The 44 Percent: Florida foreclosures, Black Miami artist shines, honoring a hoops icon

This week’s 44 Percent highlights Black excellence, exposes another way Black Floridians are being robbed of generational wealth and reflects on the life of an NBA great.

We meet Miami native and Florida International University alumna Reyna Noriega, who began her career as an art teacher and always sought ways to use her art to reflect her identity as an Afro-Latina. Now major brands like hair product company Goody are taking notice and her line of hair accessories can be found in Walmarts across the country.

We will highlight reporting on primarily Black homeowners fighting against foreclosure brought on by code enforcement violations filed in various counties throughout the state. Many of the properties have been in these families for generations. .

And we also reflect on the career of late NBA star Willis Reed, which may have been cut short due to injuries, but his impact on fans worldwide could never be understated.

Let’s get into it.

INSIDE THE 305:

Families lose homes after Florida cities turbocharge code enforcement foreclosures:

Cities across Florida are taking an aggressive approach to enforcing code fines and using an attorney to gain results. Many Black and Latino homeowners have lost their homes in the aftermath.

Jessica Shroyer will become homeless tomorrow if the city of Fort Pierce sells her home as planned.

The gray clapboard home is more than 100 years old and shows its age, with missing shingles on the roof and sections of stripped siding. But it’s been in her family, and paid off, for decades. Shroyer, who’s 42, has primarily lived in the house since her father died in 2017.

She’s at risk of losing the house because the city of Fort Pierce, like a number of cities across Florida, has begun to aggressively foreclose on homes in the city for violations ranging from unmowed lawns to unsafe structures.

The foreclosures have brought in millions for the cities, but have taken away homes that have been in families for generations, particularly in heavily Black and lower income neighborhoods. And the lawyer who has aggressively pursued the practice is trying to make cities in South Florida next.

“It’s my life,” Shroyer said of her Fort Pierce home. “If they take this property, they are ripping my life away.”

Miami artist combines creativity and work ethic to get her hair products in Walmart stores:

Miami native and visual artist Reyna Noriega has collaborated with hair product company Goody for a collection of hair accessories that is in 3,000 Walmart stores nationwide.

Peace, love and joy are three themes central to the artwork and life of 2011 Coral Reef High School graduate and South Beach resident Reyna Noriega.

Whether it’s spending time with her Cuban father and Bahamian mother, three siblings or pet schnauzer Pepper, the 2015 Florida International University alumna takes pride in her Miami roots and her family’s Caribbean lineage.

The visual artist and entrepreneur’s latest collaboration with hair care company Goody is emblematic of that. For the project, Reyna designed 60 hair accessories, such as scrunchies, bows and combs, that can be found in about 3,000 Walmart stores locally and nationwide. Her full name is on the packaging making it easy to spot her product collection in stores.

OUTSIDE THE 305:

‘Enough is enough’: L.A. school district workers demand historic raise during three-day strike:

From teachers to bus drivers, 65,000 employees in the second-largest school district in America went on strike to demand better pay and rights.

At the School of Social Justice, Julia Quiroz is one of a kind: She’s the sole bilingual teaching assistant. Despite her unique role on the campus of more than 400 students — 35 percent of whom are English learners — Quiroz’s hourly pay is $16.91, not much more than California’s minimum wage of $15.50.

The income she receives from the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), where she has worked since 2016, is not enough to get by in one of the nation’s most expensive cities, she told The 19th.

Willis Reed, Hall of Fame Center for Champion Knicks, Dies at 80:

One of the most beloved New York Knicks players ever and a staple of the ‘70s NBA, two-time NBA champion Willis Reed passed away this week at 80. He leaves behind a legacy that goes beyond the Big Apple.

Willis Reed, the brawny and inspirational hub of two Knicks championship teams that captivated New York in the early 1970s with a canny, team-oriented style of play, died on Tuesday. He was 80.

His death was confirmed by his former teammate Bill Bradley, the former United States senator. He said Reed had congestive heart issues. It was not clear where Reed died, but he had been under treatment at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, Bradley said.

Reed was notably absent last month, for health reasons, when the Knicks celebrated their 1972-73 championship team during a 50th-anniversary halftime ceremony at Madison Square Garden attended by many former members of that squad, including Bradley, Walt Frazier, Dick Barnett, Earl Monroe and Jerry Lucas. Reed spoke to the crowd in a prerecorded video.

In an era when Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain were the more celebrated big men, Reed was a highly skilled 6-foot-9 center with a resolute physicality that was much admired over a 10-year career, though it was marred by injury and ended at 31.

Where does “The 44 Percent” name come from? Click here to find out how Miami history influenced the newsletter’s title.