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Tyrone Curry’s Awesome Business

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Tyrone Curry’s Awesome Business
Tyrone Curry

By Samantha Nzessi

Tyrone Curry has a brick-and-mortar as well as a mobile store, selling CDs in various types of genres of music.  We interviewed Tyrone at his downtown Brooklyn location and asked how long he’s been in  this business and why.

TC: About 15 years. From a little boy growing up in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, and going back and forth to work and not seeing cities versus neighborhoods, black males on the buses and the train, I always wanted to grow up and start my own small business in Bed-Stuy.

SN: Tell us a little bit about how difficult it could be as a self-employed person in a street environment and with a physical location store.
TC: I wouldn’t say “difficult” with respect to running the business itself; however, with the miseducation on how to run a business. The educational system teaches us how to be a good employee, AKA a good slave for the slave master, and I got tired of leasing out my skills because, no matter how much money I made per hour, I could never save up enough money to start my own business.

SN: So now that your own business is going, what is your plan of action to continue?

TC: I would like to be an example for those who come behind me. My daughter is now a student at Howard and I hope she will use the skills that she acquires at school and her job experiences as an apprentice to start her own business and not work for anyone else. Because you can’t start or maintain a community without having the small businesses that provide goods, services and jobs for the community. A greater percentage of people in our neighborhoods have to start opening up their own businesses so that we can start having communities instead of neighborhoods.

 

SN: How did you come up with the concept of making the “My God is Awesome” T-shirt?

TC: What inspired me to promote the “My God is Awesome” T-shirt is that it is a popular song and when I played it when promoting the CDs, there was such a response that people just kind of went into a trance. So I wanted a versatile product that would not be limited by adversity or race, so I took a calculated risk and invested in another small, black-owned business that sells and prints T-shirts and it proved to be a success.

 

SN: That’s great. How would you advise people that would like to get into independent business ownership?

TC: I would advise people to invest some of their time and resources into activities that promote cultural awareness. We don’t get this type of education and I learned a tremendous amount about image from Prof. Leonard Jeffries.

 

SN: What are your locations and hours of operation?

TC: My mobile sidewalk store is in downtown Brooklyn on the sidewalk in front of the McDonald’s adjacent to Macy’s. I’m here basically 10AM to 7PM, 5 to 7 days a week. I also run a brick-and-mortar store at 438 Marcus Garvey Blvd. from noon to 7PM, Wednesdays through Saturdays and eventually Sunday through Tuesday as well.

 

 

Interfaith CEO/President LaRay Brown Has a Message for the Community

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 Interfaith Celebrates the Women in the Health Justice Movement

With Bedford-Stuyvesant under assault both health-wise and economically, people ask what they can do to bring about change.

An answer can be found in the example of the transforming role of the actions of the women delegates of 1199 and NYSNA.   It was they who provided the boots-on-the-ground that filled legislative offices and the passion that unsung heroes and heroines bring to movements.  

And the movement at Interfaith Medical Center is an old one.  The goal of the broad-based Coalition to Transform Interfaith – – a coming together of unions, elected officials, clergy and other community leaders – – is to fully integrate Interfaith into the community so that its economic impact is felt by local businesses and job seekers. 

As Interfaith Board member Roger Green explained the Center must change from the “neo-colonial” model to a community-controlled entity that is free to determine where its economic impact should lie as it delivers state-of-the-art health services. 

LaRay Brown:

Thanks all of you and I especially thank the ladies. Because, as was said, eight women in particular who are strong and who persevere and are willing

LaRay Brown, CEO & President

to go the extra mile are worth 8000 folks who are just tepid in their belief.

Today is the last day of my fourth week. So what I can tell you for sure is that I really don’t know very much. But I’m learning. And I’m learning from folks who know a lot. And not because they have lots of degrees or things behind their names. They know a lot because they’ve been in the struggle, because they stayed. Because they stayed and they’re committed to this medical center. And I don’t want to say this institution, I want to say this medical center because I don’t want to say this hospital. Because one of the things that I want to make sure that I imbue upon everyone who’s committed to transforming Interfaith is that they’re committed to not only transforming what happens in this building, but what happens at Bishop Walker. What happens at the small dental clinic that we have on Bedford.  That we have off of Eastern Parkway. What happens on Bergen Street where we serve 450 individuals who get methadone maintenance treatment. Where we serve individuals who have HIV and who need primary care. And I want to do more of that. I want to do more in the community. I want this institution, this medical center to be seen as a resource for the community.

Now I can tell you someone said there are lots of challenges. Believe me, there are challenges that you don’t even know about.

So, a couple of things. Someone mentioned about the need for this facility, this medical center and others that are of a community to support a community. And not just providing the health care but the economic strength, the economic health of the community.

 

We had some unfortunate events my first week in this facility that some of our Interfaith family members all know about. And I said to folks here, do you have a list of the MWBE businesses? Do you have a list? Because we need to get some plumbers, some painters. We need to get some folks to do some remediation in here. And folks looked at me… They just looked strange.

So I call someone who had worked for me 20 years ago who works in the governor’s office, who’s responsible for some of the MWBE certification. And I said to her before she got to work, send me the list of certified MWBE businesses in Brooklyn. I asked folks, and some of your witnesses to this, I asked some of my colleagues to call the elected official’s offices. I also called myself. And some of the responses I got when I called was this is the first time anybody has ever called and asked us for this.

 

We need to make sure that this community sees us as part of it. As strength of it. And as it is. So it’s not just about me and my face. It’s about all of the people who work in this organization. And it’s about all the folks who will work in this organization so, because the best ambassadors of any kind of organization, particularly if it claims to be a community-facing organization, are the people who work within it.

And I know there’s lots of work to be done. But you have to have aspirations. You have to have dreams. You have to have a vision. You have to aspire for the best possible of anything. And I aspire for us to be the best possible health care provider in this community. I aspire for folks to say… They were talking 10 years ago about closing Interfaith. Now we’re going to be sending folks there to figure out how to do it right.

One of the things I commit to is using the experience and the energy that I’ve used in the past 30 years of working with many, many, many organizations. And for us being not competitors, but partners in doing the right thing on behalf of our, our community.

So I’m going to stop there. I’m still learning, my vision is evolving. I’m working with our board on that. But I commit to you that I’m here. I’m committed to this Interfaith Medical Center. I’m committed to its growth. I’m committed to not just surviving but to thriving and I will go anywhere to anyone to tell our story. Thank you.

Election 2016: The Civil War revisited with a Class War twist

David Mark Greaves
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Election 2016: The Civil War revisited with a Class War twist

By David Mark Greaves

Watching the Donald Trump phenomenon is to see two things, his appeal to base instincts and his economic populism regarding trade pacts and jobs lost.   If the coming battle was only against overt racism, then the Democratic nominee wins, hands down.   However, it’s the class war twist that adds another level of difficulty that Donald is capable of executing to perfection.

Having solidified his base and satisfying them that he knows who they are, in a general campaign he’ll be free to be the reasonable-sounding businessman who, as he has said, is “flexible” and can negotiate better pacts on behalf of large segments of economically challenged white America.   To them, he’s a bastard, but he’s their bastard.  And that combined with the other, is what makes this election so difficult.

The big worry in a Trump versus Hillary contest is the possibility of an October surprise, a release of the text of one of her private paid talks to the Goldman Sachs audience of bankers and financiers, convincing them that she’s their person and the 99% will just have to suck it up.   In that eventuality, the election will truly be up for grabs.  And if it comes out on video, game over.

In that eventuality, the importance of the Black and Brown votes will be critical for Hillary to prevail. And it is a vote that she does not deserve.

The affection can’t be because of the effect of her husband’s administration on Black lives as author Michelle Alexander reveals in her essay, reprinted here from The Nation magazine.  His policies and her support of them destroyed hundreds of thousands of Black lives, for which they both now say they’re sorry.

We need more than that and more than all the kind words they’ve been saying.   “Don’t tell me you love me” is the adage and Hillary hasn’t met that test.  The African-American vote will go for the Democratic nominee in any event, but these are just the primaries coming up and a vote for Bernie Sanders is the only opportunity there will be to register dissatisfaction with establishment politics as usual, we will not have that luxury in November.  If Black people are going to be expected to turn out in massive numbers on behalf of the nominee, then they must also turn on their legislators and hold them accountable by   demanding they bargain under the threat of a restless electorate, rather than wasting the opportunity by falling in line behind the establishment’s lead.  They know the Black vote is absolutely critical, then get something in return.

Why Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Deserve the Black Vote: From the crime bill to welfare reform, policies Bill Clinton enacted—and Hillary Clinton supported—decimated black America.

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Why Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Deserve the Black Vote: From the crime bill to welfare reform, policies Bill Clinton enacted—and Hillary Clinton supported—decimated black America.
March 15, 2016 – West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. – Hillary Clinton speaks at Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach , Florida on March 15, 2016. (Credit Image: © Allen Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post via ZUMA Wire)

By Michelle Alexander, The Nation Magazine

Hillary Clinton loves black people. And black people love Hillary—or so it seems. Black politicians have lined up in droves to endorse her, eager to prove their loyalty to the Clinton’s in the hopes that their faithfulness will be remembered and rewarded. Black pastors are opening their church doors and the Clinton’s are making themselves comfortably at home once again, engaging effortlessly in all the usual rituals associated with “courting the black vote”, a pursuit that typically begins and ends with Democratic politicians making black people feel liked and taken seriously. Doing something concrete to improve the conditions under which most black people live is generally not required.

Hillary is looking to gain momentum on the campaign trail as the primaries move out of Iowa and New Hampshire and into states like South Carolina where large pockets of black voters can be found. According to some polls, she leads Bernie Sanders by as much as 60 percent among African-Americans. It seems that we—black people—are her winning card, one that Hillary is eager to play.

And it seems we’re eager to get played. Again. Read it in The Nation.  Click here.

Hillary Widens Lead

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Hillary Widens Lead

 

March 15, 2016 - West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. - Hillary Clinton speaks at Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach , Florida on March 15, 2016. (Credit Image: © Allen Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post via ZUMA Wire)
edium wp-image-17763″ src=”http://ourtimeathome.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Pg1_HillaryWeb-300×206.jpg” alt=”March 15, 2016 – West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. – Hillary Clinton speaks at Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach , Florida on March 15, 2016. (Credit Image: © Allen Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post via ZUMA Wire)” width=”300″ height=”206″ /> March 15, 2016 – West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. – Hillary Clinton speaks at Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach , Florida on March 15, 2016. (Credit Image: © Allen Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post via ZUMA Wire)

Secretary Hillary R. Clinton is doing what she must do to grab the brass ring in this Super Tuesday series of primaries.

This week, she won Ohio, Florida and North Carolina, demonstrating her strength across a diverse electorate including white blue-collar voters.

She blunted Senator Bernie Sanders’ incredible momentum while striking, as reported by CNN, a very Sanders-like theme in her victory speech this past Tuesday. “She unveiled a retooled message … that simultaneously rationalized her campaign against Sanders and foreshadowed a general election duel with Trump, as she stressed repeatedly she would create jobs as president and stand up for the middle class. ‘We are going to stand up for American workers and make sure no one takes advantage of us, not China, not Wall Street, not overpaid corporate executives,’ she said.”

On the Republican side, the party’s probable wild, impulsive, expletive spewing, huckster has gained ground, although he was trumped by the more gentlemanly John Kasich, Governor of Ohio, who retained his home state for a major win of delegates.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama’s appearance to condemn the tactics of the most vitriolic campaign in the history of American elections, reminded the nation of the grace, statesmanship and command that is generally associated with this office. Just about now – and with less than a year to go before a new President takes control, we already are missing him as we become increasingly aware of the challenges he faced behind the scenes.

This week, the point-gains by both Sanders, on one side, and Trump on the other should warn Hillary that she still has a way to go: what she must overcome ad what she must accomplish before and after husband Bill, the former President, assumes the mantle of First Gentleman.

An opposing view of Hillary Clinton by scholar Michelle Alexander appears on Page 10.

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