| From the Villa ge of Brook ly n |
OUR TIME PRESS THE L OCAL PAPER WITH THE G LOBAL VIEW
| VOL. 23 NO. 23
June 6 – 12, 2019 |
Since 1996
What does it mean to be a warrior today? June Men's Month Series Begins
View From Here
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n battles of old the enemy was plain and in sight, and when engaged, strength and valor could be measured with honors given. Today’s enemy for Africans in America is racism and a white supremist pathology embedded in institutions, systems and people. When it is most invisible is when it is most deadly. And the everyday warriors who do battle all their lives, some winning, others losing, are not recognized as having been in a war, not even by themselves. In the midst of this comes young people with hopes and aspirations, needing to be critical thinkers and problem-solvers. Knowing their history and what their forebears had endured, knowing they have a self-motivation for it. Understanding that their opportunity for self-realization was only a dream for the ancestors. Among today’s warriors are the educators who are drill instructors for the mind. Catching human spirits at the youngest and setting them on positive paths, molding thought patterns before they become captured and misdirected by negativity and marketers. They are the ancestors’ army and they have to be ready to engage the future and fight for themselves and all that have gone before. Warriors in science like Dr. Christopher Boxe, Professor of environmental issues at Medgar Evers College, (who we’ve featured before), are on a mission to push their own boundaries and simultaneously volunteer to open doors young people would not even have known existed without him and others like him. NeQuan C. McLean, President, Community Council of District 16; Christopher Smith, Assistant Principal at Research and Service H.S. on BGHS campus; Drs. Lester and Renee Young at the
Adelaide Sanford Institute are all fighting at the hand-to-hand combat level on the battlefield of education, raising the army necessary to carry on the struggle. And given the road ahead, filled with obstacles from gerrymandering and voter suppression to facing climate change and plastic pollution, the battle will be up close and personal in the decades ahead. Previous generations, at great cost and with much success, have removed many obstacles for us on the long road to freedom, and now we have to be the road-clearers for the next generations. And that means that politics cannot be a spectator sport. We must engage officeholders and support political candidates nationally to make the institutional and regulatory changes that confront the embedded obstacles of racism and white supremacy. We used to say on the street that the smart guys were the ones in prison. Their brilliance had been misdirected by forces, some of which they could see, and others beyond their knowledge, much less control. Education warriors Smith, McLean, Boxe and the Youngs are doing the work on the ground to save and grow these developing minds and it falls to the rest of us to do the big-picture work that levels and clears the road ahead. By David Mark Greaves
Unsung Heroes Readers are invited to e-mail picture and text for their own “Local Hero” found at work, on the block or in the home. Send to unsungheroes@ourtimepress.com. See page 2.
Photos: Courtesy of Little Maroons
RISING STARS AND WARRIORS: Last week 12 confident, curious students at the parent-led Little Maroons Child Care Cooperative on Greene Avenue boldly described themselves as scientists, impressing Dr. Christopher Boxe of MEC's Science, Health and Technology School with their vast knowledge of complex issues. Currently on a speaking tour to selected Central Brooklyn schools for the Magnolia Tree Earth Center's 2019 Spring Program, Dr. Boxe is skilled in space systems, mathematical modeling, chemistry and more, including engaging the interest of young people, Kindergarten – through H.S. in STEM disciplines and careers. The Morehouse graduate is a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering. "So, why weren't you an astronaut?" was one question posed. The children learned about that and much more during Dr. Boxe's one-hour stay. See Page 6
Breaking Story
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Reported Failing Charter K-8 School in Bed-Stuy Eyes Expansion; CEC Responds
e journalists often use phrases like speaking truth to power and being a voice for the voiceless. And that is fine. But there is no more effective messenger than the unheard speaking out. Such was the case when Our Time Press obtained a copy of a letter decrying a move by EMBER Charter
School for Mindful Education to file an application to the Department of Education for expansion of its school. It is reported the DOE is supporting EMBER’s request to grow from K–8th to K-H.S. The question posed by the letter, which can be read in its entirety on Page 7, is how can a “failing” school expand?
NeQuan C. McLean, President, Community Education Council 16, in this correspondence bearing his name, lays out the controversy. We publish it because it asks another hard question: why aren’t Charter schools held to the same standards as public schools and are Charters really as strong and effective as reported.
EMBER Charter in BedfordStuyvesant is failing, according to this letter. Why should it receive an expansion to high school status? The story deserves our attention: CEC will be heard, and hopefully so will EMBER’s . ➔➔ See page 7