Monday, June 17, 2013

Achieving Civil Rights in the Face of Stop & Frisk Abuses



There are pundits who place the US Civil Rights era between the years 1955 and 1968.  This placement suggests the struggle for civil rights for African-Americans and other hyphenated Americans was just a 13-year ordeal.  Is this actually the case?  Can national ancestors such as Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers rest easy, assured that their bloodshed brought franchise, fair deals and justice?

“Much has changed for the better since Mr. Evers’s brutal death 50 years ago—but there is also much we can still learn and put in use from the brave life he lived”, reflects St. Senator Eric Adams (D, WF) 20 SD.  “Certainly, if he were alive today, he would be at the front lines against the abuse of Stop and Frisk…Yes, this City would do well to consider his courage and continue the fight against inequality and injustice that still exist today.”

The Senator speaks with authority regarding the flaws of the NYC Police Department’s procedure officially named Stop, Question and Frisk.  Prior to gaining the NYS Senate seat, he was a NYPD Captain in central Brooklyn. He distinguished his police career by co-founding 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care with several other peace officers.  Since taking his NYS Senate office in 2006, Adams has kept an eye on NYPD activity.  A visit to his State Senate website reveals his dedicated attention to local police matters.  There is a downloadable 23-slide presentation entitled Stop, Question and Frisk Procedure in the ‘Report’ section.  This slide show gives the objectives of Stop, Question and Frisk; the procedure for carrying it out; and the four scenarios when a police officer can conduct Stop, Question and Frisk.  Using 2009 Center for Constitutional Rights’  findings and statistics, the State Senator makes a strong case that the procedure “has unmerited focus on African-American and Latino youth; the required reporting is not being followed; and the negative impact it has on youths of color’s psyche and criminal record.” The slide show purports “Of the four scenarios when a police officer should execute the practice, the overwhelming scenario is to fulfill quotas or gather names for the NYPD database”.

It appears that Stop, Question and Frisk flies in the face of civil rights. When queried about the realities of Stop Question and Frisk the State Senator posits, “Protecting New Yorkers and protecting their civil rights do not have to be competing interests.  We must give our law enforcement the tools they need to keep us safe.  The abuse of Stop and Frisk is not useful in preventing crime.  In fact, it sours communities against working with police and that means crucial information isn’t shared to stop violence before it can occur.  The practice must be reformed to better meet the necessary standard of reasonable suspicion, to remove discrimination, and to ensure more criminals and fewer innocents are targeted for Stop and Frisk.”  His study and assessment of Stop, Question and Frisk is comparable to Medgar Evers’s work and concerns. Evers was shot in his back the early morning of June 12, 1963.

Currently the front runner in the race for the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office, Adams stands to win the election in September.  Should he win he will not only be New York City’s first African American in the seat and but be the first police officer in several decades.  How will he make his mark as the BP serving all of Brooklyn?  Adam says, “This is a pivotal moment for Brooklyn.  We have become very popular in recent years but that hasn’t meant a better quality of life for everyone.  I want to turn our popularity into prosperity for all.  The BP must have a unifying vision for the borough that brings all Brooklynites together to make Brooklyn the best it can be.”


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posted by Unknown @ 10:20 AM 1 Comments

Filling the Unemployment Quagmire



NYS Dept. of Labor’s Preliminary Area Unemployment Rates monthly report for April 2013 puts the state’s rate at 7.8%, which is the state’s lowest level since March 2009.  NYC’s rate (all 5 boroughs) for April was 7.7%.  This is down from 8.5% since the preceding month.  These figures strongly suggest that the local economy is bouncing back from the “Great Recession”.
Digging deeper reveals where high unemployment persists.  The Bronx County’s rate is 10.5% and Kings County’s is 8.4%, followed by Queens, Richmond County, and New York County at 6.9%, 6.7%, and 6.5%, respectively.
Census 2010 and historic residential patterns show that the Bronx is the home of most Hispanics and Brooklyn having the highest number of blacks in the City.  Could it be that NYC blacks and Hispanics experience higher unemployment than other New Yorkers?  Unfortunately, this is the case.
April 2013 figures for NYC Human Resources Administration’s three cash assistance programs count 363,991 recipients where most reside in Brooklyn (36.8%) and the Bronx (32.5%).  The case heads, regardless of residence, are primarily black (46%) and Hispanic (42.3%) for these programs.  White and Other are cumulatively a distant 11.67%.
What accounts for the high unemployment?  “Lack of education makes them unemployable”, asserts Michelle George, Brooklyn Community District 8 Manager.  This district covers Prospect Heights, northern Crown Heights, and Weeksville.  “Their high school dropout rates are higher than whites and the types of jobs that ‘lack of education’ affords—fast food and retail—[this population] doesn’t want”.  Workforce One Centers are dealing with this aversion by preparing Workforce One members for such employment.  Their clients include Home Depot, Lowe’s, Victoria’s Secret, Hale & Hearty Soups, and Burger Shack.
Glen Ettienne, owner of Delux Gallery Natural Hair Salon, in Clinton Hill, contends media exposure shapes young blacks' and Hispanics' life decisions.  “The people who own the press understand that we’re followers.  50% can’t think for themselves.  In owning the press, they can sway the public”.  Ettienne believes the music industry is another influencer.  “The original rap music was conscious rap that lifted us”, Ettienne opines. “So the record executives had the musicians change their lyrics.  Now nobody raps about going to college, respecting your brother, or raising your child.  'It’s drive a nice car', 'get, the money', 'get the bitches'”.
Others observe that neither public schools nor parents are adequately presenting the breadth of career and occupation options that youth could consider.  There are black businesses that admirably weather the current economic climate.  Black Enterprise’s Industry Leaders lists include many local enterprises.  Kristal Auto Mall, Uniworld Group, Inc., the Brooklyn-based advertising agency, Carver Federal, with branches in three boroughs, Valentine Mfg, in Hauppauge, and Prime Access, a marketing company need mentioning.
Where there is no apparent work people must make work.  One recession-proof industry is food and beverages.  Lowell Hawthorne turned one Caribbean cuisine restaurant into a franchise called Golden Crust Caribbean Bakery & Grill.  Franchising resulted in not only a business for Hawthorne and his co-founder but businesses and employment for 120 franchises.
Franchising can be an expensive proposition.  Golden Crust franchisees invest between $173,000 and $564,000 to operate the moneymakers.  There are franchises that require much lower cash outlays.  Janitorial franchises are within reach of moderate income households.  The investment ranges between $1,500 and $55,000.  JAN-Pro Cleaning Systems with 10,414 franchises in the US counts 2,675 franchises owned by black executives.  Investment is from $3,145 to $50,130.  Returning to attitudes, blacks and Hispanics must rethink what is worthy work and how to build wealth, if the community is determined to solve the unemployment quagmire.

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posted by Unknown @ 10:01 AM 0 Comments

Match Made in Cyber



The tri-state region went from chilly-spring to midsummer-like weather all in the month of May.  Soon summer love madness will be in full effect before June is out.  Do you have your options to meet your spouse-to-be or a summer amour?  Many people choose cyberspace to connect with those special “someones”.
The pioneer of web romance connections is Match.com.  Going live in 1995, Match.com still offers online and face-to-face local events.  Quantcast.com, the digital advertising company, estimates 120.5 million Americans visit the site per month.  77% identify as Caucasian; 9% as African American; 9% as Hispanic; and 5% as Asian or Other.  If a subscriber has challenges in waxing dynamic statements to catch the imagination of prospects, Match.com has Profile Pro® that assigns writers to be the Cyrano de Bergerac for them.
Chemistry.com is Match’s sophisticated sister site.  Here subscribers take personality tests, write profile essays; and receive Chemistry Coaching to improve social skills.  Dr. Helen Fisher is the in-house psychologist.  While Quantcast.com estimates “84.6 thousand Americans visit this site monthly”, Chemistry.com boasts having “over 13 million people worldwide who completed the personality test.”
Apparently having a psychologist on staff adds to creditability.  e-Harmony.com is founded by Dr. Neil Warren who established “the 29 Dimensions of Capability”.  PerfectMatch.com relies on Dr. Pepper Schwartz and her Duet® Total Compatibility. Zoosk, the tidal wave that swept the online dating and social networking scene in 2006, doesn’t trumpet a Ph.D. but uses “Behavioral Matchmaking”.  Why is Zoosk the tidal wave ?  “Over 40 million people globally log onto to it and it has 12.5 million Facebook Likes.
Zoosk is “available in 25 languages and subscribers in over 70 countries”.  As opposed to finding long-term, committed relationships, Zoosk positions itself as “a fun and social online dating experience”.  Zoosk offers a Facebook dating app, a Mobile dating app, a singles chat, and video messaging.  These offerings can keep things flirty and non-tactile.
Dr. Julie Spooner, Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, practicing in Brooklyn, recognizes the value of such sites.  “As a clinician I have recommended it to people who have trouble meeting people.  I don’t suggest it to everyone.  If I see that the person can’t meet others, [I present it as a means] to exponentially increase the number of people to meet”.
If the income levels and educational attainment of subscribers to four of the reviewed sites are factual, then roughly 57% of subscribers have completed undergraduate studies and did some graduate studies.  Most are prosperous with six-figure incomes.  Is this truth or ‘rubbery’ truth?
Dr. Spooner “encourages moving to the telephone and then moving to the face-to-face meeting.  You shouldn’t interact exclusively online.  The voice and facial expressions are not there for intimate communication”.  Zoosk tries to keep things transparent by virtue of its parent Facebook.  One need only visit FB profiles.  Dr. Lisa Orbé-Austin, Ph.D., a partner in Dynamic Transitions Psychological Consulting, LLP, also sees the value in online dating and has clients who share the good and bad aspects of it.  The bad being where “some women are surprised by men that were simply interested in a physical relationship.  However, they later realized that it’s a function of the particular site to which they were subscribed”.
Some people reject the online scene.  Take Hapi Kamenthu, Merr (director) of The Earth Center of Maanu, in New York.  She believes it would be “disastrous” if online dating were to eclipse face-to-face as the first choice in the initial meeting between people.  “It would be disastrous because the modern educational system doesn’t teach people about themselves and their roles in life.  Traditionally, [people] will do extensive family background checks”.  Dr. Orbé-Austin doesn’t see it eclipsing face-to-face but, “thinks that online dating will be one of the primary ways that people meet.  This is not a conversation that I was having with my clients 10 years ago, but now it’s a very normal part of the dating discussion.”

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posted by Unknown @ 9:50 AM 0 Comments

The Eyes on Cyber Life



By now, web and mobile users know there’s no escaping advertising.  With advertising comes consumer/market research to ensure the right message gets to the desired customer.  There is a sea of online market researchers studying the blogs, tweets, clicks, and texts of online users.
Some agencies are familiar faces to media consumers, while others, consumers will be surprised that they are in the game.  Take Neilson.com--the agency known for making an average household a “Neilsen Family” by installing a monitoring box to the television—is still keeping a pulse on consumer behavior—now in cyber space.
Neilsen boasts having “approximately 10 million consumers in 100 countries participating in their research”.  Neilsen.com website claims the organization “studies the use of 181 million blogs, social networks, and other media”.  That other media includes brick and mortar retail, TV, mobile, and web.  The organization’s ace card is NeuroFocus™.  It is a worn device that “measures brainwave activity and eye tracking”, so their clients know what wording, colors, and designs stimulate particular brain regions and result in making purchases.
Experian, one of the three largest credit reporting bureaus, leveraged its global store of consumer and business information to offer marketing services or “consumer insights” to their clients.  These insights are accessed through Hitwise™ Hitwise Mobile™, Hitwise Audience Viewsm, Simmons LOCAL sm and Simmons National Consumer Studiessm..  All three Hitwise branded services are fueled on “the daily activity of 10 million consumers located in over 50 countries across six continents on one million websites.”  Talk about statistical excess.
United Sample or uSamp was an online research firm from its inception.  The founders Gregg Lavin and Matt Dusig tag uSamp “The Answer Network” specializing in online market research panels.  The firm has 12 million survey respondents residing in such countries as Egypt, Kenya, Trinidad, Jamaica, Mexico, and of course, the United States.  The panelists give online and mobile feedback.
Since the global panel is their gold, recruiting has high standards.  The company recruits through “social media, their global partners, and website publishers”.  uSamp prides itself in locating “the hard-to-find respondent” and achieving “panel purity”.  What is panel purity?  That is ensuring there are no duplications in email addresses and mobile numbers nor people maintaining multiple identities.  Imagine! The things people do to earn pre-loaded debit cards, sales discounts, and merchandise samples.

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posted by Unknown @ 9:36 AM 1 Comments