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President Obama’s State of the Union Address Highlights the Economy, Climate Change, Gun Violence, Immigration and Ending the War in Afghanistan

David Mark Greaves
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In his State of the Union address to the nation Tuesday evening, President Obama spoke of the agenda items that would define his second term: an improved economy, universal preschool, tax credits for scientific research and development, increasing the minimum wage, ending the war in Afghanistan and facing the problem of climate change by speeding “the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.”

He spoke directly to his various supporting voting blocks, 55% women 72% Hispanic, 90% Gay, but African-Americans, who gave him 95% of their vote, had to read between the lines this is the tide that’s coming and you’d better be getting your boats ready. That means demanding and creating initiatives to reduce joblessness by encouraging entrepreneurship, reduce crime by investing in education and childcare, and reduce gun violence in our cities by dealing with societal causes.

The problem with the debate on gun violence, is that it’s only addressing the easy part, how to control the tool being used to express the rage and despair that comes with poverty, hopelessness, and the particular history of Africans-in-America. If that history and its current manifestations are not faced and specifically addressed, then we will be condemning our children and grandchildren to be left to march and raise their voices to “We Shall Overcome” and that will be a damn shame.

There is no choice but to work forcefully with the initiatives proposed by the President for the slice of the pie that will create jobs and businesses in our communities, that will intensively educate and heal our youth and propel them into the next century armed with critical skills and awareness of where they are in history, how these circumstances came to be, and from that draw the strength to keep them upright and determined in our continuing journey here in the Americas.

Christine Quinn’s State of the City: Working Class, Poor Not Welcome

Mary Alice Miller
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Speaker of NYC City Council

By Mary Alice Miller
Mayoral candidate Christine Quinn’s last State of the City (SOTC) Address as Council Speaker was stunning in its vision for a New York in which middle class is defined as those who earn household incomes between 100 percent and 300 percent of area median income (AMI). The Census American Community Survey (ACS) for 2011 found the median household income for New York City was $55,000, and the median family income $66,800. But the city’s per capita income is $30,600. For New Yorkers earning less than even the AMI, Quinn was not talking to you.

Quinn’s SOTC Address outlined broad policy prescriptions for those NYers earning up to at least $150,000 (100-300 percent of AMI). Commensurate with her address, Quinn released a report called “The Middle Class Squeeze”, which outlined challenges for the city’s dwindling middle class including unemployment and NY’s high cost of living.

The Speaker’s solutions include building 40,000 new middle-income affordable apartments over the next ten years. Contrast that number with the mere 4,000 new units of low-income housing purportedly already being produced.

Quinn lamented the annual loss of thousands of middle income Mitchell-Lama housing due to the 20-year sunset of affordability requirements. Her solution is a proposed Permanent Affordability Act which would give building owners a new tax exemption capping their property taxes at a certain percent of their income while requiring they keep units affordable. The caveat is a power to renew every 30 years, provided the buildings remain standing.

Speaker Quinn proposes to turn existing market-rate housing into affordable units. How? By capping property taxes to a fixed percent of building rental income.

To address the numbers of foreclosed buildings, Quinn proposed a Distressed Housing Preservation Fund so that the city can buy these overleveraged at-risk buildings before they go to auction. Repairs would be made before the city transfers the properties to approved developers who would keep the buildings affordable and in good condition.

Quinn referenced the homeless by stating she is “currently suing the Bloomberg Administration to stop policies that make it harder for homeless New Yorkers to access shelter”. What she did not mention is the homeless would not be negatively impacted by Bloomberg’s policies if she had not overturned two referendum and millions of voters who did not want a third term for Bloomberg or her. Nor did she address the growing income inequality that occurred under Bloomberg’s oligarchy.

Quinn wants to extend a Middle Class Child Care Tax Credit from those who make less than $30,000 to those earning up to $150,000.

In a pander to immigrant communities, Quinn acknowledged undocumented immigrants who’ve taken “off the books” jobs that pay less than minimum wage without addressing “off the books” work or the business owners who pay less than minimum wage. Her solution for undocumented immigrants is “the creation of a new $13 million fund that will allow us to provide a seat in an adult ed program for every last one of these young New Yorkers” available in a wide range of languages. Here, Quinn did not mention that one of the first things Bloomberg did after his election to a third term was to cut education and language services for immigrants.

Quinn’s SOTC Address was widely viewed as a campaign stump speech. The mayoral hopeful has carved out her base of support: the middle class, the real estate lobby and immigrants.

Everybody else remembers Quinn’s slush fund scandal, overturning term limits, serving as Bloomberg’s rubber stamp, controlling the city’s legislative process via withholding Council discretionary funds, campaign finance violations, as well as human rights and animal protection abuses. And who could forget that in Quinn’s very own district, she allowed gross mismanagement which led to the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital for the benefit of real estate interests.

Quinn is counting votes, and the poor and working class of the city are not among them.

MEC FORUM: Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act to be Argued in Supreme Court

Editor, Our Time Press
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Prof. Major Owens, a former Congressman and Senior Fellow, DuBois- Bunche Center for Public Policy; Prof. Roger Green, Executive Director, DuBois-Bunche Center; Prof. Janai Nelson, Esq., St. John’s University Law School and daughter, Ms. Nandia Nelson; Prof. Esmeralda Simmons, Esq., Founder and Executive Director, Center for Law and Social Justice; Ms. Camille McIntosh, President, MEC Society For Public. Admin.; Dr. John Flateau, Professor and Chair, Dept. Public Administration and Senior Fellow, DuBois Bunche Center; and Richard Jones, Jr., Executive Dean of Accreditation and Quality Assurance. Photo: Nathaniel Adams

By David Mark Greaves with Nathaniel Adams

“One of the most important cases facing this generation will be Shelby County v Holder, which will be heard before the Supreme Court on February 27th,” said Janai Nelson, Assistant Professor at St. John’s University School of Law and the Assistant Director of the Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development.
She was at the Medgar Evers College Black History Month Forum on voting rights and the dangers faced today. “The Voting Rights Act helped to create districts that enabled African-Americans to be elected into offices,” said Ms. Nelson, and it gave “different constituents the experience of leadership on the part of African-Americans which created a climate that allowed for the election of Barack Obama. It also helped to ensure that African-Americans and other minorities were being registered, that they had the opportunity to become politically active and to have their vote weighed in a way that was empowering and meaningful”.
Section 5 of the Act ensures that any changes to voting procedures in areas covered by the Act, as determined by now-decades-old formulas, have to be first cleared by the federal government.
At the time of the last ruling Chief Justice Roberts wrote, “Whether conditions continue to justify such legislation is a difficult constitutional question we do not answer today”.
Regarding today’s conditions, Prof. Simmons said, “In 2008 36 states tried to suppress Black and Latino votes. Those laws were beaten back,” said Esmeralda Simmons, but with the Shelby County v Holder case to be heard by the Supreme Court, that ability is in jeopardy. “Section 5 is the strongest section of the Voting Rights Act and people must stay vigilant. The cost of freedom is eternal vigilance.” So it’s important we do everything we can to protect this important aspect of the Voting Rights Act, Section 5,” said Professor Nelson, “because it has done so much to transform the face of American democracy and I fear to see what it will look like without Section 5.”
Prof. Roger Green added, “There was a clear attempt on the part of some forces in both the Republican Party and from the extreme Right to suppress African-American turnout and other people of color. What is empowering is that in spite of these attempts Obama’s election demonstrated that a coalition of African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, East Indians demonstrates that the governing coalition, in the context of the Democratic Party and for the nation, happens to be people of color.”
Green went on to say he was heartened to see the turnout of young people on the voting rights issue and that many MEC students will be going down to Washington to witness the arguments. “Students have taken this to heart, particularly since Medgar Evers was assassinated trying to register African-Americans to vote.”
John Flateau, Professor of Public Administration at Medgar Evers College and a voting rights strategist, said the forum brought together nationally known civil rights attorneys and student leadership to talk about “the pending challenge to the Voting Rights Act, voter suppression tactics”, the new laws being imposed in jurisdictions around the country and “how some of those tactics were used in the 2012 presidential election to slow down voters of color in places like Ohio and Florida”. We must remain vigilant as a community and as our student leader on the panel, Camille McIntosh, said, we must encourage our young people to learn more about the political process and to exercise their right to vote.

MEC NOTE:
In partnership with the Office of the Brooklyn DA Charles J. Hynes, Medgar Evers College’s Partnership for Racial Justice will present a two-day symposium on Thursday, February 14 at 1150 Carroll St. Gymnasium from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Friday, February 15 from, 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at 1650 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn. Speakers include Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, former New York State Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye and New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott. MEC School of Business Dean Dr. Byron Price, author of the forthcoming A Lesson Plan for Failure: Educational Malpractice and the School-to-Prison Pipeline Connection is among the featured panelists.

Rev. Clarence Norman, Sr. Commemorates 60 Years Pastoring First Baptist Church

Mary Alice Miller
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First Baptist Church is proudly commemorating 60 years of the continuous pastoral leadership of its founding minister, Rev. Clarence Norman, Sr. “I think it’s the greatest blessing a minister can have to be able to spend his entire ministry, his entire career, with the same congregation,” said Rev. Norman. “It is only through the goodness of the Lord that I’ve been able to do it. I have had a wonderful journey. Life has been good to me.”
While a student at Wilberforce University in 1953, Rev. Norman said he came home for Christmas and was met by a group who wanted to start a church. “I agreed to work with them to get the church started, and said I would stay with them for one year,” he said. “I stayed a second year, then a third year. And that turned into 60 years.”

Back when First Baptist was formed, Rev. Norman said it was easier for a new church start-up because a storefront could be rented for $100, something he said can’t be done now. The church started with 20 people and within three months had a congregation of 100. “Our church grew very rapidly. People were in the mood at that time. We started in Williamsburg at 122 Throop Ave,” said Rev. Norman. “It was a churchgoing community.”
First Baptist is known for its strong community activities. “We determined at the very beginning that First Baptist would have what I call a secular ministry, a ministry that addresses itself to the needs of people here and now, as well as in the afterlife,” said Rev. Norman. “We organized a local development corporation (LDC) in 1987, the community arm of the First Baptist Church. The LDC is involved in housing, social service programs and educational programs. We have been able to become involved in the rehabilitation of more than 20 buildings here in the Crown Heights area. We have three senior citizens buildings. And we have one home for people with special needs.”

Along the way, First Baptist has had congregants who aspired to political office. “If they were qualified people and good people, we tried to help them. We organized politically right in the community back in 1973-74. We supported candidates. That’s how Clarence got started,” said Rev. Norman, referring to his son, former Assemblyman and Brooklyn County Leader Clarence Norman, Jr.

“Judges didn’t come and join First Baptist,” Rev. Norman said. “We were able to help make our own judges.”
“One of the greatest blessings of my life is my family. I have a wife, two sons, three daughters and 11 grandchildren,” Rev. Norman said. “That’s the joy of my life, and I share that with our congregation.” Rev. Norman said the church puts great emphasis on the responsibility of men. “First Baptist has a large amount of men, because we speak to the men. We try to make men aware of their responsibility as men, as husbands, as fathers,” he said.

“We don’t have a nursery at First Baptist. We want our babies, our children to be right in service,” Rev. Norman said. “If they cry, I try to preach a little louder than they are. That’s all.”

“The church, to me, should be the hub around which the Black community revolves. Nothing positive or meaningful should go on in the Black community that the church is not involved in,” said Rev. Norman. “The church is the only organization in the Black community that is totally owned and operated by Black folk. If it doesn’t come out of the church, where is it going to come from?”

Assistant Pastor Rev. Daryl Bloodsaw believes it is significant “that one man that God called to speak on his behalf has spent his entire ministry at one location. That almost never happens”. Rev. Bloodsaw added, “It is something for all churches to celebrate.”

“I’ve been blessed because I’ve had good people to work with, people that I have loved through the years, and they’ve loved me,” said Rev. Norman. “It’s been a good journey. I’m 82 years old. If I went to sleep tonight I would have no regrets. I’ve lived a full, meaningful life. I’m a happy man.”

First Baptist Church is celebrating Rev. Norman’s historic milestone with a series of events beginning Feb. 13 — including special preaching services, a banquet and a piano concert — and culminating on May 5, 2013.

Parent's Notebook: Healing Relationships – A Black History Month Project

Aminisha Black
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As quiet as it’s kept, it is our relationship with self and others that make our lives rewarding or “a living hell”. There are countless cases of wealthy and famous people who have fallen victim to various addictions or resolved the conflict by committing suicide. Lack of material possessions was not the culprit – the culprit was lack of relationship which depends on knowledge and acceptance of self which allows freedom to accept differences.

Relationship is the glue that holds families, communities, countries and the world together. Unity as defined today eliminates possible alliances because time and energy is spent on endless debates defending one’s position instead of identifying a common goal and collaborating in whatever ways possible instead of attacking and vilifying them.

The inability of children to have both parents in their lives, family members feuding, anti-social behavior of young adults, youth imprisonment and murders are some issues of relationship. In observing and honoring Black History Month, while remembering that the highest-held African value was relationship which allowed villages to which individuals, families contributed to and were recipients. The strength of these villages stemmed from the practice of infants being given a name based on the reading by the priest. The name became the reminder of what the child’s purpose was to parents and community and particularly the child – incurring expectations and acknowledgements from the village.

In African culture, one which emphasized the “we”, promoting that which is good for the group, the grooming for relationship was built into the very culture. In a Eurocentric culture, which emphasizes the “I” unhealthy competition is bred and the rights of others are sacrificed in order to promote the “I”. While the color of our skin has not changed, I daresay our value system has. Have we stopped to ask what we value? With the energy focused on Child Support in the form of dollars and cents, what attention is given to the child’s emotional needs, the need to have both parents contributing emotionally in their lives?

Research has shown that it takes 21 days of consistent practice to start or end a habit. In honor of our forefathers who endured and survived slavery (the most inhumane practice), let us acknowledge the disruption of our ethnic value system and begin the process of forgiving – starting with self, ex-mates, the other parent, our parents and all relatives. Beginning with self is crucial because if you can’t admit or think of some negative act, there’s extra help needed. Our children have inherited the remnants of our foreparents’ pain and ours. We can really make a giant leap towards reviving relationships in our homes and communities…one person at a time.

Our existence depends on our redefining success to mean our ability to be in nurturing and cooperative relationships first with our children. Activity for the week. Take 15 minutes for you and child or children. Provide a sheet of paper for each participant. Headings of two sections – Things I like about………., Things that bug me about….Be sure to stress and model honesty. Have each participant read aloud. Parents make a habit of finding and acknowledging child for some result or act done.
Comments, questions parentsnotebook@yahoo.com.

PN Alerts!!!
*** For a listing of over 50 college scholarships with links send e-mail to parentsnotebook@yahoo.com.

***February 11-17 has been designated Random Acts of Kindness Week, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance. While Teaching Tolerance is geared toward classrooms, many can be adapted for home. To read topics for other weeks of Black History Month and sign up for a free subscription to the newsletter visit – www.tolerance.org.

***March 4th – Applications for public school prekindergarten will be available online at elementary schools and the Department of Education. Children born in 2009 may apply.
*** Assignment for parents – Investigate your child’s school Physical Education program. It appears that city public schools with tight budgets, shared buildings and high-stakes testing are reducing or eliminating Physical Education mandated by state education. Physical well-being is a basic need and depends on diet and exercise. Overhauling systems must include the body. Don’t allow the compromise of our children’s health. For statistics and more information visit www.insideschools.org.

***NYC College Line, a new Web resource provides free city-specific information on the college process.
Available at NYCCollegeLine.org.
***Education Council Selection Process began Feb. 13 and ends March 13. Parents interested in applying to serve on a Citywide or Community Education can apply online or submit a paper application, which can be obtained at the Division of Family and Community Engagement-49 Chambers St., Room 503, Manhattan. Parents can apply online at www.NYCParentLeaders.org

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