Feb 2011 Issue

GOOD NEWS FROM THE CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

February 2011

www.thepositivecommunity.com

$2.95

Community B.C. of Englewood Dedicates New Church Complex

Rev. Rev. Dr Dr..LLester ester W W.. Taylor Taylor,,Jr. Jr. Senior Senior Pastor Pastor

Celebrating Black History Dr. Clement A. Price Price:.. The Civil War

Columbia University Celebrates Black History Month Constance Baker Motley Law School 1946, 2003

Photo: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

During her 50-plus years as a jurist, Motley had a major impact on ending racial discrimination. As NAACP Legal Defense Fund associate counsel, she participated in writing the briefs for Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case that ended school segregation. From October 1961 to the end of 1964, Motley won nine of the ten civil rights cases she argued before the court.

Lucy Diggs Slowe

Charles R. Drew

Kenneth B. Clark

Beverly L. Greene

President Barack Obama

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 1915

College of Physicians and Surgeons 1940

Graduate School of Architecture 1945

Columbia College 1983

Slowe, one of the original founders of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, was also a professional tennis player and the first African American woman to win a major sports title. She became a vocal advocate for women’s rights and academic opportunities.

Drew’s work as a physician and researcher led to his development of the world’s first blood bank. He also improved techniques for blood storage and created large-scale blood banks early in World War II. He protested against racial segregation in the donation of blood from donors of different races because it lacked scientific foundation.

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 1940, Law School 1970

Photo: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.

Photo: Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Mamie Phipps Clark Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 1943

The research of Kenneth and Mamie Phipps Clark challenged the notion of differences in the mental abilities of black and white children and thus played an important role in the desegregation of American schools.

Photo: Columbia University Archives

Greene is believed to have been the first African American woman licensed to practice architecture in the United States. In 1936, she became the first African American woman to receive a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, receiving an M.S. in city planning there a year later.

Photo: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

When he arrived as a transfer student at Columbia, President Barack Obama first lived on 109th Street off Amsterdam Avenue while pursuing his degree in political science. Having won 53% of the popular vote and an overwhelming 68% of the Electoral College, Obama was inaugurated as the nation’s first African American president on Jan. 20, 2009.

Photo: Eileen Barroso/Columbia University

To learn more about some of the great Columbians in our history, visit www.columbia.edu/blackhistory.

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B E R G E N

C O M M U N I T Y

C O L L E G E

C E L E B R A T E S

BLACK HISTORY M O N T H

“ Black History Month is a time to share and to teach about the history and struggle of blacks in this country and throughout the world. Here, at Bergen, we offer courses — literature, history and others — that teach the history. All students, of all races, are invited to take these courses so they can expand their knowledge. This month is about teaching.”

– Professor Celeste finney, Bergen Community College BlaCk History montH CHair

Black History Month events at the main campus, 400 Paramus Road, Paramus, N.J.: Saturday, February 12

Thursday, February 17

Black Business Summit: Radio DJ Uncle Ralph, HOT 97 "Starting Your Own Business" 3:00 p.m., Anna Maria Ciccone Theatre

LueRachelle Brim Atkins, communications and performance coach and trainer "Strategies for Identifying and Responding to Issues of Race" (Part 2) 6:00 p.m., Pitkin Education Center room C-211 Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Intercultural Understanding

Tuesday, February 15 LueRachelle Brim Atkins, communications and performance coach and trainer "Strategies for Identifying and Responding to Issues of Race" (Part 1) 1:45 p.m., Pitkin Education Center room C-211 Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Intercultural Understanding

Wednesday, February 16 Galen, master flutist "A Focus on Jazz" 12:30 p.m., Cafeteria

Monday, February 21 Panel Discussion "Blacks in Suburbia: The Connection of Race, Class and the Middle Landscape" 11:00 a.m., Moses Family Meeting and Training Center

Wednesday, February 23 Trevis Prince, R&B singer 12:30 p.m., Cafeteria Sponsored by the Black Student Union

For more information on Bergen’s Black History Month celebration, please e-mail cfinney@bergen.edu.

Find Bergen on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BergenCommunityCollege

H A C K E N S A C K

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P A R A M U S

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M E A D O W L A N D S

FEBRUARY 2011

CONTENTS 25

31 COVER STORY: COMMUNITY B.C. OF ENGLEWOOD CHRISTENS NEW HOME

&also inside

From the Publisher’s Desk . . . . . . . . . . . 10 My View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Seelah! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 On Call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 In the Spirit & Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Fitness Doctor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 The Way Ahead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 The Last Word. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Cover Photo: Vincent Bryant

FEATURE STORY: AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE CIVIL WAR

Sections Health Treating Children’s Colds and Flus Without Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 TLH Communications Tapped to Run Pregnancy Health Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Culture Faith Ringgold Celebrates 80th Birthday . . 28 Black Denominations Unite . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Schomburg Center 85th Anniversary . . . . . 39 Memphis the Musical. . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Photojournalist Donovan Gopie Honored . . 47 Money Internet Security: Password Management . 16 Helping the Community through Reentry . . 20

Medgar letter_PosComm 2/1/11 4:38 PM Page 1

“Today our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

Honoring Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Year-Round

by Dr. William L. Pollard President, Medgar Evers College, CUNY “We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it does not matter with me now. Because I have been to the mountaintop.

And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the promised land.”

White House. My friends, Martin Luther King may not be with us today, but he left us hopeful about our future. Martin Luther King said: “In the spirit of the darkness, we must not despair, we must not become bitter — we must not lose faith.”

Dr. King told us that “Faith can give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future.” So my friends, colleagues and students I say to you this morning, that as we remember the King legacy, we should remember a man of faith, a man who believed in the idea that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

M

ARTIN LUTHER KING spoke these words on April 3, 1968.

How prophetic he was on the eve of his death. He caused us to consider several things. He told us that these would be difficult days ahead of us, days of economic hardship, days of incivility and days of tragedy. Dr. Martin Luther King was aware that not all was right with the world and that it would not all be resolved in his lifetime.

President William L. Pollard

Dr. King told us that he simply wanted to do God’s will. He told us that he had been allowed to look over the mountaintop. He told that he had seen the promised land.

Martin Luther King told us in 1968 that he had seen what was going to be, even though he was not going to be here with us.

He saw a black governor of Virginia. He saw a black mayor and a black governor of New York. He saw what we could not see. He saw black people travel from the slave house to the

My friends we have much work to do in this community and around the world. We must still rebuild Haiti. We must still educate the children of Brooklyn and New York City. We need a “Dream Act” to support the young people who have done no wrong. We must still build a more valued and respected Medgar Evers College, but it can only happen if we work together to do so. With the faith of this man, Dr. King, we can move mountains.

I leave you with these words of Dr. King:

“Before the ship of your life reaches its last harbor, there will be long drawn-out storms, howling and jostling winds, and tempestuous seas that make the heart stand still. If you do not have a deep and patient faith in God, you will be powerless to face the delay, disappointment and vicissitudes that inevitably come.”

Remarks delivered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 17, 2011

At Medgar Evers College, the only college in New York City named after the esteemed civil rights leader, we honor the legacy of all heroes and heroines that make Black History Month a year-round celebration.

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Roll Call for PC_Oct_10.qxd:Roll Call for PC Document.qxd 1/14/11 9:10 AM Page 1

GREAT

T

R C OLL

MAKE THE DIFFERENCE!

ALL

TO PROGRESS

he clergy organizations, churches, community businesses and institutions listed below have committed to the purchase of at least 50 magazines per month at $1.00 each (one-third of the cover price) or support this publication through the purchase of advertising. Find out more by calling 973-233-9200 or email rollcall@thepositivecommunitycom

Abyssinian B.C., Harlem, NY

Friendship Baptist Church, Harlem, NY

New Zion B.C., Elizabeth, NJ

Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts III, Pastor

Rev. James A. Kilgore, Pastor

Rev. Kevin James White, Pastor

Businesses & Organizations

Archdiocese of New York

General Baptist Convention, NJ

Newark Dist. of AME Church, Newark, NJ

Brother Tyrone Davis, Office of Black Ministry

Rev. Dr. Guy Campbell, President

Howard Grant, Presiding Elder

125th St. BID

Berean B.C., Brooklyn, NY

Grace B. C., Mt. Vernon, NY

Paradise B. C., Newark, NJ

African American Heritage Parade

Rev. Arlee Griffin Jr., Pastor

Rev. Dr. Franklyn W. Richardson, Pastor

Rev. Jethro James, Pastor

African American Muslims for Interfaith Relationships (AAMIR)

Bethany B.C., Brooklyn, NY

Greater Allen Cathedral, Queens, NY

Paterson’s Pastor’s Workshop, Paterson, NJ

Rev. Dr. David Hampton, Pastor

Revs. Floyd and Elaine Flake, Co-Pastors

Rev. Dr. James Kuykendall, President

Bethany B.C., Newark, NJ.

Greater New Hope Missionary B.C., NYC

Shiloh B.C., Plainfield, NJ

American Heart Association, Northern, NJ

Rev. Dr. M. William Howard, Pastor

Rev. Joan J. Brightharp, Pastor

Rev. Dr. Gerald Lamont Thomas, Pastor

Birdel’s Tapes & Audio, Brooklyn

Beulah B.C., Newark, NJ

Greater Zion Hill B.C., Harlem, NY

St Luke B.C., Paterson, NJ

Carver Federal Savings Bank

Rev. Gerald L. Dickson, Pastor

Rev. Dr. Frank J. Blackshear, Pastor

Rev. Kenneth D.R. Clayton, Pastor

City National Bank

Black Ministers Council of NJ

Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement (HCCI)

St. Albans, NY COGIC

Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, Exec. Director Calvary Baptist Church, Garfield, NJ Rev. Calvin McKinney, Pastor Canaan B. C. of Christ, Harlem, NY Rev. Thomas D. Johnson, Pastor Childs Memorial COGIC, Harlem, NY Bishop Norman N. Quick, Pastor Christian Love B.C., Irvington, NJ Rev. Ron Christian, Pastor Community B.C., Englewood, NJ Rev. Dr. Lester Taylor, Pastor Community Church of God, Plainfield, NJ Rev. Dr. Shirley B. Cathie., Pastor Emeritus Concord B.C., Brooklyn, NY Rev. Dr. Gary V. Simpson, Pastor Empire Missionary B.C., Convention NY Rev. Washington Lundy, President Fellowship Missionary B.C., Newark, NJ Rev. Kippie C. Brown, Pastor First B.C. of Lincoln Gardens, Somerset NJ Rev. Dr. DeForest (Buster) Soaries, Pastor First Baptist B.C. of Teaneck, NJ

Lucille McEwen, President & CEO Manhattan District AME Churches, NY Rev. Harold Rutherford, Presiding Elder Masjid Imam Ali K. Muslim, Newark, NJ Imam Akbar Muhammad Metropolitan B.C., Newark, NJ Rev. Dr. David Jefferson, Pastor Evening Star B.C., Brooklyn, NY Rev. Washington Lundy, Pastor Mother A.M.E. Zion Church, Harlem Rev. Dr. Gregory Robeson Smith, Pastor Mt. Neboh Baptist Church, Harlem, NY Rev. Dr. Johnnie Green Jr., Pastor Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, Harlem, NY Rev. Charles A. Curtis, Pastor Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, Peekskill, NY Rev. Adolphus Lacey, Pastor Mt. Pisgah B.C., Brooklyn, NY Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood, Pastor

St. James AME Church, Newark, NJ Rev. William L. Watley, Pastor

Rev. James E. Booker Jr., Pastor

Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce Inner City Broadcasting Medgar Evers College NAACP New Jersey* NAACP, NY State Conference*

St. Matthew AME Church, Orange, NJ

New Brunswick Theological Seminary

Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, Pastor

New Jersey Performing Arts Center

St. Paul Community B.C., Brooklyn, NY

New York Theological Seminary

Rev. David K. Brawley, Pastor

New York Urban League

The Cathedral Int’l., Perth Amboy, NJ

Newark School of Theology

Bishop Donald Hilliard, Pastor

Razac Products Co., Newark, NJ

The New Hope B.C., Newark, NJ

Schomburg Center

Rev. Joe Carter, Senior Pastor

The Bozeman Law Firm

Thessalonia Worship Center, Bronx, NY

The College of New Rochelle

Rev. Dr. Shellie Sampson, Pastor

The United Way of Essex and West Hudson

United Black Clergy of Westchester, Inc.

University of Medicine & Dentistry of NJ

Rev. Dr. Franklyn W. Richardson, Pastor

WBGO-88.3FM

Walker Memorial B.C. Bronx, NY

WKMB-1070AM

Rev. Dr. J. Albert Bush Sr., Pastor World Gospel Music Assoc., Newark, NJ Dr. Albert Lewis, Founder

Rev, Conrad B. Tillard, Pastor

Antioch Baptist Church., Brooklyn, NY

New Jerusalem B.C., Queens, NY

Essex County College, NJ

Mildred Crump, Newark City Council St. John AME Church, Harlem, NY

Nazarene Congregational Church Brooklyn, NY

Rev. Marilyn Monroe Harris, Pastor First Bethel Baptist Church, Newark, NJ

Rev. Ben Monroe

American Diabetes Association

Rev. Robert M. Waterman, Pastor

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

Rev. Dr. Calvin Rice, Pastor

H. Grady James III, Pastor

“The Positive Community magazine does outstanding work in promoting the good works of the Black Church. All churches and businesses should subscribe to and advertise in The Positive Community. Please support this magazine, the only one that features good news about the black community.”—Rev. Buster Soaries, General Baptist Revival, May 20, 2010

Saturday, February 19, 2011 10am – 4 pm

Levister-Doles Banquet Hall

•All Shoppers Welcome •Hourly Door Prizes •Free Admission

Featuring: Blood Pressure Health Screening Seminars (10am – 4pm) Chair Massage Exercise Demonstration Vendor Information & Registration Form on Back Deacon Mary Dolberry, Black Expo Chair

ALL ARE WELCOME! Grace Baptist Church

52 South 6th Avenue, Mount Vernon, NY 10552 914-664-2676 www.gracechurchtoday.org W. Franklyn Richardson, Senior Pastor

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The 31st Anniversary of the Marion Thompson Wright Lecture Series

Beauty and the Black Body history, aesthetics and politics S a t u r d a y ,

F e b r u a r y

1 9 ,

2 0 1 1

on Thompson Wright Lecture Series

he Black Body tics and politics

b r u a r y

1 9 ,

2 0 1 1

and its featured exhibition, Posing Beauty 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

The Paul Robeson Campus Center Rutgers University,Newark Campus 350 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Newark, New Jersey Marion Thompson Wright Lecturer: Deborah Willis Professor of Photography & Imaging Tisch School of the Arts New York University

Speakers: Richard Powell, Duke University Maxine Craig, University of California, Davis Tiffany Gill, University of Texas, Austin Okwui Enwezor, Art Historian Photo Credit: Pickin' by Lauren Kelley (1999) from the collection Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890's to the Present by Deborah Willis. Design: Diane Cuddy Design, LLC, Bloomfield, NJ Printing: Hanover Printing of NJ, Inc.

Special Opening Reception The Newark Museum 49 Washington Street, Newark Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.

Admission: FREE Book signing by author/curator Deborah Willis Funded by Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and the New Jersey Historical Commission, Department of State, New Jersey Council for the Humanities, Rutgers Committee to Advance Our Common Purposes, NJPAC Alternate Routes, The Prudential Foundation, The Newark Museum and Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

NEW JERSEY COUNCIL FOR THE HUMANITIES

Presented by Rutgers Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience; and by The Federated Department of History, Rutgers University-Newark/New Jersey Institute of Technology

For more information, visit http://ethnicity.rutgers.edu 973-353-3891

ADRIAN COUNCIL FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK

Learning and understanding history is a function of education. Of what use to society or what kind of future could a young person have without an education?

The Great Education Roundtable Preparing for Success in the 21st Century

W

elcome to The Positive Community and another celebration of history and culture. It is wonderful that there is one month of the year reserved for our families and community to reflect on our American experience and our collective contribution to this nation’s progress. African American History Month is recognized and honored among diverse communities and businesses, as well as in public and private institutions across America and around the world.

Whether it’s in the home, church or school, history is taught to the student by a teacher. Learning and understanding history is a function of education. Of what use to society or what kind of future could a young person have without an education?

At The Positive Community, we see education as our community’s #1 challenge. On March 26th, we will convene a roundtable. Guests or panelists will include those who are conversant with our community’s history, traditions, value systems and culture. Leaders in education—teachers, administrators, and scholars—will be invited to share their perspective.

The objective here is to transcend or move beyond the basic, local education questions—test scores, failing schools, education management, public vs. private or char-

ter schools—to include a holistic, dynamic approach in our quest for the real components of a quality education—an educational ideal.

What must we do—in our schools, our homes, and churches to awaken and foster a real thirst for knowledge and wisdom among our young people?

How do we prepare our children for leadership in this 21st century? How do we insure the survival and safe passage of values from this generation to the next?

History This year (2011) marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War (see pg. 25). Next to the Revolutionary War for independence from Great Britain and the founding of this country, there is no bigger event in American history. Was this a fight to save the Union, free the slaves or both?

What role did the African American play in this war? Do our people, descendants of slaves, owe a debt of gratitude to the descendants of the Union Army who fought and died on the battlefields for our freedom? Where would America

On March 26th, we will convene an education roundtable featuring expert panelists who are conversant with our community’s history, traditions, value systems and culture.

10

The Positive Community February 2011

www.thepositivecommunity.com

be today if the Union had refused to fight and made peace with the Confederacy?

Two years from now, America will celebrate 150 years since President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863). This is the single most important event in our people’s history. It is also the most obscured. Each year, African American congregations across America gather on New Year’s Eve for Watch Night services. Many do not realize that this tradition dates back to 1862 with blacks awaiting the enactment of this law on New Year’s Day. The Emancipation Proclamation is a historical fact; in religious circles it could be debated that it was a sacred event.

The Future The Emancipation Proclamation ended almost 300 years of brutal bondage, signaling the birth of the African American community of the United States of America. 100 years later Martin Luther King, Jr stood before the Lincoln Memorial to demand equal rights and an end to discrimination in what may be called “The Second Emancipation.” And 40 years after his death in1968, America elected its first African American president.

Taking into account this history of extraordinary trial, tribulation and triumph, the Education Roundtable must be about the future of learning and teaching. How do we ensure the transmission of this central element in American history to a new generation? And what kind of education and expectations for our youth does our heritage imply?

The goal of the Education Roundtable is to promote a

sense of empowerment among parents and community leaders, to work closely with educators, and to assume more responsibility for the progress of our children and the integrity of our culture. Yes, we need a new vision, a new educational ideal, that honors the past and is attuned to present needs. This is about ensuring that our children get the education they need and deserve.

Forward-thinking businesses and corporations are invited to participate as sponsors in this community building venture. It’s a multi-media event (live broadband streaming on thepositivecommunity.com website; live radio broadcast; transcripts to be published with photos in our April Education issue). As a business leader it’s understood that your company is also a stakeholder in our community’s progress—they are your customers, employees, future employees and neighbors.

In the end, we believe that an enduring society is founded on culture, dominated by ideals and motivated by service.

The purpose of education should be acquirement of skills, pursuit of wisdom, realization of selfhood and attainment of spiritual values.

We invite your comments and ideas about the Education Roundtable. Please go to The Positive Community Facebook page and post questions that you would like the panelists to address.

Black history belongs to all of us. It’s not just other people’s stories from the past. It’s how these stories are passed down, reflected upon and used to start new chapters. In our schools, in the workplace and in the community, new leaders are taking a stand and creating positive change every day. This shows us that Black History is alive and well. And this is why we celebrate.

Wells Fargo honors Black History and all pioneers of progress.

wellsfargo.com © 2011 Wells Fargo Bank N.A., All rights reserved. Member FDIC.

www.thepositivecommunity.com

February 2011 The Positive Community

11

REV. THERESA NANCE MY VIEW

Rev. Nance is pastor of The Church by the Side of the Road in Passaic, NJ. She is also a radio talk show host and documentary filmmaker.

LISTEN TO THE POSITIVE COMMUNITY HOUR ON WKMB 1070 AM HARVEST RADIO, MONDAYS, 1:30–2:30 P.M. WITH HOST THERESA NANCE.

Wall Street Project Pastor’s luncheon feeds mind, body and soul

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recently attended the 14th Annual Wall Street Project Economic Summit sponsored by Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push organization. It was held, as always, at the Sheraton New York and Towers; and despite inclement weather throughout much of the country, it was still well-attended.

I went on the day the conference held the pastors’ luncheon. I wanted to hear what advice and/or encouragement was offered to those struggling in the vineyard in these precarious times. Actually, it was the One Thousand Churches Connected (OTCC) Luncheon, Workshop and Plenary Program.

The keynote speaker was slated to be Bishop Paul Morton, presiding Bishop of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International. Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., president and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, conceded that Bishop Morton couldn’t make it because he was stymied by inclement weather. No matter.

Jackson, in his own unique way, took the luncheon in a different direction and brought many conference attendees to the podium to discuss those institutions that are hindering the socio-economic growth of black America.

One such person who offered a reflection was Dr. Grainger Browning, pastor of Ebenezer AME, MD. Dr. Browning recalled that he and his congregation had paid off their church mortgage in 7 years—years before the deadline. They then went, he said, to the same bank to ask for a $50,000 loan to do some capital improvements on another property owned by the church. The honchos at the bank said this, and I’m paraphrasing: We need three of your trustees to vouch for the loan, and we’ll need the church put up as collateral in order to be approved for the loan. Dr. Browning apparently didn’t miss a beat and advised those officials that his congregant numbers were such that he had no problem

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The Positive Community February 2011

advising members to transfer their accounts to other banking establishments if need be.

I believe that was on a Tuesday, if memory serves, and by that Friday a high-ranking official telephoned Dr. Browning, he said, and approved the loan verbally. This was done, the good reverend indicated, “Because banks can count.” There were other horrific stories about lending institutions that had given clerics a hard time but those who were affected by such unfairness were there to offer to others alternatives to this plight.

Rev. Jackson noted that the same banks that have been bailed out by our government using taxpayer dollars, now turn around and decline loans from those who have low credit scores—forgetting that the institution itself also had a low credit score, so to speak.

The Rev. Calvin McKinney, pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Garfield and as he always says when he introduces me, “a childhood friend,” sat on the dais and was called upon by Jackson as one of the preachers who would assist other preachers/pastors with guidance as they face the threat of foreclosure either at their own churches or if perhaps their members currently find themselves in this embarrassing situation.

I took away with me from that luncheon new contacts, a full belly and the affirmation that Jesse Jackson can still draw big names to the table. Jackson can still get sponsors to underwrite his events and is a most viable resource in the African-American Diaspora and no one, repeat, no one, should ever count him out.

www.thepositivecommunity.com

7 X 9.5

UPCOMING EVENTS Sat, Feb 26 at 7:30 Randy Weston’s African Rhythms

BW

Sat, Mar 19 at 2:00 Deeply Rooted Dance Theater Sun, Mar 20 at 2:00 Newark Boys Chorus with Princeton Girlchoir and The RockNRoll Chorus

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A dazzling tap invention, set to flamenco music performed live

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Savion Glover’s Solo in Time

1/31/11 6:35 PM

JOANNE J. NOELLE SELAH!

Professor Joanne J. Noel, B.A., M.A., M. DIV., DMIN is Assistant Professor of English and Director, Instructional Resource Center at Somerset Christian College

Have You Laid-Away Your Dream? n Langston Hughes’ Montage of a Dream Deferred, the speaker’s queries center on unrealized dreams. The speaker asks, “What happens to a dream deferred?” She then offers vivid scenarios that suggest possible conclusions to dreams that go unrealized. She wonders: “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? /Or fester like a sore? /Does it stink like rotten meat? /Or crust and sugar like a syrupy sweet?”

(2. 29). The rhetorical questions offer several possibilities for unrealized dreams and imply that the speaker already knows the devastating consequences of an individual’s inability to fulfill a dream. Like the speaker, many have deferred dreams and unless divine guidance is sought in actively pursuing those dreams, they will never see the light of day.

Dreamers such as Joseph (the son of Jacob in the bible), Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr., Martin Luther, Mother Theresa and many others carried great dreams of a preferred future which they actively pursued until those dreams altered positively the lives of people in the era in which they lived.

From a Christian perspective, a truly great, meaningful dream is not rooted in egocentric ideals and self-sufficiency. Rather, it is great because not only does it fulfill the dreamer’s ontological vocation to become all that she was divinely created and destined to be, but it reaches and impacts far beyond the narrow confines of the dreamer’s space.

For example, several years after the fulfillment of his prophetic dream and fully understanding the process involved in its actualization, Joseph, son of Jacob the biblical patriarch, told his brothers who had sold him into slavery in Egypt, “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve life.” (NRSV, Gen 50:20) Joseph’s dream wasn’t about his greatness as second in command to Pharaoh of Egypt, but in the realization of his God-given dream, he was able to preserve the lives of thousands of people and also preserve the posterity of Jacob his father.

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The Positive Community February 2011

Furthermore, in the 16th century Martin Luther ushered in the Protestant Reformation when he nailed the 95 theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg. He envisioned a time when the Catholic Church would champion biblical truth, “sola scriptura” over church traditions, such as the selling of indulgences.

Moreover, Harriet Tubman, 19th century abolitionist, envisioned emancipation for many slaves in the American colonies, and at personal risk led many to freedom in the north through the Underground Railroad.

Additionally, in his August 28, 1963 speech, “I Have a Dream,” Dr. Martin Luther King envisioned a time of social justice for blacks during the years of oppression under racial segregation. Subsequently, through non-violent resistance, millions of African Americans were granted the right to be treated with dignity and respect.

Dreams that are God-given can’t die as long as the dreamer is alive, but they can be unnecessarily deferred. That’s why the speaker in Hughes’ poem ponders the state of dreams that have been laid away. However, rather than dissuading readers from dreaming, the poem persuades them to pursue their dreams. The lament, embedded in the images conjured up by the similes (a literary device), highlights the barrenness of laid-away dreams, but there is an element of prophetic hope situated in the speaker’s question “Or does it [the dream] explode?” The word “explode” has a negative connotation –to destroy. However, “explode” can signify fulfillment or coming into being, for without a simile in the last line, there is open-endedness in meaning. This open-endedness implies that the dream doesn’t die but manifests itself explosively in order to push the speaker to the fulfillment of purpose.

Finally, like Harlem Renaissance poet, Langston Hughes and perhaps because I too am a dreamer, I can’t help but wonder: What’s happening to the dream God gave you? Has it exploded? Is it pushing you to the fulfillment of your Godgiven purpose? Or have you laid it away?

www.thepositivecommunity.com

Brooklyn's Bethany Baptist Church

L-R: Rev. Lawrence E. Aker III, president of BCT; Rev. Dr. Darran H. Mitchell, VP; Rev. Dr. David A. Hampton Sr.; Rev. Shaun J. Lee; Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood former Servant Leader and Rev. Dr. Clive E. Neil, current Servant Leader

Brooklyn Congregations Together MLK Worship Service

B

Earnest Bostic

rooklyn Congregations Together (BCT), an ecumenical and interfaith organization, hosted its annual Martin Luther King worship service at the historic Bethany Baptist Church in Brooklyn, Rev. David Hanpton, host pastor.

Bishop Eric Figueroa Jr.

Rev. Shaun Lee, guest preacher

The path to your first home.

The State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA) offers first-time homebuyers: • 30- or 40- year fixed interest rates that are typically below market; • Financing up to 97%; • Flexible underwriting guidelines; • Down payment assistance (higher of $3,000 or 3% of the loan amount or up to $10,000); • No points; • No financing add ons.

For more information, call

Front Row, L-R: Bishop Figueroa, Rev. David K. Brawley, Rev. Mitchell, Rev. Neil, Rev. Dr. James A. Thornton

www.thepositivecommunity.com

1-800-382-HOME (4663) or visit www.housing.ny.gov

February 2011 The Positive Community

15

Email, Passwords, and Protecting Your Identity and Reputation on the Web BY CECIL CATES, IT CONSULTANT

ast month, hackers broke into a gossip website called Gawker and committed what amounts to a full-scale web burglary. They took the source code for the site, logs of private chats between the editors, and the email addresses and passwords of 1.5 million registered commenters. It was a huge, embarrassing mess for Gawker, and could have caused serious problems for some commenters. Here’s how to prevent an attack like this from creating serious problems for you:

L

1. Create an email address that you can abandon if the address is released publicly.

It’s not a good idea to use a single email address for all your communications. Use your primary address for cor-

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The Positive Community February 2011

respondence and trusted communications, but use a separate dummy address – preferably one that doesn’t contain your name, age, or location – for website logins. It’s fine if you use janesmith@gmail.com for corresponding with your mother, but try something a little more anonymous for commenting on news sites. Many Gawker commenters – including employees of NASA and various government departments—used their work address when they registered. That’s just never a good idea.

2. Use a different password for every single account you have on the web.

That’s right: every single one. Gawker commenters who used the same password for many accounts risked having them all compromised if their passwords were cracked. (The hackers stole the passwords in encrypted form but could eventually decipher all of them.) Having a different password for every site minimizes the potential damage. If you insist on using just a few passwords, make sure you don’t use the same one for a highly secure bank site as you use for a less secure site with more lax password policies.

3. Use long, difficult-to-crack passwords.

It’s admittedly a challenge to create and remember a unique 20-character string of nonsense for every single password you need. Fortunately, a number of passwordprotection programs (including LastPass, KeePass, and 1Password) can automatically generate and store secure passwords for you. If you’re ever curious about how long it would take to crack a particular password, you can go to HowSecureIsMyPassword.net and they’ll tell you. For more information contact ccates@cmitsolutions.com

www.thepositivecommunity.com

All Roads Lead To 125th Street...

Your Shopping Destination

Celebrate Black History Month!

Visit 125th Street, one of the most historical and dynamic Shopping Apparel Footware Sporting Goods Furniture Dining Arts Culture Entertainment and more...

business corridors in NYC Go to www.125thstreetbid.com for news, events and info on all things on125th Street

Easily Accessible

by Public Transportation Train: A,B,C,D,1,2,3,4,5,6 & MetroNorth Bus: M60, M100, M101, Bx15, M103, M104 www.thepositivecommunity.com

February 2011 The Positive Community

17

General Baptist Convention of NJ Workers Conference

L–R: Jerry Harris with Rev. Dr. George A. Blackwell III with

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he General Baptist Convention of New Jersey, Congress of Christian Education held its 33rd Annual Workers Conference at the Hilton, East Brunswick, NJ under the direction of Congress President Deacon James Clark and Convention President, Rev. Dr Guy Campbell. The theme: From Vision to Victory “Answering the Call to Worship” is taken from John 4:24. Moderator Gregory C. Turner and the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Association hosted this year’s conference. The guest preacher was Rev. Dr. Frank E. Ray, Sr., pastor of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, Memphis, TN. Over 696 members from Across New Jersey attended the conference.

L–R: Reverends Elizabeth Campbell, Shawn Wallace, Evan Spagner, Frank Ray, Robert Morrast, and Min. Johnny Caldwell Jr Dr. Lee Roy Jefferson

Rev. Buster Soaries signs autograph for his new book, dfree

L–R: Rev. Dr. Guy Campbell, president GBCNJ and First Lady Dorothy Campbell with Rev. Dr. Frank Ray

R–L: Rev. Lucius Williams, Crossroads Book Store with Faith Jackson, The Positive Community

L–R: Elzena Barron, Chaunte Smith, Jenna Smith, 7-yearold author and Reina Smith.

Jenna a student at Sundance School in North Plainfield, is the author of a wonderful children’s book, Beautiful Brown Girl, which she also illustrated.

The book is on sale at many bookstores including Borders

Photos: Vincent Bryant

North Jersey Federal Credit Union

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The Positive Community February 2011

Cancace Christina, author of children’s books

Horizon NJ Health

www.thepositivecommunity.com

Helping Communities through Reentry by Faith

By R.L. Witter

Rev. Jesse Branson, Jr. and Tri Star Group, Inc. have a Three-Pronged Approach

J

esse Branson, Jr. is a young man wise beyond his years. His firm handshake, tailored suit and deliberate speech match his bright smile and perfect posture. He takes notes during conversations, at times noting what was said or the name of a person or place he wants to contact. Everything about Branson says upstanding, Christian man. But, to the surprise of many, for several years now, Branson has been in and out of correctional facilities.

To clarify, Branson is not a criminal—far from it.

Branson is better known as Rev. Jesse M. Branson, Jr., a son, a husband, a businessman and a man of God who specializes in prison ministry and through his company, Tri Star Group, Inc., works tirelessly to help ex-convicts re-enter society with the benefits of faith, family, education and employment.

“I operate with a sense of urgency because I don’t believe we have another generation to risk,” Branson said with passion. “If we (as a society) continue with what we’re doing now, we’re going to find ourselves beyond repair… Parenting is becoming a pastime—we actually have to teach men and women to be fathers and mothers. ” Branson understands that his upbringing in a stable home and close relationship with his father, Deacon Jesse Branson, Sr., are a million miles from the early lives of most of the people he counsels and leads daily.

“The real challenge is in the family nucleus and that is where our change is going to have to come from…the single parent and the absence of the fathers.”

Branson can show the numbers, but it is likely that you’ve seen them before; reports showing incarceration rates continually rising among African American men and high rates of recidivism. This is where he wants to make an impact and give back to the community and moreover the world, what it desperately needs in order to stem the current tide and help the black family get back on track: marriageable men. “There is a lack of marriageable men in our community,” explained Branson. “Marriageable meaning stably employed, gainfully employed and able to contribute to the household or preferably be the primary breadwinner.”

The Twig vs. the Trunk How to achieve this goal of producing these marriageable men is an ongoing debate between Branson and his father. “It’s what I call the twig versus the trunk,” Branson chuckled. “My dad says it’s easier to bend the

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The Positive Community February 2011

twig, which is his way of saying it’s easier to work with young adults before they find themselves incarcerated and then try to fix it afterward. He does a lot of youth mentoring.” Branson lauds his father’s efforts and sees how they benefit the young people whose paths are changed, but Branson also has his own ideas. “I feel that you can spend a few hours a week with a young black man, but you’re eventually sending him back into the same environment, the same broken home. What he really needs is a twenty-four hour mentor. What he really needs is his father.” The emotion in Branson’s voice is audible and his intensity is palpable; Branson knows too many men who simply haven’t truly known a father or a father figure. He related a story about how one of his mentees, who now works for him, didn’t know how to tie a necktie. Branson taught him to tie a slipknot, a halfWindsor and a Windsor knot, and upon completion, the grown man turned to Branson and said, “I never had a dad to show me how to do this; thanks, Dad.” Branson’s entry into prison ministry was what some would call accidental and others would call divine. “I was with New Hope Baptist Church and I got on a bus and went with them to a prison ministry meeting to mentor to some brothers and it was comfortable and I had such a good time that the next week I told my dad he should come with me,” he reminisced. “Somehow, we got our times crisscrossed and we ended up in the wrong building. When we had arrived, we told them we were there for the bible study and they led us to a room, which wasn’t the room I remembered, and there were several men sitting there waiting for us. God put us where he wanted us and we ‘ve done that bible study ever since then.”

The Three-pronged Approach That first bible study he led at the prison planted the seeds that would yield Tri Star Group, Inc., a threepronged approach to addressing the issues plaguing the black community. Tri Star House of Hope (HOH) is the first prong and Branson’s answer to halfway houses that lack any real guidance and direction and basically serve as a place for recently released former inmates to pass time. Part of its mission statement explains that HOH provides “...necessary resources to secure identification, address legal and credit issues, assess physical condition, prepare for school or employment and begin reinstallation into the family unit.”

Tri Star Academy is the second prong and seeks to www.thepositivecommunity.com

address the educational needs of people who have been recently incarcerated. Its mission statement includes the goal of leading “the previously incarcerated toward spiritual fulfillment, societal contribution and economic empowerment” and core classes include English, Earth Science, Math, History, Computers, Home Care and Professional Development. “It’s a business atmosphere—shirt and tie,” said Branson. He continued, “The majority of individuals incarcerated come out with remedial math and writing skills—statistically 5th grade reading and 5th or 6th grade math. What we seek to do is give them a comprehensive boost to bring them up to current speed. Because until we can reemploy them, we have to make sure that they are articulate, they are literate and just go back to the basics. From there we give them vocational training.”

The third prong in the Tri Star Group, Inc. approach is Tri Star Services (TSS). This is the company that employs people who have participated in and successfully completed the prior two programs and again highlights the faith aspect of Branson’s vision. TSS offers maintenance, cleaning, organization and landscaping services to properties owned and or operated for religious intent. TSS employees use their acquired skills to manage sacred properties from cleaning services that stand up to a white glove test to changing the highest light bulb and cleaning the highest windows. Employees are able to express their faith and love for the Lord by caring for

the places where He is worshipped and revered.

Faith: the Essential Component “The faith that I know is one of transformation,” Branson remarked. “It’s one of liberation and a source of encouragement. There are going to be trials and unless you have an anchor, unless you have something grounding you, the next time something pushes up against you, you are likely to revert to drugs or alcohol or just flight in general,” he continued. “Faith, family and education are essential. If you have faith and family without any education, there is a limit to what and how well you can do. If you have faith and education, you can go far, but it ends with you—there’s no one to continue on; and likewise, if you’ve got family and education but no faith, the first tide is going to knock you over and you’ll find yourself in the wind.”

Rev. Jesse Branson, Jr. and Tri Star Group, Inc. are helping people to jump the waves a bit more easily and offering a guiding star for those who all-too-often are considered permanently lost. Branson said of their logo, a cluster of stars arranged in a pyramid, “The highest star represents our Creator, the one who loves us all equally.

The left star is our community and the needs of the community are always greater than our own. The third star is you as the individual because while it’s not all about you, you are important and we can’t make it without you.” For more information on Rev. Branson and Tri Star Group, Inc. visit his website at www.faithbyreentry.org.

CACCI Remembers King

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r. Martin Luther King Jr. was not only a hero to African Americans, but people throughout the world love and admire him and honor his legacy. Business men and women from throughout the Caribbean, members of the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) gathered at a breakfast in Brooklyn Borough Hall to pay tribute to Dr. King.

L-R: George Hulse, VP Healthfirst; unidentified; Roy Hastick, CEO of CACCI; Dr. Eda Hastic, and Derrick Broome, CACCI Chairman Photo: Wali Amin Muhammad

www.thepositivecommunity.com

February 2011 The Positive Community

21

GOSPEL NIGHT WITH THE NETS

Includes $10.00 food & beverage card *

NETS VS. LA CLIPPERS FRIDAY, MARCH 11 @ 7:00 PM TH

Nets Basketball would like to invite you and your group out to see Brook Lopez, and the Nets as they take on Blake Griffin and the LA Clippers!

EXPERIENCE IT at the Prudential Center in Newark!

There will be a post game concert Featuring Grammy Award-winning Gospel recording artist Hezekiah Walker, immediately following the game.

For more information or to order tickets contact: Rick Lottermann @ 201-635-3128 Email- rlottermann@njnets.com

Face Value

Your Special Price with food and beverage card*

Location

$200.00 $130.00 Lower Level Center Sections $150.00 $100.00 Lower Level Side Courts $100.00/$75.00 $60.00 Lower Level Corners $66.00/$50.00 $30.00 100 Level Court Sections $40.00 $25.00 100 Level End Zones With each Group ticket purchased you will receive a $10.00 food and beverage card* to be used at any concession stand in the arena. ~ Ticket Minimum 10 ~ Name ____________________________________________________________________ Group Name _______________________________________________________________ Address __________________________________________________________________ City _________________________________________State____________ Zip___________ Day Phone _________________________________________________________________ E-mail Address______________________________________________________________ CC _______________#___________________________________ Exp ________________ Signature ______________________________________________Date ________________ Make check or money order payable to: Nets Basketball

Game Nets vs. Clippers

# of Tickets

Price

Shipping & Handling $10.00

Mail w/Payment To: Nets Basketball Attn: Rick Lottermann 390 Murray Hill Parkway East Rutherford, NJ 07073 Fax Credit Card Orders To: 201- 939-7812

Total Amount Due

* Food and beverage card valid for non-alcoholic beverages only. Tickets are filled on a first-come, first-served basis and are subject to availability. No refunds or exchanges on tickets purchased.

No Box Office Orders. Tickets and food and beverage cards will be mailed to the address provided above. All games are played at Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

For more information or to order tickets contact: Rick Lottermann @ (201) 635-3128 or email rlottermann@njnets.com.

Wall Street Project

L–R: Bishop Charles Ellis, Rev. Dennis Dillon accepting Community Service Award from Rev. Jackson

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L-R: Rev. Jesse Jackson, Hezekiah Walker and Love Fellowship

ev. Jesse L. Jackson brought his Rainbow Push Wall Street Project Economic Summit back to New York at the Sheraton Towers Hotel & Conference Center, January 11-14, 2011.The three-day event, which is held annually in commemoration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King holiday, brings together business leaders, clergy and young people.

With theme, “A More Perfect Union: Time to Rebuild America,” the 14th annual economic summit addressed the economic disparities facing American families today and the tools needed to restore financial stability. Experts discussed subjects such as job creation, home and church foreclosures, criminal justice reform,

educational and economic opportunity, women and wealth, international affairs and labor and civil rights.

“The issue is not a black and white one,” Rev. Jackson said. “It’s an issue of civility. We’re fighting for open access to job opportunity, healthcare and our civil rights.”

Bishop Paul Morton, Presiding Bishop of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International was the scheduled keynote speaker for the One Thousand Churches Connected Ministers Luncheon, but due to weather conditions was delayed. Rev. Jackson filled in and had the pleasure of introducing his youngest son, Jonathan, who gave a soul-stirring and eloquent keynote speech that brought the audience to its feet.

Photos: Seitu Oronde and Wali Amin Muhammad

L-R: Bishop Donald Hilliard, Adrian Council Jr. L–R: John Conyers, Rev. Dr. Calvin McKinney and Rabbi Marc Schneier

L–R: Rev. Jackson with Congressman Yvette Clarke, Iyanla VanZant, and Atty. Willie E. Gary

www.thepositivecommunity.com

L-R: Rev. David Bullock of Detroit, MI, Jonathan Jackson, Rev. Jackson and Bishop Hezekiah Walker

February 2011 The Positive Community

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The Riverside Church MLK Celebration

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ivil Rights legend, Rev. Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, pastor emeritus of Harlem’s Canaan Baptist Church, was honored for his work as chief of staff to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Rev. Walker traveled to New York from his home in Virginia to be part of the afternoon program at The Riverside Church on Sunday, January 16.

Dr. Walker, along with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Wachtel family received citations declaring “They Walked With King” during the event which was entitled “Realizing the Dream: A Call to Conscience in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr. gave the welcome address and introduced Rev. Dr. Stephen Phelps, Riverside’s interim senior minister. Rev. Dr. W.

Rev. Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker

L–R: Susannah Heschel, Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr., Dr. Serene Jones and Rev. Dr. Stephen Phelps

Franklyn Richardson, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon, NY and chairman of the board of the National Action Network, delivered the keynote message.

Dr. King delivered his first major speech against the war in Vietnam, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break

Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson

Silence” at The Riverside Church on April 4, 1967 exactly one year to the date before his assassination.

The entire speech can be found online at www.thepositivecommunity.com

Riverside Choir

Group sings "We Shall Overcome" Photos: Matey Akwetey-Aboagye

Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr, Rev. Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker and Family, Robert, WTW Jr, Grand Daughter Jechele

"The Ebony Ecumenical Ensemble" conductor Bettye F. Forbes

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The Positive Community February 2011

www.thepositivecommunity.com

“Break Every Yoke, Let the Oppressed Go Free!”

African Americans and the Civil War

BY CLEMENT ALEXANDER PRICE, PH.D. Dr. Price is the Board of Governors’ Distinguished Service Professor of History and Director of the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience at Rutgers University-Newark

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t is difficult, even now, to over-emphasize the importance of the Civil War to the life and times of African Americans in the distant past and in the present. The war, the most destructive in the history of the United States, ushered tumultuous developments that forever changed the nation. Millions of lives—a huge swath of Americans—were changed forever by the war. Its horrific destruction of human life on southern and northern battlefields, the collapse of black enslavement in those parts of the nation where it had long existed, and the emergence of federal authority and power on a scale that the Founding Fathers could have never imagined, created indelible paths to the future. At the time, those paths had uncertain destinations. In its aftermath, the war also brought into sharper focus the difficulty of placing African Americans within the American system as full citizens.

Indeed, although the war forever ended slavery, a white over black social and political hierarchy remained largely intact for another century. Race remained the organizing principle of the re-united American Republic.

As the war raged on year after year from 1861 to 1865, its horrendous human toll on pastures turned into killing grounds, and the poignancy that accompanied slavery’s end, underscored the incompleteness of an earlier revolutionary age—the American Revolution—that left intact the extreme exploitation of black bodies in the southern states and placed the nation on a path that led to the creation of a white man’s republic.

Black Soldiers in a War between White Brothers Such matters deeply informed the rest of American history and made the Civil war years an enduring bittersweet narrative. Blacks entered that drama from several points; most significantly, they fought to save the Union

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that from its inception hustled them to the bottom of the society. By the end of conflict, more than 186,000 black men joined the United States Colored Troops, coming largely from states where their kin were still enslaved, but also from states where freedom, if not social and political equality, was the norm since the end of the American Revolution and the early years of the nineteenth century. Over 38,000 of those soldiers would lose their lives during the war, creating in the minds of many northern whites a faint prospect that African American men were capable of valor, courage and, alas, patriotism. Yet their sacrifices on the battlefield, and the harsh labor which they performed before they were permitted to fight, were always diminished in the nation because they were black men caught up in what was seen as a white man’s fight, a fratricidal war—a war between white brothers.

Historical Amnesia This year marks the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. For the next four years, following in the footsteps of scores of public acknowledgements of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, the United States will once again take stock of how the war came to be in the first place, why it was so destructive and, most importantly, what its most sigificant legacies have been. Since many

Indeed, although the war forever ended slavery, a white over black social and political hierarchy remained largely intact for another century.

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OURSTORY

white Americans, in both the northern and southern states spent so many years avoiding the real reason for the war—black enslavement—and its most important accomplishment—the destruction of black enslavement—it is likely that an updated form of historical amnesia will set in as it has in the past. Put another way, the nation may, figuratively speaking, fight the Civil War, or the memory of it, all over again.

That part of the war, which will likely be obscured in far too many quarters is how African Americans envisioned their lives would be affected by the conflict, how they individually and collectively comported themselves amid the war’s chaos and destruction, and why over the years they and their progeny would well remember the days when African Americans became a free people.

Should one take seriously African American culture in slavery—the folktales and the Spirituals as examples—it is clear that the war, or some such cataclysmic event, was a part of the imagined world of many black laborers and their free sisters and brothers in the northern and southern states. Hence, Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and the war that necessitated the Proclamation had been proffered by black people poised for a substantive change in the world as they knew it.

Oh Freedom!

Freedom was on their minds. A mere month after the war began with the Confederate firing on the garrison at Fort Sumter, South Carolina on April 12, 1861, Frederick Douglass, the great abolitionist and once a slave, envisioned the war’s importance. Then a free man, Douglass seized upon the war’s meaning in American and African American life and history: At last our proud Republic is overtaken. Our National sin has found us out . . . Slavery has done it all . . . We have sown the wind, only to reap the whirlwind . . . The power given to crush the negro now overwhelms the white race. The Republic has put one end of the chain upon the ankle of the bondman, and the other end about his own neck. They have been planting tyrants, and are now getting a harvest of civil war and anarchy . . . Could we write as with lightening, and speak as with the voice of thunder, we should write and cry to the nation, REPENT, BREAK EVERY YOKE, LET THE OPPRESSED GO FREE, FOR HEREIN ALONE IS DELIVERANCE AND SAFETY!

What should African Americans know about the Civil War? As the sesquicentennial approaches, once vivid memories and emotions stirred by the war and the Great Emancipation have ceded ground to commemoration and heritage. Yet, it is still important, indeed essential, that African Americans and other Americans have a credible understanding of that momentous era. It is important to know that black men and women were not passive observers on the sidelines of the war or impervious to the changes wrought by military conflict or the evolving vision of a different kind of society at war’s end—the unfinished work, the new birth of freedom that President Lincoln would speak of on November 19, 1863 in his Gettysburg Address. Many black men fought and died to finish the Republic’s work while countless others, including women, in dramatic and subtle ways tilted their lives toward freedom. They left plantations and farms in droves, seeking refuge behind Union lines, continued on next page

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OURSTORY BREAK EVERY YOKE continued from previous page

or to reunite with family members taken away by slavery’s pernicious indifference to black communal life.

Historians have for many years argued that the war undermined traditional customs of black obedience and subservience, as blacks refused to continue to act as if history were passing them by. In doing so, they contributed to slavery’s end and to the Confederacy’s failure.

A Finer Type of Courage But perhaps the most important part of the Civil War narrative to know is the agonizing transformation from slavery to freedom to citizenship that the war accelerated. It ended a long period wherein slavery was synonymous with the image and place of the African on American soil. It dealt a near deathblow to the well-traveled mythology that black men were incapable of manly pursuits such as soldiering and acting in their own best interest. And it heightened the unique challenges facing a racist nation in which a sizeable and growing portion of its population, especially in the southern states, was black. W.E.B. DuBois knew of this transformation better than most other Americans when in 1935, he wrote: It took in many respects a finer type of courage for the Negro to work quietly and faithfully as a slave while the

world was fighting over his destiny than it did to seize a bayonet and rush mad with fury or inflamed with drink, and plunge it into the bowels of a stranger. He might plead his cause with the tongue of Frederick Douglass, and the nation listened almost unmoved. He might labor for the nation’s wealth, and the nation took the results without thanks, and handed him as near nothing in return as would keep him alive. He was called a coward and a fool when he protected the women and children of his master. But when he rose and fought and killed, the whole nation with one voice proclaimed him a man and a brother. Nothing else made emancipation possible in the United States. Nothing else made Negro citizenship conceivable, but the record of the Negro soldier as a fighter.

The Negro soldiers whom DuBois remembered were not alone as fighters. During the Civil War they were, in fact, a part of a larger body of blacks seeking freedom and imagining themselves or their progeny as farmers, students, teachers, shop keepers, entrepreneurs, stevedores, industrial laborers, servants, ministers, elected officials and, most certainly, as citizens. Theirs were the most important first steps toward a future that is now our present.

A scene from Tri-Star Films’ Glory! starring Denzel Washington www.thepositivecommunity.com

February 2011 The Positive Community

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Culture

by Jean Nash wells

Photo: Rfael De Los Santos

Faith Ringgold with The Rev. Emeka Nwigwe, assistant rector, Church of the Intercession at her birthday celebration at Shephard’s Great Hall in City College of New York.

L i fe , M u s i c , A r t & L i te r at u r e

Faith Ringgold’s 80th Birthday Celebrated Broadway Housing Communities Children Compose Original Song

T

hough she was actually born on October 3, Faith Ringgold’s 80th birthday celebrations lasted for more than a month in at least two states.

On Wednesday, November 3, the celebration for the legendary artist took place at a benefit to launch the Faith Ringgold Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling at The Sugar Hill Development at Shephard’s Great Hall in City College of New York.

Ms. Ringgold was born in Harlem’s Sugar Hill in 1930 and graduated from City College. She is renowned for her painting, writing, mixed media sculpture and children’s books including “Tar Beach,” for which she

Members of MAM’s African American Cultural Committee with Faith Ringgold, in front of Tar Beach 2. FRONT ROW: L–R: Lora Urbanelli (MAM director), Tanya Poteat, Gail Stavitsky (MAM chief curator), Mattie Reed, Adunni Anderson, Marjorie Rich; BACK ROW: Ben Jones, Janet Taylor Pickett, Laurena White, Lonnie Brandon, Faith Ringgold, Harriett Simon, Rosalind Nzinga-Nichol, Sharon Burton Turner (chair, New Jersey State Council on the Arts), Gary Schneider (MAM director of education).

Discover a world of visual and performing arts Semester starts January 29

Enroll at the Newark School of the Arts today!

The Newark School of the Arts offers instruction in music, dance, drama and visual arts.

Enroll today!

For more information: (973) 642-0133

Photo credit: Andrew Cohen

89 Lincoln Park Newark, NJ 07102

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The Positive Community February 2011

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was awarded the prestigious Caldecott Honor and the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration. So it was befitting that the event was at City College and that 12 elementary school students from Broadway Housing Community’s Dorothy Day Apartments surprised her by performing an original song.

Ringgold’s dedication to the artist in every child is evident in her vision for the Faith Ringgold Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling, which will be part of Broadway Housing Communities’ new Sugar Hill development. When it is completed, Sugar Hill will provide affordable housing, education and cultural opportunities to the Harlem and Washington Heights communities.

On November 18, the birthday celebration continued at the Montclair Art Museum in Montclair, New Jersey where her painted story quilts and children’s books were presented before a sold-out audience. The story quilts blur the line between “high art” and “craft” by combining painting, quilted fabric, and storytelling. Her 17 children’s books have been exhibited in major museums all over the world.

Her presentation, the “8th Annual Conversation on Education and the Arts,” was sponsored by the Montclair Community Pre-K, MAM, and MAM’s African American Cultural Committee (AACC) in conjunction with the Museum’s current exhibition “What Is Portraiture,” on view until November 4, 2011.

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February 2011 The Positive Community

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New York Theological Seminary salutes and congratulates... our distinguished alum

The Rev. Dr. Lester W. Taylor, Jr. and the congregation of

Community Baptist Church of Englewood, NJ

New York Theological Seminary offers Certificates and Degrees: ~

~Certificate Program in Christian Ministry ~Master of Professional Studies ~Master of Divinity ~Doctor of Ministry

For more information on how to enroll in a course, certificate or degree program, contact Dr. Cynthia Diaz, Director of Vocational Discernment 212-870-1212; cdiaz@nyts.edu

475 Riverside Drive, Suite 500, New York, NY 10115 | (T) 212.870.1211 | (F) 212.870.1236 |E-mail: online@nyts.edu | www.nyts.edu

BEHOLD I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK

A New Day Dawns for the Community Baptist Church of Englewood By Glenda Cadogan

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hree purposeful knocks signaled the end of a 16-year journey for the pastor and parishioners of the Community Baptist Church of Englewood, NJ. On January 8, after a decade and a half of planning and sacrificial giving, the doors of their new $14 million sanctuary were opened for the first time. On this dedication day, the joy of celebration and the warm hearts of the congregation were so strong, so sincere that it thawed snow covered sidewalks as the faithful trod to the new sanctuary located at 220 Second Street. It was with all the pomp and circumstance that such an occasion brings that Senior Pastor, Rev. Dr. Lester W. Taylor, Jr. led the litany, which stated in part: “Behold I stand at the door and knock...” In unison, the members responded with their commitment to worshiping at the new sanctuary. The ceremony ended

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with three knocks— in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son and in the name of the Holy Ghost. With each successive knock, there was a rising crescendo of elation. With the final knock the doors opened and a floodgate of emotions burst forth. There was not one dry eye in the congregation.

The Moment Pastor Taylor, who led the charge toward the construction of the new building, recounts the ceremony with such passion and candor that it transforms a listener into an eyewitness. “It was a moment that no one could prepare for,” he told The Positive Community. It was while standing at the door that the reality of the moment set in. “‘Behold I stand at the door and knock…’ and I physically rapped on the door,” he explained.

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COVERSTORY focused on teaching. “CBCofE has always been a very fiery church with emphasis on preaching and spirited worship. When I came, I added the teaching component and it has taken root in the church over the years, so much so that I would say it is now our number one dynamic.”

“With the first knock the congregation erupted with expressions of praise. ‘Behold I stand at the door at the knock’—then came the second knock… total jubilation. ‘Behold I stand at the door at knock’ and with that third knock people started crying and screaming,” he said, his voice quivering with the memory. The procession on the other side of the door was led by Pastor Taylor and his wife, his immediate predecessor Rev. Clarence Kenner, deacons, deaconesses and trustees of the church and invited ministers. They were preceded by the church choir and followed by the communion table. One journey ended and another began for the Community Baptist Church of Englewood, NJ (CBCofE) In this new era, according to Pastor Taylor, the church will focus on feeding the hungry and reaching out to the poor and afflicted. “Now that we have finally moved into our new home, my desire is to impact the community in which we live,” he said. “With the kind of life-changing and empowering ministries at the church we ought to be addressing hunger and reaching out and touching our community.”

Raising the Funds to Build The church building project was one of the primary initiatives set in place by Pastor Taylor when he took over CBCofE 18 years ago. At the time, the congregation totaled about 400 members and the church building was bursting at the seams. “We started having three Sunday services but even so, we were at capacity and running out of space,” recalled Pastor Taylor. “We began talking about the building fund, which we launched in 1995 with a stewardship program consisting of tithes, offerings and pledges. That’s basically how we raised the money,” he explains, adding “We did not sell anything because we do not believe in selling. We believe in giving, which is obedience through faith.”

The Community Baptist Church of Englewood is a 78-year-old congregation known for its spirited worship. It is a traditional yet progressive congregation with a balanced population of children of all ages, young adults, adults and seniors. Over the years the congregation has increasingly been mixed with other cultures who find it a place of worship for them as well. Founded in 1932 with an initial membership of 12, the church was first called, The Mission.

Young Man with a Vision In its history, the church has been led by five pastors (Pastor Taylor being the 5th), all of whom served until death or retirement. Rev. Taylor took over the pulpit in 1993 replacing Rev. Kenner who retired after 18 years of service. He remembers fondly that he met a congregation of warm people who were excited about their new pastor and ready for new vision and opportunities. “The church was financially secure and there were no splinters,” Taylor said. “And the people were patient and full of potential.”

At age 32 and this being his first pastorate, patience was instructive to Pastor Taylor, who led and learned at the same time. He articulated, and the church embraced, a vision to edify and evangelize. But he also

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The Music in His Soul A “church baby” and “preacher’s kid,” Pastor Taylor began preaching at the age of 16. He was also involved in all aspects of church life — Sunday school teacher, usher, missionary and member of the youth choir. He began playing the piano at age nine and four years later became the church musician at St. Phillips, a little Baptist Church in Bridgeton, NJ. With music being a major part of Pastor Taylor’s background, it is reflected in the church’s worship experience and the church has become well known for its music. He now brings the full wealth of his musical talent to Community Baptist, and now to the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., where in January of this year he was appointed music minister. He is also the moderator of the North Jersey Baptist Association, an organization of fifty-one churches. “Good biblically-based music is essential to the worship experience,” he said.

“Wherever there is a church with a good, solid music ministry you will see a growing church because the seed of God’s words is planted even through music.” Although he embraces all genres of gospel music, Pastor Taylor describes himself as a traditionalist in his approach.

Therefore, when he sits at the piano to play to his soul, he invariably starts with the old standards and Negro spirituals. “I love these songs because they tell our story,” he said. “They tell of our pain, our suffering and our victories.”

One of his favorite hymns is the Andraé Crouch classic that says: “Through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to trust in God.” Taylor said that these words not only came alive but also took on new meaning during the church building journey. “The lesson this experience taught me is patience,” he reflected. “It takes time to get to where you are going. But sometimes we get excited about our vision and forget that though we have a plan, there is also His plan. In this instant crackerjack society in which we live, we want everything overnight,” he continued. “But very often we want things for which we are not yet ready, so we have to learn to gently wait on God’s time. And that was my biggest lesson—wait on God.” The Family When Pastor Taylor came to CBCofE he was a single man. That changed two years later when he met his wife, Gayle Green. “She came to visit the church one Sunday morning and a member introduced us,” he said. Thus the first family of the CBCofE consisting of Pastor Taylor, his wife and their two children, Brindin Lamar and Amber Nicole Taylor was born. Rev. Mrs. Taylor—who is also a licensed minister— leads the Women’s Ministry and oversees the Cancer Support Group, the Bible study group and “It’s My Turn.” which teaches entrepreneurial skills to girls.

Even as the pastor and the 2,500 members of the Community Baptist Church of Englewood dedicate their new church facility, it is the rededication of their lives to the service of God that is the bigger story. As they celebrate in worshipping in their new building with its fine tapestry and state-of-the-art equipment, they remain focused on their mission to edify and win souls to Christ. Even with their storied past and great achievements, they are committed to a future of providing food to the hungry and drink to the thirsty. With their empowerment ministries they welcome strangers, clothe the naked, comfort the sick and visit those in prison. And so surely, the story of this present day family of believers breathes life to the old gospel of Luke as proof that when you give, “…it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” . www.thepositivecommunity.com

Photos: Shanteca Olivacce

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January 8, 2011 Pastor Lester W. Taylor, Jr. Community JanuaryBaptist 8, 2011Church of Englewood Englewood, New Jersey Pastor Lester W. Taylor, Jr. Community Englewood On the Occasion Baptist of YourChurch ChurchofDedication Englewood, New Jersey Pastor Taylor, On the Occasion of Your Church Dedication

January 8, 2011 I would like to congratulate you and the entire congregation on the glorious occasion of your church dedication.

Pastor Taylor, It has been a great privilege for my staff and I to havePastor beenLester a part of thisJr.ambitious project. Let it not be said W. Taylor, Baptist Church of Englewood that the sacrifices of your congregation have been in Community vain. What stands before us today is a beautiful and I would like to congratulate you and the entire congregation on the glorious occasion of your church dedication. physical manifestation of their faith and ardent hope.Englewood, New Jersey It has been a great privilege for my staff and I to have been a part of this ambitious project. Let it not be said Occasion Your Church Dedication that the sacrifices of your congregation have beenOn in the vain.

Whatofstands before us today is a beautiful and I am honored to have been of service to you and your congregation. My staff and I have dedicated years to this physical manifestation of their faith and ardent hope.

Pastor Taylor, effort in the hope that our efforts would inspire all who enter this church. We have built a place for your congregation and we have built a house for the Lord.

We have a tabernacle, orIentire dwelling space,on which I would like tobuilt congratulate andand the congregation the glorious I am honored to have been of service to you and your congregation.

My you staff have dedicated years towill thisoccasion of your church ded support all of your followers and a place where God will live as Solomon told us, “the Lord has said He would It has been a great privilege for my staff and I to have been a part of this effort in the hope that our efforts would inspire all who enter this church. We have built a place for your ambitious project. Let it not be thatathe sacrifices of your congregation have been in vain. What stands before us today is a beautiful an dwellcongregation in the thickness I have house”. andof wedarkness. have builtBut a house forbuilt the Him Lord.

We have built a tabernacle, or dwelling space, which will physical manifestation of their faith and ardent hope. support all of your followers and a place where God will live as Solomon told us, “the Lord has said He would As architects we thickness hoped to of create a church yourI Him congregation find inspiration, solace, joy and My staff and I have dedicated years am honored to havecould been of service to you and your congregation. dwell in the darkness.

But Iwhere have built a house”. the hope that ouraefforts would inspire whosecular enter this church.and We have built a place for you community. We desired to create a beautiful edifice effort that inwould provide sanctuary fromallthe world congregation and we have built a house for the Lord. We have built a tabernacle, or dwelling space, whi be a place where your congregation findwhere peaceyour andcongregation be awakenedcould to your ofsolace, religious As architects we hoped to createcould a church findteachings inspiration, joyand andmoral support all of your followers and a place where God will live as Solomon told us, “the Lord has said He w community. desiredatoplace create a beautiful edifice that would provide a sanctuary from secular world and truths.

We hopedWe to create where the Word of God would beofconstantly read, clearly correctly dwell in the thickness darkness.

But I have built the Himand a house”. be a place where your congregation could findand peace be awakened to your teachings of religious and moral explained and affectionately and safely enforced theand unbelieving be convinced.

We desired to create a place As architects we hoped create a church where your congregation could find inspiration, solace, joy an truths.

We hoped to create a place the instruction Word of God would betoconstantly read, clearly correctly for you where true religious service andwhere religious would dispense love, goodwill andand peace. community. We desired to create a beautiful edifice that would provide a sanctuary from the secular wo explained and affectionately and safely enforced and the unbelieving be convinced. We desired to create a place be a place where your congregation could find peace and be awakened to your teachings of religious an for you where true religious service and religious instruction would dispense love, peace. truths.

We hoped to create a place where Wordand ofleader.

God would be constantly This church stands today as a testament of faith to your congregation and to you as goodwill a the spiritual You stand read, clearly and correc explained and affectionately and safely enforced and the unbelieving convinced. We desired to creat today on the threshold of a new chapter in your church. You have prepared your congregation for this daybethat for you where true religious service andas religious instruction would dispense love, goodwill and peace.

This church stands today as a testament of faith to your congregation and to you a spiritual leader.

You stand they will enter this new church to worship. You will preach the Word of God from your new altar and renew today on the threshold of a new chapter in your church.

You have prepared your congregation for this day that your congregation with hope, faith, protection, deliverance and guidance. this new church deeply and intoto you as a spiritual leader. Yo This church stands today as aLet testament of faith to yoursink congregation they will enter this new church to worship. You will preach the Wordofofa new Godchapter from your new altar and renew today on threshold in your church. have prepared their hearts. Faith comes by hearing, hearing of the Word inthe your new sanctuary.

His words will You resonate in thisyour congregation for this d your congregation with hope, faith, protection, deliverance and this new sinkthedeeply they will enter thisguidance. new church Let to worship.

Youchurch will preach Word ofinto God from your new altar and re new church, the baptismal waters of resurrection willyour flow and yourwith choir will sing His praises. congregation faith, protection, deliverance and guidance.

Let this new church sink deep their hearts. Faith comes by hearing, hearing of the Word in your newhope, sanctuary.

His words will resonate in this their hearts. Faith comes by hearing, hearing of the Word in your new sanctuary. His words will resonat new church, the baptismal waters of resurrection will flow and your choir will sing His praises. new church, the baptismal of resurrection will flow youroriginal choir will sing His praises.

You have returned this day to the same place, consecrated by the prayerswaters and religious services ofand your church. to your home.

Our labors areconsecrated complete and isthis time forthe you toplace, breathe life into thisoriginal new and religious services of your YouYou havereturn returned this day to the same place, by it the prayers religious services ofbyyour You have returned day to and same consecrated the prayers church. church.

You return to your home.

Our labors are complete and it is time for you to breathe life into this church. You return to your home. Our labors are complete and it is time for you to breathe life into this new

church.

church.

May your church provide sanctuary. May your church be a place where God dwells and provides His blessings.

May your church provide sanctuary. May your church be a place where God dwells and provides His ble May your church be filled withsanctuary. fellowship, compassion and Spirit of God. May your church always have May your church provide May your church bethe achurch place God dwells and provides His blessings.

May your bewhere filled with fellowship, compassion and the Spirit of God. May your church always ha andthe signs of till theofresurrected Jesus.

May your church stands till the coming of the Lord. miracles of the resurrected Jesus. May yourmiracles church stands the coming of the Lord.

Mayand yoursigns church be filled with fellowship, compassion and Spirit God. May your church always have miracles and signs of the resurrected Jesus. May your church stands till the coming of the Lord.

With sincerity, With sincerity, With sincerity, Conrad J. Roncati, CEO

Conrad J. Roncati, CEO Conrad J. Roncati, CEO

For the Healing of Our People Nine Largest Historically Black Denominations Join Forces

C

Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson

oming together as the Conference of National Black Churches(CNBC), the nine largest historically Black Church denominations met in Washington, D.C., December 7 – 10, 2010 for their first annual consultation titled, “For the Healing of Our People.” The organization, representing a combined membership of more than 30 million people and 50,000 congregations throughout the United States and the African Diaspora, has as its mission to speak as a unified voice of faith advocating on behalf of African Americans and other underserved populations on health, education, social justice and economic empowerment issues.

“We are focused on channeling our unique voice of faith into advocacy to produce sustainable solutions to pressing issues. This conference is the beginning of our long-term efforts of working together using the power of the faith community, the private sector and legislators to resolve the challenges we face,” said Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson, chairman of CNBC’s Board of Directors.

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are focused on channeling our “We unique voice of faith into advocacy to produce sustainable solutions to pressing issues. This conference is the beginning of our long-term efforts of working together using the power of the faith community, the private sector and legislators

”

to resolve the challenges we face.

Guest speakers at the CNBC conference included Dr. James A. Forbes Jr., president of Healing of the Nations Foundation; Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund; Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO of the UNCF; The Right Reverend Sarah Francis Davis, presiding bishop from the 16th Episcopal District of the AME Church, which includes Haiti; Reverend Dr. Dwight D. Jones, mayor of Richmond, Virginia; and Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III, senior pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.

On Wednesday, December 8 Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr., presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), led an ecumenical service at Israel Baptist Church. A gala dinner on December 9th celebrated The Honorable Andrew Young, Pernessa C. Seele, founder and CEO of Balm in Gilead; and Black Enterprise magazine founder and publisher Earl G. Graves Sr. The Conference of National Black Churches (CNBC) is comprised of the national leadership of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME); African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZ); Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME), Church of God In Christ (COGIC); Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International (FGBCFI); National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., International (NBCA); National Missionary Baptist Convention of America (NMBCA); National Baptist Convention U.S.A., Inc.(NBC USA); and Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc (PNBC). For more information about the Conference of National Black Churches and annual consultation schedule of activities, visit www.thecbnc.org. —JNW

www.thepositivecommunity.com

LAGRANT Foundation Awarding $125,000 in Marketing and PR Scholarships

Where Faith & Knowledge Meet

T

he LAGRANT Foundation (TLF) is now accepting scholarships applications for the 2011/2012 academic year. Applications must be submitted to TLF by Monday, February 28, 2011 for consideration.

Twenty outstanding students will be awarded college scholarships: fifteen undergraduate students will receive awards of $5,000 each; and five graduate students will receive awards of $10,000 each.

In addition, all students will receive a trip to New York City to celebrate TLF's 13th Anniversary Scholarship Recognition Reception and Awards Program on May 23, 2011. Recipients will participate in a day-long career development workshop and have the opportunity to meet with industry professionals. All travel expenses for the scholarship recipients will be paid for by TLF. To apply, students must be of African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino or Native American descent pursuing degrees in advertising, marketing and public relations at an accredited college or university.

Undergraduate students must have at least a 2.75 GPA and graduate students must have at least a 3.2 GPA. All recipients must be available to attend all TLF scholarship events and make a commitment to maintain contact with TLF for assistance with professional development.

The lack of ethnic minorities working in advertising, marketing and public relations is shocking and TLF works to close this gap in the industry by providing scholarships and helping students gain the knowledge and tools they need to be successful. Most importantly, TLF also helps students break into the field with internships: "At the end of the day what's important to me is to get minorities placed," says Kim Hunter, the Founder/ Chairman of TLF. This directly helps the scarcity problem of minorities in the field.

TLF was established in 1998 by Kim L. Hunter, whose vision is to see more ethnic representation within the fields of advertising, marketing and public relations.

"At the end of the day what's important to me is to get minorities placed," says Mr. Kim Hunter, the founder/ chairman of TLF. The LAGRANT Foundation has awarded close to $1 million and more than 180 scholarships to ethnic minority students nationwide since its inception. Scholarship applications may be obtained through TLF's website at www.lagrantfoundation.org or by calling Programs Manager Ericka Avila at 323.469.8680, ext. 233 or erickaavila@lagrant.com.

www.thepositivecommunity.com

The Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Newark (serving

Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties) offer a positive, encouraging and safe environment where children can grow in body, mind, and spirit. Our caring, qualified teachers provide a strong academic foundation. We are deeply committed to helping students develop into productive, responsible adults and citizens with goals and direction.

3 97% of graduates advance to college 3 NJ core content standards met or exceeded 3 High academic standards 3 Christ-centered values

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Frontiersman Honor Dr. King

Photos: Les Wormack

College-Bound Students Awarded Scholarships

John Brinkley (center) awards the Community Service Award to Shelby and Sidney Waddy who accepted for their great-grandmother Rev. Shirley B. Cathie

Dr. Joy DeGruy

Frontiersmen: L-R: FIRST ROW: Mike Pyne; Gene Baucum; Eric Williams; Rev. Louis Slade; Wally Torian; Dr. Leonard Bethel; Vincent Chiles SECOND ROW: John Brinkley; Lesli Price; Beverly Fagan; Charlene Johnson; President Roy Southerland and Gladston Hackett.

Not shown: David Persaud and Jess Marshall

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r. Joy DeGruy was the keynote speaker at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. breakfast and community awards program hosted by the Frontiersmen at Plainfield H.S. Dr. DeGruy, the noted professor, author and lecturer, has conducted extensive research and writing on the effect of post traumatic slave syndrome.

Dr. DeGruy shared her strategies for healing as

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The Positive Community February 2011

L–R: Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs; Amaka Amaechi; Crystal Pyne, Gov. Christie;Allen Brown; Soniah Herman; Chanelle Sears.

well as encouraged others to discover their own. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie made a surprise appearance to congratulate scholarship winners Amaka Amaechi; Crystal Pyne, Allen Brown; Soniah Herman and Chanelle Sears. The students are all seniors at Plainfield H.S. in the Horizons program and plan to attend college in the fall.

Rev. Dr. Shirley B. Cathie, pastor emeritus of Community Church of God in Plainfield, recipient of the Frontiersmen’s Community Service Award was unable to attend the breakfast. Her award was accepted by her great-grandaughters, Shelby and Sidney Waddy. —JNW www.thepositivecommunity.com

Schomburg Center’s 85th Anniversary Outgoing Chief Howard Dodson Honored

by Jean Nash Wells

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ver 600 guests were on hand for the 85th anniversary gala of The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the nation’s leading repository of materials, items and treasures documenting the history, culture and experiences of people of African descent. The event was held on Monday, January 24, the 137th birthday of its founding director, Auturo Schomburg, at Aaron Davis Hall on the campus of The City College of New York.

Born from the vision of early 20th century historian-scholar Arturo Schomburg and nurtured under succeeding directors, the Harlem-based center has transformed from a local landmark to a globally known center of scholarship, research and culture honoring the Black experience.

The event also marked the debut of, “Transformations,” a multimedia production featuring a video montage of historic images from the Schomburg files, dramatic readings, music, and vocal and dance performances. Directed by Tony and Emmy Award-winner George Faison from a script by Khephra Burns, the production celebrated 20th century African, African-American and African Diasporan achievements that have led to 21st century triumphs.

In addition to hosts La Chanze and Mr. Avery Brooks, “Transformations” featured multi-Grammy winning artists Ashford & Simpson, vocalists Genovis Albright and Bertilla Baker, dancer Maurice Chestnut, actor Andre DeShields, musicians Eli Fountain and Jay Hoggard, award winning actress-singers Ebony Jo-Ann, Lillias White and Alyson Williams, actor Jeffrey Wright, actresses Kim Yancey-Moore and Sherry Bronfman, and the Cicely L. Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts concert choir directed by Norma Jean Hughes, among others.

In recognition of the great work of Schomburg director Dr. Howard Dodson, during his 26-year tenure, He received many glowing tributes and was presented with the Center’s Africana Heritage Award, a bronze replica of Meta Warrick Fuller’s “Ethiopia Awakening.”

Featured in the tributes to Dr. Dodson were: Dr. Paul LeClerc, president of the New York Public Library, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Gordon J. Davis and Diana Lachatanere, the Schomburg’s assistant director for Special Collections and Services.

Dr. Dodson, who is retiring, presented a symbolic key to the Schomburg to Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, who will succeed him as director in July. www.thepositivecommunity.com

Dr. Dodson with Aysha Schomburg, great-great granddaughter of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg

Dr. Howard Dodson presents key to Schomburg (center) to incoming director Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad

L-R: Janelle Procope, presidet Apollo Theatre Foundation with Thelma Golden, director Studio Museum in Harlem

Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad

Rev. Dr. Callvin O. Butts III, senior pastor, Abyssinian BC

Choreographer George Faison

Cicely Tyson

Gerri Warren Merrick

Hon. Dudley Thompson, Esq.

Former Tuskegee Airman and retired educator Dr. Roscoe Brown

Patricia Cruz with Ruby Dee

February 2011 The Positive Community

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by R. L. Witter

Memphis the Musical

STRICTLY LIMITED ENGAGEMENT PREVIEWS BEGIN JANUARY 13

CITYTIX 212-581-1212 ®

MANHATTANTHEATRECLUB.COM 40

The Positive Community February 2011

PHOTO BY KEN SCHNEIDERMAN

M

EMPHIS the Musical recently celebrated one year on Broadway—no small feat in the current economy and with the miniscule attention spans of many theater-goers in today’s fast-paced society.

Some thought it wouldn’t or even couldn’t last… Given the largely African American cast and the subject of interracial relationships that is still taboo to many, MEMPHIS has defied the odds and with Tony awards and many repeat viewers, it shows no signs of stopping.

MEMPHIS, the story of music, success and forbidden love between a black woman and a white man, successfully manages to address the difficult and uncomfortable subject of racism in a safe and non-threatening way. While the storyline, dialogue and visuals transport you back to the 1950s south with its racism and segregation, the music and dancing are uplifting and make it practically impossible for anyone to remain still and not bob a head, tap a toe or snap a few fingers. Only MEMPHIS can get an entire theater full of people of all backgrounds and ethnicities to sway in their seats and sing “Everybody Wants to Be Black on a Saturday Night.”

Co-stars Montego Glover and Chad Kimball deliver powerhouse performances as “Felicia” and “Huey,” the star-crossed lovers who dare to love the wrong-color person at the wrong time in American history. With vocal perfection and palpable chemistry, they bring the characters and the story to life. While the entire ensemble delivers solid performances, James Monroe Iglehart as “Bobby” can, will and does bring the house down with his exceptional vocal and dancing abilities and his gospel-infused sound might leave you looking for a midnight service to get your praise on after the show.

Not only is it a wonderful production with great singing and dancing and songs so catchy that they will stay in your head long after you’ve left the theater, but it is a history lesson for those too young to have experienced segregation and a reminder for those who have. Perhaps part of the brilliance of MEMPHIS lies in the fact that in New York City in 2011, you can walk into a theater and take a trip back to a place and time that most of us would like to believe never existed and certainly does not exist today. You can soak up the music, the costumes and the nostalgia, rebuke the notions of racism and segregation and then rejoin the modern world and current society where such problems and ills are not supposed to any longer exist. Maybe—just maybe—that is what they mean in one of the final songs of the show, “Memphis Lives in Me.” www.thepositivecommunity.com

Posing Beauty African American Images from the 1890s to the Present on view through:

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1/28/11 10:17:41 AM February 2011 The Positive Community 41

That’s What Friends are For…

Photos: Wali Amin Muhammad

L–R: Barbara Bolden with Cynthia Holiday

Geoffrey Eaton, president Manhattan Branch NAACP

L–R: Aime Kyros, NYC Councilmember Inez Dickens and Shirley Scott

F

riends and family gathered at Gran Piatto d’oro restaurant in support of long time Harlem resident, the socially and civilly active Shirley Scott. Shirley, bravely bearing the effects of lung cancer and due to be hospitalized for surgery, was stunned by the turnout of so many well wishers. Among those on hand to bring their good wishes were Ruth Clarke, Virginia Montague, Bobbi Humphrey, Karen Malone, Peter Cooper and many, many more. After an evening of loving memories and good times, Shirley, who always sports a smile, delivered a heartfelt “Thank you,” to everyone for their kindness and concern.

We wish you well, Shirley.

—JNW

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www.thepositivecommunity.com

’

The Positive Community Online this Month Black History videos, facts, speeches, blogs at

thepositivecommunity.com Like

The Positive Community on Face Book We want to hear from you

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February 2011 The Positive Community

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United Way of Essex and West Hudson

T

he United Way, has been working together on an international, national, regional and local level to further refine and refocus its community impact work in three areas that are basic building blocks of a good life; Education, Income and Health. In this process UWEWH seeks to have a stronger impact in its outreach to diverse immigrant populations. Most notable, is the growing African immigrant population that has tripled in population since 1990. Nearly 450,000 African immigrants, mostly from West Africa, are living in the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area. In January, UWEWH hosted a holiday reception for the members of the African Community Engagement (ACE) Advisory Council and their guests.

Photos: Wali Amin Muhammad

L-R: George Xuereb, senior director of Development; Lorna Johnson, ACE coordinator and UWEWH Executive Director Keith Greene

UWEWH Board member Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith and Newark Municipal Council member Mildred Crump

University of West Indies Gala

S

Suzanne de Passe

L–R: Michael Flanigan, Garfield Comrie, Michael Williams, Conroy Allison and Robert De Souza

Photos: Seitu Oronde

L-R: Ed Goldberg, Ti StoneAdams, Hon. David N. Dinkins and Laisha Rivers

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L–R: Lorna and Lowell Hawthorne, Archibald Campbell and Gerard White Davis

The Positive Community February 2011

uzanne de Passe, co-chair of de Passe Jones Entertainment, received the AFUWI Bob Marley Award at the 14th Annual Legacy Awards Gala on Wednesday, January 26, 2011 in New York City.

She is the first female to be honored with the prestigious award given annually by the American Foundation of the University of the West Indies.

The AFUWI Legacy Awards Gala raises funds to support its scholarship programs and is its major fundraising event in the United States.

UWI is comprised of 16-member English-speaking Caribbean countries with an enrollment of nearly 40,000 students. Its graduates continue to make an impact in the United States and around the world in a wide range of areas, including business, science, arts and culture, sports, and politics.

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Dr. Harry Belafonte once again served as Honorary Patron. www.thepositivecommunity.com

NAN’s King Day Commemoration

Photos: Seitu Oronde and Wali Amin Muhammad

Rev. Al Sharpton

Congressman Charles Rangel

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n the 25th anniversary of the federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Monday, January 17, 2011, gun violence was a major theme of the speakers at Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network (NAN) headquarters in Harlem.

Hundreds filled NAN’s House of Justice to capacity with scores of onlookers standing, even spilling out the door-anxious to see and hear the messages of the politicians who came to pay their obligatory respect to Dr. King and Rev. Sharpton. Mayor Michael Bloomberg was there; Gov. Cuomo was not. Recovering from an emergency dental procedure, he had to cancel his appearance.

"We won the voting rights battle, problem is getting them to count the votes right," said Sharpton. "We won the battle against mob violence in the south. Now our children are acting like mobs in the north."

Though no one could know the answer, the question many speakers posed and tried to answer was what would Dr. King say, do or feel about what is happening today? www.thepositivecommunity.com

L–R: Imhotep Gary Byrd, Rev. Jaques DeGraff, NY State Senator Malcoml Smith and Rev. Dr. Ben Monroe

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February 2011 The Positive Community

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FLO WILEY IN THE SPIRIT & IMAGE

CODED SLAVE SONGS: A PLAN FOR ESPCAPE ontemporary soul music descended from a combination of gospel and rhythm and blues; that is a well-known fact. But a lesser-known and quite fascinating fact is that if we trace its roots back further, we find the origin of all African American music, slave songs. Prior to the Civil War, helping slaves to escape or even suggesting that they flee was a crime punishable by death. In the interest of self-preservation while still craving freedom, slaves began putting coded messages into songs, so that they could communicate in ways they could understand and the slaveholders and bounty hunters could not.

In response to the slave owners barring blacks from getting together in churches, these displaced Africans started underground churches and created their own religious communities where they were free to mix African traditions, expressions and rhythms with staid American Christianity. They turned hymns into spirituals and created the songs that carried hidden meanings.

Spirituals gave church members a secret way to communicate and, in some cases, to plan rebellion. The gospel standards “Steal Away” and “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” were coded slave songs.

“Wade in the Water,” one of the most common slave songs and still a gospel standard, provided literal escape instructions. The very title is advice to the runaways on how to avoid being tracked by bloodhounds.

The reference to “Jordan” could well be the Promised Land, in this case Canada where slavery did not exist.

“It chills my body but not my soul” is reference to the physical discomforts that the journey will take, but at the same time is trying to bolster the spirits. “Now if you should get there before I do,” and “Tell my friends

that I’m a comin’ too” are much more obvious allusions to a journey.

Probably the most famous slave song was entitled, Follow the Drinking Gourd. What made it special was that it not only gave hidden advice but also contained a complete coded map with full details of how to escape to Canada. There’s a delightful book written by Bernadine Connelly, Follow the Drinking Gourd (Simon & Shuster, 1997), also available as a book/CD combination with narration by Morgan Freeman and music by Taj Mahal.

For those who haven’t already worked it out, the “drinking gourd” is a reference to the big dipper, a star formation that points to Polaris, the Pole Star, and North. The North Star can be very difficult to recognize, but the big dipper, is easily identifiable, looking like a common tool in use at that time, a hollowed out gourd used as a water dipper, and a clear indication of a northerly direction. The series of routes and safe houses, which were often run by Quakers, was known as “The Underground Railroad.” This is the railroad that James Carr was singing about in his “Freedom Train.” By 1861 there were about 500 abolitionists helping slaves find this invisible network of pathways, safe houses and signals. Probably the most courageous of these as known as Peg Leg Joe, who moved from one plantation to another teaching slaves the lyrics to “Follow the Drinking Gourd” and helping them interpret it. To take a trip on the Underground Railroad visit www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad.

In the interest of self-preservation while still craving freedom, slaves began putting coded messages into songs, so that they could communicate in ways they could understand and the slaveholders and bounty hunters could not.

*This column contains materials excerpted from The Soul Review by John Pomomarenko, and The Church in Black History by Rev. B. Dundee Holt. Please email your comments, questions and arts ministry news to spiritandimage@thepositivecommunity.com.

Flo Wiley is a disciple at Memorial Baptist Church in Harlem, where Rev. Renee Washington Gardner is Senior Pastor. She is a founding member of the arts ministry, an award-winning actress (AUDELCO, 1978) and teaches acting using faith-based principles. She is the president of Wiley PR, a public relations and production company, and hosts Black Beat New York: The Flo Wiley Show on Harlem Community Radio in audio and online broadcast each Thursday from 6 to 7pm at WHCR 90.3 FM & www.whcr.org.

C

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The Positive Community February 2011

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Photo: Ajamu Myrie

Caribbean Images TV Honors Donovan Gopie Donovan Gopie (with award) with friends, Congresswoman Evette Clarke (2nd rt.)

onovan Gopie was honored by Caribbean Images TV at its 15th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 15, 2011 at JFK International Hotel. Gopie was honored for his community service and his many years as a photojournalist in the Caribbean American community in New York City, along with former New York State Governor Hon. David A. Paterson; Consul General of Haiti, Hon.Felix Augustin; New York State Assembly District Leader, Hon. Rodneyse Bichotte - (the first Haitian American to be elected district leader in the New York State Assembly); Haitian Nurses of New York Association and Local 1199 SEIU’s Haiti Relief Project were among the distinguished honorees.

Gopie’s work has been published in various newspapers and magazines, including: NY Christian Times;

NY Carib News; Caribbean Life; Caribbean Times; CACCI News; Jamaica Gleaner NA; NY Amsterdam News, Our Times Press; Caribbean People; Caria Weekly; Street Hype; Daily Challenge; AfroTimes; Essence, Jet, The Positive Community, Everybody’s Magazine, The New York Times, Daily News and Newsday.

His black and white photograph of former US President Bill Clinton playing the saxophone is in the collection at The Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, AR. Among the many friends and supporters of Mr. Gopie attending the gala award ceremony were Congresswoman Yvette D.Clarke, Trudy Deans, Vice Consul of the Jamaican Consulate in New York, Miss Jamaica USA Kerisa Harriott, the former Barbados Consul General at New York Jassica Odle-Barel and Joseph Placide from the governor's office.

WE’RE BACK! Carolina Flower Shop, a landmark in the Harlem community since 1939 has returned in a big way!

Flower Shop Too

"Transforms Floral Design Into A Symphony of Personal Harmony"

Philip Young

Photo: Bill Moore

Carolina Flower Shop Too (1952 7th Avenue between 117th & 118th Street) is celebrating 81 years in the community in our new location in the Village of Harlem. www.carolinaflowershoptoo.com • Telephone: 212-662-0641 Store Hours – Monday –Saturday 8am to 8pm and Sunday 8am-3pm www.thepositivecommunity.com

February 2011 The Positive Community

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Abyssinian Joint Board Fellowship

D

Matthew Brown

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The Positive Community February 2011

L-R: Rolando Calle of Gran Piatto, Stephen Johnson, Dr. Sandye Johnson, Peter Holden, Rev. Dino Woodard Photos: Seitu Oronde

eacons, deaconesses and trustees (also referred to as the Joint Board) of Abyssinian Baptist Church gathered at the Gran Piatto d’Oro restaurant in Harlem.for their annual Christmas Fellowship.

It was an evening of good fun, good food and most of all, joy in celebration of the birth of Christ.

Gilberto Petrucci, co-owner, Piatto d'Oro

Tommy Jackson

www.thepositivecommunity.com

L-R: Joe Jackson Gerald Barbour

Dr. Leon Merrick DDS

Halona and Ted Shaw (with their children)

L–R: Aime Kyros, owner, Gran Piatto d’Oro, Larry Dais, Abyssinian’s First Lady Patricia Butts

Dr. Sandye Johnson with Yvonne Sawyer

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February 2011 The Positive Community

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The Positive Community February 2011

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Health

P R E V E N T I O N , T R E AT M E N T & C U R E

Treating a Child’s Cold or Cough Without Medications s a result of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision that over-the-counter cough and cold medications should not be used in infants and children, The Department of Pediatrics at Saint Barnabas Medical Center urges parents to seek safer ways to soothe infants and young children suffering from coughs and colds.

“Studies have shown cough and cold products are ineffective in treating symptoms of children under six years old, and may pose serious risks,” explains Timothy S. Yeh, M.D., Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Saint Barnabas Medical Center.

While there is no “cure” for infections caused by a virus, there are things parents can do to help children feel better until the virus runs its course. The Department of Pediatrics at Saint Barnabas recommends the following options:

Courtesy: Department of Pediatrics, Saint Barnabas Medical Center

A

To relieve stuffy nose • Thin the mucus using saline nose drops. Ask your pediatrician which ones to use. Never use nonprescription nose drops that contain any medicine.

• Clear your baby's nose with a suction bulb. Squeeze the bulb first, then gently, put the rubber tip into one nostril and slowly release the bulb. This suction draws out the clogged mucus. This works best for babies younger than six months.

• Use a cool-mist humidifier in your child's room. This helps to moisten the air and clear your child's nasal passages. Be sure to clean the humidifier often.

To relieve fever • Give your child acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Ask your pediatrician for the right dosage for your child's age and size. Don't give aspirin to your child because it has been associated with Reye syndrome.

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The Positive Community February 2011

To prevent dehydration • Make sure your child drinks pleny of fluids. He may want clear liquids rather than milk or formula.

If your child's virus doesn't go away, or seems to get worse, call your pediatrician. Most infections can be treated at home. However, if an infection becomes severe, your child may need to see the pediatrician and, rarely, go to the hospital.

Prevention Though there is no way to keep your child away from germs, there are some steps you can take to help prevent them from spreading, including: • Make sure everyone washes his or her hands regularly.

• Keep your child away from anyone who has a cold, fever, or runny nose.

• Avoid sharing eating utensils, drinking cups, toothbrushes, washcloths, or towels with anyone who has a cold, fever, or runny nose.

• Wash dishes and utensils in hot, soapy water.

• Don't smoke around your child.

For more information about our programs, or for a referral to a pediatrician or specialist, please call 1-888-SBHS-123.! www.thepositivecommunity.com

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The Great Divide Question: I have read and heard about minority health care disparities, the lack of access and the barriers to care. Are there any changes or studies to help overcome these obstacles? Any progress?

Answer: A great question and yes, America is narrowing the disparity gap and working to improve health outcomes for all populations. Disparities do exist.

However, numerous federal, state as well as private associations and organizations are working to target, strategize, prevent and overcome health care disparities, lack of health information and access to care. Progress continues in new research and data collection, as well as national proposals that address the issue of eliminating barriers to care and improving health.

One big step towards progress in overcoming health disparities: the issue is now a national priority. Once awareness is created, research and solutions can be applied.

Dr. Martin Luther King is most remembered for his fight for equity and civil rights and, in 1966, he proclaimed, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” His message is as on point today as it was 45 years ago. A little background might help: In 1999, Congress asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to study and report in order to determine the extent of disparities that racial and ethnic minorities and non-minorities received regarding the quality and kinds of health services.

The IOM had to explore any factors that contributed to unequal care and to recommend policies and practices to eliminate unequal treatments.

In March 2002, the IOM issued (what is now considered) a landmark report: “Unequal Treatment: Confronting

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Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care,” which identified the issue on how racial minorities received lower quality health care services. There were differences in the rates of medical procedures by race, even though insurance status, income, age and condition severity were similar. Racial and ethnic minorities in the US experienced lower quality services and were less likely to be the recipients of regular or routine medical procedures.

That IOM report was a call to action.

The report recommended reducing disparities in health care by increasing awareness about disparities to the public, providers, insurance company legislators and others, while getting them involved.

Equity of care became a national priority.

Among other areas of its mission, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) publishes a yearly National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR) that tracks the gaps and highlights progress of health care experienced by various populations and the report noted: Numbers for New Jersey’s insured population are increasing, making our state one step closer to overcoming disparities of access and quality, especially since New Jersey, one of the nation’s most diverse states, is home to people from many cultures, races and ethnic groups.

Nationally, the rate of insured children is up and in New Jersey 93.9 percent of children were insured (2009), which is up from 2008 (92.9 percent0) There has been progress in provider training for raising awareness and establishing partnerships to identify problems and testing solutions.

More scholarships are made available and more minority students are being encouraged to become physicians of tomorrow.

Nationwide, more than 88 Centers of Excellence had funds for research on health disparities and other topics.

Research in the scientific community was introduced for “the social determinants of health: patient-centered outcomes research; faith-based approaches to health disparities; and improving the participation of health disparity populations in clinical trials.”

Providers are key to success. Presently, minorities (as compared to the overall population) make up a small proportion of medical students. Blacks, Hispanics American Indians and Alaskan natives made up only 14% of first year medical students in 2009, although these groups combined comprised 30% of the US population.

(American Medical Association -AMA) US Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD, has challenged health leaders to increase the number of minority physicians.

The AMA has initiatives to increase the minority physicians in programs, such as Doctors Back to School, which sends minority physicians into schools as mentors and role models. Some medical schools offer programs in elementary schools to motivate children to take science or consider medicine in elementary school.

With the elimination of disparities in health care as a major US priority, progress is being made on another national issue: patient health literacy.

Limited or low health literacy has a negative impact on health and health outcomes affecting all socioeconomic and ethnic groups. Health literacy, as defined by the American Medical Association, is “a patient’s ability to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.” continued on page 56 www.thepositivecommunity.com

Clara Maass Honors Employees At MLK Ceremony

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lara Maass Medical Center (CMMC) in Belleville, NJ, an affiliate of the Saint Barnabas Health Care System, celebrated the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by recognizing the achievements of three outstanding employees at the 2011 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Brotherhood Award Ceremony. The annual event was held at the Medical Center on January 18.

Each received the award based on the notion that they exemplify many of the qualities Dr. King stood for, including respecting all and working well with others in a multicultural setting; going above and beyond duty to reach out to all in an equal way; being kind and courteous to all; taking time to offer direction to all regardless of race, economic status or creed; seeing themselves as equals among equals; and resolving difficulties in a non-violent way.

Tania Manago Manager for Patient Satisfaction, Tania began her career at CMMC in 2000. In her patient care services role, Manago responds to all types of situations daily and approaches even the most difficult with a pleasant and calm demeanor. Co-workers say that Tania’s heart is bigger than words can express and no matter what challenges she faces, she is always ready and willing to help anyone in need.

“Tania fully understands the difference that one person can make in the lives of others,” said Margaret Nielsen, director, Patient Satisfaction, CMMC. “Her compassion for all people and caring heart make her a ‘champion’ for everyone seeking health care at Clara Maass.”

L-R: Mary Ellen Clyne, executive director CMMC with awardees Tania Manago, Natalane Williams and Llouis Delurand.

Louis Delurand Delurand, a CT technologist at Progressive Imaging, located on theCMMCcampus joined the team in 1986. Delurand’s coworkers say he is a great team player who is always willing to go above and beyond to ensure that his patients and colleagues are comfortable and treated respectfully.

A recent patient commented that “Lou’s charisma combined with his professionalism and compassion made what could have been a stressful experience into a calm and peaceful one.”

Natalane Williams Ms.Williams, who recently retired from her role as nurse educator, worked at CMMC for 42 years. Throughout the course of her career, she was recognized as a nursing resource, mentor and nurse advocate. She also served as chairperson for past Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Brotherhood Awards.

“Natalane, we want to thank you for going beyond your nursing duties for all of those years to make this Clara Maass event so special, said CMMC Executive Director Mary Ellen Clyne, “You truly deserve this award.”

—JNW

ON CALL

continued from page 4 54

In the US, close to 90 million people have difficulty reading. Most consumer health care materials are written at a 10th grade level, adults have an average reading level of 8th or 9th grade. Limited literacy skills are a better and stronger predictor of an individual’s health status than age, income, employment status, education level, and racial or ethnic group. Patients with low health literacy levels do not have the knowledge to be able to manage their chronic diseases.

Improving health literacy helps diminish disparities.

I serve as the Chair of the New Jersey Health Literacy Coalition and was involved as New Jersey held our first summit to enlist support and create action for a statewide health literacy program. The coalition is working to improve communication skills and the practices of health professionals to advance policies and standards that support health literacy. Building partnerships and alliances address the issue; these alliances create and present education programs to improve the health literacy and outcomes.

By targeting health literacy, progress is being made to overcome disparities.

Health disparities need not be care disparities. Community and faith based organizations can join to help eliminate the barriers as we empower populations through awareness, improved health literacy and education for all stakeholders.

We must move forward, remembering the past and seeking a better future. Let me refer to remarks made by President Bill Clinton when he addressed the Tuskegee survivors and their families as he offered a presidential apology for the study done in Tuskegee: “An apology is the first step, and we take it with a commitment to rebuild that broken trust. We can begin by making sure there is never again another episode like this one.” .

Be prepared. Make a plan and share it. For more information visit: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2699450/.

NA The Positive Community February 2011 56 The Positive Community February 2011

www.thepositivecommunity.com www.thepositivecommunity.com

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

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TLH Communications Tapped to Run Campaign Raising Awareness of Need for Pre-Natal Care Teresa Lyles Holmes

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n its effort to encourage young mothers to seek prenatal care in the first trimester of their pregnancies, Children’s Health & Research Foundation has tapped TLH Communications, Inc. to be the lead agency for its “Go Before You Show” campaign. TLH Communications’ principal, Teresa Lyles Holmes says she will utilize traditional and social media including text-messaging, to target young women of color and moms-to-be in underserved communities who do not necessarily always seek out pre-natal care in the early months.

According to Holmes, whose agency’s mission is to empower communities of color, the campaign will also include reaching out to the Black church community.

“I think it is important that we always recognize the power of the Black church in strengthening our community,” she explained. “More and more churches have health ministries which can be vital partners for organizations to help keep our communities informed and healthy,” she added.

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Committed to building strong, healthy families in Westchester County, particularly the most vulnerable, Cheryl Hunter Grant, vice president of CHRF’s Perinatal Programs, executive director of Lower Hudson Valley Perinatal Network, and director of the program said that the campaign “is a first step in educating young mothers.”

“We are pleased to work with TLH Communications,” said Martin D. Gorman, executive director of CHRF, noting the company’s history of education and awareness campaigns, such as The Balm In Gilead’s HIV/AIDS Testing Campaign, National Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS, American Legacy Black History Mobile Museum Tour and partnering with the National Bar Association Bankruptcy Section to launch an education campaign for African Americans and the new Bankruptcy law.

For more information visit www.tlhcommunications. com or www.chrfoundation.net. —JNW

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KAHLIL CARMICHAEL THE FITNESS DOCTOR

Kahlil Carmichael is the Pastor and Founder of It Is Well Living Church located in Central, New Jersey. He is the CEO of the Fitness Doctor Inc., a Fitness Rehabilitation and Wellness Consultation company. To contact Kahlil to become spiritually and physically fit visit www.livewellfaith.com or call 732-921-3746

The Desire’s of Your Heart

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lack History month is upon us once again and I am excited about the celebration of our rich heritage. It amazes me every time I read of an invention or achievement of one of our great African Americans of years past.

Of course there is Dr. Martin Luther King, to whom we all owe so much. Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver and one of my favorites—Mary McLeod Bethune, all inspire me to persevere towards the purpose, plan and promise of God concerning my family, my community, and my life.

Throughout our history it has been our faith in God that has allowed us to truly have the desires of our heart. The desire to be free from slavery! Check! The desire to have the right to vote!

Check! The desire to rise above Jim Crow and segregation! Check.

And finally the desire to see a qualified black man lead this great nation as President!

Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” God has truly given us the desire of our hearts. So why stop there? Like many of us today, one of my heart’s desires, is to see our community exercise the freedoms of the sacrifices that our predecessors made and make right decisions for our health. Go to the doctor and get a complete physical. Buy healthy, whole foods at good grocery stores. Exercise daily. These are all things that we can freely do. Intuitively we understand that consistent exercise and proper nutrition can be as beneficial as medicine for some of our infirmities, yet we never get going and sadly the truth is that many in our community will succumb to obesity related illnesses.

February is also designated as American Heart Month by the American Heart Association. Being overweight or obese can contribute to high blood pressure and increase your risk for heart disease and stroke. I encourage each of you to take action to keep your heart healthy by starting an exercise program or helping someone else begin one.

Although there is a lot of information out there, it has been my experience in working within the community that you may not know exactly what to do to get healthier immediately. Here is a simple 5-Day exercise routine that you can follow at home that does not require any equipment or weights. It will increase your overall strength, tone your muscles and give you a cardiovascular workout: Day 1 Walk—30 minutes. You can break this us into 10 minute intervals throughout the day or do all at once.

Crunches-3 sets of 20 Day 2 Jump Rope—You can use an actual jump rope or simply go through the motions with your arms and jump in place. Your goal is to do this for at least 30 seconds continuously, eventually working yourself up to 2 minutes.

Push- Ups-Do 1 set of 15. You can do the modified version on

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your knees or the advanced ones with your legs extended.

Leg lifts-lie on your back completely flat or propped up on your elbows and bend one knee so that it is stationary while bringing the other leg from the floor up to the bent leg and down again. Do not bring straight leg past the bent leg.

Do this routine at least 3 times consecutively.

Day 3 • Walk—30 Minutes • Crunches 3 sets of 20

Day 4 • Jumping Jacks-You can do standard jumping jacks or you can do the modified version where you simply alternate each leg out to the side while you move your arms-doing the modified version you will not jump. Do these for at least 30 seconds • Push-Ups-Do 1 Set of 15 • Knee Raises-Simply place your hands on your hips and raise 1 knee up and down on the same side. To modify this move hold on to a chair placed near you for balance. Do 15 knee raises each side.

Do this routine at least 3 times consecutively.

Day 5 • Walking—30 minutes.

• Crunches 3 set of 20 Remember to warm up before beginning your routine by walking or light jogging in place for 2-5 minutes. End each workout with a light stretch.

Beginning, February 11 that 5:45 AM, be sure to tune into 1190 AM WLIB for more inspirational and wellness tips from The Fitness Doctor. And as we celebrate American Heart Month please join Rev. Carmichael for a powerful health and wellness sermon series on “The Desires of Your Heart” throughout the month of February on the following dates: THE FIT COMMUNITY

Sunday, February 13, 2011 Ebenezer AME Church Rahway, NJ at 11:00 AM

Sunday, February 20, 2011 Calvary Baptist Church Staten Island, NY at 11:00 AM

Sunday, February 27 at 11:00 AM Newman Memorial United Methodist Church Brooklyn, NY at 11:00 AM

Disclaimer: The information contained in this column is of a general nature. You should consult your physician or health care professional before beginning any exercise program or changing your dietary regimen.

February 2011 The Positive Community

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MWANDIKAJI K. MWANAFUNZI THE WAY AHEAD

In the world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.—Jesus Christ, recorded in John 16:33 (New International Version) hree years ago, a tornado destroyed enough of a super regional shopping mall in predominantly black southeast Memphis to necessitate its closing. Today, however, the mall is open again and being rejuvenated in a new image, thanks to a nearby Christian congregation.

It was in February 2008 that the tornado ripped through the 973,033-square foot, 85.16 acre Hickory Ridge Shopping Mall, injuring several people and damaging the Sears and Macy’s stores, the center court atrium, adjacent tenant spaces, and the mall’s main entrance. Roof damage caused interior flooding, and the tornado scattered the mall’s insulating foam all over the Memphis area.

Although Sears quickly repaired its 126,792 square feet of store space and reopened five days after the storm, Macy’s and Dillard’s terminated their leases. When major department stores abandon shopping centers, smaller stores usually close too, since many of the smaller stores’ typical customers are shoppers heading to or from the larger stores. Hickory Ridge Mall essentially closed after the tornado.

The population of the mall’s encompassing neighborhood, Hickory Hill, had been turning black during the preceding decade, reaching 60 percent by 2000, a 450 percent increase over 1990. The Hickory Ridge Mall’s demise could have begun a downward spiral for the Hickory Hill neighborhood, many of whose new homeowners had migrated either from other Memphis neighborhoods or other regions of the United States. But eight months after the tornado, World Overcomers Outreach Ministries Church purchased the Hickory Ridge Mall; and after much planning, re-orienting, cleaning up, and rebuilding, the church reopened the facility last year (2010) as Hickory Ridge Mall—The New Towne Centre.

The non-denominational congregation has leased the former Dillard’s space to Incredible Pizza, which operates a “family fun center” that provides games and food. The church has also leased space to city and county agencies that provide walk-in service. This section of the mall is called the Community Services Plaza. Also within in the Community Services Plaza, on the first Sunday afternoon of 2011, World Overcomers opened The Prayer Station. Since then, on Tuesdays through Saturdays, shoppers stop in to pray, be

T

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prayed for, learn how to pray, or obtain information. This suite includes a community room and private consulting rooms, and offers free literature and books for purchase.

Adjacent to the Community Services Plaza, the church plans to redevelop the former Macy’s space into senior citizen housing.

Additionally, several former non-department store tenants have re-opened, and new tenants have joined them.

One is Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies. “Makeda” was the Queen of Sheba’s personal name.

World Overcomers’ house of worship is located approximately one mile east of Hickory Ridge Mall on the same Winchester Road. The shopping center’s central location within the Hickory Hill neighborhood was part of the church’s motivation to redevelop it. Revitalizing this community “icon” will “bring life back to this area,” according to a 2008 World Overcomers press release. Additionally, the church wants to raise and train entrepreneurs and provide jobs.

Many congregations have engaged in real estate-based economic development in black communities, though typically on a smaller scale than World Overcomers. Anointed Temple of Praise (ATOP) church, also in Southeast Memphis, recently purchased a car wash facility adjacent to its house of worship. In Queens, NY, Allen AME Church (aka Greater Allen Cathedral) has developed medical offices, an elementary school, senior housing, and other facilities along much of the one-third-mile stretch of Merrick Boulevard that encompasses its two houses of worship, and on nearby streets. During the past 2.5 decades, East Brooklyn Congregations (EBC) has developed thousands of units of affordable owner-occupied housing, many on sites where former housing had burned down during the 1970s.

It is refreshing and inspiring to see churches finding solutions that infuse their communities with the spiritual, economic and social services they so desperately need. World Overcomers, Anointed Temple of Praise, Greater Allen Cathedral and East Brooklyn Congregations are shining examples of how churches can benefit themselves, their members and their communities by investing in the local area and utilizing local resources, talents and experience to rejuvenate struggling communities and reinforce more stable ones. Christ told his followers that we can move mountains through faith in God, and commanded us to serve others.

Given these facts, it is unsurprising that churches accomplish mega-projects that benefit communities at large..

February 2011 The Positive Community

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The Last Word

BY R.L. WITTER Black History is Alive vividly remember Black History Month when I was a child. In elementary school, the month of February was a time of pride and enlightenment for all of us little brown girls and boys. We sat up a little straighter and perked our ears up a bit more than usual so as not to miss a morsel of information about someone who had helped to change the world and provide us with the opportunity to receive a good education and live a better life than many of our parents and grandparents had ever dreamed.

At the end of January, I was often privileged to help the teacher put up posters that bore the names, faces and brief biographies of familiar names like George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks on walls and bulletin boards. February afternoons often concluded with filmstrips and audio tapes meant to bring Black History to life.

One day, in the sixth grade at the tender age of 10, Black History did come to life! It happened as the entire sixth grade sat in a room and a figure from the posters walked in and greeted us. We had the honor of meeting Mrs. Rosa Parks—history in the flesh.

One of our teachers, Mrs. Theodora Lacey, had arranged the auspicious occasion. Mrs. Lacey was a civil rights heroine herself, just not as well known as her old friends, Rosa Parks and Rev. Dr. King. Mrs. Lacey had grown up in Montgomery, Alabama and begun her personal crusade for civil rights in her early 20s, shortly after the Rev. Dr. King was called to minister at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where her father, Dr. Clarence Theodore Smiley was board president. Mrs.

I

Lacey, who had felt the sting of racism and prejudice throughout her childhood, was determined that she would prevent her children—and as many others as she could—from feeling the pain and humiliation others had tried to make her feel.

So she brought her family friend, Mrs. Rosa Parks to speak to us that day. And as we all sat in silent wonder at the woman from the poster we were awestruck by the photos that were passed around the room, photos of our teacher with Dr. and Mrs. King and also with Mrs. Parks. These were not posed photos, these were pictures that captured Mrs. Lacey’s life as it just happened to be at the time. In some she was typing at a desk in the church office as Dr. King was talking to someone else; in others the camera captured people marching with signs; but Mrs. Lacey had been there—she had experienced the things we read about in books and saw depicted in movies.

She had known Dr. King personally and experienced his sermons, his leadership and his friendship. Mrs. Parks had been a friend of her mother and spoke of our teacher with a motherly love, just as our teacher addressed her with a certain amount of reverence.

Thirty years later, as I write this column and reflect upon Black History Month once again, not only does Mrs. Lacey continue to cross my mind, but her lessons still resonate with me. Not only did I learn about her personal experiences and hear stories from the lips of one of the icons of the civil rights movement, but I learned that history is not simply a record of the past to be found in the pages of books or on posters and filmstrips, but it is living, breathing, moving and continuous. www.thepositivecommunity.com

“It is easier to build strong children than repair broken men.”

- Frederick Douglass

NJEA is proud to be your partner in building strong children. Our Family and Schools Together Work for Children (FAST) program exists to help families become more involved in their children’s schools, to enhance their academic progress, and to feel welcome in our public schools.

FAST is a coalition of education advocates, community groups, and schools working together to foster family involvement in education.

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