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“Gateway to Bedford-Stuyvesant” at Lewis/Stuyvesant Named for Devoted Community Advocate – Charles C. Pinn Triangle

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“Gateway to Bedford-Stuyvesant” at Lewis/Stuyvesant Named for Devoted Community Advocate – Charles C. Pinn Triangle

By Bernice Elizabeth Green

Doris Pinn

It was a long time coming, but for Cynthia Doris Pinn and Samuel Pinn, parents of the late beloved community builder and advocate Charles Christopher Pinn, it could not have come at a better time.

On the balmy Saturday before Thanksgiving, November 19, a triangular greenstreet forming the intersection of Lewis Avenue and Fulton Street, officially became a garden landmark memorial to the legacy of Mr. Pinn who passed 21 years ago.

Five years ago, Community Board #3 of Brooklyn voted unanimously to name the plot of earth – now a garden –after Mr. Pinn, whose ancestral grandparents planted roots in the area more than four decades before his birth in 1966, and whose mother, father and siblings are longtime campaigners and activists, professionally and personally, in the quest for neighborhood empowerment.

Mr. Pinn began his journey of service to the Bedford-Stuyvesant community at the young age of 14–he founded the Young Peoples’ Macon-MacDonough-Stuyvesant-Lewis Block Association in Bedford-Stuyvesant, one of the first youth-governed organizations of its kind in the city and later served as an intern for Councilman Al Vann while a student at Samuel J. Tilden High School.  

He attended Howard University and, in 1985, upon returning to Brooklyn, continued to pursue his passion and personal mission related to community improvement by helping to form discussion forums on neighborhood planning and self-empowerment.  Barely into his 20’s, Mr. Pinn had a strong, steady hand in organizing block associations, Parent-Teacher Associations and tenants’ rights groups.  His outreach eventually touched many families, individuals, fellow residents and many elected officials.

His work carries forth in such organizations as the NAACP, for which he was the Brooklyn branch’s youthful Secretary, and for Community Board #3, for which he was elected to Chair at age 25.

Mr. Pinn was a member of the Board of Directors of the Fort Greene Citizens Council and he was a consultant to the Malcolm X, Marcy and Risley Dent Senior Centers.  In 1995, he joined Our Lady of Charity Roman Catholic Church.

Reginald Shell, Mildred E. Vann, Renee Gregory, Irene Taylor, Gloria E. Boyce and Brenda Fryson. Photo: Bernice Green

In his professional career as an assistant to Assemblyman Al Vann and Councilwoman Annette Robinson, he worked diligently to improve conditions and opportunities, particularly for the youth of Central Brooklyn.   He formed the Junior Vanguard Independent Democratic Association (VIDA), and was also the first Chair of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Conference Youth Task Force.

He passed at age 29 after a prolonged illness.

In 2011, Community Board #3 of Brooklyn voted unanimously to name the plot of earth after Charles Pinn. The replanting of the triangle was completed in the fall of 2016.   Last Saturday’s dedication honored Charles “Chris” Pinn for his devoted service to the local community.

 

Doris and Sam Pinn. Photo: Bernice Green

Among the speakers were: Martin Maher, Brooklyn Chief of Staff, New York City Parks & Recreation, who opened and welcomed the 200 distinguished guests present; libation ceremony by Baba Mpho; the nationally known faith leader Reverend Dr. Herbert D. Daughtry, National Presiding Minister, House of the Lord Church who delivered the invocation; Public Advocate Letitia James; Councilman Robert Cornegy, 36th District; Assemblyman Charles Barron and Councilwoman Inez Barron, 41st District; Tremaine Wright, Chair, CB3 and Assemblywoman-elect, 56th District; Henry Butler, District Manager, Community Board 3;  Mr. Pinn’s very first constant professional mentors Annette Robinson,  Assemblywoman, 56th District, and Albert Vann, Councilman emeritus; and his parents Sam and Cynthia Doris Pinn. Celebrating the occasion were his brothers Sam lll and Greg, and a host of relatives, some from other states, and friends.

Photo: Bernice Green

As one leader said, “The triangle is a gateway to Bedford-Stuyvesant”.  The new street signs and standing wood billboards amidst the triangle’s flowers speak to Mr. Pinn’s example as what is normally called “the heart and pride & joy of Bed-Stuy”.

Ronald Taylor, District 3 Park Manager, welcomes public feedback regarding the Charles C. Pinn Triangle: 718-453-3898.  If you’re interested in volunteering in the park, please contact Partnerships for Parks Brooklyn Outreach Coordinator Claudette Ramos at Claudette.Ramos@parks.nyc.gov, or 718-965-8907.

 

Why we need a new Democratic Party

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The DNC has become a giant fundraising machine, too often reflecting the goals and values of the moneyed interests

ROBERT REICH, ROBERT REICH BLOG

This originally appeared on Robert Reich’s blog.

As a first step, I believe it necessary for the members and leadership of the Democratic National Committee to step down and be replaced by people who are determined to create a party that represents America – including all those who feel powerless and disenfranchised, and who have been left out of our politics and left behind in our economy.

The Democratic Party as it is now constituted has become a giant fundraising machine, too often reflecting the goals and values of the moneyed interests. This must change. The election of 2016 has repudiated it. We need a people’s party – a party capable of organizing and mobilizing Americans in opposition to Donald Trump’s Republican party, which is about to take over all three branches of the U.S. government. We need a New Democratic Party that will fight against intolerance and widening inequality.

What happened in America Tuesday should not be seen as a victory for hatefulness over decency. It is more accurately understood as a repudiation of the American power structure.

At the core of that structure are the political leaders of both parties, their political operatives, and fundraisers; the major media, centered in New York and Washington DC; the country’s biggest corporations, their top executives, and Washington lobbyists and trade associations; the biggest Wall Street banks, their top officers, traders, hedge-fund and private-equity managers, and their lackeys in Washington; and the wealthy individuals who invest directly in politics.

Read More:

http://robertreich.org/

Donald Trump Dredged Up His Cabinet From the Bottom of the Conservative Swamp

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Donald Trump Dredged Up His Cabinet From the Bottom of the Conservative Swamp

By David Dayen Excerpted from the Nation

Stephen K. Bannon

Because someone with white-nationalist ties occupying a prime seat in the West Wing breaks so many norms, Steve Bannon’s selection as chief strategist to President-elect Donald Trump has dominated headlines. But Reince Priebus’s getting the chief of staff job matters a lot more.

Yes, Bannon’s name appeared before Priebus’s on the press release. Yes, the announcement says they would be “working as equal partners” in the White House. No, I don’t really believe that signifies much.

The chief of staff actually has a defined role. He oversees hundreds of members of the White House staff. He manages the daily schedule and determine access to the president. A chief strategist is just an adviser; Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod filled this role for President Obama. Bannon may have clout, but Priebus can limit his input to the president and get the last word. With Trump, a demonstrably terrible listener who habitually takes the advice of the last person he talks to, that’s a huge advantage.

Kris Kobach, vote suppressor and author of anti-immigrant SB 1070 in Arizona, is on the transition team. So is Congressman Lou Barletta, best known for effectively criminalizing immigrants while serving as mayor of Hazelton, Pennsylvania. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who fired career prosecutors working to indict bankers for fraud and took an illegal $25,000 gift from Trump’s foundation right when she decided to stop investigating Trump University, serves on the team too. Ken Blackwell, who in 2004 as Ohio secretary of state prevented enough Democratic voters from casting ballots to hand the state to George W. Bush, is overseeing domestic issues. I was almost certain Reagan’s attorney general Ed Meese was dead, but he’s popped up too.

Read More

 

Election. Newsmakers. Fall Preview

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Election. Newsmakers. Fall Preview

By Victoria Horsford

 THE 11/8 ELECTION

Donald Trump

Like most of my fellow Americans, I am trying to make sense of what happened on November 8th and the Donald Trump victory.   It is hard to remember a time filled with so much post-election rancor.  America fell into post-election doldrums in 1980 when Ronald Reagan won.  The 2016 election outcome was like a tsunami that hit the national collective consciousness.    Which book title best explains this past election.  Is it Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”, Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” or “Through The Looking Glass”, or Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities”.  The next four years could be the beginning of the end of the Great American Empire.   The Trump victory signals the end of the status quo Democratic and Republican Parties. They will survive only through new incarnations.   How could so many pollsters, volunteers, media pundits have been so wrong about Americana? Well, sorta/kinda. Hillary did win the Popular vote…..

The USA population is approximately 325 million strong and highly diverse.  About 115 million of the electorate visited the polls with Dems and the GOP each getting about 57 million votes.   About 50% of eligible American voters passed on the polls.   Moreover, many who voted left the president option blank. Trump’s victory was made possible by 1/6 of the American population.

How was it possible for a man whose campaign was based on white nationalism, on dismantling post-WWII defense treaties with Western nations, on tearing up international trade pacts, on invalidating climate change, on the deportation of 11 million undocumented foreigners, on dismantling Obamacare, on the resurrection of stop-and-frisk nationally. He vowed to bring nonexistent jobs back to America, jobs lost mostly to automation. He talks like someone who is not of this world. Hardly a day goes by without updates on driverless cars, not to mention AI (artificial intelligence) duplicate humans. Enough said about reality.

What about the company that the soon-to-be POTUS 45 keeps. There is Alt-right Breitbart News Chair Steve Bannon, who is anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, who links minorities to terrorism and crime, who was named the President-elect’s chief strategist and senior counselor.   Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani is short-listed for Secretary of State. ….That is less scary than Attorney General Giuliani if you are not a white American.

Al Sharpton

Anti-President-elect protests have dominated the news cycle for a week. Stories abound from precincts all over the country about Trump supporters threatening Blacks, Latinos and Muslims. Swastika signs are prevalent across the country. Last week’s election result opened a Pandora’s box. Rev. Al Sharpton plans a protest march on the grounds of the Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington, DC on January 14th, six days before the Trump inauguration.

The Trump victory reveals that the American reality show is the new measuring stick for this nation which, heretofore, was the greatest for a long stretch.   Kanye West said (jokingly) that he would toss his hat into the 2020 presidential ring. No, that job is tailor-made for his wife Kim Kardashian, the empress of American reality shows.

Chuck Schumer

US Senator from NY Chuck Schumer will probably be the Democratic Minority Leader in the upper chamber. He has his work cut out for him. Senate is where the cabinet nominees meet their fate!

Hope must be kept alive during the Donald Trump Presidency. Like our ancestors, we will endure.

 

NEWSMAKERS

Soprano diva Kathleen Battle performed at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in concert: “UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, A Spiritual Journey”. Her 11/13 return to The Met was sold out shortly after it was announced in April.   She had a choir, two pianists and special guests such as Wynton Marsalis and Cecily Tyson with the 34-member choir. She said that the concert brings together my musical background and my cultural heritage. Needless to say, the evening earned a rave review by NY Times critic Anthony Tommasini.

Audrey Smaltz and Gail Marquis

Anniversaries: Journalist Mark Riley and Kim Jack Riley celebrated their 24th Wedding Anniversary on November 13th ………… Fashionista/commentator Audrey Smaltz and former pro basketball cager, now a financial consultant Gail Marquis celebrated their 5th Wedding Anniversary on November 11th.

 

Gwen Ifill

RIP: Native New Yorker Gwen Ifill, 61, died on 11/14 at a hospice in Washington, DC. Ifill rose to prominence as a journalist at American mainstream media outlets such as the NY Times, NBC, the Washington Post and PBS. She wrote the book, “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama”. The moderator and managing editor of the public affairs show, “Washington Week” on PBS, she was the co-anchor and co-managing editor of “NewsHour” on PBS. Ifill also moderated the U.S. Vice Presidential debate in 2008. She graduated from Simmons College where she majored in Communications. Her parents were from the Caribbean. Her dad, Oliver Urcille Ifill, an AME minister assigned to Queens, Staten Island, Buffalo, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, kept the family traveling often.

RIP: A memorial service in honor of fine artist Betty Blayton Taylor will be held on Saturday, November 19th from 11 am to 1 pm at the SGI-NY Culture Center, located at 7 East 15th Street in Manhattan. RSVP: blaytonb@verizon.net. A painter, printer and sculptor, Betty Blayton Taylor was a co-founder of the Children’s Art Carnival and the Studio Museum in Harlem.

RIP: A memorial service in honor of culinary anthropologist, author, actress Vertamae Grosvenor will be held on December 3rd from 1-5 pm at the Mt. Morris Presbyterian Ascension Church, located at 12 Mt. Morris Park West, near 122nd Street, one block east of Lenox Avenue, Harlem.

 

FALL PREVIEW

The Cuban-born NEA jazz master Candido Camero, 95, the Father of Modern Congo Drumming, will be honored at an event, CANDIDO: The Last Legendary Music Journey, a concert celebration of his 70 years of music performance in America, on Friday, November 18th at 7:30 pm at the Aaron Davis Hall, located at 129 Convent Avenue at 135th Street, at the City College Center for the Arts. The concert lineup includes Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band, David Oquendo, Xiomara Laugart and others.

The Exercise Studio Fitness and Yoga Center presents Rosalyn McLymont who will host the 2nd Annual MY FABULOUS ME!, a self-empowerment program about “The Awesome Power of Loving Yourself”. McLymont is The Network Journal’s Editor-in-Chief, award-winning author and entrepreneur. The “for women only” class will be held at 2073 86th Street, Brooklyn, New York on November 19th from 3-6 pm. [Call 718.373.3747]

The Annual AUDELCO Awards, a celebration of Black excellence in theater – drama, comedy and musicals will be held on Monday, November 21st at the Symphony Space Theater on Broadway at 95th Street in Manhattan. [Visit audelco.org]

 

The 2016 NYS Conference for Civically Engaged Women will be held on December 1-3. The conference theme is “21st Century Challenges to Achieving Gender Equity”. Location is at The Riverside Church, 91 Claremont Avenue, one block west of Broadway in Harlem, USA.   Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Suffragette Movement in NYS with participants   Gale Brewer, Manhattan Borough President; Louida Lewis, NYS Assemblywoman-elect Inez Dickens, Henrietta Lyle, Joanne Yepsen, Liz Abzug and feminist men like Dr. John Flateau. [Visit NWPCNY.org]

The Morrisania Doll Society will host its Annual Holiday Doll Show and Sale at the Dwyer Cultural Center, 258 St. Nicholas Avenue, Harlem, on December 4th from 11 am to 7 pm.

Ellen Ferebee, founder/president of the Harlem-based Morrisania Doll Society enthuses: “More than 400 unique Black dolls and holiday ornaments will be available for sale for budgets from $10 to $1000.” Valerie Gladstone, Shaquora Bey, Pamela Ekkens, Goldie Wilson are among the Doll Show artists. [Visit morisaniadollsociety.com]

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

Veteran Washington Journalist Gwen Ifill Dies At 61

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Veteran Washington Journalist Gwen Ifill Dies At 61

Gwen Ifill, one of the most prominent political journalists in the country, has died, according to PBS. She was 61.

When she took the helm of Washington Week in Review in 1999, Ifill became the first African-American woman to host a major political TV talk show. Ifill covered seven presidential campaigns and moderated the vice presidential debates in 2004 and 2008. More recently, she moderated a presidential primary debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Ifill was also the best-selling author of The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.

In 2013, Ifill was named co-host of the PBS NewsHour. In an interview with The New York Times, she reflected on what her appointment could mean to a new generation.

“When I was a little girl watching programs like this — because that’s the kind of nerdy family we were — I would look up and not see anyone who looked like me in any way. No women. No people of color,” she said. “I’m very keen about the fact that a little girl now, watching the news, when they see me and Judy [Woodruff] sitting side by side, it will occur to them that that’s perfectly normal — that it won’t seem like any big breakthrough at all.”

Paula Kerger, president and CEO of PBS, said Ifill was “a fundamental reason public media is considered a trusted window on the world.”

“Her contributions to thoughtful reporting and civic discourse simply cannot be overstated,” Kerger said. “She often said that her job was to bring light rather than heat to issues of importance to our society. Gwen did this with grace and steadfast commitment to excellence.”

In a news conference, President Obama said he appreciated Ifill’s reporting even when she posed tough questions to him.

“She always kept faith with the fundamental responsibility of her profession, asking tough questions, holding people in power accountable and defending a strong and free press that makes our democracy work,” Obama said.

Journalist Ray Suarez, who began working at NewsHour on the same day as Ifill in 1999, told Here & Now that Ifill was a mix of things.

“She was evenhanded yet tenacious,” Suarez said. “She was exteriorly cool, if that’s even a word, but at the same time very emotionally and passionately committed to the work she did.”

Ifill was a preacher’s daughter. She was born in New York City to a Panamanian immigrant father and a Barbadian mother. She started her journalism career as a print reporter for the Baltimore Evening Sun and the Boston Herald American. She went on to become a national political reporter for The Washington Post and the White House correspondent for The New York Times.

Ifill died after a battle with cancer. NPR’s Neda Ulaby contributed to this report.

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