Home Blog Page 968

Notable Wins in Local Primary Elections

Mary Alice Miller
-
2

William Boyland, Jr.
Central Brooklyn saw several decisive wins in a state primary noted for low-voter turnout and some confusion regarding polling sites post-redistricting. Walter Mosley won handily the open seat vacated by Democratic Congressional candidate Hakeem Jeffries. Nick Perry, Inez Barron and William Boyland, Jr. fought back challengers. Rodneyse Bichotte, Inez Barron, Robert Cornegy and William Boyland won reelection to their respective District Leader positions. Councilman Charles Barron is the newly elected Male District Leader for East New York.

In the 57th AD, Walter Mosley swept Olanike Alabi for the Assembly seat 2-to-1 in a hotly contested race between the two 57th AD District Leaders. “I promise to be your voice in Albany,” Mosley said on election night. “I look forward to working with my sister, Tish James, in City Hall and my brother, Hakeem Jeffries, in Congress. Together, as a progressive trifecta, we will work for you and fight for the 57th Assembly District.” Endorsements from congressman-to-be Hakeem Jeffries who successfully selected his successor and Councilwoman Letitia James were no match for the Alabi campaign. Mosley won with 63% against Alabi (30%) and former DOE Chief Parent Officer Martine Guerrier (7%).

Renee Collymore won the 57th AD Female District Leader seat for the first time after a previous bungled attempt in which elements of her personal life became campaign fodder. “As the new Female District Leader, I promise to work as hard as I can to assist as many groups and individual people as possible. I will always make sure that I am there for you,” Collymore said. “I thank you all because this could not have been done without you.” With 42% of the vote, Collymore beat former union president Faryce “Faye” Moore (28%) and newcomer Wendy Washington (30%). Alabi’s endorsement of Moore for Alabi’s former Female District Leader seat did not help when all momentum went to Mosley and anyone affiliated with his campaign.
Rodneyse Bichotte lost her bid (32-68%) for the 42nd Assembly seat to Rhoda Jacobs who has represented the district since 1978. There have been several attempts to unseat Jacobs over the years in the 85% Haitian/Jamaican district, usually with 2 or more contenders splitting the vote. This year, Bichotte fought for a head-to-head by eliminating a contender whose petitions were deemed fraudulent. Bichotte did retain her Female District Leader seat (66%) against former district leader Mary Hobson (33%), who Bichotte knocked off the ballot 2 years ago. Oddly, Bichotte received more votes for District Leader (2,781) than she did for Assembly (1,778), which would not have overcome Jacobs’ 3,753 votes. If the 42nd AD Haitian majority ever hopes to capture the seat, they will have to learn how to put aside petty divisiveness and consolidate their votes like other groups do.

Nick Perry (58th AD) won reelection by a margin of 2-to-1 after not being challenged for years. Attorney Terry Hinds ran an aggressive campaign, and stepped down from chairing Community Board #17 in order to do so. Una Clarke, matriarch of Brooklyn Caribbean politics, told the crowd at Perry’s victory celebration that though he had not been challenged for several years, she counseled Perry not to worry, “You are going to get some exercise so you remember what it is to campaign.” On primary night Perry was elated, exclaiming, “It’s great to win!” Despite suddenly having what Perry characterized as “some bright, young, adventurous challenger” who boldly located his campaign office directly across the street from Perry’s district office, the assemblyman said, “You can’t win an election against Nick Perry in three months. We are stronger with this victory.” Cory Provost’s second attempt to unseat 58th AD Male District Leader Weyman Carey was successful 54-44%, with the help of Nick Perry, who said that he will personally mentor Provost as part of Brooklyn’s new, young leadership. Melba Brown won reelection to her seat 74-25% against newcomer Pamela Garcia. Provost gave special thanks to “Mr. Perry, who has brought me under his wing”, and Una Clarke for her “guidance, her belief in me and her inspiration.” Perry said, “Cory is a young man with a bright future. He’s going to be mentored. We are going to make good things happen for him. Melba and I have to embrace youth and young people who aspire to public service, and bring them up to be leaders.”

As was widely predicted, indicted 55th Assemblyman William Boyland, Jr. won reelection easily with a mere 37% of the vote against a field of 6 challengers. Tony Herbert (11%) had the most name recognition for his antiviolence and gang mediation work in the streets. Nathan Bradley (12%) is a staffer for state Senator John Sampson and Chair of Community Board #5. Four years ago, he was one of four men who unsuccessfully ran for the Assembly seat that then-first-timer Inez Barron won. It is said Bradley submitted petitions just in case a confluence of legal issues would have prevented Boyland from being on the ballot. (Uncle) Roy Antoine’s umpteenth race garnered 13%. Antoine had no campaign finance filing, at all. Anthony Jones (15%), former driver for Councilwoman Darlene Mealy, somehow teamed up with her campaign for reelection for Female District Leader, which she won by 85% against Maryam Samad (15%). David Miller (6%) thought it was a good idea to repurpose an old beer slogan (It’s Miller’s Time), complete with red eyes on his campaign posters. Twenty-three year old Christopher Durosinmi (5%) simply didn’t have a clue. Boyland also won reelection for Male District Leader with 60% of the vote against a field of three: David Miller (19%), Wesley Hope (13%) and Leonard Hatter (8%).

After spreading themselves too thin in a poorly executed run for congress against Hakeem Jeffries earlier this year, the Barrons have consolidated their power in East New York. Charles Barron won the Male District Leader seat with 58% of the vote. Unseated Earl Williams received 31% and newcomer Kenny McLemore got 10%. Assemblywoman Inez Barron won reelection with 55% of the vote, guaranteeing her third term in a close election (2,847 to 2,280) against Christopher Banks who received 44% of the vote. Inez Barron was also re-elected to Female District Leader with 44% of the vote. Newcomer Nikki Lucas got 32% while former Assemblywoman Diane Gordon lost her comeback bid with 23% of the vote.

Albert Wiltshire, staffer for retiring congressman Ed Towns, challenged 56th AD Male District Leader Robert Cornegy after VIDA chose to endorse Hakeem Jeffries despite a longtime relationship with Towns. Just days before the primary, Wiltshire sent out disrespectful campaign literature asking “What is a Cornegy?” That did not help Wiltshire. Cornegy beat Wiltshire 55-45%, retaining his seat.

The results of the 50th AD Male District Leader race are still undetermined. In a case of “déjà vu all over again”, for the second time reformer Lincoln Restler’s seat will be finalized after a hand-count of 1,000 paper ballots. “This race seemed just about unwinnable, but across the entire district people came out in record numbers for a state committee race,” said Restler. “I am deeply appreciative of the extraordinary volunteer effort that propelled the campaign. Thank you for investing your time, energy and resources in this effort to realize new Brooklyn politics.”

An Election We Must Help Win

David Mark Greaves
-
0

When Willard Mitt Romney first said he didn’t care about poor people, it was taken as an unfortunate gaff, everyone makes them.

But now he has reiterated his statement and thrown in pretty much the rest of America that doesn’t have money like he and his friends. The man keeps trying to pull his guns and they keep firing into his foot. And when told that his foot has been shot, the strangely painless Romney says he meant to do that and fires again.

After a series of these self-inflicted wounds, the latest being criticizing the president at a time of international crisis with a wrong-in-fact argument, and being secretly recorded being dismissive of 47% of the American people because he said, “They don’t pay taxes.”

So now it is clear, the first order of business is to deliver an overwhelming defeat of Mitt and the crushing of Republicans right down the slate. May the Senate be lost for them. Mitt should be left broken and humiliated. His aides discredited and unemployed. His backers shunned. His wife’s hairdresser should not return her calls. His defeat should be the stuff of legend.

After that, there is serious business to attend to. The National Defense Authorization Act, which the Obama Administration is fighting to keep, gives the president the power of indefinite detention of people anyplace in the world, including Americans. These are powers that must not fall into the wrong hands.
In the domestic turmoil that Republican policies would bring, we could see easily see the “national security” threatened by street demonstrators and the Romney/Ryan/Republican crazies acting “decisively.” Good thing Mitt is not going to win, because the police state powers he would have to work with are, given the dismissal of concern for the non-rich by Mitt Romney, truly terrifying.

So one of the first movements must have a twin: one to overturn Citizens United and remove the billionaire’s edge, and the other to prevent the NDAA from being a part of our lives. It will take another four years of pressure, regulation and new appointments to flush the system and make this a country run by the people, not the corporations.

The second “first order of business” is to organize on all the battlefronts we face. One example of action is a national education conference to be held in Chicago this October, an apt location, given the just-concluded war between Mayor Rahm Emmanuel and the teachers union over issues including corporate control of education and the responsibility of the city to bring opportunity and enrichment to young lives.

The conference, “Saving the African-American Child: A Working Summit on Black Education” has as its goal to create a “national Black education agenda” with common strategies to achieve common goals. (This is the kind of conference that the United Federation of Teachers would be well-advised to attend with notepads and take lessons from the Chicago Teachers Union on outreach, democracy, and create a new role for the union in educating the black and brown children of New York.) This is the kind of work that has to be done across the spectrum of our condition.

For African-Americans, there should be no satisfaction with having a black president. We have to make some noise and get our share of commitment. The Hispanic community organized, made noise and they got theirs. The gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer and transgender community organized, made noise and they got theirs. Students organized, made noise and they got theirs. With nation-leading foreclosure, unemployment, imprisonment, and school-failure rates, we have to come together, organize, make noise and get ours. The African-American community cannot allow the hoopla of the “presidential election show” to distract us from the reality of the economic and cultural assaults, and the disintegration taking place right before our eyes. Men old enough to shave wearing pants they always have to pull up and women wearing skirts they have to keep pulling down. Young people not given the tools to compete and lost in digital fantasies, mistaking the power of their phone for their own. Not given the chance to find and express their genius. This is a culture in disrepair. This is not the future that Harriet Tubman risked her life for, to or that the freedom marchers walked toward. This is a future that comes from an enslaved and terrorized past, a future that is a legacy of our tormentors. The other side of the mountain was supposed to be the promised land of freedom, instead we’re looking at a twisted image of the place of bondage we only just left. We cannot let that legacy stand. “Agitate, agitate, agitate,” is how Frederick Douglass put it, and he was right again.

Presidential Debates: Romney’s Last Chance
Going into the debates, Barack Obama is looking like Joe Louis or Muhammad Ali in his prime and Mitt Romney is looking like a guy with a glass jaw. And now his one big chance is to score a series of knockdowns in three debates against the president. I’ve got to tell you, I don’t think Mitt’s got Joe Frazier’s character or skill and I know he doesn’t have his left hook. I can’t wait for the debates so I can sit back and enjoy watching Barack Obama pound on the boy like the “bum of the week” he’s shown himself to be.

Brownsville Community Baptist Church Fights Crime with Jobs

Editor, Our Time Press
-
4

In an effort to combat crime, Brownsville Community Baptist Church hosted a job fair. Reverend Harold Burton said jobs would help lower the rate of violence in our communities because employment would make a person concerned about life. “You see people being shot in the streets, just loafing. They should know that somebody cares,” said Rev. Burton. “This job fair is for the people because we are concerned about helping them.”

A dozen employers received resumes from job seekers who stood in lines stretching outside the church. “We thought we could explain to people how to get a job. A lot of people go looking for a job, and how they look, sometimes the boss turns their head,” said Rev. Burton. “We teach people how to present themselves to get a job.”

Minister Damascus Lee concurred: “I think it is important that the church is hands-on in the community. This job fair is to show folks there is opportunity. If you try, things can happen.” He added, “I think the only way to reduce crime is education and employment. We have a lot of young brothers doing things that are unbecoming to themselves and the community because they feel hopeless, they feel trapped. When a person wakes up in the morning, can dress themselves, have gainful employment, and can put food on their table, that separates them (mentally) from getting caught up in the nonsense out there. Education and employment are the only ways we can change things that are going on in our community.”

Ms. Sharman Blake represents Family Dynamics Young Adult Internship Program, a 14-week paid internship in a variety of placement settings: clerical, health care, day care, maintenance and restaurant positions.
“Some young people who successfully complete the program are placed in jobs. Others prepare themselves to get their GED or go to college,” said Ms. Blake. “In total, we have had a 78% success rate.”

Joe Gibbs, job developer for the Italian-American League, has an 18-week hands-on program for out-of-school young people 16-21 who want to work with major retailers. “Our participants receive a certificate in customer service from the State Federation for Customer Service,” said Mr. Gibbs. “We have a 75% placement rate in a variety of retail positions: stocking shelves, cashier, sales and customer service. We train for all the positions in a store.”
Shawn came to the job fair because he just moved to New York from Texas. He has an associate’s degree in electronics/computer science and multiple professional experiences working in the tech field. “I feel confident that I will find a job,” he said.

A representative from Per Scholas came to the job fair offering free computer networking training and prep for two network certification tests. “Information Technology (IT) is a very profitable industry. There is a lot of opportunity for growth,” he said. “In NYC, there are more IT positions than we have people to fill. In 2013, there will be over 4 million IT jobs nationwide.”

A variety of employers were in attendance. NYPD has daily walk-in testing for the Police Officer Exam 6 days a week in NYC. The NYCHA Resident Training Academy is taking applications for janitorial, construction and pest control training. Others included Quality Staffing and Management, NY Life, Neighborhood Trust, Non-Traditional Employment for Women, Metropolitan Life, and FDNY. Resumes were forwarded to Cablevision and MTA. The Dept. of Social Services and South Brooklyn Housing Association offered support services for job seekers.

“The job fair was designed to bring employers to Brownsville and offer opportunities to the residents of Brownsville and surrounding areas. Brownsville has a roughly 50% unemployment rate and is amongst the highest crime areas in the city,” said Minister Lee. “An event like this is positive news for the community in a summer that has heard mostly bad, and also an opportunity for residents to become gainfully employed.”

Rep. Yvette Clarke Holds Clinic on New Immigrant Policy

Mary Alice Miller
-
0

Less than a month after the Obama Administration implemented Deferred Action – an immigration policy that allows eligible youth the opportunity to obtain employment authorization and deferred action providing temporary relief from deportation or removal proceedings – Representative Yvette Clarke hosted a legal clinic to provide hands-on assistance to almost 100 individuals and family groups who were ready to apply.

Nationally, 70,000 have applied for the two-year deferment and work permits. The first approvals were granted this week.

“I encourage anyone who is DREAM Act-eligible to apply for this program that will give so many young people an opportunity to participate in our civil society,” said Representative Yvette D. Clarke. “I hope employment authorization will be one of the many other benefits that will be granted across the nation.”
Deferred Action – an Executive Order signed by President Obama — was announced on June 15 by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, and took effect August 15.

Last week, 12 attorneys were available to assist applicants of Caribbean and Latino descent at Clarke’s clinic. The New York Immigration Coalition, CAMBA, the NY Legal Assistance Group, Brooklyn Defender Services and the Caribbean Women’s Health Association participated. Applicants were assisted by appointment after obtaining the $465 fee and gathering necessary documents such as school and medical records, which would prove the immigrants are under 31 years old, arrived in the U.S. before age 16, are currently in school or graduated from high school, or have been honorably discharged from the military. They must submit fingerprints and undergo a background check. Applicants will also be assessed for risk to national security, which is part of the regular visa process.

Clarke’s district office has received 300 calls expressing interest. Her office is making ongoing referrals for immigrants who were not yet ready.

In preparation to apply, hundreds packed a town hall at the Founder’s Hall of Medgar Evers College recently: undocumented immigrant youth from the Caribbean, China, Africa, Mexico, South Asia and the Middle East seeking information on Deferred Action. Rep. Yvette Clarke hosted the event with a variety of federal officials to detail the application process.

Images of Hispanic youth waiting in long lines for applications belie the diversity of interest in the program. “There are people of African descent who are also in need of these types of programs and services who are awaiting Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” said Rep. Clarke. “My district goes even beyond that. We have kids who are South Asian, Middle Eastern and they, too are brought here by their parents. They could be from Israel or from Yemen. We’ve got everyone here.” Clarke said they may have become acculturated to the United States and see this as their home because they were raised here. They are also eligible for the program. “We’re trying to get across to every community within the district that this opportunity they should not miss,” she said.

The complete application fee is $465. Rep. Clarke is hoping to enlist nonprofit organizations, religious organizations and corporations for assistance to help pay the fee.

“It is going to be a costly endeavor. We want to see what we can do with the community to be of support. We will be working with some of our community-based organizations, some of our international organizations – social organizations of nationals from other countries that are established here, that do scholarship funds and things of that nature for kids who are going to college — maybe they’ll set some dollars aside to help subsidize these applications,” said Rep. Clarke.

City Teachers Support Striking Colleagues In Chicago

Stephen Witt
-
0

By Stephen Witt
The city’s United Federation of Teachers (UFT) this week sent some solidarity out to their striking brethren in Chicago to the tune of $10,000.

In a unanimous vote, the UFT executive committee wrote the check to the 25,000-member Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), noting that 90 percent of the CTU voted to strike.

According to several reports, the CTU and the administration of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel remain far apart on the issues of teacher evaluations and job security.

The CTU notes Emanuel’s appointees to that city’s Board of Education is top-heavy with corporate honchos, financiers and bankers – all of whom favor charter schools getting millions of federal dollars in “Race to the Top” money while closing failing schools in poorer neighborhoods and laying off thousands of teachers.
Emanuel contends that principals should have the right to fire teachers who they believe are not acting in the school’s best interest because (ultimately) they are responsible if the school they run is deemed failing.
The strike comes as the UFT has been without a contract since Oct. 31, 2009, or nearly three years.
In UFT President Michael Mulgrew’s letter to teachers last week kicking off the school year, he indicated the union and the city remain far apart on similar issues as in Chicago.

“We are now in the last full school year of the Bloomberg Administration, and it is no great secret that we have not gotten along with the mayor and do not like the way he has treated us or the communities in which we live and serve,” he wrote.
Mulgrew argued in his letter that every classroom and every school are different and treating them all the same is counterproductive, and championed that the UFT recently succeeded in court from letting the Bloomberg Administration close 24 schools deemed failing – almost all in communities of color.

“The mayor’s shameful practice of concentrating the highest-needs students in overwhelming numbers inside a school, then calling that school a failure, blaming the teachers and shutting the school down is wrong. It is wrong for students and it is wrong for teachers,” he wrote.

A DOE spokesperson said the DOE does not comment on teacher/union negotiations in Chicago, as it’s another city.

The DOE did not respond to questions regarding its own negotiations and lack of a contract with the UFT at press time.

1...967968969...1,289Page 968 of 1,289