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.”
Labels: African Americans, black interest, civil rights movement, community, discrimination, NYC, NYC politics, NYS Senate, Stop and Frisk, urban
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.
Labels: African Americans, black interest, economic recovery, economy, employment, entrepreneur, gangsta rap, Hispanics, public education, structural inequalities
Total Black TV Fills Void Left By BET
Does cable, DirecTV and regular TV leave you feeling as if you’re missing something?
Could “what’s missing” be programming that relates to the core values and interests of the black community?
If so, visit
TotalBlackTV.com.
Total Black TV is the cyber spot to view, download and upload black video content.
Knowing the diversity of interests, the videos are organized into 27 categories that include action, sitcom, drama, animation, science fiction, shorts and religion.
The site serves the seasoned and emerging content producer by offering the choice of mailing DVDs AVIs or film cassettes to a post office box or uploading to the site.
Video viewing is limited to a particular PC during free streaming or purchased downloads secured from file sharing, using Microsoft DRM technology.
Thus, producers have another avenue to get their story to the public.
Total Black TV is also a social networking site where members can share photos, videos and messages among themselves or a select group.
This part of the site is called
totalblacktv.com/myview and requires a separate account registration from the main site.
Registration has a page where members may invite eight family members and eight friends/coworkers.
New York attorney Kevin Golding owns Total Black TV and initially launched it in 2005 to serve Ausar Auset Society, an international cultural organization.
The site went from distributing Ra Un Nefer Amen’s
Kamitic lifestyle videos to branching out to other content producers.
Golding says, “The idea of people watching such historians and health practioners as Dr. Sebi, Dr. John H. Clarke, and Dr. ben-Jochannan on an iPod was an exciting proposition.”
Rather than seek angel investors or venture capitalists, Golding and Promotions and Marketing Coordinator Amar Divine opted to make alliances with colleges, film festivals and individual video producers.
The corporation co-sponsored the 2007 African Film Festival in Edinborough, Scotland
. Angie LeMar, a popular radio host on England’s
Choice FM interviewed Golding on location.
These international links result in site visitors from Kenya, Belgium, Hawaii, Japan, India, the Netherlands, Canada and South Africa.
The latest promotion is the TBTV Dance Competition where dancers submit videos of their dance routines to totalblacktv.com/myview rather than travel to a geographic location.
The submission deadline is Saturday, June 7, 2008.
Amar Divine is driven to present positive images and ideas produced by people of color.
Divine compares TotalBlackTV.com to a cable station that promotes black media but “isn’t representative of positive black culture [nor] produced by black people.”
Rather, Divine aspires to experience similar success to that of cinemanow.com.
The corporate team is planning a launch party slated for September 2008.
Academicians, performers and emerging producers have been extended invitations.
While the team is keeping the details of the event under wraps, it is sure to be extraordinary to introduce such a well-conceived Web site.
Labels: black interest, media, social networking, society, streaming video, technology
