Our Time PressThe Local Paper with the Global View

At a city hall press conference convened by Councilwoman Leticia James,several ministers with church congregations in the area of Ratner=s proposed development addressed the question of the arena proposal.
Reverend Perrin of Hanson Place Central United Methodist Church: AWhy no to the Nets arena?@ Because economic progress cannot be made at the expense of our long-standing democratic rights and freedoms.  Otherwise, we have no right to impose on a regime in Iraq, intervene in Haiti or keep an embargo against Cuba.  Truth may be that what we are seeking to impose on other countries is a cynical application of certain capitalist values that sometimes have an ugly side.
This ugly side we are witnessing in the proposed new development of the sports complex, while threatening to run over the residents as if they are not to be counted.  What is more troubling is the widespread feeling among many that there is nothing that anyone can do to stop this because  Ait is a done deal.  Only God is ineluctable, against which it is vain to struggle.  The voice of consciousness must be raised, however lonely that voice may be.@ 
Reverend Herbert Daughtry, House of the Lord Church: Our church is located several blocks from where this arena is to be constructed.  We have been in this community thirty-five years and no one has come to us about this project.  They have pushed this on this community and some of us have stood to say you can=t do that.  We are calling for a summit meeting of all the appropriate personnel and see what can be worked through.  Our position is that we are not absolutely against anything or absolutely for anything, we are absolutely against the usurpation of authority and power in our community.  If we use the model of the World Trade Center, we can perhaps do something that would be satisfactory to all concerned.
Pastor Trufante of Emmanuel Baptist Church: AI am not opposed to development being done.  What I am opposed to is the manner in which it is being done.  I speak not as a disinterested party, I have pastored and lived in this community for almost fourteen years, and the development makes my question not so much why it=s being done but rather where and how it=s being done.  It=s important to have conversations on
I think there are other places where it could be done, for example, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where there=s more than ample space.  There are other areas of Brooklyn where there are large tracts of land that are available.  The project could be the impetus for economic development in those areas. 
One of the things that doesn=t make sense to me is the placement of the development on one of the major thoroughfares, one that is already congested.   This smacks of development that is not consistent with key concepts of contemporary development, where the stakeholders, the current businesses and residents and the developers have a win-win scenario.   This seems to be a win-lose scenario, development done in the interests of big business. 
It doesn=t seem to make sense that the people who have built this community and improved the quality of life in the corridor should be displaced.@
Reverend Clinton Miller of Brown Memorial Baptist Church.  AWe ask the question, What are we going to be using the taxpayer=s money for?@  AAre we going to use it for building arenas and stadiums while there is still a dirth of affordable housing, quality education and jobs.  Or are we going to give deference to those with resources we don=t have?@  Let=s use the taxpayer=s dollars for something that is needed first and build an arena later on. 
Charles Barron, councilman, I want to thank my colleague Letitia James who is doing an excellent job on this issue and who is bold enough to stand alone if she must.  We have serious questions on this issue of the abuse of eminent domain and the government taking private property for use by a private developer.  We are also concerned about commercial competition with existing businesses and the additional office space which may not be needed, given the develop going on in downtown Manhattan.  There is the concern about displacement of people from their homes.  Ratner says a hundred, the Prospect Height Action Coalition says 863, the census tract  says 350-400.  Traffic congestion and people suffering with asthma, we need to tell Jay Z and Bernard King taht we know you are happy about basketball, but these issue are greater than basketball.  They make cutesy remarks around a very serious issue.  They need to come back to the community and get educated.  How dare they leave these influential members of our community out of the process.  Don=t think you are going to steam roll this through.  This is not a done deal.

I could not help but to overhear the conversation of the young twenty-something woman that was sitting next to me on the bus. The passion of her conversation caused her to speak a little louder than I believe she had intended. She was speaking with another female passenger and attempting to explain the nasty gash across her right cheek. Because I was only getting pieces of the discussion, my first thought was that her mate caused the injury. To my surprise, it was not her husband that gave her the bruise, the permanent scar was caused by her son.
Based on the discussion, her son was angry that she was unable to purchase a Christmas gift that he was looking forward to receiving. She went on to say that she was afraid of him and that on more than one occasion she called the police when he refused to come home until the early- morning hours.  Then she stated, “I don’t know what I am going to do when he starts junior high school next year.” If my math was correct that would make her child approximately 11-years-old.
Upon hearing this, her travel companion made the comment, “Well, let’s hope in junior high school some of the teachers can work miracles with him.”
Her comment touches on a major aspect of what has been in the headlines of late. And that is school violence.  Too many parents subscribe to the theory that the only energy that should go into childrearing is dropping their children off at the doorsteps of the local public schools. The issues surrounding school violence has as much to do with what happens in the household as what does not occur in the classroom.
The problem of violence in our schools has reached an alarming level and we must take a pause in our hectic lives to devise a real plan to bring it back into control. That plan cannot be created by school officials alone. It must include every aspect of our community, including those who do not have children in the public school system. Let us not forget that you cannot say public school system without saying Black and brown students. These children are our future and if we like it or not they are our responsibility.
This endeavor is no different from the commitment that parents of prior generations embraced. We should not allow time to rewrite the lines on how many of us behaved as children. I am sure there are still some walls at Intermediate School 8, where I was a student, that has my creative literature written on them. If we all look back into our adolescent years, I am sure there are moments in time that we wish we did not behave the way we did. In fact, we are not who we are because of our own doings, but because those adults of the time did not give up on us. Much of our success stems from an adult’s unrelenting desire to see us achieve in spite of ourselves.
We must match that passion with the young people of today. It is going to take more energy than dropping our children off at the doorsteps of the local school and praying that someone works a miracle.
100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care has committed their support to this challenge by conducting a series of “Parents Empowered to End School Violence Workshops.” The forums    which will be held in conjunction with Civil Rights Attorney Norman Siegel, will focus on supplying parents with proactive measures, that they can take to combat school violence. In far too many cases, parents feel as though they must sit on the sideline while their children are the victim of violence. Members of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care will use their law enforcement and legal experience to empower parents to play an active role in ending school violence. The workshops will be broken down into three basic components. The first phase will demonstrate to parents the type of  items that are being used as weapons by young people. Following that display, we will then instruct parents on what to do when their children are the victims                                    of violence. Included in this instruction will be tips on how to anonymously report those students who are carrying dangerous weapons. The last phase will be conducted by Civil Rights Attorney Norman Siegel and it will include legal instruction concerning school violence.
To stem the tide of violence in our school system, we must ensure that parents, police and school officials all are reading from the same page. This can only be achieved by bringing the parents into the discussion.

“Practical and reasonable solutions were not planned. We can’t achieve anything just by talking about the problems.  If you don’t have the answer at your fingertips, give some information as to where to get it and follow up on it. We have to use our library, bcome an expert in that area of interest and make a collective difference.”
Richardson also said  that we must think collectively about everything we do. “What we can do collectively can make the difference. It’s not a ‘me’ issue, but a ‘we’ issue. ‘We’ must be economically independent as a collective to stop gentrification.
Richardson covered some crucial the statistics. “Let’s take the Administrative Children’s Services (ACS). The status is 70% black that are taken from their families. There’s the criminal and jail system population which is 85% black and Hispanic.  There’s the U.S. military and the homeless. Both disproportionately black.”
Jerry Muhammad, Nation of Islam, credited Elijah Muhammad with saying that gentrification is a form of genocide. ” We’ve lost our property, our lives, and our livelihood through the use of words. If you have the knowledge of self.then you become an “independent being” and therefore, refuse to allow white criteria to be the vehicle, which defines who you are. You have a “dependent identity” when you use something derogatory (ex., nigger) and incorporate it as something good.”
Muhammad stated, “We must ask for reparations in order to give the Caucasian the opportunity to atone for what they have done. We also want land, because we want full and complete freedom, because we have never been free in America-just a freed slave. Because they never gave back what they took, the damage done to us keeps us hating ourselves and keeps us from rising as a people.”
Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz, national chairman of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, president of Shabazz Real Estate emphasized, “Whites are taking over black communities with a process called gentrification. Everyday realestate deals are going on and we are not at the table. We know nothing about it. We must become property owners, we must invest.
“Once  I spend my money with the white man, that money is gone versus spending money on property. I spent too many years out of the real-estate business.  I was talking black power and making the white man rich. Let’s not think the game is being played fair.”
Shabazz urged, “Join an anti-gentrification coalition. Get involved and change the political process. Move from being tenants to owning some property. It is not just about gaining an immediate profit. Land is the basis of independence.
“When you have equity in the land, you have a much more powerful position. If you don’t deal with politics, politics will deal with you. We should have been on this (gentrification) years ago. Gentrification isn’t over til, it’s over. It only speaks to the urgency of what we have to do.”
Pastor Anthony Mann, Baptist Temple Church, stressed understanding the process of enslavement. “African-American” is not a word we should be using. We had civilizations long before enslavement.  We have got to stop coming from that “old-time” religion.  We must stop looking at others as God and respect each other as individuals.  Who cares about religion! It was given to us to keep us in line.
Pastor Mann also said that we need to stop saying we don’t need therapy. “We must get into a spiritual realm before we can get into any war. Until we stop being dysfunctional, we can’t make rational decisions. Don’t believe that people with the same color are always with you. We have learned to hate and hurt ourselves on a subconscious level and we have become immune to it. We have to first love one another. This process is not going to be an overnight thing.”
Pastor Mann implored, “Own something!, Cause it’s going to be valuable. We must own land! We must look at technology and computers. This is a global market. We should not have to ask the white man for nothing!
Minister Kevin Muhammad, Nation of Islam Mosque #7 said, “Land is everything.  Stop buying the jewelry and material things and get some land! You have everything on your ass, but you have no assets.”  Minister Muhammad insisted that, “We must pool our resources and learn to trust one another. Learn, study and become successful in everything we do.”
Self -examination is what is called for.  “What can we offer someone? What can we bring to the table? We need to have something! We have to get into property acquisition now!” 
Dr. James McIntosh (psychiatry), a student of the late John Henrik Clarke, defined gentrification as corruptive, deceitful and nothing more than colonization.
In his keynote address, Councilman Charles Barron, said the gentrification workshop was “right on time.”  Councilman Barron doesn’t believe it is a form of genocide as it relates to killing, but does believe re-gentrification or gentrification is another name for racism. “The white people know many of us can’t afford the high housing prices. Most black people’s income is in the $30,000-$35,000 range. Much of the housing is priced at $600,000 and up, therefore you can’t afford to buy a home. We are never eligible and that is where the racism comes in. They don’t kill you- they just price you out!” Councilman Barron explains what re-gentrification means. “Gentry” means elite. “Re-gentry” means to bring back the elite.  Re-gentrification means they were here before and now want it back, whereas gentrification means to move the elite in. The white population wants to come back to the inner cities and reside close to their businesses. This causes a displacement of the people who already reside there. We must fight it! Continue to organize and mobilize (collectively) around this issue. We need the power equation in New York to change because white men have too much power in this city. There needs to be a balance. We must make sure HPD (Housing Preservation and Development) changes their policies regarding affordable housing, quality and availability. Their (HPD) income requirements for purchasing a home are too high.
HPD, which is the largest developer of affordable housing in the nation, has provided over $5.6 billion toward rehabilitation and construction of housing.  (HPD) plans to spend at least a billion more. Half of that funding for should go to low-income people.”

Gentrification  is not an automatic occurrence just because whites and upper- class move in to a lower class or lower income area. There are certain conditions to be met in which gentrification takes place. First, there has to be a displacement of original residents in order to attract those who have a higher standing (elite). This is accomplished by making it unaffordable for the low-income people. Many of the upper-class people are attracted to the area. Second, there has to be a physical upgrading or renovation to increase property value and bring more business into the area or community- thus attracting more affluent people. Third, there has to be a change in character or flavor in a neighborhood in particular that no longer caters to the original residents, but now caters to a more affluent clientele.
To  understand the reasons why and how something takes place is one thing, but it is truly a genocide to embrace or ignore that which is bringing us down and preventing us from becoming mighty. We must take and hold on to what is rightfully ours and what has been with us for generations. We have come too far to stick our heads in the sand and pray the problem away. We have come too far to be self-important and egotistic. We can’t afford to be.
   Artaymis Ma’at

Practical and reasonable solutions were not planned. We can’t achieve anything just by talking about the problems.  If you don’t have the answer at your fingertips, give some information as to where to get it and follow up on it. We have to use our library, bcome an expert in that area of interest and make a collective difference.”
Richardson also said  that we must think collectively about everything we do. “What we can do collectively can make the difference. It’s not a ‘me’ issue, but a ‘we’ issue. ‘We’ must be economically independent as a collective to stop gentrification.
Richardson covered some crucial the statistics. “Let’s take the Administrative Children’s Services (ACS). The status is 70% black that are taken from their families. There’s the criminal and jail system population which is 85% black and Hispanic.  There’s the U.S. military and the homeless. Both disproportionately black.”
Jerry Muhammad, Nation of Islam, credited Elijah Muhammad with saying that gentrification is a form of genocide. ” We’ve lost our property, our lives, and our livelihood through the use of words. If you have the knowledge of self.then you become an “independent being” and therefore, refuse to allow white criteria to be the vehicle, which defines who you are. You have a “dependent identity” when you use something derogatory (ex., nigger) and incorporate it as something good.”
Muhammad stated, “We must ask for reparations in order to give the Caucasian the opportunity to atone for what they have done. We also want land, because we want full and complete freedom, because we have never been free in America-just a freed slave. Because they never gave back what they took, the damage done to us keeps us hating ourselves and keeps us from rising as a people.”
Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz, national chairman of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, president of Shabazz Real Estate emphasized, “Whites are taking over black communities with a process called gentrification. Everyday realestate deals are going on and we are not at the table. We know nothing about it. We must become property owners, we must invest.
“Once  I spend my money with the white man, that money is gone versus spending money on property. I spent too many years out of the real-estate business.  I was talking black power and making the white man rich. Let’s not think the game is being played fair.”
Shabazz urged, “Join an anti-gentrification coalition. Get involved and change the political process. Move from being tenants to owning some property. It is not just about gaining an immediate profit. Land is the basis of independence.
“When you have equity in the land, you have a much more powerful position. If you don’t deal with politics, politics will deal with you. We should have been on this (gentrification) years ago. Gentrification isn’t over til, it’s over. It only speaks to the urgency of what we have to do.”
Pastor Anthony Mann, Baptist Temple Church, stressed understanding the process of enslavement. “African-American” is not a word we should be using. We had civilizations long before enslavement.  We have got to stop coming from that “old-time” religion.  We must stop looking at others as God and respect each other as individuals.  Who cares about religion! It was given to us to keep us in line.
Pastor Mann also said that we need to stop saying we don’t need therapy. “We must get into a spiritual realm before we can get into any war. Until we stop being dysfunctional, we can’t make rational decisions. Don’t believe that people with the same color are always with you. We have learned to hate and hurt ourselves on a subconscious level and we have become immune to it. We have to first love one another. This process is not going to be an overnight thing.”
Pastor Mann implored, “Own something!, Cause it’s going to be valuable. We must own land! We must look at technology and computers. This is a global market. We should not have to ask the white man for nothing!
Minister Kevin Muhammad, Nation of Islam Mosque #7 said, “Land is everything.  Stop buying the jewelry and material things and get some land! You have everything on your ass, but you have no assets.”  Minister Muhammad insisted that, “We must pool our resources and learn to trust one another. Learn, study and become successful in everything we do.”
Self -examination is what is called for.  “What can we offer someone? What can we bring to the table? We need to have something! We have to get into property acquisition now!” 
Dr. James McIntosh (psychiatry), a student of the late John Henrik Clarke, defined gentrification as corruptive, deceitful and nothing more than colonization.
In his keynote address, Councilman Charles Barron, said the gentrification workshop was “right on time.”  Councilman Barron doesn’t believe it is a form of genocide as it relates to killing, but does believe re-gentrification or gentrification is another name for racism. “The white people know many of us can’t afford the high housing prices. Most black people’s income is in the $30,000-$35,000 range. Much of the housing is priced at $600,000 and up, therefore you can’t afford to buy a home. We are never eligible and that is where the racism comes in. They don’t kill you- they just price you out!” Councilman Barron explains what re-gentrification means. “Gentry” means elite. “Re-gentry” means to bring back the elite.  Re-gentrification means they were here before and now want it back, whereas gentrification means to move the elite in. The white population wants to come back to the inner cities and reside close to their businesses. This causes a displacement of the people who already reside there. We must fight it! Continue to organize and mobilize (collectively) around this issue. We need the power equation in New York to change because white men have too much power in this city. There needs to be a balance. We must make sure HPD (Housing Preservation and Development) changes their policies regarding affordable housing, quality and availability. Their (HPD) income requirements for purchasing a home are too high.
HPD, which is the largest developer of affordable housing in the nation, has provided over $5.6 billion toward rehabilitation and construction of housing.  (HPD) plans to spend at least a billion more. Half of that funding for should go to low-income people.”

Gentrification  is not an automatic occurrence just because whites and upper- class move in to a lower class or lower income area. There are certain conditions to be met in which gentrification takes place. First, there has to be a displacement of original residents in order to attract those who have a higher standing (elite). This is accomplished by making it unaffordable for the low-income people. Many of the upper-class people are attracted to the area. Second, there has to be a physical upgrading or renovation to increase property value and bring more business into the area or community- thus attracting more affluent people. Third, there has to be a change in character or flavor in a neighborhood in particular that no longer caters to the original residents, but now caters to a more affluent clientele.
To  understand the reasons why and how something takes place is one thing, but it is truly a genocide to embrace or ignore that which is bringing us down and preventing us from becoming mighty. We must take and hold on to what is rightfully ours and what has been with us for generations. We have come too far to stick our heads in the sand and pray the problem away. We have come too far to be self-important and egotistic. We can’t afford to be.
   Artaymis Ma’at

David Mark Greaves
George W. Bush represents a part of white American history that has been suppressed, repressed or lost.  We know who the descendants of the enslaved Africans are, ask any African-American and they can tell  you  their great-grand ancestor who was the last held as a slave.
And yet, of the millions of people involved in the slave industry, the buyers and the sellers, the overseers, auctioneers, watchmen, hunters, seamen, drivers, drovers, stock brokers, bondsmen, insurance salesmen, shipbuilders, railroad and telegraph men;  the importers, exporters, lawyers, accountants, manufacturers and their wives, children and staff, we never hear about them.
“We haven’t heard anyone say, “Oh yes, my great-grandfather, God love him, he bought and sold enough slaves to buy that land and build our company.’  Or, “deal with slaves?  Oh sure, the bank I use now goes back almost two hundred years.  They laid their foundation with deposits from slave holders.”
But just because you don’t see them, doesn’t mean they’re not there.  Many of them will be at Madison Square Garden the first week in September, cheering on and gathering around their leader, the only president to have signed over 150 death warrants before taking office.  The office he “won” by robbing black people of their votes in Florida.
They love him because he cut the taxes of the wealthy and started a war for political and financial reasons,  taking over the “White Man’s Burden” of killing black and brown people and robbing their resources.
They love him because he’s cutting back all those troublesome  “Constitutional rights” that foreigner-lovers are alway crying about.  And if reelected, he promises more of the same.
Seeing them and the power they have, and to constantly be bombarded with images that say that white people fervently support him, is to begin to lose faith in the direction of the nation.
That is why massive gatherings like the one that marched up Seventh Avenue with seething laughter are so important as are the demonstrations and street theater that are promised for the week.
We know that everyone is not descended from abolitionists, those brave and humane souls who risked much, if not all, to assist escaped Africans.  But I bet many of their descendants and those of Civil War Yankees, were marching past the Garden in an echo of that war, envisioning a peaceful United States with a “state of mind” different from the thugs in the White House and their minion throughout government.