Southeast Queens Scoop Blog - Streetwise Digital News cover Southeast Queens and Jamaica NY

Thursday, September 10, 2026

Venita Benitez Joins New York in Restoring UN International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

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Venita Benitez Joins New York in
Restoring UN International Day of
Remembrance of the Victims of
Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

"BlackScoop News Announces Historic Coverage"

Advocate Venita Benitez Joins New York in Restoring UN International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade to the Place Where the Story Began

The Black News Scoop, is proud to announce the publication of a groundbreaking feature on Advocate Venita Benitez, whose work has reshaped global remembrance in real time. For the first time in history, the United Nations International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, will be honored annually at Fort Monroe, the only UNESCO Site of Memory in the United States by Venita Benitez.

This is not a relocation. This is not a replacement. This is not taking anything away from New York.

This is joining New York — and restoring the remembrance for the ancestors at the place where the history began. New York remains the global stage of the United Nations.

Fort Monroe is the historical ground of 1619. Now, for the first time, they stand together.

Why Fort Monroe Matters — The UNESCO Truth Most People Never Knew
Fort Monroe is not just a historic landmark. It is a UNESCO Site of Memory, one of the most sacred designations in global heritage — reserved for places where humanity confronts its deepest wounds:

genocide
slavery
forced migration
human trafficking
crimes against humanity

Fort Monroe is the only UNESCO Site of Memory in the United States.

And here is the revelation: Fort Monroe remains protected even after the United States withdraws from UNESCO in December 2026.

UNESCO Sites of Memory do not disappear when a country leaves. They remain protected under international heritage law. They remain recognized globally. They remain part of humanity’s memory.

Which means: The UN Remembrance at Fort Monroe — restored by Venita Benitez — is permanent.

This is the part the world didn’t know. This is the part BlackScoop is breaking. This is the part that changes history.

Part Three: Education Is the Key to Future Workforce Development

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IS YOUTH VIOLENCE AN EPIDEMIC THAT COULD HURT SOMEONE YOU LOVE?

Part Three: Education Is the Key to Future Workforce Development

What skill or opportunity made or would have made the greatest difference in your life when you were young?

Education Is the Key to Future Workforce

IS YOUTH VIOLENCE AN EPIDEMIC THAT COULD HURT SOMEONE YOU LOVE?

Part Three: Education Is the Key to Future Workforce Development

Education is more than earning a diploma. It is one of the foundations of confidence, leadership, problem-solving, career readiness, and future opportunity. When young people lack academic support, mentorship, leadership development, or a connection between learning and employment, they may have difficulty seeing a positive path forward.

When young people cannot see a future connected to education and opportunity, hopelessness can grow. That hopelessness can increase vulnerability to negative influences and make it harder to choose pathways that lead away from violence.

The Create Conversations Community views educating youth as an investment in future workforce development. Through Journey to Leadership, young people will be connected to mentors, leadership training, career readiness, practical skills, internships, and opportunities that help them understand how education can lead to purpose, employment, and economic independence.

Comment below and tell me: When you were young, what educational support, skill, or opportunity made, or would have made, the greatest difference in preparing you for the workforce?

We are raising $50,000 as an initial launch-development milestone, not as the full budget for the initiative. This first step will help us begin building the foundation for the larger vision.

If you believe every young person deserves a safer, more hopeful future and you believe in this work, please support the launch by making a gift, hosting an online fundraiser, or sharing this post.

Learn more about the program and give here:

https://givebutter.com/support-sustainable-community...

For more in-depth program information, email conversations@risenetwork.net.

The final post in the series, “Lack of Sustainable Income and Youth Violence,” will be published on Tuesday, September 8, at 7:00 p.m.

Please share this post and let’s Build the Future, Together.

Rozalyn Shepard

Create Conversations Community

Rise Network Community Development Corporation

#CreateConversations #Education #YouthViolenceAwareness #JourneyToLeadership #Mentorship #WorkforceDevelopment #CareerReadiness #BuildTheFutureTogether

Get The Scoop On Queens Ride NYC

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Queens Ride NYC

Our inaugural #RideQueens bike tour is less than a month away!

Join me, New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, Transportation Alternatives and up to 2,000 fellow cyclists on Sunday, September 20 in seeing our borough in a way you never have before.

Ride Queens will start and end in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, with riders being able to choose to cycle along either a 12- or 25-mile loop through Central, Eastern and Northern Queens. And after the ride, there will be a post-event festival in the park with food, performances and more.

But you MUST register in advance in order to ride. You can register at the link below, or find more information at www.queensbp.nyc.gov/ridequeens

https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSeZ9nwhCKKDaK.../viewform

Part Two: Fractured Families Create Fractured Communities

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IS YOUTH VIOLENCE AN EPIDEMIC
THAT COULD HURT SOMEONE YOU LOVE?

Part Two: Fractured Families Create Fractured Communities

What is one thing that could help bring families and neighbors closer together?

Part Two: Fractured Families Create Fractured Communities

Families and communities are connected. When families are wounded, disconnected, or unstable, those conditions can extend into neighborhoods, schools, and relationships. When communities are divided by fear, silence, and mistrust, young people may not receive the belonging, protection, guidance, and positive connection they need.

A fractured community can make it more difficult to recognize problems early, support families, protect young people, and respond to conflict before it becomes violence. Creating safer communities requires more than reacting after harm occurs. It requires people to rebuild relationships and accept shared responsibility for the well-being of young people.

The Create Conversations Community addresses this obstacle by creating opportunities for listening, education, mentorship, community forums, roundtables, civic participation, and shared action. Rebuilding relationships helps strengthen the network of support surrounding families and young people.

Comment below and tell me: What is one thing that could help bring families and neighbors closer together?

We are raising $50,000 as an initial launch-development milestone, not as the full budget for the initiative. This first step will help us begin building the foundation for the larger vision. If you believe every young person deserves a safer, more hopeful future and you believe in this work, please support the launch by making a gift, hosting an online fundraiser, or sharing this post.

Learn more about the program and give here:

https://givebutter.com/support-sustainable-community...

Join the Create Conversations Community Facebook group and remain connected to the conversation:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/createconversationscommunity

For more in-depth program information, email conversations@risenetwork.net.

The next post in the series, “Education Is the Key to Future Workforce Development,” will examine how education can help young people develop the skills, confidence, and opportunities needed to build a sustainable future.

Please share this post and let’s Build the Future, Together.

Rozalyn Shepard

Create Conversations Community

Rise Network Community Development Corporation

#CreateConversations #FracturedFamilies #FracturedCommunities #YouthViolenceAwareness #Mentorship #CommunitySafety #BuildTheFutureTogether

Cassandra Wilson, Jazz Voice Who Gave "Strange Fruit" New Power, Dies at 70

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Sultry and Socially Conscious Jazz Legend Cassandra Wilson Dies At 70

Wilson at the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, NYC, 2007
Photo Credit Professor Bop

Cassandra Wilson, the Grammy Award-winning singer whose Mississippi blues roots shaped one of the most distinctive voices in modern jazz, died Tuesday, September 1st in Jackson, Mississippi, according to Hinds County Coroner Jeramiah Howard. Jeramiah Howard, confirmed her death at age 70; officials released no cause.

Wilson built her legacy as a musician who moved fluidly across genres, opening for Miles Davis and touring with Wynton Marsalis during a run of major jazz success through the 1980s and '90s. She embraced the title of musician above any single label, a stance that let her carry blues, folk, and soul into jazz spaces and expand who the genre could reach.

Her low, smoky voice brought fresh romance to Great American Songbook standards while she pulled covers from Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Neil Young, and Mississippi bluesman Robert Johnson into her repertoire, proving remarkably popular in decades when jazz lost mass audience share to rock and rap.

Wilson's rendition of "Strange Fruit" stands as one of her most powerful contributions to American music and memory. Billie Holiday's original recording exposed the horror of lynching in the Jim Crow South, and Wilson's version, with its slow-burning alto and spacious arrangement, carried that history forward for new listeners decades later. She turned the song into a bridge between generations, connecting the anti-lynching movement of the 20th century to ongoing conversations about racial violence today.

Checkout the Strange Fruit Video Below...

Part One: Dysfunctional Family Systems and Youth Violence

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Dysfunctional Family Systems and Youth Violence

Part One of the Create Conversations Community Educational Series

By Rozalyn Shepard

Is Youth Violence an Epidemic That Could Hurt Someone You Love?

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to the Create Conversations Community.

When we talk about youth violence, we often focus on what happened, who was involved, and how the situation should be handled after harm has occurred. Those conversations are important, but we must also be willing to look deeper. We must ask what young people may be experiencing before they become involved in crime or violent behavior.

Youth violence does not happen in isolation. It can be connected to the conditions surrounding a young person, including the family system, the community, education, and access to sustainable opportunity. Today, I want to focus on the first of the four obstacles to success faced by poor families, dysfunctional family systems.

Looking Within Our Families

A young person’s first understanding of love, communication, conflict, responsibility, and safety often begins at home. Family is where many young people first learn how to express emotions, respond to disagreement, trust others, accept accountability, and seek help.

When a family system is affected by unresolved wounds, instability, poor communication, constant conflict, emotional disconnection, or the absence of positive guidance, young people may struggle to develop the tools they need to handle life’s challenges. They may carry anger that has never been addressed, pain they do not know how to express, or fear they have learned to hide.

These circumstances do not mean that every young person from a difficult family environment will become violent. They do mean that when young people lack stability, support, guidance, and healthy examples, they may become more vulnerable to isolation, negative peer influence, retaliation, and harmful choices.

That is why this conversation must begin with honest self-examination. We cannot only ask what is wrong with young people. We must also ask what young people are receiving from the adults and family systems around them.