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Wellsprings of Faith Back to {Sunday} School …

Editor, Our Time Press
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By Bernice Green

Small churches are bringing Sunday School back in full force.  And it’s not necessarily strict religious instruction youngsters are getting.

According to a deacon at the Christian Community Baptist Church, 80 Van Buren St., shepherded by interim Pastor Barry Harris, “its values, focusing, music instruction, reading and so much more, the way it used to be when I was coming up, except we’re listening to the needs of the youth and involving them more”.

Over at The Family Worship Upper Room Baptist Church, 180 Van Buren, teens are taking the lead and through leadership instruction,  expanding their creativity.  They’ve formed a theatrical group, New Praiz Youth; have a phenomenal girls quartette that rivals – and betters — Destiny’s Child of years gone; and they organize their own programs under the leadership of a poised junior deaconess.  At last Sunday’s Youth Service, New Praiz performed an original production of “He’ll Do It Again” and presented a message from a young guest preacher, Jamal Brantley.

At Crossover Baptist Church, 358 Kosciuszko Street at Marcus Garvey Blvd, Rev. Garland Harrison, Sr., pastor and founder, an actual children’s church is led by a young elementary schoolteacher, Lakiesha Johnson, in the brightly lit community room.  The pastor’s assistant, Lillian Hopkins, says there are about 30 children ranging in age from 3 to 13, enrolled, and the children receive light breakfast and lunch snacks.   The Bible readings are designed to encourage vocabulary enrichment, discussion, presentations, arts & crafts and music.  The hours are 11:30am to 1:00 pm, about the same time adult church is going on upstairs, and the children are not required to go up and sit in the service.

There aren’t too many resources for parents seeking tutorial assistance for their school-age children during the week, but there is an option for parental support on Sundays.  And that’s a good thing.

Wellsprings of Faith will highlight other churches in the area that are dedicated to working with our youth throughout the year.

For information about our upcoming new Sunday School directory and other Our Time Press projects related to young people, call Lauren Cullins, Youth Central: Wellsprings of Faith, 718-559-6828.  (All photos and text by Bernice Green.)

East New York Candidate Forum Disrupted by Candidate

Mary Alice Miller
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By Mary Alice Miller

Groups of supporters and community residents filled seats to support their favorite candidate at a 42nd District candidate forum hosted by United Community Centers. Confirmed candidates Chris Banks, Inez Barron, Prince Lewis, Nikki Lucas and Regina Powell took turns battling to make their case while delivering biting remarks at each other. 

The candidates were questioned on salary disparities between early childhood and K-12 teachers, vacant spaces vs. development, participatory budgeting, public schools vs. charter schools, youth and seniors, stop-and-frisk, ESL for immigrants, and unemployment.

As they were answering questions, candidate John Whitehead entered, stood cross-armed and glared. One of his supporters in the audience interrupted, asking “Are you going to let him speak?” During a question about participatory budgeting, Assemblywoman Barron used her time to advocate that Whitehead be allowed to join the forum.

At that point, Whitehead stood between the candidates and the audience demanding to be heard. He then directly confronted the forum organizers who revealed that Whitehead was contacted and invited to participate, but had declined, citing he did not like the format. Whitehead continued to demand that he be allowed to participate. When forum organizers relented and promised a chance to address the audience, Whitehead declined and stormed out with his supporters trailing behind him.

The assemblywoman never did get the opportunity to express her views on participatory budgeting.

Banks said ENY is oversaturated with shelters and needs development of state-of-the-art youth and senior centers. Lewis said ENY needs a 5-year plan for affordable housing, business development, jobs, and community centers, but didn’t say he has one. “Once shelters and affordable housing  are built we complain,” said Lucas. “But this land had been sitting there for 40 years and we haven’t addressed it.”

On unemployment in the district, Lewis said there are no adult education programs such as carpenter, electrician, CDL in ENY like there are in Red Hook and Bed-Stuy. He would make ENY an empowerment zone by giving existing businesses tax breaks to hire and train. Lewis noted the “Chinese restaurants, the bodegas, the Mammas Fried Chicken. Don’t nobody who looks like me work there.”

Powell agreed with Lewis, saying that there are times she goes into stores and wonder, “Where’s the people who look like me?” She recommends Second Chance programs to help the formerly  incarcerated get employment.

Barron said construction of Gateway ll is underway that will create not only construction jobs now,  but permanent jobs for the future.

Lucas named programs available to help with reentry and job readiness. “The problem is being able to access it and the information getting out,” she said. Lucas said the city should hire local college students who would invest in their own community instead of someone from “West Wherever” who make their money here then take it back out and spend among themselves.

Kings County Politics (KCP)

Stephen Witt
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By Stephen Witt

 

Councilman Charles Barron

Canarsie’s Old Boys Club

Political pundits pummeling former Kings County Democratic boss Vito Lopez might do well to turn their pens toward new Kings County Democratic boss Frank Seddio.

A case in point is the 46th District City Council race where Seddio’s former chief of staff and heir to his old Assembly seat, Alan Maisel, is facing Mercedes Narcisse, a Haitian-American, longtime community activist, business owner, registered nurse and mother of five children.

The district has a slight Caribbean- and African-American majority because of a strong black migration to Canarsie and Flatlands in recent years,  but also includes the white enclaves of Mill Basin, Bergen Beach and Gerritsen Beach – neighborhoods that aren’t as touchy-feely when it comes to race relations as the more liberal northern brethren such as Park Slope and Fort Greene.

Narcisse has raised more money than Maisel ($84,946 to $79,351) and knows the politics of the district having been a past member of Seddio’s powerful Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club and past president of current term-limited City Councilman Lew Fidler’s 41st Assembly District Democratic Club.

Nevertheless, Fidler is backing Maisel and many think Fidler is looking to swap seats with him should Maisel win, much as he did recently in trying to get former State Sen. Carl Kruger’s seat after Kruger went to jail on felony corruption charges. Interestingly, Fidler lost that special Senate election to Republican Russian-American David Storobin.

But despite a long working relationship with all three men, Narcisse has found herself the odd woman out of political grace.

“This is the way they’ve done business for many years,” said Narcisse. “It’s an old boys club. They switch seats whenever it’s convenient to switch seats. For many years, there’s never been an open process. They intimidate people.”

Despite the Southern Brooklyn version of the “three men in a room”, Narcisse is well-organized, has the support of mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio and could buck the entrenched system to bring a new progressive voice to the district.

But it won’t be easy, especially with the political action committee Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) pumping $120,000 in independent expenditure mailings in support of Maisel. The REBNY money comes from some of the city’s largest developers and they have spent more than $1 million in several council races, but this is the most they’ve spent on any one race.

One could speculate why REBNY is so interested in this race and the reasons may include the district having amongst the highest rate of homes in or near foreclosure, and that much of the district remains eligible for millions of dollars in federal renovation aid stemming from Hurricane Sandy.

Maisel spokesperson Lenny Markh said Maisel is against the Citizens United Supreme Court case which allows PAC independent expenditures, but he refused to answer any questions regarding the REBNY money spent on his behalf.

 

Battle brews amongst
Russian-Americans for Council seat

Just 20 years after immigrating from Belarus, 48th District City Council candidate Ari Kagan’s political star is clearly on the rise. Last year, he bested longtime incumbent Mike Geller to become the area’s Democratic Assembly District Leader, and this year he’s the strong front-runner to win term-limited Mike Nelson’s seat.

The district includes Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach, Sheepshead Bay and the Russian end of Coney Island and Midwood.

Thus far, Kagan has garnered strong union support and the endorsements of the borough’s top political officials including Kings County Democratic Party boss Frank Seddio, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, soon-to-be Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and local Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny.

But in part, Kagan’s institutional support in the primary also comes from the strong belief that he is the only candidate that can beat former Republican State Senator David Storobin, also a Jewish Russian-American immigrant who is running in the November general election in a contest where a majority of voters are Russian-speaking.

 

Hakeem’s Support

Freshman Congressman Hakeem Jeffries is throwing his support and endorsements behind several Brooklyn City Council candidates running in his 8th Congressional District. But in several others he is notably standing on the sidelines.

His endorsements include Laurie Cumbo in the 35th District covering Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Prospect Heights; Ari Kagan in the 48th District covering Brighton Beach, Sheepshead Bay and Manhattan Beach; Mark Treyger in the 47th District covering Coney Island; and Christopher Banks in the 42nd District covering Brownsville.

According to Jeffries spokesperson Lupe Todd, he will not make endorsements in the 36th Council race where Robert Cornegy, Conrad Tillard, Robert Waterman and Kirsten John Foy are vying to replace term-limited Al Vann in Bedford-Stuyvesant or the 46th District race where Alan Maisel and Mercedes Narcisse are vying to replace term-limited Lew Fidler in Canarsie, Flatlands, Gerritsen Beach, Marine Park, Bergen Beach and Mill Basin.

The KCP thinking is Jeffries is staying out of the 36th District race even though Cornegy’s Vanguard Independent Democratic Association was the first major political club to endorse him because Foy has a lot of the institutional progressives backing him such as Bill de Blasio, and he will need their support when he runs for reelection next year.

Similarly, Jeffries is staying out of the Maisel-Narcisse race because Kings County Democratic Party boss Frank Seddio is backing Maisel, who is white against Narcisse, who is Haitian-American in a district that is slightly more black.

Jeffries’ own 8th Congressional District also has a slight black majority, and Jeffries could be vulnerable without Seddio’s support, especially since Russian-American immigrants in the district have a strong voting bloc.

Hungry For More!

Eddie Castro
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It is truly amazing how time flies as New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning prepares for his 10th NFL season. It has also been 10 years since coach Tom Coughlin took over for former head coach Jim Fassel.  Manning and the Giants go into the 2013 campaign with probably one of the most prolific offenses they have put together in some time. If key players are able to stay healthy, this current Giants team can very well compete for yet another Lombardi Trophy.  Although they are in what many say is the toughest division in the entire NFL, let alone the NFC conference, Manning has the potential to put up better numbers than he did last year. In 2012, Manning threw for 3,948 yards with only 26 touchdowns to go along with 15 interceptions. Those numbers ranked him 10th in the league amongst quarterbacks.

Although this season seems like a promising one for the “G-men”, there are a few concerns and weaknesses that have been exposed in just a couple of preseason games played this year. Their offensive line looks a bit shaky at times and that doesn’t benefit Manning at all. Their secondary looks suspect as well.  Safety Kenny Phillips is no longer with the team and last year’s standout on defense, Stevie Brown, reportedly tore his ACL this past Saturday against the Jets and he will miss the entire season.  Defensive end O.C. Umenyiora signed with the Atlanta Falcons during the off-season, Jason Pierre-Paul is coming off back surgery and there’s no telling when he’ll be back on the field. Still, if you ask Manning what he thinks about the pros and cons with his team, he’ll tell you that he is “locked and ready” in his quest for a 3rd championship ring.

In order for that to happen, Manning needs his fellow buddies to be productive just as they were most of last year. After a contract dispute with the Giants organization, the “Salsa man” Victor Cruz re-signed with the team for 6 years, worth a little more than $45 million dollars, making him one of the highest-paid receivers in football.  Wide receiver Hakeem Nicks is entering a contract year with the Giants but he is not expected to get a deal as similar as Cruz’s due to his age and injury-prone seasons. However you slice ‘n dice it, the duo of Cruz and Nicks on the field at the same time signals trouble for a lot of teams. Both receivers have the potential of being as dangerous as Randy Moss and Chris Carter were for the Vikings back in the 90’s. Let’s not forget their 3rd-string receiver,  Rueben Randle. He can take the load off of Cruz and Nicks and be productive himself. As for the running back situation, Ahmad Bradshaw has signed with the Colts, leaving the starting job for young David Wilson, who has the capability to be a star running back in the league.  He and Andre Brown can be a dynamic two-headed monster for the G-men.  There are nearly 2 weeks left for the NFL kickoff. Can Eli lead the Giants to the promise land? Or will it be yet another midseason meldown? The road to the Super Bowl begins week 1 on September 8 against division rival  Dallas Cowboys.

Sports Notes: (Football) Two weeks away for the upcoming 2013 NFL campaign.  (Baseball) The Yankees are looking to scratch ‘n crawl their way into the playoffs by clinching a wild card berth. The team heads back home to play the Baltimore Orioles in a crucial 3-game series. Yet another major injury to the Mets as pitching phenom Matt Harvey was diagnosed with a torn UCL in his pitching elbow. Harvey will perhaps require surgery and will be out for the rest of the season. There is no timetable for his recovery or his return at this time.

Children Learn What They Live – Teaching Afrocentric Values On The Home Front

Aminisha Black
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By: Aminisha Black

The major cultural difference  between  Afrocentrism and Eurocentrism is “we” vs. “I”.  Seeing the world and assessing actions based on what furthers  the goal of the  group  rather than merely agreeing with an individual regardless of their status.

Capitalism is the outgrowth of Eurocentric’s individualism.  A few profit from the labor of many.  Profit takes precedence over human needs and nurturance.  The ethos “survival of the fittest” lends itself to a climate of “dog eat dog”.  Status and titles are fought over when man created games of scarcity and something is more important than something else.

Relationships, the highest-held value in African culture, deteriorate within such a climate.  Education becomes more and more about training to fulfill corporate needs and less about highlighting and fulfilling human needs.  Problems are not solved, rather businesses are created to handle the problems at a profit of course.   Media says “you are the labels of your clothes and the sum of the widgets you own.  Our youngsters respond by robbing  for the widgets and taking each other’s lives.

Our job as parents, family and community is to make the home, community and world a more nurturing and humane place for our children and grandchildren.  Reclaiming the Afrocentric value system in which every child and person is valued and given a name that reminded  the child and the village the gift that the child/adult brought to the village.  That alone provided a base of self-esteem, a relationship between the village and the newborn. Feeling accepted and appreciated sets the tone for the child to explore the gifts he or she is born with.  We adults and our offspring desperately need that today.       With “stop-and-frisk”, the school-to-prison pipeline, the numbers of our children being murdered and killing each other is a call to action.  And the action spoken of here is routed in the home.  So whatever age the child is, there are needs  that  caretakers must provide so  that the child reaches adulthood with a healthy sense of purpose and contributes to self, family, home and community.  Our families are really up to us.

Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs”  lists the needs and the Parents Notebook invites its readers to share the actions they find to be successful in producing the results – children with high self-esteem, children who give the impression “I can do this”.  At the base of the hierarchy is 1. Physiological needs (air, water, food) ; 2. Security (need for safety, order and freedom from fear or threat).  While kindergarten is mandatory in New York and the child can enter if reaching five by December 31st of the school year, the school offers academics but parents must be responsible for the physical and emotional health of their child.  In many schools mayhem  reigns  with staff  consumed with emotional  pressures, so caring for one’s child must include parent involvement in the school but with the commitment to your child’s emotional and intellectual growth – not test scores which are manipulative.  And rating your child’s school should be based on the curriculum and the staff’s ability to nurture the child’s self-esteem and self-confidence. Back to the “Hierarchy of Needs”: 3. Social  (need for love, affection, human contact and a sense of belongingness.  This is a major need and parents and family are the ones responsible for seeing that the child receives it.  Clothes, toys and other objects will not make up for emotional neediness. 4. Esteem includes the need for self-respect, self-esteem, achievement and respect from others.  5. Self-actualization includes the need to grow to feel fulfilled, to realize one’s potential.

That is the road map we must follow to rescue and liberate our children.  Once we dedicate ourselves as a community to raise all our children with those needs met, we will have earned the title of a freed people and released the energy of our children to change the conditions in our homes and save their own lives.

****Islamic Circle North America’s Annual Backpack Giveaway:  There will be 5,000 backpacks filled with school supplies to NYC school children.  Listed below are Brooklyn sites.  For more information and other sites visit: www CNA.org.

** Sat., Aug. 31: 1- 3 pm – Masjid Taqwa, 1266 Bedford Ave.; **Sun., Sept. 1: 12 – 2 pm – ICNA Bklyn Community Center, 865 Coney Island Ave.

**The Parent’s Notebook will feature a problem-solving Q & A for parents of students in public school.  Send your problem to parentsnotebook@yahoo.com and our power parent, Sis. Earline Mensah, has agreed to answer all, sharing it in the column.  More on Sis. Earline next time.

 

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