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| From the Villa ge of Brook ly n |

OUR TIME PRESS THE L OCAL PAPER WITH THE G LOBAL VIEW

| VOL. 22 NO. 23

June 7 – 13, 2018 |

Since 1996

Local Thinkers’ View: Rediscovering Lost African-American, Hispanic Values Will Overcome All Tests This is Only a Test ■■

Photo: Nathaniel Adams

Young participants in the Isese Festival NYC, the annual celebration of African culture and spirituality, at the Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Center on Sunday, June 3.

“Rediscovering Lost Values” Skye Matthews, 15, left, and Shelby Hudson, 17, standing in front of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, are among the 8 students and 10 adults who travelled South to learn about crucial American civil rights history that is glaringly omitted from textbooks nationwide but offered in poignant but candid detail at institutions located in such cities as Mobile, Birmingham, Tuskegee and others. Ms. Matthews and India Cordero (unpictured here) launch Our Time Press’ special photoessay series, edited by Bianca Robinson, starting on page 15.

By Marlon Rice

graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1992. Here is how I got into the school. I attended Concord Elementary School, a parochial school that was housed inside of Concord Baptist Church in Bed-Stuy. I excelled in elementary school, so much so that I skipped the 5th grade, taking courses during the summer after 4th grade so that in the fall of 1985 I went straight into 6th grade. My mom applied for me to go into one of the “gifted and talented” junior high school programs in Brooklyn. I was accepted into Satellite East JHS. In Satellite East, our teachers and our Principal Mrs. Katherine Corbett stressed the importance of our future. Education was more than just regurgitating a force-fed curriculum. At Satellite East, we were made to feel that the future mattered, our future mattered. This included our choices for high school. Continued on Page 8.

Parents Rage Over de Blasio Plan Intended to Diversify NYC Specialized High Schools

Asian American groups protesting the mayor’s proposal to eliminate the SHSAT at City Hall Park yesterday (Andres O’Hara)

his just in - At a rally this week in City Hall Park, a group of mostly Asian-American parents, organizers, and politicians gathered to protest Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposal to eliminate the Specialized High School Admissions Test, the SHSAT, the sole determining factor for admission into the

city’s eight specialized high schools. So Our Time Press asks: what can we learn from other cultures to ensure our children score? Commenting on the mayor’s announcement in this issue are community activist scribes and observers Marlon Rice, p. 8; Basir Mchawi, p.3, Michael Johnson, p.3, View, p.2.

Abigail Rosen McGrath on Hurston’s “Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” (plus a footnote in Harlem Renaissance history) P.14

OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

View From Here ■■

By David Mark Greaves

hen the education of African-Americans was left in Black hands for the first generations out of slavery, there was an explosion of literacy and people were brought from having nothing to homeownership and self-employment exceeding their white counterparts. That was then according

to Judge Albion Tourgee, speaking at The First Mohonk Conference on the Negro Question held at Lake Mohonk, NY, June 1890 (See Page 15). These Black teachers, working with hand-me-down supplies, educated generations of “firsts” who pressed against racism’s ceilings and walls in all areas of life. Now a system run by whites with white teachers finds the teaching of Black children a very

challenging task. They have instituted various programs to get at the “problem.” What they won’t do is look in the mirror. Research by Adam Wright, “Teachers’ Perceptions of Students’ Disruptive Behavior: The Effect of Racial Congruence and Consequences for School Suspension,” documents that “Black teachers are much less likely to find problems with Black students than white teachers are with the same students. The difference is enormous…For Black students, being matched with

VOL. 22 NO. 23 a Black teacher matters.” And this study is not alone. A recent headline in The Guardian reads, “Teachers’ implicit bias against Black students starts in preschool, study finds.” Science doesn’t just matter in climate change. A shortage of Black male teachers? One way to get them would be to pay a $50k signing bonus and wipe out student debt to qualifying candidates. And pay a professional wage. Watch how many change majors, finding that now they can make a living doing what they want to do, teach. No money you say? A single Tomahawk cruise missile costs about $1.5 million. This past April 13, the Pentagon announced an overnight air strike that included 66 of the missiles. The money is there, it’s just being used to kill people and break things rather than the most important job of a nation, to care for its citizens. These trillion-dollar wars are being waged based

on the wealth stolen from AfricanAmericans whose slave labor first powered this nation, and now the interest and appreciation on that labor is accruing to the same class that stole it in the first place. Now Trump wants us to attribute the lack of AfricanAmericans in the tech industry to Asian immigrants taking jobs that would and should go to Black folks. They’re saying to join them in hating on Asians, rather than the real enemies: systemic racism, a tax code that exempts the rich and a starved education system whose avatar is the comically mindless and deeply evil Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. The whole thing is obscene. This is why elections matter. Why being counted in the census matters. Why gerrymandering and voter suppression matter. Why the grass-roots activists, the people on the ground who educate and rile the populace matter. It is in your collective will that the power to change the destiny of a people lies.

Grandfather of Hip Hop passes Jalal Mansur Nurridin, a co-founder of the Last Poets, who was known as the grandfather of Hip Hop, passed away on Monday. "The Last Poets, became wordsmiths and hammered the feelings of their people, and eventually all oppressed people in the world, into the shape and scope of the struggle between despair and hope." Follow us on

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DBG MEDIA Publishers of Our Time Press, Inc. 358 Classon Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11238 (718) 599-6828 Web site: www.ourtimepress.com e-mail: editors@ourtimepress.com Publisher DBG MEDIA Editor-in-Chief David Mark Greaves Copy Editor Maitefa Angaza Web Editor www.ourtimepress.com Liani Greaves Contributors Victoria Horsford Abigail Rosen McGrath Fern Gillespie Akosua Albritton Margo McKenzie Priscilla Mensah Aishamanne Williams Marlon Rice Sports Eddie Castro Office Manager Joanna Williams Consultant Bernice Elizabeth Green © 2015, DBG MEDIA Publishers of Our Time Press, Inc., printed in New York City. All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced without prior permission of the publishers. Publishers are not responsible for any ad claims. MBE Certified in NYC, NYS and the Port Authority of NY & NJ Member: New York State Press Association

VOL. 22 NO. 23

On Education

Mayor's Plan to "Improve" Diversity at Specialized Schools

nly 10 percent of Specialized High School students are Black or Latino, despite making up 70 percent of the city’s overall student population. And this past weekend, parents, educators, advocates, students and community leaders joined Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard A. Carranza announcing a new plan to make admissions to New York City’s eight testing Specialized High Schools fairer and improve diversity. The two-part plan includes: Expanding Discovery Program to help more disadvantaged students receive an

offer: The Discovery Program is designed to increase enrollment of low-income students at Specialized High Schools. The program will be immediately expanded to 20 percent of seats at each SHS and adjust the eligibility criteria to target students attending high-poverty schools. This would be a two-year expansion, beginning with admissions for September 2019. Based on modeling of current offer patterns, an estimated 16 percent of offers would go to Black and Latino students, compared to 9 percent currently. Eliminating the use of the single admissions test over three years: The elimination

of the Specialized High School Admissions Test would require state legislation. By the end of the elimination, the SHS would reserve seats for top performers at each New York City middle school. When the law is passed, the test would be phased out over a three-year period. Based on modeling of current offer patterns, 45 percent of offers would go to Black and Latino students, compared to 9 percent currently; 62 percent of offers would go to female students, compared to 44 percent currently; and four times more offers would go to Bronx residents.

Black and Latino students can compete to gain entrance to NYC Specialized High Schools

■■

By Michael A. Johnson

et me assert a strange and perhaps not well believed (or at least not presently popular) position; and that is, I believe that Black and Latino students, in NYC, and anywhere else on the planet; can effectively compete with any other students on the planet. Further, I believe that these students can perform well on the NYC Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT), given the resource opportunities and the proper preparation. There is nothing inherently wrong with the brains of these children, all they need is a quality K-8 educational experience, courageous, strategically-smart, and imaginative principals, and highly-skilled teachers who are willing to efficaciously ‘leave it all’ on the classroom ‘playing field’! Doing well on any form of assessment, is all about what happens prior to the student encountering that assessment model. And that is why professional educators know (even if the public does not); that testing a child on concepts and skills for which they have not been taught, is fundamentally unethical. Also unethical is the solitary use of standardized exams to deny admission to a quality learning experience, rather than using them for diagnostic purposes, to inform instructional practices, or to improve and expand the child’s learning opportunities. Parents of color may want to be careful of a demoralizing message sent to their children that says they can’t compete, simply because of who they are.

The SHSAT should be eliminated because it is ‘ethically challenged’. The exam proponents claim it is a fair measure of the principle of meritocracy; but in fact, that is a lie. The majority of students of color in NYC have not received the prerequisite skills training, information and knowledge that would allow them to do well (or less well) based on their own personal educational merit. If the governing stakeholders want to change the present admissions system, then change it. But change it because it is flawed for all children (including non-affluent White students), not because of the subtle or overt reason that it is impossible for Black and Latino students to compete and win under the present rules. They in fact could compete, if only the conditions leading up to those rules were fair, which they are not, and thus one of the major flaws. A single criterion admissions process is always problematic in any educational context (K-Graduate School), and it is worthy of an informed debate among knowledgeable professional educators. But with ‘politicians’ leading the ‘admissions’ conversation, what could possibly go wrong? Well, everything! There is always the problem in public education, of political concerns overtaking educational concerns, of utilizing symbolism instead of substance. There is this recurring bad idea in public education, that we must always sacrifice one group of students for another, We know (and have known for a long time), how to adequately educate all students to their optimum potential, we even know how to successfully educate the

Urban Matters

The Flawed Specialized High School System – And Ways to Fix It (An Excerpt) ■■

OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

Clara Hemphill

ncreasing the number of seats overall would keep this from being a zero-sum game with winners and losers—and avoid pitting low-income blacks and Latinos against low-income Asians, who now make up a large proportion of the enrollment at the specialized schools. At the same time, the City should look into why so many high-achieving black and

Latino students don’t wind up at the specialized schools, why hundreds of such students with high scores on State standardized tests don’t sit for the SHSAT, and why more than one-quarter of those who are offered seats don’t accept. Richard Buery, a former deputy mayor, described his sense of isolation as one of the few black students at Stuyvesant High School in the 1980s. His experience is not unique. The City should look into ways to make the

children of poverty, the offspring of illiterate and/or non-English speaking parents, we just choose not to do so, for political reasons. The main one being that NYC Black and Latino parents lack the political entitlement power that would demand that their children receive the education they deserve. We also know that in the absence of a strong ‘parent-push’ informal education (out of school) component in a child’s life, the odds are that they will struggle in school (and on standardized exams); and therefore the school must step up and step in as an informal educational parent, if that child is to be successful. This would include offering students real and serious test prep, after-school, weekend and summer learning opportunities. And of course, the best test-prep being a rigorous K-8 learning experience. But that takes a systemic financial investment matched and created by political will. Part 2: The school Integration, Diversity in Specialized Schools and Programs Debate: The wrong conversation, the wrong conversationalists leading that conversation, leads to and guarantees poor outcomes. Michael A. Johnson has served as a public school teacher, Science Skills Center director, principal, and a school district superintendent. He also served as an adjunct professor of Science Education in the School of Education at St. John’s University. He recently completed a book on school leadership: Report to the Principal’s Office: Tools for Building Successful High School Administrative Leadership… http://reporttotheprincipalsoffice.net/

environment of these schools more inclusive, as some other selective schools have done. For example Manhattan/Hunter High School in the Martin Luther King Campus on the Upper West Side, one of the most sought-after schools in the city, has a culture where everyone feels valued; nearly half the students are black and Latino and nearly 15 percent have disabilities. The under-representation of black and Latino students at the specialized high schools is a powerful symbol of the inequities in the city’s school system. The SHSAT has many flaws, and the mania for test prep that has sprung up around it hurts all children. But the city must not pin its hopes on a State Legislature that has shown little appetite for change. Instead, it should takes the steps that are within its power and not merely blame Albany for inaction.

Mayor Ignores Real Issues of Black and Latino Education ■■

By Basir Mchawi

ack at the beginning of February, I wrote an article about the dismal state of “diversity” in New York City’s elite high schools (Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech, Stuyvesant, etc.). This past weekend, Mayor Bill de Blasio, responding to mounting criticisms about the low number of Black and Latino students in the elite schools, went on the offensive writing an op-ed piece in the online educational news service Chalkbeat and making a personal appearance at a school in East New York. The mayor articulated a number of proposals to begin to address the issue. He, however, failed to look at the root causes of the problem and in doing so is on the verge of creating a new set of troubling issues. The initial part of the mayoral plan is to set aside 20 percent of freshman seats in the elite high schools for “low-income students.” These students will theoretically have scores on the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) just below the admissions cutoff. The elite schools currently use the SHSAT as the sole determiner of who is admitted. This approach is an expansion of the socalled “Discovery” program founded in the early 1970’s that offered admission to students with slightly deficient scores if they attended a special summer program. In phase two of the plan, de Blasio has called for scrapping the SHSAT and replacing it with a student ranking system based on academic record, standardized test scores and possibly a few other factors. In Chalkbeat de Blasio wrote, “The Specialized High School Admissions Test isn’t just flawed, it’s a roadblock to justice, progress and academic excellence.” The SHSAT, which has been administered to 8th- and 9th- grade students for many years, was established in 1971 by the New York State Legislature as the sole means for admission to Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech and Stuyvesant. If de Blasio wants to drop the SHSAT, he is going to have to go to a group of state legislators highly resistant to that idea to get a new law passed. There is some legal question about the status of the additional five specialized high schools (Staten Island Technical, High School of American Studies at Lehman College, High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at City College, Brooklyn Latin and Queens High School at York College) not covered by the 1971 legislation. Does the mayor have the power to suspend the SHSAT in those schools? These proposals have already created a great deal of opposition. Parent and community groups have started holding demonstrations at City Hall against de Blasio’s plan. Several alumni groups from the schools are organizing and members of the Asian community are saying that the mayor’s plan is “racist” and “discriminatory.” This situation has the potential for creating unneeded conflict between three communities of color…Black, Latino and Asian. ➔➔ Continued on page 13

OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

WHAT’S GOING ON ■■

art - American, European and African - and assorted memorabilia are among the sale items. Built by Madame Walker, America’s first self-made woman entrepreneur and millionaire in 1918, the mansion is called Villa Lewaro. An African-American philanthropist, Madame Walker made her fortune manufacturing hair care products for Black women. For more info, call 914.255.5776.

By Victoria Horsford

ON RACE Just wanted to expand on the Jarrett/ Roseanne blog, its ramifications and Roseanne’s pink slip. Checked Valerie’s biography and got the following, regarding the ire which she has aroused among rightwing American conservatives. She was born in Iran on November 14, 1956 to AfricanAmerican parents Barbara Bowman and Dr. James Bowman, MD, who headed a hospital in Iran. The young Valerie spoke Farsi, French and English fluently. Her family relocated to England when she was 5, about 10 years before their return to the United States. Jarrett’s early childhood background implies a closeness to Iranian culture. Oh, what a crazy world. Her background is red meat for conspiracy theorists, usually short on critical thinking and long on gullibility.

THE 2018 USA MIDTERMS Congressman Keith Ellison announced on June 5, after six terms in Congress, that he will run for Minnesota’s Attorney General this year and is no longer interested in congressional reelection. Ellison, 54, is an African-American Muslim who ran and lost the race for Chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 2016. He is in an uncomfortable relationship with Thomas Perez, who defeated him as DNC Chair. Perhaps the state contests are where we should focus our interests. Seems like it’s a foregone conclusion that Tish James is Albany-bound and about half a dozen politicos eager to succeed her as NYC Public Advocate. Democratic insiders say that a Latino should man the

THE ARTS/CULTURE/ HISTORY

Chirlane McCray position. Names bandied about include City Councilman Richie Torres, Bronx Boro President Ruben Diaz, Ydanis Rodriguez and erstwhile City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. Non-Latinos who are potential Public Advocate contenders include Brooklyn Boro Prexy Eric Adams and NYC First Lady Chirlane McCray, who probably won’t run for public office until her husband completes his mayoral term.

BLACK ENTERPRISE Debra Lee, Chair/CEO of BET (Black Entertainment Television), exits the company after 30 years. Lee started as a BET attorney who became Chair/President/CEO after BET was sold to Viacom for about $3 billion. Last December, Viacom announced that Scott Mills was named BET President. The Doleys, owners of the historic Madame CJ Walker Mansion, have scheduled an estate sale on June 15/16 at Villa Lewaro, located at 67 North Broadway, Irvington, NY. Contents of the sprawling 30-room mansion includes centuries-old antiques, fine

International literary cognoscenti will want to read the June 4-11 New Yorker magazine profile by Larissa MacFarquhar. “Writing Home” and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi’s “Global Fame” and learn about her life since our last bond with her while reading her novel AMERICANAH or viewing her in a TED talk. Chimamanda battles bouts of depression between writing, married a Nigerian medical doctor, is a mother of a 2-year-old daughter. She and her husband commute between Lagos and Maryland year-round. An Igbo, she is probably Africa’s second-most widely read literary lion, the first being fellow Igbo Chinua Achebe, who wrote a blurb for one of her books. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi’s other novels are HALF A YELLOW MOON and PURPLE HIBISCUS. Kamoinge presents BLACK WOMEN: POWER AND GRACE at the Gregg Galleries housed at the National Arts Club, located at 15 Gramercy Park South, Manhattan, from May 28 to June 30. Founded in Harlem in 1963, the Kamoinge Collective is a group of African-American fine arts photographers who document the Black experience: family life, arts and politics. Some Kamoinge members include Tony Barboza, Adger Cowans, Ming Smith, June DeLairre and Russell Frederick. The exhibit includes works by photogs such as Delphine Fawunda, Laylah Amatullah and Lola Flash. For more info contact Russell Frederick at Lamoinge.russell@gmail.com. Theater and film buffs and enthusiastics alike will succumb to the excellent documentary film “King of Stage, The Woodie King, Jr. Story,” which will be screened at the Dwyer Cultural Center in Harlem, located at 258 St. Nicholas Avenue at 123rd Street, on June 18 at 7 pm. Woodie King is the theater and film impresario who founded the New Federal Theatre, and who has produced more than 300 productions, on and off-Broadway, during close to 50 seasons. “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow was Enuf,” “Checkmates” and “What the Winesellers Buy” are among King’s theater classics. [Visit newfederaltheatre.com]

CARIBBEANAMERICANS June is Caribbean-American Heritage Month. The following is a truncated list of Caribbean-Americans and their vocation areas…. Doctors: John Mitchell, MD; Edgar Mandeville, MD; Cheryl Smith, MD; Lawyers: Eric Holder, former US Attorney General; Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund Sherrilyn Ifill; Ernest Perodin; Afua Mensah; Michele Rodney; Democratic National Committee Chair Thomas Perez; Nathanuel Wright; Clergy-Politicos: Rev. Dr. Michael Walrond,

Sherrilyn Ifill

VOL. 22 NO. 23

David Patterson First Corinthian Baptist Church; Jacques DeGraff, Canaan Baptist Church; Rev. A.R. Bernard, Sr., Christian Cultural Center; Real Estate: Apex Building Corp., Robert Horsford; Edward Sisters Realty, Ramona Grey-Harris, Russell Grey and Aden Seraile; Yvonne Stafford; Al Cunningham; Karen SoltauTridez, Frank Hernandez, BOS Development. Beatrice Sibbles, Michael Williams, Carthage Advisors; Eddie Poteat; Political cognoscenti: NYC Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie; Bronx Boro Prexy Ruben Diaz, Jr.; Congress: Yvette Clarke, Mia Love and Adriano Espaillat; US Senate, Kamilah Harris, NYS Senator Brian Benjamin; Keith Wright and Basil Smikle; NYC Council members Jumaane Williams and Ydanis Rodriguez; Chirlane McCray, First Lady of NYC, former NYS Governor David Paterson, former Congressman Charles Rangel, Celeste Morris and Cordell Cleare; Entrepreneurs: Alyah HorsfordSidberry; Laurent Delly, IT Executive; Roy Miller, Maria Granville, Madisyn Consulting, IT. The Class of 2018: Congratulation to three Antiguan-Americans on the occasion of their graduation. New Yorker Alean Celine Hepburn, a physics major and Japanese minor, earned her bachelor’s degree last week from Lehman College…. New York HS senior Naomi Horsford graduates from Marymount HS and will attend Washington University in September…….. Her cousin, Virginia-based Michael Horsford, begins his freshman year at Morgan State University, an HBCU. The West Indian-American Day Carnival Association, the Caribbean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Caribbean Tourism Organization and the Transport Workers Local 100 presents NY Eats Caribbean Restaurant Week from June 17- 24 when participating restaurants in Brooklyn, Harlem and Queens offer prix fixe Caribbean menus and specials. Hashtag # EatCaribbeanNYC.

JUNE PLEASURES The Office of Brooklyn Boro President Eric Adams will co-host “Embrace Your Hyphen” event at their Caribbean-American Heritage Celebration on June 27 from 12 noon to 9 pm at Brooklyn Boro Hall, 209 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn. Day unfolds with Caribbean Cultural Marketplace on the Plaza at noon, followed by a Symposium at 2 pm, followed by A Taste of Caribbean Cuisine, a Concert on the Plaza and an Art Exhibition. For event details, go to Brooklynusa.org/Caribbean-American. The 10th Annual Dr. Barbara Ann Teer Spirit Awards will be held on June 13 where artists, activists and game changers gain recognition. The 2018 Teer Honorees are Kenneth Knuckles, former UMEZ CEO; actress/director Barbara Montgomery; Van Jones; actor Brandon Victor Dixon; artist/ scholar Ebony Knoelle Golden; and poet Adiobun Oyewole. [Visit nationalblacktheatre.org. or call 212.722.3800] June is GUN AWARENESS MONTH. The National Action Network, NY; AntiViolence and Political Action Committees will co-host FIFTH SATURDAY SILENCE THE VIOLENCE FORUM at the House of Justice, located at 106 West 145th Street in the Village of Harlem, Rev. Sharpton’s NAN Headquarters. [Call 212.690.3070] A Harlem-based management consultant, Victoria can be reached at Victoria. horsford@gmail.com.

VOL. 22 NO. 23

OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

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OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

VOL. 22 NO. 23

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VOL. 22 NO. 23

OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

The Schools In last week’s issue, the introduction to an essay requested by the Magnolia Tree Earth Center of Bedford Stuyvesant, Inc. for publication in Our Time Press was printed in its first-draft state. Our Time Press apologizes for the error. What follows is the piece as originally submitted.

A Tribute to Grace ■■ Ms. Cheryl Ault- Barker Principal, PS 81 Thaddeus Stevens

t was a beautiful sunny day on April 2, 2018 at about 1:30 pm as I scurried to one of the classrooms to help a scholar in crisis. On the way to the classroom, I was greeted with a beautiful smile from Bernice Green, whom the Parent Coordinator, Ms. Norton, introduced as the representative of the Magnolia Tree Earth Center of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Inc., donor of a magnolia tree that our kindergartens would add to our school’s garden. When I heard the name Green, I inquired from Bernice if she had a sister by the name of Grace. I learned that Grace, known as Gracie, was her sister. I shared how grateful I was for the legacy and impact that Gracie had etched here at Thaddeus Stevens PS 81. Not only was Gracie a straight shooter when it came to making her point, but she encouraged parents to come into the school, volunteer and become involved in their children’s education. She reminded parents and families that they should not only show up when there was a crisis but also become actively involved in the decision-making and governance of the school. As past PTA President, Gracie motivated parents to become “Learning Leaders” and to support their student’s learning. Gracie also had her son, Ralph, who is an amputee athlete and Olympics competitor, come and share key strategies and habits of mind with our scholars to help them to accomplish their goals. Her son also shared how he overcame his disability and is very successful at what he does. What an eye-opener for our scholars? This motivational event was one of the highlights of our school year. Our Learning Leader population increased under Gracie’s leadership. Gracie was a no-nonsense person and knew exactly when it was time to take action to engage the external school community. As a result of Gracie’s commitment, enthusiasm and fervor, we continue to have dedicated volunteers at PS 81. In honor of Gracie’s tireless labors of love, we named and dedicated the magnolia sapling after her, on the morning of Friday, May 4, with nearly 100 people in attendance.

North Bed-Stuy community gathers at PS 81 to plant a tree and grow a legacy. Photos: Courtesy PS 81

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OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

Thinker’s Notebook

This is Only A Test ■■

By Marlon Rice

➔➔ Continued from Cover

"I started Brooklyn Tech in Fall of 1988" The Specialized High School examination was mandatory for all Satellite East 8th-graders. We had to take it. We knew we had to take it from the time we were in 7th grade. We knew the stakes involved, acceptance into one of the top 3 schools in the

city - Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School. We were inspired and motivated to take that test. I remember studying for it at home with my mother. I remember taking practice exams. I remember the importance of it all. I took the test. Based on my score, I was accepted to Brooklyn Tech and I was put on Bronx High School of Science’s waiting list. I started Brooklyn Tech in the fall of 1988. This week, Mayor Bill de Blasio

announced plans to diversify the city’s eight Specialized High Schools. Part of his plan would be to eliminate the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT). Immediately following this announcement, Asian-American groups came out in protest, condemning the plan as being motivated by racism. Although Asian-Americans make up only 16% of all public school students, they received 52% of the Specialized High School seat offers last year. Conversely, Blacks and Latinos received just 10% of the Specialized High School seat offers last year, even though they make up 67% of all public school students. To truly understand why the numbers seem so disparaging, there are a myriad of issues that need to be fleshed out. For

VOL. 22 NO. 23 example, the test itself isn’t discussed in many of our city’s junior high schools. Yes, the test is available to anyone who wishes to register to one of the Specialized High Schools, however, many of our children are unfortunately being educated in schools that never even discuss the test and certainly don’t offer the opportunity for them to take it. A couple of years ago, I sat in a meeting with a few Black students from Brooklyn Tech that started the hashtag #blackinbrooklyntech. One student told me that when he was in junior high school his guidance counselor told him that he should feel lucky to be taking the SHSAT, because taking that test is a luxury. It is not a luxury though. Back in the late 80’s, our junior high schools citywide allotted for that test. As a result, a school like Brooklyn Technical was 35% Black in 1990. Today, it’s only 7% Black. Making the test mandatory for all junior high school students would be a step in the right direction, but it would be pointless to do so unless those junior high schools worked to prepare their students for the exam. This would go a long way in leveling the playing field by offering every 8th-grader in the city an opportunity for them to study for and take the exam. Asian-Americans are currently represented in such high numbers in Specialized High Schools because they use the test as a way to put themselves in a position to be successful. They know about the test. They prepare for it and they take it. There is no trick to it, they simply view the test as a mandatory part of the educational process. The correct answer in this issue is to make the SHSAT a mandatory citywide exam, and to hold the junior high schools accountable for preparing students to take the exam. That’s what worked for me. I didn’t spend thousands of dollars on Kaplan prep courses to take the test. My junior high school prepared me. My mother prepared me. Our children don’t need affirmative action-type policies to excel. They only need our educational system to do its job. The SHSAT shouldn’t be stigmatized as this great divide between the haves and the have-nots. It’s only a test.

Inhumanities

US Defies Human Rights

unning out of Patience: UN to US - Halt separation of immigrant children from parents at southern border! Hundreds taken away since October The United Nations on this week urged Washington to immediately halt its controversial practice of separating asylum-seeking Central American immigrant children from their parents at the southern border. The UN rights office said it was “deeply concerned” over the “zero tolerance” policy introduced by the administration of US President Donald Trump in a bid to deter illegal immigration. Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani warned the US policy had “led to people caught entering the country irregularly being subjected to criminal prosecution and having their children -– including extremely young children -- taken away from them as a result.” She said information received from US civil society groups indicated that several hundred children had been separated from their parents at the border since October, including a one-year-old. “The use of immigration detention and family separation as a deterrent runs counter to human rights standards and principles,” she said. Shamdasani stressed that children’s rights were “generally held in high regard”

in the United States, but she lamented that the country was the only one in the world that had not yet ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Despite this, she insisted that Washington was bound by international human rights laws that its current practices were flouting. The US says the policy aims to stem a surge of poor families mostly from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras pouring into the United States. William Spindler of the UN refugee agency stressed Tuesday that “the right to claim asylum is a fundamental human right... and it is also part of the law in the United States.” Agence France-Presse Running out of Space: US May Tour Military Installations at Texas border to hold more children Border agents and child welfare workers are running out of space to shelter children who have been separated from their parents at the U.S. border as part of the Trump administration’s new “zero tolerance” policy, according to two U.S. officials and a document obtained by NBC News. As of Sunday, nearly 300 of the 550 children currently in custody at U.S. border stations had spent more than 72 hours there, the time limit for immigrants of any age to be held in the government’s

In this file photo taken on September 8, 2014 women and children sit in a holding cell at a US Border Patrol processing center being detained by agents near the US-Mexico border near McAllen, Texas. —AFP temporary facilities. Almost half of those 300 children are younger than 12, according to the document, meaning they are classified by the Department of Homeland Security as “tender age children.” The stations, run by the Border Patrol and meant only as the first stop for children detained at the border, often lack adequate bedding or separate sleeping rooms for children. The overstays at border stations are a result of a backlog at U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS), the agency responsible for sheltering migrant children longer term and matching them with relatives or foster parents in the U.S. The

agency’s Administration for Children and Families has 11,200 unaccompanied children in its care and takes 45 days on average to place a child with a sponsor, according to a spokesperson. HHS officials will soon tour military installations near the border in Texas as they search for more space to house children while they wait for placement. The officials will tour Dyess Air Force Base, Goodfellow Air Force Base, and Fort Bliss, the spokesperson said. “HHS will make the determination if they will use any of the three sites for UAC (unaccompanied alien children) operations,” the spokesperson said.

VOL. 22 NO. 23

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OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

Former prisoner turned activist Kemba Smith advocated for Alice Marie Johnson

By Maitefa Angaza

lice Marie Johnson will breathe free and will be held in the arms of her family members at long last. The President commuted her life sentence today after speculation that he might do so at the urging of Kim Kardashian West, who visited him in the White House a few days ago. The 63-year-old great-grandmother had been in prison for 21 years, convicted on eight counts of drug trafficking in Memphis, Tennessee. She was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole when 10 of her co-defendants in the drug ring testified against her in exchange for reduced sentences. Although this was her first offense and a nonviolent one and she says her involvement amounted to relaying messages for drug buys on the phone. Johnson says she was depressed and in financial crisis. She’d gotten divorced, lost her job due to a gambling addiction, and then her son died in a motorcycle accident. "I felt like a failure...” said Johnson. “I went into a complete panic and out of desperation, I made one of the worst decisions of my life to make some quick money.” The world came to know of Johnson’s case when West, who was moved and disturbed by learning of it, made the issue her crusade. West visited the White House on Johnson’s birthday to speak with Donald Trump about prison reform and to ask for clemency for Johnson. The public was not apprised of the content of that conversation, and some questioned how much Kardashian actually knows about the subject. Most people, however, seemed appreciative of her using her celebrity to do whatever she can to assist. Kardashian's attorney, Shawn Holley said that her client asked last winter to find a way that she could help Johnson. Since that time, they have met with Johnson and with her attorneys. One positive result has been the enormous increase in awareness of Johnson’s case as curious people of all persuasions have joined Kardashian West’s fan base in searching for information about the campaign. Smith is said to have been a model inmate and the former warden at the prison wrote a letter on her behalf, which was scheduled to be given to Trump. The President had made no indication of his thinking, but said he was reviewing the case. He’d recently pardoned convicted felon and perceived race-baiter Dinesh D’Souza, as well as Joe Araio and Scooter Libby, all of which stirred controversy. Meanwhile, Trump wants the death penalty for people like Johnson. At a press conference in March, he said, “If we don’t get tough on drug dealers, we’re wasting our time. And that toughness includes the death penalty.” Kemba Smith has been speaking up and out loud for Alice Marie Johnson for some time. She joins those who commend Kim Kardashian West for championing Johnson’s case because she knows firsthand, what it’s like to be imprisoned for decades on a drug charge. Smith has been campaigning for prison reform since her release 17 years ago. Her book, Poster Child: the Kemba Smith Story, bears the subtitle, “It was easy falling in love with a drug dealer. The hard part was paying for his crimes.” Smith was convicted on a crack cocaine drug charge and sentenced to

nearly 25 years in federal prison. She was a 19 years old college student seven months pregnant by Peter Hall and says she didn’t know he was a drug kingpin on the FBI’s 15 Most Wanted list. She says Hall physically abused her and threatened her when she tried to leave him. When he was found murdered the government charged the drugs found in the residence as hers as well. She was sentenced under the then mandatory minimum statutes and would have languished in prison for decades. In December of 2000, President Bill Clinton commuted her sentence after six-and-half years, however. Since being released she has been on a mission of service and advocacy, starting a foundation for children, and lobbying elected officials to assist in her cause.

Kemba Smith

y zone m w o n y “I k a famil e v a h and plan.” s n o i t a nic commu

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Alice Marie Johnson

OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

VOL. 22 NO. 23

Community Calendar Thursday, June 7th

Bernard Purdie BAM R&B Festival @ MetroTech Metrotech Commons 12-2PM Jay St, Myrtle & Flatbush Opening day of the summer lunchtime concert series features the world’s most recorded drummer.

Friday, June 8th

PEN World Voices presents An Evening with Roxanne Gay Great Hall at Cooper Union 7PM 7 East 7th St., MANHATTAN, FREE One of our most influential writers on #BLM, #MeToo, body size, feminism, gender, sexuality and race.

Little Rock the stage play Opening night (thru Sept.)

On the cusp of the Civil Rights Movement, nine children from Arkansas battled for their rights with only a book and pencil. Strong language. Not for children under 13.

Saturday, June 9th

Tribute to the Ancestors of the Middle Passage Coney Island Boardwalk, FREE (16th & 17th Sts.) Noon-sundown The annual tribute pays respects to those who lost their lives in the Middle Passage with special tributes to recently departed heroes. Music, dance, drumming. Wear white and bring flowers

Akoko Nante Ensemble Pan-African Music & Percussion Queens Library, Jackson Heights, 3PM 35-51 81st St., QNS., FREE Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World.” Akoko Nante offers their rendition, along with music from Ghana, Haiti, Cuba, more.

Standing on the Corner, Madison McFerrin, Chynna & more

Little Rock Loreto Theater Sheen Center for Thought and Culture 18 Bleecker St., MANHATTAN

The Music Hall of Williamsburg, 8PM 7 East 7th St. (3rd & 4th Aves.) $15-$17 Jazzy flow of Hip-Hop, sax, guitar, drums, bass from Standing on the Corner. Bobby McFerrin’s daughter and others.

Akoko Nante Ensemble Craig Harris Group Sistas’ Place 9 & 10:30PM 456 Nostrand Ave., $20 w/resv. Trombonist Craig Harris closes the season with Jay Rodriguez on tenor sax, Melissa Slocum on bass, Ronnie Burrage on drums. 718-398-1766

Monday, June 11

Community Dance Class Ronald K. Brown/Evidence BRIC House Ballroom, 6:30PM 647 Fulton St., FREE All ages and skill levels are welcome. 718-683-5600

Tuesday, June 12th

BAADDDD Sonia Sanchez! Film Screening

Hudson Guild, 7:30PM 441 W. 26 th St., MANHATTAN, FREE Documentary on living poetic legend and activist. Screening as part of “Selabrayson!” presented by Caribbean Film Academy in collaboration with the Luminal Theater. 212-760-9837

Tuesdays in June

Ntozake Shange Play Reading Series “Family Night by Cassandra Medley” 6/12 “Baby Doll” by Judi Ann Mason on 6/19 “The Carelessness of Love” by Michael Dinwiddie on 7/26 NFT in association w Castillo Theater 543 W 42nd St, New York 212-353-1176 This series is dedicated to Ntozake Shange, living legend, American playwright and poet. 212-941-1234

Wednesday, June 13th Negritude Art Show

ARTS ENY 10AM-5PM 534 Livonia Ave. FREE Our exhibition sparks conversations around how we dispel stereotypes, discrimination and oppression, and ways in which

we can bring light to a new Black consciousness. Our gallery is open to the public M-F from 10am-5pm free of charge! 718-676-6006

Saturday, June 16th

Fort Greene Brooklyn Juneteenth Arts Festival Cuyler Gore Park 12-6PM 2 Greene Avenue at Fulton St. Music! Dance! Poetry! Artistry! Fashion! Food! Community! History! Presented by the Cooperative Culture Collective

Brooklyn District 16’s Intergenerational Men’s Health Experience P.S. 21 180 Chauncey St. 10-2PM Epic Theater Ensemble Performance, Film Screenings, Fitness Demo, Health & Wellness, Bring your youth, your father, the men in your life, and yourselves! Enjoy dynamic opportunities to engage your mind, body and spirit through: yoga andmeditation; basketball clinic; Literacy, Inc. Discussion: Effect of police brutality on youth and on a father-son relationship.

Sunday, June 17th

“In Recognition of Juneteenth & Father’s Day Cultural Caravan Community Forums Taped live @ CEMOTAP CEMOTAP Center FREE 135-05 Rockaway Blvd., So Ozone Pk QNS Debut taping of live weekly Community Engagement Forums before a studio audience by Cultural Caravan Productions. Louise Dente, host and exec producer, invites the community. 718-804-5810

MARK YOUR CALENDARS Sat., June 30th – Wednesday, July 4th 47th Annual International African Arts Festival Commodore Barry Park, Navy St., Flushing & Park, Sugg. donation: $5/adults, $2/children 10AM-9PM, Rain or shine This 2018 theme is “Dekawowo” (solidarity) from the Ewe people of Ghana and Togo. David Rudder, Muntu Dance Theater of Chicago; Rene McLean, Ballet Folkloric; Cutumba, Neil Clarke-Mongo Santamaria Project and lots more. 718-638-6700 www.iaafestival.org

VOL. 22 NO. 23

OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

District 16 Science Fair: Bright Smiles, Brighter Futures ■■

By Yaasantawa Mensah

ave you ever imagined what it would be like if the world’s smartest individuals gathered in one area to share their knowledge? Well, wonder no more because this very moment was created on Thursday, May 31st, 2018 at Madiba Prep School in Brooklyn, New York! It was here where the District 16 Annual Science Fair was held. Through the doors of the school building was nothing but bright students and their even brighter science experiments. There were children that created their own hovercrafts using nothing but balloons and old CD discs. There were also students that built robots and created their very own crystals. Every child, whether in elementary,

A Brooklyn Tech student, left, and gifted and talented scholar share knowledge.

My Child Protective Specialist never made me feel like I was a job. He was the human connection I needed. I still turn to him – even now. Kevin, Brooklyn

middle or high school, had magnetic energy that allowed anyone to gravitate to their tables. At these tables, in addition to learning about the experiment itself, judges and spectators were informed about what made the student choose their particular project and what they learned from doing it. Their responses were precise and focused. Their passion was unmatched as their eyes lit up after every word they spoke regarding the experiments. District 16 continues to have a positive impact on the community. These science fairs give children an outlet to truly express themselves in such a positive way. Jeremiah Martin, Yeny Alvarez and Tracy Davis, former Bed-Stuy public school students, were a few of the many observers at the fair. They are living, breathing testimonies of the district’s efforts to ensure that every student has a strong academic foundation. When asked to expound upon the instructional implementation of District 16 schools, Davis’ comment spoke for all three

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alums when he said, “It was a great experience. The program was very stringent, but the rigorous curriculum definitely helped in the long run. Overall, it was just an awesome system.” Awesome is also one of the many adjectives that can be used to describe such an eventful day! (Ms. Mensah begins her OTP/NYPA summer internship with this story.)

R O F T H G U O F ACS

Y L I M A F MY LEARN MORE

Photos: Elmer Anderson

More than 60 exhibits were showcased at D16 Science Fair.

OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

VOL. 22 NO. 23

Neighborhood Matters: Update

Brooklyn Nets Mock Draft ■■

By Eddie Castro

he Draft Lottery is complete, the order is set and that means it is time for everyone’s mock draft to become a reality. The NBA Draft is just a little over three weeks away and for our beloved Brooklyn Nets. The Nets are coming off yet another disappointing season in which they missed the playoffs. However, it should be noted that since the departure of players such as Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson, just to name a few, recent Brooklyn teams have not had the talent on their roster to compete with stronger playoff-caliber teams in the Eastern Conference. The Nets are trying to re-create a winning culture they once had back in 2012. The process will begin in the draft. With a lot of talent coming from the college scene this year, here are a few players that may hear their name called when Brooklyn is up to make their pick. Let’s start with Villanova shooting guard Donte Divincenzo. Arguably the hottest name being connected with the Nets, Divincenzo emerged into the national spotlight after his tremendous performance in the National Championship game this past March where he dropped 31 points against Michigan. Divincenzo spent three years with the Wildcats. Another player on the team’s radar is Boston College guard Jerome Robinson. The 6-foot-6 guard started every game he played for BC over three seasons. His best year was his junior year where he averaged 20.7 points per game on 48.5 percent shooting from the field and, oh yes, the kid has some range to his game as he also shot 40.9 percent from the three-point line. He finished second in the voting for the top ACC Player of the Year to Duke’s Marvin Bagley who could potentially go No. 1 overall in the draft. That could very well be appealing for Brooklyn with the 29th pick. Another player to watch for is Kentucky’s young phenom Hamidou Diallo. Diallo is a 6-foot-5 guard who played just one season for John Calipari. He is a New York City kid hailing from Queens. In his single season with the Wildcats (of Kentucky), Diallo averaged 10.0 points a game, shooting 43 percent from the field and 34 percent from the three-point line. Of course, these mock drafts will change drastically as the “real” draft approaches. Although the Nets first-round pick is a high one, they could very well get the steal of the draft based on who is the best player available at No. 29 overall. Yes, this Brooklyn team has a long way to go as far as returning a winning atmosphere to the Barclays Center. Only time will tell as far as what direction the team will be moving in with the draft and free agency looming. Sports Notes: (Basketball) With LeBron James, Chris Paul, DeMarcus Cousins and Paul George looming their futures as restricted and unrestricted free agents, does a New York-based team have the chance to grab one of these top stars on a max contract? E-mail me at Castroeddie714@gmail.com and let’s have the conversation.

Fort Greene Land Issue 142-150 South Portland Avenue

■■

Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo

he Hanson Place Seventh Day Adventist Church, in partnership with MDG Development Group, is seeking to rezone their land at 142-150 South Portland Avenue from R7A zoning (7-9 stories) to R8A zoning (12-14 stories). Last week, the NYC Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises hosted a public hearing where local community members voiced their opinions in favor and in opposition of the project. More than a dozen came out opposed, and twice as many in favor. As historical context, the 2007 Fort Greene/Clinton Hill rezoning protected the

neighborhood from out of context towers and established height limits relative to the existing scale of the neighborhood. With the 2007 rezoning, South Portland Avenue was zoned R7A, with a height restriction of 7-9 stories. The church’s proposal asks for a rezoning to R8A, which would allow them to develop a building that provides 33% more square footage to accommodate 100% rent-regulated housing (100 units) and maintain community space for use by the church and local organizations. This proposal is an opportunity to bring much needed 100% rent-regulated housing to our community. It is also an exceptional circumstance in which a longstanding faithbased community organization is pursuing

a rezoning application. The Hanson Place Church argues that the R7A zoning does not provide a financially viable opportunity to fit its existing community space within an affordable housing development, while community members who are concerned about this proposal argue that private rezoning applications like this one will chip away at the protections of the 2007 Fort Greene rezoning that the community fought so hard to achieve. Let me assure you that I’ve heard you all. This moment calls for a delicate balance between observing the fabric of our neighborhood and addressing the dire need for deeply affordable housing. I am mindful of all of the concerns and varying points of view, as well as the detailed recommendation in favor of the rezoning offered by Brooklyn Borough President, Eric L. Adams. As I consider potential paths forward, I do understand the community’s concern that the Fort Greene/ Clinton Hill rezoning should be respected and development pressure from Downtown Brooklyn should not be allowed to undermine these protections.

Schools

Today, Thursday, June 7, 2018 is Anniversary Day, a celebration of the Sunday Schools of NYC Sunday School Union is 190

ollowing are excerpt from a story by Tony Carnes on the origination of Anniversary Day and the involvement of African Americans and immigrants in its history. The New York State Legislature in 1959 established the first Thursday in June as Anniversary Day, a holiday commemorating the organization of Sunday Schools and the Brooklyn Sunday School Union Society. On June 7, 2018 public schools celebrate Anniversary Day. The holiday was created by the New York State Legislature in 1959 in commemoration of the organization of Sunday schools and the Brooklyn Sunday School Union Society. In the 19th Century Sabbath or Sunday schools were a powerful feature of education in the city. Churches had very large Sabbath schools in their own buildings. These schools were the primary educators of many African Americans because the public schools were segregated. Quickly, the Sabbath schools lead to the establishment of “African schools” which became public schools. The Sabbath schools also educated many immigrants into English speaking, reading and writing and knowledge of the Bible. Catholics and Jews established similar schools, noting

that they didn’t want the Protestants educating their children. On April 8, 1816 the Brooklyn Sunday School Union was founded. Starting in 1829, the union held Rally Day Parades which are the origins of Anniversary Day. The parades grew to the point of attracting 75,000 participants. In 1966 the Brooklyn organization was recognized by the U.S. Congress as being the oldest organization of its kind in America. Seeking Individuals for a Research Study Recently, there have been parades in

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Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. (This year, as in recent years before), the 2018 In Brooklyn Anniversary Day parade marches westward down DeKalb Ave. from Broadway – to – Stuyvesant Ave., down Stuyvesant Ave., ending at Fulton Park (Stuyvesant Ave., between Chauncey and Fulton, across from Boys & Girls HS). The sponsors include: Concord Baptist Church of Christ, Bridge Street AME Church, Bethany Baptist Church, Brown Memorial Baptist Church and Cornerstone Baptist Church. Throop Avenue Mission Sunday School Building, 1899. The South Third Presbyterian Church of Williamsburg established this Sabbath School in a desolate area of Brooklyn. It housed the German YMCA as well as congregations of African Americans, German, Romanian and other groups. (Photo: Jubilee Book of Throop Presbyterian Church) By 1905, the State Legislature created Brooklyn Day as an official holiday, closing the schools in Brooklyn for the day so that children could participate in the parades. In 1959, New York State enacted a law that allowed schools in Kings and Queens counties to be closed for the celebration -- that’s when “Brooklyn Day” became “Brooklyn-Queens Day”.

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VOL. 22 NO. 23

CONSUMER ALERT:

Students Previously Turned Down for Loan Forgiveness Should Apply Again – Before Funding Runs Out!

EW YORK — Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood this week issued a consumer alert to federal student loan borrowers about a new temporary expansion of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (“PSLF”) Program. Under this PSLF expansion, borrowers who were turned down for PSLF Loan Forgiveness because some or all of their repayments were made through a non-qualifying repayment plan can now apply for reconsideration. For a limited time, the Department of Education will reconsider eligibility based on an expanded list of qualifying repayment plans. This opportunity for reconsideration, which the Department of Education is referring to as “Temporary

OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

Expanded PSLF”, or “TEPSLF”, was made possible by a $350 million appropriation to the Department of Education from Congress. Eligible applicants will receive loan forgiveness on a first come, first served basis. Borrowers are encouraged to apply for reconsideration right away, because once the $350 million runs out, the opportunity to receive reconsideration will end. How Can I Apply for Reconsideration under the Temporary Expanded PSLF? For more information on the Temporary Expansion of PSLF, visit StudentAid.osssv/tepsflf. For more information about PSLF eligibility requirements, visit https:// ag.ny.gov/loan-forgiveness-options.

A n Excerpt: “As a nineyear-old kid in the Detroit ghetto, I was drawn to the television screen to view the funeral. I was just beginning to understand my blackness, just learning that it existed, that it was essential in a world where whiteness loomed as an unknowable force. I had never gone to school with white kids, had rarely even interacted with white folk outside of the neighborhood business owners for whom my father, and eventually I, worked. I didn’t know what they liked or how they thought of the world, how they handled their disappointments or whether they, like us, laughed at misery to keep from crying. I was only starting to sense that white folk may have feared us as much as they didn’t like us; it seemed vaguely tied to how we refused to bow in the face of suffering and how, despite their doing the worst they could imagine doing to us, we refused to give in.

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“A Twenty Percent Solution” ➔➔ Continued from page 3 I attended Bronx High School of Science over 50 years ago. I was part of a group of Black and Latino youth who came out of public housing and tenements ready to compete academically at the highest levels. When I graduated in 1966, there were more Blacks and Latinos attending Bronx Science than in 2018. This is also true of Brooklyn Tech and Stuyvesant as graduates from that period will readily attest to. What has happened? 2018 marks the Fiftieth Anniversary of the pinnacle of the struggle for community control and self-determination as manifested in New York City public schools. Three “demonstration” school districts were created in Black and Latino communities that promised heightened parental involvement and direct “control’ of the district schools. These three districts were Ocean Hill-Brownsville in Brooklyn, IS 201 in East Harlem and Two Bridges on the Lower East Side. The demonstration districts with extra funding from the Ford Foundation sought to improve instruction, develop new, more relevant curricula and create a new model of community school governance. When administrators in Ocean Hill sought to merely transfer several teachers, all hell broke loose. The United Federation of Teachers staged a citywide strike seeking to wrest power from the fledgling districts. After months of school closures, marches and raucous meetings, funding was withdrawn from the three districts and an alternative plan of “decentralizing” the schools was adopted. Thirty-two community school districts were created starting in 1969 and local school board elections were first held in 1970. This system which exhibited varying degrees of success, school improvement, failure and corruption, existed until 2002 when the New York State Legislature granted Mayor Michael Bloomberg centralized authority over the New York City public school system in the form of “Mayoral Control.” The schools have been in a constant downward spiral, especially in

Black and Latino communities, since that time. Bloomberg, wielding power like the mythic “great white father,” created an overly bloated educational bureaucracy with almost no accountability. People with no experience running schools, including Joel Klein and Dennis Walcott, were hired to provide “educational leadership.” We are still experiencing the impact of this educational disaster. The diminishing numbers of Blacks and Latinos in the elite high schools are just one measure of this disaster. Black and Latino students have fallen further behind in almost every measure of educational achievement and Mayoral Control is one of the major contributing factors. Mayoral Control continues today. Instead of attempting to make unilateral educational decisions, Mayor Bill de Blasio should involve parents and community in his decision-making process. Would it make sense for the mayor to talk to Black and Latino graduates of the elite high schools to come up with a sensible “diversity” plan? Is there any other group that would know better about what it takes to gain admission to these schools and achieve academic success? It is time for Mayoral Control of public education to come to an end. The New York State Legislature should vote to dismantle Mayoral Control based upon the poor results it has achieved in the last sixteen years. Parents, activists and concerned citizens should organize to force the mayor and local politicians to “stop the madness.” Ultimately, we must return to the past struggles around issues of community control and self-determination if we are ever to provide our children with the type of 21st century education they deserve. Efforts to improve schools and close the achievement gap not based on parental involvement and community control continue to fail miserably. Basir Mchawi is a parent, activist, educator and communicator. He can be heard on WBAI 99.5 FM on Thursday evenings at 8 pm hosting his award-winning radio program, Education at the Crossroads.

“With King’s death, the whiteness that had been shapeless suddenly lunged forward. When King was killed, I felt vulnerable; all that made sense no longer held in place, and it appeared that the cosmos had gotten drunk on its insufficiency, teetered off course, and hurtled madly toward oblivion. How else could it be? Martin Luther King, Jr., was put down like a mangy dog. His breathing and being were seen as such an offense that they had to be stopped at all costs. I was frightened for months. He had been murdered on a balcony, and I could no longer easily wash my hands in our bathroom, which opened onto an upstairs balcony, without fearing that whiteness would kill me too.”

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VOL. 22 NO. 23

BOTTLED

Zora Neale Hurston and “Barracoon” ■■

-by Abigail Rosen McGrath

arracoon is the story of how over 100 people were sold into slavery after slavery was declared illegal, their lives destroyed over a bet. Timothy Meaher, a wealthy Alabama steamboat captain, shipyard owner and owner of the ship “The Clotilda,” bet a Yankee from New England that even though it had been illegal to import slaves since 1807, he would be able to smuggle them into the United States despite the fact that slavery was over. One man lived to tell about it. Zora was there to listen. As a social scientist, Ms. Hurston carefully documents her work, yet it is a story, nonetheless. What a splendid opportunity this gives us to peek inside the belly of the beast and see what the transition from freeman to slave to freeman was like from the slave’s perspective. From the eyes of a man whose life was so tragic that it is difficult for many of us to read without wincing or swelling up with emotion. Yet, he persevered and gave us a firsthand look into the bowels of the slave system. With this insight, we all can see the basis upon which America was built. In 1927, Ms. Hurston, a young, unpublished student of anthropology, took a research trip to Plateau, Alabama, also known as “Africa Town” since it was founded by these Africans from an illegal slave ship, who were eventually set free. Through the voice of Kossola, the African name for Cudjo Lewis, the griot of the story, we learn that a whole community of slaves were discovered, by chance that slavery had ended and that they were free, after having worked for over five years without knowing that they were no longer captives. Ms. Hurston pulls the painful story out of Kossola. Kossola tells us of the soldiers, both men and women, who came to their village and swooped them up. “Derefore, you unnerstand me, dey come make war, but we doan know dey come fight us. Dey march all night long and we in de bed sleep. We doan know nothing.” “It bout daybreak when de folks dat sleep git wake wid de noise when de people of Dahomey breakee de Great Gate. I not woke yet. I still in bed. I hear de gate when dey break it. I hear de yell from de soldiers while dey choppee de gate. Deerfore, I jump out de bed and lookee. I see de great many solders wid French gun in de hand and de big knife. Dey got de women solders too and dey run wid de big knife and make noise. They ketch people and dey saw de nek lak dis wid de knife, den dey twist de head so and it come off de neck. Oh Lor’ Lor’.” “I see de people gittee kill so fast! De old ones dey try run ‘way from de house but dey dead by de door, and de women soldiers got dey head. Oh, Lor”! “No man kin be so strong lak de women solders from de Dahomey Cudjo wept sorrowfully and crossed his arms on his breast with

the fingers touching his shoulders. His mouth and eyes wide open as if he still saw the gruesome spectacle. He talks of his journey on the Clotilda, the last slave ship to kidnap human beings and haul them across the Atlantic under inhuman circumstances. “De boat we on called de Clotilde. Cudjo suffer so in dat ship Cudjo doan know, seem lak it move all de time. One day de color of de water change and we see some islands, but we doan come to de shore for seventy days.” Over casual days blanketed by the warmth of sunshine and fed by fresh juicy peaches, Kossola drips out story after story about his African family, his capture, his own family and how his community was formed. Sometimes he is forthcoming, sometimes he holds back. He is always elegant. It is pleasing to see the ever-playful, ever-amusing Ms. Hurston stick to her scientific side and not give opinions or comments on Kossola’s narrative. Barracoon is neither playful nor amusing. Often, history is written by the winners, not Barracoon. It is an historical account of slavery from the point of view of the slave. It should be a part of every American history curriculum; it should be placed right next to Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of The United States.” Some literary people are getting hung up on if Zora “lifted” information from primary sources, what was actually said and what was “created.” Those people are putting their energies in the wrong place. Barracoon is a story, not a textbook. Did Kossola embellish his stories as he told them to Zora? Did Zora embellish Kossola; stories to make them more pungent? There is no way of knowing. What we do know is that nobody asked Melville about the sailors’ diary he cribbed from, not a word is mentioned about Harriet Beecher Stowe and “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” Margaret Mead is still heralded as an accomplished anthropologist despite the haze of ambiguity surrounding her work; yet Zora, because of her personality (I think), is chastised for bringing something to light which was gathering dust in a museum. It is easy to see why Zora became so disenchanted with the progress of her works. Imagine how one must feel after having written such a remarkable tome, to have people not want to publish it, not want it to disseminate this information for everyone to read. Some publishers said that they woulda, coulda, shoulda published it but the dialect was too difficult to understand. Some were more truthful and just outright refused it. Some might say that a piece which excoriates the origins of our nation was too advanced for readers of that time. Had the information in this book become mainstream, the image of “America The Beautiful” would have been tarnished. Perhaps, had it become mainstream, an honest look at the history of this country would have started a movement of mending fences almost 100 years ago; maybe not. Excluding people from history, from written history,

from being a part of the fabric of America is dangerous business and that is what this country has chosen to do. Instead of embracing this book for the priceless knowledge it imparts, the establishment tried to cover it up, why? This country was not founded on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it was not founded by people fleeing for religious freedom, it was founded on greed, pure and simple. So, when Zora talks about “the universal nature of greed and glory,” she breaks those lofty Americanisms which we all learned in school. She scares us. That is what she does in Barracoon. The more we hear of Cudjo’s life, his being kidnapped and sold at the age of 19 in Africa, his passage over in a ship which knew it was carrying illegal cargo, his not learning of his freedom until five years and six months after slavery was over, the more we see how wretched the moral compass of this country was. Zora was saddened by the fact that, through Cudjo Lewis, she learned that there was Black-on-Black crime at that time. “The inescapable fact that stuck in my craw was: My people had sold me and the white people had bought me. That did away with the folklore I had been brought up on…that white people had gone to Africa, waved a red handkerchief at the African and lured them aboard ship and sailed away.” She lamented. Man’s inhumanity to man has been going on for some time. There are some facts that might have made Zora feel better. The Africans who sold other Africans into slavery did not know what kind of slavery existed in America. Americans from Europe had “chattel slavery,” which is slavery for life, in perpetuity with no rights. In Africa, a slave could own land, get married, even own other slaves or work in government administration. They could become free after a period of time. Some narratives of people who were slaves both in Africa and America such as Ottobah Cuguano, remember “being well-fed …and treated well.” Sometimes they were taken for a debt payment or POWs. The key thing here is that it was a system with human proportions. The other thing which might make Zora feel better and which Cudjo brings up is that the slavery thing was mostly wealthy Africans enslaving poor Africans. What ethnic group doesn’t do that? Was it not the wealthy Jews of Germany who aided in Hitler’s heinous “solution?” Did the poor Mafia members attack the wealthy ones? Did the English Shanghai kids from Eaton? I think not. Cudjo’s language is so lyrical and poignant that it’s easy to think that Zora touched it up a bit. But as far as I can see, what she didn’t take down word for word she unearthed in the Mobile Historical Societies’ dusty records including “The Voyage of Clotilda” (sp) or “Historic Sketches of The South” by Emma Langdon Roches’ historical accounts which are still languishing in underused stacks covered in dust. It is really insulting to Cudjo to assume that because he was

Cudjo Lewis outside his home in Alabama in the 1930s. Considered to be the last surviving victim of the Atlantic Slave Trade between Africa and the United States, who was born in what is now modern-day Benin Republic, Cudjo Lewis was originally named Kossula. He was 19 years old when members of the neighboring Dahomian Tribe captured him and took him to the coast. There, he and about 120 others were sold into slavery and crammed onto the Clotilda, the last slave ship to reach the Continental United States. Clotilda arrived in America just a year before the outbreak of the Civil War. The International Slave Trade was outlawed in America officially in 1808, but the final recorded shipment of enslaved Africans to US shores were brought into the states secretly by the captain of the schooner Clotilda. Cudjo Lewis and other Africans established the small community of Africa Town (also known as Plateau), three miles north of Mobile, Alabama, in 1860. Cudjo Lewis died in 1935. (Photo: Erik Overbey Collection, The Doy Leale McCall Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of South Alabama.)

One the last remaining burial grounds for enslaved Africans in the United States.

Zora Neale Hurston in photo by Carl Van Vechten, circa 1938 undereducated, he was not bright enough to speak in poetic language which touches the heart. ➔➔ Continued on page 19

Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo,” Zora Neale Hurston’s account of the last Middle Passage survivor, was published this spring, 87 years after The Harlem Renaissance author completed it in 1931.

VOL. 22 NO. 23

OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

Rediscovering Lost Values 2018 On the Road with 8 Scribemasters

ast months, eight Brooklyn-based students, ages 12-17, and their 10 guardians visited three states in three days for a journey through the hidden chapters of American history omitted from classrooms, textbooks and core curriculums. They toured the battlegrounds of the Civil Rights movement; spoke to people who participated in the struggle; toured institutions where images, texts, art and relics are on display; and even walked in the footpath of The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The experience enlightened them in a way that has changed their lives, their thoughts, aspirations and even habits. They vowed to share their discoveries with friends, other family members and their schools, through the various media forms. Daily open discussions and debriefings, organized by community activist couple Rev. Taharka W. Robinson, founder of “The Rediscovering Lost Values Tour” -- now in its 11th year -- and his wife and “Values” partner Bianca Robinson offered daily opportunities

for the students to express their feelings and share their thoughts on their experiences -- within the context of today’s world. There was a collegial air about the journey, but it was more than a field trip. He and his team which included Bruce Paul Green, head of the Brooklyn Anti-Violence Coalition, lectured at the foot of the Selma Bridge; offered reminders of each day’s place in history, like the May 17th (1954) anniversary of the Brown vs Topeka Board of Education; and permitted their charges to query “visiting professors”

-- real people in various positions, from Miss Kim, a hotel culinary chief to the communications chief of the Equal Justice Institute, and “Rediscovery’s” accompanying dean, the Hon. Annette Robinson. who framed the stories, and provided the “value” of prayer and song. Our Time Press deputized the students as jr. journalists with Bianco Robinson as their editor. The series begins today with scribemasters Shelby Hudson and India Cordero’s commentaries. Bernice Green

Birmingham Civil Rights Museum ■■

India Cordero

nce we entered the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum, we were directed to a room to watch a film before we went on the self-guided tour. The

INDIA CORDERO, 16, attends Stuart Hall School in Staunton, Va.

film depicted the horrific treatment Black people endured during Jim Crow between the 1920’s and 1950’s. After the film was over, we entered an exhibit and the very first showcase was two water fountains. One fountain was labeled “colored people” and the other was labeled “whites only.” The fountain which was labeled colored people looked old and was covered with rust and the whites only water fountain was clean, more urbane and aesthetically pleasing. Another showcase that stood out to me was a 1953 illustration of a classroom for Black students and a classroom for white students. The classroom for white students was clean, had a new chalkboard which was green, new desks and had bright lights. The classroom for Black students had an old black chalkboard, dull lights, old desks and looked dark and dirty. These two exhibits really impacted me. To think that people created laws that allowed Black people to be treated unfairly because of the color of their skin and to put forth the belief that white people were superior to Black people because of the color of their skin was evil. However, despite the brutality and laws working against them, our ancestors fought for equal rights. I am thankful they did not give up! All photos courtesy of BAVC, except where indicated

Photo: Elizabeth Green

Guide at Birmingham Civil Rights Institute: “Touch these bars! Touch the past, and remember Martin Luther King Jr. and so many others who never gave up, who took a stance so that you can stand here today in this place. Learn the history of this place and all the people who played a role in it.”

16th Street Baptist Church ■■

Shelby D. Hudson, 17

SHELBY D. HUDSON, 17, attends the Academy for Careers in TV & Film in New York City.

s we walked inside of the 16th Street Baptist Church, I could not help but to imagine the traumatic day on September 15, 1963 when the church was bombed and 4 young girls were killed. There were actually 5 girls in the bombing. The youngest, Denise McNair (11), Addie Mae Collins (14), Carole Robertson (14), Cynthia Wesley (14) and another girl, Sarah Collins, the sister of Addie Mae Collins. Sarah Collins was in a stall in the church’s bathroom when the blast occurred. The stall protected her from the blast above but not from the glass that flew in her right eye. Doctors had to remove her right eye and ➔➔ Continued on page 17

OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

NEW BUSINESS FORMATIONS Three Dog Design & Build, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 05/07/2018. Office: Kings County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to The LLC, c/o Eric Ruggieron, 23 Marconi Place Brooklyn, NY 11233 Best Buddys Dog Training, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 03/26/2018. Office: Kings County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to Best Buddys Dog Training, LLC, 176 S. 4th St. #5B, Brooklyn, NY 11211 Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Express Databases LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 03/30/2018. Office:

Kings County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 1035 Washington Avenue, Apt GR 9, Brooklyn, NY 11225. Purpose: Any lawful purpose HUMBOLDT 123 LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 04/09/18. Office: Kings County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 619 Humboldt Street, Brooklyn, NY 11222. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Avant Collaborations LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 02/20/2018. Office: Kings County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may

LEGAL NOTICES Supplemental Summons and Notice of Object of Action Supreme Court Of The State Of New York County Of Kings Action to Foreclose a Mortgage Index #: 521420/2017 Nationstar Mortgage LLC D/B/A Mr. Cooper, Plaintiff, vs Keila Hamilton If Living, And If He/She Be Dead, Any And All Persons Unknown To Plaintiff, Claiming, Or Who May Claim To Have An Interest In, Or General Or Specific Lien Upon The Real Property Described In This Action; Such Unknown Persons Being Herein Generally Described And Intended To Be Included In Wife, Widow, Husband, Widower, Heirs At Law, Next Of Kin, Descendants, Executors, Administrators, Devisees, Legatees, Creditors, Trustees, Committees, Lienors, And Assignees Of Such Deceased, Any And All Persons Deriving Interest In Or Lien Upon, Or Title To Said Real Property By, Through Or Under Them, Or Either Of Them, And Their Respective Wives, Widows, Husbands, Widowers, Heirs At Law, Next Of Kin, Descendants, Executors, Administrators, Devisees, Legatees, Creditors, Trustees, Committees, Lienors, And Assigns, All Of Whom And Whose Names, Except As Stated,Are Unknown To Plaintiff, New York City Parking Violations Bureau, New York City Environmental Control Board, People Of The State Of New York, United States Of America Acting Through The IRS, John Doe (Those unknown tenants, occupants, persons or corporations or their heirs, distributees, executors, administrators, trustees, guardians, assignees, creditors or successors claiming an interest in the mortgaged premises.), Defendant(s). Mortgaged Premises: 100-02 Flatlands Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11236 BL #: 8208-36 To the Above named Defendant: You are hereby summoned to answer the Complaint in this action, and to serve a copy of your answer, or, if the Complaint is not served with this Supplemental Summons, to serve a notice of appearance, on the Plaintiff(s) attorney(s) within twenty days after the service of this Supplemental Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within 30 days after the service is complete if this Supplemental Summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York). In case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint. The Attorney for Plaintiff has an office for business in the County of Erie. Trial to be held in the County of Kings. The basis of the venue designated above is the location of the Mortgaged Premises. TO: KEILA HAMILTON Defendant In this Action. The foregoing Supplemental Summons is served upon you by publication, pursuant to an order of HON. Noach Dear of the Supreme Court Of The State Of New

York, dated the Eleventh day of May, 2018 and filed with the Complaint in the Office of the Clerk of the County of Kings, in the City of Brooklyn. The object of this action is to foreclose a mortgage upon the premises described below, dated November 16, 2007, executed by Keila Hamilton to secure the sum of $532,800.00. The Mortgage was recorded at CRFN 2007000609960 in the Office of the City Register of the City of New York, Kings County on December 12, 2007. The mortgage was subsequently assigned by an assignment executed July 12, 2011 and recorded on August 1, 2011, in the Office of the City Register of the City of New York, Kings County at CRFN 2011000270392. The mortgage was subsequently modified on August 23, 2014; The property in question is described as follows: 100-02 FLATLANDS AVENUE, BROOKLYN, NY 11236 NOTICE YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME If you do not respond to this summons and complaint by serving a copy of the answer on the attorney for the mortgage company who filed this foreclosure proceeding against you and filing the answer with the court, a default judgment may be entered and you can lose your home. Speak to an attorney or go to the court where your case is pending for further information on how to answer the summons and protect your property. Sending a payment to your mortgage company will not stop this foreclosure action. YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT. DATED: May 29, 2018 Gross Polowy, LLC Attorney(s) For Plaintiff(s) 1775 Wehrle Drive, Suite 100 Williamsville, NY 14221 The law firm of Gross Polowy, LLC and the attorneys whom it employs are debt collectors who are attempting to collect a debt. Any information obtained by them will be used for that purpose. 54855-2 NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT KINGS COUNTY FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION (“FANNIE MAE”), A CORPORATION ORGANIZED AND EXISTING UNDER THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff against FRANK CASSATA, et al Defendants Attorney for Plaintiff(s) Knuckles, Komosinski & Manfro, LLP 565 Taxter Road, Suite 590, Elmsford, NY 10523 Attorney (s) for Plaintiff (s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale Entered May 9, 2018 I will sell at Public Auction to the highest bidder at the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY 11201 on July 12, 2018 at 2:30 PM. remises known as 1406 Dahill Road, Brooklyn, NY 11204. Block 6556 Lot

be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, United States Corporation of Agents, Inc. 7014 13th avenue, Suite 202, Brooklyn, NY 11222. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Notice of Formation of ADVANCE IMAGING TRAINING LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/03/2018 Office location: Kings County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Hamlet Jaquez, 832 Ocean Avenue, 3D Brooklyn, NY 11226. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of A’COURT LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/12/18. Office location: Kings County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o 37. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York. Approximate Amount of Judgment is $393,409.00 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of ﬁled Judgment Index No 513272/2016. Cash will not be accepted at the sale. Stephen J. Baker, Esq., Referee 2296-002853 NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS Wells Fargo Bank, NA, Plaintiff AGAINST Samuel Salzberg; Mindy Salzberg; et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated December 13, 2017 I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY 11201 on June 28, 2018 at 2:30PM, premises known as 1435 53rd Street, Brooklyn, NY 11219. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of NY, Block 5664 Lot 60. Approximate amount of judgment $336,777.74 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index# 16128/2013. Randolph Jackson, Esq., Referee Shapiro, DiCaro & Barak, LLC Attorney(s) for the Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (877) 759-1835 Dated: April 6, 2018 53496 NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, Plaintiff AGAINST Hugh Smith a/k/a Hugh C. Smith; et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated November 20, 2017 I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY 11201 on June 21, 2018 at 2:30PM, premises known as 2264 Linden Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY 11208. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of NY, Block 4360 Lot 8. Approximate amount of judgment $491,759.17 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index# 509165/2014. Stephen Barbaro, Esq., Referee Shapiro, DiCaro & Barak, LLC Attorney(s) for the Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (877) 759-1835 Dated: May 1, 2018 For sale information, please visit www.Auction.com or call (800) 280-2832 54155 SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF KINGS U.S. BANK NATIONAL

VOL. 22 NO. 23 Levine Plotkin & Menin, LLP, 888 Seventh Ave., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10106. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of MC BERNSTEIN LLC Articles of Organization. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/10/2018. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC c/o Legal Inc. Corporate Service Inc. 1967 Wehrle Drive, Suite 1 # 086, Buffalo NY 14221 Notice of Formation of Jalifola LLC Articles of Organization. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/06/2018. . SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC c/o Lumumba Ansah 520 Eastern Parkway, Apt. 2R, Brooklyn, NY 11225 ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR THE C-BASS MORTGAGE LOAN ASSETBACKED CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2007-MX1, Plaintiff -against- EDWIN SANTIAGO, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered herein and dated April 19, 2018, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Courthouse 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY on June 28, 2018 at 2:30p.m. premises situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, bounded and described as follows: BEGINNING at a point on the southerly side of Halsey Street, distant 40.00 feet easterly from the southeasterly corner of Halsey Street and Lewis Avenue, being a plot 60.00 feet by 20.00 feet by 60.00 feet by 20.00 feet. Section: 6 Block: 1665 Lot: 12 Said premises known as 482 HALSEY STREET, BROOKLYN, NY Approximate amount of lien $562,628.19 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 515574/2015. GREGORY T. CERCHIONE, ESQ., Referee Dorf & Nelson LLP Attorney(s) for Plaintiff 555 Theodore Fremd Avenue, Rye, NY 10580 NOTICE OF SALE Supreme Court County Of Kings PennyMac Corp., Plaintiff AGAINST Jamal Porter, et al, Defendant Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated 7/28/2017 and entered on 8/21/2017, I, the undersigned Referee, will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on June 21, 2018 at 02:30 PM premises known as 1328 Jefferson Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11221. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the County of Kings, City and State of New York, BLOCK: 3391, LOT: 13. Approximate amount of judgment is $850,910.57 plus interests and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 14695-13. Betty Lugo, Referee FRENKEL LAMBERT WEISS WEISMAN & GORDON LLP 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, NY 11706 SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF KINGS U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE FOR THE C-BASS MORTGAGE LOAN ASSETBACKED CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2007-MX1, Plaintiff -against- EDWIN SANTIAGO, et al Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale entered herein and dated April 19, 2018, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Courthouse 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY on June 28, 2018 at 2:30p.m. premises situate, lying and ➔➔ Continued on page 18

VOL. 22 NO. 23

Classifieds

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OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

16th Street Baptist Church ➔➔

Continued from page 15

replace it with a prosthetic eye. Though renovated, the church still keeps its features from before the bombing. A very interesting fact about this church is the Jesus-stained glass. After the explosion, the body of Jesus was not destroyed; only the face was blown off. The thought of the blast being on the same side as the stained glass but only Jesus’s face was destroyed left me in awe. One of the new features added to the church was a blue stained glass that has an African-American Students view the 16th Street male dressed in all-white with Baptist Church from a window his arms spread apart reaching of the Birmingham Civil Rights to the sky. One of his hands is Institute. faced towards the sky while the other is opened towards the worship- be tried and convicted for killing 4 pers, revealing his palm. As told by young girls. our tour guide Mr. Bragg, one hand The 7 young people and I felt represents “Oppression” while the very sad and disturbed after watchother shows “Forgiveness.” ing the short documentary of the 16th The last point I would like to Street Baptist Church Bombing and share is about the bomber, Rob speaking with our tour guide Mr. Chambliss, a white supremacist who Bragg--we were all speechless. terrorized, murdered and injured To know more information young girls that were preparing to about this historical moment and worship the Lord in a church, a place church, I recommend you to travel that is supposed to be sacred and to Birmingham, Alabama and see safe. I was outraged when I learned this for yourself. This is a place that that it took 14 years for Chambliss to everyone should experience.

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ThE CARETAKER: This vet grew up in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. He was at work a few blocks away on the day the church was bombed. When he left the city for A tour of duty in Vietnam, he took with him the memory of a family friend — one of the four girls murdered on that fateful day.

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OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

LEGAL NOTICES ➔➔ Continued from page 16 being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, bounded and described as follows: BEGINNING at a point on the southerly side of Halsey Street, distant 40.00 feet easterly from the southeasterly corner of Halsey Street and Lewis Avenue, being a plot 60.00 feet by 20.00 feet by 60.00 feet by 20.00 feet. Section: 6 Block: 1665 Lot: 12 Said premises known as 482 HALSEY STREET, BROOKLYN, NY Approximate amount of lien $562,628.19 plus interest & costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment and Terms of Sale. Index Number 515574/2015. GREGORY T. CERCHIONE, ESQ., Referee Dorf & Nelson LLP Attorney(s) for Plaintiff, 555 Theodore Fremd Avenue, Rye, NY 10580 NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS, WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB DOING BUSINESS AS CHRISTIANA TRUST NOT IN ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY BUT SOLELY AS TRUSTEE FOR BCAT 201513ATT, Plaintiff, vs. DIANA VILLARREAL A/K/A DIANA C. VILLARREAL A/K/A DIANA GUEVARA A/K/A DIANA C. GUEVARA, ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly filed on August 17, 2017, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, Room 224, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on June 28, 2018 at 2:30 p.m., premises known as 166 Glen Avenue, Brooklyn, NY. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, Block 4168 and Lot 22. Approximate amount of judgment is $398,425.96 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 503328/2013. Shmuel D. Taub, Esq., Referee Knuckles, Komosinski & Manfro, LLP, 565 Taxter Road, Ste. 590, Elmsford, NY 10523, Attorneys for Plaintiff. Cash will not be accepted. NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC D/B/A CHAMPION MORTGAGE COMPANY, Plaintiff AGAINST Phyllis Johnson, et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated March 12, 2018 I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Room 224 of Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, New York 11201, on June 14, 2018 at 2:30PM, premises known as 276 HALSEY STREET, BROOKLYN, NY 11216. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, BLOCK 1846, LOT 19. Approximate amount of judgment $361,266.36 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment for Index# 511333/2015. JOEL ELIOT ABRAMSON, ESQ., Referee Gross Polowy, LLC Attorney for Plaintiff 1775 Wehrle Drive, Suite 100 Williamsville, NY 14221 53687 NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT KINGS COUNTY FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff against PATSY QUOW, et al Defendants Attorney for Plaintiff(s) Fein, Such & Crane, LLP 28 East Main Street, Suite 1800, Rochester, NY 14614 Attorney (s) for Plaintiff (s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale Entered October 17, 2017 I will sell at Public Auction to

the highest bidder at the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Room 261, Brooklyn, NY 11201 on June 14, 2018 at 2:30 PM. Premises known as 299 East 39th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11203. Block 4893 Lot 43. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn and County of Kings, City and State of New York. Approximate Amount of Judgment is $580,499.92 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index No 508955/2015. Gregory T. Cerchione, Esq., Referee FSLNC086

ADJUDICATION BUREAU, NYC ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BOARD, NYC PARKING VIOLATIONS BUREAU, NYS DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION AND FINANCE, and “JOHN DOE” and “JANE DOE”, the last two names being fictitious, said parties intended being tenants or occupants, if any, having or claiming an interest in, or lien upon the premises described in the complaint, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, Defendant(s). TO THE ABOVENAMED DEFENDANTS: NOTICE YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME. IF YOU DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT BY NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER COUNTY OF KINGS The Bank of New ON THE ATTORNEYS FOR THE York Mellon Corporation, as Trustee for MORTGAGE COMPANY WHO FILED CWABS, Inc. Asset-Backed Certificates, THIS FORECLOSURE PROCEEDING Series 2003-5, Plaintiff AGAINST Keith AGAINST YOU AND FILING THE Adrian; et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to ANSWER WITH THE COURT, A a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly DEFAULT JUDGMENT MAY BE dated November 20, 2017 I, the undersigned ENTERED AND YOU CAN LOSE YOUR Referee will sell at public auction at the HOME. SPEAK TO AN ATTORNEY OR Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams GO TO THE COURT WHERE YOUR Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY 11201 on CASE IS PENDING FOR FURTHER June 14, 2018 at 2:30PM, premises known INFORMATION ON HOW TO ANSWER as 105-23 Flatlands 3rd Street, Brooklyn, THE SUMMONS AND PROTECT YOUR NY 11236. All that certain plot piece PROPERTY. SENDING A PAYMENT or parcel of land, with the buildings and TO YOUR MORTGAGE COMPANY improvements erected, situate, lying and WILL NOT STOP THIS FORECLOSURE being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County ACTION. YOU MUST RESPOND BY of Kings, City and State of NY, Block 8251 SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON Lot 73. Approximate amount of judg- THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF ment $487,170.91 plus interest and costs. (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING Premises will be sold subject to provisions THE ANSWER WITH THE COURT. YOU of filed Judgment Index# 511293/2015. ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer Bartholomew Verdimare, Esq., Referee the Complaint in this action and to serve a Shapiro, DiCaro & Barak, LLC Attorney(s) copy of your answer, or, if the Complaint for the Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard is not served with this Summons, to serve a Rochester, New York 14624 (877) 759-1835 notice of appearance on the Plaintiff’s attorDated: April 13, 2018 53577 ney within 20 days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME within 30 days after the service is complete COURT COUNTY OF KINGS, MTGLQ if this Summons is not personally delivered INVESTORS, L.P., Plaintiff, vs. BARUCH to you within the State of New York); The KUPFERSTEIN A/K/A BARUCH M. United States of America, if designated as a KUPFERSTEIN, ET AL., Defendant(s). Defendant in this action, may appear within Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and (60) days of service thereof and in case of Sale, Order to Amend Caption and Request your failure to appear or answer, judgment for Other Relief duly filed on December 06, will be taken against you by default for the 2017, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at relief demanded in the Complaint. NOTICE public auction at the Kings County Supreme OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF Court, Room 224, 360 Adams Street, SOUGHT: THE OBJECT of the above capBrooklyn, NY on June 21, 2018 at 2:30 tioned action is to foreclose on a mortgage in p.m., premises known as 1128 41st Street, the sum of $51,000.00 dated September 22, Brooklyn, NY. All that certain plot, piece 2004, executed by Defendant(s) RODNEY or parcel of land, with the buildings and CHARLES, GENA GARDNER to WELLS improvements thereon erected, situate, lying FARGO BANK, NA recorded on October and being in the Borough of Kings, County 12, 2004 in CRFN 2004000629698, in the of Kings, City and State of New York, Block Office of the Clerk of the County of KINGS, 05592 and Lot 01902. Approximate amount covering premises known as 2869 W 36th St, of judgment is $211,614.65 plus interest Brooklyn, NY 11224 (Block 7005 and Lot and costs. Premises will be sold subject 53). The relief sought within action is a final to provisions of filed Judgment Index # judgment directing the sale of the premises 8820/2013. Philip L. Kamaras, Esq., Referee described above to satisfy the debt described Knuckles, Komosinski & Manfro, LLP, 565 above. To the above-named Defendants: Taxter Road, Ste. 590, Elmsford, NY 10523, The foregoing Summons is served upon Attorneys for Plaintiff, Cash will not be you by publication pursuant to an amended accepted. order of the Hon. Noach Dear, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, and SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE filed along with the supporting papers in the OF NEW YORK – COUNTY OF KINGS Office of the Clerk of the County of Kings INDEX # 513997/2015 FILED: 04/18/2018 on 04/12/2018. This is an action to foreclose SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS AND on a mortgage. ALL that certain plot, piece NOTICE Plaintiff designates Kings County or parcel of land, situate, lying and being as the place of trial. Venue is based upon the in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of County in which the mortgaged premises Kings, City and State of New York, Block are situated. WELLS FARGO BANK NA, 7005 and Lot 53, said premises known as Plaintiff, against GENA GARDNER, if she 2869 W 36th St, Brooklyn, NY 11224. YOU be living and if she be dead, the respective ARE HEREBY PUT ON NOTICE THAT heirs-at-law, next-of-kin, distributees, ex- WE ARE ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT ecutors, administrators, trustees, devisees, A DEBT AND ANY INFORMATION legatees, assignees, lienors, creditors and OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT successors in interest and generally all PURPOSE. By reason of the default in persons having or claiming under, by or the payment of the monthly installment of through said Defendant(s) who may be principal and interest, among other things, deceased, by purchase, inheritance, lien or as hereinafter set forth, Plaintiff, the holder inheritance, any right, title or interest in or to and owner of the aforementioned note the real property described in the Complaint, and mortgage, or their agents have elected RODNEY CHARLES, NYC TRANSIT and hereby accelerate the mortgage and

VOL. 22 NO. 23 declare the entire mortgage indebtedness immediately due and payable. By reason of the aforesaid, there is due and owing to Plaintiff the sum of $51,356.87, with interest thereon at 6.62500% per annum from August 20, 2014. UNLESS YOU DISPUTE THE VALIDITY OF THE DEBT, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, WITHIN THIRTY (30) DAYS AFTER YOUR RECEIPT HEREOF THAT THE DEBT, OR ANY PORTION THEREOF, IS DISPUTED, THE DEBTOR JUDGMENT AGAINST YOU AND A COPY OF SUCH VERIFICATION OR JUDGMENT WILL BE MAILED TO YOU BY THE HEREIN DEBT COLLECTOR. IF APPLICABLE, UPON YOUR WRITTEN REQUEST, WITHIN SAID THIRTY (30) DAY PERIOD, THE HEREIN DEBT COLLECTOR WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE ORIGINAL CREDITOR. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED A DISCHARGE FROM THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT, YOU ARE NOT PERSONALLY LIABLE FOR THE UNDERLYING INDEBTEDNESS OWED TO PLAINTIFF/CREDITOR AND THIS NOTICE/DISCLOSURE IS FOR COMPLIANCE AND INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. HELP FOR HOMEOWNERS IN FORECLOSURE New York State requires that we send you this notice about the foreclosure process. Please read it carefully. SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT You are in danger of losing your home. If you fail to respond to the Summons and Complaint in this foreclosure action, you may lose your home. Please read the Summons and Complaint carefully. You should immediately contact an attorney or your local legal aid office to obtain advice on how to protect yourself. SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND ASSISTANCE The State encourages you to become informed about your options in foreclosure. In addition to seeking assistance from an attorney or legal aid, there are government agencies, and non-profit organizations that you may contact for information about possible options, including trying to work with your lender during this process. To locate an entity near you, you may call the toll-free helpline maintained by New York State Department of Financial Services’ at 1-800269-0990 or visit the Department’s website at http://www.dfs.ny.gov FORECLOSURE RESCUE SCAMS Be careful of people who approach you with offers to “save” your home. There are individuals who watch for notices of foreclosure actions in order to unfairly profit from a homeowner’s distress. You should be extremely careful about any such promises and any suggestions that you pay them a fee or sign over your deed. State law requires anyone offering such services for profit to enter into a contract which fully describes the services they will perform and fees they will charge, and which prohibits them from taking any money from you until they have completed all such promised services. Section 1303 NOTICE YOU ARE IN DANGER OF LOSING YOUR HOME If you do not respond to this Summons and Complaint by serving the copy of the answer on the attorney for the mortgage company who filed this foreclosure proceeding against you and filing the answer with the court, a default judgment may be entered and you may lose your home. Speak to an attorney or go to the court where your case is pending for further information on how to answer the Summons and protect your property. Sending a payment to your mortgage company will not stop this foreclosure action. YOU MUST RESPOND BY SERVING A COPY OF THE ANSWER ON THE ATTORNEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF (MORTGAGE COMPANY) AND FILING AN ANSWER WITH THE COURT. Aldridge Pite, LLP. Attorneys for the Plaintiff, 40 Marcus Drive, Suite 200 Melville, NY 11747 Our File 26398

VOL. 22 NO. 23

Zora Neale Hurston and “Barracoon”

Never Forget

Judge A. W. Tourgee speaks for the Negro at the First Mohonk Conference on the Negro Question, held at Lake Mohonk in Ulster County, June 6, 1905

udge Tourgee. — So much has been said this morning about the industrial deficiencies of the colored people of the South that I have been greatly surprised at the omission of any reference to the other side of the question, — their industrial excellences. I have always been less impressed with the industrial needs of the colored man than his industrial achievements. From 1865 until 1880, I had a peculiarly good opportunity for observing his qualities both as an agricultural and mechanical laborer, having first and last had some hundreds in my employ, and during much of the time each year travelling in different parts of the State in which I then lived. As a result of constant study of their conditions since emancipation, I do not hesitate to say that the colored people of the South have accomplished more in twenty-five years, from an industrial point of view, than any people on the face of the earth ever before achieved under anything like such unfavorable conditions. The manner in which they live and the things they do not do have been alluded to here as if they were racial qualities, and not fortuitous, resulting conditions. I was much impressed with the suggestions of more than one who has spoken, as to what they should be taught to do, as if they were industrial babes. I would like to see any of their advisers give the colored man lessons in the management of a mule, or teach him to raise a crop of corn or cotton or tobacco, or work a bad hillside at the South. In those forms of industry which they have had an opportunity to acquire, they have shown an aptitude and success which are simply amazing, when we consider their previous lack of opportunity to learn management, thrift, and economy. The Northern man is always prompt to criticize their agricultural methods; yet the Northern farmer who goes South and relies upon his own judgment and his own labor is very generally a failure. So, too, in comparison with the “ poor whites “ of the South, the landless cropper-class, it is unquestionable that the Negro has excelled them greatly in industrial progress since his emancipation. In five of the heaviest cotton-growing counties of five States of the South, it is estimated that from four to six per cent, of the heads of families among colored people live now under their own roof-trees. In the regions where agriculture is more varied, the proportion is much greater. Probably six per cent, is a fair average. Now, if, under the conditions prevailing in 1865, two in a thousand had housed themselves in twenty-five years, it would have been regarded, by the observant political economist, as nothing short of an industrial miracle. I have no doubt that five times as large a proportion of them have become home-owners and self-employers as of the “ poor whites,” who most nearly approach them in educational and financial conditions, and with whom alone they can be justly compared.

OUR TIME PRESS June 7 – 13, 2018

Indeed, they already stand above the average of the white race in some industrial conditions. There is only half as large a percentage of paupers among them as among the whites of the eight States of the “ black belt “ of the South, and the proportion of paupers among the whites of the South is much less than at the North. It has been claimed that the reason of this is that the old masters support the aged and infirm who have been slaves. No doubt, this is sometimes true ; but, even in slave times, it required special statutes in every Southern State to prevent the masters from abandoning such infirm slaves to live by their own devices, and it is not reasonable to suppose that the white man would support the infirm freedman and send the disabled ones of his own race to the poorhouse. It is simply a remarkable economic fact which establishes beyond controversy the remarkable economic value of the colored man as an industrial element of American life. Something has been said about the frequent absence of the surname among the Negroes of the South. In “ Bricks without Straw,” I fully discussed the cause and character of this, to us of the North, singular feature of the freedman’s character. It is a terrible unconscious testimony against the treatment American Christianity has accorded our “brother in black.” It was natural that the freedman should be a little lax in the matter of names. The slave had never been allowed a surname,— could not have one, indeed, because he had no father. The law expressly forbade it. He was always a nulliusfilius, and was indicted, tried, and hanged simply as Jim or John. And it must be remembered that indictment and trial was the only legal privilege the slave enjoyed. He could be hanged, but could .not be married; and his master changed his name as often as he chose. Why should not this man, new-born to self-control, make some experiments in nomenclature? He was a good way behind us, who have been fooling with our names for centuries, and have not always gotten them entirely satisfactory even yet. This is not a racial peculiarity, but an eternal testimony against injustice. At the close of the war there were set free 5,000,000 of men, women, and children, without a husband, a wife, a lawful father, a legitimate child, or a legal family name among them all ! They were without homes, without monev/ without lands, tools, seeds, or stock, without education, without experience, without inheritance, without the impulse of generations of thrift and intelligence. Yet, without a family name, except one of his own selection, with wages hardly one-third those of the agricultural laborer of the North, the Negro accomplished industrial results which must make any observer of facts who can lay aside prejudice and forget theories, utter, with profound amazement, those words first of all flashed through the electric wire, “What hath God-wrought!”

➔➔ Continued from page 14 When Zora pushes him to be more current-“But Kossola (Cudjo’s African name), I want to hear about you and how you lived in Africa,” he comes back at her with “Where is de house where de mouse is de leader? “In de Affica soil I cain tellee you bout de son before zi tellee you bout de father; and derefore, you unnerstand me, I cain talk about de man who is father (et te) till I tellee you bout de man who he father to him, now, dass right aint it?” His prideful stories of his band of the last slaves to immigrate and how hard they worked to form a co-op to buy land and develop a community are inspirational. Seldom do we hear stories of Black people banding together to create a society that they control. And Cudjo himself knows how valuable his information is to Zora, that’s why he can occasionally afford to be standoffish or to string her along, he knows she needs his knowledge. We all do. Because Cudjo’s story was not told in the same manner as Johnny Appleseed or Paul Bunyon or any of the folk heroes we learned in the traditional school curriculum, we have missed out on learning the culture and mores of a very accepting society. “In de compound I play wid all de chillum my father got.” He goes on to say how much fun they had playing as an extended family. It must have been difficult for Zora to write this book strictly by the numbers. She absents herself, her sense of humor, her personality from the historical facts. Some critics have gone out of their way to be catty and point to the negative aspects of the piece. We must not lose sight of the fact that Zora is the only one to bring this story to light. There may be other stories just as good, but nobody else wrote about them and if they are buried now, then go after the primary information which still exists and write it yourself. Why make Zora the “onliest?” It is easy to put down Zora because of the antics in her personal life. Zora oftentimes “acted a fool” just to get over. It was a way of getting white people to accept her. Her raucous laugh and thigh-slapping conduct was a great embarrassment to intellectual Blacks at the time, but it was her way of surviving. She was one of the most prolific writers of the Harlem Renaissance despite all of the setbacks. If people had taken this work seriously which she wrote when she was quite young, imagine the volume of work she could have put out in later life. Imagine how history books could have given a full picture of the period. Imagine how generations after generations of people would have had pride in knowing how much their ancestors had contributed to this country.

A simple bet allowed Timothy Meaher to bring about unspeakable pain to people who are still hurting today, many generations later. No harm has come to him or his family in all these generations. His story shows us how privileged a white life can be. Cudjo’s story shows us how noble a Black life is. ________________________________ Note: My mother, the poet Helene Johnson, and my aunt Dorothy, Dorothy West, the novelist and short story writer, subleased Zora’s Harlem apartment when she went away on this trip. The girls were staying at the Harlem Y and somehow Zora talked them into taking her place while she was away. The girls leapt at the opportunity to live in Harlem, they lied to their parents, kept their room at the Y and moved into Zora’s residence. Zora explained that she would be away for months and that she needed to have three months’ rent in advance. The girls gave it to her. She left and the girls had their first night unchaperoned in NYC. The next night there was a knock at the door. It was the landlord. Zora owed three months’ rent and was about to be evicted. The fact that she was out of town did not cut any ice with the landlord. So, the Boston girls paid up the back rent assuming there was some sort of error which Zora would correct when she returned. Because of Zora, they became true members of the Harlem Renaissance and it was worth it, no matter the price. ________________________________ Helene, Dorothy and Zora My mother, the poet Helene Johnson, and my aunt Dorothy, Dorothy West, the novelist and short story writer, subleased Zora’s Harlem apartment when she went away on this trip to Alabama. The girls were staying at the Harlem Y and somehow Zora talked them into taking her place while she was away. Helene and Dorothy leapt at the opportunity to live in Harlem. They lied to their parents, kept their room at the Y and moved into Zora’s residence. Zora explained that she would be away for months and that she needed to have three months’ rent in advance. The girls gave it to her. She left and the girls had their first night unchaperoned in NYC. The next night there was a knock at the door. It was the landlord. Zora owed three months’ rent and was about to be evicted. The fact that she was out of town did not cut any ice with the landlord. So, the Boston girls paid up the back rent assuming there was some sort of error which Zora would correct when she returned. Because of Zora, Helene Johnson and Dorothy West became true members of the Harlem Renaissance and it was worth it, no matter the price. - ARM

Family Calls for Co-Naming Claver Pl. After Bklyn. legend Jitu Weusi The family of Jitu Weusi was greeted with a standing ovation at the June 4th meeting of Community Board 3, as Kojo Campbell made a presentation requesting a letter of support for the Co-naming of Claver Place with Jitu Weusi Way. Mr. Weusi was an activist Icon in the community and a cofounder of organizations including the legendary “The East” on Claver Place, the African Arts Street Festival, the National Black United Fund and Medgar Evers College.

OUR TIME PRESS June 7 â€“ 13, 2018

VOL. 22 NO. 23