OUR TIME PRESS | January 11 – 17, 2018

| From the Villa ge of Brook ly n |

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

| VOL. 22 NO. 2

January 11 – 17, 2018 |

Since 1996

Social Media Erupts Over Racist Ad

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nternational retail giant H & M drew public ire over ad showing a black child wearing a green H&M hoodie with the text “coolest monkey in the jungle” printed on it.

Such popular artists as, Sean Combs, Weeknd, Questlove and G-Eazy lashed out in response.

Combs has reportedly offered the model a million-dollar contract to appear in his Sean John clothing line.

G-Eazy ran the adjacent positive conception with the following comment: Over the past months I was genuinely excited about launching my upcoming line and collaboration with @HM...

Unfortunately, after seeing the disturbing image yesterday, my excitement over our global campaign quickly evaporated, and I’ve decided at this time our partnership needs to end.

Whether an oblivious oversight or not, it’s truly sad and disturbing that in 2018, something so racially and culturally insensitive could pass by the eyes of so many (stylist, photographer, creative and marketing teams) and be deemed acceptable.

I can’t allow for my name and brand to be associated with a company that could let this happen.

I hope that this situation will serve

as the wake up call that H&M and other companies need to get on track and become racially and culturally aware, as well as more diverse at every level.

See Page 2

Our Time Press to launch year-long look at black studies on the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Black Studies Movement Part of the fervor of the tumultuous year 1968, was the explosion of demands for Black studies programs on college campuses across the country. Milfred C. Fierce of Brooklyn, named the first director of the Black Studies program at Vassar, held that “White Studies have taken several hundred years of trial and error, revision, adjustment and improvement, and…still could use a thorough ‘housecleaning.’” Under his leadership and through such innovations as the Urban Center in Poughkeepsie and the African Summer Study Trip he led in the summer of 1971, the program—ultimately the multidisciplinary African Studies Program—became a vital element in the Vassar curriculum, joining San Francisco State University’s Nathan Hare in bringing black studies to campuses across the country.

The series begins with Professor Fierce’s essay on Slavebreeding in the United States, Page 6.

Oprah Gets Them Thinking

The reason why selfmade billionaire Oprah Winfrey springs so easily to mind when the possibility of a non-political candidate is raised, is because she is the embodiment of the citizen-politician the Founding Fathers envisioned. Someone who would leave their lives in the financial elite, use their skills and judgement performing a public service for the nation and then return to their former course.

Oprah’s speech at the Golden Globes last Sunday demonstrated her appeal and power. The text of her remarks is below. Also see "View From Here" Page 2,"What's Going On" Page 4 and "Thinker's Notebook" Page 5.

January 7, 2018 - OPRAH WINFREY at recent 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards - Los Angeles, CA. (Credit Image: © Paul Fenton via ZUMA Wire)

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OUR TIME PRESS January 11 – 17, 2018

View From Here ■■

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By David Mark Greaves

he only decent part of all the weekend Trump-related information barrage was seeing Rep. Steve Scalise recovering from being shot on a ball field last summer walking across the stage using hand crutches. Other than that, Dear Mother of God, what must the world think?

The tell-all inside look at the Trump White House in the new book “Fire and Fury” by Michael Wolff, the dysfunction on display in and around the Oval Office has been too widely discussed to add more here.

However, fear not. Black women saved the nation the presence of accused pedophile Roy Moore in the Senate, and now they’ve gone and threatened to haul out the big gun, Oprah Winfrey, and the political establishment is looking either giddy or scared. After all, if a Donald Trump, why not an Oprah Winfrey, since as it’s turns out, it’s the core of the person that matters. Opponents and political professionals will try to pigeonhole her as “another celebrity candidate”, which is laughable because that’s what they crave to be as they stand in the halls of Congress for half an hour waiting for camera time on CNN or MSNBC. And they also know that the actual work of running the government is a skill that can be learned, but there is no degree for charisma, and that’s why they will attack it, because it’s the only angle they’ll have.

The toxic charisma of Donald Trump has given us a great gift, because it breaks the current mold and leads the way to the qualities needed of a president in the 21st century.

And the reason Oprah springs so easily to mind is because she is the embodiment of the citizen-politician the Founding Fathers envisioned as someone who would leave their lives in the financial elite, use their skills performing a public service for the nation and then return to their former life. Public office was not meant for a political class to claim and use for their personal ambitions rather than the country’s.

Ideals are often honored more in word than in practice, and the career politicians among the Founding Fathers, thought a citizen-politician, someone undoubtedly much like themselves, to be a good idea. It would have been a great surprise to them to see that two of the citizen-politicians making the sacrifice for the nation would be a Black man who was a college professor, community organizer and first-term state senator, and now, some 242 years later, an astonishing Black woman who’s a self-made billionaire running her own media empire, but there it is.

There is a lot of condescending talk from the political class about workers having to adapt to today’s world. This is true for their work as well, because the highest level of the game today is fought on digital platforms, and their analog skills are outdated like the silent movies.

Onstage at the presidential debates, it is inevitable that viewers will sense they are looking at Oprah Winfrey presiding over what would amount to a grouping of talented cabinet candidates and future advisors.

Of course, these are the fantasies of a hopeless romantic, and right now, the identity of the Republican candidate is really in the hands of special counsel Robert Mueller, who has indicated he’d like to interview the president, meaning his investigation will wrap up and findings released before 2020.

If Trump himself is cleared of any wrongdoing, then he’ll be the Republican candidate. But if the special counsel has bad news for the president and if the Democrats don’t take their eye off the ball and win a landslide in this year’s midterms, then we will have impeachment and removal from office firmly on the table, making the eventual Republican opponent unknown at this time.

Whoever the Republicans field, after four years of conservative policies lacking all empathy for people or the environment, the citizenry will be won over by someone else from outside the political class, but this time someone whose life story and philanthropy are in tune with the priorities of their own lives. Oprah has demonstrated up close and personal, that she is the kind of person to be trusted with children, and as a citizen-politician, she would be trusted to take the helm and set the ship of state back on course to make lives better.

Oprah would be elected almost by acclimation.

H&M Uses Black Child in Racist ‘Coolest Monkey in the Jungle’ Ad, Apologizes

H&M: “Have you lost your damned minds?”

New York Times columnist Charles Blow tweeted

■■ By Sheryl Estrada / January 8, 2018 www.diversityinc.com

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fter intense backlash on social media and threats of a boycott H&M apologized for an advertisement on its website featuring a Black boy wearing a green hoodie with the phrase, “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle”.

The family-controlled Swedish retailer has an all-white board of directors.

H&M’s Chief Executive Karl-Johan Persson’s grandfather founded the brand and his father Stefan is chairman.

According to the Financial Times, its sales in the fourth quarter of 2017 fell by 4 percent, the first such decline in decades. And its share price is half the level of its 2015 peak. Zara brand took over H&M six years ago as the world’s largest fashion retailer.

As the second-largest clothing seller on the planet, you’d think its marketing team would understand the importance of representation and diversity in its products. But that message comes from the top down. And diversity is not represented in its leadership.

“This image has now been removed from all H&M channels and we apologize to anyone this may have offended,” said the fashion retailer’s spokeswoman Anna Eriksson in a terse statement on Monday, according to the New York Daily News.

H&M said in an e-mail sent to CBS MoneyWatch that the product will not be for sale in the United States. Adding, “We believe in diversity and inclusion in all that we do, and will be reviewing our internal routines”.

The hoodie is still available to buy on

VOL. 22 NO. 2

NYS Restricts Books in Prison

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EW YORK—Efforts to restrict inmates’ access to books in New York State prisons reveal a troubling disregard for inmates’ right to read and appear to have no reasonable basis, PEN America said today.

In New York State, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Directive 4911A, put in place on December 4, 2017, restricting prisoners’ ability to receive packages and articles: packages must be sent from a list of approved vendors or face possible rejection. As of January 8, only six vendors are approved to send books. As a result, Directive 4911A prevents inmates from being sent books—including used books or books unavailable through purchase in any catalogue— outside of these vendors’ limited lists.

Currently, the directive is a pilot program, and applies only to three correctional facilities: Greene, Green Haven and Taconic, with the possibility that the directive will later be applied to all state facilities.

While this directive does not restrict access to prison library facilities, NYC Books Through Bars has noted in a January 3 letter to Governor Cuomo that they have received requests for books from prison employees who are “struggling to stock libraries for the general population”.

“The State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision needs to promote moral and responsible prison policies that uphold inmates’ access to information and safeguard the right to read,” said Summer Lopez, PEN America Senior Director of Free Expression Programs. “Directive 4911A, a ruinously overboard restriction on inmates’ ability to access published materials, goes in the opposite direction. We encourage the department and the governor’s office to revoke this ill-considered directive and to ensure inmates have access to as much outside publications as possible.”

PEN America has run a national prison writing program for over 40 years, including an annual Prison Writing Contest available to anyone incarcerated in a federal, state, or county prison.

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 Consultant Bernice Elizabeth Green Legacy Ventures

H & M catalogue featured images of a black child wearing a “coolest monkey in the hood” hoodie, and a white child with a “Mangrove Jungle Survival Expert” hoodie. the U.K. website without featuring the model’s image. #CoolestMonkeyintheJungle trended on Twitter Monday morning with posts slamming the company for the racist ad.

Social media users pointed out that racists have historically referred to Black people as monkeys or apes.

In the U.S., both former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were subjected to such insults.

In 2016, in a barrage of racist tweets on Twitter, encouraged by Milo Yiannopoulos, “Saturday Night Live” comedian Leslie Jones was compared to Harambe, the

gorilla killed at the Cincinnati Zoo, as well as subjected to other derogatory comments.

White children modeled two other tops from the same H&M line, one that said, “survival expert” and one with images of animals, social media users also said.

H&M isn’t the only company to recently receive backlash for its advertisements. In October, Unilever was under fire for a Dove ad that showed a Black woman wearing a brown T-shirt ready to use Dove soap. She takes off the brown top, after using the soap, to reveal a smiling white woman wearing a white shirt who also removes her shirt, unveiling a different white woman.

Contributors Victoria Horsford Abigail Rosen McGrath Fern Gillespie Akosua Albritton Margo McKenzie Priscilla Mensah Aishamanne Williams Marlon Rice Web Manager www.ourtimepress.com Liani Greaves Sports Eddie Castro Office Manager Joanna Williams © 2015, DBG MEDIA Publishers of Our Time Press, Inc., printed in New York City.

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No part of the publication may be reproduced without prior permission of the publishers. Publishers are not responsible for any ad claims.

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VOL. 22 NO. 2

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OUR TIME PRESS January 11 – 17, 2018

Oprah Winfrey: Golden Globe Speech Sparks Presidential Talk In 1964, I was a little girl sitting on the linoleum floor of my mother’s house in Milwaukee watching Anne Bancroft present the Oscar for Best Actor at the 36th Academy Awards. She opened the envelope and said five words that literally made history: “The winner is Sidney Poitier.”

Up to the stage came the most elegant man I had ever seen. I remember his tie was white, and of course his skin was black, and I had never seen a Black man being celebrated like that. I tried many, many times to explain what a moment like that means to a little girl, a kid watching from the cheap seats as my mom came through the door bone-tired from cleaning other people’s houses. But all I can do is quote and say that the explanation in Sidney’s Oprah: Say their names! Recy Taylor and Rosa Parks will not be forgotten. performance in “Lilies of the Field”: “Amen, amen, amen, amen.”

In 1982, Sidney received the we’ll never know. They are on her case and together they sought jusCecil B. de Mille Award right domestic workers and farm tice. But justice wasn’t an option in the era here at the Golden Globes, and workers. They are working of Jim Crow. The men who tried to destroy it is not lost on me that at this in factories and they work her were never prosecuted. Recy Taylor moment there are some little girls in restaurants and they’re died ten days ago, just shy of her 98th watching as I become the first in academia, engineering, birthday. She lived as we all have lived, too Black woman to be given this medicine and science. many years in a culture broken by brutally same award. It is an honor -- it They’re part of the world of powerful men. For too long, women have is an honor and it is a privilege to tech and politics and busi- not been heard or believed if they dare share the evening with all of them ness. They’re our athletes speak the truth to the power of those men. and also with the incredible men in the Olympics and they’re But their time is up. Their time is up! and women who have inspired our soldiers in the military.

Their time is up. And I just hope -- I me, who challenged me, who susAnd there’s someone just hope that Recy Taylor died knowing tained me and made my journey else, Recy Taylor, a name I that her truth, like the truth of so many to this stage possible. Dennis know and I think you should other women who were tormented in those Swanson, who took a chance on know, too. In 1944, Recy years, and even now tormented, goes Oprah hosting 6 p.m. news at Baltimore's WJZ-TV. me for “A.M. Chicago”; Quincy Taylor was a young wife and marching on. It was somewhere in Rosa Jones, who saw me on that show and said Press Association because we all know mother walking home from a church service Parks’ heart almost 11 years later, when to Steven Spielberg, “Yes, she is Sophia the press is under siege these days. We she’d attended in Abbeville, Alabama when she made the decision to stay seated on that in ‘The Color Purple’”; Gayle, who has also know it’s the insatiable dedication to she was abducted by six armed white men, bus in Montgomery, and it’s here with every been the definition of what a friend is; and uncovering the absolute truth that keeps raped and left blindfolded by the side of woman who chooses to say, “Me too”. And Stedman, who has been my rock -- just a us from turning a blind eye to corruption the road coming home from church. They every man -- every man who chooses to few to name. and to injustice. To tyrants and victims, and threatened to kill her if she ever told listen.

I want to thank the Hollywood Foreign secrets and lies. I want to say that I value anyone, but her story was reported to the In my career, what I’ve always tried my the press more than ever before as we try NAACP where a young worker by the name best to do, whether on television or through to navigate these complicated times, which of Rosa Parks became the lead investigator film, is to say something about how men brings me to this: What I know for sure is and women really behave. To say how we that speaking your truth is the most powexperience shame, how we love and how erful tool we all have. And I’m especially we rage, how we fail, how we retreat, proud and inspired by all the women who persevere and how we overcome. I’ve have felt strong enough and empowered interviewed and portrayed people who’ve enough to speak up and share their perwithstood some of the ugliest things life sonal stories. Each of us in this room are can throw at you, but the one quality all of celebrated because of the stories that we them seem to share is an ability to maintain tell, and this year we became the story. hope for a brighter morning, even during our darkest nights. So, I want all the girls But it’s not just a story affecting the watching here, now, to know that a new day entertainment industry. It’s one that is on the horizon! And when that new day transcends any culture, geography, race, finally dawns, it will be because of a lot religion, politics or workplace. So, I want of magnificent women, many of whom are tonight to express gratitude to all the womright here in this room tonight, and some en who have endured years of abuse and pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to assault because they, like my mother, had make sure that they become the leaders children to feed and bills to pay and dreams who take us to the time when nobody ever Oprah Winfrey as a young girl. to pursue. They’re the women whose names has to say, “Me too” again.

Donald Trump Can’t Take Credit for Eight Years of Declining Black Unemployment ■■

By Jordan Weissmann, slate.com

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onald Trump has often been described as a man who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple. This is mostly because he boasts endlessly about a fortune he built even though he inherited millions from his successful father. But it’s also a pretty good description of how Trump talks about the economy.

Take his recent comments about

joblessness among African-Americans.

Over the weekend, Trump celebrated the fact that the official unemployment rate among blacks had fallen to 6.8 percent, a record low. “I am so happy about this News!” he tweeted. Trump then picked up the theme again this morning, apparently after watching a fawning Fox & Friends segment that declared “African Americans and Hispanics are officially doing better with [Trump] than under President Obama.”

There are a few funny things about this. First, Trump and his favorite morning show have built a remarkably efficient echo chamber. The president tweets a talking point. Fox runs a segment affirming it. Then Trump tweets about it some more. It’s an ouroboros of inanity.

It’s also amusing to see Trump crowing about the official unemployment rate, after spending his entire presidential campaign calling it a “fiction.”

But the bigger issue here is that, much

like virtually every other improvement in the labor market over the past year, the employment gains blacks and Hispanics have seen are mostly just a continuation of steady trends that well predate Trump. Joblessness among minorities has been on the decline for the better part of eight years. That’s in part because a black president spent the first years of his terms trying to save a mortally injured economy. Now Trump seems to think black voters will forget all of that work.

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WHAT’S GOING ON ■■

By Victoria Horsford

OPRAH: 2020 PREXY Does Oprah Winfrey, still the first lady of American media, have higher ambitions like becoming the most powerful figure in the free world, the American Commander in Chief, the American Presidency. It began with the Golden Globes Show and its Cecil B. de Mille Award acceptance speech, warning the

BTW, FIRE AND FURY is a book industry phenom. No book publisher has ever experienced this sales volume. While many have ordered and have to wait a few weeks for delivery, the digital version is being widely circulated.

NYC POLITICS Rumor mill disclosures about who’s who with NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson and top Council chairmanships.

Daniel Dromm, Queens, Finance; Rafael Salamanca, Jr., Bronx, Land Use; Laurie Cumbo, Brooklyn, Majority Leader; and Robert Cornegy, Housing.

BUSINESS MATTERS

Oprah Winfrey audience that the time was now for women to stop being silent about harassment and gender inequality. She reminded the audience that the male dominance/harassment was not restricted to the world of entertainment. She shared the story of a Black woman named Recy Taylor who was raped by six white men in Jim Crow Alabama in the 40s, who recently died, a few days shy of her 98th birthday.

In conclusion, Winfrey enthused: “A new day is on the horizon when women will no longer need MeToo. Thunderous applause followed her speech. The Medium is the Message.

No one does TV better than Oprah!

Now Americans are pondering an Oprah presidential run. Can it happen? Why not.

Oprah’s partner Stedman says that it could happen. Oprah’s best friend Gayle says no way. If Donald can get into the White House, why can’t a “real billionaire” follow suit. Is Oprah the woman whom America needs in the White House?

Oprah 2020 media speculation has displaced the nonstop news cycle re: about the runaway nonfiction best-seller “THE FIRE AND THE FURY: Inside the Trump White House”. Who would have thought that the Trump Presidency could usher in the next African-American President.

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By Lisa Durden

Liberian-born entrepreneur Richelieu Dennis buys Essence Communications, the magazine and the Essence Festival, held annually in New Orleans, from Time Inc. Sales details were not disclosed. Dennis is the founder of Shea Moisture, who has a talent for preserving Black businesses, including a Harlem-based arts institution. Read the follow-up next week.

HARLEM: The Harlem Business Alliance and the WK Kellogg Foundation are ready to launch the fourth phase of The LILLIAN PROJECT, a program which promotes entrepreneurship for native-born, low- to moderate-income Harlem women by teaching skills necessary to start and grow a business. Formerly incarcerated women are encouraged to apply. The project is named after Harlem denizen, legend and businesswoman Lillian Harris Dean, aka Pig Foot Mary. Deadline for application is January 12. [Visit thelillianproject.org or hbany.org] BROOKLYN: MY BASE offers paid internships, which begin on March 6 to BedStuy-based young adults. Registration is open until February 23. Internships span many fields like child care, maintenance, retail, office management, hospitality, food industry, marketing and social media. Priority will be given to Bed-Stuy young adults for ages 16 to 24. For more info, contact 718.636.7596, X223. [Visit website: bsdcorp.org] It is never too late to order 2018

Black-themed calendars from the Black Art Depot. Calendars are available for children, the faith-based community, bathing suit beauties and much more. [Visit Blackartdepot.com or call 800.525.7249] Visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. Forum 2018, “AN ECONOMIC SHIFT, Strengthening the Connection between the African Diaspora and the African Continent”, on MLK Day, January 15 from 7-9 pm at the Rise Center, located at 38 Waverly Avenue, Brooklyn. Speakers include Rev. Dennis Dillon, NY Christian Times Publisher; Dr. Zienzile Dillon; Bertha Lewis, The Black Institute; and Randy Braz, Archstone Holdings. Open to the public.

[Call 718.638.6397] Read Fortune magazine’s list of the 10 Best Workplaces for Diversity in America.

Fortune and its partner Great Place to Work talked with more than 400 employees in 8 areas like ethnic minorities, females, LGBTQ, the disabled or were born before 1964. The results follow. Comcast NBCUniversal, Minorities: Confidential; Hyatt Hotels 65%; Ultimate Software, Minorities, 43%; Sales Force, Minorities, 34%; Wegmans Food Markets, Minorities, 23%; Publix Super Markets; Marriott International; Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants; Texas Health Resources; Capital One Financial

ARTS/CULTURE CALENDAR Harriet Lee Elam-Thomas with Jim Robison co-wrote her memoir “DIVERSIFYING DIPLOMACY: My Journal from Roxbury to Dakar”, published

by Potomac Books, an imprint of the University of Nebraska Press, which falls under political science and women’s studies sections in book stores. Book chronicles her Harriet Elam Thomas decades-long ascension up the US State Department’s Foreign Service, becoming US Ambassador to Senegal. Her 42-year foreign service assignments were to countries such as

VOL. 22 NO. 2 Greece, Turkey, France, Belgium, Mali, and the Ivory Coast. A force of nature in the US State Department, she was an agent of change, influential in bringing diversity to the department’s foreign service. Retired from the US State Department as of 2005 with the rank of Career Minister, she directs the University of Florida Diplomacy Program.

“ALICE AND ME”, Historical Fiction, written by Cynthia T. Cook, AfricanAmerican Professor of Sociology, opens the book with a disclaimer stating that it’s written solely for entertainment purposes.

She continues. Most of the characters are fictional with the exception of Alice Lenshina, who was a real person who started a religious movement in Zambia in the 1950s, which had great potential but ended tragically. ALICE AND ME is an informative and eminently readable novel which lends insights into some of the social issues confronting contemporary Africa.

Darryl Lacy’s new book, “HOW I CONQUERED NEW YORK: The Story of Darryl Lacy Productions”, commemorates Darryl Lacy the company’s 30th Anniversary. The book is a theater/literature confection. Born and bred in Buffalo, NY, Lacy has degrees in Theater and Fine Arts.

Book is good reading for every artist in pursuit of his/her muse. Lacy’s first book, “Nikki G: A Portrait of Nikki Giovanni in Her Own Words”, was published in 2012 and won the 2013 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. A HOW I CONQUERED NY book-signing will be held on January 28 from 3-5 pm at the Joseph Kennedy Center, 34 West 134th Street with entrance on West 135th Street. [Visit Darryllacyproductions.com]

THE DR. MLK HOLIDAY WNYC and the Apollo Theater will co-host a MLK Celebration at the Apollo.

It’s 50 YEARS AFTER MLK: A Dream Deferred and the 12th WNYC/Apollo Annual ➔➔ Continued on page 11

Ed Gordon vs. Omarosa at the NABJ Convention!

could care less about the chilly reception that Omarosa received at the NABJ Convention in August 2017. It was to be expected.

Everybody involved knew what that was!! NABJ knew before inviting Omarosa that she was a “piece of work”! Omarosa knew before she accepted the invitation that she was going to be asked the tough questions by the moderator Ed Gordon. And Ed Gordon knew that Omarosa was not about to let him control her in a “question and answer” session.

It’s called grown folks doing grown folks. However, the one thing that I am not feeling is Ed Gordon walking from behind that podium (L-R) Panel moderator Edward Gordon hovers over White House aide Omarosa to stand over Omarosa. Ed Gordon Manigault, as Cheryl Dorsey and Arthur Reed cautiously observe at the NABJ absolutely aggressed Omarosa at convention in New Orleans. (REUTERS) the NABJ Convention. His behavior even bordered on abusive. I’m a big fan of reason, TO STAND BEHIND IT!! more pissed that everyone who attended the Ed Gordon and have loved him his entire I found it very hypocritical of NABJ to conference felt his behavior was OK; almost career, because he’s a stellar journalist. But have a panel titled "Black and Blue: Raising egging it on. Are we at a place in the Black I can’t ride with him on this one. NOPE!! I Our Sons, Protecting Our Communities", and community where if we don’t like someone’s don’t give a #CLUCK what Omarosa said yet they allowed Ed Gordon to get physical career decision or political affiliation, it’s or how Omarosa answered the questions. with Omarosa like that without interven- OK to bully them?? Would Ed Gordon have Ed Gordon is a grown man and had ZERO tion. And yes, once Ed Gordon stood over gotten in a Black man’s face like that who business stepping away from that podium Omarosa she absolutely needed to stand up didn’t respond to his questions the way he to stand over Omarosa as if he was trying to protect her space. I was very upset watch- wanted him to?? NOPE!! Would Ed Gordon to intimidate her. There is a podium for a ing how Ed Gordon treated her. I was even be OK with some grown ass man aggressing

his daughter in that way?? HELLTO THE NO!! No father would be OK with that: PERIOD! It was uncalled for and downright disrespectful. He never treated any of the other panelists that way so why did he feel comfortable doing it to Omarosa?? To make matters worse, Ed Gordon, who was the moderator, allowed some other dude from the panel to ask her questions when that wasn’t his place to do. That entire scene was adult bullying plain and simple. I was shocked that it took her so long to walk off the stage.

Omarosa says she agreed to attend the NABJ Convention to discuss the affects her father’s and brother’s murders had on her life. Yes, it made total sense that moderator Ed Gordon would also ask her questions about Donald Trump based on her position in the White House, whether she liked it or not. However, she didn’t have to answer them to his satisfaction either. That’s called freedom of speech.

My thoughts are, why didn’t Ed ask Omarosa any questions about the violence she experienced in her family as well?? Why was he only asking Omarosa questions and not the other panelists?? If Ed Gordon only had plans on asking Omarosa questions, then this should have been a one-on-one instead of a panel. Omarosa said she felt that the NABJ Convention was a witch-hunt. I really hope she’s wrong.

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Civil Rights Groups renew Call for Sessions to Act in 2014 death of Eric Garner January 8, 2018 WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the National Action Network on Monday called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to present an indictment against New York City Police Department Officer Daniel Pantaleo for the 2014 death of Eric Garner. The renewed call for action comes in light of the recent and tragic death of Erica Garner, daughter of Eric Garner and prominent civil rights activist who opposed police brutality.

The 2014 death of Eric Garner, an unarmed African-American man who was placed in a chokehold by Officer Pantaleo and could be heard on video repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe”, sparked a nationwide movement for police accountability and criminal justice reform. An autopsy by New York City’s medical examiner ruled Eric Garner’s death a homicide, yet the federal

investigation into his death remains stalled, delaying justice to the Garner family.

In their letter sent to Attorney General Sessions on Monday, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the National Action Network call on the DOJ to conclude its pending criminal investigation and present charges to Officer Pantaleo without further delay.

“Erica Garner’s heart was broken over three years ago when the justice system failed to provide her any kind of justice for her father,” said Rev. Al Sharpton, president and founder of the National Action Network. “After her father’s death, Erica committed her life to her father’s memory and we find it unacceptable that she was not able to see justice in her short lifetime. We must continue to fight to end police brutality and we will not rest until we do so.”

“As Erica Garner is laid to rest, the

Thinker's Notebook

You Gotta Relax

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By Marlon Rice

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appy New Year! I know we’re already in the middle of January, but it’s good luck to say Happy New Year to friends and family the first time you speak to them in the new year.

Just trust me on this. 2018 has started with a roar. We got a foot of snow last week,

some of which is still piled into mushy gray hills along the streets and curbs. Trump told Kim Jong-un that his was bigger, no doubt not the first time that he’s made such a claim. And the highlight of last weekend was the Golden Globe Awards.

Known for its lighthearted vibe and atmosphere, the Golden Globes have always been the fun awards show, the awards show

The Garner Family with the Rev. Al Sharpton. exacting toll that police violence has on families and communities can no longer be ignored. The federal investigation into the death of Eric Garner was launched over three years ago and, to date, no officer has been held accountable,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of

the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Justice was denied to the late Erica Garner and can no longer be delayed for the Garner family. The Department of Justice must conclude its investigation and immediately present charges against Officer Pantaleo to a grand jury.”

where your favorite actor gets tipsy and rambles through his acceptance speech, where pomp and circumstance takes a backseat to cognac and cheesy punch lines. This year, though, was different. On the heels of the #metoo movement, this was the first time that the film and television community came together under public scrutiny, an awards show where we, the viewers, were more interested in watching the fallout than the fanfare. It didn’t take long to realize that we were watching the most politically charged Golden Globes ever. The mood of the room was evident, as almost everyone who hit the

stage made some blatant or indirect mention of the effect of the movement on the industry and on our society. People came dressed in all black to show support for the victims of sexual assault and molestation, probably not the best way to show a sign of togetherness at a black-tie affair, you know, being that most people are going to be wearing black anyway. This event was part-peer counseling, part-inspirational speech and part-warning to every man watching that things will be changing in the new year.

This year, the Cecile B. de Mille Award ➔➔ Continued on page 9

6

OUR TIME PRESS January 11 – 17, 2018

VOL. 22 NO. 2

Black Studies

Milfred Fierce on The South’s “Peculiar Institution” Black History: Never Forget The Challenges We’ve Faced Slavebreeding in the United States

C

ommercial slavebreeding is defined as the process of breeding human beings (African slaves) for sale and profit through encouragement, offering inducements or coercion, imposing penalties for noncompliance. It can be, and often has been, compared to the breeding of cattle, hogs or horses for market. And it represents the depths into which man will sink when property values super cede human values.

Following the ostensible, formal, termination of the Atlantic Slave Trade in 1808 several states in the upper South, notably Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia, are purported to have engaged in the commercial breeding of slaves in order to reap lucrative profits while satisfying a new demand for slaves in the lower South, which was stimulated by “king cotton” and the close of the Atlantic Slave Trade. Throughout the early history of the African Slave Trade, it was commonly considered less expensive to purchase slaves than to rear them. However, the concurrence of the legal abolition of the slave trade with the renewed demand for slaves created by the acquisition of the Louisiana territory began to alter the trend.

Despite the fact that the “underground traffic” or illegal trade was always considerable, the demand for slaves in the cotton belt was met primarily by imports from the upper South and the “natural increase” of those in the cotton region. It would seem that this unique demand for the slaves of Virginia, Maryland and other border states to supply the cotton fields of the Deep South would quickly exhaust their supply. In addition, the tobacco lands of Virginia and Maryland were being rapidly exhausted which should have accelerated the decline of slavery. However, very interestingly, this new demand for slaves absorbed the destruction of tobacco lands and seemed to resurrect and perpetuate a dying institution. “It is doubtful if slavery was a weaker institution in those states (upper South) in 1860 than it was in 1790.

Henceforth, slaves were seldom kept in these states for the sake of raising crops, but crops were often cultivated for the sake of raising slaves.”? The great compromiser, Henry Clay, tells us “The Negroes of Virginia, Maryland and Kentucky were often kept at some light employment, perhaps earning enough to pay for their subsistence until they

had reached maturity, when they were sold to traders who took them South. The suggestion here is that there was actually very little for these slaves to do until the day they matured enough to be sold down South.

Historically, Virginia was among the states which contained the largest importation of Africans, commencing with the first shipload arriving at Jamestown in a Dutch frigate in 1619.

With a fresh opportunity to make unprecedented profits from the marketing of slaves while saving the insti- tution for the state of Virginia, a domestic or internal system of slave traffic was revived to facil- itate the movement of slaves from one section of the United States to another. To feed this domes- tic trade with African slaves, the universally malignant concept of commercial slavebreeding was born in the border states. Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina and later South Carolina, when her exhausted cotton fields made the extension of cotton growing there unprofit- able, all served as sources of supply. Among these, Virginia was easily the principal supplier. This is not to suggest that slavebreeding practices were uncommon prior to the close of the Atlantic Trade. Nevertheless, the official close of the Atlantic Trade produced a need to engage in slavebreeding on a scale which did not exist as long as the transatlantic trade was open. That is, as long as there was no formal proscription on the plentiful supply of cheap slaves from West Africa, it would seem that there was no real “supply crisis” until the trade was closed.

In any event, the focal point of my remarks will be the state of Virginia from the turn of the 19th century to the Civil War in 1861. To be sure, there are both similarities and differences among the other states of the upper South and Virginia, with regard to slavebreeding. However, given the plethora of similarities in the slavebreeding states, it is safe to say that Virginia is fairly representative of the slavebreeding practices in other states even though she will be considered the most extreme case.

Philip D. Curtain, a University of Wisconsin historian in his most recent work, The Atlantic Slave Trade, with the assistance of Yale’s C. Vann Woodward, American Counterpoint, makes the observation that “approximately five percent of all people of African descent who landed in the Americas during the Atlantic Slave Trade came to what is now the United States”.

Yet, by the time of the 1950 census, the Black

population in the United States had swelled to almost thirty-three percent of all people of African descent in the Americas- an unusual growth in population to say the least. If I read him correctly, one of Curtain’s conclusions is that “slavery in the United States was not as heinous as it has been described”, otherwise there could not have been this significant increase in the Black population. “If the abolitionist charges that the slaves were driven to endless toil, half-starved, poorly clad, cruelly beaten and killed off every seven years were true, why did the slave population continue to increase so prodigiously?” Eugene Genovese states that, “The slaves of the old South constituted the only plantation slave class in the New World that successfully reproduced itself.

Nothing so clearly demonstrates the relatively good treatment (in the strictly material sense of the word) of the slaves and the paternalistic quality of the masters”. To be sure, there is ample ground for disagreement with Curtain on many of his conclusions. However, this is not an analysis of Curtain’s manuscript. It is convenient to accept Curtain’s position that the Black population in the United States increased from five to thirty-five percent in three hundred years because it suggests the possibility of slavebreeding. And if there was widespread engagement in slavebreeding practices, I would find it rather repugnant to then argue that antebellum slavery was less hideous than other Western world slavery. On the contrary, slavebreeding practices on any scale would indicate to me all that exemplifies the outer limits of man’s inhumanity to man. Morality aside for the moment, Dr. C. Vann Woodward

seems to agree, presuming Curtain’s findings are correct, that slavebreeding is one possible explanation among several for this “alacritous growth in the African-American population of the United States”.

At the same time, Vann Woodward intimates that the evidence is not sufficient to convince modern scholars that widespread slavebreeding practices took place in the antebellum South.

Moreover, he encourages further investigation by concluding that the problem remains unsolved.

Fredrick Bancroft offers the only extensive discussion of slavebreeding in a work published forty years ago, Slave Trading in the Old South. Bancroft has said more about this subject than anyone before or since, devoting twenty pages to a section entitled, “The Importance of Slave-Rear- ing”. A product of the DunningPhilip School, Bancroft provides a useful review of what has been said and written while making a sinewless attempt to apologize for slavebreeders and play down the significance of slavebreeding practices. Paradoxically, no secret is made of the fact that slave - rearing was the source of large and regular profits for almost all slavebreeders in the upper South, particularly Virginia.

In a caustic diatribe on the malevolence of slavery, especially in Virginia, Jesse Burton Harrison gives a clear indication of the moral and spiritual corruption of slaveowners while outlining the dilemma historians will face in the serious search for evidence on this iniquitous subject, ... and will the aspiring blood of Lancaster endure it to be said that a Guinea is still to be found in America and that Guinea is Virginia? That children are reared with the express object of sale into distant regions, and that in numbers but little less than the whole number of annual births? ... But we have too deep a stake ourselves in the name of the land of Washington and Jefferson (both of whom were slaveowners) to be willing to admit that this form of profit from slaves is cherished by any but very few persons. This is not then an income which Virginia loves to reap!

To be sure, the implication is that every effort should be made to conceal this dastardly business. Can it be considered a ➔➔ Continued on page 11

VOL. 22 NO. 2

"Harriet's Return" a Woodie King Production, at the Castillo Theatre Feb. 8- Mar. 4.

RestorationART presents

GARMENT OF DESTINY, Dance Tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.,

B

Performed at RestoratonART January 15

rooklyn, NY – January 9, 2018) In celebration of the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., RestorationART presents a traditional staple in arts and culture, “Garment of Destiny” on Monday, January 15, 2018 at 3PM by the 11-member Restoration Dance Youth Ensemble (RDYE) under the artistic leadership of internationally renowned choreographers and dancers - Ronald K. Brown and Arcell Cabuag. The stunning signature performances offer a new generation of young dancers the opportunity to preserve our rich heritage and look to their role in building on that legacy in the future. The evening begins with a pre-show conversation with A. Peter Bailey, renowned historian, lecturer and author and moderated by Dr. Indira Etwaroo, Executive

7

OUR TIME PRESS January 11 – 17, 2018

Director, RestorationART. The concert and pre-show conversation will be presented for the first time at The Billie Holiday Theatre, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY Dr. King’s ideals have served as a roadmap to voices of creative expression for generations. The stunning signature performances are choreographed by Brown and Cabuag, as well as veteran choreographers/ instructors Freddie Moore, Aqura Lacey, Karen Thornton, and Shayla Caldwell.

Garment of Destiny Dance Concert, Monday, January 15, 2018 The Billie Holiday Theatre, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11216 Ticket Information: $20/$15, Box Office: 866 811-4111 www.restorationart.org | #RestorationART

N

EW YORK -- At a time when the USA is waffling on its commitment to honor Harriet Tubman with her image on the 20-dollar bill, Woodie King, Jr.’s New Federal Theatre will present “Harriet’s Return: Based Upon the Legendary Life of Harriet Tubman,” written and performed by Karen Jones Meadows. The production takes audiences on a deeply personal, high energy journey into the private and public life of this famed Underground Railroad conductor, spiritual icon, revolutionary, and entrepreneur, whose life spanned nine decades and still influences the consciousness of people throughout the world. The production is directed by Clinton Turner Davis and will take stage February 8 to March 4 at Castillo Theatre, 543 West 42nd Street.

Harriet Tubman, a diminutive (4’10”), illiterate former slave from Maryland, is the best-known conductor on the Underground Railroad. After achieving her own freedom, she made 19 journeys back to southern territory to lead enslaved people to the Northern states and Canada. She led troops and missions during the Civil War, helped pioneer the women’s rights movement, and was recognized in her lifetime for her leadership in a male-dominated world. An herbalist, nurse and entrepreneur, she acquired 25 acres of land in Auburn, NY when women and African-descended people were not “allowed” to do so. She supported schools and hospitals and ran a boarding home for the needy and elderly.

Recently, there has been a wave of renewed interest about Tubman. In 2014, President Obama signed legislation clearing

QUEENS BOROUGH PRESIDENT MELINDA KATZ’S

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Friday, January 26, 2018 10am Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School 35-12 35th Avenue in Astoria

RSVP at queensbp.org/rsvp or 718.286.2661

the way for the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn, NY and another site with ties to Tubman in Cambridge, Md., to become part of the national parks system. In 2016, actress Viola Davis was chosen to play her in an HBO film. The same year, the Treasury Department announced plans to replace Andrew Jackson with Tubman on the $20 bill. But in August, 2017, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin cast these plans into doubt, saying “It’s not something I’m focused on at the moment.” Activists have hoped for the currency change to coincide with the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, in 2020.

Box office: www castillo.org, 212-941-1234 Producing company website: www.newfederaltheatre.com

8

OUR TIME PRESS January 11 – 17, 2018

NEW BUSINESS FORMATIONS MCNUTT ALEXANDRA LEE L.L.C. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 7/11/2017 Office: Kings County. SSNY designated as agent of the PLLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the MCNUTT ALEXANDRA LEE L.L.C. 1408 PUTNAM AVE. APT 1R BROOKLYN, NY 11237.

Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice of Formation of SIDE HUG LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY

LEGAL NOTICES NOTICE OF SALE Supreme Court County Of Kings MIDFIRST BANK, Plaintiff AGAINST TANYA T. BROWN, DELORES BROWN, et al, Defendant Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated 7/30/2014 and entered on 7/14/2014, I, the undersigned Referee, will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on February 08, 2018 at 02:30 PM premises known as 849 Madison Street, Brooklyn, NY 11221. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough and County of Kings, City and State of New York, BLOCK: 1481, LOT: 52. Approximate amount of judgment is $399,821.50 plus interests and costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 24545/08. Jeffrey R. Miller, Referee FRENKEL LAMBERT WEISS WEISMAN & GORDON LLP 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, NY 11706 NOTICE OF SALE Supreme Court County Of Kings Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, as Trustee for Harbor View Mortgage Loan Trust Mortgage Loan PassThrough Certificates, Series 2006-5 Trust, Plaintiff AGAINST Gladwin Waldron, Paulette Waldron, et al, Defendant Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated 10/3/2017 and entered on 12/7/2017, I, the undersigned Referee, will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on February 8, 2018 at 2:30pm premises known as 654 East 87th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11236.

All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough and County of Kings, City and State of New York, BLOCK: 7991, LOT: 59. Approximate amount of judgment is $460,762.16 plus interests and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 502053/2012. Angelyn D. Johnson, Referee FRENKEL LAMBERT WEISS WEISMAN & GORDON LLP 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, NY 11706 NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS, MTGLQ INVESTORS, L.P., Plaintiff, vs. BARUCH KUPFERSTEIN A/K/A BARUCH M. KUPFERSTEIN, ET AL., Defendant(s).

Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale, Order to Amend Caption and Request for Other Relief duly filed on December 06, 2017, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, Room 224, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on February 08, 2018 at 2:30 p.m., premises known as 1128 41st Street, Unit 2, 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 Kings, County of Kings, City and State of New York, Block 05592 and Lot 01902; together with an undivided 25.36 percent interest in the common elements. Approximate amount of judgment

(SSNY) on 12/21/17. Office location: Kings County. Princ. office of LLC: 493 Park Pl., #4R, Brooklyn, NY 11238. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Divergent Streams Media, LLC, Arts of Org filed with SSNY on 12/04/2017 Office Location: Kings County, SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against is $211,614.65 plus interest and costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 8820/2013. Cash will not be accepted. Philip L. Kamaras, Esq., Referee Knuckles, Komosinski & Manfro, LLP, 565 Taxter Road, Ste. 590, Elmsford, NY 10523, Attorneys for Plaintiff SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS Index No. 503821/2014 STATE OF NEW YORK SUPREME COURT – COUNTY OF KINGS PENNYMAC CORP., Plaintiff, -vs- THE HEIRS AT LARGE OF HUBERT BEARAM, deceased, and all persons who are husbands, widows, grantees, mortgagees, lienors, heirs, devisees, distributees, successors in interest of such of them as may be dead, and their husbands and wives, heirs, devisees, distributees and successors of interest of all of whom and whose names and places are unknown to Plaintiff; KWESI BEARAM; BERNADETTE SPROSTA A/K/A BERNADETTE BEARAM; LATTOYA ST. HILL; HUBERT JOHNSON; HART 452 INC.; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; NEW YORK STATEDEPARTMENT OF TAXATION AND FINANCE; “JOHN DOE” AND “JANE DOE” said names being fictitious, it being the intention of Plaintiff to designate any and all occupants of premises being foreclosed herein, Defendants.

Mortgaged Premises: 452 HART STREET, BROOKLYN, NY 11221 TO THE ABOVE NAMED DEFENDANT(S): YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to answer the Complaint in the above entitled action and to serve a copy of your Answer on the plaintiff’s attorney within twenty (20) days of the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service, or within thirty (30) days after service of the same is complete where service is made in any manner other than by personal delivery within the State.

The United States of America, if designated as a defendant in this action, may answer or appear within sixty (60) days of service hereof. Your failure to appear or answer will result in a judgment against you by default for the relief demanded in the Complaint. In the event that a deficiency balance remains from the sale proceeds, a judgment may be entered against you, unless the Defendant obtained a bankruptcy discharge and such other or further relief as may be just and equitable. 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 to 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 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. These pleadings are being amended to include the Heirs at

it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: The LLC, c/o Mark Kirshner, Divergent Streams Media, LLC, 2935 W5th St., Apt 16C, Brooklyn, NY 11224. Purpose: to engage in any lawful act.

Notice of Formation of GOLDEN FILMS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/01/17. Office location: Kings County. Princ. office of LLC: 123 Coffey St., Brooklyn, NY 11231. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity Large of HUBERT BEARAM, deceased.

These pleadings are also being amended to include Bernadette Sprosta a/k/a Bernadette Bearam, Lattoya St. Hill and Hubert Johnson as possible heirs to the estate of HUBERT BEARAM, deceased. These pleadings are also being amended to include United States of America, Hart 452 Inc., and New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

KINGS County is designated as the place of trial. The basis of venue is the location of the mortgaged premises. Dated: August 7, 2017 Mark K. Broyles, Esq. FEIN SUCH & CRANE, LLP Attorneys for Plaintiff Office and P.O. Address 28 East Main Street, Suite 1800 Rochester, New York 14614 Telephone No. (585) 232-7400 Block: 1596 Lot: 128 NATURE AND OBJECT OF ACTION The object of the above action is to foreclose a mortgage held by the Plaintiff recorded in the County of KINGS, State of New York as more particularly described in the Complaint herein. TO THE DEFENDANT, the plaintiff makes no personal claim against you in this action. To the above named defendants: The foregoing summons is served upon you by publication pursuant to an order of HON. NOACH DEAR, Justice of the SUPREME Court of the State of New York, dated October 16, 2017 and filed along with the supporting papers in the KINGS County Clerk’s Office. This is an action to foreclose a Mortgage. ALL that certain plot, piece or parcel of land 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 Hart Street, distant 405 feet easterly from the corner formed by the intersection of the southerly side of Hart Street and the easterly side of Stuyvesant Avenue; Running thence southerly parallel with Stuyvesant Avenue, 100 feet; Thence easterly parallel with Hart Street, 19 feet 8 inches; Thence northerly again parallel with Stuyvesant Avenue and part of the distance through a party wall, 100 feet to the southerly side of Hart Street; Thence westerly along the southerly side of Hart Street, 19 feet 8 inches to the point or place of beginning.

Mortgaged Premises: 452 HART STREET, BROOKLYN, NY 11221 Tax Map/Parcel ID No.: Block: 1596 Lot: 128 of the BOROUGH of BROOKLYN, NY 11221 NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS HSBC Bank USA, National Association as Trustee for Nomura Asset Acceptance Corporation, Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2007-1, Plaintiff AGAINST Merwyn Fraser; et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated August 26, 2015 I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY 11201 on February 1, 2018 at 2:30PM, premises known as 220 Nichols Avenue, 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 and

VOL. 22 NO. 2 Notice of Qualification of 5540 - 409-421 14TH STREET BROOKLYN LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/21/17. Office location: Kings County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/13/17.

Princ. office of LLC: 110 William St., Ste. 2402, NY, NY 10038. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. Of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: Real estate.

County of Kings, City and State of NY, Block 4134 Lot 44. Approximate amount of judgment $966,696.08 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index# 6045/2013.

Anthony J. Lamberti, Esq., Referee Shapiro, DiCaro & Barak, LLC Attorney(s) for the Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (877) 759-1835 Dated: November 29, 2017 50287 NOTICE OF SALE PUBLIC AUCTION Supreme Court of New York, Kings County. SRMOF II 2012-1 TRUST, U.S. BANK TRUST NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff, -againstCLEO CHARLES-PHILLIPS; ROBERT PHILLIPS; CITY OF NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PARKING VIOLATIONS BUREAU; CITY OF NEW YORK TRANSIT AUTHORITY TRANSIT ADJUDICATION BUREAU; NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION & FINANCE; SOPHIA JOHNSON, Index No. 2713/2013. Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated, February 21, 2017 and entered with the Kings County Clerk on April 6, 2017, Gregory Laspina, Esq., the Appointed Referee, will sell the premises known as 553 Lenox Road, Brooklyn, New York 11203 at public auction at Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, New York 11201, on February 8, 2018 at 2:30 P.M. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings and State of New York known as Block: 4845; Lot: 28 will be sold subject to the provisions of filed Judgment, Index No. 2713/2013. The approximate amount of judgment is $1,047,226.32 plus interest and costs. FRIEDMAN VARTOLO, LLP 85 Broad Street, Suite 501, New York, New York 10004, Attorneys for Plaintiff.

NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS U.S. Bank National Association as Trustee for Merrill Lynch First Franklin Mortgage Loan Trust, Mortgage Loan Asset-Backed Certificates, Series 20075, Plaintiff AGAINST Nelson Moncion; et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated July 28, 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 January 25, 2018 at 2:30PM, premises known as 291 Ridgewood Avenue, 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 4114 Lot 56. Approximate amount of judgment $796,122.49 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index# 507269/2014.

Shmuel Taub, Esq., Referee Shapiro, DiCaro & Barak, LLC Attorney(s) for the Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (877) 759-1835 Dated: December 6, 2017 50336 ➔➔ Continued on page 10

VOL. 22 NO. 2

9

OUR TIME PRESS January 11 – 17, 2018

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You Gotta Relax ➔➔ Continued from page 5 was given to Oprah Winfrey. This award is given to persons who have accomplished “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment”. Well-deserved for Ms. Winfrey, she has indeed offered a lifetime of outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment. It was her acceptance speech, however, that defined the night.

It aroused the spirit of the room, drawing nearly everyone to their feet way before its completion.

“Oprah should Run for President in 2020.” “Oprah 2020.” “Our future President Oprah.” This is how my timeline read on Facebook the next morning. Her speech

moved folk so that they began envisioning a world where she was the president, and to them this made perfect sense.

One of America’s many maladies is that of this “Cult of Personality” syndrome that has infected our culture. We follow celebrities, we relate to their stories, we purchase their products and, in time, we begin to see them as idols, beacons of hyperreality, an idealized version of life that we wish for and covet. Famous people are far more important in the American vernacular than smart people. Collectively, we have assigned them leadership in our lives. I mean, obviously, they are leaders. You see them on television all the time, right? We begin to value sizzle over substance, and we become willing to accept them in other roles of our lives. I remember my grandmother used to say, “The TV shouldn’t be raising

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children”. That was her saying 30 years ago.

The woman, indeed, had foresight.

Trump’s Presidency is proof of this “Cult of Personality”. He had no experience in governing anything. The man couldn’t even get marriage right. He filed for bankruptcy six times. Nothing in his catalogue would compel anyone to believe he is capable of running the greatest country in the universe, and yet he is our president. A television personality has his hands on the nuclear codes. A man so dim that he uses Twitter like a 14-year-old is in charge of our society. Have you ever saw the movie “Idiocracy”? You should watch it.

I say this to say that Oprah shouldn’t be considered to run for president. She’s really great at just being Oprah. Our president should be learned on how to govern a nation. He or she should spend

$66,840 (Depending on household size)

years in governing, learning every facet of the task well enough to perform their duties to the highest standard. Having a television show doesn’t prepare you for being president. Not even if you had three television shows. Not even if you’ve been in a movie. Now, if Oprah wants to start a career in government, and she chose to say, run for governor of her state, I’d fully support that. Let her govern a state for 4 years, or 8 years, and then step into a bigger role if she so wishes. But we have to stop believing that our famous people are our best just because we see them at their best.

The camera adds 10 pounds and about 50 IQ points. If you don’t believe me, you only have to look at our current administration for proof. So please refrain from jumping on the “Oprah for 2020” bandwagon. You gotta relax!

10

OUR TIME PRESS January 11 – 17, 2018

LEGAL NOTICES ➔➔ Continued from page 8 NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF KINGS Santander Bank, N.A. f/k/a Sovereign Bank, N.A. f/k/a Sovereign Bank, Plaintiff -against- Paulette Wellington a/k/a Paula Wellington a/k/a Paula R. Wellington, First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Rochester, City of New York Department of Transportation Parking Violations Bureau Defendant(s)Pursuant to a judgment of foreclosure and sale entered on November 29, 2017 I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction to the highest bidder at ROOM 224 F/K/A ROOM 274 OF KINGS COUNTY SUPREME COURT, 360 ADAMS STREET, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 11201 on January 25, 2018 at 2:30 PM premises known as 930 East 101st, Brooklyn, NY 11236 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: 8208 Lot: 51Approximate amount of lien $608,011.60 plus interest and costs.

Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed judgment Index # 502496/2015 Helene Blank, Esq., REFEREESTEIN, WIENER AND ROTH, L.L.P., ATTORNEYS FOR THE PLAINTIFF ONE OLD COUNTRY ROAD, SUITE 113 CARLE PLACE, NY 11514 DATED: December 20, 2017 FILE #: SANTANDER 67255 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS Mortgaged Premises: 2108 DORCHESTER ROAD UNIT 2A BROOKLYN, NY 11226 Block: 5185 Lot: 1013 COUNTY OF KINGS Plaintiff designates KINGS as the place of trial situs of the real property INDEX NO. 513779/2016 CIT BANK, N.A, Plaintiff, vs. ANN MARIE MORGAN AS HEIR AND DISTRIBUTEE OF THE ESTATE OF ALBERT MORGAN; DORCAS MORGAN AS HEIR AND DISTRIBUTEE OF THE ESTATE OF ALBERT MORGAN; ANGELIEIK MORGAN AS HEIR AND DISTRIBUTEE OF THE ESTATE OF ALBERT MORGAN, 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 the following designation, namely: the 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 STATE DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION AND FINANCE; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA– INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE; SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, “JOHN DOE #1” through “JOHN DOE #12,” the last twelve names being fictitious and unknown to plaintiff, the persons or parties intended being the tenants, occupants, persons or corporations, if any, having or claiming an interest in or lien upon the premises, described in the complaint, Defendants. To the above named Defendants 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 summons, to serve a notice of appearance on the Plaintiff’s Attorney within 20 days after

the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within 30 days after the service is complete if this summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York) in the event the United States of America is made a party defendant, the time to answer for the said United States of America shall not expire until (60) days after service of the Summons; and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the complaint.

NOTICE OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT THE OBJECT of the above caption action is to foreclose a Mortgage to secure the sum of $420,000.00 and interest, recorded on September 15, 2008, at Instrument number 2008000364390, of the Public Records of KINGS County, New York, covering premises known as 2108 DORCHESTER ROAD UNIT 2A BROOKLYN, NY 11226. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the premises described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above. KINGS County is designated as the place of trial because the real property affected by this action is located in said county. 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 the mortgage company will not stop the 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: November 11, 2016 RAS BORISKIN, LLC Attorney for Plaintiff BY: COREY ROBSON, ESQ. 900 Merchants Concourse, Suite 106 Westbury, NY 11590 516-280-7675 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 January 25, 2018 at 2:30 p.m., premises known as 166 Glen Street, 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 NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT: KINGS COUNTY WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A., SUCCESSOR BY MERGER TO WACHOVIA MORTGAGE, FSB; Plaintiff(s) vs. CARMEN MARIA VALDEZ; et al; Defendant(s) Attorney (s) for Plaintiff (s): ROSICKI, ROSICKI & ASSOCIATES, P.C., 2 Summit Court, Suite 301, Fishkill, New York, 12524, 845.897.1600

Pursuant to judgment of foreclosure and sale granted herein on or about September 26, 2017, I will sell at Public Auction to the highest bidder in Room 224 of Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, New York 11201. On January 25, 2018 at 2:30 pm. Premises known as 3039 BRIGHTON 4TH ST, BROOKLYN, NY 11235 Block: 8674 Lot: 86 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. As more particularly described in the judgment of foreclosure and sale. Sold subject to all of the terms and conditions contained in said judgment and terms of sale. Approximate amount of judgment $735,255.07 plus interest and costs. INDEX NO. 11853-2011 Leonard C. Aloi, Esq., Referee SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK SUPPLEMENTAL SUMMONS Mortgaged Premises: 2810 BATCHELDER STREET BROOKLYN, NY 11235 Block: 880 Lot: 182 COUNTY OF KINGS Plaintiff designates KINGS as the place of trial situs of the real property INDEX NO. 514830/2015 U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AS TRUSTEE FOR LEHMAN MORTGAGE TRUST MORTGAGE PASS THROUGH CERTIFICATES SERIES 2005-2, Plaintiff, vs. JASON JACKSON, if living, and if he 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 the following designation, namely: the 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; NICHOLAS SIMO; NEW YORK CITY ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL BOARD; CITIMORTGAGE, INC.; JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, SUCCESSOR BY MERGER TO THE CHASE MANHATTAN BANK, N.A., SUCCESSOR BY MERGER TO CHEMICAL BANK, “JOHN DOE #1” through “JOHN DOE #12,” the last twelve names being fictitious and unknown to plaintiff, the persons or parties intended being the tenants, occupants, persons or corporations, if any, having or claiming an interest in or lien upon the premises, described in the complaint, Defendants. To the above named Defendants 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 summons, to serve a notice of appearance on the Plaintiff’s Attorney within 20 days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within 30 days after the service is complete if this summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of New York) in the event the United States of America is made a party defendant, the time to answer for the said United States of America shall not expire until (60) days after service of the Summons; and in case of your failure to appear or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the complaint. NOTICE OF NATURE OF ACTION AND RELIEF SOUGHT THE OBJECT of the above caption action is to foreclose a Mortgage to secure the sum of $252,000.00 and interest, recorded on October 14, 2005, at Instrument number 2005000575205, of

VOL. 22 NO. 2 the Public Records of KINGS County, New York, covering premises known as 2810 BATCHELDER STREET BROOKLYN, NY 11235. The relief sought in the within action is a final judgment directing the sale of the premises described above to satisfy the debt secured by the Mortgage described above.

KINGS County is designated as the place of trial because the real property affected by this action is located in said county. 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 the mortgage company will not stop the 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: August 4, 2016 RAS BORISKIN, LLC Attorney for Plaintiff BY: SHANNON FUHRMAN, ESQ. 900 Merchants Concourse, Suite 106 Westbury, NY 11590 516-280-7675 NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE LLC, Plaintiff AGAINST Rachel Siony, et al., Defendant(s) Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated August 09, 2017 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 January 18, 2018 at 2:30PM, premises known as 925 EAST 98TH STREET, BROOKLYN, NY 11236. 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 8148, LOT 16. Approximate amount of judgment $444,855.39 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment for Index# 503720/2013. Helene E. Blank, Esq., Referee Gross Polowy, LLC Attorney for Plaintiff 1775 Wehrle Drive, Suite 100 Williamsville, NY 14221 50064 NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT: KINGS COUNTY FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASSOCIATION; Plaintiff(s) vs. MOHAMMAD S. ALAM; MOHAMMED NAZMUZZAMAN; MASUD RAHMAN; et al; Defendant(s) Attorney (s) for Plaintiff (s): ROSICKI, ROSICKI & ASSOCIATES, P.C., 2 Summit Court, Suite 301, Fishkill, New York, 12524, 845.897.1600 Pursuant to judgment of foreclosure and sale granted herein on or about November 9, 2015, I will sell at Public Auction to the highest bidder in Room 224 at the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201. On January 25, 2018 at 2:30 pm. Premises known as 352 WARWICK STREET, BROOKLYN, NY 11207 Block: 3982 Lot: 25 ALL that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in that part of the City of Brooklyn which was formerly East New York in the County of Kings and State of New York, which on a map filed in the Office of the Register of said County of Kings, entitled “Map of 270 lots at East New York belonging to Jacob L. Sackmann and Andrew Barbey”, is known and designated as and by the number Twenty (20) on Block No. 49 (forty-nine) As more particularly described in the judgment of foreclosure and sale. Sold subject to all of the terms and conditions contained in said judgment and terms of sale. Approximate amount of judgment $633,352.13 plus interest and costs. INDEX NO. 17444/09 Helene Blank, Esq., Referee

VOL. 22 NO. 2

11

OUR TIME PRESS January 11 – 17, 2018

Milfred Fierce on The South’s “Peculiar Institution” ➔➔ Continued from page 6 measurement of Southern success that not one monograph has appeared on the subject of slavebreeding. It is rather noteworthy that, given all of the ink that has been spilled on antebellum slavery, virtually nothing has been done on slavebreeding. Needless to say, the paucity of research on the subject has probably discouraged some scholars.

Moreover, the “lack of evidence” syndrome has also acted as a deterrent. However, I am not prepared to agree that the evidence is as spurious or difficult to uncover as we are led to believe. I think too, that there is a moral consideration that needs mention.

Heretofore, students entertaining the thought of approaching the subject of commercial slavebreeding, particularly since the Civil Rights Movement, have not been anxious, I would think, to add to the long list of indictments being heaped on the United States for centuries of injustice to Black people.

Of course, this is merely conjecture and lost currency when one argues that the difference between dealing with slavebreeding, slavery per se, or the slave trade is merely a difference of degree rather than kind. And we do know that there has been a pro- liferation of research done on slavery and the slave trade.

Nonetheless, Jesse Burton Harrison also corroborates the existence of a Southern conspiracy to keep slavebreeding a Southern secret. “There is one way in which capital invested in slaves may be said to be productive.

We will now let the reader into a secret of the slaveholding economy. The form in which it can safely be said that slaves on a plantation are profitable in Virginia is in the multiplication of their number at births.” Lewis Gray and Ulrich B. Philips head the list of scholars who disclaim the propensity for slavebreeding in the antebellum South. Most members of the denial school argue that the evidence is not sufficient to support the contention that slavebreeding was a flourishing business.

In short, Gray attempts a refutation of the notion that the border slave states engaged in a system of commercial slavebreeding analagous to the breeding of cattle. He makes references to comments by such prominent Virginians as Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Thomas Roderick Dew and Edmund Ruffin, which tends to be antithetical to a denial of slavebreeding.

In fact, as we will see a little later, Randolph and Dew provide some of the best evidence to buttress argument for the widespread existence of slavebreeding practices in Virginia. The remarks of Edmund Ruffin, that Gray refers to, tend to confirm more than deny. Gray’s position can be summed up as follows: “There were a few instances of conscienceless masters who compelled slaves to take new mates in cases of barrenness ... there was no doubt, extensive, illicit miscegenation, but that it was the basis of an extensive economic system, consciously fostered by the Southern community, is a mistaken interpretation.”

Ulrich B. Philips probably impunged the motives of abolitionists most forcefully in repudi- ating their attacks on Southern slaveholders for engaging in the abhorred practice of slavebreeding. He writes: “It has

been said by various antislavery spokesmen that many slaveholders system- atically bred slaves for market. They have adduced no shred of supporting evidence however; and although the present writer has long been alert for such data, he has found but a single concrete item in the premises.

This one item very interestingly from colonial Massachusetts in 1636. It is wellknown that U.B. Philips, who Genovese describes as the “much-maligned U.B. Philips”, represents the classical apologist for antebellum slavery. He was one of the foremost believers in the innate inferiority of people of African descent.

Excluding the fact that Philips held such, now antiquated then very popular, racist beliefs regarding Black people, he has produced some rather valuable scholarship for those who study the peculiar institution.

Therefore, it is surprising that a scholar of such magnitude was able to locate but a single example of systematic slavebreeding and that, in the first half of the seventeenth century, in New England. Every slaveowner was either a slave trader or a slavebreeder or both. The point is that there was a very thin line between encouragement and coercion.

And, under careful scrutiny, the terms can be used interchangeably. In the final analysis, it matters not whether slaves were said to be encouraged or compelled to breed. If large numbers of slaves (those beyond what could have been considered a normal, natural increase) appeared in the markets of Virginia and other border states for sale to the lower South - with a view towards reaping lucrative profits - there was slavebreeding afoot.

“Petersburg, Lynchburg, Richmond, Norfolk and Alexandria each contained two or three slave dealers who made a regular business of supplying Southern masters.

At this point I feel compelled to raise what is undoubtedly a most critical question. What constitutes sufficient evidence?

Appreciating the fact that those who engaged in slavebreeding practices were loath to leave records of any kind, what other types of evidence can be considered? I offer the following; the observations of travelers through the Old South such as Fredrick Law

WHAT’S GOING ON ➔➔ Continued from page 4

Celebration on January 14th at 3 pm. Comoderators WNYC host Brian Lehrer and All Things Considered local host Jami Floyd talk about Dr. King, his legacy and teachings with Dr. Clarence Jones, former attorney and MLK advisor; Linda Sarsour, Women’s March co-founder; and Patrisse Cullors, Black Lives Matter co-founder. REE!

MLK Tribute at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with keynoter Jelani Cobb, professor/New Yorker magazine writer with musical entertainment at BAM’s Gilman Opera House at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. FREE! New Exhibit, KING IN NEW YORK, opens on January 13th at Museum of the City of NY, located at 1120 Fifth Avenue on 103rd Street, along Museum Mile, and

Olmsted. His accounts of many other aspects of slavery are almost considered sacrosanct in academic circles. Regarding Olmsted, Arthur Schlesinger - certainly one of the United States’ most prominent historians- has said Olmsted’s writings, “present a uniquely candid and realistic picture of the pre-Civil War South”. The Cotton Kingdom, which abridges and synthesizes his observations, is the nearest thing posterity has to an exact transcription of a civilization which time has tinted with hues of romantic legend.

Secondly, the speeches and writings of the leading personalities of antebellum Virginia can certainly be offered as evidence. In addition, a host of current scholars, without going into much detail, make references to the widespread practice of slavebreeding in the states which comprised the upper South.

Finally, although the accusations of the abolitionists have been criticized as gross exaggerations, when offered in conjunction with other “more creditable” evidence, their allegations gain currency.

As mentioned, possibly the most widely respected authority on antebellum slavery and slave conditions was Frederick Law Olmsted. Olmsted traveled in the South during the decade of the 1850’s and revealed his findings in several books and a satiety of articles and essays which appeared in both Northern and Southern journals. One Southerner is reported to have written to Olmsted regarding slavebreeding, saying: “In the states of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri, as much attention is paid to the breeding and growth of Negroes as to that of horses and mules. Further South, we raise them both for use and for market. Planters command their girls and women (married or unmarried) to have children. And I have known a great many Negro girls to be sold off, because they did not have children. A breeding woman is worth from one-sixth to one-fourth more than one that does not breed.”

Another Southerner is quoted by Olmsted as follows: “But they (the Virginians) did not keep them to make corn, they kept them to breed and raise young ones. It is folly to pretend that they did not.” Olmsted also makes

reference to a prideful Mr. X: “Mr. X (a rice planter) boasts a steady increase of his Negro stock, of five percent per annum, which is better than is averaged on the plantations of the interior.” In the twentieth century, Gunnar Myrdal, the prominent Swedish sociologist and observer of American race relations, in his classic two-volume work entitled, An American Dilemma, leaves little room for doubt regarding one manifestation of the exploitation of man by man, slavebreeding.

In Volume I, reference is made to one Sir George Campbell, who is reported to have listened to the stories of many old slavebreeders: (in the 1870’s) Recording a conversation Olmsted had with a Southerner about slave labor he tells us the Virginian stated: “His women were uncommonly good breeders; he did not suppose there was a lot of women anywhere that bred faster than his; he never heard of babies coming so fast as they did on his plantation; it was perfectly surprising; and everyone of them, in his estimation, was worth two hundred dollars, as Negroes were selling now, the moment it drew breath.” ... the slaves were not worked out like omnibus horses; in fact, the capital sunk in slaves was so heavy, and produce had become so cheap that the principal source of profit was what was called the increase of the slave the breeding of them for the market or for new plantations opened in the more western states. As in breeding farms for other kinds of stock, the human stock was carefully, and, on the whole, kindly treated; and although the selling of the young stock, as it became fit for the market, was a barbarous process, still, the family relations being so weak, as I have described, those who remained did not feel it so much as we should. And I think it may be said that the relations between the masters and the slaves were generally not unkindly.” Easily the most conclusive testimony of slavebreeding in Virginia, offered to date, comes from the legislative debates over the abolition of slavery in 1831-1832.

Thomas Roderick Dew, Professor of Political Economy and other subjects at William and Mary College, although concerned primarily with the question of emancipation and colonization, incidentally refers to slavebreeding.

He makes it clear that Virginia enjoyed the dubious distinction of being the greatest of the slave-rearing states. He further informs us that: “Virginia is, in fact, a Negro-raising state for other states; she produces enough for her own supply and six thousand for sale.”

Dew also reveals that: “The slaves of Virginia multiply more rapidly than in most Southern states; the Virginians can raise cheaper than they can buy; in fact, it is one of their greatest sources of profit. In many of the other slaveholding states, this is not the case, and consequently, the same care is not taken to encourage matrimony and the rearing of children.” We are informed that the original publication of Dew’s pamphlet, Review of the Debate, contained a misprint which saw the words “encourage building” substituted for “encourage breeding”, and later “marriage” replaced “building” since the appellations breeding and building were considered indiscreet.

Part 2, Slavebreeding, in the next issue and online Jan. 18.

runs through June 1. The photo exhibit of KING IN NEW YORK commemorates the 50th Anniversary of Dr. King’s death with a photo exhibit in NYC during the 50s and 60s. Exhibit runs through June 1. There is an admission fee.

HAPPY MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr. DAY! A Harlem-based management consultant, Victoria is reachable at Victoria.horsford @ gmail.com.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

12

OUR TIME PRESS January 11 – 17, 2018

DENTISTRY

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A Charming private dental office with a warm, friendly and professional environment located in Brooklyn’s historic Clinton Hill.

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718.783.6228

www.clintonhilldental.com

VOL. 22 NO. 2