Our Time PressThe Local Paper with the Global View

By Danielle Douglas
Since declaring his candidacy for the 11th Congressional District last year, David Yassky has been called an opportunistic, racial carpetbagger by the Black political establishment. His critics have accused Yassky of trying to benefit from Machiavellian politics: if his three Black opponents split the Black vote, the white candidate can conquer with the support of  white voters. Even the district’s current representative, Major Owens, is calling for high-ranking Democrats like Hillary Clinton, to convince Yassky to drop out of the race. Owens and others fear that the district, which was created to empower people of color in Congress, will be usurped. Yassky stresses, “I trust the voters to make a wise decision about who is going to represent them most effectively. And I’m just working as hard as I can to get my message of experience and ideas to every voter in every part of this district.” The city councilman has told just about every media outlet that race is of little importance in this election. But many of Yassky’s actions starkly contrast with his sentiment.
Less than a month ago, the candidate had a page in the “issue” section of his campaign Web site entitled, “Defending Israel” that undeniably pandered to the Jewish voting contingent. The page, which has since been taken down, discussed his intentions to support the Palestinian Antiterror Act and supply state-funded nurses to every Yeshiva. Granted, tailored political rhetoric is a standard campaign strategy, but considering the history of Crown Heights, which in part lies in the CD-11, the ploy was in bad form.
There are other flashing yellow lights that call attention to Yassky’s campaign. Last year, the councilman had plan to run for Brooklyn district attorney, which would have pit him against two other white candidates, but dropped out to pursue his current bid for Congress. Furthermore, Yassky, who once lived three blocks outside of the district, only recently moved into the area. This begs the question: Is the candidate purely driven by the ambition to gain political power by any means necessary?
“I know this district well, I represent a very big part of it right now as councilman ” says Yassky. “I understand the needs of this district. I understand how Washington is shortchanging this district right now and I understand what we need to do to get Washington to serve this district better.”
The 42- year-old contender believes that his track record in the city council, six-year stint as a congressional aide for Chuck Schumer and “progressive” platform will convince voters that he is the most qualified candidate. Since being elected to the council in 2001, Yassky has sponsored several pieces of legislation. He championed the Affordable Housing Zoning Initiative, which requires developers of luxury apartments to finance moderately priced housing. He also brought forth the Gun Industry Responsibility Act, which sought to hold “reckless” gun dealers liable for the sale of guns that were involved in a crime in New York. Though the bill was shut down in Congress, it gained Yassky quite a bit of attention. Yet one of Yassky’s CD-11 opponents, Chris Owens, questions his record.
“If Yassky’s record was as wonderful as he would like us to believe, why didn’t he run in the 12th District where he lived and did all of his work? It’s because he would have had to run against an incumbent with money, Nydia Velazquez, and face criticism from constituents that are unhappy with his performance,” says Owens.
Like Owens, many of Yassky’s critics say his work in the council was primarily focused on the needs of his constituents in the more-affluent neighborhoods of Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights. In fact, many of Yassky’s financial contributors, according to the Federal Election Committee, hail from these areas. More importantly, a healthy percentage of Yassky’s backers who have helped him amass a war chest of $800,000, are real estate developers. In light of the candidate’s support for the Atlantic Yards Project, one wonders whether Yassky will play to these developers if elected. “My record of independence in the city council tells people that I’ll be 100% independent once I get to Congress,” Yassky declares.
To Yassky’s credit, he does have a well- thought -out local and national platform, which includes stronger labor laws and environmental protections, more funding for Section 8 programs and Universal health care. Admittedly, Yassky, much like Chris Owens, has one of the most thorough approaches to
issues of policy (at least on his Web site). But his connection to outs

By Errol T. Louis
Help Find a Killer
Somebody reading this paper knows something about the murder of Chanel Petro-Nixon, the 16-year-old honor student from Bedford-Stuyvesant whose strangled body was discovered dumped on Kingston Avenue on June 23. If an innocent child can be slain in this way without a strong response from neighborhood leaders, it means nobody is safe. It means we have become a crowd and not a community.
Information on the slaying of this innocent child should be reported to the cops right away at 800-577-TIPS. If you don’t want to talk to the cops, call Our Time Press or reach me at the Daily News (212-210-2100).
Atlantic Yards and the Oder Effect
Continuing a strategy that is guaranteed to backfire, opponents of the proposed $3.5 billion Atlantic Yards Development continue to demonize anyone who won’t fall in line and join them in trying to kill the project. One of the leaders of the effort, a blogger named Norman Oder, makes a specialty of attacking journalists (including yours truly) by generating vast, tedious tomes of “analysis” that inevitably lead to the same self-serving conclusion: that nobody, but nobody – not one single member of the small army of reporters that has been following the project for years – knows as much about Atlantic Yards as Norm Oder. And therefore, nobody should write a word about it that doesn’t follow his line.
One of Oder’s most recent slash-and-burn efforts was directed at Greg David, the editor of Crain’s New York. “Crain’s editor Greg David gets it wrong,” said Oder’s headline. But the article itself, as usual, contained little substance beyond a long line -by- line nit-picking whine about Crain’s article, combined with a rehash of the talking points opponents always use: that the project will be too big; that it will bring too many people to Prospect Heights; and that the many, many groups and individuals who support the project are either ignorant of the facts or corrupt dupes of the developer.
In a typical line, Oder says: “As for the economics of the plan, why does David trust Ratner’s claims, given that the developer has been unwilling to produce his economic projections for the project?” In the world of real journalism, as opposed to Oder’s party-line manifestos, the job of the writer is to gather information, inform the readers where it comes from, then analyze it and move on.
But Greg David didn’t do the proper antiproject dance, so he got added to the Oder hit list. Oder has also gone after the Daily News, and by now has made a cottage industry out of nit-picking every word written about Atlantic Yards in the New York Times – including an especially silly minicampaign that accused the Times of deliberate bias for referring to the project’s location as Downtown Brooklyn, rather than Prospect Heights. Oder, who lives in Park Slope, probably has no idea that folks in East New York, Coney Island, Brownsville, Bed-Stuy and even Crown Heights routinely refer to Fort Greene and anything near Atlantic Terminal as downtown. Understanding that would require knowledge of the borough outside of Park Slope.
I call Oder the “Mad Overkiller”. My last article about Atlantic Yards ran 626 words; Oder wrote more than 2,300 words to attack it. Oder’s inability to form a concise argument is more than just a sign of weak writing skills: there’s also an attempt to accomplish, on a small scale, what the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth did to candidate John Kerry in the 2004 presidential elections.
The Swift Boat people slimed Kerry up and down, over and over, publishing charges that were marginally true and in some cases completely false. Kerry made the mistake of not responding to each charge. That allowed the Swift Boat faction to build a mountain of damaging charges that like-minded people dutifully cited and cross-referenced through the magic of the Web. Eventually, newcomers to the debate, including members of the media, looked at the mountain of cross-references and, unable to plow through every accusation, gave the whole smear far more truth and credibility than it deserved. By the time Kerry woke up, it was too late to undo the damage.
Something similar is being attempted on the Atlantic Yards Project. Three blogs might cite a post by Oder – but when you probe his writings, half the references are to earlier Oder blog posts. The effect is like walking down a hall of mirrors with the same dubious accusations multiplied as if by magic.
But more and more journalists are getting wise to the game. The main result of the bloggers’ attacks on the media is the creation of a large and growing club of journalists (welcome, Mr. David) who dismiss the opponents as not only misguided and rude, but engaged in a fundamentally dishonest exercise.
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WBLS Hits a Home Run
According to the latest Arbitron figures, tens of thousands of listeners appear to be tuning out Hot 97 – which used to be ranked the No.1 hip-hop/R&B radio station in New York – in favor of WBLS, which beat out Hot 97 in each of the last two ratings periods.
WBLS has been on a tear for the past year, thanks to its decision to hire two powerhouse broadcasters: Steve Harvey, who hosts a morning drive time talk-and-music show, and Wendy Williams, who holds down a block from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Harvey and Williams are seasoned radio personalities who bring wit, intelligence and a positive message to a mostly black audience that is hungry for quality.
You don’t hear the B-word or N-word tossed around on WBLS; Harvey and Williams do not insult their audience that way. And listeners have responded in droves.
According to Arbitron, WBLS had 3.1% of the city’s teen and adult radio listeners last winter, but has increased its audience size over each of the last four ratings periods, building its share up to 3.9%. During the same time, Hot 97 slipped steadily from 4.5% of listeners to 3.7%.
In plain English, WBLS now draws about 30,664 more listeners than Hot 97 during any given period between 6 a.m. and midnight. That can translate into millions of advertising dollars moving from the losing station to the winner.
The numbers are a victory for community groups that called for a boycott of Hot 97 following its repeated broadcast of a sickening song parody that mocked victims of the 2004 tsunami that devastated South Asia. More negative press dogged the station thanks to three shootings in front of its office over the last few years by the entourages of rappers invited by – and sometimes incited by – station deejays.
The decline of “Shot 97” provides powerful evidence that positive, quality programming ultimately wins more listeners – and advertising dollars – than shallow shock radio.
Power 105.1, the third urban-format station, has been dropping in the rankings as well, losing to WBLS earlier this year and barely eking out a win most recently with 4% of listeners. The station’s rankings may continue to fall, thanks to the recent, career-ending tirade of Power 105.1’s ex-morning host, Troi (Star) Torain, who got a pink slip and a criminal indictment after threatening, on-air, to sexually assault the 4-year-old child of a rival deejay at (where else?) Hot 97.
“The hip-hop stations are losing audience share all over the country. How much can you hear about Jay-Z?” says Paul Porter, a media critic who runs a Web site, IndustryEars.com. “Steve Harvey’s topical; he’ll point out things you won’t get on other shows. He’s going to be the biggest voice in black radio.”

Progressive Action Score: 77
1. A score of 77 means that Rep. Towns has acted to support 77% of a slate of progressive policies in the 109th Congress.
Progressive, forward-looking actions Rep. Towns has taken to merit a PAS of 77: Section 102 of H.R. 418 authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to nullify any law she or he deems necessary to build roads and fences in the vicinity of a national border. Furthermore, Section 102 of H.R. 418 makes it legally impossible for any court or agency of the government to review the Secretary of Homeland Security’s decision to nullify any law. In short, Section 102 places the Bush Administration untouchably above the law.
The Farr Amendment would have stricken this language, and only this language, from H.R. 418, making a vote for the Farr Amendment a vote for the rule of law. Thank you, Representative Towns, for voting “yes” on the Farr Amendment and supporting the rule of law.
By voting “yes” on the Scott Amendment, Rep. Towns tried to remove language in H.R. 27 that allows organizations to engage in government-funded religious discrimination in hiring. Unfortunately, the Scott Amendment failed. Still, with this vote, Rep. Towns made an important stand, protecting traditional constitutional bulwarks and making it clear that at least for some Americans, discrimination is simply unacceptable.H.R. 40 proposes that the House of Representatives do two things: 1) “Acknowledge the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 American colonies between 1619 and 1865”; 2) “Establish a commission to examine the institution of slavery, subsequently de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans, and the impact of these forces on living African-Americans.” Given the historical and continuing impact of racial discrimination in America, the proclamation of such an acknowledgment and establishment of such a commission seems long overdue. Representative Towns is to be commended for supporting these efforts by co-sponsoring H.R. 40.
If you believe that making it easier to vote in elections is a good thing, you will be happy to hear about the introduction of H.R. 63, which would make each November’s Election Day a federally recognized holiday. With the passage of H.R. 63, people who are faced with extraordinarily long lines at their polling places would not have to decide between their voting rights and their job. We applaud Representative Towns for co-sponsoring H.R. 63 and lending support to the continued expansion of institutional respect for democracy in the United States.The Climate Stewardship Act is the most significant American legislation yet to address the threat of global climate change. The CSA proposes market-based methods of promoting clean alternatives to America’s current Industrial Age systems for transportation and energy. Under the CSA, emissions of greenhouse gases would be reduced over a five-year period back to the levels produced in the year 2000. Although the CSA offers only minor controls, it is an important first step in keeping the problem of preventing the emissions of gases related to global climate change from growing worse than they already are. It is supported by environmental activists and strongly opposed by pollution industries and the Bush Administration.
The House of Representatives last voted on the CSA in March 2004, unfortunately failing to pass the bill. Fortunately, Rep. Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland has reintroduced the act in the 109th Congress as H.R. 759. For lending support to the CSA by co-sponsoring H.R. 759, Rep. Towns has taken an important progressive stand.
By voting against the Hostettler Amendment to H.R. 2862, Rep. Towns stood for the rule of law and the rights of minorities from government-funded religious proselytization in public spaces. Rep. Hostettler of Indiana and an unfortunate majority of the House of Representatives voted to keep a ruling of a federal court from being enforced. Why? Because a judge decided that a religious monument on the grounds of the Gibson County Courthouse was an unconstitutional endorsement of one religion over others. This has apparently decided that any personally distasteful court ruling can be overturned, just because. That’s not the rule of law. That’s an arbitrary violation of the separation of powers. And, in this case, it allows pushy and vocal religious groups to shove their beliefs down everybody else’s throats. That’s not just wrong, it is downright un-American. Although the Hostettler Amendment unfortunately passed, Rep. Towns had the courage to stand against it, and so deserves our thanks.
Any reasonable person who believes that trust in America’s democratic institutions is important can see the value in being able to determine with assurance how a person has voted. It should be a matter of common sense, for instance, that when an electronic voting machine malfunctions and loses votes (as has happened in the past), a backup paper record of the actions of the machine would help election  officials set things right and make sure that every person’s vote has been counted. Yet today, despite a history of malfunctioning electronic voting machines, there is no requirement for a backup paper trail. It’s as easy as attaching a printer to a voting machine. Thanks to Congressperson Towns for supporting H.R. 550, a bill which would require the establishment of such a paper trail.
Rep. Towns has taken the principled step of formally lending support to H.R. 952, which would put an end to the practice of “extraordinary rendition.” This is a practice in which Bush Administration officials send people into the custody of certain nations, knowing full well (some would say intending) that they will be tortured there. Extraordinary rendition is another stain on the moral clarity of the United States. It is a horrible irony that in a “War on Terror,” the United States Government would allow the use of terror as a tool. Rep. Towns deserves our gratitude for standing for a return to sanity and against American complicity in the use of torture. Edolphus Towns has formally supported H.R. 1157, which would keep government agents from riffling through your bookstore receipts and library records without your permission or knowledge. Unlike others, Rep. Towns has shown true backbone, standing for privacy, for individual liberty and against the Big Brother mentality that seems to be all the rage in Washington these days.
We may think we live in modern times, but the U.S. Constitution still does not guarantee that individual rights shall apply equally to men and women. Without such a constitutional guarantee, all it could take is a rogue judge or an emboldened conservative Congress to take women’s rights away by a simple majority vote. On the other hand, this nation is still encumbered with unfair legal notions that, all other things being equal, give mothers custody advantages over fathers. The current state of unequal protection is unfair to both women and men, and devalues our common underlying humanity. Edolphus Towns has formally supported H.J. Res 37, which would amend the United States Constitution to simply state the following: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.” It’s simple, it’s obvious, and it’s about time something was done to enshrine this principle in the Constitution for men and women alike. Thank you, Rep. Towns, for pushing the too-long-lingering ERA forward.

Progressive political actions that Rep. Towns could have taken but unfortunately chose not to take:
Rep. Towns has not yet co-sponsored H.R. 2412, which would provide more information to the public about contacts between lobbyists and politicians, and which would slow down the revolving door of politics in which politicians move into cushy corporate jobs after they retire in exchange for favors. What is Representative Towns’s problem with ethics?
Edolphus Towns has not yet co-sponsored H.R. 1440, which would keep members of the Federal Communications Commission from using their appointed positions to censor cable, satellite or Internet programs they consider to be indecent. These “narrowcast” programs are accessed only by those who specifically request them, so why should the government make it their business to keep people from seeing what they want to see? Why has Rep. Towns not yet lent support to this sensible, freedom-defending bill?
Rep. Towns has not yet co-sponsored H.R. 567, which would preserve and protect the pristine coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from shortsighted, unnecessary development.
Contact Rep. Towns by e-mail, phone (at 202-225-5936) or fax (at 202-225-1018) to ask why they have chosen not to take the progressive path in these matters.
Regressive Conservative Score: 0
A score of 0 means that Rep. Towns has acted to support 0% of a slate of conservative, wrongheaded policies in the 109th Congress.

Think America’s youth are nothing more than a bunch of lazy and ungrateful text-messaging, mall-dwelling, iPod-blasting brats?
A recent survey released last week from the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement says to think again, especially when it comes to America’s Black youth.
According to the study, African-American young people are “most likely to vote regularly, belong to groups involved with politics, donate money to candidates or parties, display buttons or signs, canvass and contact the broadcast media or print media.”
The study also said Black people between the ages of 15-25 were most likely to raise money for a charity, tying with Asian- Americans.
“Consistent with previous research, African-Americans are generally the most politically engaged racial/ethnic group,” the study said.
The Maryland-based organization compiled information from telephone and e-mail surveys done earlier this year with 1,700 young people ages 15-25.
The study’s results departs from other studies that conclude Black youth are more prone to wind up in the justice system, be killed by a peer, become pregnant or contract a sexually transmitted disease.
Melanie Campbell, the executive director of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, said she is not surprised that Black youth are getting more involved especially after the popular “Vote or Die”campaign in 2004 led by entertainers like P. Diddy and most recently Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts.
“The 2004 election, the youth vote overall went up but it was largely in part because Black youth turned out in much higher numbers than they had in about 10 years,” Campbell said.
“Katrina, young people decided to do an alternative spring break. That’s a clear example that young people are connecting the dots that they need to be involved.
It’s not just the vote but being involved in one’s community. That was volunteerism at its best. We should celebrate that but build on it.”
Campbell’s Washington-based organization was instrumental in registering young Black voters during the 2004 elections and in its 10th year of the Black Youth Vote Initiative.
As November approaches, the group is working even harder until Election Day criss-crossing the country in a voter registration drive. So far this year, the group has registered 350,000 voters aged 18-30 years old. Campbell’s staff and volunteers are all practically in this age group. She said peer-to-peer encouragement has been the most effective in registering voters.
“A lot of young people are out here organizing and they want to be involved and we as a community have to embrace that. We have to make sure we continuously find avenues and vehicles for them to be able to engage their peers and lead the effort for and with the community,” she said.
Asian-American youth came right behind African-Americans and like African-Americans are more likely to volunteer, sign petitions, raise money and persuade others about elections.
In direct comparison to young Whites, the study said “Whites are the most likely to run, walk or ride a bike for charity and to be active members of a group.
They are least likely to protest, donate money to a party or candidate or persuade others about an election.”
The study showed that Latino youth had the highest levels of disengagement and were the least likely to volunteer, contact officials or boycott. But 25 percent of young Latinos have protested “more than double the rate for any other racial/ethnic group.”
Recent large-scale protests about immigration may have contributed to these numbers and the study also mentions that the protesting may factor into increased Latino voter participation in November.
But while minorities are getting more vocal about their concerns, when it came to political knowledge, the study revealed America’s youth overall barely knew questions about the government.
A little more than half of America’s youth could not name the Republican Party as the more conservative party, 56 percent did not know that only citizens could vote in federal elections and only 30 percent could correctly name at least one member of the President’s cabinet. Of those who could name a cabinet member, 82 percent named Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.
As for African American youth, the study said they believe have a reason to get involved because they are “most likely to view the political system as unresponsive to the genuine needs of the public.” Asians were more likely to believe the system is responsive.
For the most engaged young people, a number of factors contributed to their participation in community service and the political process including being Democrat, liberal, from an urban area, a regular church attendee, and from a family with parents who volunteer and are college educated.
Nolan Rollins, the president of the National Urban League’s Young Professionals, said it is no surprise the connections between Black youth, the church and long-standing Black social organizations like the National Urban League and NAACP boosted young Black
people ahead of other groups.
“It’s not really surprising because I think that what you’re talking about is a generation that is not far removed from the civil rights generation and I think what we’re seeing now is almost a trickle down effect,” he said.
Rollins said that youth participation in the NUL’s annual convention has grown every year to the point where there is a youth track with age-based sessions specially made for teens, college students and young professionals.
The Young Professional division of the NUL has a membership of 9,000 ages 21-40, representing 62 chapters across the country. The group is responsible for the National Day of Service and a number of educational programs on topics ranging from HIV/AIDS to financial responsibility.
Rollins believes this surge in social engagement comes from young people understanding they are the beneficiaries of gains made by the civil rights movement and with the unprecedented opportunities they have available, young people are confident they can make a difference from places their ancestors couldn’t in the boardroom, classroom and courtroom.
“There was a whole generation of folks that fought for rights that wanted us to have the ability to attend the schools we wanted to attend and get the jobs that we wanted to actually get and you come up with a group of folks who have access to those opportunities,”Rollins said.
“We no longer have to depend on our back in order to ensure that we can be successful. If we want to laborious things we can. If we choose not to we have the opportunity and the ability to find our ways to higher education find our ways to entrepreneurship and things like that. This is a generation that realizes we have more at our fingertips than before and is taking advantage of it.”