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Dr. Kim Best, 79th’s Michael J. LiPetri: “Phenomenal” National Night Out, a Family “Reunion”

Editor, Our Time Press
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This week’s National Night Out at Von King Park was one of the largest ever  in Central Brooklyn, said Dr. Kim Best, President, 79th Precinct Council, the organization that hosted the Tuesday event with the 79th Precinct.

 
More than 1,000 people came out on Tuesday for what Dr. Best described as “one great community-wide family reunion.”   There was a ton of food, an array of music performances and entertainment, information tables and kiosks, games and face painting – something for everyone and all ages.  “At this annual national event – now in its 28th year, neighborhood residents join in solidarity with law enforcement agencies around the country in a show of positive peace-loving force against the negative forces.  The event also increases awareness of the ongoing anti crime efforts.

 
“This event builds relationships together in support of sustaining the community and working towards a crime-free community,” she adds.
The community unity theme is carried throughout the year in various youth programs, including the Explorers, Operation Identification, Bicycle Registration and Home Security assessments under the Crime Prevention programs. But National Night Out is special to the 79th.  Yesterday, Michael J. LePetri, Commanding Officer, of the 79th precinct   told Our Time Press,  “We are here to serve the community – and that’s out number one job.  National Night Out gives the community a chance to see us in another light – our human side:   flipping hamburgers, giving out franks, playing with the children. “It’s phenomenal. It’s giving to the community.”
Among the organizations partnering with the Council and the Precinct were Brooklyn Job Corps, PAL, YMCA, FDNY and dozens more.
In addition to political and community leaders,   Chief Gerald Nelson, Commanding Officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn North; Phillip Banks, III, Chief of Community Affairs, NYPD and other  top administrative officials, officers and staff were present to ensure that neighborhood residents had a “phenomenal” night out.
Said one political leader: “Every night is National Night Out.  These streets are our streets.”

The Parent's Notebook: Parents Should Allow Children To Exercise Their Power And Experience Success Within Boundaries

Editor, Our Time Press
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Is the access to power in our hands?  Are we ready to explore the possibility that when we  blame others for our circumstances, we also give them the power to change them?  Certain that the home is truly the training camp for change, PN has been asking parents for their perspective.  Kojo Black , father of three daughters and a Middle School Math Coach, shares the following.
Spike Lee offers up another authentic Brooklyn tale, Red Hook Summer.  Lee challenges viewers to examine their beliefs on issues such as gentrification, gang violence, adolescent development, self- identity, cultural perspectives, religion and intergenerational relationships.  During the premier, it was the development of the relationship between a young man and his grandfather that jumped out at me.
Red Hook Summer tells the tale of a preadolescent from Georgia visiting his grandfather in Red Hook for the summer.  Their relationship demonstrated that when adults stop talking at kids and talk with them, the respect is reciprocated.  When adults dictate and spew commands, we expect kids to understand that we have their best interest in mind.  Many times they don’t. Most often, adults are defending a distorted role of parents – “Do as I say” — insisting on what is of utmost important to us.  How many times have you seen a parent in the street embarrassed by their child’s behavior commence to chastising or beating the child?  Is this in the child’s best interest or is this an attempt by the parent to demonstrate power over the child to onlookers.  The child understands this situation as a struggle for power, and not an act of nurturing for their best interest.  Because of this power struggle, children can often formulate conclusions that are often wrong and misleading, such as thinking an adult does not love or like them.
Many parents are able to forge loving relationships with their children by setting clear boundaries and explaining to them why those boundaries are in place, abandoning the age-old “Because I said so”. Allowing questions and discussion about alternative ways to achieve the goal arms the child with a much-needed skill in this age of violence – the ability to define the problem and establishing a goal which benefits all concerned.  When our children are able to exercise their power and experience success within those boundaries, their need for power is satisfied and adults are free to interact with children in a tension-free space.
Some parents empower children by allowing them to act in a space with little to no boundaries.  This does not prepare children to exert their power and influence in a society with rules and regulations.  Even if the rules and regulations are unfair, children should learn how to negotiate and diplomatically lobby for change of the rules.  Teenagers are transitioning from young adults to adults and should see parental boundaries constantly expanding until they cease to exist.   Without boundaries children feel so empowered, they don’t respect the existing rules and don’t have the tools to negotiate the changing of the structure.  Some parents go as far as to listen to the music, use the language and watch the TV shows of their children, not for the purpose of monitoring, but to forge a relationship with their child.  While it may yield reduced tension in the relationship, it’s done at the expense of adapting whatever values that are being perpetuated by society through these mediums.
We must respect the research and scholarly works and give up our need for domination over our children.  Dr. Joy DeGruy theorizes about the challenges African-Americans face as a result of the trauma from slavery.   Parents adopted “Be seen but not heard” to protect their children from inhuman slave masters.  Now, one and a half centuries later, African-Americans are disempowered and a need to satisfy the need for power ensues. Thus, we often try to satisfy that need by dominating children.  African-Americans should know best about the resistance that is triggered as a result of being a victim of others exerting control and influence.     We should understand the type of resistance we are sure to face unless boundaries have been discussed and understood to be helpful.  Then parents can feel powerful, knowing they are influencing their children to become empowered critical thinkers, and children will feel confident and trustful the adult has their best interest in mind.
Next time we’ll look at the other areas where parents can create powerful youngsters to prevent their contributing  to or falling victim to rampant violence. Comments: parentsnotebook@yahoo.com

Bed-Stuy’s National Night Out de-glorifies crime

Stephen Witt
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Photos of Rikers Adolescent Detention Center shown at Armstrong Houses

 

By Stephen Witt

While Bed-Stuy’s annual contribution to the National Night Out Against Crime on August 7 features the usual eats, face painting and tips and programs on keeping the community safe, one local political activist is heading to the Louis Armstrong Houses to get real with at-risk youths.

Robert Cornegy, president of the neighborhood’s powerful Vanguard Independent Democratic Association (VIDA) clubhouse, is bringing along former Rikers Island Correction Officer Lorenzo Steele.

Steele worked in Riker’s notorious Adolescent Detention Center (ADC), which to this day is known as one of the most, if not the most, violent adolescent centers in America.

He is bringing along 25 framed photographs he took while working there of inmates stabbed and slashed as well as other depictions of life in 8-by-6-foot cells and prison life at Rikers.

Steele said the ADC houses prisoners charged with misdemeanors and felonies from the ages of 14-19, and some get sodomized and raped.

“The photos are not part of a scared straight program,” said Cornegy, “but it de glorifies what happens in prison.”

Cornegy said the event is part of the city’s public housing police (PSA3) National Night Out. The photographs will be shown at 414 Lexington Avenue near the corner of Tompkins Avenue.

The Armstrong Houses stretches roughly from Tompkins Avenue to Nostrand Avenue, and from Clifton Place to Gates Avenue. It is under constant police surveillance, and like much of Central Brooklyn, has a high unemployment rate, and its community center battles for funding from the city every year.

In recent months, Armstrong has also had several confrontations with police, including allegations of gunmen taking shots at police off the roof of a building, and several cops being injured after bleach was poured out a window on them.

Just around the corner at Von King Park, the 79th Police Precinct is holding their National Night Out from 3-8 pm.

In northern Bed-Stuy, the 81st Police Precinct will hold their National Night Out from 4-8 pm at the P.S. 309 Reinaldo Salgado Playground on Monroe Street between Ralph and Patchen Avenues.

 

President Signs Major White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans

Editor, Our Time Press
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(Our Time Press will be covering this initiative in the next issue)

President Barack Obama signs the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans Executive Order in the Oval Office, July 26, 2012. Standing behind the President, from left, are: Patricia Coulter, CEO National Urban League of Philadelphia; Rep. Danny Davis, D- Ill.; Reverend Al Sharpton; Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President of University of Maryland Baltimore College; Secretary of Education Arne Duncan; Benjamin Jealous, President of the NAACP; Ingrid Saunders- Jones, Chair of the National Council of Negro Women; Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa.; Kaya Henderson, Chancellor of DC Public Schools; and Michael Lomax, President of the United Negro College Fund.
Cong. Ed Towns’ Response: “This latest effort by the Obama Administration to directly address the lagging educational outcomes by African Americans is greatly needed to ensure that gains made during the civil rights era are not completely eroded.”
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza).

Council Member Williams’ Statement On Bloomberg Administration’s Resistance To Increasing Anti-gun Violence Funding

Editor, Our Time Press
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BROOKLYN, NY, August 1, 2012: Council Member Jumaane D. Williams (D-Brooklyn), co-chair of the Task Force to Combat Gun Violence, released the following statement in response to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s dismissal of a proposal by black elected officials to increase funding for community groups working on anti-gun violence measures in neighborhoods besieged by bloodshed. “I am disappointed that the Administration would communicate that they would not give greater consideration at this time for increasing government support for organizations that are on the ground in our most at-risk communities trying to turn the tide against gun violence. These are some of our greatest community leaders, working on a shoestring budget in the hopes of reaching our youth, keeping the peace and advancing positive alternatives to violent behavior. Programs like Operation Conversation, which Administration officials such as Commissioner Kelly actively support, do important work. The only thing holding them back from having a greater impact is a lack of resources. “This crisis needs a multipronged solution, one of which being a boost in the funding to these non-profit service providers. I know the Administration shares the same goals as I do in reducing gun violence, and that is why I am hopeful they will reconsider and work with the Task Force and I to provide greater support that will allow community groups to cover more turf next summer and hopefully save more lives.”

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