Our Time PressThe Local Paper with the Global View

At one time or another, teachers may ask themselves, AWhy do so many children commit educational suicide? They do not care about school. They come to class without books or homework. They fail classes and tests. So, why do they come to school?@
A student=s response may be, AThings never stop. I=m always fighting. I=m tired of having to watch my back. I=m for real. It=s crazy. I=m stressed at home and at school. So much is going on in my life. Do you feel me? I don=t like school. I can=t get a job. I got to get mine. Nobody cares about me. Kids are always trying to violate me. Damn! I=m tired. It=s always something. Stop stressing me. I want out. I want out of my house. I want out of my neighborhood. I want out of school. I want out of Y@
School children who seek suicide by educator deliberately act in a disruptive manner toward teachers or children, which provokes confrontations, failing grades, suspensions, expulsions, or arrests. They feel disconnected, uncared for, stressed, confused, and angry. They are almost always victims of abuse or neglect. They are deficient in math and reading. To them, school is irrelevant; failure is common; life is rough; fights are frequent. They lash out at school officials both verbally and physically. Anything or anybody may become the target of their anger.
School personnel are not trained to deal with the level of anger they are experiencing with children; as a result, they often respond to them with punishment, suspension, failure or arrest. They say, AHe is out of control. Suspend him! Fail him! Arrest him!@ Rarely do public and school officials, particularly in urban, poor school districts, address the conditions that caused the children=s disruptive behaviors. In most cases, school officials contact the parent(s). Ironically, in a cruel twist of fate, the home is likely a contributor to the source of the child=s problems. So, like in school, the child goes home to get punished, even physically beaten. After the child returns to school, nothing has changed, and the behavior is often repeated. This cruel process perpetuates the cycle of stress, confusion, and anger.
In urban school settings, administrators respond to student anger with punishment therapy. In New York City schools, for example, a child is more likely to be suspended or arrested for an emotional outburst than to receive counseling. This is especially true since the Division of School Safety merged with the New York City Police Department several years ago. School safety agents have been given increased authority to make arrests. School administrators, in the name of zero tolerance, and because they lack other sound options, are quick to support student arrests. I am convinced that student arrests have increased exponentially since the merger. The charge of choice is Adiscon,@ which is short for disorderly conduct. Any angry child may be subjected to arrest on any given day. They are easy prey for people who look to exercise police powers over powerless peopleCour children.
In a perverse way, children who seek suicide by educator find comfort in chaos. They curse at adults to get an immediate reaction. They disrupt classes and school to get attention. They gain status and notoriety among their peers by breaking rules. When they are confronted about their behavior, they are adept at shifting the blame. AYou don=t like me. You=re always picking on me.@
They frequently express what someone has done to them. They usually see themselves as victims, never victimizers. They learn this behavior by watching people in their homes and communities. 
Culture of Failure
For children who seek suicide by educator, failure has become synonymous with school. They may have experienced institutional failure from as early as preschool. I believe some children have become immune to it. In fact, failure, for many, is an anticipated result. They say, AI know I am going to fail.@ When asked how they know this, they respond, AI just know.@ It is not uncommon to hear students say, AI only failed four classes.@ Failure has become so common in schools that children who fail all classes may go virtually unnoticed.
Parents seem surprised that they were not notified by teachers. Teachers seem surprised that parents were not monitoring their children. This pattern is repeated each marking period. Meanwhile, the children have convinced themselves that school is to failure what crime is to prison.
It is also not uncommon for these children to be sentenced to failure by their parents. I=ve heard mothers say to their sons, AYou are just like your father. You ain=t going to amount to nothing, just like him.@ These prophetic words provide a confused child with a psychological blueprint for aberrant behavior.
Some children who seek suicide by educator are in a constant state of denial.

They seem surprised or angry when they receive a report card with all failing grades. They ask the teacher, AWhy did you fail me?@ The typical response to such a question is, AYou failed the tests and did not do the homework.@ The teacher fails to see the broader meaning of the student=s question. The student knows he or she did not complete assignments and did poorly on tests. In his or her mind, an effort was made to come to school, and that should count for something. As a response to the documented failure, the child uses this as an opportunity to engage the teacher in a confrontation. Some teachers unwittingly comply, while others wait until the last minute to tell students their final grades in order to avoid a confrontation. Either scenario results in lose-lose situations for students and teachers.
There are no simple solutions. What can we do?
I.      Coordinate social services to support the entire family. We will continue to leave children behind as long as we leave families behind. Poor parenting is a social disease. Like alcoholism and drug addiction, it must be treated. Poor parenting is a plague that is responsible for the slow death of millions of children. If we were to successfully teach and enrich parents, we would eliminate thousands of corporations that profit directly from familial dysfunction, delinquency, dependency, deprivation and depression, all of which lead to other social maladies. 
II.      Remove failure from the equation. Failure is what feeds the need for suicide. For a young person who is starved for attention, failure fits the bill. If we feed children failure, that=s what they will crave. If a child fails to complete a class sequence satisfactorily, why do we require him to repeat the entire sequence? Why do we excessively test children in the name of accountability? Clearly, we need to rethink our methods of assessment and instruction. 
III.      Replace failure with praise. Seek every opportunity to praise these children. They are often deprived of what so many take for grantedCkindness and praise. Schools and community organizations should incorporate kindness into their culture. Good morning. Hello. You look nice today. You have a nice smile. Thank you. All of these niceties take little effort but have tremendous value.
IV.      Support teachers. Fight to defeat the external forces that prevent good, creative teachers from teaching children. Like parents and students, good teachers lose hope. They, too, are often beaten down by the system. 
V.      Protect children. They need positive reinforcement. They need comfort, care and attention B not punishment.
VI.      Provide children and parents with options. The current school paradigms, public and private, are not sufficient. We need to do more than think outside of the box; we need to come up with other shapes and designs.
Children who seek suicide by educator are victims of their environments. They have been dealt an unfair hand in life. We, society in general, have failed these children. Because we have not figured out how to Afix@ them, we beat them. We punish them. We label them. We kill them. Listen carefully when a child says, ANobody cares about me. So why should I care?@
www.bernardgassaway.com
bgas37@aol.com 8 April 2007

At one time or another, teachers may ask themselves, AWhy do so many children commit educational suicide? They do not care about school. They come to class without books or homework. They fail classes and tests. So, why do they come to school?@
A student=s response may be, AThings never stop. I=m always fighting. I=m tired of having to watch my back. I=m for real. It=s crazy. I=m stressed at home and at school. So much is going on in my life. Do you feel me? I don=t like school. I can=t get a job. I got to get mine. Nobody cares about me. Kids are always trying to violate me. Damn! I=m tired. It=s always something. Stop stressing me. I want out. I want out of my house. I want out of my neighborhood. I want out of school. I want out of Y@
School children who seek suicide by educator deliberately act in a disruptive manner toward teachers or children, which provokes confrontations, failing grades, suspensions, expulsions, or arrests. They feel disconnected, uncared for, stressed, confused, and angry. They are almost always victims of abuse or neglect. They are deficient in math and reading. To them, school is irrelevant; failure is common; life is rough; fights are frequent. They lash out at school officials both verbally and physically. Anything or anybody may become the target of their anger.
School personnel are not trained to deal with the level of anger they are experiencing with children; as a result, they often respond to them with punishment, suspension, failure or arrest. They say, AHe is out of control. Suspend him! Fail him! Arrest him!@ Rarely do public and school officials, particularly in urban, poor school districts, address the conditions that caused the children=s disruptive behaviors. In most cases, school officials contact the parent(s). Ironically, in a cruel twist of fate, the home is likely a contributor to the source of the child=s problems. So, like in school, the child goes home to get punished, even physically beaten. After the child returns to school, nothing has changed, and the behavior is often repeated. This cruel process perpetuates the cycle of stress, confusion, and anger.
In urban school settings, administrators respond to student anger with punishment therapy. In New York City schools, for example, a child is more likely to be suspended or arrested for an emotional outburst than to receive counseling. This is especially true since the Division of School Safety merged with the New York City Police Department several years ago. School safety agents have been given increased authority to make arrests. School administrators, in the name of zero tolerance, and because they lack other sound options, are quick to support student arrests. I am convinced that student arrests have increased exponentially since the merger. The charge of choice is Adiscon,@ which is short for disorderly conduct. Any angry child may be subjected to arrest on any given day. They are easy prey for people who look to exercise police powers over powerless peopleCour children.
In a perverse way, children who seek suicide by educator find comfort in chaos. They curse at adults to get an immediate reaction. They disrupt classes and school to get attention. They gain status and notoriety among their peers by breaking rules. When they are confronted about their behavior, they are adept at shifting the blame. AYou don=t like me. You=re always picking on me.@
They frequently express what someone has done to them. They usually see themselves as victims, never victimizers. They learn this behavior by watching people in their homes and communities. 
Culture of Failure
For children who seek suicide by educator, failure has become synonymous with school. They may have experienced institutional failure from as early as preschool. I believe some children have become immune to it. In fact, failure, for many, is an anticipated result. They say, AI know I am going to fail.@ When asked how they know this, they respond, AI just know.@ It is not uncommon to hear students say, AI only failed four classes.@ Failure has become so common in schools that children who fail all classes may go virtually unnoticed.
Parents seem surprised that they were not notified by teachers. Teachers seem surprised that parents were not monitoring their children. This pattern is repeated each marking period. Meanwhile, the children have convinced themselves that school is to failure what crime is to prison.
It is also not uncommon for these children to be sentenced to failure by their parents. I=ve heard mothers say to their sons, AYou are just like your father. You ain=t going to amount to nothing, just like him.@ These prophetic words provide a confused child with a psychological blueprint for aberrant behavior.

Some children who seek suicide by educator are in a constant state of denial.
They seem surprised or angry when they receive a report card with all failing grades. They ask the teacher, AWhy did you fail me?@ The typical response to such a question is, AYou failed the tests and did not do the homework.@ The teacher fails to see the broader meaning of the student=s question. The student knows he or she did not complete assignments and did poorly on tests. In his or her mind, an effort was made to come to school, and that should count for something. As a response to the documented failure, the child uses this as an opportunity to engage the teacher in a confrontation. Some teachers unwittingly comply, while others wait until the last minute to tell students their final grades in order to avoid a confrontation. Either scenario results in lose-lose situations for students and teachers.
There are no simple solutions. What can we do?
I.      Coordinate social services to support the entire family. We will continue to leave children behind as long as we leave families behind. Poor parenting is a social disease. Like alcoholism and drug addiction, it must be treated. Poor parenting is a plague that is responsible for the slow death of millions of children. If we were to successfully teach and enrich parents, we would eliminate thousands of corporations that profit directly from familial dysfunction, delinquency, dependency, deprivation and depression, all of which lead to other social maladies. 
II.      Remove failure from the equation. Failure is what feeds the need for suicide. For a young person who is starved for attention, failure fits the bill. If we feed children failure, that=s what they will crave. If a child fails to complete a class sequence satisfactorily, why do we require him to repeat the entire sequence? Why do we excessively test children in the name of accountability? Clearly, we need to rethink our methods of assessment and instruction. 
III.      Replace failure with praise. Seek every opportunity to praise these children. They are often deprived of what so many take for grantedCkindness and praise. Schools and community organizations should incorporate kindness into their culture. Good morning. Hello. You look nice today. You have a nice smile. Thank you. All of these niceties take little effort but have tremendous value.
IV.      Support teachers. Fight to defeat the external forces that prevent good, creative teachers from teaching children. Like parents and students, good teachers lose hope. They, too, are often beaten down by the system. 
V.      Protect children. They need positive reinforcement. They need comfort, care and attention B not punishment.
VI.      Provide children and parents with options. The current school paradigms, public and private, are not sufficient. We need to do more than think outside of the box; we need to come up with other shapes and designs.
Children who seek suicide by educator are victims of their environments. They have been dealt an unfair hand in life. We, society in general, have failed these children. Because we have not figured out how to Afix@ them, we beat them. We punish them. We label them. We kill them. Listen carefully when a child says, ANobody cares about me. So why should I care?@
www.bernardgassaway.com
bgas37@aol.com 8 April 2007

The issue of misogyny in hip-hop must be addressed at this critical time in our history.  I don=t think most adults are really in tune with lyrics of many of the songs that our youth are listening to and singing.  This article is not about Imus but about us (Black Folks).  It is my opinion that this current generation of black youth is the most immoral ever and unless we address the immorality of our youth, they will self-destruct.  We need both an internal and an external strategy to address this problem.  The external strategy will address systemic and institutional racism.  It will confront        a school system that refuses to teach black children their history and a police department that profiles black youth, shoots black men and fires 41 bullets at Amadu Diallo for reaching into his pocket for keys to open the door to his own home; and fifty bullets at Sean Bell and his friends for enjoying themselves on a night before his wedding.  This external strategy has demanded the resignation of Police Commissioner Kelly, and was at the forefront of the fight to fire racist ass Imus from WNBC and CBS radio for his racist remarks against the Rutgers Women=s Basketball team.
The external strategy also demands that progressive persons of color obtain political power.  This can be done by supporting persons like Councilman Charles Barron in his quest to become the Borough President of Brooklyn, with the largest concentration of persons of African ancestry in the Western Hemisphere.  This position will give him a platform to address the issue of race in a manner that has never been done before.  The goal of activist groups like Operation Power is to influence government by promoting a human rights legislative agenda that addressing the issues of the war, international drug trafficking, police brutality, universal healthcare and mis-education. 
We must also develop an internal strategy that addresses the immorality of our youth.  While misogyny is clearly a manifestation of the racist and sexist structure of American society, the immorality of our youth is a problem that we must resolve.  Hip-Hop culture and not the black church or schools, has been the major influence in defining the culture of our youth.  We can no longer shut our ears to Hip-Hop lyrics and not listen to what our youth are saying.  The negativity and immorality of these lyrics has deeply penetrated the consciousness of an entire generation of our youth, and has become their cultural norm.  As vulgar as it may appear in the written word, I am challenged to present the lyrics to you in the raw way the are being presented to our children. 
AB—-s ain=t s– but hos and tricks@ BSnoop Dogg
AI like them young, fresh and green, with no hair in between@ – Biggy
AGet a bad yellow b—, make her drop them draws, middle finger to the law, I gonna show you how to ball;@- Rich Boy
Move b—, get out the way, Get out the way bitch, get out the way, Move b—, get out the way, Get out the way b—, get out the way …;@-Ludacris
AI=ve got hos in different area codes;@ BLudacris 
AI don=t know what you heard about me, but bitches can=t get a dollar out of me, no Cadillac, no perms you can=t see that I=m a mother—- P.I.M.P.@-50 cents 
Our children know the lyrics to all these songs.  They learn these lyrics in elementary school like we used to learn nursery rhymes.  They get their moral direction from these lyrics which are reinforced by music videos where what is said is acted out on television.  A spiritual and revolutionary cultural war must be waged to address this crisis in our community.  This must be a primary goal of the black church, black educators and activists who have the greatest capacity to wage this fight at this time.  You may call it Armageddon but currently, we are losing the war.

While the faith community traditionally encourages generous tithing as a gift to the church, the leadership of the New Millennium sees it also as one strategic finance tool for building the giver=s personal legacy portfolio B a kind of mutual fund.
Earlier this month, that kind of thinking pervaded the 3rd annual Women in Leadership Lectures (WILL) empowerment conference, organized by The Reverend Barbara A. Lucas for clergy and lay leaders.  Women of all ages exploded into cheers and applause as speaker after speaker illustrated how discipline is at the core of both strong faith and solid finance management, with success and destiny manifested as the results.  AIf we die with no property, we leave behind poverty,@ said one leader.
AOur Women=s Economic Development programs create educated, well-informed individuals who prepare their financial portfolios, early in life, through personal savings and investments,@ says Rev. Barbara, pastor of Agape Tabernacle International Fellowship, Inc.
AThis year=s program was designed to arm women leaders with the information needed to economically strengthen their faith-based and community-based organizations, reduce debt, choose the most effective finance packages, become home and property owners, and, in the process, stay both physically and spiritually healthy.@
Rev. Barbara=s Women Organizing, Mobilizing, and Building (W.O.M.B.) brought together women clergy and lay leaders from around the country to present powerful insights and strategies for enhancing personal lives, families, and communities through strategic financial planning.  WOMB develops and supports women-friendly financial programs that promote financial security among women throughout their lifespan, and that help foster women. 
For this year=s conference, WOMB partnered with five powerful women to develop a comprehensive agenda that encompasses community-based funding strategies, spiritual and physical wholeness, homeownership, and real estate procurement.
Amens echoed throughout the hall, creating a revival atmosphere at the JP Morgan Conference Chase conference room at Metrotech in downtown Brooklyn; but the key directive to the audience was, ALet=s teach, not preach.@
AThe lectures provided clergy and lay leaders a rare opportunity to network, to collaborate, to partner and to reflect, as they work together to develop an enhanced purpose and vision for their personal lives, their professional ministries, and their communities,@ said Rev. Barbara, in a pre-event interview.
AGoing into my mid-life years I realize more the importance of us, as older women, reaching out to our younger sisters and mentoring them about the importance of home- ownership and/or purchasing a piece of propertyCwhich should be part of every woman=s personal plan.
AAlso, another challenge we as a people are faced with that precludes us from home- ownership is our low savings rateCI read somewhere that our savings rate is minus 2%. This oftentimes prevents us from coming up with the required down payment for property. Our people must come against this spending mentality that consumes our body and spirit, and prevents us from becoming the head and not the tail.
AIn speaking with many friends and/or members of my congregation, there appears to be a problem within NYS as it relates to closing fees. Members of my congregation have often come against hefty additional costs at the time of closing. All costs relative to the property should be provided to the prospective owner prior to closing. No one should be confronted with large monetary surprises at the point of closing.@
As a response to a call to mobilize, in 1996, Rev. Dr. Barbara Austin Lucas founded Women Organizing, Mobilizing, and Building, Inc. (WOMB) C a faith-based, not-for-profit organization, purposed to assist women and their families through creative and needful programming and to improve their quality of life by the fulfillment of their destinies.
WOMB services thousands of women annually in the programming of five (5) service areas which include HIV/AIDS Prevention; African Women of The Diaspora Link-Up (A.W.D.L); Motivating Ourselves and Our Children: A Joint Agenda (M.O.J.A.); Sisters Strengthening Our Sisters (S.S.O.S.); and Women and Economic Development (W.E.D.).
Rev. Barbara has effectively established and co-founded ministries and programming that have been internationally recognized as models of vision and change. WOMB also sponsors several national and international initiatives such as The Annual Manifest Destiny Conference Series, The WOMB Investment Club, The Women in Leadership Lecture (WILL) Series, and The Destiny WalkJ.
The Women in Leadership Lectures is a precursor to the four-day Annual MANIFEST DESTINY Conference, which will be held this year July 19th- July 22, 2007. For more information, contact:  718-237-4612, W.O.M.B., Inc., 2152 Ralph Avenue, PMB 501, Brooklyn, NY 11234 or visit the Web site at www.wombinc.org.

This year=s celebration of the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium encompasses the totality of our culture: music, spoken word, food, theater, arts, dance, and books. 
Here is a sampler of this year=s cultural celebration so far.
The festival opened with Community Day, held at Restoration. Mrs. Alma Carroll, wife of the late jazz vocalist Joe ABe Bop@ Carroll, who worked with Dizzy Gillespie, recalled the days of Model City, the development of Restoration, and Neighborhood Youth Core. She remembered when Restoration was a milk factory and Von King Park was Tompkins Park. Then, the community=s dreams were to build what we have now. According to Mrs. Carroll, the current dream is the documenting of America=s classical musicCjazz. Nightclubs, schools, and churches, 32 organizations in all, have come together to fulfill that dream.
Colvin Grannum, president of Restoration, assured those in attendance that Restoration is committed to promote the culture of our people and build the economic base of the community.
Keynote speaker Kevin Powell, hip-hop historian, gave a presentation entitled From Be Bop to Hip-Hop: the Historical Connections between Jazz and Rap.  Powell encouraged us to continue building bridges between youth and elders. He states: AYoung ears have not been acculturated to jazz.@ Powell gave three foundations for jazz: the black church, blues, and Ragtime. He noted that there is a difference between the hip-hop industry and hip-hop culture. Powell reminded us that, just as poor people created jazz, poor people created hip-hop.
Music for Community Day was energetically provided by Sabor & Company, allowing young members of Non Stop Productions to give a wonderful vocal performance.
A well-kept secret is the new Secrets Restaurant on Nostrand Avenue. Secrets hosted a couple of Sunday Jazz brunches featuring the Eric Frazier Trio. Although Frazier is a conga player, he calls himself an entertainer, engaging the audience while singing AThe Jazz Spot,@ (a tribute to the Bed-Stuy club) and a sultry version of AFever.@ The Eric Frazier Trio also performed selections from In Your Own Time, their current CD (#1 across the country, according to Frazier). Jazz vocalist Steve Cromity stopped by for brunch, and was enlisted by Frazier to give a beautiful rendition of  AOn a Clear Day.@
Despite a chilly rain, jazz lovers flocked to Sugarhill Restaurant and Supper Club for the festival gala=s Afro-Caribbean Jazz Experience featuring the Hai Resolution Band. Announcer Harold Valle provided his melodic voice and rhymes.
Jitu Weusi, president of the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium (CBJC), presented awards to this year=s inductees into the Central Brooklyn Jazz Hall of Fame. The Deacon Leroy Appling Young Lion Award was given to Anthony Wonsey, pianist. The Hall of Fame Award was given posthumously to saxophonist and composer Roland Alexander. The Jazz Impact Award was given to drummer Ben Dixon. This year=s Jazz Shrine Award was given to Pumpkins Lounge. Saxophonist Gerald Hayes was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Weusi showed a short film of CBJC=s sojourn to the South African Jazz Festival last February. CBJC took five jazz groups representing American jazz, including Randy Weston and his Quintet, the Jeff King Band with Gregory Porter, Vanessa Rubin and her Trio, D.D. Jackson and his Trio, and Bishop Nathaniel Townsley, Jr. and the Gospel Jubilee.
The Hai Resolution Band filled Sugarhill with music, thrilling the crowd and enticing them to dance. The Band performed musical selections from all over the Caribbean, and the U.S. Hai Resolution=s band members played so tightly, the late James Brown, notorious for identifying the errant note, would have been proud. One enigma in the band was Sterling Sax, who could play both his alto and soprano saxophones at the same time, and could blow a sweet note for four bars while breathing in.
Last Friday, CBJC hosted a Jazz Sampler Tour, with first-class transportation sponsored by Brooklyn Tourism. First stop was Secrets, then on to Jazz 966. What would Jazz 966 be without house announcer Harold Valle? Dancing at Jazz 966 is rumored to cure minor aches and joint pain. Featured entertainment that night was Pucho and the Latin Soul Brothers. Jeopardy question: Pucho is one of two African Americans in the Latin Jazz Hall of Fame. The other? Dizzy Gillespie. Next stop was Solomon=s Porch, home of the Jeff King Band. Solomon=s Porch is a comfortable, earthy space. It was pleasant to see the mixed crowd, young and not so, as well as singles and couples. As I looked around, I was struck by the fact that our elders felt comfortable being out at 11:00 on a Friday night in the middle of Bed-Stuy, enjoying a drink and great music.
The Jazzpazazz Preservation Society hosted Jazz Connection the next day at Sugarhill. The purpose of the Jazzpazazz Preservation Society is to collect and document the oral and written jazz traditions in Brooklyn. A panel of five including Mrs. Alma Carroll, Wade Barnes (drummer), Mario Escalera (saxophone), Mrs. Rachman, wife of Bilar (woodwinds), and Kiane Zawadi (euphoniumCa type of trombone), gave recollections of jazz=s heyday. Of particular interest is Bilal Rachman=s In the Key of Me, a history of jazz in Brooklyn. Original copies of In the Key of Me are available; however, the book is being edited for reprint.

Next stop was open house at Afroart, featuring the Jeff King Band and the fine art of Answered Stewart. Afroart offers beautiful home furnishings with a cultural flair. You can get custom kente cloth wallpaper and borders, cultural greeting cards, custom-carved Ghanaian art, stoneware, multi-colored woven straw baskets, as well as candles, oils and scented soaps. Afroart features a new artist every six weeks. Item prices vary, so even if you are window shopping, you can spiritually support this black-owned business with a purchase as small as $1.
Sista=s Place hosted the Sonny Fortune Trio. With its bistro-like atmosphere, Sista=s Place attracts an eclectic, interracial clientele. Sonny Fortune plays his saxophone as if he were conversing with numbers instead of words, if numbers were a language like Swahili or Wolof. Drummer Neil Smith went so deep into meditation during a solo, I thought he wouldn=t come out. David Williams dances with his bass, rocking with it, plucking and stroking with undulation rhythms as if it were a favored paramour.
The Brooklyn Historical Society featured AAn Evening of Jazz and Conversation with Randy Weston.@ The event began by previewing An African Odyssey, a soon-to-be- released film about Randy Weston. Our palates were whetted by Weston himself, who told of being born and raised in Brooklyn by a Panamanian father and African American mother. Weston recalls his father telling him, ABoy, you are an African born in America.@ Weston=s father believed in the teachings of the Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey, and provided him with books on African history. Weston studied the cultures of ancient Egypt and Africa.  According to Weston, AThrough that process, the music came.@ Weston found that the Atradition of music in ancient cultures@ was strong. He says, AThey were masters of making musical instruments. African people have a spiritual music, no matter what the religion.@
Weston added, ABrooklyn can be like Kansas City, New Orleans, and Harlem, if it just claims its heritage.@
And then came the music.
The Randy Weston Trio=s first song, ALittle Niles,@ began with a beautiful interlude by Weston.
This song inspired Weston to expound on the essence of traditional African rhythms. You cannot improve on traditional music. There are songs for harvest and for babies being born. Music is a healing force all over the world. Mother Nature is the original music. The wind, plants, birds and insects make music. African music projects the beauty of our people. You cannot lie about music. It is a universal language of love, healing. We respect you, Mother Africa.@
The Trio then performed ABorom XanXan,@ a song written for the great Egyptologist Chek Anta Diop. ABorom XanXan@ is a Wolof phrase that means Aman of high spiritual status.@ Next came a song called AAfrican Sunrise,@ a tribute to Dizzy Gillespie. TK Blue on sax and Bennie Powell on trombone accompanied Weston, bassist Alex Blake and Neil Clarke on African percussion.
The performance was concluded with AAfrican Village, Bed-Stuy,@ and the Trio=s theme song from Ghana, ALove, the Mystery Of.@  Now, that=s entertainment.
The Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium=s 8th Annual Festival continues through April 29. Come out and enjoy yourself. You won=t regret it.