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In this issue:

Serving Upstate urban communities since 1989.

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Celebrating urban life since 1989 March 2010 ● urbancny.com

The Constitution

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Lucky 13 Coming of Age Urban CNY has covered

communities of color for 21 years

By Walt Shepperd

The following is a discussion on media with Urban CNY edi-tor and publisher Ken Jackson.

Urban CNY is 21 years old this month, a number with significant symbolism regard-ing age in this society. Is there a sense of coming of age with the paper?

Yes. Definitely. When I started there were four papers {serving the communities of color} out there other than ours. The real challenge was not starting the paper, be-cause the beauty of the Constitution is that it’s our right. If we want to write something down on a piece of toilet paper and pass it around, we can do that. That’s important.

Growing up with the mainstream media, I watched the coverage of the riot at Hen-ninger High School, where they had 32 African-American students hemmed up in a corner. What they focused on the next morning was not the 1,100 kids on the other side of the cameras, but one African-American student throwing a rock. Well, if you’re cornered by a thousand people, you might want to pick up a rock.

You mentioned the intriguing fac-tor of four other papers when you started, with multiple venues of color not uncommon in the Syracuse mar-ket. Now there is a local black news-paper published from Rochester and one started by Syracuse University. Wassup with that?

History has its ebbs and flows. It’s like the collapse of daily newspapers, and the fact that they now have to realize that the last bastion for print will be the minority

Alliance Network hosts annual celebration same night as Orange versus Nova

By Ellen Leahy

High atop the city on Saturday night Feb. 27 Syracuse’s Alliance Network (AN) was on track “Empowering Generation Next.” The event was strategically timed before the start of the SU men’s basketball romp with Villanova. Its annual awards were given out at the top of the Renaissance Hotel with a live orchestra playing R&B hits and guest politi-cians lending their voices to the effort to the back drop of a formal social mixer.

The AN began in 1996 when local leaders in the African American and people of color communities came together with business leaders, local activists and politicians to work on the combined needs of social, economic and physical welfare of all its citizens with an emphasis on youth. It’s founder Walter Dixie wrote, “The Alliance Network is simply a group of ordinary people who are committed to extraordinary change.”

Urban CNY editor, Ken Jackson, was in the house, he had this to say of Walter “Walt” Dixie:

“There are some who’ve doubted Walt Dixie’s effectiveness as a leader. Just the act of gathering a representative cross section of this community, a congressman, an assem-blywoman, Mayor Miner, current and past members of the Syracuse Common Council and Onondaga County Legislature, proves his critics wrong. Being a leader means be-ing up front facilitating change. That’s Walt Dixie walking in front while everybody else is taking notes. That’s what a leader does,” Jackson said (who is also a former Onondaga County Legislator).

Sharon Owens was on as the Mistress of Ceremony. “This room gives us and advan-tage to see how beautiful our city truly is.” She went on to warn the crowd that if we speak death and demise in our city; that is what we will get. But if we instead speak growth and prosperity, it will surely follow.The speakers:

Hopps Memorial pastor Rev. Kevin Agee led the invocation. David Rufus (AN mem-

ber) started things off introducing State Sena-tor David Valesky, who recognized retiring Assemblywoman Joan Christensen.

“I’ll miss your wisdom,” he said.He then introduced the State Democratic

Conference Leader, John L. Sampson, who is from Brooklyn. There was also an insinuation that the big game had enhanced his arrival to AN’s annual event.

“We asked John Sampson to lead us when we needed to go in a different direction, and

Jackson

ELLEN LEahY

Duane B. Owens and his wife Tara Buchan-an Owens at the Alliance Network awards ceremony at the top of the Marriott Hotel on Genesee Street in Syracuse. Duane received the Clarence “Junie” Dunham Award for Outstanding Civic Leadership in the CNY Community.

See Urban CNY on page 7See AN on page 2

Editorial:‘Yes, we can’t’

...page 3

See our expanded online Entertainment and Events Sections at urbancny.com.

March 2010

Boyce WatkinsTea Party leader calls Obama a ‘half-white

racist.’ ...page 6

FinancesYour credit worthiness.

...page 2

2/Urban CnY, MarCh 2010 EaglENEwspapErs

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in six or seven months he has led the senate with courage and humility,” Valesky said.

Valesky cited the efforts led by Sampson as Green Jobs, ethics reforms, reform of the Rockefeller drug laws, Power for Jobs pro-grams, closing last years budget deficit, the New York First Bill, garnering $15,000,000 in stimulus money to create jobs and cur-rently in the process of revamping the Empire Zones.

Sampson said that people forget that we (the Democrat controlled legislature) inherited this mess.

“We are nowhere near done,” he said. “(The task is) Not to talk about jobs but to create jobs.”

He said he understood that his job was to consider upstate as much as downstate and that people want action not words. He also said that Governor David Paterson deserved credit that New York did not go the way of California.

“Thanks to the Alliance, (there is) a voice for the voiceless and opportunity for those who didn’t have opportunity,” Sampson said.

Vincent Love and Jaqueline Bean pre-

sented the awards:Clarence Dunham Award for outstanding

civic leadership: Duane Owen, Juneteenth Festival Board President.

“Each one teach one,” Owens said.Paulette Johnson Award for outstanding

commitment to education: Monique Wright-Williams, SCSC Board of Education

“I don’t stand alone, I have some pretty big shoes to fill, but I am up to the challenge,” Wright-Williams said. “My intention is to fol-low in the steps of Miss Johnson to make sure we get our due; this is a right, not a gift.”

Bea Gonzalez Award for outstanding advocacy for Latino Community: Juanita Perez-Williams, City of Syracuse Corporate Counsel

“The new mayor has tasked us with being there for all communities in Syracuse,” Perez-Williams said. “Let’s overcome challenges and concerns to make this a more vibrant community.”

Charles Anderson Award for outstand-ing advocacy for the rights of women and minorities: Walt Shepperd, Senior Editor at Eagle Newspapers, Executive Producer of

the Media Unit, Community Activist.While humbly accepting the award,

Shepperd noted that he had two invitations for that evening. One to play in the Colgate alum basketball game, where he could have celebrated his accomplishments on campus, including beating Syracuse four times. Celebrating the accomplishments of the Al-liance Network, however, gave Shepperd an opportunity to reflect on a career in the local community that began teaching 9th Grade English, coaching basketball and advising the school newspaper. He reminded the au-dience that some of them owed him home-work from 1963, listing several names.

Exemplary Youth Awards were given to Melvin Baker and Julio Urrutia. Baker is a program director of Jubilee Homes in Syracuse. He has been working with the YouthBuild Program, which assists young men and women in obtaining a GED and certification in the construction trade.

Urrutia, who has a degree in Interna-tional Relations from SU, is a community organizer with the Alliance of Communi-ties Transforming Syracuse (ACTS). ACTS

believes that human worth (dignity and justice) is a value worth fighting for. Julio is quoted as saying, “He couldn’t agree with them more.”

Outstanding Leadership Awards went to longtime District 119, Assemblywoman Joan Christensen and former Syracuse resident Byron Brown who is the Mayor of Buffalo.

Christensen said, “I want to come back home, to get back to the people.”

She encouraged the audience to get involved no matter the obstacles. “When I wanted to run for office there were many obstacles put in my place; I didn’t have the money or the name recognition.”

Walter Dixie was the last to speak before the Benediction, reminding people “Be pa-tient with our young people,” as leadership is conducted over a lifetime.

“You can not be successful unless you are around successful people,” Dixie said.

Rev. Jonathan Stephens the Pastor from the Fountain of Life Church offered the final Benediction.

Your credit worthiness: Giving out your social security numberBy James and Barbara Peterson.

Many businesses and governmental agencies are legally entitled to know your Social Security numbers. Those companies and entities that are legally entitled to your Social Security Number are as follows: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), various federal, state governmen-tal agencies and departments, banks, employers and agencies that administer government programs. If you are applying for credit, you will need to provide your SSN to those companies.

Not on the list: doctors’ offices, telephone companies, utility (gas and electric) companies and retailers. Yes, retailers (stores at the mall) are now asking to see your Social Security card. And this is when you are making your purchase with cash. Why do they need your SSN? If you are not applying for credit, tell them ‘no’. It is your decision as a consumer whether you want to give them your SSN or walk away and do business elsewhere.

Many consumers wonder whether businesses that are not entitled to receive their SSN can deny them products, services and goods if they refuse to give their SSN. Yes, companies may attempt to deny you products, services and goods. Remember, if you do not know your rights, you do not have any rights. There are also compa-nies that ask for your SSN in unobtrusive ways. For example, when you call a company to ask about a bill you just received in the mail, let’s just say you think the bill is wrong. So, you call them…when someone comes on the line they immediately say something along these lines, “ABC company how can I help you”. You respond by say-ing, “I just received my bill and I think it is wrong”. They immedi-ately respond with, “Yes, I can help you with that, what is your SSN”. Why not ask you for your account number?. Also, most businesses can access your account information by your telephone number. So, why not ask you for your telephone number?

The problem is the companies that are not entitled, will still ask for it. As a informed consumer you need to know who is entitled to your SSN and other personal information and who is not. What re-course is there for people who don’t want to disclose their number? Why is it so critical to protect Social Security numbers now? Identity theft is why. Identity theft is rampant in this country today.

The telephone company and the gas/electric company are asking for our Social Security numbers. Why? As consumers, telephones,

electricity and gas to heat our homes are essentials that we need. So why do these companies insist on getting our Social Security numbers when legally they are not entitled to that information? We suspect, that these companies have millions and millions of dollars worth of bad debt on their books. If they can match your SSN with a SSN on one of those bad debt accounts, they can resume or start collection activity or better yet…they may simply wait for your new service to be activated and then transfer that bad debt or old bill to your new account. Sounds underhanded, but if the Social Security numbers match, they’ve got you.

The Federal Trade Commission said identity theft continues to be a major problem in this country. The number of victims are in the millions each year.

Social Security numbers play a major role in facilitating identity theft. Many businesses use our Social Security number to identify us. For example, your bank account number may be your Social Security number or a derivative of the number. In some areas of the country wholesale clubs use a portion of your Social Security number as your account number. Don’t ever think that it is too time consuming for someone to steal your information, it is big bucks for them. This is the reason it is critical for consumers to limit access to their Social Security numbers and other pertinent information. .

Remember, most identity theft does not occur because you lost your wallet or someone stole your wallet. Identity theft occurs because someone stole your information. We’ve read in the news-papers how employees are being prosecuted because they stole from their companies. Many of these company employees steal from their employers customers. To sweeten it up, they simply call it embezzlement or they use some other flowery terminology. Oh and yes, those employees, when caught, have to pay the money back, they receive 6 months probation and community service. They obvi-ously do not reside in our neighborhood. But that’s a whole different story. For those of you who have had your identities tampered with, who is to say it was not some clerk who used your SSN to apply for a credit card in your name. Some of you are probably saying to yourself, ‘that’s impossible’. We have nothing against working clerks or customer associates, but many of them are barely making mini-mum wage and they have bills to pay and children to feed, same as everyone. Do not think for a minute that it cannot happen. Guard your personal information from everyone.

As a consumer you can ask companies (that need your SSN) to use a different identifying number instead of a SSN, many compa-

Finances

aN From page 1

See Finances on page 5

Urban CnY, MarCh 2010/3EaglENEwspapErs

opInIon Editorial The hall monitor

Ken

Urban CNY

Jackson

Repeat after me: Yes, we can’t If every American repeated mistakes made by the banking and mortgage in-

dustries we’d be bankrupt and out on the streets. But thanks to the Congress of the United States global economic calamity was averted with the intervention of various federal agencies in efforts to minimize the effects of the meltdown.

Imagine the movie Independence Day starring Will Smith but with the roles of aliens being played by Wall Street bankers, mortgage lenders and greedy republican conservatives. And then the whole world gets together (insert line by third world guy on the street, “thank God for the Americans”) as we defend ourselves from alien creatures that want our planets resources including our homes and wealth. Sorry, I digress.

During the Great Depression after losing everything some on Wall Street sim-ply opened their Manhattan office window and jumped. (Bernie Madoff, splat!) That was 1929, today with Wall Street being shielded like a witness protection program participant the real victims of this mess are the working class people of this country.

If you live in upstate New York you’d notice that the manufacturing base of our economy has collapsed after two decades of massive layoffs and factory closings decimated the working class. Hundreds of millions of dollars in annual payroll were erased from the local economy. The list of companies in the area that have reduced staff, gone out of business or just gone from Central New York is as long as your arm.

Like an economic Tsunami, neighborhood after neighborhood have been im-pacted as people who could no longer afford their homes and apartments had to walk away. Neighborhood businesses unable to make a profit closed. Lack of living wage job availability has pushed those on the bottom of the ladder to the ground.

Therefore, with great fanfare The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 was enacted. In many cases these funds simply replaced mon-ies that were previously allocated delaying the inevitable financial collapse of local governments and broader consequences of shrinking state and local tax revenue.

A major part of this legislation involved health care and keeping your em-ployer sponsored health insurance through government subsidy of COBRA AKA Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985.

Regular COBRA insurance allowing a person or family continuation of previous health insurance cost over $500 per month for an individual with the government subsidy that caps your payment at $190. The COBRA subsidy is perhaps is the most important benefit of ARRA to the working class individual. But that’s if you can afford the premium. Even with the subsidy many still can’t afford to continue their insurance coverage.

In localities across the nation ARRA funds are awarded to states, local governments and non profits to mitigate the impact of the economic downturn funding projects such as home weatherization, affordable housing construction, highway repair/reconstruction and much more. In the area of employment support, there are initiatives that have just begun all over the country, whether these reduce the unemployment rate remains to be seen.

Cash for Clunkers, appliance rebates and other measures are being used to jumpstart the ailing economy. Officially the U.S. economy is growing again but the last indicator of economic strength is employment and that is still anemic.

Scour state and federal Web sites dedicated to recovery from this “Great Recession” and see how much money is just laying there on a spreadsheet wait-ing to be spent. With seven months left on most of these contracts, a fraction of these funds have been requisitioned to date leaving hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars, on the table that has not yet entered the pipeline.

Millions and millions are spent targeting employment, contracting with not-for profits that are going to create hundreds of jobs on the local level for people looking for jobs, to assist people who are looking for jobs. (Insert head scratch here.)

A little over a year ago Americans were jubilant that change had come to Washington, D.C. now after the Republican/Conservative Anarchist Tea Parties and relative inaction of Democrats with linguini spines, all we are left with is a slogan. Those who are hopeful, employed and democrats continue to say “Yes, we can.”

However, if you are among the millions of Americans, some unemployed for years, there’s a new slogan – “Yes, we can’t.”

Sell naming rights to our ailing State Parks

As New York State scurries further down the fiscal rabbit hole, Gov. David Paterson has few op-tions from which to choose as he’s decided to close up to as many as 55 New York State Parks in his ongoing effort to slay the budget dragon.

“Off with their Parks,” the Gover-nor declared as the accounts of the state got leaner and leaner. “This man has got scandal,” yelled the Times of New York. These titillating tidbits are distractions as community after community has to face to fiscal Arma-geddon with school budget deficits and massive teacher and support staff layoffs. The real scandal is closing a park for the summer.

There are options that should be explored to keep these parks open and state officials should make every effort to exhaust all options before closing a swimming area, park or historic site.

Our parks could be branded like buildings at the New York State Fair with hopes that rich sponsors would soon appear. Imagine, great con-sumer brands gracing the entrances of our soon to be orphaned New York State parks.

Can’t you see it? The Helava Good Cheese - Chittenago Falls State Park; Wegman’s Beach; Verizon State Park, Dr. Scholls’ Foot Trail around Onondaga Lake Park. Viagara Falls anyone?

Specific recommended new names and sponsors are detailed below for facilities targeted for closure in the Central and Finger Lakes Regions:

The Helava-Good Cheese Chittenango Falls State Park aka -Chittenan-go Falls State Park Madison Clark Bar Park aka Clark Reservation State Park Onondaga Cricket State Historic Site – aka Fort Ontario State Historic Site Oswego Historic Site T-Madison State Park (T-Moble) aka Helen McNitt State Park Madison Preparation H - Historic Site (& Hemorrhoid Museum) – aka Herkimer Home Historic Site Herkimer Top’s Friendly Pond aka Hunts Pond State Park Chenango Oquaga SoBe Life Water Creek State Park aka Oquaga Creek State Park . “Crest - Root Canal State Park” aka Old Erie Canal State Park Onondaga Oil of Ole’ Historic site & Spa aka- Oriskany Battlefield/Steuben SHS Oneida Historic Site Price Chopper Falls aka Pixley Falls State Park Oneida AXXA Shores aka Selkirk Shores State Park Oswego Public Swimming Beach

Beechwood Gum aka Beechwood State Park Wayne Byrne Dairy Buttermilk Falls State Park aka Buttermilk Falls (Tompkins Public Swimming Area) Seneca Savings Bank Lake State Park aka Seneca Swimming Beach SONYMA Brook State Park aka Stony Brook State Park Steuben

In addition to the above let McDonalds, Burger King and Jreck Subs and Star Bucks, take spots in a summer food court in these facilities. The fees and taxes these enterprises generate should save these local state parks.

And at the end of the season we’ll just remove the sponsor signs and revert back to normal. If there are winter events in parks then sponsorship(s) would extend throughout the seasons.

These are bad economic times, we’re in the “Great Recession” therefore extreme measures must be taken to replenish New York State’s coffers. We could get former Syracusan Tom Cruise to have us temporarily re-name the city for his daughter’s birthday, “Happy Birthday Suri Cruise,” that’ll be $100,000” please.

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there”- Lewis Carroll

�/Urban CnY, MarCh 2010 EaglENEwspapErs

Arts & entertAInment

Syracuse Stage

[re]think your futureFrom Workforce Development to Continuing Education, Onondaga offers programs that meet the needs of of employees and employers in Central New York.

Learn more at sunyocc.edu

805 East Genesee Street Syracuse, NY

Tesoros del Pueblo: El Arte Folklórico de México/Treasures of the People: The Folk Art of Mexico.

January 23rd through May 5th, 2010. Gallery 805, the Herbert T. Williams Gallery and the Corridor Gallery

Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Community Folk Art Center

Community Folk Art

Play and Discussion at the Black Box Theater7 p.m. March 12 (in Spanish) and 2 p.m. March 13 (in English) at the : PRPaC Black Box

Theater, 805 E. Genesee Street.Play and Discussion: “Mujeres de Arena: Testimony of Women from Ciudad

Juárez,” written by humberto Robles. Admission is free, however there is a $5 suggested donation with all proceeds to go to

the organization “Nuestras hijas de Regreso a Casa” in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Presented by Palabras acentuadas Productions.

Film7 p.m. March 18 at CFaC, 805 E. Genesee St.Community Folk Art Center film screening - “Bajo La

Misma Luna/Under the Same Moon,” a film by Patricia Riggen.

Community Folk Art Center’s Annual GalaSave the date! April 3Souljourn: A Celebration of Art, Music and Culture will be held York from 6 to

11 p.m. april 3 at the Genesee Grande hotel in the Tiffany Ballroom located at 1060 E. Genesee St. in Syracuse, Individual Tickets are $60 and tables of 10 are available for $1500, $750 or $550.

The Genesee Grande will prepare a gourmet dinner while five-time SaMMY award win-ner Ronnie Leigh and area DJ Jah Roots entertain guests. Community Folk art Center will also hold a raffle and guests will be able to bid on a work by nationally recognized artist Tom huff. In addition there will be a dance showcase from the Creative arts academy stu-dents and the presentation of the augusta Savage Spirit award to this year’s honoree David MacDonald. at the end of the evening, one lucky person from each table will take home an original David MacDonald centerpiece.

all proceeds will go to Community Folk art Center programming. a fabulous night of dining and dancing is in store, so be among the first to secure your

tickets. Please feel free to contact Rosalyn Trotman at 442-2230 or cfac@syr.edu with any questions or for additional information.

See our expanded online Entertainment and Events Sections

at urbancny.com.

CHECK IT OUT

Urban CnY, MarCh 2010/�EaglENEwspapErs

Cancer benefit color

HonoreesDennis Dowdell Scholarship Reception hosted by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Chi Pi Chapter

MIa BURSE

The Syracuse Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was awarded Organization of the Year, and Benjamin Jeffers was awarded Omega Man of the Year on February �, 2010 at the Dennis Dowdell Schol-arship Reception, hosted by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Chi Pi Chapter. Pictured: Marcella T. Jones, Chapter President and Benjamin Jeffers.

MIa BURSE

The Chi Pi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

aLToN hICKS

The Syracuse Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

nies are willing to do that. Those com-panies who are not willing are probably companies who are not legally entitled to it. Try offering them your driver’s license number instead.

What about companies who already have our SSN? You can ask them to replace it with another identifier. Re-member, they are not compelled to oblige. And you have no recourse legally. Never assume that your SSN is secure with these companies. There are many factors that are outside the control of these companies such as hackers and as we mentioned earlier, dishonest employees.

Individuals have attempted to sue com-panies when their personal information has been breeched. If there is no evidence that your personal information has been breached, it will be difficult to say the least, for you sue and be successful in your suit. The most that these companies will offer you is free credit monitoring, after the fact. As consumers we need to be pro-active in protecting our personal information. We should all have a credit monitoring service in place to prevent breeches of our SSN and other pertinent information. Call us at 315-446-3294 for some names of some reputable companiesWays to protect your information:

Do not carry your Medicare or Medicaid card, especially if your medical providers have previously copied it Shred docu-ments with personal data on them before

discarding. Remove personal data such as your income-tax return from your comput-ers’ hard drive. Never respond to e-mail from a stranger asking for your personal information. We know that the million dol-lars that they are offering is tempting, but please ignore their emails. Do not down-load free music or videos because it allows crooks to snoop into personal data on your computer. The free music can be tempting also, but keep in mind that identity crooks, may be crooks, but they are also smart and they are experts in their field. Moni-tor your credit reports quarterly for free at www.annualcreditreport.com or call (877) 322-8228. Get your SSN removed from ID cards if possible. Place a fraud alert on your credit reports so that no one can ap-ply for credit without you being contacted. Check your Social Security statements to see that no one’s working using your number. Immediately file a police report if your SSN is stolen. Place a security freeze on your credit reports so that no stranger can access your credit history. Do not carry your Social Security card in your wallet unless you need it that day. Do not carry your credit cards with everyday, carry them on the days you plan on using them. And last but certainly not least, the people who are most likely to steal our SSN and other personal information are those that know: parents, siblings and other relatives. It’s up to you to press charges.

Finances From page 2

6/Urban CnY, MarCh 2010 EaglENEwspapErs

african-americans in the news

arts & Entertainment

PETERSON SEWING SCHOOL

• Sewing Classes• Pattern Making• Fashion Design • Jewelry Design• Quilting• Home Decor• Fiber Art Classes • And More

920 Euclid Ave (inside Erwin First United

Methodist Church)

Syracuse, NY 13224315-446-4668

Tea Party leader calls Obama a ‘half-white racist’By Dr. Boyce Watkins, P.H.D.

Mark Williams, one of the tour partners for the Tea Party Express, called President Barack Obama “our half white, racist president.” He also referred to President Obama as a “Nazi.”

In a September e-mail obtained by Talking Points Memo, Williams was responding to what he called a “false allegation” by CNN that he called President Obama a Nazi. Williams then attempted to argue that he has a strong record on Civil Rights.

He mentioned “marching for civil rights while asshole southern sher-iffs were swinging nail-studded bats at blacks’ heads....”

When speaking to CNN’s Ander-son Cooper, Williams seemed to backpedal on his words a bit. Here’s the transcript:

COOPER: But wait, Mark, you’re actually the one who called Presi-dent Obama Nazi.

WILLIAMS: I didn’t call Barack Obama a Nazi.

COOPER: Yes, he’s on your list, on your website of like 21st century Nazis. You have his name.

WILLIAMS: We’ve got the phi-losophy of fascism and national socialism at work here. Of course we do.

COOPER: No, no but you have the president’s name, although it’s a derivation that’s not his actu-ally name, it’s a name it’s kind of a negative.

WILLIAMS: Mubarak Hussein Obama.

COOPER: Right, that’s what’s you call him on your website. You’re the one who’s using the term Nazi.

The Tea Party Express is a nation-wide anti-Obama bus tour. It has strong associations with the group, “Our Country Deserves Better PAC,” which is run out of the Republican Strategy firm Russo Marsh. Wil-liams is a spokesperson for Tea Party Express.

Robin Stublen, a leader of the Tea Party Patriots, said this to The Huffington Post:

“Mark Williams is not someone I would want being my spokes-man. He comes off as an arrogant, self promoting, egotistical jerk. In politics, people like Mark Williams are a dime a dozen, even when you factor in inflation.”

Williams typed these remarks in to a September e-mail that was obtained by the media:

“I will defend my record on race to no one [sic], under any circum-stances and, I will call out any

See Tea Party on page 7

Twisted Mirror-rorriM ImageUNITY Choir of Syracuse sets rehearsal schedule

The UNITY Choir of Syracuse will be hosting its second concert during the upcoming Easter Weekend. The Easter Celebration follows the recent success of the UNITY Choir’s New Year’s Day concert held in January at Tucker Missionary Baptist Church.

Membership in The UNITY Choir is now open in preparation for this highly anticipated concert. The rehearsal schedule is as follows:

Saturday, March 6th – 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM at Tucker Missionary Baptist Church (515 Oakwood Avenue)

Saturday, March 13th – 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM at Ref-uge Tabernacle Church of God in Christ (311 Oakwood Avenue)

Saturday March 20th – 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM at Tucker Missionary Baptist Church

Saturday, March 27th – 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM at Refuge Tabernacle Church of God in Christ

Anyone between the ages of 18-45 who attend churches within the city of Syracuse is encouraged to attend. Rehearsal schedule is subject to change. The concert will be free and open to the public – date and location of the concert will be announced in mid-March.

The UNITY Choir of Syracuse is comprised of sing-ers and musicians (ages 18-45) from various churches within the city of Syracuse. The mission of The UNITY Choir is to collectively lift up the name of the Lord through song. For more information, please contact The UNITY Choir at 315-254-8653 or unitychoirsyr@gmail.com.

By E.V. Allbright

We wake up every day and stand in front of the mirror. Why? Because of what society has brainwashed us into think-ing, we have to dress a certain way, be a certain weight and act/talk a certain way. Why not be who you are?

Men and women are guilty of standing in front of the mirror looking from side to side, front view, back view and wonder-ing what is different about this outfit. A reflection in the mirror can speak a thou-sand words. I think my hips look big, my breast our too small/large; this dress/suit doesn’t fit properly in the waist. Then we reach for a sweater, blazer, scarf or jacket to cover up our flaws. The fashion in-dustry likes to twist our mirror image to reflect what they want us to see. Believe in you and be happy with the assets you own. Dress according to your body type; remember not everyone can wear what the models wear on the runway. It’s just that, runway! Some of the attire seen at fashion shows cannot be worn in an of-fice or school setting.

Stand and look in the mirror, write down what you like about yourself. Now stand tall and repeat what you wrote out

loud. You’re an individual and you must listen to your body and yourself when fashion comes into play. You walk into a department store and find that every mannequin has the same shape and size, which makes the clothing more appeal-ing. Stop, think and process what you’ve just seen. Realize that your body type doesn’t equal a mannequin; you have control over how your clothes should look and feel on you. Try on every piece of clothing before you buying, taking time to shop around for sizes that complement your body type. One day you maybe a size 8 another day a 12 the numbers in-side of the clothes doesn’t make you, it’s what you put on that makes you. Don’t let the numbers fool you into thinking that everyone has to be the same number. No two designers are alike and no two people are alike. Each designer uses a different method to calculate size; no one has agreed upon a standard size chart.

Clothing only adds personality to the equation; you an individual complete the whole package.

E.V. Allbright is a Delicate Rose Image Consul-tant. Call 315-457-1920 to make an appointment today.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition..

Urban CnY, MarCh 2010/7EaglENEwspapErs

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population who reside primarily in the urban areas. So what better way than to have your own medium in the middle of an African-American com-munity. What the Newhouse students are doing is in an area that would be destroyed if the highway was taken down.

The core of American media, advertising, seems scant in the local venues of color. Is it a hard sell?

Yes it’s a hard sell. But I have to pause in that, because there’s a part of me that’s an entrepreneur, and another part that looks at things in a different way at 21. Twenty-one years ago I was outside of City Hall throw-ing stones, in a sense. Actually I was working for them, so I was inside. But early with the paper it was pushing against the door, pushing against the resistance of the institution.

Once that resistance has been re-moved—which I believe happens over a period of time, or you’re removed—I have been able to deliver value. I had a conversation with an African-American leader, who has promised an awful lot in the community, who said, “We have to sit the companies and advertising agencies down and force them do what they’re supposed to do.”

I said, “No. I don’t want to force anyone do anything. At 21, my goal is to deliver value to the advertisers and information to the readers.” If I have to hem you up in a room and make you advertise with me, then that’s not advertising, that’s Mau Mau tactics. It doesn’t result in relationships, it

results in resentment. As a Kingian, as I call myself, what

I learned when they had the King In-stitute downstate, and what I learned by reading Parting the Waters, was that what the protestors died for, what the people like Senator Hoffmann and yourself went South for, wasn’t our right to hem someone up in a room and demand, but our right to compete.

Is there enough to sustain Urban CNY?

We’re breaking even. For the last 21 years I’ve had to work a full time job. The revenue has not been there to sus-tain a salary. I spent the last four and a half years working on the Onondaga Lake Cleanup project, monitoring minority and women owned business participation and equal employment opportunity on the Midland Regional Treatment Facility. I spent six years with the New York State Fair as Di-rector of Development, working with the NAACP and vendors developing the Pan-African Village, and with the Six Nations on the reinterpretation of Iroquois Village.

As an advertising base, back when we had four newspapers, there were perhaps 50 or 75 African-American retail businesses, delivering goods and services in a number of stores. What people don’t understand is that over the last 21 years the manufactur-ing base that elevated hundreds and thousands of migrants from the South to middle class status disappeared.

With that platform being taken away, we’ve been thrust into becom-

ing a city that has to reinvent itself, a people that has to reinvent itself. Even our concept of neighborhood and community has to be redefined because we are not the community that the University describes.

Do you have a vision for that redefinition?

Oh yes. I definitely do. As I see it, there is an evolution of print and tech-nology. I see the future as a stew of all these things that people draw from for their information. For example, I no longer watch an evening news pro-gram, but with ipod I have a variety of news programs downloaded on a daily basis that I can take with me to the doctor’s office, or anywhere I have time. Look at the agreement between Apple and the New York Times with iPad, a marriage of the technologies.

In a sense we’re actually moving in opposite directions. We’re moving forward in technology, away from the Gutenberg press, and yet metaphori-cally, in what we need to cover, we’re moving back toward the Gutenberg press, because everything is moving back to being local, to being com-munity. Who’s having a kid. Who’s leading the Boy Scout troop. What business is operating here and what do they have. What’s on the school

lunch menu.

At this point mainstream media seems to be hovering at the ex-tremes of Gotcha!, and so soft as to be fuzzy.

There’s no there in print any longer. There is no there. You look at the Post-Standard, which has shed employees like a snake sheds its skin. It’s amazing to watch the transformation. In reality what the Syracuse Newspapers should have done was kept the Post-Standard as a middle-left newspaper. They should have reinvented the Herald Journal as a rightwing rag. By having a rightwing rag they would still be in business. You’d have two papers. You’d have two different points of view, which is why people bought pa-pers in the first place, because people actually could see an argument being played out in print.

They’ve taken that away. So there’s no there in terms of what a paper stands for. Now papers literally sing “We Are the World.” If you sing “We Are the World,” you can’t offend anyone.

You stop telling the stories. You stop dealing with the issues that are thorny. You stop being an advocate for the people. You simply become a shell of your former self.

Urban CNY From page 1

Tea Party From page 6

racist, any time without regard to who they are ... and that includes our half-white, racist president.”

When it comes to Mark Williams and the rest of the Tea Party Movement, some simple thoughts come to mind:

1)Calling someone a racist is O.K., but you have to have evi-dence. It appears that evidence and logic are two things that the Tea Parties don’t seem to value. The movement is based on irratio-nal anger and resentment toward the first black authority figure our nation has ever been forced to address. That is the source of much of the anger.

2)Complaints about socialist policies are a bit hypocritical. The United States is a capitalist society, but not completely. We were socialists when the government intervened to save banks. We use socialism when Americans ask for unemployment benefits, social security payments or to be saved from foreclosure. We are also using forms of socialism when Americans want to call the fire or police departments. The Tea Partiers seem to love capitalism when it benefits them, but embrace socialist concepts when they are demanding that the government bail them out of their economic hardships.

Like other silly movements of the past, the Tea Party Express will eventually die. At the same time, they have a very real ability to impact the mid-term elections. Republicans will gain congressional seats and then find themselves to be just as ineffective as their pre-decessors. That is the pattern of Washington.

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