Marlon Rice Reflects on Growing Support for Letitia James
This past summer's ultimate block parties have culminated into this fall's ultimate Bloc Party. By the time Our Time Press paper hits the stands today, support for New York State Attorney General Letitia James will be...
By Marlon RiceFor the past four years, I have decided to take the first month of the year as a time to abstain from social media. I have done different fasts during the first month of the year. No meat, No Dairy, No Alcohol...
by Marlon Rice
I saw the picture of Congressman George Santos flashing the white power sign while voting in the House Chamber.The action was blatant and disgusting. It went viral in a matter of minutes, and in a matter of hours, there were posted reactions...
I want to bring to your attention a phenomenon that occurred during last November’s election cycle. Maybe it is of interest to you, maybe not. Analytically though, it is interesting. And, it might be a warning of something more telling.
Here it goes.In last November’s...
One summer night in 1988, I and some friends from the block were hanging out on the stoop. It was a hot and humid night, the kind of 80’s summer night where gunshots would echo through tenement buildings while the johnny pump running on...
This past Saturday, I played Santa through Bed Stuy’s streets.Let me explain.
Bed Stuy Restoration Corp held our annual Robert F. Kennedy event this past Saturday. The RFK event is a longstanding tradition for the organization, a chance to celebrate the community’s children through performance,...
Drop Squad was a movie released in 1994. It was a political satire about an underground militant group that kidnaps and re-educates African Americans who have compromised their blackness or have done something that seemingly marks them as a sell-out. The plot centers around...
By Marlon Rice
About a month ago, I stopped at a bodega in Bedford Stuyvesant on my way home from an event. I needed batteries for my remote, and I wanted a seltzer. The bodega that I stopped at was one I frequent when I’m...
By Marlon Rice
In a 1965 Playboy article, Heavyweight Champion Muhammed Ali was asked about his brashness and the idea that his words and actions might be rubbing the public the wrong way. For context, this interview came right on the heels of Ali changing...
by Marlon RiceOn November 1st, rapper Takeoff from the group The Migos was shot and killed outside a bowling alley in Houston, Texas. Initial reports suggest that an argument stemming from a dice game may have been the spark that caused the violence that...
Binta Vann
By Marlon Rice
On a warm Saturday in August, tempered by an ancestral breeze, the cultural, political, and residential histories of Central Brooklyn convened at the center of it all to say farewell to our Vanguard. In the shadow of the community development organization*,...
Beautiful, Black, Man
The following sentence rests at the root and the spirit of America.The bodies of Black Men are to be worked and to be used for the service of America.The trauma associated with this truth rests in the muscles and ligaments of young...
In the 2008 Presidential Election, Barack Obama received 69,498,516 votes on his way to becoming the 44th President of the United States. At the time, that figure represented the most votes ever tallied for a candidate in the history of the voting process. Obama’s...
In New York State, parents of school-aged children had the option to choose if they wanted their children to adhere to a blended schedule for school, or if they were going to do a full remote learning schedule. The blended schedule has the child...
Thinker’s NotebookMarlon Rice
People in my neighborhood are pretty responsible when it comes to Covid.Walking along Greene Avenue or down Lafayette Avenue, you come across people who are mostly masked. Many of those who aren’t will don their mask as they pass you. Lines to...
Thinker’s NotebookMarlon RiceI grew up in the 80’s. The 80’s were an interesting decade, especially if you lived in Brooklyn. The 80’s were the last decade where you had to actually get up from the couch to turn the channel on the television. When...
I just got off of the phone with a beautiful group of men and women. Collectively, we were responsible for creating the bulk of the programming on the Black Lives Matter mural in front of Restoration. If you read this column weekly, then you...
On October 26, 2019, Isaiah, then 17, and his brother were leaving a party in Staten Island. As they stepped out of the house, they were approached by two police officers. The officers frisked Isaiah and his brother and handcuffed them, even though they...
The last official weekend of Summer is upon us. We are moving swiftly into Autumn and this is probably the first Summer that folks are happy that the year is moving to an end so fast. 2020 sucks and we hate it here. This...
Wayne Powell has a lot to smile about. His daughter LaNice, right, and granddaughter are integral to his successful security business. (Photo: Courtesy of the Powell Family.)
