Our Time PressThe Local Paper with the Global View

“Fortunately, we’re not in a flood district, but regardless, you should have all your critical papers, your mortgage statements, deed, surveyor’s report and insurance in a safe place in your house. Have your copies in a sealed plastic envelope. Something happens, you just grab that bag and be gone.”   This is the advice of Graham Weatherspoon, former  New York City police detective and  now broker with Broadband Realty.    
In a situation like in the 4th and 9th wards of New Orleans, where the area has been washed away and may be completely landfilled. “The surveyor’s report with longitude and latitude data will be critical to anyone claiming ownership.”
Weatherspoon is a member of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Real Estate Board. 
Founded in 1937, the Board is one of the oldest organizations of minority real estate professionals in the country.  Like many Black professional organizations, it has its roots in the age of segregation when Black professionals were kept from joining white-controlled organizations.
“You really have a documentation nightmare in New Orleans”, says organization president, Richard Flateau of Flateau Realty. Expressing one of the trade association’s goals of educating the public and its members he says, “It is definitely in a homeowners interest to have safe copies of their deeds, mortgage…As a trade association, our goal is to educate and inform our membership.”

On Saturday, October 22, 2005, Brooklyn Exposure, a gathering space, will donate five hours of its 1401 Bedford Avenue space, to JONAH VILLAGE, INC., a non-profit, youth leadership organization dedicated to the prevention of domestic violence.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the Brooklyn Exposure  family believes it is worth collaborating around such a salient health issue.  Brooklyn is the borough where more Black women are murdered by their intimate partner.  A recent study released by the Public Advocate’s office confirmed what many have known for years, that teen dating violence occurs at an alarming rate.  Jonah Village’s mission is to engage youth, of African ancestry, to break the silence; to break the cycle of domestic violence.
At the October reception, the theme whose theme is: CELEBRATING THE SURVIVORS: Sistuhs Saving Sistuhs, women who have survived domestic violence will be feted and honored for their courage and strength.  Two special guests, Carolyn Thomas and Lavon Morris Grant will be awarded the first, annual Shirley Chisholm Woman of Courage Award.  Carolyn’s amazing story of survival from a gun blast to the head has been seen on Larry King and on Oprah.  Lavon has chronicled her unbelievable saga of four bullet wounds, in her autobiography, Whom Shall I Fear?
The Honorable City Councilmember, Letitia “Tish” James will co-host the affair and all proceeds will be donated to Jonah Village, Inc. For ticket information regarding the October 22 charitable event call: 347-432-4617.

By Linda Armstrong
A Brilliant, Gifted Black
Playwright Is Dying
I was so shocked and upset by a recent e-mail I received from an actress friend of mine, Ms. Ebony Jo-Ann. She forwarded me an article which spoke of the forthcoming death of one of America’s and indeed this world’s most gifted, talented, prolific playwrights, African-American-Mr. August Wilson.
At age 60, Mr. Wilson has been diagnosed with liver cancer, which has gone too far to be treated. He was given three to five months to live, according to an interview he did in August with The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He is using the time he has left to put the final touches on the last of the plays in his promised 10-play series sharing the experiences of African-Americans in this country during the 20th century. That play is Radio Gulf.
Although Mr. Wilson’s work will always distinguish him in our hearts and minds, there will also be physical proof on Broadway that this man was a great playwright when he becomes the first African-American to have a Broadway Theater named after him. Before he leaves this earth, the Virginia Theatre, located at 245 W. 52nd Street, will be renamed the August Wilson Theater. The new marquee will have a neon sign with the writer’s signature on it and will be unveiled on October 17, 2005. The theater is owned by Jujamcyn Theaters. The company will also set up a fund in Mr. Wilson’s name to bring disadvantaged young people to Broadway.
Just earlier this year, theater patrons had the opportunity-though a short-lived one-to experience his brilliance with Gem of the Ocean. Gem was one of the plays in the ten play series that Wilson said he would write and did, documenting the African-American experience in this country during the 20th century. Gem of the Ocean represented the 1900’s. Among Wilson’s others plays and decades represented, there’s 1910’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, 1920’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom-which also had a stint on Broadway recently,1930’s The Piano Lesson, 1940’s Seven Guitars, 1950’s Fences, 1960’s Two Trains Running, 1970’s Jitney, 1980’s King Hedley II and 1990’s Radio Gulf. Many people remember each of these plays, especially The Piano Lesson and Fences since they were Pulitzer Prizewinners for Drama. I have seen most of the ten plays and have been in awe of Mr. Wilson’s talent. His natural gift of storytelling is phenomenal. He is someone to be treasured and cherished.
Mr. Wilson, in addition to the renaming of the theater on October 17, will be publicly “THANKED” by the Broadway and Off-Broadway community, at a free, first-come, first-serve event on October 25th at his newly named theater at 3pm. The list of attendees reads like a Who’s Who of the business and includes actresses, actors, directors, technicians, designers and educators, all types of people from the profession that Wilson’s 21 years of works have impacted on. Some of the actors who have graced the stage in August Wilson productions have included Phylicia Rashad, Keith David, Ruben Santiago Hudson, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Whoopie Goldberg, Charles Dutton and Stephen Henderson, just to name a few.
 I know the immense feeling that comes over me after seeing an August Wilson play. You always feel like you have to truly take the time to mull it over several times before you understand all the depth that is in it. So imagine, if one can feel that as a member of the audience what professionals who perform his work or have a part in its mounting must feel. 

Over the years, Mr. Wilson has won all the awards imaginable for his plays including New York Drama Critic’s Circle Awards, Tony Awards, Whiting Writers’ Award, Outstanding Play Award from the American Theatre Critics, Drama Desk Awards, Pulitzer Prizes and Outer Critics Circle Awards. He has been named Artist of the Year by the Chicago Tribune, the paper of his hometown and received a Literary Lion Award from the New York Public Library. He has been given the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame Award, the Clarence Muse Award and the Bush and Guggenheim Foundation fellowships.
Radio Gulf had its premiere in May at the Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven, Connecticut and has played in Los Angeles. It is scheduled to debut next year at the August Wilson Theater.
Hearing the news of Mr. Wilson’s impeding passing  just cuts one to the heart and makes you wonder-why? But, thank God people know early enough to make sure that he is acknowledged and getting to realize how much he is worth while he is still here.

 Two Big Shows Playing This Month
There are two productions currently playing. The Classical Theater of Harlem, located at The HSA Theater, 645 St. Nicholas Avenue near 141st Street, is presenting the Greek tragedy Medea, which will feature veteran actor Earle Hyman, April Thompson and Lawrence Winslow. The play is being brought back after playing in 2002. The all-Black cast will use original music, chant, dance and contemporary speech to deliver a 70- minute production. The show will run through October 23.
 A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller is being performed Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre. Presently in previews, it opens October 17 and stars Taye Diggs, Anthony Mackie and James McDaniel.

by  Stanley Kinard
Crown Heights Calamity
The conviction of Clarence Norman on corruption charges makes official what many of us have been saying for years: that many of the leading politicians in central Brooklyn are greedy, selfish, miserable failures. They individually and collectively bear a heavy load of responsibility for the problems that plague our community.
There was no dispute about the facts of People v. Norman. In 2000 and 2002, Norman solicited contributions from an Albany lobbyist that far exceeded the legal limit of $3,100 and went to convoluted lengths to prevent anybody, including his campaign treasurer, Carmen Martinez, from realizing what he was up to or reporting the violations to the state Board of Elections.
Along the way, the trial exposed a raft of minor offenses committed by Norman that weren’t included in the indictment, such as raising money from his state office and depositing $6,000 in checks made out to a political club into his personal account. Norman’s defense, essentially, was that he was busy and just plain forgot to follow the rules.
It was a preposterous defense. Norman sat on the Election Law Committee of the state assembly for more than 20 years, and surely knew the rules as well as anyone. On the witness stand, he pretended to be confused about dates, events and cash amounts. That, too, was preposterous, coming from a man who wore carefully tailored $2,000 suits to court each day.
Norman’s choice of Edward Rappaport as his attorney was particularly brazen, given the ethical cloud under which Rappaport, a former judge, left the bench. As a judge, Rappaport was told that a fellow jurist named Victor Barron was shaking down attorneys for bribes in exchange for favorable rulings.
Rappaport never reported the courthouse criminality. Barron eventually ended up in state prison for bribery, and the chief judge in Brooklyn removed Rappaport from handling civil cases.
Although the state Commission on Judicial Conduct eventually cleared Rappaport, he became one of only four Supreme Court justices out of 50 who weren’t reappointed in 2003 when it came time to hand out extensions to judges who had passed the normal retirement age of 70.
By hiring a tainted insider as his advocate, Norman gambled that the clique of political and judicial cronies and hacks on Court Street would pull one last rabbit out of the hat for him. They didn’t.
What matters now is whether voters in central Brooklyn have learned a lesson about electing crooks to office. Councilman Angel Rodriguez got sent to federal prison for shaking down a developer. Assemblyman Roger Green was convicted of larceny for taking favors from a for-private prison company. Judge Victor Barron was convicted of demanding bribes from lawyers in order to give them favorable rulings.
And now Norman, the party boss who promoted and supported all of these thieves over better, more honest men and women, is facing the possibility of jail time when he is sentenced in November. If there is any hope of fixing our schools, building strong businesses, creating healthy families, curbing street violence and healing our community, it has to begin with everyone understanding that our leaders must be held to a high ethical standard.
Blacks for Bloomberg
This election season, black voters are a swing constituency that’s largely up for grabs, and that’s good news for Republican Mike Bloomberg. The mayor has already secured endorsements from three of the city’s most influential black preachers: The Rev. Floyd Flake of the Allen A.M.E. Church in Queens, the Rev. A.R. Bernard of Brooklyn’s Christian Cultural Center, and the Rev. Calvin Butts of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church.
The three ministers collectively preach to at least 15,000 people every Sunday and reach many more by television and radio. They also influence a gaggle of pastors who lead smaller flocks and aspire to the salaries and status of the big preachers. 
A trip to any of the three megachurches makes clear why Bloomberg is popular with many black voters. Allen A.M.E., the Christian Cultural Center and Abyssinian Baptist preach a version of the Prosperity Gospel, a quintessentially American notion that God wants us all to live joyful, prosperous lives.
Prosperity theology holds great sway with members of the anxious, striving black middle class – the city workers, small business owners and corporate professionals who often are the first in their families to attend college. They tend to be overworked, obsessed about raising healthy families and desperately afraid of losing their hard-won middle-class status.
To these upwardly mobile strivers, Bloomberg’s self-made economic success holds a dazzling allure: In purely financial terms, he has already embodied their wildest dreams. They don’t just want to vote for him, they want to be him. If prosperity is holy, then Bloomberg is a demigod.
Fernando Ferrer can’t win unless he repeats that feat and encourages black voters to not only turn out in big numbers, but go 80% or more for the Democrat, as usual.
That won’t be easy: Bloomberg pulled an unheard-of 25% of black voters in 2001, and has been prying black voters out of their traditional place as a pillar of the Democratic Party ever since.
Bloomberg has also hired several young, smart strategists with experience in working black neighborhoods, notably Larry Blackmon, a former aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer; Terence Tolbert, who spent years on the staff of Harlem Assemblyman Keith Wright; and my former Daily News colleague Jonathan Capehart.
These men have been diligently working their lists of preachers, tenant association leaders and those all-important unofficial “mayors” who informally wield great influence at the block and neighborhood level.
And Bloomberg has made policy gestures squarely aimed at black voters. He recently announced that city agencies will be required to report on how much contracting they do with minority-owned businesses – a long-standing sore point with black entrepreneurs. It’s an unusual strategy. But it just might work.

For most of his life, Garfield Chivers has lived quietly and almost always in Brooklyn where he migrated in 1946 after receiving an honorable discharge from the Army. During World War II, Chivers saw action in Algiers, Casablanca, Marseille, Paris and Germany. Mr. Chivers, a twin, is the last remaining of twelve siblings born in the tiny rural town of Elkhart, Texas (current population: approximately 1100). His birth date is March 4, 1915. That makes him 90.
Together with his late wife, Louise, there were ten children. All of whom were born in Brooklyn and living in New York, Baltimore and Texas. In 1971, after 23 years, Mr. Chivers retired from Phelps Dodge, a copper factory located in West Maspeth, Queens. For a time, Mr. Chivers managed a nearby laundromat, but not for long. His preretirement work was sufficient enough labor.
Today, he spends each day observing from his front yard, talking with neighbors and contemplating life. Once or twice  year, long visits to Texas strengthen him and allow him to reconnect with his roots. But come rain, shine, sleet or snow, every Sunday Mr. Chivers will be found among the pews at Wayside Baptist Church. There, the preacher’s sermon is what he looks forward to most. The habit of regular church attendance, however, Mr. Chivers acquired very early. It was taught by his father, a preacher himself, sometimes “the hard way.”
In his full, well-traveled life there was little in the way of schooling available for Mr. Chivers. As a boy, there was mostly work and more work on the family farm. Later, there was the responsibility of raising his own family. Somewhere, learning to read got lost.
If there is one single piece of advice Garfield Chivers offers any young person, it is to get an education. Get all you can. And no matter what you do on the other six days of the week, on Sunday-get yourself to church!