Our Time PressThe Local Paper with the Global View

A APRICELESS@ TREASURE
 Royal Shariyf

Zawadi=s … uniqueness cannot be replaced. Then, why oh why, on September 30th, will Zawadi Gifts be closing its doors
for the last time?
The half-price sale accompanying the notice of impending closure drew a slew of halfhearted regulars who rushed to the store in disbelief. Some simply needed to find out for themselves the truth of it (both about the sale and the closing), so they came. Many openly reminisced as they scoured the shelves for last-won items. They bid heartfelt good-byes and good-luck wishes to its delightful owners. All knew the closing of Zawadi Gifts represented the end of an era.

Deborah Gadston, a Bronx resident who scanned for classy holiday bargains — months early — was also noticeably sad. For the past ten years, over the Christmas/Kwanzaa season, Zawadi Gifts has held particular prominence, leading Afrocentric holiday shoppers like Gadston to the nearby YMCA for their annual bazaar that included good food, great entertainment and, naturally, great gift-buying. Where was she to gather now and shop during the holidays, Gadston wondered aloud?

They came not only from the not-so- distant Bronx, but from really far-off Connecticut, Pittsburgh and Maine; and internationally from places like England and Japan. Zawadi Gifts served its in-store clientele with quality and distinction. A warm, friendly atmosphere encircled customers and invited them to explore. Why else would so many continue to come back again and again through the years, and from so far?
Most certainly, Zawadi=s drawing power beyond its stellar merchandise was its owners; three equally charming women, each with interestingly first names beginning with the letter L: Leonette, Lois and Lora. Thomaseena Huggins, a wonderful worker, also lent her special character and presence to the store in recent years.
Zawadi can be described as a money- making business with a huge heart, an idea not to be taken lightly in today=s mad-dash economy devoid of customer service. To that end, it must be noted the reason Zawadi is closing its doors (yet another Black-owned business) is not the result of being poorly run. On the contrary, merchandise at fiscally sound Zawadi was carefully selected and displayed for utmost maximum effect. Once through its doors and caressed by its perpetual charm, a visitor stood little chance not making a purchase; at least one item would usually draw them in.
Zawadi Gifts became an oasis of culture, commerce and frequently rapt conversation at 519 Atlantic Avenue (doors away from Lewis Gallery, another Black-owned fixture) 13 years ago as a spin-off from a short-lived Atlantic Avenue Mini- Mall where it was first housed. Two years later, Zawadi Gifts moved to its present location. Originally, there were six women who formed the business. Over time, for various reasons, that number slipped by half. (Zawadi is Swahili for Agift@)
Customers tend not to notice, but the front door=s the inscription reveals much. Named are the four original companies that comprised Zawadi. One of those named, Lewis Gallery, is currently owned by a co-founder of Zawadi Gifts.
Leonette Butler and Lois Kinley, first cousins, are Personal Design, and buy jewelry merchandise for Zawadi. Lois, a retiree and frequent traveler, chooses to carry only pieces with flair but never too pricey or overly extravagant. Lora Brown, the third partner and also a retiree, has a keen eye for memorabilia and antique furniture. She is the owner of Do Remember Me.
Together, their collaboration resulted in a successful enterprise for more than a decade, taking pains to maintain a stylishly appointed shop that each woman kept close watch over. African-inspired art, jewelry, antique furniture, a universe of collector dolls, Black memorabilia, hard-to-find greeting cards, stationery, personal items and the most gorgeous wedding accessories found anywhere was their inventory.
Zawadi Gifts also specialized in a cluster of standout items by designers, artists and artisans who, they say, possessed sizzle. A handful of select book titles were carried; always special, ranging from spiritual notions, affirmations and food recipes (Are they not all the same?). The place just had more cool stuff than you could shake a stick at. It can now be divulged. There was always more in the back.
A hub of activity, Zawadi was replete as a fertile meeting ground with its own special kind of magic. Customers had rightful expectations to meet new friends there, gain networking resources and be welcomed into great conversations on the fly. It was that kind of place. You just liked being there. Besides, there was always something on the shelf to fall in love with and buy.
For all those reasons and more, Zawadi and businesses like it are priceless. Its uniqueness cannot be replaced. Then, why oh why, on September 30th, will Zawadi Gifts be closing its doors for the last time? The answer is simple and not surprising — real estate. But the explanation is twofold.
The partners do not own, they rent. Like many tenants of buildings in the area, property is being flipped. For Zawadi, that meant the property where they are housed has been bought and sold two times in the past year, each time its worth increased by millions. Rent skyrocketed with each new owner, no reasonable lease agreement in sight. Sadly, this is a common scenario.
According to Lora, the demographic of the neighborhood has also shifted radically
the past few years. It is without the same orientation or interest in African-inspired culture as in the past. ANow,@ she adds, Athe young Black people who we depended on as customers are >Eddie Bauer and Old Navyized.@ 

As a result, the sister-friends whose partnership sparked something very special for over a decade, thought it best to quit while they were still ahead. Their smiles, laughter and relieved demeanor are legitimate. They bear no sadness.  Indeed, they express gladness for all there had been. Each also looks forward to a long and much-deserved rest, they say. Afterward, they will see.
In an age of Internet and e-business, where shops like this one can reach a world marketplace online at even a bargain, Zawadi Gifts may yet be reborn.

As Our Time Press goes into production, we have learned that plans are underway for the 2005 Ancestral Heritage Weekend commemorative at the African Burial Ground to occur Friday, Sept. 30, beginning at 10:00 A.M. through Sunday, Oct. 2 at Duane & Els Streets in lower Manhattan. This year, the Heritage Weekend, hosted by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, will offer AMeditations on Compassion and Healing@ in acknowledgement of current national and foreign events impacting the community, the nation and the world.
Highlights include a 1000-plus child=s assembly (encircling the African Burial Ground landmark area) and Ring Shout; consecration and affirmation ceremonies; ecumenical prayers; vigils; and dance, spoken word, jazz and public performances at the African Burial Ground at Duane & Elk Streets. Among the artists who will appear are Wyclef Jean, Taye Diggs, the cast of ADrumstruck,@ violinist Tadia Lynch (featured as this issue=s cover story), Phylicia Rashad, jazz drummer Louis Hayes and the Cannonball Adderly Legacy Band, and Brooklyn=s own Musart Steel Drum Band. For event details, updates and timetable, visit www.africanburialground.com, or check your area community newspaper listings.

Fifty years after the powerful impact of a combined legal strategy and activism across Black America that brought forth the Brown victory, we are worse off. The US political and economic system found ways to absorb our militancy and reformist demands because we- for the most part -wanted IN to this rotten-by-nature system. In the South, our Black- run schools were allowed to be dismantled¼ and most of our wonderful Black teachers wound up not teaching our children. In the North, white flight from the cities were the order of the day and we- for the most part- were uncritical of what and how our children were being taught by racist white teachers until¼ the rise of the Civil Rights/Black Power era of the 1960’s. It is in this era of the 60’s and 70’s that we dreamed of and struggled for POWER. Today, we need to rekindle that righteous fire to dream of and struggle for POWER. Especially the POWER to develop our children’s minds to be proudfully Black; to be inquisitive and critical thinkers; to embrace science and math¼. ¼But today, if we randomly chose 100 eager wide-eyed Black kindergarten children from throughout the five boroughs entering Mayor Bloomberg’s “public” educational system, they have less of a chance of graduating from high school and going to college and graduating than their grand parents and great-grands did back in 1954 when the US Supreme Court declared segregated schools unconstitutional.
In fact, given the present quality of education provided for our children, this is what is happening and will most likely happen to them: · Out of the 100 kindergarteners, only 40 will make it through to the 9th grade to high school– · Out of the 40 who made it to high school only about 15 or 16 will graduate from high school– · Out of the 15 or 16 who will be high school graduates, at most 6 will go on to college— · Out of the 6 who will go on to college at best 3 will graduate from a four-year college¼ and only 1 of them will be a Black man– What happens to the 97 young Black men and women who never graduate from college? We know only too well. Just walk down our neighborhood streets any workday afternoon and look at who’s hanging out. Just visit Riker’s Island¼ or any of NY’s prisons anytime. Just look at who’s behind the Burger King, KFC and McDonald’s counters for slave wages. Just look at who is getting killed in Iraq and other US imperial war zones of the world.
It would be a horrendous criminal situation if we are only talking about 100 young Black men and women. But we are talking about witnessing tens of thousands of kindergarten-aged beautiful, inquisitive Black children being sent into these anti-education centers to be transformed into intellectual zombies destined to be bling-bling consumers, prisoners and warriors protecting white supremacists’ wealth in the name of “Democracy.” We are also talking about us Black adults complying with these terrible institutional acts to render our children 21st Century slaves.
At the start of the 2004-05 school year we, African-American adult citizens of New York City, are allowing nearly 36,000 5 to 7-year-old Black children to enter the first stages of educational genocide*. Let’s never forget that some 520,000 elementary and secondary Black children are also being subjected to this educational genocide policy.
*Educational Genocide: the systematic institutional miseducation of African- American, Latino and Asian youth based on the racist assumptions and policies of white supremacy that are embedded within the very structures of the US educational system.
This systematic and institutional mis-education process renders our children and our future “superfluous”(useless) to the needs of capitalism and white supremacy. At the start of the school year, we eagerly look forward to seeing our children go into these buildings of Education Hell. Sometimes we smile. Sometimes they smile or cry. We cry with pride & joy and with an undying assumption that our sons and daughters will learn and grow into prosperous men and women. We hope beyond hope that their experiences will be better than what happened to us.
Many of us either deny the horrors we see right in front of us or have fallen under the white supremacist spell that this is the best we can do because of our limited intellectual capacities. But since 1954, the reality is monstrously opposite of our dreams. For out of the 36,000 beautiful, bright Black tots happily skipping or tearfully being torn from moms or pops on that first day of school, 31,000 will end up with miserable lives of dropouts: jail, death, drug addiction, hustling, prostitution, teenage moms with no support, AIDS, dead-end jobs¼. If we allow school year 2004-05 to go on as business as usual.

Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence (BNYEE) is here to say that we don’t have to have “business as usual” with Bloomberg and Klein cranking up their educational genocide machine preparing to transform our children’s brilliance into madness and criminal self-centeredness. BNYEE – Black men and women who are educators, parents and students – is here to take a stand and organize to regain community control of public schools so as to implement a curriculum that stimulates intellectual growth, critical thinking, scientific & technological knowledge, Black pride and respect for community.
BNYEE is prepared to go into every corner of the Black community to help build a mass movement to not only combat educational genocide currently operating within the public school systems, but we are also prepared to implement a totally different, more egalitarian, educational system where parents and students have a direct and equal say (as do the teachers and administrators) in the day-to-day operations of schools and the entire system.
BNYEE is a fighting organization. We know that this $12-14 billion/year educational system is run by ruthless men and women primarily concerned with making a profit and maintaining the criminalization and dumbing-down process of Black and Latino children. They are not going to give up their control through moral suasion and nice negotiations. They have a “white supremacist” mandate to carry out¼ and have the backing from the governor, the US president and Congress through all kinds of racist and criminal policies including the No Child Left Behind Act that’s leaving our children behind at faster and faster rates than back in 1954.
A half-century after Brown v. Board’s promise of Black freedom and equality, we now have the possibility to unite and confront the educational genocide currently ravaging Black America in general and New York City in particular. BNYEE is just a local representation that is growing across Black America: organized resistance and struggle for education  and liberation. It is ONLY You and I reading this that can fight to make this Black Freedom Promise a Reality. BNYEE invites you to join us in this righteous work to bring educational excellence to our children. For information about our next meeting and actions please call: 718-270-6287.
Author S. E. Anderson is Education Director, Center for Law and Social Justice of Medgar Evers College and author of The Black Holocaust for Beginners.
By S. E. Anderson

By Danielle Douglas
Regarded by many as the second-most powerful politician in New York City, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller is banking on his legislative record to catapult him into the mayoral office. As City Council Speaker since 2002, Miller created the city’s first Earned-Income Tax Credit, passed the first living-wage law and required the removal of lead paint dust from city dwellings. Still, the 35-year-old candidate has had a rather poor showing in the polls, continually lagging behind former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, the democratic front-runner, and Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields. However, Miller remains confident that his demonstrated skills as a political leader will make him the standout come September 11th. Nevertheless, with the Democratic Primary less than a month away, the Upper East Side resident must present a platform that not only caters to the needs of the city’s diverse populations, but also distinguishes him from his opponents. Speaking at a recent Independent Press Association event, the mayoral hopeful attempted to do just that.
Unemployment
“We live in a city with enormous disparities in communities of color in terms of jobs and job access and I have a specific plan to address that by building on the Workforce Development Initiative [created in the City Council],” said Miller. In May of this year, the United Way and the City Council, under Miller’s direction, launched a $10 million dollar program, NYC Works, targeting chronic unemployment in low-income neighborhoods. Miller is using the initiative, which will award grants ranging from $100,000 to $700,000 to nonprofit groups to create innovative ways to help the chronically unemployed obtain and retain jobs as the basis of his unemployment strategy. While the plan is noble, it appears that the candidate is passing the problem off to the nonprofit sector instead of having the Mayor’s office tackle the problem head on.
Like his Democratic contenders, Miller cites education as the key element to decreasing the staggering unemployment rates within communities of color. “When we’re failing 550,000 children and the schools are predominantly made up of children of color there is a connection between the disparities in terms of jobs and the failure of our school system.”
Education
In many ways, Gifford Miller’s education plan closely resembles that of Fernando Ferrer’s. Like Ferrer, Miller wants to reduce class sizes, recruit and retain quality teachers, return disciplinary control to principals, expand after-school programs and use technology to keep parents informed. The only real differences in the aforementioned initiatives are the qualitative goals set by each candidate; while Ferrer hopes to add 66,000 new classroom seats, Miller seeks to reduce class sizes by 20 percent.
The greatest distinction between the two candidates’ platforms is the means by which they will be funded. Ferrer’s controversial School Investment Program, which seeks to reestablish the stock transfer tax – a sales tax on purchased stocks, is his primary financial solution. Technically, this plan depends upon the willingness of the state legislators to reestablish the transfer tax; a highly unlikely feat. Miller, on the other hand, wants to cancel the upcoming tax cut for those who make more than $500,000, in order to use the $400 million in revenue to lower class sizes.

Crime
Walking the political tightrope, Miller praised the NYPD’s contribution in making New York one of the safest big cities, as he indirectly addressed poor police relationships with communities of color, calling for the expansion of the Cadet Corps Program to diversify the force. One of the few standouts in Miller’s rather unimaginative program (increase salaries and hire more cops) is the creation of community courts in every borough. The courts will provide low-level offenders the help they need instead of recycling them through the court system.
With heightened concerns of terrorist attacks on our subway system, Miller’s safety program primarily focuses on subway security. The Speaker intends to create a task force headed by the NYPD and accountable to the mayor to launch the following subway upgrades: install 9-1-1 phones in stations and tunnels, install repeaters throughout the subway system to enable emergency responders to communicate, modernize the system to enable tracking of every train and install a subway notification system to alert passengers on what to do in case of emergencies. To pay for his proposed upgrades, Miller wants to reinstitute the Progressive Commuter Tax on those who work in the city but live elsewhere.
Affordable Housing
Of all of Miller’s proposed initiatives, his Housing Tax Credit is by far the most distinctive. He has proposed the creation of a renter’s tax credit, totaling 3 percent of annual rent for renters earning up to $100,000 and do not qualify for the Earned-Income Tax Credit. The credit would range from $180 to $1,000, and would be paid for by getting funds from the state’s Star program, a house credit which tends to primarily benefit homeowners. Miller also proposed doubling the city’s Earned-Income Tax Credit by billing the state after a year for the cost of housing inmates before trial, which Miller estimates will bring in $75 million.
Beyond tax credits, the candidate seeks to continue his City Council efforts to preserve Section 8 and Mitchell-Lama Housing, stating, “Any plan for affordable housing has to be about preserving existing affordable housing, and unfortunately, we are losing tens of thousands of affordable housing units each year,” said Miller.
He also intends to use the Battery Park city fund to create more affordable housing as well as institute inclusionary zones, allowing developers to use more density if it is used for the creation of affordable housing.
Of all of the candidates running for mayor, Gifford Miller does have the most experience in the legislative arena, serving on the City Council for the last nine years and overseeing some of the body’s most progressive initiatives. The question remains will voters, many of whom could not recognize Miller on the street, remember that on Primary Day.