View From Here: Nothing Post-Racial About the Times

It was disappointing but not surprising to read reports of the Facebook page where NYPD officers were found venting their hatred of the West Indian Day Parade and the participants in the 2-million-person event every September. With several members of the department in our own family and among our friends, we know those sentiments are not held by all NYPD personnel but it speaks to a racist culture in the department that needs to be addressed.
I think the problem these officers had, aside from their basic racist nature which itself should be enough for their dismissal from the force, was that they were terrified at the physical position they were in. After all, they did not choose this line of work to be surrounded and feel threatened by the people they hated. It isn’t as much fun as when it’s the other way around.
The psychological screening process for police officers should include a determination of level of racism present in order to prevent the most racist from joining the department and training the others in how to celebrate the diversity of New York, before they get their carry permit.
Occupy Wall Street: From Wall Street to East New York
When the Occupy Wall Streeters brought their message and direct action to East New York, they were marching on the ground zero of the human wreckage from the fees, bonuses and profit-taking of the financial industry whose recklessness we paid for. We see in the Times that the largest U.S. banks received over $7 trillion (yes, trillion) in taxpayer-backed bailout assistance to cover their bad bets and financially thuggish dealings. Now Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is going to Europe to give away more tax dollars to help keep European banks whole. And just like before, the hue and cry is about the Armageddon that comes for all the world if the banks don’t get their money. Once again they say they are only thinking of us.
The Occupy Movement knows that’s a lie and if the banks and the ruling elite anyplace in the world thinks this is a movement that is going away, they are very much mistaken. When I wanted to know about what was happening in the East New York demonstration, I went to www.occupywallst.org to see a live multicamera video stream with commentary, of the event. And this was from one of several live streaming teams at the demonstration.
The OWS Movement had set up a street kitchen, had a brass band and a symbolic tent saying, “You can’t evict an idea whose time has come.” The commentating-journalist- camerawoman told us that, “This is happening in 20 cities today and is only the beginning of these actions.”
I don’t think Mayor Bloomberg, Rupert Murdoch or GE are ready for these kids. The Occupy Movement is going to radically change media habits and make Internet TV mainstream and the broadcast networks, seen as mouthpieces for the 1%, secondary players in political influence and the last to acknowledge it.
Every change in the world affects us here and the world is now having convulsions in financial, military and climate change sectors. If there is turmoil or disaster in a region, you can be sure we will have an influx of those entrepreneurs coming to a safe haven in Brooklyn. Where, perhaps helped by loans from the over 140 foreign branches in New York, they are able to open shops, stores and construction companies. Change is happening around the world and African-Americans have to recognize and change with it. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said recently that given what is happening throughout the world, “If Europe doesn’t change fast enough, the future of Europe will be written without it.” The same can be said for African-Americans. It will require bootstrapping self-reliance, mentors, families, political leadership, community-based nonprofits and community activists all working together and the common goal is as it always has been, freedom. As the rants on the Facebook page remind us, there is nothing “post-racial” about the time we’re in.

Von King Park Neighborhood Hero Retires

On Saturday, November 19th manager Lemuel H. Mial and the Von King Cultural Arts Center honored Leroy Thompson, one of their unsung giants and strong supporters with a “roast”.
His involvement with all the recreation centers, softball baseball leagues, and drum & bugle corps brought out an array of roasters. St. John’s Recreation Center presented him with a plaque. Met Pool’s retired manager Eve Johnson and Sunset Park’s manager Karen Gripper gave their best wishes and a monetary donation from their staff.
Mom Davis had her stories to tell and a personal gift for Leroy. Von King and the Toppers presented him with a 3-seasonal jacket and cap that read “The Mayor”.
The ceramic group had a personal coffee cup and vase with his name scripted. Last but not least, Mr. Mial gave him a winter coat to remember him by with his end-of-the year retirement.
Mr. Mial said in his tribute that Thompson “is one of Brooklyn’s own gentle giants who loves and serves his community. We call him the ‘Honorary Mayor’ of the Von King Park and Cultural Arts Center. He’s always on the job working to make the park as safe and accommodating as it can be.
“You can see him directing the dog walkers and picnicking customers to their proper areas. He is there chasing the youth from the roof or stopping them from playing on the amphitheater steps where many accidents happen on a daily basis during the summer months.
He knows how to set up program areas and is a master operating the handicap lift. Wherever he is needed is where you will find Leroy hard at work.
He is one of the most sincere and real persons that I know. He is a giant and will always be the Mayor of the Von King Park.”

View From Here: “We Shall Overcome”

The video images of police officers pepper spraying like weeds students sitting with locked arms at UC Davis is only the latest example of how it doesn’t matter whether it is China, Egypt, New York or any of the 18 cities with Occupy Movements where Homeland Security is reported to be coordinating police crackdowns around the country, rulers respond with force in the face of change.
But the reaction we’re seeing on the streets of America and around the world is something entirely new and unexpected. It is as though there is an awakening of a planet-wide consciousness, the first ever such in existence, and the period we’re passing through now area the pangs of birth, from the brutality of elites not able to accept change.
The great Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman, who brought over 300 people out from slavery, is often quoted as saying, “I could have saved more if only they knew they were slaves.” That unawareness is what is breaking down as people see an unprecedented concentration of wealth, a dead end unemployment, chains of debt and the difference, only in degree, in security force tactics used in Egypt and police tactics here in the States.
The 99% is beginning to question, recognize and seek to throw off the hand of the 1%, and the only question is how much force will the 1% use to keep its hold on the levers of power.
We’ve seen the pepper spray, the flash-bang grenades and billy clubs being used and we can be sure that the sound cannons and other equipment are being readied if all of the above and handcuffs and detentions don’t stop the demonstrators. But of course they will not, for the same reasons that multinational corporations will not be going back to doing calculations by hand with columns of figures; the times have changed and the same technological innovations that have given multinationals an order of magnitude of greater efficiency than a generation ago, have also given people the ability to control their own dialogue and unite their voices and actions.
Politicians are usually very adept at reading handwriting on the wall and it looks like there will be a lot of it with the demonstrations being planned for the spring.
When the election season really gets going and the Occupy Movements converge on the convention centers, I would not be surprised to see a sea of white folks singing “We Shall Overcome”, hoping the nation’s first black president and his opponent can hear them. That will really be something.

Neighborhood Technical Assistance Clinic (NTAC) Salutes Individuals and Local Non-Profits as Champions for Bedford Stuyvesant

On Thursday, December 1, 2011 from 6pm-9pm at the Victorian Mansion, 247 Hancock Street, Brooklyn, NY, “something special will happen in Bedford-Stuyvesant!,” says Valerie Durrah, Founder and CEO of The Neighborhood Technical Assistance Clinic (NTAC), an organization which specializes in giving individuals and groups the tools and resources that truly make things happen for the Bedford-Stuyvesant village!

Ms. Oliver-Durrah is a nationally known non-profit expert and philanthropic advisor.

She announced last week that NTAC “will launch its Champions for Bedford Stuyvesant benefit reception this fall to praise and celebrate neighborhood leaders, corporate representatives and several key nonprofit organizations who are lifelines for the community through their work and commitment.”

This year’s honorees are Seth Edwards, Vice President, Community Relations, Brooklyn and Staten Island, JPMorgan Chase; and Ralph Bumbaca, Senior Vice President, Brooklyn and Staten Island Commercial Lending, TD Bank.

“The theme for our neighborhood-based initiative is ‘Nonprofits Rule: Neighborhoods Matter,’she announced in an NTAC press release.

At the event, nonprofit organizations and their attending board staff will be recognized as partners of NTAC who share NTAC’s ultimate mission of community empowerment and enrichment. These organizations include:The Bedford-Stuyvesant Family Health Center, Inc., Bedford-Stuyvesant Lions, Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, Bedford-Stuyvesant YMCA, Bridge Street Development Corporation, Brooklyn Central Community Development Corporation, Brownstoners of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Community First Services, Inc., Neighborhood Housing Services of Bedford-Stuyvesant, The Noel Pointer Foundation, The Northeast Brooklyn Housing Corporation, Magnolia Tree Earth Center.

Commenting on the fund-raising reception Valerie Oliver-Durrah stated, “We hope to raise funds to provide free training for grassroots organizations and block associations in Bedford-Stuyvesant, such as the Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps and groups who are service our seniors.

“We also expect that this event may serve as a catalyst for bringing together Bedford-Stuyvesant homeowners, leaders, businesses and nonprofits in the future to discuss critical issues affecting the greater Bedford-Stuyvesant area.”

At the Champions of Bedford Stuyvesant event, there will be an opportunity to bid on auction items for hotel accommodations in Brazil, the Caribbean, Italy and more.

NTAC chose to kick off its first neighborhood celebration within Bedford-Stuyvesant because it is the beloved home for several decades of the nationally known Ms. Oliver-Durrah and her family.
For ticket information, contact the Neighborhood Technical Assistance Clinic at 718-455-3784 or via email at volivere@aol.com.
Our Time Press is the event media partner. We’ll see you there!

ALMIRA KENNEDY COURSEY

By Henrietta Coursey

Born June 5, 1914, in New Bern, NC, Almira Kennedy Coursey was the oldest of four children of the late Agustus T. and Juanita C. Kennedy. She spent her early years living and going to school in Winston-Salem, NC.

Almira, following in the tradition of her family, attended Saint Augustine’s College from 1931 to 1934 and was graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education. Not only did she attend Saint Augustine’s College,but so did her three siblings: William Kennedy, Henrietta Kennedy Yeates, and Wilhemenia Kennedy Gilchrist (’38). This tradition continued with Almira’s two nieces, Charlesetta Yeates Morgan and Viola Yeates Parker (’69).
The alma mater that she cherished and worked for in her early years as Assistant Dean of Women, helped to shape her life, beliefs and dedication to community service, as well as the education of disadvantaged youth. She exhibited her pride in the college by spearheading the formation of the National Alumni Association. She always supported the work of the association and the college.
Almira carried the leadership qualities that she developed at Saint Augustine’s College with her throughout her life. As a young teacher in Clayton, North Carolina, she began her life-long commitment to community service by organizing the Three Ws Program for teenage girls.
The Three Ws signified Fine Womanhood, Wholesome Recreation, and Willingness to Serve; these ideals were nurtured at Saint Augustine’s College and became recurring themes in her personal and professional life.
In the late 1940′s, she moved to the Bedford Stuyvesant community in New York City. She soon met and married the love of her life, Henry Ellis Coursey, who died in 1968. From this union, they had three children: Harriet, Pierre, and Henrietta. Almira demonstrated her leadership, strength. and deep spiritual beliefs that helped her to be a supportive wife, a nurturing mother, an outstanding educator and community leader.
While teaching at Nathaniel Macon Junior High School, 258 in New York,  and raising three young children, she earned her master’s degree in student personnel administration from Teacher’s College, Columbia University, She also did post-graduate work in educational supervision and special education. Almira was truly a driving force for quality education in New York City.
In 1968, she took a leave of absence from her position as assistant principal at Macon Junior High School. Almira was offered the position as special assistant to the vice chancellor of the City University of New York. In this capacity, she spearheaded the development and implementation of new programs and opportunities such as SEEK and College Discovery for minority Students and disadvantaged young men and women to attend the university. Not only did Almira have an impact on education, she has contributed to the development of important and lasting institutions and services in her community.

Among these institutions and services were: The Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation; The Tompkins Park Recreational and Cultural Center; The Planning Board Number Three; Community Sponsors Young Mother’s Program; Central Brooklyn Model Cities; Youth-in-Action and The Weeksville Society.

She was a member of the Board of Directors of Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration, and was appointed to city-wide committees on poverty and education by former New York City mayors Wagner and Lindsay. In her spirit of sisterhood, she was a lifetime member and past Basileus of Delta Alpha Zeta Chapter, Zeta Phi Beta.
In recognition of her unselfish leadership and dedicated service, she was presented with numerous awards and citations.  Among them were: Zeta Phi Beta Woman of the Year; Bedford Stuyvesant Community Activist Award; Sojourner Truth Meritorious Service Award; Community Sponsor’s Award: New York City Park’s Council Citizen Award; Tompkins Park Recreational and Cultural Association Distinguished Service Award; and Restoration Corporation Service Award.
Almira Kennedy Coursey was a long-time member of St. Phillips Episcopal Church on McDonough Street in Brooklyn,New York.
On August 29, 1996 in  Brooklyn, New York, where she had lived for more than 40 years, the angels took Almira Kennedy Coursey. (Publishers’ note:  While teaching at 258, Mrs. Coursey was a mentor to both publishers of Our Time Press.)

News Briefs

Clarke calls on Obama to address urban needs U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke last week called on President Obama to take a targeted approach in bringing jobs to communities of color. Clarke, who represents mainly the Flatbush area of Brooklyn, made her comments following Obama’s jobs speech to a joint session of Congress. “While the unemployment rate sits at 9.1 percent nationally, it is at 16.7 percent in the African-American community, which is absolutely unacceptable. That is why I joined my Congressional Black Caucus in presenting key recommendations to include creating jobs to the Obama Administration,” said Clarke. Clarke stressed the importance of the president taking a targeted approach for communities of color, particularly those who are concentrated in rural and urban areas of the country. “I also encourage the President to use the power of the pen and push job initiatives using Executive Order. As a Member of the House Small Business Committee, I would call on the administration to identify tax credits and incentives for women-and minority-owned small and medium-sized businesses who tend to hire in communities of color,” said Clarke. Bed-Stuy gets environmental study Dr. Naa Oyo A. Kwate, an Associate Professor of Human Ecology and Africana Studies at Rutgers University, is setting up offices in Bed-Stuy and Harlem to do a community study on the effects of environmental racism on African-American health. In a presentation to Community Board 3 last Monday, Kwate sited a previous study examining how outdoor advertising in Harlem correlated with a disproportionate number of people who abused alcohol in those areas where advertising was most saturated. Kwate came to the meeting to alert the community that she will be knocking on doors in the coming months and is requesting people partake in a one-hour survey, and then follow up with a blood draw to do a test of cholesterol levels to measure obesity rates. She is hiring survey takers. Residents interested in becoming a surveyor can log onto  www.rniaa-lab.com. Juvenile Justice System may be privatized Mayor Bloomberg has proposed to take over and privatize the juvenile justice system, in his overall effort to push for the Young Men’s Initiative,” according to state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery. Montgomery told Community Board 3 members and the public on Monday that privatization means the public will lose all accountability to what happens to young people. As such, she asked the community to speak out against the move. “This will just be one more opportunity for people to make money off our children’s bodies,” reporters quoted her as saying. “There are some nice things about the initiative, but he (Bloomberg) will be gone in 16 months or less. We want to make sure that the language that allows for privatizing is removed.”

The View From Here: Diallo & DSK – Libya & Africa

The encounter that initiated the charge of rape by Guinea-born hotel maid Naffisatau Diallo against former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss Kahn, the subsequent dropping of the charges by District Attorney Cy Vance and the opportunism of NATO in its attack on oil-rich Libya, are all part of the European lustful and proprietary attitude regarding Africa and all of its human and mineral resources.
We don’t know what exactly happened in the Sofitel Hotel that day, although DNA shows DSK wanted something from Ms. Diallo.  The question of why he had to suddenly leave his belongings and hurry on to a flight to a non-extraditable country remains unanswered for the moment because DA Vance considers Ms. Diallo, by her very nature, not to be believable and therefore no questions need be asked.  DSK?  You’re free to go.  Sorry for the inconvenience.
In Libya, NATO believed they saw an opportunity to ravish and plunder and they took it.   If Europeans could continue their centuries of disruption of the development of the African continent, so much the better.  Whether or not those hopes of theirs are well-founded remains to be seen.
They may have miscalculated Qaddafi’s accomplishment, as Qaddafi himself may have, of achieving the highest literacy rate in northern Africa of about 82.6%.   With education compulsory for the early grades and free for all up to the postgraduate level, studying either in Libya or abroad, he has empowered his people and given them the tools for his eventual leaving of the scene and controlling their own destiny.
But what is happening now is a preemptive strike by Europeans to shape the flow of events to allow them to continue their theft of African resources and influence an emerging National Transitional Council (NTC) to be mindful of Europe’s needs..
Once control of the international Libyan assets have been turned over to the NTC, then the NTC, NATO and the Libyan people will continue an awkward dance until the still-fluid situation with Qaddafi is resolved, NATO is pushed away and the Council and the people can get on with the Libyan evolution.

If Libyans continue the pursuit of Qaddafi’s dream of a United States of Africa but now as a people-led movement, then the plentiful and unique natural resources of the African continent could be used to make a United States of Africa an ever-increasing economic power as finite resources are needed to support the insatiable demand of a growing world population.  It would be an unintended consequence of the intervention by Western powers and just what they have always feared, and that it would make the coming together even sweeter.

View From Here: Obama talks like a Democrat, walks like a Republican

When we look at President Barack Obama, it is easy to forget that he does not share the psycho-social heritage of the descendents of chattel slavery and that he was raised by white folks.  And while there is nothing wrong with that, his mother was an extraordinary woman herself, it does mean that his psychological core and sensitivities, were not passed down from the Middle Passage or the centuries of enslavement, but rather from Kansas, his mother’s home state, dead center of the country and a Red state politically.
In a very deep way, the Republicans are more the president’s people than are the descendents of chattel slavery.  This is why he was agreeable to give so much before the debt-ceiling negotiations even began, he starts from middle America and will get pushed right or left from there.  And until now, it’s been the corporations and the Tea Party doing all the pushing.
Now with three wars being waged simultaneously and with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid being put at risk, the president needs a primary challenge with new ideas put forward by someone who wants to push back.
My recommendation would be to draft Congresswoman Donna Edwards from Maryland.  Congresswoman Edwards is a member of both the Black Caucus and the Progressive Caucus where she is vice chair, and is a forceful advocate for playing “hardball” with the Republicans.
Visit her Web site and view the video archives of her presentations in congress and determine for yourself if this person has the sensibilities you’d like to see in the Oval office.  The Progressive Caucus should call on Congresswoman Edwards to present a Primary challenge for the president.   And maybe after she wins the first debate and  threatens him in the primaries, Obama will be thanking Joe Biden for his years of service and under the bus he goes.
Regarding the flash mobs, first the disclaimer:  Looting, burning and destroying life and property are wrong.  Perpetrators should be punished.  Now, having said that, I cannot believe that anyone is surprised by this phenomenon.  We warned about it back in June.  These communities in England, Maryland, Philadelphia, Chicago are, like Brooklyn, communities where unemployment rates among the youth can be over 50% and relationships with the police fluctuate between tense and explosive.  These young people are living in a consumer society with stuff all around them and billions of dollars being spent telling them to buy and to have, and here they stand with some loose change and lint in their pockets and no prospects for sudden upturns in that condition.
Because they’re mis-educated and yet self-motivated, too many young people, and those old enough to know better, see thug life glamorized as an option and going to prison as a normal way of being.  All around them there is a different normal, an alternative reality where people are enjoyably comfortable and raising lovely families.  They are, by and large,  a very amiable group, as they crowd into restaurants and text, brunch and relax in the cafés.  My suggestion to these folks is to become viscerally concerned about jobs programs and youth employment.  Infrastructure building and repairs that involve long-term jobs and business opportunities, would go further to  preventing the collision of the two “normals” than all the beefed up precinct patrols or gang task forces the city can muster.

At Wit’s End: Looking Forward to the Barclays Arena

It may not be politically correct, but one of the best things to happen to Brooklyn in the past ten years is the Atlantic Yards project.
I mention this because last week I was at the Atlantic Terminal Mall, where from a lunch counter stool on the second floor, one looks out of a giant picture window at the ongoing construction of the arena.
Watching the steel structure rise and union workers on the job gave me the feel that this is New York City – the financial capital of the world and the city can still get projects done.
This thought is also the reason why I never bought into the propaganda-like opposition that stalled the project for seven years in court and nearly killed it.
The newly gentrified in the Prospect Heights area was the brunt of this opposition led by Daniel Goldstein, and his makeshift organization Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn.
Goldstein lived in the footprint of the project, having bought his condo in cash in 2003, the same year that developer Bruce Ratner announced the project. Either he or his wife were the only people that drew a salary from the organization, and after the court battles were over, he sold out to Ratner for a nifty $3 million.
Throughout, the ordeal Goldstein also had an old buddy film his fight, and he is now promoting that film, Battle for Brooklyn, in which he is portrayed as a David fighting a Goliath.
While almost all of the press jumped on Goldstein’s side throughout the ordeal and have given generally good reviews to the film, what was missing was the big picture.
In the last twenty years, America’s infrastructure has been crumbling and the most innovative architecture in the world has moved away from the United States and to the places like Dubai, China and the Pacific Rim.
Indeed, when developer Bruce Ratner first proposed the 22-acre project in 2003 or 2004, he had world-class architect Frank Gehry designing it and the proposal included thousands of units of affordable and market rate housing. It also included sorely needed subway and sewer infrastructure improvements.
Ratner’s company, Forest City Ratner also signed a community benefits agreement with eight or nine community based organizations – all led by people of color. While almost all these organizations also received funding from Ratner, it’s a lot more than Mayor Bloomberg has given to African-American non-profits in his tenure as mayor.
But between the opposition fighting the project in court and the downturn of the economy, Ratner had to can Gehry several years ago, and the project is a shadow of its former self.
That said, I’m betting the government will again try to jumpstart the economy, and the Atlantic Yards project is a good investment as building it out in entirety will create thousands of jobs and better living and working conditions for the borough.
In the meantime, the arena is taking shape and it will do much for the economy and spirit of the borough when it is completed and the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets start calling it home in about 15 months.
It will mean jobs and entrepreneur spin off opportunities. It will add excitement and spirit to a basketball-crazy borough. And when the team makes the playoffs, bars and restaurants will do more business.
Let the excitement begin.

Letitia James Responds to Bloomberg’s Efforts To Bridge Disparities Between Black And Latino Young Men of New York City and Their Peers

 

(Brooklyn, NY)   Mayor Bloomberg’s legacy will be defined by his victories and his failures.  One of his major failures can best be illustrated by his lack of investment and focus on issues affecting urban youth.  Black and Latino young men represent the most disaffected and disconnected constituency in the City.

Despite repeated warnings by members of the City Council, leaders and organizations… crying out in the wilderness of central Brooklyn and other urban settings urging investment; who for too long  have been dependent primarily upon religious and civic volunteers and their individual small donations – the Mayor is finally showing up late to the carnage.
The mountain of disparity has consistently been dangerously trending upward.  And unfortunately, the Bloomberg administration’s response has often been short-sighted, and more focused on policing youth.  Bloomberg’s stop and-frisk policy has led to the systematic humiliation and harassment of Black and Latino residents who are innocent of any wrongdoing.  That response was a band aide approach to deep structural inequities.

I applaud the Mayor; I guess this initiative is better late than never.  But, it does appear to look like a major ‘mea culpa’ in the final leg of his term, as he finally turns his attention (and vast wealth) to probably the most marginalized and historically ignored group of individuals, who truly needed it, and could have benefited early on from his philanthropy and administration the most.

Letitia James

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