Southeast Queens Parade Honors Late NY Assemblywoman's Legacy

CAMBRIA HEIGHTS, QUEENS — Residents of southeast Queens paid tribute to the legacy of the late New York Assembly Member Barbara Clark this weekend with the fourth annual "We Can Because We Know We Can Community Parade."

Clark started the parade in the 1980s when her children were attending Andrew Jackson High School, now known as the Campus Magnet high schools, according to parade organizer James Johnson.

Public education was Clark's signature issue when she represented parts of southeast Queens, including Cambria Heights, in the state assembly, the New York Times reported when she died in 2016.

Joann Linning resurrected the parade in 2007. Now Johnson, her son, helps her keep Clark's legacy alive by organizing the parade each year.

The parade, scheduled to coincide with the Campus Magnet Educational Complex's homecoming celebration, featured three grand marshals: entertainer and Campus Magnet alumnus Shiggy, In The Chair Salon and Barbershop owner Debra Hammond and retired transit worker Thomas Butch Clark, the late assemblywoman's son.

"It's always important that we continue to show our youth and community how and why we can come together," Hammond, the salon owner, said in a statement. "It's a celebration when one voice can be heard and that voice is for growth and change."