Our Time PressThe Local Paper with the Global View

By Linda Armstrong
James Earl Jones and Leslie Uggams Lead Broadway Drama
James Earl Jones and Leslie Uggams will lead the cast in  On Golden Pond on Broadway at the Cort Theatre, making this the first time that an African-American cast has played the family in this production written by Ernest Thompson, who also wrote the original Broadway version, last seen in 1979 and the Academy Award winning movie of 1981.
The stars portray Norman and Ethel Thayer, an lively elderly couple spending a final time at their summer lakeside home in Maine. They are joined by other African American cast members including: Linda Powell, who will make her Broadway debut as Chelsea, their daughter; Peter Francis James, who will play Bill, her fianc‚; and Alexander Mitchell, a 12-year-old actor who will be Billy, Bill’s wild son.
On Golden Pond touches on a lot of powerful issues like the relationship between a father and daughter, how divorce affects a family, particularly a child’s reaction; it looks at how generations can find common ground and develop relationships, it also looks at the anger and resentment that a daughter can have for her father, especially when he wasn’t a good father. The play looks at how difficult it can be to deal with an elderly person who is losing their memories and realizing that they are going to die. The issues in the play are universal.
In March, a press conference was held to let everyone know this play will be happening with previews beginning March 22 and an opening performance April 7. I felt honored to attend this press conference and have the opportunity to meet James Earl Jones for the first time. Though he has been acting since 1957, Mr. Jones was a soft-spoken, humble man. Considering his lead role in the play, he said, “I know that the actor has a job to tell a story, to put a full meal on when they come on the stage. Well, I want my audience to have a bellyache,” Jones joked.
Speaking to all the cast, I could sense that they were all enthusiastic about the production, which they have done at the DuPont Theatre and the Kennedy Center in 2004. They have been nominated for four 2005 Helen Hayes Awards for the Kennedy Center performance.
Another feeling that came across was concern by Powell and Uggams. Powell hopes that Blacks will come out and support the show. Speaking on this topic, Uggams recalled the abrupt closing of  Gem Of The Ocean  and urged Blacks to come out and support the show right away. “We need people to come out immediately,” Uggams said. Any time our people have the opportunity to perform on Broadway, we need to be there for them and I hope that those reading this column will be. It is important that you do so. When  Gem Of The Ocean losed so abruptly I was concerned and asked the press agent for the show-why, what happened? She said, “Linda, we couldn’t fill the seat.”
For tickets to  On Golden Pond  call 212-239-6200.
ENCORES! for Ossie Davis Production
Though it was not originally planned as a way to honor the late Ossie Davis-his play Purlie was already on the City Center schedule.   ENCORES! “Purlie” production is dedicated in his honor. But you only have through April 3rd to see it! ENCORES! specializes in mounting classic works that haven’t been seen on stage in some time. The Tony and Grammy Award-winning play was last on Broadway in 1970. The current production features  Blair Underwood, Tony-Award- winners Anika Noni Rose and Lillias White, and Doug E. Doug. Tickets from $25-$90 can be purchased by calling 212-581-1212.
Denzel on Broadway
Denzel Washington is still in previews right now for the Broadway production of  Julius Caesar  playing at the Belasco Theatre, at 111 West 44th Street. This incredible actor is playing Brutus. In this William Shakespeare play, Mr. Washingtons character is tormented between loyalty to his country and loyalty to his friend-Caesar. The play officially opens April 3 and runs through June 12. One can only imagine what a stirring performance he will deliver!

By Feona Sharhran Huff

In the last issue of Our Time Press, we offered an overview of Senator Velmanette Montgomery’s good works on behalf of  the community. In this issue, we bring you an exclusive Q & A with this powerhouse politician who represents the 18th District.

OTP: What led you to a career in politics?
Senator Montgomery: A natural continuum based on my interest in public policy, my work in organizing, and advocacy around community issues.

OTP: Exactly what does your position entail and what does it mean to your constituents?
VM: My primary responsibility is to represent the interests of the people as their voice in state government, and so whatever the needs of the people are, I feel it is my obligation to try and make sure that what we do in state government and legislature, to some extent, meets those needs and addresses those concerns.

OTP: Talk about your biggest triumphs thus far as a Senator.
VM I think one of the important issues that I have been involved in is around HIV and AIDS prevention. I championed at a time when most people didn’t want to talk about specific ways in which preventative measures should become a part of our health system and the needle- exchange program. The other issue that I continue to champion is the whole idea of expanding school-based health clinic programs, especially in middle school and high school so that they have mental and health care at a place that is most accessible to them. It’s very crucial for our young people. The new  situation for HIV cases is young people, specifically young women. I try to get my colleagues to adopt it as their own issue and to hopefully one day see this as a significant part of our self-care delivery system.
OTP: How does it feel to be in a position to positively affect the lives of the people in your district?
VM: It’s a tremendous responsibility because the needs and expectations of the people that I represent are very great, and much more than I or most of my colleagues are able to deliver in a timely fashion. It requires a struggle year in and year out. When we look for ways to break out of the box and create new and more  appropriate ways of responding to certain issues, it’s difficult because we have less and less capacity to do it because of the tax cuts.

OTP: Have you had to overcome gender barriers in office?
VM: There are gender and social barriers. What I mean by social barriers is that if you are a woman and you do not have a circle of wealth that you are associated with and you are not of a particular interest to certain kinds of political contributions, you have much more of a difficult time. It’s more difficult to think and plan movement in politics from one level to another. It’s difficult to be taken more seriously. In New York State, I have found – when I first entered and now – that the expectation that women and men legislatures have the same path to power and decision- making doesn’t exist. It still is not an automatic assumption and you’re certainly not groomed in that way. There’s not always a support system in the same way that men support each other. I use a restroom analogy: Men have urinals that stand side by side and where they make decisions and come to agreements. Women have stalls that are separated by stalls and doors. So it’s harder to come to an agreement with your sister.

OTP: How do you combat the barriers?
VM: I work very hard. I try to keep up as much as I can with all of the information I have access to on legislation.

OTP: What women do you look up to and draw your strength and support from?
VM: I look to women who use their position to advance their people and to advance issues that they are important. Regent Adaelaide Sandler has been a tremendous inspiration politically in how she frames the issue in a way that’s very clear and that you understand. She takes the time to talk to legislatures and to help us understand what we need to do in order to help our children in the educational system.  A lot of support that I receive on issues comes from women who are not in the legislature but who are out in the community and who want to make a difference.

OTP: How do you balance family with the demands of your position?
VM: It is very difficult and the hardest part of the job because your time is not your own. It’s difficult to plan to go to the theater and vacations because at any given moment, something comes up in your district that’s crucial to your district. But I’ve been very blessed to have a family that has been able to adapt to this kind of irregular life that I have to live. I have one son. His dad has been his primary parent. For him, it was extremely important because he has the security there. It worked out very well for him and me. He’s off in college now and I’m very proud of him. I worked hard and struggled to make sure that I was there as much as possible. The times when I was in Albany and I had to be away from home, his dad was there for him. You have to really work at it.

OTP: What advice do you have for young ladies interested in political careers?
VM: First, the electoral political process is only one aspect of being involved in government and politics. An extremely crucial part is the staff that I rely on to be the technical advisors to do outreach to communities, organizing, and generally giving me support and guidance. There’s also a need for women to look for leadership positions as administrators where they become in control of what happens in communities. 

OTP: What’s next for you?
VM: I’m seriously considering a run for borough president. I think it would be a wonderful opportunity for me that I haven’t been able to do here in this position. I think there is a lot of potential for what could happen in Brooklyn.
You can keep up with Senator Velmanette Montgomery by logging onto www.nyssenate18.com.

by  Stanley Kinard
The Mis-Education
of  Black America Continues
Dr. Carter G. Woodson must be revisited by any serious teacher or educator serious about the education of Black youth.  Most Black educators in the New York school system have never heard of Dr. Woodson or read his definitive work, The Mis-Education of the Negro.    Some may know that he started Black History Month but not much else.  It is a book that should be “required reading” and part of the professional development for all schools where Black students are present. 
Many teachers don’t believe that it is important that Black History be at the core of any curriculum where Black students are present.  I recently participated in a forum at the City University Graduate Center on Urban Education and I was both taken aback when a White teacher spoke about her advocacy for Black History to be taught in her school in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn.  She stated that she was amazed when she received overwhelming resistance to this from Black teachers.  The Black teachers did not think it was relevant and felt that Black History should be restricted to Black History Month.
“No systematic effort toward change has been possible, for, taught the same economics, history, philosophy, literature and religion which have established the present code of morals, the Negro’s mind has been brought under the control of his oppressor.  The problem of holding the Negro down, therefore, is easily solved.  When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions.  You do not have to tell him to stand here or go yonder.  He will find his ‘proper place’ and will stay in it.  You do not need to send him to the back door.  He will go without being told.  In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one out for his special benefit.  His education makes it necessary.” 
– Carter G. Woodson, Ph.D.
These teachers reflect what Dr. Woodson stated in 1933.  No one has to encourage them to resist teaching Black History.  They automatically accept the Department of Education’s Eurocentric curriculum as gospel.  They accept the inaccurate history books and methods of teaching our kids.  They never question McGraw-Hill or Harcourt Brace, who have made billions of dollars from the books, teaching and educational curriculums they have published.
There needs to be another Black Educators Summit, where educators come together to discuss the relevancy of teaching Black History in our schools.  Until we resolve this internal conflict, we will continue to regress as African people.  The celebration of Black History during February is not sufficient to put us on our true cultural path.  Extending Black History into the daily curriculum of our schools and other institutions is the only way that we can offset the impact of 50 Cent and lil’ Kim, who have become the cultural heroes of our youth.
My thoughts on the manipulation of the Department of Education’s calendar to shut the schools down for a week during Black History Month continues to be ignored.  Teachers are happy about the time off and so are students.  Because we as a community were so complacent on that issue, this year the Department of Education decided that schools would be open for Easter week but closed for Passover.  This is the first time that I can recall that schools were open for Easter week.  Black ministers should have shown some concern, as it is my thinking that these decisions regarding changing the calendar are racial, religious and certainly undemocratic.  No one from our community or clergy was involved in any discussions regarding these decisions.  Under the current educational dictatorship, many rapid decisions are being made at the Department of Education that have deep implications for the future of our children.  More than 70 years later, we still know our “proper place” and without being told go “to the back door.”  Three generations later, it is time to revisit  The Mis-Education of the Negro  by Carter G. Woodson, Ph.D.
Sam Anderson was recently honored by Councilman Charles Barron and from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.  Dr. Anderson was cited for his accomplishments over the last four decades in the African Liberation Struggle.  He made a presentation on his book,  The African Holocaust for Beginners . His well-written book should be on the public schools reading list.  Dr. Anderson spoke about his battle to get his book embraced by the school system – something that can happen once the Black community embraces the book.   The African Holocaust for Beginners  is a title that should be in every home, and then we’ll find it in our schools as well.

By Eric Adams
One of the most covenant positions in sports is what is called “home field advantage.” This is when a team plays in the stadium located in their home city. When a team has home field advantage they are allowed slight benefits that insiders to the game are aware of. Spectators and fans that view the sporting event do not see the true benefits of playing on one’s home field. They believe that the only advantage is that the team does not have to play on the road. The fact is it is much more than that. When a team plays in their own city they are not only in familiar terrain but they also are afforded other hidden benefits that give them a slight and often-decisive step over the visiting team. Although this advantage does not guarantee the home team a victory, it stills is an important edge.  In contrast, the opponent will be taxed with mental and physical hurdles that often impede their success on the road. When all things are equal, this edge is often the margin of difference between who wins and who loses.
That is why it is rare that a team has a better winning record on the road than it does when playing at home. All one has to do is watch how a player performs and reacts on his home court and you will easily see that he feels at ease. The many factors that causes this relaxed atmosphere range from how the referees make favorable calls to the loud supportive noises that come from the spectators. All of these factors play on the psyche of the player and allows him to, perform with a higher level of confidence.
The only time the home teams field position becomes a disadvantage is when a player has never been accepted as a true member of the team. That player is often booed or treated as an outsider when he takes the court in his home city. He often finds himself treated as a person without a team and his game suffers from the poor treatment.
This home field concept can also be applied to other areas of life. The largest home field is one’s country. To an Australian, Australia is their home field. An Australian citizen would rather address legal or social issues while in Australia. They have a natural comfort zone in their home field of Australia.
With this concept in mind, we as African-Americans must always understand that America is the home field for white supremacy. Take note that I did not say for white people, I said for white supremacy. There are many whites in this country that have fair-minded ideologies that are not theoretically at home in America. Although their skin pigmentation allows them some comfort, their thought process puts them as outsiders.
For African-Americans, no matter how much we believe we are members of “Team America”, we only wear the uniform of citizenship. Our status will always be equal to the unpopular player that was never accepted by his teammates.
I do not bring out this observation to encourage African-Americans to adopt a defeatist attitude towards succeeding on “America’s home field.” My goal is to point out that if we are going to win in this sport called life, we must adjust our game plan to reflect that we are playing on someone else’s home court. Too often, we have embraced the belief that our economic or educational status gives us team membership, only to have this belief shattered once we made a mistake or carried out an incorrect act that our counterpart “teammates” would have gotten away with. Even when we don’t make an error, we are still reminded that we are not one of the acknowledged home team players.
The yellow-cab story that was relayed to me is an excellent example of this issue. Two men who are advertising executives each left their midtown offices to give a presentation to a multimillion dollar account. Each one of them stepped outside their office building to hail a yellow cab. The Caucasian male without thought catches the first empty cab that pulls up. In contrast, the African-American male spent several additional, irritated minutes waiting for a fair-minded yellow-cab driver to stop for him and take him to his destination. Whereas the Caucasian male is able to arrive in a peaceful state of mind and focus solely on his presentation, the African-American executive must refocus to his thought and demeanor. Although this small mishap is not enough to stop him from giving an excellent presentation, it does give an edge to the Caucasian male.
We can also see this “home team advantage” concept played out among our young people. Take the young African-American male from Brooklyn who was on his way to take his SAT. During the school year, he was stopped numerous times by the police because of the locks he wore in his hair. His patience reached a boiling point when he was stopped while on his way to take this highly stressful exam. When he raised his dissatisfaction about being harassed in this fashion, he was detained longer. He was final released and allowed to attend his exam. Arriving  with a mentally disheveled state, he had to sit through the stressful exam and obtain a respectable score to gain entry in a good college. Although his negative encounter with the officer is not enough to have him fail the SAT, it was enough to give his counterpart the “home team player” an edge.
These two incidents are examples of what takes place every day across America in every form of our lives. The benefit of being America’s “home team player” can be viewed in areas such as the banks’ discriminating predatory lending practices in African-American communities, the lack of available seats in gifted schools for African-American pupils, lack of African-American firefighters in New York Fire Department, and many other denials.
It is this lack of access and refusal of status of “home field” rights that have regulated America’s African-American team members to the permanent status of being a visiting player on their own home field. In order to start winning more games, we have to adjust our style of play to reflect this sad reality.

 Some have attacked scholar Ivan Van Sertima’s thesis that Africans made contact with America before Columbus in two major pre-Christian periods (circa 12OO B.C. and circa 800 B.C.), in addition to the Mandingo contact period (1310/1311 A.D.).
As a reply to the disinformation being circulated about his work, Van Sertima gives the following:
– LIE ONE:- “Van Sertima’s expedition allegedly sailed or drifted westward to the Gulf of Mexico where it came in contact with inferior Olmecs.  These individuals created Olmec civilization”. – De Montellano, Barbour and Haslip-Viera. – THE TRUTH: As far back as 1976, I made my position on this matter very clear. I never said that Africans created or founded American civilization. I said they made contact and all significant contact between two peoples lead to influences. “I think it is necessary to make it clear – since partisan and ethnocentric scholarship seems to be the order of the day – that the emergence of the Negroid face, which the archeological and cultural data overwhelmingly confirm, in no way presupposes the lack of a native originality, the absence of other influences or the automatic eclipse of other faces”-p. 147 of They Came Before Columbus, see also Journal of African Civilizations, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1986. “I cannot subscribe to the notion that civilization suddenly dropped onto the American earth from the Egyptian heaven.”
– LIE TWO: None of the early Egyptians and Nubians looked like Negroes. “They have long, narrow noses, Short, flat noses are confined to the West African ancestors of African-Americans.” Again, “There is no evidence that ancient Nubians ever braided their hair. This style comes from colonial and modern Ethiopia.”
THE TRUTH: Narrow noses have been found among millions of pure-blooded Africans. We can see this among the elongated and Nilotic types. My critics know nothing about the variants of Africa, ancient or modern.  All the six main variants of the African have been found in Egyptian and Nubian graves. 
For examples of ancient braided Nubian hair, see Frank Snowden’s Before Color Prejudice.   As for Egypto-Nubians only having narrow noses, see Egyptian pharaohs in Vol. 10 and 12 of the JAC and major Nubian pharaohs in Peggy Bertram’s essay (JAC, Vol. 12) -Ushanaru, Plate 8, p. 173; Taharka as the god Amun from Kawa Temples, Plate 9, p. 173; Shabaka, Plate 12, p. 176. Tanwetamani, Plate 16, p. 180. To say that these are narrow noses is to exhibit a colossal ignorance of African types in ancient Egypt and Nubia.  The agenda behind this is to bolster their case that they could not have been models for any of the Olmec stone heads.
– LIE THREE: Modern Egyptians look exactly as they did thousands of years ago. The composition of the Egyptian has not changed over the last 5000 years.  Invasions by the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Arabs and Romans left them looking the same today as in the dawn of history.
 – THE TRUTH: This is a hasty misreading of the work of scholars like A.C. Berry, R.J. Berry and Ucko who point out that there is a remarkable degree of homogeneity in this area for 5000 years. What a superficial reading of this fails to note is that the period ends with the close of the native dynasties BEFORE the invasions of the Assyrian, Persian, Greek, Roman and Arab foreigners.
– LIE FOUR: Faced with the startlingly Negroid features of some of the Olmec stone heads, my critics try 4 ways out. (a) They are “spitting images of the native” ,(b) They appear dark because some of them were carved out of Dark volcanic stone, (c) Some were made of white basalt which turned dark over time, (d) ancient Egyptians and Nubians were remote in physiognomy from sub-Saharan Negroes and none of them could have been models for any of the “Negro-looking” heads. Having said all that, they then claim that “races are not linked to specific physiognomic traits.”
– THE TRUTH: No need to shoot them down on this. They turned the gun on themselves.
– LIE FIVE: Nothing African has been found in any archeological excavation in the New World.
 – THE TRUTH: In the drier centers of the Olmec world – at Tlatilco, Cerro de las Mesas and Monte Alban – the Polish craniologist, Andrez Wiercinski, found indisputable evidence of an African presence.  The many traits analyzed in these Olmec sites indicated individuals with Negroid traits predominating but with an added mixture of other racial traits. This is what I have said. The work of A. Vargas Guadarrama is an important reinforcement of Wiercinski’s study.  He found that the skulls he had examined at Tlatilco, which Wiercinski had classified as Negroid, were “radically different” from other skulls on the site, bearing indisputable similarities to skulls in West Africa and Egypt.
– LIE SIX: Van Sertima presents no evidence that a New World cotton (gossypium hirsutum var. punctatum) was transferred from Guinea to Cape Verde in 1462 by the Portuguese and there is no hard proof that West Africans made a round-trip to America before Columbus.
 – THE TRUTH: I cited evidence in 12 categories to establish Mandingo voyages to the New World circa 1310/1311 A.D.  This included eyewitness reports from nearly a dozen Europeans, even Columbus himself, metallurgical, linguistic, botanical, navigational, oceanographic, skeletal, epigraphic, cartographic, oral, documented and iconographic evidence. With regard to New World cotton in Africa before 1462, Stephens spoke in two tongues to pacify isolationist colleagues.
– LIE SEVEN: My critics claim that I said the bottle gourd came in with Old World voyagers.
– THE TRUTH: I was at pains to point out that this is ONE PLANT THAT COULD DRIFT TO AMERICA WITHOUT THE LOSS OF SEED VIABILITY. “Bottle gourds got caught in the pull of currents from the African coast and drifted to America across the Atlantic. Thomas Whitaker and G.F. Carter showed that these gourds are capable of floating in seawater for 7 months without loss of seed viability”- They Came Before Columbus, 204.  They indulge in an even more vicious dishonesty with regard to cotton, claiming that I said “Old World cottons came into America with a fleet of Nubians circa 700 B.C.” I never linked cotton transfer to Nubian contact.
– LIE EIGHT: My critics admit “we cannot unequivocally date the heads” but they single out one which they say Ann Cyphers confidently dated about 1011 B.C. Note the date! This is 200 years AFTER the Egyptian contact period c. 1200 B.C. Yet they claim that the dating of this one head proves “Negro-looking heads” (but not of Negroes) were being carved, mutilated and buried prior to 1200 B.C.
– THE TRUTH: The stone heads could not have been buried before they were carved.
– LIE NINE: Egyptians stopped building pyramids “thousands of years” before 1200 B.C. No relationship whatever exists between Old World/New World pyramids.
 – THE TRUTH: Enormous obelisks, calling for the same complex engineering skills of the pyramid age, were built at Karnak as late as 1295 B.C. A pyramid was also built at Dashur circa 1700 B.C. Bart Jordan, the mathematical child prodigy, to whom Einstein granted special audience, established startling coincidences between Old World and New World pyramids.  He agrees with me that “The overwhelming incidence of coincidence argues overwhelmingly against a mere coincidence.”
– LIE TEN: My critics claim that I have trampled upon the self-respect and self-esteem of Native Americans and they have come forward to champion their cause.
– THE TRUTH: My people (for I am part Macusi and part African) would be horrified to have, as champions of our cause, De Montellano, Barbour and Haslip-Viera, who disgrace us with the charge that “Native Americans would have sacrificed and eaten the Africans if they came.”