23 minute read
Union Matters
Gregory Floyd
President, Teamsters Local 237 and Vice President at-Large on the General Board of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Across the nation, throughout the month of March, there will be various celebrations to mark the accomplishments of women in America. Due to COVID-19, some of those celebrations may be scaled back or done by means other than in-person events, but, nonetheless, the spirit and sentiment expressed will not be diminished. Local 237 also has a tradition of recognizing the contributions of women in our society, especially among our own members. Our last, pre-COVID event was extra-special because we paid tribute to a woman known by the world, who was also one of our own. Marie Colvin.
Marie Colvin was a war correspondent. She wrote about innocent women and children caught in the crossfire of civil war. Her bravery was legendary. A movie, “A Private War,” told the reallife story of Marie Colvin, portrayed by Rosamund Pike, that depicted her life behind enemy lines covering stories of human suffering that many did not want told, in dangerous locations, where few would dare to go. It was actually a sentence in one of the movie’s reviews that caused us to wonder about a possible link to Teamsters Local 237. Our research paid off because we discovered that fresh out of college, she was hired by Local 237 to write our newsletter. Marie Colvin was a Teamster! Her family told us that she wore our lapel pin proudly. One could easily imagine her today, condemning the bombing of a children’s hospital in Ukraine—if she were still alive. Marie’s journalistic diligence caused her to lose her eye at the hands of Sri Lankan terrorists in 2001, then her life, at age 56 in 2012, killed by a senior Syrian military officer to silence her.
And as proud as we are of Marie, there are several other Teamster women who have done remarkable things on different battlegrounds. For example: in March of 2010, Local 237 sued New York City on behalf of our 5,000 School Safety Agents, 70% of whom were women, mostly African Americans and Latinas. Many were single mothers. Their annual salary was about $7,000 less than their counterparts, with similar titles, working in other city agencies. Most of them were male. Some called this just a coincidence. I called it discrimination! School Safety Agents have a tough job to do. They help to protect other peoples’ children. All they wanted was to put bread on the table for their own children. So I called a meeting of School Safety Agents to tell them about my plan to sue the city. I told them that we needed some volunteers to sign the papers and be the official plaintiffs. Of the 25 women in the room, 22 left. But three remained: Patricia Williams, Bernice Christopher and the late Corinthians Andrews. And for four years, these three gave testimony after testimony. They refused any settlement that did not include retirees. They took days off from work. They took time away from being with their families. They came to our many rallies. And at those rallies, we felt pretty much alone. Yes, we did have support from several elected officials, but our constant allies who were always there for us boiled down to two people: Hazel Dukes, president of the NYS NAACP and Sonia Ossorio, president of the NYC Chapter of NOW. I remember the day of the judge’s final ruling. Pat, Bernice and Corinthians came into the courthouse and knelt in prayer before they took their seats. Perhaps there was a little divine intervention, but with the help of Hazel and Sonia, a historic settlement was reached.
Clearly, throughout our nation, for Women’s History Month, there is no shortage of extraordinary, trailblazing women to honor for their contributions and personal sacrifices that resulted in life-changing conditions benefitting all of us. Throughout the pandemic as well as the most recent effort to diminish the role of School Safety Agents in our public schools, so many of our women members were an integral part of our union’s overall efforts to keep the city functioning and schools safe. For us, it is not difficult to identify women who should be honored during Women’s History Month. We are especially blessed to have among our own members, and our friends, women who care about others and want everyone else to care too. That’s who they are. That’s their legacy. And we take pride in knowing them. Thank you, Marie, Pat, Bernice, Corinthians, Hazel, Sonia and so many others who are the personification of our better angels.
Frontline workers reflect on two years of COVID
By STEPHON JOHNSON
Amsterdam News Staff
Last week marked two years since the city (and the nation) changed forever. Forced inside to quarantine during the coronavirus, many New Yorkers were left to their own devices. Some just had to keep working.
Among those who spoke to the AmNews, who kept working? Being in danger’s way was equal parts scary or a call to duty (or both). A mixed bag.
Some of the “mixed bag” mentality can be found in places such as the Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps where Commanding Officer Antoine Robinson said that the work of his crew was “phenomenal,” but the work came with a price.
They sacrificed their health [to help others],” said Robinson. “We had guys that would stay either in the van or on the base for 48 straight hours because they were scared of bringing it [COVID] home. We had to talk people down on emergency calls because they thought they had COVID.
“I haven’t seen this much death since 9/11,” continued Robinson. “I don’t want this to come off as callous, but at least with 9/11 it was relegated to three places: the Pentagon, Pennsylvania, and lower Manhattan. Then you had the psychological trauma of seeing all of that death for those who had just joined EMT and were new to the job.”
Faiza Khalid, a tech teacher at P.S. 36 in Manhattan said that while the two years have been difficult, it’s adding more to her arsenal that she can take into the future as a teacher.
“It’s been extremely challenging,” said Khalid. “We were adapting to a remote environment.” Given her level of expertise, Khalid was able to walk others through the steps of setting up others to make remote learning as smooth as it can be.
“I am a tech teacher, so I know most of the programs,” Khalid said. “I think the work we did was nothing but amazing. We did a lot of social service checkups when children didn’t sign in [to class].” Despite the resourcefulness, Khalid said that she hopes that the city “trains and supports” teachers so they can succeed.
For those such as New York State Nurses Association President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, the pandemic exposed how much nurses mean to the public and to the medical industry.
“The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that we cannot have a strong healthcare system without a strong foundation of nurses,” Hagan said. “Yet two years later, nurses still see huge healthcare disparities and still do not have everything
we need to deliver safe, quality care. We need New York to step up to support, protect and respect frontline healthcare workers and our patients.” NYSNA’s main goals right now are to implement safe staffing and pushing for better funds from state and city governments. NYSNA First Vice President Judith Cutchin, RN, MSN, stated that New York City’s Health+Hospitals system is the largest in the city and needs more funds to help close the gap in medical care. “To fix inequality in health care, to improve quality care, and to address the growing understaffing crisis at NYC H+H, the city needs to provide more funding and support to our public system.” No one better understands this than Antoine Andrews, a worker for UPS. He, and his union Teamsters Joint Council 16, made sure of it. “When the pandem(Antoine Andrews photo) ic began, we showed up and we got out,” Andrews texted to the AmNews. “Not knowing what was ahead of us ,we put ourselves and our family’s lives at risk. We bravely serviced our communities while they stayed home and stayed safe. As we all know the term, stay home and save lives, we didn’t have that option. It was like an endless Christmas peak season, due to the increase in volume as people set up to work/conduct schooling from home, customers needed their supplies as they adjusted to the new way of living. We face a constant fear of contracting this virus, whether from touching thousands of packages, contact with customers or walking through the streets as the virus was said to be airborne. “We performed with dignity, and pride,” continued Andrews. “We performed as teamster men and women would, full-time and parttime altogether came to work and made recordbreaking profits for United Parcel Service during these times. I speak on behalf of every essential worker, we haven’t forgotten: we will always remind UPS why we are essential. We demand to be treated as such, with dignity and respect and we deserve hazard pay for all that we went through in the last few years.” The mixed bag of experience is the story of New York: assistance for some and not for others. For some, it’s a chance to reflect on their hard work and how their colleagues closed ranks to work and solve problems. For others, it’s the inequality exposed and the fight against organizing. When asked to sum up her experience with one word, Khalid took some liberties. “Life-changing. Is that one word?” she said. “Let’s hyphenate it.”
John McWhorter wants to modify the genetic code of Blacks. Textbook Naziism?*
By ISHMAEL REED
John McWhorter is like the leader of a road band that plays the same tune every night. He advocated “ racial profiling” in Feb. 2004 in Commentary magazine which at the time was edited by John Podhoretz. This article in which a number of Blacks were barked at was McWhorter’s coming out party after far-right money brought him from his job as an obscure linguistics professor teaching at U.C.Berkeley to Manhattan to be a spokesman for the Manhattan Institute, whose purpose seems to be that of arranging cocktail parties where second and third generation ethnics, Italians, Jews, and Irish Americans can mingle with Anglos.
The Manhattan-Anglo old money establishment is traditionally anti-Semitic, anti-Irish—and anti-Italian judging from the writings of Louis Auchincloss, Henry James, and others—but that doesn’t discourage the Anglo-wannabes who spend the rest of their time creating programs like Stop and Frisk, which was declared unconstitutional by Judge Shira A. Scheindlin after it led to thousands of Black and Brown men and some women being stopped and harassed. The women complained that they were fondled inappropriately by some members of the notorious NYPD who, in the last century cooperated with slave catchers. The Manhattan Institute’s other quack theory was Broken Windows. Northeastern University researchers explained and debunked that theory. More than 35 years ago, researchers theorized that graffiti, abandoned buildings, panhandling, and other signs of disorder in neighborhoods create an environment that leads people to commit more crime. In the ‘broken windows theory,’ as it has come to be known, such characteristics convey the message that these places aren’t monitored and crime will go unpunished. The theory has led police to crack down on minor crimes with the idea that this will prevent more serious crimes, and inspired research on how disorder affects people’s health.
Now, Northeastern researchers say they have debunked the “broken windows theory.” In research published in the Annual Review of Criminology and in Social Science & Medicine, they have found that disorder in a neighborhood doesn’t cause people to break the law, commit more crimes, have a lower opinion of their neighborhoods, or participate in dangerous or unhealthy behavior. Wouldn’t tobacco executives lying about smoking leading to cancer deaths be a serious crime? Or oil giants lying about the effects of their carbon emissions on climate change? Not according to the Manhattan Institute. They are funded by Big Oil and Big Tobacco. When their house newspaper The City Journal referred to me as an “old-timer,” because I criticized “Hamilton,” a musical that glorifies slaveholders, my answer was that maybe if they hadn’t accepted tobacco money some of their subscribers would have lived as long as I have.
In the 2004 Commentary article, like a rookie guarding LeBron, McWhorter attacked his elders, Manning Marable, Maxine Waters, and me. He was angry with me because when a U.C.Berkeley campus newspaper, The Daily Californian, asked me to comment on his blame-the-victim book “Losing The Race” I said I’d read it twice in five minutes because it was a retread of Shelby Steele’s work. Shelby Steele is a better writer. In the book, McWhorter wrote:“Black America is currently caught in certain ideological holding patterns—chief among them being the ideology of permanent victimhood—and that these today are ‘much more serious barriers to Black well-being than is white racism.” Victimhood? Blacks are victims in areas that interfere with their well-being. They are robbed of equity by criminal banks like Wells Fargo. They were singled out for subprime loans, while many were eligible for conventional loans. They face discrimination in housing, health care, and from hostile police—thousands of whom have been caught posting racist comments on social media. Blacks are confined to environmentally toxic neighborhoods. Victimhood? So McWhorter says that by exposing these inequities, civil rights leaders, intellectuals, and scholars are committing a deed that’s worse than white racism, the element that is responsible for them? This is McWhorter’s usual funhouse mirror thinking.
In the 2004 issue of Commentary that printed McWhorter’s outburst, there was a reference to the Holocaust on every other page. Does that mean that Commentary was wallowing in victimhood? No, American Jews are right to remind readers that with the rise of Hitler, Jews faced extermination, but before that thousands of Jews had assimilated into German society. Had become in a sense, white. Victimhood? No, McWhorter has victimized himself. His being assured a space by his billionaire oligarchic owners, a space that his target, the Black Left lacks, has made him lazy. Lacking the resources that McWhorter has, his battle with the Black Left becomes a mismatch.
His opinions are financed by the Hoover Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, William E. Simons Foundation and the notorious Manhattan Institute, the John M. Olin Foundation, Inc., the JM Foundation, Koch Family Foundations, Claude R. Lambe Foundation, Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation which supported “The Bell Curve.” His assignment from the right seems to be that every time the Black Left says neither (nee-ther) he says neither ( nii-ther). Since the Black Left covers a number of issues, he is required to comment on matters about which he lacks understanding.
Since “Wokeness” began to be spouted by some on the left, “Woke” being a term popularized by author William Melvin Kelly in 1962, it was inevitable that McWhorter would be pushed by his backers to comment on it. He rushed out a book called “Woke as a Religion” but spent so much time in the book straining to make the analogy work that the book drowned under the weight of ignorant history and bad writing. His bad writing was first exposed by Jonathan Yardley in The Washington Post:
“He obviously is a very smart guy, but a lot of the time he writes like a dumb one.” Maybe that’s why he uses words that can’t be found in the dictionary like “Victimhood” coined by people who sit on their asses all day creating double-speak whose purpose is that of owning progressives and Blacks. His books however are held in awe by the white media and white intelligentsia because he says what they say in private. When he appeared on “Morning Joe,” he was greeted like a conquering hero; he sounded really silly. He said that whichever brutality that police commit against Blacks is the result of the War on Drugs and when the war ends the police will be nice.
On the show, during which Mika Brzezinski was shown nodding her head, giving his remarks her approval, he also prescribed proficiency in English as a way Blacks will get ahead. He should have been in attendance at a book party hosted by Booker T. Washington’s great-granddaughter, Sarah Washington O’Neal Rush, which took place in her grand house overlooking a Lake in Oakland.
Black business people who speak excellent English told me that though their business proposals are qualitatively superior to those of whites, they regularly lose out to whites whose bids are inferior.
In the Commentary 2004 issue, he dismissed my unpleasant run-ins with the police recounted in my book, “Another Day At The Front.” He wrote: “Not once to date have I had a nasty, intrusive run-in with the police, despite being no stranger to nightlife in cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Oakland, and despite having driven a beat-up car in tony white neighborhoods on a regular basis.” On June 11 2020, sixteen years later he was back defending the police. He has a real urge about the police. He wrote: “Some police officers are surely racist and act like it. But it does not follow that white cops routinely kill Black people in tense situations out of racist animus.” His pro-police stance is the policy of The Manhattan Institute.
Judge Jackson: Unbroken, unbowed, and unshakable
It was such a pleasure to see Judge Jackson maintain her poise, decorum, and equilibrium while taking bouts of interrogation from GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The grilling, like her candidacy as the first Black woman nominated for the Supreme Court, was unprecedented. They did all they could to unsettle her, break through her calm and serenity, and establish control as they appealed to the Republican base.
But to no avail; however, there is still more barrage to come in the final round from the other GOP members, with two of their top dogs, Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz, having exhausted their futile attacks.
While it would be good to see a couple of GOP votes for Judge Jackson during this confirmation process, she has the votes if the Dems keep their numbers intact.
Going into the fray, Judge Jackson EDITORIAL knew she would have to endure a fury of assaults, misinformation, and a mountain of assertions about her decisions in the lower courts, and as a public defender. Her philosophy would also be assailed, and she repeatedly replied that her only tenet was one of methodology. She was articulate and coherent in turning back the false claims, explaining the complexities of critical race theory, her membership in the Black Students Association at Harvard that invited Dr. Leonard Jeffries to speak, as well as being soft on crime in her juridical decisions. In tennis, we would say she held serve, in football she kicked the winning field goal, and in baseball hit a game-winning home run. But at the hearings on Capitol Hill her presence was commanding and there can be no verdict short of overwhelming confirmation.
Elinor R. Tatum: Publisher
and Editor in Chief Kristin Fayne-Mulroy: Managing Editor Nayaba Arinde: Editor Cyril Josh Barker: Digital Editor
When police and civilians work together, communities flourish
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not represent those of the New York Amsterdam News. We continue to publish a variety of viewpoints so that we may know the opinions of others that may differ from our own.
ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS
I recently read a story about a New York man attacking a woman on the city’s subway with his feces––that’s right, human excrement. The report sounded like something out of The Onion, a satirical media outlet, replete with an outlandish premise that speaks candidly to the realities of life. I was mistaken, as it turned out. The story was true and caught on video. This brand of street violence is becoming an alarming trend in New York City and cities across the United States. According to the Council on Criminal Justice’s crime research, homicides have surged by over 50% and gun violence by 8%. (CCJ).
The reality is that the United States has a crime problem that has been exacerbated by both the COVID-19 pandemic and the massive layoffs that have led to considerable unemployment, particularly in major cities. The situation is destined to worsen as financial disparity widens between the haves and have-nots, and the uninformed continue to campaign for the defunding of police.
I am horrified by the violence and devastation we’re witnessing throughout the country, and I am outraged at the fact that the only force we have to defend us and keep our streets safe and clean––law enforcement––is constantly being demoralized, overworked, and underappreciated. This has resulted in law enforcement retiring at unprecedented rates. We must do something about it so that we can alter the trajectory of our country, and we need to do it now.
The first step toward resolving this issue is to increase investment in law enforcement and spend more money to assist in the recruitment of talented and educated police officers who are suited to the demands of the job. We also need to improve technology to better aid police to prevent crime in densely populated areas. I’ll be the first to admit that we need to clean up the bad apples within police departments, and I’m not blind to this, but the great majority of police officers are wonderful individuals who should be praised, not condemned.
The second step is to strengthen law enforcement’s relationship with the communities they protect and serve. Communities and police will be safer if trust is restored and relationships are built. Not only will police and community members be able to more effectively interact with each other without fear for their own safety, but community members will also be able to view the police officers as more than just the uniforms they wear. It will also assist in the removal of troublemakers from communities as well as the police force. Having events where police can connect with the public and community groups is an essential part of resolving this issue.
The third stage is to convey a clear message to criminals that their predatory conduct against innocent individuals in their communities will not be tolerated. We must quit making excuses and constantly blaming everyone and everything else for the issues that plague our communities. Instead, we must look within ourselves to tackle these destructive issues and ask what we can do to better our communities and rid them of the ruinous behavior of criminal actors. While this may be more prevalent in some communities than it is in others, it is essential nonetheless in order to prevent criminals from traversing community borders.
We need to toughen up on crime. This doesn’t mean targeting certain groups, instead it requires sending a clear message to criminals about what we will and won’t tolerate. We must emphasize the significance of the family unit and men participating in the direction of young men; this is in the best interests of our communities and country.
Young men require honorable men to mentor them and serve as guides and resources. They must be a mentor who can show these young men what is and what is not acceptable. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough of them, which is why we see young men, particularly uneducated ones, with little respect for their communities and for human life.
Our societal norms have shifted so dramatically over time that they have created an expectation of mediocrity and victimization that justifies not only the awful behavior of our young men, but of young people in general. The steps are clear in terms of what we need to do: support our officers, build better relationships between officers and communities, and focus on instilling better values in young people. Following these steps would change the trajectory of our current reality.
Despite this, we must be honest with ourselves about both the state of our country and the ugliness that continues to spread within it regardless of who is committing these atrocious acts. We must address it, discuss it, and move forward. We must also be honest with ourselves about the state of our country and the ugliness that persists.
Armstrong Williams (@ARightSide) is manager / sole owner of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the year. www.armstrongwilliams.co | www.howardstirkholdings.com
How active are you in your own democracy?
CHRISTINA GREER PH.D.
The past few years have been a stark reminder for many that our democracy is incredibly fragile and cannot be taken for granted. For far too many, democracy was something they thought this nation had attained, they could pat themselves on the back, put their “democracy” in a frame and hang it on the wall to be admired. What many of us have known and are constantly reminded of, is that democracy is a set of daily choices and decisions on the individual and collective level. We know this nation is far from perfect, but the only way it will change is if we become the most active participants on the electoral level, in our communities, and in our civic life.
Since I am a professor, you know I love pop quizzes! So, pull out a piece of paper and a pen and get ready to take your quiz. Ok, here goes…
Here are a series of questions about your elected officials: Who is your city council member, your state legislator, and your state senator? Who are the elected officials who hold the top three offices in New York City: Mayor, Comptroller, and Public Advocate? Who is your District Attorney? Who is your House Representative in Congress? Can you name the two U.S. Senators?
Here are some miscellaneous questions, let’s see if you can answer: In what district do you vote? What community board represents your area? Who are your District Leaders and do you know what they do? Do you know when the primary election will be held (hint: this June)? Do you know what date we go to the polls in November? As for your civic duties: Have you called or gone to the https:// portal.311.nyc.gov/ website to test your water quality (for free) in order for the city to better assess lead levels throughout neighborhoods and buildings? Have you supported Troop 6000 and/or do you know what that is? Does our neighborhood participate in
“We know this community com posting? nation is far These are just a few questions from perfect, we should be able to answer but the only way in order to begin it will change is to become active participants in if we become the our democratic process. No wormost active par- ries if you do not know all of the ticipants on the answers. You can go to https:// electoral level, www.voting. nyc/ to find out in our communi- more about your ties, and in our voting process and you can go civic life.” to https://www. mygovnyc.org/ to find out who your elected officials are. If we want to make change in our democracy we must be active participants. If you currently are not, this pop quiz is not meant to make you feel bad, it is meant to help you get started on the road to active participation and a better understanding of those charged with protecting our basic human and civil rights as well as crafting policies to protect us…everything from the environment to education, reproductive rights and allocation of funds. Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an Associate professor at Fordham University, the author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream,” and the co-host of the podcast FAQ-NYC.
