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Marcus Garvey Matters

Editor, Our Time Press
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Marcus Garvey Matters

A brief overview of African-American History as taught in our public schools currently would read off something like this: slavery, civil rights, Obama. The amazing breadth of our history in America has been reduced to mere murmurs and hearsay, things your Nana might tell you about or things you might happen to read in one of those dusty books in your father’s library. Our history scares those who wish to continue our marginalization, so it’s been buried in plain sight, not denied but never spoken about.

One piece of our history which should be taught in our schools and to our children is that of Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Pan-Africanism, Black Nationalism, uniting the African Diaspora; these concepts cannot be clearly defined without mentioning Marcus Garvey. Garvey was the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, an organization that at its height boasted a membership of 4 million. This organization spread the tenets of Black Nationalism across the globe, causing dozens of auxiliary organizations to sprout, raising the consciousness of African peoples living outside of Africa. In 1920, the UNIA held a conference at Madison Square Garden. 25,000 Blacks from all over the world attended. It was the first time that any Black man had ever organized such a massive conference.

Garvey created The Black Star Line, a shipping company designed to transport products and eventually people throughout the African nations. He purchased ships and used this company to begin his Back-to-Africa movement. The ideals responsible for the creation of The Black Star Line were the beginnings of what would come to be known as Pan-Africanism, a movement continued through time by leaders like Julius Nyerere, Haile Selassie, Thomas Sankara, Kwame Nkrumah and Baba Jitu Weusi.

Garvey’s influence on modern Black consciousness cannot be denied. Schools all over the world have been named after him. The flag of the UNIA–the red, black and green–was adopted as the flag of Black Liberation. Malcolm X’s parents met one another at a UNIA convention. Martin Luther King once described Marcus Garvey as “the first man of color to lead and develop a mass movement.” The Moorish Science Temple of America, the Rastafarian Nation and even the Vietnamese Communist Revolutionary Ho Chi Minh all viewed Garvey as a prophet. Garvey’s fingerprints are on every facet of the Civil Rights Movement of the 50’s and 60’s. Any 20th century activist, freedom fighter or Black Nationalist has looked to Marcus Garvey for cultivated ideals and concepts. Black Nationalism was the most revolutionary concept to be introduced to Black minds during the 20th century and Marcus Garvey is the seed from which the root of Black awareness still continues to grow and develop.

He should be taught in our public schools.

A Black man born in the late 1880’s who lived in St. Ann’s, Costa Rica, Panama, Kingston, London and America all before he turned 30, a global citizen who had the fortune to bear witness to the effects of the African Diaspora in person, an immigrant who came to America and built businesses, organizations and an entire movement from his mind and his bare hands, Marcus Mosiah Garvey’s life is an entire education about the world at the turn of the 20th century. He matters, and our children need to know who he is and why he is revered.

 

 

Why Omarosa is Invited to My Cookout

Marlon Rice
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Why Omarosa is Invited to My Cookout

A farmer, on a cold winter’s evening, happened upon a snake freezing in the grass. With consideration in his heart, the farmer picked the snake up and carried it home to sit next to him near the fire. As the snake sat with the farmer near the fire, he began to feel better. As soon as he felt like his normal self, he bit the farmer’s leg. With poisonous venom running through his body, his life surely over, the farmer asked the snake, “Why did you bite me after I saved your life?” Without emotion, the snake replied, “You knew who I was when you saved me.”

If you’ve watched any of “The Apprentice” franchise of shows, or “Celebrity Big Brother,” or if you just have a working knowledge of popular culture, then you know who Omarosa is. The scowl, the attitude, the cold poise, the crafty wickedness, Omarosa branded her on-screen personality as that of a snake. “TV Guide” once included her in their list of the 60 Nastiest TV Villains of All Time. Her mix-ups with Piers Morgan and LaToya Jackson are the stuff of legend.

Omarosa and her persona garnered Donald Trump’s show “The Apprentice” an awful lot of attention. Truthfully, if not for her and Randall (“This isn’t the Apprentice”) Pinkett, maybe “The Apprentice” doesn’t become the pop hit that it did. Like the farmer, Trump was satisfied having Omarosa the snake in his garden. Watching her devouring the other mice contestants made for great television. Over and over again, Trump would bring Omarosa back to the franchise; she was on “The Apprentice,” and then “Celebrity Apprentice,” and then he even created a show for her called “The Ultimate Merger.” There is no doubt that she was the most valuable piece of his “Reality TV” administration.

That’s why he brought her along for the ride, because he knew who she was. Except, this wasn’t the soundstage of reality television. This was the real-life world of politics. The stakes were bigger than being crowned winner. There was a whole lot more on the line, and if Trump didn’t realize that, Omarosa sure did. She knew the man she was working for. She knew what he liked. Staying in character garnered her a position as a Senior Aide in his administration. She was making more than any other Senior Aide. She was his favorite. You spend enough time with a person and you can anticipate their likes and dislikes, know what buttons to push, and most importantly, you learn their flaws.

The truth is that Donald Trump created a zoo in the West Wing, bringing people together as if this was the new season of “The Apprentice;” content to let them duke it out with one another while he drank gallons of Diet Coke and watched old episodes of “Three’s Company.” Omarosa knows an impending disaster when she sees one, and with an eye always to the next come-up, she began recording conversations and jotting notes, knowing that this day would come and her book deal would be seven-figures-long. A lot of people don’t know that this wasn’t Omarosa’s first time working the political game. In the late 90’s, she worked in the office of Vice President Al Gore. According to the Office Administrator Mary Overbey, Omarosa was the worst hire they ever made, ever. From there, she was transferred to the Commerce Department. The administrator there is quoted as saying that Omarosa was “unqualified and disruptive.” Ironically, it seems that her past work experience made her very qualified to work in Trump’s Administration, where everyone seems to be unqualified and disruptive.

See, you guys had everything twisted. Omarosa wasn’t some self-hating bed wench for Trump, making his pancakes in the morning, stroking his ego on command. That’s what you guys thought. No, Omarosa was always playing a role. She was who Trump needed her to be when he needed her to be. In some sick way, she found out how to serve as a reflection of his ego. She was no-nonsense and cutthroat, attributes that he likes to portray. So, he kept her around because she made his story more believable. But she never believed it, even when you thought she did. And now he’s been bitten by the snake he bought into his house, and he’s all on Twitter ranting and cursing the fact that she bit him, calling her names like lowlife and dog, which, by the way, only serves to reinforce her claims about him. And she’s on every station teasing the tapes and the allegations so that people will purchase the book. She doesn’t care what happens to him because he knew who she was when he bought her inside.

Omarosa played Trump at his own game and made herself a small fortune in the process. You don’t have to like her, but you gotta respect her will to survive at all costs. So, yeah, she’s invited to the barbecue. She doesn’t have to bring any food though, because you never want to eat anything a snake offers you. I learned that from Adam and Ev

Vote Like Your Life Depended on It! What to Know before You Go

Maitefa Angaza
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Vote Like Your Life Depended on It! What to Know before You Go

We’ve been hearing it a lot – that there’s never been a more critical time to vote than right now. Those who cite frustrations with: the Electoral College and with gerrymandering, hacking, physical tampering, intimidation and other forms of voter suppression, are advised that sheer numbers are the best way to nullify those threats. But if you’ve been busy, distracted or just demoralized, you may not be up-to-date on the local races and deadlines for the Democratic primary coming up on September 13th. Remember that August 19th is the deadline to register in person or online and that registrations sent through the mail must be postmarked by August 19th and received by the 24th. See below for some information and context on some of the races:

The Governor’s Race

Governor Mario Cuomo is facing Working Families Party candidate Cynthia Nixon, who has invigorated the race. Due to pressure from what political observers dubbed the “Cynthia Effect,” Cuomo suddenly mustered the political will to, among other things, take a stand against federal immigration raids in our state and break up the Independent Democratic Caucus (IDC), which handed Democratic voters’ agency over to Republicans. He also suddenly found $250M to apply to the public housing crisis and reversed his opposition to the $19 billion proposal to fix a subway system in a state of emergency.

Cuomo’s campaign touts a fairy tale “seven years of progressive policy.” His 2018 platform includes expanding educational opportunity and economic growth, promoting a cleaner and greener state and building a “stronger and safer” New York.

Nixon’s platform highlights access to health care, standing for women’s reproductive and wage rights, battling income inequality, renewing expiring rent laws, fixing the subways and passing the DREAM Act, among other things.

The Lieutenant Governor’s Race

Unlike in presidential elections, candidates for governor in our state do not choose their running mates —that’s left up to us in the primaries. This time around Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul faces Councilman Jumaane Williams, who’d like to unseat her. If you’re thinking this is not an important post, remember that it has no term limits and that David Paterson became governor when Eliot Spitzer resigned during his pay-for-sex scandal.

 

Zephyr Teachout

Hochul’s campaign website touts her support of Cuomo in his efforts on behalf of women. In June, she took the helm of the State Senate, a ceremonial task, although the position was hers to claim since her election four years ago. Bullied by Republicans on her first day while chairing proceedings, Hochul didn’t come back the next day when a health care-for-women bill was defeated. (She wouldn’t have been able to stop that, but a woman senator was disallowed by male colleagues from presenting the bill on the floor before the vote.) Hochul’s website declares, “… a bold agenda focused on a strong economy, new jobs and higher wages…” but there are no details.

Jumaane Williams, rated the second-best member of the City Council by the website, “City & State New York,” says he’ll examine the root causes of gun violence and find new solutions for the stagnant MTA crisis. He’s vocal on affordable housing and tenants’ rights and recently went to jail (again) for protesting – this time for immigrants’ rights. He endorsed Nixon, but says he’d be able to work with Cuomo. However, his politics are considerably more progressive than Cuomo would find comfortable.

The Attorney General’s Race

 

NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 12: New York Public Advocate Letitia James speaks during the Anne Frank Tree Dedication at Liberty Park on June 12, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Desiree Navarro/Getty Images)

Public Advocate Letitia James, Leecia Eve and Zephyr Teachout are among those vying for this seat, formerly occupied by Eric Schneiderman, who resigned in May after charges surfaced that he‘d assaulted four women during consensual sex. Barbara Underwood, the state solicitor general, was placed in the post temporarily, but is not seeking permanent election to it.

James, a Brooklyn native, has said she’ll fight to close the wage gap for women and to combat sexual assault and harassment in the workplace. Her campaign website says she intends to advance consumer protections, advocate for children and protect the environment. She has a record of advocating for LGBTQ rights.

Leecia Eve

Leecia Eve, a Buffalo-based attorney and daughter of retired state Assemblyman Arthur Eve, promises to combat housing discrimination and safeguard consumers and the environment. She says she’ll also set legal standards for equal opportunity and will protect New York at a time when it’s being attacked by a federal government seeking to roll back our legislative achievements.

Zephyr Teachout, from a small town in Vermont, has said she’ll work to protect tenants’ rights, voting rights, civil rights and workers’ rights. She’d end cash bail and mass incarceration, protect immigrants’ rights and abolish ICE, establish fair lending and solutions for consumer and student debt, and break up corporate monopolies. She pledges to protect our air and water and sue Big Pharma for fraud.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez are running unopposed for reelection and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke narrowly defeated Adam Bunkeddeko in the June primary. State Senator Jesse Hamilton, among those who recently ended their infamous alliance with Republicans as part of the IDC, is being challenged by newcomer Zellnor Myrie. Hamilton has thus far declined to debate him.

WHAT’S GOING ON

Victoria Horsford
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USA MIDTERMS & BEYOND  

POLITICAL STUFF: The Trump White House continues its chaotic and contradictory courses in international affairs, which presumably will not force the US into another military Middle East misadventure. Last week, President Trump was amenable to a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to discuss economic sanctions, nuclear activities, et al.  On August 6, however, Trump wants to coerce Iran to shut down its nuclear-enrichment activities, a suggestion that runs contrary to all international inspectors, who confirm that Iran is in compliance with the 2015 accord, for which the US was a signatory, but from which Trump has withdrawn this year. Will there be war or peace?

LeBron James

When Trump is not bellicose with international-imagined and real enemies, he conducts domestic warfare with his rancorous, divisive tweets re: Black Americans like the ones last week targeting NBA great LeBron James and CNN’s Don Lemon. Ahem, who is Trump to discuss human intelligence!! Trump was wise not to malign Ohio’s beloved native son LeBron James during his GOP stomp in the Buckeye State last weekend. Those strategic tweets are red meat for his base and appetizers for all Americans of color, Democrats and GOP moderates to get out the vote this year to restore Democrats to majority status in statehouses and the US Congress. POTUS 45 is not good for American national health!

Some 8/7 election results. Ms. Gretchen Whitmer won the Democratic nomination for Michigan governor.   In Ohio, Trump supported GOP candidate Troy Balderson and Democrat Danny O’Connor finished in a too-close-to-call race and will probably necessitate a runoff after absentee ballots are assessed 10 days later.

Is Brooklyn Congressman Hakeem Jeffries on the Democrat’s short list to succeed current caucus leader Nancy Pelosi when the party takes back the House of Representatives next year. Representative Jeffries calls himself a “practical progressive.” Without a doubt, Brooklyn is the real center of political power for Black New Yorkers.

HARLEM HIGHLIGHTS

Letitia James

NYC Public Advocate and NYS Attorney General hopeful Letitia James has Harlem on her mind on Saturday, August 11 from 12 pm to 4 pm while she navigates 10 locations in West Harlem (3333 Broadway, Grant Houses and Manhattanville Houses); Central Harlem (Frederick Samuels Democratic Club, Esplanade Gardens, A. Philip Randolph Park and West 125th Street at Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd.); in East Harlem (Taino Towers, Lucky Corner at   Lexington Avenue at 116th Street, and Lexington at 126th Street) during her campaign stomp.  The usual Democratic suspects like Assembly members Inez Dickens and Al Taylor, District Leaders Keith Lilly, William Allen, Cordell Cleare, Peggie Morales, Harry Rodriguez and strategist Chet Whye will join TISH during her Harlem tour. For schedules, visit Tishjames2018.com.

James is more downstate, urban proactive than US Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, himself a Democrat eyeing the AG office who was calling voters on Monday to sign into his telephone Town Hall!

Carlos Swepson

Harlem husband and wife team Markisha and Carlos Swepson move their Blvd. Bistro, located at 239 Lenox Avenue at 122nd Street, to Marcus Samuelsson’s Street Bird Bistro, located at Frederick Douglass Boulevard at 116th Street, until last May.    Voted the #1 Soul Food Restaurant in America by the Food Channel, Boulevard Bistro relocates to a larger space, will sell liquor and wine and offer even more creative menus. Carlos has worked with top NY chefs and restaurants, including Georges Vogerichten, JoJo, SoHo House and his mom/mentor in Mississippi, whom he likens to Martha Stewart and B. Smith.  His food is finger-licking fusion of sorts, a mix of Creole, Southern, classic French cooking which appeals to carnivores and omnivores alike.   [Visit blvdbistronyc.com]

 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Teresa Clarke

African-American Teresa Clarke, Chair/CEO and founder of Africa.com, the key digital portal for all news African, has acquired the behemoth iAfrica.com, South Africa’s oldest, most revered news portal which was founded in the 1990s.     Miss Clarke will serve as executive editor of iAfrica, whose content will continue to include extensive coverage of local and international news business, sports and lifestyle content. A savvy media executive, Clarke has her finger on the pulse of the digital universe and Africa, which is the planet’s second-largest continent and second-most populous. With the new acquisition, her digital audience appeal will reach more than 15 million business people.

SOCIETY/ART/CULTURE

THEATER: THE PECULIAR PATRIOT, a one-woman show written and performed by the incredibly talented Liza Jessie Peterson, who weds history and current events in this tour de force theater piece about the American prison system, mass incarceration as it disproportionately affects African-Americans. The system is viewed with laser-like accuracy by the play’s main character, the perceptive Betsy LaQuanda Ross, who visits incarcerated friends.  The play’s title was borrowed from 19th century whites who preferred the euphemism “our peculiar institution” as a substitute for the word slavery.   If you read nonfiction books like Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow” or Khalil Muhammad’s “The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime and the Making of Modern Urban America” you will want to see how Peterson breathes a new, palpable life into a staged version of those book’s subject.  Wonderful theater, PECULIAR   PATRIOT is informative, provocative and humane, a reminder of the many American institutions to be dismantled.  The play begins its national tour this fall with playdates in Boston, Burlington (Vermont), Cleveland and other cities.

 

The musical theater revival of CARMEN JONES, starring Anika Nona Rose and directed by John Doyle, opened to a plethora of rave reviews, ends its limited run at the Classic Stage Company on August 19.  The play centers on a lustful woman in search of a man, especially one outside of her reach, is the NY Times Critic’s Pick. New Yorker theater reviewer Hilton Als welcomes ANR to his Mt. Olympus of bona fide theater divas. The box office is still open, but the cupboard is almost bare.

 SUMMER PLEASURES

CNN news anchor Don Lemon, the man who interviewed LeBron James last week, instigating the Trump twittersphere response, will be the Master of Ceremony at the 2018 UNCF “A Mind Is” Hamptons Summer Benefit on August 18-19. The UNCF’s (United Negro College Fund) 2018 Benefit honorees are Ed Lewis, co-founder of Essence magazine and Dr. Johnnetta Cole, former president of Spelman College and Bennett College. If you are unable to attend, support the UNCF with a donation. The UNCF is the biggest American provider of scholarships to African-American college students who attend accredited US colleges and universities.   [Visit UNCF.org]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Ban for the Birds

Marlon Rice
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A Ban for the Birds

Effective July 30, 2018 residents of NYCHA buildings are no longer allowed to smoke anything in their apartments or in any common areas inside of a NYCHA building or outside within 25 feet of any NYCHA building.

You heard me correctly. I didn’t stutter. All 400,000 NYCHA residents are now banned from smoking in their apartments, in any part of their buildings or within 25 feet of any NYCHA building.

This has to be the silliest mandate in the history of absentee landlords. NYCHA has, in recent months, become the poster child for mismanagement. Gov. Cuomo has been quite blunt about his feelings regarding NYCHA and Mayor de Blasio’s oversight of the agency. In March he said, “NYCHA has a management problem.” The biggest issue is the blatant negligence as it deals with building repairs. Leaky pipes, no heat and hot water, holes in the walls, issues with rodents, the issues have become so numerous and the response so invisible that many residents have taken the steps to sue the city. In November 2017, NYCHA Chairwoman Shola Olatoye potentially put thousands of kids in danger of lead poisoning by ignoring the need for mandatory apartment inspections, and then lying about it to HUD. She signed a document verifying the inspections, knowing full well that said inspections never occurred. In January, during a major storm, 311 received 1,262 complaints for no heat from NYCHA residents. Just last week, it was revealed that there is pollution in more than 600 NYCHA water tanks. The inspection reports include findings of flying insects, dead squirrels, dead birds, and even in some cases homeless people using the tanks as shelters and toilets. NYCHA is easily New York City’s biggest slumlord, which makes the move to ban smoking all the more confusing.

But it isn’t that confusing.

This is a wicked case of classism, a city agency notoriously underserving its customer base. The lies and the mismanagement speak to a willingness not to provide basic human services. When 820 children from NYCHA homes are diagnosed with lead poisoning, yet the head of NYCHA is willing to lie to federal authorities about lead inspections, one can only assume that NYCHA has no plans to ever make it right. Mold problems are a health risk. One might say that mold problems are a bigger threat to good health than moderate smoking. Yet, while NYCHA chooses to ban smoking, nothing is being done to cure the mold issues. This decision reeks of classism, and even more disheartening it reinforces the criminalization of NYCHA residents.

Housing police do vertical tours of many NYCHA buildings. If they should happen to catch tenants smoking a cigarette in the stairwell, this new mandate gives the officers the leverage to question the resident, to ask for the resident’s identification and to run the resident’s name through the system. The same goes for the outside of the building. Cops that spot residents smoking within 25 feet of any NYCHA building can question the residents and run their name for prior open warrants. This mandate will increase police interaction with building residents, and certainly not in a good way.

Rent is already “too damn high” in NYC. Whole groups of people are already being displaced due to overdevelopment and rent gouging, with neighborhoods that were predominantly Black and Brown 25 years ago going through an ethnic cleansing of sorts, addition through attrition. Jobs are scarce, child care is expensive and many basic human liberties are simply financially out of reach for folk. This is the New York that NYCHA residents, like many of us, battle on a daily basis. However, unlike you and I, when NYCHA residents go home after the battle, they are met with leaky pipes, mold in the walls, rodent infestations and a landlord that ignored their cries for help. Can you imagine having to live like that? Can you imagine all of your 311 calls ignored, every attempt you take to inform your landlord about major issues in your apartment falling on deaf ears, but then out of nowhere comes a mandate for you to cease smoking in your apartment? If this isn’t marginalization of a specific community, then I don’t know what is.

I don’t smoke. I hate the smell of cigarettes. But what I hate even more is when bureaucracies use manipulation and control to usurp personal liberties. This smoking ban is an attack on NYCHA residents. It will eventually lead to criminalization of certain residents, and it doesn’t solve any of the myriad of real issues plaguing NYCHA buildings. It’s time for the tenants to fight back the only way that these fat-jowled bureaucrats understand. Rent strike!

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