Hundreds call for Nicole Malliotakis’
resignation amid impeachment
southern Brooklyn congresswoman’s
office on Saturday to protest her objection
— arguing that the voter fraud theories
the Jan. 6 insurrection of the Capitol.
Within 72 hours, she sold us out,”
said Bay Ridge Councilman Justin
Brannan. “This isn’t about politics;
it’s about your moral fiber as a person.”
Staten Island, spent her first days
in Congress voting against the certification
of alleged voter fraud. She joined 121
other House Republicans in her objection,
a “proper hearing” into the allegations.
the two challenged states not to ‘overturn
need for a proper hearing into unconstitutional
Twitter on Jan. 7. “I swore an oath
to the Constitution and REFUSED to
turn a blind eye.”
for forgery. Since the Nov. 3 election,
President Donald Trump’s administration
judges have tossed all but one case
because of lacking evidence.
Malliotakis’ Bay Ridge office, seven
INSIDE
OUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BOROUGH OF KINGS
The meaning of freedom
Artists speak directly to Brooklyn in BAM’s ‘Let Freedom Ring’ installation
expanded on the idea, which will be displayed
on the BAM sign. One is a selfportrait,
which she has never publicly
shown due to the majority of her work
being in photojournalism. The second
photo is of a woman at the March on
Washington in August 2020, and the
last photograph is a mother and son engaging
in the Afro-Brazilian martial
art Capoeira, a practice which Amatullah
Barrayn documented for fi ve years.
Other artists participating in the
project include Derrick Adams, Alvin
Armstrong, Kameelah Janan
Rasheed, Hank Willis Thomas and
Jasmine Wahi.
Ultimately, the hope for the project
was to engage a different audience.
“Now they’ll pay more attention when
they are going down Flatbush,” Ossei-
Mensah said. “It’s an invitation to stop
and pause, take it in, assess, refl ect.
Hopefully, it will start a conversation
about what freedom means.”
COURIER LIFE, JANUARY 15-21, 2021 25
BY CRAIG HUBERT
The pandemic has changed things.
Preparing the Brooklyn Academy of
Music’s annual Martin Luther King
Day celebration, which will be held
virtually this year on Jan. 18, the organizers
wondered how to incorporate
an art project into the fabric of an
event that nobody can attend in person.
Usually, a gallery show of some
kind is attached to the historic celebration,
which has been held for 34 years
and attracts large crowds for its talks
and musical performances.
So they came up with a plan. Why
not make use of BAM’s famous sign
that hangs over the corner of Lafayette
Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, a
busy intersection?
“It’s always been this shiny thing
that I’ve wanted to utilize as a platform
for conversations through the
arts,” said Larry Ossei-Mensah, who
curated the project, called “Let Freedom
BIG PICTURE: Artists Laylah Amatullah Barrayn and Lizania Cruz, and curatorLarry Ossei-
Mensah. Photos by Barnabas Crosby, Manolo Salas, and Aarom Ramey
Ring,” which is on view from Jan.
15 through Jan. 21. “I thought it was an
appropriate platform not only to celebrate
the memory of Dr. King but to invite
artists to refl ect on what the idea
of freedom means.”
Different works addressing the
theme will appear on the screen at different
times. Ossei-Mensah reached
out to a group of artists from Brooklyn
with the idea but left it open for interpretation.
He says the main focus was
to invite artists to have a conversation
with the borough.
That conversation will take many
forms. The Dominican artist Lizania
Cruz, who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant,
went back to “A Freedom Budget
for All Americans,” a proposal put together
by Dr. King along with A. Philip
Randolph and Bayard Rustin. “What is
most striking is that a lot of the things
they were asking for are things you
would see today — health care for all,
basic income, education for all, clean
air and clean water,” Cruz said. “I’m
interested in pushing this conversation
further. What could be a freedom
budget for the government?”
For the photojournalist Laylah
Amatullah Barrayn, the idea of freedom
sent her to her archives. “What
came to mind fi rst was identity,” she
said. “Particularly as a woman of African
descent, a southern woman living
in New York, fi rst-generation — my
family has 400 years of rooted foundational
ties to the south. So identity is
very much important to me.”
She selected three photographs that
Your entertainment
guide Page 25
Police Blotter ..........................8
Opinion ...................................22
Letters ....................................23
Wellness .................................. 16
HOW TO REACH US
COURIER L 4 IFE, JANUARY 15-21, 2021
Hundreds gathered outside a
to two states’ election results
she propagates helped instigate
“Nicole Malliotakis took an oath.
Malliotakis, who also represents
of Pennsylvania’s and Arizona’s
presidential ballots because
and said she did so to spur
“I voted against certification of
an election’ but to highlight
rule changes, irregularities
and alleged fraud,” she wrote on
Many of the fraud allegations argue
that states’ COVID-19 voter accommodations
could have allowed
has launched 60 court challenges
based on the theories, but
During the Jan. 9 protest outside
elected officials from across the city
blasted the congresswoman for continuing
to election challenges even
after the insurrection of the Capitol,
and said she must either vote to impeach
the president or resign.
“She must vote to either support
the 25th Amendment removal
of President Trump — because he is
completely and utterly unfit, as so
many of us have known — and if not,
to vote to impeach him. That is what
she needs to do,” said Boerum Hill assemblywoman
and borough president
candidate, Jo Anne Simon. “And if
she doesn’t do that, we need to make
sure that she goes.”
Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus
— who has worked alongside Malliotakis
in the state legislature —
said that the former Staten Island
assemblywoman’s behavior betrays
her personality.
“I sat down and had coffee with Nicole
Malliotakis, we’ve enjoyed pleasantries.
She’s a nice lady. What is
going on Nicole? What is going on?”
Frontus said.
Meanwhile, more than 300 protesters
chanted and cheered during the
remarks of other speakers, including
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams,
City Councilman and borough president
candidate Antonio Reynoso,
Councilman Brad Lander, and state
Sen. Diane Savino.
Later, a handful of local activists
stepped up the megaphone, taking a
more searing tone.
In her remarks, Linda Sarsour,
a Bay Ridge activist who helped organized
the 2017 Women’s March in
Washington, DC, implicitly blamed
Democratic incumbent Max Rose for
Malliotakis’ victory.
BY ROSE ADAMS
and other people to blame outside of
Nicole Malliotakis, because how did
Nicole Malliotakis get in there in the
first place?” said Sarsour. “If we actually
in their convictions and principles
… we wouldn’t even be in this situation.”
signs reading “Blood on your hands,”
and “Impeach or resign.” But, one
longtime Bay Ridge resident, who
attended the protest alone, said he
didn’t think it was realistic to insist
Malliotakis resign.
nobody’s going to resign,” said Bill,
who declined to give his last name.
“It’s going to be up to the people to
push her out.”
not faltered since her election result
challenge. At least two petitions have
circulated calling on the New York
Congressional Delegation to expel
the congresswoman, and protest attendees
for Malliotakis’ resignation.
stance is to show loyalty to Trump
at all costs,” said Bay Ridge resident
Eleanor Baylor. “The only thing that
can be done is for the community to
put pressure on her.”
thanked her constituents for exercising
to peaceful protest and thank them
as well as the countless constituents
who have reached out to thank me
for upholding my oath and taking a
strong stand for election integrity,”
“There’s another person to blame
had candidates who were running
against her who were standing
Attendees cheered and waved
“I don’t think she’s going to resign;
The pressure on Malliotakis has
vowed to continue pushing
“I think that she’s despicable. Her
In a statement, Malliotakis
their First Amendment rights.
“I support every American’s right
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PROTESTERS CALL FOR
Hundreds rally at Barclays Center to
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