On The Aisle – 2009: A Year in Review in Black Theater

2009 was an absolutely phenomenal year for Blacks in theater from off-Broadway to Broadway. If you came by the way of Brooklyn, you got to enjoy the magnificent writing of Jackie Alexander, as the Billie Holiday Theatre presented, The High Priestess of Dark Alley with an all-Black cast. A superb production of The Good Negro by Tracey Scott Wilson played at the Public Theatre. It featured a mixed cast which was very talented. It was like watching an expose’ on how the FBI and the Ku Klux Klan worked against Blacks during the Civil Rights Movement down South.
A show that features another mixed cast is on Broadway and is going strong at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, that show is HAIR and it is definitely worth experiencing. When you walk in the theatre and take a seat you are made a part of the Tribe of hippies who believe in free love, flowing drugs and long hair. This show is a blast! Although the show has since closed, the revival of Guys and Dolls on Broadway that starred Titus Burgess in the role of Nicely Nicely Johnson was a pleasure to watch. Burgess rocked the house when he did the character’s signature number “You’re Rocking The Boat.”
When you go to the theater it is truly a gift when you get to see a dramatic production that teaches you about an injustice that Black people have suffered. It shares their trials, but also the fact that they managed to survive. That is the kind of inspiration and heartfelt message that came across to audiences as they were stunned and captivated, while watching Ruined, a drama by Lynn Nottage that played at the New York City Center.  The play shared the true stories of women who had been victimized by soldiers in war torn Democratic Republic of Congo. As you walked around the theatre pictures of actual women Nottage interviewed were displayed on the walls. The play also got Nottage her due, as she received the Pulitzer Prize for it in 2009.
On the lighter side of entertainment, audiences were almost falling out of their chairs onto the floor of the Beacon Theatre when Tyler Perry’s The Marriage Counselor was performed. Perry just has a way with words that make them so down to earth, but hilarious at the same time. The characters he creates remind one of someone you might actually know. His stories are hilarious, but also always have a bit of a religious aspect to them. The marriage counselor’s story reminds one of the expression “physician heal thyself.” It was incredible to watch the revival of August Wilson’s drama Joe Turner’s Come And Gone at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway. It was presented by Lincoln Center and spotlighted the talents of a tremendous, mainly Black cast. In fact, Roger Robinson won the Tony this year for his role.
Tony Award-winner Phylicia Rashad returned to Broadway as Violet Weston in Tracy Lett’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play August Osage County. The comedy/drama played at the Music Box Theatre, and looked at the dysfunctional life of a pill-popping, sharp-tongued mother of three.
Some wonderful shows that had a limited life were Pure Confidence and a revival of The Wiz. Both these shows were wonderful. The first looked at the life story of a slave, who was also a jockey and won races easily. The other production gave Ashanti Singer her chance to debut on stage and it was a magnificent show.
A milestone was reached withDavid Lamb’s Platanos & Collard Greens as it celebrated its sixth year at the Florence Guild Hall on 59th St. The funny production looks at relationships between Blacks and Latinos and discloses stereotypes they have about each other.
Roger Guenvere Smith performed his one-man Frederick Douglass Now at the Irish Arts Center. The Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre at Lincoln Center premiered Broke-ology, a play by African-American playwright Nathan Louis Jackson. The drama featured an all-Black cast and showed how two brothers struggled over the decision of how to take care of an ill father. FELA! made its explosive Broadway debut and celebrates the life, music and political struggles of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the father of the Afrobeat. This musical is at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre at W. 49th St.
Some other wonderful shows that happened in 2009 was Sing Harlem Sing at the Dempsey Theatre on W. 127th St. There was River Crosses Rivers-Short Plays by Women of Color at the Castillo Theatre and was presented by New Federal Theatre. It featured plays by Lynn Nottage, Ruby Dee, P.J. Gibson, Naveen Bahar Choudhury, Cori Thomas and Bridgette Wimberly. A new original Broadway musical is Memphis at the Shubert Theatre on W 44th St.  Dreamgirls came to the Apollo Theatre before going on tour. Anna Deavere Smith’s Let Me Down Easy made its New York premiere and it was moving to watch. A comedy/drama, Superior Donuts by Tracy Letts played at the Music Box Theatre and served as the Broadway debut vehicle for young African-American actor Jon Michael Hill. Finian’s Rainbow opened on Broadway and is still playing featuring Chuck Cooper. Ragtime has been revived and is being brilliantly presented at the Neil Simon Theatre.
In 2010, let me just mention some of the names that will be on Broadway, Denzel Washington, Vanessa Williams, Norm Lewis, Ron Cephas Jones and Antony Mackie.

The View From Here

 

This first year of the Barack Obama presidency has been spent setting the stage for the what’s to come.  The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are far from over, but they seem to have faded in the popular consciousness, but not for the men and women overseas fighting, their families here at home, those trapped in the war zone and the drain on our treasury.  By the end of next year, we hope and pray that the president’s plan for disengagement will succeed and we will begin to see the end of this military adventure. 
The global-warming crisis is the biggest threat to people around the world and it will only be worse next year, continuing to cause death by drought, flood and famine, and causing mass migrations as people move to escape rising sea levels and find food, water and resources.   The just concluded United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen has been criticized as producing no set goals for nations to achieve, but they will have another chance to set definitive timetables in Mexico at the end of next year. 
For me, one of the most disheartening scenes to watch this year has been what has been called the health care debate, but which has devolved into the shameless purchase of the government by the pharmaceutical and health industrial complex. 
In November of 2008 we wrote of President Obama, “The leniency shown to the turncoat Senator Joe Lieberman should also not be misconstrued as weakness.  As distressing as it appears to some Obama supporters, they should keep in mind Godfather Vito Corleone saying ‘There may come a day I will ask you for a favor.’  Joe will be granting Obama favors many times in many ways for supporting him to remain as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.”  Boy, were we wrong.  It has been a sorry sight to see Senator Lieberman imposing his will on the country by demanding that there be no public option in the health care bill despite the polls saying the majority of people want it, and the facts showing how much money it would save.  Either Senator Lieberman double-crossed the president or Obama knew Lieberman’s position all along, but was never going to push for a public option anyway.  The wiping out of the public option, and the non-consideration of a single-payer system in any form, is a triumph of money over people, and will result in more deaths by non-treatment, 45,000 last year and a population forced to pay for the profits and administrative costs of the health care industry.   All of those brightly painted insurance company RV’s we see with the workers setting up tables on the street are paid for by health insurance premiums and they have nothing to do with health care, only trolling for customers at our expense.  
But money saved by the people, is money lost as far as the insurance companies are concerned and they are not having it and neither will their minion in the halls of congress, cementing the perception that we have the best democracy money can buy. 
So now we are saddled with supporting the lifestyles of  the rich by being forced to select which crook to allow to pick our pockets.   And while these corporate welfare addicts are making out beautifully, we find that Black businesses are being shut out of the stimulus dollars at the same time their communities are suffering the highest unemployment rates.
We always understood that the last thing a Black president would do is show favoritism to the Black community, but after receiving over 90% of the Black vote we did expect something approaching fairness from this administration.  To be so wrong on this item is particularly painful. 
They say it takes miles to bring an ocean-going oil tanker to a stop and I bet that’s a lot like changing the habits of a bureaucracy the size of the federal government, so I guess the president could be cut a little slack.  Obama has a lot of work to do in this second year because if the Black community has to endure another year like his first, the lesson he will leave us with is that having a Black president may be good for the soul, but it’s the effect on the pocketbook and the dinner table that will be the ultimate judge. May you have a merry Christmas and a happy Kwanzaa.

Parents Notebook: Kujichagulia – Self Determination

 

 

Mayor Bloomberg recently announced his plan to use test scores as a factor in deciding which teachers earn tenure. Test scores are already being used to determine teacher and principal bonus pay, to assign A through F letter grades that schools receive and to decide which schools are shut down for poor performance. Apparently eyeing President Obama’s Race to the Top federal grants to states for innovative education programs. It’s obvious that the Mayor needs a few lessons, particularly of the meaning of innovative education programs and achievement. I’m praying that there are still enough educators whose educational philosophy centers around providing an environment where each student learns to think, problem-solve, discover and hone skills to contribute to community and society.

The time has come when we must take the Kwanzaa principle “Kujichagulia” into our daily practice. As African-Americans, we know the history of physical slavery and the resulting mental slavery. The question today is do we recognize the 21

 

st

century form of slavery? Dependency! In fast-food restaurants and on cell phones that dial numbers that we can no longer remember – as starters. And as usual, children are the ideal targets because we’ve heard “train a child in the way it should go and when he is old, he won’t depart”. Parents, our children spend forty hours a week, nine months a year in school. It’s time we ask the question – For whose purpose? If achievement means scoring three or more on a standardized test, I’m clear that the achievement has little if anything to do with personal growth and development needed to transform our communities and society, changing the dismal statistics on our youth.

We must get involved, not for the coffee clutches or run-of-the-mill PTA meetings but for total involvement in our children’s education, starting with creating a stimulating home environment to advocating for the needs of the school, holding legislators accountable for decisions that affect our children to preventing principals and teachers being forced to choose between their jobs and educating our children. We are the ones to save our children. Let’s celebrate Kwanzaa 2009 by joining or creating a project to save our children from the mayor’s scheme – projects to reinstate educators to the jobs of educating – professionals who understand the difference between achievement and memorizing answers to test questions.

Researchers have established evidence of students having different learning styles and multiple intelligences. The intelligent direction for heads of education would be to adapt their school environments to foster true student achievement. Anything short of that continues the dropout rates, the school-to-prison pipeline and contributes to drug abuse and violence among our youth. Do we have a choice?

With the glaring need to practice Kujichagulia, I recalled working with individual parents concerned about their child not being promoted made the difference in their child making the grade.

Following our motto, “The transformation of a nation begins in the homes of its people”, The Parent’s Notebook is seeking parents whose child scored a one or two on the most recent tests to participate in the project – Making the Grade 2010. We’re using the research to support the students becoming self-directed – the S in our development of SMART children and families. Although the research is in verifying that individuals have more intelligences than English and Math, those remain the basis for scores. We will use the research to 1) acknowledge the child for the strengths they have, 2) ensure their exposure to activities where those skills are used and appreciated, and 3) connect them to activities that increase skills in weaker areas.

This year marks the 40

 

th Anniversary of the Kwanzaa Celebration at Boys and Girls High School, Harriet Tubman Ave. and Fulton Street being held December 26th thru 28th. Featured on December 26th , the first day of Kwanzaa, will be a panel discussion on Economics, Education and Health from 3 to 5 pm. I will present the Making the Grade 2010 on that panel. Mark your calendar. The goal is giving the gift of Kujichagulia to ourselves and to our children. For questions beforehand call 718-783-0059 or e-mail parentsnotebook@yahoo.com

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View From Here: Why William Thompson for Mayor

Bill Thompson grew up on Putnam Avenue between Stuyvesant and Malcolm X Blvd.   The journey from those streets to being elected City Comptroller in 2001, managing a staff of more than 700 with a budget of $68 million and being overwhelmingly reelected in 2005,  is a long one with middle-class struggles, and successes achieved by hard work.  It is a journey that has attuned Comptroller Thompson to the problems that the middle class and middle class aspirants feel every day.  It has also given him the confidence to use the strategy necessary for this mayoral battle.  “The only way to compete with the richest man in New York City is to build from the ground up.  If you’re going to get into a dollar battle, you’re going to lose very quickly.” 

Thompson was speaking at a fund-raiser in the UN Plaza home of Edward Bergman and his family, high above the East River and about as far from Putnam Avenue as you can get. Here, Bill Thompson was speaking about education  and the need to go in a different direction.  “Our young people are being taught to take standardized tests,” he said.  “Our children are not taught critical thinking.  They’re not taught comprehension.  Not taught the skills they will need in the future.  We’re being given a false sense of accomplishment and all it is leading to is that our children are not being taught to compete.” 

Bill Thompson has an empathy with ordinary people that Mayor Bloomberg feels can be achieved by riding the subway four or five times a week.  But the Brooklyn Papers reported that in their interview with the Mayor, they asked about community benefit agreements, such as that signed by Bruce Ratner for the Atlantic Yards Project.  “I’m violently opposed to community benefits agreements,” the mayor replied.   “A small group of people, to feather their own nests, extort money from the developer? That’s just not good government.”    This statement alone disqualifies him as a choice for Mayor of New York City.  Here he is the richest man in New York, oblivious to the irony of his being “violently opposed” to small groups of unemployed Black men, many living pressed in by the explosion of construction in downtown Brooklyn, feathering their public housing nests, by demanding the opportunity to do hard work. 

He accuses them of extortion for insisting that developers of the gilded city rising only blocks away, put aside a portion of contracts and work for local people and companies.  He has $16 billion dollars, but helping someone bring home a paycheck for rent, food and clothing is “not good government.”  His concept of good government would have met with a vigorous nod of approval from Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France who, the apocryphal story goes, when told the starving masses had no bread, thought she’d be cute and said, “Let them eat cake.”  True or not, it was 1793 during the French Revolution and the people objected to the haughty attitude and the lady lost her head.  

The mayor’s team seems to have lost their collective heads as well or they must have read something in the polls saying it won’t be a double-digit win, to risk bringing in Rudy Giuliani, the biggest loser in the Republican presidential primaries, and someone anathema to the African-American community, to campaign with the mayor. Giuliani knows as much now as when he snickered at the Republican Convention at the thought of a “community organizer” becoming president.

Rudy’s connecting an election of William Thompson with a probable rise in crime and Bloomberg, frankly dishearteningly, going further, saying that New York can go the way of Detroit if Thompson were elected, was certainly the most offensive local politicking we’ve seen in some time.  Why does a billionaire have to resort to running a morally bankrupt campaign? Maybe it is as former mayor David Dinkins said at the Manhattan fundraiser, they have forgotten the great Negro Baseball League player Satchel Paige’s admonition, “Don’t look back, they may be gaining on you.” 

I don’t know what the calculus is here, perhaps the old tactic of tricking poor whites that they and the plantation owners share a bond, but it is certainly dismissive of the Black vote and those who would rather have the men of the neighborhood going to and from work rather than standing around chronically unemployed.   The mayor’s office has to become centered on the problems of regular working people and those who want to be working, and the city budget has to be used to not only deliver services but to circulate in the communities that need them most, lifting the quality of life for all New Yorkers.  It’s time for the Bloomberg era to come to a close.   Polls open 6am, November 3rd.  Every vote counts.

Another View of Elections

Parents, with our decision to have children came the responsibility to nurture their innate genius while modeling behavior that fosters community.  The goal is to have them grow up taking responsibility for their performance, knowing they play an integral role in shaping their personal environment as well as their community at large.  As parents, we are perpetually teaching.  Our lives become models to be patterned by our children, rejected or rebelled against by them.  What are you modeling?
Our egos don’t allow for much self-assessment.  But if we are to empower our children to make the changes necessary for them to thrive (notice I didn’t say survive) in this country, it requires us to look at the practices that have prevented us from effecting change thus far.
Does your child see you taking on challenges, solving problems and overcoming obstacles or complaining, pointing the finger of blame at others, resigned and hopeless about situations?
There is a cloud of resignation hanging over our communities that show up as lack of participation across the board: political elections, involvement in schools, block and tenant associations.  In these areas, only a few people make the decisions because only a few participate.  But we all complain and the decisions made by the few affect us all.
The last few days leading up to the upcoming election can serve as an opportunity to include your child in the process and examining ways of modeling involvement.  Some suggestions.
·     Resolve issues arising in the family by convening meetings where all sides of the issue are heard and family members vote.  It’s really important that the youngsters are free to express their point of view.  It’s also important that the parents understand that others, including our children, may see things differently than we do.  I think that   conflicts ranging from family fights to wars stem from the inability to tolerate differences.  If in our families we can acknowledge and appreciate different perspectives, we not only teach conflict management but we teach community building because the more perspectives shared on an issue leads to a better solution.
·     Register to vote and then vote in every election.  There are no unimportant elections. Make the election a family project.   Gather biographical information on the candidates.  Discuss their positions on issues.  Watch televised debates. And by all means, take your children to the polls.   Let them pull the lever. I took my children to the polls from the age of four or five and they could hardly wait until they turned 18 to register to vote.  The habit of voting continues as adults are now residing in  five different states.
·     Take it a step further.  Show a commitment to have all residents on your block know they make a difference.  Let them know that when a total community actually cast votes (not merely register), they get the attention of the decision-makers.  Don’t get bogged down in who your neighbors vote for.  Remember, individuals have different points of view. The goal is to have a large number of folks in our communities showing up and pulling the levers.  Some years back, voter registration was a major activity of candidates running for office. Today, the focus is on the voters who actually show up at the polls.
Parents, since you are shaping tomorrow anyway, why not do it with purpose and experiencing satisfaction?  In the Ujima Circle parents are sharing ways to make Home Work to develop Self-directed, Motivated, Achieving, Responsible, Team-working families. Call 718-783-0059 or e-mail parentsnotebook@yahoo.com.

View From Here

Writing for the Future of Freedom Foundation, Sheldon Richman toes the same line of false options that the anti-Universal Health Care crowd always cite.  He says of Obama’s public health plan, “ He wants a ‘public option.’ That’s a euphemism for a government-run health-insurance program that is to provide a competitive alternative to private, for-profit insurance. This rationale is misleading because there is already competition among insurers — and there would be far more if state governments did not restrict intrastate competition and prevent interstate competition. For example, a resident in Minnesota, whose insurance policy is burdened with dozens of state-mandated provisions for coverage he may not want (for instance, alcoholism/drug rehab and breast reconstruction), may not legally buy a policy offered in Idaho, which has far fewer mandates.”
What Richman is describing is a race to the bottom in benefits.  The insurance companies will follow the same path as the off-shore profit seekers, they want the cheapest place to operate and in the example Richman gives, that would be the state with the fewest mandated services.  In short, the state that mandates the least health care will become the favorite home state of the insurers.
The competition among insurers is not a cost deterrent, it is just a cost.
To understand how the government program would cost less, we need only consider the expenses the government will not have:  No sales force. No sales people to pay, no trucks idling at the curb while folks sit at tables trying to catch customers for their health care dollars.  No advertising,  no little gifts to give away.  They wouldn’t have the sales support staff.  No secretaries, no regional and area managers.  They wouldn’t have to pay chief executives exorbitant salaries.  Wouldn’t have to pay for their support staff, limousines, lunches or first class air tickets.  None of those expenses would exist.  Wouldn’t have to pay for car service at night, no vice presidents in charge of marketing, the art and design departments, and all other departments, will not need to be duplicated.
The list of expenses that would disappear or would no longer need to be duplicated is astonishing and virtually endless.  The fact that they are never spoken about is amazing.  Perhaps it’s because one person’s expense is another’s job.  And that’s what will keep this health albatross around our collective necks.

The Park Deserves Better Than This

Over the past 3-weeks approximately 30 plants have been stolen from Herbert Von King Park on Lafayette Avenue between Marcy and Tompkins Avenues reported Walter Markham, head gardener for the park.  The Park, where the Bedford Stuyvesant Little League takes the field every summer night, and where on holidays, if you haven’t secured your barbecue spot by 6am, you’re looking for whatever is left.   “They’ve been taking them at night and one of the evergreen bushes, a newly-planted Taxus, weighed about 50 lbs. including the root ball which had been dug up,”  suggesting that this was not the work of idle youngsters.    “What I’m afraid of is that the plants will die and whoever took them may come back for replacements” said Markham.  Park neighbors, including the 79th Police Precinct right across the street, have been alerted to be watchful.

Plants stolen from Herbert Von King Park over the last few weeks:
10 Rosebushes
8 Reb Barberry
6 Taxus (Evergreens)
3 Boxwoods (Evergreen)
1 Red Chokeberry

Competition: a Partner in Education

Competition: a Partner in Education

Our education system is about memorizing information and passing tests.    The standardized curriculum with standardized tests determines a student’s grade and influences college and career choices and unfortunately self-esteem.  The student’s innate intelligences or level of interest are not considered.   Can we change this formula and create environments that put our children into the equation and spur their creativity?  There are youth activities within our community that can be used to stimulate intellect while teaching social values and skills.  Interestingly enough, competition attracts young folk – look at the basketball courts indoor and outside.  Too often, adults fall into the trap of negating the significance of Sports.  Its role in physical fitness alone is vital to health but there are more to be explored.
Among the tournaments held in March and without the clamor that comes with PSAL Basketball was Families United Association’s Jammin’ Jumpers Competition (Celebrate Double Dutch) held at St. Peter Claver Gym.  Competing were 60 teams from Brooklyn, Albany, Long Island, Manhattan and the Bronx – a total of 180 girls competing.
Jammin’ Jumpers Coach, Ruth Payne, had been coaching basketball since 1984 and Double Dutch since 1987.   The young men she’s coached call her Ms. Ruthie and the girls call her Ms. Payne.  She explains that the girls came to Double Dutch through schools. Working as a Drug Prevention Counselor, she often counseled girls who were fighting and having behavioral problems.  “I realized that there was no sport for girls – at that time there weren’t too many girls attracted to basketball.” When asked about the benefits of the sport, Ms. Ruthie responded “self-esteem and social skills”.  She says that Double Dutch, more than any other sport, teaches team work.  Since there are only three girls on a team, each member knows the importance of their role on the team so they contribute their best.   She adds “They also learn to appreciate what each person brings to the team.” According to this proud coach, the girls form friendships that last throughout their lives.
Families United is affiliated with American Double Dutch League as well as the National Double Dutch League which holds an annual competition at the Apollo Theatre.   A suggestion by Ms. Ruthie that Double Dutch be included as a school sport has been approved by PSAL so more girls will have the opportunity to participate.  Ms. Ruthie holds DD Clinics at PS 3 and PS 56.  She says the girls, ages 8 – 14, usually train in the clinics for about a year until they’re ready to join the Jumpers. Six-year-olds were brought into the clinics this year.
The competition featured three divisions – Novice, and Advanced.  League officials judge timing, ability to perform certain tricks in the ropes and free styling.  First, Second and Third-Place Awards were given in each division and all participants received a medal.  Ms. Ruthie’s vision is an annual-tournament that depends on availability of funds.  Last year’s tournament was sponsored by Forest City-Ratner but this year’s was without a sponsor.  Needless to say, Jammin’ Jumpers would appreciate sponsors.
A powerful testament to this work is the fact that the young people volunteering at Families United coaching basketball, Double Dutch and dance are young adults, college graduates who played basketball or jumped double dutch with Ms. Ruthie as youngsters. The males who played basketball when they were 10-12 years old  and have now returned  as professionals giving back  include Ronnie Frances – Construction, Kojo Campbell – Math Coach, Everette Kelley –Coach at Westinghouse H.S.  Returning females include Kyaisha Murray – recent Lincoln U graduate, Helena McCalla – Math Teacher, and Nakia Jordan.  Supporting Ms. Ruthie are Deputy Directors Betty Cooper and Cynthia Wynn.  They are truly making a difference in the lives of our youth. .  Parents, educators and potential coaches:  for Jammin’ Jumpers call or e-mail Ruth Payne at 718-696-7665 or mailto:jammin.jumpers@gmail.com
jammin.jumpers@gmail.com.
We will continue exploring activities that allow innate qualities to appreciate while building intellectual skills that has them pass the standardized test without draining their brilliance   Next time we’ll look at SCRABBLE with the Moses-Groce Word Power League.