Billboard Demeaning to African Americans Removed Within 48 Hours

The alarm sounded on Monday, Feb. 22, by Council member Letitia James. “New York City Billboard Targets Abortion in Black Community,” read a statement from her office. “Compares Abortion to Terrorism; Refers to ‘Genocidal Plot’.” James’ office provided information from Life Always, an advertising organization that represents pro-life campaigns that stated “During Black History Month… our future is in jeopardy as a genocidal plot is carried out through abortion.”Life Always launched a Web site that links to various Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) through its “Pregnancy Help” section. CPCs are the focus of a City Council bill known as Int.371-2010. According to James, “These CPCs are notorious for being intentionally vague concerning their agenda to deter women from seeking abortion services, and some have been accused of being deceptive about abortion risks and procedures while intentionally targeting poor and working-class women, immigrant women, and women of color to utilize their services.”

“It is misguided to use Black History Month as a tool to promote this message,” said Council member Letitia James. “Every woman has the right to make personal choices in regards to her body, and I respect many different points of view, but to compare abortion to terrorism and genocide is highly offensive.”Council member James’ alert was immediately forwarded to SisterSong NYC and SisterSong National, a coalition of more than 80 women of color organizations whose mission is reproductive justice. By Tuesday morning, the billboard was put up in SoHo at the intersection of Sixth Ave. and Watts. The response was immediate. From local news to blogs to ordinary citizens, disapproval was expressed. While Life Always saw a little girl to use as a pawn for their agenda, others saw a little girl who deserves to have a safe, healthy childhood, here and now.  Public Advocate Bill de Blasio said, “This billboard simply doesn’t belong in our city. The ad violates the values of New Yorkers and is grossly offensive to women and communities of color. Women of all backgrounds have a right to reproductive health care in New York City, and we must not let the current campaign of attacks undermine New Yorkers’ long standing support for a woman’s right to choose. A mix of intolerance and bad judgment put this ad up — common decency demands it be taken down.”Congresswoman Yvette Clarke was “deeply offended by the antiabortion ad that was put up in SoHo.
As a Black woman and as a Congressional member in the U.S. House of Representatives, it was clear to me that this antiabortion organization targeted the Black women of New York to impose their very racist ideology upon.” Clarke commended the voices of so many who called for the removal of this ad.  “I am proud that New Yorkers stood together against this racist and offensive advertising.

Through the activism of New Yorkers, we demonstrated that the pursuit of justice is much more powerful than the voice of ignorance,” she said. Ironically enough, the individuals who espouse these tactics are often more times than not, the same individuals that  have imposed cuts to the social safety net that would provide food security and personal safety to Black children and their families.  With the topic of abortion and access to health care for women becoming such a divisive subject in our nation, it is clear that it will be up to this generation and the next  to defeat those who will stop at nothing to impose their views on others and those who would show a reckless disregard to the rights of others in their pursuit to abolish women’s rights,” stated Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke. The story went national by Wednesday. The child’s mom, Tricia Fraser, was shocked to see her 6-year-old daughter Anissa’s image used in such a manner.  “I would never endorse something like that,” said Fraser. “Especially with my child’s image.” Fraser had her children’s photos taken to be used as shock images. “It’s bad enough you’re saying this about African-Americans, but then you put a child with an innocent face,” said Fraser. “That’s not what I agreed to. I want them to take it down.”Councilman Barron, who calls press conferences immediately when anything racial occurs, was contacted by OTP around noon Tuesday. Seven hours later, Barron issued this statement: “The sign in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood that reads: ‘The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb is outrageous, racist and should be taken down immediately. It targets Black women in a biased and stigmatizing way. What they have done is not an exercise in free speech – it is an exercise in insults. The Black community will not sit back and allow this to happen. We are going to send a letter immediately to the Life Always group responsible for the ad to demand that it be removed.”Loretta Ross, national coordinator for SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective said, “The comments are validating what people are saying in the opinion research focus groups we’re conducting.

Almost everyone says the billboards are offensive and ignore the underlying causes of the number of abortions.”The response intensified.Early Thursday morning, Nicole Mason, Ph.D, Executive Director, Women of Color Policy Network, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU, sent an Email to friends and affiliates that said in part, “From welfare to single motherhood, images of Black women and girls have often been used to promote agendas and public policies that run counter to their agency and autonomy.  The billboard… is no exception. The ad implies that Black women are reckless and to blame for deaths that occur within African-American communities. It also simplifies the difficult decision that many women face, regardless of race, when choosing whether or not to terminate a pregnancy or exercise their right to the full range of reproductive health care services.” Mason asked that Lamar Advertising, the company that owns the billboard location, be contacted. Many people did, from NYC and across the country. Mason herself wrote to the company about 12:30pm. Her email stated,“While I know your company is not responsible for nor does it endorse the content of any advertisement, the politics and the subtext underlying the ad is damaging to African-American women and communities.”By 2:30pm, general manager for Lamar Advertising Mr. Costanza assured Mason the billboard would be removed “today.”  Thursday night the offending billboard was removed. “Community activists, women’s rights advocates, civil rights leaders, elected officials, people of color and others agreed that the content underlying this billboard was racial profiling and demeaning to African-American women and communities. The enormous outcry against this billboard reflects the true purpose of this politically motivated campaign as being an attack on pro-choice, as well as Planned Parenthood located nearby,” said James.  “This victory is a sweet one for all involved, especially as Black HistoryMonth 2011 ends.

The billboard coming down is symbolic for the power of the human spirit, the power of social media and angry women, as well as reinforces the notion that nothing is more dangerous than a made-up mind. An innocent face got caught in the middle of the controversy, yet the young girl’s expression speaks of only strength, life and love, not race or gender-based politics.”Council member James continued: “I support women having the right to make personal choices in regards to what’s best for their body, and I will continue to respect many different points of view.Congratulations to everyone for swift action, and I would like to share the following sentiment sent to me via e-mail by a friend that accurately sums up the positive ending to such a negative beginning:

Great Work! Score one for the good guys / gals / men / women / brethren / sistren in the ongoing battle with the barbarians! Simply put, the community put up a good fight and we won.”

Green Movements Grow in Central Brooklyn

Last weekend, November 19-21, the first annual conference to forge food, farming and policy solutions for the Black Community convened at Brooklyn College in New York City, convening farmers, gardeners, activists, students and community leaders from across the nation and around the world.
The 3-day conference, attended by more than 500 people, was hosted by Karen Washington of La Familia Verde and sponsored by Black Urban Growers (BUGS), an alliance of predominately Black urban farmers and food activists.  Farmer Devanie Jackson, who founded with her husband Rev. Robert Jackson the 5,000-square-foot Bed-Stuy Farm facility on Decatur Street in 2004, proudly represented the community in workshops and as a keynote leader.
Participants spent the first day mingling and the last day on a tri-borough tour of community gardens in the City, including the globally known Hattie Carthan Community Garden on Lafayette Avenue.  Other Brooklyn organizations represented at the conference included Weeksville Heritage Center and East New York Farms, among many others.

Participants and presenters came from far and wide to hear Will Allen, an urban farmer, founder and CEO of Growing Power, Inc in Milwaukee, WI,  and a MacArthur genius grant awardee, who opened the conference.  They also gathered to learn from the distinguished Ralph Paige, Executive Director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives of East Point, Ga., whose keynote closed the conference.

According to Ms. Washington, The conference, aimed to strengthen networks and inspire new ideas among people working across disciplines to address food-related issues that contribute to inequities in health, wealth and justice in black communities.  So why are we compelled to focus on food, farming and justice now, in these embattled times?  Allen and Paige both said in so many words, “we can not afford not to be concerned “about the inequities in a food system that is increasingly alienated from the needs of African Americans and dismissive of their demands.”
NBFC’s shared statistics that also answer the question:
· Our farmers are in peril:  ninety years ago, over 14% of U.S. farmers were African American. It’s now dwindled to about 2%.  In New York State alone, there are only 110 African-American farmers in 56,000.
· Our communities are malnourished and our collective health is suffering.  Nationally, the typical low-income neighborhood has 30 percent fewer supermarkets than higher-income neighborhoods. Nearly 50% of African American children will develop diabetes at some point in their lives. About four out of five African American women are overweight or obese.

· Our communities are dying: Deaths from heart disease and stroke are almost twice the rate for African Americans as compared to Whites.
But the beauty of the 3-day conference is that it offered proactive solutions, the kind that get your hands dirty. Some examples follow:
· Paula Thompson and Trineka Freeman from 42nd and Steele St Parking Lot Farm in Denver shared the story of how they took a parking lot back and made it their paradise.

· In ‘By Any Greens Necessary: Food as a Tool of Colonization and Joining the Resistance’, Jade Walker from the Mill Creek Farm and Chris Borden-Newsome led a discussion on the interconnectedness of oppressions.  They also taught participants how to challenge these negative systems.

· Youth from Brooklyn’s East New York Farms! Joined the conversation on ‘The Next Generation’ along with folks from Real Food Challenge.

·Tanikka Cunningham from Healthy Solutions led the discussion on increasing access to affordable food in communities of color.

· Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min (Muhammad), Minister of Agriculture and Farm Manager, Muhammad Farms of Albany, Ga., talked about the effect of USDA and other goverment policies on Farming and Urban Gardening.  He was joined by Gary Grant, President, Black Farmers and Agriculturists Association of Tillery, N.C.; Spencer D. Wood, PhD, Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS; and Barry Crumbley of the Intact Community Development Corporation in Mt. Vernon, NY.
· Michelle Hughs, Director, GrowNYC: New Farmers Development Program, presented some resources and support services available for all farmers on the local level.
Urban gardeners from Upstate New York and New Jersey, Black farmers from across the country representing the states Wisconsin, Michigan, Mississippi, California and and the nation of Canada learned how  a $5 per foot investment could convert an abandoned parking lot into rich farm land.
To a captive audience, Allen broke his success down to one phrase, “If you’ve got good soil, you can do anything.” Allen then detailed how soil was derived from composting dirt and garbage. “The key to good soil is garbage and access. I was walking yesterday and saw you all have a lot of garbage. For composting, it’s like a smorgasbord.”
The conference  – which featured over 20 breakout sessions on other topics like ending racism in the food industry and the resurgence of the urban black farmer in Denver and Detroit – came on the heels of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act which passed in the U.S. Senate a day before. Among other changes of note, the bill would make public a National Agriculture and Food Defense Strategy that may give opportunities for black farmers.
“This is just the beginning,” said Paige of the need to continue the talk around black and urban farmers.
At the conference, the 2010 Black Farmers & Urban Gardeners George Washington Carver Awards were announced.  Workshop subjects were compelling.  They included: Scaling Up! Creating 100,000 New Farmers: Local and National Resources for Rural and Urban Farmers, Designing Linkages between Upstate Farmers and Downstate Food Desert communities, Undoing Racism in the Food System:  Lessons from the Detroit Struggle, Urban Farming as a Framework for Wholistic Community Development, Young, Black and Gifted: Creating Niche Food Communities, The Next Generation: Youth Creating Food Change, By Any Greens Necessary: Food as a Tool of Colonization and Joining the Resistance and a Place for Us: Black Farmers in the Organic Movement.
For more information, visit: www.blackfarmersconf.org
(Publishers note:  Bernice Elizabeth Green contributed to Mr. Kene’s article.)

Inaugural National Black Farmers Conference at Brooklyn College A Success, Poised to Grow a Green Movement Throughout Black America

By David Kene
Last weekend, November 19-21, the first annual conference to forge food, farming and policy solutions for the Black Community convened at Brooklyn College in New York City, convening farmers, gardeners, activists, students and community leaders from across the nation and around the world.
The 3-day conference, attended by more than 500 people, was hosted by Karen Washington of La Familia Verde and sponsored by Black Urban Growers (BUGS), an alliance of predominately Black urban farmers and food activists.  Farmer Devanie Jackson, who founded with her husband Rev. Robert Jackson the 5,000-square-foot Bed-Stuy Farm facility on Decatur Street in 2004, proudly represented the community in workshops and as a keynote leader.
Participants spent the first day mingling and the last day on a tri-borough tour of community gardens in the City, including the globally known Hattie Carthan Community Garden on Lafayette Avenue.  Other Brooklyn organizations represented at the conference included Weeksville Heritage Center and East New York Farms, among many others.

Participants and presenters came from far and wide to hear Will Allen, an urban farmer, founder and CEO of Growing Power, Inc in Milwaukee, WI,  and a MacArthur genius grant awardee, who opened the conference.  They also gathered to learn from the distinguished Ralph Paige, Executive Director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives of East Point, Ga., whose keynote closed the conference.

According to Ms. Washington, The conference, aimed to strengthen networks and inspire new ideas among people working across disciplines to address food-related issues that contribute to inequities in health, wealth and justice in black communities.  So why are we compelled to focus on food, farming and justice now, in these embattled times?  Allen and Paige both said in so many words, “we can not afford not to be concerned “about the inequities in a food system that is increasingly alienated from the needs of African Americans and dismissive of their demands.”
NBFC’s shared statistics that also answer the question:
· Our farmers are in peril:  ninety years ago, over 14% of U.S. farmers were African American. It’s now dwindled to about 2%.  In New York State alone, there are only 110 African-American farmers in 56,000.
· Our communities are malnourished and our collective health is suffering.  Nationally, the typical low-income neighborhood has 30 percent fewer supermarkets than higher-income neighborhoods. Nearly 50% of African American children will develop diabetes at some point in their lives. About four out of five African American women are overweight or obese.

· Our communities are dying: Deaths from heart disease and stroke are almost twice the rate for African Americans as compared to Whites.
But the beauty of the 3-day conference is that it offered proactive solutions, the kind that get your hands dirty. Some examples follow:
· Paula Thompson and Trineka Freeman from 42nd and Steele St Parking Lot Farm in Denver shared the story of how they took a parking lot back and made it their paradise.

· In ‘By Any Greens Necessary: Food as a Tool of Colonization and Joining the Resistance’, Jade Walker from the Mill Creek Farm and Chris Borden-Newsome led a discussion on the interconnectedness of oppressions.  They also taught participants how to challenge these negative systems.

· Youth from Brooklyn’s East New York Farms! Joined the conversation on ‘The Next Generation’ along with folks from Real Food Challenge.

·Tanikka Cunningham from Healthy Solutions led the discussion on increasing access to affordable food in communities of color.

· Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min (Muhammad), Minister of Agriculture and Farm Manager, Muhammad Farms of Albany, Ga., talked about the effect of USDA and other goverment policies on Farming and Urban Gardening.  He was joined by Gary Grant, President, Black Farmers and Agriculturists Association of Tillery, N.C.; Spencer D. Wood, PhD, Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS; and Barry Crumbley of the Intact Community Development Corporation in Mt. Vernon, NY.
· Michelle Hughs, Director, GrowNYC: New Farmers Development Program, presented some resources and support services available for all farmers on the local level.
Urban gardeners from Upstate New York and New Jersey, Black farmers from across the country representing the states Wisconsin, Michigan, Mississippi, California and and the nation of Canada learned how  a $5 per foot investment could convert an abandoned parking lot into rich farm land.
To a captive audience, Allen broke his success down to one phrase, “If you’ve got good soil, you can do anything.” Allen then detailed how soil was derived from composting dirt and garbage. “The key to good soil is garbage and access. I was walking yesterday and saw you all have a lot of garbage. For composting, it’s like a smorgasbord.”
The conference  – which featured over 20 breakout sessions on other topics like ending racism in the food industry and the resurgence of the urban black farmer in Denver and Detroit – came on the heels of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act which passed in the U.S. Senate a day before. Among other changes of note, the bill would make public a National Agriculture and Food Defense Strategy that may give opportunities for black farmers.
“This is just the beginning,” said Paige of the need to continue the talk around black and urban farmers.
At the conference, the 2010 Black Farmers & Urban Gardeners George Washington Carver Awards were announced.  Workshop subjects were compelling.  They included: Scaling Up! Creating 100,000 New Farmers: Local and National Resources for Rural and Urban Farmers, Designing Linkages between Upstate Farmers and Downstate Food Desert communities, Undoing Racism in the Food System:  Lessons from the Detroit Struggle, Urban Farming as a Framework for Wholistic Community Development, Young, Black and Gifted: Creating Niche Food Communities, The Next Generation: Youth Creating Food Change, By Any Greens Necessary: Food as a Tool of Colonization and Joining the Resistance and a Place for Us: Black Farmers in the Organic Movement.
For more information, visit: www.blackfarmersconf.org
(Publishers note:  Bernice Elizabeth Green contributed to Mr. Kene’s article.)

The Brooklyn That Can’t be Bought…

Mike Bloomberg’s first thoughts the morning after Mayoral election night might have wavered seamlessly between “ I won!” and “I almost lost!”  A bittersweet victory/defeat for the richest man in New York City, who lives in a world where powerful egos have no patience with almost losing.  He won 557,059 expensive votes to Democrat Bill Thompson’s low-cost 506,717.

That morning, our friend Robert Taylor woke up to a world that eludes the city agencies.  He was at peace padding his way from Brevoort Place to Clinton Hill’s Grand Avenue, as he does every morning.  “If it snows, I pick up a shovel and clean the streets for a few dollars. I just keep moving, but I keep coming back.”  Virtually homeless after losing his apartment on the avenue just after 9/11 due to escalated rents; Robert is accustomed to “street guy” references.  But he also knows how to train horses; he does not bet on them.  He sometimes entertains small crowds, outdoors, with his phenomenal classic music playing, when a used piano is dropped off at his friend Eddie Hibbert’s Antique warehouse down the street.

Mr. Taylor informed us that the Mayor shelled out about $200.00 per vote  for each of the more than half million votes he received, compared to his Democrat opponent Bill Thompson’s $14 each for almost the same amount of votes.  “But, remember, it’s not always about the money; it’s about what you want that money to do. When the stakes are high, you cast high bets to win at any cost.  He now has a lot of work to do to make true on those promises he paid for.”

On the north easternmost edge of Brooklyn, Mr. B., a block association president and former corrections officer agrees, but he still thinks arrogance, not money interfered with Mr. Thompson’s sure shot.  At his election site, the lever for DeBlasio was stuck, and the pollworker told him gruffly,  “Don’t worry ‘bout that, it’ll count.”  After putting his strength on that lever to bring it to its place, he informed everyone present what was going on.  “This ‘kiss-my-ass’ attitude – on the part of a lot of folks connected with the political process, including local elected officials, only succeeds in keeping voters away.  And it may have pushed votes away from Thompson.  People are turned off, they don’t want to participate. 

“At the community board meeting this week, a guy stands up and asks about construction jobs that are going to other ethnic groups who don’t live in the neighborhood; a weatherization official announces that it doesn’t make sense for owners of 2-family homes to apply for special funding, ‘especially,’ he said, ‘since you don’t use that much hot water anyway’, plus we learn about 75% of the program’s $10 million is available to owners of multi-family dwellings, well – that’s not us; then there’s these rezoning issues and whether or not certain areas of Bedford –Stuyvesant will be rezoned in accordance with the special interests of other ethnic groups in other areas.  Point is … if local politicians are servants of the public, they should come out of their comfort zones and get into the neighborhood and go to the people. Explain to them what’s going on.”

The 45-year-old block association president was recently stopped by police in Herbert Von King Park and asked to show ID because he was walking through the park at night, three nights before the election.  Officers apologized profusely after they discovered he was a retired Corrections Officer. “This is the way it is.  But attitudes across the board must change if they are to get the support from all of the people.

“Some of the young Turks seeking election against incumbents could have gotten a lot of mileage out of putting their weight solidly and visibly behind Mr. Thompson. There are so many lessons to be learned.”

It’s still no excuse for such a low turnout, says New York City Parks worker Earl Williams.  “When I went to P.S. 305 at 4pm to vote, there was no one there except the poll workers.”

It was chilly and dry the day after the election, and everyone had something to say abouthow Thompson should have won. Except, of course, the mainstream press, stunned that their polls didn’t get it right, and perhaps numbed by the same thinking as Taylor, Mr. B., Mr. Williams and Mr. Bloomberg: if Black people had turned out, in force, Thompson, who earned 50.9% of Brooklyn votes to Mr. Bloomberg’s 45.3%, would have enjoyed the landslide of the century.  For pennies on the dollar.  Lessons to be learned, indeed.