Our Time PressThe Local Paper with the Global View

By Stephen Witt

The excitement of invention and learning new concepts filled the P.S. 5 Dr. Ronald McNair Elementary School  last Saturday as the Summer Engineering for Kids (SEEK) program, culminated with 300 third- to fifth-graders from throughout Central Brooklyn, presented the solar-powered cars, gravity cruisers and model glider airplanes as they made and competed to see which ones functioned the best.

The national program, which Bed-Stuy’s Magnolia Tree Earth Center piloted last summer in Brooklyn with 20 students, is part of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) initiative to encourage African-American youth to enter the field of engineering.

The free three-week program, led by NSBE engineering students and technical professionals from across the country, utilized a hands-on design curriculum developed by SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers). The student participants worked in teams using their knowledge to solve problems and create products while discovering the underlying math and science principles involved in the processes.

“I don’t know how to express my joy of what this program did in the last three weeks, “ said Bed-Stuy resident Patrika Wellington, whose eight-year-old grandson, Eric Frias, participated in the program. “He (Eric) really got into it. Every week he had to learn ten vocabulary words and their meaning such as aerodynamics, and he was acing these words he never saw before.”

Also in attendance at the event were top educators and civic leaders such as legendary African-American educator and New York State Education Department Board of Regents member Dr. Lester Young, who noted there is a crisis in New York for male children of color where only 12 percent meet the state standard of education going into ninth grade.

“If youngsters go into the ninth grade like this many will never see the 11th grade,” he said, adding the answer is programs like SEEK that engages kids at the elementary school level.

“I don’t know why we can’t have a movement like this where we get mentors in every school,” he said.

McNair Elementary School Principal Lena Scarborough-Gates said the summer program had a big impact on Bed-Stuy in that it demonstrated to the community that these kinds of programs – even in the middle of the summer – can work. She said the city’s Department of Education knew about it and hopes they will both publicize and fund it better in the future.

“A lot of times when positive things happen in the community it goes unnoticed,” she said.

Magnolia Tree Earth Center Executive Director Beverly Johnson suggested the program be launched across the city and not just in the summer.

“When you get students’ interest peeked you can’t just stop,” she said, adding that a lot more funding is needed.

A good part of the program’s success was due to the many student mentors from around the country such as Christina Chisholm from Columbia, South Carolina who is a mechanical engineering major at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

“I love giving back to my community and to teach them something about engineering because I know when I was a little kid I didn’t even know what engineering was,” said Chisholm.

The real winners in the program, though, were the young students, whose minds were challenged in a fun learning experience.

“My favorite thing was getting the plane to fly and seeing what the problems were and getting it right,” said Darius Wagner, who will be going into the third grade at Excellence Boys School.

By Aissatou Diallo

By looking at the workers behind the counter at the McDonald’s on Linden Boulevard on a regular Sunday afternoon, one may think that only teens hold jobs in the fast-food industry. But only 18.6% of fast-food jobs are held by teens in Brooklyn right now, according to the New York State Department of Labor.

And to the patrons in East New York, the call to increase the pay rate for fast-food workers might seem ridiculous: Why should teens earn $15 an hour to flip burgers?

The shifting demographic of fast-food employees is an underlying reality in the debate to increase the federal hourly minimum wage from the current rate of $7.25. Through the efforts of the National Fast Food Forward campaign, which is working to create a living wage for all restaurant workers, the public face of fast food is changing.

Instead of teens at the fryer, the public is hearing about immigrant parents and graduates trying to pay off loans or supplement another job. But that doesn’t mean teens are any less affected by the issue.

“The growing low-wage economy is a problem that teens will inherit as they join the workforce,” said Jonathan Westin, executive director of New York Communities for Change and director of Fast Food Forward. “The bulk of the job growth since the recession has been in low-wage sectors like fast food. Increasing wages in the fast-food industry will help grow the economy, which will help teen and adult workers alike.”

Low pay was the main reason Brittny (correct spelling) Sobers, 18, quit her job at McDonald’s after a few months. “I literally worked many hard hours, through rude customers, rude employees for little pay,” said the recent Benjamin Banneker Academy graduate. “It was ridiculous. It was like a legal sweatshop.”

The Fast Food Forward campaign is supported by workers’ groups and has received millions of dollars from the Service Employees International Union(SEIU)  in its goal to raise the federal minimum wage. What began in New York City eight months ago has quickly spread to cities like Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, where hundreds of fast-food workers are walking off their jobs, demanding higher wages and union recognition.

“I would [be] working now, instead of being jobless. . .but that 7.25 an hour wasn’t cuttin’ it,” said Sobers, who was saving up to pay for her senior activities.

But not all teens are siding with Sobers on the issue.

“It’s unfortunate that they’re not making enough money,” said Jacob Kessler, 18, an incoming freshman at Hunter College, “but expecting these businesses to double the salary of every single employee could actually end up hurting the fast-food chains and could cause them to lay off workers who they are currently able to hire.”

The unemployment rate for teenagers 16 through 19 is at 24.2 percent, compared to the 7.6 percent unemployment rate for adults. The median age of fast-food workers is 28, according to Westin.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to push a button,” said Ashanna McKenzie,18, who is starting her first year at Syracuse University this month. “I don’t think it (the pay) should be raised. McDonald’s is not a permanent job. People are making it into that and the payroll should not reflect that. The work you do determines the pay.”

To Fast Food Nation, the work is worth $15 an hour.

All workers – teens and adults – deserve “the right to form a union without retaliation,” said Westin.

Although fast-food workers still want better wages and union recognition, New York Communities for Change says there are no future strikes being planned currently.

Screenings:  Five on the Black Hand Side at 2p; The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 at 7p.

As part of an ongoing effort to raise funds for the True South bookstore founded by the ailing Brother Brown, Friends of True South are hosting a limited-run Legacy Film Series.

Popular full length features and documentaries, short films and videos, works in progress by established and emerging filmmakers will be screened at True South, consecutive Sundays at 2:00pm and 7:00pm, beginning August 11 (492 Nostrand Avenue/near Halsey Street, in Brooklyn*).  Donation is $5.00 for each session.

On Sunday (11):

At 2pm, the 1973 comedy Five on the Black Hand Side, directed by Oscar Williams from a script by Charlie L. Russell and starring Godfrey Cambridge, Clarice Taylor, will be presented.

At 7pm, The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, at 7pm.  Swedish filmmaker Goran Hugo Olsson’s film samples powerful voices from the 1960s and 1970s and injects contemporary commentary from older people who were involved with the movement and younger people (including Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, and Questlove) whose lives were changed by it.

“Brother Brown is known throughout Brooklyn and beyond for his appreciation and respect for works by and about people of color, including books, art, photographs and film,” says Akua Henderson, a friend of the bookstore. “The Legacy series combines two loves: his keen desire to foster interest in the bookstore as a forum for dialogue and as an open learning center for the presentation of art that reinforces positive or powerfully stunning images of diverse cultures and races.”

In the future, the Legacy Film Series will present such projects as: A Band Called Death, Mo’ Better Blues, The Agronomist, My Brooklyn, Ken Burns and Sarah Burns’ Central Park Five documentary film, Jack Hill’s 1973 classic Coffy played by Pam Grier; short film  by Bed-Stuy filmmakers Shaka King, Cocoa Loco, Herkimer DuFrayne and Bernice Elizabeth Green.  Presentations and time slots will be announced.

For more information, please email brooklynzhb@gmail.com.  See you on Sunday!

By Stephen Witt

As Robert Cornegy, Kirsten John Foy, Rev. Conrad Tillard and Rev. Dr. Robert Waterman head into the final weeks before the Democratic Primary in the race to succeed term-limited Al Vann in the City Council and represent Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and Weeksville, Our Time Press asked the candidates the following question:

How would you as City Councilman plan to strike a balance between welcoming the newcomers to the neighborhood and maintaining the longtime characteristics of the community?

The following are their answers:

Robert Cornegy: “I have a long-standing partnership with the Block and Tenant Associations in the district. They are the official greeters for all newcomers to the area and they make a concerted effort to include all new residents in their associations. One has only to look around the district to see the integration of age, culture and faith to know that they are successful.  As District Leader, I take pride in promoting all aspects of the district, from the cornerstones of our community to newcomers alike. I stand with those who want to see Bed-Stuy continue to thrive and grow.

Rev. Conrad Tillard: “I don’t see a conflict. First of all, one of the great things about great communities is that you always welcome newcomers. In fact, we have a great community and many great pastors, and even I heard Al Vann wasn’t originally from Bed-Stuy. Bed-Stuy also includes people born and raised here and they have great pride.

However, I don’t think newcomers should be recipients of long-term residents being forced out, losing their homes or signing over and selling their homes at a fraction of the cost. So in the past, I pulled together nonprofit organizations like Bridge Street Development and provided education to homeowners and foreclosure assistance. We also need to teach people how to pass their assets from one generation to the next. We also have some very savvy long-term residents that own four or five homes in Bed-Stuy. So we can strike the balance. Both my wife and I are not originally from Bed-Stuy so I can understand a new person wanting to come to Bed-Stuy. However, as a pastor and City Councilman, we must protect and preserve the folks that have been here for a long time.”

Kirsten John Foy: “I will work to ensure we have a community that is united by a mutual respect for the rich character and history of our neighborhoods – Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights and Weeksville – and the sense of community that exists within them.  I will support community events that bring all residents together to celebrate this and contribute to our entire community, and will make sure longtime residents have the ability to remain in our community. To do this, I intend to prioritize the strengthening and expansion of affordable housing for our residents and preserve the  homeownership of longtime residents through property tax relief. Reducing the zero sum game for housing will help avoid potential tension between new residents and our longtime indigenous residents.

Rev. Dr. Robert Waterman:  “When you use the term long-term character and newcomer, are we talking about gentrification? Are we talking about class? Are we talking about income? If so, when you look at Bed-Stuy you don’t have to make adjustments.  If you take Crown Heights, Stuyvesant Heights and Bed-Stuy and block it off you would see it exists today because you face a series of classism, income disparity and even some gentrification  from Crown Heights to Stuyvesant Heights to Bed-Stuy itself.

The balance is in the establishment of relationships. It starts with resident to resident, and through the community board and block associations. The balances in all these relationships are equal. When people have moved into the community we, the people of color, have always been most welcoming no matter who moved in based on income or race.  As City Councilman, you just build relationships. You’re serving the community. You have to serve all people no matter what income bracket they fall in or what race they are because if they live in that community the schools, hospitals and social services is for the community of people who live there.