The black & white commercial is designed to increase self-confidence in young African-American men while dispelling some preconceived opinions that exist in the general public. The statistics presented in the PSA track positive numbers related to these young men and others across the nation. They were obtained from sources such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Education, among others.
Behind the Message is a group of advertising professionals, including Jack Goldrick, head of McGoldrick Marketing, and Valerie Graves, an industry pioneer. “When co-writer Graves received the news from McGoldrick that the Mystic Valley Chapter of the NAACP would be producing the concept they had created several years ago, it was a special moment even for a veteran creative director like Graves. “Advertising is full of disappointments,” Ms. Graves told Our Time Press. “I had accepted that NOT having ‘Statistic’ produced would be one of my biggest. Jack never did, and because of him, an important message has been given new life.” Our Time Press kicks off its salute to women thought leaders on March 5 with Ms. Graves in a Q&A with the publisher. You can view the PSA at http://youtu.be/HgVNsCLd8iY. And smile.
Twenty Medford, MA High School students and the NAACP Mystic Valley Branch are the collective face of a powerful message of a 30-second PSA going viral on the Internet, titled “Statistics.”
NAUW Brooklyn Branch Hosts March 1st Program Celebrating Black History and Women’s History Months and its milestone 60th Year
Roxana Walker-Canton, Award-Winning Documentary-Maker
and Installation Artist, is Guest Speaker
BROOKLYN, NY – On Sunday, March 1st, from 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm, the National Association of University Women (NAUW) Brooklyn Branch will host its annual celebration of Black History and Women’s History Months at Medgar Evers College-CUNY in the Science Building, Edison Jackson Auditorium, 1638 Bedford Avenue, corner of Crown Street in Brooklyn.
Ms. Walker-Canton is the director of The Living Thinkers Project and served as the producer/director/co-editor of Living Thinkers: An Autobiography of Black Women in the Ivory Tower, the documentary which won the Audience Choice Award for Documentary at the 2013 BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia, was a finalist for the HBO Award for Documentary at the 2013 Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival. Excerpts from Ms. Walker-Canton’s “Living Thinkers” film will be shown at the NAUW event.
The program also includes a musical performance by the amazing Strobert Trio which has a repertoire of jazz, ragtime, R&B, calypso, pop and movie scores. Their music is a mixture of “old school” and today’s progressive pop. The program will have an interactive history quiz with the audience (including prizes) and a networking reception at the conclusion of the program.
About the Speaker:
Ms. Walker-Canton earned her B.A. from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA; an M.A./M.F.A. in Black Studies and English/Creative Writing from The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH; and an M.F.A. in Film and Media Arts from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.
About the Organization:
The NAUW is a national organization of college-educated women of African-American descent, founded in 1910 and incorporated in 1924. The NAUW advocates for higher education of girls and women, as well as community service, locally, nationally and internationally.
This year marks the 60th Anniversary for the founding of the NAUW Brooklyn Branch which is proud to still have members who were part of the visionary group who helped nurture its early foundations and growth. NAUW members mentor a group of Young Affiliates, provide college scholarships and participate in community service and educational activities throughout the year.
Recently, the Brooklyn Branch joined the social media revolution by establishing its presence on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to enhance outreach to the younger generation.
NAUW Brooklyn Branch: 60th Anniversary
Op-Ed: Community Voices Not Heard!
By Alicia Boyd
As a member of the grass-roots organization MTOPP, the Movement to Protect the People, located in Crown Heights/Lefferts Gardens/Flatbush, I was not surprised at the reaction of the East New York Community to City Planning’s study presentation.
Our own experiences here have shown that despite Mayor de Blasio’s talk about the need to incorporate community input in redesigning the community, it is clearly just that, talk!
I could empathize with the frustration that propelled the members of Community Board 5 to have to put their concerns and questions on giant poster boards and to stage a protest just to get the city officials to stop “talking at them” and address their concerns!
All throughout the day it was clear that the concerns of this community were not being heard and yet City Planning kept stating, we addressed the community needs, this is what the community wanted, we listened to the community, as they proceeded to misrepresent the data, show misleading pictures and outright lie. For example, when discussing changing Atlantic Ave. from a commercial to a residential street, the presenter stated that there would be seven-story buildings and showed a picture of a nine-story building as an example, when in fact the rezoning category is R8A that will get you 12 stories!
The commissioners were even worse as they stumbled and stuttered as the community demanded concrete data and information, showing clearly that they hadn’t done any serious preparation in addressing this community’s needs.
Where were the mandatory employment for the youth, the exact percentage of affordable units going to the residents and how long were they going to be affordable, the exact calculations going to be used to determine the “affordable category”, how were they going to protect the mom-and-pop shops from displacement, and protect the residents and homeowners from being displaced as the community became upscale and proved to become unaffordable. These answers were not forthcoming to the point that several times residents shouted out that they had had two years to get that information!
However, what is really at issue here is that Mayor de Blasio’s Administration never had any intention of addressing this community’s needs. This was just to “show” that community outreach had been accomplished and I’m sure their reports will be showing how successful they were at disseminating the information to the public.
De Blasio’s Administration is just an extended version of the Bloomberg Administration, with a little bit more presentation! Now that communities of color have seen the results of these rezoning studies/plans: Willamsburg, Harlem, Downtown, the administration felt the need to at least make the appearance of not having a top-down approach to development, but in reality that is exactly what it is.
For example, Winston Von Engel, Director of City Planning for Brooklyn, was sitting down with CB9 and members of the community, including MTOPP, to begin discussions about doing a study of the only side of the park that hasn’t been rezoned.
During these meetings, Winston kept stating the need to have consensus from the community and that City Planning would not move forward with a study of the area unless there was.
However, once the community got wind of the fact of the proposed development of 20+-story buildings going up against hundreds of two-story 100-year-old homes to enable developers to take advantage of Prospect Park views, they began to demonstrate their lack of consensus for this development by the following actions:
August 4, 50+ residents shut down City Planning meeting demanding a stop to study.
August 24, 200+ people demonstrated and marched against the study.
Sept. 17, 300+ people do a Town Hall meeting to educate why the study is harmful.
Sept. 23, 500+ people came to Community Board 9 and demanded that the resolution to up-zone Empire Blvd. and request this study be rescinded.
Sept. 23, Over 4,000 letters and petitions were presented at CB9 against the study.
Sept. 23, Community Board 9 presented a resolution to terminate the request and start all over! (Which was proven to have passed, despite the falsification of the vote by CB9’s Pearl Miles [District Manager], who still is not facing any criminal or disciplinary charges!)
And yet, despite this clear lack of “consensus”, City Planning (in October) was going ahead with the study of upzoning Empire Blvd. It wasn’t until December, when it was demonstrated that the original resolution to request the study was unlawful, that City Planning has come back to the table to “talk”. But again with the insistence, that if this community does not upzone Empire Blvd., we will not be rezoned!
Now, imagine that! A city agency stating to a community that they must endanger their homes, cause massive amounts of displacement of people in the community and not voice their concerns or opposition to developers’ interest otherwise they will not perform their obligation to the community! That is Mayor de Blasio’s idea of community input; my way (developer way) or the highway!
Moving forward, it is clear for East New York, that right now is the only time they will be able to influence this process and they are going to have to be hard, specific and precise! They are going to have to look at every way they can to stop this process from moving forward, from petitioning their representatives, to exposing City Planning’s agendas, to refusing to accept the study and allow it to go into the application stage until their demands are met; otherwise, this community will be another Williamsburg.
If they buy into the idea that the Environmental Impact Study is where their concerns will be addressed, they are done for, because that is all that impact study is; a “study” created and manipulated by City Planning, where its outcome will be favorable for them! And by this time the community is purely “advisory”, with no legal recourse!
Alicia Boyd, Founder of MTOPP, the Movement To Protect The People!
Entrepreneur for Our Time: APRIL R. SILVER
“My personal pursuits are intertwined with a greater good.”
Social entrepreneur, activist, author, marketer April R. Silver, founder of AKILA WORKSONGS, now approaching its 22rd year as a successful professional marketing resource for myriad clients seeking national attention, has launched a new division, AKILA WORKSONGS Ink — set to become another model for good business and good business practices.
AWI will publish Ms. Silver’s much-anticipated groundbreaking two-volume “I’ve Got Life” anthology series profiling women – many like herself — from various social justice/activist paths, all, as she says, “passionately believing in making the world a better place to live and who have persevered with this mission … despite challenges and sacrifices that only women have had to endure.”
In this two-part “I Got Life” compendium of interviews and essays, Ms. Silver says, “women will talk or write candidly about their social justice work, their victories, their failures, what they know, and what they are still trying to figure out. They will also express what they treasure and perhaps fear about being a woman; a worker; an intellectual; a daughter, sister, partner, wife, mother, caretaker; a bitch; an artist; a corporate executive; a pacifist; an atheist…or about being misunderstood. They are a small sample of women who have made life choices that no one should have to make and that half the world can’t relate to.”
AKILA WORKSONGS Ink will release Volume 1: I’ve Got Life! Persevering Women Talk about Arts and Activism (profiles of women artists and activists) this summer. Volume 2: I’ve Got Life! Persevering Women Media Makers (profiles of women activists in mass media, i.e., filmmakers, journalists, producers) will be published January 2016.
A Q&A with April Silver follows.
OTP: What inspired you to create AKILA WORKSONGS, and where do you want it to go from here?
April Silver: My initial inspiration for establishing AKILA WORKSONGS was my desire to create a Black-owned and managed operation of some kind, my desire to build a company, an institution, a “something” that would be wholly dedicated to telling the truth about people of African ancestry.
When I become politically educated while a student at Howard University, I was already in love with Black people and Black culture. I entered there as a freshman in 1986 and by the time I graduated in 1991, that was even more the case. Again, my core motivation was to be of service to Black people. The “how” manifested as the communications agency that I founded in 1993. Where do I go from here? My focus is to continue on this path and to do so more powerfully.
OTP: You have aided and supported other individuals and groups in raising money for, and awareness of, their unique creative projects. Why is amassing funds from the masses to complete personal and creative projects an important endeavor?
AS: The significance of raising funds from the community-at-large to complete creative projects is that if the crowd-funding campaigns are successful, then the community-at-large reaps the benefits. For example, the first campaign that I co-created and co-managed was a documentary by award-winning filmmaker Byron Hurt. He launched a campaign for “Soul Food Junkies” in November 2011. Neither Byron, nor my business partner, nor I had ever done such a thing. In fact, crowd-funding was a bit new and we spent half our time explaining the new online platform. Regardless, we set a very ambitious goal to raise $25,000 (during the holiday season, no less). We actually raised $31,358. When that documentary was complete and when it aired on PBS’ Independent Lens in January 2013, it had more than 1.5 million viewers. That’s for a Black documentary about soul food, mind you.
The impact was tremendous and people from all over the country chimed in on how that documentary changed their understanding of soul food – both the positive and the challenging aspects. To this day, people are still making healthy choices about how they eat because of “Soul Food Junkies.” And the fact is, that documentary saw the light of day because of the Kickstarter campaign that helped get it made.
Since then, I have co-managed nine other crowd-funding campaigns (on either Kickstarter or Indiegogo) for film and video projects, an art exhibition, and a book. In total, AKILA WORKSONGS has helped indie artists raise more than $213,000 from the community-at-large. I think that’s super significant.
OTP: More than significant; it’s historic!
AS: Thank you. I’d also like to add that I feel my own Indiegogo campaign, “I’ve Got Life! The Anthology Series” is both unique and common, simultaneously.
It’s unique because I’m interviewing women who are social justice activists with a least a decade’s worth of elbow grease and hard knocks. I have women who range from their 30’s to their 90’s who will be featured in this anthology…from Sonia Sanchez to Dr. Yaba Blay; from Nana Camille Yarbrough to Jessica Care Moore; from DJ Kuttin Kandi to Louise Meriwether. That’s a bit unique, I believe. At the same time, it’s not the first nor 100th time that women’s voices are being collected for the page.
OTP: Are there challenges for you in finding the time to promote your own personal projects when you are making history as a sought-after marketer?
AS: My personal work is not self-serving. It is – by design — aligned with the social justice visions of the clients I represent and the community I love. So there’s no challenge in having nor promoting my personal project while servicing clients. Admittedly, I used to think that there was, but I don’t any longer. As an example, when I was a television talk show host on what is now Centric TV (formerly BETJ), I was the one co-host who bought on the most clients to be guests on the show (“My Two Cents”).
That was eons ago but I think it illustrates my pattern of making sure that my personal pursuits are intertwined with a greater good.
OTP: What project are you most proud of and why? And what’s the most challenging project you ever took on and what did you learn from the journey?
AS: One of the projects that I’m most proud of is the anthology “Be a Father to Your Child: Real Talk from Black Men on Family, Love, and Fatherhood” (Counterpoint / Soft Skull Press; 2008). With that book, I accomplished two things: a personal goal to be published before I turned 40 and I was able to give homage to Black fathers (which is a big deal for a Daddy’s girl like me).
The most challenging project is a tie between the National Black Writers Conference in 2002 and a manual where I served as managing editor back in 2010. For both projects the work was unusually intense, highly concentrated, and an insane number of moving parts. All the team members on both projects “went through it,” not just me. But they were both major successes, ultimately. This is the first time I’m realizing that my greatest and most challenging projects over that past 22 years have all centered on Black people getting their stories out via the written word. How very NOT bizarre, LOL!
Another project that I’m immensely proud of is the first Hip Hop conference that was founded by students in 1991 at Howard University. That conference, where I was the founding president, represented the first intersection of Hip Hop and the academy in the country. Here we are 24 years later, and Hip Hop has an entirely different position in the academy now. It is respected. That wasn’t the case then. We had to argue the case where the case had not been argued before.
New Federal Theatre’s Kickstarter for Production of Amiri Baraka’s Last Play Off to Good Start; Making History in Proces
Exclusive to Our Time Press
Launched January 16, campaign has reached 34% of $40K Goal in Five Days on way to May 28 world premiere of “Most Dangerous Man in America”
Helming the NFT’s Kickstarter and Amiri Baraka awareness projects is Woodie King, Jr, (second from left), seen here with journalist/scholar Herb Boyd, far left, and actors Petronia Paley and Art McFarland, who will portray, respectively, Shirley Graham DuBois and WEB DuBois.
Photo credit: Barry L. Mason
The date was January 15, 2015 – the anniversary of the 86th birthday of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The locale was the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem – the research library and archive repository for information on peoples of African descent worldwide. Gathered were press from across the spectrum of the Black and mainstream media.
The occasion — one that will most likely be chronicled in Black historical documents for years to come – was the announcement by Woodie King, Jr., producing director of the New Federal Theatre, of the launch of a Kickstarter Campaign to raise the balance of the funds needed – $40,000 – to produce Amiri Baraka’s last play, “The Most Dangerous Man in America” (WEB DuBois), set for a world premiere May 28 at the Castillo Theatre in New York City.
Baraka joined the ancestors a year ago on January 9, 2014, and King explained that this inititive was part of a major public and personal homage to the the great playwright/poet, his friend of some 50 years.
Launched on Friday, January 16, the NFT’s Kickstarter campaign is making Black Theatre history on the social media stage. Having already raised an initial $60,000 of the $100,000 needed to produce the play, King and the NFT Board of Directors are offering more than 200 premiums to potential “backers” for Kickstarter contributions of $10.00 or more to reach the $40K by March 1. The gifts include performance tickets, original artwork by Baraka, first edition books, theatrical posters, DVD’s, cast albums, spoken word albums, and more. Now, in its fifth day as of this printing — the campaign has reached 34% of its goal. It also is one the Kickstarter site’s most popular — and fast-moving — projects in the theater category.
Gone are such premiums as Baraka’s “Dolls” art; the 1903 first edition of WEB DuBois’ “Souls of Black Folk;” one of four co-producer spots for “The Most Dangerous Man in America”; an out-of-print copy of Langston Hughes’ “Writers of the Revolution” album; the original Broadway poster of “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf” by Paul Davis; one copy of the out-of-print “Poetry of Maya Angelou” album, and more. For $25, a potential backer’s name can be listed as a contributor in the May 28 world premiere program destined to be a collectible. To see the premiums and participate, visit: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1577742797/most-dangerous-man-in-america-web-dubois-by-amiri .
At the January 15 press event, Khalil Gibran Muhammad, executive director of the Schomburg, spoke glowingly of the historical significance of launching the Kickstarter Campaign at the Schomburg, the largest repository of Black literature and center for research on Black history and culture. “This is an historical moment and we are proud to be a part of it.”
Mr. King graciously acknowledged the significance of the event taking place in the Schomburg’s American Negro Theatre, and reminded media later that one of the goals of ANT, now in its 75th year, was to produce plays that “honestly and with integrity interpreted the concerns of black people.” (The ANT’s original constitution, King later told Our Time Press, drew upon W.E.B.DuBois’ belief that African-American theatre should be by, about, for African Americans.)
On hand to show support was actor, artist and activist Danny Glover, who stated that Baraka was the inspiration behind his becoming an actor and the activist he is today. “When I think about Dr. DuBois, I think about Amiri who I met for the first as a 20-year-old student in 1967 (at San Francisoco State College). We invited him there to develop a community communications program. Amiri talked about the use of art as a means of revolution. It was the beginning of my transformation.” Glover is featured in a moving video clip on the Kickstarter site, along with poet Jessica Care Moore and actor Glynn Turman.)
Also present at the event were Art McFarland, formerly of WABC-TV News, and award-winning actress/producer Petronia Paley, who will portray, respectively, WEB DuBois and the scholar’s second wife, Shirley Graham DuBois.
McFarland’s mellifluous voice filled the room as he spoke of having once been an actor and having dreamed of once again returning to his first love. “Never did I imagine that I would be playing the most iconic man in Black history, or that I would be doing it with one of the most important theatre groups in New York City – or the world – the New Federal Theatre; this is a big jump-start to my dream. Now, the opportunity to work with Petronia Paley is even more awesome.”
Ms. Paley, who had been collaborating with Woodie King for quite some time in bringing this play to the stage, said she was honored to be part of this process and historical moment. Ms. Paley’s background reads like a page from the life of Ms. DuBois. Ms. DuBois was a writer, playwright, composer and activist. And so is Ms. Paley as a modernday renaissance woman of community and regional theatre.
Amsterdam News columnist/journalist and distinguished author Herb Boyd urged the media to read the read Baraka’s script, and offered scholarly comments on the relationship between Du Bois and Baraka, as “dangerous” men, thought leaders who loved humanity and spoke out for equality.
Brooklyn’s beloved actor-activist Ralph Carter engaged the audience in an original song “I’m a Fighter” and spoke of the absolute necessity of the community coming together to support the arts.
Bernice Elizabeth Green, an NFT Board member who served as event host with McFarland, spoke of the broad significance of Woodie King’s effort as a tribute to the legacy of Amiri Baraka. Mr. King is directing, and bringing to life Baraka’s first and his last play. “The Most Dangerous Man in America” set for its world premiere in late spring, follows the presentation of the King-directed February-March presentation of Baraka’s 1964 Obie-winning first play Dutchman.. She noted that is was important to continue celebrations of Baraka, who has contributed so much to culture and community, locally and globally.
The playwright Karima who also is on the staff of the New Federal Theatre and was one of the architects of NFT’s impressive Kickstarter site, offered a humorous lesson on the Kickstarter process through her “Kickstarter for Dummies” spontaneous presentation. She offered instructions to visit www.kickstarter.com ‘s Theater category and navigate to “The Most Dangerous Man in America (WEB DuBois).
In closing, she said, “The mission of Kickstarter is to help creative people — artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers — fund their own creative projects.” And one of the great things about utilizing Kickstarter for this effort is that it raises awareness of the greatness of Amiri Baraka, WEB DuBois, and Black culture, and it also gives the community “ownership” or involvement in the successful production of a legacy event.
A second NFT press event is scheduled to take place in Amiri Baraka’s hometown of Newark, N.J., mid-February.
ABOUT “THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA” (WEB DUBOIS) by Amiri Baraka
Baraka’s last play pinpoints a time in WEB DuBois’ life when, at age 81, he was persecuted by during the days the McCarthy era witch-hunts; anyone who had any independent thought (whatsoever) was branded as being a member of the Communist Party, and therefore an enemy of the US. Among those hauled into Congress and excoriated were DuBois, Paul Robeson and other activist/artists, Black and white. Many lives were ruined during this dark period of American History.
DuBois, a founder of the NAACP, and the organization’s Crisis Magazine, held tight to a life-long mission to actively research what, if anything, Black people could do to extricate themselves from the stranglehold of racism in a post-slavery society.
For additional information, contact www.newfederaltheatre.com or call 212-353-1176 or check them out and like them on FaceBook. Share this news with family and friends, and urge them to go to be an investor and link to history: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1577742797/most-dangerous-man-in-america-web-dubois-by-amiri.
The cover photo of Amiri Baraka writing is credited to C. Danny Dawson.