremony. Students from the Hempstead school district and the Empire State AfterSchool Program portrayed these figures on stage and addressed the crowd in character, giving brief explanations of who they were and what they did. The students also performed a dance set to “Tired,” by singer-songwriter Kelly Price. With prompting from their teacher, Creative Expression in Motion founder COntinued On Page 3