Dear Readers:
The following two articles are a perfect example of "spin". My commentary after each attempts to point out what is behind the stories, what they don't want you to think about.
A.J.B.
THIS WAS IN THE JOURNAL NEWS
Debating the 'N-word'
By SUZAN CLARKETHE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: March 5, 2007)
When Alfred Nyarko is with his friends, they call each other by a word that is frequently used by many other young blacks.
Nigger.
Nyarko said the way he and his friends pronounce the word - sounding as if it ends in the letter a, not the letters e-r - makes all the difference.
"I mean, that's what I've been saying ever since I was younger. I call everybody that," the 19-year-old Rockland Community College student said, adding that he even called a few close white friends that word.
But it raises Stella Marrs' ire when she hears people throwing the word about.
"They don't know what they're saying," said Marrs, the former executive director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Spring Valley.
The taboo word, commonly referred to as the "N-word," is used frequently by young people, particularly blacks or others of color.
Michael Richards unleashed forceful debate about who may use the word and in what context after the comedian of "Seinfeld" sitcom fame went on his now infamous, epithet-laced tirade against black patrons at the Laugh Factory last year.
Recent local events have furthered the discussion.
Last month, Nyack village trustees adopted a resolution in which they unanimously called for a symbolic moratorium on the word's use.
On Wednesday, the New York City Council adopted a nonbinding resolution prohibiting the word's use. The Westchester County Board of Legislators approved a similar measure last month, and other municipalities are considering action on the issue.
Public response to the efforts - the moratoria carry no legal penalties - has varied.
Many support raising awareness, but some question any attempt - symbolic or otherwise - to limit free speech. Others wonder about the furor over what they say is only a word.Offensive or evolving?
Across race or ethnicity, for many who hear it, the six-letter word elicits a wrenching, almost physical reaction -invoking 400 years of blacks' subjugation, suppression, exploitation, torment and tyranny at the hands of white oppressors.
Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary 2005 defines the word as an "offensive" term for a black person or for a member of any dark-skinned race. It comes from the Middle French word "negre," which means "black."
The dictionary's usage note says the word "now ranks as perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English."
But to many the word's impact has evolved.
Larry Clay Dillard, an attorney from Haverstraw who said he believed any attempt to limit use of the word would represent an "onslaught" upon free speech, said "flagging the word retards discussion" on the issue of racism.
"I think the word is not so much inflammatory as it is a historic reminder that many people would prefer to forget," said Dillard, who is one of a few blacks to have served as trustee at RCC. "We have taken the word and recalibrated it and by recalibrating it, we've used it as a signpost of where we were and where we ought to be."
Nyack Mayor John Shields takes a different view. It was his strong feeling about the issue, developed during his 30 years as a New York City schoolteacher, that sparked the village moratorium.
He would hear students use the the word, and that bothered him.
"Finally, one day they walked into the room and I said, 'Hi,' and I used the word and they stopped in their tracks," said Shields, who is white. "They said, 'You can't say that word.' And I said, 'Why?' and they said, 'It's different.' "
But if the word were something blacks could use with pride, Shields contended, everyone should be able to use it. If that general use creates friction, then that means saying the word is not OK for anyone.
Charlton McIlwain, assistant professor of culture and communication at New York University, said he believed attempts to ban the word were "misguided."
"I think, in most instances, that sort of casual usage, especially among African-Americans, is an attempt to say, here's a term that was historically used by whites to demean us, to keep us subservient, to show that we are inferior," he said. "And our use of the word, casually to friends, to people that we think are affiliated with us is not to offend, but to bind us together. I think that's a positive way to take some of that power out of the term."
Formerly negative terms in recent history have undergone transformations. McIlwain said the word "black" was redefined and popularized as a description for black people when singer James Brown focused on it.
Nyarko, the RCC student, was born in Ghana and came to the United States when he was 5 years old.
The Spring Valley man, now an education student, said no attempt to prevent use of the word would stop him from saying what he viewed as a term of endearment.
"My generation, we've been raised on calling each other that. We weren't raised on calling it any kind of hate," he said. "For them to tell us we shouldn't use the word ... you can't stop something natural from happening."
Starr Howell was one of several Mount Vernon High School students who discussed the issue during a workshop last week.
Howell, 15, said she frequently used the word as a greeting.
"We don't say it to harm anyone and I don't say it around teachers or adults," the ninth-grader said. "I'm going to try not to say it, but it is going to take a lot of control. The word is everywhere."
Another student, Laasia Murdock, said most teens used the word because they wanted to be part of the in crowd. Not using the word could lead to them being picked on. Murdock called the common use of the word a "fad" and said she didn't see herself using it as an adult.
"Some things get played out when you grow up," the 14-year-old said.A message to nonblacks
Dr. Alvin Poussaint, a race relations expert, author and psychiatrist at Harvard University, has said the frequent use of the word - particularly its rising use in rap music - was not positive.
Groups of every type have taken derogatory terms for themselves and used them in camaraderie with each other, he said, but when blacks call each other by the word, it sends a message to nonblacks.
Society allows ethnic groups to use derogatory terms for themselves, but wider society also takes some satisfaction from it, he said.
"They don't have to feel any blame, but they may delight in the fact that it's being used because they're thinking of it in another way, and it's also reinforcing in their minds that it's OK to say that word," he said.
Nyarko said he thought whites generally should not use the word.
"If they're close to me and they say it, it might be OK because I'm cool with them," he said. "If some random white boy in the school (said it), that's different."
To Marrs, who marched during the civil rights era, the appearance of the word in popular culture and casual communication portrays the users' ignorance of history.
"The problem is they don't understand the meaning, they don't understand the hangings, they don't understand the castrations, they don't understand the whippings, they don't understand being separated from your family." Marrs said. "They don't understand that, because if they understood that, maybe they'd look at it differently."
She favors penalizing distributors of music that, she said, demeans an entire community and gives the impression that it's OK to use the word.
Dillard said he could understand how some in the community might feel.
"I don't want you to think I'm naive. I know it's a hurtful, invasive thing to hear, particularly to people over 50, people who felt the lash of that word and the denial caused by that word," he said. "But I'm saying that, like anything that causes growth, it causes pain. And there is no growth without pain. So let's talk about it."
Staff writer Desiree Grand contributed information to this report.Reach Suzan Clarke at snclarke@lohud.com or 845-578-2414.
MY COMMENTS ON THIS:
(Sorry I was late in getting to this)
Dear Readers:
When did it become popular for elected representatives to ignore the constitution they were sworn to uphold. I realize the primary objective of entrenched politicians is the retention of office, but to do so by trashing the constitution, is elected office really worth it? You see in order to pander for votes, our lawmakers have voted on a symbolic resolution to ban the "n"-word". The first protection our founding fathers sought for the people was the protection of speech (Congress shall make NO law etc.). They did not add exceptions for derogatory, incentive or symbolic resolutions. Nor did they make exeptions for local State, County, City or Town legislators to do so either(the pertinet part: MAKE NO LAW). The speech that needs protection the most is that speech we find offensive and/or unpopular. This is not to defend the use of offensive terms, but to express anger at their remedy. They are saying look at us, we passed a symbolic resolution banning the "n"-word", don't we all feel better, now vote for me. What most people forget is that for every right there is a responsibility. To have the right to be offensive does not mean it is right to be offensive. This is called personal responsibility. What these elected leaders are saying is that you are so irresponsible in handling this cherished right, that we are going to symbolically trash the same constitution that protects your rights, just to shut you up.
That this resolution is symbolic and as such cannot be enforced, matters not. One day they will make a real law abridging your right to free speech. You laugh, but laugh not, look at McCain-Feingold and how with the blessings of the Supreme Court, ripped apart the first amendment. The primary speech our founders sought to protect was political speech. So after you get away with the atrocity of McCain- Feingold, you go the next step and start passing these symbolic resolutions, and after that real laws.
Instead of rewarding these representatives for their symbolically trashing of our rights for the sole purpose of pandering to our basest instincts, they should be voted out of office at the first opportunity for being opportunistic. These symbolic resolutions( political correctness run wild), and real laws(McCain-Feingold) are ruses used to stop dissenting speech. Somebody dissagrees with you, call them racist(like they do when you talk about illegal immigration) Look beyond the pandering and see the meaning of what they are doing. The thinking behind action such as these are that our rights come from government. Our founding document (the Declaration Of Independence) of this great experiment called the United States, invokes that our rights are not given to us by a governing body , but by a higher power and cannot be taken away. The powers of those that govern are given by the consent of the governed. Some how in all the bustle of life, I think we forget that basic principal, I know with resolutions like this our lawmakers have forgotten. Not only that, but also be offended that they are doing this on your dime. I guess this is the hard work they alluded to when they voted themselves a raise last year. That's right you are paying them, it's your tax money that pays them to fritter away at ways to shut you up. Don't let them get away with treating you like fools. If they have no respect for the constitution, how much respect can they have for the voter?
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AN EDITORIAL IN THE JOURNAL NEWS
And now the 'V' word
(Original publication: March 7, 2007)
Administrators at a northern Westchester high school who tried to stop three students from saying a particular word at a school "Open Mic Night'' couldn't have done more to give voice to the word "vagina'' if they had tattooed it on their foreheads.
That, of course, was and remains the intent of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues,'' written in 1996, translated into 45 languages and performed worldwide ever since: Take a biologically correct term for a woman's body part, use it in the title of a play, repeat it throughout performances and shock listeners into reckoning - not just that females have vaginas; not just that girls and women can be terribly uncomfortable or uneducated about their own bodies; but that women and girls exist in a sexually explicit and often violent world, the same world where a word unique to their sex can barely be uttered.
It has been more than a decade since Ensler issued her challenge, yet "vagina'' remains threatening, and censored. This week, fiery debate over it is ricocheting around John Jay High School in Cross River, throughout the Katonah-Lewisboro school district and community, zinging across news pages and Web sites. Three girls wanted to perform an excerpt from Ensler's play at a school function Friday night. Trouble was, it just happened to have the "V'' word - actually, "vagina's'' - in it.
There had been a pre-audition to the "Open Mic Night'' ("open'' being the non-operative word here). The students were told by faculty that the word was not suitable; children could be in the audience, and the event was being videotaped for local cable television. But when it came to facing the microphone, juniors Megan Reback, Elan Stahl and Hannah Levinson read the verse's last line together: "My short skirt is a liberation flag in the women's army. I declare these streets, any streets, my vagina's country.''
The high school's official reaction is now widely known: Each student was given one-day, in-school suspension, to be served this week - not, district officials said, because of censorship but insubordination. John Jay High School Principal Rich Leprine explained in a letter: "When a student is told by faculty members not to present specified material because of the composition of the audience and they agree to do so, it is expected that the commitment will be honored and the directive will be followed. When a student chooses not to follow the directive, consequences follow. The students did not receive consequences because of the content of the presentation.'' We presume he wrote that with a straight face.
Search the word "vagina'' on the state Education Department's Web site, and it comes up 17 times, including in science curriculum guidelines and on biology Regents exams. "Vagina'' is a part of the female anatomy; it's downright educational - as we're sure the folks at John Jay High School have learned.
MY COMMENTS ON THIS:
Dear Readers:
Any connection between these three girls and our County legislators "symbolic" banning of the "n"-word, is illusionary. There is a biiiiiiig difference between an elected body "symbolically" trashing the Constitution and the minors (this is a relevant point, missed by the editorial board) disobeying a recognized authority. It has already been established the pupils in school have limited rights(we can search their lockers without warrants). Every school newspaper has a teacher to decide what can and cannot be printed(hence no freedom of the press). No, school faculty are a recognized arbitrary authority. They told the girls that they cannot perform this piece(I just love the editorial comment disparaging the school's explanation as if it was untrue and/or irrelevant). The school had the authority to make that determination. The girls defied that dictate and performed the piece anyway and suffered the consequences one suffers when recognized authority is ignored(think of no-parking tickets). To make these girls out to be victims instead of disrespectful of authority teenagers is to promote anarchy. You may disagree with authority, but in doing so you must be willing to suffer the consequences. There was and is no threat to free speech here, but there is a threat to the rule of law if we continue to make these teenagers out to be victims. To operate as a civilized people we must have respect for authority. This editorial makes a mockery of that, and as adults they should know better, shame on them.
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THIS WAS IN THE NORTH COUNTY NEWS
Yorktown Farms passes
By Adriane Tillman
The Town Board approved a controversial rezoning of a 43-acre parcel in northeast Yorktown that brings sewers to 67 homes and a church. Council members voted 4-1 in favor of the rezone at the February 27 work session that will allow developer Val Santucci to move forward with plans for a 22-home project known as Yorktown Farms. Councilman Nick Bianco cast the dissenting vote.Santucci originally proposed building 34 homes on half-acre lots before the land was upzoned to two acres as a result of the updated Comprehensive Plan in 2005. The new zoning would have permitted Santucci to build only 12 homes. The board went for the change after the parties eventually compromised on 22 homes in exchange for Santucci providing sewers for 67 homes, Grace Lutheran Church and providing funds for a soccer field somewhere in Yorktown. Santucci also agreed to erase a paper road to the south on his blueprints that could have allowed further development in the future.
Taking the reins Bianco decided the deal created a slippery slope for zoning laws. “Zoning should not be for sale with approvals going to the highest bidder,” Bianco said. “No wonder at a Planning Board meeting one planner referred to this application as the bribery subdivision.” Zoning should be determined by municipal planners and land development principles, not by developers with the highest bid, Bianco continued.The town also needs to address the sewer problem for everyone in the town, he added. While the project provides sewers for some, it also increases traffic and school taxes for all Yorktown residents.
Affordable housing qualms Santucci will also not be mandated to include 10 percent of affordable housing, as Yorktown requires. At the February 20 board meeting, council members exempted the project from the mandate because it was already significantly into its permitting process when the law was enacted.
MY COMMENTS ON THIS:
Dear Readers:
I guess that history does start when you wake up in the morning. It was four loooong year that this town board maintained a purgatory of a moratorium on building so they could institute a "town-wide comprehensive plan". So now the first time that "plan" is tested, these same board members who tortured the town with that moratorium sell out to the highest bidder. The lone person of conviction was Councilman Nick Bianco. I guess convictions going rate is 67 sewers, and a pumping station. What was that moratorium about? What was that comprehensive plan about? Were they just starting points for the highest bidder? I get it now, as this is an election year for local officials, the going rate for convictions is 67 votes. I believe the only one deserving of votes is Councilman Bianco who risked those votes to remain true to his convictions. After this vote it is time to hang a "for sale" sign on those pretty green signs you see as you enter Yorktown.
ED. NOTE: It should be noted that I was against both the moratorium and comprehensive plan
at the time, and I put it in wrtitng back then.
A.J.B.
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THIS WAS IN THE JOURNAL NEWS
Controversy envelops Peekskill Housing Authority
By Marcela RojasThe Journal News(Original Publication: March 8, 2007)
PEEKSKILL - Plans to suspend the executive director of the Peekskill Housing Authority were foiled this week after housing board commissioners failed to follow proper procedures.
Gheevarghese "Thomas" Than-kachan, who has headed the housing authority for four years, evaded the temporary removal Monday after it was determined that board members did not give timely notification of their meeting. A week ago, four of the six commissioners met to suspend Thankachan, but had only given two days' public notice of their special meeting, not the requisite 10, officials said.
"They had a secret meeting and that is improper and illegal," said Thankachan, who previously served as the housing authority's legal counsel. "They gave me no reason as to why they wanted to suspend me."
The matter has been tabled until March 15, said Chairman Mel Bolden, a Common Council member. Bolden said he was not notified of the last meeting and did not attend it. He declined to comment on why the board wants to suspend Thankachan and whether he agreed with the plan.
Thankachan said he suspected the city was trying to remove him so it can get rid of public housing. Some in the community contend that Mayor John Testa wants to sell Bohlmann Towers, a federally subsidized apartment complex on Main Street where police are often called to handle complaints, to private developers. Fueling this theory is the mayor's recent reappointment to the housing commission of Leesther Brown, a woman who some complain is cantankerous and regularly harasses tenants, particularly Hispanics, and housing authority staff members.
"The mayor and city administration are using Leesther Brown to demobilize the housing authority," said Nick Mottern, a Peekskill activist who lives in Hastings-on-Hudson. "She was reappointed to the housing authority after numerous complaints were filed with Peekskill police because of her behavior. She has some, I would say, pretty serious emotional problems."
Testa said complaints against Brown were unfounded and politically motivated.
"These are activists who are trying to cause unrest in the community. These are people trumping up issues that are not true," Testa said. "There have been no laws broken by this woman. She is a member of the community who has tried to make public housing a safer and better place to live."
Testa said he had no agenda to get rid of Bohlmann Towers.
"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. It's a HUD-owned building," he said, referring to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Councilwoman Drew Claxton, a Democrat, said she had questioned the Republican mayor on Brown's reappointment, as well as other housing board appointments in the past year. The appointments were made without consulting the City Council, she said.
"There have been a number of letters written to the mayor from Thomas (Thankachan) about Leesther Brown harassing tenants and complaints brought to the police," Claxton said. "The question is, 'Is this an appropriate appointment and what is the strategy behind this?' "
Claxton said Thankachan has done a good job and there have been no grievances against him, except for Brown's.
"The housing authority has made a lot of improvements both to the building (Bohlmann Towers) and the quality of life to residents there," Claxton said. "I don't see what benefit destabilizing the Peekskill Housing Authority does for our community."
Brown said the whole issue has been muddled, adding that the board was only trying to improve the conditions of the housing authority's properties. The agency oversees five apartment complexes and nine other units in one- and two-family homes.
"This clash is with management style," Brown said. "There's a misalignment between the board and management and it's unhealthy. All of this is based on the safety and security of the tenants."
Brown said she is appalled by the conditions at Bohlmann Towers and the Dunbar Heights apartments, with frequent drug arrests, gunfire and weapons being thrown out of windows.
"I'm just trying to make a difference and people don't understand that," she said. "I've never done anything wrong."
Peekskill police said they've investigated complaints against Brown but have found nothing criminal.
Brown said Claxton was targeting her because of her allegations regarding the councilwoman's son and his relationship with a girl who was murdered in 1989.
Claxton impeded the investigation by not allowing police to take a DNA sample from her son, Freddie, following the murder of Angela Correa, Brown said.
Jeffrey Deskovic served 15 years in prison for the murder after he was wrongfully convicted. He has been released and another man - not Claxton's son - has confessed to the killing. Brown took Deskovic in after his release from prison last year.
"Drew Claxton is after me because of Jeffrey Deskovic," Brown said.
Claxton said a DNA sample was never requested and that her son never had a relationship with Correa, although it was intimated at Deskovic's trial that he did.
"This is an outright lie," Claxton said. "It is harassing. It is retaliatory. This is yet another typical outbreak and her attempts at trying to reverse something."
MY COMMENTS ON THIS:
Dear Readers:
Last night (03/12/07) I attended the Peekskill Council meeting at City Hall. For those of you who see the meeting on cable chanel 15 you are in for a bumpy night. The chamber was overflowing with people, angry people, scared people all because a group of people( a few from out of town!!) with a agenda to pander to fear and race baiting, told a bald face lie that the city of Peekskill was going to sell Bohlmann Towers and convert it to co-ops. No matter how any times it was pointed out that Bohlmann was the property of HUD, thus federal property and there are NO plans to close it down, because the flames of fear and race were stoked to the boiling point by those with the agenda of divisiveness, the majority of people did not want to hear that. These innocent, scared people, played as pawns were truly afraid they were going to be homeless. There is a special place in hell for people, who for the gain of power scare the beejeebers out of people to the point that truth does not matter anymore.
The problem with a group of scared people, is you cannot control where the group will go. Nobody involved in this was left unscarred by personal invective. The loud insinuations stated as fact, with no basis in truth ran rampant throughout the meeting. I was waiting for Mayor Testa and Councilman Bolden to sprout horns and a tail. What these fear and race flame throwers were spouting to a scared audience is beneath contempt. In a related matter the personal attacks in the Journal News blogs against Councilwoman Drew Claxton spawned by the above article has no place in the arena of ideas. I have had my issue differences with Drew both in print and in person, but they never sunk to the level of the personal, and does more damage to the credibility of those who spread this personal invective than the goals they wish to achieve. Councilwoman Claxton has a record as a sitting Councilwoman that can be argued, that this need to destroy her personally is truly distastful, AND IT MUST STOP. Councilwoman Claxton is NOT up for election this year, and to smear her personally as a means to smear the ticket is a cheap way to score points. Whatever the Democratic ticket for this years election may be, they CAN be defeated on the issues. It was wrong in the past and at the meeting when personal attacks were used against Mayor Testa, a man of true personal integrity whether you agree with him or not, and knowing this I can state flat out that Mayor Testa is NOT involved in these attacks on Councilwoman Claxton through the blogs, you can take that to the bank. It was wrongat the meeting for the personal attacks on the credibility of Councilman Bolden, a man who truly cares about the citizens of Peekskill. Those attacks are used by people who cannot beat him on the issues. That these attacks at the meeting on Councilman Bolden and Councilwoman Martinez were leveled by people who live outside the community show how barren they are, for the citizens of Peekskill know better. It is just as wrong for these blog related personal attacks on Councilwoman Claxton. It does not matter who started it, that is school yard stuff, IT MUST END. There is no good that can come of it, though a lot of unnecessary pain. Most of all it does a disservice to the political process where disagreements should ONLY be argued in the arena of ideas.
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SITES TO LINK TO:
ON THE OTHER HAND W/ FORMER PEEKSKILL COUNCILMAN SCHMIDT: http://peekskillperspectives.blogspot.com/
PLAN PUTNAM: planputnam@googlegroups.com/
PLAN PUTNAM BLOG: http://planputnam.blogspot.com/
PEEKSKILL GUARDIAN: http://peekskillguardian.blogspot.com/
NORTH COUNTY NEWS: http://northcountynews.com/
THE JOURNAL NEWS: http://thejournalnews.com/
PEEKSKILL DEMOCRATS: http://www.peekskilldems.com/
PEEKSKILL REPUBLICANS: http://peekskillgop.com/
PEEKSKILL MAYOR JOHN TESTA'S STATE OF THE CITY ADRESS: For further information about the City's progress in economic development, neighborhood revitalization, downtown revitalization, waterfront redevelopment, code enforcement and quality of life initiatives, infrastructure improvements, business growth, historic preservation, and open government, read Mayor Testa's complete State of the City Address, which is available by clicking this link.
*************************************************************************************CABLE SHOWS TO WATCH:
ON POINT ON PEEKSKILL: Every Tuesday at 8PM chanel 15 (Peekskill only)Hosted by: DARREN RIGGER
DON PETERS AND YORKTOWN: Every Tuesday at 10PM chanel 22
Hosted by: DON PETERS
*************************************************************************************EDITOR'S NOTE:All articles re-printed in this blog from the North County News are with the permission of Bruce Apar Publisher and Editor-in-Chief.
BAZZO 03/13/07
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