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Ron Edmonds 113 Students Sharpen Their Dr. King Voices

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Ron Edmonds 113 Students Sharpen Their Dr. King Voices

Submitted by Margo McKenzie, Founder of giftofletters.com

Ten contestants competed in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Oratory Contest at the Ronald Edmonds Learning Center 113 in Fort Greene on Thursday, February 15, 2017. Principal Ms. D. Daughtry welcomed an enthusiastic, expectant audience of students, teachers and parents after which sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders wielded their way through various speeches Martin Luther King had delivered.

Contrary to last year, early arrival and front-row seating ensured that parent Sandra Prichard would not miss her daughter’s participation in what the principal coined, “This special moment on the school’s calendar.”

Courageous Nashali Arias broke the ice as the first contestant reciting King’s “Speech to Young People” (Part 2).   Eight additional contestants followed her in the following order: Giana Ospina, “The Length of Life”; Anastasia Olive, “I Have a Dream”(Part 1); Jasmine Godfrey, “I Have a Dream” (Part 3); Nicholas Lodge, “I Have a Dream” (Part 4); Nahliyah Willis, “A Drum Major For Justice”; Tyarie Knight, “A Sermon on Peace”; Allen Arias, “Stand Up for Righteousness”; and Amanda Brown, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.”

Students watched a video on King’s life and legacy while judges calculated their scores.

(Left of MLK) P. Edwards, Educator; 2nd place winners Tyarie Knight and Nickolaus Lodge; 3rd place Jasmine Godfrey and 1st Place Amanda Brown (R. of MLK, Nashali Arias, Allen Arias, Anastasia Oliver, Giana Ospina, Nahliyah Willis Photo:Mandy Murray (8th-grader, JHS 113)

In addition to commemorating Dr. King and his oratory, public schoolteacher Ms. Priscilla Edwards, founder and advisor to the more-than-thirty-year-old oratory contest at the school, honored Mr. Robert Smalls with a short biography in the program. Smalls freed himself from slavery and was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives [1868] where he “authorized legislation that created the first free and compulsory public school system in America.”  In an atmosphere where public schools are under attack, Edwards felt compelled to remember a man who fought for public education for all in South Carolina. After all, “presidents, lawyers, doctors, ambassadors and teachers” came through public schools.

Why toil with children to memorize and recite when you have a full teaching load? Observing student growth from the first day of preparation to the day of competition is a satisfying reward. “They all go away more confident.” Seventh-grader Giana Ospina pushed herself to participate because memorizing this speech “builds up my stamina to understand more sophisticated words.”

Do you utilize any specific strategies? Nahliyah Willis said, “We just have to recite the speech as if we are Dr. King ourselves.”

Other oratory contests inspire students in middle school and high school to hone their oratory skills. Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass, Theodore Roosevelt are a few oratory competitions still open to contestants this year. These contests motivate students to develop one of the most important skills needed for success in life: communication. According to Forbes’ website, Warren Buffett maintains, “Communication will instantly raise a person’s professional value.” Thousands of adults who realize the value of the skill join public speaking organizations.

For the King contest, judges scored each speech using a rubric of five critical public speaking categories: eye contact, confidence, voice, delivery and enunciation—basic requirements for communication on any level. The anxiety of preparation caused a few students to recoil from the challenge. However, if students take advantage of people such as Ms. Edwards, they will not cave into the “emotional pressure” that the competition can create, said eighth-grader Tyarie Knight.

This is the second year 7th-grader Nicholas heard about the contest, but last year he “didn’t feel ready. Some people get a calling. It wasn’t my calling last year. This year, I realized when the opportunity comes, you must take it.” Nicholas rose to the challenge and shared second place with Tyarie.

Four students walked away with trophies but Ms. Edwards honors all participants with dinner. Last year, students opted for Dallas BBQ, followed by a tour of Manhattan. Once Edwards presents three choices, students will exercise their voices, yet again, by casting their votes for the site of this year’s celebration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT’S GOING ON: WEEK AT A GLANCE

Victoria Horsford
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By Victoria Horsford

It was 28 days into the Trump Presidency and he dominated (on and off the record) talks at the NYS Black and Puerto Rican Caucus in Albany weekend. That is what all media accounts report about covering the caucus. Who can make sense of Trump’s draconian executive orders, his twisted vision of an America of old. Trump as POTUS has mastered that art of the faux pas and has endured too many close encounters with ineptitude. Trump’s first 28 days in office showed his mastery of the faux pas and too many bad close encounters which could have been avoided. Then there was the public relations debacle not only with most foreign leaders who are our allies and friends of long-standing, he really irked Black America at his press conference with his encounter with African-American journalist April Ryan, screaming at her to facilitate a meeting for him with the Congressional Black Caucus. He said that he tried to get Congressman Elijah Cummings, but he never responded. Lies, all lies! The CBC said that its outreach to President Trump last month fell on deaf ears. Perhaps that explains the POTUS 2/21 visit, along with Black Team Trump – Ben Carson, Tim Scott and Omarosa Manigault– to the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. BTW, 10 days ago, April Ryan complained about verbal and physical abuse by Omarosa. Is Ryan really a bridesmaid for Omarosa’s imminent wedding?

Trump fared better last week with civil phone calls to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who is on medical leave in London, and to South African President Jacob Zuma, leaders of Africa’s two largest economies.

Congratulations to NYS Senator Bill Perkins, who is NYC Councilman-elect, winner of the 2/14 special election for the Central Harlem City Council seat. There were 9 candidates in the councilmanic race. More than 12,000 voters turned out. However, Perkins, Larry Holland, Athena Moore, Cordell Cleare and Blackmon captured the lion’s share of the votes. Doubt if Governor Cuomo will call a special election for the vacant Perkins’ Senate seat.

NYC Public Advocate Letitia James ventures uptown on March 1, 6-9 pm for her “TALK TO TISH: HARLEM conversations”. Accompanied by managers from NYC Departments of Health, Education, Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), NY Police Department and Sanitation, James will discuss those jurisdictions as they operate in Harlem. A Q&A session follows.   TALK TO TISH is presented by Healthfirst at the Harlem Hospital Center Mural Pavilion, located at 512 Lenox Avenue. [RSVP@pubadvocate.nyc.gov. or call 212.669.4968]   Is this phase one of City Hall’s attempt to capture political traction in Harlem.

 BLACK HISTORY NOTES

One of the NY Post 2/19 stories, MANSE BUILT BY AMERICA’S FIRST SELF-MADE MILLIONAIRESS IN JEOPARDY, is long on facts about the revered Madam C.J. Walker, the daughter of enslaved Africans, and is short on accurate details about the Irvington, NY mansion and its status today. The 3-acre manse, called Villa Lewaro, was built by Walker in 1917 and her neighbors were Rockefellers and Astors. Walker and her hair care business and opportunities it presented for Black women are accurate.  Lies and half-truths color the narrative about the mansion being in jeopardy. Why would Helena and Harold Doley, who bought the mansion in 1993, commissioned and oversaw extensive upgrades, moved into it and attained National Landmark status in 2014, be getting ready to move? They are working on an easement to monitor the property and protect it from any structural changes, which are not actions that would promote a building sale! The writer got the info distorted. The Post got the headline wrong.

Political activist/scholar Dr. Cornel West, 63, returns to Harvard where he will hold a joint appointment at the Harvard Divinity School and the Department of African and African-American Studies as a professor for the practice of public philosophy in September. Professor West left Harvard in 2002 after a dispute with then-president Lawrence Summers. His next stop was Princeton University, where he was the first Black to earn a PH.D. in 1980, and where he parked until 2012 when he returned to the Union Theological Seminary, where he launched his teaching career. The President Obama/Cornel West animus was a widely and well-documented friction. West referenced him as “a Black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs”, and labeled him a “Rockefeller Republican in Blackface”. Dr. West recently married, which would be #4.

MEDIA MATTERS

Cheryl Wills

There is a new kid on the cable TV public affairs block and her name is Cheryl Wills, the first lady of NYC TV, who now hosts her own NY1 TV show, “IN FOCUS with Cheryl Wills”, which airs on Sundays at 10:30 am and 3:30 pm. Cheryl struts her journalistic stuff discussing politics, education, business, you name it. Congrats Cheryl!

NEWSMAKERS

PISCES BIRTHDAY GREETINGS TO: Michael Adams, Harlem historian Malaika Adero, blackstarnews.com Publisher Milton Allimadi, author/journalist Flo Anthony, Cynthia Badie-Beard, Harry Belafonte turns 90 on March 1, Simone Biles, Mariah Carey, Common, NYC Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo, Stephen Curry, Dame Pearl Duncan, Ambassador Harold Doley, Dr. Irene Elmore, Anna Maria Horsford, Daniel Horsford, Kwaku Horsford, Vonetta Nelson Horsford, Frank Hernandez, Professor Myrtle Jones, Quincy Jones, Spike Lee, President Robert Mugabe, Sidney Poitier, Marykay Powell, Rihanna. 

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

The Smithsonian National Museum of African Arts in Washington, DC is the pre-eminent American center of scholarship excellence on the arts of Africa is looking for a new director, a successor to Dr. Johnetta Cole. Application deadline is February 24. Contact Suleyka Lozins at kizubss@si.edu or call 202.633.4636.

 The National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS will host a series of events to commemorate its 30th Anniversary this year, culminating with a major gala in October. The NBLCA Executive Director C. Virginia Fields moderated a panel, “We Can End These Epidemics”, at last weekend’s NYS Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus in Albany.   The NBLCA will screen the short film, “90 Days in Harlem”, at the Schomburg Center on 2/22, and in Brooklyn at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on 2/23. [Call 212.614.0023, X106]

The Brooklyn Community Services organization convenes a Youth Action Summit, VOICES FOR THE FUTURE OF BROOKLYN, on February 28 which targets youth living in Brooklyn’s low- income neighborhoods. The summit will be held at St. Francis College, located at 180 Remsen Street. C. Nicole Mason, Ph.D., policy expert/author, is keynote speaker. Summit is free and open to the public. [Visit wearebcs.org/youth-summit]

Rev. Dennis Dillon convenes the “2017 Economic State of Black NY, America and the World” at the Brooklyn Christian Center, located at 1061 Atlantic Avenue, on February 27 from 6-9 pm. [Contact 718.638.6397]

Dennis Dillon

AFRICA NOW at the Apollo, in partnership with the World Music Institute, presents its 5th Year of AFRICA NOW, celebrating the Best of Contemporary African Music, which this year includes performances by March 11. Starring Mbongwana Star, Democratic Republic of Congo; Songhoy Blues, Mali; Daby Toure, Mauritania; Tuelo, South Africa; and DJ Nenim, Lagos, Nigeria; hosted by comedian Loyiso Gola, South Africa, on March 11 at 8 pm.

PRE-LENTEN CARNIVAL

HOLD THE DATES: February 27/28. It is carnival time in Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic and in New Orleans, Louisiana where people “laissez les bon temps rouler”– Let the good times roll.

A Harlem-based management consultant, Victoria Horsford is reachable at Victoria.horsford@gmail.com.

Bed-Stuy/Brownsville Student Homelessness: Council Candidates Discuss Solutions

Editor, Our Time Press
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By Liz Leighton

Two of the leading candidates for the upcoming vacant 41st District City Council seat weighed in yesterday on one of the district’s biggest issues – how to deal with Bed-Stuy and Brownsville housing the 3rd– and 4th-largest population citywide of homeless public school students.

The issue was highlighted this week when the Institute for Children, Poverty and Homelessness (ICPH) released an interactive map on neighborhoods with the highest percentage of homeless students. The map was part of a report that found Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville had percentages of 15.2% within their school districts (District 23 and 16).

The report further stated that the homeless population was 1,267 for Bedford-Stuyvesant and 1,617 for Brownsville. The stat sheets included in the report showed that one out of five students in both District 16 and District 23 were reported as homeless within the last five years. This is in contrast to the one out of eight students who have experienced homelessness within the past five years in the whole of New York City.

KCP polled the leading candidates in the race including Community Board 3 District Manager Henry Butler, former Female Democratic District Leader Alicka Samuel, current Male Democratic District Leader Cory Provost and Community Activist Deidre Olivera on their views with this issue. Only Butler and Samuel responded.

“It is our responsibility to help children perform their best in school and live up to their full potential. My focus has always been to build a healthy community. When elected to the NYC Council, I will work to bring funding and resources to our district focusing on wraparound services for the children and their families,” said Samuel, who worked as a case manager for homeless individuals and saw firsthand how hard it could be trying to navigate through NYC’s shelter system.

“We need a holistic approach to deal with the needs and interests of homeless students.  We need to ensure that families can easily travel from housing placements to their child’s school while ensuring all educational and psychosocial needs are addressed daily.  All while increasing affordable housing units for low- and extremely low-income families. The immediate fix is making sure children get to the school building and helping families remain in the area,” she added.

Samuel said the effects of homelessness have been an ongoing issue in the district for quite some time. In 2004, studies revealed that families from (zip code) 11212 were entering the shelter system at alarming rates, she said.

“This is why I worked for a community-based organization in Brownsville providing eviction prevention services such as rental arrear payments to families facing evictions from NYCHA. Many of us are just a paycheck away from being homeless. The key to solving homelessness is funding eviction prevention services.  What this (ICPH) study shows is the deep impact and effect homelessness has on children, but it’s what we already know,” Samuel said.

Butler said the keys to ending youth homelessness is a multipronged approach that must include providing incentives for nonprofits and the private sector to invest in economically disenfranchised communities while also creating truly affordable housing that gives preference to community residents so they can have the stability needed to raise their families.

“At the same time, we must focus on increasing employment opportunities in the area and adding funding for our schools and after-school programs so they have the added resources needed to turn failing schools around,” said Butler.

READ MORE

 

The Mayor Appoints Former Obama and Bloomberg Administrations’ Official to Lead and Manage the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS)

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David Hansell, a former Obama Administration official, has been appointed by the mayor to head the New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS).

Hansell, who has a Yale Law degree, brings to the embattled agency skills beyond social work.  According to the press release, he is a “proven manager”. He comes to ACS after a nearly five-year tenure as Managing Director and head of the Global Human & Social Services Center of Excellence at KPMG.

He also has a “data-driven focus”  and a reputation for “improving the outcomes” and “delivering social services needed”  for at-risk populations, especially vulnerable children and families.

The response to his appointment was immediate, with a host of professionals on the national, state and local levels in the fields of child welfare and social services hailing his appointment.

His work includes prior service in the New York City Government in the Department of Health and the Human Resources Administration, in addition to experience in the private and nonprofit sectors.

“Our most solemn responsibility is to provide vulnerable children with the care and support they deserve,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio at a press conference yesterday. “David has spent his career on the front lines working with at-risk communities, and I have no doubt he’ll tackle this job with the same focus and intensity that’s defined his career.”

Community Service Society President and CEO David R. Jones said: “It’s often said that the true measure of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. One of this city’s biggest challenges is protecting children from abuse and neglect. Simply put, we have to do better when it comes to ensuring that child welfare workers on the front lines have the resources, supervision and support they need to perform their jobs. In choosing David Hansell to lead the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, the mayor has selected a seasoned manager who understands how relevant government agencies interact, and that there is no higher priority than the safety of the city’s children.”

“We look forward to working with David, who brings to his new position a lifelong commitment of service to our city’s most vulnerable residents, and a deep understanding of the challenges facing the nonprofit providers whose work is so critical to protecting children and stabilizing families,” said Marla G. Simpson, President & Executive Director of Brooklyn Community Services.

Jacquelyn Kilmer, Esq., CEO, Harlem United said, “Throughout his career, David Hansell has been a committed and tireless advocate for vulnerable populations, working to improve the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS, and poor and working-class individuals, families and children. His dedication coupled with his strong management expertise make David uniquely qualified to lead ACS. We applaud the mayor’s choice and congratulate David on this new chapter in his professional life”.

 

Says Marjorie J. Hill, CEO, the Addabbo Family Health Center:  “New York City’s most vulnerable children are in excellent hands.”

But he faces myriad challenges in this specific role.   Since the tragic deaths last year of six-year-old Zymere Perkins in September and three-year-old Jaden Jordan in December, two children whose respective families were in the ACS system, the outcry for reforms has intensified.

According to yesterday’s New York Daily News, “The day before Zymere died, the average caseload was 9.2 per worker — well below the target of 12 cases ACS had set “based on national best practice standards”.

The number of “abuse calls” increased to ACS following Zymere’s death. “As a result,” said the Daily News, “workers were juggling the highest caseloads in years — on average, 13.8 cases at any given time”.

Hansell replaces former ACS commissioner Gladys Carrion, who left the agency on February 3.  He begins his new position on March 6.

Hansell received his JD from Yale Law School, where he served as an Editor of the Yale Law Journal. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Haverford College with a BA in Psychology.  (BGreen/Legacy)

 

What’s Going On: WINTER IN AMERICA 2017

Victoria Horsford
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By Victoria Horsford

Eric Adams

HARLEM, NY: The 2/14 Special Election and its ramifications. Political pundits foresee a strange, powerless period for Central Harlem voters/residents if NYS Senator Bill Perkins wins the NYC Council race. According to NY Daily News columnist Ken Lovett, a Perkins’ City Council victory reduces (by one) the already-impotent Democratic Senate, the victim of 9 rogue Democratic Senators; the IDC, who caucus with the GOP, giving them a negotiated majority. Add the Perkins exit and the Senate Democrats are reduced to 22 votes in a 63-member House. A Perkins’ City Council victory could be followed by a special election called by the governor no earlier than mid-April, which is several weeks after the budget deadline; or the governor could pass on a special election.

BROOKLYN: The Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, the “jewel in the crown” of Central Brooklyn, is the nation’s first community development organization. Founded 50 years ago, its goal was to attract investment, improve the area’s business climate, foster self-sufficiency of families, and to promote arts and culture. To date, the Bed-Stuy Restoration group has attracted upwards of $600 million in public and private investments.

Brooklyn Councilman Jumaane Williams is interested in the NYC Council Speaker post.  Current Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito is term-limited this year. He is the only African-American who has tossed his hat into the powerful “Speaker” ring. Political observers say that Borough party leadership is a prerequisite for the Speakership. Four years ago, it was the newly elected Mayor de Blasio who determined Melissa’s victory.

Tishaura Jones

 WOMEN IN POLITICS: The perennial American women’s marches and protests since the onset of the Trump Presidency are not lost on African-American women, who are becoming more engaged in political activism. City Treasurer Tishaura Jones announced her mayoral ambitions in St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis Democratic Primary is set for March 7. Carolyn McLaughlin, 62, who is President of the City Council in Albany, the NYS capital, will run for mayor.

Be sure to download and print INDIVISIBLE GUIDE TO RESISTING TRUMP AGENDA, which was written by former US congressional staffers. It is required reading for the next four years.

TAX PREPARATION

 The Wadsworth Steele Building Wealth, in partnership with the Harlem Business Alliance, offers free tax preparation for income earners below $54K. Tax prep dates are February 18, March 18 and April 15 from 11 am to 3 pm at the Harlem Business Alliance, located at 275 Lenox Avenue. Call for an appointment at 347.851.7743 or 202.361.0321. [Visit HBANY.org or Wadsworthsteele.com] Please note that free tax preparation is available across the country. Visit IRS.GOV, then go to taxpayer assistance center for office locator.

 Credit Karma, the free online credit report destination, also completes tax returns free. [Visit creditkarma.com]

 BLACKS IN AMERICA 

The 2017 Grammy Awards borrowed a page from the 2016 OscarSoWhite playbook. Beyonce, nominated for 8 Grammy categories, did not take home any of the three top prizes – Best Song, Best Record, Best Album! Something’s wrong…..and it has got to be about race and politics, which is the subject of a NYT published essay re: Grammy’s last week, which I dismissed as frivolous or specious. Everyone says the Grammy judges know that Queen Bey’s “Lemonade” was the Best Album of the Year, not just as a contemporary urban. Grammy’s Best Album accolade seldom goes home with a Black winner. Pop culture’s Queen Bey does not exist in a meritocracy. Yes, race is a prominent measuring stick in entertainment circles. Adele, who scored in all three categories, admitted that “Lemonade” should have been Best Album. Oh, what does she know!

 

What happened to Charles Oakley, 52, former Knicks player, at Madison Square Garden last week was unpardonable. He was thrown to the ground like a criminal by MSG security, handcuffed and taken to an NYPD precinct and charged. Read numerous accounts of the incident and none of the fans heard or said anything untoward. Wonder if it has something to do with Oakley being 6’8, about 250 pounds and self-assured. A day later, Knicks owner Jim Dolan, himself a recovered alcoholic, said that Oakley probably had a drinking problem and that was why he was banned from MSG. The Oakley experience unfolded like a racist horror movie. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams likened the incident to “Eric Garner without the chokehold”. Garner was a Black man killed by the NYPD. Adams wanted to broker a deal between Dolan and Oakley. Higher powers like Michael Jordan, Oakley’s best friend, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver intervened. Oakley and Dolan met, apologized to each other and the MSG suspension was lifted. How can this happen in NY in 2017?

NEWSMAKERS

Pat Stevenson

Pat Stevenson, founder/publisher of Harlem Community News and Harlem News and its younger siblings Brooklyn/Bronx/Queens News, is a household name in NY Black media circles. Her media outlets are bearers of good news, something which eluded her last December when she was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, a rare and aggressive form of the disease. A veteran media executive, Stevenson has been self-employed as a publisher for 20 years. Unable to work, she follows a 5-month chemotherapy protocol. She has to keep her publishing business afloat for her day-to-day subsistence and to manage 5-month chemotherapy treatments.   See her gofundme account and make a donation. [Visit gofundme.com/pat-stevenson-medical- fund]

This is the last 2017 birthday salute to Aquarians…. Essie Green, gallerist Sherman Edmiston, Eric Engels, Senator Jesse Hamilton, Professor Ny Whitaker, Lifestyle diva Lana Turner and theater producer Ken Wydro.

BLACK HISTORY

The NYS Black and Puerto Rican Legislators will host its 46th Annual Legislative Conference in Albany on February 17-19, according to its chairperson Assembly member Michel R. Titus. The conference, the magnet for NY politicos, business, union brass and community leaders, casts a wide net of activities, including seminars, a Craft Expose and Business Partnership Fair, and the Annual Scholarship Dinner Gala for which TV One host Roland Martin will keynote.

[Visit NYSABPRL.ORG or call 518.427.8363]

The American Foundation for the University of the West Indies will host its 20th Annual Awards Gala on February 23 at the Pierre Hotel, 2 East 61st Street, Manhattan. The honorees at the black-tie gala include: Rachel Baker, Paul Salmon, The Rockhouse Foundation, Estelle, Doug E. Fresh, Dennis Shipping Company, Earl Phillips, Finn Partners, The Door Restaurant Corp., The Kimberly Hotel and Sesame Flyers International. [Visit afuwi.org]

The NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer hosts his Annual Trailblazers Program and Award Ceremony in honor of African-American History Month at Mist Harlem on February 28 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Honorees are Attorney Michael Hardy; National Action Network; Bill Thompson, Siebert Cisneros Shank & Co. and former NYC Comptroller; and Rev. Dr. Lakeesha Walrond, First Corinthian Baptist Church.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Deputy Boro Prexy Diana Reyna and the Dominican Consul General in NY celebrate Dominican Republic Independence Day on February 28 at Brooklyn Boro Hall, 209 Joralemon Street, RSVP: 718. 802. 3809.

A Harlem-based media consultant, Victoria Horsford can be reached at Victoria.horsford@gmail.com.

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