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For the Sake of Truth and Clarity NuLeadership Responds to President Pollard’s Message

Editor, Our Time Press
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Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York (CUNY) was named after a slain civil rights hero and Black leader who spent his life fighting for the rights of all people  to be included in the economic, social, political and educational mainstream of American society without bias or prejudice.  The college that bears his name was founded to provide higher educational opportunities to the underserved urban populations of Central Brooklyn and beyond.  Since its inception, Medgar Evers College (MEC) has been true to that mission.  One of the ways it fulfills its mission is in the creation of centers within the college, which concentrate on specific population groups or academic disciplines: for example: the Center for Women’s Development or the Center for Black Literature. 
One of the centers at MEC, the six-year-old Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, has been singled out for attack, severe criticism and special treatment.  Ironically, and perhaps coincidentally, this center focuses on the population of students who have been formerly incarcerated but are now seeking to turn their lives around through the acquisition of a college education.  For the past several weeks, there has been a continuing controversy between the Center for NuLeadership and the college’s newly appointed senior management staff, led by President William L. Pollard, Vice President Lloyd Blanchard and Provost Howard L. Johnson, over the legitimacy of the Center for NuLeadership and its funding.  President Pollard referenced these issues in the July 8th issue of Our Time Press. It is imperative that we clarify and provide background information on these issues.
In “Summer News from Medgar Evers College,” Dr. Pollard writes about a funding grant proposal submitted by the Center for NuLeadership in January and the fact that “Provost Johnson received the [funding] proposal in May 2010 and raised in writing a series of questions reflecting the college’s legitimate concerns.”  To be clear, there was no grant proposal submitted in January.  The Center for NuLeadership was solicited by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services to begin a series of negotiations on a Court 2 College grant that would provide formerly incarcerated people with an opportunity to attend college. The proposal to which President Pollard is referring, is a draft proposal and the Center for NuLeadership attempted to meet with the president for several months to discuss the proposal.  Furthermore, the Center for NuLeadership was provided with the provost’s questions related to the proposal on the same day that President Pollard sent a message re: nonresponse to questions on the proposal to the college community. 
The college’s senior management team has used the request for authorization of the proposal as a basis for questioning the legitimacy and status of the Center for NuLeadership. The funding proposal has nothing to do with our application to be approved as a center.  By mixing the two, the president has given the impression that the Center for NuLeadership is unwilling to cooperate with the provost.  Nothing is further from the truth. 
In April 2009, at the request of MEC’s former president, Dr. Edison O. Jackson, the Center for NuLeadership – with the assistance of the college’s legal counsel – submitted a formal written proposal to be recognized as a center within the college.  The proposal was presented to the Medgar Evers College Council, the highest governing body within the college, and approved by a unanimous vote.  The College Council instructed the former Provost to forward the proposal, with their recommendation for approval, to the CUNY Office of Academic Affairs, for final ratification by the CUNY Board of Trustees.  This was never done.  Provost Johnson, with the approval of senior management, has still refused to forward the approved proposal.  Instead, he has drafted a series of questions and demanded that the Center for NuLeadership answer them before he forwards the proposal. 
Simply put, the provost has decided to supersede the authority of the College Council and CUNY Central by disregarding the established CUNY guidelines for the establishment of centers and creating his own prerequisites for approval.  The Center for NuLeadership has no objection to answering the provost’s questions, and will.  However, it firmly maintains that the proposal should not be subjected to any additional prerequisites or requirements not asked of other centers, nor should its application be held hostage pending answers to these additional requirements.  The College Council, not the provost, is the governing body of the college.  It has already voted approval of the proposal.  The provost cannot now impose further requirements and ignore the College Council’s mandate.
For over six years, the Center for NuLeadership has operated at Medgar Evers College with absolutely no problems.  We were assigned an account with the Research Foundation of the City University of New York (RF), in the name of the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions, for purposes of funding, payroll and other expenses.  We have received extensive funding opportunities for the college and have always been self-sufficient in covering the costs of our staff, operations and programs. There has never been any question or issue with any of our grant proposals.   We have always followed CUNY rules and regulations to the letter and have always complied with any and all of the “legitimate concerns” of the college to secure approval for these funds.
While the controversy focuses on the Center for NuLeadership, its outcome has broad implications for all of the Centers in the college and for the relationship between the College and the Central Brooklyn community.  The centers were established to serve both the College and Central Brooklyn Community.  When the college interferes with the governance and programmatic issues of the centers, this negatively impacts the community.  Will the new managers of the college adhere to and respect the rules governing the college or will they continue to attempt to create their own rules, or change the college’s rules when those rules do not suit their purposes? 
Based upon our six-year history at Medgar Evers, there are no reasons why the Center for NuLeadership’s proposal should not be sent to the CUNY Office of Academic Affairs immediately.  There are no prerequisites involved. Sending our proposal to CUNY does not require approval of anyone at the college beyond the approvals already secured.  Finally, there are no reasons why the president and the provost should not welcome the work that the Center for NuLeadership is doing as opposed to trying to curtail it.
Dr. Divine Pryor, Executive Director
Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions
 Mr. Eddie Ellis, Deputy Director
Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions

A Blueprint for the Freedom Party

Editor, Our Time Press
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By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.
While a political party may be established at any time, a political party with ballot status in New York can only occur during a gubernatorial election which, in New York, is every four years. A general election for governor of New York will occur on November 2, 2010. To achieve ballot status, the political party must collect 50,000 votes.
If a political party fails to collect 50,000 votes in a gubernatorial election, it will lose ballot status for the next four years. This means that its statewide candidate for governor must gather 15,000 valid signatures once again. The Working Families Party, for example, lost its ballot status four years ago.
The Freedom Party intends for its petitioning in 2010 to be “one and done”. Once it acquires ballot status, it may nominate its gubernatorial candidate. An example is the nomination of Andrew Cuomo for governor in 2010. By petitioning, however, the person carrying the petition of Charles Barron gets the opportunity to engage the voters during the petition drive.
It is very important to distinguish a designating petition from an independent nominating petition. A designating petition is associated with a primary. On the other hand, an independent nominating petition is associated with a general election.
Any registered voter can vote in a general election and any registered voter can sign any independent designating petition. The names of the statewide slate of the Freedom Party will appear on the ballot in November and not on the ballot in September. The general election happens in November. In New York, only an enrolled member of a political party can vote in its primary.
Before Smith v. Allwright (1944), Blacks were usually barred from voting in primaries. They were referred to as “white primaries”. In this country, there have always been barriers to voting. Universal suffrage is not respected. Thurgood Marshall hailed Smith v. Allwright as his greatest legal victory.
Marshall elevated politics over education. Brown v. Board of Education would be decided in 1954. The sine qua non of politics is the selection and not the election of candidates. The South operated under a one-party system; namely, states’ rights. This was the overt agenda of the Democratic Party before 1968.

Terrorism was the instrument employed before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to enforce “white primaries.” Co-optation is the tool employed today. Leading Blacks are paid-off not to resist white supremacy. This enables white supremacists to hand-pick “our” Black elected officials. Thus, Black voters endorse their own oppression.
Neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party was established to abolish slavery. The “founding fathers” of the Democratic Party include Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. They were white supremacists. Jefferson penned “Notes on Virginia”. Jackson nominated Roger Taney to head the U.S. Supreme Court. Taney wrote the Dred Scott decision. White Democrats still honor them.
The disenfranchisement of Black and Latino felons must be a concern of the Freedom Party. Our voting ranks are being depleted. In New York, half of the parolees and probationers are Black and a third are Latino. Only Maine, Vermont, Utah and Massachusetts lack a criminal disenfranchisement statute of “one type or another”.
Felony convictions are wreaking havoc in New York. Although the Rockefeller drug law has been softened, New York still refuses to enact “second chance” legislation for ex-felons. Decent employment opportunities still continue to escape them. The lack of “second chance” legislation boosts recidivism.
The three-fifths provision of the U.S. Constitution still apply to Black felons without equivocation. It was sanctioned by the Thirteenth Amendment. Thus, Black and Latino felons are counted in their places of incarceration and not their actual places of residence. They are incarcerated in areas that are hostile to Blacks and Latinos.
Political leverage will be important for the Freedom Party and it will start on August 11. This should be our initial shock in New York politics. It will start with our submission of at least 100,000 signatures to the Board of Elections. This would be more that six times the statutory minimum of 15,000 valid signatures.
In 1994, the Freedom Party was a novice in politics. Yet, the party was able to collect more than 53,000 signatures without the organization nor personnel that exists today. Today, the Freedom Party should be able to easily double its efforts of 1994 although our access to the Black media is more accessible than it was in 1994.
In 2009, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican, could not leave home without the Independence Party. In 2010, Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has said that he is unable to leave home without the Independence Party. When Councilman Barron secures 500,000 votes, no Democrat nor Republican candidate for statewide office will be able to leave home without the Freedom Party.

Community Greets Freedom Party Slate

Mary Alice Miller
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Once again, several hundred community members flocked to the Siloam Presbyterian Church. This time the occasion was the presentation of the complete Freedom Party Slate. Eva M. Doyle, candidate for Lieutenant Governor, came from Buffalo. Attorney General candidate Ramon Jimenez journeyed from the South Bronx.
Freedom Party Gubernatorial candidate Charles Barron was greeted with enthusiastic applause when he said, “Freedom Party! Freedom Party! I want you to meet together for the very first time Charles Barron for Governor, Lieutenant Governor candidate of our party Eva M. Doyle, and candidate for Attorney General Ramon Jimenez. I am so excited.”
Barron made this declaration: “I want to say to all gathered, we are going to get these signatures. We are going to get on the ballot. We are going to get more than 50,000 votes after we get on the ballot. And when we do, we are going to rock this state like it has never been rocked before. This will be the first time in the history of this state that we have a Black and Latino, Latino and Black-led party.  We welcome all to join our party. As you see in this room today, we have white supporters, and we thank you for your support.”
“It is time for this state to have a party of Black and Latino people unbought, unbossed and uncontrolled by the corporate interests in this state,” said Barron. “This is a party that is going to say no to war. The Freedom Party is saying no to balancing the budget on the backs of poor and working-class families in this state.”
Describing the current economic climate in New York State, Barron said, “Wall Street made $61 billion dollar profit last year, while everybody else was broke, in the middle of a economic crises. Tax the rich. What about a personal income tax surcharge: Those who make $500,000/ year – 1.5%;  one million a year/ 3.5%; five million a year/ 4.5%; those making ten million or more a year/ 5.5%. There are over 26 million people in NYS, only 63,000 people make that kind of money. If you tax them, you can get anywhere from $8-12 billion a year and the budget will be balanced.  How about a stock transfer tax – 10-15 cents on those stocks that are being transferred every year? You can get over $2 billion every year on a stock transfer tax. We will have a surplus.”
Barron outlined several other issues the Freedom Party will address. “We are the only party, the only team that is going to raise the question of police brutality and terror in our neighborhoods,” he said. “Not only stop-and-frisk, but also the abusive use of deadly force. They need to put down the guns and pick up some humanity and stop killing our people for no justifiable reason. We are going to be the only party that says to this nation that you have to rebuild and return our people to New Orleans. We are going to be the only party that says keep your welfare, keep your affirmative action, give us our reparations. It is a debt owed. We are going to be the only party that says the Black Panther Party, the Black Liberation Party members – those who are languishing in prison because of their political beliefs, their political actions – did their time.  Free our political prisoners.”
Barron closed his remarks by saying, “We are going to be the only party that says to this nation we are no longer going to sit back and allow you to put a racist state structure in NYS. That cannot happen. Fannie Lou Hamer got sick and tired of being sick and tired. She formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party for the same reason that we are starting the Freedom Party. Fannie Lou Hamer has to be smiling upon us. For you Fannie Lou Hamer, we say Freedom Party!”
In his introduction of the Freedom Party candidate for Lt. Gov., Barron said, “Mrs. Eva M. Doyle is an Afrocentric educator for 30 years. She has written several books. She writes for the Buffalo Criterion. Chrystal Peebles-Stokes, one of the legislators in Buffalo, said that when she heard that we had Mrs. Doyle with us, we got the most honorable, highly respected from Buffalo.”
Mrs. Doyle said, “I bring you greetings from a great number of hardworking people in Buffalo. We are excited about the Freedom Party. I brought with me today 300 signatures. As I speak now, brothers and sisters are on the battlefield in Buffalo collecting even more signatures.”
“I am doing double duty here,” said Doyle. “I am recording this for my newspaper column ‘Eye on History’, for the Criterion Newspaper, the oldest Black newspaper in western New York. I have been writing the column Eye on History for almost 32 straight years without stop. I describe it as the only weekly column on Black history in Western NY. I have taught as a teacher in the Buffalo public schools for 30 years. I believe in teaching Black history, not just in February but all year long.”
“As I was flying into NY, I thought about the Statue of Liberty. I told my students that the original Statue of Liberty was that of a Black woman,” Mrs. Doyle said. “The tablet she holds in her hand is a symbol of the Abolitionist Movement. I have written 11 books. When I finish this book on the Black Statue of Liberty, it will be my 12th book. I tell my students that Black history is all around us, even on the dollar bill.”
Eva Doyle told the crowd how she came to be on the ticket. “When I was asked to become candidate for Lt. Gov. under the Freedom Party, I must tell you I did not immediately say yes. As a matter of fact, I said no. I can’t do this,” she said. “But then something started to happen. People in Buffalo started to call me. Erie County legislator Billie Jean Grant said, ‘Please give this a little more thought.’ Attorney Alton Maddox called me just about every day. He is the most persuasive attorney I have ever met. Mr. Ted Perkins is the host of a radio show in Buffalo called Perkins Corner. I was listening to his show, relaxing. Alton Maddox was on the show and asked ‘Who do you think would be a good candidate for lt. gov.?’ Mr. Perkins said, ‘Well, what about Eva Doyle?’ I almost fell out of my chair.”
Mrs. Doyle gave two reasons why she accepted. She said she is participating “in the memory and spirit of the great Fannie Lou Hamer.” Mrs. Doyle spoke of her husband. “I lost my husband last March 2009. Brother Romeo Muhammad. We were married 44 years. If Brother Romeo was here, he would be in this room. He would be behind me 150%. Brother Romeo was a member of the Nation of Islam for 42 straight years. Now I am a member of the church – First Shiloh Baptist Church in Buffalo, New York.  A lot of people have asked me ‘How did you get along with Brother Romeo, a member of the Nation of Islam, and you are a member of the church?’ My husband always believed no matter what religion you were in, what faith you had, we are all Black people.  We are in the same struggle. I know Brother Romeo is smiling down on us. I know Brother Romeo would give me his blessings. He would have beat me to New York City. He would have paved the way, shaking everybody’s hand.”
Barron fought back tears while introducing Freedom Party candidate Ramon Jimenez. “When we think of Ramon, we think of Richie Perez,” Barron said. “Richie Perez was my friend. Whenever we wanted to bring the African-American and Latino community together, we called Richie Perez. I know he is smiling on us now, watching Ramon carry that mantle of making sure Blacks and Latinos stick together. Ramon comes in the spirit of Richie Perez.
Ramon Jimenez: “It is good to be back home. I was a Brooklynite until I was 8 years old. In the Bronx, we have a lot of struggles taking place. We have the Yankee Stadium struggle, where $1.5 billion was spent to build a mega-palace in the poorest congressional district in the United States.  They promised jobs. Let me tell you how many community people got a job in the demolition of Yankee Stadium. One.”
“The Freedom Party is about a movement. We are the mere instruments of that movement,” Jimenez said. “I have organized the South Bronx for many years. When I organized tenants, they are Black and Latino. When I organize parents, they are Black and Latino. When I work with the Woodlawn workers, they are Black and Latino. On the streets, at the base, Black and Latino unity is there every day.”
According to Jimenez, “Historically, some of the greatest movements took place in NY – City College, the movement for Black and Puerto Rican Studies, the Jesse Jackson campaign, saving Hostos Community College. Sometimes we don’t understand unity politics. The rich understand unity politics. The landlords, when they have to come together, come together. When the developers have to come together, come together over their common interests. We let little things divide us. This is the time. We got the biggest slap in the face with what the Democratic Party did. It is not just the Democratic Party. I used to work for the Workers’ Compensation Board as a judge. I used to be the head judge. In the 1980’s when I was a judge, there were 5 or 6 Black and Latino commissioners. Today, there is one Black commissioner. In the 1980’s when I was a judge, there were 15 Black and Latino judges at Worker’s Comp. Today, there is one.  It’s not just the Democratic Party. It is all over.  In a city that is 35% white, 70% of Bloomberg’s managers are white and Blacks and Latinos are being locked out.”
“It is a great honor to be invited to be a part of this ticket. We need a Freedom Party,” Jimenez said. “If we don’t have a Freedom Party, who is going to raise the issue of Wall Street being taxed? Do you think Andrew Cuomo or Rick Lazio is going to raise it? Who is going to raise the issue of gentrification? In an article the other day, Cuomo was investigating housing discrimination. I thought to myself, ‘You are late. It is the end of your term, and you just discovered discrimination in housing?’ In the South Bronx, we have tenant groups, antiviolence groups. The Freedom Party is the only one to talk about their issues. We have a chance to make history. I don’t want to rise from my people; I want to rise with my people! Freedom Party!”
Several whites were in attendance, including two ladies from the Million Worker March Movement. One said, “New York has been a place of Democratic seats having a lot of power. Republicans obviously don’t offer any alternative. Neither party is representing working-class people. In fact, they have taken a very strong pro-Wall Street stance. The laws that exist in the state of New York, like the Taylor Law that prohibits the public sector from striking, has taken the teeth right out of the labor movement. I think that this kind of party is a development that is giving grounds for more progressive politics, for more participation of the average person, who are not represented locally, not represented in Congress. Our tax dollars are used, but we don’t get the benefit.  Workers are not being represented.  We are asked to work, pay the taxes, bear the brunt of all the crises capitalists have thrust upon us. And we don’t get the benefits of it. I think this party will provide a potential platform for people to become politically active, put their demands forward, fight for them and force concessions.”
Kevin Powell, Democratic candidate for congress in the 10th Congressional District in Brooklyn. “I am a Democrat, but I came to listen and show support for Charles Barron and the folks here because they supported my campaign. I support third, fourth, fifth parties in this country. We need more than one or two parties. I definitely support that. I just want to listen. That is why I am here – to listen.”

A Year Later — Family and Friends Remember Shem Walker During Emotional Candlelight Vigil

Editor, Our Time Press
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On July 11, 2009, a man was sitting on the stoop of the Walker family home at 370 Lafayette Avenue. Because the house is a few doors down from a suspected drug house, Mr. Shem Walker was accustomed to shooing away loiterers from his property. In the past, the drug dealers or street people who were sitting, simply left. But this time the man Mr. Walker confronted to leave the property was an undercover police officer, and this time Mr. Walker was shot dead.
It’s been a year since the shooting and District Attorney spokesperson Jerry Schmetterer said that nothing has been referred to the DA’s office from the police department. The NYPD has also given no word to the family on what, if anything, is being investigated. Family and friends remember Shem Walker.
 
 

 

Shavon Walker, Daughter
One year ago today, the person who I saw as my hero, my Savior, other than Jesus Christ, was killed right here.   Only my family can feel the pain that we feel every day walking back and forth.  From a place that was supposed to  be a sanctuary.  But it’s not the same.  The person who took my father’s life is still living his life day-to-day.  Going home to his family.  Smiling and laughing.  And he doesn’t feel the pain that we feel on a daily basis. 
The sentimental things, the laughter.  The jokiness.  Just the kind person that he was, we no longer have.  Is it fair?  I think not.
Do we need justice? Absolutely.  Will this justice system fail us?  We shall see.  It is up to us as a community to rise above this and take a stand that this will not happen to anyone again. 
I’m making a plea right now, to those in the neighborhood.  This step needs to be precious.   To hang out on the step, which is the reason why my father got into a scuffle, is wrong.  I’m just asking that there should be no trespassing, period.  That’s a plea, a personal plea from me.  I come here, I pass here so many times, and when I pass here and I see people standing here and I say “It’s happening again.”
If my dad was here he would tell you to come off the stairs.  Why is it still happening?  A life was taken from us and we’re still having the same perpetuating behavior.
Today, I’m making a plea to the community: We must all stick together and take a lesson from what happened here at 370 Lafayette Avenue, July 11th, last year. 
My father is gone from us, but he is still not forgotten.  We have two lovely new additions to our family and we’re blessed.  God took one away from us but he brought us back two. We’re living through them, thank you.

Mrs. Walker, Mother
“I was Shem’s mother.  Last year on the 11th, a Saturday evening, Shem went to the fast-food store and he bought me some food.  He came in and give me the food, but something wasn’t right.  So I said, ‘Shem, I can’t eat this food, you take it.’  He emptied my bowl into his plate and went into the kitchen and ate.  When he finished he went outside and he had a piece of cake.   He put the piece in my mouth and he said, ‘Mommy, I’m going to get a smoke.’
“The next time I saw my son there he is in a casket. Died.  What for?  They say he went to the store and he came back and he sees somebody sitting on the steps.  Don’t mind how abrupt he said to the man, ‘Get off!’ or ‘Move!’  How come my son ends up dead?  You mean to tell me two trained police, one on this step and one on the next step.  They couldn’t subdue one innocent, unarmed man without using gun force?  I don’t think this is it.  I just don’t think that is right.  So all I’m asking for now is for justice.  The man who killed my son, and it was like he killed me.  My sight has gone since then.  All I’m asking for now is justice for my son.  Justice for Shem.”

Reverend Michael Bacchus, Full Gospel Assembly
What I know of Shem, he’d come from Pennsylvania on weekends, get his mother on Sunday mornings and bring her to church. He’d bring his car up on the sidewalk, take his mom out of the car and put her in the wheelchair, get her into the church, get on the elevator, bring her up into the sanctuary and she sits right in the back.  When church is finished, Shem comes back again, gets his mom in the reverse order and brings his mother home.  I don’t know all the other pieces, but I can say I saw that this was a son who was very loving, very caring and very dutiful for his mom. And I believe that’s a golden heart that he took the time to be there for his mother, in the house of the Lord, week after week.  I want to honor the family, especially the young man who is currently bringing his grandmother, Sunday after Sunday, he brings her to church.  That’s the same thing that Shem was doing.  

Councilwoman Letitia
The Walker family is pursuing a civil action, but the District Attorney should at least reach out to the family and explain where things are at this time.  Whether or not there is an active investigation. Or whether it’s closed, and if closed, why?  I think they are owed that reason and that explanation.  A year without justice for Shem Walker is really unfortunate.  And without any interaction with the District Attorney’s office, I just believe this family deserves better.
If you’re selling drugs, you are the enemy.  You’re tearing our community apart.  Families have been torn apart by drugs.  It’s because individuals sold drugs on this corner and at that corner at Classon Avenue, Shem is not here.  We want a community where our mothers and grandmothers are safe and where children can play without worrying about drug dealers.  Let this message be the message we take away from the life of Shem Walker.  That’s the message here today. Justice for this family, but also at the same time (community), we have got to stand up and do the right thing. 

Lydia Phillips, Aunt
It’s been one year now since that cop shot my nephew on these same steps.  They said they were undercover. The guy was sitting on the steps and my nephew told him no loitering here and told him to get up.  His partner came up the steps and told my nephew he couldn’t tell the guy who was sitting on the steps to move. My nephew told him there was no loitering and he took his gun out and shot my nephew twice in the chest and in the forehead.  This is a family building.  My niece came out.  And if someone comes out and says this is my brother, they still took him to the hospital as a John Doe.
Since then, there has been nothing.  The case has not gone to a grand jury or anything like that.  One year.  Nothing has happened.  All they’re saying is that they’re investigating.

Asthma Self-Help for African-Americans

Editor, Our Time Press
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Asthma in the African-American child may be caused by things other than what is commonly suggested.  In many African-American homes sometimes we do things that others might not be doing, such as burning incense.  Incense has a flux that comes off like any burning weed or leaf and that might be causing a child to have asthma.  So I would advise anybody that has asthmatic children, not to burn any of those types of things in their homes.  The roach is a big problem because the exoskeleton comes off and disintegrates into a protein dust which is highly allergenic.  Mite dust is another problem.   In your mattress, there are mites that eat the dead skin that flakes off your body.  These mites defecate and their waste is called mite dust.  Every time you roll over in a mattress, that dust comes up.  So people should really spend more money replacing mattresses than on doctor visits and medicines. 
Also, the residual remains of roach bombs does not easily dissipate, particularly in the winter when everything is closed up to keep the heat in.  Everything else stays as well.   If you also use a gas stove to heat a house, you get a lot of non-combustibles coming in, carbon dioxide, things like that, and you run the danger of creating a negative pressure in the house.  This negative pressure can draw gases back down a flue, gases that should be released to the outside.  This is how many people get carbon monoxide poisoning.   This is very common, and yet it gets treated as though it were the flu or some kinds of upset stomach, or headache you think is do to a cold. 
When you bring your clothing home from the dry cleaner, air it out well before you bring it into your closet.  Because perchloroethylene is a very toxic chemical.  
In African-American homes, we use a lot of disinfectants, pine and different kinds of detergents and cleaners.  Any of these aerosol products that have aromas, floral scents, should not be used in the home around children.  There are many chemicals in the spray system of the can.
Of course, there should be no smoking in a house with children.  No smoking at all.   A baby=s lungs are very sensitive and susceptible to damage from cigarette smoke.  There is not one thing in the diet that can=t cause asthma.  You can have asthma from eating one type of food.  I had a patient who went to see her daughter at college, and she went into a little restaurant and had some chili, without knowing they had used peanuts in the preparation.   She ate it and died from an asthmatic attack. 
One of the biggest things found now in many foods is sulfite.  We have something in our bodies called sulfite oxidase which can oxidize the sulfite when it comes into our bodies.  But that enzyme system is limited in the amount of work it can do.  When it gets overloaded the system shuts down and you end up with a lot of sulfites moving through your body causing difficulty.  Researchers have found that you can protect the sulfite oxidase by using vitamin B-12.  If you look in any allergy journal sulfites is high on the list.  In fact, they have outlawed sulfites on store lunch counters, where they were used to keep the vegetables looking fresh.  Sulfites are used mostly for cosmetic purposes.  They keep tuna fish white, and the fruint in fruitcake  red, orange, pink or yellow.  Dried fruits have to be sulfited to keep their color.  White raisins are kept white by sulfites. 
A big problem that children have is with the sulfites in the quarter-water drinks.  If you go into the average Bodega and you=ll find a wide variety of these drinks, and many with sulfites.  These sulfites can build up in the body and constrict the small bronchi leading into air sacs of the lungs, triggering an asthmatic attack.   These drinks also cause hyperactivity in children because of the intense fructose that=s in it.  It intoxicates the brain.  Then there are also dyes they have put in these things to hold the color.  So the result is a variety of chemicals going into your body that the body was never designed to handle and can=t even recognize.  Give your children juices instead of the colored water drinks.  Read the labels carefully.  If this was done, it would reduce asthma as much as one-quarter. 
These drugs that are used to treat asthma are horrible.   They make children nervous, and upset, and prevent them from functioning well in school.   The pharmaceutical companies do produce some lifesaving products, but they are also profit-making enterprises, manufacturing products which they recommend be used daily.  These companies are not necessarily the best source of information on how  to prevent asthma in a more natural and safe way.   Examine everything you take into your body and remove those things that have asthma-causing properties.   Be aware of your environment and of the air quality around you.  An air purifier can have a very beneficial effect for asthmatics.    and don=t forget, consult with your allergist or doctor before changing or discontinuing any medication.

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