Sep 24 2008
Saturday evening, I attended an outdoor showing of "East of LIberty: The Fear of Us," the second in a series of documentaries by local filmmaker Chris Ivey.
The original "East of Liberty" documentary happened almost by accident: Ivey was filming an event celebrating the demolition of the East Libery Mall high-rise when he noticed that some people, the people who had lived there, were not celebrating. He turned his attention to them and began to record their stories. Now he is engaged in a multi-part effort to document the transformation of a neighborhood.
In "The Fear of Us," Ivey speaks with real estate developers, small business owners and residents to uncover themes of race, class and gentrification.
More than one speaker in the movie notes that what is happening now in East LIberty will affect surrounding neighborhoods, including Homewood. At one point, Justin Strong, owner of the Shadow Lounge cafe, looks into the camera to speak directly to viewers, "Buy land in Homewood!"
Rashad Byrdsong stopped by and spoke with Chris about the possiblity of showing the "The Fear of Us" at a "Brother to Brother" gathering. The film could certainly serve as the basis for powerful, enlightening discussion.
Whether or not that happens, there are three more outdoor showings scheduled: Saturday at 8:30 p.m., at the Ozanam Cultural Center, 1833 Wylie Avenue; Sunday at 7:30 p.m., on Flagstaff Hill in Schenley Park; and Saturday, October 4, at 7:30 p.m. at Lincoln School, 6907 Frankstown Avenue, at the intersection of Frankstown and Lincoln.
The advertising for Saturday's showing said that there would be a discussion afterward, but technical difficulties delayed the presentation to the extent that that didn't happen (also, I don't think there were ever more than five people watching - which surprised me; I expected the outdoor showing of a movie at the Homewood Gazebo to attract many passers-by - and I think I was the only one who stayed to the end).
The movie is an hour and 40 minutes. Check it out if you can; take some friends; be prepared to argue about it wth them it afterward :)
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Sep 19 2008
As the meeting for the announcement of the formation of the African-American Leadership Institute began to wind down, Rev. Tim Smith conducted a quick survey of the room. "How many of you are _____?" with the blank being filled by different titles or involvement in different industries.
His point was similar to that made earlier by James Peterson, that every man in the room could contribute to the Institute's curriculum: "Whatever power you have" -- in the sense of influence or connections in the workplace -- "you can begin to connect your industry to the Institute."
John Thompson, mayor of Wilkinsburg, expressed frustration that as mayor, "I don't get an opportunity to build something for my people," and asked, "How can we do something in the community of Wilkinsburg?"
Rashad Byrdsong pointed out that Brother to Brother, the group that has been conducting monthly breakfasts in Homewood for men and boys since January 2007, has reached out to do programming beyond Homewood, and said that the Institute would do the same, that Wilkinsburg would not be overlooked.
And again, he pointed out that attendees were being asked to become participants. "Everybody in here was invited because he is a heavy lifter," he said. And he made a personal pledge to not lord it over the group: "I will follow you."
Dr. Uhuru Hotep, co-founded of the Kwame Ture Leadership Institute, expanded on that, rising to speak about "the importance of grooming followers." While the idea of training leaders attracts attention, "followers have to be trained just as leaders have to be trained. A good leader is usually someone who has been a good follower."
Johnnie Comer, of the Ma'at Construction Group, put the topic of job training back on the table, saying that he is working with trade unions to address issues involved in training young men from our community.
"The typical journeyman-apprenticeship setup doesn't work for us," he said. Saying that there is $40 million of construction happening in East Liberty and Garfield, he said that he sees "no young black males on the job sites."
"I think we're sleeping a lot of it," he said.
Comer emphasized the good wages to be found in construction work by saying as a drywall mechanic -- someone who hangs drywall -- makes "almost $50,000 a year."
"I want to mentor our own kids through our own construction company," he said.
He was the last speaker that I took notes from. An evaluation form was passed out to help the meeting organizers assess the proceedings. A follow-up meeting will be held in October.
Hotep's comments make me think about the questions, "What would followership training look like? What makes a good follower?"
The first thought that comes to my mind is, "A good follower is willing to do everything a leader would do, without feeling the need to take credit."
But that is just a first thought. What do you think?
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Sep 18 2008
Bill Pfeiffer, a community liaison specialist with Children Youth and Families in Harlem, noted, as Dr. Akbar had, the problem of absentee fathers ("this generation of brothers not being there for their children has to stop"). Then came the word of rebuke for us in the room, and for Black men in Pittsburgh.
"What's going on in Pittsburgh?" he asked. "The brothers here just don't unite."
"There is a lot of jealousy here in Pittsburgh," he continued. "There is a lot of envy here in Pittsburgh."
He did not cite specifics. Did the men present fill in the blanks from their own experiences? I don't know; but I found it striking that a visitor would make those observations.
Dr. Akbar spoke again, comparing African-Americans with other ethnic "minorities."
"They support themselves economically," he said. "What do they have going for them that we don't have?"
He answered his own question: "The concept of intergenerational wealth."
He suggested field trips - not just for young people, but for ourselves - to such places as the Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore, to learn our history, and the Lincoln Memorial, "to see the lie."
Jason Garland said that those who make money illegally could just as well make it legally: "A hustle is truly a business; they already understand business principles." He suggested network marketing as an avenue for that transition - no surprise, since he said up front that he is a representative for Pre-Paid Legal Services (that's not a knock. So am I.). Oh, and for Macedonia Baptist Church.
Minister Jasiri X cautioned against sending unprepared people into the workplace: "If I give you a job with no consciousness, you're not gonna show up on time." He also challenged the tendency some of us have to "paint the whole generation [of boys and young men] as useless or without value."
Quoting Malcolm X, he said, "You won't be successful unless you speak the language of the people." For today's young people, that means hip-hop. If we don't like what young people are saying in their music, "it's up to us...to give them something else to say."
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Speaking of young people having something to say:
On August 20, the Dallas Independent School District began its school year with a staff development day. Their keynote speaker for the day was Dalton Sherman, a fifth-grade student at Charles Rice Learning Center.
What would a fifth-grader have to say to 17,000 people? Watch.
I have nothing to add.
Thanks to Cupcake for putting this in my inbox.
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Sep 17 2008
After Dr. Akbar wept, after J.W. Wallace comforted him, and challenged those of us who didn't, after Lee Davis spoke for those who never received enough comfort themselves to give it to others, Dusty Long, a personal trainer with the Homewood-Brushton YMCA, spoke.
"What affects one human being affects every human being around the world," he said. "If all of us accept that concept, we won't be in the condition that we are in...If you ever hear me saying, "it's not my business,' smack my brains out, because I'm lying."
No one disagreed. The conversation moved back to the Institute itself. Robert Peterson said that it should not focus on kids to the exclusion of their parents: "We need to make some kind of measures to address the father or the mother that's in the home."
Ernest Bey, one of the lead artists on "Peace Over Pittsburgh," the mural that graces the Homewood Avenue underpass of the East Busway, spoke about the importance of encouraging young people in their creativity. He spoke based on his own experience as a student at Westinghouse (class of '73): "I used to hide my art, because I was ashamed to be called special."
Several men spoke about the need for economic development. Chuck Powell said, "We must build somewhat of an economic base in our communities. If you don't have jobs, it you don't have strong businesses that pay tax revenues to the city, you're not going to get the respect you want."
He did not say just how economic development might be a part of the Institute's work, but by that point in the meeting, it seemed that the men were simply saying what was on their hearts. Even though the group was religiously diverse, the dynamic reminded me of Paul's instructions for how Christians should conduct themselves when they gather, allowing everyone to express himself with the intention of edifying the others (1 Corinthians 14:26).
Even when the next speaker gave a word of rebuke, it seemed that he intended to edify.
More in the next post.
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Sep 15 2008
More comments made by men at the "Meet and Greet" where Rashad Byrdsong and the Rev. Tim Smith announced the creation of the African-American Leadership Insitute:
James Peterson, an English professor at Bucknell University, called upon the men to assist in creating the Institute's curriculum.
"Everybody in this room has a book, a film, or an album that you have read, that you have seen or that you have heard that has changed your life," he said. In our own life experiences, "We already have the curriculum we need. We just have to share that knowledge based on consensus."
Rodney K. Hopson, the Duquesne University professor in education who helped to spark the Institute's creation by introducing Byrdsong and Rev. Smith to each other, cited the Biblical book of Esther, in which Mordecai counsels Esther, his niece, as she prepares to become a queen by marriage, that her unexpected elevation was divinely granted, for the good of her people.
"We can be Mordecais to young brothers and sisters as well," he said.
Knowledge Hudson, a dropout prevention specialist with the Community Empowerment Association, said that the Insitute needs to take into consideration young people's different learning styles.
"We can't just focus on recreation and not focus on education," he said. He also reminded the group that the Insitute would be a long-term thing. "We weren't destroyed in a day, and we won't be restored in a day."
Longtime activist Rick Adams said, "This is the first generation that grew up not going to church." In the absence of church, he asked, "Where do you get your knowledge from?," and answered his own question - from schools, from the streets, and from the mass media. His tone made his point more clearly than his words did: none of those are trustworthy sources for giving Black boys the knowledge they need to succeed.
More comments from the meeting in my next post. For now, a request for the men reading this: please name a book you have read, a movie you have seen, or a piece of music you have heard that has changed your life. You can name just one item, or one of each. If you're feeling really inspired and want to give more complete props, you can name two or more of each.
My own response to Peterson's request suprised me - other than the Bible, I thought of Marvin Gaye's album, "What's Goin On."
Go figure.
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For those who have never seen "Peace Over Pittsburgh," the mural that has replaced grafitti on the Homewood Avenue underpass of the East Busway, PG photographer Steve Mellon provides a 360-degree view of it here.
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Sep 12 2008
The meeting was to announce news: the Community Empowerment Association and the Center of Life, a Hazelwood-based nonprofit, are partnering to create the African-American Leadership Institute, a program for mentoring young black males, and have received a grant from the Heinz Endowments to fund the first two years of the Institute's operation.
The meeting was to invite participation: the 50 or so men in attendance at the Homewood Senior Community Center Saturday afternoon were asked to help shape the structure and program of the Institute; for instance, by offering suggestions for specific activities.
That turned into an open comment period, for the men had things that they felt the need to say.
One of those men was Dr. Dawud Akbar, director of the Nzinga Institute, who said the AALI must address two primary concerns. First, "What does it mean to be human?"
"Most of us have been duped and tricked" he said, into believing that being human just means satisfying the urges for things like food, sex and status.
"This is totally, totally destructive," he said, "...the culture of death."
In addition to the fundamental question of what it means to be human, he said that the new Institute must address "the unique concerns and issues relating to us." Otherwise, "be prepared for more funerals."
Referring to the high number of Black children who do not live with their natural, biological father, he asked, "What elements in the environment have convinced us that that is normal and that it is not an atrocity?"
He quoted Malcolm X, saying that if you separate a tree from its roots, the tree dies, and added, "you separate people from their roots, they die."
And that was when, like Jesus receiving the news of Lazarus' death, Akbar wept.
When someone weeps in public, everyone responds in one way or another. Some look away. That's what I did, so I missed it when J.W. Wallace went over to Akbar to offer comfort - a second type of response. A few minutes later he told us about ourselves.
"We should never let a brother go through something like that without somebody going to that brother," he said.
His tone, as I heard it, was not, "All of you are bad and wrong." It was, "For God's sake, let's be human."
Lee Davis stood up and spoke for his generation, those in their 30s and younger.
"We've been through it so much," he said, "it" being the death of friends and loved ones, that now the subject gets a shrug: "Oh well." Giving comfort? "How many of y'all brothers have done this for us? Most of y'all haven't."
"We still need y'all's help," Davis said.
There are those who weep; there are those who look away; there are those who comfort; and there are those who shrug, because they've used up their tears.
Those of us who would mentor our young have a great deal of work to do among ourselves.
But how?
More about the meeting in my next post.
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Sep 02 2008
The Bush's administration's response - or lack of response - to the devastation wrought upon New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina three years ago was an outsized example of the local impact of the federal government. But most of the time, that impact is not so obvious. Policy initiatives and funding decisions may take years to make their effects known, or their effects may be so scattered that the connections between them may be obscure.
Whether Barack Obama or John McCain wins in November, we'll have a new federal administration in January.
How do you believe a McCain administration would affect Homewood, and why?
How do you believe an Obama administration would affect Homewood, and why?
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I never did tell you folks about the Community Day Festival. That is mainly because I wanted to show you more than tell you; I shot video, but was technically challenged last week in terms of putting it up. There will still be a video report; for now, I will simply say that 1) the mere fact that the festival happened for a second time creates positive momentum for the third festival, and the fourth, etc., and 2) my personal favorite event (?) was a Molly's Trolley tour of Homewood, narrated by John Brewer (I would wager that 97 percent of Homewood's residents do not know 50 percent of what we learned). Mr. Brewer plans to conduct tours of Homewood on a regular basis beginning next month; we'll have more details about that as the information becomes available.
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