The Memorial contains 419 coffins resting beneath approximately 600 square feet of ground. And they, in turn, hold the remains of men, women and mostly children who were Aworked to death@ as they cleared the trees, dug the ditches, built the roads and administered to the daily labor needs of the first illegal aliens C the colonists along the Atlantic coast and inland.
Those remains were unearthed in May 1991 by construction workers preparing to build a federal office tower at Broadway and Duane Streets. They are the sisters and brothers to more than 20,000 other 18th-century Africans buried in 5 acres of graveyard lying beneath what is now the Financial Capital of the world.
AThe African Burial Ground Memorial Site calls into question the validity of historical literature that attempted to regionalize enslavement primarily within the U.S. South,@ notes press materials of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
The Site acknowledges the neglected history of slavery in early New York and the city=s role as a major slave port. Throughout the 1700=s, New York City had one of the largest slave populations in colonial America C second only to South Carolina.
Even more truths were uncovered by Howard University scientists, biologists, archaeologists and researchers (See Dr. Warren Perry=s essay on PG. 11). The remains, sent to Howard in 1993 upon the insistence of community groups, revealed evidence of the unrelenting brutalities faced by the Ancestors at every hour. This year, Howard University=s examination of the remains and artifacts was completed, thus allowing the reinterment process to commence. The six-city, five-day Rites of Ancestral Return led by the Schomburg Center commemorated the journey of the Ancestors= remains back to their Aresting place@ in Lower Manhattan.
Departing from Howard University on September 30, the Abones@ travelled to Baltimore, MD; Wilmington, DE; Philadelphia, PA; Newark, NJ and Jersey City. They arrived in New York by flotilla on October 3 at Pier 11, the site of the old slave market. An exterior memorial and interpretive center at the Burial Ground Memorial Site are scheduled for completion in 2005, and reports on the 12-year studies are expected to roll out over a period of two years beginning, this month.
Meanwhile, Our Time Press is providing a color-supplement for its readers which tells the story of the Rites of Ancestral Return through the eyes, voices and texts of those who experienced the procession, and those who have lived it since 1991. Ten thousand copies C30% of our circulation C will include supplements. Award-winning journalist Herb Boyd=s story below, Inez Barron’s View on page 14 and Yvette Moore’s coverage on page 15 introduce the AAncestral Presence@ supplement. BG
The African Burial Ground Memorial Site at Duane and Elk Streets is The Most Important Landmark in The History of The Origins of Early America Under Colonial Rule.
Survey Reveals That Low-Income New Yorkers Remain Trapped in Poverty Despite Full-time Work
Low Wages and Few Employee Benefits
Result in Serious Economic Hardships
New York, NYCNovember 6, 2003 – Low wages, few basic employee benefits, as well as recent measures taken to close the city and state budget gaps, have compounded the struggle to make ends meet among low-income New Yorkers. According to the second annual survey of New Yorkers conducted by the Community Service Society, nearly half of poor New Yorkers reported three or more serious economic hardships over the past year, such as falling behind on rent (27%) or inability to pay for needed medical attention (27%) or prescription drugs (32%). Even full-time work did not protect people against hardships: 22% of full-time workers living below the federal poverty line fell behind on rent, 21% postponed needed medical care, and 27% were unable to fill prescriptions.
The survey, The Unheard Third: Bringing the Voices of Low-Income New Yorkers to the Policy Debate, conducted for CSS by Lake, Snell, Perry & Associates, provides an in-depth perspective on how theprolonged economic slump has affected New York City residents living below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines ($30,520 for a family of three). The survey polled a total of 753 low-income New York City residents and a comparison sample of 259 moderate and higher income New Yorkers.
David Jones, president of the CSS, said, ADespite recent reports of an expanding economy and increased consumer spending, our survey tells a very different story, one in which families are scraping by to survive despite full-time employment.@
The survey revealed that basic employer-based benefits that most middle-income workers take for granted are often nonexistent for low-wage workers – even among those holding full-time jobs. Among poor full-time workers, 44% said they are not offered health insurance, 63% don=t have a single day of paid sick leave, and 64% don=t get a paid vacation.
AEven if our economy continues to rebound, I don=t see that it will change the plight of low-wage workers unless the government steps in to ensure that a hard day=s work reaps wages and benefits that will meet the basic needs of families,@ stated Jones. AThese people need help. It is not surprising that a majority of our respondents were unhappy with the way our city, state and federal governments were handling the current economic crisis.@
One positive finding in the survey is that the people in the category of near- poor, or those families earning between 100% and 200% of the poverty line, seem to have rebounded since 9/11, and are reporting fewer hardships compared to our 2002 survey.
AThis suggests that government policies aimed at increasing the income of the poorest New Yorkers could make a significant difference in their standard of living. In the survey, 70 percent of the low-income respondents said they were registered and are likely to vote. AThis is a large group of voters whose concerns are consistently ignored by most candidates for public office. Those who speak to their issues may be able to energize this untapped constituency,@ said Jones.
CSS recommends the following income-boosting strategies to help low-income people get ahead:
* Increase the minimum wage
* Establish a floor of basic employee benefits and paid family leave
* Expand access to affordable housing for low-income New Yorkers through construction, incentives, rent assistance, and realistic welfare shelter allowances
* Provide property tax relief to low-income New Yorkers
* Fix welfare policies to promote education and training
* Increase funding to improve New York City=s public schools so that graduates are well-prepared for jobs and higher education
* Expand access to government programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, Food Stamps, Medicaid, and Unemployment Insurance benefits to help low-income families meet their basic needs
Telephone interviews were conducted between August 25 and September 9, 2003, with a total of 1,012 New York City residents age 18 or older, including 753 low-income residents and 259 higher-income residents. The margin of error for the low-income component is +/-3.6 percentage points; for the higher income component +/- 6.2 percentage points.
Topline findings and a more detailed report can be found on the Community Service Society website at www.cssny.org <http://www.cssny.org/>
On Friday, December 19th, We Will Be Celebrating Carter G. Woodsons Birthday at B&G H.S
Unfortunately, Dr. Woodson=s philosophy has never been embraced by the New York City school system. Instead, we have accepted and embraced a Western system of education and would rather promote multiculturalism and diversity than African -centered learning. We should not sacrifice one for the other. Our children can learn it all, but knowledge of oneself must be a priority.
This year has been one of the most stressful and confusing for teachers and administrators in the Department of Education. Amidst all of this chaos, there are some things that are happening in the DOE that are important to our community. Among the greatest accomplishment, is the establishment of Bedford Academy as Bedford- Stuyvestant=s newest high school.
The school is off to a great start which can be attributed to the visionary leadership of its principal, Mr. George Leonard. Mr. Leonard has served our community for many years as a master math teacher and administrator. He proved many years ago that African children can excel in science and math. The school is currently housed at Benjamin Banneker Academy and is expected to move into its newly renovated home at the Bedford YMCA in September.
The other pertinent occurrences are the appointments of Bernard Glassoway and Victor Gathers to key positions within the Department of Education. Specifically, Mr. Glassoway, was recently appointed Superintendent of Alternative Schools and Adult Education and Mr. Gathers Director of Adult Education.
Mr. Glassoway was a brilliant choice by Dr. Lester Young for the powerfully important position as Superintendent of Alternative Schools and Adult Education. Mr. Glassoway, a dynamic young man, was formerly principal of Beach Channel High School and is currently a Revson Fellow at Columbia University. He is the first African- American to head this division.
Of equal importance is Mr. Gathers= appointment as Director of Adult Education. He has jurisdiction over all of the GED & Adult Education programs in the DOE.
Many of our students drop out of high school and return to get their GED. These programs also service adults who want to learn English or obtain basic literacy skills. Mr. Gathers formerly directed the Brooklyn Adult Learning Center on Nostrand Avenue.
It is extremely important that in the midst of all the chaos at the Department of Education, we support the appointments of Mr. Gathers, Mr. Leonard and Mr. Glassoway. These strong Black men have a history of commitment to the community and are in positions to assist our children and adults in a system where their needs are marginalized and go largely unrecognized.
Inspector Timothy Pearson stood in front of the barber shop and looked over the crime scene for any evidence that may have been overlooked by the detectives. It was only hours earlier that a career criminal=s body lay dead on the same side walk from a single shot to the chest from a police officer's gun.
Inspector Timothy Pearson stood in front of the barber shop and looked over the crime scene for any evidence that may have been overlooked by the detectives. It was only hours earlier that a career criminal=s body lay dead on the same side walk from a single shot to the chest from a police officer’s gun.
Reports indicated that the deceased had just performed a gun point robbery of a patron in the barber shop. He then left the establishment and was confronted by two uniformed police officers. After a reported confrontation, the armed career criminal was shot and killed.
It was only days earlier that Inspector Pearson sat in one of the barber chairs and received his weekly hair cut. His mind allowed him to go back to the incident involving an off-duty police officer who found herself involved in a shoot out with armed robbers while she was in her hair salon. As he observed the curious onlookers, he saw many familiar faces and it reinforced why he spent so much time in the Fort Greene-Clinton Hill community where the 88th Precinct is located. The assignment is more than a nine to fiver. It is an obsession to bring a level of normality to a community that has known its share of crime and violence.
Many of the onlookers knew him by first name and was happy to see an African-American man in such a prestigious rank in the New York City Police Department. He understood that with the title of Inspector (and Black man), came an awesome responsibility to ensure fairness and justiceBBsomething that has often alluded residents of minority communities. This task is even more difficult when you have a full understanding of the financial and ethnic demographics of the community he is responsible for. Fort Greene and Clinton Hill have homeowners with million dollar properties standing side by side with families that are on pubic assistance. This mixture of have and have nots often bring about a violences and conflict.
Inspector Pearson=s 12 hour days have paid off and the result is that he has prevented those conflicts from taking place. He would be the first to tell you that much of his success has little to do with crime fighting and more to do with caring. He cared enough to self fund and run several youth summer programs in his precinct while the city was cutting these much needed services. A significant number of children participated in his summer time daily organized events. These deeds were similar to what he did in East New York Brooklyn, when he was the commanding officer of Housing Public Service Area 2.
Even critics of the community policing concept will have to agree that Inspector Pearson=s proactive style of approaching public safety paid off during the investigation into the case involving the armed gun man who was shot by the police in front of the barber shop. This was due to the fact that when backup police officers responded, no one was able to locate the gun that the assailant was supposed to have been carrying.
The absence of a gun in any other precinct would have been cause for many in the community to call for an investigation into possible police brutality. This was not the case here. The detectives in charge of investigating the case stated that they could not get enough help from community residents, who volunteered first-hand accounts of the case and gave information relating to what happened to the missing gun. Many of the witnesses clearly indicated their willingness to come forward which had a lot to do with their deep trust and respect for Inspector Pearson.
That respect has turned into respectable decreases in the seven major crime categories. These are national indicators that are used to determine the safety of a given area. Inspector Pearson style of policing has also helped to bridge the gap between the police department and the community that they are sworn to serve and protect. It is clear that because of this a possible frontpage controversial police shooting became a back page success story of the police and public working together to solve a crime.
Let us hope one day our city will reach the point where these forms of cooperation for public safety will also be worthy of breaking news headlines.
A Look Back at What Was Accomplished
The injustices of the Jim Crow era of separate economic and social circles for whites and blacks, have been well-documented. Signs such as ANo Negroes allowed@ and AWhites Only@ are familiar symbols of a time when Black people were forced to trade among themselves, patronizing Black-owned stores and businesses. Under such constraints, we made economic advances in the decades after slavery that are striking today.
One of the most important speeches in American history was made by Booker T. Washington, founder of Tuskeegee Institute, at the opening of the Cotton States and International Exposition, in Atlanta, Ga., on September 18, 1895. Dubbed the AAtlanta Compromise@, Mr. Washington seemed to acquiesce to the injustices but his speech must be seen in the context of its time, when terrorists, who at the most visible, lynched an average of more than one hundred Black people per year from 1882-1901. One hundred and thirty-four are known to have been lynched only a year before Mr. Washington spoke.
In that context, we can see that Mr. Washington had his work cut out for him as he spoke in the Negro Building at the Exposition. He had his personal safety and that of his institution to think about. He had Northern philanthropists Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller on his mind, men who were vital to Tuskeegee=s mission of educating a people. And he had his fellow newly-freed people on his mind also, people who were recovering from the trauma of the slave experience while still under daily attack.
Mr. Washington=s call for Black people to concentrate on industrial skills and education rather than social integration was resoundingly received by the first two constituencies, but many blacks, W.E.B DuBois being the most prominent, were not happy with the appearance of retreat from social progress. But Mr. Washington=s approach was more of a strategic withdrawal than a retreat: time for the enemy to become civilized, time for people to be educated and strengthened.
The Jamestown Exposition of 1907, took place twelve years after Mr. Washington=s speech. The following account, written at the time, is a window on the advances made by black people under severe circumstances and following Mr. Washington=s model.
As we look around Brooklyn today, with Acivil rights@ laws giving full access to venues such as Marriott and the Waldorf, we have to ask, AHow far have we come economically in the last ninety-six years and what would Mr. Washington think of our >progress=?@ DG