NYC Community Based Organizations of Color Urge Governor Patterson to Restore $190 Million

Community Based Organizations of Color Urge Governor Patterson to Restore $190 Million. Emergency Press Conference and Hearing

by Caribbean Cultural Center (CCCADI) on Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at 3:26pm

MEDIA CONTACT:

Thysha M. Shabazz or April R. Silver

AKILA WORKSONGS, Inc.

Phone: 718.756.8501 main

Email: pr@akilaworksongs.com

Facebook Page: AKILAWORKSONGS ● Twitter: @akilaworksongs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMMUNITY BASED ORGANIZATIONS OF COLOR URGE GOVERNOR PATERSON TO RESTORE $190 MILLION.

Emergency Press Conference and Public Hearing This Wednesday: Oct. 20 October 18, 2010 (New York, NY) - - -

The Cultural Equity Groups (CEG), a network of New York based community arts, cultural, and multi-disciplinarian organizations, today announces an emergency press conference in support of the public hearing called by NY State Senators Ruth Hassell-Thompson, Kevin Parker, and Bill Perkins (members of the New York State Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus; see official statement below). The press conference will be held WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2010 on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan at 9:00am. The public hearing will follow immediately afterward from 10:00am to 1:00pm (across the street at 250 Broadway). Media inquiries regarding the press conference are directed to AKILA WORKSONGS, Inc. 718.756.8501 or at pr@akilaworksongs.com.

The purpose of the public hearing is for community-based arts, cultural, advocacy, and social service leaders to present their concerns about the impact of member item funding cuts to their organizations and the people they service. Both the hearing and press conference are open to the public. For general inquiries about the public hearing, contact Joan P. Gibbs, Esq. at 718.804.8893 or via email at jgibbs@mec.cuny.edu

Led by Dr. Marta Moreno Vega, founder and executive director of The Caribbean Cultural Center / African Diaspora Institute; Esmeralda Simmons, founder and executive director of the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College; and Laurie Cumbo, founder and executive director of MoCADA, CEG urges artists, activists, advocates, entrepreneurs, and those concerned to take action today so that funds may be restored. Dr. Vega reveals, “Not-for-profit institutions of color in New York—be they arts or social justice related—play a vital role in people’s personal and professional lives. They help alleviate distress in underserved populations and they contribute to the economic development of neglected communities. For the governor to freeze funds from organizations that are, in many cases, the life blood of their communities actually contributes to the disenfranchisement of those communities.”~ more ~CEG leaders maintain that they are not enemies of the governor, but are compelled, nonetheless, to create awareness about the negative effect of frozen funds. Community-based organizations, those that service the artistic, social, economic, and/or advocacy needs of people of color communities, are being crippled by this veto and may not recover, CEG leaders affirm. What is known as “member-item reductions” in the state budget amounts to $190 million dollars and such a reduction “would cause colossal harm for a relatively little bit of money,” Simmons declares. “The Black, Latino, and Asian communities are, from the onset, receiving less funding than other communities in New York. To reduce the already small budget allotment even further is adding salt to the wound. We must have our voices heard and we encourage everyone to attend the public hearing.”

Dr. Moreno Vega adds: “We must write letters, make phone calls, and diligently press the Governor to restore the funds. We must make it clear that a decrease in services and jobs in under-served communities further decreases access to cultural and economic rights."

CEG urges all concerned to contact the Governor at this postal address and phone number:Governor David A. PatersonState CapitolAlbany, NY 12224(518) 474.8390

Additional CEG leaders and/or supporters include the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY; the Harlem Arts Alliance; Harlem Film Museum; the Bronx Council on the Arts; AMERINDA, and others.About The Cultural Equity Groups (CEGs)Emerging from the Civil Rights Movement, the Cultural Equity Groups are a network of community arts organizations and artists of color who came together in the spirit that all people and organizations of designated "minority groups" who make up the majority of New York City citizenry and a significant segment of the State have equal access to information, financial resources, and opportunities presented in the arts policies and the funding distribution processes available at the municipal and state levels. CEG was founded to address, at all levels of society, the inequity in funding and policies that negatively impact the preservation, continuity and growth of our cultures, art, and communities. [Official Statement]From: Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, Chairwoman, and Senator Kevin Parker (of the NYS Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus)To: Caucus MembersRe: Public Hearing on the “Member-Item” Reduction Impact on Small and Mid-Size Not-for-Profit Community-Based OrganizationsDuring the extended budget negotiations, Governor Paterson vetoed last year's member-item allotment of about $190 million, as a way to reduce the deficit and pressure lawmakers to complete a budget deal. For many not-for-profit organizations that serve low-income families, the grants are tangible resources that provide resources for case management, transportation, and purchase of various goods and services.It is important that representatives from small and mid-size not for profit organizations, in our most high needs communities have an opportunity to provide critical data on the impact of the funding cuts to already under-resourced communities. The primary goal of this public hearing is to have comprehensive presentations from Community Based Organizations that will provide information on the immediate and long-range impact of member item funding cuts to their organizations and their consumers. The hearing is scheduled for 10:00 am on October 20, 2010, at 250 Broadway, New York City.

# # #

What is July 4th to Black People?

"The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro"

Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, too � great enough to give frame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory....

...Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold, that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish, that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart."

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common.�The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak to-day? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can to-day take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people!

"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth."

Fellow-citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, to-day, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!" To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme, would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then, fellow-citizens, is American slavery. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this 4th of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America.is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery � the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocate; I will not excuse"; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slaveholder, shall not confess to be right and just.

But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, "It is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more, an denounce less; would you persuade more, and rebuke less; your cause would be much more likely to succeed." But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slaveholders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of the same crimes will subject a white man to the like punishment. What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read or to write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then will I argue with you that the slave is a man!

For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!

Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? that he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for Republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to be understood? How should I look to-day, in the presence of Amercans, dividing, and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom? speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively. To do so, would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven that does not know that slavery is wrong for him.

What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their mastcrs? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? No! I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.

What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman, cannot be divine! Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may; I cannot. The time for such argument is passed.

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -- a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival....


...Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. "The arm of the Lord is not shortened," and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from "the Declaration of Independence," the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age. Nations do not now stand in the same relation to each other that they did ages ago. No nation can now shut itself up from the surrounding world and trot round in the same old path of its fathers without interference. The time was when such could be done. Long established customs of hurtful character could formerly fence themselves in, and do their evil work with social impunity. Knowledge was then confined and enjoyed by the privileged few, and the multitude walked on in mental darkness. But a change has now come over the affairs of mankind. Walled cities and empires have become unfashionable. The arm of commerce has borne away the gates of the strong city. Intelligence is penetrating the darkest corners of the globe. It makes its pathway over and under the sea, as well as on the earth. Wind, steam, and lightning are its chartered agents. Oceans no longer divide, but link nations together. From Boston to London is now a holiday excursion. Space is comparatively annihilated. -- Thoughts expressed on one side of the Atlantic are distinctly heard on the other.

The far off and almost fabulous Pacific rolls in grandeur at our feet. The Celestial Empire, the mystery of ages, is being solved. The fiat of the Almighty, "Let there be Light," has not yet spent its force. No abuse, no outrage whether in taste, sport or avarice, can now hide itself from the all-pervading light. The iron shoe, and crippled foot of China must be seen in contrast with nature. Africa must rise and put on her yet unwoven garment. 'Ethiopia, shall, stretch. out her hand unto Ood." In the fervent aspirations of William Lloyd Garrison, I say, and let every heart join in saying it:

God speed the year of jubilee
The wide world o'er!
When from their galling chains set free,
Th' oppress'd shall vilely bend the knee,
And wear the yoke of tyranny
Like brutes no more.
That year will come, and freedom's reign,
To man his plundered rights again
Restore.

God speed the day when human blood
Shall cease to flow!
In every clime be understood,
The claims of human brotherhood,
And each return for evil, good,
Not blow for blow;
That day will come all feuds to end,
And change into a faithful friend
Each foe.

God speed the hour, the glorious hour,
When none on earth
Shall exercise a lordly power,
Nor in a tyrant's presence cower;
But to all manhood's stature tower,
By equal birth!
That hour will come, to each, to all,
And from his Prison-house, to thrall
Go forth.

Until that year, day, hour, arrive,
With head, and heart, and hand I'll strive,
To break the rod, and rend the gyve,
The spoiler of his prey deprive --
So witness Heaven!
And never from my chosen post,
Whate'er the peril or the cost,
Be driven.




The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, Volume II
Pre-Civil War Decade 1850-1860
Philip S. Foner
International Publishers Co., Inc., New York, 1950

Medgar Evers College belongs to Central Brooklyn!

This was sent to me and I felt compelled to share it with the Put On BLAST! family. Please read and circulate widely.

OPEN LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY
Mission of Medgar Evers College Continues to be in Jeopardy
New Administration’s Stance Toward Medgar Evers College’s
Mission Raises Grave Concerns

On Tuesday, June 22, the new administration of Medgar Evers College, reneged on its agreement to continue to host the 14 year old Jazzy Jazz Concert Series during the months of June, July and August. This abrupt decision to cancel the jazz series three days before it was scheduled to begin is further evidence that the new administration of Medgar Evers is not committed to the mission of Medgar Evers.

Two core goals of the College’s mission are:

• to improve students' understanding of self, past and present societies, and future trends by providing them with a liberal education which communicates the knowledge of tradition, the teachings of scholars, and the beauty and profundity of their cultural heritage and
• to offer co-curricular social, economic, and cultural programs which serve its students and a broad population of community residents.

By abruptly canceling this program without adequate time to explore other options the College has disrupted a legacy and denied the community residents of central Brooklyn with an opportunity to hear legendary jazz artists perform within their own community.

On Tuesday, June 22, the Director of the Jazzy Jazz series received a hand-delivered package stating that the Jazzy Jazz Program was canceled and would not be funded because the program was held on a Friday when the College was closed and that this would require extra security.

The Director of Jazzy Jazz and the VP for External Affairs at Medgar Evers had been meeting over the last month to plan for the upcoming jazz series. A comprehensive schedule had been developed; artists had been contacted and given contracts; media services had been consulted and discussion re: public relations and promoting of the event had been held. The Jazzy Jazz Concert Series was posted on the College’s and CUNY’s event page website.

Jazzy Jazz, founded at Medgar Evers College by the late Dr. Mary Umolu, has been a staple at Medgar Evers College on Friday summer nights since 1996. “To cancel this 14th year concert dedicated to the late Dr. Mary Umolu is a real disappointment. We had marquee artists lined up,” said Michael Howard, Chair of United Music Makers and facilitator of the Jazzy Jazz festival series.

Jitu Weusi, Chair of the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium, long time community activist and resident and retired educator said, “The canceling of Jazzy Jazz which is a program originating out of the contributions of the late Dr. Mary Umolu, a life long resident of central Brooklyn who understood the organic relationship between the community and the college, illustrates that the current President is not in tune with the community and the needs of the community.”

The cancellation of this program follows the actions listed below by the new administration. These actions violate the integrity of the mission of Medgar Evers College:

The attempt to move the commencement from the College to BAM without proper input from the College’s commencement committee represented by faculty, students, administrators and the community.

The attempt to stop the funding for the Center for NuLeadership’s Reentry Program which would provide formerly incarcerated men and women with a chance to acquire a college education.

The situation at Medgar Evers College is raising grave concerns. Call Dr. Pollard at (718) 270-5000 or email him at wlpollard@mec.cuny.edu and express your concern over his most recent non-support of the rich cultural program in our community.

Salute to Sundiata

On Thursday, March 4th, 73 year-old former Black Panther, Sundiata Acoli - the beloved comrade of Assata Shakur - will face the NJ Parole Board for a critical hearing determining his eligibility for release after serving more than 37 years in prison.

Join us at C L O U D on the eve of this significant and important day to send up some positive vibes for Baba Sundiata Acoli in honor of his sacrifices and contributions.

Commissary donations for Sundiata in any amount are welcome and will be collected by the Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign.

Send your love, light and best wishes up and come on through.

A secret location at ??? Macon Street btw Throop & Garvey in BKLYN
http://cloudinthestuy.blogspot.com/

NO COVER
DJ ASEN JAMES spins til 2AM

Send message to event admin or email: TheSAFC@gmail.com for location details and info

For more information about Sundiata visit:
www.sundiataacoli.org
www.myspace.com/freesundiata