Our Time PressThe Local Paper with the Global View

Written by Dr. Melva Jackman
A Dramatic Skit

Cast:
The Announcer
Tawana Brawley
Alton H. Maddox, Jr.
The Rev. Al Sharpton
Chorus
Soloist

Script:
ANNOUNCER:  Newspapers, television, radio, magazines tell us about what is going on in the world.  Unfortunately, there are many issues we should know about and discuss which are not considered important in the general media.  If it’s not murder, child abuse, a drug bust or entertainment often African American stories are hardly mentioned.  Here are some issues we need information about and should form opinions on.
1) The proposals to end affirmative action across the country.  Do you know about that?
2) The attack on the open admissions program at City University of NY.  Some of us are going to want to attend college there in just a few years.  Do you know what’s happening?
3) There are always stories about police brutality but what about political prisoners?  Do you know about Mumia Abu Jamal?  How many people knew about the Jericho ’98 March in Washington, last week?
4) What about the effect of the new immigration laws on people in our community?  People are being forced out of the United States every day.  Do you think it’s right?
To find out about Black issues and news from a Black point of view you have to go to Black media.  Read the Amsterdam News, The NY Beacon, Emerge Magazine, listen to WWRL 1600 AM from 10pm to midnight, WLIB 1190AM, especially the Global Black Experience from 12-2:00PM, and WBAI 99.5 from 6-10AM in the morning; 3:00-5:00PM, and into the evening.  These are a few good sources of information.
We don’t have time to talk about all of these things tonight but we would like to present a short skit about a story from ten years that should be in the news today but it isn’t. Have you heard about it?

CHORUS: (Humming the tune of “Eyes on the Prize”)

TAWANA: My name is Tawana Brawley.  I used to live in a small town in upstate New York called Wappingers Falls not far from Poughkeepsie.  When I was 15 years old I was kidnapped.  I was found three days later, nearly unconscious in a plastic garbage bag.  My hair had been chopped off.  I had KKK written on my body.  I was smeared with human feces.  I had been assaulted.  At the hospital I could hardly talk.  When they asked me what happened, all I could say was “White cop”.  A few days later I identified five men from their pictures.  They were all in law enforcement.
When the investigators saw who I identified, they began accusing me of lying.  They said it was a hoax.  They said I put myself into the bag and smeared myself with feces.  And I was just acting like I was unconscious.  They never arrested the men I accused.  My mama cried.  She cried for me.  It looked like we wouldn’t get any justice.
SHARPTON: My name is Al Sharpton.  Rev. Al Sharpton.  Black people always called me when they have trouble with the police Mrs. Brawley told me her daughter’s story.  I listened.  We, C. Vernon Mason, Alton Maddox and I went to Wappinger’s Falls to check on the evidence.  We found enough evidence to believe that somebody did something to Tawana.  There were hospital records and witnesses.  We became the family advisers on this case.
MADDOX: My name is Alton Maddox.  C. Vernon Mason and I are attorneys. They call me the People’s Lawyer just like Reverend Al is the People’s Preacher.  I make a point to represent people of African heritage who believe they will have trouble getting justice in the courtroom.  I know the law backwards and forwards and I’m not afraid to use it.  I know the law as well as any judge.  Well, what we found in Wappingers Fall, I can only call a cover up.  Instead of investigating the accused police officers, they were investigating Tawana’s family to see what problems they could find. Every statement the family made was turned against them. Hospital evidence disappeared.  One of the accused officers was found dead.  They called it suicide.  Witnesses refused to come forward.  It was a cover up.
We asked the District Attorney’s office for indictments of the accused men.  Nothing happened so we took the story to the media.

TAWANA: I kept reading in the newspaper “Tawana’s lying, Tawana’s lying.” Can you imagine how I felt?  Thank God I had my family and the Reverend Al,  Alton Maddox and C. Vernon Mason on my side.  They were the only ones who would speak out for me.  Not only had I been assaulted and abused, but people accused me of being guilty.  Finally my family had to move out of New York State.  I never did get any justice.  I’m finished college now.  I came back to NY (eds. note – Dec, 1987, at Bethany Baptist Church in Brooklyn) to support the men who had supported me.  We are all being sued for almost 400 million dollars by one of the men I accused because we accused him in public of committing a crime against me.  Can you believe that?  They call it defamation of character – spoiling his good name.

MADDOX: The case is going on in the Poughkeepsie courthouse right now.  Come up and see us in action.  Over the past ten years everything has been done to try to stop us.  Rev. Al was indicted for income taxes.  My license to practice law has been suspended indefinitely.  C. Vernon Mason lost his license to practice law.  None of us can earn a living in our chosen profession or protect members of the African American community who may need legal help.
But we haven’t been stopped!  It can only be called defamation of character if the accusations are not believed to be true.  Finally the evidence is being uncovered and brought to light.  Maybe Tawana will get a little bit of justice after all. This case is giving us an opportunity to question all the witnesses in a court of law and challenge all the misinformation. They are already sorry they brought us into court and the case isn’t over yet.

TAWANA: These men sacrificed for me. To defend my womanhood.  My story has gone from a legal cover-up to a news blackout. I checked all the newspapers last week. Didn’t see much about the case – didn’t hear anything on TV either.  Whenever Black people are winning … things get real quiet.

   Continued on Next Page
She disappeared one lonely night.
Three days later, what a sight!

She was gone three days we know
Then left laying by the door

Chorus
Keep your eyes on the prize.  Hold on.
Hold on! Hold on!
Keep your eyes on the prize.  Hold on!

On the day she accused a cop
that’s the day the justice stopped

The newspapers asked her why,
“Did you go and tell that lie?”
Chorus
Keep your eyes on the prize.  Hold on.
Hold on! Hold on!
Keep your eyes on the prize.  Hold on!

Mason, Maddox, Sharpton, too
Shouted, “Girl, we believe in you!”

We will speak out in the court
but that plan – it came to naught.

Chorus
Keep your eyes on the prize.  Hold on.
Hold on! Hold on!
Keep your eyes on the prize.  Hold on!

For ten years they struggled on
For the Truth to be reborn!

Now Black men who know the law
Are engaged in legal war.

Chorus
Keep your eyes on the prize.  Hold on.
Hold on! Hold on!
Keep your eyes on the prize. 
Hold on!

Love and support, and renewed interest in Tawana Brawley and the men who are her champions are building in the Black community and beyond. 
So when her United African Movement family welcomed Tawana at an event in her and her mother’s honor Friday, August 14, at the Masonic Temple on Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn, she was overwhelmed by their warm, strong embrace.  And later, they were overwhelmed by hers.
This was a special reunion at the Temple draped in the flags of African nations and other third world countries.  It was a reunion centering on a victor returning from a battlefield, a battlefield where the enemies have the power to become invisible, though you know who they are.  Where the foot soldiers are the media-militia, trained in techno-garble. 
In 1987, this infantry blasted onto a crime scene in Dutchess County with two dum-dum bullets: “Lie” and “Hoax.”   They almost destroyed a family; they succeeded in  putting them on the run.  You need only secure the tapes of journalist-educator  Utrice Leid’s masterful multi-part series over Pacifica Radio- NY (WBAI-99.5 in New York) to discover the word-weapon of choice used by Miss Brawley’s adviser-defenders: “Truth” – the David to her enemy’s Goliath.
So when she smiled, the audience, including the young people – some of the children had not been born when Miss Brawley, was attacked in Dutchess County and apparently left to die – returned the light.
And by the way, has anyone ever told you about Tawana Brawley’s eyes? Have they said anything to you about her spirit? Her intelligence?  So much work has been done to paint her as a tart, shrew, bad girl, so that if you believe all of that, you’d hardly know her if you met her in person.  We did.  The first time we saw her she was surrounded by an army of  handsome Black men in dark, elegant suits.  Outfitted in a long cream-colored summer evening slip-dress and walking in the midst of her protectors, tall, poised, proud, she was Victory.  The heirs of the ancestors do not remain victim too long.  We will say this: close-up, Tawana is smart, witty, and up on with what’s going on.  She is cool, “an alright sister.”  Though the off moments are not spent obsessing over her attackers, we know the scars are deep.  She wears no cosmetics to conceal them.  You see it in the eyes that absorb everything.  She is careful and she is wise.  Which brings us to the question that may still haunt you: why doesn’t she speak out?  The answer is simple:  Tawana has spoken and she continues to speak.  As far as the real question – when will she fill us in on all the details?  Perhaps you can find the answers in statements she and her father made at the UAM banquet.  You can certainly find them in Mr. Maddox’s remarks; they are the same ten years ago as they are today.   BG

First, we always have to give thanks and all honor to God.  I wanted to thank everyone, every member, every beautiful black face for coming out today.   I would like to give all thanks to God because He is the real reason why I am standing here today.  All praise is due.  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.  Angels come in all shapes, sizes and colors (with a nod to Ed Garcia’s family and Justin Darrow and family members) and I thank you, every single person, from the bottom of my heart – every beautiful black face who is out here today.  And everyone you represent. 
My family, my mother, my Aunt Juanita thank you, also.  I did want to say a few things if you would let me. As I said in the past, this is not about me. This has happened to hundreds and thousands of black women. Everyday, they are being raped.  I have met a few women here tonight  who have confided in me.  They said they have been raped.  They didn’t have the courage to come forward.   I didn’t have the courage (at first) to come forward.  It just came to me.  My mother brought it up.  My mother is that strong beautiful black woman who puts herself and her family out there.  As my attorney Alton Maddox has said, we were offered a lot of money.  I was personally offered a lot of money but I didn’t see the point in talking to the media and putting things out there if nothing was going to be done about it.  I don’t see the point of putting this horrible act out in front of the world just for them to point, pick and prod.
A crime was committed against me.  A crime was committed against the people. The press has lied to you.  They have lied on me.  You should be very upset.  I am very upset. And I’m tired of it.
Just because it didn’t go exactly in our favor, it’s not over. This is just the beginning.  Alton’s got a long way to go. We’ve got a long way to go because we’re not going to stop fighting for justice ’til we get it.

Pagones has been on the news, going around and saying much about nothing like he won and we’re going to sit around and just take it.  And he …  (Tawana pauses, trying to hold the tears back)   …  I’m sorry.  Excuse me.  Sometimes you just get so upset (Recovering)  This is a joyous occasion. As I was saying, this isn’t over and we’re not going to stop fighting until we get justice.  I want to thank every member of the UAM for this presentation.  For this ceremony.  For us.
It means so much when you’ve gone 10 years and a lot of the mass public are all up in your face saying , “You lied, You lied.”  I say how can you say I lied when I never said anything to you.

I’ve learned much about trust, love, commitment – What a real strong black man is.  I see that everyday in my father who stood by us everyday.  In Alton Maddox, Rev. AL  Sharpton, by all these strong brothers you see on either side of us – the members of the (100 Black Men in Law Enforcement). I see it here but I don’t see it where I am now.  I see it when I come too Brooklyn.  And I love Brooklyn.
I see it in all of you, and I am so glad that I came up because sometimes you go away, you stay and you lose faith and you don’t think anyone has faith in you, and then you come here and you see all your people, my people.  A sister came up to me and said, “I think we’re related – genealogy.”  Well, we are all related.
And just because some of us have lost our paths and lost our minds for a minute, everyone comes back around because the truth will always bring you back.  The lies keep you away, but the truth will bring you back.  And one day it will all come out.
So I’d like to just thank you and God Bless you.

You may know Maxine Page Casellas by her hands more than her voice.  She owns “Nails by Maxine,” the quaint nail parlor at 117 South Oxford Street, frequented by the fashionably correct of Brooklyn and surrounding areas. Now,  Maxine has brought her wonderful, strong, seasoned voice out of hiding, wed it to great “heart and soul” music she penned, and produced a  solid inspirational CD, “Here I Am Lord.”  We suspect many gospel groups will cull this recording for new songs.  Our favorites are “Don’t Give Up,” “Jehovah,” “For All You’ve Done” and  “Simple Prayer.”   “Don’t Give Up” is a gem  reminiscent of early Ashford & Simpson, pure and unadulturated soul.  Keyboardist Butch Stewart- floats a funky groove just beneath Maxine’s wonderfully smoky voice.The result is a stone praise-rocker.  “Jehovah” is a new inspirational rendering of the familiar, call-and-response.   “For All You’ve Done’s”  resurrects the work of the great Mahalia.  Close your eyes  and you’re transported through the Diaspora – from the Middle Passage to rice fields to the concrete sidewalk where a wildflower wills itself up through the cracks.  Filmmakers, take note!  Maxine says, “I ventured along many avenues in the music profession trying to find my place.  Soul music, rhythm & blues, rock & roll, all satisfied my desire, but did not satisfy my need to express what was in my soul.  When I started singing gospel music, I found the way of expressing what I felt, on the inside.  Now I know that singing is not only done with my voice, but with my heart and soul.”

“Here I Am Lord” was produced by Ms. Casellas and Butch Stewart, who arranged and recorded all the songs on this CD at Transitions Studio in Brooklyn, N.Y. For more information, call   718-852-8128
WITH NEW GOSPEL CD

At our November 15 [1995] meeting [a local candidate] told us of the positive experiences he had gathering signatures in East Palo Alto and of an insight one of his neighbors shared: “Did you ever realize how racist Social Security is? Blacks don’t live as long as whites, so Social Security overtaxes black workers to subsidize white retirees. It’s another government redistribution-of-wealth scam.”  Curious to know the actual numbers, I did a little research, consulting the Historical Statistics of the United States Colonial Times to 1970 (series B 116-125) and the Statistical Abstract of the United States 1992 (Table 104).

The data for 1929-1931 (presumably used as the actuarial basis of the Social Security Act of 1935) show that the life expectancy of a white male at age 20 was then 46.0 years: His peers, on average, would live one year past retirement age at age 65. Many would live longer, but a similar number would have been expected to die without receiving any benefits. Thus Social Security, at the outset, was primarily an insurance plan – covering the possibility that one might live longer than the then average 66 years. Because only a minority did, premiums were low – 3% of one’s salary. The system was actuarially sound.

In subsequent years, Congress ignored the actuaries (something that would be anathema in the world of private insurance) and failed to change the system to reflect increasing life expectancy. In 1989 the life expectancy of a white male at age 20 had risen to 54.0 years. Because practically all [white] participants now live past the age of 65, Social Security now functions primarily as a (badly run) savings plan and only secondarily as an insurance plan, hence the increase in the Social Security tax rate to 15%.  Broadly speaking, the first 3% still represents the “insurance premium” covering the contingency that a participant might live past the 74 year average life span for his group and the additional 12% attempts to cover payments between age 66 and age 74. (12% isn’t actually enough, but that’s another article…)

Now, here’s the interesting part: By 1989, the life expectancy of a black male at age 20 had only just risen to 47.1 years – roughly that of white males at the time the Social Security system was designed. Were black males permitted to form their own (privately owned) “Social Security systems”, their premiums today should be the same 3% figure that white workers paid in the 1930s. In other words, roughly $12 of every $15 paid by today’s black worker will be transferred through the magic of “Social Security” to white retirees and only $3 will come back to his peers in retirement benefits.

The “New Deal” is a bit more like the “Old Deal” than you might have thought!

A host of family and friends gathered to celebrate the life of Robert Daniel Cave, Sr., September 14 at Evening Star Baptist Church.  Mr. Cave, a noted photographer in the community, passed away on Tuesday evening, September 8.  His legacy lives in the thousands of photographs he shot of  Brooklynites, known and unknown.  It also lives in  the brilliant creative work of his daughter,  Eurila Cave, 19, and his son, Robert D. Cave, Jr., 18.  Eurila,  an award-winning photographer, is equally adept at developing black & white and color photographs.  (She shot the pictures seen on the cover and page 11).  Robert, Jr.  is a gifted illustrator and artist.   Cave, Sr. gave his daughter a camera for her 17th birthday… after her math grades picked up.  He gave  Robert Jr. a computer on his 17th birthday to expand  his graphics skills.   The work of the Cave siblings will be presented in upcoming issues of Our Time Press.   Miss Cave’s dream is to major in Photography at NYU on full scholarship.  BG