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On this day in 1967, Powell’s legacy was cemented forever when he won a special election to fill the vacancy caused by his exclusion from the House of Representatives.

During his 12 terms in the House of Representative (representing Harlem in Congress from 1945-1971), Powell’s brash style and continual introduction of legislation aimed at prohibiting the unequal treatment of blacks irked many conservative members of Congress.

The congressman’s son, Adam Clayton Powell IV, an assemblyman representing East Harlem told the New York Times:

“I think that people are still fascinated by him because he was a person who was a leader in the black community not just in New York, but all across the country. He had the ability to look at the nation’s white power structure in the eye and tell him exactly what he thought. He was the blueprint for what all black elected officials should be: he was bold and passionate.”

Powell worked to outlaw lynching and the poll tax as well as to end discrimination in the armed services, employment, housing and transportation.

In addition, he authorized a wide range of federal programs including minimum wage increases, school lunch initiatives, education and training for the deaf and aid for public schools and libraries.

Still, several of his southern congressional colleagues often characterized him as an arrogant, political irritant.

Never one to cower in the spotlight, he relished pushing buttons in the name of racial and social equality for his constituents.

But his political ambitions only brought further scrutiny. In 1958, he was indicted for income tax evasion by a federal grand jury. (The charge was later dropped after a hung jury.)

Powell was also criticized for payroll discrepancies, taking trips abroad using congressional funds, and being frequently absent for House votes. In response to his spotty attendance, Powell famously quipped:

“You don’t have to be there if you know which calls to make, which buttons to push, which favors to call in.”

Add that to his refusal to pay the judgment in a widely publicized 1963 slander case judgment, and Powell soon emerged as that congressman folks on Capitol Hill loved to hate.

And hate they did. On January 9, 1967, the House Democratic Caucus planned to strip Powell of his chairmanship of the Education and Labor Committee upon further investigation of the allegations against him. Instead of fining and censuring him, the House voted to exclude him from the 90th Congress.

However, Harlem voters showed Congress where their allegiances remained when they re-elected Powell with 86 percent of the vote the following month.

The overwhelming support exemplified the respect he had from his faithful voters.

As we recall his accomplishments today, Powell’s most famous slogan still resonates:

“Keep the faith, baby; spread it gently and walk together, children.”

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“We’re hoping that you will remain in place during the preaching of the Gospel,” a church member said over the microphone at this Harlem church on a recent Sunday morning. “But if you have to go, go now. Go before the preacher stands to preach.”

No one left then. But halfway through the sermon, a group of French girls made their way toward the velvet ropes that blocked the exit. An usher shook his head firmly, but they ignored him and walked out.

The clash between tourists and congregants plays out every Sunday at Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the oldest black church in New York state. It’s one of many Harlem churches that have become tourist attractions for visitors from all over the world who want to listen to soulful gospel music at a black church service. With a record number of tourists descending upon New York City last year, the crowds of foreigners are becoming a source of irritation among faithful churchgoers.

To preserve the sanctity of the service, pastors struggle to enforce strict rules of conduct. But the reality is that these visitors are often filling church pews that would otherwise remain empty – and filling the collection basket with precious dollar bills.

“Our building is in need of repair,” church member Paul Henderson said after the service. “We need assistance. They’re helping to sustain us.”

The rules are simple enough: No photography, no flip-flops, no exiting during the sermon. They are printed on pamphlets and multilingual signs and announced at the start of every service. But they are often ignored. Ushers roamed the pews like security guards, stopping more than one person from filming on digital cameras.

“I understand that you’re visiting and you want to have a memory of it,” said Carlos Smith-Ramsay, who joined the church several years ago. “But when we ask you to stop and you continue to do so after the fact, that’s disrespectful.”

Some pastors quietly manage the crowds by requiring a written confirmation of guests from tour operators, refusing walk-in visitors. Some churches provide assigned seating for tourists, while others demand a list specifying which countries the tourists are from and whether they speak English.

And still more forbid the tour companies from advertising which churches are on the tour in hopes of curbing the number of unwanted visitors.

The Rev. Gregory Robeson Smith, Mother AME Zion’s pastor, refuses to work with tour operators. He doesn’t even like to use the word “tourist,” preferring instead to call them part of his “international congregation.” And he won’t turn anyone away.

“I refuse to commercialize the church worship experience,” he said. “You don’t pay people to experience the Lord, to come and pray. I think that’s unconscionable.”

Yet the tourists’ presence is undeniable. At Mother AME Zion, there were nearly 200 of them, overwhelming the congregation by at least 5 to 1.

“They want to see what they’ve seen on television,” said Larcelia Kebe, president of Harlem Your Way! Tours Unlimited. “They want to see what they’ve seen in the movies.”

The gospel tour industry has exploded since it was born in the early 1980s. On a busy summer Sunday, Harlem Spirituals, one of the oldest and largest tour operators, might run 15 full buses, said Erika Elisabeth, a company vice president.

Ticket prices but can cost up to $55. Most churches get a cut of the profit. Others, like Mother AME Zion, make money by encouraging visitors to drop a suggested donation into the collection basket.

“Some of the tour operators really have made this whole thing about money,” Kebe said. “It’s created a problem. Because many of them are getting a lot of money from the tourists in order to get into a church. And there may be people in the church who are making a little money on the side.”

During his sermon, Smith appealed to the congregation to help pay for repairs to the church’s aging organ.

“We’ve got about $1,200 worth of work that needs to be done,” he said. “I need 12 people to give me $100.”

Without the tourists’ wallets, the organ might never get fixed. Mother AME Zion’s congregation is dying off, and there are very few young people left to fill the generation gap.

That’s not the case everywhere. Just around the corner is the thriving Abyssinian Baptist Church, arguably the neighborhood’s most popular tourist magnet, where visitors are often turned away because the pews are too full.

Celeste Lejeune, 16, from Paris, didn’t know anything about Mother AME Zion’s history as a stop on the Underground Railroad, or that its congregants once included Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.

“I would like to just hear voices of people who live in Harlem, and see the atmosphere,” she said. “We don’t have music like this in France.”

That is precisely the sort of outlook that disheartens the congregation, who would like to believe the tourists have come to listen to the word of God, to be transformed by the power of Scripture.

“Within this site that’s meant to be sacred, you have, maybe to some of the members, this invasion of the secular and profane,” said Margarita Simon Guillory, an assistant professor of religion at the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y. “You’re going to have a certain amount of tension in that space.”

Longtime congregation member Dabney Montgomery, 88, a Tuskegee Airman during World War II and a civil rights activist, believes the tourists walk away richer for the experience.

“In listening to the Gospel, they get something out that they didn’t expect,” he said. “The word of God.”

But most of them are there to see a show – and a show they got. The pastor gave a dramatic sermon filled with historical and political overtones, his voice slowing to a low growl and then rising back up, cracking with the effort. The choir sang hymn after joyful hymn as the congregation clapped in time with the music. One woman gave a beautiful soprano solo.

If nothing else, the tourists got to step back in time for an hour or two. A time when ladies wore dresses and stockings to church and ushers with immaculate white gloves guided people to their seats. A time when the church was the center of social life, the place to see and be seen.

At least with the tourists around, the place feels a little less empty on Sunday mornings.

“They’re not tourists,” Smith said. “They’re people of faith. In Christ, there is no East, no West.”

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—————-

Lucille Singleton

Age: 88

Place of Residence: Harlem, N.Y.

Why she is a local hero: Lucille Singleton inspires people to be healthy with her marathon running.

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Singleton runs everywhere she goes. It doesn’t seem like a big deal until you realize she’s almost 90. Singleton has run three New York City Marathons and finished in the top 10 for her age group all three times.

“I just love running. It makes me feel so good,” said Singleton.

Around her Harlem neighborhood, everyone recognizes her as he senior citizen who runs. The door attendant at her senior building asks how her running is going. And when she shows up at her gym at the New York Sports Club, she can barely make it to the weights because everyone wants to hug her.

Singleton gets up at 4 a.m. to run three miles and still hits the gym three or four times per week. She’s recently had some age-related kidney problems and now needs regular dialysis. Even that hasn’t stopped her running.

“When I finish dialysis, I like to run home,” said Singleton.

Her efforts are simply inspiring, says neighbor and friend Sylvia White.

“She runs four days a week, goes to aerobics twice a week.  When you see this woman you … do a double take because she looks half her age.  She defies the common expectations for seniors,” said White.

Singleton is proof that it’s never too late to accomplish your goals in life. At 71, after a career as a home health aide, she became a construction worker. The manager gave her the job of a flag person but Singleton wanted more. She wanted to lift and carry things. And that’s just what she did, helping to build 19 Rite Aid stores.

Singleton also didn’t run her first marathon until she was 75 years old. A friend’s daughter was running, and Singleton, remembering her high school running days, decided to give it a try. She finished fifth in her age group.

Now, Singleton feels her running is an inspiration to others. That’s why she has no plans to stop.

“When I get out and run in the morning, the cars blow their horns and the people wave,” said Singleton. “I have fans out there so I can’t stop.”

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Game Changers 2012

Start Gallery

———————

Jackie Rowe-Adams

Place of Residence: New York, N.Y.

Why she is a local hero: Rowe-Adams co-founded  Harlem Mothers S.A.V.E. with Jean Corbett-Covington.

When Rowe-Adams tells a group of parents gathered at the headquarters for Harlem Mothers S.A.V.E. (a counseling center for parents who have lost their children to violent deaths) that she understands their pain, it’s coming from the heart.

Rowe-Adams lost two of her sons to horrible acts of gun violence. Her 17-year-old son was killed in 1981, when two men murdered him for supposedly staring them down. A second 28-year-old son was murdered in 1998 in Baltimore, when a 13-year-old robbed him outside of his apartment.

“It still hurts sometimes,” said Rowe-Adams. “But I knew I had to do something about it.”

Today, Rowe-Adams spends her time trying to get help for families of murdered children. She makes sure they get grief counseling and financial help, and she also works to stop gun violence. Her group is trying to locate the ports where the guns are coming in to Harlem and is pushing for tougher gun laws. She’s also educating parents on ways to keep their kids from carrying and firing guns.

Her well-known expression: “If you see something, say something.”

“You need to tell it,” continues Rowe-Adams. “You need to pay attention to where these guns are hidden. They are in the buildings, they are in the bodegas. They all around you. Check your kids bag look under the mattress. You, the parents have the kids in your hand. This is your community, take charge of your community. Stop smoking weed with your kids, Rowe-Adams said this summer after a nationally ranked girls high school basketball star was murdered in Harlem.”

Rowe-Adams said she is concerned about the level of violence she is seeing from kids today.

“What I’m seeing is kids shooting just to shoot,” Rowe-Adams said. “They want a reputation. They want to put it on Facebook. They want to laugh at something that is not funny.”

After years of advocating, Rowe-Adams and Corbett-Covington were able to receive a permanent rent-free headquarters in Harlem with the help of local politicians.  They are in the process of expanding their programming with an aim toward being proactive.

Now they are working on concrete plans to assist parents who find that a child is hiding a gun in their home, for example. A parent could make an anonymous call and have a lawyer and law enforcement officer come out and retrieve the illegal weapon. The child could get counseling.

“Some of the parents are scared of their kids because they talk back to them,” says Rowe-Adams. “And then you have young mothers trying to be friends with their children. Finally, you have grandparents taking care of kids after they’ve already raised a family and they don’t have the energy. They think the kids are in their room and they are outside. They say they are at John’s house, but you don’t know who John is or who his parents are. If you are scared of your child or need help, tell somebody. Let somebody help you.”

Game Changers 2012

Start Gallery

Several police cars surround the area after the shooting. The officer was not hurt and it is not clear what caused the shooting. The victim was rushed to Harlem Hospital in serious condition.

The New York Daily News reports:

When he approached, the mother told him that her daughter had just been groped from behind.

“As he approaches [the suspect] the officer identifies himself as a police officer,” said Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, the NYPD’s top spokesman. “A struggle ensues and one round is discharged from the officer’s gun, striking the suspect in the [buttocks.]“

Read More At The New York Daily News

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“Reverse migration is changing the South and its race relations,” said Roderick Harrison, a Howard University sociologist and former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau.

He said a rising black middle class is promoting a growing belief among some black conservatives that problems of the disadvantaged are now rooted more in character or cultural problems, rather than race. But Harrison said most black Americans maintain a strong racial identity, focused on redressing perceived lack of opportunities, in part because many of them maintain close ties to siblings or other blacks who are less successful.

“I don’t think suburban blacks are yet driven by their higher income or new locations, although this might have a greater effect in a generation or two,” he said.

The typical white person last year earned income roughly 1.7 times higher than that of blacks, the widest ratio since the 1990s. Census figures released Thursday show that cities such as Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Milwaukee in particular saw increases in inequality, hurt by an exodus of middle-class minorities while lower-skilled blacks stayed in the cities.

Low-income blacks also slipped further behind. The share of black households ranking among the poorest poor – those earning less than $15,000 – climbed from 20 percent to 26 percent over the past decade; other race and ethnic groups posted smaller increases. At the same time, African-Americans making $200,000 or more a year were unchanged from 2000 at about 1.1 percent, even after a deep recession.

Many affluent blacks are moving to the South, seeking a return to their ancestral homeland after a decades-long Great Migration to the North.

Pursuing a better quality of life, they are opting for more upscale metropolitan locales rather than the traditional rural communities of the old South in places such as Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas, which remain home to larger shares of minority farmers, construction and other low-wage workers.

Since 1990, blacks living in Southern urban locations such as Atlanta, Dallas, Washington, D.C., and Miami, where incomes rose in the last decade, have increased 70 percent.

The newer Southern arrivals include Marc Harrigan, 42, a physician who grew up in New York and attended college in Rhode Island. Harrigan said he knew he wanted a change once he finished medical school and married, yearning for what he saw as a more progressive culture than Hampton Roads, Va., where he practiced for a few years.

Settling on Atlanta, Harrigan described it as a good fit with affordable housing and decent schools despite the culture shift outside the immediate metro area.

“It was important that we move where there was a critical mass of African-American professionals,” he said. “But in other parts of the state, I’m not sure they have embraced assimilation, if you will.”

William H. Frey, a Brookings Institution demographer who did a broad analysis of the race and income data, said the latest numbers reflect a longer-term trend of increased racial integration between blacks and whites. He said the changes could pose challenges in the coming months in political redistricting as well as courting the traditional black vote.

Groups in states such as Texas, Florida, California and Maryland have gone to court or are now otherwise grappling with political maps being redrawn based on the 2010 census, considering whether to preserve historically black legislative seats amid slowing population growth and black movement into traditionally white suburbs. The change also complicates strategy for President Barack Obama, who is banking on blacks in key Southern states in the 2012 election.

Obama is pushing a broader re-election theme of middle-class renewal, reciting his jobs agenda and his feud with Congress over extending a Social Security tax cut, while targeting outreach to black communities in hopes of remaining competitive in Southern and other battleground states.

“The Democratic party will surely gain consistent support from these new black suburbanites, but the active support for traditional black issues like civil rights may take a back seat,” Frey said, citing issues such as schools, housing and public safety that may rise to the forefront.

According to census data, about 67 million Americans, or nearly 1 in 4, lived in neighborhoods with poverty rates of 20 percent or higher; that’s up from roughly 1 in 5 in 2000. The South in general had higher shares of people living in high-poverty areas, led by states including Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Kentucky.

Despite some gains for middle-class blacks, African-Americans on average last year still had rising poverty and worsening economic situations compared with whites. The mostly suburban counties where blacks had growing and higher-than-average income make up about 19 percent of the black population. That’s compared with 45 percent of blacks who lived in urban counties and small towns where black incomes fell relative to whites.

Part of the income divide falls along age and education, with higher unemployment rates for young men and those who lack a college degree. Last year, about 19 percent of men ages 25 to 34 were “idle” – neither working nor attending school – up 5 percentage points from 2007, according to the Population Reference Bureau. About 31 percent of young black adults were disconnected from school and work, compared with 27 percent for Latinos and about 19 percent each for whites and Asians.

Blacks also were more likely than other groups to live in neighborhoods with poverty rates of 40 percent or more, roughly 1 in 9.

Other findings:

-Counties with the greatest income gaps between non-Hispanic whites and Latinos included New York, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and the Washington, D.C., suburbs, as well as smaller, more rural counties in the South and West where the numbers of Mexican immigrants have been growing.

-Thirteen percent of Latinos and 18 percent of blacks held at least a bachelor’s degree last year, compared with 31 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 50 percent of Asians. That is up from 2000, when 10 percent of Hispanics and 14 percent of blacks completed college.

-Less than half a million people speak a North American tribal language at home, compared with 60 million who speak a different language other than English and 227 million who speak English only. About 65 percent of those tribal speakers lived in three states – Alaska, Arizona and New Mexico. The most commonly spoken tribal language was Navajo, followed by Yupik and Dakota.

The figures come from previous censuses and the 2010 American Community Survey, which samples 3 million households. For places with fewer than 20,000 people, the ACS figures from 2006-2010 were averaged to help compensate for otherwise large margins of error.

Victoria Pannell, 12, speaks to demonstrators in Harlem, NYC on Friday December 3rd, 2011..

In this is episode of NewOne’s original video series “On The Corner,” we joined twelve-year-old Victoria Pannell, the National Action Network’s Northeast Regional Director of the Youth, in a march and rally in a Harlem neighborhood where gang, drug, and gun activity is rampant.

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Dozens of Harlemites congregated Friday at Wright Brothers Playground, a small park that has a reputation of being unsafe for kids, to denounce the illicit activities that go on in the recreation space.

National Action Network recently announced the national Shake-Off the Violence tour and coast-to-coast cease fire coordinated by NAN’s Youth Movement and the Youth in Action group.

VIDEO:

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Victoria Pannell, 12, speaks to demonstrators in Harlem, NYC on Friday December 3rd, 2011..

In this is episode of NewOne’s original video series “On The Corner,” we joined twelve-year-old Victoria Pannell, the National Action Network’s Northeast Regional Director of the Youth, in a march and rally in a Harlem neighborhood where gang, drug, and gun activity is rampant.

SEE ALSO: DMX Plays Wheelchair Basketball With Disabled Vets

Dozens of Harlemites congregated Friday at Wright Brothers Playground, a small park that has a reputation of being unsafe for kids, to denounce the illicit activities that go on in the recreation space.

National Action Network recently announced the national Shake-Off the Violence tour and coast-to-coast cease fire coordinated by NAN’s Youth Movement and the Youth in Action group.

VIDEO:

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Layne was the boyfriend of Afrika Owes who helped him traffic guns and received a god deal of media attention due to her private school background.

The New York Daily News reports:

“Gun violence in Harlem is the responsibility of that community,” Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin said as he sent the 21-year-old leader of the W. 137th St. gang, Jaquan “Jay Cash” Layne away for 20 years to life.

“If you do nothing, you are complicit,” McLaughlin said as he urged families to do more to turn their kids from crime.

“If your relative is not doing homework, if you are not going to their school and talking with their teachers, then you contribute to your child’s and your community’s destruction,” the judge said.

Read More At The New York Daily News

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When you step inside, it feels more like a bookstore than a place of worship. The walls are lined with books written by church’s founder, the late L. Ron Hubbard. To the left side of the entrance, a poster-sized image of the late Isaac Hayes greets you.

Phyllis Mack, the Executive Director of the Harlem branch, serves as the presiding preacher-one of her many responsibilities. In one service, she focuses her sermon on being a better person. True to the cadence of her black church roots, Phyllis moves her body left and right when stressing a point she wants her small congregation to narrow in on. She has a penchant for invoking James Brown lyrics into her sermons.

“When life has you down, you just have to…get on’ up,” she says to the approval of nodding heads in attendance.

Phyllis doesn’t read from a Bible, as do traditional preachers. Instead she refers to a thick, encyclopedia-sized book of teachings of L. Ron Hubbard.

Read more at TheGrio.com

Lisa Ling Explores Impact Of Black Male Imprisonment On ‘Our America’

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The face of the movement has remained largely white as protests have spread to different cities across the nation, causing some to criticize the movements perceived racial implications. But as momentum builds, more people of color are getting involved.

Occupy Harlem captured the changing face of the movement  on Friday with prominent Black figures like Dr. Cornel West and veteran Harlem activists like Nellie Hester Bailey taking to the streets to garner support for the 99 percent.

“Occupy Wall Street is not a quote-unquote white thing. It is a white thing that the 1 percent and the bankers are representing white oligarchy and white plutocrats for the most part,” Bailey said.

“People of color should be at the crux of this movement,” said Jon Stray, 39, who said he comes from a long line of “revolutionaries” and activists. “We are disproportionately affected by the 1 percent you hear everyone talking about now.”

Read more at the Huffington Post.

The campaign is sponsored by the Iris House, a community-based organization that meets the needs of women, families and at-risk communities infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS. The goal of the heterosexual male targeted campaign is to increase awareness, shared sexual responsibility, openness and honesty, according to the agency.

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Though the 8-year-old agency was established to provide care for HIV-infected minority women, in October 2010, the Iris House decided to turn its focus to what Executive Director Ingrid Floyd called a “forgotten population.” Floyd said most HIV/AIDS programs target women or gay and bisexual men, but that the agency sought to “fill that gap,” by tailoring a program for black heterosexual men.

The campaign, dubbed “Keep It 100” is named after a commonly used phrase in the black community, which means to be honest.

The idea of targeting heterosexual men came about, after the agency analyzed data on their female clientele, which revealed that 90 percent of them said that they contracted HIV/AIDS from their male partners. Floyd said the Iris House decided to analyze the data after they noticed a pattern in its clientele and the national rates of women infected by men.

“We decided in 2008 when completing our strategic plan that we had to begin providing services for the men in their lives and in the community since no other places were targeting heterosexual men,” Floyd said.

“We wanted to figure out a way to engage the men in the prevention education so that we don’t just put the responsibility on the women.”

The black and Latino populations account for the highest rate of new infections per 100,000 people in the United States, according to 2009 federal data from the Centers for Disease Control. The center also cites New York as the state with the highest number of AIDS diagnoses. Among racial and gender demographics, black men accounted for the highest new infection cases, according to Centers for Disease Control data.

Central Harlem and East Harlem, where the Iris House does most of its outreach, have the second and third highest infection rate in the city, according to 2008 data from the New York City HIV/AIDS Annual Surveillance Statistics.

Patrick Wilson, a professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, said predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods like Central Harlem and East Harlem experience high rates of HIV/AIDS infections because of a prevalence in poverty, and socioeconomic disadvantages.

“People have less access to health care and HIV testing,” he said. Wilson said many members of the black community don’t have a desire to get tested because there is still a stigma of promiscuity that is lobbed with HIV/AIDS.

Nevertheless, Wilson cautioned that the high concentration of HIV infections among black, gay and bisexual men remains an epidemic in the community.

Among black men who have sex with men, there were more new HIV infections (52%) among young black men who have sex with men aged 13–29 years, than any other racial or ethnic age group, according to CDC data.

As a result, Wilson says, the Iris House should focus on black men in general, not just heterosexual men.

“Sexual identity is very fluid,” he said. “One can be gay today, and heterosexual tomorrow.”

Wilson said non-heterosexuality remains a stigma in the community, which may cause men not to disclose their sexual identity. For this reason, Wilson questions the effectiveness such a campaign could have, for the long run, in the community.

However, the Iris House also offers a program geared toward black men who have sex with men called d-Up!, a Centers for Disease Control approved intervention program. According to the agency’s website, d-Up! is designed to change social norms and perceptions of black MSM regarding condom use.

Men, both heterosexual and homosexual, report more negative attitudes about condom use than do women, according to data from the American Psychological Association.

Floyd said the Keep It 100 campaign and the agency’s other outreach programs stress the importance of partners engaging in healthy conversations about sex and their HIV status, “before going to the bedroom.”

“It’s the only way to make sure that you are being responsible for yourself,” Floyd said. “That’s the message we want people to get.”

Men who come to the Iris House are encouraged to participate in group workshops, where they are shown videos that encourage them to avoid unprotected sex and be honest about their sexual history with their partners. The agency also provides one-on-one counseling and free testing. Floyd said the Iris House does community outreach, and supplies free condoms to local barbershops, beauty shops, and local businesses.

The agency is also using technology as a means of marketing its Keep It 100 campaign. Around the city, the campaign posters feature small bar codes that can lead smart phone users to the campaign’s website. From there, Floyd says, they can get additional information about the program and its services.

The Iris House was established in 1993, and was named after an AIDS advocate who died of the disease in the 1980s. Until recently, the agency exclusively focused on infected women and their families. Within a year, Floyd said the Iris House hopes to have 75 to 100 men participating in the Keep It 100 one-on-one and group workshops.

The Keep It 100 campaign is funded by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.

Founded in 1980 by Gertrude Hadley Jeannette, the theater group kicks off its latest season on Tuesday with a performance of “The Devil & Elijah Muhammad” at the Harlem School of the Arts Theatre.

“When we started out, my students were Esther Rolle, Isabel Sanford and Rosalind Cash,” Hadley Jeannette, 96, told the Daily News. “They started out on my stage. I was their first teacher and they all came from Harlem.”

Read more at the New York Daily News.

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Yes! Pres. Obama Supporters Stage “Harlem Tea Party”

The group, “Harlem 4 Obama,” staged the tea party in order to garner support for Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.

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The New York Daily News reports:

Members of Harlem 4 Obama, which helped register thousands of voters during Obama’s 2008 election campaign, passed out cups of iced tea as demonstrators held signs that read: “Increased Funding for Violence Against Women,” and “This Election is About You! Are You in?”

“Our premise is that we have allowed the Tea Party to shape the debate,” Whye said. “We’re going to take back the definition of tea party. They wanted to define us, we’re redefining them.”

Read More At The New York Daily News

O’brien is currently an entrepreneur working in Harlem and has served eight years in jail for various offenses. Taimak Guariello who played “Bruce” Leroy Tweeted about the shooting.

The New York Daily News reports:

A police source said the two men were arguing about a chair. Breckenridge was in the chair and got up, then O’Brien sat down. The accused gunman wanted the chair back, but was already out of patience.

“The second bullet hit me in the stomach,” he said. “I knew then it was a real gun….The third bullet hit me in the arm.

“He didn’t say anything to me. He started crying and ran away. He was my homeboy. Did we have a problem before he shot me? No. I don’t know why he shot me. He was scared. Maybe he thought I would hurt him?”

Read More At The New York Daily News

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Afrika Owes was arrested and accused of transporting guns for her boyfriend, Jaquan “Jay Cash” Layne, in February and was incarcerated in Riker’s Island since then.

The New York Daily News reports:

Owes, who had been at Rikers since her arrest in February, was bailed out by Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church in April. She returned to school, and in July she accepted a plea deal after she pleaded guilty to felony gun charges. The deal with the judge spared her from a prison term, including a minimum 3 1/2 year sentence for a gun charge.

Owes will start her senior year at Millennium High School on Thurday,Sept. 8.
Meanwhile, the other accused gangbangers are set for trial, slated to start on Tuesday, Sept. 13.

Read More At The New York Daily News

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Read our exclusive piece on the Harlem Sewage Plant Explosion

On Monday, the city announced the closure of three beaches in Staten island and one in Brooklyn.

“Because it’s a plume of pollution, we want to make sure we’re taking the appropriate precautions,” Susan Craig, a department spokeswoman, said. “I would think it’ll be a couple days.”

Read more at the New York Times.

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The deal has been made between the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development, NYC Housing Development Corp., Goldman Sachs, L+M Development Partners Inc. and Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement Inc., a collection of Harlem churches.

The NY Daily News Reports:

Current incomes range from $34,740 for a one-person household, $39,660 for two, $44,640 for three and $49,560 for a four-person household.

Some $13 million in work will be done on the buildings, including upgrading the apartment interiors, kitchens and bathrooms, facade work, waterproofing, roofing, elevator upgrades and improvements in the common areas.

Read More At NYDailyNews.com

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NEW YORK — In 1962, when New York city planners first proposed a sewage treatment plant for the residents and businesses of Manhattan’s West Side, they picked a spot on the Hudson River around 72nd Street. The neighborhood, however, was well on its way to becoming what it is today — the white, upper middle class district of stylish brownstones, grand co-ops and newfangled condominiums known to most Americans as the backdrop for the TV sitcom, Seinfeld.

Neighborhood resistance to the plant forced the city to select an alternate location. The plant site was then moved up the Hudson River to a plot between 137th and 145th Streets in the Black neighborhood of Harlem.

It was just another story in a long-standing American narrative of environmental injustice against communities of color; white politicians and planners shifting the noxious, the unpleasant, and the dirty public and private works of our cities onto neighborhoods with minimal political influence.

The North River Wastewater Treatment Plant, as it is known, began construction in 1972. By the time it was partly operational in 1989, it was already controversial — spewing fetid, rotten-egg odors and coinciding with an increase in asthma rates and other respiratory related ailments in the surrounding area.

Back when the plant was first proposed, the city placated Harlem residents with a strange and novel promise to build a massive 28-acre park atop the plant. Riverbank State Park didn’t become a reality until nearly two decades later, in 1993. The Olympic-size pool, skating rink, cultural center and 2,500-seat athletic complex became a refuge for the many families and residents who live on top of each other in West Harlem.

Still, the complaints and stench continued. In 1994, outraged residents planned a “flush in” — a simultaneous flushing of hundreds of neighborhood toilets — to illustrate the dangers of the plant to the environment. As late as the year 2000, citizens warned of a “sewage Chernobyl.”

The ever-present hazards lurking beneath the recreational facility nearly blew their cover this past Wednesday. The pleasant facade transformed when a fire broke out in the engine room of the North River Plant and heavy smoke engulfed the park.

The fire raged for more than three hours, sending workers scrambling out of the plant, shutting down a section of the nearby Henry Hudson Parkway, and ultimately discharging millions of gallons of untreated sewage into the Hudson River, which continues unabated today as workers struggle to repair the damaged pumps.

And once again, the neighborhood’s environmental woes are pushed back into view.

Today, all of Manhattan’s sewage treatment plants are located above 96th Street, which for many years was “the line” that separated white Manhattan from Black.

The plant sparked the founding of the very first African-American-led environmental organization in New York, West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT). Peggy Shepard, WE ACT’s Executive Director, says that it’s always been difficult to track the exact effects of the plant on human health. “It’s hard to know now without doing certain kind of tests, but we know to be cautious because of
bacteria and other human health issues.”

Wednesday’s fire and sewage discharge illustrates the continuing struggle to rectify the asthma, infant mortality other environmentally influenced statistics that are so high in poor urban areas. And yet, Shepard, hopes that things may be improving.

“I have found the Department of Environmental Protection to be pretty responsive. These events do occur but I think the city is handling a bad situation. It wasn’t that way when we started working on things in the Koch administration,” Shepard said of WE ACT’s early battles with the city to secure adequate measures. “The subsequent administrations have been very responsive.”

As of today, hundreds of workers are trying to repair the damaged treatment plant — a symbol of the many environmental sorrows visited on Harlem and Black communities like it across the nation.

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The fire created a 30-foot plume by noon and burned for three hours, sending employees running out of the plant. Thousands were evacuated from the nearby Riverbank State Park.

Environmental advocates have rallied against the plants presence in Harlem for years. Officials said it would take 48-hours of continuous discharge to affect the water quality of the river.

Read more at the NY DailyNews.

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Segregation, Slurs And Noose Charges Launched At Oil Company

NEW YORK — Fashion Row, an organization based out of Harlem has given six Black designers a shot at the opportunity of a lifetime — the runways of New York’s Fashion Week.

NY Daily News reports:

From 15 semifinalists, the [Fashion Row] team culled the top six, evaluating portfolios and interviewing designers in person. In the end, three will make it to the runway, backed by a marketing push and a network of fashion industry know-how — all for free.

“A lot of young designers aren’t able to fund a presentation which would introduce them to buyers and editors,” says Henderson, “so Harlem’s Fashion Row has become about giving them a platform they might not have otherwise.”

Voting is being held to decide who will make it to Fashion Week. Learn more about the designers and vote for your favorite three by May 30 at harlemsfashionrow.com

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hfr/creating-diversity-in-fashion/widget/video.html

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NEW YORK — This past Monday, the Dance Theater of Harlem held its Inaugural Vision Gala at Lincoln Center.

The gala was hosted by actress, author and former dancer Victoria Rowell.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Next Generation Fund for scholarships and financial aid to students at the Dance Theatre of Harlem School.

The event also honored DTH Co- Founder and Artistic Director Emeritus Arthur Mitchell with the first-ever Vision Award. The event included dinner, dancing and performances by students from the Dance Theatre of Harlem School, Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble and special guest artists, Matthew Prescott and American Ballet Theater soloist Misty Copeland.

2011 Dance Theater of Harlem Gala

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Read more here at Walter’s World

Check out more about this historic theater here

A recent report from the New York City Health Department cites central Harlem as having the highest death rate of any community in the city. East Harlem also ranked first in the city for drug related deaths as well as for liver disease and cirrhosis.

ALSO READ: WBW Honors: Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

NYD.com reports:

The summary of vital statistics, which has charted the health of New Yorkers since the 1860s, found that central Harlem had 8.8 deaths per 1,000 people in 2009, compared with 6.1 deaths per 1,000 people citywide.

East Harlem ranked third in the city with a rate of 8.3 deaths per 1,000 people.

The community also ranked third for drug-related deaths (18.6) and sixth for HIV (34.0). The death rate from homicides was sixth in the city at 14.4 deaths per 100,000 people.

Harlem: Famous People and Places

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Prosecutors said Owes’ boyfriend, Jaquan Layne, 20, was running the gang from Rikers while jailed for armed robbery, and gave Owes her orders in phone calls recorded by the jail.

Read The Whole Story

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NEW YORK CITY — Students in Harlem and Bronx charter schools are celebrating the feat of having read one million books outside of school hours. The group of schools, known as the Success Charter Network, started the challenge in 2006. In addition to reading six books per week on their own time, the children read up to 12 books per week in school.

Related: Top 5 MLK speeches

Huffington Post reports:

Kids at the Harlem charter school celebrated the accomplishment today with a giant banner congratulating them on the literary feat.

“Books are a religion to us,” said former City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz, founder of the Success Charter Network.

There have been a few rules along the way to reaching this goal. Kids were allowed to pick their own books and each school signs a symbolic contract with parents to ensure that they will read to their children six days per week.

The group of charter schools has been making the case for a city-wide expansion of their network, with plans to add two more schools in Harlem and another one in the Upper West Side. Critics have complained that there is not enough space and the new schools will be severely overcrowded.

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Way Black When Honors: Ralph Ellison

The theater announced Wednesday that the songwriter of hits like “I Just Called to Say I Love You” and “Isn’t She Lovely?” will be inducted into the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame on June 13.

Past inductees have included Michael Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin.

Wonder got his start at the Apollo in Harlem in 1962 when he was 12. He was known as “Little Stevie Wonder.” A multi-instrumentalist, he also was called a “wonder child.”

The June gala will include a concert and awards ceremony.

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Dr. Jeff Gardere, the host VH-1′s “Dad Camp” gave humorous yet poignant anecdotes from his time working on “The Maury Show,” “Dad Camp” and his own private practice working with poor families in Washington Heights. Gardere noted that a great deal of moms would bring in their sons, and that most of their issues came from lack of a father figure.

Gardere also gave stories about his own role as a single father, in which he showed that it is possible for parents to break up and still raise their children.

Special Assistant to the President and Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Joshua DuBois brought regards from President Obama and his word that Obama is dedicated to stop the “crisis” of lack of fatherhood in our country.

DuBois also brought up both his own personal history and the history of the President as motivating factors for the White House’s involvement with Braswell’s fatherhood initiative.

DuBois brought up Obama’s well known story of dealing with the lack of father in his life, noting that the President does not schedule any meetings after 7 P.M. in order to spend time with his daughters.

DuBois praised his stepfather as being a man who was always involved in his life but noted that he had little contact with his biological father, who wound up dying in prison.

DuBois also spoke about White House initiatives to get young fathers involved in their childrens lives, including jobs and tax breaks. DuBois is a very strong engaging speaker who should have a bright future as being one of the future leaders of America.

The majority of the people involved came from the Black church which has always been a strong force pushing for Black fathers. I would have been nice to see more people in the entertainment or athletics, who have a chance to speak directly to young fathers, or young men without fathers, but it seems like Braswell is reaching in that direction through his efforts.

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“Harlem lost a real piece of its history when we lost our Bobby,” Rangel said before presenting Robinson’s family with the text of an entry honoring Robinson that he will place into the congressional record.

Robinson influenced two eras of American music. He began as the producer of early R&B artists in the 1950s and 60s like Elmore James, King Curtis, and Gladys Knight & The Pips. One of his best-known productions was the 1959 song “Kansas City” by Wilbert Harrison. Robinson experienced something of a renaissance as a record man in the early 1980s when he became one of the first record entrepreneurs to record a new form of music from the streets of New York called rap. Robinson signed the now-classic hip-hop artists Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, the Funky Four Plus One, the Treacherous Three, and Robinson’s nephew, Spoonie Gee.

RELATED: NewsOne Exclusive: Remembering Bobby Robinson

But in Harlem, Robinson was best known as the owner of the record shop he ran continuously since 1946, when he became the first African-American to open a storefront on 125th Street. What began as “Bobby’s Record Shop” and then “Bobby’s Records and Tapes” eventually became “Bobby’s Happy House,” shifted just around the corner from its original location. The shop, visited by residents and tourists alike, closed in 2008 when Robinson was evicted by a developer who has yet to demolish or improve the property.

Morgan Clyde “Bobby” Robinson, the grandson of slaves, was born in Union, South Carolina on April 16, 1917. After graduated from high school at the top of his class, Robinson migrated to New York City in his 20s and was soon thereafter drafted into the U.S. Army. Stationed in Hawaii during World War II, Robinson made money on the side by loaning money to his fellow servicemen. But he found his calling when he began arranging music entertainment for the troops. Upon his discharge, Robinson bought a hat store on 125th Street and converted it into a record shop.

RELATED: Harlem Legend Bobby Robinson, Owner Of Happy House Dead At 93

From his base on Black America’s main street, Robinson was able to tap into the growing R&B and doo-wop scene, founding a succession of labels such as Fire, Whirlin’ Disc, and Enjoy. He was valued by his peers in the music business and cherished by music aficionados. After his record producing career tapered off, Robinson continued to hold court daily in his record shop. Even as music sales of cassette tapes and CDs waned in the Internet age, “Bobby’s Happy House” received a steady stream of visitors coming to see Robinson and gape at the many pictures of celebrities adorning the walls: Robinson with Al Sharpton and James Brown, with Jackie Wilson, with Al Green, with Motown founder Berry Gordy.

These pictures played on a continuous loop at Harlem’s House of Prayer as Rangel addressed the crowd.

“He epitomized Harlem,” said Rangel, whose office was one block from Robinson’s shop. “I used to see so many tourists come to 125th Street looking at Harlem. But once they saw Bobby, once they listened to him, once they were intoxicated by the music, they knew they didn’t have to go any further because he represented so much of all of us.”

“All my life has been spent on 125th Street,” Rangel continued. “And every time I saw Bobby, he had a smile and a story.”

Robinson is survived by his daughter Cheryl Benjamin, his sister Minnie Stewart, two grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, four nieces and seven nephews. His body will be interred in his birthplace of Union, S.C.

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BlackPlanet.com

Black History Month doesn’t begin until February but our own Black Planet members and staff didn’t let that stop them from taking on a tremendous task to revitalize a very important landmark in the New York community.

A historic Harlem tennis court affectionately referred to as “The Jungle” received a much-needed makeover. Over the weekend, men and women sacrificed their personal time to roll up their sleeves and do some (good) work. The court holds memories that go back as far as the 50s. It was originally named after Frederick Johnson who coached Althea Gibson, the first African-American to win tennis championships at the French & U.S. Opens, and Wimbledon.  Thanks to the help of Black Planet, the court is in perfect shape to help more individuals create lasting memories and achieve their dream.

To learn more about where you can give back this MLK day, log onto www.blackplanetrising.com

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Horrified, the passerby called 911 about 12:15 a.m. Wednesday.

The dead woman, described as black and about 25 to 35 years-old, suffered trauma to her head, police said. She was clothed. Police have not released her name.

Her death was not immediately classified as a homicide, and the medical examiner will determine the cause.

Detectives are investigating the possibility the woman was killed elsewhere and dumped from a car onto the sidewalk, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters.

The suitcase was found barely three blocks away from the E. 116th St. entrance to the FDR Drive, which would have allowed for a quick getaway.

Read entire article at NYdailynews.com

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