A Park Slope high school held a town hall meeting to discuss recent reports that school safety officers have been demanding students leave the neighborhood when school gets out.
Park Slope School Holds Meeting to Discuss Reports About School Safety Officers
Sat, 11 Oct 2014 04:14:58 GMT
Date: November 17, 2012
Corn husk dolls were made by Native Americans in the Northeastern part of the United States. Both boys and girls played with these dolls that are made from one of the three most important crops – corn. Create your own doll using corn.
Free but advanced registration is required.
Start time: 10:00 am
End time: 12:00 pm
Contact phone: (212) 923-8008
Location: Morris-Jumel Mansion (in Roger Morris Park)
Family Workshop - Corn Husk Dolls
Sun, 11 Nov 2012 05:00:02 GMT
Sandbox Program in Central Park's Playgrounds
Date: July 17, 2012
Plan your play date in the playground for some extra fun this summer!
The Conservancy's longest-running series of programming, celebrating its 23rd consecutive summer in 2012, will bring music, dance, puppets, and storytelling to a playground near you. These Sandbox Programs happen in different playgrounds all over Central Park on weekdays at 11am and 2pm.Sandbox Dance: Feel the rhythm and learn some new moves! Co-presented with Museum for African Art.
Sandbox Music: Learn to accompany live brass instruments with your own percussion under the guidance of professional teaching musicians from Central Park Brass.
Sandbox Puppets: Watch Ant and Grasshopper, Cat and Mouse, and many other characters tell folk and fairy tales brought to life by puppeteers from Wonder Spark Puppets.
Sandbox Stories: Hear stories about goblins, shoemakers, witches, princesses, fools and much more performed by New York City based storyteller Dan Kitrosser.
For children ages 3 to 8 years old and accompanying adults. No advance registration. All programs are FREE. Inclement weather will cancel these events. For more information and locations, check the Conservancy's calendar or call (212) 348-4867.
Start time: 11:00 am
End time: 12:00 pm
Contact phone: (212) 860-1370
Location: Central Park
Sandbox Program in Central Park's Playgrounds
Mon, 16 Jul 2012 04:00:02 GMT
Archery
Date: April 29, 2012
Mastering any new skill requires practice and patience. Fishing and Archery programs help develop these skills while connecting you with nature. Our experienced Rangers teach the ethics of fishing and the ecology of our waterways on every fishing program. Whether you chose to grab a simple bamboo pole at a quiet lake, or join more advanced salt water or fly fishing programs, the rangers have a program that fits your skill level. Archery is also a wonderful way to improve focus and develop patience. Our trained Rangers will demonstrate the safe and proper way to draw a bow and shoot an arrow. Archery is a great way to build upper body strength.
Families and children ages 8 years and older are welcome to participate in our fishing and archery programs. Participation in a mandatory safety review lead by a trained ranger is required. All equipment is provided. All fishing programs are catch and release only and most fishing programs are first-come, first-served. Seining programs which use nets to catch creatures close to shore, are great for kids of all ages.
Start time: 1:00 pm
End time:
Contact phone: (212) 304-3401
Location: Terrace Promenade South (in Riverside Park)
Archery
Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:00:11 GMT
That Creamy Crack Is Super Wack!!! New Study Ties Hair Relaxers To Fibroids And Early Puberty For Young Black Women
We knew that creamy crack wasn’t the healthiest product on the shelves but dayuuuuuum! It’s looking like it’s time to either go natural or stock up on that “Indian hurr.”
A new study in the American Journal of Epidemiology has linked hair relaxers to uterine fibroids, as well as early puberty in young girls.
Scientists followed more than 23,000 pre-menopausal Black American women from 1997 to 2009 and found that the two- to three-times higher rate of fibroids among black women may be linked to chemical exposure through scalp lesions and burns resulting from relaxers.
Women who got their first menstrual period before the age of 10 were also more likely to have uterine fibroids, and early menstruation may result from hair products black girls are using, according to a separate study published in the Annals of Epidemiology last summer.
Three hundred African American, African Caribbean, Hispanic, and White women in New York City were studied. The women’s first menstrual period varied anywhere from age 8 to age 19, but African Americans, who were more likely to use straightening and relaxers hair oils, also reached menarche earlier than other racial/ethnic groups.
While so far, there is only an association rather than a cause and effect relationship between relaxers, fibroid tumors, and puberty, many experts have been quick to point out that the hair care industry isn’t regulated by the FDA, meaning that there’s no definite way to fully know just how harmful standard Black hair care products really are.
This news is all bad. But at least know folks know the dangers…
Source YouTube
That Creamy Crack Is Super Wack!!! New Study Ties Hair Relaxers To Fibroids And Early Puberty For Young Black Women
thatsmybiz1
Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:50:14 GMT
ANDREW PATERSON/GETTY IMAGES
Cops arrest an average of five kids each day in city schools - and nearly all of those students are black or Hispanic, newly released data shows.
The New York Civil Liberties Union said the arrests are “unfair” and introduce minority children into the criminal justice system unnecessarily.
“Children are being sent to the precinct instead of the principal’s office for misbehaving,” said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman.
The numbers cover Oct. 1 to Dec. 30, 2011, and were released by the police to comply with a city law enacted last year.
Cops arrested 279 students -- about five a day in 55 days of classes. They also issued 532 summons to students for offenses ranging from assault to loitering -- nine a day.
Nearly 94% of the students arrested were black or Hispanic, and 75 % were male.
Black students were almost six times more likely to be arrested than white students, according to the data, Lieberman said.
Why Do So Many Young, Black Men Kill Each Other?
Across the nation, black men are killing each other at an alarming rates and the problem is only getting worse, Annette John-Hall of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
While John-Hall reports that black male-on-black male killings are a national issue, she uses her home city of Philadelphia as a case study:
Those gunshots that had you dropping to the floor on New Year’s Eve? You know, the ones that traditionally ring in the new year?
They’ve become nothing more than an S.O.S., warning us that yes, domestic terrorism is alive and well in a city where brothers kill brothers – Philadelphia.
Talk about black-on-black crime: According to stats from the Philadelphia Police Department, 75 percent of 324 victims killed last year were African American men, while 80 percent of those doing the killing were – you guessed it – black males.
John-Hall mentions Michelle Burton, a black mother who lost her 24-year-old son to gun violence. The killers have not been caught (even though the murder was caught on video according to the article) because no one is stepping forward to give police information on what happened.
“My son got killed a few feet away from here,” Burton told me. “They have it on videotape, but no one will speak up, no one will tell. . . . It’s not fair. I just want justice.”
But John-Hall suggests that the “justice” Burton wants is not up to the police to serve alone.
This article touches upon several key issues worth discussing. For one, is it true that the culture of “no snitching” is so ingratiated in the psyche of black men that city and federal government efforts to fight it are rendered useless? Think about it. How can police investigate crime if no one gives detectives information needed to solve these cases?
What is very disturbing is that a 2011 U.S. Department Of Justice study reports that blacks are six times more likely to be victims of violent crime than whites. The same study reports that blacks are eight times more likely than whites to be perpetrators of violent crime than their white counterparts.
Does this study suggest that blacks are the only people committing crime? Not at all. The same study states that 84 percent of whites are killed by whites while 93 percent of blacks are killed by blacks.
What I took from John-Hall’s article was that blacks, especially at the community level, must take ownership of their neighborhoods’ safety and security. It is us, not the police, government or any other entity that, that must ultimately police ourselves.
Let’s have a discussion about this in the comments section and on Facebook. But do read the rest of the John-Hall’s article at the Philadelphia Inquirer before joining the conversation.
Why Do So Many Young, Black Men Kill Each Other?
Terrell Jermaine Starr
Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:10:40 GMT
Walmart pulls Enfamil from shelves
Walmart stores across the country are pulling a popular baby formula from shelves after officials say it may have killed a 10-day-old infant in Springfield, Mo. Avery Cornett died Sunday of a rare infection that is sometimes linked to bacteria found in commercial formula, reports said.
Walmart pulls Enfamil from shelves
NINA MANDELL
Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:35:16 GMT
'If I Were a Poor Black Kid': Really, Forbes?
In an entry at her Angry Black Lady Chronicles blog, Imani Gandy lambastes Forbes Magazine for its decision to run the column "If I Were a Poor Black Kid," written by a white, middle-aged man. She describes the effort as dripping with white privilege, among other things.
The white privilege wafting from this article is so thick it’s practically choking me. I grew up in Philadelphia. I attended Girls High (as did my mother and my grandmother; my grandfather and great-uncle attended Central, back when it was still an all boys school.) I applied to Masterman (I don’t think I got in, but I can’t really remember, actually.)
'If I Were a Poor Black Kid': Really, Forbes?
Imani ABL
Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:56:00 GMT
REPORT: More Than Half Of Black Girls Are Sexually Assaulted
Sixty percent of black girls have experienced sexual abuse at the hands of black men before reaching the age of 18, according to an ongoing study conducted by Black Women’s Blueprint.
More than 300 black women nationwide participated in the study and 700 more are being sought to take in the survey by March 2012.
RELATED: An ‘Unlikely Victim’ Of Domestic Violence Speaks Out
Farah Tanis, Co-Founder of the New York-based organization and co-author of the study, says the issue of domestic and sexual abuse in the black community is rarely discussed and that a sixty percent rate should be a wake-up call to black women.
“A similar study which was conducted by The Black Women’s Health Imperative seven years ago found that that number was about 40 percent,” Tanis says. “So that means there is an increase and we need to stop neglecting that issue.”
D.C. Has No Love For Women Of Color
The study comes just as U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) introduced legislation reauthorizing the landmark Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) this week.
While domestic violence advocates praise both senators’ efforts to strengthen the bill, Tanis and other advocates who deal specifically with minority women are advocating for language in the new act that specifically allocates funds to communities of color. More specifically, Tanis and her organization are seeking funding for small community groups which have closer cultural ties to women of color that larger organizations don’t have.
Rita Smith, the Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, a Denver-based national organization that develops policy on domestic violence issues, says smaller domestic violence groups are often better equipped to work with women of color than larger, more traditional organizations.
“Reports from these local communities to their national representatives has made it clear for some time that victims who are Latino, African American, Asian and Native American have not been served adequately by mainstream programs,” Smith says. “For some communities it is important to establish services that address the cultural, spiritual or immigration status needs of victims, and while some mainstream programs attempt to respond to those needs, they are not universally addressing them in sufficient numbers.”
VAWA, as it is currently written, does include language that allots “grants for outreach and services to under-served populations.” But no racial language is written into the act. Federal law prohibits legislation that earmarks government funding based on race.
Back in 2005 when VAWA was being reauthorized, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) fought unsuccessfully for race-specific language to be kept in a final draft of the act. He and several of his congressional colleagues expressed what they felt was Washington’s utter disregard for women of color.
“This language was necessary because the bureaucrats at the Department of Justice were ignoring communities of color when considering grants from domestic violence, rape prevention and other organizations,” Conyers argued in Congress.
Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.), also lobbied for stronger language to be including in VAWA.
“By addressing domestic violence in these communities in a way that understands their culture and honors their values, we greatly increase the chances of making a difference for women of color who are being abused,” she said.
Washington’s historic rebuff to race-language provisions does not surprise Olivia Dowd at all.
An outreach coordinator for Black Women’s Blueprint, Dowd feels policy makers have something of an elitist outlook concerning which organizations should get funding and who should be in charge of managing the resources.
She says she has been in domestic violence sessions with mostly black women where she, despite her years of on-the-ground experience with women of color, often has to play second fiddle to a 20 or 30-something white woman with a graduate degree but lacks the sophisticated sass and ethnic intuition black women need to be uplifted emotionally from abusive relationships.
“OK, this is the deal. Take this ‘V’ and put it on your head and then another ‘V’ because you are warrior women so get over it,”Dowd said, mocking a traditional letter-game exercise that encourages women in recovery to express themselves.
“As black women, that’s how we talk to one another. That’s how we grew up. As oppose to being the white missionary saying ‘Oh, the poor natives, how bad! Let me kiss your wombs.’ [Black women] don’t work like that. That doesn’t work with us.”
Call To Action
Domestic violence advocates say black women should be particularly active in writing and calling their congressmen to support the reauthorization of the VAWA because it affects them more than any other racial group. In fact, Black women experience domestic violence at a rate 35 percent higher than white women.
Advocates say VAWA needs to include language that:
1.) Puts control of domestic and sexual abuse prevention in the hands of the community, and placing less emphasis on law enforcement. “Police are not the only answer,” Tanis says.
2.) Empowers members of immigrant communities who, for example, would go to their Vodoun or Santeria priest for help before reaching out to a more traditional source of assistance like a domestic violence hotline.
3.) Specifies the different facets of domestic abuse and that verbal violence should be legally prosecutable.
4.) Recognizes that sexual assault in black community is a growing epidemic that requires special attention and resources.
5.) Encourages and educates men, especially black men, on the issue domestic and sexual violence.
This final point, is perhaps the most contentious issue of domestic and sexual violence in the black community.
Kereen Odate, Acting Director at the Center for Women’s Development at Medgar Evers College in New York, says black women are reluctant to discuss sexual and domestic abuse for fear of “vilifying the black man.”
Odate says there has always been something of an unexplored history of sexually dysfunctional behavior in the black community that dates back to slavery. For example, Odate cites mating practices that forced black male slaves to have intercourse with female slaves as the origin of shame that keeps black communities silence about domestic and sexual abuse to this very day.
“You were raped,” Odate says, “but you weren’t raped because it was for the for purpose of making more kids to work on the plantation, so there’s a whole history involved.”
Tanis, citing the 60 percent sexual assault rate, urges black women to be more proactive in advocacy issues like supporting VAWA because no one else will fight for needs on Capital Hill.
“Its critical, whether or not we feel comfortable talking and doing something about it,” Tanis says”
NEWSONE RESOURCES: Are You Being Abused?
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, there are organizations nationwide just a phone call away that can assist you.
Safe Horizon Domestic Violence Hotline: 800.621.HOPE (4673)
National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or (206) 787-3224 (Video Phone for Deaf Callers)
For more resources on how domestic and sexual abuse affects the black community, see the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community’s fact sheet.
RELATED:
David Boston Arrested: Former NFL Player Faces Charges Of Aggravated Battery
Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan President, Pardons Imprisoned Rape Victim
REPORT: More Than Half Of Black Girls Are Sexually Assaulted
Terrell Jermaine Starr
Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:08:00 GMT
1 Student Arrested Every Day In NYC Schools, 94% Are Black Or Latino
According to new data released by the NYPD [pdf], an average of one student is arrested every day in the city's school system, and three others are issued summonses. During summer school from July through September, four students each day are arrested, and 94% of those arrested are black or Latino, and 83% are male. "The data raise concerns about black students being disproportionately arrested in the city's schools," Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the NYCLU says in a release. "If the Bloomberg administration is truly serious about closing the achievement gap, then they must address this disparity and focus more attention on educating children—not arresting them.” [ more › ]
1 Student Arrested Every Day In NYC Schools, 94% Are Black Or Latino
Christopher Robbins
Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:27:22 GMT
Like the rest of America, I found myself getting sick after reading about the sex abuse scandal at Penn State University. The detailed reports are nothing less than mortifying, and I am among those who believe that this university should pay tens of millions to the victims and their families in order to make things right. I also find myself wondering if anyone other than former Penn State Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky should be going to jail over this – there appear to be numerous accomplices who should be losing more than just their jobs.
But a radio conversation I had this afternoon with Santita Jackson (the daughter of Rev. Jesse Jackson) led me to reflect on the buzz that this case has suddenly created within the African American community. Black folks are increasingly concerned about the fact that many of the victims were Black boys, and wondering if race created an additional layer of vulnerability. In light of this, I thought about a few things that I’m asking myself about this pathetic and tragic situation.
1) How many of those boys were Black?
Many of my associates noticed that media reports of the Penn State/Sandusky sex scandal featured a great deal of code language: At-risk youth, under-privileged kids, etc. In many circles, and in a country that enjoys hiding from racial realities, these words effectively mean “Black boys.” This is supplemented by the fact that many programs to “help” Black youth are also feeder programs for universities seeking to extract wealth from the extraordinary abilities of the Black male athlete. Based on my (as my friend calls it) “negro intuition,” I’m willing to bet that more than a few of these boys were Black.
The fact that the children might have been Black boys doesn’t make the scandal any worse than it already is. But it does create a heightened reaction from a community that is sick of seeing Black men victimized in far too many walks of life. It also leads some to wonder if race played a role in Sandusky’s fetishes, or the tone of the university’s response.
2) How did NCAA economic power play a role in the cover-up?
It’s a common fact that the NCAA earns hundreds of millions of dollars each year on the backs of unpaid athletes. Many of these athletes come from underprivileged communities, and already find themselves dominated by the massive financial power of this professional sports league. Yes, I said “professional:” everyone in this league makes professional money except for the individuals who actually do the work. We can’t let a mere technicality keep us from calling out the system for what it is.
Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno and other administrators likely swept Sandusky’s activities under the rug because they were trying to protect their massive cash cow. In that regard, the university came to the concerted conclusion that protecting the reputation of the Penn State University football program was more important than protecting the innocence of young children. Only a keen addiction to the power of money can make a group of educated men and women do such an evil thing.
If the Penn State program were truly amateur (as the NCAA would like for us to believe), there would not be millions of dollars on the line and the Penn State football program would not have an economic value that matches many professional sports organizations. This would have made a difference in the degree to which administrators felt pressured to make unethical decisions to protect a billion dollar brand. In other words, the Penn State University sex scandal was yet another example of just how far NCAA members are willing to go in order to protect their wealth.
The Penn State/Sandusky child sex scandal is simply among the worst and latest of a slew of ethical compromises regularly made by universities that earn millions from collegiate athletics. Over the last 20 years, I’ve seen students taken out of classes for big games, having their majors changed to fit their football schedules, and even leaving college without ever learning how to read with administrators hiding the fact that the star on the team barely knows his A-B-Cs. The pattern is reprehensible, and reminds us of how NCAA athletic money has served to corrupt numerous institutions, turning them into a glaring hypocritical embodiment of capitalism gone wild.
3) Did race play a role in the way Penn State responded to the abuse?
One can only hope that race wasn’t a factor in the decision of leading Penn State officials to overlook a serial child predator in their ranks. But African Americans have good reason to be concerned and skeptical. When Black kids go missing, the media almost never notices. When Black children are being shot in “the hood,” nobody cares. Black men are incarcerated at holocaust proportions, but few politicians show even a hint of concern. In light of these realities, it’s not entirely inconceivable that Sandusky chose his targets for the same reason that many serial killers murder prostitutes with no family — it’s easy to get away with the unthinkable when you go after the victim that no one cares about.
This leads me to my final question.
4) What if Jerry Sandusky was a Black man having sex with white boys?
While I hold that we don’t know the race of all the abused children, I truly believe that many of these young men were Black. While the race of the victim has no impact on the severity or relevance of the crime, it has been proven in numerous academic studies that race does impact the magnitude of the punishment. For example, had OJ Simpson not killed a white woman, his case would have been in the media for about a week.
The NCAA has ruined the careers of numerous Black male athletes over even the tiniest of infractions: Getting free tattoos, taking a few hundred dollars from a booster, or asking to be compensated in a manner that is remotely consistent with their massive market value. You would expect that an institution (the NCAA) that has the ability to catch an athlete taking free lunch would also be able to identify a man who has been sexually abusing children in campus facilities for decades. The truth, however, is that we tend to only find the things that we’re actually looking for, and I suspect that the desire to protect young men and women hardly inspires as much passion as the NCAA’s desire to protect its money – for example, the NCAA has no problem seeing the star player’s mother being evicted rather than share its money with the players and their families.
I can’t help but wonder if the Penn State scandal would have been swept under the rug had a Black coach (or athlete) been found abusing a young white kid in the showers in the same manner as Jerry Sandusky. Would the free passes Sandusky has received from the judge (who volunteered with his charity), prosecutors and the university have come to pass if the situation had been shaped differently? While we might presume that any Penn State coach would have been protected in the same way, it’s not difficult to speculate that race might be a factor in a case such as this.
Only time will tell how Penn State University overcomes one of the most tragic scandals in the history of college sports. But I hold to the premise that these kids were sold out for money, and it is for this reason that we should all be ashamed. If Penn State were truly an amateur athletic organization, such a terrible cover-up would never have happened.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Syracuse Professor and founder of ALARM, the Athlete Liberation Academic Reform Movement. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.
Dr. Boyce: How Many Of Those Penn State Victims Were Black?
Dr. Boyce Watkins
Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:10:52 GMT
KIDDIE CRUISE – AN ALL INCLUSIVE FAMILY EVENT SELECT SUNDAYS MAY THROUGH OCTOBER 2011 BOARDING 12:00pm – 12:30pm SAILING 12:30 PM TO 2:30 PM QUEEN OF HEARTS: PIER #40 WEST SIDE HIGHWAY AND WEST HO...
Event Date & Time: 06/12/2011 12:00 PM
Location: Pier 40
kiddie cruise
Sun, 12 Jun 2011 03:15:49 GMT
